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I’m not saying yet, that the girl in Phoenix was a scam artist, but I lost contact with her once a local media outlet reached us.

So I’m glad people didn’t donate.

However, I will say that I have been I contact with an agility person who was interested in DAD training, she claims to have steroid diabetes, which is a thing, according to the internet, but it sounds like as long as you are on the meds that caused the problem, you won’t be diabetic.  Disclaimer, I’m not medical personal, and got that off the interweb.

I’m suspecting that individual just wants to fly her dog free to competitions. Apparently that’s a problem in that space, as it has been under discussion.

I’ve heard about DADs, not being trained properly – that state of Texas has too.  Both forms of training: symptom detection and behavior.  One sad case, just days after the family got the dog, it ran out of the house and got killed, hit by a car.  A church had done most of the fundraising for the dog and they were devastated.  I’ve worked a lot of those type of behavior issues, and frankly the family probably wasn’t trained properly, but I wasn’t there.

Heck, even my husband and one of my former students are skeptical that Dulce alerts.

The Neopro patch for Restless Leg Syndrome had given me absolute fits on being compliant.  I finally found the answer, writing the date of the packets when I open a new one.

Pillpack gave me the idea, since they put your meds in packets – can’t wait until they can start shipping to me.

I have been blogging on this blog since FEBRUARY 2003 – if I do the math right, that’s 11 years of blogging.

I started blogging because one of my life goals has been to write a high school computer science book. This would be a good time, but I digress.

One of the reasons I’m amused because I’ve seen references to log time diabetes bloggers who have blogged since 2007 and another since 2005?

Now I don’t always put a post out every week. Some of them do, either they are professional writers and have set themselves a schedule or blog for another reason to keep themselves out there. I just blog when I have something I need to journal, or when I have something to say.

Another reason I’m not as well known as that I am a very non typical member of the DOC. I’m a type 2, and I’ve found that most of the diabetic online community are Type 1, and are suspicious of us Type 2s. I also do some other odd things – I have an insulin pump and CGMS AND a diabetes alert dog.

The interesting part is that I have met some of the DOC in person. Scott and Tara (the other blogger I know of with a DAD).

Another reason I’m not part of the DOC, is that the tweeting part takes place on Wednesday night exactly when I have a long standing “girl’s night out with the dogs”.

So yes, I’m still here and I still blog.

Thinking seriously of that textbook now.

Was at the gym today, and the ladies next to me were speaking Spanish.  At one point in their conversation, they were talking about perro pequeño – the good news is that diabetes is the same word in both languages and blood sugar sounds similar – glicemia.

So I can usually tell if they got it right.  By the way, diabetes alert dog in Spanish is: diabetes perro alerta which is also easy to spot in a conversation.

About stress.

Did something stupid yesterday, offered to help someone.

She didn’t want the help, probably doesn’t need it, and probably pulling a scam.

Won’t be doing that again.

I still think Jadzia is real, she came to me through a site and I am genuinely enjoying working with her.

Three weeks ago I started training Bo to rest his head on my foot while he was in a down stay.

via raisingbo.blogspot.com

I honestly do know what I haven't thought of training this — I attribute to my previous stress level.

Here's the first training session.  http://youtu.be/SeUNVrtT8IE

My insomnia counselor wants me to spend some time thinking and writing about independence, since it is a value that is important to me.  Probably the most important. 

Independence is why I have been working on getting a service dog for someone else:  http://www.gofundme.com/Servicedog4jadzia – she also has a Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ServiceDog4Jadzia

I have always tried to keep a certain level of financial independence.   I worked in high school, and had very high paying jobs.  I put myself through college, through scholarships and working in the summer for Kelly Girl (yes back in the day), and did exceptionally well financially.

Every course I took in high school, especially electives were aimed at getting financial independence, and my major was picked partly for that reason.  Plus I really like computers.

I continue to keep my skills honed and ready to go so I can change jobs, locations, etc. whenever I want.  I don’t very often.  Even my career choice is aimed at given me some independence – pension and insurance.

As a teacher I hope to give my students that same guarantee of independence.   I’m constantly telling students where they go to continue learn more and make money, especially the web mastering students, and I am constantly urging them to go to college.  Anyway they can.

One thing I would like to do is give Jadzia some independence.    I haven’t met her, but she’s worked hard.  She graduated from high school and has done work as a model before her health went south.

Service dogs give independence, and I am constantly working towards giving others independence with service dogs.  That’s why I challenge people who restrict access and I teach other people “the rules”, as a Home Depot employee told me today.  I found that very amusing.

Though my insomnia counselor thinks I should avoid these confrontations, last week’s incident has gone well for me.

If you remember, I was first seated in a “handicapped” area of the restaurant, and then refused service because I have Dulce with me.  At the time, she was wearing a vest clearly labeled “Service Dog”

The person who asked me to leave demanded that I show proof that she was a service dog (not allowed by ADA and by State Laws).

I contacted the customer service department of Café Brazil and they promised to follow up.  They also sent me a gift card, with an amount on it that the server had never seen before.

I did go to a different restaurant – the server did not acknowledge in any way until I mentioned her.   Exactly what we want people to do.  He did say her he had heard about the incident and was glad that the other restaurant was correct.  He was also blown away on the amount on the card (and the tip I left).

The insomnia counselor thinks this stress is bad for my health and that I should have produced the paper work.  I do have a card that I had made by an online service for something like $5 but I feel funny producing it. 

This has been working REALLY well for me. 

First, I made a horrible mistake, lost 50 pounds but didn't change how I looked.  I didn't feel like I had lost weight and not one noticed.

I finally went to Nordstrom's and used their personal shopper and bought really cute stuff, like these:

Shop plus sized looks for spring at NORDSTROM. Plus, get free shipping and returns on every order.

Sometimes what I wanted wasn't in the store, but they ship fast.

Then when I lost weight I went to a service like "Clothes Mentor".  They buy really high end, AND plus sizes.   While I might get more money if I went through consignment, this way, I got paid first and fast.  Best yet, they told me how to fix some things so they would sell them and hints for other things, especially shoes.

They pay about 1/9 of the original value BUT I got to wear some really cute stuff for a while, look snazzy and feel good about myself.  How cool is that?