It must be in the air

Its here. Well sort of. The cold season. The season where everyone you know plus their mom gets sick. Mr. Estep got a wicked cold last week. He still has a horrid cough but otherwise feeling great! I on the other hand have a runny nose, watery eyes, sore throat & horrible cough. :/ I didn't think I would get it since it took so long. But yea, I was wrong. I have it ten times worse than he did! Can you believe it? UGH! But he has been pampering & taking care of me. :) So no complaints here! I have been taking some cold/flu liquid medicine & rubbing vicks on my chest & throat. So far the vicks is a big hit! About 10 minutes after I put it on my throat stops hurting & my cough becomes less & less dry. So it really helps to break everything up in my chest & help me cough it all out. As for the liquid stuff, pff I am not taking no more/buying no more for this cold. Because it has been no help other than making me very sleepy.

So here is to all those out there with a cold. Have a tissue!

& A list of good old cold home remedies:

Drink more Orange Juice. 

Buy a humidifier.

Use a saline nasal spray.

Stay warm & rested.

Gargle with warm salt water to ease your sore throat.

Drink hot liquids such as tea. (Add 1 tsp of Honey.)

Take a steamy shower/bath.

Vicks, vicks, vicks on your chest/throat.

Always make sure to ask your doctor before using any new medication such as nasal sprays. 

Rest up & get well soon!

Fall

& Now that I showed you all our Fall/Halloween decorations I think I will show some cute pictures I took really quick of our wedding bands on a cob of corn. Mr. Estep & I got the cob of corn last year at a corn maze we went to. :)

Enjoy!

Fall/Halloween part 2

Now time for the inside decor! There isn't much yet I still have more to do. But here is what I have put out in our living room. Enjoy! :)

Fall/Halloween!

Anyone that knows me knows that I adore the fall season. Its just such a beautiful time of the year! All of the colors, the leaves, the pumpkins, the Halloween decor! Its amazing to say the least. This year I decided to go all out with the Halloween decorations. I am doing alot of indoor decor as well. We will get to that in another post. So for all my readers enjoy our outdoor Halloween decor! :-)

Happy birthday sister

This post is for my baby sister who turned 9 on the 19th this month. Happy Birthday sweet, sweet little sister! I love you!

Pictures from her birthday party.

Diabetes.

I have been diagnosed with diabetes for 7 years now. Woah, I can't believe its been that long already. Having diabetes changes everything. Just imagine every time you ate food you knew once you finished you would have to count the carbs, figure out how much insulin you need, then infect yourself with a syringe. Imagine everyday having to poke your finger so you can check your sugar daily to stay on top of it. Its not as easy as some may think. My fingers get sore to the point simple tasks such as holding a fork become a painful task. Bruises & knots on my arm become noticeable due to all of the injections. But I have come to terms with it. I embrace it. I am a diabetic. I am strong. I have faith. I have hope. I have my diabetes in control. Diabetes no longer controls me. So power to all you diabetics out there! Don't let diabetes control you, take control of your diabetes!

Here is about two weeks worth of my daily shots. Just for an idea of how many I really have to take.

Low potassium

The night before last I started feeling, odd. At 2 am I awoke to my heart feeling like it was beating funny & faster than usual. I wasn't doing anything to make it race so I had no idea why. My head felt light & I felt like I couldn't get enough air. Needless to say I didn't go back to sleep. I stayed up all that night & all that next day. Around 4 something that evening I started feeling worse. So bad I woke Mr. Estep up who had work a few hours later. I took a shot & laid down on the couch. Mr. Estep sat on the end of the couch & watched over me. As I started breathing heavier/looking worse he then got out my meter. I checked my sugar & it was to high for the meter to read. My breathing got faster, my heart started racing faster & my teeth began to chatter! Mr. Estep rushed me to the ER. On the way my whole body began to shake uncontrollable. My teeth was chattering but I was burning up. I even had the car window all the way down & it was quite chilly out. Once we got there & I was seen my heart rate was 140 something (to high) my sugar was 400 something (to high) & was even higher before we got there. My meter reads sugars up to 595. So it had to be in the 600-700 area before we got there. My potassium levels was to low. They did tests, blood work & a chest X-ray. They found out from the chest x-ray that I have a bit of bronchitis. They brought my heart rate back down to the 100-107 range. My heart wasn't racing anymore, the shaking stopped & no more chattering teeth. They told me I was hyperventilating. :/ The low potassium levels was causing my heart to beat irregular (reason I had been feeling funny.) & Also the reason I have had intense leg pain/cramps for the longest time now. I never knew low potassium could be so dangerous.

Here are the side effects from having low potassium:

Muscle Cramps

Muscle Fatigue and Weakness

Irregular Heartbeat

Fatigue

Mental Confusion

Irritability

Abnormally Dry Skin

Insatiable Thirst

Chills

Depression

Nausea and Vomiting

Nervousness

Insomnia

Diarrhea

Low Blood Pressure

Periodic Headaches

Salt Retention

Constipation

High Cholesterol Levels

Glucose Intolerance

Impaired Growth

Edema

Extreme cases, cardiac arrest 

Woah, what a list huh? Needless to say my legs are hurting like no other. I have a prescription for some potassium pills & also some antibiotics for my bronchitis. I am going to buy some over the counter daily potassium supplements for the future & eat more foods/drinks with potassium in them. Otherwise readers I am back to my normal self (other than the leg pain.)