Two New Appliances; One Connected to the House, One to Me

When we moved into the house FIVE YEARS AGO, I was pretty sure we would have to replace the dishwasher very soon.  But, as the saying goes: use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.  We did.  We used it up, we wore it out, I made it do, but as it turns out, it's no fun doing without a dishwasher.  So I braved the elements (continuous rain in Utah), and went to Sears to buy a dishwasher.  I strongly dislike salespeople.  And a second rant about salespeople. I'm sure they are very lovely people while sitting in their homes with all their warrantied appliances, but their on the job personality gives me the shivers. Be it known: I DO NOT WANT TO BUY EXTRA WARRANTIES!! I've lived without them all my life! I'll take my chances with just buying the product and living with the producer's warranty! If it takes me saying no three times, here you go: NO! NO! NO!  I'm sure I will reference this rant in some future post about salespeople, because it is a necessary evil that they exist and I will inevitably come across them again.  But let them be warned that after saying no to extended warranties so many times, I will likely turn into an ornery old lady that beats salespeople with canes if I am approached with the extended warranty line again.

I survived the visit, and we now have a lovely, sleek, black dishwasher that you can hardly hear when it runs.  It dries faster and more complete than the old one and I can put more silverware in it.  I won't post a picture of it because it's just a sleek black box, but I am pretty happy about it.

The second new appliance is attached to me and looks like this (though this is not my svelte belly)

That's right. I just can't get enough of my insulin pump that I wear 24/7, so I opted for another gadget that will hopefully help me control my blood sugar levels even better than I could with my little brain and blood sugar monitor (though my little brain is not too shabby since my A1C is 6.8, which is awesome for a diabetic!! Yay for me!).  So this little transmitter goes into my interstitial fluid (yes, via needle, but the needle is removed and a tube remains), measures my blood sugar level, and communicates my level wirelessly to my pump EVERY FIVE MINUTES! My pump keeps a record of each check and shows me a trending graph.  My pump has preset alarms that will go off if I'm trending too quickly up or too quickly down, so that I can do something about it before I feel the effects of the highs or lows.  I still have to check my blood sugar levels before I give an insulin bolus and to calibrate, but not feeling the effects of highs and lows is awesome and totally worth wearing another apparatus.  Plus, it wakes me up at night if I start going too high or too low.  This is the closest thing so far to a closed loop treatment for diabetes. Way to go scientists, engineers, doctors, nurses and sales reps (which are different than salespeople)!!!

Thank you to Mark, my wonderful, brilliant husband who has worked so hard to become the attorney he set out to be.  In so doing, we have good insurance to help me live a longer and healthier life. I will always try harder because I have been blessed with such possiblities.  He also provides the ability to buy a dishwasher when the wife-y realizes she can't do without :).