Category Archives: Family

Memories of Snick

Posted on by

I am sad to share that a longtime member of the Box household, Snickers the black-and-tan dachshund, died today after providing love and joy to our family for 18 years.

Mom and Dad have big hearts for animals. When I was in seventh grade, Mom kept visiting the DFW Humane Society to love on the animals, secretly tempting herself to bring one home. She fell in love with Snick’s sweet personality and warm brown eyes and convinced Dad to let her adopt another dog to go with Cinnamon, our chihuahua. Ever since, Snick remained a loyal and loving companion, an excellent bedwarmer at night, a good reading and TV buddy, and a comforting ear to hear your troubles. Here are a few of my favorite memories:

  • She always knew what she wanted, whether it was space in your lap or food in her bowl, and knew how to tell you. When she barked to ask for something, her front end often hopped off the ground like a wind-up dog.
  • Until her back quit cooperating, she was a master of the official dachshund trick: sitting up straight on her hind legs to beg. If the two of you were on carpet and you had something she wanted, such as popcorn, she sat up straight as a soldier and held perfectly still, daring you not to toss her something. You generally gave in.
  • When my sister Lisa went rollerblading, around age 10 or so, sometimes she leashed up Snick and let her run down the street like a sled dog. Snick loved to run and pulled as hard as her little 10-pound body could pull to keep Lisa rolling. They both had smiles on their faces.
  • During a visit from my aunt, Snick got into her stash of bran muffins and went to town. I think she ate five of them, making her one seriously overstuffed wiener dog. Oh, boy, we’re in trouble now! we thought. Lisa, cousin Brandi and I set up some newspapers by the door for the, um, aftermath, clearly labeling it with “POOP GOES HERE” and similar instructions to remove any confusion. Somehow, nothing happened.
  • When she was healthy, her walk was more of a noble trot, like a prize racehorse. She pranced along like she owned the place and was having a blast exploring the grounds. When we took her for a walk, she charged ahead with all her might, just like she did with Lisa on the rollerblades. She had places to be and wasn’t going to let us slow her down!

We love you and miss you, sweet girl.

Feel free to post your own memories of Snick if you’d like.

Minty Fresh

Posted on by

For a while now I’ve wanted a good personal finance application for our Mac. PC users often like Quicken, but Quicken for Mac apparently doesn’t work nearly as well, and I couldn’t find a good alternative. Then I discovered a free personal finance website called Mint.com.

What I wanted most was a tool to do two things: track our spending against our budget and gather all of our financial account data into one location for easy viewing. With a couple of exceptions, Mint.com does both. I can set a budget for any number of categories (pharmacy, electric bill, groceries, etc.), download my credit card transactions, and easily (often automatically) map the transaction to the category, giving me a running total for each month. If I exceed my budget for a category, the site emails me an alert message. I can rollover my budget from month to month if my spending varies. Sure, it doesn’t have all the advanced features of some programs, but it’s FREE, it’s secure, it works, and I can access it from anywhere.

You Catch More Humans with Honey than with Vinegar

Posted on by

Jenny and I have a confession to make: we are both sugar addicts.

We know it’s wrong, and we’ve talked about trying to cut back, but we don’t want to stop, and no one around us is quitting either. But now that gestational diabetes has forced Jenny’s hand, we are both revisiting the whole issue of sugar.

I don’t know about you, but I eat sugar throughout the day. For breakfast I drink coffee with flavored, sweetened creamer, orange juice, and fiber cereal coated in sugar. For dinner I might enjoy a meal that seems not to contain much sugar, but I’ll want some cookies or a bowl of ice cream for dessert. If we’re eating out, I love to enjoy a Coke, and not just a 12oz can, either. At work overnight, I drink more coffee with flavored, sweetened creamer, a bagel (not too bad), a banana (fructose, a simple sugar), and yogurt (sounds healthy, but makes the healthy stuff more appealing by adding sugar). If I’m “lucky”, someone will drop off a cake or something in the breakroom for us. When I go too long without sugar, I start craving it and searching for it – maybe a few M&Ms, or a little candy bar, or some chocolate trail mix, or a swig of eggnog.

Jenny is going through sugar withdrawal. She’s handling it well, but it’s surprisingly difficult. Her body is accustomed to running largely on sugar, which provides quick energy. Now she’s making her body run more on other sources, such as protein and complex carbohydrates that take longer to break down. It’s a weird feeling, she says. The only reason I’m not going through withdrawal with her is because I’m trying to eat up most of the sugar in the house myself. To get rid of it, you see. I hate to waste food. Actually, the truth is that I know I’ll have just as much trouble if/when I cut back on the sugar. Sounds like an addiction to me.

If you Google “effects of sugar”, you’ll find tons of information about how harmful sugar can be. I don’t know how much of it is true, but much of it makes sense. Our bodies don’t seem to run as well on sugar as they do on other fuels. Some research suggests that sugar suppresses your immune system, accelerates aging, and contributes to cancer and heart disease, among many others.

I am curious about how I would/will feel if I quit or cut back significantly. I’ve finished off the Dr Pepper. Once I finish the ice cream, maybe I will find out. I suspect that after the initial few days of unpleasantness, I would be in for a pleasant surprise.

Speedbump

Posted on by

Between weeks 24 and 28, nearly all pregnant women in America are tested for gestational diabetes (GD), a form of diabetes caused by hormonal changes during pregnancy. It often has no obvious symptoms, so the glucose test is the only way to find it. Yesterday we got positive results for Jenny’s glucose test, indicating that she has the condition.

Obviously, this isn’t what we wanted or expected, but as far as pregnancy problems go, it’s certainly not the worst outcome, either. GD elevates both the mother’s and baby’s blood sugar and insulin levels. The mother needs to change her diet to reduce carbs and smooth out her food intake throughout the day to keep her blood sugar levels both lower and more stable. Some mothers require insulin shots. For the baby, GD causes him to store the extra blood sugar as fat, which can lead to higher birth weights, earlier births, jaundice, and other problems. Long-term, baby is more likely to be overweight, and both mother and baby are more likely to develop Type 2 (non-insulin-dependent) diabetes later in life. GD in mothers usually disappears on its own around 6 weeks after birth.

Jenny is handling the diagnosis well. The hardest part for both of us will be modifying our very carb-heavy diets, but we are up for the challenge. We have an appointment with a nutritionist Thursday afternoon and a diabetes specialist on Monday afternoon to discuss diet, blood testing, the need for insulin, and other issues. Please pray for us as we get some answers and work out a new eating plan. Also pray that Jonathan remains healthy and doesn’t get too big. I’m doing my part by scarfing down the half-gallon of Blue Bell that Jenny bought the day before she got the news.

For more information on GD, check WebMD.com.

The Crash Helmet Kid

Posted on by

Growing up, one of my favorite pastimes was riding my bike around the neighborhood, either solo or with friends. My parents had a rule: always wear a helmet when riding. My helmet was white and ugly with a red strap. I hated that rule for two main reasons:

  • The helmet was annoying, not very comfortable, and a pain to carry around.
  • More importantly, I was the only kid in the neighborhood wearing a helmet, and some of the older boys (who were automatically cooler than I was, even though they were jerks) made fun of me for wearing it. They dubbed me…wait for it… “The Crash Helmet Kid.”

Being an obedient child overall, I wore the stupid helmet and endured the jokes. I tried to avoid the older guys when I could and to ignore them when necessary. I can’t remember whether or not I understood my parents’ logic behind the helmet at the time, but I experienced enough bike crashes and skinned knees to know that bicycles could be somewhat dangerous.

Years later, as an adult, I witnessed a terrible bike accident on a highway, so bad that the bicyclist left in a CareFlite helicopter. I held pressure on his torn-open forearm until the paramedics arrived. One of his legs was pointing the wrong way. However, thanks to his helmet, he was not only alive but conscious enough to talk to us. Without it, I don’t know whether he would have survived.

Although I couldn’t fully understand at the time and certainly didn’t like it, my parents were 100 percent correct in making me wear a helmet even before it became socially acceptable. Obviously, it could have saved my life. It also taught me one of the most important lessons I could ever learn:

God didn’t put me here to win a popularity contest.

I still use that lesson today: as an employee when I have to stand up to my union or a coworker in order to do the right thing, as a father when I have to tell Brenden “no”, as a husband when I have to break the bad news that we need to tighten the belt, as a Christian when I have to stand up for truth in a world full of lies. I sometimes have to choose between pleasing people and pleasing God. Obviously, I don’t always do the right thing. I want to be liked, and sometimes I still let the “cool kids” influence me. But my time as The Crash Helmet Kid helped me start growing thicker skin, which helps me make the right choice more often.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Posted on by

Yep, I turned 31 today. I’ve gotten tons of well-wishes and phone calls, and I thank all of you for your encouragement! As usual, I don’t really feel any different. I am definitely grateful that God has given me 31 years on this planet, surrounded me with so many wonderful people, and allowed me to live such a rich life. It’s been a month-long celebration, to be honest. We had a family party a couple of weeks ago for the Box family birthdays in October (there are four!). Tonight Jenny made me a delicious dinner and birthday cake, and her family came over to party with us. Tomorrow night my parents plan to come over and watch Brenden while Jenny and I go out for dinner and coffee alone. It’s been a great month, and I pray for a great year to come.