T'Mana's Hug

Because my local CVS had such a great deal on it going ($29.99 through the end of August), I acquired a One Touch Ultra Smart to add into the review set. While the meter and case are much larger than every other meter under review except the Advocate Duo, the meter has a built-in electronic logbook with a number of nice features, including:

• user-settable meal-period times
• place to enter doctor visits
• place to enter basic food con
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I've been a bit quiet on the site the past week, and will probably be again this week, as I've been working on an Elizabethan-era outfit appropriate for two of my usual Renaissance Faires. I've been able to complete my stays, farthingale ("hoop skirt"), and gown in time for last Saturday's vi… Continue

Long before there were traveling pants, designer jeans, and department stores – long before eBay was a mote in anyone’s eye, there was The Great Hand-Me-Down Chain. The Great Hand-Me-Down Chain was born in a time when fabric was scarce and ready-made clothing was non-existent. It was born of a time when families were large, and garments were hand-made, in a world where two-parent families lived on a single salary, and our mothers had to make do with much less than we are accustomed to today. Th… Continue

I haven't gotten to the point of running the contaminant tests on the meters -- I'm still trying to figure out accuracy issues with the Advocate Duo, and I'm puzzled by the results I'm getting so far on the parallel test check.

The short version is this:

When I checked my (active) Freestyle Flash last time I was in the doctor's office (June 10th), not only was my reading "in range" with the lab reading, it was spot on. Exactly the same. So, I go on my merry way thinking m…

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With all of the monitors in-hand and unpacked, it was time to inventory the included accessories and start setting up the meters for their initial tests. Most name-brand meters come packaged with cases, lancet devices, and starter-sets of strips, lancets, and control solution. There are occasional surprises -- Therasense's packaging of the original Freestyle and Freestyle Flash did not include any starter strips -- but for the most part, these are a "given". When we start to examine le…

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