Michele,
Being an Auto Mechanic that works 10+ hours a day, has 3 kids, and works on his friends cars for side $, I know what you mean by a hectic lifestyle.
My Dr also yelled at me about my logs and tests. This past 6 months I have been very active in my control.
Even to the point of calling my Doc and asking her to up my perscribed amount of test strips per month because I kept running out. How do I do it?
It's very simple really. My job requires me to be on the phone from time to time to talk to a customer or order parts, I test then.. My boss and I talked about this and he knows that it's a must. I test before I drive my car which usually ends in a meal but also adds that bit of saftey knowing I am not gonna run into a problem. I test getting out of bed.. I roll over, hit the alarm, and grab my meter and Lantus pen. And I either test right before dinner (in my car) or a few hours after (right before bed)..
Anyone who makes a fuss at this has no interest in your health and well being. I had troubles with my boss at first untill I explained to him that me doing this now will save him $ in the future with me not having to get amputations and disability.
As far as logging goes, yeah thats a bit tougher, but now that I found GBuddy, I am ontop of it.. Heck my iPods in the pocket of my meter case anyhow..
My rock climbing hobby is tough. With hiking I can test whenever, BUT 60 feet up a cliff face is NO TIME to feel woozy
so I test before I tie the rope to my harness. If I am under 90 mgdl, I let someone else go first while I have a small snack and then type the BG into Gbuddy, then the snack I can figure out later by saving the wrapper and knowing that it goes in where the low test was.
Make testing a game.. Find some diabetic friends to compare BG's with. Have the kids get involved by having a present for which ever kid reminds mommy to test and log.
Good Luck! Oh and to help get it rolling, I was at 62 right as I sat down to dinner tonight! How were you?