Hanging in there

We have been running lately, we are so busy our heads are spinning. We spent this last long weekend at the Rogue river in a beautiful house recently purchased by my grandparents for our whole family to enjoy. We certainly did enjoy it. The river is beautiful and the view really is amazing-wow. We didn't catch any fish though--apparently the trout didn't have a taste for the princess bait I chose (hot pink glittery marshmallows) whodaknew? The girls had a great time though, and Maggie only fell in and floated down river once. (don't worry, Alan got her, but it's scary seeing them do the dead man float) One of the days we decided to take a drive to Galice, which is a spot on the road you can rent rafts and they have a restaurant where you can over look the river. Alan and I had been there lots of times when we were in high school and would go on day trips rafting, and thought it would be a nice drive and a good (garden)burger. We sit down to have lunch, and I spy a friend from college that I haven't seen in 10 years! It was so weird-let me tell you--this place is tiny, down a long winding road and not by anything. SO that was fun. (and strange) We also finally made it to Winston to see my friend Jeff's house. He bought it about a year ago, and we had never been there before, cute house, and a great guest room--the girls loved it. The drive was a bit long and hard, but the weather was perfect and the girls really did a good job, so we survived. (the car DVD player is my favorite invention--nevermind that they watched TV for 5 hours straight, and were cross eyed and drooling when we finally got there)
Then we got home, checked the email, and got our new house plan and proposal--it looks great, with the exception of a few small changes, but has me crazy because we only have 2 weekends to move into the garage-yikes. I've been having crazy mood swings from really excited about picking out light fixtures, to scared about being poor, to nervous about being homeless, back to excited that our house is getting fixed and will be custom,l and also a bit of relief to think that we can get it started so it can just be over sooner. Oh yeah-of course anxiety over packing and the big move---and my mom is nowhere to be found. She is off gallivanting around England-whatever. When she FINALLY gets back, I'm going to be a garage dweller already. I'm am going to forward her the therapy bill for being gone when I am seriously contemplating a nervous breakdown! (seriously-ENGLAND??)
Also, the kittens are getting big (remember the kittens???) and pooping on my porch, and I want to kick them. SO far, they are quick (and maybe smart too), and I haven't made contact. I am trying to get rid of them now, but they are boys, and everybody wants baby girl cats. Please, is there even a difference? Except for the one major high point that I can see, and that is that they won't get knocked up and have kittens on your porch! We still have 3 of them-maybe it's my add, touting all natural/organic kittens (with a few fleas and ear mites) that have never been exposed to harsh chemicals or sprays.
Anyway, to the main reason I decided to post today.........we went to the doctor and Layla got hooked up to a continuous glucose monitor that she will have to wear for 3 days-straight, even at night and in the shower. This thing is really big, and the piece that is stuck in her is big, and she's grumpy and cranky and mad. (and I'm hormonal and stressed, and almost homeless) And it has a HUGE piece of tape that is pulling her skin and making her yell and yank on it, and I'm afraid she's going to dislodge it and make this whole ordeal null and void. Anyway, pray for us...(my grandma already is, I told her this weekend that we'd most likely vote democrat in the next election, and now I'm on her prayer chain) we have a tough bit right now, and directly ahead. We'll pull through--as if there's options right? But it's going to be hard, especially for me. So think of me often, and then buy me dark chocolate and invite me over to play at your house. And then, babysit my kids and let me eat my chocolate in peace while I raid your wine rack. (or whatever) I better go. I hope it's gray and rainy in England, and that the food is mushy and overpriced.

hahahaha--it is!!! See, God loves me.

until next time-j

cool tool

usually something has to be pretty super for me to get excited about it--well, guess what-I'm excited!! The other day, Layla was frolicking in the blackberry bushes (?) and was having a grand ol' time. She had failed to change into "play clothes" even though I had asked her to, no less than a dozen times. Long story short, she ridiculously stained one of the two pairs of shorts she has to wear this summer. Of course, this was the cute khaki pair, not the blue denim pair, which we maybe could have just called "funky" and left the stains alone. So, I put the shorts by my bathroom sink, fully intending to stain spot them when I had a free moment. Fast forward to late last night, which was an entire week later, and I finally got to give the shorts some undivided attention. I sigh, and reach for the "Tide to go" stick thing (let's just be honest-I grabbed it because it was the closest thing, and I didn't hold out much hope for the shorts--I have memories of pouring boiling water from on top of a ladder to get berry stains out of things before-true story-ask Mary) sorry-I get side tracked easily, strangly I have the attention span of a 2 year old-wierd. SO.....I "color" the shorts with the pen- it's like a clear Sharpie, the berry stains are still there, I give a small laugh in surrender, brush my teeth and hit the sack.
This morning I wake up, and I kid you not--the shorts are berry free. These were week old blackberry stains might I remind you. I didn't scrub, scour, or even add water and rub. So of course I "color" every other stained thing I can think of, until my sharpie runs dry, and I quickly formulate a plan to rush to Target and buy a case of these magical stain fighting wands. Alas, real life intervened and I still have yet to get a replacement, but luckilly, we have been stain free so far--and we are currently at 3 hours and counting. So, I highly reccomend the "Tide to go" pen thing, you can get it almost anywhere, and it will pay for itself the first time you use it. Carry it in your purse or glovebox-just get one and keep it handy. Get me one too if you would, I'm kind of on Target restriction right now, but we'll get into that later.......

spit the pit

Maggie is 2. Her latest thing is that everything has a crust, so she leaves bits of food on the side of her plate uneaten--because it is the crust. Toast of course has crust, but Maggie's grapes have crust, her soup has crust, noodles--you're getting the picture. Yesterday was the dawn of a new era....... The pit. Alan gave her a malt ball. She sucked off the chocolate coating, and spit out the malt ball, proudly proclaiming, "You don't eat the pit!" She has decided this after eating no less than two thousand cherries from our tree, pit and all. Well, better late than never I guess. 2 year olds are cool.

livin' on love

The guys came on Monday to start installing my new siding, my house was to look amazing (or almost) here shortly. Instead, we have extensive damage that needs to be replaced, so not only does my house look in shambles (we had the front deck removed for the siding install and now there is no access to my front door) but will not be fixed for quite some time. We need to get dry and wet rot fixed and we also have quite an enormous colony of carpenter ants living here with us. We are currently having numbers worked up to the price of all of the repairs and also, the cost to remove this house and built a new one from scratch. So, you say, is Janina a bit stressed-the answer to that my friend is a resounding YES! However, besides doubling our mortgage payment, and living in our garage for about 6 months or so, there is an upside. (I know--always the optimist) I will get new carpet and counters, which I have always wanted-so yay me.
Also, Alan has taken this opportunity to show me once again how amazing he is and how blessed we are to have him, so truly it could be worse. Just think, someone could be sick--worse, I could be pregnant--WAY WORSE!! (sorry if you've already heard me talk about this, I need to keep it on play on an inner loop, as my pep rally, so I don't completely crumble) So to fund new and big life changing project we need to sell everything we have of value-fun. As if I don't have enough projects going on right this second! If we have anything you want-let me know, I might could get you a 2 year old--cheap! Just kidding (kind of)

just a minute

phew!! I have just a minute or 2 before things get crazy again around here......so I thought I'd throw out a blog. These past couple of weeks have been crazy! We had a wonderful trip down to California to see my family. The weather was pretty warm, but we managed ok, and even (mostly) kept the blood sugars under control. We even took a road trip down south a bit and met Alan's grandma. I've met her once before at Alan's sister's wedding, but it's been like 15 years or something, so that was an adventure. The 95th birthday party for my Great grandma was a huge success, as was the trip over all. Even the airport was a breeze, it makes me think we can do it again sometime--good thing since we just bought tickets back down for my cousin's wedding in October.

Shortly after we got back, my cousin Belinda and her family came for a visit, and it was great to have them, they haven't made it up in about 4 years I think.

We are in the middle of finishing our garage/loft project, which is currently in the painting phase, so we've had workers here for that running all around, and a new fence put in, so there were workers running around for that, and also we've been getting estimates for the siding and deck projects, so we've had workers running around for that.....If you are beginning to see a pattern here, it's a little nuts--just like me!

Add to that, that it is time to get our JDRF walk team put together and start fundraising, and Blochtoberfest is tomorrow, you start to get a pretty good picture of what has been keeping me so busy lately. Oh wait, the cat that adopted us had kittens, and we need to have a few of the structural supporting beams of our house replaced (that will leave a gaping hole in the side of our house until it is fixed)........oh, and I'm in charge of stuff this year at the walk--namely putting together a big to-do next weekend at Oaks Park and I have pretty much no idea what's going on. Ok-now you're up to speed. Wait, Maggie has a horrible diaper rash that won't go away, and Layla's staph infection is back with renewed force--oh, and I can't button my shorts anymore. I'm sure I'll think of something else, but for now-that's enough.

The good news is that Alan arrived home tonight with 2 kegs of beer in his trunk, and he doesn't have to go to work tomorrow so we can stay up late. I love the fest, maybe even more than Christmas, so I'm really excited to get to have all of my friends and family here with me for the weekend. And-there will be smores--enough said. Hope to see you all here, if not, see you later. I'm busy again for a while, but I'll try to get a blog in every now and again to keep you up to speed about the goings on around here, as always, no promises.

**Special note to the Cali. family (& Retta)--I love you guys more than anything, we had a super time, and I can't wait to see you all again in a couple of months.

oh-I have to run--looks like it's beer-thirty

time flies

I have had two separate requests today for new blog postings, so here I go again..... I'm not sure what I've been busy doing exactly, but it seems like I haven't even sat down for days. I have about 7 quiet minutes coming, as the girls just got tiny "snack packs" of little cookies, so I thought I'd indulge my public with a quick word. Hmmmm..where to start. Friday was a bit hectic, we had some blood sugar issues. Layla's blood sugar was so high, it wouldn't register on her meter, so I had a tiny nervous breakdown, but we got it back under control (finally) and were able to keep a pretty good control of it through the weekend. The weekend was great, we did lots of errands. Translation: we got a few things done, but spent most of our time getting the girls in and out of their car seats at various, random stops, (mostly home improvement type stores) by which time they were cranky and/or bored and decided to cry/kick/scream the entire time we were inside trying to accomplish said "errand". We did get through the day though with a little help from a few of our favorite modern conveniences, namely lots of snacks, and the car DVD player. (however if I get hit in the back of the head with one more cheerio, or hear the "I love you" Barney theme song one more time, I might just actually run out into traffic) *now, a paragraph break for my mom.*

We did however somehow manage to pick out our exterior paint for the garage, and Alan also got an overflow drain system put in behind the garage, so we can hopefully avoid any nasty flooding issues like we experienced last rainy season. So, all in all, I'd say a successful couple of days. Of course, since we spent our weekend focused on getting our painting done, it had to rain on Sunday, but Monday the sun came out again, and we got some primer up-yay!!!

Today, we had some people over to quote us new siding on the house, and they mentioned that we don't need to prime our new garage siding. (as we say around here...that would have been good information to have had YESTERDAY!!!) But, lucky for us, we happen to be rolling in both time and money, so it's really no big deal.

Yesterday I made a mighty tasty dinner, which I got from the back of the Quaker quick barley box, and modified it, it is now known as "South West Barley Beans" and I will include the recipe right here:




South West Barley Beans

Any/all of the following veggies
(or add your own favorites)
Carrots, celery, onion, sweet pepper, cut into bite size pieces
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes
1 (about 14-16 oz) jar salsa (the green Trader Joe’s salsa is good)
2 cups veggie broth, or water and bullion cubes
1 cup Quaker quick barley
3 cups water
1 Tbsp. Chili powder
1 tsp. Cumin
2 cans of beans drained and rinsed
2 cups frozen corn
Chopped cilantro
(optional) Toppings: olives, avocado, corn chips, salsa etc..
In large pot combine veggies and first 7 ingredients. Over high heat bring to a boil; cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add beans and corn, increase heat to high and bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to low, simmer for another 5 minutes, or until barley is tender. Top with topping if you’d like. Enjoy!
This makes a ton and it is delish!! (it was even better the next day)
About 15 carbs in ½ cup





We are scrambling this week, I have 2 days left before we leave on a jet airliner to sunny Sacramento California, and I am getting pretty nervous. We have to leave the house at about 5am on Friday, we are travelling with 2 kiddos, and will be carrying numerous "banned" items, so will be cavity searched by the 17 year old TSA agent after he confiscates my shiny new lip gloss; did I mention this is all before 6 o'clock?!? (at least I might get cavity searched, I was beginning to think there was nothing good about flying anymore!) Then, we are gone for 9 days (WOW!!) so no new blogs until then at least, (but probably longer, our summer schedule is CRAZY). When we get back we are hosting my cousin Belinda and family (you're practically famous if you get a blog mention-awesome) and Blochtoberfest is the very next weekend. PHEW! In between the scheduled events, I hope to drink my weight in (light) beer and possibly hunt down a high school friend I haven't seen in a good dozen years, and talk him into tattooing me. (I will let you know how it goes) So, I'm off, wish me luck in surviving the 100+ degree weather of Cali. and keeping the kids afloat in the pool all week (not to mention, covered with SPF 50 sunscreen). We will also be attending my great grandmothers 95th birthday party, we are all really looking forward to it. My advice to you would be, if you ever get invited to a 95th birthday party, be sure not to miss it, the honoree is bound to be full of wisdom and insight, and has seen and done things that would put most Hollywood dramas to shame.

Hate to run--I really enjoy our time together, but alas, my 7 (ok 30) minutes are now up, and I have to get back to something or other I'm sure.

we passed the test

just wanted to give you an update:
we went to Layla's endocrinologist the other day, and we are keeping pretty good control of her blood sugars. We get a blood test once a year to check for other auto immune diseases, (since she is predisposed to auto immune disorders) and our latest tests came back negative-yay!! So for now, just diabetes, and a strict no meat/ no dairy diet. I tried not to get to worked up while we were waiting for the test results (which they send you in the mail) thinking what on earth we would I do if she had celiac and we couldn't have wheat or any form of wheat gluten any more. Thankfully I can put off that thought until next year at least. Now it is time to start fundraising for the JDRF walk, it is the hardest time of year for me. I can do holidays, birthday parties, almost any other stressor is doable, but this, almost 3 months of thinking about the disease and it's complications all day, every day, is quite overwhelming. So, I will be close to (if not in) tears most days now, and put in the awkward position of asking friends and family to donate money to our cause. This year I am a walk committee chair person, I am in charge of the family teams (which are all teams not corporate) so there are a few extra items on my plate. I really think we can make a difference, which is why we volunteer and try so hard. I have to believe that, some days hope is all I have. If you can join us for the walk, that would be amazing, we really need the support; physically, emotionally, and financially, otherwise, I'm sure you'll hear from me soon asking for a donation. so, until then.........