The good, the bad, and the whatever...

Well I hope everyone's long weekend was as glorious as ours! With the exception of a little school work, we spent the entire period from Thursday night to Sunday night doing only things we truly wanted to do, be they productive or not.

Rock on, holiday weekend.

Exciting things:

• We spent a great night out (which, seriously, we haven't done in FOREVER) with some of our very favorite out of town guests (Hi Ally!) and some of our very favorite K-town peeps (What up, Wileys!) Thursday, gorged ourselves on wings and conversation, and went to bed remembering exactly why it is we love these guys so much. Socialization is GOOD, people. I forget that sometimes!
• My Butt Smoking experiment (as it became known) Friday was a complete success, and Southern Pulled Pork BBQ is now the official menu for the Pergola Party (when that project comes to fruition, which, I'm guessing, will coincide with Football Season quite nicely). Really, you guys, if I'd have known it was this easy, I'd have added it to my cooking repetoire much sooner.
• Freezer Jam, too, went off without a hitch. It was a day of Americana in the Hall kitchen on the 4th, no doubt. I made Strawberry Jam and Blueberry Peach. So easy, you guys, I'll post a little picture tutorial later, but you don't need it.
• Saturday afternoon Matt out-ordered me at the Stir Fry Cafe (that doesn't happen often) with his Thai Wrap--it never occurred to me that you could make a delicious chicken curry portable like that. We then went home and conquered yet another nagging project on our To-Do list--framing up our Farmer's Market posters. I will never be afraid of irregular sized art again! We got the frame pieces, got some glass cut, and put everything together ourselves with nary an incident. I think they look smashing!

• After a morning of lounging Sunday, Matt got ambitious and started yet another project we've been discussing--mounting the Pez cabinets. For those of you that don't know, Matt collects Pez dispensers, and has the most amazing cabinets to display them (courtesy of Frank, naturally). We decided they'd work best in our guest room, and now they're all mounted and awaiting The Great Pez Reorganization. As soon as the boy gets everything in place, there will be pictures!

Less exciting things:

• We finally moved all the Christmas stuff out of the storage unit and brought it back over to the house. We filled the shelves Matt built in a matter of minutes, and hey, guess what? We still have a garage stuffed to the brim with boxes. GAH. Much consolidation is to come, as well as getting rid of some stuff. So, yeah, if you guys feel like you're missing something Christmas-wise, let me know, I bet I can find it for you! You want all purple lights for your little girl's tree? DONE. Need an inflatable Teddy Bear for your yard? I have a couple to choose from. SERIOUSLY. We're thinking of having a Christmas-In-July Yard Sale.

Things that suck:

• Yeah. At my annual checkup back in May, I was casually talking with my doctor about various health concerns, and she offered to run labs for me just to get an overview of where I stood, health-wise and all. Well, she ran the labs, and then we ran labs again last month just to be sure, and it turns out that my glucose level is crazy high. So, at the end of this month, I have an appointment to see an Endocrinologist, but all signs are pointing to me having Type 2 Diabetes.

I've had lots of mixed reactions to this, anywhere from me crying for an hour to complete rage to total acceptance, but overall I think I'm okay with what I have to do. It's most likely hereditary (both my mom and grandmother) so it's not as though I brought it on myself--what are you going to do about genetics, you know? Obviously a change of lifestyle is in order (case in point: Freezer Jam was all made with Splenda), and I am pretty stubborn when it comes to having to change something that is so important to me (cooking is more than my hobby, it is my JOY, and having to restrict that in any way is frustrating to me), but, you know, that all pales in comparison to kidney trouble or blindness, so I'm dealing with it. I've got a couple of books, including an amazing cookbook that deals with natural ways to adjust your diet and control blood sugar that I'm really excited about. I'm sure the doctor will get me on a blood monitoring program and I will probably have to take medication, but I'm willing to do whatever it takes to be as healthy as possible for as long as possible. I guess maturity will do that to you ;) So, anyway, if you all have a book you think I should read or any tips and advice, send it my way, it's greatly appreciated!

Now, the fun weekend is over and it's back to Monday-As-Usual. That's okay with me, all that relaxing kinda wore me out! I've got laundry calling, plants begging for a watering, and a lunch date with my brother in the works--plenty to do, in other words, and too much time spent on blogging, as usual!