In a Nutshell

This thing has been happening lately where I've lost all sense of time.  Time going by fast is such a cliché but it's like every day gone by is actually three and every week past is actually two.  If you had asked me before I actually checked, I would have told you it had only been about a month since I had written here.  Turns out I haven't written since May.  Oops.  That's been happening to me a lot.  I'll mean to do something and I'll put it on my list of things to do and by the time I finally get to it it's 5 weeks later.

I didn't write for a while because there was really nothing new to say, and then there was a lot to say and I didn't have time.  I've thought about calling this site quits because it's obviously not the priority it used to be, but then I think about how grateful I am to have this time capsule from the last few years of my life and how so many exciting things are happening now.  I want to write about this time too so I have it for myself.  I just have to get better at it. 

To quickly recap the last 2 1/2 months:

I discovered Grade B maple syrup.  Grade B is darker and thicker than Grade A maple syrup.  It also has a stronger maple flavor and is overall more complex and delicious.  As soon as I brought a bottle home, I poured some into a spoon and took a taste and was all, "oh, this is what syrup is supposed to taste like."  It's a whole new world.  I proceeded to find every excuse possible to make pancakes and French toast and anything else I could pour syrup over.  Yep, two and a half months and that's what I've got for you.  Maple syrup. 

Thwarting my new need to pour maple syrup over anything that would hold still long enough for me to lick it off, Joe has been diagnosed with a gluten intolerance and diabetes.  Since we eat pretty much the same foods and all my numbers are fine, our doctor thinks it's probably just genetic.  Joe has grandparents on both sides who were diabetic.  This obviously has required a completely new way of cooking for us.  The whole experience will likely get its own post at some point, but we did a lot of research and have a great doctor who is completely supportive of our efforts to avoid meds, if possible.  Joe now eats a high protein, very low carb diet.  Sort of a modified paleo.  He tests his blood sugar every day, but so far, we've had his blood sugar completely under control just by cutting most of the sugar, gluten, and carbs in his diet.  On days when his sugar is high, we can almost always trace it back to gluten.  Like maybe he had a couple beers the night before or some slices of pizza on a cheat day.  So far, so good, no meds. 

Other than those two equally monumental, if somewhat conflicting, discoveries, I've just been going through the motions of working and planning for our next step of buying a house and complaining about how much I hate the summer and can't wait for fall and watching way too much Bravo.  So, the usual.  You haven't missed much.