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February 29, 2008

DNA analysis beta testing invitation

Hey everyone,

Some people I know have been working hard on a website for recreational genetic testing. That means nothing scary. All the tests are "nice to know" in helping you better make some life decisions. For example, you can learn how your genes play a role in allergies, nutrition, physical aptitude, certain behaviors and more. Over 40 tests are available individually or in groups as described more fully at www.QTrait.com. Everything is completely confidential.

Here's the scoop:
If you want in the beta test you will be asked to take an 15 minute or so online survey before you place your order and after you receive your results. You'll have to hurry to participate at the reduced price because the beta test is only available to the first 200 people.

Email: info@qtrait.com with the message "Genes for me" in the subject line to receive an invitation to the beta test. You will receive an invitation for a 15% discount off regular price for orders placed.

Posted by jana at 7:37 PM

Grandma Em

My dad gave me this photo of my grandma to me a few weeks ago. The first time I saw this photo of my grandma was when I was in college and my grandma was in her late 80s. (However I can't be completely sure how old she was because she lied about her age so much that she didn't even know how old she was.)

"What a great photo of Grandma!" I said to my aunt.

My aunt said, "That is a photo of your grandma when she was either Miss Missoula or Miss Montana."

"Miss Montana? I didn't know Grandma was Miss Montana."

I never learned anything else about this period of my grandma's life but it made me wonder what else happened in my grandma's life that I didn't know about. I tried asking her questions but she was really good at not telling me anything without seeming like she wasn't telling me anything.

Years later my other grandma moved really close to me. I took that opportunity to do a journaling project with her. I asked her a lot of questions that I found in a book and then I recorded them in a book. I tried going through her photos with her too but I only did a few pages before Britta was born and then her health started declining. Regardless, I'm glad about the journaling I did and wish I had had the same foresight to do it with my other grandma.

Posted by jana at 3:06 PM | Comments (1)

February 23, 2008

Plan B : Building the Obituary

Exciting news: I took some of my Seattle cards into a coffee shop, Local Color at the Pike Place Market and they said they would carry them.

Now I really don't want to sell that many cards. I am not sure why exactly I would want to sell cards for hardly any money other than to build my obituary (as my mother-in-law reminds me is a good idea). However, I spend so much of my time empowering my kids, husband and the corporation that employs me to realize their dreams that I guess I feel like I need to carve out a little slice of that for me.

Plus now if I add "photographer" to my resume I can finally justify buying a fancier camera than my point and shoot one. Really it is all about me getting better toys* and building the obit.

___________________________
* The camera referenced above does not come out until the end of March which is a dangerous amount of time for either the car to break down again or the IRS to tell me I owe a bunch of money. Fingers are seriously crossed for this one!

Posted by jana at 11:43 AM | Comments (1)

February 21, 2008

Project 365 check in

I doctored this one up in Picnik. I was happy to capture this look on Britta's face. She's getting to be such a good model for me. Karsten was born posing for the camera but Britta is coming around. Maybe she has realized that mommy and her camera aren't going away and has decided to put up with me.

Posted by jana at 9:23 PM | Comments (1)

February 20, 2008

The Comeback Cold

Deja vu. The same cold I had a few weeks ago makes a reappearance. To use a phrase out of my kids' play book, "that's not fair!"

I have no time to be sick. Again.

Posted by jana at 10:13 PM

Rats, I should have attended Ignite Seattle

From the Ignite Seattle website:

Ellen Kowalczyk - Living with (and not killing) the entrepreneur in your life. Creative ways on managing money, time, personal space and the emotional ups and downs of living with a startup junkie.

Ignite Seattle! » Ignite Seattle 5: The Schedule
- - - - - -
Although I see that Ellen has only been married for to a startup junkie for 3 years as opposed to my 12.

In other startup junkie news:
Brent, one of my co-workers asked me the other day, "How is Andy's company coming along? Is it a success?" I asked him to define success. "Amount of money earned divided by total hours worked." "With that definition," I said, "total failure." I mentioned this to Andy and he said he equates personal happiness into his equation in which case he declares, "complete success."

Blogged with Flock

Posted by jana at 12:08 PM | Comments (1)

February 19, 2008

Admitting I might be wrong

At work I am one of the few females on my team. A few times my co-workers have suggested people may be interested in setting a permanent color preference when shopping for apparel. I like to think of myself as a superior in apparel shopping knowledge just by being female. I told them "if you have one orange sweater chances are you won't be shopping for two."

Here's a hilarious article that proves me so wrong.

[via Swissmiss]

Posted by jana at 8:33 AM

February 18, 2008

Restocking the manners

Britta said, "I need more water!"

Andy said, "Where are your manners?"

Britta came over to me very solemnly, "Mommy, I ran out of manners."

I used my jazz fingers (remember those from 6th grade dance class?) and waved them all around her. "There," I said, "I used my magic powers to bring your manners back." I was proud of my mom self for coming up with that one.

And since she just started going to Sunday school she said, "Only God can bring me back my manners." I guess the jazz hands magic didn't cut it.

Posted by jana at 8:35 PM

February 13, 2008

Jana's Diet Secrets

Yesterday I picked Karsten up from a friend's house on my way home from work. Riess' mom said, "I never see you at the gym anymore." Me, "yeah, I haven't been going to the gym." She asked me, "where are you working out now?" Me, "I don't." That's when she said, "well you must have a fast metabolism because you are so thin." My answer, "no, it's not that I have a fast metabolism..." She wanted to know, "what is it then?" Me, "I just haven't been eating." She looked at me a little funny.

This is when I realized I should write a diet book! Or really, just a diet blog post because I only have about two paragraphs worth of content.

Occasionally my gut gets fat. Sometimes even my thighs and the back of my arms might jiggle but I probably have never been "fat" by American standards. But sometimes when my breast to stomach ratio starts inching out of proportion I find myself magically thinner again thanks to uncommon "diet" techniques.

So here you have them: Jana's Diet Secrets. I really should write a book, sell it for $14.95, show up on Oprah and make millions but I'm too busy for all that so here you go, my friends, FREE dieting tips!

1. Have your husband cook dinner on a regular basis. This is my most recent diet. Andy and I are both thinner because of it. He has been doing the grocery shopping too so he just buys unappetizing prepackaged food. Instant diet when the food is suddenly less appealing than home-cooked meals. We're both just eating less.

2. Take medication that you have to take on an empty stomach at night. I'm a snacker and when I took some medication that I had to not eat before or after taking it cut down on my caloric intake. That was my 2004 post-baby diet.

3. The Tooth Loss Diet. Read this previous post to learn more about this radical diet.

4. Lactate. I don't think men are wired to do so that is a shame. Do you know that when you're pregnant you're only supposed to eat an extra 300 calories a day? After the baby is born you can bump that number up to 800! Think of lactating as another form of bulemia... wait, maybe that's not a good thought. Anyway, lactating really takes of the pounds fast.

5. Husband out of town with two small children diet. It is hard to feed yourself when you're busy feeding two kids who don't like to eat. Plus when you are so tired your options may be food or bed. Bed seemed to win out during this early 2005 period.

6. Move to Europe and get rid of your car diet. Even better, move to Amsterdam with a 4 floor hike to your flat and have two small kids you have to either push around in a stroller or on a bike. This diet not only melts away the pounds it firms up the flab! And best of all this diet is probably the most enjoyable and recommended diet by Dr. Jana. Eat all the hot dogs you want!

I can't think of anymore tips. See, good thing I didn't try to write a book. Oprah never would have put such junk on her show.

Posted by jana at 9:15 PM | Comments (1)

February 12, 2008

Chore Chart Update

Thanks to Michelle for giving my chore chart a shout out. I'm honored that it would make the cut for such a great blog. Also, this is a warning to any of you parents who may click on the above link: watch your wallet! The KidsHaus site has so much designery goodness that it is very dangerous.

The chore chart has been a great parenting tool for us, especially for Karsten. He loves making check marks on his chart next to the image for the chore he completed. I have some stickers for the chart but it is something about the action of making a big check mark that really satisfies him.

On the days when I'm more motivated to get the kids to bed so I can pick up their toys later they're motivated by the chart to do it on their own. Woo! I am now wondering why I didn't make one of these forever ago.

Posted by jana at 12:03 PM

February 11, 2008

Movies about artists

Recent movies from my netflix queue:

The Lives of Others
Evil communists start wishing they could be artists too. Great movie!

Metallica: Some Kind of Monster
Painful movie to watch (especially if you never liked heavy metal!) but very intriguing. I realized that band members have some of the same issues as designers-- but minus the drugs and a billion times worse. Some times you end up playing Other People's Music if you aren't feeling creative enough to riff on your own. Also it is interesting about how people deal with their success.

Posted by jana at 9:39 PM

February 9, 2008

BREAKING NEWS: Karsten ditches democratic caucus to hang with Republican family

Could this be Karsten's first act of political rebellion?

Me: Karsten, do you want to play with Spencer or go with Daddy to help set up the caucus?

K: Play with Spencer!

Brenda, Spencer's mom is going to the Republican caucus while Spencer's dad, former Army officer and West Point alum (and obvious Repub) watches the kids. During this important moment in democratic history Karsten opts to hang with the Republicans. Sigh.

As for Britta? She's excited about the democrat caucus so she can play with her best friend Abbie. Abbie's dad is the high school civics teacher.

Posted by jana at 12:15 PM

February 8, 2008

Kiddies at the Caucus

Andy is helping our friend Jeff run the democratic caucus in our neighborhood tomorrow.

Tonight at dinner we tried explaining the caucus to the kids since they will be attending too. It was tough to explain something we don't really understand but that didn't matter to the kids.

Karsten: will there be a microphone there? Can I lead the pledge of allegiance?
One of Karsten's highlight of the year was when he got to lead the neighborhood in the pledge on the 4th of July. He still talks about it.

Andy: Ummm, sure.

Karsten: Will George Bush be there?

Andy: No.

I can see Karsten building his political platform now, as long as it means more time on the mic.

Posted by jana at 7:07 PM

February 6, 2008

Lupe the miracle dog

After a week of loss of bowel control Lupe seems to be back to his normal elderly state.

Whew. I hope I don't have to think about his fate again for quite some time because it is too sad.

Posted by jana at 10:33 PM

One of my less lovable quirks

My mom and now my husband HATE that I am okay with stewing in a cloud of kleenex when I'm sick. Do they really think I should get up and throw away each kleenex every time I blow my nose?

Posted by jana at 4:51 PM | Comments (5)

Ahhh, the miracle of cold medication

Andy bugs me for not taking enough medication and I bug him for taking too much medication. Somewhere in between I believe is a happy medium.

Thanks to the wonders of sudafed I am almost productive today.

Posted by jana at 1:32 PM

February 5, 2008

No girls allowed

Karsten has a new sign he made for his door. In case it is not clear it means: no girls allowed.

Posted by jana at 9:24 PM

mom sick on couch. dad gimped out on bed

...but the kids are happy. Underdog the movie showed up in the mail today via Netflix so I put my laptop to good use as a screen.

Posted by jana at 9:11 PM

It is time

I have a sore throat/cold/cough. Andy threw his back out. To make this a terrible triumvirate I think it is time to say goodbye to Lupe, our dog of 14 years. And now I can't type anymore.

Update: After scrubbing up runny, mucous-y dog diarrhea while I'm sick and then having to pick my dog up because he can't stand up on his own I thought "this is it." However I should wait a bit until Andy can put on his own socks and I'm not wanting to take naps all day. However while I know Andy and I will improve I don't think there's going to be an upside for Lupe in his geriatric age. I don't want to think about his fate being in my hands though. As long as he has a good quality of life Lupe will be roaming the beach.

Posted by jana at 3:43 PM

February 4, 2008

Operation Fatten Up Britta

Britta is really skinny, and for good reason. She doesn't eat. For awhile I thought she was my "good eater" because Karsten won't try anything new. Britta will put spinach and broccoli in her mouth on occasion. She just won't eat more than a bite or two of anything, ever. When I look how thin she is it worries me.

Starting tonight I'm going to haul my laptop over to the dining table and right before she goes to bed I'm going to have her watch Cinderella and see how much food I can stuff in her concave belly. I'm also going to order some more pediasure milk. Wouldn't it be great if I could just hook her up to an IV at night?

Posted by jana at 3:36 PM | Comments (2)

February 2, 2008

Another convo with the hubby

Him: You know how some girls have that look of their thong showing above their jeans?

Me: Yeah?
Not liking where this convo is going

Him: Well you have the look of your long underwear popping up above your jeans.

-----
I admit, I've been wearing long underwear for the last two months. When is it going to be summer? I'm ready.

Posted by jana at 1:33 PM

The Project 365 Party

Ordering ice cream at Costco.



Makeup at Marco's

It is exciting to see more of my peeps joining Project 365 -- or as Ursula pointed out since it is leap year it should be Project 366. Maybe I'll keep it 365 so I can use one day as an amnesty day. You never know when my battery for my camera might die.

The Round Up:
David Berlinquette
Hey Dave, you need to update with some photos. How is that for motivation? I like seeing snippets of your day. Okay, I promise not to harass you in public again. I'm happy to have company for Project 365.

Drew
It should be illegal for someone with a law degree to be able to take such good photos. Not right.

Ursula
I got to oogle her new Chanel purse and tea at the Georgian Room. Oh yes, I do want to be Ursula.

One thing I'm finding out about myself in doing this project: I can be lazy. Very lazy. I sometimes don't take more than 30 seconds to think about my photo of the day. The other thing is that my shyness can be a problem. When I'm out in public I don't want anyone to see me taking a photo. I try and be inconspicuous.

But still, I'm having fun reviewing my photos just to remember "oh yeah, that day" and see a variety in my photo taking.

It is not too late for anyone else to start. You just have to take photos for 365 consecutive days starting any time. Let me know if anyone else starts up.

And before I go back to the work I *should* be doing instead of blogging I should link to this site: http://photogamer.com/for a photo challenge every day. I haven't participated but am thinking for another lazy day I might check it out for inspiration.

Posted by jana at 12:30 PM | Comments (2)