Gremlins... Appear to be gone for now as far as the layout page issue. Here is how I fixed my blog list side bar issue....

 

I was able to access the layout page of blogger.

There must me some interesting changes going on over there.

 

If your blog roll doesn't update or you have issues editting the list

Try this:

1.  Go to the THEME section in your dashboard

2.  Click the down arrow next to CUSTOMIZE

3. Click Edit HTML  be careful

4.The HTML page will display. In the upper right hand corner there are some icons

hover over them so see what they do. The one with 4 squares will open up

"jump to widget"

5. Search for your blog list as you can see mine has bloglist 1 , 2 , and 3.

6. When you click on the widget it will take you to the code.

when I was having issues my old setting had a "display 50" blogs in sidebar.

for some reason they only allow 10.  Check your code at each blog list widget if you have 

more than one.

7. Edit only the number as you can see in the last picture.

Only make one change at a time, save your work (see last picture ) and go back and view the blog to see if

it worked.

 8. Note , the save icon is the small floppy disc in the upper right hand corner.