Decisions. . .

Should I spend my last week unemployed being productive?

Or watching Gilmore Girls?

Hello 2011

I promise to be nice to you, 2011.
Unless you are mean to me first.  Then I have to reconsider.

I don't have any New Year's Resolutions.  I tend to break them.

I am currently sitting at Bruegger's Bagels.  They just gave me (in return for my offer of money) a sesame bagel slathered with cream cheese.  If I had made any New Year's Resolutions, this exchange would have broken at least one of them.

I will pick up Craig from his work in about an hour and a half.  I will take him to the airport.  (He flies to DC for a work conference thing).  Then, I will go to my new workplace, and formally sign my offer letter.

Hello Corporate World.  I start next Monday.

This is going to be a different year.  Introducing a new corporate world, a commute, and hopefully, a couple of rabbits.

These kind, New Zealand Rabbits.

Craig has been thinking about starting our own rabbitry.  I got on board after eating rabbit stew yesterday.  It was good.  More on that later.  We purchased the rabbit from Stop and Save.  It was incredibly expensive, like 15 bucks a pound.  It tasted like chicken.  

Of course, there are obstacles to raising rabbits.  We have to get the OK from the landlord.  We have to find the rabbits.  And then, there are costs to having a rabbitry. 

Craig's chickens and Rachelle's rabbits.  

I like alliteration.  

Rabbits before chickens, though.  Apparently they are easier to deal with.  Baby steps to homesteading.  

2011 = corporate world by day, farmer by night and weekend.  

I'm going to go crochet now.     

Gluten-free, way to be?

Thanksgiving was wonderful, but somewhere during that weekend I caught a cold/flu.  So that means my time in the lab as a guinea pig for the sleep study is postponed, since I can't enter with a fever.

Yesterday I spent a lot of time googling gluten sensitivity.  I'm fine, but we think Craig may be sensitive or allergic to gluten.  So, here goes a new venture into wheat free cooking.  I'm still going to eat wheat when I'm not with Craig, but going to try out gluten free dinners when we have our meals together.  I didn't realize how many things have gluten in them.  Soy sauce?  Who knew.

So, gluten free means I'm going to try and see if I can use the flour we already have for doggie treats.  I've never made dog treats before, and I don't know why I am intimidated about it, but I am.  My dogs will eat snotty used Kleenex and be happy, why do I fear failing with their treats?

I tried a gluten free peanut butter cookie this afternoon.  FAIL.  Maybe I just have too much of a sweet tooth.  But all natural peanut butter, an egg, some sweetener, and vanilla do not equal deliciousness.  It equals some sort of crumbly blahness.  And I love peanut butter.  Oh well.

Craig returns from DC for a work trip tonight.  Our gluten-free dinner will consist of leftover kale and potato soup with sausage.  It tastes wonderful, and I am excited.  Craig made this soup, though.  I need to get back onto my attempts at cooking.

A new Thanksgiving

Craig and I spent Thanksgiving with his family in Syracuse, and it was beautiful.  I love big groups of people talking all at once over mounds of food.  And, slowly I'm starting to feel more comfortable with speaking in the midst of the big group talking all at once.  Being a quiet extrovert is complicated.

This morning, I woke early due to my strict sleeping schedule thanks to my guinea-pig-ness for the Harvard medical sleep study.  When Craig awoke, the first thing I heard him say as he walked downstairs was "All RIGHT! HECK YES!!!".  I've never heard him so excited.  He picked up this magazine/catalog that his dad had on the coffee table, and keeps showing me pictures of mushrooms he wants to grow.

The rest of today will be full of leftovers, car repair (thanks to Craig's handy mechanic minded brother), family, and, of course, the IRON BOWL.  RTR.

Roll Tide :-)

Tomorrow I'll be watching the LSU game with fellow Alabama football fans at a sports bar in Boston!  

I wonder if it will be anything like my experience watching the Penn State game at a sports bar in Tuscaloosa. . . 

 

Probably unfair to compare.  

Also, we are going to go eat Italian at the North End after the game.  I probably can't compare that to Tuscaloosa's food choices either. . . 

Wok N' Roll!

We have a new biweekly tradition.  

and

I didn't realize how well chinese food and laundry go together.  

Yesterday, we had a whopping ten loads of laundry to do. 

We took up this entire row.  Plus one lonely machine on the opposite wall because we couldn't fit on this entire row.  I blame the move on the large amount of laundry we had.  We washed all our sheets and blankets  we used in the move.  I wonder how long I can use this move thing as an excuse.  (We don't usually have this much trash, we just moved. . . I'm sorry I'm late getting my car inspected, we just moved, etc. etc. etc.)

One good thing about Bubble-It is that the laundry actually gets folded and put away immediately.  Normally, when I do laundry, I let the clean clothes sit in the hamper forever.  Plus, we have a very legitimate excuse to walk next door to Wok N' Roll and eat spring rolls while waiting for the laundry to dry.  

Another potential plus?

Hmmm, I can't figure out how to flip this picture around. . .  Oh well.  

On the Road, getting here.

It has been awhile.  Craig and I are officially Massachusettsians.  I am registered to vote here, I have MA license plates, a MA driver's license, and an Ayer library card.  Doesn't get more official than that :-)

Craig was in Atlanta for a conference the first week of October.  On Wednesday, October 6, I finished work.  I stayed late, finishing things, saying goodbye to my office, etc.

After getting everything finished up there, I packed up my things and said goodbye to Michael, Laura, and Michaelito.

Have I mentioned that the Amsters can cook?  Seriously.  Here is their chicken with tzatziki sauce dish.  yummy.

Thursday morning, I finished packing and drove through Birmingham, saying goodbye to my mom and my sister Jessica.  I arrived as she was finishing her interferon treatment for the day.  It was interesting to see how the process worked.  I am soo glad my mom is now done with this treatment, though.  She experienced practically all of the possible side effects:  nausea, depression, flu-like symptoms.  We didn't expect it to be so intense.

After her treatment, we went to lunch at Panera.  This is when it hit me that I am leaving my family -- it was really hard.

The family, minus brother :-( , taken labor day weekend at the Arrington Vineyards in TN.  

Got on the road, in time to make it to Atlanta to drop off Otto at the vet for boarding overnight.  Then, on to see Craig!

He was at a conference in Atlanta for the VA, and staying at the J.W. Marriott.  It was very nice.  Thursday night, we went out for dinner at a steakhouse type place down the road, and were very surprised/happy to see a family friend at the same restaurant!  (Who happened to be with another VA conference at a different hotel down the road).  

On Friday, while Craig finished the conference, I got my oil changed, did some other errands, and picked up Otto from the vet.  After a quick lunch of Chick-Fil-A (last chance for my only favorite fast food?!) and dessert at Yogurberry. (The Taro root flavor is amazing), we headed out.  

We drove separate cars, because my parents graciously gave us Jessica's old car about a week before we headed up here.  No more loud Mazda for Craig!  (He got pulled over once in MA because they thought he didn't have a muffler and he was violating the noise rules).  Unfortunately, that meant driving separately, though.  Most of the trip was spent listening to some books on CD I checked out from the Tuscaloosa library (note to self -- mail back ASAP).

We stayed the night in Winchester, VA.  Although we didn't realize while booking, I thought it fitting that my last night in the south in the foreseeable future was spent at the Best Western's "Lee-Jackson" Inn.  It was complete with pictures, statues, and all kinds of civil war memorabilia.  

Saturday morning we rose early, ate breakfast at Chick-Fil-A (my actual chance for my favorite fast food), and hit the road.  We made it to Navarino, NY before dark.  

The drive was beautiful.  Pennsylvania was especially nice.  

Once at Craig's part of the country, we had a crazy quick visit with everyone.  

Garrett, Abby, Craig, Morgan, and little Scarlet :-)

The Great Apple Festival.  Beautiful weather, too.

Gorgeous weather.  And leaves.  

Little Scarlet :-)

After lunch, he was being so shy! 

So, after a whirlwind 24+/- visit, Craig and I headed out Sunday afternoon to our new home in Ayer, MA.

And that deserves an entry all to itself :-)