Goodbye alabamarachelle blog. . .

At least for now.  I'm not good at goodbyes.

Hello New Blog.

I have an emotional connection to you, blogger.  We have had some great times.  But I am no longer feeling it.  And having two blogs makes me feel a bit like I'm in an adulterous relationship.  Its time to pick sides.

Sorry blogger, you will always have a part of my heart.  But let's just be friends.

But, if things don't work out with New Blog, and you are still available, we should totally have another shot.  

 

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.