Video Test of Snow

Hello Ladies!

It's snowing today. Please tell me if you can view this video from your computer.

Alula

Welcoming a new contributor!

Ladies, just dropping a quick post to say that we have finlly wired a new contributor into our blog! Everyone welcome Fuzzy!

Also, please notice I've put the counter back up and placed The Impossible Quiz at the bottom of the page.

Alula

How to pick a career

I went to my first ALA conference today. Ladies, one should TOTALLY decide on a career based on what gets handed out at the conferences. There were many venders there today--database designers--handing out pens and posters and squeezies and other fun doodads.

And then there were the publishing houses. They handed out FREE BOOKS.

Yes, free books. Rows and rows of free books. People putting free books, publisher's proofs, into my hands. So many free books that we filled our free duffle bags (I went with the Librarian and one of her friends), went to the car because we couldn't carry anymore to drop them off, and came back to complete the circuit.

I have located heaven, and it is a librarian's conference.

Alula

Save the Turkey Soup

So in an effort to lose weight and save money, I'm cooking more now. I've got my turkey recipe just about right:

That's one fine looking bird.

But as always, the issue is eating all that turkey before it goes bad. I've discovered that freezing it straight out usually doesn't work so well. So instead, we go the route of turkey sandwiches out the wazoo. And this time around, I attempted a turkey soup that turned out so well I thought I'd post it here.

Basically you strip your turkey after it's done and save the meat. Also save the turkey drippings and bones--save everything but the gross bits that remind you of Eli Roth films (in my case, I cook the giblets in the pan for extra flavor and then throw out the liver, heart, etc., and the spine). The rest of the stripped bones you can throw into a slow cooker and add the turkey drippings (in my case, I initially cooked the turkey in 4 quarts of chicken boullion with some added herbs). Maybe add a little more water if the crock looks low--you're shooting for half-full with liquid.

You cook the bones in the drippings and water for about 2 hrs for flavor, then fish out all of the bones. Cut up about 2-3 cups of leftover turkey into small bite-size portions and dump it in. Then do the same with about 2 cups carrots, 1 cup celery, and 1 cup red potatos (or adjust to your preference). Cook for about another hour until it all comes to a boil and all the veggies are cooked through.

Then I portioned it up into single-servings in tupperwares for freezing (how cool is that?--now I can freeze the turkey without losing taste!). Salt to your preference before eating:

The awesome part is it's mostly turkey and veggies, so it's healthy and keeps your system moving. It's a good start for weight loss, as I've found. You can eat it like a soup with more liquid or like a veggie bowl with less, and all the colors from the orange carrots, green celery, and red potatos make it very appetizing.

Enjoy!

Alula

I am victorious!

Sometime in the middle of the night... My period decided to go away finally. I've lived with my period from November 30th until last night. I am SO thrilled I just want to dance all day long. If you girls have ever been this happy about not having you period let me know, and we will share in the happiness. Thank you for listening to my rantings about my period up until now, and I would just like to say one thing, "I am victorious!"

Work in progress

I apologize to anyone trying to do anything on this site while I'm dicking around with it. The wedding countdown and site counter will be back soon; pls let me know if there's any other widgets you'd like to see.

If you happened to check things out this morning while the site was down, I uber apologize--I was hijacked by some bad code.

Alula

Scared at the Doctor

Today's Morning Sky from my back courtyard:

Alright, Ladies, so you all know I've been sick lately. My boss asked me if I was pregnant because I was throwing up so much. Then one of my mom's friends said she thought I was. When I hadn't shaken it in a week, and I was habitually ill the same time every evening, even my mother in law (The Librarian) suggested maybe it was the case.

Ladies. I had my yearly physical yesterday, and these crazy-ass sentiments of others that I had a bun in the oven were sitting in the back of my mind. Here is what transpired.

Doctor finished asking me questions. We're moving on to the breast exam when the nurse pops in with my urine analysis. Doctor takes it, looks at it, gets a confused look on her face as she sets it down and comes back to start feeling me up.

Straight out of the blue: "So, have you and your husband ever considered having children?"

My brain: Oh, F*CK! What I say: "No. That's just not in our plans right now."

Doctor smiles. "Well, you're both young. You have time."

Now I'm confused. "You weren't going anywhere with that question, were you?"

Doctor looks confused. "No--why?"

Thank God! There was an unusually high white count in my urine, and the rest was serendipity. Not pregnant. I explained everything and me and the Doc had a good laugh over it. BTW: do not laugh during a PAP smear. It's painful.

Alula