September snuck up on me -- and I lost July and August.

Oh, jeez. It has been a while! Well, for whomever is reading, goodness things have been crazy and life turned upside down in the best way possible! My dear husband got a wonderful new job, but it means we will be moving halfway across the country. I love New England and I love where we live, but honestly we have done nothing but struggle since the day we got here. It has been very hard on us, especially for my dear husband. He so deserves this break.

So I have been decluttering and sorting and tossing. I had the dump-run guy here yesterday morning, and he took SOOOO much crap out of the basement. It looks AWESOME down there. I keep going down just to marvel at the tidiness of it all! Now, I do shield my eyes from the other side of the basement which is still a little messy, but the worst of it is done. Even if I didn't do another thing, it's still a huge improvement.

So, let's see. It has been hot, as this poor squirrel could tell you.



Before we move away, there are some things that I want to do that I thought I would have forever to do. One thing I have always wanted to do is to go to the Hancock Shaker Village. Today we finally went, but it wasn't just the Shakers we were going to see. My own favorite gluten-free blogger, Shauna Ahern of The Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef, was going to be there for a book signing and talk as part of the country fair that was going on this weekend! I was so excited to go that I couldn't get the family out of the house fast enough. We were rewarded with an incredibly beautiful New England Indian Summer day!

Shauna and Daniel had their little one, Lu, with them. She was a trooper given that she's logged more miles in two days than most adults -- and she had WAY better coping skills than many jet-lagged adults! We and the other people who came to see them just sat at the long Shaker dining tables and chatted about our own experiences with going gluten-free, trading cooking tips (like this one about using vodka in pie crust dough, which I am eager to try), and about all the deliciousness in the Aherns' new cookbook. I cannot wait to get started on the recipes, which all look delicious and not all of which are GF alternatives for "regular" food. Hey, chocolate mousse is naturally GF and their recipe for chocolate mousse with jam and creme fraiche is calling to me! I actually said to Shauna that I would like to do a Julie/Julia treatment to her book and blog about it. Oh, crap! Did I say that out loud?! When I'm trying to sell my house and when my dear husband is about to leave for his new job?! Yes, I did. And my dear husband hates tuna noodle casserole, so I will start with that recipe -- and follow it with the chocolate mousse. That's the ticket!