I made an Outpost.

If you haven't gotten MaryJane's Outpost book yet, scurry over to Amazon.com and buy yourself a copy for $19.80 or go to MaryJane's Website and order one for $30. Why the price difference? The one you get from MaryJane is autographed! How cool is that?
So after reading this gorgeous book, I felt like living inside all summer was just about going to kill me. I went out garage sale-ing yesterday with the intent not to buy something to make an outpost, but rather to find bookshelves and a dresser for Nora. Garage Sale after Garage Sale was disappointing. Everything was astronomically expensive and while I saw a few cool items- there was no way I was going to blow my whole $20 budget on one item. Nope. Not gonna do it.

I am sure there were some really great ones out there, but I was limited by only going to the ones that I could find. I still am only comfortable with about half of Billings. And the side street are a mystery to me. I had forgotten my computer so I couldn't mapquest them and I didn't have a city map.

So I see one that I know where it is, and it advertises that it is a day care going out of business- Lots of kid Items! YES! Sweet! Hold on Nora! Here we go!

So the first thing I notice when we get there is not the kid's toys, or the power tools, but a free standing hammock for sale for...$8!!!! The ONLY thing that is wrong with it is that it has some rips in the top fabric. I am a farmgirl! I can fix that!! So my next thought is...How am I going to get it home? Sure enough, it folds up and even come apart into 4 pieces!

So once Nora and I get home after buying her a temporary dresser and a few toys, I set up my new hammock. But it was missing something... So I stung a cross line to my clothes line, stringing up a spare sheet and this is what resulted!







Isn't it great?! I even ran an extension cord out so I could talk with my friends on the MaryJane's Farm Chat Forum

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

As I went to bed last night I knew it was snowing. Our bedroom was filled with a soft glow of light from outside which only happens when it is foggy or snowing out. Something about the water particulates in the air must reflect the ambient light back up and into the bedroom. It probably doesn't help that I have 4 strings of lights wrapped around railing of the stairs outside! What can I say- I love Christmas lights.

I remember as a child one of our family's Christmas traditions was to drive around the town to see all the fantastically decorated houses. We would listen to Christmas carols and sing along when we knew the words. Probably off-key. But it was lots of fun and it always seemed so magical!

This was of course before the time of huge inflatable snow globes in the front yard and most people didn't have animatronic decorations. But seeing all the houses lit up and glittering- It made Christmas be the best time of the year! I can't wait until we have our own house and we can really get into the Christmas spirit. It is hard to decorate for the holidays when you live in an apartment that doesn't let you put new holes in the wall or use the sticky stuff that holds things up. And it is especially hard to hang lights to the roof when you don't own a ladder. So our outside lights consist of a few strands wound around the railing of our stairs and some hanging around the door. I also wrapped the front door in wrapping paper and put some bows on it as well.

Anyway- Back to the snow. The world was beautiful this morning. Nice and fresh and whitewashed. Nora loves the snow. She thinks it is some pretty amazing stuff. We had to drive pretty carefully to work, but we made it safe and sound.

I love playing in the snow. There isn't anything like snow to make adults act like kids again! I remember building snow men and trying to build snow forts as a child. More recently I tried to build a little snow shelter for my dog.

Sky-dog loves the snow. She runs out and buries her head in it. She runs around with her face down in the snow like a doggie snow plow. She will get a load on her nose, toss it in the air and then try to catch it. She runs around like a maniac and tries to get us to throw snow balls at her. She is so much fun. Funny though, she didn't like the snow shelter I made for her a few years ago.

Doug and I had a nice relaxing holiday. He made chocolate chip cookies and for dinner he cooked a fabulous Prime Rib and we had a glass or two of red wine. Nora had some prime rib and mashed potatoes before going to bed.

Right now Northern Idaho is under a snow advisory. We are supposed to get another 2-3 inches of accumulated snow this morning. It looks like we have a chance of snow everyday this week until next Monday! Wow! I hope this moisture will help the farmers and I hope this storm continues on to Wyoming and drops tons of moisture in the mountains. They really need a good snow pack to feed the lakes and streams all summer and fall.