Working in the Garden

Him

Me













Him

Me

Him

Me

I love working in the garden!

Landy

Home

Sweet

Golden Delicious

Home

When Thomas and I decided to move to Spokane while he attends law school a few things really fell into place for us, reaffirming that this is where we are supposed to be. One of the opportunities that came up for us was the chance to house-sit*. For 10 ½ months out of the year we get to live in a beautiful home. What's the catch you ask? For 6 weeks in the summertime, we have to completely move out and find somewhere else to live (I’ll post more about that later).

We just came back to our home today and we couldn’t be happier. We love our house. As a matter-of-fact, I’m so happy to be home that I don’t even mind this critter today.

Generally speaking, I like squirrels... but this squirrel likes to traipse around my yard very mischievously

He likes to dig things up and leave my yard full of holes

He likes to act as if this yard and all things in it belong to him

Normally I would try to think of some way to scare him off. My mind would be thinking of all the ways I could give him a fright. Okay, I admit it, when I took this shot my mind was thinking of a few ways I could give him a good scare.

But not today. Today I don’t care. Today I want everything to be just the way it is. Today I’m just happy to be home.

Landy

* Sidenote: I have this friend, KaRyn, she is the one person who I always kind of wish that I was. KaRyn introduced me to all of the great things in life like collecting awesome plates, finding the best vintage coats and really great music. A couple of weeks before we landed our house-sitting gig, Thomas and I were having dinner with KaRyn. She was getting ready to make a big move herself and she said that she needed to try to find someone to house-sit for. I thought to myself how awesome that would be but no one ever really finds a situation like that. Two weeks later we were house-sitters. Thanks KaRyn, you always did come up with the best ideas. (If you want to read more about KaRyn's charmed life click here)

Beauty Sleep

Have you ever been so tired that you fall asleep at the kitchen table?

Or at the park?

Have you ever been so tired that you share a blanket with the kid across the room?

 

or go to bed with dirty feet?

 

Have you ever been so tired you fall asleep on top of the person already sleeping on the couch?

 

Have you ever taken a picture of your sister-in-law while she was sleeping? Check out those lashes. 

 

Have you ever been so tired that you plop down next to your water dish?

Have you ever risked life, limb and all of your relationships because you like to take pictures of people sleeping? I have and I don't feel the slightest bit of guilt about it either.

Landy 

Let’s Face It…{I’m not the Pioneer Woman}

The Pioneer Woman recently blogged about going to a  PBR rodeo. She got lots of great pictures of chaps, cowboys and..... and..... bulls. Sorry, I was looking for another "c" word to make it a "c" trifecta but I just couldn't up with anything. 

Alas, I am not the Pioneer Woman so I was not at this event. However, I did attend a rodeo recently, the Cheney Rodeo (not Cheney as in Dick Cheney but more like chee-knee). I also got some pictures.

I got pictures of real cowboys. Isn't that what a real cowboy does, sit on a fence post and stare off into the sunset? I don't think this cowboy knew I was taking pictures of him, at least I hope he didn't because I took a lot. On second thought, he did give me a "you're a crazy lady" look one time and then tried to steer clear of me the rest of the night.

I got pictures of kid cowboys. There's something about a little kid in a cowboy hat that just breaks my heart. Side note: I try to use the term breaks my heart whenever possible because I find it such an odd term. Sometimes when I'm bored I'll go on iTunes and look at the celebrity playlists. I started noticing that when the celebs are explaining why they chose a particular song there is always one that goes something like this, "I find the melodic overtures of this song so haunting. My heart breaks every time I listen".

I got pictures of cowboys in pink. I bought a pink shirt for Thomas one time; uuhhmmm……he looks really good in pink.


The one thing I didn't get was pictures of chaps. Sorry ladies!


Landy

Ask Away!

I’m not pregnant. Thomas and I have been married for more than a year now and I’m still not pregnant. It’s not from lack of trying. It’s not because I don’t like kids. It’s not because we’re waiting for him to get through school. It’s not because we’re trying to prove a point. I’m just not pregnant. I’m not stressed out about it, it’s not controlling my life, the sky hasn’t fallen but I do think about it. Mostly I think about the many different ways I can respond when someone asks us about it. I’m thinking there are a few responses that could get people to blush a little and make them feel awkward about asking the question. Hey, I might as well have some fun with the situation. On second thought, just thinking about the responses is causing me to blush. No, I couldn’t really pull off those responses without embarrassing myself, I guess you’re all safe for now. In the meantime I'll enjoy what I have right now, which is oddly similar to this minus the kid.

12 Hour Adventure

Thomas worked late into the night on Friday night so that he wouldn't have any homework/studying to do on Saturday. We got into the car at 9:57 am and we took off. We had no real desitnation in mind but we knew we wanted to get out of town. We got onto I-90 and hit a bunch of fog and thought that it might not be the best day for an adventure. Now, this had happened to us before. One time we left Portland to head to the coast. The entire way there it was nothing but rain & fog however, as soon as we got the coast it was all sunshine & blue skies. This is how that day ended.

So, we decided to keep going. Next thing we knew we were 24 miles to Paradise. Now that we know how to get to Paradise we decided to leave that it for another day. We managed to stop at an overpriced antique store in St. Regis, Montana then we went to a Trout Aquarium where Thomas had a unique experience. He went into the men's restroom but he didn't see the Wo before men.

We turned around to head back into Idaho. We stopped in Wallace where we found what was formerly a house of ill-repute and now a musuem preserving a piece of history.

However, the most important thing we discovered in Wallace was The Center of the Universe. And here all this time I was sure it had been me that was the center of the universe.

Just outside of Wallace we hit up highway 4 which took us directly to a ghost town. How did we know it was a ghost town. Well, there were all the vacant buildings and structures but mostly it was the auto shop that gave it away.

That's right, Ghost Town Auto. And even Ghost Town Auto was vacant, which I think further justifies it being an authentic ghost town.

 We pulled up to our house at 10:03 pm feeling like we'd seen the world. In the end it was a magical, beautiful, perfect sort of day. Even more perfect because I got to spend the day with the man I love.

Making Things Up

Maybe it's because I'm not working right now so I have a lot more free time. Maybe it's because the weather is getting colder and so I've been staying in more. (Here's how it looks outside my window right now)

Whatever the reason is I'm making all sorts of things.

 Last night I made this soup.
It's a different take on chicken noodle soup. Both Thomas and I thought it was quite delicous. He even gave me permission to keep it in the rotation, which isn't anything new, he almost always says he wouldn't mind if I made something again but his eyes never lie. It's the eyes that tell me if I can really keep something in the rotation and when I asked him about this soup his eyes gave me a definitive YES. I wish I could say I came up with the soup on my own but I must give credit to Dinners On Me. You can find this recipe and many other great ones here. (I did stray slightly from the recipe. Instead of making my own meatballs I bought chicken links. I took them out of the case, cut them into small pieces and fried them up. Also, I cut out the celery and carrots since I'm not a fan of either of those items being cooked).

This weekend I'm missing out on a family baby shower. Thomas' cousin Brett & his wife Kim are having a baby. We're so excited for them but not so excited for ourselves because our recent move has made it impossible for us to attend the baby shower. As gifts they were asking for books and it just so happens that one of Thomas' favorite books as a kid is part of set that comes with one of my favorite books as a kid. To make it extra special I decided to make a little book bag for them. Congratulations Brett & Kim.