The Great Outdoors

A ride on the tractor, revving up the chain saw, and building a bon fire will always bring a smile to Matt's face. It seems any time he spends outside, he usually does one of the three and it always makes him smile. Maybe it's therapeutic or maybe this is his "playtime" but whatever it may be, the girls and I are usually following him out the door.

Tonight, that's exactly what we did. Even though the air was a cool crisp 34 degrees, it was calm and a perfect night for a bonfire. Earlier in the week, Matt cleared out an area of our yard so he already had limbs and brush ready to burn. For him, it was more trying to finish up a job but for the kids and I, it was a chance to get out of the house and do some playing ourselves. So, we bundled up and headed out with camera in hand. I knew I wanted to do some practice shooting and I thought with the girls and their friends around, I would have a pretty good chance of doing that.

One Man's Trash Another Man's Treasure

Here in Pennsylvania, residents are allowed to place bulk items out for trash or recycling pick-up. On the eve of trash pick-up you can find piled in the corners of each driveway, strange things, old things, useful things, and things that should stay in the trash. We have taken full advantage of this "bulk" pick-up and placed an old toilet out. The funny thing is before the trash men came, it mysteriously disappeared. I think it was the toilet ghost because it just disappeared...POOF! GONE! Now I wished I had cleaned it before setting it out there. I never dreamed in my wildest dreams our used toilet would become another man's treasure. What would you do with a used toilet?

That's what happens, though. You set things out for the trash and the next thing you know, it vanishes. Matt and I think it's comical. I have to admit though, we've partaken in this weird behavior a few times. We picked up a Little Tykes Cozy Coupe and just recently, we scored a really nice set of Emerilware. Our neighbors decided to put them out for the "trash" because they received a new set for Christmas. Thanks Will and Stacey!! Take a look yourself. I couldn't let these triple layer stainless steel, copper aluminum base pans go to the trash when it's quite clear that these are keepsake treasures. I just love them, too!

A New Year

It's a new year. Can you believe it? 2010 has arrived. Hope everyone is enjoying the slow pace of the day and relaxing. That's what we've been doing and loving every minute of it. I started taking down my Christmas decorations but since we have all weekend to get things back in order before our crazy schedules start back up on Jan 4, I decided to do a little each day.

We had a fun New Years Eve. We started the day off by getting hair cuts from a friend who has 5 kids and is expecting her 6th in May. She has a daughter who is in the same Kindergarten class as Gabby so, it was nice to see them and catch up. Next, we piled in the car and went to the movies to see Alvin and the Chipmunks the Squeakquel. Cute. Cute. Cute. It's a great family movie. I love those little critters and the Squeakquel had cute little girl chipmunks that were equally talented as their male companions. After our movie, we enjoyed a scrumptious meal at Outback Steakhouse. It's not often that we get to do both because well, we have a 2 year old and a 5 year old, need I say more. We arrived back to our home early evening, the girls changed into their Tinker Bell pj's, Matt built a warm fire, and I prepared a yummy taco dip. Matt had a bottle of my all time favorite wine chilling so we popped the top to our bottle of Cambria and enjoyed our beverage along with a movie.

Below are some pictures from last night and silly pictures of today. Happy New Year!

Taco Dip