Getting back to nature.

A few years ago, Garth & I bought a 9.5 acre piece of heaven. It's just enough off the beaten path of city life to be uber-quiet & deer-filled but not far enough that I'll have to pack snacks for the kids for a "ride into town for sundries" or anything.

Garth goes out there ALL the time (and yeah Garth, don't deny it, those aren't deer trails, those are GARTH trails). I go out there only like 2-3 times a year. I love it there but it depresses me that its going to be like forever til we live there so I tend to stay away.

We took a trip there yesterday with the 3 youngest kids, B was staying the weekend with his aunt (not the SIL I don't like BTW, I like this one very much!). It may have been THE perfect fall day. Garth burned some brush and I wandered around with the kids, eating cheezits and taking pictures. I feel so peaceful there, the trees are tall and strong. There are big plans there, you can just feel it. We know where our house will go, where the barn will be with out pet goats, where we'll someday have alpaca grazing, where we'll have a huge garden, an inground swimming pool, etc... oh the plans. Thank you George Bush for keeping my dream on hold with this sucky war-torn economy (I'm already against the next war, by the way).

We were like the Jeffersons "movin' on up" when we bought our huge 5+ bedroom home 6 years ago yet we feel (and sometimes act!) like the Clampetts trying to get out of it now. No one is buying big houses. Who knew when we bought this awesome dream home that someday we'd dream to actually get more back to our roots, more at one with the earth, live far more green than we currently do and ultimately, downsize. Who knew. Just who knew?

This old bench awaits us. I will find a place for this deteriorating thing somewhere on our property when we live there. We found an old horseshoe too. I'm going to put that somewhere in our house or barn for sure.

Teaching them young the art of a good tree hug:

So its Day 4 of my birthmonth and Garth dared me yesterday that I couldn't not give in to my OCD tendencies and go to Michael's for something that could wait until today's 40% off coupon came. It was actually hard! I was more determined to prove him wrong and prove to myself that I could do it than I was to take the trip for the $3 item and I did it!! Garth congratulated me this morning for not caving in to my bizarre idiosyncrasies and dared me to prove him wrong that I couldn't be nice to him for an entire month. I laughed and knew I probably couldn't do it but I guess to prove him wrong, I'm going to try. I like a good challenge!