Narnia?

No, this isn't Narnia... it's Olympia WA. This picture was taken in front of our house just after the snow began... before we lost power.
This was quite the storm. It started Monday- the kids were off school because of a holiday- and just kept getting worse. First a big dump of snow (over a foot), then it turned icey. That was when the trouble started. It wasn't the snow that caused this whole area to lose power... it was the ice. There were over 300,000 customers without power. We lost our power on Thursday, 8am.
It's not until the sun starts to set that you realize how much you rely on electricity... for lights... for heat.... for connection to the outside world via the internet. At first it's a bit of an adventure... eating by candle light, playing hide-n-seek in the dark house. Then, by the next night, you realize it's a pain... and you realize all the food you're going to lose in the refrigerator/freezer. The kids had a solution for some of the refrigerated items... (Sam calls it our "hobo 'frig")

Our "hobo 'frig"

We were all set to spend another night in the dark when... THE LIGHTS CAME ON!!! The lights were accompanied by exuberant cheers. Everyone was SO HAPPY to not have to sleep another night in the cold. I was just so happy to be able to get back to normal. The only blessing in all this was that, without the electricity to distract us, we were able to connect as a family... playing board games, cards, etc. It was nice to know that we can still enjoy each other... even without cell phones, television and the internet.

SNOW!!!

Our first snow this winter... This would have been nice last month... would have really put us all in the Christmas spirit. Christmas just doesn't seem like Christmas without that glistening white stuff. Despite how pretty that new fallen snow looks... I'm just not mentally prepared for snow anymore. This balmy winter weather we have had of late has gotten me thinking lots about Spring. The kids are off school today, so I know they will enjoy making snowmen and snow forts and... of course... the occasional snowball fight. And given the weather forecast for the next couple of days... there might be more opportunities for the kids to add to their snow fort.

Branching out

 I've been seeing these cute altered projects and always wanted to try my hand at making one... New year, new goals right??
I found the frame at my local Goodwill store, sanded it down to distress it a bit and then got to work with finding a theme/color. My vintage black and white paper and my A Child's Year Cricut cartridge were the perfect marrriage for this project.
I hope to continue to branch out in trying altered projects like this one. I love the vintage look and can find lots of embellishments at local estate sales, thrift shops and my new favorite find... a local shop that sells great vintage finds (books, watches, keys, etc.)