This week's Frugal Five was all about Halloween, so it's fitting to talk about something truly scary: next week is election week. I honestly can't even begin to guess at how things will go... but I'm glad to be in Washington, where even a shift won't look like a shift compared to other parts of…
Hallelujah! The air is finally clear today! And the rain has returned. I swear, there has never been a year where the whole of the Western Pacific Northwest has been so excited to see the rain. It has been weeks and weeks of mostly awful air quality and temperatures 10-20 degrees above normal. Today is…
After putting our pup down on Friday, we escaped for the weekend. I started looking at options once I knew we were saying goodbye, because I knew it would be better for all of us if we weren't looking under the kitchen table for a dog that was long longer there. Everything is expensive right…
Well, we've escaped the smoky skies and extra terrible wildfires up here in the PNW for most of this summer, but the smoke is headed on in this weekend. Fingers and toes crossed that things can stay in check for the next month or so, because it is dry out there. In comparison to a…
For anyone who noticed, yes, I skipped my regular Frugal Five last week. After returning from our Italy trip, we had one "normal" week home as we readjusted to our jet lag and caught up on normal life. That following Thursday, my husband started to get sick, and by Sunday, the rest of us were.…
It's been a week now since we returned from Italy, and the grief that gripped me has lessened a bit. As my husband noted, I've never been so heartbroken to return home from a trip before. It was our first big trip (first plane flight) since Covid began, the first time to see our dear…
We spent the last two weeks in Italy with our very dear friends (who used to be our neighbors). We went down to visit them in Austin, Texas in November 2019, where they were living at the time, and then in December 2019 up here for just a weekend. We made plans to meet up…
We took some time off for our anniversary and spent three nights in a canvas wall tent in the woods on an off grid farm. We're now debating the canvas wall tent (with wood fired stove) as an alternative to a travel trailer, so we specifically stayed in one with that in mind. Even better,…
We are now 16 days to Halloween. I may not always know what day it is at any given time, but since the kiddo is now updating me daily, I do know how many days are left until Halloween. After Halloween, I expect to have a similar update for Thanksgiving and Christmas (and then his…
The weather is definitely turning now that we're into October. The rain is so needed and welcome, but the sunshine is also extra welcome right now because we know it's precious and rare and soon enough we won't see it for a good stretch of time. Like the last few years, I've been intentionally getting…