Holy cow did it get cold. It is chill you to the bone cold out there. This past weekend M&I went upstate to work a little bit on getting the “house” cleared. We made some really good progress despite the chill in the air. We also got one step closer to electricity by putting a grounding rod in. M and his dad did most of the work. It is an 8′ pole and it went into the ground about 4′ and stopped… we hope that is enough. We made a few trips to the local recycling center. We were overjoyed to find out they recycle books! Alleluia. We took a few loads out which really helped clear some space. We are trying to recycle everything we possibly can. The more we recycle, which is free, the less we have to pay to get rid of. The real shame is some of the books would probably be of interest but they are filthy dirty grimy and mice have made homes out of some. Honestly the only things I am considering keeping are glass items. I figure they can be pretty thoroughly cleaned and then displayed. I am not sure there is anything that could get them clean enough for me to consider eating off them.

I haven’t had the chance to use my new kitchen-aid mixer until tonight. Oh man. I don’t know how I got along without it. It made making cookies so easy! I made delicious peanut butter chocolate chip cookies from a recipe I got from Smitten Kitchen. Yum!!! I can’t wait to make something else with my mixer. I am going to have to find some recipes that aren’t sweets, otherwise I am going to have to buy some elastic pants.

The Library of Congress has released a flickr photoset of images from the 30’s and 40’s. The images come from the Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information and from the George Grantham Bain News Service. All are high res scans and if you have information about a particular image you are encouraged to comment. For more information about the project, click here. via

When I first saw this picture I thought I was looking at jewelry of some sort. Maybe cufflinks and a pendant? Well it turns out these are drawer pulls. It makes me want to change out some hardware. via link

Damn it! Why did I have to go ahead and promise that I am not going to take on any more crafting projects until July 18th? I have been so good until now and now, I want to cheat. I want a gocco printer! All the things I could make! Tshirts, cards, tote bags… the list goes on. I have so many other projects going already that I honestly can’t possibly take on something else. But that doesn’t stop me from wanting to. I must be strong and resist the urge, at least until July 18th…

I love this desk set up. It looks like there is everything one could need and the nurse print is just wonderful. Because I am such a pack rat, I am not sure I will ever be able to achieve such simple beauty in my primary residence, but maybe in my upstate retreat… via link

It is a little early to be thinking about landscaping with all the snow coming our way, but for whatever reason, I have been. I think I just really want this weekend getaway dream to become a reality this year. So come spring we are going to need to mulch a few areas that get overrun with poison ivy. You are probably wondering why with 18 acres we care about a few hundred square feet of poison ivy. Location, location, location. It happens to be in the perfect spot for a lot of things we would like to do on this property, namely have friends and family over to hang out. My grandfather mentioned he saw someone using rubber tire mulch. M&I both were wondering why anyone would want black mulch. Well it turns out, rubber mulch doesn’t have to be black, although the black isn’t that bad.