outside my window-winter edition

Outside my window.....everything is brown and dead.

I'm not a huge fan of dead. Or brown, for that matter.

I'm anxiously waiting for some snow to cover up the ugly, but in the meantime, sunsets like this one will have to hold me over until the white stuff makes an appearance.


I am thinking.....that sometimes, modern technology can be pretty darn amazing. On Christmas day, my three boys spent a couple hours playing a game together on their X-boxes. The amazing part is that one of the boys was in Montana, one was in New York, and one was in the Middle East. They were able to talk to each other like they were sitting side by side, and it almost made me want to grab my very own sniper rifle (the virtual kind) and join in the fun. Unfortunately, my video game skills haven't progressed past the old school Mario Kart level, so I've got some work to do before I'm allowed to play with the big kids.


From the kitchen.....these enchiladas on Christmas Eve, egg nog French toast Christmas morning, and prime rib for Christmas dinner.

I'm still full.


I am reading.....nothing. I just finished The Hunger Games yesterday. It was my first read on my Kindle, and I think I am officially a Kindle fan. I would like to make one tiny improvement though.

The Kindle needs a remote control.

Stick with me here.

Our upstairs is arctic in the winter. Think Siberia on a cold day. The furnace kicks on in the morning, but the rest of the day we heat the downstairs only, so by bedtime things are a bit icy up yonder. We all have fleece sheets and approximately forty pounds of blankets on our beds, but my exposed book/Kindle holding hand gets very cold during the bedtime story hour.

I'm thinking that if I could prop the Kindle up on a pillow, and then have the remote control page turner under the covers, I'd have the perfect, cozy wintertime reading scenario. Ideally, when I fall asleep, the remote would automatically turn off my light as well.

Dear Amazon,
Please make a remote control page turner for Kindle.
Thank you,
Teresa


I'm now going to stray from the designated Outside My Window format, because I have a couple other things to tell you.

First, my middle son, our desert soldier, got his package on Christmas Eve. I can't even believe it. I take back every bad word I've ever said about the U.S. Post Office, the military mail system, and the customs department of any country, anywhere.

Major guilt trip averted.

He shared that his roommates mocked him on Christmas Day as he put together the miniature Lego set that Santa had us send to him.

Obviously, Lego jealousy knows no age limit.

Additionally, he told me that he has absolutely no memories whatsoever of the Christmas card picture taking fiasco of 1995, which is good because he was by far the one that was the most traumatized by the incident at the time.


One more thing. It just happens to be his birthday today.

He's been gone since April, and I think that's long enough, don't you?

Happy Birthday, buddy!

We miss you!

Come home soon!

outside my window

A couple months ago, Amber did a 'finish the sentence' post on her blog, and I've been waiting for the perfect day to borrow the the idea.

Today just happens to be the perfect day.


Outside my window.....One of my very favorite summertime sounds is the clickity swish of our front wheel line. It spends the summer making a journey, (with my husband's help), back and forth across the front field, and on this particular day, it is as close to our house as it can get.


(I didn't like the reflection on the window in the first shot, so I went outside and took another shot, but by the time I got around to it, the sun had disappeared. Since beggars can't be choosers, I'm just going to pretend this shot is also taken through the window and has beautiful golden light. Please feel free to pretend right along with me.)

(Okay, since the light was gone last night, I felt the need to take just one more shot in today's early morning light. I think I'm a bit obsessed with my wheel line and am feeling a desperate need to accurately convey it in all its rolling water pipe beauty.)


I'm a white noise girl, and always have a fan on at night. But when the wheel line is this close, the fan stays off and I fall asleep to what I consider to be the Sound of Summer. With the fan off the last couple nights, I've discovered we have an owl in one of our trees. His "whoo whoo-who" was kinda cute until about midnight on the first night. After that....not so cute.

He whoots all. night. long.




I am thinking....I'm thinking that I wish summer could last forever. It has been beyond gorgeous here. Sunny, warm days, and cool nights. Our Augusts can be really smoky from forest fires, but so far, we've dodged that bullet and every day has been absolutely beautiful.


From the kitchen.....Oh dear. I refuse to answer this question on the grounds that it may let you all know just what a slacker I've been on the cooking front...all summer long. My hubby has been grilling quite a bit, and if it weren't for that and the Costco frozen buffalo wings my youngest is currently obsessed with, we'd have all wasted away to nothing. Good thing we have ice cream to keep some meat on our bones.

The last couple days I've actually had a hankering for chili. Can you make chili in the summertime? Is it allowed? I need to know.


I am wearing.....Shorts and a tank top.

Every day.

Shorts and a tank top.

Shorts.

And.

A.

Tank.

Top.

Pretty exciting, eh?

No?

Oh, and flip flops if by chance the day calls for some sort of footwear.


I am reading.....Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman. My sister gave it to me right after the wedding, and it's been the perfect summer read. It kind of reminds me of The Secret Life of Bees and it's been extra fun for me to read because it is set in Savannah, where my sister, my nieces and I visited last spring.

Good book.


I am hoping....That summer lasts forever.

I love summer.

I know I already used this one, but it bears repeating.


I am hearing....the aforementioned clickity swish of the wheel line, kamikaze bugs flying against my window, and the well kicking on and off with what was an alarming frequency until I realized I left a sprinkler on full blast all night long.


Some of my favorite things.....Fireworks. Did I tell you we had fireworks at the wedding? Actually, after the rehearsal dinner. It was awesome and I sat through the whole show with a big, goofy grin on my face.

Fireflies. I've only ever seen one firefly in my whole life and it was here in Montana of all places. My hubby found it and put it in a jar and brought it to me while I was in bed sleeping. It was just about the coolest thing ever and well worth waking up for.

Ice cream. Every night. Tillamook Peanut Butter and Chocolate, vanilla with a broken up Reese's mixed in, and Dreyer's Chocolate Fudge Brownie with coconut and slivered almonds added are a few of my favorites.
I love ice cream!

My Princess Diana clematis.


She just keeps on growing and blooming. I love her. I'm so glad I planted her by my birdhouse...they're a match made in gardening heaven.


A few plans for the rest of the week.....Clean my house - whoo-hoo! Go to Costco and stock up on all the things I didn't know I needed until the Costco coupon book convinced me otherwise. Fold and put away the laundry that's been sitting on my couch for the last five days. Not cook dinner.

Don't hate. It's not as glamorous as it sounds.


Have a wonderful Monday!