This ain't no place for the weary kind

You can say that again. The new homestead endeavor is proving to take ALL the life out of us. If we could work on the house, come home, take a break and get a good night's sleep, that would be one thing. But we work our fingers to the bone at the house, then come home and find "real life," as we've begun to call it, waiting for us...in the form of laundry, dirty dishes, checkbook balancing, bills, budget planning, and the list goes on and on. The 18th (moving day) can't come soon enough.

Through little work breaks today at the office I'm hoping to make multiple postings of our progress so far. (I only have access to the pics that I've emailed to my family since the rest are on my laptop. So more may be coming in the next few weeks.) The multiple postings are so readers (if there are any out there?) won't get overwhelmed seeing a bajillion pictures in one post :)

For now..our first house warming gift. If you know me and Dan, you know that The Bears are a big part of our life. Formed into being in our long-distance dating days as a way to cool the pangs of loneliness, Schubear and Heidi Bear have been our faithful confidants through the years. Jessie and Ramon found this book and decided to buy it for us as our first official house warming gift. Here we are, presenting it to The Bears. (We're hoping they handle the move alright. They don't deal well with change...)

"The Beginner's Guide to Bears"


Reading (I hope you realize this is all staged...)


The last page has a mirror and says, "Peek in the mirror with your favorite bear." Props to Dan for this artistic shot.

P.S. We managed to find time this weekend to cozy up under my favorite fleece blanket and watch Crazy Heart, which is what this title is from. GOOD movie. I'd highly recommend it.