Five Simple Things (April 9)

Well, it's Saturday night and here I sit posting about the past week. It was sunny all week and I was saying the praises to the sun gods for letting the rain disappear and let us soak up the warm rays of the long lost sun here in the valley. The Bean and I rode our bikes on Tuesday, 16 miles from our house to where the Mr. works. It was a bit of a struggle, but I am so glad we did it. Then on Thursday, The Bean and I walked about 12 blocks to the local farm supply store to get two large bags of potting soil. We took the little, red wagon and loaded it right up, and pulled it all the way home. On Friday, The Mr., the Bean, and I rode our bikes again to the grocery store and grabbed a few small items. My rear was still sore from our 16 mile ride, but I sucked it up and did it anyway. We grabbed a few bike-essentials, too and I will be sharing those on next week's post. Fingers are crossed that we can still get in some walking and biking before the rain comes at us again. I hope we are completely out of our rainy weather because I am screaming, "BRING ON THE SUN!"  Here are the things that made this week great!

1.  This Picture

I've been going through, cleaning, airing out, and minimizing our camping equipment this week. I started last weekend and it's all coming together nicely. In the process, I've gotten a grasp on the bug-out bags, too. I enjoy this picture above because it's the perfect camping setup and I just love it. I would love to have this as a permanent setup in our yard. How fun would that be? Hopefully, we can fit in a lot of camping trips this year.

2.  This Impromptu Road Trip

We took an impromptu road trip to see this area of the Valley. It's a stretch of road that used to be part of the pass through the Cascade Mountains. You can read this sign to learn more about it. You can read more about Felix Scott here and see where it is on the map of Oregon here.

3.  This Ending

Well, it's come to an end and I am pretty bummed about it. I loved some of the story lines of Downton Abbey so much and I'm going to miss it as my go-to program. The Mr. bought me the sixth season on DVD, but I don't own the other seasons and I'm in the process of slowly adding them to my collection. The PBS Shop is a great way for me to grab up some of the teas, too. I've purchased all of the flavors, but I'd like to have more on hand to drink when they stop selling them. I prefer to purchase them through the PBS shop since it helps keep shows like this coming to us in the United States.  Check out the Downton Abbey teas here. (Mrs. Patmores' Pudding Tea is my favorite)

4.  This Error

We've cut the cord on cable. We don't currently have cable or internet at the moment and I am literally posting this blog post via a wifi-hotspot. We've wanted to break with the cable company here for awhile and we finally did it. When our bill reached over $400 we said, "enough!" We aren't sure what method to go with for internet just yet, but we are thinking possibly keeping our internet and landline and just breaking clean of the cable service. One of the TV options out there is Amazon Fire TV and it seems to be perfect for the amount of television we watch, which isn't much from spring until early winter.

5.  These Calendar Pages

                 First Page                                                                   Second Page      

           

I was having the hardest time finding a one-month, two-page calendar setup for a three-ring binder that was free to print, so I made my own.  If you are a three-ring binder calendar user that has a setup for a one-month, two page layout like the ones above, you are more than welcome to use my clip art and print your own.  I have a home management binder similar to this one: 

I've left them blank, but I have thought about going back in and putting the month and dates in each month, but that will come later.  For now, you can print the blank pages here. The space on the sides (right-hand-side on the first page, and left-hand-side on the second page) is for punching holes in the side to add them to your binder. You can write the month at the top and fill in the days as they fall on that month. These will evolve slowly over time, so stay tuned for that. I'm a huge calendar/planner user and I've wanted to do something like this for awhile.  I am just glad I finally sat down and started.  Enjoy my calendars!

Have a wonderful weekend.

What happened this time last year?