friday. the long winter.

winter's on it's way. i even heard the 's' word on the weather this morning.

but, apparently, snow's been on my brain for a week now. i started reading, 'the long winter' ... yes, the little house on the prairie book. and i had forgotten how truly great it is. and no, i can't even blame me reading it on my daughter. i stayed up reading in bed last night until midnight ... all by my lonesome.

such a classic. no matter how many times i read those books, which, mind you has been several (thousand), it makes me realize i was born in the wrong era. granted, i don't think pioneer life was really for me, but definitely a time when things were so much less complicated in a different way than they are now.

bundling in for the winter and making do with what you had, spending the days with family, baking EVERYTHING from scratch, working hard for what you have, but also enjoying it just as much because of it. maybe i'm idealizing some of it. and yes, there are beauties to modern life, things i often feel i couldn't live without. and less of a lot of the hardships, but, so much of the things we have today seem to be just because "we can."

so, when i feel like things are just a little too complicated, i turn on my electric fireplace and cozy up after the kids go to bed, and read about laura ingalls wilder. somehow, it makes me feel a little bit better.