Oregon is my happy place.

As soon as my mom gets settled here, the rest of us are going on to Idaho. But I still really want to live in Oregon at some point. It's so friendly and beautiful.

This is the kind of post that should have a picture! But I don't have any loaded on my computer yet, at least, not of Oregon. Here's Idaho:

WWOOF?

I'm keen to try this sometime in the future. It's World Wide Opportunies on Organic Farms, a charity setup where you can volunteer on organic farms, in exchange for room and board, anywhere in the world, and learn and have fun. My friend Sarah is going to do this in Ireland and it sounds sooo wonderful. I'm definitely going to be planning to try it, hopefully in Scotland or Wales. :)

WWOOF

Let's keep our internet freedom, please

SOPA/PIPA would allow the government to censor the internet, removing intellectual freedom and stifling new sites (and shutting down Youtube and even Blogger). Check out this post:

The Definitive Post On Why SOPA And Protect IP Are Bad, Bad Ideas on techdirt

[Added later: Here's a petition to stop Congress from making these law: Google petition ]

Searching for land.

The frustrating problem with hunting for affordable land is: if it's cheap, there's a reason. Like, it's on top of a mountain and can only be accessed by helicopter, or it's in the middle of nowhere on a dirt road with two-foot-deep ruts, or it's on a floodplain that floods every year, or it's in on a lake where it blizzards constantly 6 months of the year. Or, if by some miracle it's sort of inexpensive and in a nice area, it's in a homeowner's association, or it's tiny, or the county building permits have severe requirements to meet that pretty much makes it impossible for people to build on their own. (Okay, because I know this isn't obvious: I am not talking about owner-builder or whatever, I'm talking about literally building your own house.) Or, it's on a beach on sand. If it was simple to build on sand my family could be living in Washington right now. :\

All those "ORs" aren't random. They're taken from properties we've looked at. :P

Spontaneous Me ~ Lindsey Stirling

I just discovered this song and I love it!