how books have completely dictated my life :)

I've decided to stay a second year.... I told my principal on Monday and he was pretty excited. I also said something about it to my kids and they were even excited, and a little disappointed I'm going to stay teaching 6th grade and not moving on to 7th. :) So that's a good thing right? I've been thinking about living here a lot lately- obviously- because I was trying to decide if I should stay for sure.... and let me give you a list of books that helped me make my decision:
Swiss Family Robinson
Little House books
all the American Girl books
(ok movie but still...) Peter Pan
anything about Native Americans
anything about WWII- esp Anne Frank and The Hiding Place where people stay hidden in walls :)
Chronicles of Narnia
Boxcar Children

see any theme in these books? ok maybe you don't because maybe you haven't read them so I'll just tell you. They're all these stories about kids/people having to live out in the wilderness or by themselves or foraging around for food and shelter and water.... my siblings and I would seriously play these kind of games all the time. We'd run around outside all day and pretend we were on a boat looking for an island, or be sitting in our teepees cooking 'food'.... one time, my dad got mad because we'd pulled up a bunch of plants for our 'supper' and it was his rhubarb haha :)

Anyway, what does this do with now? I love my life. I feel like I'm really Laura Ingalls Wilder or Roberta from Swiss Family Robinson or Peter Pan! (cuz most of the time, he really is being played by a girl so, I can say that :) I've found that I love love love having to wash all my dishes outside and look at the mountain while doing it; that I wash all my clothes by hand; that I burn trash... it seems so romantic and simple and lovely. you should all come try it :)

So. that's what's going on. I have a second edition of 'how books have completely dicated my life' that is related to the book Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates (a Dutch favorite ;)) but I'm going to have to wait to share about it because it is WAAAY past my bedtime. I'm so sorry it's been so long since I've blogged, I'll try to get better at the updates!