Hello MIP family!  I am on a public computer at a hotel that my wife is attending a meeting at right now...so nice to be able to be online. :)

Anywho, I don't recall what our last situation was but we are staying on a friends property in rural Washington state.  He has a converted shop he has rented to us at $300/month (compared to the $800/m we were paying).  We're saving another $100/m on water/sewer/garbage because there is no running water or garbage pick up here.  We are using our cell phones instead of a land line and have not yet gotten internet so that's another $70/m saved.  Oh!  And electricity went from $300/m to $30/m because we are using wood heat.  All in all it's almost $1000/m cheaper to live here.  It's a really great place and we are so happy here. 

It may sound like a hardship without water especially but it's really not bad at all.   We have a utility room that has a 250 gallon water tank and we pump out water as needed.  Throw some on the stove, heat it up, pour it in the camp shower holder and carry it to the bathroom and take a shower.  The bathroom has pipes et al; just no septic system or water so when we take a shower it goes out the drain, down the pipe and outside about 20 feet away.  We have a port-a-potty outside that we use for big jobs (:)) and we've got a contraption for wet work.  The place is 760 sq. ft. downstairs and another 260 sq. ft. upstairs which I am using for storage and an office to write. 

Anywho, the place looks pretty ugly from the outside, but is very beautiful inside.  So we can imagine thieves taking one look outside and deciding there is no way there's anything in there worth stealing. :)  The place sits on 7 acres and we have deer and elk in the yard daily.  Wild turkeys abound and the odd cougar has passed through our property.  We have two bulls, two cows and two babies in a pasture 20 feet from our front door and they come and visit us in the morning when I go out to the bathroom - I come out and their waiting...

As for our future... we have talked to our friend and told us how much we love the place.  He has said that when we are ready, it is ours if we would like to purchase it...for $40,000!  $3000/acre for the land and $19,000 for the home.  He's making money on the land but the home he doesn't want to make a profit on and he says that he only has $18-$20,000 in it because he had most of the materials already.  Anyway, buying it is a bit far away at the moment - or it seems as if it is, HP could always drop off $40,000 tomorrow but I suspect that this is an Angel thing.  Oh, and he said he will be putting in a well and septic system come Spring.

Anywho, someone is waiting for the computer and so I'm going to vacate it for now but I wanted to send an update and my love.

Angel