Feb. 22 - My Fireplace. I absolutely LOVE my fireplace. I love the smell of the wood burning, I love watching the flames make shadows on the walls, and I love how much my fireplace saves on my NIPSCO!! We love to camp and have bonfires. We even have a fire pit in the backyard that Dan made last summer because we have bonfires so much. (I'll have to remember to get a picture of that this summer) I grew up with a wood stove for heat, so I'm used to the ...cutting the wood, carrying in the wood, keeping the stove full, but most of all, enjoying the warmth and comfort that it brings. The smell of the wood burning reminds me of when we used to go help my dad cut wood when I was younger. My sister and I would make houses out of the split wood, while my younger sister and brother tried not to wander to far. As long as we could see my dad and hear the chainsaw, we weren't too far away. I would never allow my kids to do what we did back then!! This past fall, Dan asked if I would help go get some firewood. I thought this would be just like the old days..so I told my girls how much fun we had when we used to go with Papa. When we got to where the wood was (someone's back yard...some trees had been cut down) we discovered that there was a "playground" and a tree swing for the girls to play with while we loaded the wood. Course, when I was younger, we would spend hours out in the woods and wouldn't be ready to leave when we had to. Let's just say the girls barely made it an hour...with the playground and tree swing. Oh, the good ole days. Obviously, I don't "expose" my girls enough to the good ole days for them to really enjoy them....