While you are reading this, we will be road tripping to the full size concrete Stonehenge replica/WWI memorial in Maryhill, WA. In addition, we will be heading to the Goldendale Observatory (one of the largest public telescopes in the country) to star gaze tomorrow night. Basically, I will not have internet access for a little over 24 hours, as our entire household (me, C, J, SP, and June and Larry) takes a road trip.

So while I am in the middle of a 4 hour drive, here are some blogs for you to read.

I have had a number of people ask me if I was going to take this layoff as a chance to become a full time blogger or other freelance worker. For me, the answer is no. And for Shannyn of Frugal Beautiful, the answer used to be yes, but recently, it has become no. She writes a great post about it in You Don’t Have to Quit Your Job and Start Your Own Business To Follow Your Passion.

Also on the work front, check out Krantcent’s post Too Young to Retire. While I am not in this boat, I do know a number of people who do feel like they are too old to be hired, but definitely too young to retire.

I got stuck on a bit of a frugal theme this week, so our next post is from Frugal Portland, who recently bought herself a condo. Congrats on becoming a homeowner. The whole process is something no one can quite prepare you for, though Kathleen tries with What Wikipedia Can’t Tell You About Buying a Condo.

Our final “frugal” post this week is from John at Frugal Rules, who wonders What Would You Give Up for Food? Sadly, many people in this country do have to make a choice between eating healthy and eating what they can afford.

Along those lines, Aloysa at My Broken Coin writes about 5 Ways to Gain Control of Your Household Budget. Dining out is definitely one of those things that we need to plan for.

Our new to me financial blog this week is Everything About Investment. Since we all know that I am trying to learn about investing, this is perhaps a place I should spend some time. I’m highlighting his post Investing in Real Estate in 4 Simple Ways, partly because we are about to no longer be invested in real estate. Our renters in Reno are moving out, so we’ll be selling the condo.

One of the things I love about reading blogs is getting to know other bloggers and their families. So I love this post from Cascadian Nomads, because It Is True, Everyone Adores the Cascadian Nomads, especially as we get to know more about them.

Last week was BlogPaws. I did not go, but a number of my blogging friends did, including Leslie from Bringing Up Bella. Bella herself is a little too crazy to go to a conference (so are my dogs), so she got to go to Camp Nana’s. We don’t quite have a Camp Nana, what we have is a roommate who takes care of our dogs. They may be almost as spoiled as Bella.

At Beagles & Bargains, it’s time for another Beagle Training Day. In this case, it is time to discuss one of the reasons we do training with our dogs- to keep them safe in a disaster.

From the serious to the lovely, I had to share this Petrography from the House of Two Bows.

I want to congratulate our neighbor to the south, the Portland area shelter alliance on receiving a $1 million dollar grant for saving animals, and thanks to the Poodle (and dog) blog for sharing this with us.

And finally, our new to me pet blog- Snowieners– the story of long haired Dachshunds in Alaska. It was their lovely Black and White Sunday post that got me to click. I’ll be clicking again.