My Color Nook

For Christmas I purchased a Barnes & Noble Color Nook for my youngest daughter who is an avid reader.  I went with the Nook, because we can check out library books for 14 days without a charge.  I had it delivered to my office so I could set it up before Christmas and would not need to do anything after she opened it.  I even downloaded some free books from Google eBooks.  After messing with it for a while, I added a Color Nook to my wish list and gave it to my husband. Guess what he gave me - a Color Nook.

Right now I am reading James Clavell's Gai-Jin.  I found Shogun & Tia-pan in a box of books at my house and re-read them.  The text is clear and I can adjust the brightness so I can even read it outside in full sun.  I can also increase (or decrease) the font size and spacing on the page.  I have also created a Pandora radio station - the Color Nook has built in Wi-Fi, so I can listen to what I like while I am reading.  I created a station based on the artist Marillion and one for Mozart.

The Nook, comes with extras like crossword, chess and sudoku.  You can also load photos and Word documents onto it, as well as your own music. I can also get to the internet and can read the blogs I follow through Google Reader.  I can see and update my Facebook page.  Talk about another way to stay connected.

I love science fiction so I am trying out a subscription to the magazine "Asimov's".  I have 14 days to figure out if it worth subscribing to.

I am going to take my daughter out later today to B&N so we can both get cover/cases for our Nooks.

My Husband Tripped

My office closed at 2 pm on Thursday for the Christmas weekend.  I went home and got K ready to go and spend the night with her friend E.  I had to wait until my daughter got home with one of our cars, since my son grabbed the van as soon as I walk in.  One of my favorite things to do this time of year is to sit out back with a fire in our fire pit, so I got one going while waiting for someone to come home with a car.  Finally, some showed up and I got her to E's house around 7 pm.

When I got home, I started to brown some meat for tacos and my husband came in and said he tripped over the metal firewood holder and hurt his leg.  He went into the bathroom to check it out and called me to come to the bathroom.  He told me it looked pretty bad and thought it needed stitches.  Okay, my brain kicks in, there is an urgent care center about 2 miles from the house and they have online check in.  I find it, fill out all the forms, hit submit and then read where it has to be done 2 hour before they close and they close at 8 pm.  Check the watch - we have 10 minutes to get down there - let's go.  We got there in 5 minutes and shortly after we walked in they lock the doors and don't let anyone else in.  We were only there for about an hour,  so the doctor (she was very nice and young).  She told us, yes he did need to come in and put 6 stitches in his shin.  What a way to start a long weekend.

Thank you, Bossman

T'was a rainy Wednesday noon,

As I stood in the kitchen waiting for food.

When what to me wondering eyes should appear, but

The cheerful woman from the accounting department.

Her eyes were merry and her smile so bright

Handed me a pleasant surprise

Our boss, it appears, has given us a Christmas bonus!

Oh my goodness, I was not expecting this.

Here’s to the best boss I have ever worked for.

I would like to say a sincere and profound

Thank you, Bossman.

Today She is 25

Today my baby girl turned 25.
Today she is 1/2 my age, this is the only year that will happen.

Yvonne is peaceful at sleep

Yvonne is a fisher woman.

 Yvonne is theatrical 

 Yvonne is creative

 Yvonne is fashionable before prom

 Yvonne is a traveler to France

 Yvonne is a big sister

Yvonne is a wonderful girl young woman, full of life and love.

I love you with all my heart.

Mom

Check out Notebook Stories

Notebook Stories has a great giveaway in the works.  Daycraft has gifted several diaries and notebooks to Nifty.  Check them out and enter to win!

Facebook Has Sucked Me In

Two months ago, heck even last month, if someone told me I was going to be checking my Facebook page everyday - several times a day; I would say "Yeah right".  I had considered it to be a time vampire, but have discovered it is a time vampire if you get sucked into  playing the games or commenting on every little posting your friends put up.

I started really posting right before Halloween and it just took off.  I don't play the games, I don't do the quizzes and don't comment on every posting some one puts up. It all started with the Girl Scout service unit setting up a Facebook group to get information out to the leaders.  I first told them "I don't use Facebook", but I started going on and was intrigued.  First it was just my sisters & brothers in law and my kids, then my nieces & nephews. It then branched out to other GS leaders and other close friends.

I have yet to pull out the old high school yearbooks and start searching for old friends.  I moved from Clark AFB, Philippines at the end of my Sophomore year and I am horrible at recalling names. I was very bad at keeping in touch with people after we were transfered from one base to another.

The final straw that I knew I was hooked was when I got my new Blackberry Curve phone.  I discovered there was a free Facebook app. I immediately downloaded it, so now I can get notified when someone makes a comment on something I post or just check my account when I am on the road. I feel like such a hypocrite. Oh well, I find it interesting.

Parades on TV

Something I have always loved to do on Thanksgiving is watch the Macy's Parade on TV.

Earlier this morning the parade was on CBS.  They showed the giant balloons, but not a whole lot else.  Carrie Underwood sang a couple of songs, but not from the parade; she was is a studio/theater. They did not show much in the way of floats, marching band or other performances.  They were very chatty with other celebrities about what their plans were for their Thanksgiving day.

About 1/2 hour ago, I flipped on NBC and found the parade on.  What a difference!  They are showing things from the ground and the performances that they do in front of the Macy's doors.  They also showed celebrities singing from the floats.  The hosts were not overly chatty and giving facts about the parades and the floats.  I will have to remember to only watch the parade on NBC next year.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!
Susan

Weekend off

This was the first weekend I have had off in a few weeks.

Yesterday afternoon, I went to our service unit's cookie manager training for the 2011 cookies season.  I also was able to get a couple of loads washed & hung up to dry.

Today, I worked on my Girl Scout storage/Laundry room and got a lot of stuff cleaned up, but there is still more to put away.  I had to quickly hurry & pull stuff of the line as it started to rain. Yeah for rain - bad for the soler dryer.

Archery & Pink Tents

Yesterday my daughter K & I went to Camp Marapai in Prescott to teach archery.  We left the house at 6:10 am and got home at 7:30 pm.  The day started out very cold - had to break out the hats, gloves & heavy coats to stay warm.  When  we got almost to the camp, we were stopped by a car in front of us that had stopped in the road.  Off to the left was a herd of deer, just standing there watching us.  We tried to get a picture, but the deer blended in with the bush too much. 

A few weeks ago I was on the Girl Scouts, AZ Cactus Pine Council's website and I saw a like to request pink tents.  I was able to secure 5 hot pink tents from the Susan Koman 3 day walk for the cure.  For that past couple of years the race has donated the tents the walkers used to sleep in to the Girl Scouts.  I tried a once before and didn't get them.  The tents are 7' x 7' and will sleep 2 adults or 3 girls.

Here is a shot of 3 of them in my back yard.

Medicine in Territorial Arizona

I am about to  break a blogging rule and mention where I work.  I don't care, I love my job and the organization I work for.  They have be very good to me over the past 24 year.

A couple of weeks ago I answered a phone call at work from the grandson of Ancil E. Martin, MD.  Dr. Martin was the president of the Arizona Medical Association in 1894.  The grandson, was looking for a historical book that mentioned Dr. Martin.  My office had one we did in 1992 when ArMA turned 100 years old.  Since we have lots of the books I mailed the younger Mr. Martin one.

A couple of days ago, he sent me a thank you note - very nice to receive when I feel like I am just doing my job.  In his note he came up with the title of the book he had been looking for: "Medicine in Territorial Arizona".  The Arizona Medical Association commissioned this book and it was edited & published by the AZ Historical Foundation in 1966.  Since the book was copyrighted by ArMA, I copied the chapters Dr. Martin appeared in and mailed it to him.  Very interesting stuff.

I think I am going to have to read this book. I have lived in Arizona since 1976 and worked for ArMA since 1986.  Maybe I will post information about some of the stories from the book.

Working in Tucson

On Friday at noon, my co-worker Joni (the Day Dreamer) and I are working at the meeting at the Westward Look Resort in Tucson.  After the meeting she had to staff, we went to a little place called Cafe Jasper on Campbell & Skyline.  We ordered drinks and dinner.  The dinner was kind of like appetizers then a meal, but that was fine with us.  I feel entries have gotten too large.  They also had an acrostic guitar/singer that night & he was great.

On Saturday, we started working at 6 am and finally got to go to dinner around 6:30.  Sunday was about the same, starting at 6:30 am.  I got to leave at 12:35, but she was there until after 4:30.  Joni is lucky, she is on vacation this week so she can rest up.  I on the other hand have to work.

My next day off will be Sunday, since I am teaching archery in Prescott on Saturday.

Powerful Statement

My 22 year old niece posted this on her Facebook page & I think it a wonderful affirmation.

I may not be the most beautiful girl or the sexiest girl, nor do I have a perfect body.
I might not be everyone's first choice, but I'm a great choice.
I don't pretend to be someone I'm not, because I'm good at being me.
I might not be proud of some of the things in my past, but I'm proud of who I am today.
So take me as I am or watch me walk away. 

Making others cook

Here are some facts about my household:

1. I don't really like to cook
2. there are 5 other people in the house 15 & up
3. they are all capable people
4. I am going to start making them cook dinner

Starting last night I made Yvonne & Joe do the cooking.  I did buy the some hamburger, the buns and frozen french fries.  (Joe is Yvonne's boyfriend who appears to be living at my house).

Tonight it is Zachary's turn. When I told him, he asked so what is for dinner - my response "I don't know what are you cooking?"  I did let him off the hook by suggesting spaghetti or tortellinis & salad.

We will have to see how this goes.

Happy Halloween

Here is a picture of my daughter K & her friend E all dressed up for trick or treating.

Finished the Costume

I finished sewing K's costume.  I have to say it looks very nice.  Here it is on a hanger.  I will take some pictures of K in the dress tomorrow and post them. I love the color combination - chocolate brown & teal.

Zombies in Phoenix

http://daydreamerswelcome.blogspot.com/2010/10/phoenix-night-of-walking-dead.html

Check out my friend Joni's blog. She and her daughter took part in the annual Zombie walk in down town Phoenix. She posted some great photos.  Looks like great fun!

Rain & Sewing

This morning we woke up to it raining.  Such a wonderful thing to see in the valley of the sun.  Our weather has also finally officially become fall like.

Yesterday after work I started on K's Halloween costume (Butterick pattern 4377).  I got the cape & lining cut out. Tonight I will cut  out the dress.  The cape is a chocolate brown crushed panne velvet fabric with an cream lining and the dress will be turquoise crushed panne velvet fabric.  Joann's had the crushed panne velvet on sale for $2.99 & since this dress & cape today a huge amount of fabric, it was the only way I was going to buy it.  Total cost without my time for the fabric, lining, thread & zipper $90.  My oldest daughter paid $150 for just an unlined cape at the renaissance festival in AZ last spring.  Maybe I will make her one too.

New Computers for the Office & One for me

Last week I had to order a few new computer for my office.  One of the staff was getting a laptop and Dell had a deal to get an Inspiron Mini for just $100.  Couldn't pass that one up.  I am going to pay my office for the mini to use at home.  This will be my Girl Scout computer and my computer to surf the internet.

I also purchased two of the Dell Vostro's all in one computers for two other staff members.  Before I placed the order I had discussed what they needed or wanted and both were okay with the all in one.  I had spoken to them about two weeks before I actually placed the order. I let the three staff members know I had ordered their machines and then I here from one of them that she wanted a laptop instead of the all in one.  When did this happen and why didn't you talk to me when you decided  you wanted the laptop.  Now I have to send one computer back.

The mini computer is kind of cool, the key board is only a little smaller then my Latitude 6500 laptop.  I am not too crazy about the touch pad - it has the buttons built into it, so I have a wireless mouse I am using.  It came with Windows 7 Starter.  With this version of Win 7 you cannot change the background image -- what the heck were they thinking.  I did find several fixes on line.  We have another person at my office, who is very anti-mini she thinks they are very glitchy.  I don't know, we will have to see how this one preformed.

Check out Notebook Stories

I love looking a different notebooks, even if I don't have the nerve to use some of the nicer ones. 

Notebook Stories has a review of a line of notebooks from Turkish manufacturer Arwey that is quite interesting.  



While this is a somewhat mixed review on the pros and cons, the notebooks are unique in several ways.  

To read the review click here.

My Son is 21

My son is 21 and has been driving my van.  He went to a friends house last weekend and must have hit a fence, because on the passenger side by the rear wheel there is a large scrape mark.  Why didn't he tell us when it happened?  His answer, "I don't know, I just didn't think of it".

On Friday he lost his cell phone in his room.  Since it was on vibrate, he could not hear it when I tried to call it.

On Saturday, he was driving home from a friend's house and hit a curb and totally destroyed the rear passenger tire.  Now, he has to find a Discount Tire store & get the tire replaced.  I know where the closest store is and what their hours are, but he needs to figure it out.  He will also be paying for the tire if their road hazard won't cover it.

His dad & I are also not allowing him to drive our cars for now.

I just don't know what to do with him.  He is unemployed and has not been able to find a job. He also is not going to school - he tried college, but it was not for him.  My husband is a general contractor and when ever he has  a job, he will take Z with him.  But he really needs a job he can count on and he needs to move out.

Cellulitis

Sometime early in the morning on Thursday, I was bitten by a mosquito (I think) on the back of my right hand.  At first I thought I was just having a serious allergic reaction when it started swelling way up.  So, I left work, came home and took some Benadryl.

On Friday morning, my hand looked like this

I have a tendency to just put things off and figure it will be OK after a while.  But with a swollen as my hand was, I went to see a doctor.  I was told it had turned into cellulitis.   Had to look that one up; Cellulitis is a common skin infection caused by bacteria.  I was put on antibiotics, and this morning the swelling is down by half and I can bend my fingers again.

Money Found

Yesterday, I started cleaning up my laundry/Girl Scout room.  I combined troop records into one box instead of 3.  Put away all my Welcome Training Materials into one draw of a filing cabinet. Actually through away 3 ring binders that I had brought home from work thinking I could use them (we weren't using them any more at work).  Removed contents form binders for past Service Unit events and old bank statements and put them in a pile to be shredded.  I was on a binder from 2004 and pulled a bank statement, deposit receipts, store receipts and found $2.00 cash.  I bet the woman who was doing the financial stuff at the time went nuts trying to figure out where those $2.00 went.  They are now safely in my purse.

Archery and a Bat

Yesterday, my oldest daughter Y and I headed to Camp Willow Springs in Prescott, AZ at 5:30 am to teach archery for a Girl Scout Encampment. We got up there around 7:30 or so and the first group of girls came over at 8:00. The archery range has two nets behind where the targets are. One is permeability hung up high and then there one was bunched in two at each side of the targets.  When we took off the bungee cords and stretched out the net, we found a little critter - a bat. It was sleeping at the bottom of the net and started to climb up after we stretched out the net.  Y & I told the girls they could look but no touching the bat.

Isn't it cute:

It finally got to the top of the net and flew away.

Whenever we have a group of girls who have shot before, we put balloons on the targets. We had a group of girls who had come with their dads. One of the dads yells out to his daughter "$50 if you hit the balloon".  I don't think he expected her to do it, but within 10 - 15 minutes "Pop" she nails the balloon. After a while in the session, we let the dads shoot and they were telling the girls, the girls would need to pay them $50 if they hit the balloons.  It was very amusing to watch the competition among the dads to pop all the balloons.

We had a break from noon to 2:30, so rather then eating in camp with the girls, we chose to drive the 5 miles into Prescott and get lunch.  We found a nice little Italian restaurant - Genovese's Restaurant.  It was very nice.  

We got back to camp and Y took a nap for about 1/2 hour in the van and went behind the targets looking for stay arrows.

The group that we had at 2:30 was a troop that had their own bow. This was nice because it told us they had all shot before, so we just had to talk about pausing on the draw in order to aim.  We waited about 1/2 hour for our last group to show up before we started to clean up.  We I checked out with the leader in charge, I found out that they we still on the high ropes challenge course.   Oh well, we are both really tired and ready to head home.

A Break In

This past weekend, my daughter K, good friend S & her daughter E went up to my mother's cabin in Forest Lakes, AZ.  Weather was beautiful, it even rained a little bit while we were there.

On Sunday we took a drive down to the Black Mesa Ranger Station on Highway 260 across the from the Woods Canyon Lake turn off.  I love the view from this station, it is right at the edge of the rim and you can see all the way to 4 Peaks.  K needed to take some pictures for her photography class and wanted them from the rim.

When we got there, the Forest Service had installed bars on the windows & doors.  When we went inside we discovers someone had broken in on August 17, 2010. They smashed display cased and stole gems, rocks, artifacts and  taxidermy animals.  They have a huge poster up asking people if anyone has photos of the display cases to contact the Forest Service.  I have spend a bunch of time this morning trying to find a news story on the break in but came up empty handed.

I think it is very sad that people feel the need to take things away from a place like this.  Now the rest of us can no longer enjoy the displays that were there.

Bit by a dog

Yesterday after work, I stopped by a Girl Scout leader's house to pick up fliers for 2 of the schools I have girls from.  She has a couple of big dogs and I figured they were okay since she has her troop meeting at her house.  I was petting the big lab, Shepperd mix and his head and all of a sudden he growled and bit my right hand.  OMG, it happened in just a second, chomp chomp and a puncture wound on the top of my right hand in the middle and on the palm of my hand.  

Deb told me he had never, ever done anything like this before. Dog is current with all his shots so that is good. She has girls & adults in and out of there house all the time and the girls are all over the dog.  I don't know what to say, but he didn't like where I had my hand.  She kept apologizing over and over.  I assured her I has fine, just needed to sit for a while with a damp towel to stop the bleeding and an ice pack on top to keep it from bruising too much.

When I got home, I had my oldest daughter help me with bandages - since it is on my right hand & I am right handed.  Because we bandaged the top & palm of my hand she wrapped in that stick to it self, but not your skin tape stuff. So, it looked way worse than it was.  I does hurt to bend my middle two fingers down, so I can't grab things.

When K got home from school, she & I drove up to my mom's cabin for the long weekend.  My husband is off to the Flagstaff area to scout for elk; he has an archery elk hunt starting on 9/12. My older kids stayed in the valley to take care of the animals.

High School Evacuated

Yesterday Centennial High School in Peoria was evacuated over a bomb threat.  One of my girl scout friend's daughter (E) goes to Centennial High School. As she was getting ready to go into a job interview she heard that the school was on fire, when she was not able to get a hold of her daughter she started to panic.  (Most of the kids left their back packs on the floor of the classrooms and E was one of them).  Read more about the story here. 

About 1000 students were evacuated to one church and another 1000 to another.  E was in a group evacuated to a Mormon church that would not allow the students into the building except to use the bathroom.  Teacher were with their classroom students.  It was 110 out yesterday and we had high humidity; the kids were in the parking lot for about 1 1/2 hours.  I know of one girl who was throwing up due to the heat and according to the story 12 people were treated on the scene by the fire department that was there and 3 had to be taken to the hospital.  All I can say is shame on the church leaders! 

The students that were taken to another church were allowed to sit in the pews.  From what I have heard both of the churches involved are on the district's evacuation plan, they must not have know what they were agreeing to. 

I was thinking of this today, what would have happened if it was winter and raining?  Would they make the kid stand in the cold rain?

Outstanding Leader Award

This weekend our Girl Scout Neighborhood had an adult recognitions celebration at a local Mexican Restaurant.  We gave out two awards to outstanding leader and two to outstanding volunteers.  I was awarded one of the outstanding leader awards.  I knew I was getting it because I am on the service team, but I am still honored that all the other leader in our area thought I was an outstanding leader.

I have been a leader since my youngest daughter was in the 5th grade and now she is in the 10th grade.  I started out as a co leader of a Junior troop.  The 2nd year the leader wanted to step back into the co leader position, so I stepped up.  Also that year the person who was the service until finance manager stepped down.  Because I had been the treasurer of a small church & my son's gymnastics team, I volunteered.  The third year I was a leader, I became archery certified and was willing to go to almost any encampment that they needed an archery teacher.  I also became a leader of a Brownie troop because the woman who was suppose to become the leader never showed up. 

Last year, I helped put on two encampments and an archery day.  I also had 3 troops I was involved in; a Brownie troop, a Junior troop (I was the support person and co leader), and a Cadette/Senior troop.

For the 2010/2011 Girl Scout year, I will have girls from the 2nd grade through the 10th grade and can't wait to see what this year brings.

Grace has made me think

Grace over at GRACEful Retirement left a comment on my post here about the drop in clients at Vista del Camino in Scottsdale, AZ.  I said it was a good policy that clients need to prove that are in the country legally as a result of SB 1070.  She asked if it were the parents or the kids that had to prove this and I don't know.  She is correct by saying that kids born here are citizens, even if their parents are not here legal.  I would like to think if the kids were born here they could get the clothes and school supplies they need. I will have to ask my mom about that.

Thanks for making me think Grace.

Time at the Cabin

My husband, youngest daughter and I spent time at my mom's cabin.  It was so nice to be where it is cool and rainy.  On Tuesday it was raining just a little when we got there. 

On Wednesday, the three of us went to Black Canyon lake. Hubby & K fished - I don't have a license, so I just read a book.  We were there many, many hours and come home with one, count them one, fish.  Oh well it was a nice day.

On Thursday we did do nothing much, I worked on finishing my 2nd rag place mat.

I also made a skirt & dress for K from Butterick pattern 4468.  It is a very simple pattern, however it was suppose to be lined and because I made both pieces out of light weight denim and we live in the Phoenix area, I didn't want to line them. I ended up having to improvise an interfacing for the dress since it was not lined.  Here are the pictures:

My husband set on the porch and read a whole magazine - something that doesn't happen much.

Friday, K and her dad went back to Black Canyon lake and were there until after 7:00 pm.  Again, only one fish got caught.  They almost didn't make it back to the cabin.  Dad gave K the car key to go and get the rain jackets and the coat K used had a whole in the pocket that no one knew about; they car key fell out by the lake.  Luckily my husband's cell phone has a flashlight feature and they found the key.  We are now going to get one of those magnet things to secure an extra key to the underside of they car.

We left on Saturday, and just before we started to load up the van it started to pour.  We were all sad to have to come back to the valley.  School starts for K on Monday and I needed to get laundry done.

Forgot the Keys

My husband, youngest daughter and I are back at my mom's cabin while she is in the valley helping with Vista del Camino back to school event in Scottsdale.  She told me this year the number of kids looking for assistance with back to school supplies is down by about 150 kids from last year.  She and the other volunteers believe it is a direct result of Arizona's SB1070. This year to get services participants in the program must prove they are US citizens and people can only be in the program for 5 years.  Both I think are good policies.

When we got to Safeway in Payson to buy some milk, eggs and other perishable food items, husband asked if I had the keys.  My brain comes the conclusion very quickly that I left them on my desk.  Oh crap!  On Monday night I thought "I need to put the keys in my purse" but it quickly left the memory banks.  He told me not to worry that we would get in without having to drive all the way back home.  When we arrived at the cabin we found the door locked, but not any of the windows.  So with in about 15 minutes, maybe less, he had the screen off the window by the table, slide the window opened, pulled a chair outside and had K climb in and open the door.  Luckily mom left an extra set on the counter in case we both wanted to be gone at the same time.  Lesson to mom --- lock your windows.

C & K sat on the front porch sorting through tackle boxes to get just the trout stuff into one.  I brought up my sewing machine and some fabric to make K some skirts for school.  I also brought up the stuff to work on my rag woven place mats and some girl scout work that needs to be done.

Hopefully we all have a relaxing week and start to heal from the sorrow of C's mom passing.

Kitchen getting cleaned up

Last night my husband made breakfast for dinner while I sat out side and watched it rained.  In the stuff we took from his mom's apartment was a cast iron mini pancake maker. This is a cast iron flat pan with 6 or 7 3 inch indents to cook the batter.  This was something she use to use all the time to make mini pancakes for breakfast for the boys.  I think he was honoring her by cooking breakfast for dinner.

After dinner, it was way to humid to stay outside so I went to a back room to watch TV online. Hubby came back and asked if I told K to do the dishes.  I said I didn't ask her to do that.  Well, I went into the kitchen and she had completely cleaned it... she did the dishes, put all the food away, wiped all the counters down, cleaned off the table we use as an island.  I was so happy. 

Thank you my sweet K.

My Mother-In-Law passed away

My Mother-In-Law passed away on 7/22/10 at the age of 84. She was a consonant New Englander who was always concerned with others and worried what other would think right up to the end. She was under Hospice care and when her 4 sons would visit (and they were there every day for the last 2 weeks of her life) she was worried about them eating with her. (The staff of the care facility welcomed the family and we were always invited to eat.) No one else seemed to have 4 men there at dinner or lunch time. We could get her to believe it was OK and they probable just didn’t have as much family in the valley.

On the Friday and Saturday after she passed her 4 sons and the 4 wives cleaned out her apartment and divided most of her belongings. I am so glad she moved into this apartment at the retirement facility in 2006. There was not the emotional attachment that we would have had if she had still been in the house she and her husband had shared for 45+ years.

My husband brought all the photo albums home and spent hours, even before she passed, going through them pulling out photo to have made into a CD for her service. When my MIL was first diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, we were told she had about 3 weeks to 2 months to live, my husband started going through all of the family slides (we got them when she move – no one else wanted them). He did such a good job at choosing the pictures for her service.

We also brought home boxes off stuff from my MIL’s apartment and those got dropped on the floor in front of our sofas. Because my sofas were free-bees from a coworker about 6 years ago they are in tough shape, so we took the recliner and love seat. Oh and we got her cat stroller. Because we dropped boxes of stuff in front of our sofa, we cannot get them out to put in the recliner and love seat so they just between the living room & dining room. All the boxes to photo are on the floor by the computer desk, which is between the dinning room table & back door. I warn everyone who stops by that my house looks like a hoarder’s house. I know this is temporary and we plan on finishing our remodeling once the estate is settled. Until then we are working on packing up stuff and taking it to my office to store them.

The Hand Me Down House: It's Time...

The Hand Me Down House: It's Time...

Earlier this week, I came across a blog called The Hand Me Down House. This title really intrigued me, since most of the funiture I own falls into this catagory - and I have been married for 27 years. I am always looking for crafty ways to revamp the stuff I currently own. So check Amanda's blog out, by using this link to her give away.

Holly crap it is hot!

I have lived in the Phoenix area since 1976. The day we arrived, we stepped off the plane in mid July and it was 114 degrees out.  My dad was in the Air Force and we had been at Clark AFB in the Philippines. I can recall listening to the news with my parents in late July, early August and hearing the weather men say the humidity was high.  High it was only 15 – 20 percent; sorry but after the Philippines that is not high.   They don’t know what high humidity is.  Try living with 90 degrees and 90% humidity for 6 months out of the year.

For 18 years I lived in a house with only an evaporative cooler.  This worked fairly well until the due point was over 55 degrees.  For most of those years it was fine, but as I got older, come August I really wanted an AC unit on the house.  It was to the point of telling my husband “Don’t even think of touching me”. 

Now at age 50 with menopause kicking in, I don’t like the summer much.  To hang laundry I have my hair up in a pony tail, have a tank top on and a wet towel over my shoulders.  After standing out there for about 10 minutes, I turned the hose on and wet my hair and top. When I came in, I sat in front of the fan with a wet tee shirt on. This feels really good.

I am looking forward to the next time I can go back to my mother’s cabin.

My Rug is Done

Here is the finished project. 

I had to barrow a large crochet hook from one of my mom’s friend to finish the last couple of rows.  I started it around the 14^th of June and worked on it for a couple of hours a few nights a week while I was watching TV.  I have more fabric cut up and ready to start a second rug.

I also sewed up a fabric elephant for K.

4th of July at the Cabin

I am spending from July 2^nd to July 10^th at my mom’s cabin in Forest Lakes, AZ.  I brought my youngest daughter, her friend and a friend of mine.  We got here on Friday, July 2^nd in the afternoon.  We were welcomed by rain and a temperature around 70.  Compared to the 112 in the valley it was heaven!

On Saturday, the Forest Lakes community had an Arts & Crafts fair and picnic. 

My daughter helped out by working the snow cone booth.

My friend brought up her Jack Russell Terrier and was keeping her on a leash.  All of a sudden she came off the porch through the bars and almost caught a mole gopher.  I had never seen on close up.  It is only about 4 inches long and kept coming towards my shoes.  It finally ended up under the porch.

Roxie

The Mole Gopher

On the rafters at the back of the cabin a robin is busy creating a 2^nd nest of the season.  My mom said she already had one set of babies and they have fledged. 

Robin On Nest

Squirrel damage to the hammock

Columbines can be found all over the place.

Harvest

Lettuce, yellow zucchini water melon, onions, cantaloupe & a pumpkin.

These are all from our back yard garden. There are still more melons growing and as long as they are kept somewhat shaded we will have melons for most of the summer.

Missing Camera Found!

After I posted the pictures of the visiting ducks, I sent my camera down and promptly forgot its location. Groan. Where the heck did I put it? Did one of my kids pick it up and didn’t tell me? I have been cleaning off my desk in the laundry room hoping to find it – no luck. I had my youngest daughter clean off the computer desk that she is pretty much is the only one who uses it. She found it! Yeah K! I was seriously stressing about not being able to find it. I just bought it in the spring to replace one that was stolen at a Girl Scout sleep over I hosted in January of 2009. But that is another story I don’t feel like going into now.

Yeah! My purple Coolpix S3000 was found!!!

Weaving

My Mother and I went the Quit and Craft fair in Phoenix at the beginning of the year, and she purchased 3 rag weaving frames.  One is small rug size, another is placemat size and the last is a good size to make a trivet or large coaster. My daughter K and I went to my mother’s cabin last weekend and she cut up an old sheet and sewed it end to end for the warp strands.  We cut strips of her fabric scraps that are not 100% cotton into 5 inch strips. The weaving is more like braiding as opposed to traditional weaving.  This way the front and the back look almost the same and the rug, placemat or coaster can be flipped over.  I started the rug size at the cabin and I brought it home to work on.  It is pretty easy and I have been working on this in the evenings while I am watching TV.  Here is my progress so far.  I will post a picture when it is done.

Fabric Strips

 

Progress so far

Visitors

My oldest daughter sent me a message this afternoon about visitors in our yard. Shortly after noon, she saw a mother duck with her hatchlings in the front yard. Now we do not live anywhere near a pond, lake, stream or even a golf course with water. V called a local bird rescue place and they told her the mother probable needed to lay eggs and just laid them in someone’s yard and she was trying to find a body of water. V called the bird rescue back and she ended up herding them into an animal carrier and took them to a neighborhood a few miles north of us with man made lakes.

Good luck duckies!

Summer Hits Phoenix

Last week on Thursday we hit 105 and then 112 on Saturday & Sunday, so guess what… it is officially summertime in the Valley of the Sun.

Other clues:
• You are willing to park further away from the entrance to a store to park under a tree
• You always put the windshield screen up, even when you get home at night
• If you hang laundry, what you hung first is dry by the time you get to the last item
• It feel like you opened the oven door when you set outside at 3:00 pm
• You don’t leave the office building for lunch, even if you forgot to brown bag it
• You only leave the house before 10:00 am or after 8:00 pm
• You put a sock over your gear shifter in the car and keep an oven mitt for the steering wheel
• The TV weather man just says “ditto”
• You put on a wet tee shirt to do any work outside – yes this really does help.

Leaving the Computer at Work

For my job, I have a laptop. I use it in the office and can take it home when I need it. I recently became aware of how much time is wasted browsing the Inter-net and reading blogs at night. Even if I have good intentions and say I am just going to do this one thing, reply to a work related email or whatever; I get sucked into reading blogs or random surfing. I can plan on not opening it up, but it sits there calling me – open me, read your blog, read the blogs you are following, check the news, check the weather, check the TV guide. Okay, just a quick peek.

Last week and this week, I am trying something new… I am leaving the dang thing at work until the weekend or if I really need to do something for work after 4 pm.

When I got home last night I was able to get both bathrooms cleaned. I started a load of laundry and got it hung up. I help my youngest daughter for a good half an hour with her disastrous room (she works better in small time chunks, instead of going for hours). Made dinner and did the dishes – something I usually put off or get one of the kids to do. Tonight I plan on helping K with her room some more, fold the two loads of laundry from yesterday, clean off the ironing board, table and cutting table.

We have been remodeling our house for about 4 years, my husband is a general contractor, so either we don’t have the money because he has not had a lot of jobs or he is too busy because he is working. Because of this, we have boxes of stuff stashed in various places. It is my mission this summer to get these cleaned up. Go through them and get rid of stuff we really don’t need or have not used in however long they have been boxed.

I'll let you know how this works out.

Holes in a Blanket

As I sit sewing up holes in my oldest daughter’s comforter; I knew I needed to share the culprits who created these holes.

Here is one of my daughter’s other blankets with holes created by these same creatures.

Guilty party #1: Ginger

Guilty party #2: Nutmeg

Guilty party #3: Pepper

My Daughter’s Sense of Style

My 14 year old daughter asked me to turn a pair of jeans into bell bottoms.  Okay, where did this idea come from?  K is very much a free sprit when it comes to fashion.  She wears what she likes and the heck with what the others think.  So we went to Wal-Mart and found some black fabric with Peace & Love on it.  I bought a yard of fabric and cut it in 1/2.  Each legs has ¼ yard sewn in the outside lower ½ of each leg.  I think they came out cute.  She is wearing them to school tomorrow.  I am interested in hearing what the other kids think. 

Water Park Adventures

Earlier this year, my older Girl Scout troop said they wanted to go to Wet & Wild Water Park in north Phoenix with their cookie sale profits. The older girls are range from 6th to 9th grades, so I figured why not; at this age they can roam around the park in small groups without trouble. I was able to purchase tickets ahead of time and buy an all you can drink wrist band. By getting the tickets ahead of time I got them for $10 less than the counter price. Several of the girls went with my co-leader and me yesterday. I will give tickets to the other girls who could not attend and they can use them any time until 9/26/10.

Wet & Wild was awesome. They have a lot of shade structures and hundreds of lounge chairs. We arrived when they opened and were able to find a set of chair under a shade structure that stayed shady ALL day.

My oldest daughter went with us; she helped me by being the adult at a couple of cookie booths, so the troop paid for her to get in. She got me to go down a double tube slide that was kind of like a water roller coaster and then we went down the Raging Rapids slide with my son. Today I can feel it in my upper arms and across my back – I as so out of shape.

I also told all the kids to put sun screen on the tops of their feet, almost nothing worse then burning the tops of your feet. Well, guess who did not follow my suggestion. Yes, you guessed it … me. My right foot is worse then the left. Ouch.

Next Saturday, my youngest daughter, one of her friends and I are going to Golfland Sun Splash in Mesa for the Girl Scout 500 + Cookie Sales Celebration. Should be fun. The water park is closed to the general public – this is a Girl Scout only event. This time I will put sun screen on my feet.

Click "Next Blog"

Have you every clicked on the “Next Blog” link at the top of a Blogspot page you like? Well, I have. It can take you to some interesting places. A lot of time the start out on similar subjects to what you are reading then can take a major diversion. (Once I ended up on Spanking as the topic-kinky.) Just keep clicking on “Next Blog” sometime and see where it takes you. If you run into a blocked blog, you can hold the Alt key down and press the left arrow, it will take you back where you were.  Then click on “Next Blog” again and you will end up in a new place. Here is a sample of my clicking “Next”.

I started from my blog, Next took me to
http://fragile-flower.blogspot.com/, A women writing about family & Christ, Next
http://jessicamusic.blogspot.com/, Jessica Duchen’s Classical Music Blog, Next
http://statework.blogspot.com/, free great classical broadcast recording, Next
http://barocco-music.blogspot.com/, XVIII Century Music, Next
http://somtow.org/, looks to be Thailand music related, Next
http://csobassblog.blogspot.com/, a person who plays bass in an orchestra, Next
hit the barocco-music spot again, Next
http://dreyshouse.blogspot.com/, random musing from Drey, Next

I have done this by starting at some photography blogs and seen some awesome photos. Try it some time and see where you end up.

Mother's Day

I am not big on Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, or Valentine’s Day; but my 20 year old son did send me a Mother’s Day card and my oldest daughter washed my van.

I went out and bought myself a give of a folding cutting table for Joann’s.

I like to sew, but I hate cutting out the patterns. I am 5’8” and bending over the dinning room table is back braking. So I bought the table. I had to put it together. At one point this afternoon, my husband said he would to it for me. Some time went by and he was still busy creating an estimate for a client, so I starting to do it. It was not hard. I was almost done, when he said he was almost done and could do it for me. My daughter who was in the room and I both started to laugh. He was like “What?” I told him I was almost done, hadn’t he heard the drill?

Girl Scout Annual Meeting and a snake

Today was the Girl Scout, Arizona Cactus Pine Council Annual meeting. I have been a delegate for my Neighborhood for the past 4 years. They do the meeting in two parts; the first is a volunteer session and then we have a business meeting.

Today, Dr. Lattie Coor spoke to us about The Arizona We Want. The adults and girls in attendance broke into small circles and had a discussion about how can we obtain the Arizona “We” want. The thought that came up from a lot of the groups was that we don’t know each other, as neighbors, like people did years ago. How do we fix this? Sit in the front yard in the evening instead of the back yard and greet neighbors as they walk by. Have Girl Scout (and Boy Scout) troops hold community events so people can get to know each other. Start small and have it grow over time.

Another cool aspect of these meeting is they have the Gold Award projects on display. The Girl Scout Gold Award is the highest award a girl 14 and up can earn. It takes a huge amount of work and the project has to be sustainable in the community; they cannot do a one time project.

After the business meeting, they has a luncheon for the volunteers and give out awards to outstanding volunteers. They also gave out pins to the amazing women who have been Girl Scouts for 45, 50, 55, 60 and 65 years. I am totally in awe of these women who have given themselves to an organization like Girl Scouts. What a wonderful recourse to have in any organization.

When I got home, my son said the snake was missing. Excuse me, what snake? We don’t have a snake. Cats, rabbits, rats and a tortoise, but no snake. Apparently, he saw a young bull snake crossing the road and stopped and caught it. He put it in the tortoise tank (that does not have a lid); told the 20 year old son (who was totally engrossed in his video game) to keep an eye on it. Hubby left the room for a couple of minutes and the snake got out of the tank. We think it is behind some book selves and will keep an eye on the cats to see if they can give us a clue to the snake’s location. Great, just want I need… a snake loose in the house.

My mother is getting ready to her cabin for the summer

She has a cabin in Forest Lakes, AZ, which is on the Mogollon Rim at an elevation of 7700 feet. The cabin is on a half an acre with lots of ponderosa pine trees. Last year she stayed up there full time just to do it. Last winter it was not nearly as bad as this past winter. I am so glad she was not up there this winter.

Here is a photo the fire cheif took of the major storm in January.

Because of the altitude Forest Lakes is at, it can be 30 – 40 degrees cooler in the summer then in the Phoenix area. Any time we have a long weekend, I am there. My youngest daughter spends a lot of time at the cabin. Even as she gets older, she still really enjoys going up.

Mom's cabin

Today when I got home, my son asked if he could go up with my mom to help her get settled back in. Heck yes, he can go. I hope my mom makes him work hard… cutting the grass, raking pine needles. The dynamics of the house completely changes when one person is not there. My only questions to him are how you getting there, when are you leaving, how long will you be there and how are you getting home. He has not really answered these yet.

As the tempatures warm up the allergies grow

This week our temperatures have hit the low 80s. For the past couple of weeks the weather has been great and with wonderful weather in the Phoenix area, comes the dreaded weeds and other pollen producing plants introduced to the area.

I have had allergy issues forever. I have lived where it hot since 1964 when I moved to Florida. I have also lived in the Panama Canal Zone (it was still US property when I lived there) and in the Philippines and then Arizona. Because of these warm climates I live with allergies. At least once a year, I seem to end up with a dreaded allergy headache. When these headaches come on, I can only get rid of them by going back to bed and sleeping. Today was one of those days. I left work early and come home and went back to bed.

My First Weekend Off

I was in charge of our Girl Scout encampment at Camp Friendly Pines at the end of March. We had 160 people attend this year which is a lot less then the past three year where we had about 200. It was a great weekend; temperatures were perfect during the day and chilly at night. The girls got to participate in a low ropes team building course, horse back riding, a climbing wall and the older girls got to do a high ropes course.

We did have one incident – a horse slipped and fell with a girl on its back. The horse landed on the girl’s foot. Mom was called and she came and picked up the girl, took to the ER and her foot ended up being fractured.

The other thing that happened that freaked some of the younger girls out was a baby elk that had been killed by a mountain loin or coyote near the fire circle. My daughter went walking around on Friday when we got there, with the other two older girls and they did not see it. On Saturday they discovered it. She told me it looked like it had been dragged there and there was not much left other then bones and fur. Later in the day some of the girls talked to me about it with some other leaders; we just said it was probable sick and the larger animals need to eat too.

Last weekend was my first weekend off since Valentine’s Day weekend. I worked 10 cookie booths, did an archery rectification class (I am an archery teacher for Girl Scouts) and had the encampment.

Last weekend I just did nothing much, just caught up on laundry and put away a bunch of Girl Scout stuff.

Shopping for New Clothes - My Birthday Present

My mom is the best! Last weekend I turned 50, how the heck did I get to be 50? Wasn’t I just turning 40? Better yet how did my mom get to be 68?

For my birthday, I didn’t want a party so my mom took me shopping. She took me shopping because she knew if she gave me the money I would spend it on the house and not myself. She was willing to spend up to $100 per decade. We went to JC Penney’s and they have great deals and a great selection for those of us who need a larger then a size 14. At Penney’s I got 2 skirts and 3 pairs of nice pants. I also bought 4 basic tees, 2 more dressy tees and a jersey cardigan. We went to Lane Bryant and got a pair of dark wash jeans and nice orange blouse. To round out the day we hit Famous Footwear and I got two pairs of wedges – one black & one brown. EVERYTHING was on sale! If we paid the retail price on the tags it would have been $616 and on sale it was $431. I have never spent that much at one time on myself. I think it is time to start treating me to nice clothes and not just pick up a piece when the inner thighs wear out at Wal-Mart.

Next on my list – new under garments and a hair cut.