Wednesday March 23 - Wednesday March 30, 2011

Wednesday March 23, 2011

I decided to get a little more organized before Taylor, Kyle and Morgan come as I won't have a lot of time before we leave for Las Vegas.

I cleaned out the big closet in the motor home and took a few thing off hangers, folded and placed underneath in some plastce boxes. Since I currently occupy 3/4 of the closet with my cloths, I thought I could make a little more room by removing some that I have not been wearing much since it got warmer. I cleaned out the closet as I was doing my laundry and since we do not have soft water, it seems our cloths come out of the dryer more wrinkled, even though I use fabric softener in the washer. I decided to press up some of our better cloths so I ironed for probably 2 hours or more. I got a lot of comments from my friends on facebook about WHAT IS IRONING! We believe it or not, I still iron a lot of my cloths as they just look better. I know there are very few younger people that even own an iron but each to their own!@!

Larry ran all over Mesa trying to find hinges to attach a shelf in the kitchen to give me more room when I cook. There just is not enough counter space to cook. Well believe it or not, people in Mesa evidently do not use hinges either! He went to Ace Hardware, Lowes, Home Depot, Walmart, RV Dealer and even a Cabinet Shop and no one could help him. Oh well, I guess this is a project for when we get home.

When Larry got home, we went over to Old Chicago for a salad and we split a calzone. Had our beer, of course, to help the flavor!!! We came home and I was really tired. I went to bed and read for awhile but we really ready quite tired tonight. Guess I actually did some work today, which is rare!!

Thursday March 24, 2011

The only two completed painting from my classes In Arizona

Today was my last painting class because we are leaving the resort next Thursday. We painted a fall wooded scene. Trees are not my best talent when it comes to painting but they actually turned out pretty good. Pat had us paint fall leaves but in the mix was green leaves as well. I'm not pleased with the green leaves so this painting will go onto my re-work pile when I get home. I think I have five now that needs work on them when I get a chance at home. When we were finished, I mentioned that it reminded me of Larry's deer property so she started pulling out books and magazines trying to find a deer as she wanted me to paint one standing in the woods. Well with all her effort AND mine--the deer came out looking like a big husky dog!@!#! Sherry who normally paints with theTuesday class, painted a deer in her's and it was absolutely beautiful. Sherry is really a wonderful artist! Her paintings are so far above any of the others, it's amazing! I told her I have wanted to take a drawing class and she told me that she has taken drawing classes and many painting classes. She told me the drawing class would really help me with painting. So another item on my 'bucket list'. When I brought my painting home, Larry was kind enough not to laugh out loud at my deer! I immediately brushed it out of my painting and will repair the mess at a later date!

We went to Native New Yorker tonight. I had my normal wings but Larry had a small pizza. Saw Diane, who is normally our waitress. She is such a sweetheart. She is a college student and is from Las Vegas. The wings were wonderful as well as the beer! I started talking to a guy at the bar and he was with his brother and son. His son just got home from Afghanistan and will only be home a short while and will return again. His name was John and his dad was Mike and Mike's brother's name was Michael. I told him it sounded like Darrell and Darrell. He explained to me that Michael was his middle name but always goes by Mike. His brother's first name is Michael so that is what he uses for his name. Mike also told me he has another son that is also going to be sent to Afghanistan. Anyway, we bought John a beer and I told him thanks for fighting for our country. He was such a sweet and cute guy.

Friday March 25, 2011

The Painting group lunch at Los Gringos(Pat, my teacher is above in sunglasses)

The Tuesday and Thursday painting class had lunch down in Apache Junction at Los Gringos. Pat sat across from me and she told me she loves their chicken and spinach enchilada. It sounded good to me so I had it as well. It was very good and I would probably order it again. We all sat out on the patio and the day was beautiful except for being just a little cool with the wind. We were not there long and our tables ended up in the shade so the waiter lite the patio heaters. They made a big difference and provided enough heat that we were all comfortable. I sat next to Sharon and Connie, who are friends and both from New York State. They and their husbands travel together a lot and traveled here together. They normally paint on Tuesday but Sharon painted with us this week on Thursday. I had meet both of them at the Residence Craft Fair a few weeks ago. I like both of them and Connie is very funny when she talks. Sharon told me that instead of having a state by state social next year, they had already scheduled an East Coast Social, which is going to include everyone east of Iowa. There are not very many people east of Iowa here in the park so this will work out much better to just combine the social. Sharon told me the date and time so I wrote it in my calendar for next year.

After the luncheon, we ran errands to pick up groceries and whatever as Taylor, Kyle and Morgan will fly in tomorrow.

Saturday March 26, 2011

I bought some things at Kohl's yesterday, one being some underwear for Morgan since her mom forgot to pack them. Taylor has been washing out Morgan's underwear while they have been in Utah skiing. I couldn't decided when I bought them what size to get as Morgan is so tiny. I bought size 4 and Taylor said when I talked to her that she actually thought the 6 would be better. I ran over to Kohl's to exchange and also when we got our mail this morning, their was a 30% coupon in the mail from Kohl's so I took everything I bought yesterday and they refunded and recalculated with the 30% off coupon. I ended up getting Morgan two packages of underwear and still saved about $18 so was worth the trip.

When I got home, Larry had washed the  motor home and was rearranging everything underneath in the storage area. Taylor sent me a message that they were arriving at 4:20 so Larry got his shower and we had to leave for the airport to pick them up. We were almost to the terminal when she sent a message saying they had landed. I went in to the baggage area to find them and it took a long time for them to get there and longer yet for the luggage to arrive. We finally got it all and Kyle said he had rented a car so he and Taylor loaded a few things into our car and they went to get the rental. Morgan road home with us and talked the entire trip.

Kyle and Taylor got back to the motor home without a problem. We hauled some of their luggage in but not much room for extra items here so most of it was left in the rental car. We went to  a really wonderful small Italian restaurant down a few blocks in Mesa to eat. It was wonderful food and everyone was pleased with their meal. Morgan actually ate ravioli and finished the entire meal.  By the time we got home everyone was pretty tired. We talked for awhile and hit the bed. Taylor is suppose to go with Kyle tomorrow morning to Tuscon. He is going to Tuscon to see a couple of his club members who have winter homes there. They will be playing golf tomorrow and Monday and then be back to Mesa Monday afternoon.

Sunday March 27, 2011

Grandma's Mermaid

Kyle got ready to  go to Tuscon and told Taylor she didn't need to go with him. He said there would not be that much for her to do except visit with the wives. I was so happy that he told her to stay here, otherwise, we would not have had much time with her. After Kyle left, we decided to go to The Village Inn for breakfast. Morgan was not too happy that we didn't immediately grab our swimsuits and head to the pool first thing, as that is all she talked about when she woke up. We came home from breakfast and got ready to go swim. I think we went up to the pool by 12:00 and were there until almost 6:00 today. What a long day but Morgan had a great time as she met two girls from Minnesota that were here visiting their grandparents. The three of them played in the pool all afternoon. Larry was kind enough to bring us some snacks during the afternoon so at least we didn't starve on our long afternoon. We finally made Morgan get out and when we came back home, she was beat. She laid  down on the love seat and immediately went to sleep. While she took a nap, the rest of us got showers and dressed to go eat.

We decided since Kyle was gone, we'd go for seafood. Kyle does not like seafood so when he is gone we usually take advantage of  it. We all had crab and Larry and I also had shrimp scampi. Morgan ate some crab but also had her main course meal of Mac and Cheese. She lives on Mac and Cheese as does Addy.

Taylor talked to Cindy (grandma Bauer) and they drove up to Brandon's, Kyle's brother on Saturday  to help him and Kristina on a home project. Cindy and Jim are keeping Addy while everyone is out here. Brandon only lives about 25 miles from Taylor and Kyle so Cindy and Jim went to Taylor's to spend the night as Brandon has a small house. Cindy said Addison was pretty upset when they got to Taylor's and found no one home. She had to talk to her and explain that mom, dad and Morgan were in Arizona seeing grandma and grandpa Stafford. I guess Addison got over the disappointment.  It must have been really a downer for her as I'm sure she is missing everyone.

Monday March 28, 2011

The first thing this morning was 'Lets go swim'!!! This, of course, would be the first words out of Morgan's mouth. Taylor and Morgan both got a lot of sun yesterday. Morgan's face looks like a lobster! I made her put some night cream on it last night before bed but it still looks plenty red this morning. We had something to eat and headed to the pool. Morgan was really bummed because there were no young kids there today. The little girls from Minnesota told us they were going to he zoo today so we were not expecting to see them. There have been  so many kids here the past few weeks that I was surprised there were none her age in the pool today. Anyway she was pretty bored to not have anyone to play with. Taylor and I spent some time in the water playing with Morgan but got out to relax some so then she was bored and started to get a little nasty with us. I think the main issue was she was tired. We ended up staying until around 5:00 today so another long day in the sun. We kept putting heavy sun screen on Morgan's face but she still was terribly red.

We came home and sat outside and had a beer and talked, then I came in and got a shower as my skin looked like a snake from the chlorine. My skin and hair had taken a beating with the dry heat and sun. Kyle came home around 6:00 and when everyone else got their shower, we went to My Big Fat Greek Restaurant. Larry and I have never been there since we've been coming to Arizona. Paul, our next door neighbor, came over to chat a minute so I asked him if I could show Taylor the baseball guy Paul is carving for me. We all walked over to his carving shed and he showed us the ball player and several other carvings he has either completed or working on. He is an amazing carver and he is 86 years old. You would never guess his age as he is on the go constantly. We asked Paul about the restaurant and he said it was very good.

When we arrived and looked at the menu, it was like I was in a foreign country. Nothing sounded like anything I had ever heard of, except maybe the Pita's. Taylor and I each got a different item--which I have no idea what it they were called on the menu. When we got our food, everyone was pleased. Mine was some type of spinach and  Feta cheese in a flaky pastry. Her's was hamburger and some other cheeses, I think and also had some type of pastry covering it. We all had lemon potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and rice. The potatoes were like small potatoes with the skins in a lemon and maybe olive oil and quite different. Larry got something like a pita but had lots of meat but not like a pita pocket. Not sure exactly what all but he had the same sides as Taylor and I. Kyle did not eat since he just ate with his friends before leaving Tucson, so he just had a beer. Morgan--can you guess what she had---Yep---Mac and Cheese! All in all, the meals were good but not something I would eat every week.

We came home and Taylor did a load of laundry and tried to pack as they are flying home tomorrow morning. Kyle and Morgan both went to bed and Taylor, Larry and I stayed up for awhile and talked.

Tuesday March 29, 2011.

Kyle, Taylor and Morgan got up about 3:45am to make their 5:30 flight. Wow they are going to be very tired and they are planning on Morgan going into to school at noon so she does not miss the full day. I'm sure she probably will sleep on the plane. Larry and I went back to bed but it took a long time for me to go to sleep. I always feel anxious when my family is flying, until I hear they arrived safe. I did fall asleep for awhile and the phone rang at about 6:45 and woke us up. It was Larry's insurance company with some questions or whatever. Since we are two hours behind Illinois, we get lots of EARLY calls.

We got up and cleaned awhile and I started laundry. I always have tons of  laundry with sheets and towels after we have visitors. I changed cloths and went to Sally's Beauty Supply to get hair color. My hair bleaches out so bad when I'm in the sun and the last color I had just did not color well. I wanted to find out what I could use to put some color back in my hair so they basically told me to use the same colors(I mix two) and use more of the darker color in the mixture. I bought more color as I was almost out, and picked up a few other things I needed. I headed over to the Patio Store since it was just across the parking lot and bought some connectors for the water noodles. All the people here use them and it connects the two ends of the noodle so you can put it around your waste in the pool. I have not found them any place else and some of the women told me to buy them at the Patio Store. After I picked them up I ran down to Walgreen's to get my prescriptions and some different allergy medication that the Pharmacist had suggested since the Allegra doesn't seem to be doing the job. The medication I bought is one you have to sign for but is still an OTC drug.

Larry got a call from Taylor saying they got home but forgot to tell me!@! I sent her a message t see if they made it ok and then he told me she called. Can always depend on receiving messages when Larry is involved--NOT!!!

Came home and Larry ran over to the mall to get his hair cut. I stayed home and worked on the laundry  and I also had a few items I wanted to press.  When he came home he sat outside and read and I later joined him and we had a couple of beer. Talked to our Canadian neighbors awhile and they are leaving on Friday. We plan to leave for Las Vegas on Thursday so Larry also spent some time today trying to pack up some things from outside, our grill, extra chairs and the table outside. We pretty much have everything ready to go. The bicycles will go on the ladder of motor home tomorrow night and a few little last minute items. I feel somewhat sorry for the people here in the park who are trying to prepare their park models to leave. It seems they have been working on them for the past week. Cleaning up the yards and the items they are either packing for home or discarding. He Pat and She Pat across the street have worked on trimming their trees and cactus and cleaning outside for several days trying to prepare to leave.

Art Stafford called just before we were leaving to get dinner. He, Lori and Jayden are in Maricopia, AZ, which is just about 30 miles south of Mesa. They are visiting friends or some of Lori's family, Larry couldn't remember what he said. Sounds like they are having a good time but are leaving for Peoria tomorrow.

We headed over to Native New Yorker for out last 'wing night' before we leave. When we walked into the bar, it was packed with no where to set. We stood there for awhile and Diane, our favorite waitress, came over and got us two MGD's to work on while we waited for a table. We didn't have to wait too long as there were 3 or 4 tables getting ready to leave. We had our wings and beer and said goodbye to a couple of the waitstaff that we really like. I gave Diane a hug and told her bye. She is such a sweetie. Told her she was welcome to ride to Vegas with us Thursday and she laughed and said how she wished she could.

Wednesday March 30, 2011

The phone woke us up again this morning before 7:00am  Guess we are no longer retired as we seem to keep getting up much earlier than most retirees. Don't even know who called this morning as I didn't get the phone in time and didn't recognize the number. Now that our home phone rings into the motor home, we are back to getting all the junk calls.

Prickley Pears in bloom at Silveridge
We read the paper and went for a bike ride around the park. The prickly pear cactus are so beautiful right now. They all have beautiful pink blooms galore. As I said, the residence are cleaning and packing and I think by next Monday, there were be few left here at Silveridge. I'm sure the valley residence will be more than thrilled for the old people to leave town--that is all but the business owners who have to hurt somewhat when we all leave.

Got an email from Char this morning wanting to know if we could have breakfast tomorrow morning before be pull out tomorrow morning. She has had meetings this week so no chance to have dinner with us. I told her I would ask the 'King of the Motor Home' but I doubted he'd want to wait around.

The past few mornings my eyes have been burning and itching--even though I have been taking allergy medication for the past month. Today I am going to the pharmacy to get some allergy drops for my eyes as I cannot stand it another minute. Even with all the medications I have been taking for the last two months, I am still having issues with the allergies as I cough, sneeze and blow my nose constantly. At times my voice is fine but most times it's raspy or I go to talk and nothing comes out. I am hoping that when I get back to Illinois, the allergy thing will go away. Never know what is triggering it but right now it is really a bad time here for allergies. Seems a lot of other people I talk to are having some of the same problems.

We didn't do a lot today except I did pick up some allergy eye drops and we also bought a few grocery items to last us till we get to Las Vegas. It was pretty hot today and when we came back home from our shopping, we both ended up laying down for a short nap. It's been awhile since I've taken a nap but it seems the last two or three days I have been lacking on sleep.

Saw She-Pat outside tonight so went over to say goodbye. She and her husband who I call He-Pat(since both their names are Pat) are leaving on Friday. They have their truck packed to the point they can not see out the back window. They are from Washington State and very nice people. I also went over to Lora and Paul's to say goodbye. Paul was in his shed carving on the birds that he is doing for his granddaughter. I talked to he and Lora for awhile and Larry came by walking back from the clubhouse so he also stopped and talked. They are also wonderful people and I will miss Lora with all of her quiet little questions about what we do each day. Anyway we went to get dinner and came home and I hate to say it but after my cup of coffee, I am heading to bed.

It has been a nice three months,. The weather has been close to perfect but today and the rest of the week the prediction is for the high 90's with Friday calling for 100. I think it is time for us to exit from Arizona for cooler (I'm afraid Illinois will be much cooler) weather. We will leave tomorrow for Las Vegas to meet Leslie and Pete and from what I saw on the weather, they too will have very hot weather. Since I am NOT a hot weather person, the next six days may take me over the edge!

Monday March 21 - Tuesday March 22, 2011

Monday March 21, 2011

What a LOUSY day here! It has rained all night and is still raining today. I shouldn't complain as there are FEW days in Arizona that it rains.

I went to get a hair cut this afternoon and Larry went along. We stopped at Sonic for a quick lunch and I can't begin to tell you how BAD it was. This is the second time we have eat at Sonic and probably the last. We just got chilli cheese dogs and the frickin hot dogs were cold. How hard is it to heat a hot dog. Should have just done that at home and saved the money as it was really bad. The first time we ate at Sonic was the first year we came to Arizona. We drove over to Apache Trail to look around one day and stopped at Sonic down there. We sat outside and froze to death!!! The wind was blowing and the temperature was pretty cool. If I recall the food was not good even then. We have a short memory ---ON MANY THINGS!

After my hair cut, I walked over to Frye's grocery to find Larry. He went over to find him a book while I was at the salon. By the time I got there, my hair was dripping down my back because the rain just won't let up. What a nasty day!!! I found him and we picked up a few things and came home.

Larry dropped me off and took the car back to Mitsibushi. It seems since they worked on the inside lights last week that we now have a picture of a battery lite on the dash. He was gone a long time and when he came home, he was driving a red Hundi. I knew right away that was bad news. He said they checked out my car and said the alternator was going bad so they had to order a part from Atlanta, GA. I can't imagine with the size of this area they had to order a part from Georgia!!! They told him, hopefully, the part would be in on Friday. I then thought if it is not in and fixed on Friday, there is no way we will have room in this little toy car to pick up Taylor, Kyle and Morgan from the airport on Saturday. Guess we'll figure that out on Friday. The good news is the alternator repair is covered by my warranty and the car rental is covered by our insurance. I guess I'm glad it happened here but I just think it is a little odd that all was well before we took it to have the lights fixed. Isn't it strange how repair services seem to fix one thing and something immediately goes wrong?!@??

Tuesday March 22, 2011

We took a long bike ride around the resort this morning and the weather is near perfect today after our rain yesterday. While riding this morning, I noticed the prickly pear cactus are blooming. Most of them are a beautiful pink flower, however, there are a very few that have yellow blooms. Last year about the time we left for home, almost all the different cactus were blooming. I doubt we see the other varieties in bloom before we leave this time.

We came home from our ride and sat outside for awhile. Lora, our next door neighbor, came out to fill her bird feeder. We talked for a long time and she told me they were having problems with their van starting. I noticed about two weeks ago a tow truck came out to get it and evidently it decided to start before they loaded it. She said Paul had taken it several times to the dealership and they could not find a problem. She came out to start it last week when she went to get her hair done and it failed to start again. I guess the dealer finally thinks they have it fixed now but she is worried they will have problems when they leave for home. It is amazing that they are 84 and 86 years old and drive from Minnesota every year. They are really great people!

Larry was outside talking to the neighbor so I came in and got my shower and went to Kohl's. I had a $10 Kohl's bucks that I HAD to spend. I went over and looked for the little girls first but didn't find much so I ended up buying myself two tops that were on sale. I went over to Ross's and looked and found another top I liked over there--the great part is---all 3 tops cost me less than $20. I think I'm becoming as CHEAP as my spouse!!!

When I came home, Larry was still 'putzing' around outside. I figured he would be pacing waiting for me to get home to go get lunch. He came in and cleaned up and we left to find something to eat. He mentioned Sweet Tomatoes, which surprised me greatly! When we are at Taylor's house we are always wanting him to go to Sweet Tomatoes and he says there's no way he can eat just salad----OH PLEASE!!! Anyway, I looked up on my phone to find the closest Sweet Tomatoes and keyed the address into the 'navigator' and two times it took us to an intersection quite a distance out of Gilbert and kept saying it was on the corner but there was clearly NOT a restaurant there. Anyway we gave up and came back to Mesa and ate again at Coco's. I again had the Shrimp Alfredo and it was really good.

After eating, I had Larry stop at Micheal's as they had canvas's on sale this week. Of course when I got inside, they were sold out. The cashier called another store and found they had them so we drove up to the Michael's on Power and McKellips so I could get them. If they had not been so cheap, I would have skipped it but was worth the drive. While I was in Michael's, Larry went to Pets Mart and picked up cat food. We drove back to Main Street and Larry decided to stop at some of the liquor stores to try to find Old Style Beer. He went to three stores and none of them had ever heard of Old Style--will that was a surprise--NOT! They DO serve it at Hohokam Park when we go to the Cub games so they must ship it in from somewhere--ILLINOIS Possibly?? Illinois is probably the only place that know what it is!

On our way home, Jenny Allison called. She is a good friend of Leslie's who live in Chandler, AZ, which is about 15 miles from us. We normally get together with them while we are here and when we arrived, I called and left a voice mail to tell them we were here. They did not call back and I forgot to call her. When she called she was so upset that she had forgot to get back with us and said she was going to check with Marty, her husband, to see if we could get together on Friday night. I would like to see their little girl, Sammi, as she is such a sweetie. She will be four in May and I found out through Marty's Facebook that they are expecting again. Jenny said she is due in July. I CANNOT imagine how miserable it would be to be pregnant here in the months of June and July. She said she was not looking forward to going through the heat but had been feeling good lately and they are having another girl. I'm not sure how pleased Samantha will be about a sister as she has been the only grandchild in both Marty and Jenny's family. Marty is an only child and Jenny's brother's are older and not married so chances are Jenny's girls will be the only ones. Sammi is sweet but of course she is spoiled so will be interesting as to how she handles a sister.

Monday

Saturday March 19 - Sunday March 20 2011

Saturday March 19 2011

Got up early to get ready for the Resident Craft Fair. I told Patty yesterday that I would help set up items for our painting group. Went up to the clubhouse at 8:30 and helped haul our easels and stools from our painting room over to the ballroom. Most of the painters were there this morning with their paintings that they wanted to display for the fair.

Talked with Patti Loftgren about planning a lunch for our group next week, since many of us would be leaving within the next two weeks. We talked with all the group and decided on Friday March 25. Patti is going to try to make reservations at Los Gringos down in Apache Junction. They have a nice outdoor patio that she is going to try to reserve for us. Last year we went to a Mexican restaurant in Mesa and the room they put us in was so crowed and noisy we had a horrible time hearing what anyone was saying. I talked with each of the group to find out who and how many would be attending. We have a good group -- about 20 or 22 that plan to attend.

I stayed at the fair for awhile and looked at the items from all the other crafters. There were many very impressive items on display. There is another painting group which I checked into when we first started coming to Silveridge that displayed their paintings. This group is taught by a lady that I instantly disliked when I met her. I told her I was interested in oil painting and she informed me that I would not start in oils because she requires everyone to learn charcoal, then pastels, watercolor and finally oil. She said that if I painted for three months each year, possibly by the 3rd or 4th year I could paint in oils. She was pretty nasty when she talked to me so I figured I did not need her attitude. I then found Patty had classes and I am so happy I started painting with her as she is one of the nicest people I have ever met.

There was also a lady that displayed her paintings that she just does on her own. She does not teach, however, her painting were absolutely awesome! They were oil paintings and mostly in the style of Norman Rockwell. I think her name was Joan Cook so if we come back next year, I may look her up again.

The pottery class items were amazing. I talked to the lady who teaches it but she told me was her last year to teach as they have sold their place and are going to travel for awhile. She said there was another lady from one of her classes that is planning to take the class over next year. I told her I had been interested in trying pottery for awhile so I asked aproximately how much each item costs to make. She said she charged $20 but wasn't sure how they would arrange the classes in the future. I plan to check on them if we return next year.

The stain glass class displayed a few of their items and they were also beautiful. This is another item I would love to try but they told me last year it is rather expensive and is hard on your hands with all the glass cutting I may also check this out. If Larry could find something he likes to do, I could probably stay busy with the things I'd like to do every day. Larry just can't decide on anything that interest him.

I left the fair and walked home as I wanted to go down to the Urgent Care to pick up a prescription that the doctor wrote for Allergy Medication. Larry was home when I got back so we went to pick up prescription and drop it off at Walgreens. After we left Walgreens, we went to get lunch and came back to the craft fair so Larry could look at some of the items and I could pick up my paintings. When we got back it was getting pretty close to 1:00 so a lot of people were starting to pack up.


Old Spaghetti Factory in Phoenix. This can be reached by riding the Lite Rail as it runs directly in front and stops here.

I talked to Char, my friend in Phoenix, and we decided to get together to go to the Old Spaghetti Factory. We had talked about doing this when Taylor and Addison was here but didn't work out for all of us to get together. Char said she would invite two couples that are her close friends and Larry would have some guys to talk with. We picked up a few things to take to Char's and headed over to her house. The traffic was not heavy tonight so it only took about 25 minutes to get there. Char's friends Fred and Janice and Tom and Roseanne were all at the house when we arrived. Char had snacks and we had drinks and just visited for awhile before we left to eat. We all headed for the spaghetti house and didn't have to wait at all before they called us for a table. The restaurant was beautiful, very old with stained glass everywhere. We had a wonderful table with plenty of room for all of us to set comfortably. Roseanne suggested I order the managers special which was half spaghetti with meat sauce and half spaghetti with mizithra cheese, I had no idea what it would be like as I have never had mizithra cheese. Roseanne told me it was browned butter with the cheese mixed in. Oh well, I figured I'd try it. It was very good and very different. It looked pretty much like Parmesan cheese grated over the spaghetti. I later looked it up on the internet and mizithra cheese is a goat cheese and their was a recipe telling how the spaghetti factory made it. It is nothing more than browned butter and the cooked spaghetti is mixed with and then the mizithra cheese sprinkled over the top. Anyway we had a great time and we both really liked both couples. These couples have been friends of Char's for over 30 years. We went back to Char's for awhile but left fairly early to come back home as my stomach had been bothering me off and on all day.

Sunday March 2

Not much going on today. I am still having some issues with my stomach and I just generally feel tired today. I think my stomach problems are probably from all the med's I've been taking. The Allergy business is getting really old and I'm hoping when I get back to Peoria and get rid of the cats from under my nose, I'll feel better, Also, up until the farmers start plowing the field behind us, I shouldn't have so much dust in the air to deal with either.

Larry rearranged the items in the basement of motor home to make room for the new electric cooler we bought. I hope it will still keep everything cold being outdoors where it is hotter. It will at least be out of the sun. There just isn't a good place inside for it so if it does not work out being underneath, we will probably just return it.

We took showers and then went to Applebee's for dinner. We had burgers and beer and sat at the bar and watched the basketball games in the 'final four' playoff's. It was relaxing and they have a new bartender who is a young guy and he is a Texas fan. The game we watched was Texas and Arizona. Arizona won by one point with a last minute shot so he was pretty upset.

We ran to Walmart to pick up a few items and back home. My eyes are now bothering me as well as all the other Allergy stuff. Today my eyes have been burning so bad, I can hardly keep them open. One thing for sure, Arizona has NOT agreed with me and my health this year!

Thursday March 10 to March 18 2011

Addy getting her manicure

Larry enjoying his GREEN Beer on St Patty's Day!

Addison trying to pull both her Dora suitcases into airport


Addison ready to hit the swimming pool!



Mommy and Addison swimming at Silveridge
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Thursday March 10, 2011

Went to my painting class this morning. Audrey and Glennis joined Dorothy and I today. It's been about 3 weeks since I've seen either of them. It was a very relaxing day and all except Dorothy painted Iris's. Dorothy choose to paint a bird but I don't remember what the name of the bird was. Dorothy did a wonderful job on her painting. She has steadily improved since I've been painting with her over the last two years. She enters her paintings in the little county fair in Colorado where she lives and this past summer she won first place. I always enjoy being with Audry and Glennis as they are just easy people to like. Everyone did a nice job on their Iris's and each of us choose a different color background. I used a beige with the Iris's in a purple but some used more of a pinkish purple which was a nice color as well. This is the second painting I've completed since I've been here that turned out well. The other four paintings need work when I get home as I did not have time to finish them in our class.

Tonight we grilled steak and fish and dined in for a change. I have been doing quite well lately about cooking at home. Actually it is more enjoyable than eating out because every place we go is packed with people every day of the week. I imagine there are many places that suffer greatly when the 'snowbirds' leave town. We had a nice relaxing meal with our wine!! We pretty much drink wine with every meal we have at home. We bought a case of '2 buck chuck' the last time we went to Trader Joe's but I think we are going to have to make another trip back for more before we leave for home!

Friday March 11, 2011

We got our showers and did our normal domestic duties and headed for the airport to pick up Taylor and Addison. They arrived at 11:30am and their flight was on time. Addison came running to Larry and I when she saw us and had a grin on her face from ear to ear. Taylor looked good but felt terrible. She came down with the flu on Wednesday and didn't know if she would be able to come she felt so bad. She said she felt like she had a little more energy this morning but her throat is sore and glands are swollen. Addison went to the doctor last Tuesday and she had a bad ear infection so she is on antibiotics and ear drops. I asked Taylor if she wanted to go to the Urgent Care but she decided to wait till tomorrow to see if she felt better.
We retrieved the luggage and headed home. We stopped at Fuddrucker's for burgers on the way home. This is always a great place to eat as well. We have several favorites that only exist in Arizona, unfortunately. Addy ate fries, which is her norm. She doesn't eat enough for a bird. She is very tiny and petite but very healthy.

Came back home and Addy was so thrilled to be at mamaw's! She is such a joy to have around. She brought her Dora suitcase so she had to pack and unpack it at least 10 times during the day. It was packed with her toys so she rearranged them several times. We all laughed when Larry said she was training to be a professional packer.

We went to Red Lobster for dinner and Addison was excited to eat Crab Legs. We scarfed down 4 1/2 pounds of Crab Legs between the four of us. We were stuffed and even Addy ate a fair amount compared to what she normally eats. We came home and everyone was so stuffed, we watched a little TV and hit the bed.

Saturday March 12, 2011

When we got up this morning, Taylor felt terrible so I told her to get dressed and I was going to take her to the Urgent Care Clinic. We drove through Mc Donalds and got Addison a breakfast sandwich, which she finished two bites of. We went into the clinic and Dr Ty was working. I saw him the last time I came in for my cold, cough, nose issues. They took Taylor right in and he told her she could have strip throat but the antibiotic he was giving her would take care of it so he didn't bother with a throat culture. He asked how I was doing and she told him not good so he came out front and told me to come back so he could recheck me. When he checked me he said he was going to give me a steroid shot. I told him since none of the antibiotics seemed to make much difference that I was convinced it was allergies. He said he'd give me the shot and some sample allergy tablets to take to see if it helped. He also gave me a prescription for another nose spray. He is such a great guy and he played with Addison a lot. He and his wife have five children and the last time I was there, his youngest was in the office with his wife so I met them both.

We left the clinic and took the prescriptions down to Walgreen's to drop off to be filled. They said it would be about 30 minutes to pick them up. We went to Fresh and Easy to pick up some groceries and were going back to get prescriptions but Walgreen's called to say they were waiting for insurance approval. We brought the groceries home and went to Kohl's to buy Taylor some capri's since she only brought jeans down. She said she was so sick, she couldn't even think when she was trying to pack her things. Kyle did most of the packing for Addison did a fine job. Taylor found a couple pair of Capri's and we bought Addy and Morgan a pair of sandals. Addy's were flip flops but the ones I bought for Morgan were adorable. They were gold and came up around the ankles like a gladiator style.

We finished at Kohl's and went over to the flea market. We walked a lot and sat down to listen to the music. They always have live music in one of the buildings. Addison was really into the music--she sat and listened for a long time. We walked on and Taylor found a nice pair of flip flops for her as she only packed shoes so needed something cooler to wear. Addison had seen a Dora suitcase when we first arrived at the flea market and wanted it but I told her to look around to see if she liked something else better. On our way out of the market she said she wanted the suitcase so I bought it for her. She is such a riot as she pulls it behind her swinging one arm like she is really on a misson. She was soooo- pleased with her new purchase. When we got home she emptied everything out of the other Dora bag and repacked the new one with her things---SEVERAL TIMES!!

We grilled steaks and Addison and I had fish. Had a good dinner and sat around and visited and laughed at Addy. She is so funny and always in a good mood, much different than her sister Morgan. Addison's first words out of her mouth when she wakes up in the morning is 'let's go bye bye'. The kid loves to go ANYWHERE! Morgan is so different as she is a 'home body' and does not like going away.

Sunday March 13, 2011

Got up this morning and sat outside for awhile while Addy played with her play doh. She loves to set and play with it for hours. We decided to clean up and go for breakfast. We went over to the Village Inn on Signal Butte and had a nice breakfast. Stopped at Walmart to pick up a few things and also went to Kid R Us to get Addy a pair of sunglasses.

We came back home and put on our swimsuits and walked down to the pool to swim. It is very warm this week in the high 80's and forecast is for 90 a couple of days this week. We swam for awhile and Larry came down, We all sat around the pool for quite awhile and Addison swam for a long time.

We came back and showered and drove over to Power Square. Taylor has a Miche purse and she was wanting a new cover for it. Larry and I had been in a little shop at Power Square a couple of weeks ago and I noticed they carried Miche. Addison fell asleep in the car so Taylor and I ran in to look while Papa stayed in the car with Addison. The guy at the shop told us if we bought four covers we got one free. Taylor insisted that she was going to buy me the purse and covers for my birthday. She bought me the bag and two covers and bought two covers for her bag and got the free one as well.

We left Power Square and went to Organ Stop Pizza. This is such an interesting place as they have the world's largest Wurlitzer Organ. It is always so packed that if you don't arrive shortly after they open at 4:00pm, you do not get a seat. Patty, my painting teacher told me that one person has to get in line to order the pizza while the other finds a seat. Addison and I headed upstairs to try to find a seat by the railing so she could have a spot that she could see. Before Taylor and Larry came up the first show began. This guy who plays is so amazing and watching all the things he pushes and changes constantly on the organ is unreal. The organ is on a stage that comes up out of the floor. The entire room is filled with pipes and percussion parts of the organ and most of the pipes are glassed in. When he plays each note, the glass opens for that pipe to be heard. It is the most amazing thing I have seen with the exception of the pipe organ in the Mormon Tabernacle in Salt Lake City. We sat and listened to it a couple of years ago and it also provides an amazing sound. I set and wonder how anyone learns to play something so involved and massive. The interesting thing about the Organ Stop Pizza is he takes request and plays each of them without music. Again, I wonder, HOW you become that proficient!! Addison and Taylor both enjoyed the show as did Larry and I.

When we left the pizza place we drove over to Fresh Market in Chandler for Taylor to pick up Sea Salt. We shopped around over there for awhile and bought a few things. The market is huge and has so many unusual things all you want to do is look. Taylor said they only have two or three around Chicago and none are as large as the one here in Chandler. We got there about 8:00pm and the place was really busy - especially for a Sunday night.

Monday March 14, 2011

We designated today as Larry's day as we left Mesa early this morning to drive up to Jerome. This is about an 85 or 90 mile drive. This is Larry's favorite thing to do. Drive all day and see NOTHING! We stopped at Montezula Castle on the way, which was ok but Larry and I had been there before and Taylor was not so much impressed with it. It is a dwelling built on the side of the mountain that was occupied by the early dwellers of Arizona.It is amazing to think that the people actually lived in this dwelling because to get up and down from it must have been a major accomplishment. The reason it was built into the mountain so high was to keep out predators and unwanted guests. They carried water from a stream about a block or more away and then had to hoist it up to the dwelling. I guess Americans today are very 'soft' as I can't imagine having to exist this way.

We drove on to Jerome and I actually thought it would be something to do that Taylor might enjoy. Jerome sets very high on a mountain and the road going up is narrow and winds around and around until you reach the little town. It was once an old mining town and the buildings are very old and there are lots of little art and gift shops. We drove more than 2 hours to get there and when we arrived Addison was asleep. None of us wanted to wake her to stop so we basically drove through the town and went out the other side on route 89A. This is a very scenic route but takes a long time to reach the next town, which is Prescott. By the time we got to Prescott, we were starving. We ended up stopping at Coco's for lunch and were somewhat disappointed in our food. Larry and I ate at Coco's here in Mesa a week or so ago and it was wonderful. I guess they are not all created equal.

We left Prescott and by the time we got to Phoenix, we were lucky enough to hit rush hour. What a zoo this place is during rush hour. The main highways are four and five lanes in one direction and the traffic is bumper to bumper! It's worse than Chicago traffic by far because there are only 3 major highways connecting Phoenix to the suburbs. I think everyone in the area drives their vehicles alone--not much carpooling even though a fast lane(known as an HOV - high occupancy vehicle) is provided for vehicles with two or more passengers. Surprisingly, we made it through the traffic rather quickly because we drove in the HOV lane coming home.
we got home and everyone was worn out. Taylor and I both said it was an absolute waste of time driving up and back. Larry had mentioned that tomorrow we would go to Payson, which is east and north of Mesa. The doctor at the Urgent Care Clinic had told us we should go to Payson to see the 'Natural Bridge'. After we rode all day today we decided the Payson trip would wait for another year. If I would agree, Larry would drive us someplace every single day. I just hate getting in the car and driving forever to see nothing!

Tuesday March 15, 2011

Taylor, Addison and I went to get a pedicure and manicure. We assumed that the gal would just paint Addison's toes and fingernails but she gave her pretty much the whole treatment. She had her set with Taylor and put her feet in the tub. She cleaned her feet good and then massaged lotion into her feet and legs. While Taylor was getting her pedicure, Addy sat there like she was really enjoying it all. The girl painted Addison's toenails and drew a flower on each of her big toenails. After we got our pedicure, we all moved over to the manicure tables. Again the girl had Addison put her fingers in the soak bowl, trimmed and cleaned her nails and massaged lotion into her hands and arms. She painted her nails and drew a flower on her thumbnails to match her toes. Addison was in Heaven! She was so good and never got restless at all.

After we finished our pedicure and manicures, we pick up groceries as we were running out of Addison's favorite things--like orange juice and yogurt. These are her mainstay as she eats very little of anything else. We came home and sat outside for a long time and Addy played. We were going to go to the pool but was getting late so decided to go ahead and cook dinner.

Wednesday March 16, 2011

I cooked breakfast for everyone and then Larry had an appointment to take the car over to Mitsubishi to find out why our inside lights no longer work. After Larry left, we changed into our suits and went to the pool. It was very hot today so the pool felt good. The water in our pool here in Silveridge is like getting into bath water. It is so warm it is hardly refreshing! The old people love the warm water. On cool days,the warm water feel great but when it is 90 degrees, not so much! Addison had a good time swimming and she played a little with a couple of small children that were swimming.

We came back to motor home and Larry was home. He said they found a short in the wiring and fixed it. It is probably from bouncing around on the rough roads pulling it behind the motor home.

We took our showers and sat outside and let Addison play for awhile. It is very comfortable setting in the shade, even at 90 degrees as their is no humidity. If I were setting outside in Illinois at 90 degrees, I would sweat like a hog as the humidity would surely be 99%. I love Arizona because it is so dry but my hair and skin take a beating!

We went to Applebee's tonight to eat. Taylor wanted Fajitas so she and Larry had that. I had a chicken pasta, which I guess I was not in the mood for. Addison had fries and mac n cheese--BIG SURPRISE! Her four foods are yogurt, OJ, fries and mac n cheese. She would starve to death if they were no longer available!

We came home and all took a walk. We stopped at clubhouse and Larry and Taylor played a game of pool. We walked outside and decided to try our hand at pickleball. Larry and Taylor did pretty good and Addison and I mainly chased our ball. Addison was determined to play with Mamaw but as I said the biggest event was her and I chasing the ball. I so enjoy watching her as there is nothing she thinks she cannot do. No one helps her dress or eat as she knows how to do it and no one needs to help. She really makes me laugh. She loves to sing and now that she is going to preschool, she knows the 'Pledge of Allegiance'. She amazes me that she knows how to count and her ABC's when she just turned 3. She is like a sponge as she picks up everything. I took a video of her saying the pledge so I could play it and laugh!

We came back to motor home and everyone was tired and ready for bed. Addy has been so good about going to bed at night and even a nap or two during the time they have been here.

Thursday March 17, 2011

Taylor and Addison flew home today. We took them to the airport and their plane left at 11:50am. Addison had both her Dora suitcases and was determined to pull them both behind her. She did quite well but I finally asked her if I could help so she let me pull one of them. Everyone we meet while walking just smiles at her because she is so confident acting and acts like she knows exactly what to do when they travel. She is no bigger than a minute but insists on pulling her own bags. Even the neighbors here at Silveridge got a buzz out of Addison as she is so little and walks like she's got the world by the tail! They all try to talk to her and then she usually clams up, of course.

We stopped at Camping World on the way home from the airport to check on an electric cooler. We spend a fortune on ice for our ice chest. We sometimes get it up at the clubhouse but when the weather gets really hot, sometimes the ice gets low. Taylor and I brought home two large bags of ice on Tuesday afternoon and by Wednesday morning it was melted. Camping World didn't have much of anything we wanted. We stopped at Village Inn and had breakfast and then went to Walmart and checked on both the small refrigerators and electric coolers. We ended up buying the 40 quart electric cooler but wasn't sure where we wanted to put it so for the time being, we put it inside in the kitchen area. Larry is going to check on trying to put it underneath in the storage area to keep the sun off it. There is a plug in area that he should be able to use. It does keep things very cold inside--not sure how it will work out in the heat.

We came home and I started my 'mounds' of laundry. Sheets and towels and quite a lot accumulated of our normal laundry over the past few days. It's really not bad when I can do it all here at home. I thought about taking the sheets and towels up to laundromat but decided I'd just work on it here.

When Taylor was here we were playing a scrabble game on our phones called 'words with friends'. It's a lot of fun and Larry and I can play it on my phone by passing it back and forth. We decided we'd buy a scrabble game and play it together so while I did laundry we sat outside and played scrabble and drank beer! Was kinda a fun afternoon.

Today being Thursday, is wing night at The Native New Yorker. We got ready and headed over there about 6:30 and I actually thought we would stay for Karaoke which they have every Thursday at 9:00pm. We did stay a couple of weeks ago and really enjoyed it. We ate our wings and had a pitcher of green beer-which happened to be Miller Lite and was so terrible that we could hardly finish it. Then we switched to MGD bottles and had a couple of them and by then, we were really tired. I think the fact that we drank a couple before we went over kind of slowed us down some. We also have had a big week with Taylor and Addy being here. Anyway, around 8:30 we decided to come home. When we got home I was really tired so I cleaned my face, brushed my teeth and hit the bed to read. I think I made it almost 45 minutes of reading before I was sound asleep!

Friday March 18, 2011

Well I sure miss my girls! Taylor sent me a message last night to say they made it home and the flight was good. Addison was perfect on the flight home and she was really happy to get home to see daddy and Morgan. I talked to Taylor this morning and she said Addy was a little upset because she had to sleep alone last night. She had been sleeping with Taylor in the bedroom each night. Larry and I slept on the hidabed out in living room. Taylor said Addison also said she was sad to not be with grandma and grandpa. She was torn between staying here and going home to see Morgan. When I talked to Taylor, Hannah, who is Taylor's friend Aurora's little girl, was there playing with Addy. It sounded like they were having a great time. Taylor, Kyle and Morgan are flying in next Saturday for three days. Kyle and Taylor are going to Tucson for a night and day to see one of Kyle's club members so Morgan will stay with us. I'm sure it will be easy to entertain Morgan as long as she can lay in the pool as she can never get enough of swimming.

Didn't do a lot today except finish laundry and clean the house a little. Went over to Patty's (my painting teacher) to take my paintings for the resident craft fair tomorrow. This is where everyone involved in any type of crafts here in the park display their items. The last couple of years it's been quite interesting to see all the items made here in the park. There were beautiful quilts, pottery, stained glass, paintings -- there are at least two painting classes here in the park--and items made by the woodcrafters. There is so much going on and so many things to do here --just depends on how much you want to get involved. I keep saying I would love to do pottery and stained glass but as with all hobbies, it gets very expensive.

Larry just came home from his shopping trip to one of the sports stores so guess it's time to wrap up the gab and start dinner.

I attached my cell phone to my PC tonight trying to download pictures off my phone and realized that I can get an internet connection via my cell phone!!! That is truly amazing to me that I did not figure this out before. Anyway, I am posting my blog using my cell phone as my internet connection. Now we will have to wait and see if it ups my minutes or whatever on my usage. Oh well --sure is convenient to set here at home and work on blog.

January 23, 2011 to March 8, 2011

Great Beer in Los Algodonas, Mexico!@!@!

Wednesday January 23, 2011

Paul came over to see if Larry was going to carve with the group today but Larry told him no. We got dressed and went to the Superstition Mall for Larry to get a haircut. While he spent time at the book store and getting his haircut I shopped some. We left the mall and grabbed lunch and headed home. Nothing much exciting today.

Thursday January 24, 2011

Went to my painting class today and only two of us painting today. Dorothy Collins and myself, so we had a very relaxing day. We painted Geese and I think this is the first painting that has actually ended up looking good since I've been here. I have about 3 or 4 paintings that I need to finish as I did not get them finished in class. It seems such a hassle to drag out all the items I need to paint here in the RV. Pat told me I could come on Tuesdays to work on finishing them, but it seems every Tuesday, we have something going on. I really enjoy my group I paint with as they are all so easy to talk with and it just a very relaxing day. Pat normally puts on music, which really is relaxing! We normally have some type of snack that someone brings each week and our coffee. Lora, my next door neighbor, is so cute and she waits for me to come home every Thursday and knocks on her window for me to show her my painting for the day.

I talked to Taylor this morning and she and Kyle are flying to Utah skiing early tomorrow morning. Justin, Kyle's first assistant at the club and Will who was a Caddy Master but now works in the pro shop for Kyle, also flew out for 3 or 4 days to ski. They are staying with Kyle and Taylor. Taylor is flying home next Thursday and Kyle is flying on down to Colorado to ski with one of his club members. The little girls stayed home with Grandma Bauer. Poor Cindy, she has been a trooper for her babysitting while I have been gone. Taylor told me I would get my turn in May. I don't know what all she has planned but I will be staying with the girls.

After my class today, I went to get a hair cut. When I got home we ended up going BACK to Native New Yorker but even though it is wing night again tonight, we had a pizza and lots of beer!!! They have Karaoke on Thursday night and we had a fun time. There were several very good singers, one of them being Diane, who was our waitress. She is such a sweet girl and has been our waitress several times. It seems we are considered 'regulars' now since we end up over there at least once a week. Shawn is one of the other waiters that hassle us when he gets a chance. He has been our waiter several times as well. I was hassling him about finding him a nice girlfriend, like one of Larry's niece's. Anyway we always have a good time when we go over and they have wonderful food as well.

Friday January 25, 2011

Larry keeps talking about getting a new cell phone so this morning we went over to Signal Butte Walmart as he had talked to a lady there a while back and thought they had the phone he wanted. He couldn't actually look at any of the phones because they did not have many display models. The lady that works over there told him people keep steeling the displays. I cannot believe that but it is evidently true. She told him to go to Version and pick out a phone and come back as she probably would have the phone boxed to sell to him. There is a Version store in the shopping center just across the parking lot so we went over there. We got a great guy as a salesman and he not only helped Larry choose a phone but he showed us a new item that Version just brought out on the market two days ago that is just what we need when traveling. It is a router or whatever they call it. We would be able to keep our own phone number that we have for our land line at home and drop AT&T as our carrier and switch to Version. The router allows us to take it with us anywhere in the US and all calls to our normal home number will ring into the RV as if we were home. We were able to get the router free and our monthly charge will be $19.99, with unlimited minutes and free long distance to any number within the US. If for any reason we are not available to answer the phone or if we are traveling, it has a voice mail just like our cell phones. When we get where we are going we plug it in and it rings into the RV again. We can retrieve our voice mail from this phone at anytime via our cell phones. Basically it has to have a power source as it does not run on 12 Volt but it does have a battery back up. At home all we have to do is plug the unit in and it works at home while we are there. Pretty great for us when we travel so much. It will save our cell phone usage, since we can make unlimited calls. We went over our cell phone minutes this past month and I had to call and beg Version to reduce our bill. They dropped our overage by $25 so it helped. Currently we are paying something like $55.00 a month for our AT&T land line so will be a huge savings to get rid of that. We checked it all out but did not have out account number for AT&T so we told the salesman, Dan, that we would come back tomorrow afternoon with all the information and finish the purchase.

We went over to the Mesa Flea market and looked around for a couple of hours, went to the grocery store and came home and cooked dinner on the grill. Steak for Larry, talopia for me. Was very good and we enjoyed a meal at home which we only seem to do a couple times a week. I did cook Wednesday night as well. We had Shrimp Alfredo and it was pretty tasty.

Saturday February 26, 2011

Went to the craft show up at the club house this morning. I ran into so many people that I know, I didn't have a lot of time to look for talking to everyone. They have very nice items at these shows and there are a lot of outside vendors with handmade jewelry and many interesting items. I met a lady who was a vendor that I talked to for a long time. Larry came up when I was talking to her and I introduced him to her. Her name is Pat McFee and she and her husband Terry live in a park model in a resort a few blocks west of Silveridge. I was telling her how bored Larry gets when we are here and she told us about her and her husband being full time RV-er's for 11 years. When they traveled, they worked at many government supported parks. She said they didn't get paid much but their rv site was free. On their off days, they toured all of the sites around the area and saw so many wonderful places. She suggested we think about trying it. Larry and I checked into working at Yellowstone two years ago. There are so many places supported by the government that are open for part time workers and are seasonal starting in May and ending in September. Would probably be an interesting thing to do at least once.

We left the craft show and went to Applebee's for lunch. It was so busy, we sat at the bar. The bartender was Lisa, a gal we met last year. She remembered us because when Taylor, Kyle and the girls were here, she was our waitress two nights in a row. At that time she worked part time at Red Lobster and part time at Applebee's. Kyle went to Tuscon on Monday morning so Larry, Taylor, Morgan, Addy and I ate at Red Lobster on Monday night. Lisa was such a great waitress and talked and entertained the girls a lot. Kyle came home Tuesday afternoon and Tuesday night we went to Applebee's to eat and Lisa was our waitress there that night. We all loved her. When we walked in, I told her who we were and she actually remembered where we sat and that we had the granddaughters there. We visited with her for awhile but she was very busy. She told us she has a REAL day job now and only works at Applebee's when they need her to fill in. She has worked at Applebee's for a number of years.

We went back over to Version and finished the transaction from yesterday. Larry got a new cell phone and we got the router(whatever) for our land line and our bill was $54.00 with a $50.00 rebate. Pretty great deal for what we got.

Went to Walmart to buy new cordless phones to use for our new router. We have been needing new phones for home but just haven't bought them. We bought our phones and headed home. It will take five business days for Version to get our home number changed over where it will ring out here. In the mean time, we can make outgoing calls which will be great.

Sunday February 27, 2011

It rained all night and was still raining a little this morning when we got up. Larry had to call several people this morning on our 'freeby' phone. We talked to Taylor for a long time. They are having a great time skiing. They had 24 inches of snow on Saturday. We also talked to Leslie, who seems to be feeling somewhat better. She said she still has a very sore throat. I called and talked to Debbie for a while, since I have not actually talked with her since we left home. We send emails and comments on facebook but it is nice to talk once in awhile!! She has been feeling bad and found out last week she had a UTI. Been taking medicine for that and feeling better today. She said Braiden and Brody both have had the flu. Everyone is feeling better today, which is good.
It rained off and on all morning. We had ticket for opening day for the Cubs today. When we left it was still sprinkling rain and was pretty cool. We packed up our cool weather gear and headed to Hohokam Park. When we got there the rain stopped and our seats were in the sun. Wow did it feel good setting there in the sun and I actually started getting warm. That lasted about 30 minutes then the sun went west enough that we were in the shade. It got really cool before the game was over. Typical of the Cubs---they lost to the Oakland A's. We left at the end of the 8th inning and the score was 15-5. I'm sure by the end of the 9th, they were down even more. Cub fans are very special people as they keep cheering for the team game after game while they loose!!! We have tickets for tomorrow's game as well. The Cubs play the Milwaukee Brewers.

We came home and caught the last 30 minutes of the Nascar Race which was run here in Phoenix today. The attendance at the game was down today probably because of the Nascar Races. Anyway Gordon pulled off a win at the Nascar. After the race was over, we cooked dinner and enjoyed yet another meal at home tonight.

Monday February 28, 2011

Went to the Cub game again today. They played the Milwaukee Brewers and of course they start out like wildfire and end up loosing so bad it's embarrassing to confess to being a Cub Fan! We left at the end of the 8th inning because it was just so boring. I told Larry I don't care if we go back to any more of the spring training games because they only play the minor league players the majority of the time. They put in the regular players for an inning or two and then bring in the 'invitees'. It's like watching a Peoria Chief's game for twice the ticket price! It was very cool today at the game because we again sat in the shade. We sat next to a middle aged couple that was from Palentine Illinois. We told them Taylor lives in Arlington Heights. They asked what street and we told them N. Douglas Ave and the lady said before they bought their home in Palentine they looked at a house on N. Douglas. Palentine is just a couple of miles away from Arlington Hts so again, it's a small world!

We left the ball park and drove over to Trader Joe's and picked up a case of '2 buck chuck'! We are really cheap drunks as we both love the White Zen. When we cook at home we drink a bottle of White Zen with our meal--I guess because it makes my bad cooking go down smoother?!@? Anyway, we were almost out of wine and we are invited to Pat and Terry McFee's house on Wednesday and Pat told me she loves the White Zen from Trader Joe's. I wanted to have enough to take a couple of bottles over there on Wednesday--don't want to run the risk of running out!!!!! Ha!

We came home and cooked pork chops on the grill and AGAIN had dinner at home. I don't know if I like the direction this is taking suddenly where I'm cooking at home every day! I've been so spoiled since we left Peoria because we had been eating out more than eating in!

Tuesday March 1, 2011

Drug our bodies out of bed early this morning to get ready in time to leave by 7:00am for Los Algodones, Mexico. This is too much like work getting up at 5:00. I went back to have a couple of teeth taken care of. One is just for the dentist to close up a gap on a posterior tooth that I keep getting food packed in between and the other is to have a sealer put on the root of a tooth where the gum has receded. Might not really be worth going back for but I know if I wait till I get home, it will cost me $300. Today's bill was $50, so I guess when you figure the price of gas down there, it is still worth it.

After my appointment, we hit the cantina--of course! We both ordered something to eat but most importantly was the margarita's!!! They make the BEST! They had the Mexican Band playing again today and they are quite entertaining. What is more entertaining is after some of the snowbirds have a few drinks, they get up to dance. Half of them can hardly walk, let alone dance. After we finished our margarita's and had our lunch, we ordered the HUGE bottle of beer to split. I have no idea how many ounces are in one bottle but I would guess a quart or maybe a little less. We, of course, split the bottle because SOMEONE had to drive home. Mexican Beer is quite strong compared to American Beer but oh soooo-- good. It come in a small bucket with ice all around it and is very cold, which is the only way I can drink beer! When I was in Brazil, they served their beer in the VERY large bottles as well, but since we had our own driver, I could drink as many bottles as I wanted! Ha!Had to make a stop at the ladies room and if you want to wash your hands when you come out, you tip a little guy and he gives you a squirt of hand soap and a paper towel. The one that works at the cantina is so cute and young. He remembered me from last week and asked if I spoke much Spanish, which I replied NO! He informed me he does not speech much English, but we were able to talk some and make each other understand. He was trying to say something in English and he tried several times but I could not figure it out. Finally, I asked him if he was trying to say 'important', which he replied yes. I pronounced it several times for him and each time he would try to say it correctly. Finally he caught on to how to say it so he was very proud of himself and thanked me!

When we left the cantina, I had bought a sweatshirt last week that I found was a 4X, when I got it home. My gosh, I could have built a tent with it!! I took it back today to see if they would exchange it and the gals kept acting like they did not understand what I wanted. This is the way they can avoid any type of customer service!!! You buy it -- it's yours! Anyway one of the Mexican Guys started talking to me so he was kind enough to talk to the gals for me. I told him I wanted either a 1X or 2X so they had to go to another vendor to find one. When they brought it back, it was a 1X and I knew as cheap as the material, it would fit a Barbie Doll after it was laundered. I told him it was too small so when he walked away, I thought he was going to look for another sweatshirt so I waited around. He never came back so I told the gal I would come back later. When I returned, I told the guy I'd like to exchange it for another jacket they had hanging and he talked the lady who run the place into making the exchange.

We then went to Jesus, the picture frame guy. Pat, my painting teacher always appreciates us bringing her frames when we go down so I bought 6 for her and 3 for myself. Jesus always gives me a good price on them when I buy several. From there we bargained for a stained glass and I got the guy to come down $70 from the original price. I am a tough negotiator! If they don't come down to my price I walk away. Last week I tried to buy the same stained glass and they were so far away from my price, I walked away and the lady ran after me quoting me lower and lower prices but I didn't stop long enough to get the price I wanted.

After we bought the stained glass and frames, Larry said he was going to get in the line to cross the border while I picked up some amoxicillan for my friend and cigerattes for me. So I told him I would met him at the line. The line to cross over was at least six blocks long today and it was hardly moving. After I got my items I walked over and walked up and down the line looking for him three times, dragging six frames, cigerattes, med's for my friend and more I bought for us--so I had quite a load to haul around. I could not believe that I could not find him. He said he was going to try to find a bathroom before he got in line but I could not believe he was still looking for the bathroom. So I was so hot from walking and carrying the crap up and down the line, that I sat down on a bench that they have along the sidewalk by the line. I sat there and watched people pass by and I could not find Larry. I was just getting ready to go to the back of the line and take my place to wait it out and I happened to look across the street and there he was!!!@! He was standing in the line waiting for the bike taxi. He was going to pay to ride across the border and I can only assume he thought I was going to stand in line for 2 hours. I was FURIOUS--to put it mildly--when I finally found him! I walked over there with sweat running down my face and let him have it. He kept telling me to be quiet--which only made me madder!!! He said he was watching for me but never did see me--HOW COULD HE MISS ME????? I walked right in front of him across the street -- up and down the long line THREE times. REGARDLESS-- we both waited our turn for the taxi. So for $5 each we rode across the border in less than probably 20 minutes. The taxi guy is not always there but most times we see him. This is really the first time we have encountered a line as long as today. I think because we normally spend a little more time 'wining and dining' than we did today so we are later going over to get in line. I think most days if you wait until 3:30 or later the masses have already left. So, the lesson learned today was drink a few more Marguerite's rather than spending that time standing in a line that is going NOWHERE!

Wednesday March 2, 2011

Well, the first item on my agenda today was to go back to the Urgent Care! The last three or four days, I have started feeling bad again! Last night I did not sleep, nor I'm sure did Larry, because I coughed all night. My voice is so raspy again that I start to talk and I have no voice. I bought ZPac today but think I would rather return to the doctor to find out WHAT my problem is!
Saw the doctor and he had a chest xray done one me to make sure I do not have pneumonia. He came in afterwards and told me I have acute bronchitis. I just go from acute this to acute that. Last time I went to doctor, he told me it was sinus, so who knows what I have. Again he prescribed steroids, and an antibiotic which is Lavaquin. He said this is what he would prescribe for pneumonia and he wants to make sure it does not go into pneumonia. He also gave me pills for daytime cough and more codeine cough syrup for night time cough. So hopefully something will work!

Stopped at post office to mail our tax information off and then dropped my prescriptions off at Walgreens before I headed home.

Larry stayed home waiting for the propane guy to come to refill our propane tank once again! We have gone through three or four tanks of propane since leaving home. At $60 a refill, not sure if we are saving anything on our heating bill from what it would be at home.
Went up to office to post my blog and the wiFi is down. So who know when this cracker jack joint will get it running again. It really burns me that we cannot get WiFi at our RV Site!! So will check again tomorrow to see if anyone got it going again.

We went to Pat and Terry McFee, who are friends we met here recently. They live in Val Vista RV Park, a few miles away. We sat and visited and had our wine and then went for dinner. Had a really great time with them. They have a beautiful park model with an Arizona room. Terry is a retired policeman and they are from Ohio. They live here for 6 or 8 months and then have a motor home they travel in during the summer. Terry is going to work in Des Moines, IA for most of the summer so maybe we will be able to see them this summer. Came home and I feel horrible tonight so am going to bed.

Thursday March 3, 2011

Pat, my painting teacher, has some of her family here this week from Minnesota, so she cancelled our class for today.

Larry wanted to go to breakfast so I cleaned up and we went to Village Inn. By the time we finished eating, I was feeling so bad I didn't think I could wait to get home to lay down. When we got home, I went to bed. My head feels like it is going to blow apart, I have so much pressure around my eyes and ears.

I laid around most of the day. I think I actually went to sleep for about an hour. When I woke up, I felt better and was going to take my blog up to post again but Larry had been up to the lobby trying to get on WiFi and the stupid thing is STILL down. They told me yesterday that they had been trying to 'beef' it up --which I doubt but anyway someone didn't know what they were doing, I'm afraid. Had tickets for the Silveridge Pops Concert tonight here in the park so we went around 4:30 over to Native New Yorker and had wings and a couple of beer. On the way home I began thinking the beer was not a good choice for me as I was so drosy, I could hardly stay awake. We got home a little early for concert so I laid down for 45 minutes and felt a little better. I have been looking forward to the concert as Paul Thompson, our next door neighbor, plays in the Pops. He practices every days we hear him. He is 86 and he plays in four different musical groups around the valley. He is also the wood carver that Larry carves with---occassionally. We walked up to the club house and got our seats and then Lora, Paul's wife came in and sat with us. She is such a sweet and funny lady! Anyway, the concert was wonderful. It is so amazing that these people are so devoted to the group. There are 67 members and the average age is 74 years old. Many of them were music teachers in their careers. Most all of them were professional people in their lives, one was a pilot, one an architec and just a really varied group. We waited too long last year to get tickets but we stood outside and listened to them at that time. Just a very enjoyable evening!
So now I am exhausted again and heading to bed. IF --- the WiFi is working tomorrow, will post this as it is getting rather long.

Friday March 4, 2011

We still have no WiFi at the club house!@! These people drive me crazy. Myself and SEVERAL people have told the office for the past three days that the WIFI is not working. Who knows when they will get off their lazy duff and get it going!
We went went to run some errands today. Took some items back to the mall then went to Appleby's for lunch. The weather has been so beautiful this week and again I am on the steriods so they tell me to stay out of the sun. It has been extremely hot in the motor home because the President of the bank says we don't need to run the air. We leave each day when it starts getting hot and let the poor cats set in the heat. Actually, I think all three of them love it when it gets warm inside. It has not been unbearable but doesn't take a lot to warm up inside when the sun is out. We went to get an additional memory foam matress to place over the hide-a-bed mattress as even though we bought a pretty good matress last year for the hide-a-bed, it can use some additional padding. Taylor and Addy are flying out next Friday so will need to use it while they are here.

Since we had a large lunch, no cooking tonight!!! I offered but neither of us were that hungry so we had a small snack for dinner. I went to bed and read for awhile and was asleep by 10:30. I just get tired from the medication I guess.

Saturday March 5, 2011

Leslie called early and talked to Larry for awhile. Taylor called later to say she made it home from her ski trip. She said when Addy saw her she was so excited then on the drive home from the airport, Addy just keep looking at her and each time she would look at Addy, she would smile real big. Taylor said Addy acted like she was seeing a ghost or something as she was very quiet when looking at Taylor.

Taylor said Morgan got lost at the mall when Cindi, Addy and Morgan were there last week. I guess Cindi was frantic as she and Addison ran all over the mall trying to find her. When they finally found Morgan she was with a lady and crying her eyes out. Time will tell if Morgan learned a lesson about staying with whomever she's with rather than wondering off. Addy kept yelling in the background to tell mama that she got lost at the mall too. Taylor kept saying no Addy, you didn't get lost and Addy would say 'Oh yes I did mom, remember, you lost ME at the mall'. I laughed until I cried because she was so insistant that SHE got lost. Whatever her sister does, Addison MUST also do! What a character!

Today was my dad's birthday. He died in February 1986 so I think he would have been 100 today. He was 74 when he died. Today is also Brenton Pawlak's birthday, Shelly's youngest son and Thursday was Alex's birthday, her oldest. She was so upset that Alex was born before Dad's birthday as she wanted to have him on the 5th. Finally when she had Brenton, he waited until the 5th, which thrilled Shelly so much.

We went down to a little art shop that Pat, my painting teacher had told me about last year. I have been looking for something called a 'wipe out tool' which like a pointed eraser pencil. It is used to remove paint when doing oils. I have looked at all the art shops here for a long time but had not found it. Dorothy told me last week that she thinks she got hers at this little art shop. I walked in and the lady immediately showed me where they were so I was really excited to finally find them.
We left there and drove down to Apache Junction to find where Georgia lived. She lives in Lost Duchman's RV Park. Some of the park looks pretty old but the area she lives in is nice an everything neat around her area. We didn't stop as we didn't think they were home from Illinois where they went for her grandson's furneal. When we drove on into Apache Junction, they were having a little craft show in the parking lot of Brashar's Grocery Store. They also were cooking outside on three big smokers. We bought a sandwich called 'triple tip'. We split the sandwich as we were not sure if we would like it. It was fantastic so I asked the guy smoking the meat what the cut of the meat was. He said it was a very tender cut of beef. I was asking him if the store sold it already prepared and he said no. He said it is very easy to cook by rubbing with seasoning and placing in a crockpot. I'm pretty sure the crockpot that was in the motor home got left at home but I'm tempted to buy another and give this a try. It was so tender it just fell apart. It was not like roast as the meat was not that course. It reminded me of pork tenderloin it was such a smooth texture. They have some unusual food in this area but that was terrific!

We decided to drive over to Cabela's, which is on the other side of Phoenix near Peoria off of the 101. We drove forever and ended up in a construction area where the traffic slowed to a snales pace. We finally made it over there, which was probably 35 or 40 miles. We have been there before as it is just across the road from Margueritaville. We spent some time at Margueritaville last year and Larry asked if I wanted to go over but I didn't really care to go--it's a great place but we've been there two or three times in the past. We got to Cabalea's and they had a bunch of very old campers on display for everyone to walk into to look at. All of the campers were small and 30-50 years old. They were owned by the members of the 'Two Sisters Camping Club'. Of course this is a women's only camping club and they pretty much all looked like 'rounders'. I think they were enjoying a few alcholic beverages as they were really having a great time, acting a little weird, and every so often someone would go to one of the campers and bring back liquid refreshments in a pitcher. Each little camper was decorated inside with a specific decor. Mostly cowboy and horse themes but cute as could be! Sounded like a very unusual group ---HMMM????

After Larry finished his shopping we left to drive back and on the way we both said almost the same thing at once. Wish we could find the little Italian Restraraunt in Chandler, that we had pizza at when our motor home was being worked on at Freightliner last year. Neither of us could remember the name of the place or even what street it was on. I got my phone and logged onto the internet looking for pizza in Chandler. I found two or three names that sounded familiar but only went by one of them. We decided to go over by Freightliner and try to retrace our route from there to try to find it. We messed around for quite a long time and never did find it. It was such wonderful pizza and we were both a little disappointed not to find it. Maybe another day we'll give it a try again.

We got home and I had hamburger to cook on the grill so we fixed them and had dinner around 6:00. Larry is starting to feel really bad now as well. He has been complaining about a sore throat and junk running down the back of his throat. Sounds kinda like the way my started. He is also coughing a lot.

Sunday March 6, 2011

Well both Larry and I coughed all night. Beginning to wonder WHAT is in this tin can on wheels that is causing us to be sick. Probably nothing more than three cats dropping fur everywhere. We vacuum almost every day trying to keep down the car hair. Anyway when we got up this morning, Larry said he was going to the pharmacy to try to get something for his throat and cough. I told him I thought he should just go down to the Urgent Care where I have been going. He got dressed and headed down to the clinic.

While he was gone I started cleaning inside the camper. The wood is so dirty with dust, not only from being here with the windows open all the time, but also from all the work they did inside last fall. I got some wood cleaner yesterday so I got busy. The wood trim, doors and cabinets were covered with dust. I worked for a long time in the front and then started mopping the floors in the kitchen, bathroom and hallway.

Larry came home and they told him he had basically the same thing I have been fighting. The doctor said it was a sinus infection so he gave him pretty much the same medications that they gave me 3 weeks ago. I hope he gets a hand-up on this so it does not turn into broncitis as well. My painting teacher, Pat, said we could both have 'Valley Fever' as a lot of people end up with it this time of year. I looked it up on the internet to find out what it really is but I'm sure we don't have it as it has symptoms of fever and nausa, which neither of us have had. It's caused from a bacteria or fungus from a type of desert vegation.

Anyway, I finished the mopping and then fixed us a pinani sandwich for lunch. After we finished eating, I took all the rugs up and spent most of the afternoon washing and drying them. There are many things I do not like about the motor home but the washer and dryer are 'keepers'. It is so great to be able to do the laundry while working on other things here and not have to set at the laundrymat for two hours. While I was washing the rugs, I started cleaning the wood in the hall, bathroom and the cabinets, etc in the bedroom. It sure looks better but probably won't be a week till the dust is loaded back onto the wood again. We run the ceiling fans with the windows open all the time and the dust in the air is horrible at times. Oh well, I only spent 5 hours cleaning, guess I can repeat it again in another week -- I DON'T THINK SO!! It was hard work on a hot day so I'm not planning on doing it again soon!! After my rugs were finished, I caught up on what laundry I had, which was not a lot as I just did laundry on Wednesday.

Larry had pork cutlets and I had talopia for dinner. I love being able to cook on the grill. It makes preparing a meal much easier than trying to cook in my TINY little kitchen.

Monday March 7, 2011

I didn't sleep well again last night. I go to bed at 10:30 or 11:00 and sleep sound until about 3:00am. I wake up and cannot go back to sleep. I don't think it's the medication as I've been taking the steroids early in the morning. They should be out of my system by bedtime.
I had some over-ripe bananas so decided to bake bananna bread this morning before the weather gets too hot. I wanted to try my convection oven again to find out if it was lousy on everything or just a few. The bread baked ok, but took about 15 mins longer than my normal oven at home. I'm sure their is some type of secret to using this oven that I have not figured out yet. I have read the book from cover to cover so it's not that I haven't read the instructions--I AM NOT A MAN!
Larry is still not feeling well today. He said his throat is really dry and he wants to cough a lot. I gave him the daytime cough medication that the doctor gave me and it seems to help him. The only cough medication that the doctor gave him is the syrup with codine that the doctor told me to only take at night. We are really a pair with him coughing and myself blowing my brains out. I hope we are not just passing this back and forth. I also hope we feel better by the time Taylor and Addy gets here on Friday as I don't want them sick as well.

Another day at the wonderful Silveridge Resort and no WIFI!! I asked them if they expected to get it working yet this month. The gal at the desk just blows it off. She told me the park manager has been working on it for several days!! Duh, how much could go wrong with the stupid thing. Probably nothing more than hitting a reset on the router. This place is technical impaired, I believe!!

We went to Walmart to pick up a few things and had lunch at CoCo's Restraruant. We have not been there before and it was very good. We both opted for the Shrimp Alfredo. It was better than Olive Garden as the sauce was wonderful. Larry decided he didn't like the capers that were in the sauce. I love capers but then there are many things that we do not agree on in food. I saw they had quiche pies on their list of bakery items. I asked the waitress if they sold it by the piece and she said no. Matter of fact if you want a quiche, you have to place an order the day before. It looked good so thought that might be something different to eat when Taylor comes as she also likes quiche. Again, Larry doesn't like it -- I asked him how long it has been since he tried and he couldn't remember the last time he had it.

We stopped at Kmart but as usual, they have nothing. They should close theirs store for all I end up finding there. They can't decide if they want to be a discount store or a cheaply presented Sears. I just can't believe they can be profitable.

We came back and dropped off our 'left overs' from CoCo's -- this will be our dinner---yea!!! Larry decided to stay home and rest since he is not feeling the best. I went to Fry's to pick up a few grocery items and stopped at the post office. When I walked inside the post office half of the city of Mesa was lined up waiting for their turn at the window. I only had a bottle of med's to mail to Cathy so I thought I'd box it and just use the automated mailer. I found the priority box I needed but there was no mailing tape anywhere for use. I decided to bring it home and box it and run it back down tomorrow.

By the time I got home, I was feeling pretty tired so I went in to bedroom to lay down. I read for awhile and fell asleep so I suspose since I took a short nap this afternoon, I will not sleep again tonight. This is the first time in a couple of weeks that I have taken a nap during the day so my sleepless nights are not from napping. Tomorrow, Pat and Terry McFee are coming for dinner so hopefully the weather will cooperate. Would be nice to eat outside since we do not have an abundance of room inside. Today was a nice day temperture-wise but the wind was horrible. It was gusting to 35 mph so our patio rug and chairs were blown everywhere when we came home this afternoon. The wind is very strange here. It came be calm one minute and like a wind tunnel the next. I guess it's the fact that we are in the valley and the gusts come off the mountains.

By the time I get my blog published, I'll have a full book--probably not a 'best seller' but for those interested, something to keep them reading awhile.

Tuesday March 8, 2011


We ran some errands this morning and then Pat and Terry came over around 4:00. We had wine and sacks and sat around and talked for awhile. Larry grilled hamburgers, Pat brought pasta salad and I made ---WHATELSE---Aspargus with Parmasen. We had a really good meal and visited for a long time. I had baked bananna bread earlier this week so we had bananna bread with cool whip for desert. Terry loves bananna bread, I remember Pat telling me. He has a healthy appetite even more so I think than Larry. Anyway, we had a wonderful relaxing evening. When they left, I told Pat that when Taylor leaves, we would try to get together again before we leave. She said that Terry said they might stop by the house in Illinois on their way to DesMoines, IA, so that would be nice to see them.