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 SilveridgeWe 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.
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!
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