Slowing Down

It's slow down and wait for the new year to come bouncing by.  We went to church this morning and enjoyed time spent with family and friends but returned home to our quiet place.  It appeared there was a party going on at the Rec Hall when we passed but didn't remember to check the calender when we got home.  Guess we just were not in a party mood today.
I know Ron wanted to watch football games on television even though his beloved Packers were not being shown out here, can't figure why.  He has learned to get the game on his computer so he watches it and one or two on television at the same time.
As we were leaving church this morning Ron opened the back hatch of the van and said "Merry Christmas".  When I looked around he had a case of Mexican Pepsi in his hand.  Now that made my day.  But there was more, another case of Mexican Pepsi.  Now that really made my week.  I've learned that even though Pepsi was my cola of choice as a kid I don't care for it anymore till I discovered Mexican Pepsi a few years ago.  It tastes just like I remember it from when I was a kid.  It's probably because Mexican Pepsi is made with sugar and USA Pepsi is made with fructose.  They say there's no difference but my discerning pallet can taste the difference.
I want to thank our nephew Nicholas for rustling it up for Ron.  You're a great kid.
Now most of the football games are over, I think Dallas and Washington are still playing.  Packers lost so that means the Bears aren't going anywhere but sitting in front of their TVs just like us.
It's raining and has been for a couple hours.  Moisture was in the forecast with a possibility of white stuff below 3500 feet.  It looks like we lucked out and are just going to get the clear stuff but I'm sure Mt Lemmon and Snow Bowl are getting what they need, the white stuff.
Hope you all have a safe New Year's Eve and a Happy and Healthy New Year.

Shopping, shopping, shopping.

If it's one thing we are really good at it's shopping.  Now some people shop to just look around and dream.  Not us, we shop and spend money.  Today was a trip to Sam's Club to pick up some items not available at a reduced price elsewhere.  Like potato chips and such......
There was a slight stop over at at furniture store and sure enough we found the kitchen chairs we wanted.  Now the fact that they happen to be cheaper that the ones we were leaning toward from the other day and better built than any we had seen didn't weight into the decision to purchase two.  We both agreed they were what we wanted.  Unfortunately for our pocket books this store also sold kitchen stuff, high end kitchen stuff.  We spent most of our time in the store devoted to looking at Cuisinart products and gadgets every kitchen should have.  Yes, we did succumb  to temptation and bought some other things.  And from the sounds coming from the kitchen maybe one thing to many.
The name of the furniture store is "The Table Place" on Broadway between Pantano and the wash.

We had a beautiful day with plenty of sunshine to enjoy.  That's one of the many things we love about Arizona.

I don't normally end with a laugh but I just have to share a post from our oldest Grandson who is in the US Marine Corp stationed at Camp Fuji, Japan.  "If I don't accomplish anything else in my life, at least I can say that Lance Armstrong and I are tied for wins at the Tour de France."

The Mouse Still Didn't Move

When I wrote the previous blog I hadn't really connected the title with one of Ron's gifts, a computer mouse.  But, sure enough, when he got around to opening it on Thursday morning, it wouldn't work.  He even put one of our batteries in.  So, I got on the computer, brought up Amazon, clicked on gifts given,   clicked return, told them it was broken and printed out a return mailing label.  Now that's the kind of people I like to do business with.  No hassle, no return postage to pay and refund back on my credit card.  I don't like places that give you cash back when you charged it.  I still have to pay off the charge but I've already spent the refund.  But that's a horse of a different color.
Christmas was nice and quiet, I did miss the kids and grand kids and friends but a quiet day enjoying good food and company was just what the doctor ordered.  No gravy nor tamales but that's ok.  I can make my own gravy and I have good tamales in my freezer.  I even had my first bite of prime rib in over 40 years and I liked it.  It was sweet and juicy and melted in my mouth.
Now we're off on a new adventure.  Furniture shopping.  We need two chairs and a bed.  Since our one of two kitchen chairs broke last spring while Ron was leaning back in it and we would like to invite people over for dinner, we need two more chairs.  The bed needs to be some type of hide away since the spare bedroom doesn't have a lot of floor space after my desk, the closet for the furnace, the clothes closet and the book case filled with my sewing stuff and topped with a TV  gets thru taking it up.  I'm up for a futon but Ron's leaning toward a day bed or a blow up mattress.  I say the mattress is for children, not adults, to sleep on.  So any input on this subject would be appreciated.

Not a creature was stirring, especially those Mice.

60 degrees today, Christmas Eve.  It was a beautiful day to sit out side for awhile and enjoy the fresh air.  I have to admit that I did don a sweatshirt.  But I sat on the top step and admired my purple and gold pansies and rose buds with a cup of Golden Monkey tea.  When Ron joined me outside it just doesn't get any better.  I do miss our family but we're not the only ones out of the area.  Grandson in Camp Fuji, Japan, granddaughter in Landing, NJ, great daughter and great grand daughter in Hawaii.  The electronics are wonderful for keeping us in touch with them and the ones back home in Illinois and Wisconsin and Indiana.  God Bless you all.
Tonight was Enchiladas in honor of grandson, Nick, the years he spent Christmas Eve with us and that was the only thing we could fix that he would eat.  See Nick, you started a tradition, Mexican on Christmas Eve.  Tomorrow will be breakfast with Ron's foster brother and his family.  A plethora of biscuits and gravy, eggs, bacon, tamales and what ever else that appears on the kitchen counter of their beautiful southwest home.  No swimming in the outdoor, in ground pool.  It won't be quite that warm.
Thank you Ma and Dad Metz for taking Ron into your home and raising him to be the good man that he is.  Sharing time and stories with your birth kids is one of the pleasures of the season.  They are filled with such caring and love.  We miss you both.

Merry Christmas 

to

ALL !

Snow on the Mountains

It's a little early this year but we have snow on some of our mountains already.  Enough that it can be easily seen from our place.  The Catalinas to the north and the Rincons to our east have snow.  The Catalinas with Mount Lemon have enough snow so that they sheriff's office closed the roads up to the top of Mt Lemon unless you live there AND have four wheel drive or chains.  We've never tried to drive it so I don't know if it's really that treacherous or just taking into consideration that people in southern Arizona don't know how to drive in snow.
I do know that it's even gotten chilly down here, 48 degrees was a high today.  It is supposed to warm up later in the week.
Unfortunately Ron wasn't feeling well this morning so we didn't go to church which caused us to  missed a closer view of Mt Lemon from the windows on the back of the church.  He was tired and just wanted to sleep.  When he did get up he couldn't do much or he tired easily.
Because of these circumstances I got to do something today that I have never done before.  I drove outside the park all the way to Fry's Grocery store and bought groceries and drove back to the park.  In the past years we've had the truck (I heard I was afraid to drive it).  Even when he had a bad tooth and needed a root canal he drove himself.  Guess what?  I didn't get lost or wreck the van or anything.

Christmas is in the Air

I woke this morning to the sound of rain falling on our roof.  What a relaxing sound that I almost went back to sleep.  But it's BBQ grill delivery day and I didn't want to sleep thru the excitement.  LOL.  It's 11:13 AM and it's still not here.  They called Ron at 7:30 to tell him they were putting it together.  Must be a children's Christmas present directions.
So after a bowl of cream of wheat I boiled eggs and made egg and tuna salad for lunch.  I'm in the mood to make dirty dishes.  Think I'll start with spritz cookies and then maybe chocolate fudge.  (Is that redundant?)
Since I ate my cherry pie yesterday for my 3 pm treat, I've been thinking of vanilla ice cream.  It was so tart, which in my language means yummmy good, it was screaming for a scoop of vanilla ice cream.  I have the ways and the means  and it won't go bad setting in the freezer till next time AND there will be a next time trip to Village Inn on Wednesday.
Guess it must be getting close to lunch time cause I can't get away from talking about food.  Last reference.  IF Lowe's get here before supper time the first meal will be hamburgers.

Wednesday's Wanderings

Wednesday, time for the Snowbirds to wander.  Leisurely breakfast of half a grapefruit, a sausage patty and a bowl of Cheerios, the breakfast of happy wanderers.  First stop Ace Hardware on 22nd at Kolb.  It's both a man and a woman's dream.  Half is filled with guy stuff, half is filled with gal stuff and the third they added on is filled with Christmas stuff.  So we split up and went our separate ways.  If it can be used in the kitchen or bathroom of your home, they have it.  Lots of it.  If you live in the area and haven't visited that Ace, you're missing out on a real treat.  

Next stop, Office Max, Harrison and 22nd.  Picked up shipping supplies, still got Christmas Presents to mail out.  

Next door to what I like to call BBB (triple B).  Bed, Bath and Beyond.  This stop required a real cart, one with four wheels that you push.  Finished up the list except for a couple things that I didn't think they would have and a couple things that weren't on the list.  By then it was after 2 pm and we were getting a little hungry and tired so we walked to the other side of the strip mall and enjoyed a late lunch at Village Inn.  We looked for our friends, Gerry and Larry, but they must have decided to wait till later.   I want to make sure Gerry knows about their delicious Ruben sandwich which I enjoyed.  I had to ask for extra Thousand Island dressing but only for the last half of the sandwich.  I had eaten the first half before she got back with the dressing.    I thought it was much better than the Ruben I had last week at Montgomery's.  And they have WiFi.  

We decided to take our two free pieces of pie home and enjoy later.  I brought home cherry and Ron brought home pumpkin.  I could definitely make The Village Inn a habit if not on Wednesday, I don't really need the free piece of pie, at least with a degree of regularity.  

Now I have to come up with another new place for next Wednesday.  I've been doing pretty good these past three weeks.  

And our place is looking more and more like our home as we add and subtract touches.  I'm definitely stocked up in the kitchen to take care of anything I'm asked to make.  Maybe some sugar cookies this weekend since it's supposed to be cool and rainy with snow on the mountains.  I'll see if I can get some pictures to post.

Thumbs up for early Christmas Present

Since our move from the 5th wheel to a mobile last February my cooking style has changed.  I have a full kitchen so I can cook the way I always did.
One of the things we missed about not being in a real kitchen during the Christmas season was cookies and fudge and all those calories.
I don't have the convection oven to cook three sheets of cookies at a time but I do have a large Wilton cookie sheet and it seems to have done very well with the oatmeal and raisin cookies I made.  But now, thanks to my cookie loving husband, I have a Kitchenaide Mixer here in Arizona.  It arrived this morning at the Rec Hall and he carried it all the way home by himself.  He was doing a little huffing when he came in the door.  He left it outside on the table but he did manage to bring home the library books he picked up at the book mobile too.
So, in honor of hubby's great toil, chocolate chip cookies are on the menu for this afternoon.  If anyone is in the area, stop by for a sample.  The chocolate chips will be Ghirardelli Chocolate.
Hope to see you this afternoon.

Lunch & Bingo

Actually church, lunch and bingo.  The pastor had a heart felt message to deliver, as usual, he delivered it with deep devotion followed by a baptismal service in the rear of the church.  What a blessed event.
We're still seeing friends for the first time since we been back so we managed to stay till the lights went out.  Got Ron's brother, sil, sil's sister and her husband together to go out to lunch.  I suggested Golden Corral and it got an unanimous vote so off we went in two separate vehicles to 22nd Street.  The parking lot was pretty full but this is a good size Golden Corral so there was no wait.  I'm sure we all had our fill of food and we did our share of catching up.  We had seen Wayne and Norma (brother and sil) last summer at the wedding/family reunion in Milwaukee but that was a long time ago.
We finally split up and we took Norma's sister and her husband home and then headed towards ours.  By then it was 3 pm and we were both not ready for our 3 o'clock treat but I decided I could use a cup of tea.  It didn't help, I got antsy but I didn't feel like walking, sitting wasn't doing it and taking a nap was just out of the question so I went hunting.
We had picked out some fat quarters from my stash at home to bring out to Arizona so I could make a quilt to hang on the wall at the head of our bed.  We haven't been able to find them and even talked about driving back to IL with some of the extra things we brought and bring back those pieces of material we had to have left behind.  After talking to our daughter while she was at the house checking on everything.  She guaranteed me that there were no boxes of material sitting around except for the large one next to the sewing machine.  I knew that was the stash and not the ones I was looking for.  SO I filled my glass with ice water and headed back to the "green room" via the bathroom to find those fat quarters.  The only container that I had not emptied out to check was the one with the crafts I brought to sell at the craft fair that's not to be.  So I started digging thru the dish clothes and BINGO, there they were at the bottom of the box along with the pins and plastic bags I intended to bring back and thought I forgot.
The green room is the name we gave the extra room in IL that has no closet but holds my keyboard, sewing machine, computer and at one time children's toys.  So when we bought this place last spring, the spare bedroom is painted green so it seemed like a good idea to us to name the room  green room as a way to distinguish it from the other rooms.  No keyboard but I do have a TV.