92

... That's how many people Jack and I had at our St Patrick's Day party! It was at the new place and everything worked out great. We did have a bit too much alcohol to serve, so we had a half-empty keg to return, but next year we'll know better.

We had our friends bring finger food, and they came through with love and creativity. We had beautiful and delicious food, ranging from shrimp cocktail and pigs-in-blankets to melon wrapped in prociutto and homemade cookies! We had two 8' tables completely filled with food.

When it started to get dark, I turned on the lights -- a thousand mini lights in yellow and clear -- which adorned the patio awning. What a sight! And then, as it got just a wee bit of a nip in the air, we turned on the firepit at the back of the lot and a group of us roasted marshmallows for smores!

The party continued from 4 - 10pm, and then the remaining guests helped us to fold up the tables and chairs, recycle all the cans and bottles, and dispose of the trash. We have such great friends! That left us with just a few dishes to clean up today, tables and chairs to return, and the keg to take back to Bevmo.

Oh, and I have not mentioned in here yet (because I was told to keep it secret!) that this photo of mine won the photo contest here! Wooo hooo!

She's Back!

Hi there! It's good to be back. Where was I? Well, I really wasn't gone, but my computer was! My computer contracted a virus because stupid Janee didn't have any anti-virus protection on her machine. Blue Chip Computers on Broadway was able to get her fixed up, cleaned up, and new AV installed for $100, so I'm good to go.

The new cottage is progressing. The blinds are all installed now. The tile is up in the shower, it's grouted, and all that's left is for the "haze" to be cleaned off of it. The awning -- an enormous expanse of beautiful white aluminum -- is nearly finished. They have to do downspouts and fill in a part that's at the back of the cottage, but we can see the end of that.

So now what's left besides moving in? We have to get the flooring installed, figure out what I want for my deck, order skirting, install the plywood sub-skirting, and then install the skirting. The dining room lighting fixture needs to be installed, and we need to put up the shower door and the television. 

We've scheduled a party THERE for one week from today, so that should be interesting. At least we have the awning, and I can string lights from it! And I bought some patio furniture including a cute bar and a table with 4 chairs.

Singing is going well. Our FHTV choir concert is on Sunday evening and I think that we're all quite ready for that. I've really enjoyed this season's music, and having Julie as director. Church choir is very fun, too, and I'm loving my singing lessons!

I did end up making an appointment with my doc, and I'm on a new antidepressant, which costs me enough to make me depressed! Seriously it does seem to be working, though.

And I went to the dentist here, got my teeth cleaned, and got a replacement for my poor li'l broken retainer. Who'd have thought that would set me back another $750?? Zow. They did submit it to my dental insurance, so hopefully some of that will be covered. 

Two Twenty-two

And not much has changed with my cottage. The awning's on order. Blinds for the front 9 windows are on order. Tile for shower is on order. Kitchen faucet is on order. Floor is on hold till we get the tile in and on. Skirting is yet to be chosen and ordered. Guys are supposedly pouring the concrete footer for the skirting today.

We did get vertical blinds for the four upstairs windows and for the kitchen from Home Depot. We put them in on Saturday. They are a neat non-plain mottled browns and white and they look great.

I took some pictures yesterday, but left the camera over there. While I was taking pictures, Jack was working on installing an electrical box in my bathroom cabinet. This is something that I've enjoyed as a way to keep my appliances charged without having them out on the countertop. What was supposed to be a quick project, however, turned into a half-day ordeal. He had to remove the medicine chest, drill, router, and try all manner of combinations of wire hookups, before he got it to work without tripping the GFCI.

Today's hiking day, but I'm not going. I have not been feeling quite myself lately -- as if the air valve has been released. I'm thinking that I may have hypothyroidism, and I'm thinking that just based upon my Dr's wife experience. Low energy, weight that just will not come off, and maybe even my neck situation. Who knows? I need to make an appointment with my doc.

On Sunday, I discovered a screw embedded in my tire. And this morning my retainer broke when I was taking it out of my mouth. (Yes, it's true. I am a 54 year-young woman who still wears her retainer every night!) I will need to find an orthodontist, I expect, who can replace that for me. Cha-ching! I would say that it's done well, though. In the 25 years since I got my braces off, I've just had two retainers!

People keep asking me when I'm going to be moving into my new cottage and if I've sold this one. I'm going to wait till the new one is ready, unless this one sells before that. If this one should sell before I'm ready to move, my stuff will go into storage and I'll just sleep in the loft of my new place. :)

In other happy news, I'm taking voice lessons. I've thought for a long time that I could be a good singer if I had training, so now we'll see. I'm having fun with it so far!

My New Arrival

My new cottage arrived today! Here it is rolling down the hill into our park:

Going down the road in our park:

Positioned in its temporary spot:

The guys were making final preparations on the site, as we all waited for the cottage to come:

And here it comes! As I shot this, it was going past my old cottage:

And here it is backing into its new lot:

Jack is getting ready to tell the driver that he's close enough to that cottage! The truck came within one inch of that cottage to the right:

A small crowd of onlookers gathered to watch her being positioned:

 

There were more people on the other side of the truck, too!

More good days

I'm not sure where the time goes, but plenty of it has slipped past me this week! I had a big success on Thursday, when I gave an "awareness presentation" on Photoshop Elements for our Far Horizons Photo Club. I talked about things that Photoshop Elements can do with Layers and Adjustment Layers -- selected adjustments -- and it was well-received by all who talked to me about it, including Shirley, Jack, John and Jean! :)

Then, on Thursday evening, Jack and I hosted John, MaryAnn, and Becky here for ribs on the grill, Jack's grilled potatoes, and asparagus. We topped off the delicious meal with pies which our guests had brought. What a fun evening we had!

Yesterday, Jack and I went to the Gem Show, Tucson Electric Park venue. Amazing. That's the only word for this incredible show. It's huge, it's quality, and it's very much fun. I bought a lovely 14K and peridot bauble for my collar necklace. We walked around among the vendors and tents for several hours.

Today we began the day with omelets at the clubhouse. Then we sort of relaxed. Jack had made soup, which he shared with me at lunchtime. Then I took him out for Long John Silver's nutritious fare and DQ to end the day. We walked around the Park Square Mall a bit, where I looked at bedding for my new cottage, which is coming.... soon!

Oh.. and did I mention that it's been COLD? We had a low of 18° with a wind chill of 5°. This doesn't mean much to the rest of the country, where you are all prepared for such stuff. But here, we don't *own* winter coats. We don't have our pipes insulated adequately, and we have heat pumps and not furnaces, in many of our buildings. HERE is a story about how our town was affected by this cold snap.

California Dreaming

I've been away! Jack and I took a short trip to Corona, California, last week. The main purpose of the trip was to visit my new cottage, which is under construction at a manufactured housing plant there. It's very nearly completed, with just a few finishing touches to go before it's shipped here to Tucson! I expect that it'll be here next week.

The cottage is lovely to my eyes. It's a bit of a darker color than I remembered ordering, approaching a coffee brown, but it's still beautiful. The roof seems quite high, and I love the color that I chose for the interior paint, the Corian, and the cabinets. The stainless appliances look great, the sink is under-mounted, and the loft is wonderfully spacious. I should have no trouble getting my mattress to fit up there.

So today I did some money-shifting, so that everything is in place to pay the bill when it does arrive.

We spent a couple of days in Phoenix area, paying a visit to the state Capitol, and made a trip to the Hall of Flame Museum of Firefighting. Definitely worth a trip, if you're in the area -- the Hall of Flame, that is. The capitol building is nice too, serving as a museum now, though, since all the government functions are spread out over the downtown area. We enjoyed two visits to IKEA, as well. That's one of our favorite stores.

We also stopped in Quartzsite, AZ, on the way out. This is a huge and sprawling RV mecca for 2 weeks in the wintertime. And I mean huge. There are an estimated million people who come to Quartzsite for the RV show and then for the gem and mineral show. We walked through the main tent, spending a grand total of about 4 hours there. I got the new Trailer Life Directory, Jack got some hydraulic bed lifts, and I had some ice cream. I didn't eat it all, because it wasn't fantastic. But we had a good time.

We stayed in Best Western hotels the whole way -- in Tempe, Indio, CA, Blythe, CA, and then back in Tempe. We found them to be comfortable, clean, and well-supplied. The one in Tempe was the best. :)

Stuff 'n' Such

I did end up not singing the solo in church on Sunday. Marcia had all the sopranos sing that part, which was fine, and we sounded good. She told me that she wants me to be part of a group of 4 to sing a song in March, though, and I am happy and honored to do that. She says that confidence is something that I have to get, and she's right. I was particularly taken by Rita's telling me that I should do the solo because I have a good voice. :) I have some really great friends!

Today I got out on the deck and whittled a little. It was a perfect afternoon for that -- just a little too warm in the sun, so I whittled in the shade. I'm whittling on a piece of nice basswood that I got at Woodcraft and making a ball in a cage. If it turns out ok, I'll post a photo.

I'm really looking forward to getting my new cottage! It's supposed to be here near the first of February. I talked to George today to change my mind about carpeting the back room, which is going to be my hobby room. Even if it's someday my bedroom, it'll still be ok to have a hard-surface floor in there. I'm not sure why I thought that carpet would be best, but, anyway, I caught it in time, so it won't have carpet.

End of another week

It's been a very busy week for me here in Tucson. The weather's been wonderful, health's been good, and the mood is, for the most part, high here in the Village.

I won't try to tell ALL the exciting things that have transpired -- just a sampling. We had a bike rodeo here in the park on Thursday. I was surprised at how many of us showed up -- probably 30 or more. The leader showed us some skill maneuvers and we got to practice them on our bikes. This included obstacle avoidance, quick right turns (like to avoid someone making a right turn in front of you), and quick stops. It was lots of fun, and it was good to practice these moves.

At church choir practice on Wednesday, I practiced my short solo for this coming Sunday and it went well. Then at Far Horizons choir on Thursday, our director told me that I wasn't "ready" for small group singing or soloing. This, along with my normal apprehension about doing something new, led to my decision that I'm not going to do that solo tomorrow. I sent our director an email begging out. I pray that she gets another soprano to do it. Maybe I'll sleep better now.

Last evening's movie here at the park was called "Flipped." It's about a childhood boy-girl friendship and I really enjoyed it.

Thursday evening, Jack and I went with Donna and Al to see "Secretariat." What a fantastic movie that was! Even though we knew how it was going to turn out, we were on the edges of our seats. We had a nice time with D&A, too. We have wonderful friends.

I bought EA Sports Active -- yet another fitness program for my Wii. I have done two workouts with it, and I like it! I'm also keeping up with Dance Dance Revolution, My Fitness Coach, Wii Fit Plus, Just Dance, and Gold's Gym Cardio. All good fun, and all different enough from each other to keep things interesting. My weight's still stuck between 140 and 143, but I suppose I could drop some, if I really were trying.

Cookies!

I was feeling a little nauseous last evening, and I'm not sure why. I'd eaten some "raw" cashews, almonds, and craisins, but have difficulty believing that's what made me sick. I had a nap and regained enough strength that, when Jack appeared at my door with baked-from-scratch chocolate chip cookies, I was all over them! What a treat!

Today was hiking day and I decided to give it a try. I wore my heart rate monitor just out of curiosity. I didn't realize that the Esperero Trail in the Sabino Canyon area was SO challenging! I went about 5 miles total, and Susie and David went back with me. The rest of them, including Jack, went the whole way. My heart rate, for the 2.5 hours that I was hiking, averaged 131. And I had a high of 185.

Looking online just now, I see that my "maximum" heart rate is 226 - 54 (my age).. which gives me a maximum of 172. By looking at the chart at the bottom of this page, it seems as if, in order to increase my stamina and aerobic endurance, which seems like a good goal, I should shoot for 70-80% of this maximum rate. That gives me a range of 120 - 137. So my average, including the time I sat for lunch, is in the range. But what about that high reading? And all of the times that the thing beeped, telling me that my rate was over 168? Am I endangering my heart to do this sort of exercise? I don't even know whom to ask!

I did slow down, or even stop, when the thing started to beep, and my heart would slow right back down into a normal speed. I just don't know if I should even DO hikes anymore. I've never considered myself to be cardiovascularly strong, though I don't really know why. I guess it's that I seem to get out of breath easily when doing stuff like hiking or riding bikes. Should I start being concerned with such things? (Times like this, I really miss Michael! He would know!)

Beautiful Sunday

Actually, I'll talk a bit about Saturday first. Jack and I were at the Home Show at the Convention Center in downtown Tucson when we heard the news about Gabrielle Giffords, the US Congresswoman from Arizona. She was shot and critically wounded at the Safeway store at Ina and Oracle, right here in our friendly city of Tucson. Along with her, there were 6 people killed and several badly hurt. People are blaming politics, of course, and Sarah Palin, with her goofy "gunsights" imagery is being blamed. Incidentally, I am not going to allow any comments in this blog about opinions regarding politics. Just ain't happening.

I will state for the record that I cannot abide any politician using gunsight imagery to identify candidates that she wishes to have "gone." I call that inappropriate, violence-inspiring, and just downright dangerous. I'm surprised that she's allowed to live free in this country, with that sort of attitude.

In church today, Pastor Bruce talked about how sad he was about this happening, but how hopeful he was for the world at the same time. Me too. I enjoy surrounding myself with positive people who carry positive messages. This makes my world a happy place. Maybe I'm naive. Maybe I'm not political enough. But maybe I just like living the way I live. I'm not afraid.

After a fine omelet at Village Inn, Jack and I were thwarted in our attempt to get to the Fiesta Room to practice setting up for our Fitness with the Wii presentation tomorrow, so we took off and did a little shopping. I actually was successful in finding 6- and 7-lb dumbbells. I just got the 6-pounders for now. And I got a bit more yarn for playing with knitting.

Later in the day, we did get in and set up the stuff for the presentation, and, after numerous trials and errors, we did get it all to work. The secret lay in changing something in the back room, moving the "channel" indicator to 0, and then .. bingo! There it was. I'm hopeful that tomorrow morning it works on the first try.

It was dark by the time we got back here and ready to go over to Jack's for dinner, and I didn't feel like a) driving; b) riding my bike; or c) walking, so I opted to stay here and enjoyed some of my delicious tuna salad. And now it's time for bed!