9/25–9/30/2013 Finishing Projects.

Bob has been busy at work around here finishing up projects.


The front of the park is all done now and he’s started on the sides.  Look at that blue sky!  This day was a bit breezy you can see our flag standing straight out.

 

The side windows on the sunny side of the house are next.

 

I spend my days at the pool or reading or running to town or the local hardware store for supplies for Bob. 

Friends who are making their way to Quail Run are getting closer and we’ll be glad when everyone is here again.  Although it will be mid-November before most of our friends arrive.

Bob is having a problem with his feet swelling so we’ve made doctor appointments for next week.  That can only mean that dreaded needle is coming for me for blood tests.
 
Not much else happening around here.

 

9/24/2013 Bob’s New Project

A new project got started today.



Bob is going to make sun shades or sun screens for our park model.  The Arizona sun is so intense that most people who have park models have invested in these.  I would say most have them made for them but I do know of a couple who have made their own.  Of course Bob is in that group.

He went to Lowe's or Home Depot and bought all the material and today is the day it gets started.  I knew better than to hang around so I went to town grocery shopping for fresh veggies and a few other things.



Actually, when I came back he had worked out the bumps in the road and things were going smoothly.  He did quite well actually and was moving right along.



He got both of the smaller windows in the front done today.  Because we’re still in the low 100’s and the sun is so intense he only works out in the sun until a little after noon, then he has to call it a day.


What a difference it makes on the inside!

Our park manager, Brenda, is one crafty chick!  I mean that in the nicest way possible.  I saw a project Brenda had done and knew I had to have one for Jasmine, our granddaughter.  I called Brandi, Jasmine’s mom. and asked what colors her room was.  I had a name embroidered on this gift and chose not to have Jasmine’s name on it but another so this “new friend”  would have its identity.  Meet Rosie, Rosie the Rabbit.


This rabbit is made from chenille material so is incredibly soft and stuffed just right.  Lots of attention to detail was paid in the making of Jasmine’s new friend.

Brenda makes all different colors and types and dresses each creation in different style hats and clothes.  Each one is reasonably priced and if you are interested in one for gift giving at Christmas, embroidered with whatever name you want, leave me a comment and I’ll put you in touch with Brenda and she can direct you to her mother lode of pictures of her “friends”.

So today I got to pack Rosie up and send her off.


 
Since Jasmine has a “big brudder” as she calls him, I included several Word Find books which he likes for him.  Now my wait begins for her to have her gift arrive.

9/23/2013 I Love a Good Deal!

(Arizona City, AZ)

If I can save a buck, I do!  If I can save eighteen of them and give my mom an afternoon out as a gift, all the better.

I get four “deal offers” every day in email.  I’ve used Living Social several times now and have been very happy with my purchases each time.  Today I bought my mom two tickets for a play that I know she’ll enjoy.  Had I called the box office I would have paid $18.00 each but because I went through Living Social it was a buy one, get one deal.  Now my mom is going to a play she probably would not even have known about and she gets to invite a friend to go with her.  Hopefully they will go out to lunch beforehand or dinner after.

I’ve also used Living Social for tickets to events for me and Bob.  Its not all tickets, its restaurant deals, weekend getaways, gifts and lots of other things.

I also get daily emails from Groupon.  This is another site that offers restaurant deals, electronic deals, car washes, gutter washing and the list goes on and on and on.  I have used this one with success also.

Interested in deals from major retailers?  Amazon?  Restaurant.com? Old Navy?  The list of retailers is endless.  Here you get printable coupons or online codes for discounts on your purchases.  I’m really likin’ this one!  Check it out at Retail Me Not.

The newest one I’m getting emails from is Deal Chicken.  Another site with deals local to you.

With all of these you put in your city or the city closest to you.  I get emails for Delaware and here in Arizona because I’m always on the lookout for deals for family and friends who don’t subscribe or in the case of my mom, who doesn’t have a computer.

Today I ordered a coupon for $30.00 worth of flowers  from ProFlowers.com for which I paid $15.00.    Don’t tell my mom but sometime between now and mid-February she’ll be getting flowers from me.

So, there it is.  I thought I’d share these sites with you,  Check ‘em out, there’s money to be saved!
 

9/18-9/22/2013 Five Days in the Desert

(Arizona City)

Life has been going on as usual.  Bob is starting and finishing projects and I’m spending my time at the pool, or shopping, or running to Lowe’s and/or Home Depot or the local hardware store.

The placement for all of our plants was finally decided on and they are now in the ground.



The whole picture.



Bob pointed out a cactus across the street that looked like it was ready to bloom.  Several people had said it was unusual for this type to bloom this time of year.  So we watched it this week to see if the buds would fall off before they actually opened. 

I noticed this birds nest in the cactus.  Probably a good idea with the cats in the neighborhood.

 

Across the street were these little yellow gems.



Finally the blooms opened.  At night.

 

 

Like I said, nothing special going on this week.

9/17/2013 A Birthday Gift Arrives

(Arizona City, AZ)

For the past several weeks I have been asked in private messages on Facebook, by Brandi our daughter-in-law to be, if Bob’s birthday cards have arrived.  Everyday the answer was no.  Until today.  She went to her post office a couple of days ago to see if they had it and were holding it for some reason.  They keep a book of pieces that were delayed for some reason or another and sure enough the two birthday cards were listed.  These two cards, and I assume with some others, were found on the floor and mailed out way later than when they were first mailed.  They were postmarked correctly and should have been here in plenty of time for his birthday.  Well, they arrived today! Why was so she concerned about them getting here?  Because she was being asked every day if Pop-Pop got his birthday present yet by our four year old granddaughter Jasmine.

Brandi said on more than one occasion that Jasmine was just beside herself because Pop-Pop’s card wasn’t here yet.

I knew something was in the card from her but I didn’t know what.  Until today.

Jasmine made a picture for him.  We both were so thrilled with it that I went to Michael’s Craft store right away to get a frame and mat for it.


She signed her birthday card so I cut it out and glued it to the mat.  I sent a picture of the framed painting to Brandi and when she showed it to Jas her reaction was, “Oh Mom, its beautiful!”  She now refers to the painting as her gorgeous picture.  We agree Jasmine, its IS gorgeous!

9/10- 9/16/2013 A Wall Gets Built

(Arizona City, AZ)

Now that the steps were done it was time to start the next project.

Before I get into that I want to share some of the pictures I took.  Look how big our cactuses (cacti?) are growing.






I was finally able to catch one of these elusive birds in my camera lens.  Quail run all over this park in the summertime but they are so fast its hard to get your camera up and focused before they are long out of range.  I finally got one!



So a new project begins.  Of course it starts with a trip to town to get everything we need.  First stop was Home Depot because they had the “hard materials” we wanted.  Then it was across the street to get the “pretty stuff”.

Bob wants to do some landscaping.  Before we could get started we had to have the already in place irrigation system fixed.  This is the parks area of concern since the orange tree it waters does in fact belong to the park.



We put a request in to have this fixed and in no time one of the parks maintenance men were here to get this taken care of.

So Bob stood back and decided where his project would begin and where things would go and then he got started. 

One plant….

Three…..

 

Oh heck, a whole bunch!

First he raked the stone away so that it wouldn’t get mixed in with the dirt and sand underneath.  Then he laid the first layer.

And then he added a few more layers.



He moved our new plants from one place to another.  A hundred times at least.  First this one here, and then  there and back again.  Of course he had them where he wanted them and then I came along and moved some.  We went round and round.

 

We’ve decided to put off actually planting the plants for a few days because their locations change so much.  We want to be sure of where they are going.

 

The rest of the week was taken up with cleaning out gutters…

 

All this junk was in our gutters!  You can see the nearly black water coming out.

 

This has been on hot week!  We averaged around  110 degrees.  As hot as it was I managed to get to the pool a few times and found that I had to wear my flip-flops from my chair to the poolside because the cement surround was too hot to walk across.  I could only stay for an hour or so because it was just too hot in the sun.  I look forward to 90 degree weather!

Just so you know, when Bob has a project going, I do ask if there is anything I can do to help but Bob is very much a solo worker.  He likes to go at his own pace and often times changes direction mid-stream, so I hold this or get that and run to the hardware store when he asks.  Its not that I don’t want to help, he would just rather work alone.

9/4–9/9/2013 We Be Shopping Fools!

(Arizona City)

During the span of these six days we spent money like it was growing on trees.  I had hardly gotten over the hundred plus bucks we dropped in Hobby Lobby, me being the Queen of Cheap and all.

Since we weren’t going to be on the road after all it was time to get some food into this place.  We did a huge grocery shopping and two hundred bills and then some flew out of our checking count.

Back to town we went the next day as Bob has a project in mind.  There was one store I wanted to go to in the Promenade Shopping Center and of course Bob went in with me.  Note to self:  Leave him in the truck! Nearly one hundred and twenty five dollars later…..  Granted, we found the perfect light to hang over the table on the patio . While in World Market Bob also discovered jalapeno stuffed olives and a couple of jars made their way into our cart.  I picked up a few other things for the park model and the 5th wheel.

From there it was on to Walmart for some things we needed from there.  One of the few times we got out for less than a hundred dollars.

Next it was off to Lowe’s and Home Depot.  These two stores are right next to each other separated by the side street.  It makes it very easy for comparison shopping.  Todays’ trip was just to see what they had as far as project material was concerned and to compare prices.  We’ll be back tomorrow after he decides how much he needs.

Back at home Bob got started on the steps project.  He took the planter hooks and other decorations off the steps in addition to the now tattered carpet.  He reinforced the frames and steps where needed.  He sanded and primed and painted.  He took his time and fitted the new carpet to the steps so that each corner was molded just so.  Sometimes his strive for perfection can be irritating and mind-boggling and nitpicky but when he’s done all one can say is that he does beautiful work.

 

One afternoon I went to town with two friends from here in the park, Marilyn and Bonnie.  We spent our time at the Promenade Shopping Center, browsing the goods of each and every aisle of several stores.  I went, I saw, I bought.  Not a lot, just a few odds and ends that needed replacing in the park model and a shirt for me and socks for Bob.

I’ve never shopped so much as I have this week!

9/3/2013 We’re Off To Mesa

(Arizona City - Mesa - Arizona City, AZ)

When we left this morning we had every intention of staying in Mesa in our rig for at least two nights.  Our friend, Richard, is in Mesa and we had hoped to get together with him.  That was the plan.

We had a pleasant hours drive to Mesa with little traffic and we had no problem finding the dealership.  The only problem was the heat.  What a scorcher of a day!

Upon arrival I went into the office to let them know we had arrived and to get the paperwork started.  Bob and I had made a list of everything that needed to be addressed.  Now I say everything but it really isn’t that much.  We gave great detail on what needed to be done as far as we were concerned.  I’ll say it right out, neither one of us had warm and fuzzies about this place.  We couldn’t quite pinpoint what we feel is off.  The service writer asked all the right questions and seemed to listen to us but something just isn’t right.

We went to get lunch and we were told they would park our rig where the electric hookup would be and that they would put our slides out and turn on the AC.  We filled the water tank before we left Arizona City so we didn’t have to worry about a water hookup.

We found a place called What the Hell Bar because if nothing else we needed something to drink.  Turns out they had a pretty extensive menu so we settled in.  We called Richard to let him know where we were but he was at the gym so it wasn’t a good time to meet up with him.

We had a delicious lunch and then found ourselves wondering what to do since it was still early afternoon. Earlier I had taken notice of a store I wanted to go into so I started giving directions to Bob once got back into the truck.  When we pulled in and he saw where we were the look on his face told me he was less than thrilled.  I coaxed him in because I knew he was going to love this place!  I was right, he loved it.  We wondered up and down aisles of Hobby Lobby for over an hour.  I don’t think anything was overlooked by him.  He could have spent a fortune but luckily we got out for just a little over a hundred bucks.  I’ll show you in another post what we bought, when its in the place its supposed to go.

We headed back towards where our rig is and stopped at another adult beverage outlet on the way, we were thirsty, it was hot!  Back at the rig, we went in and it was HOT in there.  We were out in the sun, on blacktop with a 30 amp hookup which means we only run one air conditioner.  We kept telling ourselves that it will get better, cooler.

Finally Bob said, “Let’s get out of here, its not going to cool down enough, we’re going back to Arizona City.”  He didn’t have to twist my arm.  I had what things we brought gathered up and in the truck in no time flat.  Richard we’ll see you another time!

I’ve brought up several times over the years how nicely Arizona takes care of their roadways.  From decorative tile and wrought iron work on their overpasses to the landscaping along I-10.




As we got closer to Arizona City the sun was setting.  The sky was a palette of brilliant colors.




This certainly wasn’t the day we planned but as usual, it is what it is.

8/28–9/2/2013 New Projects and a Birthday

(Arizona City, AZ)

Bob has started on his projects.  The first one he wanted to knock out was the steps leading into the house.

 

His first idea was that he would paint them and be done with it.



He walked around them, up and down them, looked at them from all angles, including turning them upside down.

Just painting wasn’t going to do. Of course I knew that from the very beginning.

So we went shopping.  Wood, paint, carpeting and nails.  Let the project begin!  Tomorrow, for it is surely too hot to be outside anymore today.

Friday, the 30th, Bob became Medicare eligible!  He hit that magic number 65.  Between you and me, you’d never know it.  He still works as hard as he did twenty years ago.  Mom and I had both shipped his birthday gifts to Arizona before we left Delaware, unbeknownst to Bob.  He was quite surprised when he came in one mime and there were two boxes sitting on his chair.  Mob gave him two….wait for it,,,golf shirts!  There were four more in my box to him.  It’s official, his collection of golf shirts now rivals a Crayola box of crayons for the colors.  I think he has every color in the rainbow and then some.

I also gave Bob and photo book I made of him and his sons and granddaughters.  I used the pictures I made when we were in Delaware and we were altogether for a day for a BBQ at Tim’s home in Smyrna.  I also had copies made of the books for Tim and Jonathan.  Some pictures from the book.







Labor Day we were invited to a cookout here in the park but since we have to leave early tomorrow morning we declined because we had lots to do to get ready to take the rig to Mesa.  We went through it and pulled out everything we could possibly/want need since it wasn’t going to be just down the street anymore.

Here we go again.