Another hot day, another craft

Yesterday afternoon we went into Michaels in town. I got some more deco mesh to make more wreaths. We scored, all of the deco mesh was 50% off so I got one of every color they had. The rolls are three times bigger than at the $Tree so it ended up being $3 less than if I could gt them there. We stopped at the $ tree in town but they had no deco mesh but we got some decorations to put in the wreaths. Next time we go to WM, which may be today, Mark is out of half and half and I am out of Aleve, we will pick up a few more wreath rings. I may keep some of the wreaths for myself or sell all of them at the craft fair here in the fall. The park has one every month. They cost between $7 and $10 to make and I would sell them for $15 or so. Depending on what I put on them for decorations too. I may make some more of the candles and sell them too. Not sure on that yet. They are quite time consuming, since I am new at making them and one hand works better than the other. But I do like to keep busy. And on the hot days of summer staying inside is about all there is to do. So I might as well make it productive.

Last night Mark put some styrofoam on the tops of the cupboards so I can put things up there. There was a one inch drop and now I can just slide things off and on more easily. I Have some antique jars that I keep rice and pasta in on the top in the kitchen.

And some day my angels will go in the living room. For now there are just ropes lights up there for accent lighting, which looks so pretty. We love lights. Too bad the lights don't show up in the picture.

I wonder what changes we will make today? :)
As always, it's an adventure.

Good morning

Another hot day in the desert, imagine that, the desert gets hot. But looking ahead it's not as hot as it's gonna get!!! So far we are handling the heat pretty well. We have/are learning to do our shopping after the sun goes down. But some days we just have to get out of the house during the day. Imagine cabin fever in the subzero winter months. That is what it's like in the summer here. You stay inside as much as you can. But here we can avoid some of the heat in the evening whereas when in MN, it just got colder when the sun went down.

Our home is small so there isn't a lot to do on the inside on the hot summer days. I am a tv buff and Mark is a computer buff so that is where we spend most of our time. I've tried to make some cards, but I take up the whole place when doing so and Mark has to go to the bedroom to be on his computer or watch a movie. Not that he ever complains. The other day after I got a hair cut I stopped at the $Tree for some items to make a few things to decorate our home. There isn't much room for setting things out either, but I like to have some things to make it feel more homey here. I'm not complaining about the lack of space, it makes for fast and easy cleaning. :) Most of my decorations were either sold or still in storage, so I make a few things for now.

With the high outside temperatures we have stopped using our oven. Which really puts limits on what to make for meals. We are on a restrictive diet now too so meals are way different than what they used to be. So we looked into and purchased an air bake oven/fryer. I absolutely hate baked fish, unlike Mark who loves fish prepared in any way. We need to eat more fish so the air bake fryer can make the fish in a way that I will eat it and still be within our dietary needs. Last night we had a pizza made on Flatout Lite (flatbread), with my home made sauce and it turned out great and was done in around 6 minutes. Amazing, a pizza we liked and low cal and low carb too. It was small enough for each of us to have one and big enough to satisfy our pizza craving. Well kind of. hehehe

First day of summer

It has felt like summer for many days already. So being the first day, yep, it's going to get quite hot too. One of these days we are going to put a fry pan on the road out front and see how long it takes to heat up enough to fry an egg. That should be interesting. I'm hoping to do a short video and post it here. Yesterday's temp got to 105º, today 107º and tomorrow 110º. Yep, it's summer in Yuma, AZ.

Yesterday after Mark washed Shelby, our Smart Car, we went for a nice ride. We found a lake, yes a lake in the desert. There were people that had parked their campers and settled next to it. There were also some gorgeous homes built there as well, but further away from the slum looking area. A little store and bar and grill also graced the area.

To get to the lake we saw many marine targets along the way. The area to the lake is a proving ground. The road was like a roller coaster and my tummy didn't enjoy some of the dips and hills. hehehe But it was fun sinceI knew it wasn't high or a man made contraption that would fall or break. As we were leaving the area Mark spotted some wild donkeys. One of them looked to be pregnant, or a big eater.  We assumed they hung in that area because of the lake for water and scarps of food from the people there. There was also ample shade for the donkeys.

Great Weekend

Friday night started our Alpha weekend at church. Learning about and inviting the Holy Spirit into our lives was an emotionally fulfilling time in our lives. The pastor and the group members were, as always, not judgmental, spiritually in tune, comforting and inspirational. We learned so much in the two sessions, Friday and Saturday, that we walked away with our hearts filled with God, and a feeling of calmness and contentment. Words really can't adequately describe the whole feeling we have now. As my brother said to me this afternoon, "it really makes one feel sorry for the nonbelievers".


At our first break on Friday night we left our classroom and walked out and saw the most breathtaking artwork of God. It was timed perfectly with our earlier discussion.  But then God's timing is always perfect. Here are some pictures of an amazing AZ sunset..... the pictures don't really do  justice to the beauty caught by the naked eye.

Heat and more heat

No we aren't using the furnace, or the oven,  but the sun is doing a fine job of roasting and toasting everything around here. We have had temps as high as 111º on our porch, and the official high so far has been 109º. Yes, that's hot, no humidity is the only saving grace. But hot is hot.

Because of the heat we have not used the oven for anything. It's getting dusty too. So I've been digging around looking for no bake cookie options and the grill is being used a lot more.

Last month we joined a group at church, to get to know some people, that meets every Monday evening. Supper is provided and the meals have been amazing. We are enjoying the class and look forward to each Monday night meeting. Most all there are younger that we are, but we are all the same in the eyes of God. It is quite a hugging bunch. We are greeted with hugs and good byes are said with hugs as well, men and women alike.

The hot weather has Mark enjoying the pool several times a week. I've not gotten the courage to go there yet. Just not my bag, I don't like water. Maybe some day I'll get bored enough to join him. I do walk down to the gym and use the treadmill and recumbent bike now and then, IF I feel like walking in the heat. The a/c is much more inviting. Although the gym has a/c and set very comfortable too.

The intense heat has affected our satellite so off and on it doesn't work many times during the day and night. We didn't know what was causing this so replaced the Wally receiver and the antenna ( call it Darth Vador because it looks like his helmet). After finding out these were not the cause  we were able to send back the antenna and get our money back. But we were stuck with the Wally. Now we have two. The people at Dish Network worked with us for a long time trying to help us. They didn't think that the heat was the issue, but  after awhile we all came to think that it was indeed the cause. I have noticed that we are the only ones that are using this type of antenna.

On the hot days we have to be very careful when we let Lola outside. The ground, no matter what the covering, gets extremely hot. She can walk to the dog park in the morning and in the evening long after sunset. Other times we hunt for shade on our lot for her to go potty. That being said we are going to try and find some shoes for her and hope that she will let us put them on and that she will keep them on. Wish us luck.

Marks friend Steve will be leaving Yuma in about two weeks. He will return to his home here about two month later. It's been fun having him here and going to church with us each Sunday too. He will be missed as we wait for his return. Safe travels Steve.

Time for me to get my day started. Miss Lola needs to get her morning "walk" in before the pavement and sand gets too hot. It's already 90º on our porch at 9:30 am.

As always, it's an adventure.