Fun

It was fun making our Thanksgiving dinner. Yes, I enjoy cooking even though my kitchens in the last 7 years haven't been very big. It was so great to have dark meat and not just white meat of the turkey too. Having a regular size oven made making a whole turkey possible. :) White meat is not something I care for, but then I don't care for fowl to begin with. Give me Beef any day. :) Since we aren't used to eating rich food anymore our guts let us know that they weren't too happy about our meal either. The meal was still very good and we have plenty of leftovers in the freezer.

After our big meal and a nap for Mark, I dug out our meager Christmas decorations. Later in the afternoon I got the tree up and a few of the decorations put out as well. It takes me longer to get things done than it did 10 years ago so it took me a couple days to finish decorating even though I have only a fraction of what I use to have. Everything seems to take me longer to do now than it used to.  But until I can't do what I want at all, I'll keep doing, it will just take longer to get done. Mom taught me to not give up or give in, we are made of tougher stuff than we think. I love doing all these things so I'll just grit my teeth and smile my way through. The end result makes me feel good and proud.

Cookie baking time is on the next to do list. This year I only need to make three different kinds of cookies. We can't eat all the sweets anymore and Mark only eats his three favorite kinds anyway. hehe Today I mixed the roll out butter cookies, but not sure when I'll get around to making them. This week is kind of full or other things I need to get done.  Once the roll outs are done, I'll tackle the spritz and then the snowballs aka Russian tea cakes as they were called when I was a kid. If I can find the umpf I may make a 4th cookie just because I like Christmas baking too. No shopping to do so I'll just bake. :)

Not sure when Mark will have the time but we will need to get the outside decorations up at some point too. There are a few people in the park that have their lights up and glowing brightly. From the sounds of it, this park really goes all out with their decorating.

Miss Lola has been so quiet today that I think I'll cheer her up and take her for a much needed walk. She loves to walk and doesn't get to do that often enough. It's a beautiful day to be outside and not sitting in the house.

My kind of turkey

This year I am able to make a whole turkey and not just a breast for Thanksgiving. Having a regular size oven is one thing I am thankful for this year. No white meat for me, pass the dark meat and keep your mit's off of it!!!! hehehe

Yesterday was a busy day of prep for today. This year many of our usual foods will be sugar free and less fancy. No green bean casserole or scalloped corn. Mark doesn't eat it anyway I don't need it. But the dressing, gravy and mashed potatoes will be the same high calorie food as always. hehehe The sugar free, crustless pumpkin pie will be new and not sure how it will go over, but I do what I have to do to make it diabetic friendly. The cranberry sauce is still from scratch but I used the new sweetener Xylital in that. All in all most of our favorites will be served, just made in a different way. It was a challenge.

 When I was done with my work for the day, it was late and I headed to the shower. I almost needed help getting in and out etc, I was hurting so much. But I do what I need to do one way or the other. hehehe It felt so good to sit in my recliner with my feet up and feel good about all that I got done.

As is our tradition, the Christmas decorations and tree will go up later today. Well that is if I am up to it after all the clean up etc. from dinner. Most of our Christmas decorations are still in storage in MN. But I did pick up some things from the Dollar Tree now and then. Anyway, it won't take as long to decorate as it has in years past. We don't have the room for all of my decorations either. hehe I do have quite a bunch packed.

Time to open the house before the oven bakes us out of here. It's a rather gloomy gray day so I'll have to make my own sunshine. Maybe some Christmas music later today. :)

Sweet dreams

Yesterday after the sheets were on the lines to dry we headed out for lunch. Even though we ate at the Golden Corral we both ate sensibly. We live to close to the borders of California and Mexico that we headed to California for a ride. No destination in mind, just a nice road trip. We saw a different side of the border fence and then the dunes.

Yes, these are actual pictures I took with my cell phone, not something off the internet. They do look fake though, don't they.
I've never seen dunes before so it was quite a sight for me to see. At first I thought Mark really took a wrong turn and we were on the moon. 😮 There were many campers with 4x4's all ready to ride the dunes. Quite a few were already enjoying the ride in the hilly sand. We say all of this in just 30 miles from Yuma. Nice ride, nice day. good time.

On our way home I got a phone call from the furniture store. Kevin said that our mattress was in and would be delivered Saturday morning. That made me so happy to hear. Not sure if it was the excitement or just a bad night, but neither of us slept well Friday night.

The new mattress and frame came today as promised. Oh happy day, finally some room to turn around without kicking each other. All week I was worried that the mattress wouldn't fit through the smaller than average patio door. But God once again proved I didn't need to worry and should leave it all to Him. The men set up the frame in a snap and placed it where I wanted it to be.  There isn't much room left in the bedroom but just enough to get around the bed with relative ease. With the mattress on top, our bed is now higher than it was too. Which makes it much easier for me to get in and out of and easier changing sheets as well. Our queen short RV mattress will head back to the RV when Mark has a day off and the old frame will go to GoodWill. The frame is in too good of shape to toss it in the dump, wherever that may be.

After a cup of coffee Mark and I took the old mattress and frame to the porch. Earlier I took all the stuff from under the bed to the porch. Moving the bed to the porch wasn't as difficult as I thought it was going to be, although I'm no help lifting, just steering from the rear.  Our porch is looking pretty full for the time being.

When lunch and dishes was done, Mark headed to work and I had the task of putting everything back into order. That was NOT an easy task, but I got it done. And for that I'll need a pain pill tonight, if not before.

Even though the bed will be new to us, I really hope that we both sleep much better tonight. It will sure be nice to stretch out without feet hanging over the edge and not kick the other person or take up all the room in the bed. I have a tendency to hog a bed. 😇

Sweet dreams from Yuma!😴

The heat is on!

With the temps dropping to the upper 40's at night we decided to turn the heat on at bedtime last night. Living in a trailer it can get pretty cold on the inside when it's that cold at night. Yes, I said cold. We have not been in snow or major cold for some time now so anything below 70 is chilly or cold to us. I bundle up good when I take Lola out for her evening walk. The temperature at that time has usually been 64º. Which to our northern friends and family is pretty darn nice, but to us it's darn cold. It's what you get used to.

There is a craft show this week that I will be taking my crafts to in hopes of selling all that I've made. I really doubt that will happen but I hope that at least most of it sells. It should be fun too. I was told that the first one doesn't have the best turnout since most of the snowbirds aren't here yet but it is for the public too and I'm hoping that some of them will make up the difference. Sadly it's not at a very good time of day or week, in my opinion, for the public to shop. I need to make up  a sign yet that says NO CHECKS, CASH ONLY. I've gotten burned before and I don't want that to happen again.

Some day this week our new bed is suppose to arrive so I need to stay close to home. I've been praying that the king size mattress will fit through our smaller than average patio door. Mattresses do smoosh some, don't they? 😦

Comfort returns

A week has passed since our trip to MN and we have settled back into our routines. The weather has been just gorgeous, sunny, mid 80’s during the day and upper 50’s to low 60s at night.😍 It won’t be long and a quilt will go on the bed.

Speaking of beds, we broke down and purchased a new mattress. We have been using an RV, queen short since living in our RV. We bought a good, quality mattress before leaving MN. But RV mattresses aren’t really made for using 365 days of the year. We still need the under the bed storage so we also got a frame that is higher allowing for storage. The new bed had to be ordered and will be delivered sometime next week at no charge. How nice is that? 😄 We will take the RV mattress and put it back in the Montana and toss the mattress that is in there now (that one is not worth saving). Our new mattress is a king size like we have used before moving into our RV. We can hardly wait for a good night's sleep with some room to move again. 😴

All the “stuff” that is under the bed will be packed into clear totes instead of being tossed under the bed like it is now. The bed we have now has hidden storage so you don’t see the mess unless you lift the cover that the mattress is on. It’s a lot like in an RV. Anyway, the totes should make it easier to find things too. Moving things from mess to totes may cause some tossing out as well. 😏

The Arizona Market Place has opened for the winter. So yesterday we checked it out. Not every vendor is there yet so there were still some vacancies. I hope my favorite t-shirt vendor comes back as I am running low on good shirts. The produce spots were full and operating to full capacity. We did purchase a pair of sandals like I bought last year. They are so very comfortable and cheap too. I didn’t need them yet, but they go fast and I’m sure I’ll need them next summer.😎

Mark put his little tv on the porch for the winter and I organized the seating to look more homey and inviting. We could use some outdoor decorations yet. But for now this will have to do. A lot of places here have their porches set up like a tv room with easy chairs, table and lamps. Our lawn chairs work just fine in the dirty wind of Yuma. Today is one of those days. The wind is really blowing and it’s beating up my hanging plants. They may have to come down and be put inside. But I won’t have anything on the porch that will need to be vacuumed clean. :) 😌

MN and back home.

Although  I am sorry for the main reasoning behind our trip north, thanks to all for helping make our trip to Minnesota a positive one. In total we put on over 5300 miles in 7 days and I for one am exhausted.

It was truly great to see Minnesota again and all it scenery. And how fast Hutchinson in particular is expanding. The weather could not have been better with a low of 35 derg. a high of around 50. To tell you the truth I had forgotten what 35 felt like……...LOL

A special shout out to the many people that helped make our stay remarkable. Bev and Jim, Mike and Kim, Randy and Julie, Harlan and Barb, Barb and David, Duane, Kevin, Corey, Brenda, Kenny and Julie, Bobo and Cheryl, Jeremy, Howard and Becky, Dave and Dawn and all the rest. It was so Great to see you all again,

And although it was great to see and talk to you all, I have to say it really feels great to be back home in Yuma Az setting here in my shorts typing this out.

Well I have to go and get ready for work……… lol.

So Again Thanks To All, It was Great Seeing You All. God Bless

P/S We picked up our puppy this morning from the kennel she was staying at and she has not left my side since we got her back! She truly is my Baby!

Goodbye mommy.

Last Saturday we headed to Minnesota to say a sad goodbye to my dear mom.  She has been my best friend and confidant my whole life. And I will miss her like I would miss my arms. How do you say goodbye to someone you love so very much? There is no easy answer to that question. When that special person is suffering and has suffered for so long, the good-bye is still difficult, but knowing that she will be going to heaven to be with our Lord, and have no more pain and suffering, eases my heart.  She has suffered long and hard with congestive heart failure and fought like crazy but it took its toll on her body. She is now in hospice waiting to be with God.  My family and her husband gave my husband and I private time with her to say our goodbyes and to go with God. That is the most difficult conversation I have ever had with my mom. Even harder than admitting when I had to tell her something that I had done that would make her sad or angry.

In my heart I hope that she knew we were there to see her even though she wasn't coherent the whole time we were there. God, I'm sure, made it possible for her to hear our love yous and blessings.

Thanks to our many friends and family our trip to Minnesota it was also a happy one. We were so happy to see everyone. Mark met and spent time with his special friends. We also got to spend time with my best friend, our son, daughter in law, my brothers and their wives, my brother in law and sister Barb. I wish you all could come and see us and Yuma.

This was also the first time for me to fly in an airplane. And to my dismay, it won't be the last time. The flying wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but the waiting, the many people, the rushing and waiting, the stress of it all, and the fact that everyone is packed into the plane like sardines, made it the worst way for me to travel. It was uneventful and the times I was uneasy, Mark held my hand tightly to comfort me.  But I will still say I hate flying.

It was late last night when we got home. We both worked hard at unpacking and putting away as much as possible before going to bed. It was even later when we finally collapsed into our own bed, falling asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillow. A long, stressful week wore us out completely.

This morning after a cup of coffee we headed out to pick up Lola from the kennel. This was the first time she had been in a kennel since we got her. She was just crazy with happiness to see us, not knowing who to go to next, running in circles making us all laugh. The caretaker said Lola did very well and was very social with the other pets and had a favorite little dog as her special friend. Before Mark left for work she wouldn't leave his side and has been next to me or in my lap when ever she could catch me being still or sitting down.

The clothes were sorted and I got them and Lola's bed washed this morning. My back isn't too happy, but I even got all the ironing done. Mark had to work today so it was a quick lunch, pack his supper, and do dishes. And from there I went nonstop until I got everything done that I needed to do. A nice hot shower tonight felt absolutely wonderful after sleeping in motel beds and taking hard water showers with teeny tiny bars of soap. I am exhausted, clean and so very happy to be home.

It was nice visiting Minnesota in the fall, my favorite time of year. But my feet were cold the whole time. Lows in the low 30's and high at 50º just isn't what I am comfortable with anymore. Yuma is our home now and I've finally warmed up down to my toes once again.  😎

God bless each and everyone that reads this entry. You are all special to us.
                     Good Night.