Arizona, Mesa - Sunday, February 14, 2016 - Parties, Cooking and Classes

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!!!

I saw a post on Pinterest today that said “when you are in the right relationship every day is Valentine’s Day” – so true.

I fixed shrimp scampi linguini (the skinny low-sodium version) and steamed broccoli for our Valentine’s Day supper.  Greg is cleaning up the kitchen while I write this.

 

 

I know some of you who read this are dealing with record cold weather, we are sorry and so glad we aren’t there.  Our area of Arizona has finally warmed up and we are dealing with record heat – into the high 80’s every day, we are loving it.

We’ve been pretty busy since I posted a couple of weeks ago.  Most of it has been the mundane stuff – working, napping, cleaning, cooking, laundry and maybe napping again.  We are still square dancing three times a week.  We might add one more day this week in order to dance to a different square dance caller.  We will be working an extra day this week.  This park has a large Canadian population and they have an annual party.  We’ve been asked to work that party on Friday night.

Last week we and over 300 other square dancers met at Organ Stop Pizza for lunch.

 

 

 

This place is amazing.  It has the largest pipe/theater organ in the world.  The control for the organ has over 1000 keys.  The organ was made in 1927 for a theater in Colorado, it was moved to Mesa in the 1970’s.  In addition to what a normal pipe organ does it makes all of the sounds familiar in the silent films (horse hooves, police siren, bells ringing, someone knocking at the door, etc.).  Around the building there are various other instruments controlled by the organ master – drums, xylophone, accordion, trumpets, etc.  The effect is that of a full orchestra – I could have listened all afternoon.  When the restaurant is closed to accommodate large groups such as ours the organ master takes the time to do a lot of explanation about the organ and what it does. 

 

 

 

 

We had to leave Organ Stop a little early in order to be home when the repairman came to look at our hot water system which is currently not working.  We are still waiting for an inspector from our extended warranty company to come out and look at it before we can have it fixed.  Luckily we aren’t far from one of the shower facilities here at the resort and the facilities are very nice.  The inspector should be here on Tuesday but then we still need to get parts ordered and installed after that.

We’ve been to a couple of other parties also.  One was all of the folks who are workkampers at the resort.  We shared information about some of our favorite campgrounds and other workkamper positions available for the summer for those who work in the summer (not us).  The street where we live also had a pitch in so everyone could get to know their neighbors.  There are several other RVs on the street and some of those folks took the opportunity to tap into Greg’s knowledge of RV living.

I took another class to learn the techniques of appliqueing.  I am really not good at this, but maybe with practice.  This piece isn’t finished yet, it takes so long and I got tired (and frustrated) before I was able to get it done.  I’m glad to know the technique and can practice on my own from now on.  I’m thinking this might be nice for those cute little flags everyone puts in front of their RVs.  Right now we are buying them, but I could make them a little more personal with applique.

 

 

Last weekend we rode to Scottsdale to the Harley Davidson dealership there.  It is supposed to be the largest Harley dealership.  It includes a theater, lingerie store, tattoo parlor and chapel in addition to what you would find at the usual Harley store.  There was also a lot of patio and balcony space for entertaining.

We are losing weight again, had a bit of time when we were on a plateau.  We have our blood pressure tested every two weeks and the readings have been going down steadily.  My reading this past week was 90/52 – that may be getting a little too low, but it doesn’t seem to be bothering me except when I look at the top shelf in the grocery store I get dizzy.  Will have to have a medication review when we get back to Indiana I am sure.

Every two weeks there is a “Country Store” in the resort ballroom where various vendors bring in their wares.  We have to look for belts tomorrow.  I had an awkward experience last week.  You know how your jeans fit tighter just after you have washed them and then loosen up as you wear them?  Well, my jeans no longer fit tight in the first place.  I was working carrying a large tray of food across the patio when I felt my jean shorts start to slide down, I was just hoping my hips were going to keep them from going too far.  Luckily, my shirt was long enough to hide my dilemma until I could get it fixed.

I didn’t do too much cooking last weekend because we were finishing up some leftovers.  So, this weekend was another cooking frenzy to restock the fridge.  In addition to the shrimp scampi linguini we fixed smoked pork roast, meatloaf, roast chicken that was used for chicken and noodles and chicken noodle soup, Mexican bean salad, potato salad, freezer slaw, baked tortilla chips, cheeseburger stuffed portabellas, crumb topped tilapia, stuffed mushrooms, barbeque sauce, mashed potatoes and raspberry bars – good to go for another week or so of good and good-for-us eating.