Arizona, Mesa - Thursday, January 29, 2015 - Val Vista Villages RV Resort

BELATED HAPPY BIRTHDAY WISHES TO SON A.J.

We’ve finished our work week and are working on the valances again.  Today we finished the one in the kitchen.

 

 

And the remaining one in the hallway.  From this picture you can see how the grey/beige color scheme in the valances is going to tie in with the tile wall we did behind the TV.  We hope to get the remaining four windows done in the next three days.

I’ve also spent some time on my quilting projects, I’ve finished two more squares that will go into my “sampler” quilt.

 

 

 

I also learned how to put a binding on the table runner I’m making to add to our Christmas decorations for next year.  I have to finish the back side of the binding by hand – that’s tonight’s project while watching television.

 

 

It’s raining again tonight, it rained Tuesday and is supposed to rain through Saturday.  I guess it is supposed to dry out for the Super Bowl but I’m sure the downtown vendors and the Super Bowl Experience folks were hoping for good weather this weekend.  The people we work with who are fulltime Arizona residents can’t believe how many days it has rained this year – I’m telling you, it follows us J.

Just finished reading The Poisonwood Bible, a novel by Barbara Kingsolver.  It’s a story told by the wife and four daughters of a fierce evangelical Baptist who takes his family and mission to the Belgian Congo in 1959.  The book was given to me by daughter, Robyn.  It’s probably more “literary” than what I usually read, but I enjoyed it.  I tend to go for mysteries and what I call “feel good” books, probably with no literary value at all but I read for enjoyment.

Arizona, Mesa - Monday, January 26, 2015 - Val Vista Villages RV Resort

Hope everyone facing the heavy snows and strong winds can stay safe and warm.  Skies here were a little overcast this morning but the temperature got up to 70 so it was a very pleasant day. 

This weekend we managed to get all of the bedroom window valances and one of the hallway valances done.

 

We tested the emergency exit window, we haven’t done that since we purchased the coach.  Good news – it opens wide enough for us to get through.  I admit we didn’t try dropping to the ground from it, maybe next time.

 

 

Now that we have the bedside windows dressed up I’m going to need to redo the decorative pillows on the bed.

 

 

We now have six of the twelve windows done and we haven’t uttered a harsh word during the whole process J.  You really have to like each other to live in these close quarters fulltime and when you decide to work on projects together you really could be in trouble if the relationship were shaky.

We won’t be working on the valances again until Thursday, after our work week is over.  We also need to track down a place to get a measles booster shot, seems there is an epidemic going around in Arizona and we don’t want to participate.

Arizona, Mesa - Friday, January 23, 2015 - Val Vista Villages RV Resort

On Thursday there was a resort Manager’s Happy Hour with free beer and wine and a free meal of pulled pork sandwich with barbeque beans, potato salad and a cookie.  We were talking with the manager during the event and he said there were 1700 tickets picked up but they had prepared for 1800.  For these events you need to pick up a ticket at the activities office so they will have at least an approximate head count ahead of time.  We were able to snag a prime seat.

There was a lot of drinking (good thing everyone is within walking distance).

 

 

And a lot of dancing.

 

 The band for the evening was called North Star.  Two of the guys are from Canada, the other one is from Arizona.  I think the lead singer is out in the crowd.

 

 

One of our friends here gave us some oranges from the tree at his site.  They smell and taste so good. 

This is my current craft project – a quilt sampler.  Since I am a beginning quilter I thought this class would be good for me.  This is the start of 12 different quilt blocks that will go into the sampler.

I got two of the blocks done during this Wednesday’s session.

Greg’s latest DIY project was upgrading our bathroom faucet.

Before

 

After.  Now I have to figure out how to fix the chips in our sign.

 

 

We are still working on our new window valances.  Three are done, we hope to finish another two this weekend. 

We took a break in working on the valances this morning to go across the street to the grocery store.  We were standing discussing whether we wanted ham or sausage for breakfast next week when a man on a motorized scooter came up beside me and said, “Ma’am, thank you for wearing that shirt”.  Now no one ever comments on my clothes because I have a pronounced lack of fashion sense so I had to look down to see what I had on.  Then he said, “I was a POW”.  This is what I was wearing, one of the Rolling Thunder Indiana Chapter One shirts that we wore when we participated in a demonstration ride into Washington, D.C.

 

 

I was inclined to hug him but thought that might not be appropriate so we settled for shaking his hand and thanking him for his service.  You never know when you might make a difference.