Saturday, January 12.

I had my usual cleaning job on Tuesday and hung around the rest of the day.

I ordered new sheets and a mattress cover last week, so when the sheets arrived Wednesday afternoon, it was too late to launder them, so that project waited until Thursday.

We attended the weekly coffee and info meeting Thursday morning and were pleasantly surprised when there was a presentation from a member of the local fire department on how to respond to cardiac arrest.  It was very informative and served as a reminder to both of us, since we had training in the past and could use a refresher course.  We learned that if someone is down and they don’t respond to your questions of  “are you ok”, call or have someone else call 911, then start compressions of 100/minute at the center of the chest, pushing a full 2” and continue until help arrives.  She also went over the use of the fibrillator. The first thing we did when we got back home is to update our ICE contacts and make sure we each had those noted as such in our contacts list.

There was a lot of laundry to do this time, so we went to the nearby laundromat where they have the big machines.  I took the new sheets out of the package and just threw them into the basket, but when we got back home and put them on the bed, I found that there were no pillowcases.  That led to making contacts to Walmart to learn what to do about it and they refunded my money, gave me an additional 10% credit and told me I would have to return the sheets and reorder, since they were out of stock.  Needless to say, they can’t be reordered at the price that I paid and will cost an additional $10 or more. I’m not sure if I will return them or keep them and use other non-matching pillowcases.  Its just another negative Walmart experience that reinforces me like them even less. Grrrrr!

Tom had errands to run on Friday, so I went to see how the annual sale at Turnstyle was and after an hour or so, I walked out of there empty handed.  Since I was so near, I stopped at Highlands to see if Jan and Jim were around and had a nice chat with them.  Connie also stopped by, so it felt like old times.  I do miss my friends and activities.

Today has been an ‘at home’ day and I have felt very bored, even after doing a few chores and taking a few 3 walks.  I guess that boredom led me to take a nice nap and then to update this journal, so it’s not a total waste.

Wednesday, January 9.

Well, apparently I don’t have much to say lately. Life has been fairly routine and there are no big highlights to write about.  I spoke to both of my sons and a couple of the grandkids over the weekend. I made reservations for a flight to Minneapolis from February 14-24 and am looking forward to seeing those kids in person. It might even work out that we (Ben and his family or some of his family) can meet up with Pat and Tracey in Tomah or near there.  That is about the half way point between Minneapolis and Madison.

I went to Connie’s house for a nice visit on Monday after doing some cleanup at Karen’s house in Highlands.  It was great to see her and we had good conversation, as always!

January 1 - 3, 2019

Thursday, January 3.  We started the new year with a party at the clubhouse with some of our new friends and other residents of Shiprock RV.  A DJ played music from 8:00 until midnight and we managed to stay up and see in the new year, having a few cocktails, dances, and lots of good conversation and laughter.

We woke up with the joy of seeing snow on the Superstition Mountain peaks on New Yearks Day and we took a nice walk in hopes of getting some good views and this is what I came up with.  Later in the day, we drove to the mountains and got a much closer view.

I was back to cleaning Sylvia’s house yesterday and Jim and Shirley’s today.

December 28 - 30, 2018

Sunday, December 30.  Friday was laundry day and doing some housecleaning before meeting up with Pat and Roger at JJ Madison’s Sports Bar for fish fry. Its always good to see those guys and we had good conversation and a good meal.

Tom was helping Chaney yesterday with a project at his house, so Pat and I went girl shopping - for shoes, swimsuits, and bedding at the Superstition Mall, and at Kohl’s, Tuesday Morning, and DSW Shoes st SanTan Village. It was a good afternoon and always fun to hang out together.

Tom ended up going back to Chaney’s again today to finish their project and I spent the day doing my own projects - submitting a bill to my health insurance for reimbursement before the end of the year deadline, making phone calls to wish my brother, Ron, a Happy 57th Birthday and to my sister, Rene, for a girl chat, a couple of walks with Frisco, cleaning the coffee pot, making oyster cracker snacks for New Years Eve, and grocery shopping.

Tom and I are both gearing up to try a Ketosis diet to lose a few pounds, starting next week. I can’t really say that it is a New Year’s Resolution but we have kind of had that goal for a few weeks but didn’t want to start over the holidays.  The worst part will be cutting out carbs and I just realized that the Tonic that I use for my cocktails is 2/3 of my future daily intake. I guess I will be finding something else to drink at happy hour - one thing that I am not willing to give up.

December 24 - 27, 2018, AZ

Thursday, December 27.  It’s been quite a week.  I spent a lot of time on the phone with Christmas wishes on the eve, on Monday.  We packed up our goodies and headed to Tom’s ex-wife, Kathy and John’s later in the afternoon where we celebrated Christmas Eve with Tom and Kathy’s son, Chaney and Grandson, Lakin and their daughter Trina and her 2 sons, Jayden and Colton.  We had delicious Carne Asada tacos and burritos, yummy Guacamole, and tasty desserts. It was a fun evening in very good company.

Colton, Trina, and Chaney

Jayden and Lakin

On Christmas morning, I had a nice facetime conversation with Ben and his family, got to see their gifts and watch them open my gifts.  They all liked the tights and leg warmers that I crocheted for them and were delighted with the gift cards to Creative Kidstuff.  It was fun!

I made a festive looking  sauteed corn with red pepper and green onion sidedish for dinner with Nan, Dale, and their families. Once again they cooked a Prime Rib (compliments of Nan’s Mom, Karen) for dinner that was perfect. Its always a good Christmas with them. It was a fun afternoon and we left before their gift opening started.

The weather has turned a bit around here, we had rain on the drive home on Christmas and temps are not expected to get higher than the low-mid 60’s this week. Its still not bad, especially when the sun is shining.

Yesterday was a lazy day and other than a nice walk, we basically hung around watching movies, computing, and being lazy.

We went to see “The Green Book” movie today ~ the first theater was fully booked, so we ended up going to the Harkins Theater at San Tan Village. It was a great movie, based on a true story of the relationship that develops between a black man (a cultured and educated musician) and his driver (an Italian from the Bronx) while on a concert tour through the deep south in 1962.  

We stopped for dinner at the Mirage, a sports bar not far from us in AJ. Tom loved his burger but my chicken wings were undercooked. We learned that they have live music on Thursday night - it sounded good but was way too crowded in that room, so we will try to get there another day.

December 17 - 23, 2018, AZ

Wednesday, December 19.  I’ve had 2 cleaning jobs this week, Karen’s on Monday - a cleanup from her move-out last week and then Jim and Shirley on Tuesday. I will be doing JoAnne and Jerry on Friday, as their next scheduled day falls on Christmas Day.

I have also been scurrying to get Christmas gifts packed and sent to Wisconsin and Minnesota before the deadline. Unfortunately, a gift for the girls that I had shipped to me did not arrive until Tuesday, so I finally got that package in the mail this morning. It should arrive in time.

Today, Tom and I both had appointments with Dr. Roland this morning.  I am amazed at how much better I feel, almost like I am getting psychological treatment rather than chiropractic.  He says that he helps to reset the circuit breakers and I am becoming a believer in his methods. An alternate focus or distraction from the hurting area somehow leads to its feeling better.  And then he gives a homework assignment that has you focus on some stressor in your life and then to let it go gets you feeling less stressed and the muscles, nerves, joints, and mind feel so much better.

We decided to go see the movie, “The Mule”, Clint Eastwood’s latest.  We miscalculated the traffic and got to the first theater too late (and it was fully booked), so went to another theater and got there in plenty of time.  The movie and the soundtrack were enjoyable.

Sunday, December 23.  Early morning coffee and the weekly presentation of activities and updates started the day off on Thursday.  I had a haircut appointment scheduled for the afternoon, but they called and changed it to Friday afternoon.  No problem.

One of our neighbors delivered a package in the afternoon, a ‘giving plate’ that started out with our managers on November 9 and has been passed from site to site since then, each person keeping a gift and replacing it with another, then passing it on. I did have to shop for something, as there is no extra space for keeping ‘in case’ things in this trailer.

We did our grocery shopping yesterday, after taking a nice, long walk around the neighborhood.  The days have been beautiful, in the low 70’s but the nights dip down to the upper 40’s - perfect for sleeping.

We ran errands on Saturday, including grocery shopping in preparation for Christmas recipes and things that we are taking for the dinners we are going to. Somehow, that activity tends to fill our day and before we know it, it is dark outside and it is dinnertime.

Sunday was the day for cooking and baking.  A week or so ago, Tom’s friend Ron gave us a bag of organic pinto beans, and I decided that today would be a good day to fix a pot of beans.  Tom chopped up veggies and ham and we got them going in the crock pot, starting out on high for a couple of hours, then switching to low.  I was so disappointed when we went to eat dinner and the beans were still hard, then i realized that instead of switching to LO, I switched the dial to OFF.  They finished cooking the next day.

I baked a pan of Lemon Bars and Fran’s Special K Bars to take with us on Christmas Eve .

December 10 - 16, 2018, AZ

Wednesday, December 12.  After my cleaning job yesterday, I stopped at Costco and bought my own Christmas gift, a new iPad - the 9.7”, 128 gig version. I have been considering it for months and finally talked myself into it, as my old one is at the peak of its capacity (16 gigs) and I have had to take off photos and apps all of the time to keep it going. One of the first things I learned is that this blogging app is no longer supported by Google on the latest versions of Mac’s ios. But I found a way, just go back to the old days before there were apps.

Friday, December 14.  We ran errands and finished up our Christmas shopping today, mostly gift cards, wrap and a timer for the lights around our RV. Many of the lots in the park are decorated to the hilt.

We met Pat and Roger at What the Hell, a bar in east Mesa, for fish fry.  The food was pretty good, but my usual cocktail, a Vodka Tonic was served in a tall glass rather than a tub, and it tasted a lot more like tonic than vodka. After that, we went to the Gilbert Riparian and walked through the natural areas where the walkways were all lit up with luminaries and there were lots of lighted Christmas figures and music along the way.  It was definitely geared for the kids, but we enjoyed it.  

We decided to head into downtown Mesa to check out the lights at the Mormon Temple but there were none.  And then I remembered that a brand new temple was built in Gilbert a few years back and that must be where the lights are.  Another contributing factor is that downtown Mesa is all under construction, as they are extending the light rail lines farther to the east. So...we took a long ride and didn’t get a Christmas light display as a reward.  

Regardless, it is always good to hang out with good friends.

Sunday, December 16.  Our weekend was pretty busy. On Saturday, I really felt the need to go to some estate sales, so I spent a couple of hours doing that in the morning. They were both great sales, but I walked out empty handed - no room at the inn.

We went to a new home open house for Ron and Mary, friends and former coworkers of Tom’s.  It was a small group of folks and I met Holli and Zach for the first time, nice folks. We had good eats and lots of good conversation and laughs.

We met up with Ron, Linda, and Manual for breakfast on Sunday morning, another good time.  

Back home, it was a relaxing afternoon and I was able to finish my crochet projects for the girls, leg warmers in their favorite colors.

I made a tasty dish for dinner, a sausage and shrimp dish with zucchini, onions, and peppers.

I spotted this tree on my walk around the park today.