Security/Snooping/Stopping

Have you ever watched the real life crime shows on TV? It seems like they always have access to security cameras after robberies, but the picture is so grainy, or the assailant is wearing a mask. Are they really that helpful? So we get to see what happened, but do they lead to crime solving? Are they a deterent?

We live in a really quite area, and most of the people in our complex are retired. None of us live high on the hog, and many have sufficient for their needs without being flashy. The other night our neighbor on the next block over installed a camera. What crimes are being committed over there we asked--none! He's got a neighborhood dog pooping on his yard, and he wants to catch it in the act and take the video to the owners.

What a great idea! I never would have thought of that!

Anyone Need A Couch?

We have been talking a lot lately about whether or not we are going to take our current furniture into our new house. The couch we have is so comfortable, and with the recliners out, it makes watching movies just a little more luxurious. Kind of like home theater seating to the max!

The colors should be close enough to get away with, and most of all, it's hard to toss out a perfectly good couch!

Rising Costs All Over

We have moved across town. Yes, it's a new city, but still, it's like 20 minutes away from the old house. And with this one little move, our car insurance is jumping up by $300 per year. This is the opposite effect of our move here, we actually went down by several hundred.

It doesn't stop us from moving, or being happy with our new area, it just adds a little bit more to our budget that we really hadn't thought of before today! I guess we should look into our cable and internet prices too. I just assumed they would stay the same too, we'll see!

Health Concerns

I have been going through some of the symptoms of "the change" for quite a while. I was thinking today, that this really isn't the time to be without health insurance. I know that there are certain cancers that a woman can get when the progesterone and estrogen levels are low, and that is a sentence I'm not ready to live with.

I really haven't been taking care of myself as I should be, and starting tomorrow...that's going to change! It's time to take this bull by the horns, and get things heading right! I'll have to let you know how that goes!

Feeling vulnerable!

We feel very vulnerable and are putting our faith in God to help us sell our home.

It looked like it was going to be a piece of cake, but hasn't turned out to be so.

It's a little disconcerting, to say the least!

It would have easily sold by now if we didn't have the price set so high.

Maybe we are just being greedy, and unrealistic.

What bad timing for the housing bubble burst! At any rate, we will keep the price where it is and make changes as we go.

Our New Home

Our new home which isn't new except to us is 7 years old. The same age as the home we left in Clinton. We love our home. It's cozy and seems new since it's newly painted, newly carpeted, has nice cabinets, used cisco, and is filled with new furniture. I miss our fireplace, but it's been replaced by the sun. No problem there!

It seems like the previous owners harvested most of the grapefruits though. Although, I can't remember how many were on the tree when we bought the home. They're still green and we were told they would be ready by the time we got here. We're too curious and impatient and have just picked our first grapefruit. Wow! it's sweet. That's unbelievable!

Missing Clinton already

On heading out from Utah I began to re-evaluate my move. We know we'll love living in Arizona during the winter months, but it is sad leaving our beautiful home we've enjoyed the past seven years. Many wonderful memories surround our home and neighborhood. We'll miss our family, friends and neighbors very much.

Neither of us have lived anywhere else but Utah except for a short time in Los Angeles where I was born and lived for a year, and Mike lived in LA for 3 years during the 1970's. He lived in England for 2 years while serving a mission, but other than that Utah is all we've known. This will be quite an adventure for us.

Going Away Party

Mike finally retired! Yeah!

He chose Home Town Buffet as the restaurant for his celebration. It has a private room, large enough for the 60 people he's expecting. A buffet is a great idea because everyone can choose the food items they want, eat as much as they want, with no need for Hydroxycut hardcore, all for a very affordable price.

Mike brought down the house when he was introducing his large family. He actually wrote them down. You think that's funny? Well! We have a large family.

Whoops! When you write things down it's possible to forget someone. He did. He forgot Lisa. She was hard to miss sitting right across the table from him.

Suddenly, we here a yell, "hello, you forgot me! Lisa, your baby daughter."

She didn't let him forget that for quite a while. I kept telling her that the reason he forgot her was because he wrote everyone on a list.

That didn't seem to help!

What I was trying to convey was that if he hadn't made a list and followed it, but rather just glanced around at the people and mentioned them individually, he probably wouldn't have missed anyone.

The party was a great success!

Real Estate Agents & Services

I sold Real Estate for 15 years in Ogden Utah, and thoroughly loved it! I have been retired now for 13 years (hard to believe it's been that long) and If you are looking for a commercial real estate agent, there are some great ones out there!

Buying and selling homes can be a tricky business and these major life decisions are at the top of the list when it comes to stressful decisions. GMAC Real Estate Agents and Brokers can provide you with the service, expertise and advice you need and deserve, in making these important decisions. They will take care of your personal home or property with kids gloves, and they take all the care necessary in order for you to have a smooth transaction from beginning to end.

This service is especially good if you are a first time home buyer who has very little knowledge or experience in this field.

It's also good for those of you who are relocating. Even experienced buyers have little knowledge about real estate laws in other states or countries. And this service is helpful when moving to a new area because the experts in that area can give you the advice you need concerning schools, jobs, and providing you with a safe environment to raise your family in.

It's a buyers market out there right now, time to take full advantage of it!

We Are Certainly Enjoying Our Family!

We've already enjoyed several occasions to be with our family and extended family members, and we're looking forward to being with our special friends.

We dropped in and had a visit with our friends Dubby and Carolyn, and had a nice visit. We plan to get together as soon as the weather improves, tired of hanging out wrapped in a heated blanket. So that hasn't happened yet!

We made plans to get with Paul and Colleen for lunch next Thursday, and I talked to Pam on e-mail and we plan to get together with Joan and maybe Jean.

I will get together with my other Riverdale Girls on the 19th. for dinner, and I hate to shock you with this news but I will be getting together with my high school buddies for our 50 high school reunion in June!

Oh my, am I that old?

Most Recent Disaster

Actually, it wasn't a disaster, but it sure seemed like it at the time.

I had all my baking stuff out ready to begin some low fat banana-nut bread (no diet pill needed)when Mike let out a yell. I ran to the laundry room and found both of us ankle deep in water.

We looked into the sink expecting to see water like the last disaster, but it was empty. Within a minute I noticed water coming under the door of the water heater closet.

To make matters worse this door requires a screw driver. The water heater was in the process of pouring 40 gallons of hot water onto our floor. There was water in the hallway and onto the new carpet, and even more in the Arizona room.

We spent the next two hours mopping up water with towels and ringing them out into the mud-room sink. (Mudroom - same as Laundry room.) Mike called a plumber who saved the day.

The clean-up and repairs took all day. It was now 4:00 pm. In the meantime I made my bread and Mike (the plumber) kept saying how good it smelled. Afterwards we three sat in the Arizona room at the patio table and enjoyed banana-nut bread, apple juice, and good conversation.

When I first found myself in water I was understandably upset. But within seconds I realized we had been very blessed. It happened while we were at home. It happened during the day. Imagine the mess we would have had had we been sleeping or away from the home!

It was also a blessing that it happened during the morning hours so we could get a plumber before he had other obligations. He was on another job a mile west of us, but lucky for us he was almost finished.

Once a water heater starts spilling water there is no way to stop it. It empties the entire tank.

The second heating element might not have blown if we had the information in the plumbers head. Which is that if your water heater starts spilling water you need to turn off the electricity.

Not to the whole house but just to the water heater. That is if your water heater is electric like ours. Other wise I guess you turn off the gas. Our water heater has two elements. One at the top and one at the bottom.

When the tank began to empty it left the top element heating without being in water. It got too hot and fried, as Mike, the plumber put it.

Bottom line is that the elements were $10 a piece, and his total charge
was $85.00. A blessing I didn't mention earlier.

A new water heater and charges could have been $385.00

Happy Halloween!!

After this beautiful Halloween holiday, is anyone NOT in need of weight loss pills? I can't eat sugar, so I'm probably good but I know that with all of the neighborhood kids haul, that may not be the case for long.

This is my favorite time of the year. The trees changing. The weather warm, yet chilly. Just perfect enough for a light sweater. That's how Halloween night was here. The kids didn't need their parkas, although they all had a layer or two under their costumes. But still, even that was a little much at some point during the night. A good time was had by all!

Phoenix Zoo

The second day was very very busy! We started the day down town Phoenix, and went to the capitol. We enjoyed the capital as we always do and after seeing the downtown sights and lunch we headed for the zoo.

Wow! What a nice zoo! Amy looked how the animals were all in their natural habitat. Instead of seeing a giraffe all by itself, there is a safari section where all the animals are together. Excluding the lions, tigers and bears of course. We don't want any animals offered for lunch there.

Mike pushed me around in a wheelchair which I hated to use, but was really very happy I did. They had one of those old fashioned popcorn machines on the midway and you could smell the freshly popped popcorn from miles away. It was a treat to enjoy!

My cousin Dee Anna insisted on me doing it, because if I had used up all my strength and energy for the zoo it would have been totally gone for the rest of their visit. Her words turned out to be true. I was really tired after seeing the capitol and the zoo even being in the wheelchair.

Nothing Is In It's Right Place!

Before we left to go back to Arizona in Oct, Mike and I spent a lot of time and effort going through everything thing in our closets, drawers, and cabinets making certain that everything was in it's proper place.

We had a storage unit that was storing some of our treasures from the time we sold our Clinton home. We were tired of paying monthly to store our stuff. We sold the larger items like an entertainment center and TV. We gave some things away, and brought the rest to the condo. Which is why we needed to re-organize everything. The condo looks so nice when we left.

After being in Arizona for a while, we decided it was time for a visit home! And since we'd heard there had been flooding, it was necessary that we get there to take care of everything. Luckily we had home owner insurance, because the reconstruction company have worked for four months to get it back to normal!

They've done a great job in restoring the beauty of the condo, but all our treasures that we in the right places are now boxed up and stuffed in closets, and not only is nothing in it's right place, but nothing is in the right box either.

They didn't pack boxes like an organized person who was moving would do. We found items from the kitchen, books from the den, bathroom stuff, etc, all in one box.

What a job!

Jake Amy Emily and Ashley

We had only been home a few days and had more company at our door. We were really looking forward to this and had a wonderful time with them. And, boy were we busy!

Swimming was the first time on the agenda that day. The weather was perfect and we really enjoyed being in the pool with the kids. This was the first time we have been in the pool since last July. Unbelievable huh! We were busy the first few months we got here and then it turned off to chilly for me to want to go swimming during the winter. Even though it's very mild here during the winter, it has to be warm for me to enjoy swimming.

After we had lunch we took off for the mining town at the base of the Superstition Mountains. We looked at all the stores, panned for gold, looked at a ton of old Harley parts rusting out in the corral, rode the train around the town, gleaning the information from the engineer and learning about the town, plants, trees, gold etc.

We came home and had taco's for dinner and watched a movie. It was a perfect first day.