The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

This turned out to be a varied weekend. Lots of sports to watch - none of it good - most of it ugly. 
First the Barcelona soccer game. Our favorite player get hurt at the beginning of the game. Tore something in his knee and will be out a month or so. Sure hope the team gets their act together and stays on top of the league. They are second now.
Then there were the races. The truck race - Kyle had a fast truck but didn't win. Miscalculations. And the important race - the Cup race - he blew a tire and hit the wall losing 37 laps. As of right now he is out of the Chase by ONE POINT! Hopefully he can recover next week. 
I waited all week for the Super Moon and the eclipse. Keep running outside to catch the first sight of the huge moon. We always have clear view of the desert at night - well always except for last night - there were lots of low clouds. Every once in a while I'd get a glimpse of the moon - but just tiny parts of it. One sighting.

 Another sighting. 

 Finally when it was way up in the sky I could see it. Just the end of the eclipse. Kind of disappointing. 

 My wonderful husband worked all weekend on the sewing machine cabinet and it is now all ready to use. This cabinet is a little bigger than the one I used to have. So when I'm sewing the whole room is pretty much mine. The two leaves on both ends fold up when the machine is put away. Can't wait to use it. But won't be right away as I am waiting for another piece - which came with it but had to be ordered after getting the cabinet. Might take as loing as three weeks - sure hope not. 

 So this room is done now too. 

I spent most of yesterday working on my jewelry web site. What a mess. Then sorting through all my completed jewelry to make sure the web site was accurate. Some items where pictured two or three times and a bunch of items are not there and I know they used to be there. So guess I'll spend some time taking pictures of them and adding them to the pages. I hate that part.  It's so hard to get a decent picture of a necklace or bracelet. [I still have zillions of beads to sort- I try to do a little every day.]
Waiting right now to leave for my doctor appointment. The one where The Doctor will finally see me and let me know "What he can do for me." 
Wow our youngest son turned 45 yesterday. It wasn't that long ago I turned 45 - just after we got back from our long drive to Argentina. 

Our Home Sweet Home.

A beautiful but warm day here in Vegas. Sunrise this morning over the Wetlands behind us.

Both Bill and I had to get up early this morning. Why, you ask? And even if you didn’t - because there was NASCAR on starting at 6 a.m. and soccer on at 6:30!

This living on the west coast is throwing a curve into our days. Glad we don’t live in Hawaii - we’d be up in the middle of the night!

Bill in living room watching Barcelona

The sewing/guest room where I'm watching NASCAR. The sewing cabinet is upside down on the floor

Except for the door which still has to be put on the sewing cabinet is now finished. And the drawers are together just not in it yet. 

It turned out to be a major project. And when it was all together [except for the door] the part that the sewing machine sits on and moves up and down on - the airlift mechanism - DIDN'T WORK! OMG. It would not move no matter how hard we pushed on it. So I went on line to their web site and sure enough there was a video “If the airlift mechanism doesn’t work” The third suggestion in was the one that fixed the problem.  So relieved.

So that is the last of our major chores - I think, I hope. Still have some pictures to hang and a couple of small pieces of furniture to buy - when and if I see something I like - and in the Spring do some landscaping. We are ready for a vacation. 
Here is how it looks now. This is the computer room. My M&Ms guard the door in. The bookcase our son Randy made in junior high. And most of the stuff on it the boys made while in school. 

 Looking at the living/dining room from the "little" room. The pics on the floor still need to be hung.  The door is to the bedroom. 

 Looking at the dining/living room from the kitchen. The cabinet they tried to sell me only half of. Now full of stuff we've collected from all over. 

 Looking towards the kitchen - with the "little" room off to the left.

And a look in the master bedroom. I made the quilt a few years ago. Again stuff our kids have made - the candle holders - and stuff we've collected over the years. 

Doing nothing but getting things done.

Did almost nothing yesterday. Got up and it was muggy, ick. Never rained, but stayed muggy.

Right now Bill is in the kitchen fixing us breakfast. His first time to fix breakfast since we've been here. I've missed his cooking! It smells so good.

We both at one time or another during the last couple of days walked into the sewing room and looked at the partially assembled sewing cabinet. Then turned around and walked back out. One of these days we need to finish it. 

I've got all of my material in the cubbies the way I want it. And have spaces left for more!

And a couple of days ago we [Bill] hung my quilts and I put up some of the crafty stuff we've collected over the years. They look straight when we were doing it. But...

The white thing on the left is a thread holder. Also have room for more embroidery thread.

Yesterday we did go out to run errands. Needed an old fashioned roller shade for the kitchen window. Just to use at night after dark. During the day I like the unobstructed view of the desert. Also got another small, two shelve, shelving unit for my beading stuff. It will go under my big table. Still want to get some kind of bookcase or something for the “little” room. But haven’t found anything I like. Want something different with a “statement” for there.

I am still sorting beads. The trays on the right are sorted, the ones on the left are a mess. It will take me the rest of my life to finish this. And my new lamp. It works great. 

 One of the necklaces I made - a couple of years ago. 

Got home and watched a soccer game. Barcelona got trounced - 4 to 1 - by a team they should have beaten. Bill said they looked like they were all too tired to play. 

Have to eat my breakfast before it gets cold. Maybe later I'll take some pics of the finished rooms. 
The arrival of fall has seemed to bring back summer. After a few days of low 90s we are now back up over 100 at least until sometime next week. Enough already. 

I'm retired - I can do NOTHING if I want.

Today we did NOTHING!  Neither one of us wanted to do a thing here at home today.

So we took off and drove across town. First to visit with our son and daughter-in-law at their office. Had a fun visit. Had to laugh at our son, he said he realized the other day he’d turned into his Dad. I’ve got news for him - they have always been alike. Then we went to Bill’s favorite store - Harbor Freight Tools - how can he keep finding stuff to buy there? I don’t like the smell of the place - kind of a used tire smell. So he has to shop fast or I go outside and wait.

And then we went out to a leisurely lunch.

Dropped some stuff off at the Alfa and my sun glasses that I thought I’d lost were there - just sitting on the table. I forgot we stopped there a week or so ago and I was looking for something and must have taken them off. Sure glad to find them.

Now we are getting ready to do the “legal” things we’ve got to do. One of them being going to the DMV - UGH!!! In Brown County it took about fifteen minutes to do everything - here it will take two full days. Not looking forward to it. Here in NV there are three kinds of driver’s licenses - the “Real ID License or ID”, the “Standard License or ID Card”, and the “Driver Authorization Card.” To get the first one you have to turn over your first born child and a pint of blood! Well maybe not that much but the list of needed documents goes on and on. The third kind of license can’t even be used for ID at a bank, but you can drive with it. So guess we’ll try for the second kind - only half the hoops to jump through.

For the cars we have to get them smogged [spell doesn’t like that word], change our insurance to a NV company, and then have the vin # authorized, then we can change the registration. Why was I complaining about Indiana? Neither car has been smogged for eight years, sure hope they pass. Just makes me tired thinking about it.

I did do a little work this afternoon - re arranged my material in my cubbies to match the color wheel. And hung a few craft things we’ve collected while traveling. But that’s about it. Don’t even intend to cook tonight. 

Sunday - day of rest - kind of.

Sunday - a day of rest. Bill has a soccer game to watch and I have a NASCAR Cup race to watch - and of course both are on at the same time at 11:30. So glad we have enough TVs. I will watch the race and watch the soccer game during the race commercials [won’t miss much of the soccer game there are so many commercials during the race.]

We do have to go to grocery store sometime today.

Bill put together the rest of my cubbies in the sewing room. And took the many, many parts of the sewing cabinet out of the boxes. 

So I spent lots of yesterday - while watching racing - putting material in the cubbies and setting up the closet into a craft area. There are no longer any boxes in that room.

We haven’t found a couple of things we thought we’d packed…maybe we didn’t pack them? Or are they in a mismarked box somewhere? Only have one box full of stuff I I still need to empty. Mostly pictures of family.

Oh, I mentioned I bought a special light for my beading and sewing. Guess what I got with the sewing cabinet? One of those lights - as a gift for buying the cabinet. Not a floor model with a magnifying glass like the one I bought - but none the less a nice one to use for sewing.

The weather heated up again today. If it didn’t reach 100 it got real close. But starting tomorrow the highs will be in the high 80s. Brrr! Bill wants to know where his long johns are.

We did go out this a.m. first to breakfast then grocery shopping. Got home in time to hang a few pictures before the soccer game started. Then of course the race. Barcelona won - they haven’t lost a game yet this season. And a Gibbs driver won the race. Kyle #18 led a lot of laps but messed up on the last restart and finished 9th.

I spent part of the race sorting through the things that go in the sewing machine drawers and discovered another part that got broken. A presser foot and of course it is the one I use all the time. So another trip to JoAnns where they sell my brand of machine. If they don't carry it I'll have to find it online. 

Going to hang a few more pictures then I’m done for the day. Time to read. No sorting of beads today - have to wait until my eyes uncross. 

E Gad we're going to be busy!

We are both going to have a busy weekend with hopefully the last of the putting things together and putting things away. Yesterday we bought a whole bunch of stuff that needs putting together AND my sewing machine cabinet arrived - all FOUR boxes of it. 
I on the other hand will be sitting down sorting beads. For years I'll be sorting beads. In fact had to buy a new lamp so I could sort beads. Well no not really but that sounded good when I saw it. It is one of those "natural" light lamps, can be either on the table or used as a floor lamp. And it will be great for sewing too. Even has a magnifier in it. And it was 40% off.
Any way - this is a little cabinet that is full of beads. Before the move each little container held one type of bead. After move there was every type of bead in each container. Bead soup. There are lots and lots of containers. At the time I took this picture only the one large drawer at the bottom was sorted. And only cause they were beads still on strings. 

 This is what the containers looked like when I took them out of the holder. 

This is what they are supposed to look like. Many hours already of sorting - and only five little drawers sorted.

 Working away. Dump mess on table and sort one by one into separate holders. This is the way I'll spend most of today while I have NASCAR on the TV - Luckily I can see and hear it from the bead table. 

 And this is what Bill will probably be doing. Three of the boxes of the sewing machine cabinet waiting to be put together. At what it cost there should be someone with it to put it together. 

 One more box. Also some plastic storage shelving for the closet and two more boxes of need to be put together cubbies for my material. Once everything is together I'll be able to arrange my sewing/guest room. 

 Two of the cubbies put together with just a small little bit of my material put away. 

So as I said - we'll be busy for a while. But it is getting exciting that we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Also have several paintings to hang and pictures of the family to put up. And a new light for the outside by the front door. 

Now I'm tired - time to turn on TV. 

It's all about the view.

We have been having some interesting weather lately. It started on Sunday. Lots of clouds in the sky. And the best part the temperatures dropped. Got down to the high 60s last night and supposed to again tonight. This morning we have all the doors open and are enjoying a nice breeze. This was Sunday night Just thought the dark clouds of ver the sun lite desert was pretty. I just love the view from our home. So much open space. 

This was Monday afternoon. Dark, dark clouds over the mountain - could even see where it was raining. 

And still sun shine and blue sky over most of the desert. 

An hour or so later I happened to look out the window and saw this. The sun was just at the right angle to fashion  a rainbow way out over the desert. We sat outside and watched this for about 1 minutes before it faded. So pretty. 

Another view of it. The tree is in our yard. 

And yet another view from our patio. 

Just after dark the wind came up. Lots of wind! We lived in Indiana for 8 years in tornado country and never had any damage. We're here one month and the wind got us. Not bad but none the less. Bill had some 4 x 4s standing up against the patio wall. The wind knocked them down and one hit the patio door. Luckily it didn't break the glass but it knocked the edging off the door. Turned out to be an easy fix thank goodness.
Yesterday afternoon we decided to go out to dinner. Coming home we spotted another "rainbow" over the mountains. And yesterday we did get a tiny bit of rain. Just enough to make the desert smell good. 

Been home a while and Bill called me outside. Again a rainbow way out in the desert - only this time it was a big one. 

The whole rainbow.

All the way over the house. 

The end of a great day, yesterday.
Direct TV guy came today and got the rest of the TVs up and running. Now we can watch NASCAR and soccer at the same time. I spent most of the day sorting beads! It will take me the rest of my life to get them all sorted. More about that tomorrow. 

Remembering Jeni.

We went on a treasure hunt the other day. The treasure? Vacuum bags for my old Kenmore vacuum. No one sells vacuum bags any more. Cause most vacuums don’t use them. Finally went to Sears and thank goodness they had some. It is an old tank vacuum that I really like - top of the line in its day. Not so much anymore.

Just wanted to share this. Our daughter-in-law Jeni who passed away four years ago made this beautiful mobile for us. It is made out of pieces of junk and thin copper. She was so artistic.

 It is hanging above my bead table in the "little" room. 

One of our sons did the top clown. My Mom painted the three smaller clowns.

She also made this for us for one Christmas. It is woven strips of thin copper.

Our weather has taken a turn for the cooler in fact tonight it is supposed to go as low as 67. And we’ve had some sprinkles which have brought us beautiful skies. Will post some pictures tomorrow. But I did post one on the header. I didn't touch up the picture at all. 

A long long time ago.

I was fooling around on-line earlier today and discovered a site that has old high school year books on it. OMG Here is a class picture from my high school, no I'm not in it. Notice the uniforms. This was a public high school in Wyoming. Girls had to wear black or navy blue slim skirts with a belt and a white blouse with a collar. Boys had to be in ROTC or band. If they weren't in ROTC they had to wear white shirts with ties and black or navy slacks. And boy you'd better not be caught out of uniform. I didn't have on an approved belt one day and got detention. The last Friday of every month was a uniform free day. And boy did the difference in family status show up.  
I remember beggin my Mom for a Jantzen skirt and sweater. Instead I got a J C Penny's sweater that 'looked" like a Jantzen. Believe me every one knew the difference. I've grown up since then.

And I even found a my senior picture. When I had it taken my girlfriend said it was a good picture "except for the face." But I knew what she meant - the original had been a black and white picture that had been "colored" or whatever they called it and it looked funny. So many years ago. 

While I was writing this I've been on the phone with Direct TV trying to get an appointment set up for the rest of our TVs. Need the cable run and the boxes reactivated. It took over an hour and I talked to eight different people. Finally I got someone who could schedule an appointment for TVs and boxes from a move. Cheeze!
Bill got the big TV mounted to the wall in the living room so that's why I called - Now we'll move the new TV into the bed room and hook up the old one in the livingroom and one in the guest/sewing room. And we have one left over...what should we do with it? 

What is wrong with this picture?

Hum? What is wrong with this picture? No it's not that there aren't maraschino cherries on it - I don't like them so I don't use them. It's a funny color isn't it? Not nice and golden brown. Was the oven not working okay? Was the cake not done? Nope the cake was baked just right, perfect in fact. The oven works good. Maybe I should put it back in the oven and cook it more? Nope then it would be dry.

 About an hour later after we both had some of it I realized what was wrong! I forgfot to add the brown sugasr to the melted butter on the bottom of the pan before adding the pineapple! HOW COULD I FORGET the brown sugar? Well it must be easy 'cause I did. So I quickly went hunting for brown sugar - it didn't travel well - was hard as a rock. I took a knife and shaved a bunch off into the bottom of the cake pan. Put the other cake back into the pan and put it back into the oven till the brown sugar melted. This looks a little more like it. Bill likes the one without the sugar - so he can finish it and I'll eat this one - with whipped cream!

At least I know the oven works good.
Today we've been taking it easy again. Went out to breakfast and did some shopping for things we are finding we need.  Yesterday while watching the race I added hanging tabs to my small quilts so today bought rods to hang them on. Also some picture wire so I can hang a couple of things that lost their wires.
Took a long nap and now just going to fix dinner. The extent of my activity today.

Exhausted

It is finally cooling down here - today is "supposed" to be the last 100+ day of the year. Yah right! - Sure hope so. The next seven days will be in the low 90s with one 86 in the middle - and a chance of rain. Been a couple of interesting days. We got a dresser for the sewing room delivered - so we can put one of the TVs on it and I can use a few of the drawers for sewing. After getting it set up Bill tried to fix my sewing machine cabinet. The one thing the movers managed to break. We thought it could be fixed - but it can’t…so that means we have to get a new one. OMG…when did they get so expensive? It is made of MDF, not oak and is very plain with a few drawers - nothing fancy. Going to cost over $800!!! Part is because it has a lift in it so I can set the machine at different levels. But still. So now I’m going to put in a claim to the moving company. Doubt I’ll get any compensation but going to try.

this is from the ad for it. 

Yesterday was pretty much a quiet day. I spent most of the day watching NASCAR. But did do something constructive while watching. I made a new earring holder. The old one was stretched and dirty. The holder part is just net doubled over and hand stitched together then attached to the little hat. [When I was working I always wore earrings, not so much now. I have to repoke the hole in one ear - ugh.]

Bill did the carvings hanging next to it. 

Also got part of the “little” room set up. Hung the clown pictures and got some of the beads out of boxes. The pile on the left of the table are finished pieces: necklaces, bracelets and earrings. Going to be fun untangling them.

I mentioned Bill got a work table for his hobbies. Here it is set up in the computer/hobby room. Those are beads hanging on the wall - 

This is what he does with them. This one we bought a long time ago - the beads are pressed into bee's wax one at a time. 

The animal form in the back is the way they start out. Then the wax is added and then the beads. 

It will keep him busy. He also works with wood and leather. Should keep him out of mischief. 

But back to the house. Our bedroom is the only room just about complete - except for the TV. And a hook for the swag lamp. It is a pretty good sized room.

Our next door neighbor passed away a couple of days ago - guess that’s to be expected in an old folks community. Don’t know what will happen to his home. While thinking about the park - they have their own street sweeper company and it does a really good job. We’ve remarked how clean it is in here. Now I know why.

We’ve hung some of our art work that we kept. And sometime today the park’s handyman is supposed to come to help Bill hang the big TV on the wall in the living room. Then I can call DirectTV to come and run the rest of the cable for the other TVs. Because we got tired of waiting for the movers we bought a TV after we got here - so now have a TV that we don't know what to do with that came from Indiana! Maybe we'll have the guy run a cable to the patio...
Like I said yesterday didn't do much. I could barely keep my eyes open to watch the end of the race. When it ended I turned on another program and woke up a couple of hours later - around 8:30 - Went to bed at 9:30 and slept till after 8:00 this morning. 
Guess it finally caught up with me. Today there is a soccer game at 11:30 and another race at 4:30 - so not doing much today either. Except I've been craving pineapple upside down cake - might make one. Yum.