Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Tuesday

Laundry day!!  Yep today was the day to do the laundry.  We didn't go to exercise as there was bunches to do today.  So we got up, had breakfast, and headed to the laundry room.  The good part about going to do the laundry is we walk while the clothes are washing. Then when they are done, we go back to change batches.  I love it that we are able to hang the sheets, and other things out in the "solar dryer".  Our sheets never smelled so good.  It reminds me of when I was a kid.  The rest of the things we put in the dryer.  While the dryer is running (45 min) we finish our walk.  All in all we walk about close to an hour.  So we are accomplishing two things at once. 

With the laundry finished we headed home to get some things done toward our trip to Austin later this week for a Pre-retirement seminar, at the end of the week.  

Lunch time!  For some reason, I was hungry way before lunch.  Once lunch was over, we headed up to the ballroom for our Arizona  2 Step class.  It really helped to work with Janice and David yesterday afternoon on our turns.  Our teacher Kort,  seemed pleased at how far we had come.  I too was really pleased, since we had only had two lessons before they were cancelled.  It was really great to be doing the class with our good friends Janice and David and Cordell and Gaye. 

After our lesson, we headed to the post office to mail our box to Austin for our Pre-retirement seminar next week.  With that done, we headed home again. 

Back down to Janice and David's to practice our dance steps for tomorrow night's West Coast swing, and our lessons from today.  Cordell and Gaye joined us.  I am so glad that Janice and David have a really big driveway so we can all 3 work on our dance steps. 

Tonight Harris grilled chicken, while I fixed potatoes and broccoli. 

Tomorrow is another day

Have a wonderful day

Sunday, February 24, 2013

This was a BIG day in the life of Faith Presbyterian Church.  We have been celebrating our 40th anniversary all month, but on Sunday, we had several of the former associate pastors return for the service.  The worship service was wonderful.  After church, there was a luncheon at one of the country clubs in Sun City.  There were 150 people in attendance.  We got there fairly early so we could save seats for Bob and Joy Schulz (the Presbytery Moderator) had his wife.  We met Bob and Joy when our friend Bob Field was here.  Bob and Joy are really good friends of Bob and Debbie Field.  We too enjoy being with Bob and Joy and now count them as friends of ours.  I was really pleased with our lunch.  The service was the best we have ever had.  Both Harris and I had the beef option, with baked potato, and green beans, and homemade cherry pie for dessert. 

After the luncheon, Bob and Joy came home with us to see the camper.  They were planning to come over to see the camper when Bob was here, but Harris got sick and they could not come.  They were really impressed with the camper. 

After they left, Janice and David came down so we could catch up with each other.   When they left, we went out to check out the full moon. 

Monday, February 25, 2013

Bike riding day!!  Last week we had 43 riders and this week it was even larger.  When our leader did a final count there were 52 of us this week.  Wow what a string of riders.  We looked like a long train riding through neighborhoods.   When we stopped at a traffic light it sometimes took two lights to get us all through.  We rode to the Royal Cafe for brunch.  Royal has a very large  room that was just right for this large group.  However they only assigned us one server, so it took a very long time to get all the food delivered.  When we returned to Paradise, we had ridden 14 miles and it took us 4 hrs.  We spent an hour and half at the Royal Cafe.  It took us an hour longer than usual. 

Monday afternoon, we caught up on some things around here and then headed to the grocery store.  Then down to practice Arizona 2 step with Janice and David.  We begin another new class tomorrow afternoon.  We only had 2 lessons before our class was cancelled.  So we have not learned the turns.  Jancie and David helped us to learn at least one of the turns.  We will see how it goes tomorrow night.


Have a wonderful day!



Saturday, February 23, 2013

Friday, February 22, 2013

The plans were to go to Fountain Hills to the Great Fair.  Since there were three couples going, we offered to drive the truck.  With the bench seat in the front, we have room for 6.  So at 9:30 we headed out to pick up Gaye and Cordell and Janice and David.  We then drove the 60 + miles to Fountain Hills.

The "Great Fair" was just that .  What a tremendous arts and craft fair.  All staged in beautiful downtown Fountain Hills, with it's fantastic fountain.  There must have been over 300 vendors and another 40 doing food.  Wow, what a large endeavor.  After finding a parking place, we started walking over to the fair.  About the time we got to the park where the fountain is, it erupted.  Wow, what a wonderful sight. 

We didn't buy much, but we had a really good time looking.  We had lunch at the VFW tent.  They made a really mean brat.  Before we left, Cordell bought fry bread and Harris bought a funnel cake, that we all shared. 

We had a wonderful day. 

Saturday, February 23, 2013

This morning was Paradise  "patio sales", that is like  yard sales.  We usually ride our bikes around the park.  This morning we left at 9:00 a.m. and didn't get back to the camper until 11:00.  There were lots of sales, but mostly it was stopping and talking to people here and there.  It is really funny the first year we were here,  we just visited the sales, and returned home.  We didn't know anyone to stop and talk to.  This year, we know way to many people, and we stopped and talked to lots of people.

When we got home, we headed out to Cost Cutters for Harris to get a hair cut.  Then on to Walmart to pick up a few things.   Once back home we had lunch out in the sunshine. 

David and Janice invited us to go to Line Thai for dinner. Line Thai is our favorite Tahi restaurant. 
Then back home!

Have a wonderful day

Looking down the street at the fountain

David watching the fountain

Harris and his hat




Friday, February 22, 2013

Tuesday,

We were up early to go to exercise class. After breakfast we got the laundry ready to go do the washing at the laundry room.  While we waited for the laundry to get done we headed over to the diner for coffee. While there we talked about our travels when we leave here in the middle of April.  With the laundry done, it was time for lunch.   Janice and I headed to Costco after their dance class was over. 

Wednesday

Well the weatherman was right. They had forecast rain to begin in the middle of the night, and it did.  But by the time we got up to head up to the exercise room, it was only sprinkling.  That didn't last long, but the time we go home it was pouring rain.  Since we rode our bikes up to their, we decided to walk them home.  It rained most of the day, so we stayed in and caught up on lots of paper work.  It is always good to have a day to stay in.  The sun finally did come out later in the afternoon. 

Wednesday night we picked up Janice, David, Gaye and Cordell to go to Sun City West RH Johnson rec center to begin a West Coast Swing dance class with Kort and Pam, our dance teacher and his partner.   I hope we will be able to catch on.  So far it seemed OK.

Thursday

Exercise as usual.  Then home for breakfast, to get ready to go to PW at church for our monthly meeting.  Thursday afternoons is our line dance class up at the ballroom.  After class we did a bike ride around the park.  We stopped to see how the carpet was going on at Janice and David's deck.

Back home, we got ready to go to church for dinner and a program. 

Have a wonderful day

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Saturday, February 16, 2013

What a beautiful day!!  Harris had to go to Faith Church to meet with their session to talk about the in between times from when Pastor Dave leaves and the interim comes to be with us during this transition period. 

After Harris left for church, I rode my bike to Janice and Davids so Janice and I could go for a walk.  We walked about 4 miles before I rode back home, to get my dip ready for the 12th street and friends, Valentines party at Kathy Clewette's house.  After Harris got home, we headed for Kathy and Lee's house on 12th street.  Wow what a party.  There were about 50 people at her place.  There were tables set up at the curb.  I quickly found a table of people we knew from our Monday bike group and sat with them.  We had a really good time.  There was more food than you can imagine.  Everyone brought something.  Kathy and Lee provided the wine, beer and water.  We had a really good time.

Back home we cleaned the dishes from our dip, and put the remainder away.  Of course there was not much left over. 

Saturday night Janice and David stopped by on their way home from church, so we could plan what we were going to do on Sunday. 

Sunday, Febraury 17, 2013.

We were up and heading for chuirch by 7:45 a.m. for choir practice.  It was the first Sunday in Lent.  Dave had a wonderful sermon.  After church we headed home for lunch and to get ready to go bike riding with Janice and David. 

They rode over to our house and we headed out about 1:30. We parked at Walmart, unloaded the bikes.  Walmart was right by the "New River" bike trail along the wash.  We rode one direction until it ended, then headed back in the other direction.  All in all we rode 20 miles.  We were pooped, but feeling good. After the bike ride we decided to head to soup or salad for dinner.  We were both really tired, but the soup and salad tasted really good.  We were tired and sore, so when we got home we changed into our swimming suites and headed for the hot tub.  Boy did the hot tub feel really good on our sore muscles.   Then it was time to head home and bed.


Monday, February 18, 2013

Bike riding day!!  Since I had missed riding the past week, due to my cold, I was excited to get ready to head out on our bike ride.  We had 43 people on the bike ride and we rode to Bobbie's cafe for brunch.  The service was GREAT.   I was really surprised how well they did with such a large. group. 

Monday afternoon, we ran a couple of errands.  I had line dance at 6:00.  We decided to eat dinner after my line dance class. 



Saturday, February 16, 2013

February 14, 2013

Happy Valentines Day!! 

What a busy day for us.  It began with picking Ann up to go to our PEO meeting here in Sun City.  I was a co-hostess so I needed to be there early. Our group begins with breakfast. There were 28 attending the meeting. With all the winter visitors in town, plus 6 guests, it was the largest one I have attended here.  

Ann and I had to leave before the meeting was over, to get to "The Lakes Restaurant" to meet Harris and Gary for the Paradise Park PEO social gathering.  There are several PEO's here at the park, that meet socially once a month.  It was a really fun gathering. 

After our lunch at the Lakes, Harris and I headed home in time for line dance lessons at 1:00 p.m.  Then home to take a bike ride and pick our spot for next year.  That being done, we rode by Janice and David's to check on the deck building.  Their deck is almost ready.  In fact it was ready enough for us to sit on it and have a Maragritta. 

 We rode our bikes back home in time to get ready to pick Ann and Gary up for "Dinners at Faith" our twice monthly dinner at church.  The meal is always cartered, with a progarm.  The program this time was a black theatre group from downtown Phoenix.  They did an exerpt from the play they are doing right now call "The Whipping Man"  What a powerful performance. 

As you can tell all we did on Thursday was eat!! 

Friday, February 15, 2013

Our big plans for the day were to have lunch with Rick and Sharon at Olive Garden.  So I spent the morning doing much needed catch up with email and APIMS.  It seems like there is never enough time to do all the things I want to do. 

Lunch with Rick and Sharon was great.  It is always wonderful to see them.  We don't get to see them as much as we would like since Sharon is working a lot of overtime.  With all the sickness going on the hospitals are full.  We had a good lunch and a good visit. 

After lunch we had errands to run, Target, SAMS, Frys, then home to have dinner.  After dinner Janice and David came up to play some cards,  But instead of playing cards we just sat around and talked.  They were both really tired. 

I hope you have a wonderful day.


Wednesday, February 13, 2013

February 13, 2013

Wow it has been a while since I last posted on the blog.  At lot has been going on around here. 

Last week we were in Seattle for the Interim Ministry Education Consortium meeting.  Actually we were at a Catholic retreat Center in Federal way, WA.  The meeting was a good one.    Our room overlooked the Pudget Sound.  The weather was not the best but it was not the worst either.  It rained some each day, but we got to see the sun at little while each day.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to get out to take any pictures when it was shinning.   We flew home on Thursday afternoon. 

View from our room



Friday

We went to Wickenburg with 4 other couples to the "Goldrush Days".  They had a arts and craft fair, that was really nice.  We had a really good time with the couples we were with.  The booths were really nice. 

Saturday: 

Saturday morning was Shoppers Paradise at the ballroom.  We headed up there to check things out before we went to the grocery store.  As usual, a quick trip around Shoppers Paradise is not an easy task.  We thought we would not be there very long, but we spent a little over an hour.  We ended up talking to lots of people from the park.  Last year when we went to Shoppers Paradise, we were not up there that long.  It sure is different this year. 

Saturday afternoon, we met Chelle and her "little girl" Bully at McDonald's where she works before going to a park near by to walk Bully.  This was the first time we met Bully.  What a sweet puppy.  She is really cute.  We had a good time with them. 
Chelle and Bully

It was a cool day, and I was really cold all day.  I should have figured I was coming down with something. 

Sunday:

I woke up with no voice and the beginnings of a cold.  So I stayed home from church.  I slept most of the morning, and layed low all afternoon. 

Monday: 

I was still under the weather, so I didn't go on the bike hike with the group.  Harris got up and went on there 13 miles bike ride.  It was a cloudy, cool day, and before they got home it rained a little on them.  I was really glad I didn't go. 

Monday evening I went to line dance and then met Harris at the ballroom for the Coasters concert.  They were really good entertainers. 

Tuesday: 

It was laundry day.  After my conference call, we headed up to the laundry room.  Once that was done, we went out to run some errands. 

Wednesday:

Ash Wednesday!!   Our church shared services with two other churches for Ash Wednesday services. 

When we got home our friend Janice's niece came by to demonstrate Cutgo knives.  She is just beginning with the company and needed another person to demonstrate to.  She is a really sweet single young mother. 

Tomorrow is another day:

I will try to update more often. 



Chelle and her baby
Bully Chelle's baby






Another view from our room of the Sound

A walk along the path outside near the sound

 

Tuesday, January 15 

Harris and I joined the exercise, group that meets at 7:30 a.m. Monday through Friday   A couple of my friends from our bike group talked me into going.  I talked Harris into going.  To our surprise Tuesday is the 4 mile walk.  The group workouts to the tape "Walk away the pounds"  We not only walk,  but, we also use our arms and the  stretch bands.   We decided that the 4 mile walk was not the one to start with.  But we decided we would go back again the next day.  It felt good to exercise.

Our church, Faith Presbyterian Church, pictorial directory appointment was at noon this day.  I am not always excited about getting my picture taken, but it was not that bad.  There were 3 photographers to get people through quickly enough.  But even with 3 of them,they were still behind.  Not to much though.  Our appointment was at 12:00 and we were getting our picture taken by 12:30.  Our photographer was really good.  I am really glad we got him.   The pictures turned out better than I thought they would.

Tuesday afternoon, we picked up Janice and David to go to see the movie Jack Reacher.   Both Harris and David read Lee Child books with Jack Reacher as the main character.  It was a good movie.  After the movie we headed over to the Rock bottom Brewery.  This was the first time we had eaten there.  The food was pretty go