March Mayhem

It's been a busy March! I didn't realize it's been so long since I last blogged. The first weekend in March, the Wells Fargo community service event we were going to do got cancelled last minute. So we decided to join some members of our Rainbow RV Group and boon docked out in the middle of the desert near Congress Arizona. It was a great time. Very dry, gorgeous, cold at night and no running water or sewer but lots of water in the tank and gasoline to make the generator go! It was a great time!

The second weekend of March, we had a garage sale on Friday and Saturday. It was a lot of work to get ready. We swept through the house pulling out things to sell. We were very successful on Friday - $260 dollars in profit! Friday night, we swept the house again and brought out even more stuff. Saturday was equally successful. We had a 2-day total of $565! And better yet, we got rid of a bunch of stuff that we either didn't use or no longer wanted. It was great! At the end, we boxed everything up and put it in the garage. We decided we're going to have another one April 3rd and 4th - and will sweep the house again to get rid of even more! It's so cleansing to get rid of stuff in the house!

This weekend was a little more relaxing. We had a nice Friday, having dinner down at Ron & Marilyn's. Our other neighbors Greg and Bryan also came over and the 6 of us (and our 2 dogs) had a great dinner. We then played "Flip it" for quarters. We came out about even for what we brought. Greg and Bryan were a lot in the hole and Ron and Marilyn were probably even but short given Greg and Bryan losing big. It was a lot of fun.

Saturday morning, we went to the RV Show out at University of Phoenix stadium. Ron and Marilyn found one they really liked right away. We went with them on the test drive, and then left them alone to do the negotiating. They ended up not buying, but it sure was fun to go for a ride in it! While they were negotiating, Dennis and I found a motor home we REALLY loved. It was way out of our price range, but it was nice to dream. That's the best part about RV Shows - you can dream what it would be like to own and live in one of the big, expensive motor homes. It was fun!

When we got home from that excursion, we continued cleaning our house in preparation for Jean's visit on Tuesday. In addition, Jeff from Vegas is coming and spending Monday night here as he has an appointment at Mayo on Monday. We're almost done. It's easier now that we have less stuff in the house! About 5, we headed to Elephant Bar with Ron and Marilyn to have dinner and help them use some more of their Elephant Bar gift card! It was a very nice dinner. When we got home, we took the dogs into the bedroom to watch TV (our living room TV has a burned out light bulb) and I went to sleep about 8. I slept until 7 this morning. I was tired!

It's now Sunday, and it's a beautiful morning. It's 69 degrees, sunny, and the dogs and I are hanging out. Dennis went back to bed because he got up at 5. Today, we're going to finish cleaning and get Jeannie and Jeff's rooms put together. I also have a project I want to attack, to run PVC pipe from the pool pump to the sewer to make it easier to back wash the pool. We'll see if that gets done!

I hope everyone has a great week! I'll blog more when I can! Take care!

Friday Eve

I'm really into sunsets lately. Probably because we have the most beautiful ones on the planet. And who said pollution was all bad? Anyhow, this one was from this evening at the end of our street. I was filling the fresh water tank on the motor home with water at sunset and decided to snap the photo of it. Gorgeous!

Tomorrow, we're heading out to the middle of the desert to camp with some of our Rainbow RV friends. We're sort of "crashing" their party as our plans changed at the last minute. We were in need of a motor home weekend and decided to go with them rather than going somewhere by ourselves. It should be a fun time, provided I can get out of the office by 2:30 so we can hit the road by 3ish. We're not towing anything (after much back and forth discussion about taking a car, taking a buggy, etc.) so it should be an easy trip there.

We hope everyone has a GREAT Friday and a Wonderful weekend!

Hump Day Evening

It was a very traumatic day today. I had the displeasure of dropping the dogs off at the Vet at 7:30 am this morning. It's not that I was worried about them being at the vet....we just don't like them being left with someone else. We are overprotective! The good news is that we got then all taken care of. Brother Boy has an ear infection so we got medicine for his ears. They both got micro chipped so if they ever get loose without their collars/tags, chances are better that we'll be able to get them back. We also got heart worm medication for both of them, got their nails trimmed, their anal glands expressed and their ears swabbed. They were both very lethargic tonight, and really just wanted to be loved all night. We were happy to oblige. Dennis got to pick them up and they still aren't convinced that I still love them since I dropped them off to the house of torture. Poor babies!

We also got our Motor Home back from the dealership today. We took it in to get the 'last minute' warranty items take care of before our 1 year anniversary on Sunday. It's hard to believe we've had it a year already! So....we decided to go camping this weekend. Originally, we were picking up trash on 7th Avenue with Wells Fargo PRIDE AZ. However, due to the Seventh Avenue Merchant's Association's Melrose on 7th Street Fair on Saturday, 7th Avenue will be closed down. SO....we decided to join Rainbow RV camping out in the middle of nowhere near Stanton, AZ. It's total boon docking, dry camping. No water, no electricity, no sewer hook up. The other people going are going to target shoot and get their CCW licenses but we're just along for the company and the peace and quiet (minus the gun shots). It'll be fun. We really need to get away!

We hope everyone has a fine Thursday. Dennis is still job searching. His background is in health care benefits and pharmacy benefits along with 13 years of customer service/call center experience. He also has experience as a QA analyst, listening to recorded calls, providing feedback for coaching, and doing case audits. He has a very strong work ethic and is a team player. Let him know if you have opportunities for him to pursue! 602-369-9058.

Thanks for your support and assistance!

Sunday evening recap

It's been over a week since I last posted. Sorry to all of my disappointed fans. It was a busy week! Sunday I flew to Dallas to work for my favorite small business, ANTHiLL Events. Our company, VENDZILA LLC, supported ANTHiLL for a client meeting that lasted until Tuesday. I flew home on the 6am flight out of DFW and upon arrival in Phoenix, went right to work at Wells Fargo. It was a VERY long day.

When the weekend arrived, we had a quiet shut-in evening on Friday. I slept in the recliner most of the evening. Saturday, we were on a mission to find the part we need to put the light bar back on the Joyner. We went to Ace, Autozone, RideNow, Home Depot and Harbor Freight and no one had the part. No one even had anything close that we could make work. We'll keep looking. On our way home, we stopped at Safeway to get the groceries we needed to make the Apple Brown Betty aka Apple Crisp that we were taking to dinner at Terry & Cindy's.

Saturday night, we left the boys at home and went downtown to Terry & Cindy's. We had a delightful dinner. Once the sun went down (It was a beautiful sunset - pictures above) it was cool enough to eat on the balcony. When the sun was up, it was a little toasty. The boys were so excited to see us just after 10 when we got home. I love the welcome we get from them!

Sunday we spent the morning enjoying the leftovers Cindy sent home with us. Just after 11, I took the Polaris to Circle K to fill it with gas. We were heading out on a ride at noon with the Johnson's and Randy and Cari. Bondy was supposed to come, but he had car troubles so we left without him. Chris from down the street and his kids followed too, but just to see where we cut through the fence to get to the trails. It was a GREAT ride. It was a little warm, though. It got over 90 today, and I neglected to put on any sunscreen. After two plus hours, I was feeling crispy so we headed home.

The rest of today has been spent relaxing, napping, talking to my parents for an hour and a half and watching some movies. The boys have been delightful today, too. Tomorrow begins another week. We are going to win the lottery on Wednesday.

Saturday afternoon

It was a quiet week once the Willingers left. The dogs mostly just paced the house looking for Lylah. They were extra happy to see me every evening. Thursday they were crated from 4:30 pm to 10pm and when we got home to let them out, they were so rambunctious! Then we went to bed! Poor boys didn't know what to do.

Friday, they got to go play in Ron & Marilyn's back yard. They love their yard. So much grass and unobstructed open space! Makes me wish we didn't have the pool so they could do the same in our back yard. We met Marilyn's cousin Kathi and her husband Dale. They're from upper Michigan (bottom of the middle finger nail for those of you inclined to hold up your left hand to point to a location in Michigan). They were a hoot. By the time I got there at 5:30, they'd already been drinking for several hours.

We played Flipover Cards, which was a fun game played with some cards, some quarters and some dice. Dennis won some cash at the end when we switched to L-C-R for quarters. There were 7 of us playing, putting in 3 quarters each, and he won 3 pots. He made back what we had "invested" plus a little. For dinner, Marilyn and Ron made a fabulous Prime Rib. It was stuffed with garlic cloves and marinated in Olive Oil. It was fabulous. We also had baked potatoes. Dennis and I were "full" and tired about 10 so we took the dogs and went home.

Today, we watched a movie, then he went outside to wash the buggies, the camping rugs from when we went to Pio Pico, and the front driveway - all with the power sprayer. The dogs were out with him for a while, then I brought them in for some water. I was busy working on tax stuff so that I can drop off the Vendzila LLC stuff to the accountant. I still have to work on the expenses for the Toledo house and once I get the Vendzila stuff back, put that into both of our returns. Then we're ready to file!

I'm leaving for Dallas tomorrow morning to do some more work for ANTHiLL Events. It's one of my favorite things to do. I sure wish it was lucrative enough to quit my day job! I hope everyone has a great rest of the weekend and a great week. I'll blog when I get a chance!

Relaxing Sunday

Yesterday, Lyn & RJ, Dennis and I took our two buggies for a stroll. Ron & Marilyn came as well. We had to find a way to get through the fence, as the way we've been going was sealed up with a fence repair. We met another couple who had a Polaris Ranger 6 seater. Turns out they won it from the radio. They joined us as we finally found a gate that wasn't posted with "No Trespassing" signs, and went through.

We found some fantastic hills - old and new. This was the first time taking our Joyner out as we've mostly taken the Polaris since we got it. Unfortunately, the Joyner doesn't do hills very well - probably because it's a stick shift and is very heavy. Dennis and RJ got into some trouble trying to climb one hill. When they tried to back down, they got into a worse situation. Me and Randy, the guy we met, had to help RJ hold down the right side of the Joyner so that Dennis could put it in neutral and back it down the hill, out of the ravine that it was tilting into. It was a little scary! RJ wanted out of the buggy, but I yelled "don't get out" several times. If he would have, it could have rolled over on top of Dennis! Not good! We had a LOT of fun and relaxed a little in between climbs.

It's been a great Sunday. I slept in for a change. Lyn, RJ, Lylah and I went to Paradise Bakery for lunch a little afternoon. We then went to BevMo to buy some grape juice. Then a quest to find a mailbox for them to mail invitations for Lylah's 1st birthday party. Since we were in the neighborhood, we went to Thunderbird Park and took a walk. It was a nice, overcast day.

We got home and they left to go visit a friend in Avondale, so it's just us and the boys at home now. Dennis' fixing some turkey leftovers and I'm trying to get over my stomach ache. I'm not sure if it's something I ate for lunch or what. I'm starting to feel a little better but can't fathom consuming food right now!

I'm tinkering on the computer, uploading pictures from our trip to San Diego last weekend. I'm going to try to figure out how to link to a Picasa Album when I'm done blogging. Look for it if you are visiting. I am putting a picture of Lylah sitting on the patio at Paradise Bakery. It was truly paradise out there today! Happy Sunday!

Friday Zoo

Today, Lyn, RJ, Lylah and I went to the Phoenix Zoo. It was a very pleasant, relaxing experience. All of the animals were out and there weren't too many people there. Lylah loved the zoo. She spent part of the time in her stroller and part of the time with one of us holding her. The main attractions were the Orangutans, the Squirrel Monkeys (Monkey Village), the Giraffe's and the Lions. Very cool. The highlight of my day at the zoo was that among the people with whom we were 'tracking' at the zoo was 12 News Meteorologist Jerrid Sebesta. http://www.azcentral.com/12news/bios/articles/bios_Jerrid_Sebesta-CR-CP.html

It's been a great visit with the Willingers. I worked at home Wednesday and worked on performance appraisals for my leaders. Friday I took vacation. We've had some great meals, some great sangria (last night) and of course, great company. Tonight, we had broiled marinated tri tips with mashed potatoes with garlic butter, asparagus with garlic and chocolate brownie with ice cream for dessert. Yum! Oh, and don't forget the wine. We're about to go to bottle #2.

Saturday is supposed to be 62 and Sunday 70. What a glorious weekend! Take care!