Home again

The month of October flew by.  We did our annual houseboat week at Lake Powell the end of September.  This year we decided to stay an extra two days and it sure made for a more relaxing week.  We had one adventure this year, our houseboat got stuck on the beach and we had to be towed off!  We've been boating at Lake Powell for 15 years and this is the first time we were beached, pretty good for us land lubbers!  Once we returned home, I packed my suitcase and flew to the mid-west.  Fall is my favorite time of year and this year was so pretty.  Some of the leaves had fallen but some of the leaves were just turning.  I made a drive to Ohio to visit my daughter and her family,  had fun w/ the boys.  Took my grandfather to Gays Mills, WI for apples and we had a beautiful day for a drive up the river road along the grand Mississippi.  Stopped for a visit w/ my parents and ended the trip in Cedar Rapids w/ my sister, Lynn.  Got to see lots of friends this visit and had a great time.  Alas, it was time to come home and sleep in my own bed.  Home again, home again...jiggidy jig!

Where have I been???

As is the usual for me, I've been sooo busy.  I've been sewing, trying to catch up on some of my many projects.  I also was on vacation for 9 days at Lake Powell.  I have too many pictures and not enough time to post some of them as I'm off to the mid-west for two weeks in the morning.  I have to get my fix of some Fall weather since temps in the upper 80's and low 90's is NOT my idea of Fall.  So, I've packed my suitcase w/ some jeans and sweaters and I'm hoping for some Fall color and some Fall temperatures..wish me luck!

Another Arts 'n Craft Day

Another very crafty, talented friend of mine had a class in her home today and we created with Tina's help a photo album

This is the prototype; very pretty.

This is me working on trying to make mine as glamorous as Tina's

Tina had a beautiful table decorated with a beach/Hawaii theme. We had fun lunches in boxes, drinks in mason jars, and strawberry shortcake in small fruit jars.  I didn't get my album done but I will finish it and post photos when it's as pretty as Tina's.  Thanks Tina for a fun day!

Cooling off in Flagstaff

I enjoyed two days in Flagstaff thanks to my friend Linda and her husband, Mike. They have a beautiful home and treated me very well. We had yummy food, a little wine, and some laughs. Linda had a little sewing lesson on Wed. and then on Thursday morning, another friend of Linda's, Leanna, joined us and we made jewelry. I had purchased beads in Venice and had never done anything with them. Linda guided me and I actually made a bracelet.

First the planning

Here's the finished project!

Thanks Linda for a relaxing two days, I hated to drive back down the mountain into the heat of Phoenix.

Birthday lunch

I took a quick trip to Payson today to have lunch with Pat and Creig Solomon to celebrate Pat's birthday. We had lunch at Macky's, famous for their hamburgers and a yummy dessert named "Southwest Cheesecake." Let me tell you it's very yummy. If you go to Payson and have lunch be sure to go to Macky's, have a burger and then have this....

It's cheese cake filling wrapped with a flour tortilla and then deep fried, sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar, and served with ice cream, strawberrys and whipped cream!!  As Rachel Ray says...

YUMMO!!

A sewing day

Monica and I sewed today at my house, we worked on a cover for our 3-ring binders.  

Here's Monica working on hers. 

Here's mine in progress

Here's Monica's almost done!

My friend Deb stopped by and had lunch with us.

The girls agreed to have PB&J, can you see us grown-ups having a kid sandwich!  We had vegies too that Monica brought and of course what's lunch without brownies!  Thanks for a fun day gals!  I'm almost finished with my binder cover, just need to put the binding on!  Yeah!

It's done!

I started this blog telling of my woe in cleaning the pool tiles.  Well, if I had just called my cousin in Yuma I would have had those pesky tiles cleaned long ago!  I called him in consult for our 'green' salt water pool and he gave me some pointers and then he asked, "did I have that calcium buldup" and I said YES!  Well, I again followed his advice and now the tiles are clean!  I had planned on cleaning tiles the rest of the summer and now I can sit back, read a book and enjoy my sparkling clean pool!!  Aaaaaahhh, summer by the pool in AZ.  Never mind that the pool is 96 degrees! lol