Yellow Jello

Happy 27th Anniversary to us! Yes we have been married now for 27 years. Want to know what we did for our anniversary? Doug carefully planned an event that we would do together. We went for Doug to get a colonoscopy! Happily he has a clean bill of health and the only thing the doctor really said to us was "everything is fine - see you in 10 years." So that is good. But Doug did suffer with the prescribed preparations. He had to fast before hand - with only laxative, clear fluids and Yellow Jello on Sunday. The ritual kept Doug away from church - needing to be within very short distance from a bathroom. The worst was seeing him drink the gallon of prescribed liquid Sunday afternoon. He had to drink 8 ounces every 15 minutes - TORTURE! But happily we celebrated the above mentioned anniversary tonight by taking Phoenix's new light rail into downtown Phoenix and eating at the Hard Rock Cafe - and no Yellow Jello!

Busy Bees

The past week has been filled with fun activities and lots of games. Our college students came home for Christmas. We only had 4 full days together so we squeezed in lots of fun. We played lots of games: Settlers of Catan, A Ticket to Ride, Mario Kart - Wii, Guitar Hero - Wii, Racko, Phase 10, and more. We had our annual White Elephant and Volleyball at the DeWitts. Note to self: buy kneepads for next year. We ended up with some great white elephant gifts - vinyl sweat shorts, colorful flowery kids bike helmet, a real white elephant earring holder, a christmas blanket, and a Bob the Builder mini lunch pail with snacks. We decorated a Gingerbread house. We went to see the Reflections of Christ display in Mesa. The photographer and the musicians were there to perform and autograph books and DVD's. It was nice. I took the kids to a Cardio Body Sculpt class at GCC. All the ladies there were curious as to who they belonged to. They have asked about the kids every day since then. The kids and I went to the Desert Botanical Gardens also. The bonus to that was that a world-famous glass blower, Dale Chihuly, had many pieces on display throughout the gardens. We saw cacti, trees, bushes, and grasses native to desert areas. We saw some displays of Native American grinding stones, pots, living areas, etc. But I think we'd all agree that the glass sculptures were just awesome! A real treat! We all went to the church to play some Pickleball. Dad had everything set up and gave us the rules and let us go. That was fun too. Frank Gallardo came over one night and we had pizza and talked about the good old days at Cortez High. We opened the Elf Chart gifts. That is always a hit. We woke up on Christmas morning. Scott was a little slow to get up - Shanna helped by playing a little "Hokey Pokey" on the piano. Before long all the gifts were unwrapped. We had our traditional breakfast of "eggs erroneous". We all tried out our gadgets and gizmos. Evan and Shanna went on a walk in the rain to try out his new GPS unit. The real highlight - for mom and dad at least - was a call from Elder Selin in Maryland. It was great to hear his voice and his laugh! We ended the day with a nice Christmas dinner (a first for us)! And last of all a Christmas Miracle! I had two Amaryllis plants start to grow and then sort of stop. I wanted to have them in beautiful bloom for Shanna and I failed. Lucky for me my mom brought over her healthy flower and it decided to bloom on Christmas day. Three of the 5 flowers opened and helped to beautify our day. But alas all good things must come to an end and this morning Evan and Shanna left to spend some time with her family in Oregon. We loved being together for those 4 days.

Chocolate Realtor

Remember when working with a realtor that it is always good to choose one whose family is in the Chocolate Candy business (here in Arizona Cerreta is a good last name for chocolates). When we go to look at houses they bring random boxes of yummy chocolates for us (probably a bribe). On December 23rd we arranged to look at a couple of houses while our kids were still here. Just before we left a Fed Ex truck pulled to the curb and came to our door. He left a LARGE BOX for us. We opened it and found a basket full of delicious chocolate and other culinary pleasures. Then when we met the realtor at the house he had a bag with several more mouth watering delights.

On the 12 Days of Christmas our Realtor gave to us:

**a bag of Peppermint Pillow Mints

**Slab of fattening Fudge

**Chocolate Almond Bark

**Cowboy shaped Chocolates

**Premier English Toffee

**bag of French Mint Truffles

**chewy chewy Caramels

**Camelbacks also known as Turtles

**assortment of dipped chocolates

**duplicate - English Toffee

**bag of salted Cashews

**and a box full of French Mint Truffles!

This is no joke either - these were all full sized boxes. Now we are looking for people to pawn this stuff to. Otherwise we'll be about 10 pounds heavier next time you see us.

Now that I think of it maybe I should remember when working with a realtor that it is NEVER good to choose one whose family is in the Chocolate Candy Business (unless you need to gain a few pounds)!

Only in the Desert!

Only in the desert will you see an event such as this one. A winter-time parade at night. Phoenix has had one for years. We are ashamed that we never took our family to this parade when they were kids. It is great! It is sponsored by APS - who Doug has worked for during the past 25+ years. And we could have bought tickets for CHEAP and had bleacher seating AND free cookies AND free hot chocolate AND free hot cider AND a free fun flashing light giveaway! And for longtime members of the Cheap Club you would have thought we would have discovered it sooner. But nooooo, we missed this one - until this past Saturday.



Anyway, I told Doug that I wanted to go this year. But we didn't buy tickets. We were going to deal with the masses of people on the sidewalks and just elbow ourselves into a space and stand and watch the parade. So when I mentioned it to someone in the ward she said her husband works for APS and had some tickets and they might have 2 extras. Shecalled me later and we picked up the extra tickets. It was wonderful!



We parked and walked to the parade route and right in the middle of the parade route there were a bunch of bleachers set up for APS people who had tickets. While the sidewalks were already crowded with people the bleachers were relatively empty. So we went through the gate and they gave us the free light-up thingy to go around our neck and some 3-D type glasses that showed multiple prisms when you looked at light through them. They also told us about the cookies and hot drinks. This was getting better all the time. We came prepared with warm coats and hats and a blanket but the weather was relatively mild and we didn't even use the blanket.



We were there about an hour early. But waiting for the parade wasn't too bad. We were easily entertained by the myriads of kids who were playing in the middle of the street. Some were playing soccer. Some had scooters, skateboards, bikes, trikes, in-line skates, etc. Some were tossing frisbees. And when the occasional policeman on a motorcycle came through the kids just barely moved to let them squeeze by. It was like being at a park. The activity was constant. And despite our concerns - when the parade actually started to get close, the parents claimed their kids and kept them out of harms way.

There was even an announcer that told all about each of the entries. So pretty soon we could hear the tenor voice saying: "Welcome to the APSh Feshtival of Lightsh. Thish year we have forty shix entriesh. Thish firsht one hash over forty thoushand lightsh." Do you get the picture. It was like the lishp that we do for fun. We sort of got a chuckle out of that. Why is it that so many people that announce or do the news or other public speaking things lishp? I don't know but it wash funny!

It was very dark and each "float" that came by was lighted with shiny blinking lights. There were the some larger helium balloons - miniatures of the ones in the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade in NYC. There were some bands who marched with lights on their uniforms and instruments. The band who actually played their instruments got bonus points from us. There were even baton twirlers that had their batons lit up. But as the performers and floats passed by we thought it was really well done. We completely enjoyed the event. So if anyone is here next year around the first Saturday in December - we'll spring for the tickets and take you to the APS Festival of Lights Parade - an event that can be successful - Only in the Desert!

It's a good thing

How many think Martha Stewart is a little bit of a show-off? I do. She does the most amazing things and does them easily and well. And she always finishes off with: "It's a good thing." So now I will be a little bit of a show-off. I had two great successes (three if you count the cookies that I just made that weren't totally flat and gross).

First - I wanted to make some bread. So I decided to make some French Bread on my pizza stone. So I went through all the motions and even got the slashes across the top just right. Here is my loaf of bread! Amazing, right?

Then I took things to another level by trying one of Martha Stewart's own TV recipes. I made her apple raspberry slab pie. It looked like a premier specialty pie in the Sweets Unlimited store that would cost like $40. It tasted good too. Here is the picture of the pie.

And Martha Stewart has it right - "IT'S A GOOD THING!"

Back Home Again (squared)

Ok so we are Back Home Again. After my wonderful trip to England, Doug and I took another quick trip to Utah. We wanted to visit his parents who were in Utah for a few days. We had a great time in Utah too. We got to see all our kids (except Isaac who is serving a mission). We got to see Doug's parents, his cousin Lynn, a niece and nephew, and his sister Yvonne and her family. It was wonderful to see everybody. We took a new route home and are now Back Home Again.

As has become tradition I published another issue of the Empty Nest Report which documents where we have gone in a comic book type format. But I have stretched my computer skills and put together a movie using the photos we took during our trip. It is a little long - sorry about that. But if you have a few minutes take a peek and I think you might enjoy it.

The SQUARED part in the title is this: our little friend the yellow lab, Shayla, is Back Home Again for another 2 week vacation. Her parents are on another cruise to eastern Europe. So I am once again tied to a pretty detailed schedule to keep her and her tummy happy.

Now I've explained - Back Home Again (squared).

Home Again

I'm home after having a 2 week adventure abroad. My mom and I left September 12th for lovely London. We had a great trip! We stayed with her sister and brother-in-law who are in Gravesend serving a mission. Some of the things we saw were Buckingham Palace, Wimbledon, Tower of London, Windsor Castle, Dover Castle and the Secret War Tunnels, Canterbury Cathedral, Salsbury Cathedral, the Roman Baths, Stonehenge, Hever Castle, the LDS London Temple, with a short side trip to Scotland. We packed a lot into the time we were there and really loved it! I don't know about her but I'm ready to plan our next adventure.

By the way - a new edition of the "Empty Nest Report" is being published for your reading pleasure.

3 Bagger

The day after the carpet was installed we got an addition to the family. Shayla is a LARGE Yellow Lab. She is a retired seeing eye dog. She is very well trained. She is fun. She is mostly calm. But - she is a little pampered. We are being paid to "dog sit" Shayla for 2 weeks while her "parents" are on a cruise. I didn't know when I agreed how pampered this dog is. She has a detailed schedule which includes flavored water, snacks, yogurt 3 times a day to keep her stomach settled, allergy and hormone pills, etc.

She gets breakfast at 5 AM. Then a frisky walk at 5:10 so she can "do her business". So I stumble out of bed to feed her. I get dressed, take a flashlight and my cell phone, get a rubber glove and ziploc baggie, put a choke chain and leash on the dog, hide my hair with a hat - and off we go. We walk for about 30 minutes. She is pretty good about doing her business. The problem is that at first I didn't go very prepared. I only took one poop removal kit (one glove and one baggie). Well she surprised me once with a two-bagger trip. So from then on I went prepared for two stops. A couple of days ago I left feeling very prepared when she surprised me again. A third stop and I wasn't prepared for a 3 bagger. But I used my problem solving skills and got it bagged anyway. Now I am always prepared for a 3 bagger. I hope we don't experience a quadruple bagger!

Anyway, she goes home Friday morning. And who knows? We might be lined up for another visit from Shayla in early November - her parents are taking another trip.

7 Years Bad Luck!

We wanted new carpeting. We bought new carpeting. We wanted the new carpeting installed in one day. AND wanted the install special of $199 for the whole house. We have so much STUFF that it would be impossible to move everything and get the install done. SO we rented a 26 foot U Haul - the biggest that they have. We got the nice Zebra one featuring Idaho.

Doug brought it home Tuesday after work. We got busy. Mind you, I had been busy for about a week or so - boxing and packing almost everything in the whole house. Anyway, we started loading our stuff. We were making progress when Al Wolf came by to see if he could help. YES! So he stayed for a few hours and helped. Well by about 10 or so we were pooped. Our backs hurt, our feet hurt, our arms hurt , everything hurt. We went to bed and were almost done. We had luckily decided to put quite a bit out on the back patio. Also we had quite a bit on the driveway. And even though we didn't think we would fill up the truck - it was pretty much filled up.

The next morning Doug and I got our bed out and a couple of other things and he left for work. There were several boxes and bins I thought I could move around from room to room as they did their work. NOT! When they came in at about 8:30 they tore into every room at once. So I stacked the bathrooms fuller than they already were.

I CAN'T BELIEVE WE HAVE THIS MUCH JUNK??!!

My long day of standing and waiting began. I could really only stand in the kitchen or in one of the bathrooms. So I spent a lot of my day doing that. Also we had a small table and chairs on the driveway. So I spent some time there as well. By 10:30 or 11 they had all the pad laid down and the carpet was rough cut and rolled out in the appropriate rooms. But they didn't get everything finished until about 3:30.

At about 4 dad came home and the unloading began (we needed to get the truck back by 4 Thursday afternoon - and actually we wanted dad to be able to drive it in on his way to work). This time we worked alone - no Al. And slowly but surely everything on the truck came back into the house. Our goal was to get everything we needed into the family room and living room and I would spend the day getting everything into place so when Shayla - the dog I am dog sitting for 2 weeks - came over at 2 things would at least appear to be mostly normal. And I did successfully get that done. And yes Thursday morning dad took the truck back to U Haul. We have been working pretty hard at getting stuff unpacked. Making it fit like it did before will be tricky.

Today is Saturday and we still have some stuff on the driveway - organ (anyone want an organ?), shelves, end table thingys, etc. We also still have our freezer on the back patio. Dad was called in to work today so I'm not sure we'll get this stuff in today or not. Either way, my forearms and fingers are sore from so much grasping and holding of heavy things. My body looks like a punching bag. I have lots of bruises. But I have lots of work to do so I must press on. I will just chip away at it a little at a time.

As for the carpet - welove it! Especially the stuff in the family/dining room. The other stuff is nice and plush but it gave us a new problem - it is so plush that the bedroom and closet doors can't swing. So all the doors are on the driveway awaiting some resolution of the problem. That was not something we planned for. Oh and as for the 7 years bad luck. I was trying to re-attach the mirror to our dresser during the day and all alone. I had it all lined up just perfectly and balanced on the edge when one little movement made the whole thing slowly slide back and then down. There was nothing I could do. And sure enough the frame and mirror broke - so if the saying holds true I'll have 7 years bad luck. That takes me through 2015. I sure hope not!

Here is the new carpeting. The family room has flecked carpeting. The best thing is that where the carpet meets the tile it looks great now!

The Big Wind #2

This morning I was cleaning up the tree mess. Our neighbor to the north was out doing some yard work too. He picked up lots of the small debris from our tree. He also brought out a hand saw and cut the large brances up so I could carry them around back. So on my first trip out to the alley with an armful of tree branches, my eyes beheld a confusing scene. Out in the alley beyond the big black garbage container there was an aluminum storage shed resting upside down. I needed a quick double take to make sure what I was seeing was indeed an aluminum storage shed. I looked in the backyard of the alley neighbors and think I have identified the yard that lost the shed. I also found a sleeping bag in a box so I took it home to keep it out of the weather and away from bugs and cats and whatever. I walked around to tell the neighbors about their shed and no one was home. So I left a note. It could be very interesting when the garbage truck tries to make his rounds on Monday. Here are a couple of pictures to help illustrate the situation.

The Big WInd

Last night we had a humdinger of a monsoon storm in Phoenix. As the evening approached we could see some good dark storm clouds gathering. We figured that we would get at least a little storm action. When I went to the church at about 9 for volleyball and it was really windy. There were leaves swirling around and the air was filled with the desert dust. The trees were bending and twisting in the wind and I could feel the occasional tugs on the car as I drove. When I left the church an hour later I was pleased to see that everything was wet and that it was still raining. I could tell it had rained pretty hard because the runoff in the gutters flowed out into the streets. As I turned onto our road I saw a huge piece of tree in the road. As I parked the car I realized it was a big part of our tree! As I took a closer look there were several large branches on the road and on our lawn. It was still raining and lightning activity was high - but we did walk out and pull the biggest branches from the road and onto our lawn.

This morning we took a closer look. And our poor tree! The tree by the second bedroom window lost at least two large branches and quite a few smaller ones. The wind must have just whipped by and snapped the top one off. I think that one probably fell down and caused the lower branch to snap off too. The biggest piece will take a couple of people to move. We were pretty luck the wind was blowing from the southeast. The branches could have easily fallen onto our house or our neighbors house had the winds been blowing to the east instead.

Well now I wonder what to do about the tree. I hope it will continue to be healthy - but when branches break off does that let the bugs in and vital fluids leak out? I don't know. Maybe Shanna, our family expert, will know. Either way Dad gets off pretty easy. He got up early this morning and did a little more street cleanup. He swept some debris off the road and moved a couple of minor pieces off of the road. He leaves for work in just a few minutes and then has a weekend outing with the boys to hike Mt. Humphreys. So who do you think will get to do the cleanup? The names rhymes with hairy! Anyway, that is my account of the big wind.

Snow in August?

It has been 30 years since Doug served his mission in Stockholm, Sweden. Some of the missionaries he served with decided to plan a reunion to honor their mission president - President Holmgren. That is the reason we found to go up to Utah this past weekend. We try to find reasons whenever we can to go up to Utah to see our family - Scott, Evan and Shanna, and Lindsey, Rob, and Sadie! Sadie is growing so fast we have to try to see her as often as we can. We also had dinner with Doug's sister Yvonne and her family. Seeing everyone was great!

The reunion was a huge job and fell on the shoulders of a few - but they did a great job! It was wonderful! They had an afternoon picnic when the missionaries and anyone from their family was invited to come. Our family had on matching t-shirts and I think we looked really good! I even made a cute outfit for Sadie so she could match with us. The evening program was a catered dinner for the missionaries and their spouses. There was a wonderful DVD of mission pictures put to music, a memory book compiled for the mission president, engraved cheese slicers for each missionary, and a couple of close friends of Doug's. Most of all I think President Holmgren knows that everyone of "his missionaries" truly loves him and came to honor him.

We have two birthdays this month - Evan and Shanna - well Shanna (13th) and Evan (16th). So we had a little birthday dinner for them on Sunday. They are a wonderful couple and a great part of our family. We had to go home on Monday. This time on the way home we went through Fredonia and on up to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. That little side trip added a couple of hours to our trip home - but it was well worth it. The scenery can't be beat! We also had a great surprise while we were there. We not only got to see a herd of buffalo just off the road. There must have been 50 or more. Better than we saw in Yellowstone years ago. As we were there we saw some clouds rolling by and heard a bit of thunder. It sort of came and blew past. We didn't think much about it. When we were driving back out of the park we started to see that the road was a little wet. Then we saw some curious white stuff in patches along the road. The white stuff started to get more obvious and more thick. Until we couldn't stand it anymore. We stopped the truck and I got out and it was hail! About 2 - 3 inches of hail! That cloud had dropped all that in the hour's time since we came into the park. It was just amazing! We were really glad that we had decided to make the trip to the Canyon.
Anyway, we are back in Phoenix now and already trying to figure out when we can make another trip to Utah to see the family. WE HAVE A GREAT FAMILY!!

The Three Hundred and Twenty Dollar Question

I have some friends who are refugees from Liberia. They have been here for nearly 4 years. Sophie tells me I am her light skinned sister who was put here by God to help her family. I have been very involved in helping over the years and continue to do so - through the good times and the bad.

One of her daughters was in Young Women's with me when they were in the ward. She went to camp with us for 2 years. She is now 16 and working at Wendy's at the airport. The problem is that she has lost her I-94 card. That is a VERY IMPORTANT piece of paper!! With her new job she needs to get an ID card to get into the airport and to her workplace. She can't get the ID without the I-94. If she doesn't have the ID card security has to escort her to her job. So when she told me about her problem I got on the computer to see what could be done. Everyplace I looked I found the solution - it was this: You fill out an application for a replacement I-94 and pay $320 and in a short 3 months you might have the replacement. When I told her about it she was sure there was another solution because her boss told her so. Actually she called him and then had him talk to me about it. He thought there was something else easy and fast - blah, blah, blah. It was obvious to me that he hadn't dealt too much with the government - especially with immigration and refugee stuff. So her boss encouraged her to get an appointment with the Immigration office to see if they could just give her a copy. So even though I was sure there wasn't an easy answer, Gueron is my friend, and she was determined that if she asked nicely and smiled a lot that she might get some help.

We went down there one morning with a scheduled appointment. Surprisingly we only had to wait about 5 minutes before they called us to the window. She sheepishly told the lady that she lost her I-94 and that she needed another one. So the lady pulls out a packet of papers that she needed to fill out and then mail in - ALONG WITH $320 AND WAIT FOR ABOUT 3 MONTHS FOR IT TO BE PROCESSED. Hummmmm that sounds like something I said a week or so ago. But she didn't believe me - NNNOOOOOO!!

The funny thing is that she asked this stern uniformed Immigration Officer if she would just write a note to her boss and tell him that she had an I-94 form and that it is now lost. The officer's response to that, "No, I can't give you anything!"

So there you go - I had the answer to the $320 question all along. Yea, me!

Carpet, Tiles, and Billie

Today I enter the blogging world. I hope I can keep folks caught up on our comings and goings through this blog.

My list of things to do today is: select carpet for the house! The problem is I like it all but budget constraints will help to whittle the choices down to a manageable pool of possibilities.

Doug is busy laying tile in the entry way. He has the tiles all cut and ready to put down. He was supposed to finish this job last Saturday - but his thumb had a close encounter with the saw blade. So a couple of hours later and a couple of stitches later it was determined that the job was indefinitely on hold. He not only got expert medical care but they gave him a cool hitchhiking accessory. Today the stitches were removed and he is back in action with the tiles.

We are also dog sitting for Billie. She is mom's puppy and mom is in Idaho visiting Trudy. Billie is a cute dog and we are enjoying having her. She is very helpful. She follows me around and sits outside the bathroom door when I need to go. She also keeps all the birds out of our back yard. She also takes us on walks in the early morning and later in the evening. She keeps a good watch of our front yard from the couch in the living room. We are glad when she visits and more glad when she goes home. She is happier then too.