Trip to Tombstone

Trip to Tombstone with Trudy - hey, that's four T's! Well when Trudy was in town Mom, Trudy, and I took a road trip (Becky you really missed out!). We landed in Tombstone, AZ. It was a busy enjoyable day. I plan on making a Comic Book about the trip. I am waiting to get pictures from Trudy that will enhance my publication, "Dad and Mom's Empty Nest Report 2011", Vol. 3 Iss. 1. Those of you who have subscriptions should expect this issue - hot off the presses - no sooner than May 2011. My editor and printer aren't too quick in completing their jobs. So don't hold your breath, just enjoy it when it comes.

Enjoy this teaser.

We saw one of these.

We saw lots of these.

A few of these.

I knew it - and a bazillion of these.

Garden

News on our garden.

Our peas have just about dried up. Our total produce from the peas - about 1/2 cup. I was highly disappointed in their production level. But I saved them up and cooked them one night. They were OK - I like eating them raw better. Maybe peas will not be on our list for next year. I will probably pull them out soon and put in some beans. Maybe we'll get better production from beans. (Shanna - our plant expert - any suggestions from you for a good garden vegetable to try?) The spinach next to the peas is still producing and looks really good so we'll just let that continue to grow in that garden box for the time being. We also assembled another raised garden using cinder blocks. I don't know how they will work in the heat but we're going to give them a try. We put 8 tomato plants in that garden. So wish us luck on those. Can you tell who is taking the pictures of the garden? Clue is in the last picture seen below.

Serger

I have secretly wanted a serger for a very long time. Even when my kids were very young I wanted one so I could have professional looking seams with finished edges. But that desire was never fulfilled. Just a year or so ago - JoAnn's had a serger on sale for $200 - half off the original price. I drove over and looked it over and almost got it (for an early birthday or Christmas gift). But when it came time to take it to the counter and plunk down that much money, I just couldn't make myself do it. I left empty handed.

I unexpectedly turned into the Goodwill store last week for no apparent reason. I had told a lady in the ward that I would keep my eyes opened for a used scout uniform. I figured I would stop and give a look for a uniform shirt. But that's not all I looked for. I always wander around the housewares - hoping to find an old large pressure cooker/canner in great condition. Right! That'll never happen. But anyway back I went to take a peek.

And my eyes spied some court stenographer machines. I opened the case and took a look at the machines. They were pretty cool. Then when I closed the case I saw something curious. It was a small sewing machine - pretty tiny really. But I inspected it and realized it was a Baby Lock serging machine. It had pieces of red thread in it - so as to show the proper threading sequences. The owners instruction manual was folded and tucked into the top handle (bonus). There was also a cord and foot pedal attached. Wow - complete package. The price was $14.99. There was a sign taped to the serger in a very visible area that said, "This item sold as-is - repairs may be necessary." Oh oh - that is not a good sign. But for $15 - I think I could at least clean it up and if it doesn't work and/or costs too much to repair I could probably get that much out of it on Craig's list. Maybe. It was worth the chance. So I bought the Baby Lock 3 - 426 serging machine. (Man that thing was heavy!!)

I brought my treasure home and parked it in the living room until I had time to work on it. I told Doug about my purchase and about the possibilities. He was probably thinking, "Oh boy - what was she thinking?!!"

Here is the machine - just as I bought it.

So eventually I opened the doors on the machine and figured out how to take some pieces off and began cleaning it. The machine itself wasn't too bad but there was a "plate" underneath that was coated with dried dark liquid. I noted that there were several holes on top for oiling the serger. So I figured the "plate" was probably coated with years of excess oil drippage. I wiped and scraped - scrubbed and polished. All of this was done through very small openings. I used q-tips for some of the reaching. It was hard work and took quite a while but at last I had it as clean as it was going to get.

I let it sit for another few days and finally got up my nerve to take it down the hall and thread the machine and plug it in and give it a try. But first I gave it a careful oiling. The serger is missing the elevated thread stand - it should hold 3 spools of thread. But I decided I could use the one on my hemstitching machine but just taking those spools off and putting on new ones for the serger. Bright idea! I carefully followed the threading instructions: through A, under B, past C, around D, etc. But there was a very tricky last two places. I couldn't see it well. I couldn't reach it well. I was getting frustrated. I got some stronger reading glasses and a head-mounted light to try again. When that didn't work at all I had a flash of inspiration. Somehow I thought about tying the new thread onto the red threads that were left threaded in the machine. I got excited - tried it. And Voila! Success!

Now I had everything ready for a trial run. I plugged in the serger and got some scrap material ready. OK - press on the foot pedal. Wait for it (was it going to be a huge bust?) But wait I heard a faint humming. Yes there was power and the machine was responding. The needle began to move up and down. No grinding, or popping. No needle rubbing or bunching of stitches. The machine was actually working. It was working really well. I even moved the material over to see if the material cutter worked as well. It did. So success! No - HUGE SUCCESS!!!

Here is a video of the first sewing on my new serger.

I just saved myself at least ( let me see . . . ummm $200 - $14.99 = $185.01) $185.01 dollars - and I didn't pay any additional taxes.

So in the end it looks like my impulse purchase of the serger

was as Martha Stewart says,

"It's a good thing."

Ski

Doug and Scott went to ski one Saturday. It was a class activity for Doug's Young Men - one guy came. So here are a couple pictures. And Scott didn't ski - he did snowboarding.

I hope I never do it again

Don't you hate it when you get a delicious ice creamy snack out of your chest freezer at night and then forget to close the lid of the freezer and leave it opened until the next morning? Anyone ever done that? Didn't think so. I hope I never do it again.

Green

Have you ever wondered what breakfast should look like on Saint Patrick's Day?

Well this is how it looked at our house yesterday.

Doug suffering from his first pinch of the day - not wearin' any of the green!



Green Eggs with peppers, and onions.



Add a bunch of tomatoes for color - and flavor!



Plated up with cheese - please.



Hungry, happy, and pinch forgotten -
Doug digs in to the green eggs, toast, and bacon too.
(Hope some eggs stick in his teeth because he still didn't wear any green!)

Peas in a Pod

Ever wondered where the sayings including the phrase - "two peas in a pod" came from? (There are several different ones.)

Well this picture illustrates why that saying is used and is so completely descriptive of the intent of the sayings.

I'd say that pea pod is the bestest pea pod ever!

Bedroom Window

In our new house the Master Bedroom is in the back of the house. After living here a little while I discovered a few things about this arrangement.

1. Our large bedroom window lets in some heat in the summer and cool in the winter.

2. The noises from 83rd Avenue (just behind our back wall) get through the window.

3. We also have a police/fire station combo right up the street. They love blasting their sirens at all hours of the day and night.

4. Lots of light comes in the window even at night.

5. Because of the above mentioned things I knew the windows would be an issue.


Here is what happened.

1. When we moved in it was rushed. As soon as we moved in - Doug had a trip back east and was gone for a few days. He left me here alone in a big new house, unpacked, a new neighborhood, and with bare windows through the entire house. Nothing on them at all. I slept alone in the big new house with the very large bare bedroom window one night and didn't like it at all. So the next day I taped up a sheet to cover that window.

2. Soon we ordered the window shades and they were installed. That helped with a lot - privacy, heat transfer, light, noise, etc. But the window is so large (3 big panes) that the shades had to be made in 3 sections as well. And as luck would have it the spacing of those sections was unfortunate. One of the small gaps between the sections was lined up with precision so that the street light outside the house would shed one sliver of light through. Where did that sliver of light land? Right on my pillow! So every night since then I have had to place my head with care so as not to get that sliver of light directly in my eyes. It has been a battle at times but I have managed.

3. The shades we put up do not block the light - but sort of diffuse it. So our bedroom, even at night, had a soft glow to it. As the sun rises earlier and earlier our slumber ends earlier and earlier. We moved in nearly 2 years ago - so we have spent 2 summers dealing with the bright bedroom.




I am terrible at decorating and chosing colors and all that. So I dread making a decision like that. But the "JoAnn's Sale flyer" got me going. I got a great deal on some material that I thought would look good against the brown venitian plaster walls. So I bought a bunch of it. I also bought a curtain rod to hang it on. I brought the material home and just draped some over the bar and decided the window still let too much light through. So I waited for another "JoAnn's Sale flyer". And finally it came. I bought some lining for the curtains. That would solve the problem.

I spent several days measuring, cutting, hand basting the lining to the material, pinning in hems, etc. I finally used the sewing machine and got them sewed permanently. I removed all the basting and was ready to hang.





Trying to put the curtains on the rod and get the rod up on the supports was a trial. And as soon as I did that I could see that the anchors that came with the rod were NOT going to support the curtains. Luckily Doug has a whole collection of that kind of thing and we found some bigger anchors and replaced the originals. Finally, and at long last I got the curtains up.


Voila! They are great! I may need to do something to accent them but I'll live with what I have for a while and figure something out.





The wonderful part is that had I directly lined up the curtains with the shades - the gaps in both would be in the exact same place and therefore that bothersome sliver of light would still have been plaguing me. But when I put up the supports for the rods I compensated for that and just barely offset them and now there are no more slivers of light coming through the curtains - at all. It is just a miracle that I thought about that and that my idea worked. Sometimes we just get lucky I guess. And we have been enjoying some nice dark and less noisy slumbers ever since!

A "Find" and A "Bonus"

I got to check something off our household fix-up "to-do" list. As you stand and look at the lamp it looks great! But when you sit at the table the bare bulb is visible. It doesn't really bother us but it does give the appearance of an unfinished project. So I carefully measured the opening of our lovely hanging stained glass lamp - just over 4 inches. Then I put the tape measure in the car as I left for exercises as a reminder to make a stop on the way home at the nearby Goodwill.





I pass the Goodwill store quite often - so I figure if I stop by often enough I should be able to find a white globe that will screw in and hide the sight of the bare lightbulb. So that day I made my first stop and guess what?

Yup. There it was. A globe just sitting on the shelf, all lonely and pathetic. Even upon closer inspection I could see it was perfect, no chips, no cracks, no flaws at all. I thought it couldn't be this easy. I couldn't find the perfect thing I was looking for on my first trip to look for one. Not a chance.

I calmly walked back out to the car to get the tape measure. My mind said, "Yes that globe is the perfect size and in perfect condition and it will serve you well over the years." But sometimes aren't our eyes bigger than our stomach? Isaac usually had that happen when we went out to eat. You know - order the biggest meal and then struggle to eat it all? I was pretty sure about this - but a quick measure would confirm it. And as I walked out to the car I wondered if the globe would be on the shelf when I returned. Would someone else be looking for that exact item and buy it during my absence? Did someone see me inspecting it and in their own twisted way buy it just to deny me having it? So I hurried my steps. I retrieved the measuring tape and walked with gusto back to the Goodwill store.

I walked straight back to the shelf where I had left the globe. Would my "find" still be there? Yes! Yes, there it was - sitting all lonely and hopeful. I picked it up to measure. What was that? Four inches. Right, four inches! It would be a perfect fit. The price tag? $1.99. I'll take it! And I did too.




As I was walking out I veered over to the men's pants. Doug needed a pair of light weight hiking pants for our 3 day backpacking hike to the Paria Canyon in May. His heavy convas army pants would not do. So I started looking and within 4 pairs of pants I found some. Right size. Right material. Good pockets (always a must for guys and hiking/camping). And they were actual hiking pants with the legs that zip off into shorts! Wow! Bonus! I felt like I hit the jackpot. Two needed items and two finds!

So I hurriedly paid and brought the items home. I cleaned off the globe and inserted it into the lamp - perfect fit! What a find!







Later when I had Doug try on the pants - perfect fit! What a bonus! What a day!

Happiness

Happiness is seeing 4 hummingbirds eating lustily from my feeders -

together -

at the same time -

not dive bombing each other.

It made me smile.

Spinach

Our square foot garden experiment has mixed reviews. We tried a winter garden which under normal weather conditions should have been successful. However, we had 2 terrible cold spells - and I mean cold! All the bushes got frozen our hose froze and we took precautions to protect our water pipes - we hope the bushes and tree will revive and survive. Only time will tell.

We managed to keep the garden plants alive by covering them and putting a work light underneath to generate a little warmth. But the plants never really thrived. But finally and at long last we are getting a little production.

When Shanna posted about her orzo and spinach salad I decided to try it out. I went out to my garden and snipped some baby spinach leaves for the salad. The salad was yummy! And it even tasted better knowing the spinach had only been snipped a few hours before.

The pea plants look pretty pitiful right now but they are producing "dozens" of pods - make that "a dozen" pods. So I have harvested a few of those also. I take the peas out of the pods and freeze them. Once I get enough - I'll cook them up and hope for the best. I have about 1/4 cup right now so it looks like we'll be waiting for a very long time OR we will be satisfied with one spoonful of peas each. Either way we'll enjoy them completely.

On the Phoenix planting schedule for tomatoes - we are already way too late for them. But I am still hoping that I can get some plants and give it a try. I'll let you know if/when that happens.

So I went out today and snipped some more spinach and will cook it up for dinner.

Having finished eating dinner I can report that the spinach was super delicious! Wow!

That is all I have to say about spinach right now.