One Week To Christmas

I'm sure everyone is busy running around shopping, baking, wrapping, partying, whatever we all do in preparation for Christmas.

I think I'm pretty ready. Boxes have been sent & received on the East Coast. Candy is done, some delivered. I'd like to make another batch, but........well, I'd just eat it! This afternoon I'm going to make a batch of sugar cookies. It won't be as much fun as last year when little Nick & Noah helped mom & grandma decorate them though. But, I'm sure they will be eaten just the same. I'm waiting for the butter to soften right now.

This morning I went to Scratch Class again. Gosh, I love it. It's hard to not forget all the responsibilities of life & just sit & do it for a couple of hours! I think I just might get Christmas gifts done for next year while I'm here. Today we learned how to do the trees. Not sure if I have the hang of it yet, but I guess practice makes perfect (ya, right!) That's the neat part about doing art work, there are no mistakes! Ha! Ha! It's called interpretation!

We broke down last week & bought some pretty patio lights. They are purple/bluish balls. Thought we could use them for Christmas. I also bought some foam art snowflakes. Decorated them & thought they would look cute between each ball. Well since we have one of those automatic WeatherPro awnings that automatically goes up or dumps the rain, we had to disable that mechanism first. Then we got the lights up & I arranged the snowflakes. Looked kind of cute. Got a small extension cord last night & plugged them in. They looked pretty neat. Wouldn't you know......we came home with stars out & moon shining, went to bed & all of a sudden it started to rain & did the wind blow!!!! You know what we had to do! Out of bed, get dressed, get the step ladder & take it all down! I think that was around midnight! Now I know why we never bought patio lights before. We knew that, but we thought, oh it might work out here in AZ, but I guess not! Neighbors told us not to do that until around the middle of Jan. when the winter weather would calm down & not as much chance of wind/rain storms. So tomorrow if the weather is a little nicer, I'm going to try & figure out how to string them just across the rolled up awning. I'm determined. I'll figure out something!

We got the nicest Christmas gift from the park owners. A nice card with a CD of Christmas Carols in it. Very nice & didn't expect something so nice! It really is a nice, thoughtful park. A really nice 2nd home. Never did we think we would enjoy this life style so much. Just looking at my daily calendar & this is what it said........"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." by Eleanor Roosevelt. The Bible verse for today was: "No eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him." What a coincidence.........Not on your life..........He has it all planned!!! God is Amazing how he speaks to our hearts & in our lives! He knew our dream before we did!

We still haven't gotten out to take those pictures of the Mormon Temple in Mesa. Just too busy I guess. Went to a 1940's musical skit/show here at the park on Tues. night. Really nice. The husband & wife performed for the price of 2 non-perishable items for admission for the local Food Bank. It was a nice evening spent out & not just sitting home. I told Bill I've had more dates since Nov. 24th than I've had in the last 2 yrs.!

We saw gas last night down to $1.49, but he said the news today wasn't great. OPEC is going to get those prices back up again! Watch, about the time we have to travel back to the East Coast, we'll be paying big bucks again!

Our friends from Iowa left there early yesterday morning & got to the west side of Oklahoma. They said they were lucky & had good roads. This morning they checked with someone regarding the weather & they have routed them down into southern Texas to take that route as snow storms are taking over the Rocky Mt. area of Interstate 40. Better to be safe than sorry. Might take them a little longer, but we have to remember, when you are retired you just take your time & enjoy the scenery which ever way you travel!

Other friends on our street from Syracuse, NY arrived yesterday afternoon. They flew, but it was a very long day for them. Dona was down at the club house this morning checking out things, but Doug was home resting. Just happy to see them again!

Sorry I don't have any pictures to share. I never think to take my camera with me when I go Line Dancing, or to classes. I guess I should get on the ball & get with the Blog program huh? Maybe I'll remember tomorrow. Batteries are plugged in to recharge.

I guess I've rambled enough. Time to go bake those cookies! I can almost smell them baking!

Until next time..........The Traveling Cardinal's