Sunday at the Zoo with Audrey

Audrey had her 4 year old Birthday Party at the zoo and she and her friends loved it. The Zoo did a great job. They had a huge jug of lemonaid ready for all the guest (it was our first over 80 degree day here this year) and a nice picnic area over looking the lake. A zo Gal was there as the kids arrived and had set up an activity station for the kids. They made zoo animal masks. Avery and his buddies seemed to be having a good time too. The cake was a masterpiece. It was a map of the Zoo and had the cutest Zoo Toy Animals on it. I got to meet Audrey's best friend, Laney. Everybody got a piece of the chocolate Marble cake and a cup of ice cream. I had to leave early but after the cake the kids got to have a zoo adventure with baby animals.

Dave Comes for Breakfast

Little Brother David has Fridays off now and he called me to see if I wanted to go to breakfast. I told him to come on over and I'd make eggs and toast. He was running errands on my side of town but nothing was open early. We had a great talk - and Dave helped me break down one of our shelving systems and put it together at the new place so I can move some more stuff over to the new place. We had a great time talking. Look at this picture of David. See that table loaded up - reminds you of Mom's dining table doesn't it! It will be weeks and weeks before we can get settled into the new place. The disorganiztion right now is driving me Coo Coo ( More Coo Coo then normal ).

Snow on Superstitions

It's just before 1:00pm here in Mesa and my brother David just called me to go take pictures of the Superstition Mountains. Looking east from the sidewalk in front of my house you can see they are packed with snow.

Ice Falling From Sky WOW WOW WOW

At about 10:30 am Ariz time I was sitting at my computer and it started to rain. It has been overcast, dark and gloomy since yesterday but the weatherman's promised rain hadn't come yet. Then "glonks" starting hitting the house. These weren't rain drops - they were cups of water. I could see them hit the pool and pool decking out the window - big, noisy, splashes of water. Then - Holy cow - It wasn't water anymore - it was chunks of ice. Big - the size of ping pong balls. steam was coming off the walkway where they were hitting. I grapped my camera and got a card in it and got outside. The temperature must have dropped 20 degrees in 3-4 minutes - it was so cold - and the noise of the kids in the neighborhood running & crunching the ice, screaming with laughter , filled the street. By the time I started taking pictures we had a white world here in our neighborhood! Gosh - I wish I had a better camera. It lasted only 8-9 minutes - then stopped and everything started melting.

Floors Going In Today sat Feb 26

Reg is starting putting in a "Floating" Laminate floor made by Ikea today. The wood pattern we picked is called "Antique". Rob is helping Dad get the trim off the walls - we found out that with a "floating" floor you have to have no trim in place on install - so they have to take all the new trim off !!! Reggie found a friend Scott, to help Dad get started. Scott has put in these floors before. Jennie came up from Tucson for breakfast with Dave and Debi and they all came over to look at our soon to be new home.

Drywalled, Mudded, and Painted Rooms

We used Antique white in all the rooms except the Bedroom. There we used Navajo white. The trim is what all the builders love, Swiss Coffee, a creamy white that enhances almost everything. This week-end Reg is going to get the floors in. Next week we will statrt moving things in. Today I start Lysoling the hallway bathroom.

Valerie is not a Neat Painter

I am working too - doing as much as I can. I am the job site clean up person and while Reg finishes up in the evening I clean the job site and put all the tools into a row where they can be found again in the morning. I am the gofer who runs to home depot for a needed part (Cell Phones are a life saver here - I call Reg on my cell, hand the phone to the person in the department who knows parts - and Reg tells him exactly what I need to bring back). I have been breaking up and bagging lots of the debris and taking it home to our own garbage can where we have more room - Our Park we will be living in has small, half size cans. Reg has only had to get 4 of the Builder Debris Paid Bags so far. To save costs I have been sanding and primer painting the closets. In case you didn't know, Older Manufactured Homes have closets with small 20 inch doors - with shelves that go back, back, back, into deep, dark, tunnels. I have crawled into these closets and sanded the paneling ( Thank you to Rob who has also done this to help me) and then painted the primer on the paneling. It was easy to miss many of the staples in these dark holes when, early on, we were removing all the staples sticking up - but - I assure you - if you crawl in with a paint brush you'll find every one of those nasty things gourging you as you wiggle around trying to get every spot with primer. You will notice in the picture that I have been a rather messy painter . I do a good paint job but I am somewhat well know for emerging from a paint job close to the exact color that I am painting.