Grandpa and Grandma's vicarious Christmas

How we spent Christmas...

We spent all day finishing our cornice boards. Merry Christmas, huh? Oh well, it was a nice gift for us, even if it did involve labor. Ha! Hope your day was more fun. I am certain that it was!

Christmas Eve

This is our very first Christmas by ourselves with no family around. I thought it would be harder, but it isn't so bad because it absolutely does not feel like Christmas to me. I am sure that is exactly because there is no family here and being in AZ, it is hard to get into the spirit of Christmas in 70 degree weather!

Mark and I spent the day making cornice boards for our windows and sliding door. We accomplished one window and the sliding door. It takes a long time! We decided to go with a southwest fabric as that contains a lot of color from our decor. We are both quite pleased with what we have done so far and come Christmas day we should get them all done...hopefully. :-)

Megan and family are spending Christmas with Andy's family in Le Mars. They had some dicey roads today on their journey (gotta love that Iowa weather) to Grandpa Thiel's home, but thankfully they are there now safe and sound. I think they will be going to Omaha later in the week and then should be able to see Matt for the holidays.

Well, have to go put the finishing touches on our Christmas Eve traditional dinner...frozen burgers and a salad. Ha! Merry Christmas, all!
Our patio door before:

Patio door after the installation"

Closeup..we are fixing those holes! :-)

Being sick

Mark was pretty sick all last week with a cold and he finally went to Urgent Care on Friday. They said he had bronchitis and I don't doubt that as his cough was pretty rough. After three prescriptions he is doing much better and now I am feeling crummy today....dull headache, sore muscles, etc. I suppose he just had to give it to me! I won't wait as long to go to the doctor as he did! I don't like being down.

The weather is still beautiful here, setting several records last week. It cooled down a little the last two days and we even had some rain but it still quite warm, especially when my brother Kevin told me it was 3 degrees in Iowa. Yikes! I hiked several times this week, Mark put up some more shelving in the garage and we have been measuring our windows for cornice boards. I cannot wait to see the finished product and bought the fabric today as it was 50% off. (Still rather expensive, though!)

Well, that is it. We have just been puttering around our winter home and enjoying the weather. Stay warm, my cold weather friends and family!

The tall cactus in the middle is there temporarily. Andy gave that to us when they moved and I want it to be in our front yard when we landscape.

I planted two vines along our west wall.

My geraniums were just planted. Cannot wait until they are huge and beautiful!

Me with our good friend Alice from our townhouse days. We went to Greasewood for drinks and food and it was warm and fun!

Quiet week-end

Mark and I don't have a lot planned this week-end. Mark is working on my honey-do list which I keep adding to daily. I hope he doesn't just protest and head back to Iowa! :-) Oh well, he can't go now because they are having a blizzard today. :-( I am assuming Matt and Megan are getting similar winter weather. Looks like Drew and Kayley will have snow to play in with their new winter gear.

Last night we ate at our favorite Mexican restaurant. It was as delicious as we remembered! It is only a few blocks from our home so I imagine it won't be our only visit this winter.

Our big project will be landscaping the front and back yards. There is grass out front and I want to get rid of that and put in desert landscape. I do not like watering that lawn all summer while I am not even here plus it is a waste of precious desert water! The hardest part will be removing the sod although planting and spreading rock won't be a walk in the park!

Tomorrow we are going to Greasewood (a western-type outdoor bar/restaurant with live music) with a friend who was a neighbor when we lived at Megan and Andy's townhouse. She is a lot of fun and a very positive person so we are looking forward to seeing her again.

The pictures below show Mark putting up our Christmas lights, the end result and also our neighbor's light show, which makes ours look like a night light! I also posted a pic of a cactus that the hikers on North Mountain decorated for the holidays. It is right by the decorated tree that I posted a few days ago. There is also a picture of our new garage shelving that Mark installed this week. There are no basements out here so this was a must and I just love the shelves. The garage is finally back to being a garage. :-)

Mark putting up Christmas lights

Our neighbor's great decorations

Our less impressive decorations!

Santa cactus on North Mountain trail

New garage shelving courtesy of Mark!

My farmer arrived

Mark made it to Phoenix on Monday afternoon, around 2:30. He left Omaha Sunday morning and drove ALL the way to Santa Rosa, NM that first day, over 900 miles! I only made it to Tucumcari when I came and thought that was as far as any human could drive in one day. Guess I was wrong since he went on another 50 miles! That made for a very short day on Monday plus gaining an hour. It is so great to have him here. The valley has greeted him with beautiful weather, near 80 every day and looking to set a record this week-end.

We started right in working on our garage. I am painting it and he is going to put up lots of shelving so we can get our junk off the floor and allow us to get both vehicles put away at night. We are taking a break this afternoon and putting up Christmas lights outdoors. This neighborhood gets very festive so we don't want to look like old scrooges!

This morning I hiked North Mountain once again. I really enjoy the challenge of this trail and see lots of familiar faces now. They have a small desert tree near the top that the hikers decorate for Christmas every year so today I brought a snowman ornament up and hung it. (See pics below). My broken little toe is still killing me so I am still unable to get in my hiking boots. Thank god for Teva sandals! Mark thinks I am doing nothing to help my toe heal by hiking every day. I am sure he has a point. :-)

Yesterday we purchased tickets to the Insight Bowl here in Tempe since the Iowa Hawkeyes are playing. We have never been to a Hawkeye bowl game so couldn't turn this down. After purchasing we learn their star receiver was arrested on a drug charge and won't be playing. :-( That kid probably just lost a lucrative career in the NFL and is headed for the pen instead. So sad.

Well, that is all for updating. I will tell more later when I know more!

Enjoying my life

I have been back in AZ since Tuesday. I cannot complain about the weather, of course. It has been in the mid to upper 70's each day and always sunny. I think that is my favorite thing about being here....so much happy sunshine!

I have been shopping, hiking and replanting my frozen, dead geraniums. All my plants bit the dust while I was in Iowa for Thanksgiving. It seems Phoenix had a very "unusual" freeze for November. No kidding! It about killed me to throw out my tomato plants with their brown little fruit dangling. :-( I didn't buy any new tomato plants as I have decided Costco tomatoes taste just fine and will stick with colorful flowers instead.

I have the Christmas tree up and decorated but there won't be any presents under it unless Mark brings me some. Hint, hint... Everyone else is getting money from us, thus, no packages!

Below are pics from my hike this morning on North Mountain and also one of our orange tree which is starting to turn. Hope Mark feels like eating a lot of oranges this winter!

A VERY Happy Thanksgiving

We had such a great time over the Thanksgiving holiday. Megan, Andy and the kids arrived on Tuesday evening and the fun truly began. It was so great to see Drew and Kayley, I could hardly stand it! Matt came on Wednesday so the immediate family was complete.

Thanksgiving Day the festivities continued with the arrival of Kevin and Julie, Larry, Jody and Lane, Angie, Jake and sweet little Jesse. I made all the traditional Thanksgiving fare and Julie added crab stuffed mushrooms, Angie a salad and Larry and Jody brought pumpkin pies. No one walked away from the table hungry....well, maybe Drew. He told me he only likes pizza, hot dogs and yogurt. :-)

Everyone went home on Sunday so Mark and I found it very quiet on the farm that day. I was once again going through grandchild withdrawl for several hours!

I flew back to Phoenix today. Had a long stop in Denver but finally arrived here around 2:00. All my patio plants were dead. Several nights of freezing temps did them in good! It is NOT supposed to get that cold this early so I was really surprised to find my geraniums and tomato plants all goners! :-(

I hope everyone also had a wonderful Thanksgiving and am sure everyone is getting ready for Christmas now.


Some videos from our week together:

Baby it's cold outside!

Only in the upper 20's here in Iowa! Thankfully there is no snow or ice. That would be much worse although it would be prettier to look out the window! I had forgotten (not really) how dreary winter can be in Iowa with everything brown and the wind howling. I think the worst part is rarely seeing the sun. Why does the midwest have so many cloudy November days?!?!

Oh well, the weather will not be a concern once my children and grandchildren arrive! I am looking forward to that day immensely! I plan on having the Thanksgiving dinner here and my brother and some of his family are coming. Haven't checked in with my other brother yet to see if he can come. Must do that Kevin!

I am a bit upset that our upstairs dish receiver is not working and they cannot come fix it until the 27th! Nine days without a TV would about kill some people off I would think! Fortunately, the receiver in the basement is working. I wish I had stuck with DishNet as we never had any dish problems with them. It seems to be constant with DirectTV. Grrrrr.

Well, until I have photos and videos of everyone when they are home I guess I will sign out. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone out there!

Fun with sis

I had a great time with sister Sharon during her visit to Arizona. I took her to the airport bright and early this morning for her flight to New Mexico so she can visit her son Erik and his children before heading back to Florida.

She arrived last Wednesday and stayed with Lisa that night. I picked her up in Mesa (Lisa's home)on Thursday and we went to my home for the rest of the day and evening. Friday morning we hiked and then met Lisa and her sons Nick and Aaron for happy hour at Dos Gringo's in Old Scottsdale. She went home with them for the week-end. Then Sunday I drove back to Old Scottsdale and met Sharon, Lisa, Aaron (1), Taylor and Dan for dinner at Oregano's. Megan, it is still is as good as you remember!

Sharon came home once again with me and stayed until her flight this morning. We hiked three times despite my broken little toe. I couldn't get my hiking boots on so I threw on my Teva's and away we went! We also worked in two visits to Terravita, Sharon's former home in Scottsdale. She was able to see many old friends so that was great for her and them! I think they wished she still lived there. :-) I don't know if the feeling is mutual, though. Sharon seems to be very content in The Villages of Florida!

Now it is quiet and I look forward to spending Thanksgiving in Iowa and seeing Drew and Kayley. I cannot begin to tell you how much I am looking forward to that!!!

Some pics from her visit:

Our good friend Marilyn at her home in Terravita


Hiking at Squaw Peak in my sandals


Dinner with friends at Terravita Country Club

Feeling sorry for myself

I think I broke my little toe yesterday morning. :-( I plowed in to a step ladder, barefoot, and today it is black and blue and I can only walk with a limp. Sharon comes here on Thursday and we were all set to hike. Ain't gonna happen... I am trying to decide if I should see a doctor but I recall always hearing "there is nothing they can do for a broken toe" or was that a broken nose? Anyway, I am not a happy camper and am cursing my clumsiness! My mom was always severely stubbing her toe so maybe I came by it naturally?

Halloween

Well, I am glad that is over! I never did get too fired up about Halloween and this year was no exception. For the first time in my life, though, I had trick or treaters! Living on a farm in Iowa doesn't work well for little goblins and the townhouse we lived in the last three years we saw "maybe" ten or so kids. The street we are on now had a huge turnout. I ran out of candy and had to shut the light off! Next year I will have to buy more candy or head to a movie. :-)

I sowed the winter rye grass in the back yard and will now watch to see if it grows. I also planted a lantana along the west wall and decided to try two tomato plants in pots. I am going to be in Iowa November 18-30 so I am worried about the pots not getting watered while I am gone. I think I will run landscaping drip lines to both pots so they don't die while I am celebrating Thanksgiving.

I do my 5.5 mile hike every other day. I am hoping to work up to every day but will start venturing out to other trails so I don't become bored with this one! I don't know exactly how many different trails there are in the valley but I would bet money that I could go a LONG time and never take the same one. Some are just not comfortable doing alone, though. I like the ones with lots of people on them and no mountain lions! :-)

Since I missed out on seeing Drew and Kayley in their costumes I stole some pictures from Megan's FB page. Drew actually wore his Thomas the train costume for trick or treating. Hurray!

Warm and NO wind

I almost hate to post this regarding weather. It is just beautiful here in Phoenix but October is a great month in the valley! Mark said how awful it has been back in Iowa...windy, REALLY windy and very cool. I talked to Megan tonight and she said it was 45 degrees in Peoria. Yikes. It was 85 here and not even a whiff of a breeze. I will now quit talking about the weather before I lose midwest friends.

I hiked my mountain yesterday once again. I took the route "backwards" this time and it took me 25 minutes longer! I was rather surprised at that but uphill going the different route was very rocky so guess it slowed me down big time. I never have to stop to rest the original way but stopped several times on this route to catch my breath. The scenery even looked different going the different route so that was a pleasant change.

Tomorrow I need to think about sowing the winter rye grass. I have never done that before but have watched my son-in-law do it and it does not look like fun. Mow it down to a stub or nothing...sow the seed...fertilize...cover in smelly mulch/(poop) and water, water, water. If I have half the lawn he established I will feel successful!

Sister Sharon from Florida is coming to AZ next week. Her children, grandchildren and I are very excited about that. Should be a great time! After AZ she will fly to Albuquerque to see Erik, Kadin, Gracie and new son Jeffrey. I should have some pics to post after that visit.

Well, hope everyone has a fantastic week-end and GO HAWKS!!!!

Pictures for Drew

I went for a walk today to Megan and Andy's old home in Phoenix which is about 2 miles from our house. As I was walking I took pictures of all the sights that Drew, Kayley, Sox and I saw every day on our walks. I am curious to know if Drew remembers any of these sights! (So Megan, let me know.) :-) I am guessing that he will not remember them but perhaps he will.

I have been busy since my return doing all my yearly doctor check-ups so that has kept me busy. I also hiked to Shaw Butte which is about 3 miles from here. It is a 5 mile round trip hike...I made it up and down fine but I definitely had blisters! Need to get these feet back into hiking shape! (Months of flip flops with no boots!)

I heard the central U.S. was overwhelmed with ridiculously high winds. They even called it very unusual. Our weird weather continues.

Ok Megan, here are the pics. See if Drew remembers any of these! There are even some I dug out of my archives of his old house and pool.

Getting settled

I spent most of today running around Phoenix. Groceries, propane tank refill, Walmart and visited a good friend from our townhouse days. I was way over-dressed in jeans and a long sleeved shirt. Very beautiful and immediately came home and put on shorts and t-shirt. While talking to Mark tonight he said he was waiting for the furnace to kick on and I was waiting for the AC to kick in. That is what 1400 miles will do I guess.

Megan went to the Iowa-Wisconsin game today. It was a nail-biter and not a good outcome for our Hawkeyes. I had taped it and planned to watch it when my errands were finished but I peeked on ESPN.com and found out the final score and just could not bear to watch it. I am one who always identified with the "agony of defeat"! :-( The ISU Cyclones did have a huge victory over Texas, though. Glad some people are happy back home!

I am going to try to get my butt up and hike tomorrow morning. It has been a long time but that IS one of the reasons I came out here now so I hope I do it.

I wish I had updated video/photos of Drew and Kayley but that is rather impossible. I won't say how much I miss them but I will say it is way more than my sadness over the Hawkeyes if that gives you a clue... :-)

Have a fantastic Sunday.

Made it to Arizona

I am back in Phoenix. I arrived today around 1:30 P.M. This was a MUCH shorter day driving than yesterday and it was helped by gaining two hours on the drive! The first day I made it to Tucumcari, NM.


All is well and good with our home. No water leaks after sitting all summer in the heat so I was pleased with that. I got a little bit blue when I drove by Megan and Andy's old street and the parks I used to frequent with the kids and Sox. I just felt like they were still there and I needed to turn and go visit them. Being in AZ and not having them close by will definitely take some getting used to!

I have no pics or videos to post so will put these two older ones up for Drew and Kayley. Megan said Drew enjoys it when I post videos of him when he was "little". :-) Maybe Kayley will enjoy her video from when she so much younger, a few months back!

I lied...

My last post talked about my good-byes to Drew and Kayley. Well.....it has been so nice in Iowa that I didn't take off for Arizona as early as I anticipated. So, I had time to squeeze in one more trip to Peoria for another good-bye! I left Friday morning for Illinois with a two hour stop at the outlet mall near Iowa City. Arrived in Peoria about the time everyone was getting home from work and day care. It was so great to see Drew and Kayley one more time! We had a really fun week-end. Saturday morning Megan and I and the kids went to look at granite for their kitchen. We then made a few stops at different stores for some items and returned home in time for their afternoon nap. That evening we went bowling which is always a favorite event for Drew. He ran to his room for his "bowling" shirt when Megan said we were going. This time Kayley bowled and had a blast. She did very well thanks to some help from their friend Wes. Both kids scored over 100 so I was glad I wasn't bowling to get embarrassed!

Sunday was another beautiful day for mid October! We packed a lunch and headed to the park. Drew rode his bike all the way to the park. Grandma was in power walking mode to keep up with him! We carved a pumpkin in the afternoon and grilled chops for dinner. I hated to see Sunday come to an end but all good things must end. I left this morning after everyone left and made it back to the farm around 1:00 P.M. Mark is out doing field work so I haven't seen him yet.

I leave for AZ on Wednesday. I plan to stop at Matt's in Omaha that evening and then head out bright and early on Thursday for Tucumcari, NM. Long day, that one! If all goes as planned I should be at our Phoenix home late Friday afternoon. Here's hoping for a better winter for you guys staying in the midwest! So long...

Three videos from the week-end:






Kayley's tea party:



Pictures: