9-30-12

Martin: What we woke up to each morning even though we are well into spring.

Me: Garage sale find today! A nice cabinet to store supplies in my craft room. $10 :)

I like the handles!

Heading to the airport now to pick up Karen and Charlie! Hope it's not too hot for them in AZ. It's  been in the 100's and is suppose to stay that warm all week. Even so, we're going to have a bunch of fun!

9-29-12

Me: Next project; downstairs guest bath.

I've been working on the powder room which is also our laundry room. Been very indecisive on color (no surprise) but settled on this purple (it's growing on me). I've had at least 2 other purple samples on the wall and one mint color. Two of the walls (which you can't see in the pic) are cream. I've also been shopping for drapes and have brought back many to test out. I think I've decided on the ones in the photo. They are neutral with texture and I think they're nice. I'm envisioning a cute hanging chandelier above the sink (keeping my eyes open at garage sales) and hoping to dress up the Craig's list vanity with some funky knobs. Eventually we'll install flooring but that's down the road.
Progress, fun to do!

Our good friends, Karen & Charlie arrive tomorrow! Super excited! Safe travels guys!

9-28-12

Me: We had 8 takers for our 5am mountain bike ride this morning. Lights shining at the camera made for an interesting shot.

9-27-12

Me: Here is the finished paint job in the craft room. I am super happy with how it came out! Now I need to work on the clutter. Great progress though - yay!

9-26-12

Me: Kavan getting his knees and feet washed. They get so dirty after a day of crawling on our concrete floors. Hmmm, what's that say about the cleanliness of our house! :-( He's a good little boy; we read books, he took a nap and we played with blocks. He sure is fast on all fours! :-)

9-25-12

Martin: Wisteria has flowered in the back garden and the bees are everywhere.

Me: Here is my craft room; a big mess! Someday (I don't know when) I'm going to get it completely organized. That will be so awesome! Before that though, I'm going to paint this room. I'm good at throwing a few samples up on the wall and staring at it for several days (or weeks) before making a decision. Well, I picked a color! Stay tuned for the end result. I think it's going to be a fun & creative room...eventually. :-)

9-24-12

Martin: Blue skies once again. Nice spring day.

Me: Evening Walk.

9-23-12

Martin: Dead cat in the garden... not really, just very relaxed.

Me: For being the 2nd day of fall it's too hot! It got to 106 today and one of Harley's doggie friends found a creative way to cool off. :-)

Photo sent to me from my mother-in-law, Pat. 

9-22-12

Martin: Looked like we were in for some rain but it only sprinkled and then the clouds cleared. We have only had a few mils rain this month in contrast to the past summer when it rained most of the days.

 Me: We got out on the trails really early this morning. At 5am it's still dark so needed our bike lights.  Bob and I had a great time and enjoyed an awesome sunrise on our bikes!

9-21-12

Martin: That's why this lizard is called a Blue Tongue.

Me: Kavan having fun with Harley. Harley a bit nervous about Kavan getting her bone.

9-20-12

Martin: This guy ran into the shade just as I was trying to get some shots and the shutter speed dropped down causing the blurred effect.

Me: Blue room take 2. 

We just repainted the guest bedroom from the baby blue color I tried and disliked to this new color which I LOVE! It's so pretty and soothing. So now our guest room is ready for our visitors who arrive NEXT week. First Bob's parents come on Wednesday for 3 days (so excited) and then our good friends, Karen and Charlie from Ohio arrive on September 30th. They'll be here until October 5th and we have great things planned; going to the Grand Canyon, eating at Diablo Burger in Flagstaff, touring in Sedona, browsing art galleries in Jerome and finding sweets! Yay, can't wait!

9-19-12

Martin: A friend in the garden.

Me: 8:03pm and driving home from a real estate appointment. It's dark and past my bedtime. Good night!

9-18-12

Martin: Daniel needs help blowing out all the candles.

Me: Yay, our first stained 6 panel door is installed! And notice the freshly painted, white door trim! I like the contrast. We have 6 more interior doors to stain and hang plus we'll be switching out all the hinges. We're going to re-use the door knobs that are currently on the doors. Fun improvement! I should have taken a before photo.

9-17-12

Martin: Yet another chocolate cake.

Me: A few friends have donated their old bike wheels to us. Bob and I are trying to create an artsy display to hang on our blank wall in the entry way.

9-16-12

Martin: Guess what we had at Daniel's party? Hard to make when you have five experts telling you how to make it their way.

 Me: Bob, Shelly, Troy and I went to the Diamondbacks game this afternoon. The Diamondbacks have not been having a good season but they won today! They beat the San Franscisco Giants. Our Phoenix Cardinals also won. We saw the last few minutes on TV. It was exciting as we nearly lost the game at the end. I truly don't follow our Arizona sports teams but had fun cheering for them today.

9-15-12

Martin: Shot out the back door this morning.

Me: We went mountain biking in South Mountain this morning and came upon this Saguaro. Such a bummer that this beautiful cactus didn't survive. 

The weather is turning nice! We're now having cooler mornings and evenings. Yeah!!

9-14-12

Martin: Footings for a pool fence at a friend's place.

Me: These caterpillars have been everywhere the past few days. Maybe the rain brought them out. They sure are hard to avoid on the bike when there are hundreds crossing the road. The yellow guys are about 3 inches long, have interesting markings and apparently taste good since Harley seeks them out for a snack (ick). I was excited thinking they'd be turning into butterflies, but Bob looked these caterpillars up on-line and they turn into moths. Ugh.

9-13-12

Martin: Birthday boy, Daniel and a pile of calories.

Me: Noticed this crazy bright light in the sky this morning. Found out later it was the contrail from a missile which had been launched from White Sands, New Mexico. Click on link to read about it.

9-12-12

Martin: Discovered this young Blue-tongued lizard (or skink) sitting in the sun just outside our front door.

Me: We've been meeting with landscapers this past week and it's it's been a bit overwhelming. Bob and I have some ideas already but we need assistance in pulling it all together. Most importantly we need a good watering system installed before the trees and flowers can be planted. We'll do the yard in stages over time but are hoping we can get a more specific idea of our plan in the next month or two. I posted this photo because it shows some of the hardscape we like - particularly the round concrete pads (interesting), the tree wells and some rusted iron gate and statue. However, I'm not real fond of that sculpture. I think Bob can make something better out of old bike parts! :-).

9-11-12

Me: Browsed Lowes & Lamps Plus for exterior lights for our house. Found this one & like it, but still going to shop around. We would put a light on each side of the garage. We're intending to eventually paint the house a light color and paint the trim and garage door a dark green/brown. I found an idea for house numbers on Pinterest so I'd remove the ceramic ones that are on the house now. We'll see...all just ideas right now. :-)

Many thoughts today about this day being 9/11. Remembering where we were 11 years, the horror of the attack, the loss of innocent lives, the uncertainty of tomorrow along with hope for healing and unity. Eleven years have flown by since that tragedy, but we don't forget. Wishing peace, faith, and love to this world.  

9-10-12

Me: Wild flower meadows.

 Stopped on our drive home from Flagstaff yesterday to take some pics.

Pretty blanket of yellow!

9-9-12

Me: Another beautiful day in Flagstaff!

 A few of us mountain biked part of the Arizona Trail.

Nice single track through the aspen trees!

After our ride we all met at Macys; our favorite hippy breakfast spot. Dessert was a piece (or two) of chocolate from The Sweet Shoppe. :-)

9-8-12

Me: Our group ready to start hiking Mt. Humphreys.

Jonn, Shannon, Chuck, Sally, Kelly, Bill, Anna, Mike, Abbie, Bob, Me & Harley

Shannon & Chuck nearing the saddle.

View from the saddle. From here it's one mile to the top.

Pretty day! No rain at all.

Grabbed a snack and regrouped.

Chilly at the saddle so we put on our wind breakers.

Mike pushing the last 1/2 mile.

Shannon, Anna and Chuck reaching the top.

Harley was a great hiker dog!

Abbie reaching the top and showing off with a sprint. :-)

Abbie and Mike at the summit sign. 12,633 feet!

Great morning on Mt Humphreys!