If It's Friday, It Must Be Flagstaff!!

Hi, Ya'll,

We arrived in Flagstaff late this afternoon. We had to wait a little bit for our room to be ready, but we had help to move everything in, and it was wonderful.
We were not happy with Homewood Suites, so we were thrilled to be back in a Residence Inn. There is such a difference. Here, we moved in for five days. If you know us, you know that we always take our food, our refrigerator things, and our wine with us. We take three ice chests--one for our freezer stuff, one for our wine, and one for our other food. A luggage cart was not available, so one of the assistant managers helped us move everything into the room!

We will post pictures later because we used all of Ellen's battery life. We just wanted to let you know that we got here safely. We took a detour through the Petrified Forest this afternoon. It is a fascinating place. We were able to obtain a pass to enter every National Park in the United States. Thanks to the fact that Sharon is 62+++, whoever is in the vehicle with her, gets in at no charge. Had we gone back to the Visitors' Center, it would have been free because she also has a handicap sticker. It seemed too much trouble and we didn't mind paying the $10.00 for the "Golden Age Pass". The National Park Service is a worthy investment!

We have a lovely view of the mountain and the hotel sits on a golf course. We are about 15 minutes from the downtown historic area. We will probably investigate all of that tomorrow. Of course, the Grand Canyon is on our list of things to do. We will just watch the weather reports and decide which day will be best to go there. At the present time, it is raining. The temperature outside is in the high sixties. Oh my, how nice!!!!! (Sorry, El Paso friends!)

Until next time. . . . .

Finally, It's Vacation Time!

Hi, Ya'll!

This morning, we got up early, packed the car, and headed to the beauty shop! What else would you expect us to do? We left directly after we both went to the magic shop. Mary, our hairdresser, was so gracious to come in early to do our hair, so we could get going.

The trip up this way was peaceful. Sharon was asleep before we got out of town. These last few days have taken a toll on us and we both needed to get someplace where we could relax, and not worry about ANYTHING at home--no workmen or work women. We don't have to clean house, and if there is any leaking water, we will call the front desk! We arrived at the Albuquerque Homewood Suites around two o'clock. Those of you who know us, know that we usually stay at the Residence Inn; however, this time we are giving the Homewood Suites a chance.

This first picture has no significance, other than the fact that it shows the fridge. Why is that significant, you ask? Well, some dummy thought it would be a good idea to put the doors on so that they open to the left. WRONG!! If only Sharon had her tools with her, she would fix it so that the next person wouldn't have to open backwards. (Sorry it is blurry.)
We just took pictures of the room to show how small it is. Oh, well, we will only be here one night.

Here is the bathroom.

We barely have room for any of our stuff. (And boy, do we carry STUFF!)

We will be going to the evening social in a little while. Wonder what kind of wine they will serve? Surely they will have a little wine! We know where there is some, just in case they don't.

Tomorrow we will send you greetings from Flagstaff!

Until next time. . . . .. . . . . . .

Contractors, Roofers, and Yardmen!

Hi, Ya'll!



As we begin to write this (hopefully) short blog, there are five men on Sharon's roof, three yardmen out back, and the tile man along with his son and brother in the bathroom. Sharon feels like screaming!!!!! It has taken the tile man much longer than he thought to finish in the bathroom. He got to the point of installing the shower door, and found out that the one we bought was the wrong size! Arghh!! Back to Lowe's we went to retrieve the right size, and they didn't have one. They did have one at the other store on the northeast side of town. The tile man lives on that side of town, so Sharon gave him the funds to purchase a new one.



Meanwhile back to the beginning of this day--Sharon was on her way to Home Depot at 7:00 this morning to get a piece of corner moulding, and a new toilet seat! We can't wait to get out of town!



And now, to change the subject-- here are a couple of pictures of Ellen's new bathroom floor.

She likes the tile in the bathroom, so she wants to get more to have her bathroom floor done, and also, the upstairs bath. It is time to get rid of the carpet. She is going to use the same color in the other two baths.

We can barely keep up with our own comings and goings, so we don't expect you to do that either. We can't wait to get out of town! (Did we already say that??) Tomorrow is Wednesday. We are at 36 hours and counting until Thursday morning.

Until next time. . . . . . . .

Today's View!

Hi, Ya'll!

Hope your weekend is going well. These two pictures were taken this morning. We just knew that Willie would be finished by yesterday. Now it is looking like he may not be finished today. There are so many tiles that need to be cut into small pieces to fit the step and the seats, etc. It is a very tedious job.


He is doing a beautiful job, but we are running out of time here! The roofers are coming on Tuesday. Thank goodness they don't need access to the inside of the house.
We are out of here on Thursday! (After an early morning appointment at the beauty shop, of course!)

As a sort of postscript, Willie didn't get finished today. That means that he will be back on Monday. Surely, he will be finished by then.

By the way, we forgot to mention that Sharon fell off of a ladder this week. She has bruises showing up all over her right side. Ellen had gone to run a few errands, and Sharon was cleaning out the cabinet over the washer. Somehow she forgot that she was up higher, and she missed the last step! She is lucky not to have broken her hip. That would have ruined our vacation plans--big time. She is bruised, but not broken. That is good, isn't it?

Until next time. . . . . . . . .

Poco A Poco !

Hi, Ya'll!

Just in case you are not bored with our blog, here are a couple of pictures that Sharon took last night. You can see that it is finally taking shape. It is going to be pretty. We are excited to see the finished product -- maybe tomorrow.


This is just another view. The tile actually has more of a sage tone than what it looks like in the pictures. We have this "vision" of what we want it to look like....sure hopes it comes true!
More to come... Can you believe that the new roof is supposed to begin Tuesday?
Until next time. . . . . . . . .

The Joys of Remodeling??

Hi, Ya'll !

We decided that we would change our salutation! (You can guess that a teacher wrote that!) So much has happened to us this past week that each day is greeted with, "We wonder what will happen today!" You already know about Ellen's water woes. After the water heater was put in and the air conditioner leak was fixed, Willie and his son, Oscar, came to begin to put tile down in Ellen's guest bathroom. It looks really nice. We took pictures, and will post them soon.

In the meantime, Sharon discovered a leak coming from the toilet in this bathroom. Somehow or other, the tile man must have knocked something, and the toilet was leaking from the tank bolt. (Are you still with us ?) Oh, joy!

The really nice neighbor across the street came over and fixed it. (Of course, it took two days; but, at least, it is fixed.)

And now to Sharon's latest remodeling adventure.
This is the shower/Roman tub in the Master Bath. It is in desperate need of a make over!
Another look...

It took a day and a half to get all the old tile out. The poor man's arm must have ached by the end of the day.

We picked out some beautiful fixtures to replace the old standard silver ones. We can't wait to see how they will look!

Yesterday afternoon we decided we really have not done anything "fun" since Ellen has been on vacation. Neither of us felt like cooking, and we both were getting a manicure in the late afternoon. We picked up dinner at Jaxon's and Ellen had rented a movie earlier in the day. After we ate, we put on our night gowns, put our feet up and watched "27 Dresses" with Katherine Heigl. We laughed, sipped on Chardonnay, and relaxed. What a great way to end a busy day!

We will keep you posted on the next step of the remodeling! (By the way, Sharon's husband is dog sitting in Nevada! We are glad that he isn't here. He would be a mess by now!)

Until next time. . . . .

NO NAP, YET!!!

Hi, Everybody!
We just thought we would post a short blog about our latest saga! Ellen's bathroom looks absolutely wonderful. Somehow, the man knocked something loose at the point where the intake water goes into the toilet!!! You guessed it--more water troubles!! We actually went to Lowe's twice today. Anyway, to make a long story short. The man across the street is an angel. He saw us trying to turn off the water out front so we could figure out what was wrong. He came to our rescue once again. He sent us to Lowe's for the right parts, and he fixed it so we didn't have to spend lots more of our time and fading energy on this new water problem. (Ellen seems to have everything go wrong with water at once--the water heater, the air conditioner, and now the toilet.)

Sharon had her cabinets refinished, and they look wonderful. We will post a picture of them. In the meantime, she is planning to have new counter tops installed in the kitchen, AND an Extreme Bathroom Make-over in the master bath.

Because of all of this, NO NAPS have been taken lately. Ellen has been off nine days, and Sharon has had NO NAPS!!!!! Ellen doesn't even seem to be sorry! Oh, by the way, did we mention that Sharon had a man come to work on the landscaping in the front yard??? It took the poor fellow and his grandson more than five hours to finish it all.

Until next time.. . . . . . . .

And Then Came Tuesday Evening!

Hello, Everybody!

"Water, water, everywhere, and not a drop to drink." The following are just a few of the pictures we took at Sharon's home on Tuesday evening. It really was quite a sight to see because, after all, this is a desert!

We watched helplessly while a neighbor's recycling bin went down "Rio Pino Real."

The shot below is looking up the street toward the mountain (which we can't see).

The water level is on the rise.

This is all underwater.

This one is a little blurry, but look at the flower pot!

We were beginning to think that we should have invested in a boat!

Yes, it says, "69 degrees."

Fortunately, none of the water came in either of our homes. When this downpour subsided, we went to Ellen's to check on the state of affairs at her home. Ellen has become somewhat paranoid about WATER! All was well on Sierra Valle.

We have since had another day of rain. It is just almost unheard of in this area. This time the rain has been widespread. The paper this morning said that we have had almost three inches of rain in two days! That may not sound like much, but it came within a very short span of time. Our side of the city received 2.5 inches in one hour!! The streets are full of rocks and mud that have washed out of the medians and also peoples' homes. It is such a joy to drive! We are certain that this monsoon season is far from over. We hope that you are high and dry wherever you are!

Until next time ... . . . . . . . . .

Tuesday's Project!

Hello, again!

Remember the air-conditioner condensation pipe?? Here it is, in all of its loveliness! You can tell how the jagged end of the piece of pipe looked.
Sharon used her trusty hack saw to even up the end of the pipe. After talking to Willie, our new best friend, we went to Lowe's to get an elbow piece of PVC and
a longer piece of PVC. Below you can see Sharon working her magic. She is sealing the joints. Ellen fixed her up with a pillow for her knees.

If you are still reading this boring post, you can see below how she put another elbow on the PVC. Then, you can see how she is draining the water into a plastic container. She dug the hole to put the container into. After putting some holes in the bottom of the container, she filled it with rocks.

Voila! Here is the finished product! Afer this picture was taken, we bought a single brick to fill in empty space. (Sharon wants you to know that the spade you see in this picture was her daddy's.)

The concrete is almost dry; however, this picture was taken before the monsoon hit!!!!!!

Stay tuned for our next post! Guess what it is going to be about? WATER!!!

Until next time.... . . . . . . .

Thank God For Real Plumbers!

Hello, Everybody!

Monday came, and along with it, our new best friend! Willie, the plumber, came with the water heater! In the crawl space below the platform which supports the hot water heater and furnace, we found these lovely rocks that were holding down the insulation! If the rocks had not been there, the insulation would have been sucked up into the blower.
This is also the area where the condensation line was dripping because the line to the outside was plugged with dirt and rocks!

Here is the brand new water heater, with a nine year warranty. That should take care of things for awhile! We are not ready for any more water inside the house!

For a touch of beauty and color, we decided to add a picture of a hibiscus that was blooming in Ellen's yard. These plants just seem to bring an aura of peace to our souls!

Until next time. . . . . .