Our Home

At the end of February we have been our home for 23 years.  In March we celebrated our 24th wedding anniversary. 

Needless to say our home has undergone some changes during that time.  Four years ago we had a big remodel.  I have been seeing pictures on my Memories on Facebook.  On one of my pictures the caption said, new paint for the soon to be guest room.  Little did I know in April that by November my guest room 

would house two little girls.

So Mr. B doesn't want to park on the street any more because, the second night we owned the new to us van someone came and broke his window.  So he has been parking behind me in the drive way. I park in the garage.  So it is a pain, to have to pull out his van if I need to leave before him in the morning.  So he is taking down the side yard and leveling it so he can pull in and park on the side of the garage.  The way he talks this will be a long process. 

So the first steps were to remove the bricks.  Our big boys helped him put them in and Bigger Bit helped him take them down. Our poor mail box is leaning against the wall and is very wobbly. 

Next someone with some kind of machine, (Back Hoe, I just asked Mr. B, what it was.) I had forgotten what kind. I wasn't here when it happened, removed the side wall and leveled off the dirt.  

The third step is a truck full of tree chippings to fill it in. That came yesterday morning and he parked there last night.  

Yes it is a two car garage but with a big son's broken motorcycle in it and four bikes and extra stuff there is no room for two vehicles. 

The street view.  Yes I can get out if I need to.

In the future, he wants to remove and rebuild the wall on the side and fix the mail box, nice like our neighbors and pave the area. Don't hold your breath hubby takes a while to do things.

In November of 2014 we planted a stick of a Palo Verde tree in our front yard.  I received the tree for attending a free class on how to reduce electricity use in our homes by planting shade trees.  I earned two of them, but the one in the back died. 

Here it is in March of 2015.  We were excited it had survived winter and it actually bloomed.  As you can 

see it is still a pit of a twig.

Here it is this year.  We thought we had lost it last summer because Mr. B whacked it with the edge trimmer.  I wasn't sure it was OK until I saw it bloom this year.  I was so happy to see this.  As you can see it is more than a twig.  It is suppose to be full grown in 5 to 6 years.  We have had it about 18 months. 

The only problem with trees that bloom, is the blooms fall off.  Here is one on the ground, it won't be a big problem now but when it is full grown it will be like yellow snow all over the ground. 

It is my second favorite tree in Arizona. 

My favorite is a Jacaranda.

Have a great day!

Pre-Christmas the Tree

The girls were a tremendous help this year. I set up the tree, Bigger Bit helped spread all the branches.  I put on the lights and Bigger Bit helped.  Both of them did all the ornaments. I mean all the ornaments.  Plus all the Nativity scenes and I have a few.  The Nativity scenes are arranged a little different but I left them that way.  She left out my pretty white paper one but that is OK. I took me a while to figure out why there was so much more room than usual. It is all good. 

See what a good job they did! Bigger Bit really likes my bubble candles. I found some replacement ones I should go put them on the tree to see if they bubble better, than my old ones. 

I purchased an ornament for each of them from the Nutcracker Boutique so they would have a memory of the ballet. They placed them together.  Here is Little Bit pointing to them. 

Here is the close up of the ornaments.  Do I have to tell who which child got which ornament?

Here we all are sitting and enjoying the tree when it was done. 

It was fun to watch Little Bit dancing with my Nutcracker just like Claire does in the Ballet.  I didn't get a picture of her. 

Have a wonderful time preparing for Christmas and think of the blessing of our Savior. 

Long Overdue Post

I have been meaning to write this for awhile but I get busy and I was sick so it didn't get done.  I decided today was the get it done day.  So be forward it is picture heavy!

I am starting with our new tree.  You can see the post of the first picture I took of it in 2010.  It was planted in 2009.  Every year I take a picture and I don't see any real growth.  This year it is different, I see some real growth.  We need it to shade the front of the house since it faces West.  

That little twig on the right is now our new tree.  So I guess I'll call the other tree our 2009 tree and this one the new one.  A Palo Verde Tree which is supposed to be full grown in 5 years.  I'll keep you posted.  It did get some yellow blooms on it this year.  I loved to see them in bloom but they are messy when they all fall off.  Here is a link to tell you more about the tree.

Christmas stocking update.  I have been working on this stocking for a long time and some nights I do six stitches and wonder why I bothered.  This last Saturday I had nowhere to go and I did some quilting on a friend's quilt and some stitching on Little Bit's stocking.  Bigger Bit wants to know when I will work on her stocking.  

I was thinking last night, "WOW I only have one more stitch to make and I can start the little angel in the middle."  

NOT so!  When I took my picture this morning I could see I still have the large flower on the right to make.  It felt good while it lasted.  

Now for the other project I have been working on.  This is the quilt I am quilting for a friend.  One of her friends made the top from her old Hard Rock Cafe t-shirts.  

I was given the honor of quilting it for her.  This picture is when I was pressing it.  It is 3 across and four rows down.

Here it is on the frame with the first pass completed.  I am just doing Loop de Loops with a star thrown in there every once in a while.  

First pass, such fun colors. 

Shortly after I passed the mid-way point I ran out of thread.  I was so happy that it waited until I finished the row I was working on, so I took a picture!  Perfect timing. 

Yes my buttons on my controller are taped down, they keep popping off.  At least this way I can't lose the tiny little things. 

And this is how far I have come, and I hope to finish it today or tomorrow.  Well I still have to put the binding on for her, since she isn't a quilter.  She is my scrapbooking and genealogy buddy. 

Well happy stitching!!

Tree Update

When we first purchased our home we had two Eucalyptus trees out front. The were tall and messy always dropping branches and limbs. After we had a new roof placed on the house in 2004 we cut the trees down in 2005. This is the house with the two trees in front as we were getting the new roof. As you can see the one tree is very tall and all we needed was it to drop a limb onto the house, like a hole in the head.


I remember the day well,when I came home from work and pulled into the drive way I thought I was at the wrong house. A friend from church cut them down for us as a service project. I keep thinking my house doesn't look right, this can't be the right house, but the number is right and the street is right. That is how different it looked.



We had to wait 3 to 5 years before we could plant a new tree to allow time for the roots to break up. So last March we planted this little tree. I had decided to mark it's growth each year. Believe me there were times during the summer I wasn't sure it was going to make it. But as you can see a year later it is doing fine. My husband deep waters it like he should.

You might also notice I have a second rose bush also. It's so small next to my white rose bush. I wish I could grow gardenias and Lilies of the Valley. My two favorite flowers more than roses, but roses grow good here in AZ.