Moving Day....

We are doing the big move today and the smaller stuff tomorrow.

The kids & I visited the house a few weeks back and here is a photo of Hannah out front.

Looking in the front door.
VERY excited about stairs.
Off to pack someo of the final stuff. Movers come in 3 hours.

Great Customer Service

I was reading Eva's post about her florist & I had to write my own about some great customer service I got this past week.

As many of you know, if all goes well I will be moving in 4 days!!!

As part of the repairs on the house, we had to fix 1 window that would not stay up by itself like it should...silly me thought I could fix it. Um, not so much.

So, the day AFTER the final walk through, I am calling every glass repair place I can find and no one can get out before next Monday and there is no guarantee that they will have the parts to fix the window. BTW, that fix is surprisingly expensive.

Anyway, it is Thursday afternoon and I have called about 15 places and finally speak with a really nice guy and tell him my dilemma: selling house on Wednesday, need repair done ASAP.

The nice guy that owned the company told me he would stop at the house on his way to the office (7:15 am) on Friday to see what I needed for the repair and then order the parts and worst case, they would be out on Monday and have it fixed by Monday afternoon. I left the key hidden out front, he called me on the way into the house and then called me with his recommendation about 20 minutes later. He headed on to the office and sent out a technician to do the repair before they headed the Phoenix and then put the key back where they found it. It was done by 10 am on Friday.

I thanked him profusely and he really did not know what to say other than, "you're welcome".

I am thankful that there are nice people who provide great customer service left in this world.

In the end, he didn't have to install new parts but fixed the current parts for 1/2 the cost.

Canned Biscuit Donuts

I don't often watch Paula Dean, not because I don't like her personally but her shows sometimes put me over the edge.

However, today, as we were surfing by she was making donuts out of canned biscuits. What is not to love???

I didn't have cans but I had some frozen ones and just defrosted them.

Part of the illustration on TV was that cutting the donut holes was done using a 2L bottle cap. Hannah was the girl for the job!

Simon is supervising.
She has an old baby spoon to dig out the holes.
Frying them up...that is ME. I am not letting an 8 yo fry donuts.
Since we are in the middle of packing the house for our move, the powdered sugar and cocao is not to be found and so we dusted them with granulated sugar.
They tasted REALLY good!

Packing & Moving

If all goes well, by Labor Day the kids & I will be in a new house about 15 minutes from work.

That alone will be nice since my commute is about 50-75 minutes each way, every day. I get out of work early on Friday's (about 2:30 pm) and every Friday I think that traffic will be different, but it isn't and is just like every other day of the week.

I have been packing and purging and the house is a wreck but am looking forward to the final move.

The kids are doing well but I know the transition and change will be tough so we will work through that as it comes!

Knitting...not so much. I think about it but I only knit a few rows here and there but nothing of great consequence. I am plodding along on the Mystery Stole but am still in chart two, although near the end.

I don't want to jinx things by posting a photo but I will as soon as the ink is dry on the sale of the current home and the purchase of the new home!

First Day of School

After Simon's 5th birthday, he also started Kindergarten this past Tuesday and Hannah started 3rd grade. Some days I wonder where the time has gone.

Here they are in the requisite 1st day of school photo.
My "baby" who was all excited about school.
But, there was a wee bit of apprehension before....
they finally took off and left all the parents behind to go to their classrooms.
Hannah with her friend, Wendy, shortly before she ran off to the big kids playground!

Happy 5th Birthday Simon

We had a small party at McDonald's yesterday for Simon.

His "ice cream" birthday cake (the kids don't eat the cake anyway).
Hannah with Reece.
Simon & the neighbor, Blake.
The whole crew, including Elizabeth on the end.
This morning...with his new bike and presents.
Riding his new bike!
My new phone...I know, it is pink and I am not a huge pink girl but, I like it anyway. At least it won't blend in with the black inside of all my purses!

Sewing...and a surprise

One of the gals at work is having a baby so...I made Pirate washcloths, bigs, burp cloths, a huge receiving blanket and then a light blue receiving blanket with embroidered circus animals.
I also had this on my doorstep this afternoon...the 2008 Knitting Calendar a Day. I got it free for submitting a pattern they did not take but hey, I am always open for free.

Mystery Stole 3

As some of you might remember, I tried the mystery stole along last year and did fine until I got to the part where I had to pull my provisional cast on off of cobweb yarn. Um, it didn't work.

This year, I joined but saw the initial clues on other blogs and did not want to knit another triangular shawl but a rectangle and so did not start but.....it is a rectangle afterall.

This is a photo from the group and it is gorgeous.

I gotta do some stash diving because I know I have two balls and think I might be able to worth with a 3rd close but not the same colored ball to make the 1200 yards. I just have to find the 3rd, almost matching ball that might be in my storage locker...and I am not digging in that thing in 110 F heat!

LACE LEAF SHAWL FINISHED!

I finally finished the lace leaf shawl this past weekend but didn't block it until today.

It is probably about 1000 yards (the skein was ~1200 yards) and it is huge!

You can't see it but there are beads all over the shawl and it is a wee bit heavy. I can't wait until it dries. Of course, given the 100 F temperature today, it won't take too long.
Necklaces...they have been collecting space in boxes in a drawer PLUS they get tangled so.....I had this towel rack for another reason in the house so I pulled it out for my necklaces and it looks great and keeps things clean and untangled.

Happy Independence Day

I hope everyone has a great 4th of July!

We went to the Circus.

Hannah came home from day camp painted up like a clown. Unfortunately, it did not last until Saturday for our trip to the Circus.

I had two extra tickets so we brought along two neighbor girls, Ellen (l) and Moriah (r).
For an hour before the circus, you can go down on the floor and see many of the performers up close and personal.
The girls tried on some costumes.
And, a group photo on our way to the car. We got very lucky with parking and parked in a lot right across the street. The extra $3 was totally worth the ease of getting the auditorium and not having to walk blocks in 110 F heat!
We then went out for dinner at a Mexican restaurant on the west side of Phoenix! Yes, Kristina, it was La Mexicana! Food was as good as always and they had a kids menu, who knew??

The rest of the trip...

We went to Sunset Crater National Monument. Hannah is working on getting the richter scale to measure her earthquake. Sunset Crater in the background. Driving through the monument you could have sworn you were in Hawaii and seeing the lava pits. This volcano erupted about 1000 years ago.
The painted desert is in the background but you can't see it. As you are driving through it, you think you are in a painting of the desert. Truly amazing!
More of the painted desert....
Wapatki National Monument in the distance.
You can do a self guided walking tour, which we did....

The kids over the blow hole...their favorite part. It is a natural fissure in the earth which blows out 65F air in the middle of summer. It was like natural air conditioning!
The trio at the monument.
In the distance...
Sunday we went to the Rainbow Trout Farm in Sedona, Az where fishing is a sure thing.
Hannah had to hold the pole while I got the fish into the net above water.
Hannah's catch...
The fishing trio...
Simon pulling in his catch...
Supervising the catch.
We actually ate the trout for dinner on Sunday night. A bit expensive but you are paying for the experience which was worth every dime!

Flagstaff

We drove up on Friday afternoon. Traffic was not nearly as bad as I thought it might be and we arrived around 5 pm. We had dinner on the patio at a pizza restaurant, which the kids wanted, and had a nice time.

Saturday we had a full day. We went to the Pioneer History Museum outside of Flagstaff where the kids explored an old fashioned train.

Then it was off to the Sky Ride. My view on either side of the chair.

It is a long way up but so pretty!
The view from the top!
Hannah wanted to take some photos so she took one of the new sign for the top of the mountain.
And this lovely view!
We could see for miles on the way down although both kids pretty much put their heads under the blanket I brought most of the way down. Going down on a chair lift is always a bit scary, even to me but the view made it worth it.
Next post....Sunset Crater & Wapatki Monument.