ANOTHER PLAY DATE

This time it was in my sewing room! And I must say it was time together that we both needed! In many of the sewing blogs I have been reading everyone is talking about getting organized this month. So here are my before and after shots. I admit that showing anyone the before pictures makes me feel vulnerable- like I am standing naked before you. So I want everyone to understand that my sewing room in no way represents the condition of any other room in my home! Infact, in every other aspect of my life I am obsessed with organization. But when I step into that one room it is like a switch is flipped and some other part of my brain takes over, order becomes choas and I don't care! I feel free and inspired, ready to create. But I can't create a masterpiece without my scissors and when I can't even find the fabric I want to use it is time to do restore order. So over a couple of days I went through every drawer, cabinet and magazine. I eliminated two bags of fabrics and about 30 magazines. I kept the magazine articles I thought important and filed them in binders. Patterns and fabric received their fair share of attention and everything has a label. Now I am ready to sew-- if I can find my scissors!

PLAY DATES

We have been home a week now and it has been euphoric. The first couple of days I took to unload the coach, put up all the clothes, groceries and "the stuff" we seem to think we need whenever we go somewhere. On Sunday we had our Nascar obsessed family over to watch The Daytona 500. And then on Monday I had a play date with Grace. She was out of school for President's Day and we made the most of our day together. We played with her new dollhouse, she sketched and colored clothes for her paperdolls and we played dress-up! I knew there was a reason I saved an entire closet of pagent clothes from the late '80's and early '90's. The first dress she wanted to wear is a dark green beaded wool crepe by Carmen Marc Valvo. As she was walking to the mirror she said, "I feel so good!" and her sweet little face showed her true excitement. I used this as a teaching moment and told her that when a girl takes care of herself and pays attention to her appearance it does make her feel good. After a few more evening dresses she was ready to go casual with a cowgirl theme. Then she remembered her makeup and thought she needed apply a little lipstick so she would "really look like a woman". Do you think she likes the camera?

RELECTIONS ON HOME

We have been on the road now for 3 weeks and pretty much all I have thought about for those 3 weeks was going home! At first that bothered me- I kept thinking what is wrong with you? It's freezing and miserable weather at home and you are enjoying warm sunshine and lots of down time. But the more I thought about it I realized I just miss my life- my family, my friends, my home, my sewing room- all these things bring me contentment and joy. Now what could be wrong with that? Nothing, I have decided. Rather it is a blessing to have a life that you long for. Thankfully, Jim was on the same page so we will be home tonight- 3 weeks early! I was also reminded that life does come in seasons. There was a season when I would have been kicking and screaming if leaving for home early was even considered. I must admit that this change of heart in large part may be due to Grace, our six year old grandaughter.
She asked me why we would be gone so long and when I told her we leave for better weather it sounded like a pretty lame reason. And from the look on her sweet face she thought so too.

SAD NEWS

On the local news tonight they announced that a young woman, an experienced hiker, fell to her death yesterday on the trail on Camelback Mountain. She was hiking alone and was not discovered until her family reported her missing. This is just another sad reminder that you should never hike alone and should always stay on the trail. She did follow one important rule- her family knew where she was going.

SUNSET IN YUMA

My camera just doesn't do justice to the beauty God created.

ON TO YUMA

After only two weeks in Casa Grande we decided to go to Yuma, AZ for a few days with our friends Leonard and Peggy. We drove through Yuma a few years ago on our way to San Diego and from the highway the entire town looked like one hugh trailer park. So I was a bit surprised to discover that I actually liked it. It does have a nice shopping area but it is not as developed as Phoenix or Casa Grande. It was more like the Arizona I knew 20 years ago when we first started coming here.

We stayed on our friends, the Crainshaw's, lot in an area just outside of Yuma called the Foothills. The weather was perfect, the view of the mountains was incredible and the beautiful sunsets are an everyday occurance. We saw the dam, the sand dunes, the border fence and acres of farm land. We stopped at the Imperial Date Company for a date shake, delicious! Did you know that there are male and female date trees? But the big shock, throughout the desert there are hundreds of motorhomes just parked along the way, dry camping. The people stay there for weeks or months, without electricity, water or sewer. They have trucks that come by and pump out the sewer and refill the water tanks and many have large solar panels to generate some power. NO thank you!

ON THE ROAD

I thought you might like to see how we live while on the road. I know some poeple must think it a crazy way to travel but it has certainly been an great way for us to travel the country and to escape the winter weather.
We have all the amenities of home including a dishwasher, a washer and dryer, a side by side fridge and two flat screen tv's. The bedroom has a king size bed and lots of closet space. The bath area has two sinks- a must for continued happiness in this marriage. The only thing that is missing is a sewing room!

The coach is 45 feet long and we tow an SUV so when we are going down the road we are as long a semi truck. And yes I can drive! I don't drive alot (the law doesn't allow Jim to get that much valium at one time)but I do know how just in case an emergency arises.