Sahuaro Ranch!

First I want to start by thanking you all, so very much, for the prayers and kind words :)

Things are not easy right now, but we're plugging along and pushing through and just letting God guide us.

I can tell you that both hubby and I are extremely stressed at this moment, especially knowing that we are but 3 weeks away from leaving and heading back home.  One thing we do know for sure, we will be fine, way or the other.

So again, thank you for your prayers and please continue to pray for our family, we really could use it.

Anyway, this morning we headed to one of our favorite places, the Sahuaro Ranch.  It was actually one of the first places we visited when we first moved to Arizona, and I did take quite a few pictures that day and shared them here.

One of my favorite things to do at the Ranch is to take the free house tour.  It is just so gorgeous in there, and I was all set to take some photos for you all, but they've changed the rules and you're not allowed to take any inside.  Bummer.  I wish I could have showed you the kitchen.....droolage galore.

The surrounding houses are closed to the public, but you can see inside through the glass windows, I tried my best to get a picture of the ONE item that immediately caught my eyes :)

Oh my!

I keep saying that I want to live a simple life and I can tell you that anytime I find myself in one of these old 1800's homes, I feel like I'm HOME. My family always says "you would be happy living here wouldn't you?" and I don't even have to answer, all I need to do is smile, they get it :)

That is the main house, isn't it gorgeous?

The property is surrounded by beautiful, tall palm trees.

One of the biggest attractions to this area, are the Rose Gardens. I took some photos of me and the kids, my in laws and the hubby and I, back in 2009.

In the 1890's the family brought over a few peacocks and to this day, the park has quite a few descendants still roaming around. They are gorgeous, and the kids love watching them.

They also have tons of chickens, though didn't see any today, not sure where they were.

It really feels like you've stepped back in time. It's a little bit of history preserved in a fast paced city. Cars, gas stations, fast food places and then there it is....smack dab in the middle.

This next picture was taken from outside peeking in through the glass window, hence the quality is not that great, but I still like it and I wouldn't mind a little dining area just like that one.

I could easily spend the whole day just taking pictures and enjoying the park, but it's so hot here already.  We were there at 9:30 am and it was 100 degrees, I don't think I need to tell you that it made it quite uncomfortable to the point where Jasmine started feeling really sick, got all pale and I thought the child was going to pass out.

The dairy barn.  I have such a strong pull to old buildings like these.

We weren't there for long, like I said Jasmine started feeling sick and we managed to get in on a quick house tour before high tailing out of the sun.

It's been a very lazy, laid back, relaxed day.  Watched National Lampoon's European Vacation this afternoon, I do so love the 80's comedies they were so funny, nothing like the trash on TV today.  I may watch Funny Farm or Three Amigos tonight, not sure yet :)

For now, I'm going to enjoy the sandwich my husband made me, check my email, maybe get in some blog visiting and who knows what else.

Have yourselves a lovely Saturday night and again thank you, from the bottom of my heart for all the love you constantly shower upon me.  I'm ever so thankful :)

Prayers please!!!!

After my post yesterday, we were thrown a HUGE wrench which left us completely stressed out.

I don't want to go into details, but I am asking you all for prayers sent our way, please, we really need them right now.

God Bless!

The good, the bad, the expected ugly and the here and now!

Are you ready for it?  Because I plan on taking you along with me and making you watch as I go through the ups and downs, the laughs and the cries and all the other interesting moments of packing a home, 2 kids, 2 dogs, a turtle and a betta fish, driving 13 hours across States and then.............you ready?????????  Living in a motel room for almost a month.

Dun Dun Dun!

This is the part where most would start crying, screaming and stomping their feet.  I already did that, well the teary part at least, I didn't scream nor stomp my feet, but I'm sure that will come eventually in the next few weeks.  LOL

I'm not going to lie because the thought of being in a motel room that long is not exactly appealing to me, or anyone for that matter.  But, when it has to be done, it has to be done.

The Good

After shopping around for a while and house hunting, we narrowed it down to two houses and just when we went to put an offer on the one, someone beat us to it and it was sold.  Oh well...that's fine, because the other house was our first pick to begin with and that one we put an offer on AND it was accepted, we got the phone call this morning bright and early.  YAY!

Now the fun begins, money starts flying out of the account, emails, phone calls, contracts and gazillion pages of paperwork.  I've become quite proficient at signing my name and cranking out initials.  Long process, but it will be worth it.

Do you want to see the house????  I have a few pictures I can show you.

Family room and look at that huge fireplace *drool*

Huge laundry and mud room with built in cabinetry

Dining room, again lots of storage

Back yard.  Oh my word, look it's a privacy fence not a chain link one and I don't have to see the neighbors and they don't have to see me.

The Bad

Paperwork back and forth, appraisals and inspections, closing dates yadda yadda yadda and it's been pushed to July 15th.  Do you know what that means???

It means we get into town June 29th and then have to stay in a motel until the closing date.  *Hold me*

That means 2 adults, 2 kids and 2 dogs in a one bedroom with two beds, for at least 2 weeks.  I swear when I first found this out I went into panic mode, I mean it's not exactly what I had in mind, I was totally hoping to drive into my own driveway and move in....quite naively I must say, but hey a girl can dream right?

This box as now been named "Motel Survival Box". This is going to be some adventure, I can tell you now. LOL

There's no way we can afford to eat out every day and every single meal, so I'll be cooking out of a motel room. Ever had to do it yourself? Send me some tips. Never had to do it? Stay tuned because by the time this is over you'll know how to.

The room will have a microwave and refrigerator so that will help immensely. I'll have a crockpot, a coffeemaker and a griddle, meals will be very very simple.

Am I looking forward to this, I would say yes and no actually. I would much rather not have to go through it but we deal with the hand we're dealt and make the most of it. I'm sure I'll have plenty of stories to keep you amused, because I WILL be blogging it all thanks to motel WIFI.

The Expected Ugly

Because folks, it's going to get ugly at some point, you can count on it. There's no way around it when you have that amount of living things in one small space for such a long time. Kids already fight constantly in a big house, I'm sure the rivalry will reach new levels in a few weeks LOL

And I can't exactly state that I'll be Miss goody goody, I'm sure things will start getting to me too, but I plan on having my computer, my camera and my Kindle and Bible nearby. I'll be clutching the Lord's hand so tightly I may just cut off circulation to His fingers, but He'll understand.

The Here and Now

I'm weaving through boxes, this house has become an obstacle course, which is fine during the day, but a pain in the behind at night when your toes jab into box corners.

And my kitchen looks so empty and sad. I may not have much at my disposal anymore, but I have pudding ya'll. I'm good to go.

So you see, life really is sweet as pie, it is what you make of it, and you can either choose to cry and moan and be miserable through it all, or you can take everything that comes and see the opportunities in it.

Stay in a motel for almost a month??? We'll call it a vacation since we haven't had one in a very long time.

I'm literally stopping to smell the flowers because I know it's going to be one heck of a ride for the next two months.

I just hope you have the patience to put up with me, it's going to get interesting, that's for sure :)

What a crazy ride....

First and foremost, I miss you guys.  I miss catching up with you, I miss reading your blogs and I miss my daily posts on here.  I am so looking forward to being back in Idaho and to settling into my new life and getting back to blogging.

It hasn't been too long since my last post, actually it was just 3 days ago, but it feels like 3 weeks, and I guess it's because I was so used to being on here every day that I'm finding it a little weird not coming in and chatting.

It's now 9:30pm and here I am, writing this post before I go to bed.  The family and I have just finished watching National Lampoon's Vacation, one of our favorite movies, we always laugh so hard and say that if this was us going on vacation across the country, it would probably end up the same way.  Hahah

So, now onto what I've been doing the past few days.

Friday morning, Curt and I had an appointment at the Airman and Family Readiness Center, we had to go over all the retirement paperwork and SGLI benefits etc.  It's never something I'm comfortable talking about and I felt like a nut getting teary when talking about my husband's death and what it would mean for me and the children, but it's one of those necessary things to have done and taken care of.

After doing that, we ran a few errands around base, dropped off paperwork, picked up other paperwork, then came home to get my Durango ready to be picked up.

If you've been reading my blog for years you will know that the Durango was my dream car for many many years and I was beyond ecstatic the it came home.

Unfortunately for many years it's given us problems and we've fixed this and that and it just seemed to keep needing repairs.  Someone made a good offer on it and we decided it was the best time to part with it especially with the upcoming move.

Ladies, it was SO hard to so goodbye to it, I bawled like a baby, I can't even tell you.

This was right before they loaded her up. It was heart wrenching for me, isn't that crazy?? Anyway, it will be fixed and taken care of and that's all that matters, it's time for me to move forward and concentrate on other things.

That was my Friday, lots of emotions and ups and downs. It did end on a good note with some yummy homemade pizza. Food does help doesn't it?

I tried a new pizza dough out, mainly because I didn't realize I was out of yeast and so baking powder it was and wouldn't you know it? The tastiest, crispiest thin pizza ever. So good.

Saturday I took a little break from packing and headed outside with my camera. Ever since our garden in the front has bloomed, we've had a crazy amount of butterflies around and I do so love them. Usually they won't stop long enough for me to capture them on camera, but these guys seemed to be enjoying the flowers and so I snapped away :)

Sunday was a rest day for the most part, I packed one box and then called it good.  I swear this heat just sucks the energy out of a person, we've been in the triple digits and hit 110 on Sunday.  Good grief.

Hubby took the kids and I to our favorite Mexican restaurant.  Am definitely going to miss it and the good Mexican food in Arizona.

Which brings us to today, and house hunting, oh boy. Well Curt was supposed to go up to Idaho next week to look at some houses but the move is coming up very fast and quite frankly between his truck needing new tires before we leave, car registrations for both vehicles are due now, the cost of the road trip up there, plus hotels, plus closing costs on the house we get etc....it is just not something we can do right now.

So we have someone working with us up there, they are our eyes and ears, there have been extensive phone calls and emails and photos back and forth and a gazillion questions answered, and we had narrowed it down to two houses. Unfortunately one got an offer on it today so it's out of the question, left us with the other one....and we made an offer on it today. Now, we wait.

If it's meant to be then we'll be home owners shortly, if not, then I guess our quest continues until the right house comes along.

Either way, I know that God is already there and He already has our home prepared for our homecoming, and that is fine with me :)

And just like I said previously, what keeps me grounded, aside from my family and our amazing Lord, is the ability to stop and surround myself with things that make us smile.  Like baking a cake, a German Chocolate cake with Coconut Pecan, and mind you not made from scratch, cause you know sometimes it feels good to just do it the easy way.

That's what's been going on around here.  I can hardly believe that in 3 weeks and 4 days we will be driving out of here.  It's been a long 6 years on this base and we're ready to move on.

I do so hope that you've all been doing well, and I can't wait to come around and see what you've been up to.  For now though, I'm taking myself to bed and hoping for a better night, I didn't get much sleep last night, kept tossing and turning and thinking and rethinking, drives me nuts when you wake up for a split second and then can't get back to bed, and it's usually when your mind decides to go into overdrive.

Anyway, time to hit the sheets.  Have a great night, or morning depending on where and when you're reading this :)

God Bless,

Happy Homemaker Monday - 06/03/2013

Good Morning ladies :)
Oh I am missing my blog something fierce, I can't believe the last update was on Thursday.  I am just so very busy around here and time is flying, in just 3 weeks we will be on the way to Idaho.  Goodness!

Anyway, on to today's Happy Homemaker Monday!


The weather.....Let's just say it's one of the reasons I will be glad to see this place in my rearview mirror.  It is HOT here people, already in the triple digits and yesterday we hit 110 degrees.  Gross!  

Right now I am....Making a mental checklist of what I have going on today and setting aside time to come and update you all on the move and show you some pictures I took over the past few days.

  
Thinking....that I didn't get much sleep last night, and I'm tired and wish I could still be in bed.

On my reading pile....Still have The Dashwood Sisters Tell All by Beth Patillo, but haven't had a chance to do much reading, also been doing the Faithlife Bible Connect the Testaments Devotionals and really enjoying those.

On my TV.....Well, I've cancelled Dish Network so everything I had on the DVR is gone as of today, and we won't have dish either.  It's only 3 weeks and we have Netflix and the internet, so we'll be fine.  I have to catch up on BBC's The Tudor Court Season so that will entertain me while I pack boxes. 

 
What I found while surfing the net....Not much, considering my internet surfing the past week has consisted of Zillow for house hunting.  If you didn't know about that website I guess that would be something new??? 

 
On the menu for this week....Very very very easy food, nothing new, no recipes from cookbooks or anything like that.  I am packing up much of the kitchen so I really don't have much to cook with right now, so I asked the kids and hubby to give me meal ideas for easy things, and together made the menu....

Monday - Fried Chicken with milk gravy, Mashed Potatoes
Tuesday - Fish Sticks, Potato Salad, Veggies
Wednesday - Garlic Beef and Broccoli with Rice
Thursday - Oven Chili Dogs, Fries
Friday - Crazy Pizza Bread
Saturday - Portuguese Pork Chops,  and Potatoes
Sunday - Shepherd's Pie

On my to do list....
Laundry
Attend a briefing with hubby
Contact local post office in Idaho for General Delivery options for mail
Book motel for trip
Call Housing Maintenance to find out when they're returning to fix my shower
Talk to realtor


In the craft basket....All my projects have been abandoned for now and I can't tell you how much I'm missing them, but alas I won't have time to touch anything for a while.

Looking forward to this week....Moving things along with the house and the move.  I don't like the in betweens of moving, I am one of those people that would rather find out I'm moving today and be told I have to leave that same week so I can go and start getting my life together.  hahaha   

Looking around the house....There are boxes everywhere and empty walls.  It doesn't look like a home anymore and that makes me feel slightly frazzled. 

From the camera....

On my prayer list.....Friends and family, as always.
My husband and I, for this move to go smoothly, for the house we're buying, for the trip, for everything that is coming our way. 


Bible verse, Devotional....Do you favor justice or mercy? Trick question. Both responses are technically incorrect: God's ways require mercy and justice. Mercy cannot be fully known without perfect justice, and justice without mercy is harsh and graceless.