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CARLANNIE's Recent Blog Entries
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Thursday, May 16, 2013
Birds of all sorts have been flocking to our feeders. They love cracked sunflower seeds and thistle. A little expensive to keep this habit up, but we are getting great enjoyment out of it. Oh - the Orioles seem to be crowding out the hummingbirds at their feeder.
So I thought I'd just share a few of the photos I was able to snap. Not as good as my SP friend Hickcok-Haley, but fun nonetheless.
We have American Gold Finch, Grosbeaks, Red-winged Blackbirds, Lazuli Buntings (they are gorgeous!), Cassin's Finch, Orioles and Robins. And there are always those pesky Starlings and Magpies that keep hanging around. The pidgeons and doves keep their watch at a distance. Oh - and a Bald Eagle drifted around the draw yesterday. Lots of activity.
And here is Misty, ever in search of tulips. She loves them! We have to be on her constantly so she doesn't eat them. I've read they are poisonous to dogs. You'll be glad to know the bunch in this photo is still standing!
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
We lucked out! Arrived in Seattle yesterday, nice sunny day, today the same. Hoping for more of the same tomorrow, and maybe even Friday when we get to see a Mariner's Game! Crossing fingers.
I've gotten a lot of steps in, walking up and down and all around. Fun, fun. And this gorgeous bouquet of flowers from Pike's Street Market was only $10. Makes my day!
Tulips! Spring is officially here!!!
Sunday, April 14, 2013
An update on our move. After 17 years living in the same house, and accumulating not only our stuff but stuff our kids left behind, we sold our home and moved to a new location in the valley. It's been one week since the movers finished moving in our furniture, and I'm proud to say there is not a single unpacked box left in the house.
My goodness, the past three weeks have been something for the record books. I've worn my pedometer continuously, and I kept logging in around 20,000 steps each day, just from packing and unpacking and putting away, etc. Even now, I'm right around 10,000, and that's without taking an actual walk for exercise! I know this number will go down as I get back to a normal routine this week and my Desk Job demands more attention. But I have dropped some serious poundage over the course of the move and I'm very happy about that - YES!
So I'll just share a couple of photos of our new home. It's on 5 acres and I'm still relishing the elbow room that affords. And the views are wonderful!
Here's my sewing studio. One of the bedrooms was large enough to fit my long arm machine in, sewing table, cutting table, a dresser, etc.!
Here's my sewing space. I still need to get some quilts hung on the walls, but I need to sew in hanging corners for them. Then the room will be all bright and cheery!
And look at this big closet - enough room for my stash. I could be stranded in my house and be able to sew for years to come with all the fabric I seem to have collected!
And the kitchen is wonderful - I have cupboards and drawers with nothing in them because there are so many. I'm amazed.
And last, but not least, is one of the coolest things about our new home. We have a herd of deer that seem to like to graze in the fields. Usually they've come out to eat at dusk, but yesterday they joined us for lunch! Often times there are 17, but only about 8 this time. Hopefully they won't come right up to the house and eat the flowers!
As you can tell, Spring is just beginning to introduce itself to us this year. One of these days the daffodils and tulips will blossom - can't wait!
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
The great thing about quilting is that you can't put food in your mouth when you're concentrating on keeping the quilting lines where they are supposed to be!
I've been working on a quilt for a customer and got it finished yesterday. I can only offer a sneak peak because it will be published in one of her upcoming books soon, but wanted to share. The colors and pattern really grew on me as I worked the quilt, and I hated to give it back to her.
 I
I've turned down other quilting projects for the next three weeks while we are in the midst of moving. I need to hire someone to come move my long arm machine (if you ever wonder why it's so costly to hire a long armer, I could tell you. I have to pay $800 for the Gammill reps to come up, move it and set it up again! They have to drive 4 hours one way, so it's a spendy proposition.)
Anyway, I think my point was that I have been so busy this week that I'm not eating/snacking, and my body is really liking me for it. Go figure!
(Oops - can't see the quilting too well in these SP photos. But trust me, it's there!)
Sunday, March 10, 2013
What a whirlwind the last week has been. We left on vacation last Saturday, and that Thursday evening, we got a call from our realtor that we had an offer on our house! After 4 months, someone wanted to buy it. So Friday we counter-offered, they accepted, we squealed, and urgently got all the paperwork together before we took off. We are making a move out of town to a five-acre parcel in the country, only about 4 miles away. But the purchase of that house was contingent on selling ours, and the contract time was about up for us buying the new house. So thanks to the skillfulness of our realtor, the timeliness of our buyers, and our realtor praying for a workable solution, this move is really happening!
OMG - it's really happening!
We've been in this house for 17 years, and still have boxes of things from the kids. We're moving into a home with the same square footage, but less rooms, so it's time to downsize. I'm silently freaking out inside - how am I going to mix work with packing, arranging, deciding, hauling, cleaning. Yikes! The vacation was really nice, because I put all these thoughts on the back burner and just enjoyed the vacation. We went with friends, and so it was a great distraction. But now? Yep, now I'm freaking out.
So, our work begins. I'm making lists today. We should close on our house March 25 and then close on the new house March 28. Then we have until April 7 to be completely moved out of here. Our buyers graciously have given us 2 weeks rent-free to move (wonderful!!!) since they are buying our house as a second home and plan on remodeling. So, everything is doable - except squeezing that Day Job in there.
Maybe I should look at this as a blessing - I'll be so dang busy, I won't have time to snack! And I'll get lots of good exercise in packing and hauling boxes up and down stairs and around and about. It will all be good in the end. Just makes for a crazy spring!
Oh - I have two neat photos to share from our vacation. The first is a javalina that cruised through the patio restaurant at The Golf Club at Vistoso near Tucson - they eat most anything and I guess he was just hungry, but what a strange sight to see him right next to your table! The other was a hummingbird nest with the mom/dad protecting its contents. The nest was only about an inch high. Way cool.
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