T for Tempe

When we got married at the end of 2000, we bought this tiny 848 sq. ft. house in Tempe, Arizona. This was our first house. We paid $69,000 for this 1959 bungalow. It had 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, a tiny kitchen and a tiny living room. It had never been remodeled. The floors were painted concrete. The whole (848 sq. ft.) house had only four fuses! In the picture is the new sidewalk (it didn't have one when we bought it). Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport replaced the windows, doors, insulation, swamp cooler, (did I mention ... it didn't have air conditioning), the heater and the roof two years after we bought the house. We had to sign an agreement not to sue the airport for the noise.

The washer and dryer and the water heater were outside in the back yard. To help with the spiders, dust, ..... in my "laundry room," hubby built a little wooden room for me. It cut down on some of the dust, but I had to take a broom to sweep away all the spiders.

Our dining room was in the back yard too. Hubby built a "deck" out of old pallet wood. We put the table and chairs under our tangerine tree.

He also built himself a wood shop out the old pallet wood. We lived in that house until 2004 when the market went sky high. All these little houses by Tempe Town Lake and ASU were going for $300,000 and up. We had many offers for this tiny little house within minutes of the listing. We sold it, of course, and with lots of cash in our wallet, we bought our current house. So T for Tempe and lots of memories (and cash). Check out the other T's at http://unglazed.blogspot.com/

Just a note

Just a note from me to you;
Since April we have had company - First, his ex-wife and her husband, then my sister several times (the graduation and wedding), then the grand kids for over a month..... my husband throws a Labor Day party at our house (I do all the work) and we found yesterday hubby's brother is coming to stay with us in September. :(
The closed sign I published was for my house. I'm beginning to think we run a bed and breakfast (no one pays us though). If my visits aren't as frequent as before, I'm getting ready for the party and more company :(
I will still post (especially on Monday - I like coming up with words for letters). And Bandit's first birthday is coming up in September.... "the birthday girl." So is mine ( a BIG one).
Soooooo..... later alligator

Closed - One Word Wednesday

U is for Underwear :)

One of the house in the neighborhood is up for sale. This house is gorgeous. It has everything! And.... for $2.5 million it should! One of the things that was not listed in the amenities of the house was the view.

Yes, they forgot to mention the view of the Underwear(see it?) on the clothes line at the house directly across the street. I wonder if that helps in the sale of this fantastic house???Check out the other U's at http://unglazed.blogspot.com/

One Word Wednesday

BANDIT!

V is for Valley of the Sun

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_metropolitan_area If you click on this link you'll find that Phoenix is known as the "Valley of the Sun."
I tried to post pictures but the picture "thingy" is not working for me today. We are all enjoying the heat in Phoenix - hope your day is great too! Check out the other V's at http://unglazed.blogspot.com/

I'm farming :)

I am addicted to Farmtown. The grandkids did it - they got me hooked! I went from level 1 to level 24 in just two short weeks. Soooooooo......... If you don't see me online, I'm farming :)

Earthquake felt in Phoenix

Yesterday there was an earthquake in Baja California, Mexico. This 6.9 earthquake was felt 460 miles away in Phoenix. They showed on the news a pool in Surprise, Arizona :::shaking::: It happened at 12:59pm. I was not home at the time. I did not feel the earthquake. I did notice my mirror while I was out and about yesterday. I took a picture of the mirror with my new phone. Although I didn't feel the earthquake, I did feel the 119 degrees heat!

W is for Waco, Texas

reminds me of... the ones I love:::: deep in the heart of Waco, Texas

the first time he came home from Iraq (2004 - 2009)
check out the other W's at http://unglazed.blogspot.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcVSxcgrhOs

$479.26

Our house is all electric - all the houses in this neighborhood are. We knew when we bought this house the electric bills would be high in the summer. This July has been really hot. We had the grandkids stay during July (not normally a good time to visit in Arizona).
I opened up the SRP bill this morning...... I hope you all are sitting down. The bill for July was $479.26. In the four years we have owned this house, that is the highest electric bill so far. So I thought I'd brighten your day - when you open your electric bill, it could be worse. Happy Friday!

Eat Cookies :)

I've had two phones just plain DIE on me recently. I've been trying to wait until it got closer to the day I could get a new phone on my plan. Phewwwww .... I made it! (barely) I went in and bought the new TMobile G1 phone. Yesterday when I was in Fry's (our local grocery store), I decided to try out the camera. I took this picture and sent it to me. Then downloaded it from my email. Amazing! I know that's been out for a long time but.... this is the first time I've been able to do that. I love new toys :)

X for Xerothermic

Xerothermic
–adjective
1.
of or pertaining to the condition of being dry and hot: a xerothermic climate.
2.
adapted to an environment that is dry and hot: a xerothermic organism.
Origin: 1900–05
I looked up all the words that start with X. This word seemed to fit PhoeniX "to an X" - being dry and hot .... yep, that's how it is here. I would think the easiest job in PhoeniX would be a weatherperson. "And how is the weather today?" Dry and Hot! We are Xerothermic!
Check out the other X's on Monday at:http://unglazed.blogspot.com/

Is my Blog jealous?

Google Blogger is not allowing me to comment or see followers (my page or yours). I'm hoping it's something that is being fixed by blogger. If it is on my end - I don't have a clue how to fix this. It's happened before. I tried removing some widgets and that fixed the problem (before). Not this time!
Right before the kids left they had me join Facebook. I can see their pictures and play some computer games with them. I'm wondering....... Is my blog jealous of Facebook? Maybe it sees me spending time there instead my blog? I could use hubby's computer to "Facebook" but will it still see me? The computers are in the same room. Did my blog secretly mess itself up so I would come back off of Facebook to spend more time on it......?
Anyone know how to fix the comment/follower problem?

I miss you!

It lightning and thundered and rained the night before - yesterday morning it was raining. I love rain! It is such a rare and special occasion for it to rain. As the kids were packing their things in their mom's car yesterday morning they said..."Why did it wait to rain when we are leaving?"
"Because, the rain lets you know how much I will miss you!"

Y is for Yard Sale Finds!

Happy Monday! Saturday morning hubby "hunts" for yard sales along the way to work. These six colorful geickos for only $5 is what he found at one of the yard sale this weekend. Yep, all six for $5. I've wanted some for a long time but they are too expensive in the stores. We put them out around the back YARD. It will add some more color back there AND it will give the dogs something to bark at - LOL Check out more Y's at http://unglazed.blogspot.com/

It's a cat ...No, it's a dog!

We've had this new neighbor cat visit my house a lot lately. Fluffy (a neighbor cat, too) and the orange kitty come over every day and sleep under my palm tree most of the afternoon. It's a friendly kitty. Si, my cat sleeps under the palm tree with them. So it's a daily cat party at my house. I don't even have to clean up, or shop for or do any of the entertaining- woohoo!
Anyway, I was going to take a break but this was just too funny. We were rushing yesterday to get to the Imax theater on time. While driving to the Arizona Mills Mall (that's where the Imax is) grand daughter says... "Grandma, did you know the orange kitty was sleeping on your couch?" "No, I bet the cat came in through the pet door," I said. "We'll have to find it and get it out of the house when we get back," I said. We saw Under the Sea in 3D and then out to lunch. We had a great time. When we came home..... there was Trixie sleeping on the couch. I guess Trixie can look like a orange and white cat when you are in a hurry :) Shhhhh don't tell Trixie!

Friday already

The kids leave this Tuesday morning. (It's really been 30 days?) Our "to see" list is still a bit long.
Imax theater today - slumber party tonight -WaterWorld tomorrow - Skateland the next day - Frank Lloyd Wright Institute - Monday ..... then off they go! So I'm going to take a short break.

http://www.franklloydwright.org/Home.html

patience.....

My hubby's brother sends us unusual stuff in emails. He sent this picture and thought I'd share with you.

Z for Zipps again :)

http://www.zipps-sportscafe.com/index.html
I want to try Monday again! (Not that my Z for Zip Code was bad) As I was driving home from DMV, I drove right by Zipps. And I was thinking...... How could I forget about Z for Zipps??? Hubby and I use to have date night every Tuesday here at Zipps. Now that I retired, we have date night every night ;)
Keeping fingers crossed that Jen doesn't kick me off the Letters Z-A. I just started this last Monday....... and Wednesday LOL http://unglazed.blogspot.com/

Pink Eyes

This silly picture is of Bandit with pink eyes :) Remember I got her a pink life jacket? Well, now she has "eyes" to match. No flips off the side of the pool or down the slide or off the diving board.............yet :)

Z for Zip Code

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZIP_code

Since my hubby is a letter carrier, I thought of Z for Zip code.

Did you know that zip codes started on July 1, 1963? It did not become mandatory until 1967. And that ZIP is the abbreviation for Zoning Improvement Plan? It's always "cool" to learn something new OR relearn things we've forgotten about.

Happy Z Monday! go to http://unglazed.blogspot.com/ by Jen to see other "Z"s

Alaska is #1

Each state has its own unique characteristic. Arizona is "famous" for being very hot. We are in our 112's and higher now...... with last night at 10 pm being 108.
I read on AOL News this morning about earthquake prone states and was quite surprised to find which state was number 1. I had guess California - since I was born and raised in California and lived through a few earthquakes there, I just presumed!
Here is AOL's list:
#10 is Oregon with 73 earthquakes were recorded for all between '74 - '03
#9 Utah 139
#8 Montana 186
#7 Wyoming 217
#6 Idaho 404
#5 Washington 424
#4 Nevada 778
#3 Hawaii 1,533
#2 California 4,895
with number 1 is Alaska at 12,053

To all the Girly Girlz

Today, grand daughter and I went to Girly Girlz. She had her hair, make up and nails done. We signed up for "beauty" camp on Monday. This place is so cool! Here's the link: http://www.girly-girlz.com/index.html
Grand daughter gave Trixie a bath today - blow dried and brushed her fur. Then she dressed Trixie up for "princess day." Happy Princess Day! Remember Queen for a Day show long, long time ago? Well, grand daughter and I declared today as Princess Day :)

The Pink Thing

Yesterday they took me in the truck. I like to go for a ride :)
Then we stopped, we all got out including me. We were walking toward a store when I saw something I should bark at. Those four ladies drinking coffee looked kind of scared but.... I wasn't barking at them.

We went into the store. They were talking to some lady. I started smelling up her shirt. They yelled at me to stop it. Then they put on this funny pink thing. I was scared.

We went back to the truck and got in. Then we went to some place that had ice cream. I tried to help my BFF - she had ice cream on her face. I cleaned her face. oh no, more yelling.....

We got home. I enjoyed the ride. We went into the pool. They put that pink thing on me again. I went in the pool too. Hey, woof woof, this pink thing is fun!

Swimming with Bandit

My grand daughter loves to swim in the pool. Since grand daughter is Bandit's BFF, Bandit has learned to get into the pool on the step side. Bandit gets in on the first step, then careful gets on the second step. She's a bit scared of the third step so grand daughter is always there to help :)
It is the funniest thing! Bandit is big. With her front paws doing the doggie paddle and walking on the bottom with her back paws, she "swims." hehehehe
If grand daughter can get Bandit to go down the slide....... Or off the diving board........ Or maybe flips off the side of the pool....

Bandit's BFF

I haven't posted about Bandit in a long time. It seemed like I only posted when she was being her "bad dog" self (which was most of the time). She has taken up a new past time...... among digging holes in the back yard, chewing up my newly planted plants........
She wakes up and whines at the door to be let in the house to :::drum rolls::: lay by the bedroom door where grand daughter sleeps. She whines, cries, scratches the door and then howls if grand daughter does not hurry and open the door. Bandit and grand daughter are BFFs.
Can you believe she is still a puppy? A BIG puppy!
Anyway, we had a great weekend holiday. We covered pretty much all of Phoenix. The fireworks at Tempe Town Lake were fantastic! The kids want to come down next year for the fireworks here again. The highlight of the weekend for my grand son was when grandpa (my hubby) took him to Hooters. All the girls gathered around my grand son for a picture. He is still smiling :)
The highlight for my grand daughter besides getting a bear at the Hard Rock Cafe - was driving grandma's truck. Yep, hubby took grand daughter out and had her drive around in an empty parking lot. (She's 11) She was tickled pink!
Hope your holiday was as memorable!