Orange Juice

We have three, maybe four orange trees at our house.  It is so fun to go outside and pick oranges.  Most foods I make now have either some lemon or orange as an ingredient.  We love the bounty.  Today I picked some oranges, juiced them, then made a delicious Screwdriver to have with dinner.  And dessert is chocolate orange pudding, of course.

This batch of oranges turned into this juice, plus some extra in the freezer.

And it's five o'clock somewhere Screwdriver!

New Light Fixture

Dave had his hands full replacing a ceiling fan with a ceiling light.  This house had 11 ceiling fans and we really only need a couple.  And there was virtually no overhead lighting.  I don't know how people can live in the dark so Dave has been adding lights.  We're almost done with that job.

After he finished up we went swimming in the nearby pool which is now only a one minute golf cart ride away.  At 5pm we were the only people there.  So nice to have our own private, huge pool.

Dave always enters with a big splash!

Pizza with the Kids

We met Dave's nephew and family for pizza.  It was great fun being with the 3 and 5 year old as they weren't shy at all.  Dave did good with feeding the 3 year old.  It was surprising how much those little girls can eat!

Sunny Saturday

Now it's finally starting to feel like Arizona as winter has passed!

This morning I was able to get back into the pottery studio and start working on throwing.  The move took up so much time that I was ignoring my clay.  Still have not sold the old house yet.

Later I had to run to the grocery store and noticed the typical Arizona merchandise in front of the store.  It's always cactus themed or Mexican themed garden art.  Actually, a lot of people do have these metal cactus in their yards.  Or metal javelinas.

Little of This, A Little of That

This is a shot of some Saguaro cactus on our Deer Camp hike a few days ago, not too far from Saddlebrooke.  It ended up being over 8 miles, which really zapped me.  Plus is was one of the warmest days we've had.

Sunday nights are now taken up by Square Dancing.  This is surprisingly a lot of fun.  I will try to get a photo of all the goofy Square Dancers this Sunday to add to the blog.  Apparently there are 68 "steps" to learn and that number turns some people off from trying the dancing.  So far it is easy.

Today I took grandpa Van to Costco for some shopping.  He can't hear well but he has no problem walking or shopping.  I had to discourage him from buying everything he wanted, as he already has three of everything (at least) at home.

Before and Afters

Now that we are finally getting settled, here are some before and after shots of the house.

Living Room before.

Living room after.

Guest bath before.

Guest bath after.

Kitchen before.

Kitchen after.  

Basically we covered all the white in the house and opted for a warmer tone everywhere.  Now we just have to tweet a few things like hooks and shelves and we'll be all set.

Tonight we're going on an owl hunt.  We know there is at least one pair of Great Horned Owls within blocks of us.  Last night I saw one sitting atop a 35 MPH sign, but I couldn't get a photo.  We will find them!

About 85% Moved In

Yesterday was exhausting for me.  Even though I wasn't lifting furniture, I was organizing, unpacking, helping the movers to place things.  I actually did over 8 miles of walking - hard to believe.  It took three movers almost 8 hours to pack, move, and unpack.  I packed all the boxes of small things, they just did the heavy stuff.

This is loading onto the truck.

I picked a few oranges from our three orange trees and made fresh juice while I was waiting for the movers to come to the "new" house.

Unloading at the new place.

A peek at the new kitchen.  Counters will be swapped out from formica to Corian on Monday.  Once again I have labeled the contents of the cabinets/drawers.  Otherwise we'd never find anything.

The new family room is very similar to the old house and it's very comfortable.