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Saturday, December 28, 2013

All Christmas

Well I hope you had a great Christmas. We had a fun time here at our house. I gave some home made gifts...
Knitted cosmetic bag
 
Emergency clutch for car or backpack filled with everything under the sun
 
Chap stick stocking
 
Fingerless mitts
Slippers
Pinecone, cinnamon, Rosemary fire starters
(I added a flexible lighter and a bag of coffee to top it off)
 
Just a few simple home made things to say I love you.
 
When my Grandkids were small I started doing a scavenger hunt mainly to keep them occupied but then I began doing it to challenge their math skills and spelling and etc. Well, they have always loved it and low and behold even though I have a 16 year old and a 22 year old they still ask "Are you going to do a scavenger hunt?" This year I decided to challenge them to know more about their Grandma:)
 
Here is the first clue:

déjà vu
She is a mere three years older than thee “Granddaughter”
And he four more than you “Grandson”
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 Our Wedding picture
 
Next clue:
This belonged to my Dad (Your Great Grandfather) and he used it as a boy. Bigger than any you would see today and held the real thing instead of toy. You have walked by it many, many times and never paid attention. It holds things that were once needed but thanks to technology the flick of a switch will do.
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My Dad's tool box that now holds un-needed wood thanks to gas fireplace
 
Clue 3:

My Mother (Your Great Grandmother) taught me how to do this when I was about 9 years old. I started out making chains and then little rosettes. It has been a gift to me to be able to do this have made many things but only one pair of these have I ever made and I kept them and framed them as a gift to me.

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 crocheted pictures
 
Clue 4:

I hang on the wall and am 70 years old. I was given as a Christmas greeting by (your great grandfather) in 1943.

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My Dad was a Holsum Bakery Representative and gave these out as a Christmas greetings as noted on the little calendar below it. He went to war soon after. This was a hard one for them to find as it hangs on a wall in a little nook area but they got some nice gift cards off this one.
 
Last one:
 
When I was just a girl I would take the tiny key and walk down to the corner and on tip toe open it. Years later it required me to drive and a combination memorized instead of a key. I hold something different today but a replica I am of days gone by and sweet memories.
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Mail box replica bank
I added two $5.00 bills and they had to split the change
 
It makes some fun memories and even the adults try to figure them out!
 
Christmas Day hubby and I went up north and spent the night at the Prescott Resort. I love this hotel because of the view...
From our room over-looking Prescott
 
They had some pretty decorations...
 and every year they have a gingerbread house contest.....here are just a few:
 first place individual
 
 firehouse
 

and many, many more.

We took a walk down into the conference center to see if they had any new art that I liked and this one hit a soft spot...

And way in the corner at the very back was another cute little Christmas tree
Not all worked out as planned as the restaurant could not take any more reservations so Christmas dinner was chicken sticks at the bar (:

Next day we decided to come home a back way and boy did we take our life in our hands...
Snow and ice on top of the hill and hoping we didn't meet another crazy couple like us. But it was so pretty and pure it was worth the risks and besides Hubby had never tried out his four wheel drive.
 
 
Just one more stop before we landed home and that was at Rock Springs Cafe. This picture was in 1940.............
 
It has become known as the "have to stop and have a piece of pie place". They have the best pie ever and people from the valley drive all the way up here to pick them up and take them home. There are some of the old time things inside like the pie list on the wall:
 We had JD Pecan hmmmmm
The old time fireplace:
The tin ceiling:

and the plain old cement floor:

Easy off and on and so worth the stop for pie and coffee
 
Just New Years to go and we will be starting a new.


 


 
 
 


 
 





Saturday, December 21, 2013

Merry Christmas

Every year it seems to get harder for me to get into Christmas. I am not sure if it is because I am getting older, or if it is the fact that I live close to a large shopping mall and people act like crazy people behind the wheel of a car heading for some sale, or because my children AND grandchildren are grown and trying to give them something special gets harder and harder....there is only so many ways you can make a gift card exciting:) Oh sure we try to maintain some family traditions but as your family extends that becomes more difficult. I often wish for the days of old....
When the Christmas story was read
 
People sang Christmas carols and didn't remove the words "Christ the Savior"
 
There were no blow up decorations
 
Old non matching ornament's, tinsel and strung popcorn was the style
 
Homemade was the best
 
 
and affordable toys would surprise and thrill....
and every one needed something even if it was just some socks. We are so blessed everyday that we don't need a special day for gifts and sadly we can't trust giving to those who say they do.


All that being said.... I hope this Christmas is a good one for you and that his shinning light will last the whole year through.
 
 

Monday, December 16, 2013

The great debate

Yes, you are seeing right...these are two rolls of toilet paper and the great debate is do you have yours over or under? Well, after much research and etc. it has been concluded that over is the best....


for all these reasons why but they didn't add the most important one...you can make the cute little point with the one sheet like they do in the motels:)
 
So how about it, if you are a under person are you going to change?

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

A day at the races

Turf  Paradise race track opened its doors January 7, 1956, making Valley history as the first organized professional sports franchise in Arizona. That was over 50 years ago and I had never gone to a horse race until yesterday when some people who own a race horse invited us to come. What a time I had!!
I love learning new things and seeing new things so being able to go and ask tons of questions was right up my alley.
I was surprised that you can stand eye level with the dirt track and watch them cross the finish line...
Of course they go by so fast that you can't begin to see what is really happening. You can watch the races from the outside or the glassed in area and they have little TV's on the table so you can see the race when it is on the far side of the track.
 
 
They have a pamphlet that lists all the upcoming races and has lots of stats that I asked about. It tells everything from how old the horse is to who owns it and who trains it and who the jockey is, its odds of winning and lots more.
 
The people that invited us just recently purchased this horse and it has made a great showing..here is a video I found of a interview with Tarmara.
 
The rest of the pictures I post are all from Facebook.
This is the starting gate which can be moved to different areas of the track and before a horse is allowed to race at this track they have to be qualified that they can enter the gates properly. Turf paradise has two tracks, one dirt and one turf as you can see from this picture.....
 Some horses will run on both tracks but some prefer one or the other. The dirt track produces the fastest times. The condition of the track is of the greatest importance and is prepared before each race. A hole in the ground could be deadly for a horse. The other thing I learned is that when a horse is running he is on only one foot at a time and that means that all thousand pounds plus is on that skinny ankle.  I found this picture that shows this...
Amazing isn't it!!
 
There are many people involved in this sport from the owners, to the stable caretakers, to the vets and jockey's and on and on and every gets a piece of the pie. There are even riders that escort the horses to the starting gates and they get $15.00 for that.
 
The jockey can only weigh a certain amount but that includes the saddle so when the race is finished they are required to take the saddle with them and weigh. Also the winning horse is required to have a urine test to check for drugs after the race. You know me...I had to ask "just how do you get a horse to pee".....................Whistle. That's right, they whistle and horse pees.
 
Look how they perch on the horses back. Being a jockey is one of the most dangerous jobs there is. I am currently reading some articles about that and it is just fascinating but balance and being able to key in with the horse is the most critical of all. Our friends first jockey wasn't able to get him to change gates (making the opposite leg of the starting leg become the lead ) and not until they found this jockey, Jorge Carreno, was this accomplished and he has ran away from the pack on every race since.
 
I loved this picture......
All four in the air and look at those hip muscles and his nose flaring!!!
 
 Magnificent!
 
 

 

Friday, December 6, 2013

Knitting

The other day fellow blogger "Wyoming Breezes" posted about her "knitting nest" I had never really thought of it like that before but indeed I have one:)
Current project
 
 Holds all my needles and etc.
 
More needles and a few often used patterns
 
but here is where the stash is.....
For shame, for shame......
 
I mostly knit for preemie babies so yarn lasts a long time and I have more of what most people consider scraps, now if I can just get a little more inventive on mixing my colors I may do okay.
 
It was also interesting to find out that my friend has a least three or four projects on needles at the same time whereas I only do one project at a time with the exception of some crochet things I started many years ago and need to finish.
 
So, how about you?  Do you have a knitting nest?  Do you have more than one project going at a time?
Knit on Knitters....It is way cheaper than therapy.