Dec 21st to 24th - Mesa

Dec 21^st – Sun

Terry went to help Tina & Terry move Julie & Larry's big couch out and move in a replacement couch & chair that were temporarily in the storage shed. The sliding door had to be removed and the guys had a hard time getting it back in so it ended up taking a couple of hours. I used the time to catch up the blog and do some cleaning.

We used the motorcycle to deliver the rest of our Christmas goodies – beautiful weather once it warmed up in the afternoon. We fixed a broken hinge on a compartment on the motorcycle. The compartment came open when Terry stopped a while ago and he hit it with his leg when he got off the bike. We bought a $20 little bottle of glue at the Mesa Market and it appeared that the plastic was one that the glue did not work on! Bob brought over some bonding material that you knead before using to activate and we put it behind the hinge. Then we had to go to Home Depot to replace the tube of material and get one for future use for us.

I made a nice dinner for a change!

Dec 22^nd – Mon

We took the toy hauler in for warranty work this morning and then carried on to have breakfast at the Waffle House. On the way back we stopped at WalMart for groceries.

We helped new friends – Harlan & Barb – move Julie's old couch to their new park model. It is unfurnished so they were happy to get the couch.

After MCY with Guilty Pleasures and line dancing, we picked up Phyllis and Larry & Julie to go to dinner at China City buffet. Phyllis has been wanting to take us out so we finally picked a date & place. We had our usual good dinner there.

We got back about 7:15 and walked over to see changes that Ernie & Dianne have made to their AZ room. Dianne asked if we had time to play some cards so we did. We split the games with the guys winning the first and the ladies the second. It was after 11:30 when we got home and had to crawl into a cold bed as we forgot to turn on the electric mattress pad.

Dec 23^rd – Tues

We got a little bit of a late start this morning. We were still having coffee & playing computer games when Gary Kullman stopped to visit. He is a friend of Dennis & Gloria's who was here previously. He was still here when Dennis & Gloria stopped in to invite us to dinner on Christmas Eve.

I made mustard sauce & boiled eggs for deviled eggs for Christmas Eve in between making breakfast. We went to a couple of places to pick up the CalAm Santa costumes in order to store them in one place. We ended up missing one so will have to go back.

We made a trip to Fry's for groceries and then headed to the courtyard for music & dancing. I didn't have a plan for dinner so we ate at the courtyard. We weren't home too long when Neil & Robin stopped to deliver a goodie box. Of course we had to have a drink with them. They were still here when Dennis & Gloria came over since their company (daughter Julie & grandson River) had gone to Brian & Bev's park model where they are spending the nights. We decided to pass on line dance lessons and enjoy our friends instead. When they left I worked on the blog but obviously didn't get it done.

Dec 24^th – Wed

Fry's was totally out of whole cranberry sauce that I need for tomorrow so we hoped on the bike for the couple of blocks to Albertson's who were also out. We continued on to Safeway who had a huge display of the canned sauce. We got a couple of other items and went next door to the Dollar Store to get a Santa hat for me. Then we stopped for a quick burger in the same shopping center.

When we drove back into the park, Allan was on their Spyder on the main road so we followed him instead of turning on our street. We passed Ralph & Elsie just leaving the post office on their Spyder and they joined us so we had an impromptu, very short, little parade! We stopped to check out another Spyder but the owners are in Alaska right now.

I finished up the deviled eggs before we walked across the street to Brad & Clare's at 2:00 for a cookie decorating party. Cookie decorating has been their family traditional since Clare was a child. Their daughter Shannon is here for a visit so they decided to include a lot of their friends in the tradition. They had tables & chairs from the party wagon and everything set out – cookies, frosting and oodles of decorations. Most people decorated at least one cookies. I did a couple “fancy” ones and then one more for Terry to eat. The weather was absolutely perfect as was the whole concept. They also had individually wrapped & “bow-ed” rice krispie squares that looked wonderfully festive before they were gobbled up.

Ralph & Elsie stopped by for a drink a few minutes after we got home just after 4:00. Then it was off to Dennis & Gloria's for dinner. They had a couple of propane heaters to make the carport cosy and we had a great meal with good friends.

Terry wanted to take the motorcycle for a little ride to show off the lights he put on it but we didn't get too far. We stopped at Tina & Terry's where they were playing dominoes with Jerry & Becky. They had finished a game so we joined them for another drink – or 2!