A New Bird in My Feeder

My feeders attract lots of finches and quail, along with several hummingbirds, but today I had a new visitor.

There was a pair of lovely Gilded Flickers dining on my suet, but I was only able to get a shot of one of them before they flew away.

I love the view out my window into my private little bird sanctuary.

Long Live the Queen

Religious Discrimination

The chiropractor that crashed down on top of me last summer during an adjustment was our speaker at Carriage Manor last week.  Thankfully he decided to keep our little secret to himself.

He'd left several business cards and a flyer behind and when I read the highlighted section I just had to call him. 

When he answered I explained I didn't know if I should sue for religious discrimination or just point out his typo.

While trying to appeal to the older members of our resort he highlighted "specializing in Geriatric gentile non-force techniques".  This was certainly a passage that made me go "hmmm?"

While I guess I could be considered geriatric, I'm certainly not a gentile.

I can't wait to see what our next encounter might bring.

Long Live the Jewish Queen

Sex Change in Arizona

Well, hopefully that title peeked your interest.  

It wasn't my intention to get a sex change as part of my new life as an Arizonan, but it does show what happens when you try to be funny with a government agency.

Left Brain and I went to the DMV to get our licenses changed over to Arizona and when I read the question that asked "sex?" I couldn't resist and entered "maybe".

Well, they either just saw the beginning of it and entered "male" or decided to have some fun back with me, I'll never know.  But I am officially registered as an Arizona driver now...a male Arizona driver.

This will necessitate a second visit to the DMV, which I'm not looking forward to and will wait until we go in with the other documents to make us certified to fly when the rules change in 2020.

This is what happens when you try to cute cute in a non-humorous zone...just warning ya.

Long Live the Queen...er..maybe the King now

Men in Pink Skirts ...just another odd thing about this park

We have an annual event here in Carriage Manor sponsored by the Tennis and Pickleball Clubs to raise funds for breast cancer awareness.

To participate in this event you provide a $5.00 donation and can enter the competition, but with one small twist.  

You must wear something pink...including the men.

Oh wait, the men must also wear a skirt as well.

To make sure this requirement is easy to follow, Jennifer and I purchased several yards of tulle and made eight nice pink tutus.  

I think the men looked just lovely in these.

The group that makes the knitted knockers were there as well.  These are yarn prosthesis for women who do not want or cannot afford the regular kind.  I'm told these are much more comfortable and they are provided to any woman who needs one, no question asked.

Long Live the Queen

Chicken Truck

The other part of my theme in the kitchen and dining area are metal trucks. 

Ok, some cars have snuck in as well.

I love decorating them with artificial succulents.

It occurred to me that the chickens and the trucks are combined in a funny song I heard when with my granddaughters.

Every time I hear it I laugh and have these great memories of watching their faces light up as they giggled over the lyrics.

In case you've never heard this little ditty (that's for my daughter Christy), I will share it here.

Click Chicken Truck to listen.

Long Live the Queen of the Chicken Truck

Chickens Abound!

In my attempt to create a somewhat vintage look in my home I've started to collect chickens...lots of chickens.

It started out innocently enough with these little guys from Hobby Lobby and they were a nice accent.

Then I found this metal one and just had to have it with it's lovely bluish green patina.

Oh but wait, there's a brightly colored one that is equally as lovely.

And wouldn't this simple white and red one look great on top of the fridge.

This one was spotted at Hobby Lobby and looked like the rooster that used to terrorize me when I was sent out to gather the eggs from the coop on my aunt's farm.  I half expected it to peck me as I carried it to the car. 

Holy crap.  Where am I going to put this one?  I'll tuck him under this small table so he's out from under foot.

I now have a total of eight chickens, but I'm sure more will be coming my way.

Long Live the Queen of the Coop

The Furniture Overhaul aka How to Diminish Your Bank Account

Wanting to make the house our own and not a compilation of stuff left by the previous owners, I set off on a mission of removing the old furniture and buying new things just for us.

In the Arizona room we now have three recliners and a small swivel club chair.  The two recliners are wall-aways and the reddish brown one was purchased from our neighbors.   My chairs always seem to have a blanket on them because I like to cover up when watching TV.  The bookcase provides storage for supplies for my massage table and sewing things.

I bought the TV console with a fireplace to match the bookcase I'd gotten earlier, and the new furniture seems to fit in very nicely.

In the main part of the house we have two gray recliners for conversation and watching TV in the dining room area.
  

I moved the old TV console with a fireplace into this room and it provides a nice area by the window for decorations and such.  This will be a cozy spot for reading when winter hits and I can snuggle under my blanket with the fire blazing.  We have a small portable fireplace on the deck.  Yes, we live in Arizona and have three fireplaces...it gets cold here!

We (meaning Left Brain) removed the last of the shiny gold fixtures and replaced it with this more vintage looking one I'd found.  

The photo below shows the old light fixture over the large table.

This is where the new table and chairs reside.  We both loved the big heavy oak table as it was a beautiful piece of furniture, but it was simply too large for our space.  The smaller table still allows for four people to sit comfortable and two more can be squeezed in with folding chairs if needed.

He also replaced the old fixture over the kitchen sink with this cute little glass pendant one to keep with the vintage look I'm going after.

The result of these changes is a much more spacious area to live in.

Long Live the Queen

Ooops

The new stove is being thoroughly enjoyed, but has created a new problem.  Because the stove is slightly deeper than the old one, we were unable to open the kitchen drawers.  Sigh.
The old stove shown below only allowed about a one-eighth inch of clearance to open the drawers, so I didn't have much to work with.

Yes, I could have probably found another stove that had a smooth top that may have fit, but when I spied this induction stove with a convection oven I didn't care what size it was...I had to have it!  I love using induction cooking and already had all the special pans required.

Everything is a tight fit in our little abode, but I simply cannot give up this much storage space so a solution was needed.

Fortunately I am the creative one and Left Brain can accomplish almost any project I throw at him... so we make quite a team.  I get the idea and he gets the heavy work...works for me.

We (meaning him) ripped out the drawers and supports from the problem area so we could install the sliding drawer system purchased at Lowe's.  I saved the old cabinet doors from where I had removed some of them and luckily one of them was tall enough to work, but not wide enough.

So Left Brain added a piece of wood to the front of the cabinet to remedy that problem and how I have a usable space that is actually better than it was previously.

We liked it so much that we (again meaning him) installed an additional one in another cabinet.  Now my cooking tools are at my fingertips.  Does that mean I'm preparing more wonderful meals than before?  Not so much.

Long Live the Queen of Roomy Drawers

New kitchen toys

The remodeling continues and I've wanted to get rid of the old almond colored electric stove for ages. It works, but I really like the smooth top design I used to have.

When I initially looked for induction ranges all I could find were things in the $3000 range and well, let's face it...I don't do enough cooking to warrant that kind of money.

Just when I was ready to order a plain old smooth top electric range I stumbled upon a Frigidaire induction range for $800.  AND I had a 10% off coupon to use before October 31st.

I ordered it online and set up the delivery and was so excited when it arrived...but bummed out when it wouldn't run.  Drat!  It wasn't a problem with the range, it was our plug.  It appears that pulling out the old stove and moving this one in was just too much for the dear old thing and it gave up.

Luckily I am married to a Mr Fix It and Pete went to buy a new box and installed it himself.  Problem solved.

Now I'm a happy camper with my induction range and a convection oven.  Oh the things I can cook now!  Oh..wait, now I suppose I have to actually cook something.   Oh well, it looks lovely.

Long Live the Queen of the Range

Change of furniture

Left Brain arrived safely on Saturday afternoon and one of the first things I did was drag him to the furniture stores on Sunday to test drive the couch and chairs I'd picked out.

He did not find the couch at all comfortable, and I have to admit I really didn't spend much time sitting on it, but was instead dazzled by it's wonderful features.

After further conversation we decided we really aren't "couch people" and opted to go with two recliners instead.  I liked the dark brown color better than the gray option so we ordered two of these for the Arizona room. 

So, we scrapped the couch and one red recliner, mainly because my friend Sandy wants to sell hers and it would be a lovely reddish brown color to add to my Arizona room.  That and Pete loved it so much when he tried it out we had to force him to leave it with her until they could find a new one.

I stayed with the gray recliners for the other sitting area.

The chairs will be delivered tomorrow, so our recliners and love seat that have been sold need to get hauled out today.

We also went to Lowe's to look at stoves but I couldn't make a decision so went home to research models and brands for a while since that can wait.

Long Live the Queen 

New Furniture is Coming Our Way

When we moved into our Arizona home, it came complete with furniture and that was all well and good for the time being.  We decided to "sit with it" (pun intended) for a year and then decide what we wanted to replace it with.

I've listed our old stuff on the Carriage Manor post in hopes it will sell quickly and move on.  If there are no buyers here, then I will go to the Shabby Shack which will buy the furniture outright.  They even come and remove it from the house...how great is that?

So, a-shopping I went and found some great new items for our Arizona home.

For the Arizona Room I located a sweet grey couch that makes into dual recliners with a console in the middle. 

The console has reading lights, cup holders, two plug ins and a USB port with additional storage. 

This is power reclining with the adjustable headrests as well, for total comfort while watching the Packers play on TV. 

I really liked this option as it can be a couch for three people or laying down as well as theater style seating for when it's just the two of us.

I wanted a little pop of color in the Arizona room and so this is the red swivel glider recliner I've chosen for the additional seating.  It isn't powered, but the price was nice and it was so pretty and comfortable.

In the park model portion of our abode I went with two grey power rocker recliners.  This will provide the additional seating for watching TV or visiting in that area.  These chairs are only about 31" wide, so will fit into our tight little space and allow for arranging those rooms a couple of different ways.

The large table and six chairs simply has to go, it's a lovely piece but just too large for our space.  This will be replaced with a smaller round table and four chairs.

This is the table I like, but I'm not sure about the chairs.


These are the chairs my neighbor has and they are so comfortable and I think the gray fabric would look nice with the marble gray center of the table.

Part of my effort here is to eradicate all fiber chair coverings from my house and go with leather or leather look for easier cleaning.  Microfiber is just another word for fur magnet and it is next to impossible to keep clean.

I've already purchased a bookcase and matching TV stand with fireplace for the Arizona room and those are in place.
The following are photos off the website and when everything is in place, I'll take photos of entire new room.

photo is from website - not my house

Our little nest will be so lovely!

Long Live the Queen of Her Castle

New Patio furniture

Summertime is the best time to pick up some sales on patio furniture, so I took advantage of shopping in the heat to snag some deals.

Now we have a nice grouping of four chairs and a little table that doubles as a footstool for our patio.

Long Live the Queen

We've added a Hopper and a Joey

It might sound like we've taken in a couple of kangaroos, but it's just an upgrade to our Dish network.

The Hopper will allow us to record up to 16 programs at once, and automatically records all five prime time stations every day.  The part I liked is that it automatically eliminates all the commercials...no fast forwarding required.


If the program we're watching is "on demand" we can pause live TV.  I have no idea how that works, it just seems like magic to me. It just slid under the TV...whew.

There is a game finder app that I used recently to find the Packer game.  You just click on the name of the game and it takes you to the correct channel.

The Joey is a tiny little box that allows a second TV to be utilized in the same manner.  We went with the wireless version so allow for easy rearranging of the room, no need to connect to a cable.

It's the little things in life that make things easier and fun.

Long Live the Queen of Her Own Remote