Temperatures are in the 70's overnight - I guess that means it is autumn in Phoenix

We have actually opened windows up for the last two nights!  It feels so nice.  It actually got cool enough this morning that the heater kicked on!  Oops.....had to quickly turn it off.   I haven't really made the time to learn our thermostat because this house is not ours and it is so weird to live in a home again which we do not own.  And to have our landlord be the church!  FM (Facilities Maintenance) are the "apartment managers".  They will change out the HVAC filters - which is a good thing because I have NO IDEA where the inner unit is located.  They say it is in the attic.  Because it is tithing dollars paying for the utilities, I feel a responsibility to keep the thermostat at a reasonable temparature and to watch how much water I use.  I actually collect the shower water in a bucket as I wait for it to turn from cold to hot and then I take it out back to water the non-irrigated plants.  Of course, I would do THAT even if we did own the house because, after all, this IS a desert and water is scarce and I am a tightwad.  It is FM who we go to when we need the ants in the back yard eradicated (and the exterminator found black widows, too!!!!!  YIKES!)  or when we need a new shower head.  (we bought it but they will install it.....I just couldn't stand the thought of using the current horrible pathetic showerhead for the next two years) 

It was a pretty average week.  We did enjoy a night out on Friday with Janet and George Wells, our roughly-the-same-age-LDS-neighbors-down-the-street friends.  First we ate at Cafe Rio and then had dessert at Rita's Ices.  I got gluten contamination at Cafe Rio but that was no surprise as 90% of their menu included their gigantic made-right-in-front-of-your-eyes flour tortillas.  Wheat flour everywhere!  Rita's Ices was a delicious blend of frozen custard and Italian ices - sort of like a shave ice.

We had a quiet Saturday and I loved the Women's Broadcast in the evening.  It was earlier than back in Missouri (5:00 - 6:30) so Steve and I had time to watch "Sully" afterwards and get to bed on time.  What a good movie!

When we were in Payson a few weeks back, we visited a cute antique shop and I bought cute little ceramic bird to sit in my window and remind me of all the birds back home in Columbia.


I also bought a "grab basket" with a variety of items: a large crocheted doilie, some vintage cards, a cornhusk doll, a ceramic sugar and cream set, a cast-iron nutcracker, a grandma-type candy dish, and a cute bird/planter that I am using for kitchen scrubbies (that is my compost pot next door)

Back in the summer, I bought a saguaro cactus eraser for my desk at work.  Later, someone left their .35 cent CTR ring in the bathroom and you can see what I have done with it.  Have a great week!

new cars and frozen custard

I will start with some photos from one of our daily morning walks around our Anthem neighborhood.

Saguaro cactus are so interesting.  This one right here is probably over a hundred years old, based upon the number and length of its arms.  Wow!

The temperatures are actually starting to become tolerable.  I took this picture of our meetinghouse last Sunday on our way to choir practice.  The sky was particularly lovely that day.



Last Saturday, Steve and I drove up to Payson to spend the day with my sister Juli.  We arrived around lunch time and just puttered around the afternoon.  For dinner, we attended her ward choir opening social at the home of the choir director.



This home had to be worth over a milllion dollars.  It was very lovely and set right up against national forest land so this was our incredibly lovely view from the deck...



The Arizona Phoenix mission is receiving a whole lot more missionaries than they are returning so four brand new Toyota Corollas arrived at local dealerships for Steve to pick up and process.  Three came to a Peoria dealer just down the road about two miles.  I was recruited to help drive one of them back.  The fourth Corolla was sent to a dealership in Chandler.  Get out your Google maps, folks.  You will see that Chandler is fifty miles away from the mission office!  No one seems to know why it was sent to that particular dealership but that meant that Steve and I got to drive to Chandler on Tuesday to pick up the car.



Steve caught a quick bite at a Subway afterward but I was saving my calories for Andy's Frozen Custard - that midwestern store has now branched into Arizona!



He drove the "older" mission car back to Glendale while I drove the new Toyota.  Pretty nice car.
As new cars come in, he is processing "old" cars to be sold and I have also helped him shuttle these vehicles back and forth to a Pep Boys down the street from the mission office.  Nothing like entering a car in the middle of the day that has been closed up and in the Arizona sun!   And the upholstery always seems to be black!

I have been working for two weeks on some requested bibs for my sister Jerri.


I finished them Friday night and we delivered them yesterday, Saturday, after Steve and I attended the Mesa temple with Jerri's oldest son, Rob, and his wife Joanne.

Joanne, Rob, Steve, and Aunt Jeanne (Rob is only three years younger than me)

After the temple, we four had lunch at Culvers.  More frozen custard!  Mmmmmmm

A couple more shots of the temple.....
(Steve is so patient with all my picture taking)




We have now lived in this place in Anthem for a month and we JUST THIS PAST WEEK got mail!   Two Fridays ago, we finally received a mail key and was told our box was #2.  But, it took a few days for the USPS to realize that box 2 was now open for business and we got our first mail on Tuesday.  And it was the BEST MAIL DAY EVER!  Because we got money - a refund check from our CenturyLink and from University Hospital (I guess we overpaid from my bladder stone removal back in January).

August 29th Transfer week

Tuesday, August 29th, was the day we sent seven missionaries home after their time of service.  One went as far as Micronesia, a two-day journey with a twelve-hour layover in Honolulu.  Happily, the mission travel office in Salt Lake City contacted the Hawaii Mission and asked if office elders could pick our missionary up and let him stay in a real bed over night and return him to the airport the next morning.  And, we welcomed twenty-two (!!!!!!) new missionaries.  I got to go along and navigate while Steve drove the 12-passenger van during morning rush-hour traffic (hooray for the HOV lane).  Here are some airport photos...

Here are some of the twenty-two brand new missionaries on their way from the airport to the mission office.

On Saturday, September 2nd, Steve and I visited my sister Jerri in Mesa.  Her arms are healing well - here is how they look two months after they were burned from her fall on the super hot cement.

We visited a fun music store in downtown Mesa while we were in the neighborhood.  I am going to be teaching piano lessons to the mission president's thirteen-year-old son, Scott and I needed to find music for him.  I am also going to be teaching two cello students from our ward!!!!!  Can you believe it??????  While looking for a second cello to use for a cello duet with one of the missionaries currently serving in our ward, (Elder Smith), it was learned that I was a cello teacher and these two mothers practically got on their knees and begged me to teach their children.  Anthem, apparently, has no cello teachers.  

Anyway, back to last Saturday.  We took Jerri over to Amy and Cory's for dinner.  Atley and Camden came over with their twin girls, Sophie (left) and Ava (right).  They are about 14 months old and as adorable as can be.  

Jerri and the twins, Colby (left) and Cade.

A photo of the boys.  They are seniors in high school!  

Finally, this is how Arizona folks used to water their yards with the old-school irrigation system.  Amy and Cory' house has irrigation rights so they still get water this way.  As a little girl visiting Jerri in Mesa, I was completely fascinated by this.  

Anthem house from the outside

Here is where we live in Anthem.  Below is a close-up....

My sister-in-law, Joan, has loaned me that cute pot in front and I found a really cool succulent to plant inside it.  It LOOKS like a cactus but it is not.  

This is our back patio.  

This is a broader view of the back yard taken back in late July when the seminary teacher gave us a tour.  I have since taken down the faded/deteriorating mosquito curtains hanging on the cabana that is minus a roof.

Last Saturday, I cut back this jade plant and I pulled out the black stones from this planter...

And I used them to line two plants in the yard.

the two plants look rather peaked because, for some reason, they are not on the drip irrigation system.  I have taken it upon myself to water them three times a week in hopes of returning them to full vigor.

I think it is helping because this is how the one plant looked about a month ago....

This is the jade planter with my little basil plant.  

the west wall had two pieces of large bamboo-type mats hanging on the cinder block.  It also had a pile of wood for the little chiminea.  One of the mats had fallen down.  I pulled it completely off and  inspected the stack of wood to look for critters that might have taken up residence.  I was VERY CAREFUL as I did this - using a rake and gloves - (my neighbor found a rattlesnake in her garage!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) (and there a little holes around the yard which I now believe must belong to rabbits).  

Thankfully, this is all I found (whew!!!) (and wahoo! when I want to have a fire and roast marshmallows if it every stops being over 100 degrees)

this seating area is also in the back yard - I plan to put squash in the planter parts now that I have removed all the polished glass stones that you can see.

There were some of these landscaping bricks sitting up against the house and I put them to good use.

You can see that there is zero grass.  Very Arizona.  As is all the saguaro cactus everywhere.  This cactus looks like it is saying "live long and prosper".

I just had to have a plant or two in the house and here is the little orchid I keep on the windowsill

And, I found these at the dollar store and figured I needed to have squirrels to look at from my kitchen window while I am here in Arizona just like I did in Missouri.

Photos of the house in Anthem

Our house in Anthem:

Our living room is actually the part of the house commonly called a great room.  Here is our sofa area just before the sliding glass door leading out to the back yard.  Notice the sewing machine....it is a loaner from the church - a brand spankin new Huskvarna.  I have already put it to good use mending some missionary slacks.  

This is our dining area and the kitchen beyond from the vantage point of the sofa area.

This is the computer alcove that can be seen while sitting on the larger couch.  This also serves as our entertainment area since we have no television

This music/library alcove is just next to the dining room table.

Here is how the living area looks from the kitchen viewpoint


And here is closer view of the kitchen.  Still have a gas stove/oven which I LOVE!  The kitchen faucet is also awesome - much better than the finicky one in Surprise.



I have to show you the "high-end" mixer we have.  This was in the mission storage!  In case you can't read the brand - it is a Cuisinart.



Here is our utility room and the way to the garage

The actual living room is where seminary will be held.  Here is a view looking at the front door.  

And a view looking from the front door

These are the two bedrooms that will be used by the seminary - an office on the right and student storage on the left.  Now, seminary has not started here yet, even though school already has.  Currently, the students are bussed to the church meetinghouse about 4 miles away.  You can see how many tables are set up - I don't believe that is a permanent set up.  I think they will just sit on chairs.  

Here is a bedroom that we get to use.  That is a twin comforter trying to act as a full size bedspread!  I have the matching sheets and my Labor Day project is to make this bigger.  I will take a photo.  

All the furniture / furnishings are mission-owned.  Some came from the mission storage unit and some were purchased for this house with mission funds (the couches, washer/dryer, our beds)

Speaking of....here is our bedroom.  The bed is actually two twin beds put together to make a king size bed.  The headboard and mattresses (Serta) are brandnew but the box springs are not - and you can see that one is a bit longer than the other.  No bedspread yet.  Hopefully, I will be able to sew a lightweight quilt in the next few weeks and it will cover up this little box spring flaw

This is looking from our bed.  My "armoir" is actually an entertainment center but, hey, it has shelves that can hold clothes and the bottom holds two tubs  that also hold clothing.  

Our bathroom is nowhere near the size of the one in Surprise but we still have two sinks

and a walk-in closet that is just as big.

This is the second full bathroom with "Jack and Jill" entrances - meaning there are two doors.  This will not be a regular bathroom for seminary student use.

So, there you have a tour of the inside of the Anthem house.  It took forever (two weeks) to get trash carts.  Happily, there are two - one for trash and one for recycling.  We still do not have mail keys and, even if we did, we have no idea which mailbox is ours!  (the neighborhood has two neighborhood mail areas - they look like post office boxes) .  And, while we have internet, we do not have WiFi.  We will once they start using this house for seminary but, who knows when that will begin?????   It is not nearly as big and luxurous as the house in Surprise but I actually love this one better.  First of all, the blinds are white instead of dark wood so, even with them closed, there is more light in the house.  Second, there is more privacy so we can actually open the blinds and not look at our neighbor's patio (our fence is at least 7 feet tall and it goes almost all the length of the house).  Third, it is "cooler" up here in Anthem.  We are at a slightly higher elevation making our temperatures consistently four to five degrees cooler.  Finally, the commute into the mission office is better.  From Surprise, we took surface streets and, although it was actually less miles, it took longer.  From Anthem, we are mostly on freeway.