Friends have reminded me that I have been a bit lax in my writing.  I am sorry.  Sometimes in winter I am hard pressed to keep up a cheerful attitude and my writing suffers.  I will try to do better than once a month, I promise!

On Valentine's Day we had an honest to God blizzard here on Saguaro Hill.  Huge snowflakes fell for about 2 hours.  Visibility was down to zero.  Trees, bushes and structures were covered in the white stuff.  The roads got slippery and muddy.  The dogs and grandson had a blast.  I froze my behind off while they played and threw snowballs.  Then at 3:30, the snow stopped, the sun popped out all the snow melted and you'd never know anything even happened!  That is Arizona for you.

I did not win the HGTV dream home although I faithfully entered the contest twice a day.  I have not sold my alpacas yet but there is one lady who may be interested in giving them a good home.  She wants me to get them tested for the Valley Fever  before she agrees to take them.  And she will not take them if they test positive.  We are working on getting all that taken care of.  I am praying that they will test negative for the disease because, truth be told, I have lost interest in being an alpaca farmer since Kardigan died.  I also realize that I will probably never have enough resources to make money in that business.  I am feeling a need to be free and start something new.

I am tired of it being cold and windy, although yesterday was a nearly perfect day.  Steve and a friend had the perfect day to play golf.  It was sunny, about 70 degrees and not windy at all.  My friend and I drove around Sierra Vista and looked at houses while the guys played.  We also went to a book store, where I spent a small fortune on magazines, books and a movie.  I am a hoarder of books.  I just love them.  If it is not a novel to take me away from reality, it is a reference book to use for research and writing in whatever field I am pursuing at the moment.  Today I started and finished one of Louis L'Amours classic works.  I also read through the newest Mary Jane's magazine and a copy of Arizona Highways.  I started a new journal on my new laptop and am studying the history of Tombstone and Arizona in general.  Fascinating stuff.  

We visited Tombstone yesterday as well before the guys golf tee time.  We had lunch in the Crystal Palace Saloon and I wondered how it was 150 years ago when the Earp brothers were there.  I bet a lot more people were toting guns.  We walked by the place where one of the Earp boys was shot in the back and lost his life.  And men walked around wearing the red sashes that were worn by the Cowboy Gang who fought with the Earps.  Today they invited us to the re-creation of a gunfight and tours of the old silver mine.  One of them tried to start a gunfight with Steve, teasing him about the "dumb yellow shirt" he wore.  My husband, knowing that discretion is the better part of valor and not wearing a gun, wisely let the comment slide.  

The waitresses in the saloon wore red and black tightly laced up corsets, their decolletage barely constrained above black lace.  They were friendly and lively but I felt fortunate that we women no longer have to wear such restrictive garments.  Tombstone's buildings and landscape seem much the same today as they were all those years ago. 

No wheat, No white, No meat!  That is my new mantra for 2012.  I have been reading lots of diet and health books over the past few weeks of this new year.  I am studying Eat Right for your Type by Dr. Peter J. D'Adamo and Natural Cures by Kevin Trudeau.  At first I thought I had blood type "O" because I have thyroid problems and some of the other "symptoms" of the type O profile.  But then I actually did a blood test and found out that I have type "A" instead.  So I had to adjust my thinking and eating accordingly.  I actually started feeling better when I was eating like a type "O" but I started losing weight when I started eating like my real type"A".  Of course I have also started exercising again too.  So every little adjustment helps.

The Eat Right...  book is fairly easy and uncomplicated to follow.  Mr. Trudeau's book is much more complicated and has lots more stuff to do.  He is also a whistle-blower and tells all about our corrupted food industry and why Americans are so fat.  It is very interesting and sometimes shocking but also an eye opener.  As with all things one reads, it must be taken with a grain of salt and further research.  I read some of the reviews other readers have given him on Amazon.com.  Some say that he is a charlatan and some say he is right, so there you go. I must also balance what he says with my own experiences and knowledge.  I will use what is best and discard the rest.  My ultimate goal is to lose weight but mostly just to be healthy and not have a lot of problems as I grow older.  I have gotten several other books on natural cures and on eating organically. I will be reading those also.

Over the last couple of weeks I have also been reorganizing and cleaning.  I went through my pantry and got rid of any old or expired foods.  Then I straightened and reorganized that.  I pulled all my old cookware from my kitchen cabinets and replaced all the coated pots and pans with new Martha Stewart stainless steel cookware.  Now there is no danger from peeling or damaged teflon coated pans when anyone cooks.  I got tired of telling people to use plastic coated utensils to cook in those pans so they wouldn't damage the surfaces.  They never listened and now I don't have to worry about it any more.  


I have gotten my sewing room back in working order after the holiday chaos.  I sorted my patterns and arranged them by brand name and number.  I put all the childrens patterns in one box and the adult ones in another.  The craft patterns were separated from the clothes patterns and have their own box too.  All the fabric has found new storage boxes and been stacked on shelves or under tables or wherever I could fit them in an orderly fashion.  I got out one of the aprons I made to sell and am using it myself.  I get tired of getting a wet tummy every time I do the dishes or cook.  All my books have shelf space and the magazines are waiting to be sorted, to keep or not to keep?  That is the question! Ha!


I found a pattern for a sewing machine cover.  I think that will be my next sewing project for my new sewing machine instead of spending $24 for a new plastic container at Walmart.  


As for the animals of my little farm, they are doing fine.  I plan on putting the alpacas up for sale soon and I may do the same with the goats.  Buddy needs a grooming to get rid of all his matted tail hair but I will wait til the weather starts warming up for that.  My Loki cat is also getting his yearly matted hair and I am working on that a little at a time as he will not be still for long.  He looks really funny when the mats are cut out and he has bare spots all over for awhile.  The chickens continue to lay eggs and I plan on switching them to organic feed soon.  That will make the eggs healthier for us.  


I have gotten planting flats and some seeds.  I want to plant more vegetables in our raised bed this year.  So, it is a new year with new potential.  Mostly life continues to be good.  Praise the Lord!

I thought it would be appropriate to write something this last day of 2011.  I looked through all my pictures that I had taken over the year.  I must like storms, I took lots of storm pictures.  I took lots of animal pictures too and the grand kids, of course.

In January I had Steve take some pictures of the fat me.  So that I could compare to when I lost all the weight over the year and could then have a skinny picture taken.  Well, that didn't happen!  Ha!  I am still a fatty!  

I took pictures of the alpacas in the snow and the new goats in February.  One beautiful iris came up in my pathetic garden in May.  Then in June we had big fires all around us.  A gila monster visited in July.  I took some fantastic sunset photos, if I do say so, although, the credit for them should probably go to the maker of the sunsets Himself.

I think the two hardest things to accomplish are losing weight and saving money.  Those will be 2 of my resolutions this year.  I want to keep on taking pictures and helping others when I can.  I want to worry less, enjoy life more and continue in thankfulness for each day.  That is really all we have after all, just today, just now, or so they say.  I feel like I also have the love of my family and friends, the memories of what has been and the blessings of the Almighty.  I pray that you will also enjoy your memories, the love of the people who matter and many blessings from the Lord  now and in the New Year.

"We're off to see the wizard..."  No, that's not right!  They're off to see the Mouse, the Disneyland Mickey Mouse, that is!  Yep, all the kids and grand kids and Grandpa left about 6 am this morning to spend Christmas in the land of magic and dreams.  They left poor old grandma home to take care of the reindeer, I mean the alpacas and the goats and dogs and cats and chickens and whatever the heck kind of animals we have now.  They are all grateful, the animals and the family, I'm sure! Ha!  I hope they have a wonderful magical time.  I know I am enjoying not fixing meals and watching whatever I want on TV and the peace and quiet.  I am also glad they will only be gone for 3 days.

We had a beautiful Christmas Eve-eve party last night.  The table was full of food, shrimp cocktail, jalapeno roll-ups, hot wings, marinated mushrooms, cheeses, crackers, summer sausage, pepper sausage, taquitos, salmon bruscetta, pumpkin cream cheese roll and, of course, cookies, cookies,and more cookies.  The kind of food that one can just graze on for hours especially if you have wine and birthday cake vodka to go with it! No, I'm not kidding, there really is a "Birthday cake" flavored vodka.  It smells delicious but I did not think it would be good to mix with the wine I was drinking.

We had plenty of gifts and the room was trashed by the time we finished unwrapping everything.  Our family is big enough to make the whole occasion seem like total chaos.  My daughter had wrapped a special box for each child so she saved that til the end.  She had the 4 grandkids sit in chairs and open their Mickey Mouse boxes all at once.  We all waited expectantly for them to get their ears and then read the invitation that said they were going to Disneyland the next day.  It took awhile and Jake finally realized what he was reading.  He got this incredulous look on his face and asked, "Is this for real? We're going to Disneyland?"  The little kids didn't have a clue really.  The grown-ups were more excited than the kids! 

I went to the jewelry store in Sierra Vista and bought myself this huge diamond ring......Not really.  I did go to the jewelry store to pick up my ring that Steve had gotten a new setting for.  He got me a new band last Mother's Day with three Princess diamonds.  I picked a new band for my first diamond and had the 2 bands welded together in one nice setting.  It is beautiful and makes me very happy just to have it on my finger.  I never knew I was such a "material girl!"  He also got me a nice teardrop sapphire necklace.  Young girls have their own natural beauty, but when you get old like me, you need a little enhancement. Ha!  Thanks Steve!

I drove down the hill to my daughter's house about 8 pm to feed her dog and let her(the dog, not my daughter) out for a little while.  It is so still and cold.  The stars filled the heavens as bright and beautiful as the diamonds on my finger.  I was awestruck and just stared up at them until I couldn't stand the cold anymore.  We are so blessed.  I pray that you are all blessed this Christmas Eve and everyday of your lives.   "Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"

We are having cold and snowy weather.  We had a bad storm last week, lots of rain and snow up higher.  Then we had a real foggy morning.  It is kinda cool as it puts one in the mood for Christmas.

Yesterday we had a big "cookie" party.  Shawna and I made cookies and the kids decorated and ate! Ha!   Now I have tons of cookies of all kinds all over the house. Yummy! Next I am trying to wrap all the gifts in time for the Christmas Eve-Eve party on Friday.  Standing on my feet making cookies and now wrapping gifts is hard on my back and feet.  I will get it all done a little at a time and rest after Christmas.  No one has mentioned anything about a New Year's Eve party!  Thank goodness!  But we will probably celebrate our youngest grandson's birthday on New Year's Day as everyone will be driving back from Disneyland on his actual birthday, December 27.  Yeah, my daughter planned a big surprise for all the kids.  They don't know yet that they are going to Disneyland for Christmas.  It will be the last gift they receive at the party on Friday. They will be so excited there won't be much sleeping that night.  It will be for the best as the trip will take about 8 hours.  They can sleep in the car.  I get to stay home, take care of the animals and have 3 whole days of peace and quiet!  Can't wait!

I am out of hay for the goats and alpacas.  Steve will have to stop at the feed store after work and get some more.  The alpacas have gotten out into the field since there isn't much for them to eat in their barn.  The goats and the alpacas all look at me when I go out.  They think I've forgotten them I guess. Mikey just stays in the barn all day under the heat lamp I got for the chickens.  Lazy old cat!  Can't say I blame him though.  When the weather is cold and wet like this, all I want to do is curl up under a nice alpaca blanket and read a good book.

As I write this it is pouring down rain outside.  I got the Christmas tree up and decorated the weekend after Thanksgiving.  We had a little party and let the grandkids do the work.  Lots of fun and food. Since then I have been in gathering mode, shopping for a gift here, another there.  I've also been sewing up a storm.  I completed shirts for two of my grandsons and continue to work on one more shirt and a dress for my granddaughter, Eden.  I also made two new blankets, one for Logan who misplaced his treasured old blanket and one for Eden whose blanket has seen better days.  

The animals have been enjoying our cooler temperatures, at least until today and the rain.  They are all hiding out of the wet today.  One of my little goats was injured by another one when they butted heads.  The base of his horn bled a little and he seems to be staying clear of any battles lately.  The bleeding didn't last long so I think he will be OK.

Mikey, my barn cat, has killed two squirrels this week.  I think they were stealing his cat food so he put an end to that.  One of the squirrels was eaten and looked like he had his revenge by the looks of the vomit on the floor.  Course Mikey didn't clean up the mess.  He did the hunting after all.  Loki, my house cat, has been mostly staying in the house.  He doesn't like the cold, the wet, or the coyotes! He prefers to watch me cut out shirts and lay in the middle of the work table until I remove him to a less intrusive locale.

The remaining alpacas seem to be healthy for now and I have not taken them back to the vet.  I'm pretty sure I will be trying to sell them after the new year.  The deaths of Tinker and Kardigan have taken the thrill out of alpaca farming for me.  Perhaps it was a mistake to just get males or maybe a blessing.  Either way, I learned a lot and enjoyed them most of the time but I think it is time to move on to something else.

There will probably be more snow on the mountains since we are having rain down here.  I'm glad we do not get much snow but sometimes I do miss the green that comes from living in a wetter climate.  Only 12 days til Christmas!  Reminds me of that song, "On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me..."  Enjoy the holidays!

"Christmas is coming, and the geese are getting fat..." Ha!  We don't have geese, thank the good Lord, but Christmas is coming anyway!  We decorated right after Thanksgiving and I am hoping to finish up the shopping this week.  I have my cards addressed and signed but I am having a little trouble with the letter this year.  It went so fast and I am trying to remember the good things to report but so far I am only recalling the bad things.  So I will work on that for a few days and, hopefully, get it done by Monday.

Thanksgiving turned out very nice.  I was a little worried about the turkey.  It thawed in plenty of time but it was one that I raised and I was afraid it would be too tough to eat or tainted in some way.  It actually produced quite a tasty bird.  It was leaner than a store bought bird and there was less breast meat because it was a heritage breed and not the big breasted kind that is bred for Thanksgiving and not for breeding.  I was pleased that it was tasty and that we had plenty for the day with some leftover for later.  

On Saturday after Thanksgiving, we had a "Decorating Party."  I invited all the grands over to decorate the Christmas tree and made lots more food for the occasion.  We had chicken wings, blue cheese puffs (my daughter made, very good), cheese and summer sausage, a relish tray, jalapeno poppers, (made by daughter #2's boyfriend), cookies, fudge and fish sticks with cocktail sauce. Yummy!  I was stuffed and off my diet, of course!  Ha!  I am off my diet til next year.  There is no sense in torturing myself.


Our weather has been pretty mellow and nice, sunny, breezy and warm.  That is supposed to change drastically over the next few days.  It is supposed to snow down to 4000 feet, which means we may have snow in our yard as we are at 4800 feet elevation.  My #2 daughter, Sara, and her son Logan are traveling to Missouri today by way of Denver.  They are visiting Logan's other grand parents.  I am worried about them because Denver is supposed to get snow today.  The snow storm looks bad on the weather channel radar.  They will return on Sunday, the good Lord willing.  


I'm posting Thanksgiving pictures today and maybe some Christmas tree and snow pictures next time.