For all my friends who are waiting to see, the finished remodel!

Here are the photos of my "new" house, complete with tile floors throughout, new light blue-gray walls and black pearl granite coutertops.  The new appliances do not show fingerprints, though some dust shows in the photos, taken before I had a chance to dust them off after installation.

Sky Island Escape

While the construction workers were ripping out the flooring in my house, I took Ozzie and went on a trip up Mt. Lemmon, the highest point in the Santa Catalina Mountains, right outside Tucson.  The valley floor was in the low 100's, but on the mountain it was at least 20 degrees cooler, a perfect spot to take a short walk.
The walk had to be short, since 9000 feet above sea level makes for tough breathing if you're not used to it, and it had been over 11 years since I had been to the village of Summerhaven.  11 years ago, a major wildfire devastated the place, and some of the photos I took show how the fire skipped parts of the area and vaporized others.
The first set of photos was taken on the way up, at a halfway point called Windy Point.  You can see the road I drove on far below the lookout, as well as spectacular views.
The second set is the village near the summit, and the last set is the southernmost ski area in the country!  Yes, there is snow up there in the winter, since the elevation gives us a real winter spot just 30 miles up the road from Tucson!

Why we put up with the hot Arizona summers

This is what the park near my home looked like in the last few weeks, even more flowers in parts of the desert a little farther away. The stream of water is there year-round due to us being downstream from the water treatment facility, clean enough for the ducks. The spring even has Ozzie's bark of approval!

Coozies that look like undies!!

How about these for the perfect stocking stuffer? I can make them in any color that cotton yarn is made in, panties or boxers, and even briefs (with an embroidered y-front fly) if you wish. These are my original idea, one of my former co-workers called regular coozies panties. Get them on Artfire or Zibbet for only $2 each, and just watch the recipient's face when they first see them!

I'm back!

Really, I never went anywhere, have just been doing a bit of job-hunting, with success after these couple of months. I work as an LPN, so it was just a matter of finding the right opening for me, and I'm now doing homecare for an agency and getting plenty of shifts. The weather has been hot in Tucson until recently, so my knitted and crocheted items haven't done very well at craft shows, but things are looking up there as well. I'll be posting some of my items here shortly, so keep your eyes open.

When the sun comes out after the rain

After all our recent rainstorms, the desert has a few blooming plants, though not quite like the spring wildflowers. These bushes are known as Texas Rangers, and they bloom in shades of purple after monsoon rains. These particular ones are in my backyard, complete with bees pollinating them.

The little furbaby is Oscar, more commonly known as Ozzie, doing his morning explorations.

Shawls on Sale

All of the wonderful shawls, both knitted and crocheted, are now on sale for the Artfire Stimulus Sale! Check out my studio for lots of goodies, large and small. More stimulus promotion coming up soon, not only my studio, either