Ethel M Chocolates & Cactus Garden

Aside from all the million and one things I hate about moving, I love searching out and exploring wherever we make our home.

Savannah had so much history and awesome things to explore! I don't think we ever saw everything there was to see in Savannah.

Bill had heard about Ethel M Chocolates before Mary and I got here to Vegas, so I thought we should take a ride and see what it was all about.

It's not huge. It's not Wonka-ish, although it was fun to see! It was Sunday, so there wasn't a lot of people making magic, but there were a few.

I'd love to go back when the kitchen is in full swing, full of chocolaty goodness in progress.

The cactus garden was very cool! The only thing is, all the cactus are wrapped in Christmas lights, preparing for the holiday season. I want to go see them all lit up for the holidays, but I also want to go back and see the garden without the light wrapped cactus.

I wasn't sure we would find beautiful outdoors here in the desert. I was pleasantly surprised with the cactus garden.

For such a small area, there were so many awesome things growing!  Can't wait to see it all lit up for the Holidays.

I have to say, though, the only thing about the place was the location. While we were there only a couple hours, the calm was broken every 15 seconds or so.

Right under the flight path to the airport.

Loud.

So loud.

An Actual Scrapbook Page

I've been having computer issues. I've had the thing in to Best Buy. Yeah. That went well. I've had trouble with my scrapbooking software forever. So many phone calls. So much frustration. I still go in and try it and this morning I decided to try it again after I reset my computer yesterday.

I'd started a page a while ago and decided to see if the program would cooperate. The scrapbook software has had a memory problem. It doesn't want to save anything. It thinks about it, but just sits there spinning it's wheels, laughing at me as I try to make it do what I want it to do.

With the move that started a year ago, and honestly, long before that, I've had trouble getting into the mood. It's just not there. But with all those months of waiting, excruciating waiting, for the house to sell, I organized all my digital and printed photos so that once we moved and got settled I could get started again and really enjoy my favorite hobby.

Then we started the town home. Another move. Coming up quickly, I might add. Here we are again. Packing stuff, getting ready for another move. Not far this time. 

So, I'm waiting again. Have to move and get settled again. 

But I've been gathering inspiration. Started collecting ideas. Started to really look forward to playing with paper and pictures again.

In the meantime, prepared for frustration, I actually opened up that program and got it to work long enough to save the page. I love both digital scrapbooking and paper scrapbooking, so this was a good start to my day. I'm not going to push it though. I'm going to let the program sit back, relax and try and get to know me again.

Dayna and Katie came to see me while I was in Las Vegas. Bill had to fly off somewhere else for work that morning so the girls didn't get to see him, but we had fun roaming around Red Rock Canyon, laughing and taking pictures. The day went fast and I flew back to Savannah the next morning as they made their way back to Los Angeles. 

 After so many years living so far away from each other, it is truly a blessing to be where we are now.

Interior Design by Amazon

We've been in this rental home five months now, but are almost ready to move again. Yes, all the friends and family know that we are the masters of moving. Hopefully, this will be the last move here in Nevada until Bill and I are put in 'the home' where things like decorating won't be our concern.

We have lived in many a rental home and it didn't used to be a problem with decorating (except maybe my style, if I have one). We hung what we wanted on the walls and, upon leaving, patched up the holes, painted if necessary, and left the place in better condition than when we first signed the lease. That's just what we do. It didn't matter to some landlords, others weren't too accommodating.

The last landlord we had in Georgia had in the lease the exact number of nails we were allowed to put in the walls. I think it was 18, but it was probably less. I don't think we really hung much on the walls there. The asshole vibe from the landlord started right away and we chose not to count nails.

When we moved in the home was touted as being 'move-in ready'. If that meant that there were worms and leaves throughout the house from the windows being left open, then it was. The cabinets were filthy, inside and out. And we won't even discuss the huge yard. When it came time for us to move the landlord shared with us all his assholeness and there was a few heated exchanges before we were finally through with him.

Here we are now, in a rental home in Las Vegas, our town home nearing completion, and getting ready for a fight or two.

The town home was originally slated to close early January. Now it is 2 months early. Yeah. Early. We've had one round of negotiations regarding breaking our lease with the owner through the property management company and we're hoping it is resolved. Unless, of course, the assholeness rears it's ugly head and berates us on our walk-through when we've cleaned and shined the place.

Anyway!
With the town home near completion, I have been thinking about decorating. It'll be ours to do with what we please. We've already picked up a couple of gallons of paint to splash some color on the some of the walls and, since we can walk through the model whenever we want, we can visualize where we may want to put things before we actually get in ours. We've taken pictures, measured walls and marveled at how much storage is in the place!

Enter Amazon.
We're always buying from Amazon, so one evening I decided to see what I would find for decorating a bathroom. Start small. That's what I think.

So here are a few of the things I found when I searched Bathroom Decor on Amazon. Tell me what you think.

I love these four above. 

This one may be too close to reality for me, so I don't know.

So True.

Or just the 'Escape Room'. Works either way.

OMG. Yes.

So cute for our house full of dogs.

Kinda pretty.

Since we do not have small children anymore, I thought this was hilarious!

And these are cute. 

So, what do you think? I have to make a decision some time soon. If I don't get things on the walls in the new place within a reasonable amount of time it will make me crazy. 

Hoover Dam and Old Photos

When Bill and I came to Las Vegas last November (OMG, it's been almost a year ago!) for a look around at homes and neighborhoods for our future move, I drove up to Hoover Dam while Bill was in a meeting at work. I walked around a bit, took a bunch of photos, but didn't take the tour. I wanted to enjoy that once we were here, all together.

I don't know why this has popped in my head, but the other day I remembered some old photos of my Dad's. I don't know the actual date of these pictures.( I'd have to dig them out and that would take time. I still don't know where most things are that were packed for the move.) 

I'm happy I scanned them so I could share!

My shutter-bug tendencies from my Dad, so it was really fun to put these pictures together!