And the morning 'Beeping' has begun!

It's taking some time to get used to all the noise in our new place. We live on a busy street with a lot of cars and foot traffic. I knew it would take getting used to. We've lived in quiet places for a long time. Our town home sits on the end of a culdesac, but right over the wall is the busy street. I can sit here at my desk upstairs and watch the cars come and go and the people walk down the street from the bus stop at the corner.

The beeping is from the construction across the street. We didn't really hear much of the construction noise as they were adding more town homes on our street. Ours was the first finished and they made their way down the street with five more sets of town homes. Well, except for the two days they were ripping out concrete and pouring it again. Jack hammers. Cement truck parked in front of our driveway all day running loudly and annoyingly. It took a lot of jockeying to get the car out of the garage that day.

They started preparing the land in the empty lot across the street a few weeks ago. All the big equipment. All the beeping. Because someone at some point didn't see that a huge piece of machinery was backing up and probably walked into it, all big vehicles have to beep when they back up.

They back up a lot.

So we start hearing the beeping quite early. Too early. I know they're doing their jobs, but can we turn off the beeping? They probably don't hear it anymore, but we do. I do. TV up loud. Headphones on. I still hear it. Sometimes it's really hard to block it out.

At night they remove the cones blocking two of the southbound lanes. When there is no traffic. So the cars run over the big steal plates in the road covering up where they're connecting sewer lines, I assume. It sounds like someone is banging on the wall of the house. I think they're almost done with that, though.

Yesterday, as I was outside with the dogs, I looked up, over the wall, to the mountains in the distance. We have no windows on that side of the house, but the view of the snow covered mountain is always there when I'm outside.

Until they're done.

They've already got a structure going up and it occurred to me, when they are finished the mountain view will be gone.

Dang it.

It looks like they're going to be town homes.

I still have my view from the scrap room, though. I'll be happy when the builder sign goes down! And hope they don't build on that lot for a while.

The Balloons we almost didn't see in Mesquite!

Saturday Mary and I drove off to Mesquite to see the hot air balloons! I saw this event on Facebook, always looking for something new and fun to do around us. Mesquite is only about an hour away, so it was perfect for a day trip. Bill stayed home with the dogs and some football time.

We planned to leave earlier than we did, but we were there in plenty of time.

We spotted some balloons in the air as we rounded a corner on the Interstate as we approached the exit. A truck in front of us pulled over to the side of the road before the exit. I expected that he wanted a few pictures to take home after work that day.

We turned the corner at the Casablanca Hotel amid the bumper to bumper cars parked along the street and a whole lot of people standing around the area where the balloons were. It was slow going down the street looking for where we were to park. We spotted the event parking sign, but no one was pulling in there, so we continued down the street looking for another entrance. We didn't find one.

I turned on the next big street thinking I would circle the block, but this particular street went off in another direction and soon we were climbing and heading south. I could see the interstate in the distance and eventually turned around. We stopped a couple times for Mary to take a few pictures of the balloons in the air.

By the time we made it back to where we started the staging area was empty. The balloons were all gone except for one that was providing little 'rides' up in the basket, a long line trailing through the parking lot of people waiting patiently.

Mary got some awesome shots and I think this one is my favorite.

The Facebook page mentioned something going on in the evening, so we decided to head north and visit St. George, Utah again. And that's where Denny's is. We were hungry. And we had a coupon.

Denny's was very busy with a lot of people waiting, but the counter was open, so we perched ourselves on those stools, pulled out the phones and looked at pictures of balloons. The food was good; the servers were good; it was good.

Mary looked around on her phone for some things to do there in St. George other than shopping or hiking. Since we had gone through some stores on Main during our last visit, we decided to head north out of St. George and see what there was to see in the next couple of towns. Mary found an antique store she thought looked interesting, so off we went to Hurricane, Utah!

 It wasn't too far, just a few minutes away and one circling of the block when looking for the antique store. We found tons of stuff that caught our interest, but it was all over for Mary when she found really old books. The first one was concerning dogs, dated 1929. She held on to it, certain she wanted to buy it, until she found this...

A Chemical Spectroscopy book from 1947.

Yeah. I don't know either.

But it sure made her happy! I mean, giddy, giggling happy!

Then we went into this bookstore and she found a really, really old book on pathology and was SO disappointed because it was really, really expensive.  

We headed back to St. George, hoping to see more balloons. Mary called the casino to see if someone could verify that there would be something going on and was told there would be a 'glowing' at six that evening.

We had a couple of hours to kill once we got back to Mesquite, so we took a few pictures here and there and decided to try the fare at the Eureka Hotel.

Wasn't bad.

The 'glowing' wasn't to be found. The hotel told Mary that the 'glowing' would be held in the staging area where they took off from in the morning, but when we drove by there wasn't a balloon to be found. The casino's parking lot was packed and people were wandering around, but I thought they may have been just as misinformed as we were. We decided to just head home. It was dark and looking for parking and then figuring out what was going on was just not worth it. We'd had a really good day! We did see balloons, but not all of them on the ground.

I'll end this post with just a couple of doggie pictures. Bailey is doing really well! And she's just so cute.

Bailey and Ellie play a lot! It makes me happy to see them having fun together.

Bailey is learning restraint when trying to communicate with Annabell, who really doesn't want to have anything to do with her, yet.

It's a good sign, too, that neither Maddie or Annabell has eaten Bailey yet.

Showcase those birthdays!

I was running through my emails; check, delete, save for later, but one caught my eye. I saved it for later and sat down here at my desk to really take a look at it.

Since I've actually been working in the scrap room for a couple of weeks now, getting it 'workable', my mind has been working on what I would be working on next! I finished up a gift album and have been organizing, but I want to start my next project.

I don't know if it will be birthdays, heaven knows I have a lot of those to get in albums, but in this email I opened was from Creative Memories and it's all about birthdays!

It's really cute, so I wanted to share.

You can see the whole collection HERE! And if you really love it, you can get it HERE in the What's New section!

Now to get this room picked up so I can play with pictures!

Bailey's First Vet Visit

I'm sure you've seen this little face on Facebook, but just in case you haven't, this is Bailey.

She came home with us a week ago. 

Mary and I were out and about last Sunday and we stopped by the Dog Supply Outlet in Summerlin.

We had visited some puppies in Downtown Summerlin a while ago, so I knew there would be dogs there again on this fine day. 

We were only going to look. Really!

The adoptions were made available by the Las Vegas Animal Assisted Therapy organization. Cheri heads this up and she is awesome! Take a look at her website.

She had several adult dogs there, along with Mary from the Farmanity Project.

We gave all the dogs attention, but the three dubbed The Three Stooges; Larry, Moe and Curly, just grabbed at my heart. They had been dumped in the desert by some creepy human and Cheri scooped them up, along with a mom dog and her whole litter. 

I sat and watched them. Picked them up and snuggled with them. And came home with the little girl.

Mary saw this coming. I'd been hovering too long. 

So here's a little recap of our week!

After the initial meet with the other dogs, she had a bath.

Then she happily emptied a bowl full of puppy food.

She didn't quite understand the potty routine and sat there on the cement for a while.

She really didn't understand why, on the rainy days, we went out front and across the street to hear us chant, "Go potty, Bailey!"

She's doing really well learning commands with the other dogs, though!

Of course, anything is better when there's food involved.

She wasn't too thrilled when we left her in her box for a bit while Mary and I ran out for lunch one day, but she's getting used to it. We feed her in there, too, so the other dogs can have a peaceful meal.

She loves the ottoman! She's made it her place to be when we're all watching TV together.

Annabell is none too pleased. This was her attitude one evening. She and Maddie grumble at her a bit, but they'll be okay. We make sure to let the two oldest dogs have their alone time.

 Yesterday, Bill and I took Bailey to her first vet visit while Mary was in Summerlin helping out at another adoption day.

Walking around hoping Bailey will potty before going into the vet.

There was a lot of sniffing going on.

 The office was busy! This is the first animal clinic I have ever been to where there were four, and sometimes more, people manning the desk, helping people, checking in boarders, answering phones. All were professional and everything seemed to be running smoothly. I was concerned we would be there a really long time, but that was not the case.

Bailey was so relaxed! She was a little wary sniffing around and probably wondering what we were doing, but she just plopped herself down and watched the pandemonium.

I don't know what's going on, but I'll wait. ~Bailey

She had a good sniff around the exam room.

And I think she didn't really want to know what was behind that door. She could hear a lot of barking going on in that direction!

She had a once-over by this really nice vet and was declared healthy! A few test results will come back next week, but all in all, the vet was pleased.

And so was Bailey. To be home. And asleep on the couch.

I wonder what goes through her little puppy head, but I think she's happy to have a home.

One of her brothers got a new home yesterday at the adoption event. I hope the other one gets a home soon, but, in the meantime, he's well taken care of by Cheri.

All Those Pictures

It's been a while since I've done any scrapbooking. Currently, I'm working on a gift album. It's coming along nicely, but I can't show it here yet. I've been organizing things in the art room. It's a bit chaotic, but it's getting better. I'm getting things done!

I ordered the Scrap Rack a couple of weeks ago, hoping to get things organized and within reach so I will actually use the stuff.

 

I was SO happy to see this huge box on the front porch when it was delivered. Well, Bill saw it and let me know there was a huge box on the porch. I almost always need an assistant in assembling things and on this occasion, it was Mary filling that position.

It's coming along nicely, and actually got some things done with it yesterday, even though I had a new scraproom companion with me.

We tired her out quite a bit before I headed to the scraproom, hoping she would nap and she did.

I am having a bit of trouble with the Scrap Rack, I must admit. I have a bit of an issue with the binders coming open and the pages tearing easily. I'm determined to make it work, though.

After all these years playing with pictures and such a long time since I have played with pictures, I still love Creative Memories. I went on the website this morning to look around at the new, pretty things and ordered a few of the new catalogs. For quite a while I've only ordered album pages and protectors and adhesives. I need to fill the albums I already have, but the new album covers are really pretty! 

I have tried SO many different albums and I always go back to Creative Memories product. I did a few albums Project Life style, but I've been thinking of recreating them in CM albums. The PL albums are so big and bulky. Who knows. 

While on Creative Memories, though, I did order this template, too.

I can't wait to play with it! I should have my gift album complete by the time it gets here. Meanwhile, I'll be tuckering out that puppy so I can go finish putting together the Scrap Rack!

If you'd like to take a closer look at what Creative Memories is all about you can Click HERE.

If you'd like a catalog, give me a shout here, in an email, or on Facebook!

Saturday Drive

Anywhere outside of Las Vegas is a bit of a drive. We always love to explore our new surroundings. After all, since 1995, Nevada is our 4th new state to live in!

Facebook is handy finding things going on in all kinds of places and one day a balloon festival coming up popped up on my page.

You can find it here.

We decided to head up to Mesquite, Nevada on Saturday to see what was what, thinking about going up for the balloon festival. It's only about an hour away making it a good day trip. It was pretty chilly, but still a good driving day.

We got there just about lunch time, so we stopped at Peggy Sue's Diner.

It was pretty busy and the food was pretty good, but it was a bit run down and in need of some remodeling. It was nice to sit down and enjoy some breakfast for lunch, though. Other than the coffee cup with lipstick still on it, the food was good and hot.

Outside the diner there were a couple of old vehicles. I always like to take pictures of those.

We wandered around the Casa Blanca Hotel and debated on whether or not to book a room for the balloon festival. We decided to just drive up on the day of, it's not too far.

There's not a whole lot to look at in Mesquite other than the casinos, so it wasn't too long before we were on the road again, heading north to St. George, Utah. I had wanted to go up there in December for the Dicken's Christmas Festival, but we didn't make it to that. Maybe next year.

St. George is beautiful, though, even on a cold, cloudy January day. Our first stop was for something warm in anticipation of doing some wandering.

Starbucks, of course. What can I say. We're a bit addicted to this stuff. We stopped into the Kitchen Store to look for a gadget we've been hunting for, then we were off to explore a bit.

After walking through some antique stores on Main Street, we found the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve. We'd come around a bend in the road and spotted some people sitting way up on the top of these hills, so we decided to check it out! We did not, however, venture to the top of the cliffs, but walked around a bit, enjoying the view.

The views were amazing and we look forward to coming back on a sunny day!

We headed home from there, back down I-15 toward Vegas, with a quick and disgusting trip into the Jack-in-the-Box in Mesquite. I know. We should have found something else to curb our appetite, but actually, after being in there a few minutes we weren't very hungry any more. Their corporate office has heard all about our visit.

This week is flying by and, hopefully, the last of the tradesmen are coming to fix one more thing. I don't think we have any wandering plans this weekend, but I'll let you know!

#52pickup2019

For a couple of years now, I've been joining Stephanie Ackerman and her Documented Faith series. And every year I slack off and don't complete everything. I read all the posts, but haven't done the art that you can do along with it and that makes me sad. 

One of my goals for this year is to finish things! I have a hard time finishing things. It's a me thing and I need to work on a lot of me things.

This year, we are doing 52 Pick Up and I've started and being gentle and non-judgemental with myself. You can read about it HERE.

We are using a deck of cards and altering them with each week's verse. For January, I'm using the artwork already done by Stephanie, easing myself into doing some art myself. The first weeks verse is Job 11:13-18. I wrote it down and put it on the back of the card.

I love the way this is set up; small and portable, so I can carry it around with me and refresh myself with lessons I'm learning along the way.

Check out her blog: Homegrown Hospitality for all the details!