The ground isn’t white (thank goodness) but the morning temps are enough to make us think Christmas is right around the corner. Mom said she thought Arizona was warm in the winter–not in southeast Arizona at an elevation of 4500 feet! Bright blue skies, not a cloud in sight on our 20 degree mornings.

Monday and Tuesday I painted the kitchen and down the hallway of the main house. The Cowboy even got in on the painting business–something he never does. But, he was anxious to lay tile and if that’s what it took then paint he did.
Mom and I were on our way to Tucson bright and early Wednesday morning heading to the airport. She arrived in Arkansas that evening safe and sound–all is well. We sure enjoyed having her with us for this past month–it was a treat. Our guest house seemed quiet and lonely Thursday morning when I walked in to start the coffee maker.
The Cowboy is laying tile and once this tile is laid he will start building our kitchen cabinets. We are so excited to be on the downhill slide of this huge project we started almost 4 years ago!!!
No painting for me on Friday–chores were calling, I could hear the laundry basket complaining! In the afternoon I delivered boozy fruitcake I had made to friends in the area–it’s such good fruitcake and I’m most definitely not a fan of fruitcake! You can find the recipe here.
When I returned from fruitcake delivery we decided to hang our new wooden window shades that were delivered a couple weeks ago from BlindsGalore.com. I had hung one of the shades in our smaller guest room window and knew how the process should work but the rest of the shades were being hung outside the window requiring a bit more measuring–the Cowboy’s expertise!

The shades look lovely and we are pleased as always with our BlindsGalore.com purchase. In all the purchases I’ve made from BlindsGalore (a whole house full of shades at North Ranch), I’ve only had one shade malfunction. This particular shade works but you have to stand in one spot right underneath the cords or the blind will NOT raise straight, one end or the other will hang down. Should have returned it but didn’t. This time we saved boxes until we were sure everything worked correctly.
I’m a from scratch cook, usually. At least I was before covid reared its ugly, stupid head and I was cooking two meals a day, every. single. day.! When shopping at Costco I’ve been bringing home easy to prepare stuff–panko breaded shrimp that is done in the oven in 25 minutes, etc. Last Wednesday I brought home lobster bisque and the lady who was reaching for it at the same time said it was good. But then she said, “have you seen the lobster ravioli they have today over on that end cap?” Well, no, I missed the ravioli but went back and grabbed a package. We had one half the package for Saturday lunch which was more than the portion size on the wrapping but we were hungry. The lobster ravioli was outstanding! The package was $15 and if it feeds us twice that is $3.75 per portion–can’t beat that price nor can you eat out for that price!
Here is an unsettling statistic for you–my dear friend lost her husband on March 20th (non covid). On that date deaths from covid in the United States were in the teens as in 14, 15, etc. In NINE months we’ve gone from almost no deaths to over 300,000 deaths. Those NINE months have seemed endless to me but in the scheme of things, that’s a short period of time to have had 300,000 deaths from a disease which could have been controlled.

Saturday the Cowboy grouted tile so we could move the refrigerator and laid cement board in preparation for more tile. I finished the painting in the main house–gosh it feels good to say that! The porch area isn’t done as that room is now the cabinet shop and catch all room but the main part of the house is coming together quickly–and we are so excited!
It’s so incredibly dry and no moisture in the foreseeable future.
The Cowboy laid more tile today after we moved the refrigerator back onto a section of tile that had been grouted. Late afternoon he decided to hang the TV in the living room–it’s a TV we purchased from Mike McFall at North Ranch before we moved to this property. Not sure why we need a TV hanging in the living room as we watch so little–but we have one.

Stop with the picture taking Mom, it’s dinner time, get a move on!
And here are two precious, all dressed up for their Christmas program great grand children–

They both look as if they are in pain in this photo!😍