it's random photo time, courtesy of my iPhone camera

I have found out that having an iPhone camera means 'random' really is random in terms of the content, when I get them onto my computer and look through them-- lol! Here's a sampling (and of course, click for a larger photo):

taken at work, 8/7/15. 
Cute little lizard that found its way into the building hallway.
(I let him go outside in the flower bed)

taken on my way home from work, 8/14/15.

The photo above shows something we've often wondered, but now I have photographic evidence-- we have always wondered whether the storms go around the town, because it very rarely rains at our house. The clouds show storms to the east and west of town, but right in front of me, right over the town?? No clouds!!! HA! We were right! (okay, it does rain sometimes, but not nearly as often as its seems to other places.)

Yum!! grocery store display, 8/18/15

The appearance of the Hatch chiles mean that fall is coming soon... (eventually).

Hatch chiles are grown in Hatch, New Mexico, and are wonderful when roasted, peeled, and added to all sorts of dishes... the aroma coming from this display was heavenly! I did buy some, and grilled them yesterday. After grilling them, you 'sweat' them for a few minutes in a covered dish... then you peel off the charred skin and scrape out the seeds, and they're ready to use in cooking. We grilled out burgers, and the roasted chiles were a tasty burger topping. (unfortunately, I did the peeling / handling without gloves, and my hands were burning even after washing them a number of times, lol!) 

But, to have chiles on hand for topping a cheese crisp, a burger, or to add extra flavor to a grilled chicken breast? I'll do it! (but not until after buying some gloves, lol!)

apple chicken salad, 8/26/15

This pic is of a new recipe that I will definitely be making again-- made with my newest kitchen toy, a spiralizer. The recipe was originally for tuna, but since I don't like tuna, I changed it around to use grilled chicken with romaine lettuce, a spiral-cut Granny Smith apple, chopped pecans, and dried cranberries, held together with a dressing that included mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, and lemon juice. It tasted as good as it looked!

geez-- looking at the next photo, you'd think that the only thing I take pictures of is food, lol! But the camera on my phone is useful for when I'm out shopping...

German whole-grain mustard, 8/29/15

I actually saw this mustard when I was out shopping for scrapbook supplies, if you believe that! Well, sort of-- one of the places I hit up for SB deals is Tuesday Morning, which is a close-out sort of store; you can sometimes find good deals. They also have kitchenware, home decor items, linens, and some gourmet foods. I sent a picture of it to Tom to ask if he thought he might like to try it.  (I did buy the mustard, and it is very tasty!)

But wait! I have been doing some scrapbooking and crafting too, though--

SB layout in process, 8/24/15

I have found that my phone camera is useful for scrapbooking, too-- I take pictures of photo placement and paper choices. I've found that looking at them on the phone gives a bit of a different perspective, and it helps me to make decisions. This photo placement picture is also helpful for me to remember for later, since I haven't finished this layout yet. (but I will, soon!)

distant storm, 8/31/15

Another phone weather pic from my commute home. Even after ten years, I am still fascinated by how far you can see out here in the desert, and especially when you can see a rainstorm off in the distance; it's just cool!

Next post: scrapping and card crafting!!  
(probably with a dose of randomness in there, too... lol!)

Currently I'm:

• Watching:
  -Chopped All-Stars: three rounds down so far!
  -Deadliest Catch: the new season just started- yay!
• Reading: 
  -The Beekeeper’s Apprentice, by Laurie R. King
  Set in the early 20th century, the main character is Mary Russell, a 15-year old girl who meets a retired Sherlock Holmes in the English countryside… and of course there’s a mystery to solve! (I bought a book by this author at the thrift store, and found out the book I bought was #9 in a series—so I had to start at the beginning with this title.)
• Listening to:
  -Dawson’s Creek (TV show) soundtracks
  -One Tree Hill (TV show) soundtrack
  (over and over... when I get into something, I play it to death, lol! I have to concentrate at my desk at work, and I can’t do it if there’s lots of people talking)
• Making:  
  -New art journal pages (I'm almost finished with my current journal- will post some pics soon)
  -Lists of things to take with me to a 3-day scrapbooking crop I’m attending this weekend in Tucson
• Feeling:  
  -Annoyed that 4-day work weeks always seem to be longer and more difficult than a regular 5-day work week is!
  -Impatient to finally receive my Rx refills from the mail-order service (there was a delay in ordering due to a switch in our insurance plan)
  -Impatient for my 4-day work week to be over with!
• Looking forward to:  
  -Having a great time at the SB crop in Tucson this weekend! (but will miss everyone at home while I’m gone)
  -Spending some quality time learning how to use my new camera.
• Enjoying:  
  -The wonderful spring weather we’re having right now, before the summer temperatures hit with a vengeance. Currently it's still cool enough at night to open the windows, but has been getting into the 90s for highs temps.

too much of a good thing makes for a good news story, apparently

so, we've been having a decent monsoon season so far this summer. We've had a number of storms miss us altogether, some small, quick moving storms, and a couple storms that last for hours and result in more than an inch of rain accumulation. And, since the ground is so dry here, the rain doesn't always soak in, especially if it comes down exceptionally fast.

Because of all this moisture, we've actually got some humidity (ick), lots of mosquitoes (double ick), and some other things going on, as you'll see below:

lush green grass (which = mosquitoes), and some
mysterious white objects... ??

they were mushrooms! not something I would
ever expect to see in the desert, that's for sure.

I removed them from the grass-- I have no idea
what kind they are, and I didn't want the dogs
getting into them. They are cool looking, though.

All the rainwater drains through the west side-yard, which means this
cactus has been in hog heaven. Too much of a good thing (all the water)
has resulted in an explosion of growth-- this arm couldn't hold up its
own weight any more, and slowly sagged down to the ground
over the course of a few days. (so, I had to do some pruning.)

too much of a good thing (Tuesday evening's rainstorm)
led to flooding in a neighborhood on the northeast
side of town that actually threatened a few homes. 

Which led to Maricopa being the lead weather story on the local news, a news helicopter hovering over town shooting live footage, and space on the front page of today's Phoenix newspaper! Apparently seasonal flooding (and a state of emergency being declared by the mayor, just in case it got worse) meant that Maricopa even warranted a few seconds on CNN this morning, as well!
 

(while I do feel bad for the people who were worried about their houses being inundated with water, I really think it must've been a slow news day- lol!)

90 degrees Fahrenheit...

is a decent high temperature; it is NOT good as a night-time low!! Yesterday the recorded high temperature in Phoenix was 116F (we broke the record at 113F or 114F)... with just a chance of rain in the forecast. Thank goodness the A/C is working!

just a couple journal pages from my vintage gardening book that I don't think I've ever posted:

acrylic paint, stencils, and some collaged paper with a bit of ribbon... I love the vintage image of the little boy on the swing!

Collaged paper including magazine image (frog), vintage music paper, and assorted scrapbooking papers.

somewhat random photos of weather and artsy stuff...

just a few random photos from the last week or so--

last Sunday afternoon, it rained in Maricopa; and when I say rained, I mean, it really rained! As with most monsoon storms, the rain just can't soak into the ground, so it runs off. So, the neighborhood streets turn into small rapids... some of the intersections were quite- interesting- to drive through, what with a 4 or 5 inches of rushing water going through them. 


I'm not gonna complain about that, though; it could be worse- a couple days ago, the north part of Phoenix got 5 inches of rain in under 2 hours, which caused a lot of damage to quite a few houses. According to the newspaper article I read, one house had over 3 feet of water inside and the fire department had to make holes in the walls to give the water some way to get outside. (!!!!)

The rain is really nice for the plants; the ocotillo in our front yard is liking it a lot, and has greened up nicely! (notice the well around it to collect the water?? smart, huh? thanks, landscapers!)

our patio table, yesterday afternoon... having another spray ink, stenciling, and painting session. Partly because Tom's out of town so I can leave the mess out all week if I want to (lol! he's not a neat-freak or anything,but when I'm home by myself, I am definitely not neat at all), and partly because a co-worker who saw my journal last week said, "I'd love to have some backgrounds like that in my sketchbook." So, I said I'd be happy to do some for him! (I may have another art-journaling convert, soon- I'll let you know!)

this one is totally random, but I think this photo is hilarious! This is my sister Judy's dog Yogi engrossed in a television program about a family who lives in Alaska. Judy said Yogi also quite liked a nature program about lions that was recently on, too. (Our dogs never do this; the most they ever do is start barking and run for the front door when a doorbell rings on television.)

I sense a theme... and some recent weather.

Not really a purposeful theme, but I do have some similar colors, designs, and images that I find myself using in my journals. These pages aren't right next to each other, but in flipping thru my 9x12 journal, these all jumped out at me since they all have similar imagery. 

During my recuperation from the second surgery, I started taking an online journaling class by Kelly Kilmer: Memories and Reflections. It includes collage templates, journaling prompts, printable collage elements, and instructions for making two different handmade books. I haven't made the books yet, but have used some of the templates and collage images. 

everything will work out

This page started with one of Kelly's layout templates, and includes vintage sheet music, painted newsprint, handmade paper, watercolor crayons, and gel pens. The image was out of an antiques magazine. (again, I don't like how my writing turned out, here-- but the page is done, and I like the finished page more than I dislike my handwriting, so it's all good.)

graffiti Buddha

This page didn't start out with any sort of a template; instead, it used one of Michelle Ward's 'Street Team Crusades', which were weekly challenges that could be used as a jumping-off point for a journal page or piece of artwork. This particular challenge was 'Strip Ease' (using strips of paper or fabric and attach to your page). The entire background is strips of all sorts of paper, along with decorative tape. The image is one of Kelly's collage images, a graffiti art Buddha. 

graffiti Buddha close up- penwork detailing

all those strips gave me plenty of room for drawing patterns, doodling, and coloring in the various patterns on the paper and tape.

now, to the weather: yesterday afternoon I got stuck in my car for a while in the WalMart parking lot, waiting for the rain to let up long enough so I could run inside the store. Once I got in, it poured hard for most of the time I was inside (I could hear it on the roof of the store!) Monsoon season is interesting in that it can be pouring rain one place and be perfectly clear somewhere else just a mile or two away. And when it does rain, it can pour so hard that the rain just can't soak in, leading to flooding. This was the scene on the highway on my way home from WalMart:

Four out of the 6 lanes on the highway were flooded right at an underpass, leading to a bit of a traffic jam, as we worked our way past the water. So far, this monsoon season is shaping up to be a good one! (except for the mosquitoes- they're horrible!)

any place worth going

another journal page, except this one is unfinished: the overall page layout is loosely the same as the first page in this post, but once I finish it, that probably won't be so easily seen since the style / colors of the papers are so different. 

and now, I'm off to try out some new supplies I got yesterday while I was out doing errands!! 

July 4th rain

a few photos of the wonderful gray, drizzly Independence Day we had on Wednesday! It was really nice to wake up to the sound of rain on the roof and to enjoy the gray, overcast skies all morning long. (overcast, rainy days are truly a rarity here, so even though I never thought much about them back in Illinois, they are now a very pleasant event.)

we relaxed out on the patio most of the morning; Tom smoked a cigar while I read a book, and the dogs hung out and kept us company. (They don't like getting their feet wet, but I like to think they appreciated being outside in the fresh air!)

Above, Prescott and Bisbee appear enjoy a doggie air-kiss moment... (actually, I think he was trying to get her to play and she didn't want to!)

a bit later, they both went inside... Krista didn't quite know if she wanted to jump up onto the patio chair (it wobbles a bit), so I lifted her up onto it. She stayed there a while, but eventually she wanted down... again, it was wobbly, so she wasn't sure about it. (it took her a while, but she finally figured out how to do it!)

This is the aftermath of those 4+ inches of rain, the next afternoon-- these pictures aren't the greatest (if you click on them, they'll get larger), but they do show a bit of the mess in the wash that runs through our neighborhood-- the road was still technically blocked at this point, but it didn't stop this Jeep driver from blasting right through the water. (it wasn't that high, but the water was above the roadway, and it was still moving at a pretty good clip.)

this photo is a view north from the sidewalk... even though it's receded now, the water must have been pretty high, because it looks like the mud and muck had covered pretty much the entire wash from one side to the other. 

and I took this photo just because it was cool-looking, and I knew it wouldn't last. The thin coating of mud across the sidewalk had dried into something that looks like chocolate curls! (not quite as tasty as chocolate, though, I'm sure.)

the week (well, some of it, anyway) in photos

Wednesday afternoon, a storm moved through the valley- storms (and really, clouds in general) are unusual things here, so they're pretty exciting when they do actually happen.

 Yay, it actually rained! Enough to use the windshield wipers, even!! (although not right here; this is just after it started.)

Then, there was a duststorm... so, my nice clean car isn't nice and clean any more. :( But, there was rain!! so I won't complain too much.

another photo of the praying mantis from Friday. I love that you can even see his tiny antennae here!

Saturday morning, we ran some errands. 1) drop the dogs off at the groomers. 2) check out chest freezers and computers at Best Buy-- need to do more research before we buy, though. 3) stop off at Arriba's Mexican Grill for lunch-- they have some amazingly hot (and tasty) Hatch chile entrees. 4) Pick up framed artwork from JoAnn's. 5) back home, with leftovers for Sunday.

Arriba's interior is kind of 'kitchy' Mexican, but it's fun- an entire wall of plastic flowers, and these larger-than-life parrots everywhere. I thought this one was kinda funny, holding his can of beer. (when I took the photo, a sweet little old lady who had also been taking pictures asked me, "oh, are you a tourist too?" haha!! No, just a scrapbooker!

The first piece of framed artwork. My mom is an amazing sewer!! I started this piece of counted cross-stitch, oh, maybe about 2 years ago?? not sure... Anyway, I work really slow, and have a tendency to not finish things, even though I have the best of intentions. She worked on me for at least 6 months to give it to her so she could finish it for me. Finally, I conceded defeat (I was probably only about a quarter of the way done) and true to her word, she did finish it. 

But, that's not all- she also did this one, too!! These were designed by the same designer, and are about 18x22 framed. Gorgeous, right?? 

I know-- it is amazing, isn't it?!? I have no idea how many individual stitches there are in these, but they're so detailed, there have to be thousands... a huge thank-you to Mom, for spending untold hours on these with your needle and thread.

I'll post another photo or two of them, once we get them hung. I think they're going to go above our bed, and will finish off the bedroom perfectly! 

The dogs, after spending 4 hours at the groomers. They are so clean, the white fur is almost blinding! And, there's so much less hair on them, I can't even begin to imagine what the floor at the groomer's looked like after they were done!! L-R: Krista, Prescott, Bisbee. (Krista still doesn't know how to 'sit' yet; I need to work on that with her some more.)

Bisbee's hair is so silky smooth after they come back from the groomer's; too bad it won't last! (we haven't let them 'cut loose' and play outside quite yet; don't want them to get dirty too quick.) She poses so pretty! (when there's no outside distractions, that is.)

random photo catchup

just a few random photos from last week... this one is a bit of dust storm aftermath... I thought it was so funny to see the dust covering the parking lot at work! just like a dusting of snow, except a dusting of dust won't melt or disappear, till it rains. Wednesday afternoon we headed to the doctor's office-- it was time for Bisbee's annual checkup. They don't mind the vet's office, and everyone at the vet's office loves to see them... I think part of the reason is they're so friendly and cute; who can resist that Sheltie smile?? (I might be biased, I suppose!!) Bisbee was a bit hesitant about the stethoscope though; Dr. Black said she was holding her breath while she was listening to her-- lol!! Anyway, Bisbee is perfectly healthy, if a lb or two over what she should be... so we'll be cutting back a bit. (Shelties are prone to getting overweight, so we keep a pretty close eye on their weights.) Dr. Brown and Dr. Villalba at Maricopa Wells have been great to all our pets, and all the staff are always very helpful and accomodating. They're even open late, and open 7 days a week!

These two pics are a couple "scrappy" purchases I made last week; I've been eying a tape dispenser like this for quite a while now, and used a 40% coupon to finally pick it up. It's like the industrial-type packing tape dispenser you'd use for shipping packages, only slimmed down, and it holds a double-sided tape roller for quick adhesive application for cards or layouts. It was a bit complicated to assemble and load the tape; Tom helped me out, though, so now it's ready to go!! (now, I just need some time to actually make a scrapbook layout!)

I also had a 20% off coupon for Michael's, so this "haul" was gotten for a song-- the wood stamps were all from the $1 bin (score!), and the foot-long strip of stamps was from the clearance bin-- double score!! They are all various words and phrases, and are a "project" in the making for me-- alot of scrapbook layouts right now use word stamps in the titles or journaling, and there are many "word and phrase" stamps are available, mostly thru online stores. A couple scrapbookers who do this very well are Ali Edwards (check out one of her layouts here) and Nichol Magouirk (check out one of her layouts here).

I've wanted to buy some of this type of stamps, but didn't want to wait for online ordering and shipping, so I decided the $1 stamps from Michael's could work for me. These phrases, as is, might not be all that useful, but my idea is to take them apart and use the individual components. "You make me so happy" for instance, won't be nearly as useful as the word "happy" on its own; then I'll also have the words "you, make, and me" to use however I want. So, my next task is to disassemble them all into the individual words, then use them on a layout or two!! (the rhinestone butterflies were also from the dollar bin; I don't have anything in mind for them, I just liked them-- lol!!)

(another post coming up soon; just have to edit the pics!)

haboob, or holy crap!

the monsoon season is finally in full swing here in AZ! That's good, for the rain factor, and good, if you like extreme weather, but bad if you have to be in the middle of it. This evening, shortly after dinner, Tom said, "hey, come out here and look at this!" So, I did: "This" was a massive dust storm that we could see coming from miles away-- it was pretty impressive to watch, so we did watch it, for maybe, 10-15 minutes or so... it's kinda strange, to see something like this coming, and not know when exactly it will hit.

fyi, the photo above was edited in Picasa a bit to play up the shadows, so you can see the waves of dust coming through the storm front. A dust storm like this is called a "haboob" which is an Arabic word that is a type of intense duststorm. Find out more about them in the Phoenix area here: ADOT information page. (once you're on that page, click on the Gallery link for some pretty stunning aerial photographs.)

a few minutes after this, it was pretty much time to go inside-- right after this, the wind hit with a vengeance, and we had to duck for cover! The weather channel had an alert, saying the storm was moving 20-40 miles per hour, with gusts over 65 miles per hour-- crazy!

the screen above was during the Weather Channel's weather alert: what I thought was funny is the "visibility 0.1 mile, ceiling 0 feet" note there. Yup, I agree!! Pretty scary, for the half-hour or so that it took to blow through!! Tom said this is the worst one he remembers since he lived in Tucson when he was little... while it was memorable, I'm definitely not looking forward to being in the middle of another one of these anytime soon!

rain aftermath

(fyi, you can click on any of the pics to make them bigger) So, it does rain sometimes in Arizona. This past week, it rained a LOT! We probably had between two and three inches of rain, if not more, along with some pretty high winds and even a tornado warning (very unusual for this part of the country). The entire yard was a soggy mess, and the dogs refused to walk out in it unless they absolutely had to go. (which was annoying, but at the same time, I didn't really blame them!) When Tom drove home from work on Friday, he had an unexpected detour, because of this: this road is the circle drive that goes through our entire subdivision... the Santa Cruz wash goes thru the middle of town, and right through our neighborhood on its way out to the desert. It rarely has any water in, but with this much rain, I guess it was inevitable. These pics are from Friday afternoon, when it was rushing pretty fast-- we stopped to look at it again this morning on our way back from breakfast, and it's still over the road, but not rushing quite as fast.

this is just a closer photo, to show how fast the water was actually moving across the road-- it may not be very deep (hard to say- it might have been near a foot), but this is why Arizona has the "stupid motorist" law... you're not supposed to drive in flooded areas-- if you think you can, and disregard a sign warning you not to, then if you get stuck, you also get stuck with the bill when the emergency vehicles fish you out!

the view north, looking out into the desert... I was pretty sick and tired of the gray dreary weather and rain, till Tom reminded me that with all this rain, spring in the desert should be beautiful!! ...something to look forward to!