A quiet December for us this year.

Well, it's really always a pretty quiet December for us, with our nine grand kids scattered all over the country and none here in Arizona.  But maybe especially quiet this year. 

First, we promised each other no purchasing of gifts this year--we already bought our Christmas Gift to ourselves.  An acre of piney woods!  So now we're in money saving mode, so it'll be a morning of Christmas Music, lights, and watching the pets enjoy their gifts. 

Second, we've had all our surgeries, and the husband will still be in recuperation mode.  A total shoulder replacement is quite a thing to come back from! 

I did start and finish an Izannah doll recently--one I had slated to start in January.  But with so much sitting around time after my second hip surgery, it just seemed like something good to do.  Creativity is a healing thing, I'm convinced.  All the clothing is hand stitched, because I love hand sewing and never let myself just take the time.  Since I had so much time, why not? 

Not sure where things stand as to our new house-to-be.  The surgeon had to do some reattaching to the hubby's bicep muscle, which might require more healing time than we'd planned on. So we'll find out more in a week or so when he has the post-op visit.  If we don't get to do it this year, the land is ours and it's not going anywhere.  Maybe we'll just go camp on it this summer.  I hope that's not the case, as I'm really ready to leave the desert and live in the pines, but we'll get there, sooner or later. 

Escrow

We are officially in escrow on a little piece of land in Lakeside, Arizona.  We'll close right before the first hip surgery (had to reschedule a bit), and we're going to talk to builders this weekend. 

The place is so quiet and peaceful.  Only five lots in this little section surrounded by woods--the land in front of ours is national forest.  The lot north of us is the volunteer fire department, which in arid climate pines is a good, good thing. 

Ponderosa and pinyon pines, alligator juniper, Gambel oak.  A few native yucca.  Deer, elk, and quail.  I've read from the forest services that there are also bear and mountain lions, but maybe not where we are.  It's remote-feeling, especially since we're the first to buy and will likely be the first to build among the four remaining lots, but actually only 15 minutes to town, same as we are here on our little postage stamp of golf-course land. 

The plan is to get the surgeries done & over, then start putting this house to rights in order to list in April.  Maybe by summer, we'll be out there, living in a travel trailer on the lot while a new house is built? 

Sometimes Escrow is not such a scary word. 

August? Really?

So either I have had nothing to blog about, or too much.  To be honest, I'm not sure.

All that stuff about surgeries was up in the air for a while--Tricare (military health insurance) denied my surgeries, there was an appeal, and now both surgeries are back on.  Along with the hubby's shoulder replacement. 

But in addition to all that, we've decided on another move--not til mid or late 2019, but there ya go.  Because apparently we've been here too long.  So far, four years in one place is our record.  This time, we'll stay in Arizona, and only move three hours away.  Yes, we are nomads.  Either that, or this is the only way we know how to clean house.  Move, get it ready for a listing/showings, and then you know it's clean, right? 

We're looking at the Heber-Overgaard area--pine mountains with snow!  Yeah baby!  We want to buy land and build, and I get chickens!  He gets his big dog, finally, and we'll need a little tougher vehicle than my sedate sedan, because we'll likely live on a dirt road.  It's a tiny town--maybe three thousand total--in the winter.  In the summer, it quadruples with people coming up from Phoenix (and who could blame them?) so that should be interesting. 

The "Summer People" thing is prevalent where we are now, in Prescott, but here the folks seem to be more about antique shopping and festivals in downtown Prescott, so the traffic is horrible in the summer.  In Heber, the summer people are coming up because they want quiet, nature, pines and elk sightings.  An altogether different kind of traffic. 

This photo is a listing for a one bedroom cabin--and definitely not ours--but the pine forest is what we are looking for in our piece of land.  I might have to scale down the iris garden considerably, but a little cabin in the woods?  Snow at Christmas?  I think it'll be a good trade. 

We're headed that way this weekend, to scout things out, talk to a realtor, see what we see.  Maybe we'll see some elk?  It could happen.  See y'all on the flip side.