Happy Valentine's Day to One and All

We would like to wish everyone a very happy Valentine's day.  However, we do not feel anyone needs a seriously over-commercialized day to show your love for that special person in your life.  Please remember that none of us are promised that we will be here tomorrow, so we should treat each day as if it might be our last.  If you haven't told someone how much they mean to you, please do it now.  If you have been harboring hard feelings against someone, let today be the day you let the bad feelings go, and make amends.  If you've been meaning to call someone and you just haven't gotten around to it, TODAY is a good day for that too.  And what about those who don't have a special person in your life?  There is no better day than today to be a friend to someone.  If you think about it, there might be someone who could use help with something they can't do by themselves.  Maybe you could take dog or cat food or a bag of cat litter to the local animal shelter.  Maybe you could stop by a pet store and buy a few pet blankets, or maybe you can make blankets for the shelter.  If you can knit, crochet, or sew, maybe you could make blankets or baby bonnets to take to the pediatric unit at a local hospital.  Doing any act of kindness will have many benefits:  first is the benefit it provides to the recipient; second it should make YOU feel better about yourself; and third, you just might meet a nice person who will want to get to know a nice person like you a little better.
 
On Monday we drove out here to Palm Desert for our required week out of Wilderness Lakes.  It was a pleasant and problem free drive.  I had not yet downloaded the pictures I took on the drive, so I wanted to include one of them now.  Sorry about the speed limit sign, but this shows the beautiful sky and the snow that we are happy NOT to be too close to.

In the past I have mentioned high winds out here in the desert, and some people were afraid that they wouldn't want to have to put up with that.  I'm sorry if I gave anyone the wrong impression of that.  Most of the time we have spent here has been warm and pleasant and free of any terrible winds.  This past week the day time highs have been in the mid to upper 80's and the over night lows on the 50's.  That is grand as it is pleasant to sleep without it being too hot, and the days are warm enough that some folks have been enjoying the swimming pool.  Unfortunately for Jim, the weather change (from the cooler weather in Menifee to the warmer weather here) resulted in him catching a cold.  I can't remember if I have written about our Himalayan Salt lamps before, but we really believe in the benefits they provide.  Before we bought our first one, Jim had at least four bad colds a year, and they most often lasted about 7--10 days.  Since we got these lamps, he averages one cold every two years, and they never are severe, nor do they last more than 4 days.  I used to have migraine headaches at least every 4--6 weeks and they could last as long as 7 days.  I can't even remember when I last had a migraine headache, since we invested in these lamps.  

 This is the one we have in our bedroom.  We never turn it off.  It also serves as a nice night light too.

 The second one sits on our dining room table, as anyone who visits us knows, and we never turn it off either.  They can be powered using 4 watt or 7 watt bulbs.  Don't use anything more than that.  We use the 4 watt bulbs.  They don't use a lot of electricity, and don't give off too much heat.  But we believe they do us a lot of good health-wise.  You can buy them at Wal-Mart.  We gave one away to a friend who really needed it, so we bought the one for our dining room at Wal-Mart.  I have also seen them at Rite Aid drug stores, and you can look them up and order them online.  I encourage anyone with problems like respiratory ailments or allergies to check them out, and I believe that if you get one for every room that you spend a lot of time in (like bedroom and living room) you will find that you will feel much better.  One person with terrible allergies that we gave one to, thought it was nonsense, but she humored me by using it in her bedroom.  Months later when the bulb burned out, she didn't replace it for a few days...............then she called her husband and told him not to come home from work without new bulbs for the salt lamp!!!!  It took her only 48 hours to find out how much it was helping her, and now she has salt lamps in EVERY room of her house!  

Today is our last day here before we go back to Wilderness Lakes tomorrow.  We woke up to a gorgeous day!  The sun was shining, the sky was clear and bright blue and it just seemed like everything was as it should be.  After I walked Millie I came back to get my camera, and took some pictures of the view here in the park and some of our neighbors.

I'm the shadow in the first picture.  LOL.  The little travel trailer across from us is just soooo cute.  On the right side it says Ooh lala, and has little pictures of the Eiffel Tower on it.  They have a purple E-Z Up with a purple print fabric privacy curtains around it. 

 
Next to "Frenchy" is this cute camping arrangement.  On top of their SUV, there is a platform with the tent set up on top of it.  There is a couple and a young boy staying in that one.  Behind it is a ladder to climb up to the tent.  I am waaaaaay too old to have to do that, but it's nice that they have a way to get out as a family and visit new places.   

 The next site from the tent campers is where I saw this cute flag.  It reflects my belief, so I had to take a picture of it too.

 This row of motorhomes, and fifth wheel trailers is across from us in the last row of the park.  Can you see the screen room outside the one on the far right of this picture?  It is predominantly black, with black curtains around the screen room.  They seem to value their privacy much more than any desire to socialize with any of their neighbors.  Seems sad to me, but we respect their wishes.  They were here when we came here last month, so I think they are long-term renters.  They could be ill or dealing with a family or personal problem, so we would never bother them, and I don't choose to judge them in any way.  As you can see, the sky is blue and the clouds are few!  

Today we went to the College of the Desert where our dear friends Gail & Mike have a booth each week for their sidewalk sales.  I had no idea how HUGE this event is!  Wow we walked and walked and walked, and still didn't find them.  Finally I called her, and she stood out in front of her row, until she saw me, and we got together.  She had told me that the man with the booth across from her was selling really nice small area rugs.  I just had to see them. 
I wish I had taken my camera so I could have taken pictures of all of them..and  I wish I could have bought about four of them.  This is the one we bought.  They had one with puppy paw prints, and another with a fire hydrant, dog bone and a set of paw prints.  They also had a really beautiful rug with two white folding chairs on the beach looking out towards the water.  I really, really liked that one, and I might have to figure out where we could put it, and have Gail pick it up for me.  It was so peaceful and beautiful.  We also got some new 
pillows for on the couch.  They are made of a faux suede, in blue, and I think they really look nice.  I was going to throw out the old pillows with the color block design, but once I put the new ones on the couch, I decided they look OK together, so we kept them too.  We were able to catch the tram for a ride back to the parking lot to get our car.  It's been a very nice day today.  Tonight I'm making a nice dinner of New York steaks, baked potatoes and green peas for us.  Not a bad way to end our Valentine's day.  We hope everyone is having a nice day, and many more to come.  Keep the shiny side up and the rubber side down, as Walt Wille used to say.  Best wishes and blessings to all.

ps.  Here's one more thing I forgot to say.  Yesterday we went to the wine and cheese social at Mike Thompson's RV sales (here in the park).  It was very nice.  Then we stopped to see Gail & Mike before we came back home.  We were going to go to the Valentine's dance, but once we got back home....we decided we would just as soon stay home with our furry kids, so we didn't go out after all.  That's all folks!!!!