why the photo

just so you know , I posted this photo of the skink in reference to the episode I told you about in the blog post entitled...Life is just too busy.... this type is not poisonous but a black one with blue stripes is so be on the lookout.

skink lizard

thought you all might like to see a skink lizard.... here he is !

Life is just too Busy

At some point, I am hoping that life is going to allow me to do all the things I have put on the back burner. In my little fantasy world, I am a painter, a crafter, I have learned to use a jigsaw and created all the little gifts I see in the shops, I am a wonderful cook and have many dinners at my house for everyone to just pop in and eat ( like mom's house was). I could make you a long list of all the lists I have that are reminders of the things I need to do. Here is the problem. The days come and go and they get so filled up with paperwork, phone calls, household issues and calendar postings, weddings, funerals, celebrations ...all good stuff but taking all the time that I was going to write a book, get in shape at the gym, spend time with old friends...... The older I get the more I see that time is not on our side...life has way more to offer than we could ever make time for ...so I will just be thankful that every day is full and that Jim and I are healthy enough to enjoy them.
We are in the middle of choosing a financial plan for buying the new house. I never knew there were so many options for a loan or so many little ways they can charge you for the loans, there are PMI and closing costs, and required insurances and lawyers fees and interest rates and
termite bonds and house warranties and on and on and on..... I am about at the place where I want to sell it all and buy a small 2 bedroom condo with someone else doing the yard and having an amenities center . For what it costs to keep up a beach house ...even one that is paid for....I could rent the nicest house on the ocean for several weeks a year and still come out on top.
Now the windows they ordered for the beach house are inches too small so the top of the window area is open for all Skink lizards etc. to get inside. Of course, this has to be fixed....did I mention I got bitten by a skink lizard. Until that day, I had never heard of a skink lizard. They do bite if you step on them... I think I stepped on his tail.. I am sure the people 3 blocks away heard me scream. In that 2 seconds before I realized what was happening, I thought of the following.
A snake has bitten me... I am going to die...thank God I am saved...my grands won't remember me... Jim does not know anything about passwords, user id, or account numbers, who will clean my house before the big wake... then I realized it was not a snake but a one foot lizard who looked all slimy and nasty. Okay enough about that. UNPLEASANT TO SAY THE LEAST. So then came the other bad part.... the reactions to my announcement that I ahd been terrorized by a reptile...
Jim.... in comparison to my news of today.... my friend lost a grandchild....okay, Jim , you win hands down. kind of an unfair response in that not only does it take away any right of mine to get some sympathy and concern but I have to say, this is just totally unfair and uncalled for.
Amy... Oh my gosh, I am glad it was not me...because I would have died of fright.... I would have, I I I I I I
Kelly, What is a skank? Was she ugly? ( My first understanding from the guys present at the biting was that it was called a skank)
Cindy, after much laughter, where were you????
Okay, maybe this was not life threatening but I thought someone would understand the gravity of the situation...
Oh Bo......... lizards do not bite.... OH yes they do OKay???
Clary was the only one with an appropriate response, She texted me this..
Are you ok... do you need to go to the hospital... did it hurt?
I know who to call the next time I have a big deal happen to me.
So tomorrow is Saturday. We have a wedding and a retirement party and Sunday I am doing some stuff after church for my sister...so I will not be painting my original or creating any great craft or writing a best seller that day but Monday maybe........ OH Wait... Monday, I have to go wait on the electic guy again...still has not come..... and sign loan papers and call the orkin guy and the insurance people and drop my car at the shop...did I mention my car???
OKAY... my car issue...
Jim is washing the boat on the one trip we took out in the boat that did not require we buy a part or take it to the shop..Not free mind you since we pay a payment each month, and insurance and gas... but normal stuff.....he comes home happy in his great boat adventure and is washing the boat and puts the engine cover on the side of the boat ...it slides off onto the passenger door of my car and puts a $1000.00 dent in it. Add that to the cost of the boat. As I type , both propellers are at the shop from a run in with an oyster bed so the boat is OOO... which means out of order... the state it is in 3 /4 of the time. The one fourth is fun so I guess this is just what having a boat is about.
Okay enough of my musing. I will let you know when the electric job is actually done. Hopefully, I will be able to post that before summer is over.

Still waiting for the Electric guy !

So here I am still waiting for SCEG ! Now only to find out that all of my calls ( about 20 ) and all of the appts. were wasted on the wrong people. I finally get to the right department and am given red tape from here to Columbia for this removal of the box from the house..for a few hours by the way !!!!! Today I am heading back to the beach to continue my quest for service.
Mother's day was wonderful We spent the day at Cindy's house with family. Mom is doing well, she is having her birthday next week.....86 th.
Jim is on a bike trip with air force friends...yes for those of you who do not know... Biggs got a bike. Kawasaki 1500 classic cruiser. It is army green and black and he is having fun with it. I am never getting on it but I am glad he is enjoying it. So now he has a bike and a boat.... that should suffice for a mid-life crisis quencher , right?
We are planning for an October family reunion. Last year it was so good to see all the cousins and play music and picnic at Givhans Park. I am hoping this year all of my kids can come.
Short post today, I am late getting ready for my jaunt to the beach house. Kelly and Caleb are coming with me so that is fun. Hopefully, the electric guy thinks so.

I hate Monopolies

So for the last 2 days I have been stuck at the beach....oh wow you say what fun...no not fun. I could not leave the house because I had to wait there for a SCEG (electric company)to arrive to move the electric box off the house for 1 day to a temporary pole. This is so that our construction crew can finish the hardy plank siding on that side of the house. Seems simple but NO... there is a lock on the meter so only they can remove it. After 5 times of scheduling and no one showing up, they tell me the order was put in wrong . A supervisor then took over and set it up for Thurs. Of course , they do not give you any time frame, just the day.... they did not show. Several calls and complaints later they rescheduled for Friday.Same situation...did not show. I finally had to leave for other plans and now it is scheduled for Monday. I have not confidence that they will show on Monday but what choice is there??????????? The only electric company in SC sooooo I wait.

The workers at the beach are about 2/3 done on each project so none of it is finished and the old house looks worse than ever as it is all torn up during this process. I have faith though that when it is all done, it will be the best it has been since we owned it. I am anxious to get some downstairs cleanup done and get allllllllllll unwanted junk on the garbage pile. It is unbelievable how much stuff accumulates there !!!

We close on our new house May 23rd. Seems so fast !!!! The move is daunting but I know once we get there and settled in , I will enjoy it. We will have an overlap of buying and selling so that we can move one room at a time.

Our trip to NY was so much fun. We went up there for a wedding. The groom is a friend of Amy's from Clemson and the bride is the daughter of my dear friend, Judy in NY. The two met just as we were moving away from NY to return to SC. This past year has been a whirlwind romance for them and the wedding was wonderful.

It was good to see all of our friends and our NY adopted family while we were there. We stayed with the mother of the bride, Judy.

We do not have any travel plans for summer. In July Jim and Bo will be going to Guatemala with a mission team from our church. My big trips will consist of the 6 miles between the old house and new one and back and forth jaunts to the beach ( about an hour each way).

I just have too much to do for traveling right now. Hopefully, in the fall, I can get away to see my friend, Faye, in Austin , Texas.

Faye was here for a few days in April. We always savor each moment together.

Today, I am catching up on housework and laundry and will take out some time to spend with Sophie and Caleb...my little darlings. Jim is working today. Tomorrow we will all go to my sisters for a mother's day celebration. Hope you all have a wonderful Mother's day whether it is spending time with your kids, your mom or your memories.

Here is a photo of Faye and me a couple of years ago when she visited me in Niagara Falls.

Seems like a couple of years ago that we were stringing the streets of Folly Beach !!!

Here she is ... Stella Bird ! This is from a tea we had at my sister, Cindy's house. I hope when I am her age, I can feel and look half this good. She was about 84 here....will be 86 this month.

Those are some good genes !

Mother's Day

Sunday is Mother's Day. Thought you all might like to see a photo of Mom. She will be 86 in a couple of weeks. I think she is amazing. Her health is perfect. She only takes calcium and a vitamin each day. She can still shop, garden , cook and enjoy spending her money. Charles, her husband does most of the cooking and she does most of the money spending. This photo is a couple of years old but she still looks the same.
I have loved and still enjoying being a mom and now a grandmother. It is the single most rewarding job in the world. It is a real joy that all of my children are thriving and enjoying life.
Family remains the most treasured asset we have.
Today as we enjoyed lunch together, Kelly , Caleb, Amy and Bo and his 3 friends, I felt like the richest woman in the world. Having all my kids with me at once and one of my grands..... Bo and his friends left lunch and hit the road back to St. Petersburg to get to their summer jobs and I am heading to the beach to see what needs to be done to get the house back together and ready for the next big visitors... never know who that might be.
We are blessed beyond measure and cannot contain all the life that comes our way.
Next week, we start packing for a move... let's hope our backs don't decide to go out or some unwanted unexpected something does not show itself !!! Life is full of surprises.

Our visitors

Bo and his friends, Matt, Michelle and Jesse, were all here for the a long weekend. They were all recuperating from finals at Stetson Law . Bo and I gave them as much of Charleston as we could cram into the 4 days. They chilled at the beach house a good bit and we were able to meet them for dinner and lunch a couple of times. What wonderful friends he has made. I am sure when they all graduate in December it will be hard to go their separate ways.
Now we get back to real life. The beach house is undergoing major updates with windows, doors, siding and a new roof. Next we move on to the rescreening of the porch and some carpentry and painting inside and finally by end of summer we hope to remodel the bathroom and get new kitchen cabinets and add a laundry room to the mix. All of this will make the house more enjoyable for all of us who love to get away from the city.
Jim is getting ready for a bike ride to the Appalachian area. He and some of his motorcycle friends are gearing up for this adventure next week. I will take the few days alone to enjoy the beach and get some projects done at home.
We will close on the new house sometime this month and then the big move !!!!! I hate moving but hopefully, we will have this house for a long time and there will be no moves in the calendar again for at least a decade.
It will be nice to have more room. Hope that all of you will take advantage of our space. We love company.
Today, I am picking up my mom and we are meeting Bo and his friends for lunch before he takes off to Florida to start his job with the state judge in Tampa. This is a great experience for him and in the fall he will work in the solicitors office in Tampa as part of his last semester.
Graduation is Dec. 20th woooohoooooo

Off to the beach

I am heading back to the beach today ...guests arriving tomorrow and right in the middle of all the renovations. Bo and his friends arrive tomorrow and since two of them are of the female gender, I have to put a spit shine on the house.

The new house we bought is in Ashborough East. It is a pretty neighborhood with a lot of older homes. All the residents take a lot of pride in their property and the trees and shrubs are really beautiful. The house sits in the middle of a cul-de-sac which is nice and it has a pretty wrap around porch on front and a big screened porch on the back. We hope to put a pool in by late summer/next summer according to timetables of the pool people.

Jim is working for Boeing at the Charleston Air Base. He teaches in the C-17 simulator. It is a stress free job and his hours are very flexible so it is nice for him. He can work nights and get some golf in...or work days and have nights free. For a man who has worked 60 hours a week since he was about 18... this is a treat. He loves working with the pilots and most of his co-workers are flying buddies from the past assignments.

This weekend, he is speaking at the retirement of Tom Crawford ( the weather man), who is retiring from the reserves. On Sunday we head to Columbia to attend a banquet honoring Jim's old coach, Rusty Hamilton. He is being inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. Jim was inducted last year in the OUTSTANDING AMERICAN category. This year Coach H. asked Jim to introduce him at the banquet. What an honor that is.

Hoping to see my grandchildren today. Here is a photo of those 2 precious angels. Also posting my latest picture of my girls, Amy and Kelly.Kelly is enjoying being mom to them . She is an excellent mother,,,,,,,,,wonder where she learned that??

Today was so much fun. I printed this picture of Charley Spann and carried it everywhere showing her off to the world. Charley was born yesterday to Donald and Mary Beth Spann. Donald grew up in our youth group and is like a son to us. I feel so proud ...like a grandmother. This little one is blessed to have two wonderful parents who love the Lord and will raise her in a loving and beautiful home.

Jim and I also bought a house today . More news about that later.