Merry Christmas!

Done!

Woohoo! I have finished all the physical gathering of the gifts!

Now, I haven't wrapped them yet, but that can start tomorrow morning before I head off to Middleton Plantation for my volunteer shift!

And, on top of that, the Christmas cards were just delivered by FedEx, so I can start those tonight and hopefully get them in the mail by Friday!

I hope you are getting lots done on your to-do lists!

A Week's Already Gone By?

Last Saturday we had Christmas with husband's side of the family. This photo is of his parents with all their grandchildren. Our daughter is the only granddaughter, on both sides!

It was the first time we had all been together in many, many years, but this year my MIL decided that she wanted to host everyone and we picked a date and made it happen!

We had a great dinner with turkey, ham, macaroni and cheese, green bean casserole, dressing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, rolls with pumpkin pie and Bourbon Chocolate Chip pie and assorted cookies.
We exchanged gifts and went home with quite the loot!
Now we go to my family's this weekend for our celebration. 
I just took the photo for our Christmas card on Saturday! Since my tripod broke, I just did a photo with the teens. I told them this would be our last photo card since next year teen son will be off to college and teen daughter will hopefully be studying in France. It didn't turn out too bad considering it was kind of just thrown together!
And today, I finally finished putting the lights up outside! It wouldn't have taken so long but, someone who shall remain nameless, thought I was taking too long to take them down last year and "helped" me and took them off and just wadded them into a huge mess! It was so bad I almost just threw them all away and bought new ones!
I got my first batch of Christmas cookies baked last night:

How are your preparations for the holiday coming along?

Taking Advantage of Our Surroundings

Husband and I have decided that since we live a short 30 minute drive into Charleston, we should take advantage of that fact!

Saturday night we headed downtown to watch the boat parade and then grab a bite to eat. 

It was fun, just the two of us!

Last night we decided to head downtown again for dessert and a walk. 

This time teen daughter came along so we headed to King Street for some yogurt and window shopping!

Do you ever find yourself not taking advantage of the things around you?

Our Thanksgiving

Here it is already December 2nd, and I am just getting around to posting about our Thanksgiving.

That jury duty last week really threw me off! 

Thanksgiving was good. It's always a crap shoot with my family!

We headed up to our little house in the hills on Wednesday around noon. Lots of traffic on the way, but it didn't delay us too much.

We made a quick stop at my parent's house to drop off the teens, because "OMG. there is no internet. Or TV. Or cell phone service at the Hilly House! And we will be so bored!" 

Husband and I had a nice, quiet dinner at the club near the house. It was already decorated for Christmas and there was a big fire in the fireplace.

All was great until we went to bed that night. Not long after turning the lights out I heard a scratching and scurrying in the wall! It continued ALL night and I could barely sleep just imagining whatever it was clawing it's way through the walls and getting on me while I slept! I never told y'all the story about the field rat that fell out of our attic one night in a little rental house we lived in about 23 years ago, did I? Well if I had you would understand my fear!

The next morning I sent husband under the house to see if he could figure out what it was and how it got in! He couldn't but he did find some unopened rat poison and put that out!

I was in charge of making the pies and my sausage dressing for our family dinner. I made a pumpkin and a pecan pie on Wednesday night and got up and made an apple pie and the dressing. 

We headed over to my parents and had a great time!

On Friday my two sister's and I took my mom out for the day for her birthday. She had turned 70 on the 6th of November.  We started off with a mani and pedi at a great place in downtown Greenville. Then we headed over to the West End for a latte. After we finished we headed back over to town and stopped for a drink in a restaurant that overlooked an outdoor skating rink that had been erected for the holidays/winter, I guess.

We had dinner reservations at Soby's. Such a great place! The food is fantastic. 

After our leisurely dinner we headed over to the Peace Center to see Million Dollar Quartet.

My mom really enjoyed it. It was a one act musical that had a lot of music from her youth! My sisters and I were probably the youngest people there!

Saturday we headed to Clemson for the big game. Husband and daughter had tickets, but son and I didn't and we didn't want to pay over a $100 a piece to get any. So, he and I went to husband's and my favorite haunt in Clemson and watched the game on TV. It was warm and I could get to the bathroom quickly and I could have as much beer as I wanted, so I was a happy girl. Unfortunately Clemson did not win so that wasn't much fun!

We came home on Sunday afternoon and then I had to report for jury duty at 10:00 on Monday morning. And that's a story for another day!

 

Where I've Been...

at our new-ish county courthouse.

I have jury duty.

My first time.

I thought it would be fun.

It's not.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I've got pies to bake and bags to pack!

We are heading to our little mountain house for the holiday.

I wish you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Weekend!

Yay for the weekend!

I think this weekend will be kind of low key, so that is a good thing.

Teenage son got two acceptance letters yesterday to two of the many colleges he has applied to:

It's amazing how much their self confidence is boosted when they get that first letter/letters. I think he feels like "someone actually wants me"! Some of the bigger universities won't send out letters until the week of February 15th, so we still have a little waiting to do before a final decision is made. I am excited for him!

Our kids still have school on Monday and Tuesday, so we won't be leaving for our Thanksgiving getaway until Wednesday. I am kind of itching to start some Christmas decorating... maybe I'll do some the first of the week so that the house will be ready for the holidays when we get back!

Have a great weekend!

 

What I've Been Up To:

*Cleaning, cleaning, cleaning! Don't know what's come over me, but I feel a great need to purge and clean! Maybe a good thing since I will soon start dragging out all the stuff to decorate for Christmas.

* Went to lunch with some friends and a new neighbor at Atlanta Bread Company. It was a lot of fun and was great getting to know the new girl!

* Helping daughter fill out forms so she can spend her Junior year of high school in France!

* Trying to get a little Christmas shopping done each week. 

*Helping son make sure he has everything done for his college applications.

*Planning for Thanksgiving. We are eating with my family this year. This can be good or bad. Normally in an election year it is bad! :(

*Feeling kind of anxious because this school year seems to be flying by!

 

They Went Fishing

Saturday was a gorgeous day. We headed out to the country near where we used to live so husband and daughter could go fishing. Husband's boss owns around 1,000 acres and it has a pond that is good for fishing. They just do a lot of catching and releasing! We don't clean fish in this house! And, we are not fond of fresh water fish. 

They had a good time and ended up catching quite a few!

I mostly took photos!

It's a beautiful piece of property. And it was so nice and quiet, except when someone with a shotgun was trying to set their sight. At least that's what I think they were doing... there was a lot of shooting going on!

After they had their fill of fishing we went to eat BBQ at the place that is just 5 minutes from where we used to live. I have to laugh because when we lived out there, we probably ate there five times in 11 years. Now that we are an hour's drive away, I think we have eaten there 4 times in the last year!

Saturday night Clemson played and so we gathered to watch them spank Duke! 

Sunday was such a weird day with day light savings, I kept feeling like it was really way later than it actually was! 

Tomorrow's the big election and son is voting for the first time! I gave him a little handout of all the people on the ballot so he could be informed before he went into the booth. 

Later~

 

Halloween 2012

I guess we are in a new chapter with no more trick or treating or even wanting to dress in costume to hand out candy! I should be happy to get a photo with a pumpkin! Teenage son looked at me like I was crazy when I told him I wanted a photo on the front steps. And then proceeded to go to his room for the rest of the evening.

We headed over to the cul-de-sac for the annual Halloween get-together. I took my camera but didn't take a single photo! I did meet some new neighbors. A precious family with four children. It was fun but got cold really fast so it wasn't a late night! 

No plans for the weekend which is all right by me!

 

What's on Your Nightstand?

I just finished The Lucky Ones, and as much as I liked it, don't read it if you ever want to eat meat, or dairy, or eggs again! I am seriously thinking of becoming a vegan!

When Life Gives You Peppers...

make pepper relish!
Husband's assistant had sent home a big bag of banana peppers and I wasn't really sure what to do with them. Then I started looking up recipes using them and found one for a pepper relish. All I had to do was purchase a green bell pepper, red bell pepper and some jalapeno peppers and I was good to go!
Can't wait to try it!

Last Monday

Last Monday was a teacher's workday, so the teens didn't have school. I thought it would be a great day to head downtown so daughter could use her new camera.

We headed to the Heyward-Washington House first. Thanks to my reciprocal pass from Middleton our admission was free!

I love the house, but the tour guide we had sounded like she was reading off a script, quickly!

I really enjoyed the gardens out back.

We then just walked around while daughter took photos.

I had thought about going to the Gibbs Museum, but then remembered that they are closed on Mondays. :(

It was getting close to lunch so we headed to East Bay Deli for lunch.

They have the best sandwiches!

 On our way we passed a food truck so we went back for some dessert; a Red Velvet cupcake. It was really good! I'll have to keep my eyes open for this food truck again!

Before we got home we ended up stopping to look at a pair of boots that daughter was lusting after! And because I am such a pushover, we bought them!

Such a great way to spend an early fall day in Charleston!

 

 

They Did What?

I went to Sam's Club to pick up husband's contacts that had come in last week.

They told me that they had already been picked up. I told them that was not possible as husband had just asked me to get them if I was in the area. 

Well, the computer shows that they were picked up on the 18th. The bin they were in now holds a new order for another patient. 

Really?! They gave the contacts to someone else? They don't check an ID?

I can't wait until that person tries to use them, as husband is blind as a bat!

At least they are ordering more for him and said they will have them shipped to our house so I don't have to make another trip!

What a Weekend

We are back from our weekend in the upstate.

We headed up as soon as everyone was home from work and school on Friday. The 18 year old wasn't too happy that we were taking him away from his friends for the weekend and that attitude caused a little drama between he and husband. That in turn made me call for a return home on Sunday instead of Monday as was planned! :(

We left son to stew in his own juices on Saturday while we went to Clemson to watch them play Virgina Tech. We had great seats! And what a game! So glad we won!

My sister and her husband were at the game and we met up during half time out at their tailgate. Someone needs to remind me not to let a 30-something mix a drink for me. Their idea of a vodka and cranberry juice is a huge cup of vodka with a splash of cranberry juice! I had a hard time waking out of the stadium after the game!

Since we weren't in a hurry to leave afterwards, we met up with husband's sister and her boyfriend and grabbed a bite to eat. I had a wonderful Caprese Salad and many glasses of water! Then we headed to one of husband's old haunts when he was a student and people watched. 

When we got back to the house, son had called my mom, who lives about 40 minutes away, to see if she could come over and see him. But, she had a prior commitment and couldn't make it. I think he was pretty glad to see us and may reconsider sitting out the next game at the house!

We grilled steaks and watched a movie before turning in for the night.

Sunday morning daughter and husband tried their luck at fishing. Didn't get anything but muddy!

We ended up leaving around noon to head back over to clemson to meet up with our neighbor's son to give him some sweatshirts and a jacket that his mother sent with us. 

The weather has really turned cooler and I started with sneezing and a runny nose over the weekend, so I was so glad to just get home and be able to put on my pajamas and relax.

The teens don't have school today because it is a teacher workday. So daughter and I are heading downtown Charleston so she can take some photos with her new camera.We may even hit up a few of the historical homes while we are there.

Did you have a good weekend?

Weekend Wrap Up

We had a great weekend. The weather was just gorgeous, I love this time of the year here in the lowcountry!

Saturday night was Pokeno night with the girls. Always loads of fun with this group!

I actually won a few times.

Love this little pillow I won:

I also won these:

As there was a big college football game on that night and many of the group are fans, we made it an early night. I was home by 9:30 and was able to watch the rest of the game, though I am not a fan and was pulling for the other team!

Sunday evening husband went with me to the Volunteer Appreciation Dinner at the plantation where I volunteer. It was a lot of fun. I wish I had taken my camera because the views onto the Ashley river from the bluff were unreal! I'll have to remember for next year! I have been volunteering for only a year but the volunteer that had been there for 25 got a piece of the family's china from the early 1800's! I want some of that, so I guess I have about 24 more years to go! 

Got a  busy week this week, finishing up college applications with son, two days at Middleton Place and getting things together to head out of town on Friday. 

How was your weeekend?

 

 

 

It Feels Like a Huge Weight Has Been Lifted

The for sale sign is gone. 

The lock box is off the door.

The listing is no longer on the MLS.

And I feel like a HUGE weight has been lifted!

The house was on the market for 15 months! That was 15 months of making sure that it was "show ready" at all times. Making sure I didn't cook anything that would leave an awful after smell! I didn't even cook bacon anymore. If we wanted it I would only make it at the lake house or the mountain house!

I felt almost giddy all day! 

Now, I have a long list of things I want to do to this house since we are staying in it for a couple more years!

Well here it is Monday morning. The past weekend ended up being really kind of emotional.

You know we got an offer on the house... It was pretty low, so we countered. Saturday they came back to look at the house again. Previously only the wife had looked with her children. Their realtor had told ours that their first offer was the best they could do and they had to close on or before the 30th of October.

I had not even started looking at houses because there was no need to look if our house wasn't sold. We are determined that we are not getting into a mortgage again! 

So I quickly started looking at what was online and available. Because we have one child that will still have two more years of high school we didn't want to move outside the lines to another high school. So, that really limits our prospects, but I thought that wouldn't be a problem since there was really only two neighborhoods I would consider. And in the past there were tons of houses for sale and some that I really liked!

Well, guess what? That was a problem!

There was NOTHING in the one neighborhood in our price range, (remember we want to pay cash). And in the other neighborhood there were only 4 houses that I would even consider, but none that I felt that excited about. I don't want to move just to move. Or to settle. 

So, after much back and forth we aren't going to accept their offer, they did come up $15,000 with a counter to our counter! I wonder what happened to "this is the most they can offer"? I really hate the whole making an offer game. Don't lie to me and tell me this is the best you can do, when obviously you can do more. Sure, you can play that "game" and we can go back and forth but don't think you can play on my emotions and get me to accept a low offer because I feel sorry for you. Just start with the low offer and leave all the sob stories out of the equation! One funny thing though, when they came back with a higher offer they  had a few things that they wanted too. One was the refrigerator. I started laughing when our realtor told me because it's 10 years old and the ice maker does this weird thing where the ice will sometimes start going down the back area of the freezer so I am always having to clean out ice that I keep finding on all the shelves. I didn't even plan to take it to the new house. Then they asked for the mirror in the powder room. Again, I wasn't even planning to take it! I mean why would I take the mirror from the bathroom? I did have to buy it when we moved in because the last owners took the one that was there when they left but I think it only cost $50 from Lowes! The last thing they asked for was the rug we have in the den. I really started laughing when I heard that! We have hardwood floors in there and I knew I needed something pretty comfortable for the kids to lay around on when they watched tv or whatever. I bought it probably 7 years ago and it is just a carpet remnant that I bought and had the edges bound so it looks like a big area rug. It is so dirty even though I am continually cleaning it! But I found it funny that they would even want it! It would have saved me from having to throw it away!

So, since we can't find a house we like we are going to have our realtor take it off the MLS, come get the lockbox and the sign out of our yard today. 

I think we will try to sell again in the spring of daughter's senior year. That way if we do sell and we can't find anthing, we could always put our stuff in storage and go live in the lake house until we could find what we like.

Let The Games Begin

It has been blowing my mind at how many house showings we have been having.

Last year after school started we didn't have a single showing until after Christmas! This year has been so different! 

Yesterday we had two showings within 45 minutes of each other, and one of those made us an offer!

Our realtor just called a couple hours ago to let us know, and of course husband is out of town today for work and I haven't been able to even tell him. And, it is a pretty low offer, but we will counter and start playing that game! I guess I should say that husband will start playing the game! I just tell him to let me know when it is over!

So, keep your fingers crossed, I guess? I was almost to the point of taking the house off the market and just waiting to try to sell when daughter is almost out of high school. In fact earlier this week I had told myself that if we didn't get any showings by friday I was going to call our realtor and tell him to take it off the MLS, and come get his sign and the lockbox. Well, I guess we'll see what happens and I guess I might need to start looking for a house to move into!

Happy Weekend!

I Survived

I made it through the weekend at "Dirty" Myrtle, as a friend of mine calls it! 

And yes Beth, we live just 35 minutes from Isle of Palms, but according to daughter it just isn't the same!

It really wasn't that bad. The place that we rented was clean and comfortable, it wasn't fancy, but that was okay.

We went to one of the all-you-can-eat seafood restaurants after we checked in on Friday night. Daughter's favorite is clams and they had plenty, so she was in heaven!

Saturday she and her friend hit the beach around 8:30 and they stayed out there ALL day.

Husband's father came and picked him up and they went to play golf and I headed down to Surfside Beach to visit with my MIL. 

After husband and FIL finished golf, the four of us had an early dinner, along with all the other 70 and over crowd! It was really good at a place called Gulfstream. 

Got back to the condo and took the teens to get something to eat down on the boardwalk. The girls got Henna tattoos and then we headed over to Broadway at the Beach. We walked around, watched the fireworks display and then headed back to the condo around 10. Husband had stayed at the condo so he could watch the Clemson game. Unfortunately they didn't win.

Sunday husband met his dad to play golf, again! The girls headed to the beach for awhile and then we checked out at 11 and headed to my inlaws house.

We ate lunch with them and then left around 1:00 to head home. 

I think daughter had a great time, as she now has asked if I will take her back for spring break!

And the Celebrating Continues...

It was a sweet 16th birthday for daughter! She doesn't like cake, so we had a cookie cake instead.

Her brother gave her a dress to wear to Clemson games, too bad she didn't have it last Saturday when she went! Though I should show you the dress she "made" to wear.... I'll have to look through her photos to see if I can find one and post it. It was pretty cute!

The highlight was getting a new camera! She is such a shutterbug and wanted a good digital camera instead of the point and shoot that she has. I think she was pretty happy with what she got!

And today we leave for Myrtle Beach for the rest of the birthday celebration! The weather should be perfect.

Have a relaxing weekend!

Sweet 16

Man, how she is growing up! 

She is such a good girl, she really makes her mama and daddy proud!

Happy 16th birthday AC!