Swimming with Gaters --Huntington Beach SC

We are in the midst of floor renovations, but this little get away on Sunday was so nice!

There is something wonderful about marsh lands--peaceful and energizing at the same time.

See how peaceful these little gaters look on their island?

The swan does not mind the gaters---there was a sign that said some birds like being near the gaters because they offer protection for them, REALLY???
Huntington Beach State Park is about opposite Brookgreen Gardens so we did both places on Sunday.  Two posts down on this blog are a few pics from the Gardens. It was a wonderful day!

flooring mess

My kitchen and dining area are torn apart for the flooring install.






My dining room stuff is scattered all over the house---some in the porch, the living room and the bedroom.

My kitchen stuff is also scattered--this refrigerator is sitting in the dinning room and then is moved to the living room while they continue work on the floor. The above shows the cement which had been covered by a rug.
the tile floor is beginning to get glued into place

Soooo, with no stove to cook on, we had a chinese treat ;-)


Tomorrow hopes to be more of the same. One funny note. The men working on the floor put the carpet outside. When they went this afternoon to leave there was a garden snake lying in the rug!! It about scared the flooring man at first!!

all abloom at Brookgreen Gardens

A lot of pictures here--I will share more another day.

We spent part of Sunday at Brookgreen Gardens here in SC. Such a perfect day for it too!! My husband is suffering from allergies, but he decided he was not going to miss this time!









yup--the alligators were out too--every one enjoying the sun. 







It was one of those glorious days--we walked first on the beach then crossed over to the gardens and then had a splendid time sitting and reading our kindles and picnicking. I love days like this!! too beautiful for words, really.

Spring already??!

Hmm, today is the first day of Spring and I didn't realize it!! It has felt like Spring most of this winter!!  We spent the weekend in Charleston , SC and I did not take pictures because I kept leaving my camera in the house! Ah well. We celebrated my husbands birthday and met with my 2 sons . They got to have some home made pasta at a restaurant in Mount Pleasant, while I had to have polenta since I am Gluten Free. It is not quite as nice as having a bowl of pasta, ya know! But I am thankful we got to celebrate another year in my hubby's life.  Here is hoping things will slow down a bit for him.

I am thankful for the season of Lent and a season to reflect on our lives. Sometimes it is a difficult thing. I like what my Grandson does. My daughter has Popsicle sticks with names of those they pray for on them. If he picks one with his siblings and his own name on it he will thank God for them and "for myself". Ha! I never thought of really thanking God for myself.---but it is probably a good idea!

Bad news about Dell computers and spring!

I love the springtime weather we are getting. This is a photo by the river that runs through our town,.  I love the new buds on the trees and the reflection in the water.


The bradford's are in their glory. There is a street near me that is lined on both sides and what a glory it is!! I take walks there, but don't bring my camera as I bring my kindle and read while pace walking.

Notice all the pine pollen on my car--yup and there will be more to come. Sometimes it is so bad that when the wind blows it is like a dust storm.


Now see this little computer below? I bought it as a backup because of the problems with my Dell.



I love this little Acer. You can see it's size in relation to the pen I am holding. The keyboard is a good fit and it is light weight and easy to carry even in a big purse. It does not have a CD player however.


I am totally discouraged with DELL. My Dell laptop which is not pictured here, is only 5 and 1/2 months old and the built in mouse pad stopped working. I had it replaced and it still does not work since they say it is something wrong with the mother board. I called Dell and they said the systems on the Dell is not covered with their warranty!! I would have to pay 149 dollars to get a year warranty that would cover this!! CRAZY. So I bought an external mouse which works fine. But I may just use my little Acer a lot more!! I love how light it is.  


Anyone else having problems with Dell?


Now, I am thankful that it does work with a external mouse. I am thankful that it actually works better with this mouse than it ever did with the pad! I am thankful for the little back up we bought. AND I am thankful for some springtime beauty!! Have a blessed Day.

My rug cleaned up!

Well, I saved myself some money ! I was going to replace this indoor out-door carpeting that is in our porch, and then I thought I would give one more try at cleaning the stain along the edge of the window. It would have worked fine---I used the regular rug cleaner on one section and it appeared to be working.


I then got the brilliant idea to try some stronger stuff which probably was a mistake because it changed the color. I was so mad at myself for not staying with the first product! I started praying about what I could do and got the idea to color it in with some crayons. It worked! It blended it right in. I have done this on some other areas in my home where someone (previous owner) must have dropped some bleach). On these bleached spots the crayon does a pretty good job of blending in with the rest of the rug. 


Sometime I may try a furniture stick--it may hold the color longer. Crayons work for quite some time--once in a while I have to do touch up.


The new tiles for the dining, kitchen and one bath area are supposed to be installed at the end of the month. Trepidation !

Do you see this water?? Do you know what that yellow stuff is? Yup--good ole Southern Pine pollen---it means the other pollen's you can't see are also out there! My eyes have started itching.


But I am thankful for the beautiful days here--in the high 70's and low 80's. I am thankful for ideas. I am thankful also for time to reflect, think, and pray!

Stones with quotes

Source: hollyknitlightly.com via Deborah on Pinterest

Found this on pinterest and I love this idea! It would be good to put scripture or good quotes or reminders--yup, I like this!

flooring problems and choices

When we downsized to a condo we inherited some flooring problems. This bathroom has rusty type stains.

It has some gray stains and also several large slits. We have covered them all with scattered rugs. Nothing removes the stains because they are coming from underneath the flooring.

Then there is this porch rug--it is stained all along the window area because of condensation which occurs in the winter.



Last of all is the kitchen flooring.

This flooring has 3 large slits which we have covered with a little rug--not shown in these pictures. It also has tons of tiny slits which I have painted in and sealed with future.

There are so many choices in the tiles--I believe we will go with ceramic tile although we were tempted by permastone which is a vinyl type tile with ceramic in it. However I read too many complaints with kind. People had trouble with it not holding up and the manufacturer not honoring the warranty.So this is one we are considering for the bathroom and for the kitchen and dining area.
The trim would actually be used between the kitchen and dining rooms since we don't want to spend all of our money at one time!!  We will do a little border at the edge of the kitchen and leave the carpet in the dining area for now. I just placed some of the tiling around it to see how it went--this is just placed there to get a look at the colors.


I am not sure I will like the tile, because of its hardness--but I guess I will get used to it?! My daughter has tile 
and I think we all like it ;-).


Hope ya'll have a nice weekend. I give thanks for all the people in our lives who take the time to discuss things with us, for old Agatha Christie movies on youtube, and for bedtime!

I am thankful today for ancient things

Today I give thanks for ancient things. This coffee mug has fish which is a very ancient symbol that Christians used. 


(Ichthys, from Koine Greek: ἰχθύς, (capitalized ΙΧΘΥΣ or ΙΧΘΥϹ) is the Greek word for "fish". (Alternative transliterations include Ichthus andIkhthus^[citation

ΙΧΘΥΣ (Ichthys) is an acronym for "Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, Θεοῦ Υἱός, Σωτήρ", (Iēsous Christos, TheouYios, Sōtēr), which translates into English as "Jesus Christ, God's Son, Savior".

• Iota (i) is the first letter of Iēsous (Ἰησοῦς), Greek for "Jesus".
• Chi (ch) is the first letter of Christos (Χριστός), Greek for "anointed".
• Theta (th) is the first letter of Theou (Θεοῦ), Greek for "God's", the genitive case of Θεóς,Theos, Greek for "God".
• Ypsilon (y) is the first letter of (h)yios^[3] (Υἱός), Greek for "Son".
• Sigma (s) is the first letter of sōtēr (Σωτήρ), Greek for "Savior".)
• 
  
• The thing that is so cool is this Ichthys was found in the first century catacombs. So when I wrap my hands around this cup I feel like I am connecting to and embracing all of the past of the church .  Cool.

Then in reading statements from ancient Christians it makes

 me explode in joy. For example this was written: "In 

preaching of the holy gospel all should receive a 

strengthening of their faith.  No one should be ashamed of 

the cross of Christ, through which the world has been 

redeemed."  That was written in the 400's by St. Leo the Great who was a pope.

So today I am thankful for ancient symbols, and ancient writings, and the ancient Christians who lived out and proclaimed their faith.




Last of all I am glad winter is over! even though here it was mild. Here is a picture of my grandson

I want to see the movie--October Baby

I want to see the movie that is based on this person in this video above.  Below is her testimony--what happened:


Today I am thankful for life--I want to enjoy each moment of the day while I can.
Thankful for people that are survivors.
Thankful for women like this fearless one above.

I need help!!choosing flooring, giving thanks

 I give thanks for the glorious sunset we had the other night. I am always astounded at the beauty of the sky, aren't you?



Sometimes it is just so beautiful you can't help shouting about it--kind of like when you go to see the fireworks, lol.




I am also thankful for these flowers--so cheerful and the bunchmade 3 different arrangements!


Last of all today I am thankful for this tiny computer that we have now as a backup. My other computer has been in the shop for 2 weeks because it needs a new built in mouse (it is a lap top). I could have bought an external mouse but then why have the convenience of a laptop. I hope the part they get fixes it--the computer is a Dell and is only about 5 months old!!


Last of all I need to choose some flooring for the bathroom and kitchen. We have chosen some for the porch--we needed tile there since there is too much moisture from the condensation we get from the windows.


HELP--the problem with the kitchen and bathroom is we had vinyl and it has tons of slits from when a guy came and removed the wall paper using a ladder with sharp pointed ends!! There were already some major problems with these floors so we didn't make him pay for all the damage. HOWEVER now we find there are limited selections for vinyl.  I wanted something similar and can't find it. I really didn't want tile here since it is hard on the feet and cold!  Do any of you have tile in your kitchen or bathrooms on the floor. Tell me WHAT YOU LIKE AND DON't LIKE!! please.  

Well, I have a supplemental computer

Well, my computer is still in the shop and I have a little tiny thing my hubby purchased so I would remain sane. I had over 600 emails to go through.....anyways I hope to do a bit of catching up to some of your blogs this week! Hope you all are doing fine!