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May 14th, 2012

01:35 pm - Got Lost in Facebook Facebook is soooo addictive and just not fun anymore. Trying to get off of there. And I just discovered when my desktop computer died that I need to copy my story off of here as I don't have it saved on my laptop yet. Update. We are settled in our new house in Franklin, N.C. Most of my friends on here are also my friends on Facebook. So, for you this will be a repeat. Originally we had planned to only live here in the summer. But then we got well problems. So we had to stay around all winter. That is how long it took the county school system to fix what they blew up. We have a huge elementary school next to us which was just built. Plans are for it to open this Fall. Actually in August I think. I am sitting our there typing this in our conservatory (for my England friends) or in my sunroom or Florida room for my U.S. friends. Oh boy. The rain has started again. It has been raining for two days straight. And I mean constantly. Rained all day yesterday and so far only took a break today for about two hours. My new puppy (yes we have a new puppy) was throwing up today because she chewed up and ate half of a tennis ball. So I am staying out here with her where we have tile floor that can be cleaned. The spring here in Franklin was absolutely beautiful. Our mountain view is different every morning. I wish we had a view of the sunset over the mountains but that is blocked by the new school. Since I last wrote, the airport behind us has had one fatal crash. We are so close to the Franklin, N.C. airport that we can see them landing. It is not approved for commercial jets yet. Only small lear jets. We got all our furniture. We also now have chickens and a chicken coop. Which is a bit restricting if we want to pick up and travel. What was I thinking. So, we are here, in North Carolina. But our children are in Georgia and Florida. I miss them very very much. Maybe I should have looked for a place on the ocean closer to my kids. Happy Belated Mother's Day to all mothers. I wish I still had mine.

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October 14th, 2011

12:34 pm - Packing Packing Packing We are temporarily back in our Florida mobile home and packing up everything we want to keep. And having a huge yard/garage sale on Saturday. I had to go through all my collections. The dolls, artwork, stuffed beanie babies. And put up for sale what I just cannot take with me. Packrats like my husband and I have so much trouble parting with things. But I am determined this will be a true paring down and cleaning out. It is costing us over 2,000 dollars just to move the little bit we have left here as we bought three rooms of new furniture up in North Carolina. So, we must get rid of all non essentials. And we have a lot of that. And our dog Tiny goes running around trying to snag some beanie babies for his lair. Yes, he has a lair. Like a lion. And woe to those who try and remove items from it. Dachshunds can act very vicious if you try and take something away from them. Since I last posted. The school which is being built next door to us in Franklin North Carolina has blown our well right out of the ground. Yes, we heard a loud explosion and went outside to see a 100 feet in the air gyser of water going straight up. Also our pump was blown about 200 feet across the property and all the piping ruined. Also the brand new pressure tank is ruined. The county came to our house, the health dept. and all the well drillers. They were drilling 100 geo thermal wells over at the school (which is being built next to our house) and their drill rig managed to be in the same vein of water our well was in. And I guess what happened is that their drill rigs being for geo thermal are much stronger than a regular drill. and the pressure just blew our well pump out of the hole. Now we are hooked up to the schools well water temporarily. They say they will drill us a complete new well when they have moved out of our water area. Friends say we should get a lawyer and sue them. But, you can't really sue the county or school board. You would use up tons of money and it would take years. So, as long as they fix what they broke. We are fine with it. But it does make for stressful living. Also they have had to shock the well water with chlorine which is awful. Due to when they ran lines to our house, bacteria got in the pipes. As long as they fix things. That is all we care about. As I try and update this my husband keeps bringing me things to either pack or put a price on for the garage sale. He is slowly driving me crazy. Gotta go. So much more to pack. I am never moving again. Attaching a photo of me at a high school mini reunion in Franklin N.C. at Fat Buddies Barbeque restaurant.

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August 10th, 2011

03:48 pm - Warning to Home Buyers of Short Sales. If you fall so madly in love with a home in the mountains and it's view that you are struck deaf and dumb. Get someone else to knock some sense into you. And especially if the home is a short sale to the bank and about to go into foreclosure. Because you will need a much more thorough inspection since lots of things might not be disclosed to the real estate company or the bank. Like, the well was going dry in 2007 and they did nothing about it. Sigh..... I love this house. But I think I should have investigated things more. I guess if needing a new well dug is the worst that can happen we will live through it. We'll be totally broke and living on peanut butter and jelly but we'll have that mountain view. lol. We moved into our mountain dream home two weeks ago. We went ahead and had workers start what changed needed to be done. Mainly putting up a wall to turn the huge formal dining room back into a bedroom. It seems the former owners had turned the second bedroom into a formal dining room. Well, we have a huge kitchen big enough for any size dining set and hutch you could imagine. Why would we want a formal dining room too? And we need a spare bedroom so our kids can come visit. So, we have had workmen putting up a wall (that used to be there) to close off the living room from the former dining room. And we have them putting down wooden flooring in master bedroom (the entire house is beautiful wood flooring so why in the world would they want to ruin that with this yucky stained carpeting. ( I had hoped she had wood floors under the carpeting but no such luck.) So, as soon as these renovations get done I am taking a break. We can get the kitchen floor refinished another time. I want this noise and banging to stop. I feel like a prisoner in my own beautiful home. So, the owner was about to go into foreclosure. She took (maybe sold) the refrigerator, the stove, the washer and dryers, this neat little victorian gas heater on sunroom, an antique makeup table out of the master bath (which was part of the bathroom and now we have a big hole.) Heck I am surprised she did not rip out the garden bath tub. Which I can't fill right now because she forgot to tell us that her well was going dry. Now I was feeling very sympathetic for this previous owner because the story we were told was she went broke paying for her breast cancer treatment. I met her at the closing and she was still undergoing chemo therapy. But he husband was an ENT doctor and she was a nurse practicioner. Shouldn't they have had great medical insurance. I mean, I had expensive cancer treatment and I think all we paid for out of pocket was 5,000 for the radiation part which was not covered. It is insane in this country that even with insurance that can cost 1,000 a month you still have to pay so much money if you need cancer treatment. I think the cost of treating cancer has gone insane over here and is a multi million dollar business. Don't even get me started on that. So.... she knew her well had problems in 2007. She had the well guy out who had installed it 10 years before and he said it was low water. The fix for that. Dig the well deeper. Which she did not do. So, we just bought her problem for 140,000 dollars. Wells, can cost up to 20,000 dollars up here in the mountains. Its not like Florida with the aquifer to tap in to. They even use dowser people up here, can you believe that!!? So, I am exhausted. But I know one thing. I love the mountain view. But I really bought this place because of her husband the doctor and his love of gardening. So, If I can't continue his love by watering his tree's and plants. It is like a paradise of botanical things. Then I might as well dump the place. So we will be paying whatever we have to in order to have all the water we need for this yard and whatever I add to it. Amen. ps, I guess it wouldn't be proper to try and sue a woman fighting breast cancer? Plus she has no money. Supposedly. Current Mood: pissed off

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June 15th, 2011

11:37 am - Finding a house in the mountains Let's see. It was February when I last updated. Let me tell you that Facebook and my other blog and Flickr have just about taken over my life. I am thinking about when we get our house in the North Carolina mountains, that I might just dis-connect from online life totally. Once I get my baby chicks up and laying eggs. And start weeding my two acres. There won't be much time for laptop addiction. And I am just about burnt out from Facebook. I hate it. And I hate that my retired husband is now addicted to it. He who used to tell me I was addicted to the internet. Is not, "addicted to the internet". On the health update. I just had my two year checkup with my radiologist and he said, " I think, since it has been two years, you are out of the woods." Whatever that means. So, I just try to live each day to the fullest that I am granted and try to forget about that year of my life. Right now we are in Franklin North Carolina. And I have found the second home I would like to own. The first house was in Murphy North Carolina. It was a 1935 historical farmhouse. But my dear, sweet, husband was dragging his feet, saying, lets look at everything there is to see first. And then when he went to put an offer on my beloved farmhouse, it already had a contract on it. I can't tell you how much I cried, and did not talk to him for one entire evening. So, here we are in the mountains of Franklin and I have found, if not an old farmhouse. A house with a view that I could love for the rest of my life. And a house that my kids might like to inherit. What they said about the old farmhouse was not nice. Things, like, are you crazy, insane. They were not fond of the 1935 farmhouse. So, my husband has agreed to make an offer on this house right away. (learned his lesson, didn't he) I will post a few pictures of it. I can have chickens. Not posting much. Don't want to jinx it. Not posting outside. Don't want someone to figure out where it is and steel it. Later. Our dog Tiny is doing so well traveling. I think he is part gypsy. Current Mood: cheerful

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February 17th, 2011

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October 6th, 2010

09:47 am - Kathy Griffin's Message on Bullying Kathy Griffin's Message on Bullying Hi Guys. I have been so much on Facebook that I forget about my livejournal. I will try to do better. I never was a bully. In fact in high school I was shy and I went out of my way to friend kids who were bullied. I remember well a girl who came from a poor family and often came to school with unwashed clothes. The girls in a this group would pick on her and send her little notes saying, "you stink, get some deodorent." I made her my friend and told her to ignore them. That they were nothing. The great thing about being a loner as I was. You never had to follow the crowd. You made your own rules and you slept better at night. Current Mood: calm

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June 25th, 2010

02:54 pm - English Country Dancing I had never heard of it before. Of course we all had to take the obligatory square dancing in school which I hated!! My high school girlfriend Helen who lives in Tallahassee Florida calls and says, "Meet me in Gainesville, Fl. and try this English Country dancing with me." I said, "What is that?" She said, "Think Jane Austen" with a bit of a two step or swing to it. So, I agreed to go. Helen has been doing this dancing all over the place. Apparently they do not have any dances in her town so she travels to Atlanta, and Gainesville. For her that is a three hour drive. For me it was only an hour each way. Of course I got lost. And the roads were all torn up in the historic section of Gainesville which is where this dance hall was. I called Helen on her cell phone (and of course it was right in the worst part of town, at a bus depot) and I said, "Helen, I am going to kill you when I finally see you. Only for you would I go through this." So, Helen then told me where to turn and she walked up to the bus depot and guided me to the dance hall. It seems I had to drive right through the bus depot to get to this blocked sixth avenue and south main. The dancing was very nice. For five dollars I got a lesson beforehand. I did the first three dances alright but then it got very intricate and fancier steps. I decided to sit and watch the others. I was way out of my element. They had a guitarist and flutist. It was very waltz like. And beautiful. But I just could not bring myself to do all the play acting they do during the dance. I felt too self conscious. But it was good fun and I would definitely try it again. Best of all, I got to visit with an old friend from high school and catch up during lunch. Here are a few pictures. Helen is the girl in the long turquoise blue dress. Current Mood: cheerful

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June 15th, 2010

02:07 pm - Home Sweet Home We got home this past Monday. It is soooo good to be back home. You have to go away for a month in order to appreciate your own backyard. Although, it sure is hot here for June. I don't know if this is global warming or what but I am not liking it. As soon as we got home I refilled all the bird feeders and washed the hummingbird feeder and I am happy to say the birds and squirrels are back. Also, my garden did not die, as I had a timer set on it to water. But it did not grow much because I was not here to feed things. Now my tomatoes are growing. When I got home the tomato plants were alive. But now they have flowers and small tomatoes. I found that I really loved Idaho and Oregon. Montana is gorgeous with mountains but not enough forests or woods for me. Although Glacier International Park in the top of Montana did have conifer woods. But further west in the desert like part of Montana, very little forest. I don't think I could live in Montana. It was so dry, that we had to keep putting moisture cream on. And your lips get so chapped out West. No humidity to keep things moist. I hate humidity but it does have its advantages. I really think the humidity keeps your skin more youthful because my brothers skin has really aged living in Colorado. And look at the beautiful skin they have in England. Because it rains a lot!!! My husband has taken over my Facebook page. He is playing farmville and I cannot even get my laptop away from him anymore. Every since he retired he is looking for things to do. And right now it is too hot outside here to work on outdoor projects. While driving to the post office my car temperature said outside air was 101 F. I could not believe it. We never used to get over 100 degree's until at least July. This is going to be an awful summer. My husband said, "I told you we should have gone on to Tennessee and not come back home yet. Oh well. I needed to regroup and rest from traveling with Mr. Control Freak. LOL. Later Current Mood: cheerful

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May 25th, 2010

10:00 pm - Candy Glacier International Peace Park Candy Glacier International Peace Park, originally uploaded by sparroweye. Today I saw a piece of heaven at Glacier Park in Montana. This park goes all the way up into Canada. Parts were closed because its only May 25 and they have not cleared the snow from all the roads. But it is still awesome. There is a mountain called Heavens Peak. I wish I could have seen that one. Tomorrow we may go over into the East entrance to the park. Then we will be heading down to Tetons and Yellowstone Park in Montana, and Wyoming.

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12:55 am - On the Road out west I am so sorry that I have been absent from this journal so much. But between doctor appointments and getting ready for this trip it has been hectic. And I think I have too many online websites. I have blogger, livejournal, flickr and now Facebook. I think I am going to turn over Facebook to my husband. He is on there more than me. He is doing Farmville on there now. He has become obsessed with Farmville. Tonight we are in Pulsen Montana, almost to Glacier National Park. It is up at the tip of Idaho and Montana and Canada. But we are too early as they have not even cleared the snow from all the roads. But we will drive through anyway to see what we can see. So far the trip has been spectacular. Seeing states we have never seen before. Idaho was a complete surprise. We were in the top tip of Idaho and it is amazing. Huge rocky mountains, large lakes and rivers. Immense bluffs. I love Idaho with its houses going up the side of mountains. The weather has been not cooperating. At times it has been rainy and cold. There is snow in Glacier, and Yellowstone. We are not sure how much we will be able to see. I think so far the coast of Oregon has been my very favorite. I will try to keep this updated some. Just some photographs of Oregon and Cali. Later. And my Aunt Anne who lives in Burbank Ca. and is 88 years old. I had not seen her in ten years. Current Mood: cheerful

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