Life in Pelham

At the Golden Coral last night Miss Betty, the cashier, tells me that she just moved into a new doublewide and that it cost her $1,000 to turn everything on. I am flabbergasted. That is amazing! The cost of everything seems to be exploding. Where is it all leading?

We've been trying to get some things done around our house this summer. It's been amazing at how difficult it has been. We wish to do some landscaping. We finally got somebody out and he needed us take out a second mortgage to do what he wanted to do. No thanks! Finally yesterday we got somebody who talks sense and seems reasonable. It's only taken us since may to get somebody hopefully lined up!

For some reason it is difficult to get people out to your house to get something done. Is everybody so busy that they don't need work? I wish I knew what was going on in this world. Not much has made sense with me in this country since about 1980.

MOYNA'S SOAPBOX (7)

Today is Saturday - still in the morning, but already HOT... Fred said I HAVE to post a blog because I haven't done one in forever. "And what am I going to write about (I always ask him that!)? Nothing much has happened to comment on." And he always says to "just start writing and something will come to you." So here I am, just writing!

As I said, it's HOT here - but it's ALWAYS HOT during the summer in the South. I keep telling Fred I want a summer home in Alaska, but he doesn't pay me no never mind..!! So, I spend most of my time in our air conditioned home - in front of a fan - trying my best to avoid a heat rash. Very little gets done, thus the reason for not posting a blog lately.

We are trying to get a few of our summer projects done - and I believe a couple of them are actually going to get done! We are waiting for an estimate now for some landscaping we want done in the yard. We are also going to have hardwood put down on our stairs rather than new carpeting. We probably won't get our living room, dining room or hallway done until next year. I still can't make up my mind on doing the floor with new carpeting or tile... I'll be happy with what will be done, but I'm already making my "list" for next summer's projects!

I'm getting my ducks in a row for our Jeff. State dinners in a few weeks. I'm making lots of lists, crossing out things on the lists. changing my mind and writing once again what I crossed out. Out of all the catering I do for Fred, Jeff. State is the biggest. I used to do one dinner for both campuses, but now the dept. heads want their dinner at their campus. So now I do the main campus & also the Shelby campus. I'm not happy about that, but you have to please the dept. heads. It's more work for me - and double the cost, but we must, above all else, keep those dept. heads HAPPY!!! This year, Fred will be at his summer sales meeting during the dinners. Freddy and our friend Dinah will handle all the setting up, serving, and cleaning up. I'm trying to put together something that will require little work to keep these dinners EASY. I think it's going to work!

Fred continues to try & get me to take a little mini-vacation, but I keep saying no. I tell him we need to use our money for our summer projects and our trip to California during the Christmas holidays. We had decided not to go to California this year. but my mother called and is (at this time) looking forward to all of us driving down to San Diego and seeing the newest addition to our family. My brother's daughter, Jaime, will be having a baby in October, so we thought we would go down there at Christmas to take a roll of pictures!! This will be the first great-grandchild in our immediate family. I'm hoping for a boy, my brother wants a girl, and I think the parents just want a healthy baby!

As I usually mention in our Christmas newsletter, the year is racing by. In just a few weeks, the kids will be back in school. The starting day of school is getting earlier and earlier each year...pretty soon the kids will probably be going 10 months a year. I bet the teachers are looking forward to that! Because of the heat this summer, our neighborhood has been pretty quiet. The kids all stay indoors where it's cool. It's strange not to hear kids out playing in the summer.

Oh, one health note: my heart went into atrial fib. May 1st. I had my heart shocked back into rhythm on May 9th. I went 3 weeks, but my heart went back into atrial fib. My cardiologist decided since my heartrate is low, he wants me to live with the atrial fib. I rarely notice it. Apparently nowadays, it's no big deal for a person to be living in atrial fib. As long as I feel great, it shouldn't be a problem.

Well, that's about all I can think of for this blog. I need to get back into the kitchen, I'm making 4 different kinds of brownies for one of the hygienist at our dentist office. I will get 2 kinds done today and the other 2 tomorrow. I'm taking my time in making them because of...what else, THE HEAT!!! It doesn't matter that the air conditioner is on, it's still HOT in the kitchen!!

'Til later - stay cool.

A story about the South

I was discussing the peculiarities of the South and its relations with the North with someone from work yesterday. He told me the following amusing story about someone he knows.

A woman was speeding while driving in Georgia and was pulled over by a policeman. The policeman got out, a rather big, brute looking fellow. He went up to this woman's car and said, "No one goes through Georgia that fast." The woman responded, "Sherman did." Needless to say, she spent a few hours at the precinct before getting her ticket.

How Much is Your Life Worth?

The following is a link to an article about a British guy living in Perth, Australia, who is selling his life. He put it up for auction on eBay, which ended June 29. The highest bidder wins "an introduction to his friends, a two-week trial for his job at a rug store, his car, motorcycle, clothes, house and most everything else inside his three-bedroom Perth domicile." Basically, Ian Usher will leave his existence behind, and take the money he gets from the purchase of his life and start anew somewhere else. On his website, he says, "On the day it is all sold and settled I intend to walk out of my front door with my wallet in one pocket and my passport in the other, nothing else at all, and get on the train, with no idea where I am going or what the future holds for me."

He has another website in which he details 100 goals he plans to pursue now that he has sold his life. These include places he wants to visit, like San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Mount Rushmore, and the Grand Canyon; they also include things he wants to do, like watch a baby being born, juggle with fire clubs, learn to play a didgeridoo, shark cage dive, sleep in a Japanese capsule hotel, bobsleigh run, and walk on the Great Wall of China.

I think what this guy apparently is doing is a cool experience. I'd love to do a lot of the things he wants to do. I wish him the best.

I didn't find how much he sold his life for. It makes we wonder how much my life would be worth. Or yours. How much do you think someone would pay for your job, abode, friends, possessions, etc.?

Here is the link to the story:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25369384/