Chomp & Other Stuff

The shark bite record has been tied in Volusia County, at least this shark chose to bite someone in Ormond and not New Smyrna, this is good, well as good as shark bites get.

The Jazz Festival is this coming weekend on Flagler. This is good stuff, more on that later this week.

The weather is getting gorgeous and there are no people around, it is so nice.

Checked out the gas prices this week, the 7-11 beachside went from 3.69 last Friday to 3.95 over the weekend. IF you see a jump of over 25 cents, report it to the Attorney General, 1-800-no scam.

You can still find the lowest prices in your area here.

This & That

I have homework, my son's new school gave all the parent's an assignment, in a million words or less we have to write about our child. That does not seem that hard til you start to write it. I should probably leave out the part about how he fights with his sister and does not listen most days, do they want to know that he loves baseball and surfing and hates to unload the dishwasher?

A million words may not be enough.

Some fun for this week:

Check out Smilebooks, download free software and make professional bound books featuring your photos and stuff.

Need an answer, send a text, CHA CHA will send you back an answer in minutes!

Have a great week!

Your Gonna Miss This

What do you miss?

Better yet, what do you not even realize that you will miss. I remember my Grandma telling me not to wish my life away, although that was way over 20 years ago it seems like yesterday. (your gonna miss this) She has been gone a long time and I still miss her and think about things she said to me, I remember how not a day went by that one of us did not visit her. I tell my kids stories about growing up and things my brothers and I did. (your gonna miss this)

I am pretty lucky, I have done stupid things, I have made bad choices(most of which I am so glad Grandma has not seen), in spite of all that I am blessed with two really good kids and GREAT parents, GREAT brothers and GOOD friends. I have nothing to complain about...a messy house, lots of laundry and a small closet are not things to bitch about.

One of my dear friends and faithful readers (who is dying of cancer), told me today that she never realized what she would miss when she is gone, what her kids and her husband and her mother will miss. She is 33 years old, she has two elementary age children. We were talking and she said, I guess I won't miss this, because I will be gone, but my kids will miss this, my Mom will miss this, Chuck(her husband) will miss this. She said I was in such a hurry to get "here" that I think I missed alot.

I can relate. I moved, always a bigger, better house, better job, more stuff.....in the end it cost not only me, but my children alot. Their Daddy, my ex husband is gone, the cost of that is huge, we lost in a monetary way but not only that it is sad for everyone. That tiny house we started out in might not have been so bad..... "your gonna miss this"

So the moral of this story is whatever it is that you are in a hurry to get to....a bigger house, your kids going to school, a better job... whatever...don't forget about right now....and enjoy right now...if you don't you might say later....I missed that.

Unless you are in a huge hurry....watch the video. Remember...Your Gonna Miss This.

Beach Tolls

So what do you think about the toll dilemma? Volusia Commissioners are revisiting this again. Some think that dropping the tolls will bring more people to the beach. News Journal has both sides of the issue in yesterday's edition. I see both sides, I guess. I am not sure that $5.00 is prohibiting anyone from visiting our beaches for the day. A gallon of gas is over $4.00 so paying 5.00 to get on the beach does not seem like much to me. If you are a county resident you can pay $20.00 for the year. This is perfectly reasonable. I drive on the beach 4 or more times a week, I think $20.00 is a great deal for the privilege.

According to the article: Volusia expects to collect about $2 million from the beach tolls this year, a fraction of the $12 million the county plans to spend to manage the beach.
Republic Parking will get nearly $800,000 this year to collect the beach tolls. The county also budgeted $400,000 for capital improvements. That means the county will net about $855,000 of the $2 million in beach tolls.

I think 855K is a pretty big number to give up. Although it is a drop in the 12 million dollar bucket that is costs to maintain the beach. It is still going to be expensive to maintain the beach, no matter how you look at it or how many tolls you charge. Anyone can visit the beach, we just pay to drive on it. I think that is fair.

All Kinds of Friday Stuff

Ladies, go on Oprah and download a free copy of Suze Orman's book, Women & Money. It is good only til 8pm tonight so don't delay. She is on Oprah today as well.

Jr Lifeguard camp in New Smyrna was a roaring success. The kids had a blast!

My son attended, and then he plays baseball in the evening. This can create some issues. For example on Monday and Tuesday his shoulder hurt, Wednesday he had a rash in an unmentionable area. This required a call to his uncle for male "rash" advice, a trip to the drugstore and alot of moaning, for just a minute I thought he was giving birth without benefit of drugs. Thursday it was better and today "it" is back. So I walk into my living room earlier and he is sitting on the couch sort of wrapped in towel, reading the can of Cruex.

He says "MOM" (every sentence starts with Mom) I said, "YES"....he said, "Mom, I think we need to contact Poison Control." (Yes I am rolling my eyes), so since he was reading the can and not writhing on the floor in agony, I calmly said, "WHY"..."because I accidently sprayed this stuff in my eye." I am trying valiantly to contain myself at this point. So I said "can you see?"

So this kid has the nerve to say to me "well, Duh Mom I am reading the can."

I could no longer control myself, I said "well at least you don't have to worry about a rash in your eye."

He was not as amused as I was.

This Saturday is the Art Walk on Flagler. It is always a good time.

Whatever you do make it a great weekend!

Oil, Florida and Charlie

I think Charlie Crist is an idiot.

Charlie has not really done anything that he promised when he was elected....but he has been a party to the TOTAL destruction of the schools in Florida, he has been instrumental in the undoing of class size restrictions and putting our state DEAD LAST in children's healthcare. GO CHARLIE!!

So just when you think he cannot do anything worse....he DOES! Now Charlie has changed gears again, he is now supporting offshore oil drilling in Florida. IT is mind boggling how much he can waffle in order to become the Vice President. Read about it here...and understand, that 68 million acres of APPROVED areas for oil drilling are not being used.....






According to the trio of idiots(McCain, Bush, Crist)....this new support of Florida oil drilling will SAVE the country from our obnoxious gas prices....that is BEYOND ridiculous. Did you see the profits of the oil companies? Lets contribute to their profits and let them drill in Florida.

I should be clear, I am a registered Republican, for obvious reasons that is certainly embarrasing. I cannot vote for Obama, because, a vote for Obama is like a chicken voting for Colonel Sanders. BUT, then again, I cannot vote for McCain, who is contributing to BIG OIL profits and the further destruction of our state. . It is truly sad that we have no options. Why in the world do we as citizens sit here and allow a substandard govenor to wreck our schools, and now contribute to the destruction of our environment.

This new LETS SAVE THE WORLD and DRILL IN FL option is all about taking the focus off of the dismal and ridiculous OIL IS SCARCE propaganda..... This country is NOT using over 50% of its oil leases. IF we use them, the oil company profits will decrease, big oil wants big money, take a look at the multi-billion dollar profits. It is certainly disgraceful, when many people cannot afford to drive to work.

Charlie has sold out and is kissing up to whoever he has to in order to get to Washington.

Deadliest Catch

Do you watch Deadliest Catch? I know, this has nothing to do with New Smyrna Beach, but I love this show. I watched it here and there last season, but have watched the whole thing this season, in fact, if you missed it, you could catch up on the whole season, this past Sunday on Discovery. So, yes I annoyed my children and watched something like 10 episodes, maybe more on Sunday. My daughter kept coming in the room, "so what kind of crab are we catching now?" We went from Brown to King to Opilio(not sure what those are)....she was bored so she kept looking them up on the internet to see who eats them and how much they cost. Midway thru the day long marathon, she started packing her stuff, we can make more money catching crab in Alaska she told me.

I see only a few problems, I don't like to be cold, she hates to be cold. I love to fish off my dock in sight of land, I am thinking a freezing cold boat in the Bering Sea will not work for me.

But it sure is fun to watch people fish in 100 mile an hour winds and 40 foot seas....makes me love Florida all that much more...and the Publix Seafood Department.

Just Call Me Stupid

I have this really great man who details my vehicle, he also does several of my friends cars, he comes to your house, he has two regular guys who work for him. They are great, they do a fantastic job for a reasonable price. So...on Friday I arranged for him to wash and clean out my truck. He came with two women, my regular guys were apparently at the car lot cleaning new cars. They were nice enough and did their usual great job, I paid him and gave the girls a nice tip. All was well.

Today, my doorbell rang and one of these two women from Friday is at my door, she asks me if I have any work she can do for me. I said no, but thank you. She starts crying and tells me she has only two diapers left and is there anything she can do for $10.00. I know what you are thinking....but...I am an idiot, I have had 4.00 or less in my checking account. If it were not for my parents and brothers I would have been hungry a few times. So, I felt sorry for her, my growling dog should have been a clue...I gave her 10.00 and sent her on her way. Go ahead, say it..I am a moron....

Fast forward...she went to my friends house whose car they did Friday too, same story, his wife was home and she sent her packing, and called the man who owns the company, he called me, long story short, there is no baby and no diapers, he got suckered too, he let her work on Friday for him as a favor to a friend. Since then she has been hitting up his customers for "ten bucks". He is mortified and totally apologetic. Wants to bring me my 10 bucks. I told him, it is certainly not a reflection on him and I certainly do not think less of him because he got SUCKERED too.

I know there are plenty of people out there that are desperate to take care of their children, keep their homes, buy gas to get to work, and an assortment of other situations....I would love to give them ten bucks. But someone who takes advantage of a kind man who is trying to earn a living and then comes to my door, makes me feel sorry for a non-existent baby, there is a special place waiting for her, I hope she enjoys it when she gets there.

Don't Forget The Teachers

School's out tomorrow, my third grader made a great point this morning. She said "Mom, school is out tomorrow, don't forget our teachers." I am ashamed to say I almost did. Each year the kids pick out a small gift for their teachers and we also give them a gift card. I almost forgot. Luckily I have a 9 year old who has the memory like an elephant and often serves as my conscience.

Volusia County teachers have had a really rough year, they are the victims of our brilliant government leaders, the voters and the school board. Much of what is happening to them is not their doing, my son's teacher is losing his job at the end of the year, he is young energetic and enthusiastic. There is a lucky school district out there that is going to get him, through all the turmoil, and knowing he is losing his job he has taught on and done a great job.

I believe that it takes a special person to be a teacher, they sure don't do it for the pay or the glory...so take a minute and recognize your children's teacher. They will appreciate it, it does not have to be fancy or expensive just let them know you appreciate all their efforts.

Updates & Interesting Stuff

Only two more days of school, I am trying to decide if I am happy or sad. On one hand the never ending battle to "get up please, you are going to miss the bus" is over, but it presents a whole new set of problems when you work at home. Keep them busy is all I can say!

On to more interesting items of local note...





All you Gator hunters out there, you have til Tuesday to get your Gator permit. Florida Fish and Wildlife has about 4,500 to sell on a first come first serve basis. Gotta get me one of those! Gonna kill me a gator. HA!







Good news is that the proposed and planned park at Esther Street and the ocean has been rescued. The city Community Redevelopment Agency saved them with 1.3 million dollars of funding for the project. Great job, the area needs the park.




Have you bought tires lately? I have not purchased a set of tires in....well never. I think by the time my tires wore out I bought a new car, but my new economically smarter self (this means poor) is keeping the current vehicle probably forever, or until the wheels fall off. SO, in hopes that I can keep the wheels from falling off I had to buy tires this week. Talk about sticker shock, when the price of the first set of tires sent me into hyperventilation, the folks at Stuart's Car Care located at Washington and US1 took the time to price about ten different brands and types for me, they checked the manufacturers recommendations and held my hand while I made a decision. This involved several phone calls to my parents and brother as again I am tire challenged. I am happy to say, I will have new tires today and it will again be safe to drive over 60 mph.

Enjoy the day! It will be one of the last with peace until fall!

Green is Good

Everyone is talking about "going green", I even talked about it on Earth Day. I try and do my part to limit my carbon footprint (did you know there was a website dedicated to this)and save the world from global warming . I religiously recycle, I use canvas bags when shopping (these have a gazillion other handy uses), I hang my clothes on the line, I try and turn off my lights - my father points out I am not so great in this area.

Anyway, it has recently been pointed out to me by a dear friend, who I used to be related to, that I am failing miserably in the "saving the world" effort. Why you ask are all my efforts in vain?

I am going to confess, here it comes....I DRIVE AN SUV . Yes, it is true, it is a big american made, gas sucking pig SUV....the really shameful thing about all this is....I LOVE MY truck.

Thankfully, I work from home, so I can defend my socially irresponsible decision to drive a vehicle that gets 12 miles to the gallon by saying I only drive it about 30 miles a week. WELL, my treehugger friend and former relative feels that I should trade it in on a 50 mile a gallon, corn burning mini car.

It ain't happening.....I should be ashamed to say, I love my truck, its eight cylinders of gas sucking horsepower, its I can go anywhere 4-wheel drive, its rear entertainment center and leather and towing package, I love it all. I frankly don't care that it gets 12 miles to the gallon in the city and 15(maybe) on the highway. Yes, this may make me a bad person, particularly if you read this. You will only be able to read that if you can get past the assinine picture of Al Gore. I mean check it out, it was obviously taken before he discovered baked potatoes and butter. Well read this about Mr. Inconvenient Truth and make your own decision. Then know I am off to the farmers market in my SUV with my canvas bags...and I won't feel guilty about it.

Growing Up

Do you remember 5th grade? I remember it well, my teacher was Mr. Jones, he was the first teacher to make me stand in the hall. I think he threw an eraser at me once or twice.....

My son is in fifth grade, headed to a small private middle school next year, Volusia County and their nonsense forced that decision. Anyway, this past Friday was the "fifth grade video". You remember the one....the boys see one video, the girls another. The "sex video"

We all saw it in fifth grade, when I saw it the mom's came and saw it with the girls and the dad's with the boys. Here I had to sign a permission slip for him to see it and if you really were worried they would send it home for you to preview....apparently the video has not changed much since we were in
school in the 70's.

My son came home with a little pamphlet about puberty and a little thing of Old Spice deodorant. I asked him if he had any questions about what he saw, he looked at me sort of cross eyed, like "WHAT???" I said to him if you have questions that you don't want to talk to me about you can talk to your Uncle Rick or Uncle Robby, I was dead serious.

The kid looked at me and burst out laughing..."MOM, I know all this, and I can ask you anything"....OK, this is good that he can ask me anything, since DAD is no where to be found...BUT WHAT? you know all this???

Perhaps they need to start showing the video in third grade, since my third grade daughter was quick to point out that she "heard" the video was stupid....please help me.....I feel like I am a hundred years old...and I really want someone to send me to the hall and throw an eraser at me....

Pick A Lane

If you drive in New Smyrna Beach I know you have said "pick a lane", you have probably yelled it at any number of drivers...teenagers on the phone, senior citizens trying to figure out where they are going, and other assorted people not paying attention and driving all over the road.

I am incredibly guilty of being very vocal in my car, sometimes my kids are with me. I need to shut up. Today I was driving down the road, Pioneer Trail to be precise, and a man pulled in front of me to drive 30 mph. WHY I ASK YOU do you need to be in a hurry to get in front of me to go 0 MILES AN HOUR.

So...after this guy pulls in front of me my daughter says "move it dickhead", yes I almost drove OFF the road. I said, "What did you say?" , she looked at me with her almost nine year old grin and said, "Mommy, he does not know how to drive he is a dickhead." Well as you would expect we had a discussion about appropriate behavior and words that are ok to use. All the while I was thinking, how many people have I called "dickhead" while she was in the car. YIKES.

Anyway, long story short, we are on the way home a few hours later and I was looking at a house that was for sale and I swerved slightly over to the shoulder, she looked at me and said...yes she said it.... "MOM, PICK A LANE!"

Time Flies

I wish I had something clever and witty to say here. I know what you are thinking...if you don't have anything to say shut up...ah well, can't do that. The end of the school year is almost upon us...and it is wearing my butt out...end of year trips, baseball, end of year parties, baseball, field trips, baseball, church trips, baseball.....

I continue to have my hate hate relationship with Volusia County Schools, I heard tonight that they are losing two fifth grade teachers at our elementary school, one being my son's teacher, since they have not been there three years they are not being "asked back" next year, other more tenured teachers will fill the slots. Somthing like 267 teachers are being displaced. I am not exactly sure how they can lose that many teachers and function, let alone have the kids learn anything, but our BRILLIANT politicians don't seem to care. My daughter is going in the 4th grade and will remain in the elementary school next year. My son is going in the 6th grade and he will be attending a private school, one that is not having budget cuts and might be able to provide a class with less than 25 kids.

On that happy note, go on over and check out Ann Crabs she has a bunch of new Freebies up, including free bowling and free books from Barnes and Noble. A year of Golf Digest and much more.

Get yourself some free coffee below!



One more freebie for all my computer geek friends:
Visit Giveaway of the Day

Fun & Interesting

Here are some interesting websites that I found while stumbling around today.

Thrifty Fun

Mighty Foods

OK 50's Top Beaches - yes Daytona made it!

Calendar Hub

Gardening Places

They are not related in any way, they are just fun!

Here is the most important one for those of us living in Hurricane Alley

72 Hours

Jack is a "BABY"

We have talked about Jack before. I love Jack, and my children love Jack. Jack loves us, Jack protects my children without question. Tonight a group of people walked by my house and Jack barked and ran up and down the fence, one of the people commented to me that "your dog is a big baby". He WAS wagging his tail at the time.

A few minutes ago, one of those people came to my door, he asked if he could use my phone, now it was 10PM and who does not have a cell phone? His "posse" as my son called it waited by my mailbox. I am sure when they went by earlier they figured out I was home alone with two young children, I am not sure what they thought they would get but I am CERTAIN it was not JACK.

Jack suddenly appeared at the door, placing his 150 pound body between me and the door. His demeanor left no room for argument. I will die to protect my family. Oh yea and I will kill you in the process.

So, Mr. I need to use your phone went on his way. I have made fun of Jack chasing squirrels and cats and even birds. I make fun of him to my brother, his owner, that I am glad he keeps me safe from squirrels.....tonight let me say.. Thanks Jack, for keeping us all safe from people who think you are a big baby!

Cooking is Overrated

I went to a Pampered Chef party today, have you ever been to one of these? The hostess and the Pampered Chef Rep cook up some great treats, show you some great kitchen gadgets and you buy lots of things to help you on the road to being a gourmet cook.

Welllll, being a gourmet cook is quite expensive.....knives $70.00, that is for one, the skillet I would love to have is over $200.00. I was able to score some little corn cob knob things, you know the ones, kids love to stick them in the ears of corn so they don't burn their fingers....anyway those were $3.50. NO threat of those turning me into a gourmet and and since fresh corn on the cob happens to be the ONLY vegetable my daughter will eat,these are a must have item.

At the end of the day, this party helped me on the road to self-realization, I still hate to cook, my kitchen is still a disaster, and I would still rather eat out than cook any day. All in all it was a successful day...

Hanging Out On Break

It is spring break in Volusia County, we will be hanging around like this squirrel in my bird feeder! Actually we are headed to Orlando tomorrow for a long weekend at Sea World. Then we are going to hang around the beach and the pool, maybe take a ride on the water taxi and of course we will eat lunch at JB's Fish Camp at least once.

Whatever you do this spring break have fun!

I Want To Be Jack

This is Jack.


Jack is my brothers incredibly large, incredibly spoiled Great Dane. I want to be him, I want to laze about on the couch, go for walks, have someone make me food and put cheese all over it. Then I want to nap some more, go for some more walks and chase cats....lots of cats...every cat I see. I want to be Jack.


Instead, I am Mom, Mom spent the week at tennis, baseball, riding, baseball and oh yea I had to work in between baseball and more baseball and more riding....you get the idea. I really want to be Jack.

Mom, who are you going to vote for?

I watch MSNBC, you could say it is my background noise most of the day. Every time one of my kids are around and it is on, one of them says, "Mom, who are you gonna vote for?" I tell them quite truthfully, "I have NO CLUE."

They are like little sponges, learning the process, we covered primaries and elegates this week, and who is left in the race, and why they are left and what happens now that John McCain has the nomination. They ask me 20 questions each every day. I am glad they are interested and I am glad that they care about the future of our country.....now who am I "gonna vote for?"