It figures

My life always gets more crazy when the hubby leaves town for work. Now he is gone for 2 wks..ive got football practice and first game for my son. Sat. games for lexi to do her dance thing and 3 nites a week practice. Then yesterday my car starts starting funny and actine weird. And both kids are sick.....can u believe my luck?? I thought I would share a couple of pics of the little sickos.

Pine Island Community

The variety of neat people you meet here is amazing. When I try to describe Pine Islanders to people I say...There alot of artist,old hippies,and fishermen of many kinds. Quite a few famous authors,sculpters, and artist call Pine Island home.Most people who know me know I read alot and love a good murder mystery. Well my father turned me onto a writer Randy W White who writes his Doc Ford books. Well Randy White himself is a Bokeelia resident and has written a few books that mention the island. The owner of a local art store Peggy McTeague of Wildchild Gallery who designs include metal work.

Pine Island

let me first tell you about the island itself and then my own history with it. Pine Island is the largest barries island on florida's west coast at 13 miles long. there are three small villages on the island...matlacha the funky artsy fishing village, st james city at the southern tip which looks across san carlos bay at sanibl and captive.then we have bokeelia at the north end by far the smallest of the three with the tip jetting out almost into charlotte harbour.the center of the 13 mile isalnd is called "the center" image that. the entire island is more like "real florida" and any other in our area because so much of this island is protected land. we also have miles of palm tree farms, mango farms, and nurseys.

My history started when my grandparents bought a vacation home in st james city when i was oh say 4...so 1976ish. we spent many a weekend out here with them yard saling on saturdays, fishing, and church on sunday. My parents moved out here in 1980 and we lived here until their divorce a few yrs later. I learned to ride a bike on one main road out here...learned to fish, sine for bait, catch crabs, and played on the old indian burial grounds. they made huge shell mounds on gravesites and we played in them not knowing any better.

contd. next week

Not so good at Blogging anymore

Since i really need to work on my blogging skills ( once a week, bad) I going to blog one day about my boring lamo life and then one day about the neat island I work on.
So Ive been sick I have bronchitis pretty bad and have felt like complete crap for a week. The kids are loving school the first week was easy and this week so far so good. Troy is kicking butt and taking name on the Freshman football team. He isnt the biggest kid out there but I think he has the most heart. First game is Sept. 6th.... Lexi is dancing her heart out each nite we finally went down to 3 nites a week instead of 5 YEAH. Her first game is this Saturday. The only bad things about her games is they start at 7:00 but she has to be there at 3 to practice the routines. Makes for a really hot day here in FL its been in the high 90's and raining. So that is my life...tomorrow the beautiful artsy island I work on.

# yrs ago today...Hurrican Charley

No one in Lee and Charlotte county will ever forget what they were doing on this day in 2004. Hurricane Charley was supposed to have landfall near Tampa more than 100 miles north and we were boared up, supplies ready for some 40 mph and alot of rain. What we got was a direct hit on Bokeelia and went thru NW Cape Coral and up into Punta Gorda who by far fared the worse. A CAT 3 hurricane carried 100mph+winds, torandos, hail and RAIN .. nothing we had ever experieced in my lifetime. Alot of lessions were learned...you can never be too prepared..generator is a must, ice is a much sought after thing, and PRAY for the best.

I won something

Check out what i won...the amzing and talented Tammy Kay made it at the most recent CHA. She is on marah johnson design team with Creative Imaginations. I read her blog daily and she has the most adorable kids and amazing talent in scrapbooking.

TGIF

Wow its been a week....well lil troy's knee will beokay. He has some strange sports related thing that boils down to his knee is stressed. Dr cleared him for football and gave him so things to do when it flares up and hurts. Sooo we had out Freshman football meeting for parents to go over everything and its so surreal being there at my old high school thinking my son is now going to be roaming the same halls. I feel old...
On the Lexi front she is kicking butt and taking names at Dance. the head coach told me last night she was very impressed with her and she was better than alot of her Advanced dancers that have been doing it awhile..Yeah go LEXI!
I think im gonna get some scrappin done tomorrow and maybe late tonight after church is i can stay up.

Its been awhile

Well it seems ive lost track of time and forgot to blog....well really things have been busy in my little world. My brother in law and crew were down, had some fun with his two little grandaughters. Getting started in dance for lexi instead of cheerleading this year. Holy cow what i am in for. And getting Troy set up fpr high school football. (wow im old) turns out he has a problem with his knee too. Our family is not having good luck with their knees. So off to ortho spec. dr today to find out what up and get him cleared for ball.
I havent scrapped in 2 wks either..im starting to have withdraw i think...well I found a new little community called ScrapFreaks and wow do i fit in that catagory. They posted this so here goes.

Name 5 favorite television shows
CSI, CSI Miami, Desperate Housewives, Greys and Rules of Engagement.
Name 4 favorite memories -
The day my hubby proposed. The birth of both my kids. Spending the summer w/ my grandparents in Ind. when I was a teenager. Tending garden, visting, family, and riding bikes across the entire town. Moving into our first home
Name 3 things you want to do before you die - Swim with sharks. Go to Figi Dye my hair blonde.
Give 2 names that you would use NOW if you were going to have a new addition to the family. Bailey, and Brandon
Name the one thing that you're working on now to improve your life - Get to know God better and contunie streghtening my faith

Mango mania is here

Well Mango Mania is this Sat. and Sunday on Pine Island with a kick off at 10:00...
There are some fun things planned such as:
Mango Toss
Tropical Hat contest
Mango Pie Eating
A hat parade and the worlds largest Mango.
I know it sounds weird but when you have a chance to get together, have fun, eat, and listen to music and party...HEck ya.

How was your 4th of July???

We went to the beach for a few hours and then the ran came in. Bummer. We did see something cool a water spout and I got a pic I will post tomorrow. I had a few hrs to myself in the evening and I scrapped quite a bit so I will be posting those later..

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

More 20/20 Land Purchased on Pine Island

Contuning efforts to preserve Pine Islands enviromental sensitive lands, the Calusa Land Trust earned another victory last week saving another 110 acres on the island. The property is located northeast of Stringfellow Rd five miles east of Harbour Dr in Bokeelia. The land was purchased for $1.345 million. The CLT contributed $5,000 toward the purchase and will assist the county with the management. "With our limited resources, it would be impossibale for the Calusa Land Trust to aquire important properties such as this one. We now have a very good working relationship with those involved in the 20/20 program and they have been very good to us here on Pine Island" said CLT President Harold Bruner.

Contests

Trying to decide if I should enter a contest for a Design Team spot. Not much involved in doing it just submitting 3 projects. Ive never even tried before but I might. Im gonna go home and look over all my lo's and see what I would consider my best work per say. I did the altered recipe pail which is really cool and I have one or two lo's of recent and a few from awhile back. Im thinking of maybe on the of these.....

Pine Island Mango Mania

July 14 & 15th Mango Mania is back......one of Pine Island fun crazy festivals. Where you can do things like eat Mango pie, try Mango cutney, be aprt of the longest Mango throw contest. Or just come out for the music and fun.

The party went great this weekend and I think troy enjoy his 43rd. My son came home sunday and that was awesome. he had been with family in n carolina and indiana since school was out..so i've been missing him bad! I think he grew al least 2 inches.

Long week

wow..its been one of those weeks that never end. Troys 43rd bday was Tuesdayso ive been planning a party/bbq for Saturday. I think my number is like 22. I am frying fish, making hamburgers(for non fish eaters), tater salad, macaronni salad, chips, and baked beans. Making me hungry already.
Should be loads of fun and a very busy day.

New 110 acre parcel put into conservation

A 110-acre parcel on Pine Island is now part of Lee County's Conservation 20/20 Program .There are now over 18,000 acres in the program.The property is located northeast of Stringfellow Road approximately a mile east of Harbor Drive adjacent to Smokehouse Bay. Big Smokehouse Key, an 82-acre island owned by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lays directly to the east of this preserve.About half of the acquired property was used an ornamental tree farm that was badly damaged in 2004 by Hurricane Charley. ThecCounty will restore the farm back to its original native pinelands. The remainder has healthy salt flats and mangrove wetlands. The salt flats and mangroves are important resting areas for migratory shorebirds. The mangrove wetlands also act as nursery areas for fish and invertebrates. Other environmental benefits of the property include local drainage and coastal flood protection, water quality improvement, and storm protection. The County will develop a management plan with community assistance that will explore appropriate uses for the preserve, which may include horseback riding, hiking, picnicking and perhaps as a kayak launch site.The owners wanted $2,725,000 for the property, but the Division of County Lands, the agency which negotiates land purchases for the county, was able to acquire the property for $1,345,000. The Calusa Land Trust and Nature Preserve of Pine Island, Inc. (CLT) donated $5,000.00 towards the purchase of this property has offered to assist the County with the management of the property.

Fishing report...get ready for Tarpon Season and Reds are biting

Tarpon: It's time to start booking your tarpon trips! Summer time is tarpon fishing time! There here! We've been doing well with live baits, fly and cut baits. These critters will range from 40 lbs. to 200 lbs. with the average being around 100 lbs. The Silver King is a fish of a life time, very strong fighters and jumps that will out do any marlin. Either bait or fly, you owe it to yourself to fish for this species.
Redfishing has been steady. I've been doing best on tides that have good current. Shrimp, shiners & cut bait has been working the best for me. The schools can be from ten to fifty. Fishing reds on the flats can be a casters' dream. On the lower tides, they become very visible with their tails sticking up in the air. Fishing for tailing reds is great fun! The trick is being there when they are feeding.

Here is a picture of a Red caught off St James City in the sound.

Scrappin

The past two wks ive done alot of pgs and have had those creative juices flowing. I made a layout last night i havent uploaded onto my computer yet but let me say coooool. I painted on a transparency and added alot of little embellies onto of it. Let me show you the ones from the weekend..

Art Night

On Pine Island in the little fishing town of Matlacha their are several neat funky Art Galleries. On Friday of each month they have Art Night. All the shops are in walking distance of one another and you can pop in and out for music and some food and wine. You may get the chance to meet several of the artists as well. If you are in the area it is something fun to do on a Friday night taht wont get you in too much trouble..

Pine Island Land Use Plan Approved!

Pine Island residents now have their own set of development regulations to limit housing growth on the island.Lee County commissioners voted 4-0, Tuesday to adopt the Greater Pine Island Planning Community development standards.The major point of the standards is the limit of one house on 2.7 acres with 70 percent of the land preserved as a natural habitat. The rules apply to Matlacha and Pine Island.
In a 100-acre tract, 70 acres ideally would be covered with native vegetation and trees. On the other 30 acres, 37 houses could be clustered in a neighborhood.

cool artist

Tammy Kay is a very interesting Scrap Artist her style varies on each layout or as the mood hits her. I really admire her ability to do this so well and met challenges. As a result she has become a design team member for a major artist with a major line and also several others. I have always been alittle intimadated about signing up in contest to become deign team member. Tammy kay a salute to you and kiddoossss :) You go Girl

im bacccckkkkk

Im back and on the mend. My knee swollen, bruised, and really sore. Started PT Friday going twice a week and its not to bad yet.
Update on the home search for Craiger.....they didnt get the house in Bokeelia. So the hunt for Pine Island home of their dreams is back on. But new things are still coming on the market each day and the prices are still dropping as well. So it is a great time to buy if they find something they both like.

check out my new banner.....still working on size bare with me

Brother house hunt

almost forgot the offical update....still waiting to hear back from seller if they are accepting contract...their agent Donna Venesky has been great and very helpful. Soooo hope to hear today.

Surgery Tomorrow

having my knee done tomorrow at 7am and im starting to get a bit nervous about it. it hurts so bad now but i remember the pain and recovery from the first time and im nt looking forward to doing this again....i wont be updating again until tues next week so i can recover a little time off is needed. i wish i could spend it on the beach sipping tropical drinks

Silly quiz from my kids

Two Things You Are Wearing Right Now:1. Capri pants&flip flops
Five Things You Want in a Relationship:1. Trust 2. Honesty3. Loyalty4. Attention5.Romance
Three of Your Favorite Things to do:1. Spend time with family 2. shopping 3. scrapbooking
Two Things You Want Very Badly At The Moment:1.My knee to stop hurting2. a boat
Two pets you had:1. 2 cats 2. 2 dogs
Two things you did tonight (or last night if it's morning):1. Watched finale of desperte housewives 2. went to my frined chrissy's house

Love Part You must answer every question TRUTHFULLY!!!
[01] do you have a crush on someone currently?My hubby...always and forever
[02]Have you ever been given roses?Yes, my hubby bought them for me weekly the first two mths we dated
[03] What is your all-time favorite romance movie? Ghost
[04] How many times have you honestly been in love? Once
[05] Do you believe that everyone has a soulmate?Yes I do
[06] Have you ever had your heart broken?Yeah
[07] Your thoughts on online relationships? Not a great idea with the lies and creeps on there
[08] Have you ever seen a friend as more than a friend? No
[09] Do you believe the statement, "Once a cheater always a cheater"? Yes
[10] How many kids do you want to have?2
[11] What is your favorite color(s) Red, pink
[12] What are your views on gay marriages? It is a sin in the bible so I dont agree
[13] Do you believe you truly only love once?Yes I do
[14] Imagine you're 79 & your spouse just died, would you re-marry?No

house hunting

Still on the hunt for the perfect home for my brother Craig and we have two more in the running

the home running second is in St James City

Then we have number three which in Punta Gorda......we are still pulling for the Bokeelia home. Waiting to hear back from the bank on the counter offer that was submitting.

In other news we went boat shopping this weekend....I know we dont NeeD but we want one. anyway we are just in the looking phase and who knows it may be a while before we can really afford the paymetn to go with the boat.

The home search

My brother and his wife have a bid in on a really neat home on Bokeelia

isnt it cute??? They are working with an agent from ReMax searching for the perfect Pine Island Property. Its a bank forclosure so getting a yeah or nah on the contract takes forever. They gave their counter offer yesterday and we hope to hear today(fingers crossed) what the bank says.....

Fun Scrapbooking Quiz....

What scrapbook company should you design for...?

KI MEMORIES DESIGN TEAM!Innovated and inspiring...two words that best describe your scrapbooking style. You are always growing and evolving to the next level with your pages and it shows with each and every layout you create.
Take this quiz!








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Real Estate on the island.

Lets talk about Pine Island Real Estate for a minute....I work at ReMax Realty Group II on Pine Island. Our market out here is very seasonal here and the winter is our main "busytime". But we are still getting some walk in clients that are from somewhere in Florida or some out of towners visting.

Blah rainy Monday

Today is a serious blah day....rain although veru much needed here in "Brushfire alley" is making it a very yucky day.
Mother's Day was good. We had a great church service they called Mom Fest...very nice. Then my kids and hubby took me to the LSS to buy some new scrap stuff and I got to see the new Martha Stewart line and pick up a few things. Over all I was pretty disappointed in Michaels selection and after reading so much online I thought there would be tons of things. Anywho what they had was neat but more so for card making I felt.
ttfn

Yeah Friday

Thank heavens for Fridays......Yeah :)

Well big plans for the Mothers Day weekend anyone??? Not me. Tomorrow we are going boating with some friends and then to a dance in the evening. Sunday we are having breakfast before church with mom and then I have the afternoon to be lazy and watch movies....that is my big Mothers Day plan.

One more lo for today..my darling daughter and one of her self pics...

My version of Art

My version of Art is ScrapArt, jewerly making, and a occasional sewing project. I really enjoy the quite, alone time I get when scrapbooking. I love story telling and scrapbooking with jouranaling is my version. Here are a couple new layouts Ive done lately. my scanner is giving me crap so the scans arent great.