Jim & Maria's Blog

By no means am I a girly-girl.  I wear minimal makeup and my purse these days is a packed diaper bag. But I heard about this website and just had to share. If you really like designer stuff -- like handbags and jewelry -- but you don't want to sacrifice and pay the designer prices, then you just...

Living in the Lowcountry, you know that we have the potential to flood easily.  It's widely known that when a storm comes through and it's high tide, several portions of Downtown Charleston are under a foot or two of water. But what will happen with the next hurricane we get hit with?  Regardles...

For years and years the John Ancrum SPCA has been in a small and over-crowded home on Leeds Avenue in North Charleston.  I have been there on many occasions -- I got one of my cats there several years ago.  And then Jim and I also got two puppies and another kitten after we got together.  But th...

Honestly, it feels like we just changed our clocks and got to enjoy that extra hour of sleep. Wait -- who am I kidding?!  I have an 11 month old, and he has not yet acquired an appreciation for that extra hour like we adults have! But here it is again -- the dreaded time in which we all forward ...

In today's local paper it was reported that the city of Charleston is going to spend $1.4 million to buy a historic East Bay mansion -- the Josiah Smith Tennent House.    The current owners of the mansion are a nonprofit group, Elpis Inc., that have received more than $1 million in grants from t...

Spring is on the way, so now is the time to get your garden ready for the blooming season! Here are some tips for preparing your flower bed or garden in Charleston: Remove dead, diseased or damaged branches and fallen leaves to discourage pests and diseases. Prune fruit trees now, while they are...

According to the South Carolina REALTORS real estate market data, and differing from what all of the media has been saying, 2007 was one of the best years on record for South Carolina home sales.  The state had over 61,000 sales last year, which represents year-end totals of a 55% increase in sa...

I am not a fan of them, and I HATE to see them in my house, but it seems that cockroaches actually do have a purpose. In a story posted today on Newsvine.com, farmers in South Texas are beginning to sing the praises of a flying cockroach from Asia. Unlike the version that all of us are familiar ...

Recently I have seen more and more articles about the fact that some children with normal hearing not being awaken by the sound of the smoke detector in their home.  It has something to do with how deep their sleep is and how easy it is for them to ignore the high pitch of the alarm. As a parent...