A few years back, we had the chance to take a lovely grandfather clock from my husband’s grandmother’s home when she passed away. I had always wanted one, so when we were asked what we’d like to remember Nanny, we were in agreement that the clock would be it. Had I gone shopping for grandfather clocks on my own, I probably wouldn’t have picked the clock we ended up with from Nanny. It’s a lighter toned wood than I prefer, and the mechanism is out dated, but since it’s from family, I can overlook those things. Something like the Ridgeway Victoria II at 1-800-4clocks.com is more my style - actually, it reminds me a bit of the clock from Beauty and the Beast. The curve of the top of the clock and the rich, dark wood on the body of the clock appeal to me.

For now, we’ll keep the clock we have though. Someday, we’ll hand it down to one of our children. I need to get better about maintaining it for sure, especially if I want it to last that long. The site’s grandfather clock blog has some great tips on how to maintain your clock. I didn’t realize oiling was recommended every 2-4 years. We definitely haven’t been keeping up with that! I think I need someone out to take a look at the whole chime mechanism and make sure it’s working correctly, and then we’ll be in the know about caring for the clock going forward.

I was at one of our local malls (International Plaza) yesterday for lunch. I so rarely go into this particular mall, because, well, it’s too high class for me. A coworker made a remark about going into the Dillard’s there, and I said that must be the cheapest department store option at International Plaza. It has a Tiffany & Co. store, Betsey Johnson, Lladro, and a Louis Vuitton shop. It’s definitely NOT the place to go if you’re looking for a bargain, but it’s a great place to hit for lunch!

As I’ve stated here many times before, the real estate market here in Florida is NOT in good shape. Homes are sitting for months without an offer, and many investors who thought they’d be making a quick buck are walking away from the homes they purchased. We’ve got several in our neighborhood that will be sold at a foreclosure sale this month. Too many investors simply don’t have the funds available to continue carrying a house they’re not living in. That reminded me of friends of ours who have the opposite approach - they have 6 months of paychecks in savings in case of an emergency.

It may sound a little extreme, but think about it. What would happen if I lost my job? We’d live off savings and credit cards for a while, maybe I’d be able to find a new job, or maybe not. What would happen if something happened to Jim or I, and we couldn’t work anymore? I don’t think disability and social security would help us much. And what if, god forbid, you lost your spouse? We have wills set up in case something happens, so that the kids are taken care of, but financially, it would ruin the surviving spouse. We may need to look into a revokable living trust and some other trust options to make sure we’re completely set for a worst case scenario. You can actually research quite a bit of this online, with sites like the one created by Morris, Hall and Kinghorn, so that you’ll find out if you’re prepared for the worst.

With stories about sports stars running dog fighting rings, and other beating their wives, or just being, in general, not “nice guys”, it’s absolutely fabulous that we have a “nice guy” like Vincent Lecavalier to look up to here in Tampa Bay. Actually, I’ve met several of the Tampa Bay Lightning players, and they’re all nice guys. It seems that hockey, as a sport, has more nice guys than other sports, and Vinnie is a gem.

Vinnie’s charity foundation, along with his corporate partners (Kane’s Furniture and DEX Imaging), has announced they’ll be donating $3 million towards the construction of the new building for All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg. I have a huge soft spot in my heart for All Children’s - I’ve not only been there with 2 of my own children, but my niece was there when she was just 1 for a long illness. This isn’t the first time that Vinnie Lecavalier has helped the hospital. With each goal he scores, he donates $1,000. With each assist, he donates $300. Since he started doing that in 2003, he’s donated over $70,000 to All Children’s.

The $3 million dollar gift will go towards creating a special wing called the Vincent Lecavalier Pediatric Cancer and Blood Disorders Center. The corporate sponsors will provide half of the money, and the rest will be raised through events held by Vinnie’s foundation, like his poker tournament in Tampa on November 12.

Ghosts are big business for Tampa Bay.

A few years ago, Jim and I went on a ghost tour of Ybor City on a cold January evening. There are similar tours at several locations around the Tampa area, including an old hotel in St. Petersburg. I’ve also done ghost tours in Edinburgh, Scotland, and Lancaster, Pennsylvania. I just found out that should a ghost tour not be spooky enough for you, you can stay at one of these haunted hotels. What a truly hair raising experience!

The closest haunted hotel to my house is the Don CeSar Beach Resort & Spa in St. Petersburg, Florida. Built by Thomas Rowe in 1925, the hotel has had reports of a couple walking hand in hand around the grounds. The couple is presumed to be the spirits of Thomas Rowe and his beloved, Lucinda, who were forbidden to continue their relationship.

As for me, I’m too chicken. I don’t even like staying in a regular, non haunted hotel room by myself…so I will not be booking an overnight stay with the spirits and ghosts anytime soon!

We’ve had a few more homes close recently in our neighborhood, and surprise surprise - people are actually moving into them! Folks are realizing that it’s a great time to buy a house, and the homes in our neighborhood aren’t sitting empty as long. We still have quite a few homes in the front that are empty, because they were purchased by investors, but the other homes seem to have been purchased by people who actually want to live here. What a novelty!

I got nosy this week and walked through one of the homes under construction in my neighborhood. With the prices being so much lower than they were a year ago, people are spending a little bit more attention to detail on the inside of their homes. We’ve seen more people optioning to get upgraded cabinets, and Corian, and we’ve seen a few homes with upgraded bathroom lighting, just like we did. The builder standard was a bar of 5 of those big rounded bulb lights - like a dressing room backstage in a theater. The direct light bothers my eyes, so we chose to get something with a shade over the bulbs, and we upgraded the lighting in all 3 of our bathrooms. The master bath and the kids bath match, and the powder room downstairs matches the dining room and foyer lighting.

Of course, had we not done it in the construction process, it’s something that’s easy enough to change out on your own. You also get a much larger selection than we had in our builder’s design center, and you save money by doing it on your own. Sweat equity, and all that!

I came across an interesting article in the paper this week that was talking about the high number of rental homes in subdivisions around Tampa, and that less people are buying now, and more are content to rent for a while longer. (I don’t understand that, since this is a fabulous time to buy a home and get a deal!)

The articles stated that from the HOA’s experience, renters are more likely to pay attention and follow neighborhood rules and regulations, because they don’t want to risk losing a lease. That’s not entirely true for my neighborhood. Landlords are so desperate to rent homes, they’ll overlook residents not following the rules. Of course, we also have plenty of residents who don’t follow the rules, from the people who park on the street overnight, to the people who installed illegal fences.