Boy will projects keep you out of trouble, or get you into it...LOL Dennis and I have had the best time losing ourselves in this project. We have great hopes that ''this old beach house" holds the promise of many fun times with family and friends. We keep working and dreaming about the future of the project.

Dennis keeps calling it, "an old beach house" and of course being the "nester" that I am, I defend the "old house" and say it has charm and potential. I have the talent for seeing a "vision" in something hopeless and Dennis does too, in a more practical way.

When we bought the house it was a foreclosure, structurally sound but built in 1963. It has survived several strong hurricanes. It is now on a non-rebuildable lot. That means that if over 51% of the house is destroyed, it cannot be rebuilt. The vegetation line dictates this decision. As of July 2008, this is supposed to change. If that happens, our lot/house will increase in value. Also. Oak Island is installing a public sewer system.

We decided early on how much we would limit ourselves to spend renovating the house. We kept saying, it is just an "old beach house".It is really difficult to limit the method of renovating. We believe that the best for the price applies to most everything we decide. to undertake.

We gutted the bathrooms and remodeled them completely. The kitchen cabinets were deplorable and we took them out. We decided to keep the floors hardwood.

Now we are at the point that the floors are done. They have been stained and the first coat of polyurethane have been done. Now we wait two weeks to go move in furniture.

In the meantime, Tim, the tool man will set the kitchen cabinets, install my appliances from our house here and finish other details.

We love it at Oak Island. I was reading something last weekend and the article said, Oak Island is not a beach community, it is a community at the beach. I went to church there last Sunday, everyone was so friendly. When we go to restaurants or shopping, everyone is very nice. The only negative experience has been at Lil Bits restaurant. This little Oriental lady owns the restaurant. She sort of has the attitude of Dick's Restaurant. She seems to have a natural belligerent personality. It is the big joke of the island.

I will keep everyone informed of our progress. Dennis is leaving June 14 for the west until July 8. Denny and I are planning to try to go down and take some furniture. We will be making the house a home for Big D when he returns. He worked so hard to get it finished before leaving but didn't quite make it to the point he wanted to. It will be fine, I keep telling him. To be continued.......