Greg's General Store

Thank you everyone for all the wonderful comments and encouragement. I am finally up and running. My site is called Charleston Gardening . It is going to be all about growing things in the Charleston area. I am by no means an expert but I do have a really green thumb and seem to be able to grow almost anything. I dedicate my first post to my Grandmother Green who originally got me interested in gardening. Her favorite flowers were zinnias. When I was really young, I would spend entire days with her working in her flower gardens. I always left with a pocket full of seeds which I planted back at my parents house. They never did very well back then because Dad was a water miser. Most of my plants died from lack of water. Every week my grandmother would pick several vases of zinnias and take them to church with her. There were always fresh flowers in our church as long as my grandmother was alive. So please visit my webpage and check it out. And if you feel so inclined sign up for email no...

Wow, it has been a great week and I have so much to be thankful for. It will be hard to pick the top 5 but I will try. If you would like to participate in Thankful Thursday , go over to Sonya’s blog and sign up. I am sure she would love to have you join in. 1. I am thankful for the rain we received last night. Not only did we get some much needed rain, we got a spectacular light show. I had to wait for the storm to pass before heading out to my spinning class. On the way there, I was following the storm and the lightening show was awesome. 2. I had a great workout at the gym. Mary, the spinning class leader really pushed us to our limits. In addition to leading us on our spinning journey, she is also very spiritual and keeps us thinking positive and feeling good about what we are doing. She is a great leader. I am thankful for Mary and another great spinning class. 3. I am thankful for my green thumb. Being able to grow things is a blessing from God. My Grandma Green is the one who g...

I want to thank Sonya again for the book; The 5 love languages. It was an awesome book and I do believe that it has improved the communication in our house. It was about all kinds of communication and not just “love” languages. After reading the book, I realized that perhaps I wasn’t getting my messages out in other areas of my life as well. I have also applied some of the concepts at work with positive results. I think that the book would do a lot of people some good. The other day I dropped by the grocery store on my way home from work. There is a Publix that I pass so it is an easy place to stop for a few items. I like this Publix because it is clean, neat and it has nice wide aisles. I only needed one thing (bottled water) so I made a beeline for the water aisle when I entered the store. I knew, pending any unforeseen delays, I would be in and out in a matter of a few minutes. As I passed the registers, there were four young people standing in the middle of the aisle near the chec...

I thought you could all use a good laugh and since nothing funny has happened today (so far) I thought I would enlist the help of an old friend from my youth. Every Saturday without fail, I watched this guy perform his magic with the help of his Way-Back machine. Of course I am talking about the world famous Mr. Peabody. Along with his faithful sidekick Sherman, he traveled to earlier times and faraway places. I always loved the stories and especially the witty endings. Little did I know it was actually educational. Now if you don’t know who Mr. Peabody and Sherman are then you may be too young to be reading this because I assure you the ending is really scary. Mr. Peabody: Today Sherman we are traveling back to the year 1970. The place; Tomoka State park which is just north of Ormond Beach Florida. I will set the way back machine to June 27th of that year. We are at the base of the giant statue of Seminole Chief Tomoka. It is an interesting statue depicting the Seminoles shooting a...

Thank God it’s My Birthday. I am guessing that since no one asked for my address that there won’t be a big influx of cards or presents today. I called the Post office, UPS and Fed Ex and told them to stand down and tell the extra people that they brought in to go home. Seriously I have been celebrating (telling everyone I know)since last Thursday so don’t feel bad if you didn’t get me anything. Thursday we had our United Way kickoff dinner here at work. And it started out with a kick too. When the guy showed up at the caterers to pick up the food, the owner said; “That was today?” Oops no food. They scrambled and substituted and we had plenty to eat but it wasn’t the food we planned on. I had my heart set on smoked chicken but I had BBQ pork instead. It was still good. And I won a door prize. A gift certificate to Wally World. Whooo Hooooo. What a way to start my birthday weekend. Did I mention that today is my Birthday? So Friday my youngest son and I went to play golf. It was one o...

It’s that time again. It’s time to stop and be thankful. I am actually thankful most of the time. Yes I (Mr. Happy) even get down sometimes and forget to be thankful but for the most part I am usually happy and thankful. But it is nice to stop and list the things I am thankful at least once a week so here goes my Thankful Thursday list. I am thankful for another great night of spinning. It was an awesome class last night and I felt the burn in my legs as I pushed myself to a new limit. The instructor; Mary, did a thing she called “Stairway to Heaven.” What we did was start out at a good pace while seated. Then about every 10 seconds we turned up the resistance until we got to a level where we could no longer pedal from a sitting position. Then we had to stand and continue to pedal while increasing the resistance to the max. After about a minute of that, we slowly decreased the resistance while increasing the speed. I don’t know about you but that doesn’t sound like Heaven. I am thankf...

For those that aren’t as hip as I am, “All up in my grill(z)” means “up in my face.” I will leave off the (z) for the rest of the post. (note: using the term HIP tells you just how un-hip I really am) If there’s one way to turn me off, it is getting all up in my grill. The moment someone gets in my face, I immediately begin to resist and put up a front. It’s not the closeness that makes me push back; it’s the aggression or demanding attitude. I don’t like being pushed and getting all up in my grill is a sign that you intend to push me. Up goes the resistance and I fight back. Sometimes though I don’t push back, I simply ignore the person. (A trait I learned from dear old Dad) It has been a pretty tough year for me as it has for many of you out there. On the whole I am still doing pretty well but there have been lots of setbacks for me and my family. We have had lots of financial setbacks and the stress level is at an all time high. The stress increase isn’t due to anything personal i...

(WARNING-This isn't one of my usual upbeat posts) When I was young I was constantly picked on. I was overweight and a bit of a nerd so the “it” people picked on me for entertainment. I remember how the boys would play cruel jokes on me and then everyone would laugh at me for being so gullible. Because of that I always dreamed of living alone somewhere deep in the woods, far away from everyone else. I still think about that dream from time to time when people get me down. Lately lots of people have been getting me down. Now don’t get me wrong, I am very happy with my family and many of the friends that I have (including my blogging buddies) but overall the masses have gotten me angry. Even though I manage to keep my chin up and a smile on my face, more and more I am seeing people that I just want to slap the tar out of for being so stupid. They are the ones who constantly complain but never do anything about it. They are also the ones who break the rules of society and seemingly get...

Before I get to my question, let me tell you about my weekend. It was a great one. We had an outstanding day at the market. There was a great crowd all day and no odd people sightings. It was never totally packed but it was steady and so were the sales. I can’t complain at all. I actually have nothing to complain about at all except maybe some sore muscles but they aren’t that bad. Sunday I fixed a nice dinner consisting of Shrimp Gumbo with hot Peach Cobbler for desert. I grew the okra and tomatoes myself and I used fresh local peaches in the cobbler. The only thing missing was some vanilla ice cream. Because of our hectic schedule we don’t always get to sit down to eat as a family but we try to do that every Sunday. With all the things going on in our world these days, it is becoming increasingly evident that we can’t believe everything that we see, hear or read. And that makes me wonder about certain things. The government, backed by the media tells us what they want us to hear. I...

Lots of things come in threes; Peter, Paul and Mary, Three Dog Night, Inna-godda- Davida (baby). Even the Bible makes lots of references to the number three; Father Son and Holy Ghost. Mathew, Mark and Luke, The three wise men. Yes I know the bible doesn’t technically say “three” wisemen but my Children’s Bible did and I am going with that. From what I remember it said there were three Wise Men. The first brought Gold, the second brought a friend named Frank Insense and the third brought the mertz’s (spelled myrrh for some odd reason). I am assuming it was Fred and Ethel. Hey that’s what I thought when I was young and this is my story. Anywhoo….. So Wednesday night which just happens to be the third day of my week I went spinning for the third time. The instructor was younger than the previous one and so were the majority of the participants. Because of that the workout was much more intense. I am sure in a few days I will be able to walk normally again. We did a Cancer ride and everyo...

First off I have a confession. In case you didn’t pick up on it, I am posting this on Wednesday night instead of Thursday morning. I have training all day Thursday so I had to post this early. Please forgive me for breaking the rules. I want to thank Kelly for adding me to Sonya’s list of participants. Please join us at Sonya's blog for Thankful Thursday . So without further ado, let me get to my list for the week: 1. I am thankful for my family who support me when I need it. They are also doing a bang up job at getting all the plants organized at home which means that I have my evenings free again. I am not sure what to do with myself. Can someone pass me the remote and the popcorn? 2. I am thankful for my father who taught me how to cook. Now my mother also taught me to cook but she taught me recipes like; burnt liver and onions, overdone chicken, and salmonella salad. If you never heard of salmonella salad let me give you the recipe; You cut up raw chicken on a wooden cutting bo...

It was a busy weekend for me. I not only went to the Farmers Market in Marion Square, I also went to the Flea Market in Ladson. I did both locations because I had some items that I needed to get rid of and yard sales just don't work out where we live. These two locations are as different as night and day. I decided to take Photos at each location and let you decide which one you like best. These photos are at the Farmers Market in downtown Charleston: Canned Fruits and vegetables. They make the best salsa and jams. This place makes all kinds of breads. I could gain some weight here. These are local tomatoes. Some are heirloom varieties. I thought these squash were really unique. Just down from us is this booth called my My Big Fat Greek Restaurant. If you like Greek food this is the place to go. Carolina peaches are said to be better than Georgia Peaches. I think they are. More fresh SC produce. Now onto the Flea Market: There is something for almost everything at the flea market. ...

There are laws that prevent advertisers from claiming things that aren’t true. For instance if I were selling cod liver oil I couldn’t advertise that it cures cancer because it doesn’t. The laws were put in place by our government and were intended to protect the public. I guess it all started back with the snake oil salesmen who sold snake oil that not only cured every ailment known to man, it also removed stubborn stains and made a darn good hair oil. I think it was the precursor to Dippity Do. How many of you remember that stuff? The point is, snake oil didnt'work. There are also laws that protect us when we are taking out a loan. They are called Truth in lending acts. They protect us from bad lenders who would slip in things like huge balloon payments or astronomically high interest rates. Well it’s supposed to anyway. Some lenders just hide it in the small print. Since most people don’t read the fine print these bad lenders are able to still prey on the unknowing public. Wha...

Wow where did the week go? I can’t believe it is Thursday already. And because it is Thursday, it is also Thankful Thursday so here is my list for the week: 1. I am thankful for the rain we have been getting. Sometimes I wonder if God has a sense of humor. Everyone prays for rain. I can just imagine God saying: “You want rain? I will give you rain. Take that.” We got lots of rain last night along with some strong winds and even some hail. Be careful what you pray for, you may just get it. 2. I am thankful for more sore muscles. My legs are killing me after spinning twice over the past week. The workouts are great and they really give my heart a good beating. (Pun intended) 3. I am thankful for an ever growing level of patients. I seem to be coming to grips with the fact that there are things out there beyond my control and I need to not just go on with my life and not let them affect me. 4. I am thankful for new friends and old that I am meeting through Blogging, Facebook and Twitter. ...

What a spectacle we have seen over the past week. Just think of all the money that was spent to make that funeral and the events leading up to it so special. It’s a shame that he will be going where ever he is going without a dime. Don’t get me wrong, I liked most of his music and no one can argue that he had talent. But something has been puzzling me. Maybe it’s just me but there isn’t anyone on earth that I worship (these days) to the extent that I would make a pilgrimage to stand outside a building where a funeral is being held. I’m sorry but that is just the way I feel. Like I said he did have talent but he wasn’t a God and because he wasn’t a God he shouldn’t be worshiped like a God. And there have been others before him too. And as for you who worship and adore him to the extent that you would build little shrines to him and travel thousands of miles at great expense just to be near his body, I have to wonder where your values lie. Just think how wonderful the world would be if y...

Wow what a weekend. Three full days off and it seemed like more. I guess that is because we jammed so much into it. It all started on Friday. I slept in until 430 when I headed for the gym to try out the spin class. I had a blast and it was a really tough workout. I was sweating too much to take photos but this is what it looked like: It reminded me of doing wind sprints on a bike but it was a lot more fun. They turned down the lights and turned up the music and everyone really got into it. When I got home we all went out in the boats and did some watersliding and fishing. Here are the photos of the water sliding that we did. Saturday we had a good day at the market. It was much cooler than it has been and sales picked up because of it. Our Display: (#1 Son) The market church:(this was early) Fresh Blueberries: Pastries and lemonade: Local Artist: Sunday we went out in the boat again and just relaxed around the house. I took more photos. Orange Sherbet day lily: (the last ones) Okra: M...

Believe it or not, I woke up at 2:30 this morning and started thinking about Thankful Thursday . The second thing I thought was; man my back is aching. And that is the first thing I am thankful for. 1. I am thankful that my back was aching this morning. The reason it was aching is because they are clearing the power lines along our street and we get as much free firewood as we want. My wife and sons have been loading it in the truck and bringing it home and in the evenings once it cools down to 90 Deg. We cut and stack it. Last night we spent about an hour cutting and stacking firewood. But it is free and that is a blessing. Our plants will be nice and toasty this coming winter. 2. My aching back also reminded me that I need to do more upper body exercises at the gym. So this morning, I started my workout with 100 crunches, then 100 back extensions and finally 75 butterflies. After that I had just enough time to get in 30 minutes on the elliptical trainer. So I am thankful that I have...