What is blogging again?

Standard
What is blogging again?

I’m a bit embarrassed as I take the easy way out with Facebook and Instragram. I miss many of my blogger pals. I’d say they aren’t blogging much either.

I was on WordPress updating my other blog. It’s more like a closing of  Cosmo’s blog as he went over the rainbow bridge on July 1st. Brian and I miss him terribly. Sean happen to be home and saw him have a seizure along with the two of us. The poor kitty had a tumor on his face that developed in February. He was 17 at the time. I was leaving him alone and he was okay. It’s when  we took  him to the vet on 6/30 that he got all upset. She had given him a shot of antibiotics and he was really restless that evening. He had the seizure the next day, we took him back to the vet and she (associate of the previous one) talked us into putting him down. Brian took it very hard. He had his total left knee replaced on 5/24 and Cosmo had started to climb up on his lap! Cosmo was always my boy and now he switched to Brian. He was only 7 pounds, about half his weight of a few years ago. He was a bag of bones which upset me. He ate up a storm with that big tumor even. It’s quiet here and we still look for him! We had cats for 29 years! The next town over is opening a cat cafe next month, very dangerous. I tossed or donated all his things already.

We haven’t had the best year with Brian losing his one part time job and not being able to work because of his surgery. Things seem to be looking up now. Thank goodness!

 

 

So it’s the end of March…

Standard

Oh my. I just have a difficult time figuring out how to write a new post! Things look so different to me!

I am stopping by to say ‘hi’. So many things have changed since the beginning of the year. Our son Sean is now living in Alexandria, Virginia as a new job in his field is there. No more long trips from New Jersey, in the middle of the night too!  He is renting a place 10 minutes away right now. And he is training to work in various places around the world. He mentioned Italy and I hope he goes there soon. I can live vicariously through him! He got his passport taken care of too. He lives in an interesting area and very close to Washington, DC. He moved at the end of January, so it’s been a few months almost. He’s been home once in that time.

A few weeks ago Sean was a bride’s groom in a wedding of a high school friend in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. We didn’t get to attend, but Sean had over 4 days down there.He had a great time.  He got use to traveling solo.

On the home front, we have really missed Sean, but we know this is a very good opportunity for a 30 year old

. Brian lost his one part time job right on Valentine’s Day. He just couldn’t keep up with the janitorial duties anymore. He has one job left as a bagger. He is working on getting disability. He has Parkinson’s and found out he needs double knee replacement. He is in terrible pain a lot of the time. I sure hope it improves him by 100%

I’m still working at the preschool/childcare area of a local church. I really enjoy the kiddos. I applied for another job at a daycare  and got offered a position, but I didn’t want to give up my church job, so had to say no, but said I was more available for hours in the summer months. I sort of know the owner from church and we never really spoke until I went for this job.

Brian has a few doctors appointments to prep for his surgery coming up. It’s not that close to where we live, near where I grew up. He is doing one knee at a time.

I have had some dental issues I can’t afford to get fixed. I hope to save up for a few visible ones. Sean opened a GoFundMe account (search Brian and Dianne) and he raised some money for us that helped with some of our $6k in dental bills.

Our parents have had issues. My mom has been ill with infections which wiped her out. His dad is having dementia episodes and is very hard of hearing as is my mom. Her hearing aides broke, he never got any. It’s a yelling match several times a day between Brian and his dad.

I have switched to crocheting for a few months and have had many calming times of making baby gifts, amigurumi animals and different items like ball jar sleeves. I made several small crocheted stockings as Christmas gifts and hope to make them again to sell at a church bazaar or two. I need to start making them. I had to get a cortisone shot in a ‘trigger’  finger earlier this month. It seems to have helped.

We also switched from cable to streaming tv. We like it! I have watched many series of Netflix (which I had already, but looked at mostly on the iPad) and Hulu. We are saving some money, but you need subscriptions to many of the apps like Sling and also the above. I’ll be back soon!

I’m back after over a year!

Standard

Dear Readers,

Well, I broke down and got myself a refurbished laptop! My old one was hanging on by a thread and the screen part had to be propped up and I ended up using it less and less. I was using the tablet which isn’t good for blogging at all. I also dislike using the internet on the tablet.

We have taken a few trips up to New England and New York and I will post about them. We saw Boston and Sleepy Hallow!

Things are a bit rough here too. I wanted this to be mainly a blog about travels and craft,  but here it goes…

Hubby has two jobs that are hard for him with his Parkinson’s as his legs and knees are so bad. I also have knee issues, but not like him. I have had gel shots in my knees which helped a wee bit. I work with preschoolers several times a week. This is my 4th year. I may have to look for another part time job myself.

Our son is moving to Alexandria, Virginia in a few weeks. It will be a job in his field that will eventually involve overseas travel. We will miss him as he’s lived here since college graduation. We are also excited for him too!

I have to go and upload some travel photos here to share. See you very soon!

Part 2 Rock & Roll H of F

Standard

I wasn’t able to finish my post so it continues in a new one!

It was interesting to see popular songs written out in long hand. We had just seen a Barry Gibb concert last year, so this was nice to find.

Falltrip15 184

My dear friend Carole loves anything Elvis. I always think of her when I hear a song of his and when we saw this special section for ‘the King’. It was Sean’s favorite section!

Falltrip15 198

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The Pink Floyd character was pretty interesting too. He took up quite a bit of space!

Falltrip15 217

Here are random shots out the windows, etc. Please go here if you ever get the chance!

Falltrip15 207Falltrip15 218Falltrip15 213Falltrip15 212Falltrip15 208Falltrip15 206

Rock n Roll baby! Cleveland, Ohio

Standard

After we spent the day in Pittsburgh back in October, we then had a long drive to Cleveland. I need to share our ride up the Pittsburgh cable incline too! Great shots!  The Rock n Roll Hall of Fame was our next destination. I thought it was a place that Brian would enjoy and I don’t know what our future will bring (as stated in my previous blog entry), so that’s where we decided to go. We didn’t get in town until after dark and then had to go out to eat. We had the van drop us off at an Italian place downtown as I found a coupon or discount for it. They happen to be hosting some party and she said we’d have to wait. I said we could have whatever they were serving and the waitress said it had been served already. She did seat us and we got what we wanted and it was pretty good.

The next day we had the van drive us over to the museum as it was so cold and windy right there on the lake. It was even flurrying that day. The museum is truly a work of art in itself!

Falltrip15 133

Falltrip15 132

Sean posing with the late Johnny Cash’s tour bus. Not sure if you could go in it or not. We were so cold, we just wanted to get inside the museum!

2015 Nominees Including Joan Jett and the Blackhearts (a local gal from the same county that I grew up in) and Ringo Starr! Any Beatle memoribilia was awesome to us!

Falltrip15 146

The displays were so nicely collaged! You know I appreciated that! I took a photo of these for one of the posters….think it’s the Atlantic City one on the far right.

Taylor Swift’s barely there costume and Lady Gaga’s meat dress that she wore to the Grammys a few years back. They said the cheap cuts of meat worked better.

Falltrip15 152

The lighting wasn’t great and I tinkered with many of my photos. Brian and one of my brothers are big Jimmy Hendrix’s fans. It was cool to see some of his psychedic costumes. He could really play the guitar!

We were really excited to see this exhibit!

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Across from the Beatles were the other British invasion group, The Rolling Stones!

 

The King of Pop, Michael Jackson was represented

This is one of my favorite photos of the Supremes outfits. You can even see where the sequins are loose.Falltrip15 180

Life takes some turns now and then

Standard

I think about my blog. I have neglected it big time lately. My last trip included the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio and Gettysburg, PA. My laptop holds all my travel photos and it is falling apart. I am typing this on my iPad which is slow going.

I was helping Brian with leaf raking and wow, my knees and feet got really painful.We tried several visits to a chiropractor (Brian is suffering also). He could only do so much. We went to the orthopedic knee doctor just this week and he said my knees are worse from last year. He gave me a shot in both knees…ouch! We both need to get our backs checked out too. Thanksgiving was so hard for me being on my feet. I tried to pace myself that day and it didn’t help. Felt like someone was hammering on my legs. Everything seems to take effort. Decided it was time to see the doctor. Being around the children at the church where I work 2.5 (mostly)-5 hours a week brings me joy.

I will add a few new travel posts soon, but putting on those traveling shoes anytime soon will be difficult for us.  I guess I can turn to my crafts and books and hope for a little relief from pain. I’ll post when I can. Love to share my crafts too!

One thousand geocache finds and Waterloo Village New Jersey

Gallery