Yep, I’m the newest Cruise-I bet you’ve heard. And all ma and pa-(that’s TomKat to ya’ll) did was pull 4 letters out of my last name (which is a pa’s middle name, my last name, when they get hitched will be Mapother) and ma said ‘Tom baby, you think Suri is a real name?’ Ma got out the Scientology baby name book and sure enuf-I am a red rose and a princess. So appropriate.

It’s been a hectic day. I was washing the largest wall and other painted areas today with 409 out in the kitchen. I actually had to go over it with water to get more dirt off. I filled in some holes with spackling. I cleaned an area of the basement that I thought was too much for the electrician to bear, hurting myself in the process. I did a slip and fall half way up the stairs. I’ve been wearing these black leather shoes with an elastic strap and they must have been too slippery for the painted steps. I came down hard on my left knee while my upper left arm hit the railing and my head hit the hall. Luckily Sean was home and he heard my ‘oh sh*#’ and ouches. He got me some ice and I’ve been icing the various boo-boos all evening. Not surprisingly, my hard head doesn’t hurt! ; ) And the whole time I was down there I was thinking brown recluse spider as my pal Nancy sent me that nasty email showing a festering spider wound just this morning.
So I did manage to stir up a pot of spaghetti. I keep thinking ‘it’s the last time I will use this stove or oven’. Weird. Really weird was finding a paper for trash pickup up under the frig from 1989. That’s about the last time it was pulled out (stop groaning) as we put the floor tiles down by ourselves.
About the photo… I’ve been seeing a little brownish red cardinal fly out of the crepe myrtle bush under the kitchen window lately. I got the step ladder and looked through the kitchen window tonight. Lo and behold, there she was on her nest. She had a feeling someone was looking over her shoulder and flew away exposing these 3 darling blue speckled eggs. Thanks to Brian for a cool shot-through the window!

Before I forget to tell you, I haven’t even seen a cabinet door yet with the ‘fawn glaze’ finish. I did open the knobs-and they are pretty with their raised leaf design. I thought I was getting some pulls also, but I guess not. The knobs will be fine.
On Friday, Martha Stewart was given a gorgeous Easter basket by her assistant (I think) and there were a trio of brown bunnies (maybe Steiff) surrounded by eggs to ‘die’ for. She was chatting with the guy and she said, ‘where did we find the bunnies, in Chadds Ford?’ And her assistant answered ‘yes, the Chadds Ford Florist’. So I think I know which one they are referring too-in Old Ridge Village Shoppes about 20 minutes from here. Our gal MS was browsing the little stores there! It use to have the Strawberry Sampler cross stitch shop too, but they downsized and moved up the road. I haven’t been to the new location yet.
Sad event-it seems that on every holiday, especially around Easter, someone goes down in a small plane around here. A man and his grown son went out for a pleasure trip and the dad died when the plane crashed. Miraculously, the son walked away from the crash. We have the New Garden airport about 5 minutes or so up the road. So sad.
I am almost finished with the kitchen now. There is nothing in any of the cabinets or drawers. I have 3 boxes to take down the basement. All that is left in there is my hanging clock/radio (which I still want), and the key hook…and the frig. There is no room for the frig in the living room now. This is worrying me. The guys are going to have to work quickly as my appliances are coming on Friday. I am sure all the cabinets will be out of there in a few hours (crossing fingers). I believe they start with the upper cabinets in a remodel? If they can do a few of them and get that pantry closet in, I can rest easy that night. If only the house was a little larger. ; )

And so it begins:

That’s the pantry cabinet lying in front of the loveseat. There is a corner cabinet in the foreground with lots of space. But this is only a small section of the boxes.

Have a lovely springy Easter today.
Here’s a cute share-when Sean was about 3 we were dying Easter eggs in the kitchen. He was really getting into it. His dad was videotaping him too. One time he touched the hot egg to his little chin-ouch. But what stands out about that day is that when I held up a dyed egg to show him he said ‘I’m so proud of you.’ He said prowd. That is one of our sweetest Easter memories.

I have most of the living room rearranged for the kitchen cabinet delivery and yes, I did it by myself. Brian will be taking down the dining room table tomorrow night. I asked Bri to get me a few more booze boxes before he went over to see his dad Saturday and he couldn’t get the small ones, just these big egg boxes from the grocery store-I don’t need biggie ones. I tossed most of them on the back patio.
I had to get out of the house Saturday-just to the yard and I was raking leaves from way under the heavenly scented viburnum bush and ‘ouch’ I yet again did a number on my tummy muscles. I know it’s probably mostly from bailing water from the pond. So I had to ice myself and use the heating pad but it’s still hurting. I did use the shovel to dig up some bleeding hearts that have been hiding under an azalea. I’ve been wanting to move it for years. I actually separated it into about 6 plants. Sean dug 4 of the new holes for them in my woodland garden. I can proudly say that most of the plants in that bed came from around the yard.
I got a few rose bushes for $2.50 each and decided to plant them. I like roses, but most of them don’t like me. They actually look good this year as we had a mild winter. Come to think of it, all 4 waterlilies made it too. I was giving all the plants a dose of MiracleGro for good measure.
Friday I cooked a turkey breast (that was a freebie) and some potatoes (for potato salad) so Bri could take his dad some. I really don’t want to go over to his house because he is so touchy after that episode in December. He called here and left a message thanking me for the food and telling me I was welcome to come over anytime. So when was I not welcome?
Bri was upset because his dad told him his car was running funny. Brian went to investigate, and it was out of power steering fluid. A lightbulb in a ceiling fan blew out and when Bri was there his dad touched a wire to metal and tripped the circuit breaker! He could have gotten a good shock…or worse.
We were going to church tonight and got there and there was no 5:00 mass, so we have to go tomorrow morning. We decided to eat at an Italian restaurant where we use to go all the time and they were closed down! We headed for Ruby Tuesdays and then Kmart. I got some pansies for my mom, seeds and a few bulbs.
Mom called when we got home and said her boarder Jim threw away all her Easter goodies for the grandkids! All the bags were gone. She is very upset. We are going down in that area to give Tori her belated birthday gifts and give the kids Easter stuff from us. Mom doesn’t want us to come over. She called here twice about the mishap, so is she trying to bum me out for Easter?
Crossing fingers for a good week-the BIG week coming up. I can’t believe it’s finally here.

22 yrs ago I was a nervous Nelly, thinking of getting married and ‘settling down’. No, I was not a wild girl, Brian was my first real boyfriend. I had crushes on guys, dated a few, but no one came close to Brian. And we are still together after almost 24 yrs. He was my beacon in the night. I thank God for him and I need to always appreciate what he has done for me.

We just got back from an early anniversary dinner at the same place where we ate for Valentine’s Day. I had a craving for a mushroom burger, so we went there. Our 22nd anniversary is tomorrow, but it’s still Lent, so we ate out tonight. We used the camera phone again:

I am getting excited about the kitchen! I just want everything to run smoothly. I have a feeling they aren’t going to like the way the basement looks. I did a lot of moving stuff around down there last month, and I need to do yard work this month.

I have the pond and the waterlily garden up and running as we had ‘Florida weather’ today.

They was a bit mucky and the pump wouldn’t work at first, but I got the pond working. There were tons of mosquito critters in both. I am anxiously awaiting the dark so I can see if my various solar items will light up.
My mom has a cyst or something in the palm of her right hand. She was at the doctor today for a check-up and she needs to get steroid shots there so her middle finger doesn’t completely bend toward her palm like is starting to do now. She is a leftie, so she doesn’t know why she got the cyst there. She is happy that she weighs 120! Man, did you see her in the photo below? I bet she weighed under 100 there. I did not inherit her skinny gene.

Mom-my always thin ma.

Mom-mom Ruth (who helped raise the 4 of us) and Pop-pop Alan (who passed away when I was 6 weeks old).