Author Archives: Dianne

Unknown's avatar

About Dianne

Domestic goddess, wife, mom, gardener, paper and collage artist, geocacher, local traveler, cross stitcher, baker, crafter, Facebooker, blogger, decorator and photographer.
Aug30

Sean’s 1st day of college

Posted on by
Standard

It seemed like this event was years off and now it’s today. I can’t believe he is a college freshman. I am sorry his first few days will be tarnished because of the loan problem. I think I have that figured out. I tried to get help from the loan people, but the hurricane was messing with their phone lines. Brian has to get a PIN number to fill in the form electronically. And yes, we sent them the incorrect form. Wish he had read the letter from the loan people better. But the names of the forms are so similar. So it’s either wait 3 days for the PIN number or fill out the form and send it in through the mail. The loan people said that it will go through right away if he does it electronically, so that seems to be the best option. Sean at least is optimistic saying ‘We’ll be laughing about this in a few years.’

Aug29

Eggplant parmigiana

Posted on by
Standard

After the priest dropped by for his bi-annual visitation, I got busy and made eggplant parmigiana from scratch. Sean had just picked an eggplant for me and I thought I had another one in the frig, but I waited to long to use it and had to toss it. The newly picked one was enough to fill the entire toaster oven pan. I made some tortellinis to go with it. It came out pretty good, esp with all the fresh basil added to the top. I should have taken a photo of it! I never hardly ate eggplants until a few years ago. I think my grandmom would overcook them and they got stringy and mushy. Mine weren’t that way at all tonight. The guys even went for seconds.
There was a big stink over Sean’s loan for school. Seems it hasn’t gone through yet because we sent the loan company ‘maybe’ the incorrect form. I finally found the ‘maybe’ correct form through trial and error and tried to fill it out online. When it got to the page that said ‘chose lender’, it wasn’t on the list! So now I have to give them a call and tell them. I got financial aid and loans and never had so much of a hassle. I am thinking that the ‘maybe’ correct form hasn’t been processed yet as it was only mailed the 23rd of this month. Sean will have to get his books ‘out of pocket’ until he gets his money. His algebra book ‘used’ is about $77! Are they kidding? Glad I am finished school.

Aug29

Prayers for the gulf coast

Posted on by
Standard

Needless to say, I am watching the tv and praying for all the people living in the New Orleans, Biloxi and Mobile areas. I feel so bad for the people in the Super Dome in New Orleans, especially when the roof was leaking on them. I have pals in MS and AL and I know they are dealing with this too My brother lives in Fort Lauderdale and he was without power and cooking all his perishables on the grill. I think he had to do that last year.
Back to cleaning…the vacuum is calling me! (The guys are gone today and it’s so quiet here).

Aug28

Soggy Sunday

Posted on by
Standard

I am still a little tired from our recent trip. Today I decided to sort through some magazines and papers that have been accumulating on the dining room table and overflowing in the magazine basket. Good thing I did this as I read that the priest from church is coming for a visitation tomorrow! I thought he was coming Tuesday. So I have to tidy up a few areas that he will see (LOL) and since I did the sorting, I can just rearrange some knick-knacks and run the vacuum around. I have a feeling that I will be the only one home here. He will probably only be here about 10 minutes, so no big deal. Maybe I’ll bake some brownies. I have until about 4 pm. We skipped the church picnic today. We haven’t gone for a few years as it’s rather boring if you don’t have kids to put on the ponies or have them do sand art.
Brian goes back to work tomorrow. I actually got him to do a little something for me. He cleaned out a few file drawers in the downstairs cabinet! Sean and I had been down in this area and he had just tossed papers in there haphazardly. He threw away a lot of my old eBay paperwork. I haven’t looked at it for years. I feel some organizational vibes coming my way!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The stitching question of the week was what was your biggest project and what was your smallest project.
I think my biggest project was a Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse design I did for my nephew when he was born. It was Mickey handing Minnie a flower. They kept that hanging up for a long time. The smallest has to be the little sampler I did when I was a new stitcher back in 1980.

Aug27

What I like about vacations…

Posted on by
Standard


This one in particular was a bit different as we had Sean as the main driver and he was driving his car. That gave Brian a tremendous break. Brian tends to be uptight on the road. I definitely felt a bit more relaxed in my cocoon in the backseat. I loved seeing Sean frolic in the ocean on his boogie board. He isn’t really a swimmer, but he had a grand time catching the waves. I love the familiarity of a place. We stayed in the same hotel we stayed in 5 years ago and forgot how convenient it was to the beach and boardwalk. We ate at the Marina Deck right next to the bay and watched boats come in.
Sean wanted to go to a pre-21 club his friends had gone to. He had to walk a few blocks to the place and the cover charge was only half price until 8:30 pm. He did go and we were watching out the window worrying about him being out until 11 in a strange town. He said he was ‘holding up the walls’ but he talked to a girl from the Pittsburgh area too.
I love the outlet shopping in the Ocean City and Rehoboth Beach area. We go to the outlets in Lancaster a few times a year, but the ones down at the beach seemed to have a ton of things to chose from. The Bass and Old Navy stores had the best buys.
Most of all, seeing something different is what keeps me going for a long time. I get tired of the same old thing and a trip, even a short trip does me the world of good.

Aug26

Cool OC shots

Posted on by
Standard


We ate at our favorite restaurant last night! A server comes around with a big basket of homemade coconut muffins, bread and raisin bread with icing. I got the tropical salad that includes baby shrimp, pineapple, mandarin oranges and a sweet dressing. My entree was a baby lobster tail. Scrumptious! I love the verbena on the posts.

No, this isn’t one of us parasailing. I liked all the action and color in this shot.

The clouds and sun looked heavenly. : )

Aug23

Finished Charity quilt square

Posted on by
Standard

I had a little time before dinner to sit a spell. The luggage is pretty much packed. I need to water some flowers outside after we eat. Yesterday I planted the iris rhizomes that came. I thought a few didn’t look that great, so I will email the company to see about replacements for them.
I went to the doctor and more or less the midwife (a new lady who looks like an older version of my sister-in-law MaryAnne) said my odd complaints are due to my age. Oh great.
Anyway, here is a charity square I just completed. They are for a bird themed quilt and are baby blue birds.