Author Archives: Dianne

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About Dianne

Domestic goddess, wife, mom, gardener, paper and collage artist, geocacher, local traveler, cross stitcher, baker, crafter, Facebooker, blogger, decorator and photographer.
Aug3

Cleaning my tail off

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I haven’t posted for two days? Don’t faint now. I was down at my mom’s again yesterday trying to help her out again. I was doing the kitchen. I can’t get into how bad it was or I’ll get myself in a stew again. I spent 2 hours cleaning a small portion of it and wore myself out because it was warm in there and there was too much that needed cleaning. Mom vegetated on the sofa and didn’t have the air up all the way. I wanted to take her out in the car, but she said she’s too weak. I brought her down some breakfast, which she hardly touched and a hoagie. I did manage to get her to drink almost half a jug of green tea. I told her she is never going to feel stronger if she doesn’t eat.
Sean had dropped me off on his way to his math tutoring. He had to go a little longer to hopefully get into a higher level. So he’ll go up two levels! As a treat, we went to Ruby’s Diner. It’s looks like the 50s diners and we had burgers. I treated myself to a couple of books at Borders. My garden chums will appreciate this-I got a lovely big book called ‘Encyclopedia of Herbs’ the definitive guide to the identification, cultivation and used of herbs with over 1,000 herbs and 1,500 photographs-only $9.99. The garden lay-outs are beautiful. Lots of flowers are actually herbs. Well that makes sense doesn’t it? I purchased a wonderful magazine that Miracle-Gro put out called ‘Container Gardening’ (Zoey!). I was really enjoying it at 2 am when I couldn’t sleep. Some of the combos of plants are fantastic. I saw a ‘planter’ made out of various flowerpots that I want to make for mom and me. I actually saw those bowl shaped clay pots marked down at Value City a few weeks ago. I sure hope they still have them.
Speaking of making things, I bought some makings of a Christmas ‘alphabet block’ tree last year. I need a base for them. I had made one years ago and they are so adorable, I’d thought I’d make and sell a couple of them on eBay. I really love to make things and miss using that part of my brain when it’s been a while since I’ve gotten ‘down to brass tacks’ with my craft things.
It’s smoldering here again. I just love seeing the plants wilting everyday. I am wilting too. My sinuses are killing me. It’s a mixture of something outside, the air running all the time and cleaning at mom’s. Time for a cross stitching break!

Jul31

Have any good eggplant recipes?

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My first eggplant of the season and it ‘was’ almost seedless. I sauteed it in oil and tossed it with tuna in pasta. To back track, I have a space near the metal basement doors that I plant herbs, flowers and a few veggies in. I threw in about 6 eggplants, two peppers and a roma tomato there. It’s nice to go a few feet out the backdoor and grab something from this little patch. Posted by Picasa
And lookie what I found Eggplant coming out my ears recipes

Jul31

Art cards are all the fad on eBay

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I was on tribe yesterday and on the ‘eBay freaks’ tribe specifically. A tribe member was telling us about the art cards that are selling like hotcakes there. They are mostly original art of any kind and are about 2.5″ x 3.5″ like a baseball card. I was really intrigued by them and bid and won a few featuring old fashioned children as the focal design. Really neat. I think I will start a new collection to inspire me to make and sell these. The guy on tribe says he sells ALL originals and makes about $600 a month. Now that isn’t bad. Maybe I should dust off my sketch book (I use to draw all the time). Maybe these little cards will be in my inspiration.
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Brian cleaned out the totally filthy shed today. I dropped hints all morning and he finally went out and was complaining about doing it. We even unloaded a 17 yr old window air conditioner in the same manner as we disposed of the old computer desk. We put a ‘FREE’ and works sign on it. Hope it isn’t blowing too much stinky mouse piddle air in their house. But it was free! ; )
I spray painted my wrought iron patio set’s chairs today. I asked Brian to please save the space he made from removing the a/c so I could put them in there this year. It’s not hard to paint them, but I don’t want to paint them every two years because of them being left in the elements. It totally looks better in the shed, but all the mess is in the front of it waiting for big trash pick up day which happens to be this week coming up! What do we do with all these pieces of wood? He said we can’t use them in yard projects because they aren’t treated? I tend to disagree. Can’t you prime and paint them? I’ll have to check the books I have here.
I also had a good cry from all the mess of this last week. When the screen door (it’s heavy with metal decorations in it) hit me in my arm, well that was the stick that broke the camels back. I think it helped.
BTW, get an ‘instant dark tan’ with black spray paint! My feet are tanned that way-geez.

Jul29

Free landscaping business…

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….only if you have shingles! Man, I am way pooped today from doing stuff around my mom’s house. I went into her house with really good take out from the Concordville Inn (they just opened a ‘to go’ service). I got her shrimp salad and me chicken salad. I walked in to find her in a fairly warm and smelly living room with her eyes almost rolled back! No joke! It scared the sh#@ out of me. Her ‘baby boy’ dog had perfumed himself in some other doggie’s release. Darn him. Mom ‘came to’ and I told her about her lunch which she wasn’t hungry for yet. She looks like sh#@ too. She’s lost weight again and had raccoon circles around her eyes. Her lesions from the shingles are drying up. Yeck, what a wicked thing. Anyway, no way did I have an appetite, so I ate half my lunch and debated to clean inside or do stuff outside. I did the same thing I would do here, I went outside! It was too nice not to. I got the weed whacker out and went to town in the shady part of the yard first. My ‘trigger’ finger can’t hardly bend today from weed whacking. I moved hanging plants and statuary around. I cleaned up trash and things around her yard. I knocked down weeds. I did good. Mom came out later and said ‘what about those weeds over near the shed’ (Brian does this to me also). I said some other time. I even had Sean drive me up to a store to get more cord for her weed whacker. And I did grocery shopping inbetween the yardwork. Mom said ‘I hate to remind you, but I need some groceries’. So I took her Sable up to the Acme (Thursday is a good day to go) and got what she wanted (she requested pumpkin pie too!)
My brother and his kids were there when Sean and I got back from getting the cording. We hardly recognized Kenny as he’s getting so tall. My brother cuts the grass for mom every week. The kids love Sean and were following him around. Sean showed Ken the bumper and Ken thinks he needs a new one. We can’t seem to get the State Police to give us the address of the lady who ran into Sean. (Brian is probably going to stop at the barracks today to see if ‘face to face’ will make a difference.) Ken and the family are going to Ocean City, MD this week coming up. That reminds me, I need to make arrangements for our OC trip next month.
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BTW, I didn’t go to the doctor today. I figured out what my problem was from past experience.
Today I am going to the hair salon. I need to go and get ‘spruced up’.
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My pond’s pump in a pita this week. It fell over now about 4 times and leaked all the water out of the pond. Some of that stringy algae got in the motor and it wouldn’t work. I got it taped up and fixed (I have to tape the fountain head on to the newer pump), so I hope it won’t fall over again. It makes the new resident ‘Kermit’ upset!

Jul27

Saw this on Abby’s blog…

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Your Blogging Type is Kind and Harmonious
You’re an approachable blogger who tends to have many online friends.
People new to your blogging circle know they can count on you for support.
You tend to mediate fighting and drama. You set a cooperative tone.
You have a great eye for design – and your blog tends to be the best looking on the block!

What’s Your Blogging Personality?

Thanks Abby.
I feel a bit better tonight. I did lay down for 45 minutes or so. I got a package of goodies in the mail from Collectibles,Inc. and they all had to be put together. I got a little fairy birdbath (the fairy is solar powered), a duck fountain that spits water back into the pond (pictures are coming);a fountain I was going to put outside but it’s for inside-an old-fashioned hand pump that pours water into a bucket(noisy) and a few other things.

Jul27

Very sleepy…

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…I felt like I had menstrual cramps from the early evening until about 3 am when the Tylenol and heating pad helped me to fall asleep. The thing is I just went through ‘all that’ less than 2 weeks ago. I made an appt with the gyn for Friday because I didn’t like how I was feeling. I just looked at a few pages on uterine fibroids (I had to refresh my knowledge about them). I think they are acting up and I don’t know whether to wait until my yearly exam on 8/23 or to actually go on Friday. I depends on how well I sleep the next few nights.
I still haven’t been down to see my mom and it will be 2 weeks tomorrow. I was telling her about the above problems and she said she ‘needed milk’. Sometimes people who are in a fog of pain can’t see beyond their own needs. I want to help her, really I do, but I wish she had gotten my sister-in-law to grab her a few groceries when she asked.
I want to join a ‘Curves’ or a similar establishment, but my cycle and fibroids rule my life. I guess I have to either live with them until menopause or try to seek relief by the doctor’s suggestions. I have never had the doctor examine me, only the mid-wives. The doc looks like the carpenter on the TLC show ‘While you are out’-Andrew Dan-Jumbo. Hmm…. wish me luck. I need a nap. (BTW, it’s still really hot here).
Sean was involved in a fender bender yesterday with him being the filling in the sandwich between the three vehicles involved. He’s fine, a little shook up though. A lady in her 30s was right near where she was going to turn and she plowed into Sean. The paint on half his bumper crackled. The front of his car that went into a van and caused damage to it isn’t hurt at all. The poor kid had to stand in the heat for an hour while the police came. He was happy to tell us that he is moving into a higher math class. You know, this and my mom surely would cause me stress and screw with my insides. Geez.

Jul26

Men not as fixated on skinny women

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VILLANOVA, Pa. – U.S. men are not as fixated on women being
thin as most women believe, a study found. Charlotte Markey
of Rutgers University-Camden and her husband, Patrick
Markey of Villanova University, study what couples find
attractive. Most U.S. women, even skinny women, think they
should be thinner because they feel they would be more
attractive to men, but that’s not the case, the researchers
reported. They studied 104 couples. All the women were in
their 20s and none were significantly over- or underweight,
reported U.S. News and World Report. In separate rooms, the
couples were asked to choose photos of women in bikinis that
look most like the woman in the partnership. They were also
asked to choose a photo of what body type they or their
partner would most want to look like. Women chose drawings
larger than average to represent themselves, while the men
saw their girlfriends as thinner than average. The body type
the women desired was significantly underweight, while men
chose a body type close to how they saw their partners now,
the New York Daily News said Sunday.

So how do women feel about heavier men? Personally, I don’t care for guys that let themselves go unless they have a physical problem that has caused them to not be able to exercise. Case in point, my Bri. He needs to lose about 50 pounds. His knees are bad. He never complained about his knees until he put the weight on. His tummy looks like he enjoys beer. He rarely drinks it. He eats too fast and sometimes takes seconds. His job has him in the car a lot. All this adds up to causing weight gain.

Jul25

Butterfly Paradise

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We have a bay window facing the backyard in our family room. The family room was the garage at one time. Why waste a big window facing the road when you can view a peaceful backyard? I have a butterfly bush planted under the window here. It’s as tall as the house and attracting a ton of butterflies. Right now I see a yellow shallowtail on it. I can’t even see the pond, but it’s nice to see the pretty purple blooms and the ‘flutterbys’.
I planted the 4 iris rhizomes yesterday and am expecting 10 more next month. My hibiscus seeds started to pop out of the pots. I planted10 and 6 are coming up. All the new plants benefited from the storm that went through here at 4 am.
I was just outside showing the guy where to pump out the septic tank. That’s country living for you though we now could get public water and sewer. Maybe someday if it becomes a problem. It’s the law to get them pumped every few years. Our toilets haven’t been flushing all the way and the shower isn’t draining that well. This should help as they pump out 1,000 gallons of waste.
I hope you saw the shows on the Titanic last night on the Discovery Channel. They were really good. Just when you think you have heard or seen everything about the Titanic, something new is unearthed. James Cameron, the director of Titanic, went down to the wreck again and had smaller robots to view parts of the ship that haven’t been seen before. They got to see the Turkish baths! The tile was still in good shape after 93 yrs! It was so neat. The other show talked about the building of the Titanic which was interesting and ‘reinacted’ very well. Five years of work for a ship that sunk in less than 3 hours.