Category Archives: birthdays

Oct22

Many thanks

Posted on Monday, October 22, 2007 by Dianne

I appreciate your comments on my entry from last night. I haven’t heard anything from my pal, but I’m sure it wouldn’t be good news unfortunately. Another friend from our group gave me her phone # and we chatted this afternoon for about 20 minutes or so. The dialects were traveling full force from the lady with the Philly accent to the lady with the Louisiana accent. She had her ear bent back good. Have you heard that expression before?

The fires are horrible out in California! They were showing the smoke from the radar on the news earlier and it was like nothing that I have seen before. My late paternal grandmom lived in Santee, a suburb of San Diego.

I watch ‘Dancing with the Stars’, mainly if I am interested in certain ‘stars’. Tonight, the performer who happens to be my age, and that’s Marie Osmond, passed out after she performed a strenuous dance-the samba. (the comments here are weird) They broke away for quite a bit and she was back for her score, a little shook up, but okay. She said she wasn’t breathing right, but after looking at the video, I think she was hyperventilating. Us premenopausal gals better be more careful. : )

I got a nice comment from Tootie, the gal who made the tags on the Halloween tree below. She was flattered that I had them on my blog-why not, they are so cute! I’m bidding on some Christmas tags she made, just as sweet.

Tonight I started to alter a book. What you mainly do is paint or glaze over the pages/words in an old book and add elements to them. I didn’t do that at first, I added a page of a pretty vintage girl. You are suppose to take out pages so that your ‘altered’ pages won’t make the book too bulky. I was just ripping instead of cutting, so my 1909 book was getting a little wobbly. I hope it will stand up to my altering. Will share some photos soon.

Two more days and Sean will be 21! He seems a little sad, but he says it feels like all work and no leisure time for him lately. He may treat himself (and maybe take a friend) out to dinner on Friday when he only has one class. He was complaining about having a big test on his big day. He’s struggling a bit, but it’s a transitional part of his life. He’ll be fine, I know it.

Be sure to catch my new video of my paint shopped pro altered digital artwork in my Vod pod.

Oct13

Happy Big One Carole!

Posted on Saturday, October 13, 2007 by Dianne

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My dear blogger pal Carole aka Pea is celebrating a special birthday today. I hope she has a lovely, special day to remember for always. OX g/f!

Sending some special fairy kisses too. Check out Pea’s Corner in my side bar. What a magical party!

Sep23

Happy Birthday Mom!

Posted on Sunday, September 23, 2007 by Dianne

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Mom (Jeanne) and I are very close. I hope this turns out to be a lovely day for her. I spent at least 1.5 hours wrapping her gifts and they look pretty in their fuchsias, pinks and raspberry papers.

And the cupcakes I made and decorated:

My brother is having us all at his place for dinner. There is also a flea market doing on-hmmm…maybe we can hit that first! ; )

We had a nice evening as you can see. Colleen and Ken outdid themselves (mostly C) with the grub-steak, shrimp, chicken and the works! Ken did his good deed of the day by going out to see Uncle Don.

We played movie trivia which I won twice-yahoo! : ) And we played the DVD of Deal or No Deal and we won money twice, but the first time we could have had $400k and walked away with $115k! ; )

My bros with mom-one is missing

The grandkids and mom-Sean is missing!

Two daughter-in-law and one son in-law

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DON’T FORGET TO TAKE A GUESS ON THE CONTEST PAGE AT THE LINK ABOVE!

Sep16

Say it ain’t so

Posted on Sunday, September 16, 2007 by Dianne

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That I am still pulling weeds in the middle of September! Usually by now I say the heck with it. I have to admit that I did the front area where people look as they pass the house. I filled up two garden carts with weeds, mostly those long grasses. Now my pretty blue and peach salvia are making a nice show. I promise a photo. I gave up weeding after an hour as my back was hurting. I am also pleased with my ‘trash grabs’; remember when Sean and I went to the nursery a few months back and the lady gave me plants she was tossing? They both are blooming-pink and white trumpet flowers-one is the Mandevilla and the other is very similar, but the leaves are a bit different.

When I came in I decided to make the gown for my ‘Mommy paper doll’. My friend gave me the body template and I used the photo of my mom when she was about 20. I assembled the body with brads and painted it too. The dress is made from some of the scrap paper I got in the mail yesterday. Her belt and shoes were made from a band from a candy box. Her belt and bag have butterfly accents. I think she looks like she is ready to go to the Emmys (you all are getting a sneak peek)!

And here’s her journal with her initials and the first page that I did for her:

I worked on my ’57 Thunderbird (Love Quilts) while watching the Emmys. It was in ‘the round’ and I felt bad for winners like James Spader who said they were the ‘worst seats he ever had’. I was glad Katherine Heigl from Grey’s Anatomy won. It was neat to see some of the cast from ‘Roots’ which was a miniseries 30 yrs ago when I graduated from high school. I didn’t know that Edward Albert, Jr (Butterflies are Free) had passed away last September-the ‘In Memorium’ showed his picture. I looked him up and he was only 55 and had lung cancer. His dad had passed on in ’06 at 96! Eddie Jr took care of his dad for 10 yrs. I liked both of them a lot.

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We went to church this morning as we thought Father M needed help as the ‘main’ usher was in a car accident last week in Virginia. We had heard he bruised or broke his ribs, but he was in the hospital. We have known Chris and his family for at least 10 years and when we saw him standing there today, well I just had to give him a hug! I think I surprised him! Later he told Bri that the rear axle on his Ford Explorer had broken when he was going about 55 mph! He rolled over at least 2-3 times and doesn’t remember anything except waking up when the paramedics were talking to him. I think he’s one lucky guy!

Sep13

Wild goose chase

Posted on Thursday, September 13, 2007 by Dianne

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I went to the gyn office yesterday, which isn’t that close to here, about 20 miles round trip. I get there, pay the fee, go in the exam room, get my BP done and answered questions and then get in that open in the front gown. So I’m sitting there next to the doctor’s office. I had seen him sitting in that office. After about 10 minutes the nurse pokes her head in and said that Dr. H. had to go upstairs for a minute. So I said okay, maybe it’s a ‘just see’ upstairs. Well a few minutes later she opens the door again and said an actual delivery was underway and I had to come back at a later time! That’s never happened to me before. Ahhhhh…all the nerves I had. So I am going back today at 4:15.

I stopped off at a shopping area on the way home and enjoyed looking around a Hallmark store and did a little birthday shopping for my mom. I stopped off at another store closer to home and found a few more mom things. Tonight I ordered from Amazon and a Creative paper place. I was looking for a blank journal so she could make her one collage one. I know she’d be good at it, or she can do it when she comes here for a visit.

Bri took me out to dinner and when I started eating, I just didn’t feel great. I ordered steak which was good, but I brought half of it home. I guess I got myself in a stew before the trip to the hospital.

College guy update: Sean is doing good. He said he feels like he is on vacation?! I guess he means it doesn’t feel like home to him. He is going to church and joined a group there, something he never did at our church. He went to a picnic and a few other things with them already. I did say the ‘nice’ girls probably go to church. ; ) Statistics is proving to be difficult for him and he is struggling a bit. I told him to utilize the internet and library. He may have to get help. He also shrunk a shirt he likes and got medicine for his face on another and spotted it. Live and learn!

Aug21

Happy Birthday Colleen

Posted on Tuesday, August 21, 2007 by Dianne

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My sister-in-law celebrates her birthday today. She is the mom to my nephew Kenny and only niece Tori. And of course she is married to my lovable baby brother Ken. Colleen’s had a rough year with the loss of her dad and her mom pulling roots to move in with Colleen’s sister. She is always busy, first with her kiddos and the lovely home that she helped redo with Ken, but also as a talented hairstylist. I wish I could send her some sunshine for her special day. We’ve had 3 days of gloom, chill and rain now. Sean and I are probably going to see Colleen and the gang tomorrow so he can see them before he goes away.

Jul15

A small request

Posted on Sunday, July 15, 2007 by Dianne

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Sometimes you read a passage and it touches you. You need others to read it as it needs their attention. Thus was the case with the bio of little Celeste, one of the featured kids on the Make A Child Smile (this link is always in my sidebar) website for July. This dear child has a rare degenerative disease. She is in a wheelchair and her mom says she is the sweetest girl, especially to her little sister Amira. Amira climbs up on Celeste’s lap to be close to her. From Celeste’s mom- Despite her many limitations, Celeste lives life to its fullest. She has a wonderful sense of humor and has a smile like sunshine. She loves the simple things like sitting outside on a summer day and feeling the breeze in her hair. She loves to go for walks, listen to the birds outside, swing at the park. Celeste will be 8 on the 19th. If you want, I’m sure a card will be greatly received by her. Here’s an Art card I made for her and included with my own card:

Her name means heavenly or something to that effect.

Also did one to remind me of the friendly catbirds. The background is paper that looks like it is embedded with grass plus a little yellow tissue paper. The bird picture is from an old magazine.

And these are Stargazer lilies that I had planted in a pot last summer and nothing came up. I was surprised to see them appear in the spring and then bloom this week.

I saw two ‘firsts’ of the summer- a Monarch butterfly and a hummingbird! It’s about time for the hummer. I have flowers that they love-salvia, nicotiana and the butterfly bush, which the hummer was checking out. The Monarch was just zipping around looking happy to spread it’s wings. A funny sight to me was seeing a bumblebee taking a nap on the middle part of one of the cosmos. I could really get a good look at his furry body, beady black eyes and cool little antenna.

It’s going to be a hot one again this week. Take it easy.

Jul4

Happy Independence Day

Posted on Wednesday, July 4, 2007 by Dianne

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And Happy Birthday to Dave!

We’re planning on grilling ‘something’. My mom was suppose to come here yet again but it fell through (and she was bringing steaks!!). Sean went to get the oil changed in his car and sat and sat waiting. He never did get it changed and by the time he left it was 4:45 and Mom was a bit peeved about it and said to forget about him picking her up. I hope Sean will be making better decisions at the main campus as he should have left after an hour of waiting, especially if some sale was going on. Not sure if Mom will come out tomorrow or if someone, probably me will have to get her. Sean is working all day. I am making the food. I doubt Brian will go down for her as he drives so much during the week. She wants to drive herself, but that makes me nervous as she is wearing old glasses as she never found her newer ones.

I fiddled around here, cut down weeds, planted some yard long beans, zinnias and teddy bear sunflowers (seeds from last year) and realized I needed to get a few picnic necessities at the market. My father-in-law is coming over and he hasn’t been here since Easter. He usually eats and leaves. Right now the yard with the shade is a mess because of the chestnut tree fuzzies called catkins (I finally looked it up and they are the male part of the chestnut). We do have a nice table with an umbrella on the back patio.
I hope everyone has a nice day-and try to relax!

Check out this cool night blooming waterlily video

Red Flare from konapete and Vimeo.

Taken minutes ago right before the rain hit. It’s been a rainy evening here in Philly. You should see the people on the Parkway in the city!

Jun12

Happy 84th Uncle Don

Posted on Tuesday, June 12, 2007 by Dianne

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Unfortunately my Uncle Don is in a state of turmoil right now. He was all set to go home and asked my brother Ken to get him. His stepdaughter said if Ken did that, it was going against the recommendations of the doctors and that he would be held responsible, so Ken didn’t go get him. He felt terrible and when he told my Uncle that he wouldn’t be getting him. Ken told UD that he wants him to be happy and that they would find a place that would work for him. There are retirement places around here that are fairly new. My mom sent for a booklet to check out the prices. You have to give them a $160K refundable deposit and it’s like 1k a month, but everything is done for you-no food shopping, cooking, mortages, bills, etc. My mom can’t really afford it, but my uncle could. He isn’t calling mom as he’s so disappointed about not going home. He would be so dependent on friends, family and neighbors for everything-food shopping, taking the trash out, getting the mail, that they would get sick of it. I wish him the best too.

Last night I planted a bunch of different sunflowers in the inner circle I have around the Zinnias, Mexican sunflowers and Cosmos. I don’t have high hopes for them as the deer or ground hogs will probably come along and eat them. I also tossed a row of basil in near the lilies. The basil I bought at the nursery is gorgeous right now.

So it’s the 12th of June and I haven’t planted any green beans or zucchinis. The only green beans seeds I have are from last year. This is the last thing I plan to get in. The weather is really iffy today with storms expected, so mom and I canceled Longwood Gardens. I have a sore foot anyway. I do have to go to the food store shortly and cash the check we got for Sean’s car being towed on Memorial Day. Bri had to have his car towed last year and forgot completely about getting insurance money back.

Have a great day!

May22

Gift for Karin

Posted on Tuesday, May 22, 2007 by Dianne

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I don’t think my friend has enough time lately to check out my blog. She is going to be a bride in a month now and I get to see her as such! Anyway, her birthday is coming up on the 26th and I had stitched this years ago (and tucked it away) and it just seemed right for Karin. She is a chef in training and in love, so you can see it’s perfect.

I forget where I found the little pots, spatula and spoon, but the bowl, cherries and ‘garnish’ are from a Mary Englebreit leaflet I just found at a book sale. I framed it myself over the weekend. I also just framed Stitching Girl today and mailed off the above today too.