Category Archives: Brian

Aug10

PC is having issues

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Yesterday afternoon it got really dark around 12 and we had a downpour with lightning and thunder. I was in the family room and the power went off right after some electronic equipment made a terrible squealing sound. The power was off for a minute or two, but the laptops wouldn’t work for about 5 hours. Brian tried to get an internet connection with the PC and was getting a message about something being unplugged. He rebooted it, etc. and nothing. To make a long story short, looks like it needs some kind of network card that may have gotten fried. It should be around $10 if we are lucky and if that’s the problem. I do all my photo uploading on the ‘big’ computer as we call it, so I will resort to camera phone shots or photos on Flickr (I have over 11k there to chose from). Hope it is just the card. He can get on Windows.
We had two powerful storms go through! Wow-what a wild day weatherwise!

Aug2

Beatlemania!

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Today I bought the deal to attend this:

I found it through Living Social. They could have fun deals in your area! If I can get three other people to buy the same deal-mine will be free! Wow, that would be nice. I sold a few gold necklaces that I will never wear and have more than enough to go to this for a few days with Brian. We really need it. Carole went to the Elvis event and influenced me greatly to go to this one. I hope it will be cooler near the harbor. It’s about 2 hours from here. I just love taking photos and this will be great. We have several Beatle t-shirts. We should take the Cruiser! : )

Beatles fans the world over Come Together for this Labor Day weekend tribute festival on the banks of National Harbor—and we’ve got you covered with a two-day reserved pass for two people, including one night at the Gaylord National Resort—just minutes from DC and Old Town Alexandria.

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Zoey asked how I am liking my Kindle-I enjoy it very much! I’ve only downloaded freebies from Kindle though. I read two books on Kindle and then read two ‘hard copy’ novels as I have so many of them to read! It’s so portable and easy to charge by either plugging it in the wall or computer.

Aug2

Proof is in the photo

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So a few days ago, I went to put something in Brian’s armoire and the stuffed contents of it fell out and I was peeved. It all was wrinkled and I think the 55 novelty shirts need laundering, but that’s too much work. I put some of his cologne on a tissue and stuck it in there. I found two packages of 5 new white shirts-in the front. It didn’t take long to do, and we got rid of lots of shirts and underwear. The socks are not put away as they need to be sorted. I remember doing that last year! Sean and I sort through all our clothes year in and year out. I didn’t show you ‘my’ armoire, but it’s stacked high with mostly tops-folded by color and the short sleeves are on one side and the sleeveless on the other. But I have a bad habit of piling clothes on the hope chest. I try to wear things a few times before laundering-that’s if I only wore them to dinner, not working in the yard. The yard clothes usually don’t get back in the bedroom until they are washed again. I have that tick phobia from having Lyme disease.
I went down to my hometown to get my hair done-I needed some highlights too. Didn’t the lights go out from a storm that went through! Needless to say, I have very blonde highlights! C. took me out back to cut my hair in the last of the daylight. No one said they liked my car or went to look at it. It would be nice if they showed an interest in my likes. Families can be that way.

Here’s one of my newest 4″ x 4″ collages with real seashells
Splish Splash 4" x 4" Collage card

Jul19

Ina is mine!

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Yes, we did purchase ‘Ina’ and brought her home last night. It’s such a fun car and a treat for me! I decided on Ina as she is ‘Inca Gold’ and there is a chef named Ina Garten on the Food Network. I have always liked her, so Ina it is! I just hope people don’t call her the ‘mustard mobile’ or as I read in an article from 2002 (on the web), the ‘line down the road’. It’s a lovely metallic gold. I decided to order a few needed items-like floor mats (the ‘original’ ones were gone), some cleaner that will get rid of the haze on the lights (I hope) and a novelty plate that says ‘PT Cruiser’ on the front. And a little gold PT cruiser on a keychain (thanks to eBay for the last two). : )

The PT Cruiser is and was more than a car, it was a testament to the history of the automobile brought back to life with all the amenities of a modern car with the retro look and styling of a car from the 1930’s. Customizable in almost any way conceivable these cars brought people all over the world together who loved the cars in groups all over the United States….How many modern vehicles are allowed into a classic car show? Only 1 I have ever seen is the PT and people in the car shows flock to them. By Brian Connelly-Facebook group

Sean’s car was owned by a 90 yr old name from the Manhattan area. Apparently ‘Gramps’ backed into a garage and did a number on his back bumper. Sean will probably get an estimate to get it fixed or maybe even replaced. It is in great shape other than that and only 42k miles on the odometer, can’t beat that.
A freaky thing happened last night-Brian decided to look at all the fluid levels under Ina’s hood and when he took off the power steering cap it slipped out of his hand to under the engine someplace. He could not see it and of course I’m not going the duct tape route forever! I called a Chrysler dealership about 45 minutes away and ordered one that will be in tomorrow ($22!). I’m thinking Bri should get it as he’s only 15 minutes away and I hate to go all the way there in this heat. We’ll see. I haven’t seen my mom for a few weeks now and we want to show my brother Sean’s car to see what he says about the bumper. His son may be able to sand it and paint it-he’s really good at that.
That’s my life these past few days-all centered around cars. I pray both cars will be fine as you never know when you buy a used car. Bri felt bad about his car being turned in (we had just paid $400+ for inspection, a fix and a new tire). Sean said he was ready to turn his in. That’s the car that took him back and worth to Penn State and I’ll always remember how glad I was when I heard him set the alarm (it was quite loud) when he came home for a visit. I’m feeling mushy right right.
Dinner is turkey meatloaf with honey bbq sauce and bacon (my own recipe), baby zucchini (bought-mine are not quite ready) and tator tots! Love those tots. : )

May29

Neat find

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Dress form made with florals, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

Floral Dress farm at nursery for sale
Brian and I were garden center hopping yesterday. We got most of what we needed at Lowes (mulch, 75% off plants). We then stopped at a few more places (even a winery where we got snubbed-guess we looked too casual-I don’t know). These neat floral dress forms were at the last place. It sure looks like real flowers. I didn’t go and touch it, but will the next time. I noticed the price tag-$200! Makes me want to make my own!
Here’s the pond at the nursery. They have great supplies here for ponds:
Pond at Gateway Gardens
Today was mulching day-went through 3 bags and need a few more. Everything that was mulched looks so much nicer. I realized I haven’t edged gardens for a while. I may do that too, but I have to recover a bit from the mulching. And yesterday we put in a new round garden. I think it looks like a little pony corral-Brian isn’t sure he likes it, but the other garden isn’t doing anything and we had to move it if we wanted to get anything. It has 12 tomatoes and about 8 green peppers planted in it now. I want to add cucumbers and zucchini in the middle.
The DB Corral Veggie patch
Those are daffodils I need to tie up.

A part of the fairy garden after mulching. I stepped on some fairy wings and broke them. Is that bad luck? : )
Fairy garden freshy mulched
And to close…this was a birdbath, but it just got so dirty. I added some soil and made it a little fairy garden. That’s portulaca and a geranium. There’s a blue gravel ‘stream’ and some pebbles…and moss! I have some moss on top of the mulch-not sure if that will work.
Fairy planter

May15

Couldn’t go…

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Both Bri and I weren’t feeling well today so we had to skip a baby christening. His stomach has been upset and my muscles and joints are all achy. I think it’s the hbp med as one of the side effects is muscle pain. I have been doing a ton of gardening and the last couple of days I was sorting and putting away summer clothes, though I was lifting heavy bags of clothes. Sean said usually I just complain about my back or arm hurting, not everything! I didn’t go to sleep until about 5 am. I dislike missing family functions, especially those we don’t see that often. I plan of calling the doctor and seeing if I can try something else. We have a wedding to go to Saturday. The bride was just sick this past week. I’m sure she’s fine now.
Got to sit outside a bit until Bri called me into to look at the old computer. It’s having issues with the virus software…won’t update and runs and runs. He tried to look at the internet when it was having issues!
Sean’s first day in the garden department at work! He’s glad to be off the registers for a change and it should help him learn more about plants.
Will share more photos as soon as the computer works. Update-after 4 hours it updated and is working so:
New Iris-Apricot
Peach Azalea with raindrops

Apr23

Easter Eve

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We didn’t do too much today as we had more rain and then Brian and Sean went out and each gifted me with early Easter gifts. Sean gave me sunny yellow tulips and a cute stuffed chick and his dad gave me multi-colored roses and candy. I have to watch the candy though.
Brian and I attended the vigil Easter mass-over 2 hours. It’s a very lovely and special service. We go outside and light candles and go back into a dark church and went through the first 1/3 of the service with only candlelight. Then the lights were turned on for the Resurrection part. That is cool. A young lady got baptized and had to kneel in the baptismal font and get water poured over here head.
I came home and put together an Easter basket for Sean and used a mushroom basket which is cute (Bri can share).
I was glad to do a few paper art collages, one for a trade with a pal.
The featured collage was made a number of days ago. The artist here is Margaret Tarrant from the 1930s. Love Alice’s face.
I’ll share another collage tomorrow before I cook dinner.

Apr18

Fly Away

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Fly Away Collage Card, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

I need your vote please-do you think I am missing an element here? Perhaps a canary or another bird? It’s one of those cards I’m not quite sure looks finished.

Not much news-surveyed the yard and cringing at what hasn’t been cleaned up and usually is by now.

Update-thanks for your suggestions about a birdie on this card. I’ll have to look for one.
My Mariner is in the shop again. We dropped it off today (the 19th) and the a/c compressor needs replacing. We are thinking the people who traded it in knew this already and that’s why they came all the way from a part in PA that’s over 2 hours away. The warranty should be in affect. We have a Subaru Forester as a loaner car. Bri insisted that I drive it and it was in manual shift and I didn’t know how to get it in drive. I had to drive it 10 miles shifting it! Geez. (another update-I didn’t have it in ‘D’, but below that-couldn’t figure it out when I was actually driving it). It’s a carbon copy of the Mariner and Escape. By the time I got home I amost had a migraine. We had gone out to eat near where we bought the car and I found an antique mall loaded to the gills. I’ve got to go there again!
We went to a Pizza Hut and it wasn’t that great. Tonight we went to Applebee’s because I needed a decent meal. : )

Apr14

Dianne and Brian’s Wedding day-27 yrs ago!

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Today is a beautiful sunny day. 27 yrs ago, it was a bit chilly and overcast. I think I look cold in this photo.
There is never smooth sailing in marriage, and I think we all have trying issues like health issues, to loosing a job to getting along with family members.
I’m glad Brian and I met 29 years ago at the wedding of my brother and his first cousin. He’s there for me through thick and thin and I think he has more patience for me than I do for him. I do think I take things in stride better as I’ve had to deal with more health issues over the last 13 years. Thanks Brian. I’m hoping for many more anniversaries. : )