Category Archives: Brian

Take me out to the ballgame!

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Brian and Sean went to their first ever Phillies game together at the Citizen’s Bank Park. I watched from home as usually events like that aren’t my cup of tea. I have been to a few Phillies games, a long, long time ago. They were interesting, I will say that, but it was after they had won the World Series back in 1981 or so. I really knew the players well, and a few lived in my hometown at the time (Mike Schimdt and Tug McGraw).

The game yesterday was against the Atlanta Braves and the Phillies won 10-9. The Phillies scored 7 runs in the 5th with a homerun hit by Greg Dobbs, the pitch hitter. Needless, to say, they were happy about that.

They brought me home a little Phillies bear with crooked eyes with the pitcher Hamels name on the back-ahhh.

Here are a few of Sean’s snaps:

Inside Citizen’s Bank Park

Bri giving the thumb’s up outside the park

Opps-forgot to save Sean’s photo!

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On the home front, I laid low still doing some cleaning and sorting. The dust really gets to me. Bri showed me the filter from the heater he replaced and it was filthy. I think it should be changed every few months instead of waiting for 3 months. The dust has been especially bad this year for some reason, maybe it was the filter!

Here’s a bulb plant that I am waiting to bloom, it’s some kind of crocosmia. I thought it was suppose to be orange, but these look red.

And look at this cute Leopard frog who lives in the pond. There seems to be a few of them here:

The zinnias are having a bad year, but here’s a lime one grown from a saved seed from last year:

I’m still waiting on my brother to give me the thumb’s up for getting my air in the van repaired. It’s quite uncomfortable to drive in it and my two vent windows won’t open either. I may have to take it somewhere, but I trust my brother with my van the most.

I may be starting a new sewing project this week using my recent cross stitch finish as the center design. I’ll keep you posted. I picked up an old cross stitch project (says 1988 on the package-but I think I started it a few years past that), it’s pretty-a swan surrounded by waterlilies.

Sean and I watched the movie ‘Across the Universe’, based on the music of the Beatles. It was pretty creative, a little long and it reminded me of ‘Tommy’. It’s nice when you can sing along to a movie, plus all the actors had great voices.

We signed up to get a portrait taken for the church directory today. It’s a free 8 x 10 and we get the free directory. It will be nice because you see people every week and don’t know there names.

Much needed rain

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We did get a nice soaking rain last night-with lightning too. It figures it had to be during the wee hours of the night. Sean slept through it, Brian didn’t (me either), and he’s really bushed today. I hope that’s it for the heat waves for a while, but I’m not holding my breath.

My mom finally went to the hearing specialist and she was found to have fluid in her ears which is causing her hearing loss. He told her to gently hold her nostrils closed 10 times a day and blow! If that doesn’t help, he’ll have to put incisions in her ears for drainage. Mom is so funny, said the doctor was about her age and was ‘eyeing her up‘. ; )

Me, well now it hurts where I had the two injections. I have a scar in my cheek from oral surgery and I am wondering if the dentist hit that? Sean went for his checkup there yesterday and my dentist said to him that he guesses he was glad he didn’t have teeth like me-then nudged Sean like it was a joke! Sean’s wisdom teeth appear ok for now and he had no cavities. I go for my checkup in a few weeks. I will also get my eye checked out on Friday-I’m sure the medicine (I stopped using) helped.

I am seriously thinking about going to a chiropractor for my right shoulder blade problem. I had an injury to it back in 9/01 (that ‘great’ month) and I had terrible pain for 3 weeks. It comes back to haunt me, especially sitting at the computer. I did it from using an exercise chair and the arm lifts over my head-the next phase-tore or pulled something.

The guys are getting geared up to go the their first Phillies game together on Saturday. They plan to try to go to at least one baseball and one football game at the stadium a year. Gotta give the hometown boys some support! : )

Ka-boom!

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The above is in our driveway. Sean bought a big package of fireworks. It started to rain right as they were finishing up ‘their show’.

And my dinner:

Baby back ribs, coconut shrimp, a little drumstick, red potato salad, tomato with EVOO and fresh basil, green bean salad and cucumber salad. We had brownies for dessert. It would have looked nicer on a pretty plate. After we ate outside (just the 3 of us), it started to drizzle. Mom is over my Uncle Don’s for a few days.

Rust affecting the Shasta Daisies

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Here’s what I was talking about in my previous post. See the spots? I did take many of them off by hand. Not sure if that will help or not.

My 50 gallon in ground pond was in ‘distress’. I have never seen it so full of algae, mud, you name it. It reminded me of my cousin’s big pond behind their farmhouse that we use to swim in. Icky mucky! I have no trouble sticking my hand in algae-it’s like long green threads. I use to make a mean mud pie as a kid. : ) So I decided to bail it out. Bri came out and did a few, but my back is going to feel it tomorrow. I even pulled out the two meshed encased waterlilies and peeled the algae off of them. I was fascinated that one was the home to earthworms as I didn’t know they lived under water. I’ll see how it looks tomorrow and if more bailing needs to be done.

The guys went over to the patriarch’s again as tomorrow he turns 85. I helped Bri pick out a food basket and a cake. I also suggested they take over a gourmet pizza from our new favorite pizza joint. Sean almost begged to go out to eat, even to Friendly’s but pop declined. He does get out of the house to ride the bus to Atlantic City though. I feel when he knows I am coming, he needs to clean, etc. Plus I can’t eat their usual choice of take-out. I use to take food over there all the time. It was so much work. And he use to take us out to restaurants too. We would have paid today. The people he wants are there IMHO.

The weatherman got it wrong about thunderstorms, so I was watering things yesterday and today. Bri trimmed our front hedges that run along the house and didn’t cover my impatiens on one side, etc so that was a mess to clean up. And I am so discouraged as deer have eaten all my sunflowers, leaves on my Hollyhock, leaves on my Dinner Plate Hibiscus and about a dozen buds off of one of my roses. I am happy that my tomato tepees are holding up so far. Those plastic clips that Martha Stewart suggested are great. Instead of using string or panty hose, these little circular clip with a latch do the trick.

Stay cool!

Summer blues

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I use to be a perfectionist. Well, some characteristics of that pop up every now and then, but I feel that I’m the only one who does things around the house to make it look nice. Once in a while in a blue moon, Bri or Sean will vacuum or empty out the dishwasher. I started to clean the family room this morning and here I am on the computer-lost interest. I try to do what I tell my mom, clean something for 15-30 minutes a day. I need to do the weedwhacking outside again. Sean missed some spots a few weeks ago. My back was complaining about lifting heavy grocery bags around 5 am this morning. I’d like to know what you all do to balance out your day? Don’t tell me you have a housekeeper. : ) I should do a schedule, but my day by day activities depend on how I feel.

I called the doctor’s office to see if they think Brian needs to have his cholesterol rechecked-it was 252 in February and he’s ignoring that, plus all his blood work was elevated. Mine was 150, but my triglycerides were elevated. I’m sure they will say yes. What happened to Tim Russert scared me about us. I know he was being treated for coronary artery disease and diabetes. I feel Bri should probably take medication for his cholesterol. He complains about a pain in the side of his head next to his eye (either side). Waiting on the office to call is stressing me out a bit.

Well, I hope Sean makes the right decision. He got his procrastination skills from us, but mainly from his dad.

Better hit the showers, maybe that will soothe my back and get me in the mood to conquer sometime!

~UPDATE~

Sean accepted the internship, but isn’t quitting the school job until all is settled. The lady who did the interview isn’t the friendliest type around. He said he’d have to see if PSU would accept them for credit and she said she couldn’t wait to see what they said. Well why would he even do it in the first place? I don’t think he’ll be working with her.

I compromised and got the hoe and rake out instead of the weed whacker. After dinner, Bri and I did a little more raking. We had to drop Bri’s car off at the station for inspection before dinner and grabbed a pizza from across the street from the place.

As for cleaning-mainly dusted a few things that were really dusty that were bothering me. Still moving stuff from one place to another-it was too nice out plus I have a red corner of my eye (going on 2 weeks) and I don’t want to rub it. I think I rubbed the heck out of it and did something.

Happy Father’s Day 2008

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I just took the above before they went to visit the patriarch. I sent him over a nice wooden window box filled with geraniums, purple spikes, a few red petunias (that I added) and a flowing purplish flower.

Happy Father’s Day 2008, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

To Brian-you are not only a dad but also a pal to Sean. It’s fun to see and hear the two of you while you are watching a sporting event. You also act more like brothers than father and son sometimes too! I know becoming a dad all those years ago was something you were totally excited about and scared about at the same time. You didn’t really have any experience with kids like I did. I think you did a great job!

The above was made in flickrtoys.

This is on our desktop today.

Feeling blue over watching ‘Meet the Press’ and the tribute. I was ok until the end of the show when they did the photos. Tim seemed like the perfect dad to me.

Photo Hunt-Emotion

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PSHunt
Grab the Scavenger Hunt code.Photo Theme. Join the blogroll. Visit participants.

I don’t know if he is giddy from the heat or just acting up for the camera. Thought you’d like to see how he spends his early Friday evenings lately. Sean cuts around the house and Bri gets to do the long and bumpy part of our 1.4 acre lot. The yard ends right about where the truck is. That weedy thing to the left use to be where our garden ended (that’s part of a fence). We decided to go smaller to save work.

June or August?

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The heat got turned on full blast two months too soon! Eek! It’s horrible. We’ve been holed up inside and only venture out after the sun goes down like vampires. Last night, Sean helped me water things, proclaiming that his dear old ma had a lot of flowers. : ) I will say we ate well on Sunday. First we had scrambled eggs and bacon, then Bri ran out (we needed a few things at the store) and picked up a taco pizza-that was yummy. The same place that made the cheesesteak pizza we had a few weeks back. They are a new place nearby, but I think they need to advertise their ‘gourmet’ pizzas. For dinner I had oven roasted red potatoes and pork tenderloin. And to top that off, Sean took me to Brusters and I had a turtle sundae! I’ve been sweating a lot-calories are getting burned, I swear!

Not much else is new. My Uncle Don turns 85 on the 12th and not sure if we will have a get together. There is so much family tension. Mom needs to have her starter replaced. My younger brother usually works on the car, but something is up-I guess he is so busy! I would love him to charge my a/c in the van one of these days. Poor guy!

Hopefully the heat will break by Wednesday. Bri can’t understand why the air has to run so much. It’s midnight and still around 80!

Thanks to Missy for her link to the peony page. It said my peony may need to be reset and divided. Makes sense to me!

Anniversary wishes

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Family06.jpg, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

Happy 26th to my brother Dave and MaryAnne, pictured on the right with their two tall sons. Brian and I met at their wedding as Bri is M’s 1st cousin!
And belated happy 15th anniversary to Ken and Colleen which was on May 22nd. She is next to me and Ken is above our mom.
Ours was the 24th in April.
So far the married ones are doing pretty good staying together! : ) My parents were divorced. Colleen’s mom and dad were married over 30 yrs until his passing. Bri’s parents were married 46 yrs. M lost her dad when she was about 11. It’s interesting to see where we all got our trust and patience-guess it was learned! ; ) I couldn’t find photos of the separate couples, but the above is my almost my entire family, minus my Uncle Don who turns 85 on June 12th (planning a little picnic for him-hope it pans out).

I have my mom here for a few days and she’ll go to my uncle’s in the afternoon. I’ve been getting her to eat regularly which is something she doesn’t do at home. Made an excellent pasta dish with sauteed veggies like eggplant and zucchini and topped with hb eggs, parmesan and feta. It was enjoyed by all.

Memorial Day

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We had our first barbecue of the season today. First Bri and I had to run down to the store to get the charcoal and meat! Before we went, I had cooked Red Bliss potatoes and some eggs for salad and deviled eggs. Getting everything cooked wasn’t that bad. I even made some ‘ham dogs’ burger meat in the shape of hot dogs as I had bought 12 hot dog rolls. I even cut up fruit for a salad and added a bit of honey to it to give it a little sweetness. Oh, we had corn on the cob too.

Bri planted tomatoes and peppers yesterday and mulched them today. I have to plant the other side with the zucchini and green beans. I am trying a Martha Stewart support approach for the tomatoes-you make a support out of bamboo or sticks in the shape of a tepee and have twine for the tomatoes. Hope it works! We have the tomatoes planted in circles. (Update-just purchased trellis clips, twine and 24-5′ bamboo stakes from 2 different internet stores! Sure beats running around from store to store with the price of gas).

I did make some ATCs, one for Emily’s food challenge (over at Floss Box) and will have to take pictures tomorrow and post them. I did do a little looking for solar lights that change color and found some in the shape of mushrooms, so I ordered them (from Amazon and a lady who bought them liked them a bunch!)

What fun!

Have a pleasant Tuesday!