Category Archives: Brian

Apr14

24 yrs married today!

Posted on Monday, April 14, 2008 by Dianne

Brian & Dianne’s wedding day, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

Wow, where did those years go? Though we’ve changed in a lot of ways, like all married couple do, we are best friends! We are the proud parents of Sean who is the cement in our relationship. Sean is someone we think equally of, not so much with politics, a few aspects of religion and a maybe some other things, but I won’t nit pick.

The most fun we’ve had (so far) is our trip to New England a few months after we got married. (Ok, we had fun in Orlando a few years ago too!) Up in New England, we just went from place to place with only a few planned stops. I hope we can take similar trips sometime soon! And of course being parents can be fun, especially when you make your child give you his first ‘belly laugh’. Laughing and sharing are the keys to any relationship.
Happy Anniversary dear Brian!

Thanks for your sweet comments! We really appreciated them.

Apr9

Thick corneas

Posted on Wednesday, April 9, 2008 by Dianne

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I was trying to think of a funny name for this post. And it’s true what I called it, I do have thicker corneas which is making the pressure reading 4 points higher than what it really is. So today they were 20 and 22-take off the 4 points, and I am in the normal range of 11-21! The cornea test is fairly new, only around for about 6 yrs. They numb your eye and the tech touches both eyes with a stylus three times.

It looked something like this.

If you blink it may scratch your cornea! She said she’s never scratched anyone’s eyes yet, so I was good. The test before that took photos of my optic nerves. I was having a little trouble getting in the right position and then I got it! It’s weird to see what it looks like in there!

Not mine!

Tomography Machine:

Dr. B doesn’t have to see me again until early next year. I was one of the youngest patients today too. Here’s what he is still calling it glaucoma suspect.

We headed down the pike to a pizza place my friend recommended and we had a little trouble locating it. Bri was getting a bit of a short fuse. When we located it, here it was across the road from where my uncle was in the nursing home for several months (I never went to see him there). I will say it was a good pizza, the best I’ve had for a while!

It’s a California Ranch with grilled chicken, onions, prosciutto, tomatoes and a ranch dressing. I like different kinds of pizza and Bri is more of a red sauce and cheese guy.

I knew Bri wanted to go to the Chester County Booksellers and we did. I purchased a few magazines-they have about 40 feet of magazines, so it wasn’t easy. We stopped to get some papers at my uncle’s because my mom was there too!

Apr5

A new obsession

Posted on Saturday, April 5, 2008 by Dianne

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Yeah, see my blogroll and look down at #6-thanks to my childhood friend Chris, I joined Facebook last night and have been playing with it off and on from late last night until now! We didn’t have internet access until around 2-3.

I decided that the mosquitoes had all moved in and were getting cozy in my water features, the pond and waterlily garden, so I went out and hooked up the one pump for the waterlilies-nothing-no whirl, dead. Then Bri came out and took it apart and it started to work. Finally. Then it was a terrible task with the pond. We couldn’t get the pump to sit flat so Bri bailed out all the nasty water, I got it situated and it started to work. He had to disassemble that one too and now I can report, clean water and a nice splashing fountain! It wasn’t really warm, but we didn’t have jackets on. I heard my mom had her menfolk cleaning up around her yard today-gets me off the hook a bit! I like to do her lamp post garden though.

I haven’t taken vitamins for two days now and my tummy seems calmed down. I really hope the ones I get for sensitive tummies will be okay. If not, I told Bri we’ll be eating lots of salads and produce. I’m hoping the blood work will be ok, didn’t hear anything after 3 days…so far.

Back to Facebook-it’s actually a fun place! If you want to join, be sure to click my link and hook up with me there.

Mar27

Extreme Home Makeover-local

Posted on Thursday, March 27, 2008 by Dianne

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About a month ago, the ABC show Extreme Makeover:Home Edition redid a home in Wilmington, DE., very near our neck of the woods. In the local paper it was saying how a local meat/food market provided the food for the crew (gourmet they said). Anderson Homes did the major work, but some local contractors did things like painting and removing debris and went back even after their alloted time was put in. The one guy’s daughter graduated from high school with Sean and I worked with his mom when I did the teacher aide fill in job. It’s a small world! Watch it on Sunday night at 8:00 and you’ll see those guys (other than carpenter Paul DiMeo) with heavy Philly accents!

Mom had me turn on a PBS show the other night as they were showing scenes from the Mushroom festival that takes place here in September, and one chatty lady who was telling them quite a bit about mushrooms was in the church choir with me.

Today, I’m like the lady in the commercial who feels like her head is blowing up like a balloon. My right sinus was achy like a toothache last night. I know it’s suppose to rain for about 1.5 days, so I was wondering if that has something to do with people and their sinuses-like barometric pressure inside your head? Anyway, got a pot of stew cooking to get my mind off my head as I can’t use Flonase until I get my eyes checked next week. I have to stick with salt spray or the homeopathic kind of nasal spray.

Bri has some dental work today, about 3 different spots and he’s just thrilled about that. My mom went to the doctor and he wants her to get a few tests on her spine as he is concerned about her sciatica still bothering her as much as it still does. She weighs about 120, not terrible, but she could stand about another 10 pds.

I want to get to Longwood Gardens before the 31st as that’s the orchid display is only up until. I completely forgot about it! I want some awesome photos!

Here’s some more flower shots from yesterday:

Mar25

Dinner review

Posted on Tuesday, March 25, 2008 by Dianne

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Brian and I went out to dinner to a new place and weren’t really impressed by what we ate. We weren’t satisfied like we usually are after eating at The Olive Garden. I had a steak dinner called Bistecca Franceshe-it was NY strip covered with a mild pesto (I couldn’t really taste it) and accompanied by stringy broccoli rabe and cannelloni beans. Beforehand, we had a salad-it was just a large pile of mixed spring lettuces with ‘one’ sliced cherry tomato and served with vinegar and oil. We also had crusty bread served with a bowl of plain olive oil for dipping. Brian had a Salmon dish and they were nice enough to substitute asparagus for the mushrooms it is usually served with. He had a small pile of spinach too. I gave him almost half of my dinner as I could tell he hadn’t had enough of his own. That left room for me to get the Chocolate flan-which was like a thin brownie with warm chocolate inside served on top of vanilla custard. The presentation of the food was really nice and I told our server I wish I had brought a camera. She was a nice girl, but you couldn’t help to notice that she has a pierced tongue as you saw a turquoise ball there everytime she spoke.

I don’t think we’d go here again. It has a fancy Italian name and we were thinking The Olive Garden on a grandeur scale and it wasn’t.

When we got home, Brian ripped through his gifts in about 5 minutes. He got mainly clothing. His one non-clothes item from me didn’t arrive yet. He had a quiet birthday, but it was nice to send some alone time together-the restaurant was very low key with some interesting belly dancing type music in the background. There were other patrons, but they were very quiet.

Mar24

The day after Easter and Happy Birthday Brian!

Posted on Monday, March 24, 2008 by Dianne

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What I made for dinner Gramma’s Pineapple side dish:

This is similar to what my late mother-in-law use to make. I believe she used bread cubes, I cut up Pepperidge Farm white bread. Can you see the butter oozing on the top there? It’s like a stuffing for ham.

I haven’t made scalloped potatoes for a while. They were pretty good, I like them a little crisper on the top. I used fresh dill and dried parsley. I kept having to ‘zap’ them in the microwave because my mom was ‘hogging’ the oven with a 12 pd ham! So this presented a problem as we couldn’t wait until 6-6:30 to eat as Brian was taking food to his dad. So we sliced some off and stuck it back in the oven for a bit. I found a meat thermometer about as old as me and it said the meat was at the right temp to eat. I thought it was ok, a little salty. Mom didn’t care for hers and said she wasn’t crazy about scalloped potatoes. Spending Easter with people over 75 is interesting. We got to the point where my uncle looked up Bentyl (the med the dr prescribed for me last week that I didn’t take) in a ‘bad pill’ book. Said not to take it! And my uncle has a habit of lighting his pipe all the time and by the time we went home, I was really stuffed up. I’m not saying I don’t like to be with mom and uncle, but old habits sure die hard. I was glad to see him chow down. Mom hardly ate anything. We did sing ‘happy birthday’ to Brian and had some cake. We will go out to dinner later. Bri’s been in a funk, not sure what’s up-work, his car, his dad? He complains about holidays being a money making thing and didn’t want anyone singing to his when it wasn’t his birthday (before went to my uncle’s house).
Back to Easter-I spent an hour or so downloading mostly Sean’s photos to a keychain for Bri’s dad:

I guess he liked it (I didn’t go to his house), but his 1989 Lincoln is probably on it’s last legs and he was worried about that.

On the home front, I picked up an African Violet sampler last night to work on for a change. I was also looking at the real violets in the window and they need repotting and trimming. Many have flowers! A few are on their last legs and I moved them to the kitchen to see if I could maybe root any of their leaves. Also on the stitching front, I was looking at my neighborhood round robin from last year and I need to add another house, so that will be fun. I do want to get it framed, so need to save up for that huge frame.

Both mom and I have goodies for Brian, mostly things he needs. Something he asked for hasn’t arrived from Amazon yet-rats! I didn’t really wrap things but may do a bit of a quick tissue paper thing in a bit. I think he threw out all my saved gift boxes anyway.

A fragrant lily Bri gave me:

Mar23

Birthday boys and Easter

Posted on Sunday, March 23, 2008 by Dianne

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Nephew and Brian 12/24, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

This was taken in late December, but my nephew turns 12 today and Brian has a birthday on Monday!

Here’s the cake I made for Brian, it’s devil’s food with vanilla icing and I think a festive Easter look. : ) I used colored sugars (they sell them in a little set) and malted milk eggs.

We went to church last night for their 2 hour vigil mass with candles, darkness, let their be light, baptism and confirmation! I needed some ice cream afterwards.

Off in a few to my uncle’s house. I am making scalloped potatoes and a pineapple/bread side my late mother-in-law use to make. I never made it before, but found the recipe on the internet.

Happy Easter to all!

Mar17

Happy St. Paddy’s Day

Posted on Monday, March 17, 2008 by Dianne

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I wore green yesterday and may have to again today as I go looking for some corned beef. : ) The above faux carnations were about 29¢ each at Michaels. Pretty aren’t they? Irish heritage is rich on Brian’s side of the family. He is Brian Patrick! I have a drop of Irish blood in my veins from my maternal great grandmom Lillian Deere whose people were from County Cork.

Sean made it back to State College fine. The days he is coming or going set us on edge until we know he’s where he is suppose to be. We know the roads up there and you would worry too.

I didn’t realize how busy I was last week when Sean was home. I was on the go for 3 straight days and just pooped out on the weekend. I could have gone to bed at 7 last night. Mom just said I maybe shouldn’t be doing all that raking because of the procedure I had 3.5 months ago, but it needs to be done. Mom’s yard needs cleaning up too.

I pulled out this project yesterday, the DMC linen thread project Butterfly Heart :

The main butterfly is almost complete. Mom had given me the complete box of threads. It’s different from the regular DMC, coarser for one thing. I am liking it more as the colors fill in.

Speaking of stitching, please visit Stitch Pink for a chance to win these awesome prizes. (thanks for the link Barbara)

I asked Brian to trim a few bushes on Saturday (to get him moving a bit too) and why not use the new electric saw that Sean and I bought him last year for Father’s Day. To make a long story short, the chain came off and he was trying to put it back on and sliced into one of his fingernails, about half way down. Ugh. He is using that liquid bandage, but is keeping a close watch of it. I feel so guilty, but since it’s a Kraftsman, he could have taken it to Sears to get it fixed or wear gloves. Makes me think back when Sean cut into one of his fingers with the hedge clippers-not wearing gloves-but he went to the ER.
I need to do a bunch of things around here and hope my soreness from raking and hauling simmers down. There seems to be leaves from every yard within a 1 mile radius in our yard this year!
Oh, the forsythia may be blooming for Easter.

Mar14

Watch this space

Posted on Friday, March 14, 2008 by Dianne

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I hope by the end of today to get the zebras finished and posted-AMEN! What a chore they were, and I so dislike XS to be talked about in those terms. If I had just thought to do the darkest color first in the bodies, I would have saved myself much grief. The grass wasn’t easy either. I think they will be a nice addition to the quilt(s) for the twin boys. I can’t wait to do a few Christmas ornaments soon.

Sean and I enjoyed our afternoon shopping, though both of us have been ‘off’ in the tummy dept. Wonder what that was? We did go to Fridays for dinner as my friend Karin had given me a gift card for that restaurant. We are sitting there and a large group of people sit behind us. One guy said, ‘Save a place for Mike D!’ That’s Karin’s husband’s name! What a coincidence!

We got some nice things for Brian (can’t say what as I see him looking here) as his birthday is on the 24th. Need to look for one more thing.

I treated myself to a few things at Michael’s crafts and Kohls as I haven’t been to these stores for a while. Shopping is fun!

Update-no stitching today-yet. I decided since it was near 60 degrees I wanted to rake out a few more areas/gardens. I created about 6 huge piles and Sean helped me pick them up. I was so happy to get his help!

Then I was trying to do the Photo Hunt for tomorrow (I finally picked a few I will use) and took some extra photos for your viewing.

I took off the netting that was over the pond and thought this leaf looked interesting:

Part of my neighbor’s huge wood pile. Notice the older wood next to the newer.

These are wings from an angel lawn ornament that I was trying to take an interesting photo of. This is next to the pond and I photoshopped it. Notice the reflection of the barren trees in the water:

Mar11

Just a little insomnia

Posted on Tuesday, March 11, 2008 by Dianne

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It’s 2 am and I’m just about to try and get to bed. It’s the blasted daylight savings. I was also doing some awesome photo editing in Flickr of my Flower show photos. Now I don’t want to make a slide show of the originals on my computer.Here’s the link so you can see them on Flickr slideshow.

My flower show video is posted in the right bar there too. You’ll see Brian and Sean talking.

Nightie nite until later.

Update:

Sean just emailed this photo which he took with his little HP digital. I’m glad there is a photo of Bri and me. He only took about 12 photos (he was pushing his grandmom in the wheelchair) and I took over 100! There are over 80 in Flickr and I must have edited more than half. Their photo editing companion-Picnik is amazing!

We’re off to get Sean’s car-it passed inspection. His dad’s car, which is our newest car is getting run into the ground. I don’t understand Bri. He hasn’t had the oil changed in over 4K miles; the glove compartment broke, and there are lights on the dash that are out. He needs to take it to the dealership so they can order parts. My brother thought my 12 yr old van was in great shape. I hardly drive it though.