Category Archives: brother(s)

Almost a carbon copy

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Saturday Night Live was a bit raunchy the other night, but a certain sketch had us rolling on the floor because of the theme of the sketch (how a family kissed each other a zillion times), but the dad in the sketch looked just like brother #2 who I don’t see that often:

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This is comic actor Fred Armisen (I think he’s still a ‘friend’ of mine on MySpace)

And this is my brotherdon

I got the capture of Fred by using the ‘print screen’ button when we were viewing the sketch on the SNL archives. It’s like Fred used a photo of my brother to create his character! Bri and I almost fell of the sofa and chair when we saw this.

Speaking of the sketch, Bri’s family is the kissing family. Kiss, kiss, kiss! We aren’t as much, more huggers I think. I do kiss my mom on the cheek when I say good bye.

Not too much going on this weekend. Had a nice little shopping trip Sunday night at Walmart as I hadn’t been shopping for a while. I told Bri I would save him from going shopping for me. We are probably going to go to the Mendenhall Inn on Wednesday. They have a prime rib special that night. I’ve lived here for over 22 yrs and never have been there. My high school would have their proms there (and I didn’t go to the proms).

Just made the reservation online using Open Table. com (from the Inn’s website)

  • Address:
    323 Kennett Pike
    Rte 52 South
    Mendenhall, PA 19357
  • Cross Street: Hillendale
  • Phone: (610)
  • Dress Code: Business Casual
  • Message from the Restaurant: Thank you for reserving at Mendenhall Inn. We look forward to serving you.

I did take a new self-portrait (meaning ‘I’ took it. Bri tried, but he couldn’t get it the way I wanted:

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These were photoshopped in Adobe for the heck of it.

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Anyway, I think I’ll be finished a cross stitch project that has a 1988 date on the bottom of it soon. That will make 4 projects I have to finish into something!

Also need to get my free turkey and plan my Thanksgiving menu. I may try a few things from the latest issue of Martha Stewart’s Everyday food.

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Like a lead balloon

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Week #2 of ‘I Recommend’ had no participates. I’m thinking Sunday isn’t a good day. Anyone have any suggestions? I thought it would be fun. You can share anything you like or have tried. A recipe, a car!, a book. Anything!! : )

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Yesterday I decided to tackle some tidying up in the bedrooms. Since your bedrooms should be the ‘cleanest’ rooms in the house ‘ *cough, cough*! I used my trusty static duster (I already recommended it a few weeks back) and went to town. I even went through old make-up and tossed eye shadows and lipstick (since I mainly wear lip gloss now). I did this because I got an all new Ulta make-up kit (pink one for $19.95) as an early birthday gift ( the store is nice, but the women who work there are so snooty). I also cleaned out a basket I keep next to the bed for books. I had really stuck a ton of stuff in it. I ran across some baby photos of me and Sean-I do think it was actually from the hospital when Sean was born! What? So I’ll scan them to share. I remember mom bringing in my baby photos to show Bri and his parents and I must have stuck it in the basket. Shame on me! Oh, even the hospital bracelets were in the envelope.

Here’s some:
With my new little guy Sean

Bri tried to get the leaves up with the attachment for the mower, but they were so wet, they were sticking in the chute that leads to the containers. He said he cut a lot of them up. To me, leaves in any form kill the grass. I’ll have to see what he did. The front yard looks ok. I wanted to know if he had added any to the garden to add some goodies to the depleted soil and he said no. Ah the joys of a too big yard with too big trees.

I’m not going to get any bloodwork done until next year either. I told myself I wouldn’t do this, but then I wasn’t feeling good most of the time. I’ll tell you it has to be stress mainly. I have my mom saying weird stuff. I can’t beg for my brothers to bother with her. They can be asses if they chose to be-I think it’s awful. Letting a 78 yr old lady take trash down a 100 ft stone driveway twice a week! And that’s just one thing they don’t do. Aren’t guys suppose to take care of their moms? I told Sean he better dang make sure he does! ; ) I was reading a forwarded email from my uncle about how a lady who had had a double mastectomy and her faithful dog ‘Lucky’ had been sorrowing after her while she slept. Lucky brought all his most cherished possessions and put them on the lady. Lucky gave her a reason to get better. My mom needs a Lucky.

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Anyone know a good gift for a second marriage? We aren’t really close to Bri’s cousin, but he invited us to the wedding. Since we missed his brother’s gala wedding a few years ago (because Bri’s dad, his uncle wouldn’t attend), we thought we’d go to this one since his dad isn’t well-so he has an excuse.

Photo Hunt-Family

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PSHunt

Christmas 1960

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The first photo is of a mom (my mom) without a husband. She is trying to make the best of it because it is Christmastime, 1960. She has a 6.5 yr old, a 1 yr old and a newborn.
Below that is my wedding photo of our entire family at the time. Can you pick out my mom and two brothers from above? I am so happy we had this photo taken (April 14, 1984) as three of the matriarchs are now deceased and the patriarchs haven’t been well lately

Gloomy Sunday

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Yesterday, Bri and I took my mom home after 3.5 days. We had waited for 3 hours for brother #2 to show up to get her. He hadn’t been here for years. Actually, I can say that about all 3 of my brothers. They know they don’t have to be invited to come here. Mom called about 3 times and he finally answered and said he was peeved at her for something she said. I was going to take her by myself, but Bri came along and drove. He’s been really stressed out about his dad and kept playing with my air conditioner. If you recall, it didn’t work for the hottest months of the summer and I told him to leave it off or on. Geez.

Once we got to mom’s house, we did little chores for her that haven’t been done for months. Remember, I have two brothers that live a few miles away and mom’s SIL Bri (who lives 23 miles away) had to do these things that took minutes to fix. He replaced the belt on her vacuum that hasn’t worked for months. I ran the vacuum and what it got up was nasty. My brother had the nerve to do a mold test in her house, yet he wouldn’t replace the belt on her vacuum. And Bri fixed 2 lights for mom! She just had eye surgery on the 11th and is seeing major floaters. I think she needs to see around her kitchen! Plus the lamp post wasn’t working. I’ve replaced the bulb a few times and it still didn’t work. One reason her friend fell and hurt himself! I guess when Bri was flipping  circuits/fuses, he flipped it back on as mom said it was on last night. Unbelievable. I can see why she gets really depressed as her own sons don’t keep her in check. I can’t say stuff to them about helping either or they’ll get mad. They say they don’t like being ‘used’, but tell me, does helping your elderly mom categorize being used? Do any other women out there find their parents depend on them more than your brothers? And why are they acting this way? Not having a dad around caused them to treat their mom so poorly? I thought it was girls who suffered more from not having dads (electra complex). Sorry, venting.

Bri and I did go to Ruby’s for a burger and then the bookstore. We watched Penn State win their 5th football game and wondered where Sean was in the crowd of 109,000.

I haven’t been to the store in 10 days-gasp-so need to head in that direction soon.

Down the pike

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I finally got to my mom’s house after not being there for a few weeks. It was just so hard to drive with a sore shoulder blade. (I do go for my first chiro treatment tomorrow). I went to my brother #3’s house first and got my hair done by C. Got to see my niece play ‘Dance, dance revolution’ on the Wii system. She had to follow-move-dance to arrows that come up on the screen. She did pretty darn good. I said she should be a cheerleader and I didn’t know they had try outs (for 4 graders?) and she didn’t want to.

I then went to mom’s and took her out to lunch up the street-she had crabcakes and I had their famous chicken salad club. Before we went to lunch, I checked out mom’s yard. My brother #2 had chainsawed a bunch of bushes, even the lilies I planted a few years ago next to the house. Mom said they had all bloomed. Mom got poison ivy on her foot from being outside with my brother the day he was working in the yard. You can cut stuff back, but you really need to get the roots to a bunch of things-like the ‘weed’ trees. He had planted a tree thinking it was a red bud tree like 30 yrs ago and they are all over the place now. I never saw any tree grow so fast.

We got to see Mom’s friend who hurt himself, as he stopped by after a doctor’s appt and to get a few things. He’s in an assisted living place until his family helps him find a place to live. He has about a 4-5″ triangle shaped cut on his forehead-I think his friend called it a dog tear? and his nose is scabbed over and looks like frost bite. He has a dimple over the top of his nose, from hitting hard I guess. I think it had to be a paver that wasn’t set correctly and he caught his foot on the front of it and down he went. They are new this year and he never fell before. I worry about mom falling too. We’ll have to fix them in the ground better. My #2 brother put those in.

Sean came to mom’s after ‘work’ (he is finished his internship on Friday) and he was craving brick oven pizza. I wasn’t really hungry as I had a late lunch, but I went with him and ate one piece of white pizza with broccoli.

We went to Pet Smart and talked to the kitties there-so cute! And mom and I went to JoAnn’s and I got a 3 drawer piece for my craft goods and a few yard things for 70% off. If you like Debbie Mumm, she designed many of the things-with roosters too (Zoey!). I got a rooster whirligig-couldn’t resist.

There seemed like a ton of people on the road tonight, we’re thinking tourists.

I missed the last episode of ‘The Mole’ so just watched it online and found out who the mole was-I was right! Yeah! I almost changed my mind at the end, but I said ‘Craig’. I like who dunnits!

We have to start getting ready for our Atlantic City trip. I hope it will be a good time. We have always enjoyed walking through Caesars and to stay there will be awesome.

Bulk item happy

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Sean and I did head for BJs Wholesale Club in the afternoon. Those places always overwhelm me! We took around a calculator and we were watching what we spent. I had to use the restroom and when I came back, Sean had messed up the running total! The items don’t have prices on them, the signs are the only indicator of what the prices are. We were very selective. We’ll be splitting some stuff, but he’ll have a good array of snacks and breakfast cereals to last him until he comes home and we go again. He got a huge Phillies towel for $15. It will be great for him to toss in the wash and not have tons of towels to worry about.

We ate in a Chili’s where Sean and I shared nachos and he had shrimp fajitas and I had the little burgers, two I saved for Bri.

Sean had to have car repair and it was expensive. He is planning a day trip with a pal or two to one of the Delaware beaches, and of course he is going back to PSU in a little over 2 weeks! I don’t know where this summer went. Of course I’ll miss him, but now he has an apartment and we could take the inflatable mattress up and spend the weekend with him sometime. We haven’t made our minds up if we are going with him this time.

I got a few cross stitch magazines at a Barnes & Noble. I got the one with the DaVinci lady that I admired a few weeks ago. I think I’ll kit her up! Got the JCS Xmas ornament preview issue and Cross stitch and Needleworks for the Halloween design from Mirabilia.

As luck has it, my uncle’s neighbor is a retired chiropractor and his son is a practicing one! And he’s right in the same complex as my dentist, eye doctor and GP! I’ll call to see if they take our insurance. My shoulder blade is better, but I’m getting a flash of tingling that goes around to the front after I’ve been sitting a while like in a car. What I’ve read, it sounds like a pinched nerve. It doesn’t bother me when I am sleeping-yet.

Mom’s friend Jim went in a rehab (I think) center near the main line of Philly today. His brother-in-law will be coming to help clear out his room and ‘tons’ of stuff at mom’s house. My #2 bro has been really testy and wants to hire a company to clean out some part of mom’s house. He complains about me not doing cleaning and sorting down there. This isn’t exactly the time of year I do that-I’ve got a big yard to tend! I did try to make an art corner in my dining area and got laid up with my shoulder. I still want to do this. Waiting for someone to move a table in there for me. I may not even like the chosen table.

Think I’ll go drool over the cross stitch magazines. : )

I’d love to go to Longwood Gardens tomorrow, but carrying the camera and it’s case may be pushing it. Walking isn’t really a problem. It’s lifting and sitting too long that bothers me. And you know if you have anything that is ‘off’, it effects your entire self.

A passing

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I just read that Professor Randy Pausch from Carnegie Mellon died on the 25th. He made it past his 3 month to live diagnosis (pancreatic cancer) for almost a year. I saved his ‘last lecture’ video in my vod pod. I didn’t know he had passed until this morning. Diane Sawyer had her story on about him again last night and I just couldn’t watch it again-like I had a feeling. He was such a nice man with a loving wife and three children.

Sean and I may be taking a little drive up to Lancaster County in a few hours even though it’s hot. At least he has air.

Just learned my bro #1 pal passed away this morning

Still sorting

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They say it gets worse before it gets better. I have things scattered all over the place now that I emptied the tea cart this morning. Brian’s small collection of beer steins, some bar stuff (we hardly even drink); vases, and other things that had no business being there. We have used the cart for over 24 yrs. It gets dusty. You can’t see what’s on the bottom shelf. When I took it away, it really opened up the space! I think the next step, that’s after I clean everything, will be rearranging the china cabinet. Did I tell you I hate the china cabinet? It was given to me by the in-laws when we moved here as she was getting a new one. It’s 60s-70s Early American, I can’t stand that chunky stuff! I want a white one to tie in with the kitchen cabinets. One of these days.

Bro #2 cat got out of his apartment and was missing. I’m not sure what the kitty status is today. I know bro stopped at the SPCA to see if anyone picked the cat up. He is really a scaredy cat to the 1st degree. I told him that when our mostly housecats get out, they always come back. It helps that I was sitting in the lawn crying for Cosmo. He couldn’t stand that. But our first cat Jade was declawed. We had to leave her out as we went to a picnic. When we came home, she was up against the back of the house waiting.

Bro #1 is losing one of his oldest pals from cancer. I guess his pal is about 54 like he is. When I think of his friend, I see him smoking. #1 spent the entire day with his pal in the hospital on Sunday. So sad.

I was bored and sneezy yesterday-so I made this:

I am pleased to announce that one of my photos is being used on Schmap-an Orlando travel site. If only I would get paid. : ) It’s the guitar fountain from the Hard Rock Hotel. We did stay there, but had some room issues…I won’t go into it here. It’s totally a great place, but they should keep pets out of the rooms.

Ruthie girl would have been 105 today!

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This is my maternal grandmom Ruth. I lived with her for the first 24 years of my life (on the most part). The four grandkids lived with her and our mom until we moved out. The house is really both mom’s and ‘mom-mom’s’ house.

She helped me with many domestic things, like to add a pinch of baking soda and some sugar to spaghetti sauce to make it taste better and not be as acidity; to how to hold a crochet hook. She was the strong one in bad situations. She chased us with the yard stick for being naughty or saying bad words. Near the end, she was the one who cussed quite a bit. I guess she held it in all those years! ; ) She passed away on Father’s Day, June 16, 2000 with all of us around her, except for one grandson. She is missed every day.

Ruthie girl, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

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Tomorrow, the 4th is my older brother Dave’s birthday! Happy Birthday BRO!
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(I’m going to show photos of me too, it’s my blog! LOL)
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Hey look! This site wanted to use my banana photo. : )