Category Archives: family

Jul15

I need air!

Posted on Tuesday, July 15, 2008 by Dianne

It was so hot driving to my hometown today. I asked my sister-in-law (while she was doing my hair) if my brother was behind at work and he is swamped. But he’s doing her brother’s car, so hopefully he can squeeze his sister’s van in one of these days. I have to wear my hair pulled back as the windows are open wide. I know, I’m totally spoiled. I would go down to mom’s more if I had air!

Sean came over my mom’s after work (he works in my hometown) and we went to a Chinese restaurant for dinner(I know, I’m crazy as it doesn’t agree with me) and then we went to Barnes & Noble. I was looking for the ‘Just Cross Stitch’ holiday ornament issue. Do you know if it’s out yet? I did get the English magazine ‘Cross Stitcher’. (click link for a look at some cute freebies) It came with a magnifier which I think I need. I was looking through this issue, and there is a design I’d like to do in the next issue which said it was on sale July 4th. The one I bought seems to be the latest issue the store had. The design-a Maria Diaz design of DaVinci’s Masterpiece painting (see above)-I love it! Not to say the lion cub on this issue isn’t beautiful-but is has so many color changes. It also has the cutest geranium fairy too.

My s-in-law was saying how strong the ocean’s currents were and they had to be rescued (my niece and some other cousins) last week on their vacation. On the news tonight they said about 90+ people had to be rescued in Ocean City, NJ this week! (my family was in MD). The hurricane is doing this. Scary stuff. I got stuck in a sand bar once and couldn’t get my footing, and I remember how tired I got trying to get to shore. I think everyone should have some sort of boogie board to hold on to!

I found the loveliest card to send my late friend’s parents and CL husband. Brian found me a site that translates English to German, so I did that for Char’s Austrian parents. The card reads- In remembrance-Mourning the loss of a wonderful person who brought so much to life. With heartfelt sympathy.

My gum is still bothering me, more tonight it seems. I am hoping it calms down, but I think it’s going to need attention sooner or later. Thinking crown. : ( Drats!

Waving to brother #2 who reads my blog (I saw the print out from your meeting).

Jul13

Treasure ATC

Posted on Sunday, July 13, 2008 by Dianne

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Treasure ATC, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

I’m going to be seeing my niece on Tuesday, so I made her this ATC for her collection. It’s me and my brother Don, about 3 and 2 years old. We were living in Florida at the time. I love this photo as the pool is so tiny. We basically just sat there and stared at each other. There’s a good size boat under the plant that we obviously had to share.
We had a quiet day here today. Mom left about 12:30, but stopped off at a few stores (that we were just in yesterday). Shopping is her thing which drives my brothers batty.
I made a pot roast like last Sunday. Sean even asked if we had just had it not long ago. You toss the meat in an oven bag with the potatoes and things and it’s ready to eat in a few hours. Can’t beat that.

Jul1

I saw a camel today…

Posted on Tuesday, July 1, 2008 by Dianne

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I really did see a camel! I was coming home from CVS and turned on the east end of my road. This lovely farm always has a few donkeys, horses and even alpacas grazing in their fenced area, but I never, ever thought I’d see a two humped camel amongst them! There was no one behind me, so I did a slow cruise to check him out. Someday I’ll take my camera and get some shots if he’s still around. I’m not too crazy about being by myself on our road and getting out of the car since it’s a bit in the sticks.
I had felt rather silly just about 20 minutes before when I parked the wrong way in 15 minute parking in the next town. The meter guy was standing there, just a young fellow and was looking at me with a bit of a smirk on his face. I had parked ‘that way’ every time I parked there since the wintertime. Here I had to turn around and ‘face the flow’, it’s a small side street, but you have to follow the rules.
My van was making a loud chirping noise off and on when I was out and it appeared to be coming from the right side-like it’s done in the past. Brian sprayed the belt that seems to be troublesome and he took it for a spin tonight and said he didn’t hear anything. We want to take it to Penn State in August, so I hope we can finally get it ‘squeakless’. : )
I decided to order Sean’s favorite pizza from the new place-the taco one. It’s really good! It actually tastes more like an appetizer than a pizza.
My brothers wanted to talk to mom tonight and she was up at #3’s house for 3 hours. They want to continue to clean out her house and fix it up. That’s what it was all about. Interesting. And thanks for including me and our older brother. I’m my mom’s main shoulder and I try to make her happy.
I’m not that crazy about July and August. My gardens tend to start to bug me in more than one way-the real bugs and the weeds. We’ve been getting ‘yelled at’ by a catbird (and it’s mate) for the last 4 or so days. They must have babies nearby. It’s really annoying and makes going out very unpleasant, even for Cosmo the cat. I’ve been staying holed up more in the house and making some paper crafts, that I will share here.

Jun29

We ♥ Commerce Bank

Posted on Sunday, June 29, 2008 by Dianne

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Sean and I went out for a few hours this afternoon. We had to exchange some trousers I had bought as a gift for him. We also had two huge bags of coins that we have saved for many months. Commerce is open on Sundays and they have a free coin counting machine. So we guessed we had $124.00 (they ask if you want to guess) and after all was said and done-we had $197.00! Yes! We split it up and I saved Bri $50 (Sean got $100 since he will be driving the most for his internship) and then we went to Macy’s. Sean got an extra pair of trousers and a few shirts in another store-from the coin money! We then went to a shopping center where Old Navy and Michaels is-I went to Michaels and Sean to O.N. I picked out some things there and went down the clearance aisle and I started to chat with a nice lady there. She asked if I had ‘a coupon’ which I didn’t. It was for after 4pm and for 25% off your total purchase. She had an extra and gave me one. I thanked her and headed to check out and saved $10!

We ate in Friendly’s and shopped a bit in Trader Joe’s then headed home. I called my mom and she had talked with brother #2 and they may be seeing eye to eye again. I seriously hope so. He tends to get mean about things that he doesn’t agree with. I still am not crazy about being chummy with him as I feel like I don’t know him anymore and he talked about me behind my back that night he horned in on our ‘girl’s night out’. I wish mom hadn’t told me he thought I looked fat. He had said that to my face when we went down to visit him in Florida in 2002. Nice isn’t he? I’m not having high hopes about this, but at least, and I’m praying, he’ll treat her nice and with respect.

Anyway, here are some yard shots for your enjoyment. They sure make me smile. : )

This is what I call my herb bed. The Roma tomatoes are taking it over. There’s basil in the front along with fennel and cilantro.

My favorite lilies are blooming too! I missed the first blooms a few days ago.

A pretty hanging basket with pinkish daisy like flowers and portulaca

Look how big the butterfly bush is! You can see the rain gutter there. Not a ton of blooms, but we cut it back a lot last year.

Sean got a B- in his English class he just finished. My boy’s not a writer, so he was happy.

Jun12

Happy 85th Uncle Don!

Posted on Thursday, June 12, 2008 by Dianne

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I’m squeezing this in rather late as Sean and I had a full day, but not near a computer.

Here are a few shots of my mom’s only sibling and who she chose to name her second son after:

Mom’s wedding day-Oct. 17, 1953

Mom’s marriage may not have lasted, but bond between siblings has. Uncle Don is 7 years older than mom.

This was about 5 years ago and his great nephew wanted to help him open his boom box. : )

A lot has happened since the above shot. My Aunt there has been in a nursing home for a few years and Uncle lives by himself, though he was in assisted living for a while. He had a few operations, the last being hip surgery. My mom has had her share of things too.

I hope we can get over to see him soon. His neighbors brought him a huge hoagie and a cake. I promised him an ice cream cake, but I think he’d love a dozen Dunkin’ Donuts just as well.

Sean had an interview for his internship in my hometown. The office was terrible to find and he felt interrogated -his weaknesses and strengths-took him my surprise. The last thing the woman said to him after 1/2 hour of questioning was-‘we don’t usually hire outside of the county’. (??) When he got home, he had a phone call from the school district about landscape maintenance which brightened his spirits.

We took my mom food shopping as she hasn’t been to the store for 2 weeks (no car). It took a while, but we were glad to help out. I was with her until after 9pm as Sean was at his night class late.

Jun9

June or August?

Posted on Monday, June 9, 2008 by Dianne

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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!

Jun7

Photo Hunt-Bad Hair

Posted on Saturday, June 7, 2008 by Dianne

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

So let me explain-That’s me above, 3rd grade-Mrs. Allison’s class at Sandy Bank Elementary School-1967-68. My great aunt Edna decided to give me a home perm-left it on too long-fried my hair! They tried to make it curl on the ends. My grandmom added insult to injury by adding a clashing red bow to my hair. (Mom was probably at work). Seems this was the year I got yelled at in class for chewing my hair too! The pink and green dress was one of the only things my father picked out and gave me in my entire life. I also went to speech class and that was a little humiliating. But, I do remember being one of the only kids in class to be able to draw Snoopy and got many requests to do so. I photoshopped the first one to take out some signs of age and to fix the colors. The second one was just for fun. See, I still like to be artistic. : )

Jun5

Anniversary wishes

Posted on Thursday, June 5, 2008 by Dianne

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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.

Jun3

Cousins

Posted on Tuesday, June 3, 2008 by Dianne

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My sister-in-law the hair stylist, gave my noggin a makeover today, so Sean and I got to see my niece and nephew too! Sean hasn’t seen the kids since the end of December. As you can see, my nephew really has grown.

And this little cutie that is somewhat my ‘mini me’ because her dad and I resemble each other.

She was eating some crackers here.

Mom came back with us and will be here a few days for a change of scenery. Her car needs a new starter, so she is hoping my brother will fix it for her soon.