Category Archives: family

Oct31

Was a happy Halloweenie

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I guess there are lots of people uploading their Halloween shots tonight as I’ve tried several times without success. I had a few more photos to share, but two seems to be the limit. That’s Sean and his Coz Kenny with the monster head that he and his dad made together. His dad Ken is really clever!
 And here is Glamour Witch Tori and her witchy auntie with the teased hair. I had to get in the act. We matched up well! It was fun, but hardly anyone came to their house while I house sat. Bummer. Ken really loves Halloween.

Oct20

Congrats to Sean

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I am so proud of Sean! He got a ‘B’ on his latest Meteorology exam which brought his grade up. The teacher is a hard one to figure out as I may have mentioned earlier. Sean really studied the book this time and it paid off.
Now, one of the questions was as follows: ‘If you are walking north on campus and the wind is hitting your back, what direction is the wind blowing?’ It’s not what you think!
Let me know your answers in the comments.
So, now Sean probably has all ‘A’s and ‘B’s. Too bad the school and loan company can’t get their business settled. We used a company that the school doesn’t recommend and they aren’t communicating at all. Sean got an email that said they were freezing his account so he can’t register for next semester. Now, I have called the school and the loan company more times then I can remember. I had to give the school a call and they are still recording the incorrect amount from the loan company which is falling short of the tuition payment. We had to charge almost $400 on the CC for his books and it doesn’t look they we will see money to pay for them any time soon. In my day when I got a loan for school it was all cut and dry. What a major hassle thid has been.
I hope this gets straightened out by Monday, Sean’s birthday.
~~Congrats to my nephew Patrick who was recently inducted in the National Honor Society~~

Aug29

Prayers for the gulf coast

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Needless to say, I am watching the tv and praying for all the people living in the New Orleans, Biloxi and Mobile areas. I feel so bad for the people in the Super Dome in New Orleans, especially when the roof was leaking on them. I have pals in MS and AL and I know they are dealing with this too My brother lives in Fort Lauderdale and he was without power and cooking all his perishables on the grill. I think he had to do that last year.
Back to cleaning…the vacuum is calling me! (The guys are gone today and it’s so quiet here).

Aug22

Busy week…don’t know about blogging

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That’s why I was f-a-arting on the computer today. We won’t be home for 3 days this week. I have that doctor’s appt also the day before we leave. I’ll be glad to get checked out. I am sick of feeling crampy and not myself lately. I was really good for nothing today.
Sean and Brian brought me home a red Liz Claiborne XL t shirt from Atlantic City. It’s nice, but it’s too big and not dressy. I wanted fudge for cripes sake. Sean got himself an expensive Eagles jersey. I told him I bet he spent a lot of time looking at them and not for fudge! 😛
Hey, anyone know how to get an older gent to give up his favorite shirt and jacket? Brian’s dad has been wearing the same worn out striped shirt every time I’ve seen him since June. It’s ugly and there’s something stained on the pocket. I told him nicely to only wear it around the house, but the guys said he was wearing it plus a dirty, ripped ‘use to be white’ nylon jacket that’s at least 15 yrs old yesterday (we have proof because he took Sean to a aircraft show at Boeing when Sean was about 5!). We had gotten him a new jacket and he said it’s too big in the shoulders’. I wonder if I can fix that? Add another sewing project for D! I told Bri to take him jacket shopping anyway. I know he doesn’t need shirts. My grandmom’s sister did the same thing Pops is doing at the same age wearing the same clothes day in and day out. I hope he is just lazy and not getting Alzheimers.

Jul29

Free landscaping business…

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….only if you have shingles! Man, I am way pooped today from doing stuff around my mom’s house. I went into her house with really good take out from the Concordville Inn (they just opened a ‘to go’ service). I got her shrimp salad and me chicken salad. I walked in to find her in a fairly warm and smelly living room with her eyes almost rolled back! No joke! It scared the sh#@ out of me. Her ‘baby boy’ dog had perfumed himself in some other doggie’s release. Darn him. Mom ‘came to’ and I told her about her lunch which she wasn’t hungry for yet. She looks like sh#@ too. She’s lost weight again and had raccoon circles around her eyes. Her lesions from the shingles are drying up. Yeck, what a wicked thing. Anyway, no way did I have an appetite, so I ate half my lunch and debated to clean inside or do stuff outside. I did the same thing I would do here, I went outside! It was too nice not to. I got the weed whacker out and went to town in the shady part of the yard first. My ‘trigger’ finger can’t hardly bend today from weed whacking. I moved hanging plants and statuary around. I cleaned up trash and things around her yard. I knocked down weeds. I did good. Mom came out later and said ‘what about those weeds over near the shed’ (Brian does this to me also). I said some other time. I even had Sean drive me up to a store to get more cord for her weed whacker. And I did grocery shopping inbetween the yardwork. Mom said ‘I hate to remind you, but I need some groceries’. So I took her Sable up to the Acme (Thursday is a good day to go) and got what she wanted (she requested pumpkin pie too!)
My brother and his kids were there when Sean and I got back from getting the cording. We hardly recognized Kenny as he’s getting so tall. My brother cuts the grass for mom every week. The kids love Sean and were following him around. Sean showed Ken the bumper and Ken thinks he needs a new one. We can’t seem to get the State Police to give us the address of the lady who ran into Sean. (Brian is probably going to stop at the barracks today to see if ‘face to face’ will make a difference.) Ken and the family are going to Ocean City, MD this week coming up. That reminds me, I need to make arrangements for our OC trip next month.
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BTW, I didn’t go to the doctor today. I figured out what my problem was from past experience.
Today I am going to the hair salon. I need to go and get ‘spruced up’.
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My pond’s pump in a pita this week. It fell over now about 4 times and leaked all the water out of the pond. Some of that stringy algae got in the motor and it wouldn’t work. I got it taped up and fixed (I have to tape the fountain head on to the newer pump), so I hope it won’t fall over again. It makes the new resident ‘Kermit’ upset!

May20

Could it be rain?

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It hasn’t rained in this area for almost 3 weeks. It was a pollen enhanced dust bowl around here to say the least. I tried to get my gardening done, but I just couldn’t get the shovel that deep into the ground without it causing discomfort. Now I can get the weeding and planting finished in a few days.
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My dear friend Karin just lost her beloved grandmother. I am so upset right now. The poor lady just had an operation which proved too much for her frail body. She got an infection and even the antibiotics didn’t help. I lost my grandmom almost 5 yrs ago and it still hurts. Karin and I really thought of our grandmoms as ‘second’ moms.

Update:
My nephew does have Crohn’s Disease and we are all upset over that. I hope the meds they try will help him.
Mom’s bloodwork was good! She is waiting to hear about an x-ray of her ribs as she is hurting near her liver area. She is finally going to get her eyes checked too.
I used an ice pack off and on all day yesterday on my sore elbow and it helped! Something so simply and I didn’t think to keep it in place with my ace bandage before.
Sean got his progress report and he has all ‘A’s and one ‘B’. He had trouble with the class placement exam for Penn State and we are going to the Learning Center next week to talk to the lady about a ‘tracking’ program-whatever that is. It’s not special classes, etc. I called the woman yesterday to let her know about how well Sean is doing in school, he’s just a poor test taker, especially when he can’t prepare for the test. She said kids have trouble moving from high school to college. I don’t know why she said that, their test was designed for rocket scientists it was so difficult.

May18

I love being an aunt

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This past Sunday Sean and I went down to visit my mom and take her out to a few places, plus dinner. We had some gifts from Florida for her and my niece and nephew. After dinner we pulled up on the street where my brother and his family live (they live around the corner from my mom) and my niece Tori just stopped dead in her tracks she was so shocked to see us coming. The first thing she did was show us how she could ride on her bike down the sidewalk. We gave them their little token gifts plus I had found a Twister (the game) beach towel as I knew they were going to the beach the next weekend. They loved it. They kept excusing themselves to ‘toot’ because of all the bending over they were doing.
We hadn’t planned to stay that long but my nephew was really grabbing at our heartstrings. He said, “Are you staying for dinner?”
No Kenny, we ate already.
“I really want you to stay a while.”
We have to get going, but next time we’ll stay longer, I promise.
Sniff…yeah, they are my baby brother’s babies and I love them like I love him.

Apr15

The Royals of Monaco

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I guess Prince Rainier’s passing took ‘second place’ to that of the Pope’s demise. Most people know he was married to actress Grace Kelly, but they don’t know she grew up in Philadelphia. She had a fake snooty accent during her Hollywood days and as a Princess. Come to think about it, I guess it sounds better in the long run! Her daughter Stephanie use to come to the states to summer in the Poconos and she indeed did not sound as affected as her mother. Stef actually sounds like she is from Philly!
So I wonder how Prince Albert will do as the ‘royal in charge’? Maybe Caroline would do better in this situation. I believe Rainier had a stip in his will that she could take over the job if her little bro couldn’t handle it. Caroline has had an interesting past. She’s on her 3rd husband. Her sister is just as interesting with all the men in her past (though mom was a temptress too).
A few years back, we got to see Princess Grace’s wedding gown on display at the Philadelphia Art Museum.
It was yellowing, but still beautiful and very intricate and looked very uncomfortable. We also got to see Princess Diana’s ‘Elvis dress’-the white gown with the high collar that was covered with little pearls.
My grandmom’s first cousin was family friends of the Kellys and Kate went on the ship over to Monaco to the royal wedding. Kate was a neat lady and it’s cool to know there is somewhat of a long lost connection there. She and her daughter were well off, but they weren’t snooty. Kate’s daughter Gloria started the business ‘Dane Decor’ that sells imported Danish furniture. When Gloria came to my wedding, she gave us a teak tea cart that I still use. Gloria also told us that she looked in the phonebook for Hasselbergs in Denmark (on one of her buying trips) and there were only a few there. She looked in Swedish phonebooks and there were many more. Hasselberg is my grandmom’s maiden name. Don’t I think about that when I see Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Bette Midler who is married to a Von Hasselberg!



Princess Grace’s wedding gown on display at the Phila. Museum of Art (after it was restored). Posted by Hello