Category Archives: family

Sep24

M is for Ma

Posted on Friday, September 24, 2010 by Dianne

M is for Ma and other things 4" x 4" Collage, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

I was trying to get a few things done around the house today and my collages had to wait until after dinner. Boy was I tired from our little outing last night! Mom said she got about 10 birthday cards which made her happy.
So this is my mom when she was about 14. It’s not the clearest photo, but there is something I like about it, maybe because she looks like her mom here. I was looking at a book I have called ‘Scraps’ and the ladies made a alphabet book using an old dictionary. I have an old one and they didn’t have the word ‘mom’ just ‘ma’-go figure!
The one for today is called ‘Sisters’. I’ve used the image of my Grandmom and her older sister before, but this is tinted a bit mauve. I love this photo as they both are so adorable. I didn’t get to know Ethel, the little girl on the right as she passed from pneumonia at age 7. The tree is a button.

Sep23

You’ve come a long way baby

Posted on Thursday, September 23, 2010 by Dianne

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My mom Jeanne as a babe, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

My grandparents could not have picked the worst time to have child #2 as 1930 makes my mom a Depression baby. Her brother is 7 years older than her. I’ve heard all about what they would have to eat, like mashed potatoes on bread every night- times were indeed difficult. My mom was so sweet, her own maternal grandfather wanted to adopt her! She was a thin little girl and has never weighed much over 130 at her heaviest as an adult. Her parents would try to get her to drink milk and the glasses would get lined up on the table and she’d take one sip. She has never had a hearty appetite-well for junk food and chocolate maybe! : )
Mom has a lovely soprano singing voice and she sang in church and in school many times. I haven’t heard her sing lately though, it may have to do with her hearing issue. I’m wondering if we even have one recording of her beautiful voice!
Mom has always loved clothes too. She never bought full price and even wore thrift shop clothes, but always looked so ‘put together’ for work. When I was about 18 or so, I made her a salmon pink dress with white polka dots and she wore it a lot. I was so pleased to have made it for her.
She has a big, generous heart, maybe too generous for her own good sometimes. She so much rather give than receive (me too!). She enjoys travel, but just around these parts. When she was a young bride, she lived in San Francisco for the good part of a year but missed her family too much. She never went out west again.
I am so glad to be able to make her happy by taking her on trips or little outings and dinner. She feels like she may have missed out on things in her life. I feel she could have remarried if she really wanted to. She said she didn’t want to impose a step father on us, but maybe that is someone we all needed in our lives-a male figure besides her brother.
Life for mom at 80 isn’t a bed of roses, but as long as she has her sight and can read and watch tv, I think she’s pretty happy. And she loves her family in her own special way too.
Happy Birthday Mom!

Jul28

Audio Post

Posted on Wednesday, July 28, 2010 by Dianne

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Jun6

Oldie but a goodie

Posted on Sunday, June 6, 2010 by Dianne

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Hasselbergs-Caroline, William, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

I’ve been scanning old photos off and on over the last few months as I feel like doing so. It’s a bit time consuming. Brian was pulling out the photos and looking at them and this was in the bunch. I love this photo! I guess whoever took it thought it would be funny to pose my maternal great grandfather William right in front of that birdhouse! It had to be my grandfather Alan as I heard he was quite the shutterbug though I can see my Uncle Don being silly too. The little lady is Caroline and my grandmom really grew to look like her as she got older.
Yesterday, my mom and her friend Jim came out and other than looking at photos, I was showing him Ancestry.com. One thing lead to another and I found addresses of a long lost friend and niece for him! I also found that his aunt had passed away last year, but his uncle was still alive as of that time. It’s a pretty amazing site and I enjoy doing research. I think I missed my calling as a researcher of some sorts.
We are under a tornado watch for a few more hours. I stuck some flowers under bushes for protection. So far it’s been humid and windy. The guys are at Brian’s dad’s house. It seems every week Brian needs to food shop for him. His dad will be 87 in a few weeks and I don’t see him living alone much longer.
Tomorrow I get a new washer, so we had to tidy up the basement a bit. That basement is getting more attention in the coming months! I did wear a dust mask, but handling the dusty boxes after I took it off caused me to have a few gagging attacks. I see a yard sale in our future.

Mar23

Keeping tabs

Posted on Tuesday, March 23, 2010 by Dianne

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Happy 14th to my 3rd nephew Kenny! Glad we could help him celebrate over the weekend.

Seems that illness and blahs won’t let my family be. Sean was better and now has an on and off again cough. Says that he won’t go to dentist in a couple of days if he is still coughing-then he better hit the doctor’s office downstairs. He is taking medicine, but then laps taking it and it comes back. Could be allergies too as they are warning us that this is going to be a rough spring for those. He is working and is pretty good and has gotten kudos on his customer skills, so much he was asked to move to customer service. He said he’d like to give the garden shop a try (that’s my boy!).

Brian went to an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist today. He had his nose scoped and has ‘somewhat’ of a deviated septum. The main cause for going is his loss of most of his taste and smell since December. He’s on a medication for a month to see if that helps and he’s getting an MRI of his forehead region. And he had hearing loss too. Hope he starts to feel better soon as it’s been a rough few months for him.

My middle brother has shingles again. He felt odd at work-numbness on one side of his face. He got to the doctor today and that’s what he has and is on a very strong antibiotic.

Mom is still getting needle injections in her eyes to help her sight. I wish she’d take a cab to those appts, but they are only a few miles away.

And me-well I was feeling great on Sunday, worked outside a bit. Then I went downhill with gut issues. I had to resort to Immo*dium today (last resort it tastes so bad), but that calmed the spasms and it actually growled a few hours later. Bri bought us a rotisserie chicken and I made baked potatoes so that tasted good to me. I had no appetite yesterday. I feel like the procedure messed with my ‘delicate constitution’ maybe. I so need to do birthday shopping for Bri, who has a birthday tomorrow. I tried to get my act together for 2 days. We usually celebrate a birthday for a week (leave the cards on display), so it may have to be another day, but I know Sean has some things for his dad.

Please keep us all in your thoughts. We have a trip to take in less than a month, so will have to get well soon!

Jan25

My little Rembrandt

Posted on Monday, January 25, 2010 by Dianne

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Thought you’d enjoy seeing some of Sean’s artwork from when he was a wee lad of only 3. Why am I showing these to you? As you may know, he is cleaning out a finished room in the basement that was just loaded with a bunch of his things. He ran across his paintings and they were getting brittle from age. The best thing I thought to do with them before I recycled them was to photograph them. So I did!

Love the colors!

And here is my dear painting. This was in my keychain 20 yrs ago and I just left it there!

Jan11

Dianne and Dot

Posted on Monday, January 11, 2010 by Dianne

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Dianne and Dot, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

In memory of my Uncle Don’s stepdaughter who passed away on 1-8-10 (also my brother’s 43rd birthday). Though we didn’t know each other on a personal level, it was always nice to see Dot and her sisters and their families once in a while. Pancreatic cancer is such a sneaky disease. Dot only found out in June or July of last year that she was sick. She got to see her son marry and have two daughters, both are still young. Her husband, who was 15 yrs older than her, passed away only 2 yrs ago.
This photo is at my uncle’s house where he has resided for over 50 years. This was the first photo in my personal photo album that starts with my babyhood and on to when I’m a new mom. I sent a copy of this photo to her sister and son in sympathy cards. I think the funeral on Wednesday will be well attended as Dot was in the bell choir and a current and not really old member of the church. I would have gone if my uncle wanted me to. Here’s the obit.

Dec27

Another Christmas

Posted on Sunday, December 27, 2009 by Dianne

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I love to decorate and bake for Christmas, but the gift buying and all not so much-it helps if you have a lot of money! : ) Maybe when we have a grandchild or two down the road, it will be fun again. I got some lovely craft and cookbooks that I asked for and a few other things. I do like surprises and Brian gave me some sweet smelling Crabtree* and Evelyn bath items. My brother gave me a Cricut that he bought from a fellow employee which is neat-it cuts out letters and shapes for scrapbooking, etc. My guys liked what they received too.
My mom was in a bit of a mood and was exhausted and not herself when she was here. My brother is living at her house now, but says he will not stay. I think they are too much alike. Plus he’s lived alone a long time and doesn’t like cleaning up after other people. That’s my life-lol. : ) She said she was bored here as she can’t hear very well and about 4 pm on the 26th went in our room and we didn’t see her the rest of the night though we watched a rented movie and asked her to watch too-she refused. She couldn’t decide where she was sleeping and ended up in the family room and was ready to leave at 10 this morning. I had taken away her keys as she wanted to go in the pouring rain yesterday. That’s one reason we all stayed put all day yesterday. She was in a terrible way and it took my uncle and me a while to calm her down. She finally left and went over his house again and I hope she gets back to her place before dark. I will be calling about hearing aids-she must get one!
Last night I was going through my craft items and papers and made a few things I will share soon. I put on my MP3 headset and it relaxed me a lot. So that’s my life for the past few days. I need to get some makeup on to go out to Chili’s or someplace down in Delaware as I’ve been stuck inside myself for a few days.

Dec24

Waving and wishing all a Merry Christmas!

Posted on Thursday, December 24, 2009 by Dianne

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I haven’t been a faithful blogger lately. The week leading up to Christmas is usually so busy. I do baking and cleaning-I like one of the two tasks. Still not finished cleaning. Later today, we are going to my brother’s house as they are having an open house. I’m bringing an awesome Rachael*Ray penne, sausage and broccoli rabe dish which I’ve made already and that my guys loved. I’ll get cracking at that soon, but we don’t have to leave here until 5ish.
My cookies turned out fairly well. I made most of our favorites, chocolate chips, peanut butter with chocolate swirls, Sour cream drops, 7 layer cookies plus pizzelles (I found my pizelle maker) and some Ruglach from premade pie crust-they are ok. I made Rocky Road candy-yummy!
I hope I have a gum/tooth issue under control as only one was bothering me. I have been using a whitening rinse and it seems to have irritated around a crown. I’m pretty sure I’ve had a root canal there. I am using a rinse now for irritated gums and it feels better today, but will keep a watch of it.
Some members of my extended family are again having a rough time compromising with each other, etc. I feel like I’m caught in the middle. I wish them well.

I hope everyone has a lovely Christmas!