Category Archives: house

Dec17

Christmas Tour of Homes 2007

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Merry Christmas and welcome to my little corner of Pennsylvania! All the photos are ‘labeled’ so enjoy a peek around my home. My husband and I both took the photos here. I may add more! Thanks Boo Mama for hosting this again! Check out the post under this one for some free stuff!

Christmas Tour of Homes

A late add, but here’s a yummy bar cookie!
Rum Raisin Cheesecake squares
(I can’t find the book I used, so copied it from a group I’m in-from a post from last year!)
1/3 cup butter or margarine softened
1/3 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
3 Tablespoons rum (or extract)
1/2 cup raisins (I used golden raisins)
To make th crust-cream together the butter and brown sugar, stir in the flour, and add the nuts. Press into an 8-or 9-inch square pan., reserving some of the crumbs to use as a topping. Bake in 350 deg oven for 10-12 minutes. Cool.
With a mixer beat the cream cheese until fluffy. Add the sugar, egg and rum, beat well. Then stir in the raisins. Spread the mixture over the cooked crust, then sprinkle with the remaining crumbs. Bake in a 350 oven for 20-25 minutes.
Makes 9-12 servings.

Oct18

Around my house

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Here’s most of the front step area. You can’t see another little scarecrow on the other side. That’s a ‘fake’ pumpkin! I don’t carve pumpkins anymore, but I like them. This is ok until I grow them again. I do hope to get more than one though!

The front door
My pretty salmon colored nemesia came back in the front window box!
Nemesia made a return
And finally-to show some damage a chestnut tree burr can do-I was pushing my garden cart with the decorations from the lawn to the shed, one popped up from under the wheel and hit me full force in my ankle! Ouch! (It’s not a bump…it’s a few dozen little puncture wounds!)

My boo boo

This (laryngospasm) is what happened to me yesterday morning. It’s happened a few times over the last few months, especially when I have a stuffed up nose. I believe yesterday my sinuses were trying to drain too. Not fun.

On the news they just said MRSA, a staph infection, is spreading in schools around my hometown. Not a pretty thing. If you get a weird boil or something on your skin that doesn’t heal, you better get it looked at before it goes into your bloodstream.

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The last hotel that we stayed in down in Atlantic City got imploded tonight! It was the Sands and we stayed there to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary back in ’04. Sean and mom were with us. I believe some of my first blog entries were about this funky trip.

The Sands implodes!

My sinuses were fine walking around Longwood Gardens yesterday, but today they were annoying. We had the warmer than usual weather again. My mom went home in the late afternoon after we went to Walmart. I was hoping what I bought in there for Sean’s birthday could have been mailed, but we went through the town at 4:17 and the post office closes at 4:30.

Some good stuff :

A bought item from Walmart that is so yummy:

Strawberry Milkshake Whoppers!

You can’t eat just one!

I bought a small bottle of this at the Longwood Gardens gift shop, Thymes eucalyptus lotion:

Thymes eucalyptus lotion
Delightful and strong enough to smell like nice soap.

Jun14

Quick update

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Repairman #3 for the air conditioner was here for 4 hours. Talk about stress! He finally started talking. The poor guy just couldn’t figure it out until he noticed a valve outside wasn’t working correctly. I think he took the whole A/C unit apart. He has to order the part. It’s a hefty bill. We learned from a message that the supervisor wasn’t going to charge us for the first two visits (almost $400!!). Thank goodness.

Haven’t heard about Tori. Mom called twice as did I. Mom always thinks the worst, like she is in the hospital. I think they would have told us. We’ve dealt with strep and once we got the medicine in our system we felt a ton better.

I finished a graduation piece for my nephew Patrick. I’m making it into a flat piece (like an ornament) with a hanger. I’ll post a photo soon.

BTW-here’s a cool way to get some extra cash-gather up your pounds of coins and go to one of those Coin Star machines (better yet, cash them in for free at a Commerce bank- we don’t have any around here). I had half a freezer bag full and we got $38! Bri got kitty litter (ha), we had enough for a light dinner, 2 greeting cards for Bri’s dad (his 84th is on the 23rd) and I blew the rest on  a Raggedy Ann (for my collection) and a patriotic mini flag. My father-in-law gives us a bunch of coins all the time.

Going to hit the hay shortly. We’ve all had a long and stressful day.

Jun14

Maybe 3 is the charm

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Repairman #3 is here to try and fix our leaky air conditioner. It’s 11 and he’s been here for two hours and all he will say ‘is it has a leak’. I think he was prompted not to give out any info or comment on the previous two men who were here like #2 was saying #1 didn’t fix the problem. #2 then denied saying that. What a pain.

I got to the dentist by 9:45 and have my new crown now. The temp was starting to bother me, and the assistant said there was a gap between it and my gum.

I am going to a podiatrist on Monday as my foot hurts even to press down on the gas pedal. I want to make sure it’s checked out before our NYC adventure.

It’s really cool outside today. When I left for the dentist it was about 60. In a few days it will be 90 just in time for my two nephew’s graduation party.

My poor little niece Tori has been really sick with a strep throat. I need to call and check on her today. My Uncle wasn’t mad at my mom (she always thinks everyone is!), but he’s still not happy about his situation.

When my friend Angela was here last Saturday, I was going through the Longwood Gardens photos  here on the computer and we stopped and raved again about the Painted Tongue flower. I looked it up today and it’s an annual. One site said that the Victorians loved them. They also grow best in areas like Oregon.

Painted Tongue

Jun1

Enchanting orchid

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Brian gave me this last year and it really likes the garden window in the kitchen! The first blooms got stuck in part of the window. Now I see it has these two and some new branches coming out. I noticed they don’t like to be watered a lot.
Orchid from the garden window
Orchid from the garden window
The air conditioning is fixed or adjusted. A nice man who looked like actor Jason Robards (I compare everyone to a celebrity) thought it had something to do with our old dehumidifer and the air getting really cold from that (say what?). He put some kind of a vent in there and closed it up.

Jun1

Waiting on the service man

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I get up this morning and Bri had left me a note that says there was water on the floor near the air conditioner unit in our basement and that the coils had ice on them. We’ve never had the a/c serviced in about 9 yrs, so it’s getting looked at today. Oy! When it rains it pours. Sean is complaining about how much he has to pay on his car insurance-he wants to buy PSU football tickets instead. Welcome to the real world fella, right? I did find out that our insurance covers the tow fee. We actually paid for it in the long run.

Still no email.

Did you know there was a ‘blue’ moon last night? If there are two full moons in one month, the second is called the blue moon. It only occurs every 2.5 years or so. Check out this blog for some interesting facts about the blue moon.

I have been enjoying stitching and watching some new summer shows. I need to print off my bingo cards for the ABC show tonight. There’s a new Survivor type show called ‘Pirate Master’, not too bad. Glad I don’t have to watch reruns like I did when I was a kid.

Cosmo is a member of Animal Internet. He (I) was asked to join after one of the writers there (mostly tv writers) found his blog. The community was asked to write about how global warming would effect us and Cos wrote an 11th hour entry about ‘glow ball warming’. He made the front page, but we don’t think he won the $100 prize, but we don’t see any other entries concerning global warming. We thank the talented writer who read it and for his embellishment of our editorial.

Have a cool weekend! I hope we do here!

May8

But I can dream…

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can’t I?

Make life easier

Mother’s Day is around the corner. I don’t think Sean will spend $89 on me. But, all is not lost! I have a Home Depot gift card worth $100! We do need a new toilet (the one we have is 47.5 yrs old and the inside is covered with rust from goodness knows what and I am always cleaning the bowl). What to do? What to do?

I want this as I am finding edging gardens to be a royal pain in my back. I like that clean edge. I just can’t do it anymore.

I am so sorry about the tornado that devastated the entire town of Greensburg, Kansas. They just called it ‘the perfect storm’ on Nightline.  It’s always a blessing when a survivor is located. Prayers are being said for the people there.

Apr13

Feeling unlucky?

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Are you superstitious?

Exactly 23 yrs ago it was also Friday the 13th and I was getting ready to ‘take the plunge’ into matrimony. I guess it’s the way you look at things don’t you think? Sean’s car is at the inspection center and we hope everything will be fine with that. I’m feeling the chilly weather to my bones. I remember last year I had a nicer looking yard than this one and the lilacs were budded and about to bloom. This year I don’t see the buds at all. The pond needs cleaning and I just can’t do it until the aches ease up. I don’t want to end up like my mom who is dependent on pain meds to get through her day. I am happy to report that a Tylenol usually helps me and some nice, warm weather.

The heater guy adjusted the furnace yesterday and fixed the leaky filter. The banging we are hearing is from the duct work and he can’t do anything about that. He said our last heater was way too big for the house. He made a big fuss over the cat as he has 3 of this own. Cos was not use to a big hand rubbing his head so brisking, but he didn’t nip at the guy.

John Corzine, the governor of New Jersey, was in a serious car accident around 6 last night. He broke his leg (upper) and about 12 ribs. He’s in critical, but stable condition. He was said not to be wearing a seat belt. The police are looking the the vehicle that appears to have forced them off the road.

Next Thursday we are planning on getting together with Brian’s old college pal Kathy. She lives in Tennessee now and comes back up to PA every few years to visit mostly friends. She is divorced with no children. And we share the same birthday. We are thinking of Carrabbas, the yummy Italian restaurant to meet at.

I have the Neighborhood Round Robin #6 cross stitch project finished up for Su except for my name. I am done a month early! I figure since the next person to stitch on it is Su’s mum, she can get it early (she is finished with her lady’s design anyway) and then send it to her other daughter to finish up the 8th square (we had planned on eight people, but one dropped out) if that is what they are going to do. I’ll show you a photo soon.

Have a great weekend!

Apr12

Valerie, Valerie, Valerie

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Why did you get bitten by the Jenny Craig bug? Valerie Bertinelli wants to lose 30 pounds because she is a ‘size 14’-crap, that’s my size…sometimes! ; ) I bought the newest copy of People that features her on the cover. I am 5 months older than her. Go ahead, show a photo of her from 1980 when she was 20. I want to look like I did when I was 20, but it’s not going to happen. Gravity has set in a few areas of my body. Skin is also at these places where it wasn’t before. I mean, she has a cute face and her bod looks fine and she has a new man. She or her son Wolfie (Wolfgang) mention eating an entire bag of Doritos! That’s not going to help. I have cravings myself. The worst thing for me to do is watch ‘The Food Network’ if I am even the slightest bit hungry. Good luck Val (who is from Wilmington, DE).

The heater guy is coming to adjust the furnace. It bangs almost every time it  comes on or shuts off. I set it to 68, it heats the place to 72. When we had it installed last month, they didn’t even look at the upstairs thermostat. And guess what-they better not send me a bill!

Keeping warm and cozy in April-and tearing my hair out! ; )

Mar21

Let there be heat!

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The furnace was installed today from 8:30-2:45. The guys disappeared though from 10:15-11:00 (I think they took an early lunch break or something) and left the door that leads outside (in the basement) wide open and it was only in the 40s today. I promptly closed it. The house stayed around 65, not bad. I thank Mister Sunshine for that. I did wear a heavy sweater all day. The heat was turned on around 2:40 and by 3:00 it had warmed up to 70 in here! One thing we didn’t like that they didn’t do was to give up a new oil filter and hooked a dirty one up to a new furnace. I told Bri to complain about it as we paid a lot for the furnace, plus they charged us for the first guy walking in the door who said we needed a new one in the first place. He could have given us a new filter.

As I don’t like having strangers in my house, especially in my messy basement, I didn’t do much around here except to clean the granite countertops and make some art trading cards.  I also had to keep the cat calmed down. I woke up before 7 with my sinuses still bothering me. I’m hoping I’ll feel better now, that all of us will. : )

I’m almost done a very detail cross stitch quilt square and will share it when it’s completed in a few days. I have a pal in Ireland who does the charity quilt squares and she just had her second back surgery. Imagine lying on your back and stitching! She sent me a note last week and said she believes there is improvement because of the operation. I sent her back a note with a few ATCs I made for her. I didn’t photograph them, but I have a bunch to share with you-soon.

Sean and I need to get the new cellphone for Bri as a birthday gift and I need to wrap what I have for him. He said I’m hard to buy for! No way!