Category Archives: life

Aug29

A pain in the knee

Posted on Friday, August 29, 2014 by Dianne

Sorry I have been MIA. I have had knee issues since I posted about the 80s flashback band last month. That night, back in the middle of July, we stood watching for over 2 hours. Afterwards, we located a geocache in a lamp skirt which I knelt to retrieve and must have twisted the ligament to the right of my left knee. I started to wrap it in an Ace bandage and even went to Urgent care about it as I thought it had to be worse than a strained ligament.

On August 2nd, we went to the Billy Joel concert at Citizen’s Bank Park, usually home of the Phillies. I had my knee wrapped and as we (Brian) crossed the street to the venue, I felt my knee pop! And the pain was awful! I debated what to do, but there was Gavin DeGraw, Billy’s opening opening act singing his heart out. We were at the 1st base area and needed to get to the 3rd base. I believe it took me a good 45 minutes to hobble there. Then I had to face steps and step over a few people. I look back at all that and do not know how I did it.

This was our view for the Billy Joel concert. I thought our tickets would have been a bit better since I ordered them in March and the price we paid. That is a yellow pole we looked around.

So if was even rougher getting back to the car. We should have gotten a wheelchair. We walked right past the medic room. It was so crowded, I didn’t want to make a scene. I was in tears and had to stop many, many times.

When we got home I was crying out in pain when I tried to get out of the car. I decided I could wait until the morning for it to get looked at. I learned to slide along when I had to go to the bathroom.

Sean took me to the ER about 1:00 pm. After x-rays, they agreed with the Urgent care, that it was a strain. I got ‘stabilized’ in a long leg brace and given a walker! I decided to go to the orthopedic doctor and he thought where it was hurting me was maybe a torn meniscus. They need to be operated on. Oh great. He ordered an MRI., The day before the MRI, we took a drive up to Hershey Gardens with my mom. I had gotten tickets that were going to expire. I had visions of both of us being pushed in a wheelchair. We did get one wheelchair, but I had to switch out with mom half way through! I was stopping in pain every 10 minutes. We had a nice lunch right at the gardens, so that was nice. I feel like I put a damper on the trip, especially when we stopped at the museum and both mom and I said no to the 45 minute walking tour. I will show some photos in my next blog post. It is a lovely place and next time I will be stronger when I go.

So I had the MRI, just my lower half was in it and my head could be outside of it. I went back to the ortho doc and it should no tear, but a twisted or pulled ligament. I was really surprised hearing this as it’s so painful. I hope he didn’t miss anything. He gave me a shot and it felt better maybe one day, but it gets stiff and achy. The doc recommended physical therapy and I guess I will have to go for it.

I decided not to go back to work with the kids at the church until maybe the end of September to the beginning of October. I am not strong enough to help out yet.

I also have to go to a GI specialist on Sept. 9th. I had blood work in June and some tests were high. I have Lyme disease and the tick bit me right near my liver. I have been having elevated readings since 1998. The GP wants me to get checked out, so I asked for the best liver doctor in the practice. I certainly watch myself for symptoms of a disease. I have gained, not lost weight because of menopause.My arthritis is worse and my teeth have been mostly capped. I will be glad when that visit is over, but I won’t be surprised if he wants more blood work and a test.

Rest in peace Robin Williams. My heart is still sad. Thanks for the laughs and sharing your incredible talent all these years.

Next-gorgeous Hershey Gardens!

Oct12

Bucket list material-Maid of the Mist excursion!

Posted on Saturday, October 12, 2013 by Dianne

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We had asked the maitre de at the Skylon restaurant what else we needed to see or do while at Niagara Falls (besides eating at his fine establishment and seeing the falls). He said we really needed to take the 20 minute boat ride to the Maid of the Mist. I was debating if I should say ‘to the Maid of the Mist’ or ‘in the Maid of the Mist’. Guess it’s a combo!

We chose to be on the top deck!

Here we are all ready in our rain ponchos (which we kept)

I wore a little hooded raincoat too!

We didn’t use our phones at this point for obvious reasons! It was so powerful, almost like a hurricane. The mist really got you wet!

Many Presidents of the US plus Princess Diana and her sons took this ride.

It was just exhilarating!

Check it off the list!

Nov6

Check one off the bucket list

Posted on Tuesday, November 6, 2012 by Dianne

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Just a photo…words will follow later as I have a very busy day ahead.

On Monday, I asked Brian if we could go out to Montgomery County Community College to see former President Bill Clinton. It was always my wish to see a President someday. I missed a chance many years ago to see my favorite President, Jimmy Carter when he had a lecture at the college where I attended. This was about 15 yrs. I really admire what he did after he left office from writing books to helping to build homes for people through Habitat for Humanity.

He may have been too nice to be President. He’s a very intelligent man with what they call an encyclopedia type memory. Ask him something, he can tell you about it.

So we got stuck in traffic very close to the college. The doors had opened at 2:30 and we got there about an hour later. When we were in traffic, we heard sirens and a mini motorcade went on our left-police and a few SUVs from Maryland. I bet that was Prez Bill!

So many people wanted to come to the event, they moved it from the gym to outside. We were a little cold, but okay. We heard from about 4 local politicians first, heard a 14 yr old girl sing the national anthem beautifully and then Bill came out! We were in the back. People were holding up signs and cellphones. It was really an honor for me. When he was President, I got a Christmas card from him and Hillary and the Gores for 8 years. That was a treat! I should take photos of them sometime.

So it was a good 15-20 minute talk and he had the crowd in the palm of his hand!

My viewpoint at one place in the crowd.

Oct16

Take the time

Posted on Tuesday, October 16, 2012 by Dianne

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Today was the funeral of my high school pal John’s mom. If I ever met Mrs. D., it was probably an occasion like graduation, but I have a feeling we never spoke. Over the last 4 years or so, I’ve gotten to know John and his family and felt like I needed to go and let them know we appreciate them and the important part in their lives Mrs. D played. I’ve seen photos of her as a little girl to a 90 year old lady. I had a feeling special memories would be shared and they were, from a few grandchildren, a cousin and a classmate of John and me. It made me think back to my Grandmom Ruth’s memorial service in 2000 and how only a friend of my mom’s (besides her) could talk as her grandchildren were a mess.

It was like reading a true life story and listening to special nuggets of this family’s life. John’s cousin offered some Biblical touches which were nice. I agreed with him in that people shouldn’t blame God for misfortune as it’s definitely something evil like Satan doing the dirty work. People forget God is Love and all that is good in our lives. I appreciate that reminder.

So do take the time to tell your friends that you do care for them! Some of the best times I’ve had in the last few years is meeting my online pals in real life. I wish I could with each and every person who had been so nice to me over the years. : )

Oct10

Adjusting to changes

Posted on Wednesday, October 10, 2012 by Dianne

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It was the third Wednesday in a row I got up at 7 am-boo hoo right? It’s really hard for Ms Hoot here!

The first day was the magazine job and of course now it’s the preschool ‘assistant’ job. I am not the main teacher, but I seem to be the floater-go where they need me. I’ve been in with a lovely lady named Charlene who leads the 3 yr olds. I said my son was turning 26 and she said she had a 42 yr old son! Wow! I thought she was younger than me! She also has a granddaughter. She was concerned about getting a flu shot and I said it’s not a bad idea. I will probably get one along with my mom. The children are cuties, some boisterous boys of course. : ) You can tell their little minds are going faster than they can move their lips! Today one of the assistants came in and showed them sign language for a number of farm animals. They were all fascinated! They paid attention for almost 15 minutes. The rainy weather has held them in a lot this week, so I could tell by just seeing them the one day a week I do that they have pent up energy. I suggested rugs for them to sit on for story time and they have plastic dots of different colors to use instead. That worked a bit. I think I would have put the circles down first and then let them just sit down on one instead of pick one. That caused a little commotion. I’m surely learning about children all over again!

I did a little Halloween home decorating for a few days on Monday and Tuesday. I’m not finished, but I have an ‘owl theme’ going on here. I didn’t realize I had so many! I need to take more photos, but I tried some without a flash. I am still having hip/back issues and need to see what’s up with the x-rays.

Brian took me out for a Jake’s burger tonight and asked if I wanted to find a geocache or two. I never turn that down-lol. I looked at the phone app and there’s a cute farm series around this area and there was an orchard we hadn’t hit, so we went. First we bought apples and a ‘ghost’ pumpkin. I mentioned the geocache to the lady and she knew where it was and I said not to tell me. I wanted to mention this to her as it was closing time. The cache was in a tree from the 1860s under a bunch of ivy!

We found the dairy we visited a week or so ago and got some toasted coconut ice cream and butter-all on the honor system. It was after dark and the door was open. I am sure they have a camera on the place-I wrote down what I bought, put the money in the cash box and got my change. The ice cream is delicious too!

Hope to see my mom tomorrow!

Oct2

FTF-finally!

Posted on Tuesday, October 2, 2012 by Dianne

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Yesterday I saw that there was a new cache located up in the next town over. I quickly got dressed and went out the door. I got to the area and went wow! It was in a memorial garden with a pretty moderate traffic flow. It’s a good thing the butcher/deli was closed today. I had the car pointed right in front of the cache, only had to cross the street. I got to GZ and it’s a big rock with a plaque on it commemorating the War of 1812.

Below this were pebbles, in the front of it about a 30 foot long garden space, like a tapered triangle filled with roses, etc. I ‘evaluated’ the area and felt a lot of eyes on me. I looked at the traffic pole and street signs-they were really tall….and the fire hydrant.

So….

I went to the chiropractor at 2, a younger Alex Karras (remember him) kind of guy. I lifted, he lifted…thinks my left hip is out of alignment. I will get an x-ray soon. His receptionist is a nice wheel chair bound lady with a big black, fluffy service poodle.

We decided to go look for some caches (Brian’s day off). We headed to a local park where we had found a ammo-one of the first ones. Well this one was a bugger….near lots of rocks, branches and cement ruins of something. We almost gave up and I kicked a rock and there it was- looked like a playing card box! The log wasn’t in a bag and it was wet and icky.

I asked Brian if he wanted to try the one from this morning and he said ‘why not’! So it was around the corner and he zoned in on the fire hydrant and again there it was-‘our’ first to find in geocaching! How cool!

Tiny!!!

So we were sitting in the car and a truck pulls up next to us. The guy motions to roll down the window, so Bri did a bit. He says, ‘so you found it?’ It was the cache owner! He said he had read my entry and was going to put in a hint and we told him not to. It made sense it was on the fire hydrant. I don’t know how he would put it on the plaque itself.

We headed to Applebee’s and starting talking about geocaching to the hostess-she knew all about it and her brother had hide the one we had just found in the park! Small world.

We headed for another cache down the pike, but it looked like too much brush to tackle. We tried a gazebo one again, no luck. We didn’t check one spot where a busy yellow jacket nest was-good thing!

I found another listing down a back road and part of a orchard/farm series. The Navigator took us to a back road, but we saw a field of cows.

The GPS said it was 1/4 mile away-the main entrance to the dairy. We drove up and there’s a little barn where they sell their goods, on an honor system (mostly). We were told this later. We didn’t have cash at this point or a check. We’ll have to go back as I saw coconut ice cream! : ) The man there knew about the cache and we thought the place was closed, but he let us look. More people came along anyway to buy goodies.

The cache was down between two fenced areas. One side contained two sheep (we got sheep kisses) and the other side was goats and sheep. They were a little interested in us for a while, but we didn’t have food, so off they went.

I think that’s the cache pole!

It was on a corner pole! I had to lean over to unscrew the bison tube and retrieve this.

We went to a park near here too-it was getting dark, but we found the container under an evergreen. I had to chuckle at the logs of seasoned cachers complaining about this one. It wasn’t hard to find…big babies! : ) I see a few names of my new pals on this log.

I see I need to burn a CD for my geocache computer folder. It’s taking up a lot of room! My phone made me clean out a few apps too. Sean never had that problem when it was his phone.

One for the road! Moooooooooo!

Sep30

Fun times with the Class of ’77

Posted on Sunday, September 30, 2012 by Dianne

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I think I can speak for many in our humble, but mighty class of ’77 that our reunion was great! I got so many smiles and hugs that my head is spinning. I brought my camera and took some candid shots, but when Brian came after dinner for a visit, I was able to get in a few of them too!

Before we left.

There were 4 of us there from Mrs. Davis’ Kindergarten that was held in the basement of Sandy Bank School (now Walden). This was 1964-65! Yeah for Carol, Bill, Rona and me!

That’s Bev-we were pals over at Springton Lake Jr. high and Carol (mentioned above)is in the middle.

BTW, I loved my dress and shoes! I was comfy all night until the darn chairs put holes in my stockings.

My pal John was saying that there were lots of the same names last night-John, Carol, Bill, Janet, you get the idea. That could make it a little confusing.

We had our famous alumni, a very nice guy Todd who is a film director, screenwriter, etc. out in CA. His new movie is coming out next year-Phantom (The haunted Captain of a Soviet submarine holds the fate of the world in his hands. Forced to leave his family behind, he is charged with leading a covert mission cloaked in mystery). Cool…a submarine movie!

Todd and his sister Traci rode our bus and his mom was the guidance counselor at school. Todd was showing us his cute little nephew. He’s a proud uncle and says having a little one sure gives the family some energy.

This is horrible of me.

Then we have the couples who met in high school and got married and are still together. Margie (dark hair) and Karl are going to be grandparents next year. Both Francy and Margie have open invitations to Longwood Gardens.

My old pal Lil isn’t into blogging or Facebook, but she and another former classmate Kathy (not in attendance) have become world travelers! I asked the first place they went-Alaska! They are going to New Zealand soon. Kathy lives in CA and Lil in PA.

We had a classmate John come from Sweden to the reunion. He was sporting a cool braid and sandals. He brought his girlfriend (from Denmark) who hasn’t seen the east coast.

(Julie’s photo-thanks!)

We had the host of our beach get togethers come up too. Jim also installed one of those big satellite dishes for us many years ago-long gone. I swear it’s a small world.

A few people hadn’t come to a reunion for 25 yrs.! So nice to see the star of our senior play Sara and her hubby.

Lots of dancing and loud music…but I didn’t dare dance until I get my back checked out. My back has been better!

I sat with Darcy in the silver top and her hubby John-good pals. John and I were in more classes back in junior high.

Pretty marble staircase. I was waiting for Brian to come along.

We have lots of nurses, doctors and teachers in our group. : )

Libby and I went all the way through school together. Patty in the middle is a vet in Florida.

So in a few months, we’ll have a couple of mini reunions-one a bonfire that I haven’t attended due to the fact it was on Black Friday. It’s now the next day Saturday!

Until next time-cheers!

Thanks to Scott D and his helpers for always showing us a great evening.

Jan24

Let’s hope these fixes hold

Posted on Tuesday, January 24, 2012 by Dianne

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I was at the dentist yet again. The new temp duo was fixed by the dentist’s assistant (got a chip in it last night) and I asked her to check my upper crown too. She called the dentist in and he filled it like a cavity. He said no more crowns for that one, that he’d continue to fix it until I eventually need an implant. I had a bit of a rant in an email to him last night…some of my words…’financial burden’….’my anxiety level keeps raising’… I guess he got the picture. I came home and ate popcorn. Hopefully all will stay good for a few more weeks until the crowns are ready. The receptionist tried to milk more moola out of me, ‘for my balance’. I said in two weeks. It was rough waiting until 5 to go. I ate dinner at 4-shrimp fried rice and apple chicken sausage from Trader Joe’s.

All was well with my mom. I should have started off with that. Being a lady’s matter I’m sure she wouldn’t want me to come right out and say what was the matter. I’ll say one word, (so go look it up) ‘prolapsed’. She’s good for another year and is getting a mammogram soon. She had us worried, but she’s like her mom and bounces back. The weather was strange yesterday-rainy, a bit warm and foggy-perfect for ducks.

I’ve been working on projects, including one for a Flickr group. They all need finishing touches and I will share soon. Doing these helped get my mind off my teeth and annoying postnasal drip. The later seems to get stirred up every few weeks.

I got declined from the online writing job. I guess they thought either my blog stunk or I didn’t have enough writing experience. I took a look at one of their writers when I was checking out their site and she was just alright, nothing flashy about her writing. Brian just reminded me that I took a correspondence course in the 90s and did have samples of my actual ‘typed’ writing. I got a diploma for ‘Writing for Children’s Magazines’. Maybe I should see if that is still in demand. So the search goes on. BTW, this is post 3, 293- Suite101.com. So there….

Jan3

2011 in retrospect

Posted on Tuesday, January 3, 2012 by Dianne

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I’ve been a bit busy with work on New Year’s day (12-6, very boring) and running around to after Christmas sales with Brian on Monday. He goes back to work today. I was thinking though 2011 didn’t start out that great, we still got the nice 2005 Mariner at the end of January:

It was my vehicle for a few months until we spotted this one on the internet in July:

Yikes….it’s not a Ford/Mercury (my family loves Fords) and now we have two car payments a month for the next several years. I do love my little Ina who just turned 10. I’ve only seen two other gold PT Cruisers since July. She’s a rare one in these parts.

We decided we needed to take a few trips, not a week…but usually one or two nights.

First we went to Baltimore, MD and loved it there!

Baltimore’s World Trade Center

And we took the ‘side trip’ from Baltimore to Fort McHenry where Francis Scott Key was inspired to write our national anthem ‘The Star Spangled Banner’.

(Opps-that’s my funny shot)

We got to see Chincoteague Island and really loved the place too!

Because we had the Mariner, we got to travel more than we had in previous years.

Sean and I saw the taping of a local Philly talk show and one of the guests was ace Phillies pitcher Cliff Lee!

We went to the tribute band event ‘Beatlemania’ down in National Harbor, MD

We took a little time to see Alexandria, VA. and liked it there as well.

At the end of September, we finally got to go to a mini reunion for my high school class in Ocean City, NJ! It was fun and we enjoyed seeing the town of OC and Cape May, NJ also. My mom was along for that trip.

Brian took me up to York, PA again in October so I could attend the rubber stamp and scrapbooking show and we looked around the town a bit, not as much as I would have liked. But we went over to Mount Joy so we could eat at Bubbe’s Pub.

I got to see my little pal Nick and his mom Jenn on his second birthday when we spent the day at Longwood Gardens:

And oh Longwood…I really went there so many more times than I have in the past and hope to do so this year too!

And the Sugarloaf Craft Festival in November up in Oaks, PA was fun too-never been to that either. I found some nice gifts for people there.

So, it was a good year that we got to go places and see new things. We got to spend time with old and new friends and our family. I always like spending time with Brian and Sean, but this group-my ‘almost’ children (and mom too). : )

I want to get back on the weight loss track, one reason I posted photos of me at different angles. I plan to keep walking in the lovely local park and Longwood too!

And I can’t forget about getting the job. I’m wondering if I’ll still be there next week, only time will tell! If not, I’ll be taking a break for a month or so to get the house in shape and do some art.

Aug6

Sir Paul…it will be an honor!

Posted on Friday, August 6, 2010 by Dianne

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The other night Brian was listening to CDs. That always helps to lighten his mood and he acts like his old self as he is relaxing and not worrying about anything. 9 out of 10 times he’ll put on some ‘Wings’ for me which he did that night. I then remembered that Sir Paul will be in Philly sometime in the future. I went online and it’s the 14th of this month. I asked if we could go and Brian said ‘YES’! Woo hoo! The good tickets are all gone, and we really couldn’t afford them anyway. The ones I got are extreme stage right, but not really high up. And if there are big screens, that will be neat too. And who is to say we won’t take a little walk to see him closer? I was just at the venue with my friend to see James Taylor and Carole King. The worse part will be the parking, but there is no Phillies game that night, so it should be better than the last time I was there.
Brian’s gone to most concerts over the years to see performers I like. The last time he went to one he really ‘got into’ was Hall & Oates in the early 80s (I love H&O too). I’m going to bring my camera in my purse again.
Talk about crossing something off your bucket list. Can’t wait! I had a hard time getting to sleep last night.
PS-My older brother Dave is a huge Beatles fan and has the same bass Paul is holding above.