Category Archives: local interest

Sep16

Cupcake selling could be a profitable business venture

Posted on Friday, September 16, 2011 by Dianne

Yum-cupcakes!, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

This is a vendor(it’s funny as she has her hand in the money box-goes with my title!) from the mushroom festival. I don’t know about you, but I sure remember the day when cupcakes were about 50 cent each. Even today down at the Giant, 6 of them are around $3-4 in the little plastic boxes-NOT $3.50 for one cupcake like this place. I ‘indulged’, let’s put it that way. And when the woman (not this one) handed Bri the container, he took it and let it drop in the bag-you guessed it-the icing all stuck to the lid and I have to fix it when I got home. They were good, but I was expecting spectacular! Mine-a Strawberry Lemonade was a bit on the dry side. I got Sean a coconut one and he liked it. As they were so expensive, I promised Bri I would make him a flavor I know he would enjoy-espresso-got to get out the Martha S. cupcake cookbook!
I’ve been cleaning and sorting. Found a lot of stuff for the #2 yard sale-purses, shoes, tops, etc. Seems that is what they like, but I was hoping the guys would sort out their stuff more. I’m going to go look in some more boxes.
A third even-more public is in early November-can’t beat $10 a table-so will probalby do that. In general the house is in an uproar, but I don’t care. I’ll even add some stuff from Bri’s dad and also Mom’s jewelry. Wish us luck!
Keep ‘someone close’ (don’t want to say who in case the wrong people read this) in your thoughts and prayers. They had a phone interview with an very popular internet company that we have utilized in the past and it is a $$ saving ‘deal’ company. They need a rep for Wilmington, DE.and this person just may fit the bill. I know they got a call back because of experience.

Sep10

Good yard sale

Posted on Saturday, September 10, 2011 by Dianne

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For 5 hours ‘outside’ work, we made $80! Brian gave up his childhood desk that for some reason he had stashed in the basement bathroom. We had mainly people looking for clothes. I had a lot of craft books out, but no one out of about 10 or so cars really looked at them. I am trying to sell my Shaker style desk-I believe one woman got out of her car to look at it, but decided she didn’t have room for it-or didn’t feel like stripping it down. Do you remember when the Nordic track machines (like ski machines) were the rage back in the early 90s? Brian bought one and as the space shrunk and he stopped using it and it was getting in the way. He brought that up, but no one hardly looked at it or the Shaker desk. I am half tempted to go through my summer clothes early and toss some of them on a table. I may look in the boxes left over from when we had the kitchen remodeled-yep, still have a lot of them. I missed my intended audience-middle aged women who like to craft and like knick-knacks-makes sense-lol. I decided stuff that was marked $1 or less is going in a bag to the Goodwill. Oh and my mom came out with little bags of her costume jewelry (really too much) and only made $7. The heavy container is stuck in the back of my car now to return to her. I think she should have used different boxes and tagged the stuff with a red sticker for $1, etc. People love to touch stuff. We’ll see about tomorrow.
Photo share…
Here’s another view of the pretty stores in Alexandria, VA

Sep5

Sunset and Sustenance

Posted on Monday, September 5, 2011 by Dianne

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NatlHAlex 044, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

Thanks to a lady for posting her own sunset photo on Pinterest, we found Sauciety( http://www.saucietyamericangrill.com/) right on the waterfront to get our own sunset photo, a good meal and a bit of a discount on the meal! It was the restaurant below the Westin Hotel. I booked an online reservation and mentioned a code word to get 20% off the bill. Anyway, we got a glass of wine (Brian and me) which shot the price up.

The three of us chose a three course, prefixed meal and that saved a bit too. We had huge bowls of spring mix salad with raspberry vinigrette dressing, crusty bread with olive oil and some with sun dried tomatoes for dipping. Brian had salmon and asparagus:

And Sean and I had lobster ravioli:

How do you like the dishes?
And we had a creme brulee type custard for dessert

and Bri had bread pudding (not shown).
The prefixed price was about $35 each.
Us at dusk on the boardwalk:

And my favorite guys:

Aug24

Us in the audience!

Posted on Wednesday, August 24, 2011 by Dianne

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Us in the audience!, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

Sean and I did get down to see the taping of a local Philly chat show. It was lots of fun to be part of the audience. We got up at 6:30 am, left at 7:50 am and got there at 9:20 a.m.-that was close! We were some of the last people to check in, but we got to sit in the second row behind women and their kids who won a Phillies photo contest. They had added that stip on to their Facebook page and I do have some good photos of us at that smoldering game last year and Sean standing in the parking lot of the stadium. Sean tries to go to a game a year with his dad, but couldn’t afford it this year as he purchased the car. So this was a fun thing to do and he got to see the ace pitcher Cliff Lee.

I photographed these off the tv when we got home as they re-broadcast the show at 5 pm.
Who we came to see: Cliff Lee

Author and cook Cynthia Goch was on and made a few dishes-one of which was Eggplant Pizza. Here’s the recipe:

Me outside the studio with our goodies-a towel, a photo and a Chester County Women’s booklet (Sean gave his to my mom).

Aug21

Delmarva trip part 2

Posted on Sunday, August 21, 2011 by Dianne

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I’ve had a few days to unwind now, so I thought I’d continue my vacation post.
On Wednesday we checked out of our Ocean City, MD hotel and headed to the O.C.Inlet area. I love this area as it’s mostly ocean everywhere you look. We got comfy and a young lady lifeguard told us it was a ‘surfer’s beach’ to a certain point. If more than a couple surfers showed up, we were to move behind a certain area. They never did. There is a jetty in this area where people were fishing and a foghorn that goes off every so often.

We are pretty much the whitest people on the beach-lol! We all got some sunburn-Brian and Sean’s was more blotchy on their chests and tummy.

This it the parking for the inlet and boardwalk. Incidently, Sean is on the way home from O.C. from an overnight trip with pals. He stayed in a place that had an indoor skating rink!
So…we stayed here about 1.5 hours and then went for lunch and a little shopping before we headed to Chincoteague, Virginia. Sean’s phone GPS took us down some very rural back roads. We passed several decrepid houses, about 4 ancient cemeteries and acres and acres of corn or marsh. Another home had several ‘bottle trees’ like they have down in the south. I think they weren’t real trees, but like faux Christmas trees that were probably hand done. This is something I only saw for a few seconds.
This is what we saw when we were headed to the island:

We got to our hotel and were pleasantly surprised by this homey place:

The pool was half enclosed and there was a hot tub nearby. I’m the only one who splashed around in the pool!
We headed to the beach as we were early for check in. It’s about 5 minutes or so away. What a beautiful place! Even more ocean than O.C.!

We did see a herd of wild ponies on our way to the beach. That was a treat!

and with a zoom:

I wanted to see the Assateague lighthouse so we stopped there as it was minutes away from the beach. We were told while shopping to get ‘Off!’ by a helpful store clerk and didn’t think to spray ourselves before we started the trek to the lighthouse! I’ve never seen so many hungry mosquitoes. We did get some bites, I think I got about 7 that took a few days to show up. Here is the 140+ year old lighthouse. (We didn’t get to climb it though).

I’ll stop here and finish up tomorrow where I will show you the Chincoteague Museum with taxidermy of the real Misty the pony! I read ‘Misty of Chincoteague’ over 40 yrs ago!
PS-for Zoey!

Aug19

Whirlwind of activities-part one

Posted on Friday, August 19, 2011 by Dianne

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We take short vacations but really jam pack a lot of activities into that time! From stopping at our favorite sandwich place in Rehoboth Beach to seeing something new-we keep ourselves busy. When we got to Rehoboth, the sky looked like this:

It did start to rain, so we wondered into an arcade where the guys were attracted to the baseball games:

Brian has a good pitching arm from being on a team at one of his jobs. : )
Here is a sign to tell you about Rehoboth. Both Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb have ties (Kathie Lee’s parents parents had an inn there and Hoda’s mom recently bought a place there-they just had an episode there a few weeks ago)

Of the various beaches we visit, I love the little stores that line this area the best. Isn’t this a pretty pavillion?

We then hopped in the car (the rain was steadier then) and headed to Ocean City. It’s about 30 miles just to get to the outskirts of Ocean City, Maryland. We were staying on 13th and it starts about block 150.
Sean picked out this place and paid for one night. It was a good location, but we had a small room with double beds. I judged from the bathroom tiles it was built in the 1950s (as was the first apartment we lived in that had similar ones) and I was right-1954!

BEACH PLAZA HOTEL– Built in 1954 by Ethel Griffin Kelley and her son Harry Kelley, a former mayor of Ocean City. Richard Nixon and his family spent many vacations here. Bryce and Shirley Phillips have owned and operated the hotel since 1970.

They are renovating it and the lobby and restaurant are very lovely.

I’m not sure what the story is behind these ostriches on the front porch. There were plenty of rocking chairs to enjoy the beach scene too.

How clever was it to make the porch tables out of old Singer sewing machine tables?

We went down to check out the beach. Right before this photo was taken, a big wave came up and splashed my newly changed pants. What a shock!

That night we walked about 10 blocks! Whew! We had a pizza dinner that wasn’t too great and then Brian and I stayed in and Sean went to the young people’s night club. He rolled in about 1:30 am as he had to take a bus to the place. We finally got to enjoy some beach time on Wednesday. I’ll continue in another post.

Aug4

The fun continues

Posted on Thursday, August 4, 2011 by Dianne

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(The above video is 25 yrs old-Sean will be 25 in October!)
Longwood Garden hosts a number of popular singers and performers in their outdoor ampitheatre. A few years ago we saw Boz Scaggs. This year we are seeing Bruce Hornsby and the Noisemakers! A pal from high school said he is really good live, so I decided to get the tickets today. I don’t think there are more than 300 seats, so it’s a small venue. This is after the couple of days at the different beach areas and before Beatlemania. My mom wants to take a daytrip to Atlantic City near her birthday. It’s about 85 or so miles one way for us, but I remember doing it a few times, once when Sean was little. My high school class also has a reunion in Ocean City, NJ either late September or early October. We haven’t been going because of our vehicles, so now since we have more reliable ones, we can hopefully go.
After Beatlemania, I want to have a big yard sale (gotta pay for all these fun things). I haven’t had one for years. I tried the thrift shop, but it isn’t worth driving back and worth there for a few dollars of sales.

Jul22

Please send a cool breeze…

Posted on Friday, July 22, 2011 by Dianne

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White Pampas Grass, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

(The above photo is from my walk at Longwood Gardens last week)

We are in our 6th day of a heatwave-murder! I was out setting up a hose and sprinkle for the garden that Sean purchased yesterday. It’s one of those little round sprinkers and I had to move it around and get a little wet, but in 97 degree heat it was worth it.
I thought I’d share this photo of something that looks like it would blow nicely in the breeze…ornamental grass.
Not sure if consigning is right for me as out of 28 items, only 4 have sold so far. And I was peeved as some of my things are missing and the lady shrugged that off. I really like browsing around and finding some treasures, but when they aren’t watching their clientele that closely, that’s if they are stealing the Phillies t-shirt we couldn’t find along with a few books and a little shelf. I have an appointment for next week-think I’ll just wait until August now to pick up the things that didn’t sell. This time of year people are spending money on vacations, not used stuff.
I’m waiting on a few things for the car like mats and a seat cover. The driver’s seat is a bit ‘wrinkled’ (it’s leather), so I found a cover with the Chrysler logo. I’ll have to take a few photos when everything is in place. Did I tell you it’s the best car I ever drove? This surprised Brian for some reason. The van was good, but it was hard to see over the hood sometimes and Sean had problems galore parking it. I had a Crown Victoria which was nice, but that was a typical big 1980s car. ; )
Guess I’ll keep myself busy around the house.
Stay cool!

Jul15

Monochrome flowers

Posted on Friday, July 15, 2011 by Dianne

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Monochrome flowers, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

I went to Longwood Gardens by myself as my mom said she wasn’t able to drive as her back was bad. She said she doesn’t think she will be able to drive out here that much anymore. : (
I was sitting fiddling with the camera settings as the files were too large and my card was filled up. I decided to try the monochrome and shot this right next to where I was sitting. Pretty cool!
I walked around almost the entire place and did well, not too hot! I walked up at least 50+ steps. I guess losing 6-7 pounds is a plus. More photos…

I ❤ you!

Reflection of sky with water lilies

For Zoey!

Jun23

I keep adding to the mix

Posted on Thursday, June 23, 2011 by Dianne

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First of all Happy 88th Birthday to Brian’s dad Frannie! Wow, that is a milestone birthday. The guys are seeing him after work. I’m not as they both are taking separate cars. He was rather ill last year and could barely get around. He is so much better this year though we worry about him living on his own. The yard is way too much work. He has a guy cut the grass and trim some stuff, but he got poison ivy bad in the backyard and doesn’t want to tackle that! I don’t blame him. He needs a super duper bottle of weed killer.

Yesterday I was down in my hometown to accompany mom to the doctor. She has had a sore right arm off and on and the doctor thinks it’s a pulled muscle. He took blood to keep her sugar in check. After she was finished, we went across the street to an Asian market and produce place. I was snooping around (lots of their things are picked over now), but I found this beauty, a Passion Flower for only $14.99. I know if I had gone to the garden center I went to later to purchase the same thing, it would have been at least $40 or more.

My friend Meg had one a few years ago and I couldn’t stop looking at it. I will have to see if it gets fruit.
Mom and I had some salad and gourmet pizza next. I only eat one piece and eat mostly salad. I lost 5 pounds in a month which is a small feat for me! I’m trying to loss in 5 pound intervals which is the safest and most practical way.
After dinner we went to JoAnn’s and their lawn decor is down to 60% off. I got a few more gnomes as some here getting old and broken. I didn’t stop there and usually overdo it at that store.
After I dropped mom off, I headed to the fancy Terrain garden center again. Remember the pocket gardens from a few weeks ago? I looked closely at them and they could surely be made from gardeners’ block fabric, maybe doubled. My camera was losing it’s charge or I would have taken a photo to show how bushy everything got! Great idea. I was looking for things for a few bowl gardens. Remember they are pricey and I went ahead and did buy some things like an ice plant, etc. Also found a chocolate Cosmo-it sure looks like the color of chocolate.
Today it’s like a sauna outside and the catkins are falling from the Chestnut trees. I did up two bowls with the new plants. I think they need a few decorations in them! I’ll share soon.

Not sure if you have heard of the ‘Jackass’ tv shows and movies, but pretty sure you have. It was all over the news that one of the stars, 34 yr old Ryan Dunn was killed early Monday morning in a firey car crash along with his friend Zack. They were driving at 130 and his alcohol level was twice what it should be. That happened near the hospital I was in for my appendix in January as they both lived in West Chester, PA. So some people are cashing in on this tragedy-this one lady sold the local paper about the crash for $10K and another is up to $100k on eBay! Not sure if they are legit, but they do look like they are. I hope she donates some of her winnings to MADD (Mothers against drunk driving). Although this is indeed a tragedy and it took 2 lives, he could have hit other vehicles instead of going through a grove of trees. By the way, Brian works for the paper that got the big bids.