Category Archives: Me stuff

Aug27

Thursday Thunkies

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1. Have you ever played Bulls***?
Probably under another name. We use to play all kinds of card games. My grandmom even taught us poker!

2. A dog licks you on your face. Are you disgusted or thinking it was sweet?
A puppy-sweetness, an older dog-would wonder what he licked before he got to my face.
3. Tell us about a fun/special memory you have of a grandparent.
On my gosh, my grandmom Ruth helped to raise us! There are so many memories. She use to scold us and then chase us with the yardstick or a neon orange Hot*Wheel track. She loved her costume jewelry and wore a lot of it at once. Around the house she would just toss on whatever was clean-floral tops with plaid skirts. She did all the cooking and we got use to pot roast, meat sauce and spaghetti, chicken and dumplings and stew. I do continue to make my own versions of her meals.

4. Have you ever pet a rat?
I believe the neighbors had one and I did!

5. If I walked into your kitchen, where are the cups?
Do you mean like coffee mugs-they are on the right on their own shelf-a must have.

6. Since you already let me in your home, I found the cup and had water, now where’s the bathroom from the kitchen?
Ok-you make a left and another left-first door on the left!

7. Have you ever pet a turtle or tortoise? Had pet turtles, so yes!

Aug20

Thursday Thunkettes

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1. Your thoughts on hunting?
Personally, I’d only do it if I was starving, but not for sport.

2. Swine Flu vaccine… will you get it?
I heard it’s in 3 doses. Gee, I don’t know. I got the other flu shot last year and felt better during the winter.

3. What is one job/profession that you think there are just too many of?
There seems to be a bank on every corner here, do I’ll say bank teller. : )

4. I want to go on a diet, what advice will you offer me? I was reading up on Acai-the berry I think from Venezuela. Read it was like crack for fat people (the pill I ordered on e*Vitamins). This particular pill had 50 mg of caffeine, so maybe that’s what is making the woman feel that way. Anyway, read that Rachael*Ray did the cleanse and lost a ton of weight. I’ll try the crack pill first-lol

5. You are going out on a date with someone for the very first time. When you get into their car, you see a box of condoms on the floor. What do you do?
If I was a young’un, I would think he’s putting the horse before the cart. Not sure if I would have gone on the date.
6. Name something in your bathroom that shouldn’t be there.
Can’t think of anything except like a cardboard heart shaped box that matched the border paper-it is holding soap I think.

7. What was your Kindergarten teacher like?
Mrs. Davis-dark-haired, horn rimmed glasses, very nice. It was over 40 yrs ago, so my memory is fading. I am pals with a gal from that class though.

8. What kind of oil do you use when you cook? EVOO almost all the time-extra virgin olive oil.

9. If someone takes an unflattering picture of you and posts it online, do you beg them to take it down or do you laugh at yourself with everyone else?
Depends on how bad. There are a few on Face*book. My son took one of me on the beach and my hair is a mess, but I have a shirt over my bathing suit-whew.

10. What brand of dishwashing soap do you use?
I think Dawn is the best.
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The air conditioner is recharged in my van thanks to my brother. He thinks it has a leak in the dashboard. I asked him how it ran and he said ‘okay’. It’s going on 14 yrs old. Can’t do anything about a newer vehicle until Sean starts paying back his own loans.
We hit Home*Goods-lots of goodies for fall and Halloween. I got a cute Anna*lee Mouse dressed like an Indian, a mosaic hummingbird you hang and the wings move, some Autumn sprinkles-orange, brown, yellow for cupcakes and a new table cloth.

Aug19

Pickle Power!

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We’re having a warm and sticky week. I go sit outside for about 10 minutes and come back in to the a/c. Since the tomatoes went bust, we have been lucky to get the cherry and grape ones, but the cucumbers really took off. Yesterday I made refrigerator pickles with about 7 cups of sliced cukes, vinegar, sugar, salt,chopped onion and dillweed. Needless to say, the guys have been dipping into the container a few times. They are really easy to make!
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One of big hibiscus flowers (I grew the plants from seed about 4 yrs ago) broke off, so I brought it in. The deer usually make a meal out of these, but I have some blooming this year.
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Today I was tidying up my living room area as that is where I will sit the priest when he visits on Monday as we hardly use this area. My craft stuff is tucked in every nook and cranny since I have so much of it now. Yes, I will downsize and keep things I really like (one of these days).
My brother is working on the air in my van. I just can’t drive with the windows open. My class is having a get-together at the beach at the end of September and Brian said we could attend. It’s in Ocean City, but I’d like to find a room in Cape May and drive over to the get-together. When we were there last week, it was a tease for mom and me as we hardly saw anything as it started to rain and we had to leave.
Guess I’ll be headed to my hometown tomorrow to get my van. Hope the weather holds out. We lost power for two hours last night from mostly gusty winds. That makes 12 hours without power in the last month.

Aug13

Thursday Thunks

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1. Hypothetical question- you are in a building with famous works of art, old manuscripts of famous novels, and original sheet music from famous composers. The building is on fire and looks to be completely destroyed. Do you grab any of the famous works before fleeing, and if so what?
Yes I would! If I was in the Brandywine River Museum, which is 10 minutes from here, I’d grab Jamie Wyeth’s pig or something of his late father’s-not sure which.
2. In August 1969, the Manson family went on a 2 night killing spree. Do you think 40 years later they have paid for their crimes?
No, they should stay in prison, especially Wacky Charlie.
3. Power Outage! What’s the longest you have been without power?
3 or 4 very looonggg days. I contracted Lyme Disease too.
4. Just bought a new tazer gun. Will you let it be tested it on you to see if it works, and how it feels to be tazered?
I think I would be afraid or wonder if it would hurt my heart or something.
5. A neighbor’s mail was delivered to you. In it is a magazine not wrapped in plastic. Is it ok for you to flip through it before giving it to the neighbor? Do you tell them you looked through it?
If it was something I was interested in, maybe I’d flip through it. I use to get magazines where a week or so of them were missing, so I’m thinking someone just kept them. I wouldn’t tell them I looked, because maybe they looked at mine too!
6. If I went through your purse/wallet right now, what all would I find in there?
Stuff! : ) I actually got one of those purses that looks like a mini backpack and it’s fairly organized. The usual-wallet, lip gloss, cloth to clean glasses, MP3 player, peppermints and gum….
7. Have you been living under a rock?
Oh-you saw the moss on my back?
8. Tell us something crazy you did this week.
Getting stuck in a traffic jam going to the Jersey shore-10 miles-1.5 hours! Got up to where we were to go to one lane and they weren’t even fixing the road-that was crazy. I had a melt down in the middle of the night in Atlantic City as my knees were achy and I couldn’t sleep.

Aug6

Thursday Thunks

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1. What the hell were you thinking?
I know, I totally skipped these questions last week because they were so strange-lol

2. The tornado sirens go off in your neighborhood – what do you do?
Get everyone down the basement.

3. Give us a recipe.
Since we are growing cucumbers-a Martha Stewart one-
Cucumber Ranch Dressing
Ingredients

Makes 2 1/4 cups

* 1 medium cucumber, peeled, halved lengthwise, seeded, and grated on the large holes of a box grater
* 1 tablespoon shallot, finely chopped
* 3/4 cup sour cream
* 1/4 cup low-fat buttermilk
* 1/4 cup mayonnaise
* 3 1/2 tablespoons (about 1 lemon) fresh lemon juice
* 1 1/4 teaspoons coarse salt
* Pinch of cayenne pepper
* 3 tablespoons fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
* 3 tablespoons fresh chives, finely chopped
Directions
1. Stir together cucumber, shallot, sour cream, buttermilk, mayonnaise, lemon juice, salt, cayenne, parsley, and chives in a medium bowl. Season with additional salt and cayenne, if desired. Dressing can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Serve with pita chips-yum!
4. It’s the middle of the night, there isnt a car in sight and you are stuck at a red light that just won’t change…. how long do you wait until you run it?
Within a few minutes.

5. When was the last time you got all dressed up fancy-like? Where did you go? For my son’s college graduation in May and then I wore a new dress to a little grad party we had last month for him.

6. Have you ever had a mole removed? Yes, it was right where necklaces would rub on it.

7. Are you in an area of record highs or record lows for the temps this summer? Are you lucky and stuck in the middle where it’s somewhat normal? We’ve had a fairly ‘cool’ summer. In this past week we’ve had high 80s and humidity. It’s really playing with my sinuses.

8. When was the last time you changed your furnace filter?
I just asked my husband as we run the a/c through it too. It’s been a few months. I asked before reading this too!

9. What’s your favorite type of frog?
The ones I see in my little pond-Leopards.

10. If you were to go on America’s Got Talent, what would you do for your talent? (and choosing not to go is not an option….)
Sing!

11. Have you ever been on a rooftop of a building? Yes! Down at Caesar’s in Atlantic City (where we are going again next week) they have a pool there.

12. What is the first website you go to each day when you sit down at your computer, other than your email?
Either my blog or Facebook.
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My sinuses are being bothersome-the ones around my eyes-ugh. My throat is weird too. Even Claritin isn’t helping a lot. I have something else to try too.
I got a phone call yesterday from ‘Private caller’. At first I thought it was a charity, and then I picked it up and it was my friend from college who was also my maid of honor. We had lost touch because she wouldn’t write anything about what was going on in her life in Christmas cards, just wrote ‘Love, L’. I asked her to and she wouldn’t. Anyway, we talked for an hour. She got her Master’s at age 45 and still is working in the prison in NJ (I think she processes inmates). Said they are hiring people that haven’t had college training as they don’t want to pay for that. She’s hoping to retire in 7 yrs at age 55. Found her through her brother on Facebook! She’s not a computer person.
Sean is off to Bethany Beach, DE to spend a few days with his pal who will be going to Miami for his Masters in a week or so. We are going down to Atlantic City for a few days next week like we did last year. We are hoping to drive over to Cape May as we haven’t been there for 10 yrs! Last year we went to Margate and saw the Lucy the Elephant structure.

Aug3

Need a baseball bat?

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All the rain kept us out of the garden for a number of days and lookie what Brian found over the weekend:
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Yep, a biggie! We also harvested about 4 cucumbers so far. Next week we’ll be digging to see if I got any fingerling potatoes! I see some green beans that need picking too.
Unfortunately, many of the tomatoes in my container garden and a few in the big garden are getting blossom rot from the rain. We need some hot, dry days to hopefully remedy that! Tomorrow and the next should help.
For the second Sunday in a row, we had a terrible storm that knocked out the power for 5 hours each day it happened. I tidied up some art supplies and made this as one of the four I made that day. It’s my friend’s grandmom-I don’t think she reads my blog and she’s away right now:
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Don’t put an old photo of yourself or a relative on your blog or in Facebook or I may use it! I’ll gift her with this. I’d say it’s about 1908 or so.
Sean and I went down to my mom’s and did a few things around the place. She bought yet another bagless vacuum which I scolded her for. I hope this one doesn’t ‘blow up’ like her previous clunker did! We went down to the liquidator store and JoAnn’s and I bought a few things namely paper crafting things at JoAnn’s (40% off) and 70% off windchimes and a few little gnome figurines. We went to The O*live Garden and the portions were very slimmed down. I always had some left to bring home, not tonight.
So that’s my last few days. Plan to stay in and cool tomorrow!

Jul31

Show & Tell

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Here is my share for today. I found this little cabinet at a liquidator place. It’s great because it holds the Art trading cards I make and receive. The doors had a photo of some vintage man, so I replaced it with old family photos of Brian’s grandmom at the top, my maternal great grandmom and her daughters, my grandmom Ruth and her sister Ethel and finally of my maternal greats on the 4th of July and their children. I believe it only cost $6 as some of the finish isn’t done correctly (it’s sticky) and you can’t see it anyway.
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Jul29

Facebook breakdown

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It really is hard to know what to write about sometimes, so here goes about something that’s on my mind. As you all know by now, I ♥ Facebook. I am up to about 196 ‘friends’, many who I know. I haven’t officially broken down how I know who, but about 92 (at least) went to high school with me! I graduated with about 486, about 10 are deceased, so that is close to one fifth of my class-and I graduated 32 years ago. Of those ’92’, I’ve seen about 8 of them in the last few months. Many still live in the area, but many don’t . It’s just fun to talk to people I once shared a classroom with who I’d never thought I’d talk to again. And I have to say what a varied class! Many love sailing-I found a common thread there. Many have been to so many exotic areas for vacation.
So who are the other 100 or so? I think the next breakdown is definitely cross stitch pals. Many I met through blogging, so they are blogging pals too. There are those who I know just from blogging and a group called Tribe. And then I have people I meant through the Flickr photography site.
I have four ‘celebs’-one I went to school with who is a director and Emmy winner-Todd*Robinson. Jennifer*Hutt has a radio and tv show with Alexis*Stewart called ‘What*ever’. Charlotte*Lyons is a crafter and writer and works with Mary*Engelbreit. Rory*Schepisi was a finalist on ‘The Next*Food Network* Star’ on the Food*Network.
So that’s why I love Facebook-so many connections, so many interesting people-all in one place!

Jul27

Boom!

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Seems we are in for a week of heat and humidity with pop-up thunder and lighting storms like Friday and Sunday nights! Of course last night we lost power for almost five hours from around 8 pm to 1 am. We were sitting around listening to ‘Delilah’ on the radio (she has the most soothing voice) and doing a round robin playing the ‘ABC’ game with people’s names. Some of the names I picked were ‘too hard to remember’ like Tawny and Wentworth-lol.
I had made a yummy veggie stir fry for dinner before the storm hit. It called for Bird’s*Eye frozen veggies and I used all fresh-a few had to be precooked.

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Then I mixed up a Cinna*bon coffee cake we bought at B*Js-we enjoyed that in the dark. I had just cleaned my kitchen floor and one of the counters before the power went. At least I didn’t totally waste my evening.
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A new gazing ball on a stand.
And the Crocusmia:
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~Update-Zoey wanted to know how long I’ve had the Crocusmia-they have only bloomed twice, so I think I planted them in the fall of 2007. The leaves flicker in the breeze and I think the flowers are neat the way they open.

Jul23

Thursday Thunks

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1. You walk into a store and the cashier is being held up by a robber. The robber’s accomplice is dead on the floor at your feet with a shotgun laying next to him. The robber does not see you, but the cashier does – what do you do?
Gee-one of those moments where you have to think in a split second! Hoping there is a counter there, I would duck down and hope not to be seen by the robber and crawl out of sight. If you try to turn around and leave, I think the robber would see you and that wouldn’t be good!

2. We go to an ice cream shop for an ice cream cone. You say you are buying and I am going to stay in the car. You ask me what I want and I say “surprise me”, what kind of ice cream cone am I going to get?
Probably one of the companies ‘new flavors’ like Tahiti Pineapple or something fun sounding like that.

3. You have a dream that your co-worker, friend or whoever is hit by a garbage truck after they back into a ladder with a black cat on it. The next day you see that person standing by a ladder with a black cat on it and there is a garbage truck driving down the road…. what do you do? Yell MOVE!

4. What is the most money you’ve won on a lottery or scratch off ticket?Like $20, but my father-in-law won $200 on a $25 scratch off one.

5. A neighbor kid down the street comes to your door and offers to wash all of your windows outside for $10 – do you have him do it? Probably not as most of my windows are behind hedges and hard to get to. I usually use the hose on them, but I want to try that new Windex product.

6. Go to Google Images. Type in the name of the last movie you saw. Post the first picture that comes up.
scoop

7. Your local animal shelter calls you and says there are 3 dogs that need an immediate foster home for 3 days. If you do not accept, the dogs are put down that day. Do you take them in?

On gee, that is such a hard question to answer-to get out of it, I wouldn’t answer the phone. As much as I love animals, I have no room for three dogs and a persnickety cat in one house. I don’t think anyone would have to worry about a phone call like that!

8. What is the messiest room in your home?
Probably the family room. The messiest area is the basement or ‘bottomless pit’.

9. Have you ever been to a wedding that participated in a strange tradition that you had never heard of? Not that I remember.

10. Name one sport that you just don’t get.
Football! I mean I get it, but I don’t see what’s so great about it.

11. What was the last email that came into your inbox about?
Quick &* Simple magazine offer

12. Skipping as my blog is rated ‘G’ and I would never shop in a store like that.

13. Go back to that Google Images link… type in the last food item that you ate. Post the 2nd picture it comes up with.
eggos

14. Got any bumper stickers on your vehicle? What are they?
Yes-Stand Up 2 Cancer and Make A Child Smile on the bumper and ‘Proud Penn State Parent’ taped on the back window.

15. What meme question do you wish was never asked again? How about #12?