Category Archives: Me stuff

Aug21

Adding insult to injury

Posted on Thursday, August 21, 2008 by Dianne

Today I am feeling that lighthouse climb even more. The front of my thighs hurt yesterday, but they are really complaining today. As is my back. Thank goodness for the heating pad, icy hot and massage pad! I went out last night and started to pull weeds. Then I was pulling grass out of the brick sidewalk. I even had Bri leaning over pulling grass out of it. Martha Stewart is pulling weeds (maybe), they are so bad this year. You can see why I’m so sore. It’s a good pain as I feel like I did something worthwhile. Sean bought me a weedwacker last year, but it’s so big, or I am so short (even after adjusting the handle part) I have trouble using it.

I will say the pond looks nice, despite the weeds. I have to get the fountain part to work again, more leaning over:

I have a few different kinds of water plants in there besides waterlilies (which didn’t bloom in either water container I have them in). I have water hyacinth and a Canna lily plus that plant that looks like little umbrellas. The waterfall has a piece of old tv glass in it.

Bri is with his dad today as he has a sore on his stomach that won’t heal-he’s at the wound center of the hospital over near where he lives. He was in the hospital about 4 yrs ago with one on his leg. Daddo is also having dental problems and can’t chew that well. It will take over a month for his bridge to be fixed. I think the time may be near for him to move into an assisted living place. He’s getting frail and I know he is probably lonesome. I bet he would be popular as he likes to tell jokes and talk about money. Bri would have to fix up the old homestead over there-like get a new roof and some cosmetic things. It’s in a nice area on the other side of Chester County.

Sean wants to go to Walmart soon and I need to get a few things too.

And thanks so much to Jennifer from Sweet Pea Stitches for this award:

I send it back to her:

I’m to pick 7 blogs altogether and tell the recipients they got the award.

Ok, this is difficult, but I pick:

Carole of Pea’s Corner

Barb of Mainely Stitching

Zoey of Perennial Passion

Lee of Lake Stitcher

Kelli of There is no place like home

Emily of The Floss Box.

Aug20

Atlantic City & attractions 2008

Posted on Wednesday, August 20, 2008 by Dianne

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Atlantic City & attractions 2008, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

Here’s a mosaic from our trip-view the large one at the above link or go to the slideshow of the set here. Unfortunately, some of the photos were cut off a bit. Sunday-we basically just stayed around the hotel and went to the mall for dinner. Monday we went to the beach after having the hotel’s breakfast buffet. While we were on the beach, we heard the roar of planes coming very close, almost like one was going to crash in the ocean! Here is was the USAF Thunderbirds flying team practicing for their show today. It was neat at first, but after 45 minutes, it was a bit loud. That night we went to the outlet shops near by and bought a few clothes items (that’s basically all there was). Sean bought me a candle as he was getting a bit short with me about things. I couldn’t help it if ‘Aunt Flo’ decided to visit me during the trip. To prove that I could do it, I climbed the Absecon lighthouse as described below-ouch! The front of my thighs are complaining! After we left there, we headed to Margate where Lucy the Elephant is located. It’s over 100 years and a mascot for the area. You can go up in her, but I just couldn’t do the climbing again. We found a excellent deli (Downbeach) and we all loved what we had-mom said it was the best pastrami she has had for a long time. We decided to stop at Smithville, a quaint little shopping area on the way home. We hadn’t been there for a while, and it doesn’t change much. I bought a tiny hummingbird feeder from a store that sold all bird related things (that’s what they basically were-all Ireland, all angels, etc). to put in the window where my craft table is.

I haven’t felt that tired for a long time when we got home and it took me a few hours to fall asleep, but I stayed asleep for a solid 4-5 hours which is good for me. Mom or I haven’t done that kind of walking for ages. I’m really happy that she did so well in that aspect. Sleeping there was another story.

Oh, and Cosmo was glad to see us and not too stand-offish. He seems really tired, I guess he was pining after me!

Aug16

Photo Hunt Colorful

Posted on Saturday, August 16, 2008 by Dianne

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Grab the Scavenger Hunt code.Photo Theme. Join the blogroll. Visit participants.

Study in color-favorite one, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

Someone remarked that my photo last week for the hunt was good enough for this week’s theme. That made me want to take some new photos! I arranged flowers from my yard in these cute little vases. I started to take photos and it took about 20 photos before I achieved what was in my head. Enjoy!

Aug15

Just a few more days

Posted on Friday, August 15, 2008 by Dianne

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Until Mom and me get to see something different…and we sure need it! (Bri and Sean have been down to that beach already). Mom was at my uncle’s house running around for him yesterday and today. I was trying to assemble bags of ‘must haves’-Tylenol, hard candy, Rolaids, snack stuff and finally my clothes. I decided to try some hard candy that I haven’t had for a while. While letting it melt in my mouth, I felt something hard in my mouth and here another gumline filling chipped off. It was right next to the one I had repaired a few weeks ago. I think when the dentist cut some of the gum away, it bothered that filling. I called and the office was closed. I left a hurried message and then went on their website to schedule an appt for next week. About an hour later, Dr. P. called and said he could put a temp fix on it. I ran down and he was the only one there and I was in and out quickly. I went to the drug store to get the filling stuff to take with me. What the dentist put in my mouth only lasted a few hours, so it was kinda of wasted trip. He told me about the stuff in the drug store over the phone.

Not much else is new. I am still sorting my craft stuff and my craft space is a bit of a mess again. I have a new swap to work on involving using The Wizard of Oz as a theme. Can you believe that movie will be 70 years old next year?

I also won a ‘door prize’ from an online site (will post link)! I won a cute snowman by Flora.

Not sure about the chiropractor. Not only is it expensive, but my tummy muscles were very stressed and sore today. They have been really touchy to begin with this summer. I will say my neck is better and so are my sinuses. Think I’ll still look into a massage therapist.

Aug14

An interesting share

Posted on Thursday, August 14, 2008 by Dianne

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Sometimes I like to share email that is worth a second or third read. This is suppose to be something Bill Gates said at a graduation. I usually check stuff first, but it sounds legit.

Love him or hate him, he sure hits the nail on the head with this! Bill Gates recently gave a speech at a High School about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.

Rule 1: Life is not fair – get used to it!

Rule 2 : The world won’t care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3 : You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won’t be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4 : If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Rule 5 : Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.

Rule 6: If you mess up, it’s not your parents’ fault, so don’t whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren’t as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent’s generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they’ll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn’t bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don’t get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time..

Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

And my favorite:

Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you’ll end up working for one.

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Not too much new. I went to the chiropractor and he suggested 20 treatments-let’s see 20 times $50 (no insurance help) is something I can’t afford. We’ll see-maybe a couple of more times. He cracks my neck and pushes on my spine and then I lay on a table that has massaging balls that run up and down my back. I have a chair pad that does the same thing. I’m not in pain. I still have the tingling off and on that runs around from the right back. I think that pushing may be aggravating. I have found that I’m not really that hungry the last few days. I’ve been busier, but it’s not like I am starving. I waited until 6 last night to eat 1.5 pieces of leftover pizza and I really wasn’t hungry. I think I was a little empty in the middle of the night. And I think I lost 2-3 pounds. Maybe it’s helping my digestion?
Sean bought a GPS system that was dirt cheap yesterday. Linens and Things is closing and he got a $200 one for $60. He is having fun figuring it out. It would have been nice to have one when we went to NYC as we were a little lost. Not that we would drive in there again-lol. If we went again, we would park in the Meadowlands in NJ and take a bus in.

Aug13

Snap, crackle and pop!

Posted on Wednesday, August 13, 2008 by Dianne

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I did hear some of the above noises today at the chiropractor! My neck cracked really well. He pressed on my spine and that was uncomfortable. Then I laid on a table that vibrated mostly my butt area for a few minutes. I told he I had a chair massager pad that I should use more. Our insurance won’t cover these visits, so I have to figure out what to do (they take the same credit plan as the dentist, but I’m kinda saving that for extreme bills from them). I guess I can go a few times a month. I’m going tomorrow too. I think my neck feels a bit looser.
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I won a big box of ephemera from eBay to scan and use in my art projects. What fun it is to look through old photos and cards! It can be sad too as the photos are unmarked. I am not saving all of them. I bought the lot mostly for the really old photos. I have seen just one on sale for $4 and I got 11 pounds of goods for around $10. I love this hobby! There is so much history involved-the clothing, the cars, the scenery and towns.

Here’s ‘sort of’ any oldie I found in my craft desk. It’s me at my Communion/Confirmation back in about 1983 with my grandmom Ruth and my mom Jeanne.

I know who I am getting a bod like. This has a few spots on it. And my mom is the height of my grandmom now-I am taller than her! I think my grandmom was about 80 here and mom is almost 78 now.
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Thanks to Jennifer for mentioning the Absecon Lighthouse. Think we’ll go there. Sounds great. I love gift shops too. ; )

Aug12

Down the pike

Posted on Tuesday, August 12, 2008 by Dianne

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I finally got to my mom’s house after not being there for a few weeks. It was just so hard to drive with a sore shoulder blade. (I do go for my first chiro treatment tomorrow). I went to my brother #3’s house first and got my hair done by C. Got to see my niece play ‘Dance, dance revolution’ on the Wii system. She had to follow-move-dance to arrows that come up on the screen. She did pretty darn good. I said she should be a cheerleader and I didn’t know they had try outs (for 4 graders?) and she didn’t want to.

I then went to mom’s and took her out to lunch up the street-she had crabcakes and I had their famous chicken salad club. Before we went to lunch, I checked out mom’s yard. My brother #2 had chainsawed a bunch of bushes, even the lilies I planted a few years ago next to the house. Mom said they had all bloomed. Mom got poison ivy on her foot from being outside with my brother the day he was working in the yard. You can cut stuff back, but you really need to get the roots to a bunch of things-like the ‘weed’ trees. He had planted a tree thinking it was a red bud tree like 30 yrs ago and they are all over the place now. I never saw any tree grow so fast.

We got to see Mom’s friend who hurt himself, as he stopped by after a doctor’s appt and to get a few things. He’s in an assisted living place until his family helps him find a place to live. He has about a 4-5″ triangle shaped cut on his forehead-I think his friend called it a dog tear? and his nose is scabbed over and looks like frost bite. He has a dimple over the top of his nose, from hitting hard I guess. I think it had to be a paver that wasn’t set correctly and he caught his foot on the front of it and down he went. They are new this year and he never fell before. I worry about mom falling too. We’ll have to fix them in the ground better. My #2 brother put those in.

Sean came to mom’s after ‘work’ (he is finished his internship on Friday) and he was craving brick oven pizza. I wasn’t really hungry as I had a late lunch, but I went with him and ate one piece of white pizza with broccoli.

We went to Pet Smart and talked to the kitties there-so cute! And mom and I went to JoAnn’s and I got a 3 drawer piece for my craft goods and a few yard things for 70% off. If you like Debbie Mumm, she designed many of the things-with roosters too (Zoey!). I got a rooster whirligig-couldn’t resist.

There seemed like a ton of people on the road tonight, we’re thinking tourists.

I missed the last episode of ‘The Mole’ so just watched it online and found out who the mole was-I was right! Yeah! I almost changed my mind at the end, but I said ‘Craig’. I like who dunnits!

We have to start getting ready for our Atlantic City trip. I hope it will be a good time. We have always enjoyed walking through Caesars and to stay there will be awesome.

Aug11

My special space

Posted on Monday, August 11, 2008 by Dianne

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For the time being, it works. Someday I’ll have a second guest room, and I can really go to town. I need the first guest room open for the snorer in the family and my collection of Barbies and other 11.5″ dolls. There may come a time when I want to sell most of them, but I was really selective about what I bought. I just found my Barbie case. The date on it says 1968, so it was around that time I got it. I opened it and Barbie, Stacy, Francie, Skipper and a GI Joe (!) looked as if I just played with them yesterday. I forget why the GI Joe was in there-I figure Mom found him at an auction or yard sale for me.

Not feeling too great to go to the chiropractor. My upper back is bothering me more and I woke up with a ‘tummyache’ about 2:30. I took more Rolaids and chewed some gum then and am better, but feel like I am hungover (only been that way a long time ago!) He may say that 21 years of gardening, plus having Lyme Disease may have taken their toll on me. When I mentioned I had LD (got it in about 1997) he asked if they followed up on me after I took the 3 weeks of antibiotics and I said ‘no’.

Anyway-here’s my desk that I will spruce up-it’s bigger than it looks-about 30″ long:

I found the teapot piece in the back and am finally utilizing it. My friend sent me most of the papers on the left and I was going through the papers on the right. I have tons of paper! Still sorting through them and will arrange by color. I’d like to bring a 3-door storage piece up from the basement to replace the boxes.

The bookcase on the right is just one of my pieces for my cookbooks.

I’ll let you know what goes down today.

~Update-I went to the chiropractor and he said my neck and back muscles are definitely tight and could benefit from treatment. He did strength tests, used the little rubber hammer and told me his dislike of one of the doctors where we go. I don’t care much for her much either and was always glad when I had the PA instead of her. She wouldn’t listen to anything you say. I am going to go a few times a week (I hope the insurance covers some of it or I won’t be able to afford to go). I hope it helps!

Aug10

A desk with a view

Posted on Sunday, August 10, 2008 by Dianne

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This was all yesterday:

Since Bri and I were flying solo (Sean made a day trip to a Delaware Beach), we got moving on my craft area. I’m not saying everything is honky dorie yet, but things are in place. It has a great view of the overgrown butterfly bush and the butterflies that have been visiting there. Lots of dust and sorting. Uggha. So my ‘antique’ Shaker desk is now under my dining room window. It’s painted a funky blue-will have to do something with the paint. It’s ‘sister’ desk was stripped somewhat by me and use to hold the microwave in the kitchen. We made the switcher-roo between the blue and the wood (blue was in the guest room, the wood in the basement). We had to put our teak tea cart in the basement for now-hated to, no room up here. I may offer it to a family member, but it’s not in the best of shape. May end up getting rid of it in the long run. It served it’s purpose. Just taking all the crap stuff off the dining room table and moving it to the desk a big difference. That’s my plan. I really need a super cute storage unit with drawers. The plastic boxes look ugly. When I get it a bit more tidied up, I’ll post a photo.

Sean got home around 7-it was really crowded down in Delaware. They tried Rehoboth first, no parking whatsoever-ended up down the road in Dewey. I was glad to have found a coupon for buy one, get one free at a popular pizza place down there for $10. Mentally I’m taking the $10 of the price of the $35 coupon book. I usually get my money’s worth out of it. : ) Sean has sunburn only on one upper arm. It was probably the way he was sitting on the beach. We go to Atlantic City in a week. Just saw where a guy fell off the escalator where we will be staying (he was sitting on the arm and got killed-geez).

I hope you got to see the opening ceremony of the Olympics-what a techno fabulous show! My mom called me to see if I had it on as she was so impressed by it all. Terrible about the Americans hurt (killed) there.

Sorry to hear about the passing of Bernie Mac-just his facial expressions made you laugh.

Better go to bed soon as we need to go to church tomorrow. I hope my sinuses will forgive me for all the dust I inhaled today.

One of my latest creations-she’s eating glitter-opps:

Don’t the jewels look real-they’re stickers! The lady is from a Victorian inspired catalog. The painting they offer of her is called a ‘yard long’ as she’s 36″ long. I wanted to try some new rubber stamps too.