Category Archives: Me stuff

Jun19

Summer blues

Posted on by
Standard

I use to be a perfectionist. Well, some characteristics of that pop up every now and then, but I feel that I’m the only one who does things around the house to make it look nice. Once in a while in a blue moon, Bri or Sean will vacuum or empty out the dishwasher. I started to clean the family room this morning and here I am on the computer-lost interest. I try to do what I tell my mom, clean something for 15-30 minutes a day. I need to do the weedwhacking outside again. Sean missed some spots a few weeks ago. My back was complaining about lifting heavy grocery bags around 5 am this morning. I’d like to know what you all do to balance out your day? Don’t tell me you have a housekeeper. : ) I should do a schedule, but my day by day activities depend on how I feel.

I called the doctor’s office to see if they think Brian needs to have his cholesterol rechecked-it was 252 in February and he’s ignoring that, plus all his blood work was elevated. Mine was 150, but my triglycerides were elevated. I’m sure they will say yes. What happened to Tim Russert scared me about us. I know he was being treated for coronary artery disease and diabetes. I feel Bri should probably take medication for his cholesterol. He complains about a pain in the side of his head next to his eye (either side). Waiting on the office to call is stressing me out a bit.

Well, I hope Sean makes the right decision. He got his procrastination skills from us, but mainly from his dad.

Better hit the showers, maybe that will soothe my back and get me in the mood to conquer sometime!

~UPDATE~

Sean accepted the internship, but isn’t quitting the school job until all is settled. The lady who did the interview isn’t the friendliest type around. He said he’d have to see if PSU would accept them for credit and she said she couldn’t wait to see what they said. Well why would he even do it in the first place? I don’t think he’ll be working with her.

I compromised and got the hoe and rake out instead of the weed whacker. After dinner, Bri and I did a little more raking. We had to drop Bri’s car off at the station for inspection before dinner and grabbed a pizza from across the street from the place.

As for cleaning-mainly dusted a few things that were really dusty that were bothering me. Still moving stuff from one place to another-it was too nice out plus I have a red corner of my eye (going on 2 weeks) and I don’t want to rub it. I think I rubbed the heck out of it and did something.

Jun18

Rainbow effect

Posted on by
Standard

We had a heavy downpour a little after dinner and this pretty rainbow appeared briefly. I just heard on the tv, that something similar happened after Tim Russert’s memorial service. The last song that was played was a ukulele version of ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’. When the guests left, they looked up to see a double rainbow in the sky. Pretty awesome.

Tim’s 22 yr old son Luke did an awesome job on his eulogy. He has so many of his dad’s mannerisms.

Since I was out in the after rain, I took a few more shots:

The pretty peachy pink Hollyhock that use to be across from our front door. You can see where the deer nibbled the leaves right to the stem.

Golden Lantana with rain droplets

Red and rust colored coleus

I cooked dinner on the grill about an hour early as rain was threatening. I got the burgers cooked, then threw on some chicken and thought I’d do a few hot dogs for the heck of it. I brought it all in and the skies opened up! Brian ate all three things (I cooked more for other meals)! and Sean ate a burger and a hot dog.

Sean’s first day on the job was ok-he washed walls for most of the time. The lady from my hometown called this morning to offer him the internship! Can you believe it! If he had waited a few more days before accepting the janitorial job he would have made it easier for himself. All the ‘old’ folks want him to do the internship. It would look good on his resume next year when he’s looking for a real job. He’s stalling about it and we think he’s a big scared. Reality will have to set in one of these hours. I think he’ll do fine. Wish him well in making up his mind.

Jun17

PS..I ♥ You…pass the tissues

Posted on by
Standard

Sean was nice enough to rent me a movie (he got it free anyway!), so I watched it last night. He had seen it with his gal pal when she visited PSU earlier this year. Hilary Swank is such a good actress (she has 2 Oscars), and every time she started to cry, I needed a tissue! That was meat for the two men here. They couldn’t believe I was getting choked up. I was already kind of down from Father’s Day since I never celebrated it my entire life, and knowing it was really never going to happen again (because my father passed away in Feb, well that didn’t help). And it didn’t help that Gerard Butler, the lead actor ,looked like my late father a little.

Hilary wore lots of hats, and if you didn’t know it, I am a ‘hat person’ as I have a big head. I don’t wear them as much as I should.

I almost missed the third episode of ‘The Mole’ as the movie ended after 10. I’m interested in it as there are (were) three guys from a 35 mile radius from where we live, the closest is from West Grove, a few towns away. Bobby, from Philly, just got ‘eliminated’ last night.

I’m trying to finish up some craft projects that are laying around. I finished an Altered tin swap for a lady in Iowa. I wrote her a note and she said she wasn’t affected by the flooding, but her neighbor was. Then I stained a cigar box that I bought to glue my Amish children and apple tree cross stitched design on. I think I’ll make it into a scissor box because Vonna from ‘The Twister Stitcher’ inspired me! I didn’t do much cleaning, but doing the above motivates me to do more!

My poor mom wasn’t well yesterday-in pain and laid up in bed. She forgot she had hung out clothes a few days before as her dryer is on the fritz. She was using muscles she hadn’t used for a while. I hope she can get that repaired. She’s a constant worry to me. Her car is fixed, but the transmission is going, as are the shocks. Looks like my brother is trying to locate another used vehicle for her.

Jun16

A reason to clean

Posted on by
Standard

Oh grrrrrrr…. something told me to check inside the dust covered camera case to see if my older camera, the Powershot was there, it wasn’t. And I’ve been looking to no avail-it’s missing! Dang it. I remember wanting to use the video feature it has, that’s it, the last time I saw it! I was trying to make a video of how the solar lights around the pond act funny when they have a few cloudy days-they flash on and off at night like fairies are playing tag. Now, what did I do with it?

Time to clean anyway. I don’t remember seeing so much dust in the house for a long time-but I remembered that Bri had knocked down a wall in the basement’s bathroom so I could get to the shelves behind it months ago-dry wall dust is the pits! Never let people build walls or closets without your approval. He had our neighbor helping him and instead of just putting a spring rod for a curtain, they built a wall in front of roughly 12 feet of shelves (two-6 feet areas). I put up with that for at least 18 years maybe and I was sick of moving boxes to get to boxes. That’s another job I have to finish, cleaning and moving boxes around. Also, when we were converting the garage into our most used room, they added a closet on one of the long walls. I wanted it in a corner. I have really no options for moving the sofa and chair around. It was the same neighbor who came up with that bright idea.

So I’ll say a prayer to St. Anthony and hope my little camera reappears!

Sean is going for an interview with the school district for landscaping/maintenance in about an hour.

Thoughts and prayers to the people of Iowa and the Midwest who are trying to survive flood damage.

~Update~

Found my camera laying on the backseat of the van under a neck pillow. It was in there in all that heat, so hope it’s ok. I remember I took it to my Mom’s for Mother’s Day and never took any photos, so it’s been in the van for over a month.  I had started to clean and then my usual beginning of the week wonky tummy starts acting up! I guess I’ll do a bit more.

Sean is going to do maintenance at his old elementary school! He has to start pretty early, but it will help toward his rent next year.

Jun12

Happy 85th Uncle Don!

Posted on by
Standard

I’m squeezing this in rather late as Sean and I had a full day, but not near a computer.

Here are a few shots of my mom’s only sibling and who she chose to name her second son after:

Mom’s wedding day-Oct. 17, 1953

Mom’s marriage may not have lasted, but bond between siblings has. Uncle Don is 7 years older than mom.

This was about 5 years ago and his great nephew wanted to help him open his boom box. : )

A lot has happened since the above shot. My Aunt there has been in a nursing home for a few years and Uncle lives by himself, though he was in assisted living for a while. He had a few operations, the last being hip surgery. My mom has had her share of things too.

I hope we can get over to see him soon. His neighbors brought him a huge hoagie and a cake. I promised him an ice cream cake, but I think he’d love a dozen Dunkin’ Donuts just as well.

Sean had an interview for his internship in my hometown. The office was terrible to find and he felt interrogated -his weaknesses and strengths-took him my surprise. The last thing the woman said to him after 1/2 hour of questioning  was-‘we don’t usually hire outside of the county’. (??) When he got home, he had a phone call from the school district about landscape maintenance which brightened his spirits.

We took my mom food shopping as she hasn’t been to the store for 2 weeks (no car). It took a while, but we were glad to help out. I was with her until after 9pm as Sean was at his night class late.

Jun10

A little gem

Posted on by
Standard

Look what I found in the kitchen garden window last night:


Brian had given me this orchid a few years ago. I think it’s bloomed at least 4 times now. It must really like the window. I don’t give it any special treatment and look at the reward I get!
This is probably the last day of the heat wave-yes! I haven’t been going out as my van needs to have the a/c recharged. Now that my brother is going to fix my mom’s car, I can ask him if he can do it soon. It must have a leak as I think this will be the third time now in less than 5 years. I need my air to function. : )
I have to keep a watch of my gum on the bottom middle as it looks inflamed. I think I hurt it with either the electric toothbrush or dental floss. I’ll have the dentist look at it if it isn’t better in a few days. I never had gingivitis and I don’t want to start getting it now. Ugh.

Jun7

Photo Hunt-Bad Hair

Posted on by
Standard
PSHunt
Grab the Scavenger Hunt code.Photo Theme. Join the blogroll. Visit participants.

So let me explain-That’s me above, 3rd grade-Mrs. Allison’s class at Sandy Bank Elementary School-1967-68. My great aunt Edna decided to give me a home perm-left it on too long-fried my hair! They tried to make it curl on the ends. My grandmom added insult to injury by adding a clashing red bow to my hair. (Mom was probably at work). Seems this was the year I got yelled at in class for chewing my hair too! The pink and green dress was one of the only things my father picked out and gave me in my entire life. I also went to speech class and that was a little humiliating. But, I do remember being one of the only kids in class to be able to draw Snoopy and got many requests to do so. I photoshopped the first one to take out some signs of age and to fix the colors. The second one was just for fun. See, I still like to be artistic. : )

Jun5

Anniversary wishes

Posted on by
Standard

Family06.jpg, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

Happy 26th to my brother Dave and MaryAnne, pictured on the right with their two tall sons. Brian and I met at their wedding as Bri is M’s 1st cousin!
And belated happy 15th anniversary to Ken and Colleen which was on May 22nd. She is next to me and Ken is above our mom.
Ours was the 24th in April.
So far the married ones are doing pretty good staying together! : ) My parents were divorced. Colleen’s mom and dad were married over 30 yrs until his passing. Bri’s parents were married 46 yrs. M lost her dad when she was about 11. It’s interesting to see where we all got our trust and patience-guess it was learned! ; ) I couldn’t find photos of the separate couples, but the above is my almost my entire family, minus my Uncle Don who turns 85 on June 12th (planning a little picnic for him-hope it pans out).

I have my mom here for a few days and she’ll go to my uncle’s in the afternoon. I’ve been getting her to eat regularly which is something she doesn’t do at home. Made an excellent pasta dish with sauteed veggies like eggplant and zucchini and topped with hb eggs, parmesan and feta. It was enjoyed by all.

Jun2

Tomato tepees?

Posted on by
Standard

Today I was planting zucchini and beans in one part of the garden. I would like to toss a few gourd seeds in there to ‘ramble’ and to see if they amount to anything. I then tried to make the tomato tepees as strong as possible by adding metal poles I had. It’s a process. I hope it works. I think you have to keep the tomato vines as sucker-free as possible because they usually get heavy. I’ll add a photo if all goes well and they stay up.

Things have quieted down over at my group. I posted a blog comment over there (not here) about possibly leaving and mentioned indirectly who was causing me to think this way, no names. So the lady giving me the grief posted the first comment revealing the who, what and wheres of the situation. She then went on to publish it in two more places until I took the original off and she did hers. I read her grandfather was having surgery today, so I wished him well in a note to her.

It drives me bonkers though when someone completely ignores my point of view-like my brother did. The cons for this trip outweighted the pros. If you are thinking about having a get together with blog pals, research the travel options first. Make sure everyone is on the same page. My friend didn’t want to travel at all, not to even meet us half way someplace. She also didn’t want us to go to the tourist attraction, but to spend 4 days with her exclusively. How many of you would want to spend 4 days with someone you really don’t know that well? These are my thoughts.

With the cost of gas, we won’t even be traveling that much this year!

Off to the store in a few, though Sean is taking me. I have a tire that keeps going flat on the van! Bri is going to get that taken care of tomorrow.

I was so out of sorts yesterday, I could not get the fountain fixture in the pond to stay upright and to keep the tubing to the waterfall attached to that. I waited until the water settled today and it dawned on me that the tall plastic container that my water plants came in would be more stable. It worked! I was so happy. And happy that the changing mushroom solar lights came today too!