Category Archives: Me stuff

Jan28

Don’t pressure me!

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I have to refer to my peepers here. They were buggers again today, though one was much lower that the other-22 and 26 when they should be 21 or lower. So now I have a medical issue and can go to the ophthalmologist that I have been going to for years. They didn’t take the insurance we have for general eye exams. I’ll make an appointment Thursday after the dentist appointment as it’s near in the same medical complex. The doctor today said not to worry as she thinks it’s a condition called ocular hypertension when they can’t find any other reason why the pressure is up (yep probably age, I hear ya)-everything else is fine. I did treat myself to some new frames-after 2 yrs the old ones get beat up a bit. I was looking for something in the same dark look, put on the pale pink metal ones and really liked them. They are more squarish with no tint. Since Brian didn’t need glasses and mine only changed a little, I thought I’d take advantage of the insurance (that we pay into every month) and get new glasses. Not much else is new except for tossing some food items in the cart at Wally World and really wanting to go to Trader Joe’s, but far too achy to attempt that drive. I hope to hit the road there tomorrow…and drop off stuff at the Goodwill…from me and moms.

Jan27

The old meat grinder

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I just got back from my mom’s a little bit ago. It is starting to look a lot different in there. My brother was working in my mom’s room (along with his son), Colleen in the kitchen (God bless her for doing that room) and I took down the Christmas tree (with the help of my sweet niece) and was going through things in the living room. I had to have allergy problems today of all days, but I persevered-look what they all had tackled before I even got there! I went out in the kitchen and saw the old meat grinder that my grandmom used to make those last few pieces of turkey, ham or roast beef stretch into croquettes or ‘deviled’ sandwiches. I asked what was going to happen to it and Colleen said Ken wanted it. Of course he did as he remembers being a little tyke and turning the handle to help our grandmom. He loved her so much.

I told my brother not to throw out books as I would take them to the Goodwill. I have to make a trip there sometime this week. I don’t believe in throwing out literature unless it is musty or soiled.

I’m having some tea and trying to ease my achy back a bit. I had to console my mom a few times, but I think she is now seeing the big picture. It couldn’t stay like that.

Jan26

Photo Hunt Old-fashioned

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My mom is 77 and still loves paperdolls. That certainly is an old-fashioned thing to like, but it stems back to her girlhood in the 1930s during The Great Depression. She said she would sit for hours and hours on the step playing with her movie star paperdolls. Nowadays, she has collected the Tom Tierney paperdolls for years. I was down in a book warehouse and called her to see if she had the Tierney ones I had found there and she actually needed a few!
So this is my homage to the activity that made my mom happy as a child. The image is from a children’s book from the 70s, so they were still being fashioned then. Personally, I loved my Barbies! But as you can see, I love cutting out paper now myself.

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

Paper Dolls ATC
Jan24

How many middle-aged people…

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…does it take to unplug and plug the modem box? Two! Seems yesterday our signal went from good to nothing. I tried what I had in the past, but it didn’t work. We have two boxes here, as we have the phone over the internet and got the box so we could have a wireless connection for Sean. The phone was fine. Brian couldn’t get it to work this morning so I got on the phone with Comcast. All I had to do was unplug the power cord in the ‘newer’ box. Holy Toledo-it started to work and a lot faster too. So now I know. The wires and cords are such a jumble, I thought for sure something came unplugged or was hanging on by a thread.

Yesterday I decided to list a few things on eBay that I had found in my closet cleaning efforts. I also listed some stuff for Sean, one of which was a 6-CD set of classical music that corresponded with a text book. I sold the CDs right away. I was sorry I didn’t ask more for them now! I have my own 15 or higher piece set of classical music so I didn’t need these too.

I also made some ATCs for a new challenge. I got the idea from Honey Girl Studios. Take your catalogs and clip them to make the cards. I found it was easier to look for say, all red items or candles. I had fun making them and will post soon.
Not sure what to do today, but I so need to go out someplace, so I hope the weather stays ok. I’m not one to have to run out everyday (believe me, I know women around here that hate to be home-isn’t that crazy?) Here’s hoping the weather holds out!

Sean is looking into internship. He mentioned that one of his profs will have one out in California in the redwood area. That would be expensive for us. He did find something locally and emailed the person in charge. I think he should keep his options open and if he wanted to go out of state, then he’d have to save up money to do so.

Have a great day!

Jan22

Finally

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I was happy to hear that my friend Carole finally received her birthday gift-almost 2 weeks after I mailed it. Her birthday was in October, but my crazy life (LOL) got in the way (and it was more involved than it looked), so I finished it up this month and off it went. She really liked the flat fold (the first one I ever made). It was made to commemorate her special birthday last year. Thanks to Vonna over at The Twisted Stitcher for the tutorial. : )

Carole’s flat fold
Design-The Prairie Schooler-Seasons-Book #50. Changed the top-it was suppose to say ‘autumn’ but I put the year instead.
Side view:
Side view

This is the 100th project listed in my Cyberstitchers gallery!

I just noticed that when I was adding these photos that WordPress has now given us 3 GBs of photo space! Yeah. : )

Have a pleasant Tuesday. I’ve been dusting and tidying up. Seems the old drywall dust has settled all over the house. I felt like I was getting my cold back last night and it occurred to me I didn’t use any form of nasal spray yesterday. Bad girl! Brian is still coughing a lot, mainly in the morning. I’m calling out ‘Chloreseptic’ (sp) which helped me. Oy!

Jan22

Brrrrr

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It’s so cold around a lot of the country these last few days. I really bundle up when I have to go out. My newest coat with the down is super warm. It helped me in my ice cold van on the way to the eye doctor in Wally World this afternoon. I didn’t think I’d be able to go as I had some tummy upset in the morning, but I was ok by the afternoon. I only needed a slight adjustment to my lens, so I have the option to get new specs or not. The only ‘problem’- the pressure in my eyes was high normal-over 20. I am going back next Monday for a quick check of that and may pick out new glasses. If she feels I need to go to my regular ophthalmologist, then I will. I told her I had my eyes checked in August for dryness, they did the same test and didn’t say anything. She replied you can’t get glaucoma in 5 months. Brian joined me and his eyes are good. He can swing by with his drugstore glasses for reading.

My brother is getting a dumpster at my mom’s and is really going to toss a bunch of stuff. She seems ok with it. I volunteered to go through boxes, but I can’t lift stuff. He said he’s not going to do it all at once. I hope it helps her a lot. I know she worries about it a bunch. Now to keep her out of the stores. Brian doesn’t think it’s solving the problem as she’s a hoarder through and through. I applaud my brother for taking action.

More tomorrow.

Jan19

Google me!

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Both Jennifer and Mindy did this on there blogs. It was interesting! Answer the questions and type your answer into Google images search. Post a photo from the FIRST results page. (this can be tough!!)

Age on my next birthday:

Ladder 49

Place I’d like to visit:

Oregon coast

One of my favorite places (so I like the ocean):
Ocean City, MD
Favorite object:
Dell computer

Favorite ‘fancy’ food:

Lobster tail
Then I love chocolate as a food I try to sample several times a week. ; )
Favorite animal:
Kitten
Favorite Color:
teal
Past name of pet:
Jade
Favorite Holiday:
Christmas
Favorite Flower:
Gardenia
Bad habit:
Playing with hair
Middle name:
Carol
Where I live:
Chester County
1st grade teacher (if I remember correctly):

Minstrel

Jan18

Dust and snow

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A couple of things you can live without, but they both seem to pop up when you least expect them! We had some snow yesterday which is quickly melting today. I enjoy seeing the first snowflakes start to fly but then start worrying about Brian driving in it. Luckily, he is just up in the next town. Unfortunately, the roads back home are a bit curvy and two have one lane bridges. He made it home fine though. He’s still not well, even went to the doctor, but for another problem he has and got meds for it. He mostly coughs in the morning. I had a lingering tiny tickle that comes and goes.

The dust part explained, I was cleaning and sorting in the family room closet here on Thursday. I never saw so much stuff just tossed in a place! Please leave your comments about the following-VHS tapes, many home recorded, many over 20 years old-keep or get rid of these? I’m having second thoughts as I wanted to get my vacuum back in the closet again which I didn’t. I found some art supplies and was using one for my ATC cards last night (I’ve made about 5 of these lately). It’s a spray art tool-you attach a felt tip marker to it, pump the bulb and you get something that looks like spray paint. Fun!

My corner here next to the computer looks worst then it did a few weeks ago (remember my Photo Hunt entry?) I’m going to be pulling the stuff out of there and going through it.

So that’s what I’ve been up to. Off to see some shots of Penn State on Sean’s MySpace (see below, edited by me. Glad he is using his new camera! This is outside The Commons near where he lives which reminds me of Williamsburg). Have a great weekend!

psu.jpg

Jan17

Sprucing one’s self up

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Can do a lady some good! My sister-in-law fixed my hair- I hadn’t had a touch-up since before Thanksgiving and she said my hair was too long. I like it a little on the long side, hairstylists don’t. I got to help my mom by taking her to the bank (her car is running fast) and then we hit the Goodwill as I had a few things to drop off. I bought a few things to revamp-a slate sign (I have tons of experience stenciling these, I did about 300 for a local business about 11 yrs ago). Also got a stretched canvas that I plan to repaint. I have to watch my mom in even that store. She had clothing that she didn’t need and I talked her into putting at least a few items back on the rack. There’s a dollar store next to the Goodwill and they had back issues (a month or so old) of Bon Appetit and a few other nice cooking magazines that I grabbed up.

After I dropped my mom off home, I went to Trader Joe’s and did most of this week’s shopping. I love that place! I bought some green tea extract in capsule form that is suppose to be good for your metabolism and general health.

When I got home, I looked at a magazine and then played with some digital art for a group I’m in:

Mysterious snowman decorators
The photo doesn’t want to show up tonight. There’s always tomorrow.
Have a good one!