Category Archives: Me stuff

Jun14

Quick update

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Repairman #3 for the air conditioner was here for 4 hours. Talk about stress! He finally started talking. The poor guy just couldn’t figure it out until he noticed a valve outside wasn’t working correctly. I think he took the whole A/C unit apart. He has to order the part. It’s a hefty bill. We learned from a message that the supervisor wasn’t going to charge us for the first two visits (almost $400!!). Thank goodness.

Haven’t heard about Tori. Mom called twice as did I. Mom always thinks the worst, like she is in the hospital. I think they would have told us. We’ve dealt with strep and once we got the medicine in our system we felt a ton better.

I finished a graduation piece for my nephew Patrick. I’m making it into a flat piece (like an ornament) with a hanger. I’ll post a photo soon.

BTW-here’s a cool way to get some extra cash-gather up your pounds of coins and go to one of those Coin Star machines (better yet, cash them in for free at a Commerce bank- we don’t have any around here). I had half a freezer bag full and we got $38! Bri got kitty litter (ha), we had enough for a light dinner, 2 greeting cards for Bri’s dad (his 84th is on the 23rd) and I blew the rest on  a Raggedy Ann (for my collection) and a patriotic mini flag. My father-in-law gives us a bunch of coins all the time.

Going to hit the hay shortly. We’ve all had a long and stressful day.

Jun13

Spider saga

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Yesterday I noticed a very large (about the circumference of a quarter), bumpy looking spider swimming around in the pond. At first I thought it was a water spider, but after glancing on a web, it sure looks like a wolf spider. The ‘bumps’ were her offspring clinging to or running around her back. You should see this photo full size-eeks! (I have to do a major crop for most of my photos for the blog).  Bri asked if I had rescued her and I said no. Not a big spider fan. Today, well there she was sorta clinging to part of a leaf I had tossed in to give her some help yesterday. I got my old metal strainer and swooped her and the kiddos up. She was a bit dazed and confused. I did rescue a few kids still in the pond with a blade of grass. Here is my brave rescue attempt and some garden captures.
Ms. Wolfie spider

Basil

Basil

First sweet peas
Sweet Pea

Lilies of the field
Lilies
Still feeling a little malaise. My tummy, my lower back, my temp tooth and now the top of my right foot. The tummy-Equalactin and Activia yogurt. The back-Icy hot rub. The tooth-getting the permanent crown tomorrow. The foot-not sure. I read it could be a fracture-but it doesn’t hurt that bad. Also read you can get it from stepping in a hole which I remember doing! We use to have a small lilac on the side of the house. It died and was pulled out and a crater was left behind. First Sean tripped in it and then I did. I did put some dirt in most of it over the weekend.
Please send good vibes for my trip next week-geez.
Off in a few to get my hair fixed-that should boost my spirits.

Jun5

Dianne the portrait artist

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1978-86

Why these dates? I haven’t draw anything like these since Sean was little!

Here are some drawings I did way back in the late 70s when I was between 19-20 yrs old. Yeah, Al Pacino looks like Jesus a little, but that was his character in Serpico. The lady was an Irish actress Mary Larkin who appeared in a mini-series in 1980 called ‘Against the Wind’. I remember drawing this and the other-not shown (from the local tv magazine) down the shore while staying at a beach house with my mom, grandmom and little brother) I was at the age where I felt I was getting too old to go on trips like this. I know, she has a long neck! The baby was a drawing assignment from ‘Drawing from the right side of your brain’.

My mom is a terrific portrait artist and still draws when the mood hits. She is draws in a more sketchy way where I like to shade more. Mom and I are both lefties.

Al Pacino as Serpico

Al Pacino as Serpico
Mary Larkin
Mary Larkin

Baby

Jun4

Rainy days

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Yesterday the rain held off until later in the afternoon. Bri was able to go to his dad’s house and plant a few tomatoes (like he does every year). Then the deluge started from Hurricane Barry. This morning a huge branch from our apple tree in the back is broken off! It’s still raining this morning.

Personally I had a strained upper back just to make me feel a bit miserable. I used the heating pad while watching the next Food Network Star challenge. My back seems ok when I am laying down, which is good, but as soon as I start moving around-tightness. I have some major cleaning to do as my friend, whom I have never met in person, is coming for a visit this weekend coming up! So exciting. The next 3 weekends will be crazy.

Update-what a fun morning. I felt super anxious and what I think is wrong with me is a tummy bug. I did try some of that Danactive drink yesterday for your immune system-not sure if that agreed with me. I actually called my gyn and a midwife called back who is a year older than me. This is such an unpredictable age for women-we feel good one day and out of it the next.

Bri is getting a mole (or whatever it is) checked out on his forehead this afternoon. In fact, I hope the dermatologist gives him a once over as he has lots of moles and skin tags. I think he wants me to go with him. Wish him well.

Update-all the moles, skin tags were benign! Yeah. So happy. He even went out and cut down the apple tree branch after dinner. I’m feeling a little better, though tired. Hoping for a better tomorrow. Stomach bugs are the pits.

Zoey asked about the Food Network Star show-I too liked Amy the leader of the one team for the wedding. Thinking about the others, I agree, none are really jumping out at me either. I think Amy is the best right now.

May30

This is all I have

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A slow day because I did so much before noon! Not a morning gal, but Sean wanted to get his car early to go work out at the ‘Y’. So we got the car at 11:15 (which is early for me), then I went to the produce place, the drugstore, Acme and McDonalds all before 12 struck. And you know it wasn’t as crowded at the above places then. ; )

Here’s what I did to entertain myself-take photos of Cosmo. Check out his blog .
Here’s a teaser for you…

Looking for a green snack
Working on another cross stitch UFO called ‘A Walk in the Woods’ even though I cut the fabric too short and can’t add the second violet border. I completely forgot it had two until I saw the ‘repeat above design here’. It will look fine without it. I’m excited about getting the final project for the Neighborhood Round Robin that my pals and I have been working on. I hope to have it by the middle to end of June.

May27

As warm as the 4th of July

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Bri and I worked outside today and Sean worked in Big Lots. He was scheduled for 3 days in a row and the boss even tried to snag him for tomorrow, but he put his foot down. He has a new Dell laptop to play with and hasn’t had that much time to look at it (no internet yet).

Bri planted tomatoes and green peppers while I planted zinnias, cosmos, daisies, Mexican sunflowers and an assortment of seeds that came in a package between paper (you just lay them on the soil and throw a 1/2″ of dirt over them). They were poppies, zinnias and a few others. By the time I was done, I had two very rosy cheeks and was dripping in perspiration. I cooled off and mulched Sean’s garden so he could just enjoy it and not worry about doing it. Bri cut the entire lawn too.

My gladiolus (planted a few weeks ago) are coming up! Yes! And I see astilbe poking it’s finger-like leaves up near my Sweet William flowers.

I had a ‘Perkins’ dinner tonight-eggs with chives and a little cheddar cheese on top, bacon, fries, biscuits and grapes.

Before I went outside today I worked on 4 Art trading cards. (so G if you are reading my blog stop here). Our pal chose the project-pick an artist, do cards like their artwork. I picked one of my favorites-Vincent Van Gogh and his Starry Night painting for all four cards. They were fun to do! For my cross stitch readers-I used some gold cording from my stash for the sky swirls. Two have star shaped brackets. I did use one element from the original painting in each design-a star or the village (for instance). Some of you may recognize the Don McLean lyrics from his song based on this painting. I was sad to read that Vincent had painted this when he was in an insane asylum. 

Famous Artist ATCs

The original Starry Night
We are having rainstorms tonight. We need the rain, but I know that some of my plants were really getting hammered. I am also hoping that I patted the ground down well after I planted the above mentioned seeds.

May25

Nice day for a zombie

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We had temps close to 80 today. It was warm in the sun, but cool in the shade. I had one of those nights where I couldn’t go to sleep until the birds were starting to chirp. I did manage to do a few loads of laundry and vacuum. I had the cat outside and almost fell asleep, so decided to actually lay down (a rarity for me) for a while. I had made beef stew, so that was simmering. Kitty came back on his window hammock and we rested.

After dinner, I did mulch a few gardens with the red mulch Bri found for me Wednesday night. I have 4 bags of root mulch (dark color) for a little variety. I noticed the flowers in the sunny beds were almost asking for the cool blanket of mulch. Sean needs to do his garden. As for the other areas, I will only do the rim of them as the one with the Sweet William has some newly planted bulbs and astilbe in it that has not come up and I don’t want to cover them with mulch-yet.

I am getting worried about bugs like Japanese beetles munching on my flowers. Some of my yellow petunias look nibbled. Rats. And the mosquitoes are starting to come out. I don’t like the humidity and insects of summer.
Lantana and yellow petunias

We are getting invaded by little black ants. They are getting into my dishwasher and I am finding 100s of them in there if I don’t run the load. I don’t want to waste water, so I just rinse them away. I had to get out the insect spray and do around the kitchen. We had no problem last year with them after the remodel. I guess now that the dust is settled, they found their way back! I am glad they haven’t found the low level bread drawer!

May20

The 3 Merry Gardeners

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Actually we are the tired gardeners. We all did our share of yard work. Sean mowed around the house and weeded and planted his garden. He planted some of his annuals too close (I’m surprised at him) and used all the Cleomes and I wanted half of them. I’m stealing some back! Brian did the long part of the yard, some extra trim work that Sean didn’t do and rototilled the veggie patch plus a big circle for me for my flower seeds. I weeded a lot of my lily/grass garden; planted pots; planted impatiens and snapdragons and put down the two bags of mulch I had (I hate mulching, but it’s so worth it). I need about 5 or more bags. I saved the lives of two newborn field mice too. Mama and her brood had a nest in the rototiller! She took off leaving two babies behind. I picked them up with a plastic pot and gingerly put them under a hosta and covered them with part of the nest. About 10-15 minutes later, Mama came back for them.

We got Chinese food for dinner (so Sean would go and get it as he showered before Bri and I did) and it was ok. I’m always weary to eat it.

Tomorrow I’m getting a tooth checked out to see if the filling is cracked. Saturday Sean took me to a hospital fair and the ‘Attic Attack’ was a joke-hardly any donations this year. We ended up grabbing a sandwich and buying a few plants. We went to Kmart and bought Bri a small chain saw as an early Father’s Day gift. We then went to a book store where I haven’t been to since college and it had expanded! I enjoyed their huge magazine aisle and their discounted shelves-I bought two-Angel inspired recipes and Victorians and their flowers. I should review these for you! Maybe tomorrow.

And to answer Barbara’s question in my comments-we have 1.4 acres all on a rectangular piece of land. The house is on one end and I would say my gardens are confined to about 1/4 acre or a little more.

Check out this neat link that my pal Nancy sent me last month. Make it pretty now!