Category Archives: Me stuff

Dec28

Sad end of the year

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The three of us got up at the crack of dawn-no light-not our time of day at all. It’s cold and dark. But we did it for our family and to remember dear Aunt Berenice. We took separate vehicles as I went to get my mom and the guys had to be at the church a little earlier. It was nice to have quiet on the way down and not hear complaining about the early rising, etc.
B had 11 members of her immediate family there before her closed casket (what she wanted). They were pretty good, but Aunt Sue was a mess. She and B had been like sisters. The entire 25+ yrs I have know her, I haven’t seen her that upset. It was a nice mass with the priest recalling a newlywed B cooking ham and cabbage for the first time and forgetting to take it out of the can. : )
Mom and I didn’t go to the cemetery, but we drove around a little. Mom wanted to see the house that she lived in for 15 yrs in the same town. We were holding our breath, and lo and behold, it was still there and being renovated much to our surprise! I think that made my mom feel good.
We went to the family home (B’s daughter, s-in-l and two kids lived with her). Gerry, her daughter had beautifully decorated the entire place for Christmas-every nook and cranny. I was wondering if she would and she had started a few months ago. I never saw so many Christmas arrangements! I don’t plan to take my stuff down until January 6th or so-we call it ‘Little Christmas’. I go to a lot of trouble to decorate and taking it down too soon just won’t do. The only things that may come down earlier are the outdoor stuff.
So we visited a little and then headed home. Mom wanted to see her old friend’s house in the same town. We didn’t know that Bri and Sean were following behind us. They were wondering why we were turning here and there. Ha!
I left about 2:30 from mom’s and got stuck in a lot of traffic. I stopped off at Borders to get a few 50% off calendars-a watercolor one for mom and crochet, Victorian fairy and origami ones for me!

Dec21

Wrapping marathon

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That’s all I’ve been doing. I wrap for all one person, and move on to the next. I want my niece and nephew to have their own special paper too. I’m almost finished-I have a few of my nephew’s gifts to wrap and my father-in-law’s. Brian and Sean only have to wrap gifts for me (and Sean for his dad and grandparents). Then I stick bows on the packages or use pretty ribbons to finish them up. I don’t do bows until the last minute as they like to pop off, so I have to use tape to hold them on. Plus who likes a squooshed up bow?
Here are a few things I thought you’d like to see:

I’ve been trying to finish this little bear ornament since high school! It only needed a few stitches and assembly, which I did yesterday. I redid the mouth and metallic stripes on the drum. And I added the fringe to the scarf. Those are my initials from 1976! I did learn how to make cording too. : )

This is a gift for my mom. My brother Dave had uploaded a bunch of slides from the 1950s he found, and this was one of them. That’s Ruth and Alan-Christmas 1954 (we think). So besides Christmas, why the photo in a frame? I took a few of their good china (what was left of it is just little chipped cake plates) and smashed them up to make mosaic pieces. So although the dishes are pretty much gone, here is a sample of the grape pattern with even the maker in a chard of the china-one the bottom there. Let me tell you, it was hard to break up! The grout should dry a bit lighter. This is a my favorite photo of them. My ‘pop pop’ died when I was 6 weeks old-a long time ago!

Nov28

Looking up…a bit

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So I bit the bullet and found out about my ultrasound-yes I have fibroids and they aren’t too bad. And I have a shadow on my liver, I’ve been told that before. Whether or not my family doctor wants me to get that checked out is up to her. I have fatty liver as does my younger brother. It seems to be a family issue. I still think Lyme Disease is playing with my system after all these years. I’ve never been the same since 1997, so for the last nine years. I was just reading that you can get it through mosquitoes too! I had a few terrible bites on my leg, one of which is finally going away after 4 months-I kid you not! It was healing funny, like overscabbing. Colleen said little Tori had the same kind of bite. My Uncle and my mom’s neighbor have been infected by LD more than once.
I was looking at a correlation between women’s cycles and Lyme disease and found a page about the nervous system. There was a questionnaire and I could relate to a lot of the questions-being in crowds, feeling like I’ve been touched and haven’t (oversensitive, maybe I really am! My mom always said I was the loudest baby in the nursery like the other babies and noise or lights were bothering me. To this day I prefer the evenings to the mornings. I did not grow up in the most stable environment (divorced parents) which surely didn’t help a sensitive little girl. I am writing this in hopes that other people who may have these issues will write to me. It’s hard to have issues that you just can’t pinpoint. You try to live a normal life and enjoy the little things-that’s all you can do.

Nov27

So what is it?

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I was wondering all day where my mom was. She had a 12:30 eye doctor appointment and we chatted at about 11 this morning. So 2 pm went by, then it was going on 3. I called mom’s house. Nothing. By 5:45 I called my brother thinking she was over there admiring his newly ‘faced’ (with stone) fireplace. Not there. I called Ken again an hour later to ask him to go over to mom’s and the phone beeped and it was her! I was upset with her for not taking a second out of her 5 hour shopping excursion to call me. She apologized. I had gotten a 5:30 phone call from the doctor’s office and the nurse said my culture didn’t look like a UTI! I could have told her that. I know it’s the fibroids or a groin pull or both. Geez. Wants me to give them another sample. What fun! I am calling the gyn office about the ultrasound I had last month and never heard about. We have to fork out almost $400 for that.
I wanted to shop online today, but I need a few days to collect myself from yesterday. We aren’t going gung ho with gifts…we decided that months ago. I’d like a new camera (that would be gung ho), but Bri never can chose one. He did get a few bucks from an old bank account through the PA treasury or something. Maybe we could use that. Come on Bri!!!

Nov26

Pictures

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This is going over the St George’s bridge and is a mixture of my reflection and the Delaware Bay. It’s a high bridge!

Ahhh…my favorite bookstore-and I was very selective too!

The address is 1159 Dupont Highway-the month and year of yours truly’s birth! No wonder I like it there!!

We also went to the Dover Mall where Sean and I used some gift cards (we bought a few little things for us and gifts for others). We ate in…where else, The Olive Garden! I also hit A.C. Moore, Dollar Tree and Kohls. I got a little shopping out of the way! And I felt better, but not 100% yet-the guys thought it was funny when I almost walked into a glass wall at FYE!

Nov26

Takin’ a drive

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After an emotional, worthless day yesterday, I woke up to a nice, sunny day and asked the guys if we could take a drive down to Dover, DE. They said ‘yes’! So we are leaving shortly. It takes an hour to get there and the stores (plus my favorite book warehouse) are open until 8! Guess we’ll go out to eat too. I just needed to see something different. Talk to you later!

Nov25

Family Issues

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I don’t know when I’ll be blogging again-my brother and mom both have issues with me right now. I didn’t do anything except get sick on the day I was suppose to have my brother out for a visit before he went home to Florida. I’m pretty sure they are both bi-polar, either way up or way down and it’s ‘my way or the highway’. Mom was here since Wednesday and left around noon today in a huff because she said ‘she wore out her welcome’. I think she is upset about my brother showing me the gate. So when I have interesting things to share, I’ll be back. I think I’ll do something crafty to get my head on straight again. Hugs to you all!
Update-I talked to mom tonight and she wasn’t mad at me, but Brian! I don’t know why, he just got up in the morning like everyone else did. I am still peeved at the way she ran out the door. Brian left a voice message with my brother about apologizing to me for the email. I said he needs to stick up for me once in a while. We’ve heard nothing.

Nov21

Truly blest part 2

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Tons of birthday cards! (with a few Thanksgiving ones too)
The lovely gifts I described earlier

I’m still a little wonky, though I slept 6 straight hours last night. I heard nothing. One magic pill! Too bad I have 13 more to go. I never heard from Don. This makes me so sad for mom and me. I try to be a good sister and send him goodies in the mail once in a while. I think being around us reminds him of things he didn’t like about his childhood. Personally, I try to focus on the fun memories from then.

I hope everyone who is cooking in two days is ready! I’m not. I still need a few ingredients and to get the table ready. Thank goodness for one more day!

Nov20

I may be MIA

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Just a quick note to let you know I am sick with a bladder infection! I was up all night ‘greeting’ the Tidy Bowl man every 10 minutes. I haven’t had much sleep since Saturday night. So much for a good birthday evening. I was kinda just getting by last night though I wasn’t up to par (I had indigestion as did the guys).
My brother and our sister-in-law were suppose to come out and see the kitchen and I was too miserable to have company. He’s angry at me for being sick! So get glad again. (I have shed a few tired tears over how he treated mom and what he said). I had to wait until 4 to go to the doctor (so I was miserable all day) and Brian is getting me antibiotics. Those blasted infections make you feel ill all over. I hope I am up to Thanksgiving, but mom said she would help and it’s just 5 of us anyway.
Keeping fingers crossed for a speedy recovery.