This little piggie saved me from serious injury when I slipped in the tub due to a freaky thing happening (ok, the spray bottle with the shower spray stuff came apart and I slipped on it’s contents). It looks better now-it’s not broken. : ) 
May23
Category Archives: Me stuff
May20
Could it be rain?
It hasn’t rained in this area for almost 3 weeks. It was a pollen enhanced dust bowl around here to say the least. I tried to get my gardening done, but I just couldn’t get the shovel that deep into the ground without it causing discomfort. Now I can get the weeding and planting finished in a few days.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My dear friend Karin just lost her beloved grandmother. I am so upset right now. The poor lady just had an operation which proved too much for her frail body. She got an infection and even the antibiotics didn’t help. I lost my grandmom almost 5 yrs ago and it still hurts. Karin and I really thought of our grandmoms as ‘second’ moms.
Update:
My nephew does have Crohn’s Disease and we are all upset over that. I hope the meds they try will help him.
Mom’s bloodwork was good! She is waiting to hear about an x-ray of her ribs as she is hurting near her liver area. She is finally going to get her eyes checked too.
I used an ice pack off and on all day yesterday on my sore elbow and it helped! Something so simply and I didn’t think to keep it in place with my ace bandage before.
Sean got his progress report and he has all ‘A’s and one ‘B’. He had trouble with the class placement exam for Penn State and we are going to the Learning Center next week to talk to the lady about a ‘tracking’ program-whatever that is. It’s not special classes, etc. I called the woman yesterday to let her know about how well Sean is doing in school, he’s just a poor test taker, especially when he can’t prepare for the test. She said kids have trouble moving from high school to college. I don’t know why she said that, their test was designed for rocket scientists it was so difficult.
May19
I think I have Medial epicondylitis
This is a fancy name for ‘tennis elbow’. It’s my right elbow that is sore. I have a ‘Well Patch’ and Ace bandage on it right now. Not sure if it’s from using the computer mouse or banging my elbow a few times in the past that is causing the pain. It’s not terrible, but I notice it more when I want to lay on my right side in bed. I was trying to stitch a little this morning and it was too uncomfortable. I am glad I didn’t hurt my left hand when I took a spill off my little wheeled garden stool a few days ago. I don’t use my right arm that much as it is-just when I’m on the computer. Brian thinks I hold my arm funny when I stitch too. I haven’t been stitching a lot lately. I did lift a few heavy groceries and flower pots yesterday though.
I found a website with exercises, so I’ll give them a try.
Stitching blogger question-I like to use 2 strands of floss when I stitch. Over 2 strands makes the piece look bulky to me. 2 seems to be popular with many designers.
May12
Epcot
Di and Bri in Italy
May12
Mom’s Day at Epcot
Here we are at Disney’s Epcot the next day.
May12
Universal Studios
Sean and me posing at Universal near the Jaws ride.
May12
Orlando trip continued
So on to Monday. We were ready to leave by 10 am and found a McDonald’s for breakfast. I mailed off my postcards at the hotel and put my questionnaire in with the speedy check-out card.
We headed down to see the Titanic exhibit. I have seen one down in Atlantic City about 6 yrs ago. The Philadelphia Art Museum had a exhibit going on for a few months and we missed it.
A nice young lady dressed in a 1912 outfit greeted us and lead part of the tour. She had handed out cards with 3 passengers names on them and we were asked to check out the names later in the exhibit. The cards pretty much matched us-my lady was 38, Sean’s young man was 21 and Brian’s was around 50. All 3 of our passengers perished. Not thrilled with that since we were about to get on the plane. I would say that all the cards they give out didn’t have the people survive to make the exhibit more meaningful.
The replica of the Grand staircase was beautiful. There was a ‘hunk’ of iceberg in one room which was really cold. We also went through a door and it was like standing on the deck with all the stars in the sky and very cold similar to the night it happened. It wasn’t in the 30s (I can tell from where we live), but it was chilly.
I loved seeing the items from the ’97 movie. The costumes that both Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio worn and the diamond ring that Kate worn.
Even though those poor people died like that, they are still being remembered by so many people.
We drove around this area a little and Sean went into his favorite store ‘Old Navy’. We didn’t buy anything as our suitcases were jammed packed. We headed to Hertz about 1:30 or so. We just drove into a lane and got out and that was it! The bus took us to the airport quickly too. Everything was running smoothly until a teen in the line in front of us suddenly fell forward-I think he fainted. The metal pole holding the rope made a terrible noise, but his mom screaming scared the crap out of me! He was alert, but they did call an ambulance. Last we heard was that he did something to his hip-maybe it was out of the socket. Poor kid.
We had lunch and then picked out some magazines before heading through security. It wasn’t as involved as it was in Philly. Sean had a mini Cranium game, so he and I played that until we were called to get on the plane. The flight was fine except for one boy who was about 2 fussed the entire 2 hours.
We were the first people to get our baggage and we called the parking lot bus to come get us. It took us about 2 hours to get home (we stopped for a quick roast beef sandwich at Arbys also).
Cosmo was glad to see us. He still had a lot of food left. I figured he slept a lot. He’s been watching me like a hawk for two days. He must have been off and on my lap about 15 times yesterday.
We did have a great get-away. We really needed to see something different. I am planning another trip up to Martha’s Vineyard someday so I can stay in Hugh Taylor’s place (James Taylor’s brother). I’d like to see Maine and New Hampshire too. Then the west coast and some states in between. Nothing is as good as home though.
May10
Happy, tired and crazy
We got home last night from Orlando. The trip went way too quickly. Here’s a recap of the last few days:
Friday morning:
Sad-leaving my kitty down the basement-he had three beds, two litterboxes, two big bowls of water and we left the radio on.
Queasy-I was dressed for Florida weather, but it was like 40 or lower here. We found the off airport parking well, but being so cold gave me a coughing attack. The bus driver went about 80 to the airport and I had to sit down when we went through the doors there as I felt close to hurling.
Funny-Seeing Brian and Sean being frisked at security. They had to take off their shoes, etc. I wish I had a video camera that day! Also saw local interest reporter Don Polec from ABC-6 at the Orlando airport and said hello. He was wearing a safari hat with a tag hanging off the back. BTW, Brian did great on the plane after not flying for 16 yrs. Sean felt a bit funny going down.
Awesome-the Orlando airport is beautiful-like a mall with air service. We got right on the bus to Hertz (after we found it) and got a ’05 white Monte Carlo with a sun roof. We had to have help with directions but found the Hard Rock Hotel in no time. Check in took a while, but it was a cool place with one of the biggest pools I have ever seen. We saw outfits belonging to several musicians including Elvis and Jimmi Hendrix.
Stinky-obviously a dog had been in our room-we had a definite pee odor near the bed and one of the chairs. This is a 4 star hotel! We never changed rooms, but we complained about it on the questionnaire form. We were so tired and had already unpacked, so I used some strong perfume to try and mask the smell.
Fun-we walked to the City Walk free part of Universal after dinner at the hotel. Sean wasn’t feeling too great. We took the ferry back and continued to use it the rest of our stay.
Saturday-
Coolness-We went to a breakfast buffet at the same in house restaurant where we ate dinner the night before and it was yummy! It was also cool to see Hulk Hogan and his family eating there too. He was doing something in the park.
Cattle herding-so it began-we already had paid for the tickets, but had to wait in line to get the tickets for about 45 minutes. I think they do this so they can get more money out of you to go to the other park ‘Island Adventure’.
The best for first-we read that Men in Black was a must (and I was told this too). We put our stuff in a locker that was activated by a finger scan. We had an express pass because we were staying within Universal, so we could go in a shorter line. What a blast this ride was. I ‘zapped’ up to 74,000! Bri and Sean only had half that. At the locker, Brian couldn’t get his finger to scan and someone at the park had to open it for us. Other rides we did: Back to the Future (not good for my tummy), Jaws, Twister and Shrek 4D. Missed a few here, but we got really tired before we headed to ‘Island of Adventure’. This was not the best move to make. It was crowded with teens and most of the rides were closed down for the day or something. So we missed Jurassic Park, Spiderman and a few others.
Cute-Sean bought me a ‘Puss n’ Boots’ from Shrek for a Mom’s day gift. : )
We went to a restaurant called NBA Restaurant and had an appetizer and huge salads.
Sunday-Mother’s Day.
The guys got me a muffin for breakfast and we decided to head to Epcot as we all had slept well. We had gorgeous weather the entire trip. We got to Epcot in no time, but had to wait again in line. Sean wanted to see the different countries rather than the other part. We happen to catch a flower show there and saw some gorgeous landscaping and florals.
We stopped in the Canada exhibit first and saw a presentation on a surround screen. Also saw a couple who couldn’t keep their hands off each other. Geez.
We ate Japanese food for lunch which was fine inside a beautiful pagoda. We headed to ‘The America Adventure’ which is a neat show with audio animatronics (thx W) of Ben Franklin and Mark Twain among others. That was a must see on Sean’s map. Also a must see was Norway and we went on a Viking ship ride there. The last thing we did was go up into the Epcot sphere ride. We were hustling to get to dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe and Sean was paying for mine. I had NY strip steak which was great. The waitress liked us and took us up to see memorabilia from the late John Lennon’s apartment in NY including his white piano. Each piano key was signed by different musicians. We saw a white suit of John’s plus some drawing he had done. They use this room for special parties. We also went up stairs to see the stage. Dummy here went up to a higher seat section and tripped coming down and I hurt my ankle a little.
That night was a nightmare. I was so tired and achy and stuffed up I couldn’t go to sleep all night. I ended up crying around 5 am and Brian finally rubbed my sore legs. I sure felt like I had the flu.
Monday tomorrow.
May2
Inkblots
I took a rather long test where I had to examine ‘inkblots’.
Here are the results:
You are driven by a higher purpose than most people. You have a deeply-rooted desire to facilitate peacefulness in the world. Whether through subtle interactions with love ones, or through getting involved in social causes, it is important to you to influence the world.
You are driven by a desire to encourage others to think about the positive side of things instead of focusing on the negative. The reason your unconscious is consumed by this might stem from an innate fear of war and turmoil. Thus, to avoid that uncomfortable place for you, your unconscious seeks out the peace in your environment.
Usually, the thing that underlies this unconscious drive is a deep respect for humankind. You care about the future of the world, even beyond your own involvement in it. As a result, your personal integrity acts as a surrogate for your deeper drive toward peace and guides you in daily life towards decisions that are respectful toward yourself and others.
Though your unconscious mind is driven most strongly by Peace, there is much more to who you are at your core.
I have this in my email siggie:
To think bad thoughts is really the easiest thing in the world. If
you leave your mind to itself it will spiral down into ever
increasing unhappiness. To think good thoughts, however, requires
effort. This is one of the things that discipline – training – is
about.– James Clavell, in his novel “Shogun”
And I had this in the signature before I took the test. Interesting.
Apr25
A good cooling does wonders!
I just wanted you to know that I am talking to my mom again. Things are fine. She just read the email I sent her last Thursday and replied with this: message read – point(s) taken and considered – over and out Mom. All that bull crap over a used shirt. Geez.
Mom’s talking about going up to ‘Shady Maple’ an area in Lancaster with a food store, restaurant and retail store that sells lovely plants which would be the reason for the trip. I didn’t get up there last year, so it’s a possibility that I may go. Not sure if it will be this week or when we get home from Florida.
Collages & Creative Goodness 