Category Archives: Me stuff

Apr24

Act of kindness

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So I was on my way to MickeyD’s for dinner and two teens in an SUV in the other lane made me stop. Here a baby squirrel was sitting right in my path! I wouldn’t run over him! The driver got out and kinda swooshed at it (it was so cute I am getting all smoochie thinking of him). That didn’t work, so her pal got up and scooped him right up in her hands! I was praying that he wouldn’t bite her and he didn’t. The gal stayed on the side of the road to make sure ‘lil’ fuzzy tail’ got on his way. Isn’t that just too sweet?

Apr23

Clothes sorters

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Geez Louise! Even my son and I have too many clothes. I guess we take after a certain lady who isn’t talking to me. I needed to get some things together for our Florida trip in a few weeks. I had bought a few new things, but I wanted some ‘kick around’ shorts and tees that are all ready ‘broken in’. For Christmas I bought Space bags and managed to get a big plastic bin worth of clothes into about 4 of them. I gave Sean the bin and a jumbo space bag for his stuff. He is as bad as me! His bed was piled high with clothes, mostly from his favorite store Old Navy. We decided to donate about 2 huge bags of clothes to the Goodwill (there’s another bag in the van). I am pretty happy with what I have to take. I have to try on shorts (which I hate, I found knee length polyester skirts that look so much better on me). I guess I’ll have to look through Brian’s clothes next because knowing him he will wait until the last moment.
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So we watched Sideways last night and this morning. There was a shocker ‘copulating’ scene and full frontal nudity of a couple of bit actors (just to warn you). Sean saw that and I think he was quite surprised. If you over look those few scenes, it was a pretty decent movie. I think it won the Golden Globe this year as best movie comedy. Paul Giamatti was excellent. Hard to believe he played an orangutan in the remake of ‘The Planet of the Apes’.
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I am pleased with how the yard clean up is going. I am moving a few plants around that were looking sad in their present location. The plants are Japanese iris that were in front of the driveway and some lilies that were under the Japanese maple in the front yard. They were reaching so much for the sun they were legging and not doing anything. Brian dug them up the other evening and just being placed in a pot they look more perky. Some of my lawn decorations got broken or are faded. I had a fairy garden and some of my wee folk look a wee bit pale. I want to find some miniatures for the fairy garden. Last year the impatiens took over. Maybe there are mini-impatiens! I’ll have to look around and I am getting that itch to check out some garden centers.

Apr22

Beef stew

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I have to admit, this was the best I’ve made in a while. I make stew at least twice a month in the cooler weather. No way was I going to make it in 80 degree weather yesterday. It was in the 60s today, so I made it. I swear, the turnips and parsnips make the world of different flavor-wise. I like a bit of rosemary and parsley with a splash of Worchestershire sauce. I made some ‘packaged’ lemon squares for a treat. My son Sean has a terrible sweet tooth. He’s practically eaten 4 packages of cookies in less than a week. Half the tray of lemon squares are gone too. And look ma, no cavities and he’s ‘just right’ with his build.
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I did weed whacking instead of food shopping. I have a lot of pent up anger in me from my phone conversation with mom. I did almost the entire front yard! Mom even involved my uncle in this spat. He called and was very cool with me. I don’t know when all this will end, but I really hate it because I feel like a heel and I don’t want not to like myself when I didn’t really do anything so horrific.

Apr19

Silent treatment

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Oh how I hate silent treatments. My mom is giving me one now. She was mad at me for making fun of a shirt she bought for Brian at the Goodwill. Now I don’t know what possessed her to buy this shirt as it is at least from the 80s with a fitted waistband for him and it’s faded. Brian just had a birthday and got new shirts. Mom hung up on me last night and said she’d never buy us another thing (promise?). My brother has her all stirred up because he wants her to get her house cleaned up and in shape. She’s hoarded so much. She was going through bedsheets and I saw a fitted sheet in the pile that I used as a teenager, so that was 25+ yrs old.
I am curious to see how long she can hold out. I love her, but man, I don’t miss the complaining and all.
Update 4-21
I’m not going to do another long post about this. I tried to make amends with mom to no avail this morning. It turned into a shouting match. All the stuff I was thinking about that was negative concerning her boiled over. Mom said that maybe we shouldn’t call each other anymore. Told me my family was dysfunctional(not sure what she means). I almost threw the phone and was in tears. She just tried to call about 45 minutes later and I didn’t answer. We need more of a break from one another. Family issues suck.
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For dinner tonight we had chicken tenders spread with a mixture of mayo and parmesan cheese. On top of that you shake on some bread crumbs. You bake it for about 20 minutes at 425. I cooked them in the toaster oven and put the broiler on them to make them nice and brown. I went to a produce place looking for broccoli rabe (which they didn’t have) and got some ‘homegrown in our town’ spinach. Sean likes it raw, so I saved him some. I followed a recipe on the bag-heat olive oil, brown some garlic in it. Take the pan off the heat, drop in the bag of spinach. Put a lid on the pan and cook for 6 minutes. Add lemon juice. I threw in some cooked bacon and it was so tasty. Try it as it’s so good for you too.

Apr14

Bedtime routine…don’t get too excited…

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It takes longer and longer as the years go by. I swear by washing my face every night and have done that all my life. I am lucky to have Lancome products (thanks to gift cards) and I use the cleanser, toner and dry skin cream. Then it’s eye drops (just the wetting kind), chapstick, maybe Flonase or herbal nasal spray and cream for my dry tootsies. I’ve been using the udder cream as previously posted and my dry feet have improved tremendously. I have some herbal rub if I feel stuffy if I don’t use the medicine. I just started using cuticle cream again. Sometimes I put meds on my face. Of course tooth and hairbrushing are squeezed in there too.
Wasn’t that an interesting post? I know people in my own family who don’t wash their faces, and to me that is just nasty.

Apr12

Lots to do

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We have to get serious about getting our summer clothes out and ready for our trip in 3 weeks. I have a few new pieces, but I need my old, kick around in stuff too. Sean is really excited about this trip and I pray things will run smoothly. I am feeling really guilty about leaving the cat here by himself for almost 4 days. I can’t count on anyone to watch him either. I have a food dispenser, so he won’t starve. He has a window perch which is nicely padded. I will turn on a battery radio for his listening pleasure. He will be lonely, but he isn’t lonely that often. He was an outdoor boy when we first adopted him, so he should be use to being independent.
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I was so thrilled my niece Tori, pictured below loved her gifts from me. She even got her own tv and chair from her mom and dad and was happy about them, but went right back to the dolls. I got her these mini-dolls called ‘Shorties‘ and she played with them the entire time I was there and ignored the other toys. I’m wondering if she is playing with them today? They reminded me of ‘Little Kiddles’ from my childhood and they were really popular. I also gave her the little fairy and bunny cross stitch I turned into my first quilt square. Everyone was impressed by it. The quilt part was so-so, at least it looks handmade.
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We stopped by my mom’s house first and it looked like clothes had exploded in her living room! My brother is helping her clean out some bedrooms and I think she is quickly moving clothes so he won’t toss them. I could not believe how many clothes one person had. Now I know where a lot of her moola went. I like clothes too, but I have donated tons of them to charity within the last few years.
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Not only did we see the fox the other day, but we saw some gorgeous swans on the way to Brian’s dad’s house on Sunday. I would love to have a huge pond with swans-they are so elegant.
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Brian and I celebrate our 21st wedding anniversary on Thursday. We can’t believe it’s been that long. Goes to show you how quickly the years pass by.

Apr7

One of my most embarassing moments…

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I just submitted this to the Ellen DeGeneres Show:
I decided to become a commuter student during my junior year at college. I had about a 20 minute trip in my rickety old Maverick, but hey, I was driving and could come and go as I pleased.
On the ‘first’ day of the semester I got up around 6 am for my 8 o’clock English class. I got my new notebooks all together with my packed lunch and was off for school. I was anxious to get started and see my friends again. When I got there I was amazed at how many commuter students chose not to have an 8 o’clock class as I had my choice of parking spaces! As I walked along the sidewalks to the building where my English class was, again I was so surprised that I hardly saw any students walking to 8 o’clock classes. It was about 7:45. Either I was really early or they were going to be late.
When I finally arrived at the building and went inside it was rather dimly lit and my classroom was dark too. Geez, what’s the matter? Was school cancelled on the first day? I happened upon a maintenance man and asked him about the first day. He said ‘Young lady, the first day of classes is tomorrow!’ I had no idea until that very moment. Did I get out of there fast and hoped I wouldn’t run into any one I knew. I even had a story in case I did. Luckily, I just went to my car and came home and did it all again the next day.

Mar31

Think first!

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You’d think that since I am a fairly intelligent creature that I would remember to use Flonase or my herbal nasal spray before I tackle the great outdoors! Well, I didn’t and not only is my brain foggy from PMSing but I am so stuffed up. As soon as I eat something, I’ll do the spray to see if it helps a day later. Even our friend Kathy says she takes Advil before she plays tennis to avoid the aches and pains that will probably settle in. Advil doesn’t like me, so I was popping a Tylenol at 1 am this morning. My body was like ‘hey toots, are you crazy? Manual labor and you do not mix!”

I heard that Terri Schaivo passed away today. Her husband is bringing her up to Bucks County, PA. to her final resting place. It’s beautiful there and we daytrip there once in a while. That’s where Terri and Michael grew up. I hope now that she is gone, that the story will vacant the news. We have to concentrate on getting our troops home. Mom was also saying she worries about her grandchildren being taken care of through social security when they are her age. I think people even my age have to worry! I don’t know what will happen in the next 20 yrs, but it’s not a pleasant thought to know that we may not get the help we deserve.

Mar31

The clean up begins….and a unexpected phone call

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Yes, you did feel the earth move today!! We were out cleaning out the flowerbeds of leaves and twigs today as it was nice and around 60 degrees. I got both fellas to help me in a few places. I wish one of them would blow the leaves out of the beds in the autumn. It would make a lot less work in the spring. I was around all those damp leaves and mold and so far the only reaction I’ve had was after dinner when I sneezed about 6 times in a row. There’s a ton more to do, the little pond is loaded with leaves on the bottom. I’m wondering if I have any ‘pet’ tadspoles in there. The spring peepers (Sean hates it when I call them that) are really ‘chirping’ lately. A nice ‘find’ was a bunch of crocuses under the chestnut tree. I must have gotten some as an Easter gift from years past and they got dumped there, so they were popping up in purples and white.
I’ve been in a dilemma since last night. Colleen, my sister-in-law was looking for a picture of her daughter Tori from her 1st birthday (needed it for a school scrapbook). She couldn’t find any! So I started to look, and then I looked some more. Finally, I came to the last stack thinking they were newer photos and there were the 1st birthday photos! Colleen didn’t take many shots I guess as she was in most of the ones I had! So I hope they were able to save the ones I sent through email.
While I was looking through the photos, I ran across one of our friend Kathy from Tennessee. About 3 hours later, out of the blue she called to wish Brian a belated Happy Birthday. Kathy shares the same birthday as me. It was nice to chat with her. She asked me if I was going to ever get my BS degree now that Sean was getting one, and I told her that I didn’t want to be a teacher and was happy with what I was doing now. Some career woman sure don’t understand us domestic goddesses!