Category Archives: Mom

Feb21

Sew Cute

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Sew Cute 4" x 4" Collage Card, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

I made this card many days ago and just added the buttons yesterday. It’s not really involved, but I do think it’s ‘sew cool’. I’m anxious for Brian to assemble my new Ikea wall desk

so I can do lots of sorting of my papers and things and get better organized by color and design. It’s crazy the amount of scrapbook paper I have! I do like to create my own backgrounds too.
Sean and I went do to my hometown today as I get my hair done down there every 5 weeks or so. Sean hadn’t seen my mom for over a month and we wanted to treat her to dinner, so we hit ‘The Olive Garden’. Mom enjoyed her steak dinner. Then we went to Borders (I half look at books now, I have such a collection that I want to downsize); Pier One (fell in love with a high back love seat in Paisley brown and blue) Almost $700, I can dream. : )

and finally Macy’s where they are marking down fall and winter clothes for 75-80% off! I am going to go through my armoire and get rid of things I haven’t wore for a while as I think I bought 10 new tops in the last week or so. It’s really the only time I indulge-when the sales are this good. : )
It’s snowing here again-we may get 4-8″-dang it! We took the Mariner there and it was doing good on the snow blown roads. We never had a SUV before. My almost 15 yr old nephew liked it and the interior which is black and beige. I’ll have to take photos of ‘Stroud’ to show you.
I dont’ know if I’ll get to the P.O. tomorrow , Carole, it may be Wednesday. I do know you have a lot of OW-OH mail to look forward to.

Nov2

Man in the Moon

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This was a candy wrapper! I did buy the milk chocolate bar at a store in Peddler’s Village (from Razzle Dazzle) for this vintage illustration of the “Game of the Man of the Moon”. I added the dragonfly and red hearts. The ribbon had been wrapped around the bar which only lasted until tonight as it was so chocolaty and creamy.
The next card is from a baby book my mom found at a book sale. The photographer is Lisa Jane who does a great job with babies. I have her holding a rose to go with the Buddha verse. I think it looks sweet.
Single Flower 4"x 4" Collage

Busy yesterday and today. I borrowed Sean’s car to go to my hometown to get my hair fixed and to also visit a bit with my mom and her dogs. The poochies are good-the little guy is a bit skinny from his ordeal. They were both so glad to see me and Kelsey acted like a circus dog standing on his back feet begging to be loved. I gave him lots of attention.
I got my hair done with more blond highlights and a little side bang. Then I took mom to Carrabba’s and I think she enjoyed the blackberry Sangria the most. We went into Macy’s and they have some decent sales and a few 70% off rack. I bought mom three very nicely made tops for a total of $23. I dropped by Kohl’s on the way home looking for some slacks that fit me well and they didn’t carry them at that store. Of course they had 80% off racks-really loaded down. I got a cute blue and gray Vera Wang 3/4 length sleeve top that I wore today and a few other tops and a cute cotton dress. I had gotten rid of three bags of clothes, and will probably do another closet too!
Brian and I took Cosmo to the vet today. He cries going and coming home. I noticed my van is really hot under the second seat-not good. Anyway, my little furball weighs 15 pds. I let him out of the carrier in the van and held him a bit, but he then went under the second seat and then back into the carrier. He’s been really sleepy tonight.
Tomorrow I am going with Sean to a Walmart so he can get new tires. Maybe there will be a Kohl’s I can look for the slacks in!
And my Uncle Don is still in the hospital and I can’t seem to get through to him as the phone just rings and rings. He’s in a private room now for a few days. I’m wondering what will be next for him.

Oct23

Photo Hunt-Orange

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Handblown pumpkins and gourds, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

I have 338 photos on Flickr tagged with the word ‘orange’. This one is a few years old, but I loved these glass pumpkins. They still sell a few in the gift shop at Longwood Gardens, but they are quite pricey.
And speaking of Longwood, I was scanning old photos as I want to return them to their rightful owner and I found this one of my mom back in 1948 near the main fountain garden-I’m going by the chairs. I love this photo of her.
Mom at Longwood Gardens-1948

Update-My uncle finally got in a room after spending an entire day in the ER. He walked and ate a bit, but is still very weak.

Sep24

M is for Ma

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I was trying to get a few things done around the house today and my collages had to wait until after dinner. Boy was I tired from our little outing last night! Mom said she got about 10 birthday cards which made her happy.
So this is my mom when she was about 14. It’s not the clearest photo, but there is something I like about it, maybe because she looks like her mom here. I was looking at a book I have called ‘Scraps’ and the ladies made a alphabet book using an old dictionary. I have an old one and they didn’t have the word ‘mom’ just ‘ma’-go figure!
The one for today is called ‘Sisters’. I’ve used the image of my Grandmom and her older sister before, but this is tinted a bit mauve. I love this photo as they both are so adorable. I didn’t get to know Ethel, the little girl on the right as she passed from pneumonia at age 7. The tree is a button.

Sisters 4" x 4" Collage

Sep23

You’ve come a long way baby

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My mom Jeanne as a babe, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

My grandparents could not have picked the worst time to have child #2 as 1930 makes my mom a Depression baby. Her brother is 7 years older than her. I’ve heard all about what they would have to eat, like mashed potatoes on bread every night- times were indeed difficult. My mom was so sweet, her own maternal grandfather wanted to adopt her! She was a thin little girl and has never weighed much over 130 at her heaviest as an adult. Her parents would try to get her to drink milk and the glasses would get lined up on the table and she’d take one sip. She has never had a hearty appetite-well for junk food and chocolate maybe! : )
Mom has a lovely soprano singing voice and she sang in church and in school many times. I haven’t heard her sing lately though, it may have to do with her hearing issue. I’m wondering if we even have one recording of her beautiful voice!
Mom has always loved clothes too. She never bought full price and even wore thrift shop clothes, but always looked so ‘put together’ for work. When I was about 18 or so, I made her a salmon pink dress with white polka dots and she wore it a lot. I was so pleased to have made it for her.
She has a big, generous heart, maybe too generous for her own good sometimes. She so much rather give than receive (me too!). She enjoys travel, but just around these parts. When she was a young bride, she lived in San Francisco for the good part of a year but missed her family too much. She never went out west again.
I am so glad to be able to make her happy by taking her on trips or little outings and dinner. She feels like she may have missed out on things in her life. I feel she could have remarried if she really wanted to. She said she didn’t want to impose a step father on us, but maybe that is someone we all needed in our lives-a male figure besides her brother.
Life for mom at 80 isn’t a bed of roses, but as long as she has her sight and can read and watch tv, I think she’s pretty happy. And she loves her family in her own special way too.
Happy Birthday Mom!

The Almost Birthday girl!

Sep16

Typical Amish Farm & a little celebration

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Typical Amish Farm, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

We took mom out on a day trip on Wednesday. Sean was the driver as he wasn’t really interested in seeing the first place that we wanted to stop at-the Flower & Craft Warehouse. He dropped us off and went for a drive and ended up at a Farmer’s Market! Too bad he didn’t stay with us as they have tables set up with newspapers, magazines and a few tvs for the significant others who aren’t into crafts and flowers. He did have to come in later to find us. Hee hee!
The scenery was just beautiful, the weather perfect and the skies so blue. You do see mile after mile of farms just like this one.
Mom and I headed to the ‘bargain’ room first. I got lots of little things and things to alter. I got a square wreath that looks awesome in the family room. The colors are perfect! It was under $4. I got a S’mores Christmas house with an attached tree and ornaments-$11.
Mom picked out two things as gifts (I have another gift for her next Thursday). She picked out a festive sunflower table display after much hemming and hawing. She also picked out a glittery pumpkin. I know seasonal, but she will remember her day by these.
After shopping, we went to Shady Maple Smorgasbord. I was really hungry! Their specials were prime rib and ham. For $17 you get a bargain. If we could have taken mom up on her birthday, she would have been free! Mom didn’t eat that great. She makes the mistake of filling up her plate and then that takes her appetite away. I don’t have that problem-I just want to taste everything. Sean said he wasn’t hungry, but the second time around he ate more than salad and cauliflower.
Now get this, we stopped at Wally World. I stayed in the car and Sean got his hair cut (so short he looks like he’s in the military) and mom had to use the rest room. I was glad to relax and people watch.
Mom went home around 3 today and said she loved seeing the sights and going to these couple of places.

Mom nibbles at her dinner and went for ice cream
Pretty Autumnal Decorations
The Almost Birthday girl!
Tower for Flower & Craft Warehouse
Mums and Asters
Collage cards haven’t been worked on yet-have one idea. I showed my mom and she took the one of her dog Kelsey. 🙂 She really liked them a lot.

Sep13

Garden Helpers & Meatless Mondays

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I like my collage for today as it is all about ‘working’ outside in the gardens. The children are from a 1936 reader that my mom could have used back then as she was 6 yrs old that year. The book is in such great shape, I decided to only scan some of the photos and not to cut it up.
It’s so great to dig through my art and paper stuff each day, but I need to do some major tidying. Everytime I try to tidy, I get ideas for new collages. This is #18! I really haven’t been stumped yet-let’s see how I do on #156.
Sir Paul McCartney and his daughters were on a leaflet we received at the concert about trying to go meatless one day a week, so why not on Mondays? I did eat a leftover half of prime rib sandwich for lunch, but our dinner was totally meatless. I did a Strata with Artisan bread, tomato, parsley,feta, onion and eggs-very delicious.
Strata with parsley, onion and tomato
Our salad was Arugula with white beans, red pepper and handmade lemony dressing. I got a new cookbook at The Christmas*Tree Shoppe from Food & Wine magazine. They had several editions. They review 25 cookbooks from that particular year and include several recipes from each.The ones we had were in the first few chapters!
Sean and I are taking my mom to Lancaster (that’s if she shows up as she said she’d sleep over at her brother’s and drive over). Originally we were thinking Atlantic City, but that’s 90 miles or so and it’s expensive down there. Plus we had her there on our vacation in ’08 and ’09. We can take her to the Smorgesbord. If we actually were taking her on the 23rd, she’d get a free dinner-rats. I think it will be a nice change of scenery for her too.

May14

Photo Hunt-Half

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Mom’s Reflection, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

I always thought this was the coolest photo of my mom-her better ‘half’ is herself! I have to give photo credit to her friend Jim, but it was mom’s camera.
This is in Washington, DC in the late 80s at the Smithsonian’s American History museum. ‘All in the Family’ was certainly a tv comedy that looked at many angles of life. Brian and I just saw this exhibit in April of this year and they added Edith’s chair plus Archie’s hat also.

Mar4

Mugglies need to take a hike

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Over the last few weeks, the three of us have been suffering from a wicked virus going around. First you just feel blah and maybe your appetite isn’t that great (me). Then your sinuses open up like a faucet (Sean and me). Then if you are really into it, you get secondary issues-Sean-annoying cough and me-tummy issues and another tongue ulcer (had one on October-checked my blog). Brian’s had a lesser cold/virus but he is stuffed up,  coughing a little and feels crummy.

On Tuesday I took my first drive to my mom’s in about a month! I got my hair done first before I spent some time with mom. The snow is still around, but the grass is peeking out in a few select spots where the sun is hitting. The ice dams in the gutters are slowly melting off and draining.  Some of my ‘forgotten’ (meaning I forgot to store them for the winter) garden decorations are ruined-they were crushed by the weight of the snow. I’m wondering if my forsythia will need a drastic trimming back as they are almost bent in half by the snow. The hedges along the front of the house are trying to spring back to life.  I see a big yard clean up in my future.

So mom is doing pretty good. Wish she was a little heavier. We went to the Goodwill so I could drop off some things and we went in and hit ‘$2 Tuesday’.  I have to be really selective, which isn’t hard when there is a lot of junk to loo through. I did find a Dorothy of Oz paperdoll set, a framed hardinger heart piece with beads (only $1), a cute recipe book with Christmas goodies (lots that I make) a little tweety bird type Easter ceramic popping out of it’s shell, and a candle holder that goes with a collection that I have. I think I spent about $11.

Mom took me out to Charlie Brown’s restaurant. I was having tummy issues at her house, but did eat okay at the restaurant. They have an excellent salad bar with everything you can imagine! Mom got sirloin and I got shrimp and lobster tempura. With my mouth, I needed soft food though the salad was rough to eat. The shrimp was cooked fine, but the lobster’s tempura was a bit undercooked. Since it’s a steakhouse, I want to try that sometime.

Today Sean and I went to  a produce place, Trader Joe’s and Target for much needed food items-not much meat though. We basically needed a TJ fix. It was nice he used his day off to take me places. My van is getting it’s brakes checked out as they are grinding a bit. If it’s going to be a big job, my brother will do it. He knows the guy where we dropped it off.

So that’s what I’ve been up to. I need to be crafty again! So many things to think about lately-put me in a creative slump. Hope to get to the Philly Flower show either Saturday or Sunday, but I am going to lunch with some friends first, so they are more important to me. Mom and my brother went Wednesday, though she didn’t rave about it. For me, there is always the orchid show at Longwood Gardens in a few weeks. Much cheaper and closer-and free (well almost).

Jan29

Stuff

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Hey gang! It’s been fun looking at the blogs in the One World, One Heart event in my sticky post. I haven’t gotten to 100 on the list and I believe there are over 700 now! It’s neat to see so many creative bloggers out there. Don’t forget, if you have a blog and like to visit new bloggers and enter contests for awesome things, then drop by OWOH until Feb. 15th.
On a personal note, and it’s hard to talk about, my one family member is really unhappy and we’re not sure why. I do my best to help my mom when I can. Thursday was an ugly, ugly day. I’m not sure what tomorrow will bring, but wish mom luck as it seems to be her clothes and personal things that are always an issue with him. I don’t think I can handle him anymore. I have forgiven him so many times and he was really awful to me yesterday. Bad dream. He’ll probably be moving out sooner or later.
Sean is finally on the register at Wally World! He said it went well until the store’s manager or someone came up to him and asked him if a customer had bought milk and he stalled trying to recall and she said ‘well yes or no’? Seems the customer may have been trying to lift milk maybe in a closed container she later bought, but Sean checked the container and there wasn’t anything in it. I told him it seemed like a ‘test’ to see if he was doing the right thing. Geez.
Taking it one day at a time.