Category Archives: pals

Nov21

Family connection

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I got an email from my father’s half brother today. I have never met or talked to him ever, but he got my email from our cousin Ann who I correspond with. I won’t go into it, but it was about my estranged father. I think I answered his question and I also shared some of the family photos that I shared with you. I said he could share them with my father if he wanted to.
So exactly a year ago, a cousin from my mom’s side of the family had left a comment on blogger wondering who I was (I like to look up posts from a year or two ago). I had written a post about his grandmom and he had googled her name (I guess) and my blogger post came up.
The internet is a great way to connect with new people and family and even those you have wondered about.
I thought it would be interesting to put up a few names of people from the past to see if they google themselves. If you get to my post, please say ‘hello’. All are from the Philadelphia area.
Phil Heaver
Valerie Henschel
John Voelker (WCU)
Donna DiDomenico
Amy and Jessica Nackord
Andrea DeBeacke or DeBecke (I think the spelling is incorrect)
Amy Troy
Michelle Bendo
Regina Naab
Olivia Pettengill Maple
Kathy Clancy

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!

Nov19

Truly Blest-part 1

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I really am blest with friends I’ve met over the internet in the last 9 years. This past year, I’ve met some new pals, mainly through Blogger and Cyberstitchers. I had no idea I’d be surprised with goodies time and time again over the last few days.
First ‘Pea’ (Pea’s Corner) from Canada sent me a package. I told her I’d wait until today to open it. I need to take a photo, but it is the sweetest petite perfume bottle, shaped like a heart with a faceted round topper and little jewels on the sides. The box is pretty too! Thanks Pea/C!
Barbara from The Netherlands (Mainly Stitching) and Carol from N. Hampshire (A Garden of Stitches) both surprised me with cross stitched scissor fobs they made with their own two hands. Their creativity shines through each stitch and how the fob is assembled. I borrowed their shots from their blogs. Barb also sent a nice English stitching magazine, 2 quarters of Christmas fabric and some pretty stitching fabric. I also want to thank Carol for trying to find some info on NH for Sean for a paper.
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From Carol
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From Barbara

Charlotte from Ireland sent me peach and white roses (and another kind of flower) in a blue pitcher. These touched me as I know she’s been flat on her back, literally after back surgery.
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Karin for Illinois sent me the JT Cmas CD (Bri gave it to me also), cute greeting cards with a little girl who is gardening and a roll-up case for a project.
Angela from NY sent me a lovely long scarf she made-red silk-like material with beads on the end. Also a little folk angel and a stained glass butterfly pot hanger.
Terri from Alabama sent me a Harry and David cheesecake ‘sampler’-pure heaven!
Joy from Washington sent goodies from where she works-Drugstore.com-Bert’s Bees items in a pouch, Badger hand balm and a catnip mat for Cosmo! I think she looked at my wishlist there! ; )
Sean gave me two CDS-Sarah MacLachlan’s Cmas and Bianca Ryan’s debut (I mentioned in my previous post).
Bri gave me two necklaces-a ‘D’ with a little diamond, a big ‘O’ with diamond-like rhinestones; Chocolates in a cute tin, a little teapot with bear figurine from Boyd’s and the JT CD which I will exchange. I will post more photos later.
I am going to Ken’s at 4 and hopefully all my siblings (3 brothers) will be there. Dave, the oldest, may have to work.
My mom isn’t well today with tummy problems, so I hope she’ll be better by then. I am ok today, at least my ears seem better. Let’s just say hormones can play tricks with you!
So from the bottom of my heart, I appreciate you all, not just for your thoughtfulness, but because you are YOU!!!!

Oct29

Ms Fix-it

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Honestly, what would these guys do without me? The phone was dead and the internet was down-so something with the computer modem had a problem (I think it was weather or daylight savings related). We tried the standby button on the front of the modem and it didn’t do anything. I got the idea to open up the Outlook Express email account and it went right to ‘desktop doctor’ and said ‘no internet connection’-no kidding. It then told us to reset the button on the back of the modem and wait 2 minutes. Bingo! The light on the front of the modem for the phone was lit again, but not the online light. So it said to restart the computer. Still no online connection. I was all set to call Comcast and then I decided to try the standby button again-and it worked. *Bowing*.
I slept like a charm last night and am pretty much my old self today. After some bad take-outs, I promised the guys a spaghetti and meatball dinner tonight (they had the choice of pot roast too). So in a few hours, I’ll whip that up for them.
The wind is wicked today. Brian is out cutting the grass. I wanted so much for him to get an attachment for the new mower to pick up the leaves. He stalls all the time. Look how long I longed for my kitchen (19.5 yrs for new readers). I told him I can’t handle all the raking in the springtime because he misses so many places just using the mower to clean up with. He does rake, but he could rake more.
Hopefully tomorrow I’ll get the roses moved. I can’t wait to see my niece and nephew on Tuesday for Halloween. : )
BTW-my mammogram was fine. I think I need to call about the ultrasound.

Could you keep my friend Warren in your prayers please? He had a mini-stroke last week and just wrote to his pals about it. Said his right side was numb and it was hard to read things. It’s hard to know what to say, but I told him I was pulling for him.

Oct29

A little cross stitch piece

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I finished this as part of a neighborhood round robin a few days ago (sorry for the blurry photo). I really think it’s cute as can ‘bee’, especially the little beekeep. I added the swarm of bees in the shape of a ‘P’ for the name of the owner’s son. This is for a nice lady in The Netherlands. My own piece is in New Hampshire right now. It gets to travel more than I do! : ) This is by ‘The Prairie Schooler’- ‘ G’ is for Garden.

Jun30

A gift

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My friend over on tribe.net made this for me. I hope she doesn’t mind me sharing it with you. I plan to print it out and frame it I love it so much. Thanks so much D.
In case you don’t know, that’s a collage of singer James Taylor from his early years on up. I have a ‘tribe’ for JT fans and I have tons of photos there that D. could use. And I’ve been a fan of JT’s since I’ve been 13, and that’s a long, long time. ; )

Jul27

Saw this on Abby’s blog…

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Your Blogging Type is Kind and Harmonious
You’re an approachable blogger who tends to have many online friends.
People new to your blogging circle know they can count on you for support.
You tend to mediate fighting and drama. You set a cooperative tone.
You have a great eye for design – and your blog tends to be the best looking on the block!

What’s Your Blogging Personality?

Thanks Abby.
I feel a bit better tonight. I did lay down for 45 minutes or so. I got a package of goodies in the mail from Collectibles,Inc. and they all had to be put together. I got a little fairy birdbath (the fairy is solar powered), a duck fountain that spits water back into the pond (pictures are coming);a fountain I was going to put outside but it’s for inside-an old-fashioned hand pump that pours water into a bucket(noisy) and a few other things.

May20

Could it be rain?

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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.
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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.

May13

Utterly shocked

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A great lady who runs a charity website sent us an urgent email today. I couldn’t believe what I read. I won’t name the organization as this is a public blog. Someone took the bio and photo of one of the featured sick children of the month and made a fake website to get people to donate money in this sick eight yr old’s name. They said they are up to to $19,000 or so! This little boy won’t see any of the money at all. The webmistress with the real site has contacted the place that is accepting payments to tell them it’s not a legit operation. I’ve been dealing with this site since August, 1998 and I don’t believe anything like this has happened before. Too bad when you are trying to do good for people someone comes along and jeopardizes a great thing. Please, if you see any websites asking for money, do a search, especially if sick kids are involved.

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!