Category Archives: Rambling stuff

Oct1

I can see clearly now…

Posted on Wednesday, October 1, 2008 by Dianne

….the cataracts are gone! Well, that may be so for my mom in a few hours. She’s getting her left eye done tomorrow morning. Seems she went on a crafty shopping spree this afternoon at JoAnn’s as she needed more yarn. I had gotten her interested in crocheting again and she’s doing a triple crochet stitch afghan for my niece. I had seen some pretty wavy pink yarn in a box that she said she was getting rid of it. I brought it back here and started the afghan. She got the hang of the stitch and she’s doing good with it! This pleases me to no end. I have to go around 12:30 to pick her up and will probably stop to get some lunch first. Wish her well…your vibes really help!

I was a cleaning fool today. Did the kitchen floor, some of the hardwood floors and vacuumed. Yep, paid for all that activity with sore spots in my back. I guess I need to get it checked out, though it doesn’t hurt everyday and doesn’t keep me awake. I hate to think it’s arthritis, but it’s a possibility.

I was trying to think of some questions for you guys. Here’s a few to start with and please answer if you want. It’s a survey for me!

When you upload photos, do you keep them on your computer, print them out or store them in a place like Flickr?

I keep them on the computer briefly, but upload to Flickr. I also burn them on a disc. I haven’t printed out photos for a year!

Is your husband or significant other the same religion and political party as you?

We are the same religion, but different political parties. Sean chose what I follow.

Do you ever cross bridges to see friends or family?

We do cross over the Brandywine River to see our parents who live in different areas.

Have you eaten liver in the last 5 years?

No way! When I worked at a daycare center in 1979, they had liver about once a month. The kids hated it and I couldn’t eat it. What a waste of money. If you want kids to have iron, there are other things they can eat. However, my mom, uncle and late grandmom ate it all the time!

Sep29

Found it in the 5 & 10¢ store

Posted on Monday, September 29, 2008 by Dianne

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Campbell Tomato soup candle, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

While looking through the Dollar General Store (so it’s not the 10¢ store), I was checking out their reduced items and found this candle for 60¢. Campbell’s Soup is located in Camden, NJ, a stone’s throw from Philly, so this is a novelty item. I’m thinking a bit Andy Warholish too. He was also from PA. It smells vaguely of tomatoes.
Not much new on the home front. Headed to the ‘lady’ doctor tomorrow. That makes me a bit nervous as I went through so much with the mammograms, etc last year. I guess I have problems like any lady my age. It’s not an easy age, no way. Think of me and send good vibes.

Sep28

Gloomy Sunday

Posted on Sunday, September 28, 2008 by Dianne

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Yesterday, Bri and I took my mom home after 3.5 days. We had waited for 3 hours for brother #2 to show up to get her. He hadn’t been here for years. Actually, I can say that about all 3 of my brothers. They know they don’t have to be invited to come here. Mom called about 3 times and he finally answered and said he was peeved at her for something she said. I was going to take her by myself, but Bri came along and drove. He’s been really stressed out about his dad and kept playing with my air conditioner. If you recall, it didn’t work for the hottest months of the summer and I told him to leave it off or on. Geez.

Once we got to mom’s house, we did little chores for her that haven’t been done for months. Remember, I have two brothers that live a few miles away and mom’s SIL Bri (who lives 23 miles away) had to do these things that took minutes to fix. He replaced the belt on her vacuum that hasn’t worked for months. I ran the vacuum and what it got up was nasty. My brother had the nerve to do a mold test in her house, yet he wouldn’t replace the belt on her vacuum. And Bri fixed 2 lights for mom! She just had eye surgery on the 11th and is seeing major floaters. I think she needs to see around her kitchen! Plus the lamp post wasn’t working. I’ve replaced the bulb a few times and it still didn’t work. One reason her friend fell and hurt himself! I guess when Bri was flipping circuits/fuses, he flipped it back on as mom said it was on last night. Unbelievable. I can see why she gets really depressed as her own sons don’t keep her in check. I can’t say stuff to them about helping either or they’ll get mad. They say they don’t like being ‘used’, but tell me, does helping your elderly mom categorize being used? Do any other women out there find their parents depend on them more than your brothers? And why are they acting this way? Not having a dad around caused them to treat their mom so poorly? I thought it was girls who suffered more from not having dads (electra complex). Sorry, venting.

Bri and I did go to Ruby’s for a burger and then the bookstore. We watched Penn State win their 5th football game and wondered where Sean was in the crowd of 109,000.

I haven’t been to the store in 10 days-gasp-so need to head in that direction soon.

Sep21

Yeah Tina Fey!

Posted on Sunday, September 21, 2008 by Dianne

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i’ve been waiting for this! Tina Fey as Sarah Palin, originally uploaded by jenn hsu.

I don’t know Tina Fey personally, but she grew up a stone’s throw away from Media, in Upper Darby, in the same county. How awesome is it to see a talented person win 3 Emmys (I think I got that correct) from this area? Alec Baldwin won for 30 Rock himself. A week or so ago, a ‘best of’ episode show had when he was role playing as Tracy Morgan’s parents during a meeting with a psychologist. It’s one of the best scenes ever——>see vod pod!!

So I did watch the Emmys. I missed all the pre-shows as I decided playing around with paper crafts was more relaxing to me. The show had a rough start where the five nominated hosts for reality shows didn’t know what to talk about. That’s pretty lame. They wasted time and first winner Jeremy Piven gave them a dig about that.

The funniest moment-when Steven Colbert came out eating prunes with co-presenter Jon Stewart (they both won) and of course he was comparing prunes to a certain presidential candidate.

And I enjoyed a skit when some of the cast of ‘Laugh In’ did a bit announcing nominees through the old psychedelic doors as their most famous characters (yeah, I’m aging myself, but I was under 10 when this show was on) . Lily Tomlin, Joann Worley and Ruth Buzzi were perfect. The announcer-Gary Owens looked and sounded good, but Alan Sues-he was a little shaky, the poor guy.

And the guy who played Ben Franklin won an Emmy for John Adams, an HBO miniseries I didn’t see. We don’t get channels like that.

What I’ve been doing mostly this weekend is rearranging my 46 photo CDs-yes that is correct. I am going through them for Flickr and uploading ones I couldn’t add when I just had the Yahoo account. Also I’m uploading the highest resolution on ones I had downsized and want to replace as they aren’t clear. I want to rescan some old photos of mine too. When I read on a blog that a lady from Texas lost her wedding photos, well, I didn’t want to ever lose the last 6 yrs of my life. I have tons of film photos. I don’t know if I’ll ever do all of the ones I really love, but I will eventually scan cute baby shots of Sean, etc.

Here’s hoping #4 will be lucky for the guy showing up from Dishnet. We asked that they come in the morning, but they decided to do afternoon.

<<<<<<<<<CLICK for free mammograms! They only have a few days left in their fundraiser and are just over 50%.

Sep20

Photo Hunt-Road

Posted on Saturday, September 20, 2008 by Dianne

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Roadview of Allegheny Mts, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

I could have showed our snow covered road from a few years back, but I remember I took this on the way home from State College last year-through the windshield. It’s to remind me that Sean is between mountains and over a river away from home.

I did this last year. A few friends and I were photoshopping photos for fun!

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By the way, the tech didn’t show up for the 3rd time and we were going to let him in at 9 pm to do the conversion on the tv. He didn’t even call to say he wasn’t coming. I can’t get over the sucky service. Dishnet better get some better subcontractors! It’s going to be either tomorrow morning-not holding my breath as I still have to call or Monday morning. Complete idiots. Go elsewhere people!

Sep18

Twiddling thumbs

Posted on Thursday, September 18, 2008 by Dianne

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We have a new HDtv, but still with no HD hook-up. I cancelled a class at a local cross stitch shop to wait on the technician. At 3 o’clock, the company called to say the guy’s van was still not running. I called dishnet to complain. They said my name was still not tied in with the account. Like Tammy, I’m the one who pays the bills, and my name is on the check too! Geez. Bri called after dinner and said if they don’t show up on Friday, we are switching companies. It’s ridiculous!

I missed meeting a cross stitcher from England. I had signed up for the class, but heard it was a mobile, so I wasn’t really interested in sitting there working on that between 5:30 and 7:30. If you want more info, Jennifer blogged about it at Sweet Pea Stitches.

Bri went food shopping with me after dinner because of my sore back (which is better) as I didn’t want to lift too much. It’s a wake up call for him as he can’t believe we spend so much for two people (and a cat). We got a few extras like vitamins and a magazine. I also saw the ‘Tim Daly’ (cutie) of our church (and the store was rather empty), so that made it more interesting for me as Dan said ‘hi’ to me and then Bri. Bri was not amused. HAHAHA

Enjoyed good tv tonight, for a change. I had 3 shows to watch in a row while I worked on my kitty and read my new magazine.

We are having a picnic dinner for my mom’s birthday this Sunday, similar to what we had last year. Bro #2 will probably be there-he wasn’t living up here last year, but not Sean. Not sure about the other two older boys. I plan to make a ham and cheese pasta dish and broccoli salad. I got buy one get one free on the broccoli. I figure they will hold up better than a lettuce dish, plus each are like a meal.

Sep8

I have Scrambilitis!

Posted on Monday, September 8, 2008 by Dianne

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I had one of those nights where I was looking at the clock every hour and getting up. I couldn’t figure out if it was something I ate or drank-I did have that McD’s sweet tea earlier in the day and green tea for dinner. Then it dawned on me that I sat on the floor after dinner for about 45 minutes sorting out my paper goods. I can’t do this anymore, I did it anyway and I’m sure that’s why I felt funky-that and PMS. And it doesn’t get better as you get closer to 50, it gets really strange and you wonder what is inhabited in your body sometime. Anyway, all night, thanks to Facebook’s Scramble (I have a word IQ of between 99 and 101) I was doing words in my head-ten-tent-taint-faint far-fare….you get the picture. Ugha! That was awful. So I couldn’t turn my brain off. Maybe walking around the Mushroom Festival would have helped, but I decided not to go.

I’m thinking a lot about my mom and FIL too. Mom’s a little snippy. I was coming down tomorrow so Colleen can do my hair, but my brother’s friend lost his mom last week and they are going to the funeral. (the lady felt like she had heartburn for 3 days, but she also weighed over 250, but none the less, that is scary stuff). I said to mom that while she was having her eye surgery, I’d run to get my hair done first. She’s only 5 miles away at the hospital and she said she’ll be there 3-4 hours anyway from 9:30 (when the surgery is suppose to take place). I know they are never on time from my experience with the biopsy last November. So mom said I’d have to call the short procedure to see if she was ready to go home, in a snippy way. I think it will work out.

Not sure what I’m doing today-need to wake up!

Here’s what I did on Saturday, inside during all the rain:

I added some fall garland, leaf candles and some aluminum pieces I had. My mom gave me the little Holly Hobbie recently. I also had bought the candle in front of the mantel clock and was trying to figure out where it would look nice. I love those mosaic pieces I found on deep discount at Value City a few years ago. There’s a string of 5 flickering lanterns that don’t show up well here.

Thanks for everyone who offered help with chosing a tv. It sure isn’t an easy task!

And Jennifer and whoever may have signed up for the J. Holdsworthy meeting at the SS, I signed up too! Yeah!

Sep1

A little daytrippin’

Posted on Monday, September 1, 2008 by Dianne

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I can’t believe it’s September already!

Bri and I went down to Dover, De today. It’s about 50 miles one way and takes an hour. Not much to see, just some marshy areas with egrets and I saw a whole family in one area. Every once in a while, there is a housing development. There are places I want to see and photograph like Lum’s Pond (about 20 miles away-we went there for a company picnic years ago) and Odessa (about 30, but they decorate the old homes for Christmas). I did take a photo of the St. George’s bridge:

This is over the Chesapeake and Delaware Canals (thus named) and taken at over 50 mph. The average speed limit on this stretch of road to Dover was 65 mph. That just seems to fast to us.

Hit a big sale at Atlantic Books warehouse-buy two, get one free. I shop the middle of the store where the bargain books are Bri tends to shop the perimeter where they aren’t on sale, but he was thinking the sale, though he picked out only two books that were over $20 each. Now I really have to love a book to pay that much. When we were checking out, I tossed one of my books in with his-got a $9.00 book for free. I guess we saved $25 on the total sale. I was very selective. I may sell a few of the ones I bought anyway.

We ate dinner at 3:30, having skipped lunch, at The Olive Garden-good parmesan crusted Talapia! Oh, I got a new postage scale at the Office Depot so I will know how much stuff over a pound will cost to ship. I can use click and ship now too!

It was nice to spend some time with Bri as he’s back to work tomorrow.

I’ve been going through links and adding some and taking some out. I think I have some awesome ones to share.

Aug6

Art and cooking

Posted on Wednesday, August 6, 2008 by Dianne

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Different ideas same background ATCs, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

I was looking through stuff as I sorted last week. This week seems to be a bust because of my back issues. The sore spots like to move around, but Advil and the heating pad are my pals. It doesn’t bother my rest, just when I am sitting a lot which isn’t good.
I found a really neat page in a landscape catalog we picked up at the Philadelphia Flower show this year. These are what I made from the one page-all these cards’ backgrounds! I know, my imagination tends to run wild. I loved her eyes in the one image of Clara Bow, so they became the focus of the card. The other lady card is indeed Clara Bow again. She was gorgeous in my opinion.

The Michelangelo prophets are from a Dover Publications sticker book. I used both Isaiah and Jeremiah on my cards then did a google search to find out that Isaiah literally put the fear of God in people and Jeremiah was know as ‘the broken hearted’ prophet. Interesting!
Here is what we had for dinner last night called Frittata Al Tonno.

Found it on the Chicken of the Sea website. I wanted to use tuna, and it also has eggs (of course), zucchini, onion, basil and tomatoes-mostly fresh from our garden. The secret was to cover the pan and steam the eggs for about 5 minutes. Both guys asked if it was quiche!
And speaking of eating-on the opposite end of the spectrum, our cute little mop top and bottom moths are cannibals! I found a completely bare stem of milkweed and there was only bits and pieces of a bunch of the critters left on it. Not saying a bird or two didn’t get to them. But I am sure I haven’t seen too many of the moths around.

My mom has loved paperdolls since she’s been a little girl and has collected Tom Tierney (also from Dover Pubs) for many years. Look what Mr. Tierney just came up with, no surprise to me. I’m thinking their clothes can’t be too exciting, maybe Senator Obama’s?

And three cute little girls-two fairly famous-you know who they are (belong to B and A):

and a little girl I found on etsy-on her mom Adrianne’s store:

I photoshopped this a bit. As you can see, I live vicariously through those who have daughters. : ) I’m still hoping for a granddaughter or two someday.

Sean and I are off to BJs Wholesale Club tomorrow. I broke down and bought a membership there. Dangerous-big quantities of things-must buy-!!!!