Category Archives: Sean

Nov19

Friends are the best gifts ever!

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I want to thank my friends and readers for stopping by and wishing me well today, through email, comments and snail mail. I have some goodies to share, but that may not be until later tonight or tomorrow night.

I did go to the dentist which ate into about 2 hours of my day. At least the tooth bonding was a freebie on Dr. B. as he knew it was my birthday. : ) I was in a way glad to get away from the house with the doctor’s offices calling me. Just to let you know-the pre admissions is on Tuesday and I don’t have to fast or anything. At first they were making it next Monday at 8:15-yikes, so I changed it to the next day at 8:45, somewhat better. Then the procedure will be the next day. The receptionist at the dentist’s office said she’s had the procedure done a few times herself and to keep an open mind.

So, we are off to Carrabbas Italian restaurant-most probably. We are waiting for Bri to get home and then we can go. I’ll fill you in later.

BIG HUGS!!!!

Dianne and Brian

Yeah, it’s my first martini-ever! Really! It’s a pomegranate one, though I didn’t taste much o.j. or sprite int it! ; ) Sean was having trouble with our little camera (had no space on it from my videos which I had to erase), so that’s why my eyes are funny.

Dianne’s dinner

This is one of the specials Carrabba’s is running-the owners Damien and Johnny’s favorite dishes. I picked Damien’s-lobster ravioli, salmon with basil and a shrimp/scallop breaded item. I had soup too. The guys had pasta.

Sean and his shrimp and garlic sauce pasta

We went to Border’s and I bought a bunch of holiday magazines (Victoria is back!) plus the new Josh Groban Christmas CD.

When we got home we had some Oreo cake-yum! Sean gave me a box of filled Russell Stover’s chocolates plus he ordered me something from Amazon which will arrive soon. Bri gave me a Giada DeLaurentis cookbook, an altered art book (wish he had used Amazon like Sean did!), a 6″ clear crystal Christmas tree, the new James Taylor DVD from the show we saw him in last year, a Sarah Brightman CD from her Vegas show (I want the DVD too-it’s an awesome show) and a pen, mouse and tablet to draw with on the computer! And I thought he ‘had ordered’ me a lens cap thingie that just hangs down from the camera. This looks like fun! I hope I can use it being a leftie and using the mouse with my right hand all these years.

 That martini made me happy!
I was giddy at the end of dinner. ; )
I have some gifties photos to take and will share them tomorrow.
Have a great night!

Nov18

Weary traveler and lost mother

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Sean slept in and wasn’t use to ‘the quiet’. He’s been eating up a storm and enjoyed relaxing on the big red sofa in front of both his laptop and the tv. It was a football day Saturday for him while Bri went out shopping for yours truly. I was tidying up the dining room area so we have some place to eat dinner on Thursday. I use that as my work area for my paper crafts. I had a lot of stuff spread all over the place and am not finished yet. I had the table almost all cleaned off when something in my ‘idea’ box caught my eye and I made a few more cards, a few for surprise gifts. I’ll show you when they are finished.

My mom and her friend and boarder Jim decided to go to the dog show in Philly. My mistake was not calling her like I usually do, around 10:45 as I thought she wasn’t home. She could have called me too. So around 4, I started ringing her house, nothing. At 8 I called my brother’s house and Colleen tried mom’s cell-nothing. She said she’d send my brother around at 9 if no one had heard anything. Mom did call me around 8:45 and I was short with her and made her call my brother’s house. When I called back, I asked why she didn’t call me once during the day. She had some waiting time (like an hour) in the parking lot of the train station as she had missed the 11:25 train into the city. They stayed downtown until 7 pm! That was a total surprise to me, her being out after dark in a crowded city. They went to the Reading Terminal Market and it was jammed packed. A lot of things were going through my head and my evening wasn’t that great. I’m glad she got her ‘doggie fix’ and all, but geez, call someone to let them know you are out after 5. She never did that before. She’s getting too old to go on excursions like that. She was with Jim, and today he turns 61!

I am almost ready to share at least one finish-that would be for the cross stitch lottery due 12/31. I am working on a very late gift too. Stitching has slowed down just to the evenings. I hope my mojo peps up soon! I have ornaments to stitch!

Update-Sometime soon, I have to go to the dentist as a filling close to the gum line on the bottom left of my mouth chipped off leaving a highly discolored (amber) tooth! I think some of it started last night while I was still awake at 3 am. I have ‘herbal gumdrops’ that are suppose to help you relax and left a crunchy thing in my mouth. It then all came out when I was trying to enjoy a lemon drop, having forgotten about the adventure at 3. Geez.

Mom feels bad that I was so upset. She said she has a down feeling about me, which doesn’t make me feel good. Sean says he has good vibes about me. We are both Scorpios and can read each other fairly well. He just doesn’t know what to get me for my birthday. I believe he just utilized my Amazon wishlist tonight! He had gone to Walmart and I heard Brian say, ‘that’s all’? HA.

Here’s a little gift for my friend who likes to belly dance.

Shimmy pup ATC

That is her dog Haylee. I don’t think she reads my blog. I made her about 3 dog ATCs- they are in Flickr too. I just feel like doing that more lately than stitching. I have three boxes of my paper stuff nicely pushed under the little sofa in there now. It looks neater too.

Nov16

It’s just like I saw him yesterday

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We were all waiting with great anticipation to see Sean today for the first time in almost 3 months. I made a big pot of stew early in the day and some ‘easy’ empanadas later on. I put on some makeup to look good-ha!

Around 2:15 he called and said he was in Lancaster where his bud and him stopped at Burger King, but didn’t go shopping. At 3:30, I was waiting for James Taylor’s appearance on Ellen and I heard the door open and I almost flew off the sofa to the living room! There was my handsome son with a big smile on his face. And as I said above, it was like all those lost days melted away and I had just seen him! He was tired, but said he liked the way down better than the way up (we didn’t do that right in August). He just ate dinner about 6:30 and went to get some videos and said he’d get one for me.

I didn’t cry….then. What touched me was the slideshow that the webmistress from ‘Make A Child Smile’ sent to share of her late beloved pooch Buddy. My friend Karin sent me the sweetest birthday card and said I was more like family then a friend. She’s the lady whose wedding we went to in NYC. It’s been a nice Friday.

Nov14

Colors for a gloomy day

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I had to run down to the store. I really shouldn’t say ‘run’ as I’m still so achy, all in the area I strained while moving the books, my left side and in ‘that’ area. My purpose for the trip was to get Sean a Carvel ice cream cake (football shaped) for a belated birthday cake and the makings of stew. He is driving home on Friday with a friend in tow, so I figure stew can sit on the stove all day. He mentioned they may stop in Lancaster for lunch and shopping. Lucky guys! That trip down here isn’t terrible, except for maybe the first 40 or so miles through the mountains as there isn’t any place to pull over if you even have a flat! I told him to make sure he goes to the bathroom too-ha!

Here’s a Thanksgiving cactus that is blooming in my family room window:

Thanksgiving cactus

And my $1.98 flower purchase from the reduced bucket:

Spider mums

Spider mums 2

Spider mums 3
These are Spider mums and I love the colors. Quite a few of them weren’t any good and a few of these are falling, but they have already given me $2 worth of pleasure.
I’m dedicating these photos to my friend Barbara’s Aunt Hattie who just passed on.

My tip for the day-Most times Altoids will open up a stuffed head. They use real peppermint oil too. I would say most of the times I eat one, I will sneeze! 

Oct25

What a great idea!

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Child with chick

Like me, you probably get tons of catalogs before the holidays. I really like to look through them for unusual items, especially for people on my list who seem to have everything. The heading on one catalog really caught my attention: The Most Important Gift Catalog in the World-Heifer International. What’s this you may ask? An org that assists 140,000 families (last year) with the gifts of animals and training and passing on the gift. What you can give is a flock of chicks to a needy family for $20 or a ‘share’ in a water buffalo-$25 toward the $250 full price. Now what would be a better way to teach kids about giving? The kids are so happy in the photos. I am definitely giving some chicks! There are bunnies, heifers, goats, etc. If you love animals, you know the gift of one is extra special. If you like this idea, feel free to post the link on your page. The link is :www.heifer.org/catalog

Sean had a low key birthday but enjoyed some emails from friends and did pick up his package (which I bet had been sitting in the mailroom for a few days), so that brightened him up. He has a few things here he ordered-the Phillies championship shirt and a cafepress.com shirt. Speaking of cafepress.com, I added some new photos to some of my items. I’m still waiting for some sales. I may do a few vintage things for t-shirts, etc.

The mam slam went ok. She questioned why I said I was sore, but I explained it was mostly my pecs and upper back which are much better. She called the doctor to make sure! She noted that I had strained myself lifting books. Geez.

Dreary weather here! I plan to do a bunch of crafty stuff and the laundry tomorrow. I have a craving for nachos! My appetite hasn’t been great this week-thinking about today and of course my pal’s mom. I ordered her 32 mini-roses in assorted colors which were suppose to be delivered yesterday. I hope they were pretty.

Hey cookbook fans! Molly Coddled is giving away a doozie of a cookbook filled with Taste of Home recipes. Go check it out-you only have one more day to leave a comment.

Oct24

He’s legal

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Birthday guy

Up at PSU

It’s not possible is it? A boy becomes a man and the years just flew by, they seem to blend together. I remember this day in 1986 like almost yesterday. I did only go through that once (not planned to), but 18 hours and a c-section, I had the sweetest big boy-Sean Matthew, who weighed in at 8 lbs, 9 oz!

 

Life for us would never be the same. It’s still that way. It’s like we have a void in our life that Sean once filled. I know, we get to talk to him everyday, but seeing his face and touching his wavy hair, well that’s something a mom (and dad) misses. I know Sean’s a bit blue. Thanks to the prof that gave him a big test in his least favorite subject-Statistics today-ugh.

I wish I could show you some of the cute videos of him (when we figure out how to upload to the computer and then youtube you will see them). The one of him at the Baltimore aquarium watching the schools of fish and singing to them (was it ‘Under the Sea’?) and him helping me dye Easter eggs and saying he’s proud of me. I’m proud of him and have been for these last 21 years. He’s a gem to us.

About 20 yrs ago


20 yrs ago on his 1st birthday. The little boy was born a day or so after him and I was friendly with his mom (who shared my hospital room) for a while. That’s his proud mom mom.

If you’d like to email Sean a birthday greeting and know my email addy (to get his), I know he’d like that.

Oct22

Many thanks

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I appreciate your comments on my entry from last night. I haven’t heard anything from my pal, but I’m sure it wouldn’t be good news unfortunately. Another friend from our group gave me her phone # and we chatted this afternoon for about 20 minutes or so. The dialects were traveling full force from the lady with the Philly accent to the lady with the Louisiana accent. She had her ear bent back good. Have you heard that expression before?

The fires are horrible out in California! They were showing the smoke from the radar on the news earlier and it was like nothing that I have seen before. My late paternal grandmom lived in Santee, a suburb of San Diego.

Fires in Orange County California

I watch ‘Dancing with the Stars’, mainly if I am interested in certain ‘stars’. Tonight, the performer who happens to be my age, and that’s Marie Osmond, passed out after she performed a strenuous dance-the samba. (the comments here are weird) They broke away for quite a bit and she was back for her score, a little shook up, but okay. She said she wasn’t breathing right, but after looking at the video, I think she was hyperventilating. Us premenopausal gals better be more careful. : )

I got a nice comment from Tootie, the gal who made the tags on the Halloween tree below. She was flattered that I had them on my blog-why not, they are so cute! I’m bidding on some Christmas tags she made, just as sweet.

Tonight I started to alter a book. What you mainly do is paint or glaze over the pages/words in an old book and add elements to them. I didn’t do that at first, I added a page of a pretty vintage girl. You are suppose to take out pages so that your ‘altered’ pages won’t make the book too bulky. I was just ripping instead of cutting, so my 1909 book was getting a little wobbly. I hope it will stand up to my altering. Will share some photos soon.

Two more days and Sean will be 21! He seems a little sad, but he says it feels like all work and no leisure time for him lately. He may treat himself (and maybe take a friend) out to dinner on Friday when he only has one class. He was complaining about having a big test on his big day. He’s struggling a bit, but it’s a transitional part of his life. He’ll be fine, I know it.

Be sure to catch my new video of my paint shopped pro altered digital artwork in my Vod pod.

Oct16

Trying something else

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You know I’ve been on a kick to lower my triglycerides even though I haven’t had them tested in like 15 months. I gave Flaxseed oil capsules another whirl-not good. I couldn’t even eat a Ricola this morning it burnt going down. I also read that Flaxseed oil should be kept in the frig. I have mine in the cabinet and the expiration date in 2009! I bought it off the shelf too. I cut one open and it is really strong, so maybe they are not fresh.

I happen to catch Martha Stewart yesterday and she was talking about the essential amino acids. She mentioned ‘lysine’ and said it is good your triglycerides! I did a search and lots of foods have it-soy, green beans, etc. I’ll have to write them down and eat a ton of them!

Mom went to my uncle’s yesterday. My aunt is improved but talking jibberish. Maybe she had a fever or it’s just her age. Bri’s dad has some weird rash on his tummy and is getting that checked out. He has lost weight over the last few years (teeth issues) and I think it was chafing that got infected. Of course he’s thinking lymph nodes and the ‘C’ word. No use scaring yourself and stop playing doctor!

I have several piles of lawn ornaments to deal with. It’s nice weather again. Mom and I will probably hit Longwood Gardens tomorrow, but I’ll push her around in a wheelchair, because she won’t be able to walk around there like she use to.

I was looking at some really old unfinished stitching projects and decided to finish a few. One is a little Amish girl and boy. I have had to tear some things out, but it will make an adorable box cover. Not sure when I started it, but the leaflet is from 1985! Remember I have finished a few things like the turkey wreath and the stitching girl. I also have ‘kissing babies’ that I remember doing in our apartment and we haven’t lived there for over 21 yrs! I think I did add to it a few years ago, but the border and background is all that it needs now.

I’m getting some goodies together for Sean’s 21st birthday which is on the 24th as we won’t see him that day. I need to get the gift cards and a few other things. We will have a little get together for him when he comes home in November to make it special for him.

Oct13

What’s wrong with this cover?

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Supplement cover

Bri asked me earlier, and I couldn’t see it right away. But a local University did and asked for a refund. Bri doesn’t do the cover layout, he gets the ads for this supplement. Now I would be a little peeved to see that mistake on an educational supplement! Bri is hoping no one else makes a stink as that’s his bread and butter-he did most of the ads for this.
Speaking of smelly-I can’t think of a Photo Hunt photo for smelly that would be nice or interesting, so I pass today.
I went back to the LNS shop and got a bigger piece of linen on Friday. I’m glad the place is still in business after all these years. I use to go there when I was in my early 20s, so it’s been around a while. I also went to Michael’s and hit a rubber stamp sale and got a few nice ones plus one you can make your own words with and stamp it. I’m still looking for a rubber stamp of wings. And I did hit Trader Joe’s and am putting together a box of birthday goodies for Sean. He’s had a few rough days, and was blue over a test he studied really hard for and didn’t do well with. He did get a curve and has a ‘C’ now, so that helped. It’s homecoming weekend and he went to a parade last night. I’m sure the game and festivities will lighten his mood. He said he’d like to come home for a bit, but that’s up to him, he’s gotta do the driving to and fro.