Category Archives: Sean

Jun1

Waiting on the service man

Posted on Friday, June 1, 2007 by Dianne

I get up this morning and Bri had left me a note that says there was water on the floor near the air conditioner unit in our basement and that the coils had ice on them. We’ve never had the a/c serviced in about 9 yrs, so it’s getting looked at today. Oy! When it rains it pours. Sean is complaining about how much he has to pay on his car insurance-he wants to buy PSU football tickets instead. Welcome to the real world fella, right? I did find out that our insurance covers the tow fee. We actually paid for it in the long run.

Still no email.

Did you know there was a ‘blue’ moon last night? If there are two full moons in one month, the second is called the blue moon. It only occurs every 2.5 years or so. Check out this blog for some interesting facts about the blue moon.

I have been enjoying stitching and watching some new summer shows. I need to print off my bingo cards for the ABC show tonight. There’s a new Survivor type show called ‘Pirate Master’, not too bad. Glad I don’t have to watch reruns like I did when I was a kid.

Cosmo is a member of Animal Internet. He (I) was asked to join after one of the writers there (mostly tv writers) found his blog. The community was asked to write about how global warming would effect us and Cos wrote an 11th hour entry about ‘glow ball warming’. He made the front page, but we don’t think he won the $100 prize, but we don’t see any other entries concerning global warming. We thank the talented writer who read it and for his embellishment of our editorial.

Have a cool weekend! I hope we do here!

May30

This is all I have

Posted on Wednesday, May 30, 2007 by Dianne

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A slow day because I did so much before noon! Not a morning gal, but Sean wanted to get his car early to go work out at the ‘Y’. So we got the car at 11:15 (which is early for me), then I went to the produce place, the drugstore, Acme and McDonalds all before 12 struck. And you know it wasn’t as crowded at the above places then. ; )

Here’s what I did to entertain myself-take photos of Cosmo. Check out his blog .
Here’s a teaser for you…

Working on another cross stitch UFO called ‘A Walk in the Woods’ even though I cut the fabric too short and can’t add the second violet border. I completely forgot it had two until I saw the ‘repeat above design here’. It will look fine without it. I’m excited about getting the final project for the Neighborhood Round Robin that my pals and I have been working on. I hope to have it by the middle to end of June.

May29

Cape May finished!

Posted on Tuesday, May 29, 2007 by Dianne

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Stitched off and on from about Jan/Feb ’06 until May 2007. Cape May by Valentine Stitchery stitched on Ocean Fantasy 28 ct. lugana. (opps-it’s on a pillow, the top isn’t crooked). Think I’ll get this professionally framed when I find a coupon from Michaels or AC Moore.

Off to the dentist again…soon. I’m feeling eating ‘bad foods’ like donuts and grilled stuff. I should know better not to schedule the dentist after a holiday.
Sean’s car needs a starter and I hope we can pick it up today as I will probably be at the dentist an hour or more.
Update-OUCHIE! It was not a pleasant dental visit (gum scraping hurts). Sean’s car is still at the shop and he has my van. Here’s what I am doing to take my mind off my sore mouth:

White clematis in a pot (where should I plant this?); the orange flower from my window box; apricot nemesia; the first tiny leaves of my new waterlily; one of the first roses of the year; Japanese irises near the pond.

May28

Whenever I see your smiling face…

Posted on Monday, May 28, 2007 by Dianne

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I have to smile myself, ’cause I love you!
My high school pal just sent me this in the mail. Seems her granddaughter and my niece are on the same softball team called ‘The Pixie Chicks’ in our hometown. What a nice surprise.
We had a hectic early afternoon here. Sean’s car has been acting funny, meaning when he tried to start it. It finally died up at the high school where he was parked after watching the local Memorial Day parade. Luckily I found a tow place a few blocks away, but the price was high and Bri had it towed to a place that ripped him off last year. Why? We’re thinking it’s the starter or alternator. This is the intended vehicle we plan to take to NYC in a few weeks. If it had to happen, glad it did locally.
Off to mix up some potato salad.
Hope you’re having a nice day. ☺

May24

I think I’m almost finished

Posted on Thursday, May 24, 2007 by Dianne

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Sean and I went down to a few garden centers in nearby Hockessin, Delaware on Wednesday. The one place has unusual plants, but as my grandmom would say ‘are very dear’ with their prices. I did purchase plants with an all yellow tone-some of which were portulaca, marigold and licorice plant-it’s a whitish yellow. I bought two different kinds of fuchsia and planted them together. I also added to my coleus collection. I planted my purple and yellow sweet potato vine in strawberry jars and in it’s holes I added apricot color portulaca.

I have yet to plant my flower seeds though I am not worried. Zinnias and cosmos are quick to germinate. I found some lavender and green zinnia seeds. I also have seeds I saved from last year. I want to plant sunflowers, but I am afraid they will be a snack for deer. I guess I’ll throw some in to see what happens.

We’ve been watching all the tv finales-nothing too surprising with the ‘reality’ based shows. I did think that maybe Laila Ali would win Dancing with the Stars. I think she got a bit of a chip on her shoulder and people didn’t care for that. I thought that Blake would win on American Idol, but Jordin did. She’s a pretty decent singer for a 17 yr old, but he is a great performer.

Lost also had it’s finale. I’m really confused now. I think they get rescued, but Jack (Matthew Fox) is really messed up. I’ll be curious to see how they continue that saga.

Happy 18th to my nephew Patrick!

May20

The 3 Merry Gardeners

Posted on Sunday, May 20, 2007 by Dianne

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Actually we are the tired gardeners. We all did our share of yard work. Sean mowed around the house and weeded and planted his garden. He planted some of his annuals too close (I’m surprised at him) and used all the Cleomes and I wanted half of them. I’m stealing some back! Brian did the long part of the yard, some extra trim work that Sean didn’t do and rototilled the veggie patch plus a big circle for me for my flower seeds. I weeded a lot of my lily/grass garden; planted pots; planted impatiens and snapdragons and put down the two bags of mulch I had (I hate mulching, but it’s so worth it). I need about 5 or more bags. I saved the lives of two newborn field mice too. Mama and her brood had a nest in the rototiller! She took off leaving two babies behind. I picked them up with a plastic pot and gingerly put them under a hosta and covered them with part of the nest. About 10-15 minutes later, Mama came back for them.

We got Chinese food for dinner (so Sean would go and get it as he showered before Bri and I did) and it was ok. I’m always weary to eat it.

Tomorrow I’m getting a tooth checked out to see if the filling is cracked. Saturday Sean took me to a hospital fair and the ‘Attic Attack’ was a joke-hardly any donations this year. We ended up grabbing a sandwich and buying a few plants. We went to Kmart and bought Bri a small chain saw as an early Father’s Day gift. We then went to a book store where I haven’t been to since college and it had expanded! I enjoyed their huge magazine aisle and their discounted shelves-I bought two-Angel inspired recipes and Victorians and their flowers. I should review these for you! Maybe tomorrow.

And to answer Barbara’s question in my comments-we have 1.4 acres all on a rectangular piece of land. The house is on one end and I would say my gardens are confined to about 1/4 acre or a little more.

Check out this neat link that my pal Nancy sent me last month. Make it pretty now!

May14

Mother’s Day rap up

Posted on Monday, May 14, 2007 by Dianne

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I didn’t get to spend the day with my own mom, but I promised her Sean and I would come down on Tuesday to plant a few annuals in the garden I fixed up for her last year.

I have terrible dry (and a bit itchy) allergy eyes. I thought it was from handling dusty Space Bags of my summer clothes, but I’m now thinking something is pollening that is bothering me. I am using both tears and allergy formula and it helps a bit, but looking at this screen is not easy. I’ll call the eye doctor if they aren’t better in a few days. I just have some circles under my eyes (what else is new).

I got two lovely cards today and one from my friend Terri in Alabama the other day-hers was a total surprise and so sweet. Sean’s was oversized and pink and flowery with sweet reflections of motherhood. Bri gave me a musical card that played ‘How Sweet it is’ by Marvin Gaye. (James Taylor also recorded it later on).

I asked Sean to drive to a garden center at a store in Delaware, but they didn’t have one this year. We ended up at Loew’s and their stuff was just ok. I got some tomatoes and a few flowers and bags of red mulch.

We grabbed a burger at Friendly’s and headed home.

I just watched the 3-hour long ‘Survivor’ finale and reunion while trying to finish up a redwork cross stitched piece. I was cheering for a 54-yr old man to win named Yau-man, but he got back stabbed as the remaining players knew he’d win if he was left in the ‘final three’. I miss talking about ‘Survivor’ with my estranged brother who enjoys it too.

So to end this nice weekend, here are some things I admire about my mom-her beautiful, trained soprano voice, her ability to pick up a pen, pencil or marker and sketch a portrait that resembles the person she is trying to capture (and from memory sometimes) and her love of giving, though that gets her in trouble sometimes. I told her once that Penelope Cruz could be her daughter more than me as she looks like mom a little. The next thing you know someone asks if we are mother and daughter and they say ‘I can tell’. What a nice compliment.

Mom on her 75th birthday-9-23-05

and-Mom as a young mom with my grandmom and older brother Dave. (See how she looks like Penelope Cruz here? It’s clickable)

I tried the edger tool that Brian just gave me (so long electric edger) and it works pretty good, but I can see me only using it after a rainstorm like we had last night.

May11

Green things

Posted on Friday, May 11, 2007 by Dianne

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Here is my garden out front in a semi-circle under our big evergreen tree. This is where I added the Victoria blue salvia and the peach colored salvia. There isn’t too much room for much more with the Columbine (pink/purple), Barrenwort, bulbs such as tulips, narcissus and hyacinths and Bleeding heart. I know I am missing a few, but all these perennials were divided from other areas of the yard. I love the plant in the foreground, it’s really spread. It has the interesting polka dot leaves and blooms that range from pink to blue. The Barrenwort is pretty cool too. It has heart-shaped leaves rimmed with red (almost like the red was stenciled) and it gets little star-like reddish flowers.

And Sean’s gift-the planter with the fern, begonia and a few other plants.

And some planters from Longwood Gardens, sure to inspire us!

I have to go round up 5 items for the photo hunt contest tomorrow. Speaking of tomorrow, I’ll be switching out (finally) my winter to summer clothes. What a pain, but I am so sick of wearing the same clothes for the past few weeks.

Today I may plant a few more flowers and I did find my gladiolus from last year, so I can plant them in the rock hard dirt. We had rain near here last night in Harrisburg, but it was ‘close and no cigar’.

May10

Kiwis and honey bees

Posted on Thursday, May 10, 2007 by Dianne

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Although I took over 50 photos at Longwood Gardens yesterday, I still wanted to take photos of my own flowers before they faded away. We haven’t had rain for a while and it’s dry as punk outside. So here are my Kiwi Slices irises and a very fast and busy bee heading for the bleeding heart.

I tried to do a little edging with the hoe and I was dripping in perspiration. My house inside desperately needs attention, so I better tackle tidying up some areas.
Sean is taking his 3rd final. So far he has a ‘C’ in Chemistry and an ‘A’ in Social Psychology. He is taking a music final today and a Geology one tomorrow.

Apr26

Celine and Elvis

Posted on Thursday, April 26, 2007 by Dianne

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Hey did you see the American Idol gives back special Wednesday night? Not only was it an important show, but it had the cool ‘performance’ highlighting Celine Dion singing with Elvis (from the year she was born-1968). It was pretty clever. I think it’s available for download on the AI site. While you’re there, give a few bucks to help poor people-it makes a difference. I bought a bunch of the One.org white bracelets last year and Sean was wearing his today.

I had an uneventful day-did some cleaning. Yeah, stop snickering there. I am influenced (though I am not that bad, goodness me) hooked on that BBC America show ‘How Clean is Your House‘ with Kim (the lady with the I Dream of Jeanie hairstyle) and Aggie- who takes swabs of different areas in the dirty houses before they get cleaned. That’s the part I like the best as unfortunately, it scares many of them back into reality. The lady last night had such a dirty frig that Aggie suggested she ‘chuck it’ for a new one. Take the how clean is your house quiz here. I passed, thank goodness! And here are some videos with the ladies’ helpful cleaning hints.

Sean was a good guy this afternoon. He took his mom mom to the doctor so she could get a cortisone shot in her hand-for the second time in a year. She has a painful swelling in her right hand. She can’t get it in her head not to use the hand and I even saw her trying to lift a box at the book sale a few days back. I’m glad Sean was with her.

I forgot to tell you that someone was trying to report my one debit/credit card as lost and the company that issued it closed down my account, though I had to reapply for a new one. I had just gotten the new card and now I have to wait for 2-4 weeks for the replacement. I don’t want to say what company it is on my blog, but you can write to me if you want to know. I believe I used the card months ago in either a Marshall’s or TJ Maxx-one of the stores that had card #s stolen. It had to be one of them as I usually only use the card at the post office. You never know.

And just for fun…