Category Archives: shopping

Dec30

New gadget on the way

Posted on Friday, December 30, 2011 by Dianne

My Uncle Don left me a little something in his will, I think to get a used car with it. So I got the PT Cruiser in July and it’s financed, but isn’t that much a month. I wanted some kind of tablet for us all to use, so today I looked on the Apple refurbished page and ordered an iPad2 32 gb for an excellent price. Sean says that his store sells the 16gb for the same price that I paid! We’ve bought other refurbished things and Apple has a good reputation and won’t send me anything scratched, etc. (at least I hope not). Here’s a sneak peek:

It will be great on trips instead of lugging around a laptop. The 32 gb is great for movies, etc. I’ll let you know about it.

I swear every time I’m excited about something, something else happens. My brother’s 11 yr old dalmation Baxter is having G.I. issues, and he is taking him to the vet. I hope he’s okay-such a nice dog and always glad to see you. Mom and Don have to get up several times a night for the poor fella.

Dec21

Unique natural decor

Posted on Wednesday, December 21, 2011 by Dianne

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Sean had off on Tuesday, so we decided to go out to lunch as I had a gift card for a Chinese restaurant. I try to eat salmon when I see it on the menu, so that’s what I got on brown rice. Sean had chicken and almonds. We both had egg drop soup. We went over to Pier One and I bought a few sweet things. I didn’t even take anything out of the bag as I had to go to work from 5-10. We then went across the road to Terrain and I took some photos with my camera phone of their unique display:

Gorgeous red Amaryllis

This was a two tiered tin planter with tiny white Poinsettia around the bottom and dainty Narcissus

This is real cotton in a display. They also pulled it apart to look like a snow covered tree. You can see it in the first photo well.

Sunday and Monday I dedicated to making cookies. I made Chocolate chips, Sour Cream Drops, 7 layer cookies, Peanut butter swirls, Cinnamon chip oatmeal and Rum balls.

I am on call again in the morning, so hoping not to have to go in, but I’m doubting that. Then they get me again on call Thursday and I work Friday morning. I mainly need to clean the house now.

Dec18

Cookie love

Posted on Sunday, December 18, 2011 by Dianne

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Well… I finally got around to whipping up a few batches of cookies. I started with chocolate chips and did some 7 layer (Sean’s favorite) and some with a cookie press. That cookie press didn’t work too well. I got a Martha S. one I found for $1 at a resale. I think my dough got too warm. I squeezed out about 2 dozen and forgot the sprinkles on the first batch. I will do a few more tomorrow. I’m happy to be getting this done. Cookies are a special part of Christmas to me.

Sean is bringing me home ingredients for Rum balls (update-he got the wrong kind of cookies-I needed Nilla wafers and he got those rectangular vanilla wafers) . And I love Chocolate Swirl Peanut Butter cookies too. I hope I have enough peanut butter! Opps.

Sean and I went to Walmart and Peebles in Parkeburg (near Lancaster) after church last night. He had given me a gift card for my birthday and I got Monkees (they were my brother Don and my favorites as kids for a time) and Christmas karaoke cds. I bought myself a little karaoke machine and Brian hooked it up to a tv Sean used at PSU. The lyrics are right on the screen. I ordered popular music and Beatles cd to use. I do like to sing (I have a soprano voice and have sung in choruses and choirs in the past), so this is for me to blow off some steam or pretend I am a popular singer. ; )

I went in the Peebles and it has half the merchandise that our store has here! But believe me, I used that discount for some shoes and clothes at this store too.

I am placing an order at a place near Brian’s work for some meat and cheese platters, tea sandwiches or fruit. I got a voucher from LivingSocial for $40 worth of food for $20. I have to give them 48 hours . It’s near where my uncle lived and mom said their sandwiches are great. What’s nice is that they give you half orders, so I will probably order a few things.

I hope everyone is taking time to relax. I was on call today, they didn’t need me. I work two days (one morning, one evening) and am on call two more days. They are having a little party on the 24th (I don’t work that day) and I only heard about it through the lady at the cosmetics counter. I haven’t signed up to be in the ‘Secret Santa’, but I do have a gift for it. I just can’t believe not one manager mentioned the party to me. I guess I’m stuck in the back of the store and they all talk up in the front. I was talking with a young lady in the ladies’ clothes (she’s about 19-20) and probably her parents are my age. We were laughing about something just when the manager came around the corner. It was 8:40 pm and they were closing at 9. He couldn’t let it go and asked if I had something to do in my department. I did a lot that night and I guess he was still peeved that I didn’t notice I was on call Thursday. Sean gets his schedule online-much easier. Oh well…nice to have some spending money!

Dec6

Shopping!

Posted on Tuesday, December 6, 2011 by Dianne

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Just catching up!
Monday I went down to my hometown to get my hair done and picked up my mom so she could do some power shopping where I work. She was actually very selective and we were in the store a bit over an hour and she did well. We are doing a ‘pollyanna’ and I got gifts for two people. We grabbed lunch and then had to go back to the store as something was the incorrect size and looked at the 65-75% off ladies’ clothing racks. With my discount and the 50 plus day we saved 40% off on the totals. Mom then wanted to go to ‘lots’ of junk. After 4 hours of shopping, I brought her home again and as the weather is also rainy-stinky, she is staying over again.
I am way behind with decorating. Shopping isn’t too bad. I found a flat tree wreath at a thrift shop and took off the ugly fake bright red bows and added new ones. I’ll show you soon.

My mom doing a little embroidery work.

Cosmo is getting snazzy for the holidays.

Nov30

Rose Tree Tavern

Posted on Wednesday, November 30, 2011 by Dianne

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Today I went down to see my mom as I wanted to take her to dinner and shopping. We didn’t go to that many places in the mall though. I’m not seeing that many gifts that I wanted to buy, but I did get a few things. I happen to get a good coupon for the dinner- $15 toward $30 meals. We went at 4:45, so got the early bird special-we both got prime rib, mashed potatoes and a big salad. We got beverages and a piece of cake and I had to pay a little more, but I haven’t seen my mom go after a meal like she did this one (me too). It was a bit salty, but I got over it. : )

Before we went to the mall and the restaurant, I wanted to stop at the Rose Tree Tavern that use to be on the corner of a busy road where my bus went by all the time and on the National Register of Historic Places . They moved it back and renovated it. I was dying to see the inside as a tourist bureau, but they had it locked up at 3:30! I did take a few photos though.

From the back with my Ina

From the front-isn’t it lovely for a 272 yr old building? I know they didn’t have to redo the stonework.

From the side with the 1739 cornerstone

Be sure to click the highlighted link to see the various steps of renovation. Someday I’ll get to see inside!

Nov6

Sugarloaf Craft Festival

Posted on Sunday, November 6, 2011 by Dianne

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Facebook is a good place to find places to go on the weekend! A pal in New Jersey mentioned she went to the Sugarloaf Craft Festival in her state last weekend. I looked up the festival and its next stop was Oaks, PA. this weekend!

I asked Brian if we could go and he said fine (it’s about an hour away). It was easy to find and very crowded. I had coupons off the internet, so we saved $1 each. The first thing that caught my eye was this:

I didn’t purchase it right away, but Brian did buy it for me as a birthday gift. This isn’t the chain it came with as it was a bit too short for my liking. The gem is a Mystic or Rainbow Topaz-the topaz is my birthday gem and it comes in all colors, though this colorless stone is treated with something to give it an aurora borealis appearance. This photo doesn’t do it justice-guess it’s about 2 carats and wasn’t really pricey.

There were over 250 vendors and most of the items were priced on the high side. I got a good look at gorgeous scarves, but for $45-160, I will make my own or find them elsewhere. We did buy some chocolate and candy goodies to enjoy and give as gifts. I tried a slushy wine product (yum).

I happened upon this pottery place and decided to get a large mug-it’s like 12 oz or more! Only $10. Then I saw a chowder bowl, which is good for my oatmeal and cereal.

And compared to the one I bought in the 1970s that my mom returned to me a few years back:

This company is called Transformations

See how it goes from the state of Pennsylvania and Declaration of Independence and is transformed into the Liberty Bell?
Bought some nice soap from North Carolina:

This is sitting on top of a couple of sheets of homemade paper I bought.
When we were leaving to go to the Chester County booksale, I took this photo of the 1918 Oaks train station out the car window:

We got to the book sale about 45 minutes before it closed. I managed to find a few books from the Martha Stewart Halloween book to the Chincoteague Island book (from 1977). I think they all (plus a paperback Bri got and one I got for his dad were $12.

I’ll let you know if the flat belly diet works! LOL Saw the authors on Rachael Ray a year or so ago and was intrigued, but not intrigued enough to spend $25.
Nice illustrations in the clothing book:

The lighthouse we saw a few months ago:

Cute cover of the book

I went with Brian to see his dad, it’s been a long time since I saw him, but I hear him every day several times a day as Bri must use the speaker part of the phone all the time. We went food shopping for him too.
Also wanted to share some roses I bought-$1 a stem at Fresh Market. They had about 15 or more different colors. They lasted beautifully.

Cherry Brandy

Jade green and a pretty sunshiny yellow

Oct24

One quarter of a century…

Posted on Monday, October 24, 2011 by Dianne

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This of course implies to my only child and son Sean who turns 25 today! We were able to spend the day together on Sunday, the three of us, or ‘The Mod Squad’ as Brian sometimes refers to us when we are doing a bit of mall walking. He decided to drive us up an hour to Lancaster to ‘The Park City Mall’, one I was to years ago. Brian didn’t remember going, but maybe we did. I definitely remember going with my mom and family and getting a t-shirt made, the kind of place where they press the design on for you. Anyway, it was a bit crowded and reminded us of other malls closer to us. He did buy himself some jeans and a watch. He picked up and thumbed through a book about neat places to visit and I made Bri go back and get it for him. And we got him the Phillies division championship shirt.
We were going to hit ‘The Olive Garden’, but it was really crowded, so we went to a smorgasbord place and he liked that. I was a bit stuffed and felt blah, but some Chamomile and mint tea helped me when I got home.

Happy Birthday Sean!

Birthday Portrait

Newer Son/Dad shot

My only photo of the lovely Lancaster scenery from Sunday-taken out of the car (and edited)

And finally, I wanted a photo of me in my ‘owl hat’. Animal hats are really popular right now!

Update-I purchased my own domain name, but it isn’t working yet….I’ll let you know. It was about a $1.46 a month on wordpress…not bad at all!

Oct10

Serious stash additions

Posted on Monday, October 10, 2011 by Dianne

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Serious stash additions in rubber stamps, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

Since I had the yard sales and made a little spending moola, I went a little hog wild at the York Rubber stamp and paper show this year. I have ‘always’ wanted the Alice in Wonderland stamp set which was the most expensive thing I bought, but there are 10 rubber stamps in it. I also bought a few unmounted stamps. This one lady said ‘half the price, twice the work’, but I just got some double sided sticky tape for Marilyn Monroe and the vintage lady and stuck them on an acrylic block. No big deal.
I found some ‘Vintage business papers’ (not really vintage, but it will give me that feel); glitter, stamp pads and little embellishments like keys and frames. This one place had stuff like that $3 and under. I loved shopping there. I can’t wait to get to work other than just testing the goods. Watch this blog now!

The butterfly stamp for making jewelry-they used crystals and how gorgeous they are!

The mascot for a company-the lady’s favorite Easter gift as a child.

Gifts for my mom. : ) (These look a bit like her little dawg Kelsey). The glass dog was found at the book and emporium (I haven’t taken photos of what I bought there).

Oct9

Moon over farm near Mount Joy

Posted on Sunday, October 9, 2011 by Dianne

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Moon over farm near Mount Joy, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

We went on a little day trip like we did last year up to central PA. It was just Brian and me this year. First we went to York (about 64 miles one way) where I did some stash building at the Heirloom rubber stamp and paper show. I felt a bit rushed last year as I had two guys waiting on me, but I was more relaxed this year as Bri didn’t mind waiting. We then went to a book store and emporium in downtown York (which was the first capital of the country). I would have liked to taken a few more shots of the historic buildings there.Here’s a sampling in the area of the book store.

The book store was packed with merchandise. Since I had just browsed the other place for 2 hours, I was a bit bushed in the book store.

I did find a ‘surprise’ for someone and will mail it along soon.
We then went about 20 miles (toward home a bit) and went to Bube’s Brewery (the first syllable is pronounced ‘boo’) and we ate burgers outside on the patio.

They were pretty good but we waited for them and for the bill way too long. We had seen a Turkey Hill place that was new (their specialty is ice cream) on the way to the restaurant, but they had closed a half hour earlier.

We got to the Strasberg ice cream place 5 minutes before they closed for our desserts. Bri got caramel and I got pumpkin. So we had a full day and it was nice to see something different.

Here’s my post about the trip last year.

Sep8

Souvenirs of the trip

Posted on Thursday, September 8, 2011 by Dianne

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I had to be selective here….they had $50 t-shirts! Crazy! The one I did buy with the 4 ‘mop tops’ was a fraction of the cost, but it’s a little tight, but so was the Paul McCartney shirt I bought last year and it fits now. I bought bookmarks, a pen and the cute Yellow Submarine totebag. Also had to get the ‘Baby you can drive my car’ for the Cruiser. But actually no one is allowed to drive it-I kid you! The styrofoam cup holder was free with a donation for a sick person. There was a ‘Peeps’ store and they were giving away the hat, so I’ll give that to Tori or her little cousin. I thought the memo pad was too cute-‘Give Peeps a Chance’ and it had that moving action to it. There’s a little box of cherry mints in that cute tin. I also got White House socks as I couldn’t find the ones I wore down there.

The gorgeous sheets of paper from ‘The Paper Source’ in Alexandria. Snip, snip, glue, collage!

From the Godiva store-worth every penny for these-eating in teenie, tiny pieces. : )

And the cake dish/cloche with the chip-you can kind of see it in the back. No credit for that store. Geez.

I’m gearing up for a yard sale on Saturday. I dragged a lot of stuff out of the basement and am still going to look for a few more things to sell-like for Halloween and Christmas. I have nothing really wiped down or tagged-soon! It’s been so rainy this week, I have had time to do this. Yesterday I went for a follow up to the eye doctor and she says my right eye is much better but still irritated, probably from allergies. I have my car at the station for inspection, hope they can do it and nothing is wrong.