Category Archives: shopping

Aug20

Thursday Thunkettes

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1. Your thoughts on hunting?
Personally, I’d only do it if I was starving, but not for sport.

2. Swine Flu vaccine… will you get it?
I heard it’s in 3 doses. Gee, I don’t know. I got the other flu shot last year and felt better during the winter.

3. What is one job/profession that you think there are just too many of?
There seems to be a bank on every corner here, do I’ll say bank teller. : )

4. I want to go on a diet, what advice will you offer me? I was reading up on Acai-the berry I think from Venezuela. Read it was like crack for fat people (the pill I ordered on e*Vitamins). This particular pill had 50 mg of caffeine, so maybe that’s what is making the woman feel that way. Anyway, read that Rachael*Ray did the cleanse and lost a ton of weight. I’ll try the crack pill first-lol

5. You are going out on a date with someone for the very first time. When you get into their car, you see a box of condoms on the floor. What do you do?
If I was a young’un, I would think he’s putting the horse before the cart. Not sure if I would have gone on the date.
6. Name something in your bathroom that shouldn’t be there.
Can’t think of anything except like a cardboard heart shaped box that matched the border paper-it is holding soap I think.

7. What was your Kindergarten teacher like?
Mrs. Davis-dark-haired, horn rimmed glasses, very nice. It was over 40 yrs ago, so my memory is fading. I am pals with a gal from that class though.

8. What kind of oil do you use when you cook? EVOO almost all the time-extra virgin olive oil.

9. If someone takes an unflattering picture of you and posts it online, do you beg them to take it down or do you laugh at yourself with everyone else?
Depends on how bad. There are a few on Face*book. My son took one of me on the beach and my hair is a mess, but I have a shirt over my bathing suit-whew.

10. What brand of dishwashing soap do you use?
I think Dawn is the best.
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The air conditioner is recharged in my van thanks to my brother. He thinks it has a leak in the dashboard. I asked him how it ran and he said ‘okay’. It’s going on 14 yrs old. Can’t do anything about a newer vehicle until Sean starts paying back his own loans.
We hit Home*Goods-lots of goodies for fall and Halloween. I got a cute Anna*lee Mouse dressed like an Indian, a mosaic hummingbird you hang and the wings move, some Autumn sprinkles-orange, brown, yellow for cupcakes and a new table cloth.

Aug16

Stitch by Stitch sign in Cape May

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For all my fellow stitchers-indeed!
Lee over at Lake Stitcher mentioned this store and of course it was one of the first places I snooped out when we were in Cape May last week! I didn’t photograph the store, it was tiny, jammed packed and the walls were covered with finished pieces. I had my mom with me. You know I worry about what she can possibly do with the condition of her eyesight. She picked up a chart with about 20 color changes per line that I wouldn’t even tackle! I found a blackwork of some of the Victorians in tiny form and she said she wanted it too. I told her to save her money and I would lend it to her. I also bought a kitty kit over one of the newer The Prairie*Schoolers. How can they sell the leaflets for over $9 now??-I got the kit with the fabric, design and floss for the same price. I’ll share what it is when I find it. ; )
The building you see in the background are retirement apts. Can you imagine living a few blocks from the beach and across the street from a cross stitch store? The only thing it is missing is a place to garden, but I didn’t see the entire place.
I haven’t done that much cross stitch lately. I’ve been pretty steady with it for over 10 years and I have found other hobbies with the satisfaction of completing things in a shorter amount of time and being able to swap them with others. I still love cross stitch, but I want to finish one thing before starting another. I really need to go through my 2 crates, big plastic box and library of books and downsize. That may be my project for the cooler months.
It’s a sizzler here-haven’t been out today yet!
Tomorrow, hopefully my brother will look at the a/c in my van and also check out the transmission which seems to slip once in a while. I’m also getting my hair done by his wifey, so I hope he can help me out. I have to get her birthday things together. She’s only turning 39!
Stay cool!

Aug3

Need a baseball bat?

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All the rain kept us out of the garden for a number of days and lookie what Brian found over the weekend:
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Yep, a biggie! We also harvested about 4 cucumbers so far. Next week we’ll be digging to see if I got any fingerling potatoes! I see some green beans that need picking too.
Unfortunately, many of the tomatoes in my container garden and a few in the big garden are getting blossom rot from the rain. We need some hot, dry days to hopefully remedy that! Tomorrow and the next should help.
For the second Sunday in a row, we had a terrible storm that knocked out the power for 5 hours each day it happened. I tidied up some art supplies and made this as one of the four I made that day. It’s my friend’s grandmom-I don’t think she reads my blog and she’s away right now:
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Don’t put an old photo of yourself or a relative on your blog or in Facebook or I may use it! I’ll gift her with this. I’d say it’s about 1908 or so.
Sean and I went down to my mom’s and did a few things around the place. She bought yet another bagless vacuum which I scolded her for. I hope this one doesn’t ‘blow up’ like her previous clunker did! We went down to the liquidator store and JoAnn’s and I bought a few things namely paper crafting things at JoAnn’s (40% off) and 70% off windchimes and a few little gnome figurines. We went to The O*live Garden and the portions were very slimmed down. I always had some left to bring home, not tonight.
So that’s my last few days. Plan to stay in and cool tomorrow!

Jul9

Bulky

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I have one of those wholesale club cards and don’t use it very often. Yesterday Sean and I decided to go to the one near my mom and take her. I had a ‘limit’ to what I was spending, but with Mom and Sean along, I completely blew it! We hadn’t been there since December or January, so I should account for that! I really wanted the big box of Cas*cade, which I got. Sean likes the energy bars and a few other things. It really adds up. I shouldn’t need to buy shampoo, soft drinks and snack food for weeks or months now. We also went to the store next to the wholesale-For*man Mills. It’s mostly a clothing store. I think only 10-20% of it is worth looking at and you have to go up in the size as most of the clothes look shrunk up. BUT, I did find a ‘tiered’ dress in white, black and gray, a black and white patterned skirt, a double knit black top with some beading around the neck, a red and white stretchy top (I should have gone up a size) and a funky 1960s type handbag-the body of it is big white faux leather circles and it has beaded handles. All for under $50!! Also got a big bottle of Coconut/Vanilla shower soap. It was definitely a store to snoop in. Sean found a Eagles football watch for $7. I had to read the sizes to my mom as her eyes aren’t too good yet.
Sean’s off to Penn State for an Arts and Crafts fest. I think it’s an excuse to see old friends. I would have liked to go, but only one bed and no way am I letting him or me sleep on that inflatable mattress again. He said he’d buy me something!
I’m going to out to tie up some plants…so here are the ‘thunks’…

1. Do you tend to have a guilty conscious?
If I do it’s when I look in the mirror. I’m not happy with what’s going on, but sometimes when I exercise, I hurt myself-like when I pulled my right back shoulder blade, it hurt for almost 3 months. I try and do lots of outdoor gardening-digging, hauling stuff, etc this time of year to firm me up a bit.

2. Do you still have your wisdom teeth? No! Had them out when I was 19 and it was horrible. I had twilight sleep, so I knew what was going on a bit, but played dead for the dentist.

3. Peanut Butter – creamy or crunchy?
I like both-creamy on bread, chunky in cookies.

4. Get up off your butt. Take 5 steps. Which leg did you start out on?
My right one!

5. What color is your favorite kitchen utensil? Almost cabalt blue-my Kitchen*Aide mixer

6. Did you watch the Michael Jackson memorial/funeral? Yes! I even took photos for my Flickr account. Michael was only 14.5 month older than me, so I followed his entire career.

7. Do you know anyone who graduated from high school this year?
Were you invited to their graduation party? Did you go? No, not this year.

8. White with black stripes or black with white stripes?
I think black with white stripes looks better.
9. If we were to call your 6th grade teacher, what would they say about you?
You had to be pick 6th grade-didn’t like my teacher at all, an ex-nun with a case on herself. She’d probably say I didn’t speak up enough and had bathroom problems.
10. Can you draw a perfect circle?
I think I can draw a pretty good one!

11. What was your favorite scratch & sniff sticker scent?
Coconut!

12. What does your sibling do for a living?
I have 3 brothers-
the eldest is an electronic tech for a major news network in Philly; the next is a medical recruiter and the baby is a master mechanic.

13. How many light switches and electrical outlets are in the room that you are in right now?
2 light switches-and about 7 outlets.

14. Do you know sign language?
Only a few signs like ‘I love you’.

15. Do you step on cracks in the sidewalk?
Bad luck! I don’t want to fall down either.

16. And the sheets on your bed look like….?
Yes-I like sets.

17. What is something that everyone else has, but you don’t?
A job!

Jun5

Show & Tell

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Tin I found at a flea market, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

I asked the guys (hub and son) if they wanted to take a ride down Rt. 1 to Nottingham, PA. which is the home of Herr’s, the potato chip factory. I got Sean to go on the promise that we would go to the gift shop for some ‘fresh’ chips. Lo and behold, the factory was closed on weekends! Across the street is this big ol’ horse barn/turned flea market. Lots of junkie stuff, but I found this gorgeous detailed tin (probably cake or cookies were inside at one time) that I got for about $4 as the lady only charged me $5 for it and an orange carnival glass vase. The vase has some defects-it looks like a crack is in it, but it’s the finish, but I could picture marigolds in it. So that was bounty of that little weekend excursion. : )

May20

Back in the day

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Another great reason to find old pals on Facebook is that they sometimes post their old photos and you may be in them!
This is probably 8th grade (1973) and those are two pals Bev and Cindy-I’m in the middle! Thanks to another Cindy for posting it.
DianneJrh
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Sean and I went to see my mom and my brother and his Dalmation were there. My brother has off Wednesdays. First we picked up lunch and ate in a park with a little waterfall near a Grist Mill. There is also trout fishing there.
We hung around mom’s a bit and then went to check out flowers at a discount place and hit Home De*pot for a new bathroom faucet and shower head and also more flowers! We ate some Greek salad and white pizza at a new place-it was good. Headed over to another shopping center and a closed store had one of those ‘book warehouse sales’ there, but they had other things like greeting cards and gift packages of lotions, besides books. I got quite a few things including artist Nancy Noel cards and a jewelry book. Sean wanted to get goodies at Trader Joes too. It was a full day! Gardening tomorrow!

May13

A new gadget

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We asked Sean if he’d like a new cellphone-one with all the bells and whistles- like the internet and he said sure! Today we went to the T*Mobile store and he picked out a G1 with Google and lots of apps. He’s already downloaded the weather (of course) and star finder-showing the constellation right over our house-I believe Sirius is up there. : )
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So that was a neat gift for someone who has worked so hard. Wish it could have been a car, but maybe someday he can afford to get a new one himself-got to land that perfect job!
We’re getting stuff together for our little trip up to State College. We hope to see a few sights around the area (like the town!) on Saturday. We feel bad we never went up there, but with aging parents with several health issues, it’s rough to be 3.5 hours away.
We did have a lovely day today! We didn’t go phone shopping until 4:30 as I was a little blah for a bit. I’m making Sean a card, but misplaced some graduation stickers and can’t find them! I’ll have to finish it and wrap a few little gifts tomorrow.
My brother had a fence installed in my mom’s yard for her dog (and later his dog too) so mom doesn’t have to walk him anymore. Kelsey was so happy and ran like the wind. That will save mom a lot,though he doesn’t like getting in his cage when mom needs to go out.
I’ve got a lot to do tomorrow, so if I don’t write anything, see you late Saturday or Sunday!

May10

A Day in Delaware

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A Day in Delaware, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

Sean and I went down to The Wilmington Flower Market/Fair-a 3 day event-the last day was Saturday. It was about 80 degrees and we were very warm as where we parked was a hike to the fair. I bought a few plants and Sean bought me a perennial, which I will show you soon. They had a ‘donor’ tent where people donated plants from there garden. I bought a red lily.
I would have bought more if the prices were more in my range.
Isn’t the stone tower
shown neat! There were people up in it, but I was not in the mood to climb the stairs (I guess) as we had climbed the side of a hill to get to the fair.
We left there and went to the Hagley Museum, but just looked around the outside and the Brandywine River. The one photo shows a bird’s nest with what looks like a piece of paper towel or plastic. A rude lady (pretty sure it was a woman) in a van for old folks started honking her horn like a crazy woman near us. Here we were on the wrong said of a metal gate that was going to close behind her-we had no idea about that or why she was honking. She could have nicely rolled down the window and told us about the gate, but she had to do the horn thing. I complained about her to the girl in the gift shop, but of course she didn’t know the woman. So if anyone reading this works at an senior citizen’s complex near Hagley Museum, you have a rude driver!

Here’s Sean the last time we were in this area:
Sean near the Brandywine River at Hagley Museum

Mar24

Happy Birthday Brian-Down Memory Lane

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It’s hard to believe that three of these photos were taken almost 25 years ago on our honeymoon in Cancun, Mexico. The other was taken 8.5 yrs ago in New Hope, Pa.
We celebrated his birthday in 1983 as an engaged couple. I remember using most of my pay that week to buy him a Walkman. Seems like such an old concept now with the MP3 players and Ipods around now. I wanted to get him a MP3 player this year, but wasn’t sure if he’d use it.
I thought he’d enjoy seeing these photos again. Didn’t he look hunky in those earlier photos? He’s still my hunk. ; )
I baked some yellow cupcakes with dark fudge icing for him and placed them on the  ‘special’ plate:
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FYI-I didn’t have vegetable oil and read where you can substitute apple sauce for the same amount of oil needed. I did this and they are light and tasty. This will be good for my brother to know as the veggie oil bothers him when mixed in waffles.
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My mom sent Bri a bouquet:
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I also finished this to be made into an egg shape for my niece T as her birthday is the day before Easter:
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The Prairie Schooler

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All the Kosher food is on sale at the store, so I bought some toasted coconut marshmallows and potato pancake mix which I made last night:
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They were good with meatloaf. I will say I should have used a bigger pan and I had to get the hang out of making sure they were solid and brown before turning. Be sure to check out your Kosher stuff-there’s some good eats there that you may not try that much!
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Sean is enjoying seeing the sights of Vegas-he saw some of the fancy hotels like The Mirage and Treasure Island last night and said they were huge! He is all dressed up in these clothes for the job fair:
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FYI, the suit coat is from the Goodwill and only cost $6.50. We bought the shirt and tie in Macy’s to match the jacket. If we had purchased a new suit coat, it would have been approx.-$150-$200. This assemble cost $83.50. So we saved a lot! He may not even have to wear a suit if he works in the field, so this was a wise thing to do in these hard times. He wore a used jacket in his high school portrait too-who knew?

Mar15

Another good-bye

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I’m never going to get use to these blasted departures, especially knowing Sean will be almost across the country next Sunday. It’s gotta be, can’t keep them little forever. Now I know why Brian use to say he’d hate it when Sean grew up.
Bri said we could go out to eat tonight-so that will be within the next hour or so I guess, a nice consolation prize-not having to cook!
I was looking at the People magazine ‘Style Watch’ edition and thought ‘I’d recommend’ (it is Sunday and that’s my usual time to write about things I like or have read). So here are the style trends for Spring 2009-Anything with a ‘mini floral’ pattern-dresses, tops, skirts. Funky Little House on the Prairie wear!
Hobo bags-I actually just bought one-not very springlike-it’s black, but I know I have a big pink one somewhere too.
Ruffles!!! There are some really cute examples in the magazine-I like the ruffles pulled to one shoulder and the vest with the tiny ruffles on the bottom.
Utilitarian-uniform like details-shown is an Ann Taylor silk camp shirt which is pretty but pricey.
Neon!!!Mostly shown are purses, shoes, jewelry and clothing with a neon trim. You don’t want to look like you escaped prison in a neon orange jumpsuit!
**My Favorite**-Cool colors-they are calling them lagoon blues-gorgeous shades. I have a purse my mom gave me in a cool shade like shown.
Not boring beiges Also like this color palette, crisp and clean looking.
Other popular accessories:
Textured bags
Exotic heels
Gold shoes (glad I kept those gold  sandals I hardly wear)
Statement necklaces (Zoey should be happy about this one-I love necklaces too).

Sean did get a lot of work finished this break, including a long paper about Vikings which I proofread-all 13 or so pages! I have done his proofreading throughout school and I really wish he would learn to sit down and figure out what sounds good and what doesn’t.  Not to say I didn’t mind helping,but this is definitely an area he needs ‘to grow’ in.