Category Archives: weird stuff

Sep28

Almost a book-tastrophy

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Oh my! I’m not kidding. For a few weeks Bri and I have been hearing the slightest creak, like the house settling. We couldn’t figure out what it was. Today I found out! I came in the family room to grab my purse as I was on the way to the post office and to check out a new natural food market and did I get a surprise!

Bookcase

One of the shelves is removed and needs its support rod. Notice the shelf under the space is also slightly slanted to the right.

One of our 8 foot tall bookcases had shelves that were all on a slant slightly to the right! They are so full, I guess the shelves would have stayed slanted-maybe. So before I could step out the door, I unloaded the top two dusty ones. Seems the top shelf was missing one of its four little metal rods that holds it in place. All the weight from the books was causing the holes of the rods to break away, the noises we were hearing. I have to see if I have another rod thing, maybe I can use a leftover one from the kitchen. I had to start to move up the shelves and hammered the little rods in the holes to be on the safe side. I swear when you replace books on shelves, they never look as good. I have some rearranging to do and some books will be finding new homes or be given away.

The health food market was too expensive. I got some tea and a few snack things for Sean.

I have some nature/flower photos featuring red that I will share as soon as I clean up the book mess.

Sep13

Wild goose chase

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I went to the gyn office yesterday, which isn’t that close to here, about 20 miles round trip. I get there, pay the fee, go in the exam room, get my BP done and answered questions and then get in that open in the front gown. So I’m sitting there next to the doctor’s office. I had seen him sitting in that office. After about 10 minutes the nurse pokes her head in and said that Dr. H. had to go upstairs for a minute. So I said okay, maybe it’s a ‘just see’ upstairs. Well a few minutes later she opens the door again and said an actual delivery was underway and I had to come back at a later time! That’s never happened to me before. Ahhhhh…all the nerves I had. So I am going back today at 4:15.

I stopped off at a shopping area on the way home and enjoyed looking around a Hallmark store and did a little birthday shopping for my mom. I stopped off at another store closer to home and found a few more mom things. Tonight I ordered from Amazon and a Creative paper place. I was looking for a blank journal so she could make her one collage one. I know she’d be good at it, or she can do it when she comes here for a visit.

Bri took me out to dinner and when I started eating, I just didn’t feel great. I ordered steak which was good, but I brought half of it home. I guess I got myself in a stew before the trip to the hospital.

College guy update: Sean is doing good. He said he feels like he is on vacation?! I guess he means it doesn’t feel like home to him. He is going to church and joined a group there, something he never did at our church. He went to a picnic and a few other things with them already. I did say the ‘nice’ girls probably go to church. ; )   Statistics is proving to be difficult for him and he is struggling a bit. I told him to utilize the internet and library. He may have to get help. He also shrunk a shirt he likes and got medicine for his face on another and spotted it. Live and learn!

Sep6

Lighthouse in the bay

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Ok, I did want to tell you about this:

Lighthouse in the bay

Bid information:
Current Bid: $200,000.00
Minimum Bid Increment: $5,000.00
Minimum Bid: $10,000.00
Opening Date: 07/16/2007 09:00:00 Eastern Daylight Savings Time
Closing Date: 09/04/2007 14:00:00 Eastern Daylight Savings Time
Property Description:
The lighthouse is a 3 story cast iron tower topped by a lantern and a upper gallery deck. The tower rests on a black trumpet shaped iron caisson lined with concrete. The lighthouse includes a keepers quarters, fuel storage area and a lantern room. The lighthouse was constructed in 1876. Located in Delaware Bay approximately 3 miles offshore of Bowers Beach, Delaware. Bowers Beach is approximately 10 miles southeast of Dover, Delaware.

There was a news story on NBC 10 by Tim Furlong, wonder if it may help get this place sold? No electricity and batteries power the functioning light and fog horn. One ladder to climb up. The ‘bathroom’ toilet is a hole that when you look into it, you see the bay! Interesting purchase, don’t you think?

Aug7

Crash!

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It’s so darn muggy! When I got up it was 80 degrees outside already. I wanted to mail off a birthday card to a pal in Ireland and was filling it out when the UPS guy brought my new flip phone! It’s pretty cool and Sean has one almost just like it. With a rebate of $50 it will be a freebie. It pays to call up your provider and see if they have any specials. They would not have accepted the rebate if I had bought the phone at Wally World and some other places. Yes, it’s magenta!

My new phone

So what’s the title up there about? I happen to look in the direction of the vegetable garden and the fairly good size apple tree there had fallen over directly in the green beans and yellow squash part of the garden, the area I take care of! Bri may have a hard time cleaning it all up, but maybe we’ll be able to save the garden. I don’t know if my ‘count the squash’ contest is still on as it literally got squashed last night! The tomatoes are fine. The tomatoes are visible in the foreground and the my part of the garden is under the tree. We only have a chicken wire mesh fence. I kinda know why it fell over. This and the two pear trees next to it are suppose to be dwarf trees and were not kept trimmed back correctly. It’s not like I didn’t remind ‘someone’. The pears are hardly producing anymore and he won’t cut them down.

Fallen down

Another angle of the apple tree

My uncle needs someone to put his a/c units back in the windows of his house. If he can’t find anyone, Bri and Sean will have to go over and help him. I’m hoping someone will do it today.

Update late Tuesday-Bri and Sean went out after dinner to clear away some of the tree. Sean couldn’t stand the horrible humidity and Bri wouldn’t give the trimming up until over an hour later! He came in looking like he had been in a downpour-he was drenched to the bone from perspiration. The veggies are pretty well squashed. I reached in and got 1 MORE SQUASH! ; ) I think one in the far corner didn’t get ruined. I came in and made strawberry smoothies. Thanks again to Carole for the idea of freezing the berries on a tray first. It took a while with ice and strawberries (live and learn-like put a few in at a time instead of dumping them all and making the motor run weird). I think I need a new smoothie maker as the one we have is letting off an electrical burn smell. Sean can pick me up one at Big Lots.

We watched a movie called Disturbia. It was really scary at the end! One of the characters was played by David Morse, a resident of Penna. I still think he was the best in St. Elsewhere (doctor show from the 80s).

The lady who came to help my uncle today put in the a/c units (they are small ones) for him and cleaned like crazy too!  I hope she comes several times a week.

Please check out my new link to a cool art e-zine. I’ve been visiting there a lot lately!

Watch out for spammers who use your old blog entries to comment. I wrote to word press about it and finally just ended up taking off this particular entry they were using all the time. I deleted about 10 comments today and some were a bit obscene. I just removed my archives from this blog to see if that helps.

Aug3

A new local prank

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About 12:15 last night, I was finishing up on the computer and it was getting warm in here. Bri’s good at turning the air up to about 78 before he goes to bed. So I was walking past the front window to adjust the air and I saw a car parked in front of our trash bin! I turned the front light on and then I saw it drive away, but I heard wheels moving, the bin’s wheels! Sure enough, the bin was gone and I had to get Bri out of bed to go look for it. First he went up the yard in the wrong direction and I told him they went the other way. He found it all dumped out (and it was a full load this week) in our next door neighbor’s driveway and their mailbox had been knocked down! I decided to call the police, if just for the neighbor’s sake of needing a new mailbox. The officers came here to file a report.

Today I called our neighbor and she says this is a ‘new thing’ with the kids or whatever pranksters are doing it. They use to come along and smash our mailboxes. Most of us got wise and got plastic mailboxes or put a metal halo around them. It was nice to chat with our neighbor as I haven’t done so for a while. They are older and kind of stay to themselves.

I am suffering either from a sprained right thumb or carpel tunnel syndrome. I am left-handed, but my thumb started bothering me big time yesterday afternoon and throughout the night. I have a special support glove somewhere, but right now I am icing it and am wearing a glove you wear to bed (to moisturize it). It helps. I think I hurt it lifting the pots of roses. I’ve had hand problems before, but usually my left hand. Also trying to ‘stitch in hand’ without a hoop seemed to bother it. I guess I better lay off the cross stitching for a few days.

Sean did fine at the dentist yesterday, but he did feel odd and out of sorts, so I’m glad I went with him. He had three fillings done. I drove through Wendy’s for lunch. He tried to drink his Frosty float through a straw when he got home, but his lips were too numb and it went all over his face.

Have a great weekend. Hopefully some rain will break the heat here. I have green beans to pick, not sure if I can do it myself.

3 weeks from today we head up to University Park! Time surely flew by this year!

Update, so I don’t have to write a new post-I just added a 4th phone line to our TMobile account. I had called for a special offer on a phone, but it only applied to an existing phone line. I am giving my old phone to Bri’s dad and getting a cool Motorola flip phone in magenta. If pops can’t get the hang of my old phone, TMobile has a ton of phone deals to chose from. Mine is a $159.00 model and will be free after their discount and a mail in rebate. Can’t beat that. And each additional phone line is only $10 a month. Peace of mind for everyone to know they have a way to communicate.

I have my hand in an Ace bandage and it seems to help a bit.

My thoughts and prayers go out to families of the people who died in the bridge collapse in Minnesota. What a horrible thing! To think a bridge separates us from my brother and his family is still a scary thing to me.

Jul18

Scary moment in NYC

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Did you see the footage on the news about the steam pipe explosion in NYC tonight (right in the middle of rush hour)? It was on Lexington and 41st, an area we were close to less than a month ago. We stayed on Lexington and about 51st and could also see the Chrysler Building. Scary stuff! The mayor was on and said it wasn’t terrorist activity as pipes like that do burst once in a while. The steam is used to cool off big buildings such as the Chrysler Building.

Steam pipe explosion

Jul13

Food Network Star Finalists

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Rachael Ray hosted the final ‘3’ Food Network star finalists on her show this morning. ‘Jag’ the only guy left, cooked Puerto Rican food, Rory cooked Tex Mex (grilled food) and Amy who is the Next Door Gourmet did an egg dish. All received kudos from the three judges, but I think Amy stood out as being calm and collected and remembering everything she had to do and say. But Amy got to go last. I’m not sure if she got to watch the others, but she looks like she learned from their mistakes. I didn’t care for Jag calling Rachael ‘sweetie’. Rachael joked that she didn’t mind being his sweetie. Plus what he was cooking was something that the average cook would have to save up a month to cook-lobster. He used an oil that he called ‘poor man’s saffron’ but he used lobster, contradicting himself-Rachael pointed that out. Rory was really nervous. Plus, I know how to cook steak on the grill! But to be fair, of the three dishes that were made, Rory’s looked the most appetizing. When I eat lobster, I don’t want to mess with it too much and I’m not much on eggs unless they are scrambled or a frittata. The remainder here was edited as I shouldn’t have said what I said and I didn’t mean to hurt Rory as she wrote to me-I didn’t expect that. (I just looked at what my commenter said and I am the first on the list in a Google blog search) I am so sorry, I’m almost a Jersey girl myself. I was making fun of myself in that passage though. Good luck in your quest Rory, for hosting a show on one of my favorite networks. Here’s a plug for her. And I so want those ribs!!!!

Update-Rory wrote back and thanked me for editing my blog. I told her in reply that Bri has one of the toothiest smiles

A big Bri smile

around and I have loved that smile for 25 years! What the heck was I thinking? And I noticed from her blog that she loves preschoolers (so do I, remember I have an AAS in Early Childhood Ed)-she has a Youtube video with her and her niece’s class. All forgiven I think. If you can’t say anything nice….yes mom!

Funny thing seen on the side of a bus yesterday (and twice): webuyuglyhouses.com! I mentioned this to mom and she asked if I meant her house-no-just that it was a weird thing to see twice.

Have a cool Friday the 13th!

Jun27

Say bye bye to Yahoo photos

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Yeah, they are ‘closing shop’ at the end of September. But as many of you know, they are affiliated with Flickr which is a paid service. I told Yahoo to go ahead and move all 1,600 photos (who knew?) over to Flickr. I think I can afford $2 a month for the upkeep. It’s nice to know I have a safe place on the web too. And the photo quality vs. Yahoo is like night and day. I was up late last night browsing some of my photos that I haven’t seen in a clear light for a while.

It’s a hot one in PA today. I haven’t been outside except in my robe at 12:30 (ok, I wanted to take a shower) as Veronica’s Neighborhood Round Robin came in the mail from Rachael today. I am the last one to stitch on it from our group. It’s really charming. I will be looking for the perfect addition. I’m thinking ‘store’ as Carol has a store opposite of where I will be stitching.

Here’s a coincidence for you-last week before the NYC trip, Sean rented Bobby. It was about Robert F. Kennedy in an indirect way-it told of the day and night leading up to his assassination at the hotel in California. I didn’t remember (I was 8 at the time) that 6 people got shot in the kitchen that night. So a few days later there we are sitting in St. Patrick’s Cathedral where RFK’s funeral took place. I’ve also been to his graveside at Arlington Cemetery in Washington, DC that is marked by a simple white cross. I think he really could have made a different in this country.

In my Vod:Pod I have a recording by the Leo Reisman orchestra who my great uncle Frank played trumpet with. Not sure if he is on this actual recording-the Merry Widow Waltz, but he was on the soundtrack of Paper Moon. Why the interest? Since Barbara is having twins, I told her about Frank and his brother being twins.

Jun25

Not in a nutshell

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We left here about 10:15 on the 22nd thinking we’d get to NYC in 3 hours. We arrived about 2:30-3:00 but we had stopped at a Wendy’s and a Big Lots in a small town. Our mistake was relying on Mapquest. I know, they have to generalize their directions, but I-295 was not a good way to go as it veers off to Trenton, NJ and you can easily get lost, which we did. We went through the Lincoln Tunnel (it’s weird knowing you are going under water) and when we were at the other end we weren’t sure where the directions wanted us to go. We should have made an immediate left but went up a street and made another left-the directions were useless until we asked where 42nd St was (thank you officer). So the next problem was the cabs, people walking in front of us and people double parking. I had to call to ask where the garage was as it wasn’t listed on the hotel’s website. Poor Sean had to go to the bathroom for an hour but wouldn’t get off in front of the hotel when we had to go around the block again. When we finally pulled into the garage, they told us to ‘take everything you need’ as you aren’t allowed to go back to your vehicle again. That was a mad scramble!

The hotel was built around 1960 and called ‘The Summit’. Judy Garland was there when it opened. I happen to love her and I thought that was awesome trivia. It’s called The Doubletree Metropolitan now. The room had only two double beds (why not queens?) a desk chair, desk area and one other padded chair, a flat screen tv and internet hookup which Sean utilized a few times and a small bathroom. It also had a fridge where you could chose something and had a few seconds to put it back or you have to pay for it. We had our own snacks.

We ventured out around five to go eat as there were plenty of restaurants in the general area. We chose an Italian restaurant called San Martin’s. It took a while to get dinner. I chose a chicken in a mustard/mushroom sauce. That was good, but the veggies weren’t -corn and peas and some weird looking sliced potatoes (like the kind in a can!). The guys had pasta.

Dianne’s dinner first night in NYC

We walked 8 blocks that night-not a wise choice for me at least. That’s when we saw St. Patricks and Rockefeller Plaza/center. When we went in the huge NBC store, I really felt drained and we started walking back. Needless to say, we took cabs a few times.

Cab drivers are careless, unfriendly drivers with short fuses. The first cab we took was to the ship port. I showed the driver the address and he got us there fine, though it was a fast and crazy ride.

We start to walk up to the elevator to the pier and there were Karin and Michael standing there! What a coincidence as we were one of the first to arrive. It was a great moment to meet her and her sweet guy. We followed them up to the check in where we left our driver’s licenses. They we went to the waiting area and waited from like 1o:30 to almost 12! The ceremony was to take place at 12:30 and the couple weren’t even dressed yet! First we had to go through a metal detector and right before we went on board, we had our hands sprayed with alcohol. The three of us went out on the deck and took a few photos. The wind was kicking up a lot and I had forgotten hair spray! I do love those photos though.
The ceremony was about 20 minutes with a Lutheran minister who I think was an assistant to the main minister of NYC. (He didn’t say Karin’s name correctly-more like Kareen during the ceremony). Michael and his dad came in and he looked very handsome in his white tux. Brian also wore white way back in 1984, but he had tails and an ascot where Michael had a suit style jacket and a bow tie. Her niece Emily walked down the aisle (bridesmaid) first and then her sister-in-law Marissa who was the Maid of Honor. They were already dressed. Karin came in a few minutes later (what speedy dressers the two of them were) and she looked so gorgeous in her satin gown with rhinestones on the bodice. She carried a silk flower white and red bouquet. I captured a good shot of her mom looking at her. Speaking of her mom, it was so nice to meet her, her husband Ron, Karin’s dad and his wife Kathy and Michael’s family. I had nice chats with both Michael’s aunt who happen to be an Early Childhood Education instructor in Fort Myers, Fl (I have an AAS in ECE) and a co-worker named Fran who thought of Michael as her ‘adopted son’. Fran, a country girl from North Carolina, didn’t seem to enjoy the gourmet lunch we had. I think we were all stumped as what to chose. Karin is getting her degree in culinary arts in December and chose some different dishes. I enjoyed what I had as did Brian and Sean. They really made sure we had our fill. I regret looking at the chocolate raspberry wedding cake and only tasting it. I was stuffed.

So it was all over way to fast. We had to leave the ship at three. I gave Karin a wedding card with a few Art Trading Cards I made for them and also a birthday card for Michael who is having a birthday tomorrow. We received a CD of their favorite Love Songs as a wedding favor.

When we were walking across the road to the taxi stop, that’s when the van driver was so rude to me.

That night we went to Times Square. It was mobbed! I am not a crowd person and I am not crazy about people who are ranting and raving about God. Not crazy about seeing a half naked girl (no top on, just pasties) getting money for drawing attention to herself.

I was impressed by the 3 story tall Virgin Record store. I have never quite seen a place like it before. Sean enjoyed seeing the outside of the MTV studios too. After seeing this area, we happen to venture back to Rockefeller Center. I was glad as I wanted to buy some kind of souvenir as I hadn’t bought anything yet. I bought a Saturday Night Live est. 1975 shirt as I was in the building where it’s been filmed for the last 32 yrs. I have watched it from the beginning (the best years were in the beginning). I also bought a night shirt with the ‘Today’ show logo all over it. I did take a photo of these but I deleted it by mistake.

We grabbed a cab back to the hotel and ordered a snack and headed for our room. That night I slept like a log as I was told I sawed wood all night. The night before was a joke! The noises outside (and we were 10 floors up) went on all night. I felt my wood cutting adventures in the morning as my throat was so dry. The air conditioning was fine, but it was so dry. We decided to get a nice breakfast and went to the same place where we grabbed our snack the night before. We took a cab to St. Patrick’s Cathedral and attended Mass. We sat about 8 or so rows from the front on the right. Cardinal Egan officiated the televised service. Both Sean and I were feeling a little overwhelmed in there, but settled down. There were police officers in the front of the church and next to the doors. We were glad that we were able to go here. It’s one of the biggest cathedrals in the world.

When we left, people were sitting all over the steps that wind around the building. We noticed the police were there and had put up barricades. I heard a girl say something about a gay parade that was going on soon. We decided to leave for home then to avoid the traffic and crowds.

After we got the car, we pulled out and again the directions failed us. We were told to turn right on 50th and  couldn’t. But the parade hadn’t started yet! We turned down the next street and started looking for 42nd. We had to wind around a road under a building and ended up in the 30s. We were stopped at a light and I saw a cabbie and all I said to him was Lincoln Tunnel. He said to take the next street all the way to 9th and it was right there! What luck! We were high fiving it! I got to see Fashion Ave (would love to shop there sometime). The traffic leaving was a bit heavy going through the tunnel, but we did well and only had stop and go traffic a few times on the NJ turnpike. We stopped and ate lunch and got home before 4 which was fine. The cat was glad to see us, though a little hoarse in voice.

All in all, it was an interesting experience. I want to go back and see the Empire State building, Central Park and do some shopping. Next time I would stay outside of the city and grab a bus in (someone told me she did this). Sounds like a good plan. I was glad to get home to the peace and quiet, but I wasn’t use to it!

Jun1

Waiting on the service man

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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!