Sep2

Small Talk

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Since I joined Sherry’s party(see link————–>)
I don’t want to be a rude guest and only talk about daytrippin’ and eggplants. Here are a few questions that Sherry would like us to answer.
Questions:
What type of job do you have? Domestic Goddess, online sales for pocket change and hopefully a paid artist someday soon.
Where do you live? I’m about 35 miles outside of Philadelphia. I grew up about 12 miles from Philly.
Where do you do your crafts/art work? In the dining room at a desk I just set up.
What is your favorite daytime beverage? Water, green tea, any tea!
What is your favorite dessert? Brownies!
Do you watch soap opera’s and if you do what’s your favorite? No way! Can’t stand them. I use to watch ‘All My Children’ years ago. I decided that when my son was little, napping was better than watching tv in the afternoon.
What’s the last movie you saw in a movie theatre? ‘The Dark Knight’ with my son Sean.

I see a few of the Wizard of Oz swap gals are posing a sneak peek of projects. Mine is all finished and ready to mail to Irma. Here’s a tease:

Sep2

3 eggplants in a row

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3 eggplants in a row, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

This was our ‘just throw it under the tree’ plant to see if it would do anything. It got so huge and now has the little eggplants growing on it, plus a few more! Bri planted hot peppers in the same area and they didn’t fair as well. I planted rooted coleus cutting to the left of the eggplant and they are doing good.

Huge eggplant under the evergreen

You can see some of the coleus in this photo.

Sep1

A little daytrippin’

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I can’t believe it’s September already!

Bri and I went down to Dover, De today. It’s about 50 miles one way and takes an hour. Not much to see, just some marshy areas with egrets and I saw a whole family in one area. Every once in a while, there is a housing development. There are places I want to see and photograph like Lum’s Pond (about 20 miles away-we went there for a company picnic years ago) and Odessa (about 30, but they decorate the old homes for Christmas). I did take a photo of the St. George’s bridge:

This is over the Chesapeake and Delaware Canals (thus named) and taken at over 50 mph. The average speed limit on this stretch of road to Dover was 65 mph. That just seems to fast to us.

Hit a big sale at Atlantic Books warehouse-buy two, get one free. I shop the middle of the store where the bargain books are Bri tends to shop the perimeter where they aren’t on sale, but he was thinking the sale, though he picked out only two books that were over $20 each. Now I really have to love a book to pay that much. When we were checking out, I tossed one of my books in with his-got a $9.00 book for free. I guess we saved $25 on the total sale. I was very selective. I may sell a few of the ones I bought anyway.

We ate dinner at 3:30, having skipped lunch, at The Olive Garden-good parmesan crusted Talapia! Oh, I got a new postage scale at the Office Depot so I will know how much stuff over a pound will cost to ship. I can use click and ship now too!

It was nice to spend some time with Bri as he’s back to work tomorrow.

I’ve been going through links and adding some and taking some out. I think I have some awesome ones to share.

Aug31

All in a row

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All in a row, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

I recently purchased about 11 pounds of ephemera from an ebay seller. Don’t worry, I am not saving it all, but going through it and scanning photos and other ephemera for my art projects. Feel free to go take a look on Flickr if you would like to have some vintage goodies to work with.
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Good luck to the people in the New Orleans region. It sounds like they are better prepared this time. Thinking about my old friends A&M.

Aug31

Lazy Day

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I truly had one of those days on Saturday that I didn’t feel guilty about. I took my time watching some shows on Bravo that I had missed because of the Democratic Convention. I stitched and frogged some stitching on the sleeping kitty. I wish when designers did the black symbols, that they would make them nice and dark when they print them out. I have been penciling out as I go, still lost my place. When I went to erase, took a lot of the symbol away. Grrrrgh.

I also made a really neat item for a Wizard of Oz swap with a fellow crafty blogger. I had all I wanted to use, plus some and just didn’t sit down to assemble it right away. When I finally did, it took about 15 minutes to get the main area done. As a hint, I am using a collage I made for my desktop and adding to that.

Found a really cute idea on Flickr. I love that site-so many talented photographers and craftspeople. A young lady, Ruby, turned ‘Mini pops’ into a cross stitched project. They are famous little people, say Indiana Jones, that are really tiny. She said she opened a gif file in her paint program to print out the figures and then graphed them.

I tried my hand at it today. Can you guess who these guys are?

They may be a little larger than Ruby’s, but these are the Fab Four from the movie ‘Sergeant Pepper’.

Bri’s dad isn’t doing well on a mega dose of antibiotics. I suggested that if he goes over to his house and doesn’t like what he sees, that he should take him to the ER pronto. Pops says he is weak on his legs and isn’t eating a lot. I think he should be in assisted living until he feels better, but Bri swears that comes out of pocket. Not if the doctor wants him in there, I think the insurance would help. Anyone know? He could maybe get a visiting nurse to help him with his wounds.

If Bri’s dad is ok, we may take a daytrip tomorrow. And if my shoulder is better too. Seems it acts up once in a while. Bri suggested I sit sideways on the massager and it hit an area on my shoulder blade that made it tingle and hurt.

Two answers from my movie meme from a little while ago:
#1 Life and death. Space and time. Fate and chance. Theses are the forces of the universe. Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, I present to you a man who has unlocked these mysteries. From the furthest corners of the world where the dark arts still hold sway he returns to us to demonstrate how nature’s laws may be bent. I give you ……. The Illusionist!

#6 A scout has a certain look… Kit Carson, for example. You look like… a muleskinner!
Uh, General I don’t know anything about mules…
Lieutenant, it’s amazing how I can guess the profession of a man just by looking at him! Notice the bandy legs, the powerful arms. This man has spent years with mules. Isn’t that right?
Uh, yes sir!
Hire the muleskinner! –Little Man, Big Man-you must see this movie. : )

I made a desktop collage of this movie a few years ago:

Also did Joy Luck Club and Memoirs of a Geisha:

And of course I couldn’t forget Ferris Bueller’s Day Off:


Aug30

Photo Hunt- Beautiful

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PSHunt
Great grandmother, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

Beautiful can mean something pleasing to the eye or better yet, to the heart. I always loved this photo of my maternal grandmother, the little baby here. Both Ruth, my mom-mom and her mother Caroline lived to be in their 90s. The little girl, Ethel Grace, died from pneumonia at age 7. My great grandmom had 6 children and another daughter Edna, who also lived to be in her 90s. I love how my great grandmom looked so pleased to have these little girls as she had trouble conceiving when she was first married. They are beautiful to me.

And the winner of my 4th Anniversary Blog giveaway is….drumroll…

RO!!!! from A Hint of Home blog! Ro’s a new visitor, which is nice. Congrats! I need your snail mail address-send to diadsieatcomcastdotnet. Thanks. : )

Aug29

Show & Tell #7

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I want to thank Zoey over at Perennial Passion in my sidebar, for the idea this week for my share. She was talking about watching an old Andy Griffith Show and I remembered I had an Aunt Bee cookbook. In fact, I have several tv and movie related cookbooks:

Having a ‘Pooh’ cookbook doesn’t sound very appetizing, but it’s really a cute one with the different characters represented throughtout in sweet black and white ink drawings. Doesn’t Mint Honey Bread sound good?

Forrest Gump is all about shrimp-Mama’s Shrimp spaghetti sounds yummy. It is also loaded with Forrest reflections.

The Wizard of Oz is really sweet-features a ‘kids in Munchkinland’ party. Many of these recipes are ones we know, but renamed to go with the movie, like ‘Wicked Witch Waffles’.

Some Like it Hot is actually a good name for a cookbook! This features a nice section of mixed drinks. How does the recipe ‘Figs in Drag’ sound to you? I was also born the year this movie came out.

Cooking with Friends is a great cookbook with a mixture of coffee house style recipes plus recipes that would be favorites of the different friends. Great photos throughout too. I may pick a recipe from here to share with you.

Aunt Bee’s Mayberry cookbook is a spiral ring one. There are different sections from appetizers to desserts, many named after the characters like Beef Stroganoff Barney. This is a pretty awesome cookbook too.

I know I have a few more that weren’t on the same shelf as the above; Gone with the Wind, Frasier, the Sopranos and It’s a Wonderful Life.

These are fun cookbooks and I recommend them!

Recipe share:

Black and White Chocolate Chip Cookies

(we had the plain ones last year in NYC, the icing was black and white-yummy)

1 cup flour

¼ cup unsweetened cocoa

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

¾ cup sugar

1 large egg

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup (6 oz) white chocolate chips

½ cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 375°. Stir the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt together in a small bowl and set it aside. Cream the butter and sugar with the electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Beat in the egg and vanilla until smooth. Slowly beat in the dry ingredients. Stir in the chocolate chips and nuts.

For each cookie, drop a little less than ¼ cup batter onto an ungreased large baking sheet. With your hand, slightly flatten each piece of dough. Leave at least 2 inches between each ball. You will need 2 baking sheets to accommodate the dough.

Bake until the edges and tops of the cookies are set, 15-18 minutes. Transfer the cookies to a rack and cool briefly. Eat warm or at room temperature. These cookies will stay nice and chewy for a couple of days.

Makes 12 oversized cookies.

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Tonight at midnight, I will do the drawing for my 4th anniversary giveaway, so add your comment for that below if you want to try to win. 4 years ago today, I started rambling on. : )

Aug28

Blogging anniversary #4 coming up!

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I can’t believe it’s been 4 years already. The funny thing is we are doing almost the exact thing we did 4 years ago-going to Atlantic City and taking my mom. She is still bothered by sciatica, but takes meds for it.

Here’s my first post. : )

I’m gathering some goodies for you my faithful pals, who kept coming back and those who are also new to my rambling too! I hope you come back to say ‘hello’ now and then.

The goodies-two soft sculpture pumpkins (the larger one has sparkles);

Items I bought from my recent vacation which include: A box of James’ Salt Water taffy; a pumpkin tapestry style placement; a little Lucy look-alike figurine from the Lucy the Elephant attraction in Margate, NJ and a Lucy postcard and a nice bottle of tangerine and olive flower hair condition from Caesars Hotel (ok, the last one was free, but it is really nice).

Added some adorable mini Longwood Gardens cards to the booty!

Also made a special Atlantic City Art Trading Card! My mom gave me the jokers from her new set of playing cards and I used one as it has an Atlantic City scene on the back. You can take a ‘sneak peek’ on Flickr.

August 29th is the last day to try and win the goodies, so please leave a comment HERE. (Don’t be shy now). I must have a way to contact you, if I don’t, I’ll have to pick another winner.

I appreciate your patronage!!! : ) (sounds like a car commercial-doesn’t it?) I appreciate YOU!!!

Aug28

Delaware Senator Joe Biden

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Delaware Senator Joe Biden, originally uploaded by Clark Westfield.

To Senator Biden and Attorney General of DE Beau Biden,
You deeply moved the attendees of convention Wednesday night! You brought Michelle Obama to tears. That had to be the highlight of the convention because you brought it to a level where people could relate to you on a personal level. Thank you.

Beau is going to Iraq soon and that really touched people as he won’t be home when the election is going on.

Note-Obviously people in general don’t like to talk politics. I’ve been very liberal since the first time I voted back in 1980 and I’m not going to change. My blog is my journal too, so I write things to remember them too.

Aug27

What a coincidence

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I’m working on the sleeping kitty xs design as I’ve shown you. A few days ago, I brought up a bag of old children’s books that were put and left in the basement-a no no to me. I found this one on cats from the 1960s-70s and look how much this kitty looks like the one I am stitching! Maybe the designer was inspired by this particular book? I just thought of all the books I own, I decided to thumb through this one.


Also made a few cards from the squashed flower blossoms. Here is one of them-I’ll call it ‘Serenity’

I’m killing some time before the dentist appt. Of course I had to get a bill in the mail from them today too-grrrrrgh. I hope whoever becomes President, makes healthcare more affordable. I think we spend close to 10% of our income on the dentist-after what the insurance pays and not counting what they take out of Bri’s pay each month.