Show n’Tell Week #3

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Today I’m sharing my baby book. Unfortunately, it’s been through lots of neglect and it shows.

Pretty ugly isn’t it? We moved a few times after I was born and then a few years back, mom found it is a box in her basement. I would never put photos or keepsakes in the basement, especially in a cardboard box. In fact, toss all your cardboard. Stores like Big Lots sell the see thru ‘sweater boxes’ for about $3 each. That’s what I mainly use now.

So here is the card from the hospital bassinet:

That looks pretty good for being almost 49 years old.

This is the same hospital I had my breast biopsy at last year.

This is the first inside two pages:

That’s my hospital photo and my birth announcement.

Three months after my arrival, mom found out she was expecting again, so my book got tucked away. Years later, I actually added photos to this myself.

With my own son, I took tons of photos and wrote in his book all the time. His baby book is in a bookcase in my bedroom for safe keeping.

Have a great weekend!



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Strasberg, PA 7-30-08

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Strasberg, PA 7-30-08, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

Sean and I went on a daytrip up to Lancaster yesterday and did some power shopping at the outlets and got many good buys. On the way home, we got off the beaten path of Route 30 and went down Rt. 741 which runs through the quaint town of Strasberg. It was getting dark, but we parked in this gravel lot of a Lutheran Church and walked around a bit. Sean got some ice cream too. It’s known for the railroad station there, and we’ve done that, many years ago. I like doing some things on a whim.

The haul: A pretty tank with green background and blue flowers that look like a photograph; a sleeveless navy blue dress with white butterflies (like a potato print kind) and cute teardrop cubic zirconia earrings-Liz Claiborne outlet. Did I mention we had 20% off coupons for this one outlet center? I bought the dress to wear in our portrait for the church directory, so you’ll see it when I show the photo-probably Sept-Oct.

I finally got a microplane grater-used the 20% off at Le Gourmet Chef.

The Gap-really cute t-shirts-red with a flock of birds and green with flowers, plus a peach t. Used a coupon! Sean got some nice shorts there-coupon.

A place called Steve & Barry’s opened up-it is partly owned by actress Sarah Jessica Parker. Everything in the store is $8.98-even blue jeans! They must have a 100 or more t-shirt styles. I got Brian a Ford one and navy blue shorts plus some brown dress pants for me (I need to lose a few for these to feel comfy). The quality of the clothes was on the most part good-reminded me of The Gap.

Borders books-two paper crafts books and a gift for mom.

Tuesday Morning-they expanded their craft area-yeah-so I got this set of rubber stamps-little crowns, wings, flourishes for $2.50. The neat thing is they are magnetic and stick to their container. I need to see if I can get any more of them at the local TM for resale and gifts. Also got this big box of decoupage stuff-you are suppose to decorate the box-but bought it for all the papers included.

We ate at a new Olive Garden. Some older lady pushed by me to get ahead of me to get on the waiting list. She probably didn’t ask for first available, so we got seated before her and her husband, near the bar, but that was fine. Before we got called, she had the nerve to pull out her nail clippers and start clipping her nails (we were outside, thank goodness, but I saw the pieces flying). Ugh!

I am by no means skinny, never was, but there were so many heavy people, mostly women going into the restaurant. We sat where we could watch and I swear, every third one was big-like over 225! I mention this as it was a wake up call for me too. I am scared for how big so many Americans are getting. I try to serve more turkey over red meat, but we love our pizza too (only once a week). I do pasta, but I guess I should do more whole wheat pasta. Since Sean’s been home, he actually lost weight and gained muscle (he works out), so that goes to show what he is eating isn’t all that bad. I tend to snack at night. I’m not super hungry during the day and about 9:30-10 pm I have to eat something or I won’t be able to sleep. I had rice cakes the other night. It think I’m one of those people that needs to eat every 3-4 hours. My metabolism is terrible. You’ve got to try as hard as you can-but I think to get moving is a big thing. I have a few books that didn’t sell for me on eBay-Curves and the Biggest Loser-so I guess they are mine and I’ll be reading them. : )

Oh! Wish me luck-Sean took my van for my brother to look at today. Since Sean works in my hometown and my brother lives there, it worked out better for me. I hope the air doesn’t have a leak in it.

A passing

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I just read that Professor Randy Pausch from Carnegie Mellon died on the 25th. He made it past his 3 month to live diagnosis (pancreatic cancer) for almost a year. I saved his ‘last lecture’ video in my vod pod. I didn’t know he had passed until this morning. Diane Sawyer had her story on about him again last night and I just couldn’t watch it again-like I had a feeling. He was such a nice man with a loving wife and three children.

Sean and I may be taking a little drive up to Lancaster County in a few hours even though it’s hot. At least he has air.

Just learned my bro #1 pal passed away this morning

Still sorting

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They say it gets worse before it gets better. I have things scattered all over the place now that I emptied the tea cart this morning. Brian’s small collection of beer steins, some bar stuff (we hardly even drink); vases, and other things that had no business being there. We have used the cart for over 24 yrs. It gets dusty. You can’t see what’s on the bottom shelf. When I took it away, it really opened up the space! I think the next step, that’s after I clean everything, will be rearranging the china cabinet. Did I tell you I hate the china cabinet? It was given to me by the in-laws when we moved here as she was getting a new one. It’s 60s-70s Early American, I can’t stand that chunky stuff! I want a white one to tie in with the kitchen cabinets. One of these days.

Bro #2 cat got out of his apartment and was missing. I’m not sure what the kitty status is today. I know bro stopped at the SPCA to see if anyone picked the cat up. He is really a scaredy cat to the 1st degree. I told him that when our mostly housecats get out, they always come back. It helps that I was sitting in the lawn crying for Cosmo. He couldn’t stand that. But our first cat Jade was declawed. We had to leave her out as we went to a picnic. When we came home, she was up against the back of the house waiting.

Bro #1 is losing one of his oldest pals from cancer. I guess his pal is about 54 like he is. When I think of his friend, I see him smoking. #1 spent the entire day with his pal in the hospital on Sunday. So sad.

I was bored and sneezy yesterday-so I made this:

I am pleased to announce that one of my photos is being used on Schmap-an Orlando travel site. If only I would get paid. : ) It’s the guitar fountain from the Hard Rock Hotel. We did stay there, but had some room issues…I won’t go into it here. It’s totally a great place, but they should keep pets out of the rooms.

Inspirational to me

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Phoe Knits is having a pink contest with some great giveaways (Thanks to Missy at A Treehugger’s Wife for the thumbs up on this). She is judging part of the giveaway on what is inspirational to you. So here goes…

My mom…her singing and artistic abilities have been a blessing to me her only daughter as she has taught me and passed them on to me…
DiMomxmas05.jpg

My only child…watching him grow and learn has been the greatest treasure of my life… (thanks to his dad for helping me have such a great kid!)
nd Sean Mother's Day 2008
And people I have met online like my late friend Charlotte. She gave so unselfishly of herself through her stitching for sick kids and kindness to her faraway friends like me. I’ll never forget her and will carry on her mission.
Charlotte in Memorium

A work space for me!

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As you know, I’ve been cleaning up a corner in my dining area where I have cookbooks galore. I’m having a terrible time downsizing them as they are all so interesting and yummy to read-lol. I’m going to have to go by condition. I bought this one cookbook which is really nice, but it’s from a smoker’s house. It is all yellowed and smells. I did complain to them about it. Yeck. Even though it’s a Land O’ Lakes cookbook, it has to go I guess.

So anyway, I am going to remove my tea cart and wicker chair there and put a desk in their place so I have a work area for my crafts besides the dining room table. It will be near a double window and out of the way. Plus my poor dining room table won’t be all junked up anymore. I have a few old shaker desks, one of which isn’t being used. I’d like a comfy chair and Walmart had one that looked fine for under $30. That’s my new mission anyway.

We’ve been suffering with our sinuses. I think it’s all the rain we’ve had lately or the dust I’m stirring up. : ) It poured rain again yesterday. One crack of thunder set me right out of my seat it was for horrific!

I have to go send Sean’s first rent for his studio apartment by certified mail. They are making him pay for an entire month even though he’ll only be living there 10 days in August. I have to see if the local art supply store has my ink cartridges for my printer as Walmart or Giant don’t seem to carry them anymore. I guess I can always get them filled at Walgreen’s or buy online. What a pain though. I want to make nature greeting cards to sell on etsy from my photos.

Stay cool!

Take me out to the ballgame!

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Brian and Sean went to their first ever Phillies game together at the Citizen’s Bank Park. I watched from home as usually events like that aren’t my cup of tea. I have been to a few Phillies games, a long, long time ago. They were interesting, I will say that, but it was after they had won the World Series back in 1981 or so. I really knew the players well, and a few lived in my hometown at the time (Mike Schimdt and Tug McGraw).

The game yesterday was against the Atlanta Braves and the Phillies won 10-9. The Phillies scored 7 runs in the 5th with a homerun hit by Greg Dobbs, the pitch hitter. Needless, to say, they were happy about that.

They brought me home a little Phillies bear with crooked eyes with the pitcher Hamels name on the back-ahhh.

Here are a few of Sean’s snaps:

Inside Citizen’s Bank Park

Bri giving the thumb’s up outside the park

Opps-forgot to save Sean’s photo!

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On the home front, I laid low still doing some cleaning and sorting. The dust really gets to me. Bri showed me the filter from the heater he replaced and it was filthy. I think it should be changed every few months instead of waiting for 3 months. The dust has been especially bad this year for some reason, maybe it was the filter!

Here’s a bulb plant that I am waiting to bloom, it’s some kind of crocosmia. I thought it was suppose to be orange, but these look red.

And look at this cute Leopard frog who lives in the pond. There seems to be a few of them here:

The zinnias are having a bad year, but here’s a lime one grown from a saved seed from last year:

I’m still waiting on my brother to give me the thumb’s up for getting my air in the van repaired. It’s quite uncomfortable to drive in it and my two vent windows won’t open either. I may have to take it somewhere, but I trust my brother with my van the most.

I may be starting a new sewing project this week using my recent cross stitch finish as the center design. I’ll keep you posted. I picked up an old cross stitch project (says 1988 on the package-but I think I started it a few years past that), it’s pretty-a swan surrounded by waterlilies.

Sean and I watched the movie ‘Across the Universe’, based on the music of the Beatles. It was pretty creative, a little long and it reminded me of ‘Tommy’. It’s nice when you can sing along to a movie, plus all the actors had great voices.

We signed up to get a portrait taken for the church directory today. It’s a free 8 x 10 and we get the free directory. It will be nice because you see people every week and don’t know there names.

Photo Hunt-Hanging

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PSHunt
Grab the Scavenger Hunt code.Photo Theme. Join the blogroll. Visit participants.

Hanging display in red, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

This is a ‘hanging’ display from this past year’s Philadelphia Flower Show. The different designers really know how to utilize all the space at the Convention Center! These are made of test tubes! Pretty clever! I wonder if any broke when they were hanging them up? The flowers are red carnations. The other elements appear to be wicker or string balls that were spray painted red.


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