Jun23

Sean got the internship!

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That is the high point of our day! The woman who interviewed Sean called today at 2:30. He was at the elementary school moving desks, etc., so he got back to her when he got home. He starts on Monday. He’ll have to tell the school district now. He asked how he should tell them and I suggested to say that he’s been looking for an internship for a few months and this opportunity came up and he wanted to take it so he wouldn’t have to do it when he has classes. Sound good? He only has a few pairs of ‘dress’ pants, so he’ll have to purchase a few more pairs. Yippee! He’ll be working in my hometown too.

Here’s a wonderfully scented Starglazer Lily that I just found blooming:

And I am loving the Delphinium:

The nasturtiums from seed are starting to bloom too-

And here are Martha Stewart’s idea for tomato tepees. Not as good as Martha’s, but they are working-so far:

I am doing some Patriotic ATCs too:

It’s hard to see, but the letters on the left spell out ‘July’. I wanted Shirley to look like she was in a parade in a city.

I’ll be going to mom’s tomorrow with Sean. He’ll drop me off. He has two more classes. Over the weekend, he had to fix his resume, cover letter and another paper that he wanted a higher grade on. He is working on a 5-6 page paper about hurricanes and their affects on climate change. He’s up to about page 4. This is due on Thursday. He has his work cut out for him.

By the way, over on the right is a new video I made showing my color changing mushroom lights and pond lights. There’s music too!

Jun23

How I saw him

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George Carlin 9/6/75, originally uploaded by dgans.

George Carlin passed away over the weekend at the age of 71 today. He was one of the few celebrities I got to see ‘in person’. ‘The Mike Douglas Show’ use to be taped in downtown Philadelphia, and we got to go a few times. George was on the one time, I’d say about 1974 and he was pretty clean because it was a show that aired around 4 in the afternoon.
Who else did I see on Mike’s show-Lana Turner, Anthony Newley and John Davidson! George was ‘hip’ about a lot of stuff. What a memory he had too. The entertainment show just said he was the first host on Saturday Night Live 33 yrs ago and I do remember that, I was about 15.

Jun22

Rust affecting the Shasta Daisies

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Rust affecting the Shasta Daisies, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

Here’s what I was talking about in my previous post. See the spots? I did take many of them off by hand. Not sure if that will help or not.

My 50 gallon in ground pond was in ‘distress’. I have never seen it so full of algae, mud, you name it. It reminded me of my cousin’s big pond behind their farmhouse that we use to swim in. Icky mucky! I have no trouble sticking my hand in algae-it’s like long green threads. I use to make a mean mud pie as a kid. : ) So I decided to bail it out. Bri came out and did a few, but my back is going to feel it tomorrow. I even pulled out the two meshed encased waterlilies and peeled the algae off of them. I was fascinated that one was the home to earthworms as I didn’t know they lived under water. I’ll see how it looks tomorrow and if more bailing needs to be done.

The guys went over to the patriarch’s again as tomorrow he turns 85. I helped Bri pick out a food basket and a cake. I also suggested they take over a gourmet pizza from our new favorite pizza joint. Sean almost begged to go out to eat, even to Friendly’s but pop declined. He does get out of the house to ride the bus to Atlantic City though. I feel when he knows I am coming, he needs to clean, etc. Plus I can’t eat their usual choice of take-out. I use to take food over there all the time. It was so much work. And he use to take us out to restaurants too. We would have paid today. The people he wants are there IMHO.

The weatherman got it wrong about thunderstorms, so I was watering things yesterday and today. Bri trimmed our front hedges that run along the house and didn’t cover my impatiens on one side, etc so that was a mess to clean up. And I am so discouraged as deer have eaten all my sunflowers, leaves on my Hollyhock, leaves on my Dinner Plate Hibiscus and about a dozen buds off of one of my roses. I am happy that my tomato tepees are holding up so far. Those plastic clips that Martha Stewart suggested are great. Instead of using string or panty hose, these little circular clip with a latch do the trick.

Stay cool!

Jun20

Crafty stuff for your consideration

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I was watching Kathy Griffin’s show last night and ‘For your consideration’ is what her new CD is called as she wants a Grammy. She’s so funny and a bit of a potty mouth. Have you ever seen her home out in LA? It’s really fabulous.

Anyway, from my humble little ranch house in the mushroom country of PA. I am listing items on eBay and etsy. Mainly craft books and kits. It’s a hopeless plug, but I see it helps with a lady whose blog I read.  My prices are really good too-I swear! If you live outside of the US, I’ll consider you too-but shipping books is pretty high. Check out this gorgeous Mary Englebreit book!

Even the cover is wonderful. It’s all about her and her life and art-lots of art!

And look at this series of art instruction books from North Light:

They are being sold under one auction on etsy. I have some more craft books there too.

Thanks for looking!

(Bri’s car is costing almost $400, so I need my own spending moola-lol)

Jun19

Some plant stuff

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I’m basically breaking tidbits of info up. A few weeks ago, Lee asked me if I knew what was wrong with her plants. Well, didn’t some of my own plants get ‘rust’ on them. I did some research and it’s a fungus from too much rain and dampness. They tell you to remove all the leaves, but I’d be out there for a while to do so. The rust is mainly bothering my Shasta Daisies (Grrr-I love them) and a few other perennials. I think you can spray them, but since it’s there already, I don’t know how that would help. I guess I’ll just watch it and pick off the ugly ones.

Jun19

Can you hum them all?

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Here is a partial list of the American Film Institute’s top 100 movie songs.

1. “Over the Rainbow,” “The Wizard of Oz,” 1939
2. “As Time Goes by,” “Casablanca,” 1942
3. “Singin’ in the Rain,” “Singin’ in the Rain,” 1952
4. “Moon River,” “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” 1961
5. “White Christmas,” “Holiday Inn,” 1942
6. “Mrs. Robinson,” “The Graduate,” 1967
7. “When You Wish Upon a Star,” “Pinocchio,” 1940
8. “The Way We Were,” “The Way We Were,” 1973
9. “Stayin’ Alive,” “Saturday Night Fever,” 1977
10. “The Sound of Music,” “The Sound of Music,” 1965
11. “The Man That Got Away,” “A Star Is Born,” 1954
12. “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend,” “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” 1953
13. “People,” “Funny Girl,” 1968
14. “My Heart Will Go On,” “Titanic,” 1997
15. “Cheek to Cheek,” “Top Hat,” 1935
16. “Evergreen (Love Theme From ‘A Star Is Born’),” “A Star Is Born,” 1976
17. “I Could Have Danced All Night,” “My Fair Lady,” 1964
18. “Cabaret,” “Cabaret,” 1972
19. “Some Day My Prince Will Come,” “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” 1937
20. “Somewhere,” “West Side Story,” 1961
Jun19

Summer blues

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I use to be a perfectionist. Well, some characteristics of that pop up every now and then, but I feel that I’m the only one who does things around the house to make it look nice. Once in a while in a blue moon, Bri or Sean will vacuum or empty out the dishwasher. I started to clean the family room this morning and here I am on the computer-lost interest. I try to do what I tell my mom, clean something for 15-30 minutes a day. I need to do the weedwhacking outside again. Sean missed some spots a few weeks ago. My back was complaining about lifting heavy grocery bags around 5 am this morning. I’d like to know what you all do to balance out your day? Don’t tell me you have a housekeeper. : ) I should do a schedule, but my day by day activities depend on how I feel.

I called the doctor’s office to see if they think Brian needs to have his cholesterol rechecked-it was 252 in February and he’s ignoring that, plus all his blood work was elevated. Mine was 150, but my triglycerides were elevated. I’m sure they will say yes. What happened to Tim Russert scared me about us. I know he was being treated for coronary artery disease and diabetes. I feel Bri should probably take medication for his cholesterol. He complains about a pain in the side of his head next to his eye (either side). Waiting on the office to call is stressing me out a bit.

Well, I hope Sean makes the right decision. He got his procrastination skills from us, but mainly from his dad.

Better hit the showers, maybe that will soothe my back and get me in the mood to conquer sometime!

~UPDATE~

Sean accepted the internship, but isn’t quitting the school job until all is settled. The lady who did the interview isn’t the friendliest type around. He said he’d have to see if PSU would accept them for credit and she said she couldn’t wait to see what they said. Well why would he even do it in the first place? I don’t think he’ll be working with her.

I compromised and got the hoe and rake out instead of the weed whacker. After dinner, Bri and I did a little more raking. We had to drop Bri’s car off at the station for inspection before dinner and grabbed a pizza from across the street from the place.

As for cleaning-mainly dusted a few things that were really dusty that were bothering me. Still moving stuff from one place to another-it was too nice out plus I have a red corner of my eye (going on 2 weeks) and I don’t want to rub it. I think I rubbed the heck out of it and did something.

Jun18

Rainbow effect

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We had a heavy downpour a little after dinner and this pretty rainbow appeared briefly. I just heard on the tv, that something similar happened after Tim Russert’s memorial service. The last song that was played was a ukulele version of ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’. When the guests left, they looked up to see a double rainbow in the sky. Pretty awesome.

Tim’s 22 yr old son Luke did an awesome job on his eulogy. He has so many of his dad’s mannerisms.

Since I was out in the after rain, I took a few more shots:

The pretty peachy pink Hollyhock that use to be across from our front door. You can see where the deer nibbled the leaves right to the stem.

Golden Lantana with rain droplets

Red and rust colored coleus

I cooked dinner on the grill about an hour early as rain was threatening. I got the burgers cooked, then threw on some chicken and thought I’d do a few hot dogs for the heck of it. I brought it all in and the skies opened up! Brian ate all three things (I cooked more for other meals)! and Sean ate a burger and a hot dog.

Sean’s first day on the job was ok-he washed walls for most of the time. The lady from my hometown called this morning to offer him the internship! Can you believe it! If he had waited a few more days before accepting the janitorial job he would have made it easier for himself. All the ‘old’ folks want him to do the internship. It would look good on his resume next year when he’s looking for a real job. He’s stalling about it and we think he’s a big scared. Reality will have to set in one of these hours. I think he’ll do fine. Wish him well in making up his mind.

Jun18

Finally assembled!

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I mounted this piece on the cigar box today and now I have a scissor box! I bought some grosgrain ribbon to finish it off even more. The apples aren’t that red and I think the ribbon helps, though I’m not crazy about the corners-maybe little buttons? I believe I had started this at least 9-10 years ago and by the date, you can see that I finished it last year. I haven’t done anything to the inside except to stain it. These boxes are really reasonable-under $5 if I remember correctly.

I also did this ATC card a few days ago, but I have finished another item that I will share with you in a couple of weeks when I mail it to its recipient.

The girl was printed on vellum paper and glued to paper with a pattern. I added some tissue paper and glitter to make it ‘cloud like’.

Sean went to fill out his paperwork and I took a ride with him as he was going to Walmarts. I got to sit in on the meeting with the assistant. Isn’t your birth certificate from the hospital the ‘real deal’? Brian said no, but it’s signed and sealed and has his baby feet prints and my thumb prints on it. I think because we sent for ours from Harrisburg, he thinks those are the real ones. Also, he just got a paper back and got a ‘B’ on it. He had talked to my mom’s friend about the Vietnam war era to help with the paper. The teacher said he could have had a bit more info on Jim. He has to work on his resume and do one more paper. He wanted to fix a paper about NYC that he got a ‘C+’ on. Hope he can!

The weather is really nice as it’s cooled down. I went out after dinner and pulled lots of weeds and didn’t even break a sweat. I noticed deer or varmints munched on my gorgeous rose bush, Hollyhock, Dinner plate hibiscus and some Nasturtiums, but left the lettuce alone. I sprayed all the above with bug spray to make them taste nasty.

Sean has to get up at the crack of dawn. He’s really a night owl like me. I don’t know how they are going to keep him busy in an empty school, 8 hours a day for 8 weeks. The lady mentioned painting. I just don’t want him lifting heavy stuff and hurting his back. Maybe he’ll hear from one of the other half dozen jobs he applied for.