Jun17

PS..I ♥ You…pass the tissues

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Sean was nice enough to rent me a movie (he got it free anyway!), so I watched it last night. He had seen it with his gal pal when she visited PSU earlier this year. Hilary Swank is such a good actress (she has 2 Oscars), and every time she started to cry, I needed a tissue! That was meat for the two men here. They couldn’t believe I was getting choked up. I was already kind of down from Father’s Day since I never celebrated it my entire life, and knowing it was really never going to happen again (because my father passed away in Feb, well that didn’t help). And it didn’t help that Gerard Butler, the lead actor ,looked like my late father a little.

Hilary wore lots of hats, and if you didn’t know it, I am a ‘hat person’ as I have a big head. I don’t wear them as much as I should.

I almost missed the third episode of ‘The Mole’ as the movie ended after 10. I’m interested in it as there are (were) three guys from a 35 mile radius from where we live, the closest is from West Grove, a few towns away. Bobby, from Philly, just got ‘eliminated’ last night.

I’m trying to finish up some craft projects that are laying around. I finished an Altered tin swap for a lady in Iowa. I wrote her a note and she said she wasn’t affected by the flooding, but her neighbor was. Then I stained a cigar box that I bought to glue my Amish children and apple tree cross stitched design on. I think I’ll make it into a scissor box because Vonna from ‘The Twister Stitcher’ inspired me! I didn’t do much cleaning, but doing the above motivates me to do more!

My poor mom wasn’t well yesterday-in pain and laid up in bed. She forgot she had hung out clothes a few days before as her dryer is on the fritz. She was using muscles she hadn’t used for a while. I hope she can get that repaired. She’s a constant worry to me. Her car is fixed, but the transmission is going, as are the shocks. Looks like my brother is trying to locate another used vehicle for her.

Jun16

A reason to clean

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Oh grrrrrrr…. something told me to check inside the dust covered camera case to see if my older camera, the Powershot was there, it wasn’t. And I’ve been looking to no avail-it’s missing! Dang it. I remember wanting to use the video feature it has, that’s it, the last time I saw it! I was trying to make a video of how the solar lights around the pond act funny when they have a few cloudy days-they flash on and off at night like fairies are playing tag. Now, what did I do with it?

Time to clean anyway. I don’t remember seeing so much dust in the house for a long time-but I remembered that Bri had knocked down a wall in the basement’s bathroom so I could get to the shelves behind it months ago-dry wall dust is the pits! Never let people build walls or closets without your approval. He had our neighbor helping him and instead of just putting a spring rod for a curtain, they built a wall in front of roughly 12 feet of shelves (two-6 feet areas). I put up with that for at least 18 years maybe and I was sick of moving boxes to get to boxes. That’s another job I have to finish, cleaning and moving boxes around. Also, when we were converting the garage into our most used room, they added a closet on one of the long walls. I wanted it in a corner. I have really no options for moving the sofa and chair around. It was the same neighbor who came up with that bright idea.

So I’ll say a prayer to St. Anthony and hope my little camera reappears!

Sean is going for an interview with the school district for landscaping/maintenance in about an hour.

Thoughts and prayers to the people of Iowa and the Midwest who are trying to survive flood damage.

~Update~

Found my camera laying on the backseat of the van under a neck pillow. It was in there in all that heat, so hope it’s ok. I remember I took it to my Mom’s for Mother’s Day and never took any photos, so it’s been in the van for over a month.  I had started to clean and then my usual beginning of the week wonky tummy starts acting up! I guess I’ll do a bit more.

Sean is going to do maintenance at his old elementary school! He has to start pretty early, but it will help toward his rent next year.

Jun15

Happy Father’s Day 2008

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I just took the above before they went to visit the patriarch. I sent him over a nice wooden window box filled with geraniums, purple spikes, a few red petunias (that I added) and a flowing purplish flower.

Happy Father’s Day 2008, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

To Brian-you are not only a dad but also a pal to Sean. It’s fun to see and hear the two of you while you are watching a sporting event. You also act more like brothers than father and son sometimes too! I know becoming a dad all those years ago was something you were totally excited about and scared about at the same time. You didn’t really have any experience with kids like I did. I think you did a great job!

The above was made in flickrtoys.

This is on our desktop today.

Feeling blue over watching ‘Meet the Press’ and the tribute. I was ok until the end of the show when they did the photos. Tim seemed like the perfect dad to me.

Jun14

Photo Hunt-Emotion

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

I don’t know if he is giddy from the heat or just acting up for the camera. Thought you’d like to see how he spends his early Friday evenings lately. Sean cuts around the house and Bri gets to do the long and bumpy part of our 1.4 acre lot. The yard ends right about where the truck is. That weedy thing to the left use to be where our garden ended (that’s part of a fence). We decided to go smaller to save work.

Jun13

It really is Friday the 13th

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I’m thinking about the former classmate of mine that passed away as it was her funeral today-31 years to the day that we graduated from high school. As I was reflecting on that, I see that news journalist Tim Russert had  died suddenly at the age of 58. I always enjoyed watching him as he was really excited about reporting, especially the elections. He did get to see his son graduate from Boston College this year.

I know election coverage won’t be the same without him. My mom had just bought his book about his relationship with his dad, ‘Big Russ’ to give my uncle for his birthday. Ironically, my grandfather passed away at the age of 58 also.

Sean’s ‘gal pal’ Kat is graduated from high school tonight. He’s been gone for a few hours to the graduation. She is going to Penn State, but another campus and yes she has a steady boyhood, much to Sean’s chagrin-no he really sees her as a friend. He’s going to her grad party tomorrow night and got her a nice frame with ‘2008’ cut out in the mat so you can add photos under them.

Here’s some more surprises:

I knew I had planted this Clematis out front, but what a neat surprise to see it had really grown and was blooming! I had to untangle it from the bleeding heart there and take a trellis from another area of the yard. It’s a pretty white with a lime green accent.

The Red Hot Pokers are having a good bloom year all around. Here are some next to the pond and gazing ball. I also have the original next to the house in the back and more in the yucca garden.

Here it is up close. It’s a rather unusual bloom isn’t it?

The Sweet peas are coming up well. They are in my herb patch plus in Sean’s garden.

I know I show you a lot of close ups, but here is what I call the Lily/Grass garden. The Lamb’s Ear really has spread well. I have a clematis and moon flower where the supports are. The lilies are situated more in the back. The grape arbor has been here the entire time we have lived in this house. It use to provide us with dark purple grapes, now it has a disease. I’d love to cut it down and plant a variety of azaleas here. The veggie patch is way to the right. And those are Queen Anne’s lace a wildflower next to where I am trying to grow wildflowers. I do see flowers, but I am seeing lots of grass too. I can see why people put a block like newspapers in an area they want to garden to smother and kill the grass, etc. there. You really can’t just rototill it and hope for the best.

I found this Blue Moon delphinium at Lowes the other day. I love true blue flowers. I tried to grow it before, so we’ll see.

And last but not least, for Zoey:

See that little grayish green clump there-my only Rose Campions from the seeds Zoey sent me! They are right near the above plant.

Have a great weekend. I have a funny photo for Photo Hunt tomorrow, so watch this blog. : )

Jun12

Happy 85th Uncle Don!

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I’m squeezing this in rather late as Sean and I had a full day, but not near a computer.

Here are a few shots of my mom’s only sibling and who she chose to name her second son after:

Mom’s wedding day-Oct. 17, 1953

Mom’s marriage may not have lasted, but bond between siblings has. Uncle Don is 7 years older than mom.

This was about 5 years ago and his great nephew wanted to help him open his boom box. : )

A lot has happened since the above shot. My Aunt there has been in a nursing home for a few years and Uncle lives by himself, though he was in assisted living for a while. He had a few operations, the last being hip surgery. My mom has had her share of things too.

I hope we can get over to see him soon. His neighbors brought him a huge hoagie and a cake. I promised him an ice cream cake, but I think he’d love a dozen Dunkin’ Donuts just as well.

Sean had an interview for his internship in my hometown. The office was terrible to find and he felt interrogated -his weaknesses and strengths-took him my surprise. The last thing the woman said to him after 1/2 hour of questioning  was-‘we don’t usually hire outside of the county’. (??) When he got home, he had a phone call from the school district about landscape maintenance which brightened his spirits.

We took my mom food shopping as she hasn’t been to the store for 2 weeks (no car). It took a while, but we were glad to help out. I was with her until after 9pm as Sean was at his night class late.

Jun11

Tuesday night light show

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We had a wicked rainstorm with tons of lightning go through last night. Earlier we lost power 5 times which was a pain as we had to keep resetting the clocks. It did considerably cool things off in the evening, but it was warm again today. My father-in-law lost power and it’s still not on after 24 hours. When they had their windows replaced years ago (on the lower level), my late mother-in-law decided to put in windows that didn’t open for ‘security reasons’. I questioned her about if she burnt something in the kitchen and she said she would use the stove fan and open the back door. Well, he is really suffering from not being able to have proper circulation in there. Glad something like this doesn’t happen often.

Sean took me grocery shopping over in our town’s new Acme which is 6 miles away. I know, we live closer to the mushroom town-lol. I think he wanted to check it out. We ran into Lowes to get Bri hot peppers. That’s all he talked about last week. They are something he just has to grow it seems. Anyway, the store is huge and I just wanted to zoom around in there and grab what I needed, if it was priced right. I wanted lemons-79¢ each-picked up about 3 and the last one was moldy on one side. I put it back, mold side up-bought nada ! I can go to the farmer’s market and get some at 5 for $2 and they are perfect. What’s going on here?

Got strip steak for dinner-two pieces in a package for $11! Not a lot for 3 people, but we had enough of other things-red potatoes, peas and Focaccia bread (and mini eclairs for dessert) that we were quite happy. I cook steak in a pan, with a little butter and steak rub-just what you buy in the spice aisle. I brown it well to get a crust and pop it in the oven for about 10 minutes to cook the middle. Rachael Ray said not to put ice cold meat in a pan as it ‘seizes up’ and makes it a little tough. I have to remember that. It was good!

My brother hasn’t gotten around to fixing my mom’s car yet. Guess he got held up on something tonight. Now she can’t go spend the day with my uncle on his 85th birthday tomorrow. We sent him cards, but it’s not the same. I will probably go and help her food shop before Sean goes to night class. Maybe we can do something for him over the weekend.

I’ve been working on ATCs and have some cute ones to share, I just need to photograph them. I have a series called ‘Rose babies’. Jennifer over at Sweetpea Stitches had sent me beautiful rose stickers and they were my inspiration for the two I have made so far, but I have 5 new ones altogether!

Someone in my graduating class passed away over the weekend. She was a cheerleader and an art major. Not a friend, but it’s sad to know someone my age has passed-too soon. She had two sons and still lived in our hometown. They are asking for donations for the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, so I am wondering if that was what took her too soon.

I wish the idiots who use my blog for spam would take a hike! I can see what you are trying to do and I just delete it from my spam finder. They stick URLS, etc in the middle of my posts-lame!

Jun10

Power outage and flowers

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Summer Flowers 2008, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

The names of the flowers are listed on Flickr, but most of the above are Snapdragons.

From 3 pm and on, the power went out 5 times. The last time was a little before 7 and we are expecting thunderstorms too. Sean is at his night class, so I’ll be holding my breath until he gets home in an hour or so.
I did grab the camera after dinner as I wanted to mainly take photos of the gorgeous snapdragons I have in a few gardens. Each petal looks like a little gown for a fairy.
Sean and I felt a bit blah today, like that feeling you have when you eat green apples-you get my drift. I had to take some medicine for my tummy. I think it’s the heat-it should be breaking soon!
Since I sat in the dark for a few minutes and had the camera right there, I took this shot: