Feb20

Heavy eyes and ZZZZzzzs

Posted on by
Standard

I’m actually not kidding. I am way too tired to think of 10 things that begin with Z. I thought I’d give it a try as Barbara let me join the letter game.  She did an excellent job with ‘w’, go see! I thought it would be a ‘random’ letter.

So-

1. Zit-Surprising I didn’t get that many on my face as a teen. Other places, well, we won’t discuss that (I mean my back!)

2. Zipper-I can sew things, but zippers and I just aren’t a team under the needle of my machine. I’m more of an elastic person it seems anyway.

3. Zoo-been to a few zoos-in Philly, Cape May, and the one out this way-I think it’s called the Plumpton Park Zoo-it’s not really a big  zoo, but it’s not that bad. My favorite animal to see is the polar bear.

4. Zorro-Antonio, you were hot as Zorro! I remember watching a tv show about Zorro with the dad from Lost in Space? Am I correct? We also had a Zorro lawnmower!

Antonio as Zorro!

5. Zippity doo dah-I have a video of Sean singing this as a 3 yr old (or around that age). Too cute!

6. Zoey-not that she is really #6! One of my first blogger buddies who is an amazing gardener and quilter.

7. Zilch-How many times I’ve been to Europe…or Canada…or out west…or the midwest….or even New York City!

8. Zero-Which means zilch too and I also never want to see the temps drop that low. Who likes that number anyway unless there are about 5 numbers in front of it? ; )

9.Zap-An expression I use when describing microwave cooking; i.e.-“Sean, do you want me to ‘zap’ your dinner?” He can’t stand it when I say that.

10. ZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz-sorry! I doozed off there a second. ; )  Ok…Zelda-that’s a cool name-and the name of Robin William’s daughter!

Zelda Williams

Now off to bed…zip!

Feb20

Cape May, NJ and other beaches, etc.

Posted on by
Standard

The crusty snow is still around us. I keep taking trips down ‘memory lane’ and today it’s ventured to the beach. I’m having sinus problems now (especially on the right where I had the new crown inserted), so I wish I was taking a deep breath of fresh salt air. We are experiencing warmer temps today, so that means the heat won’t run as much! Yeah!

When you live in suburban Philadelphia, taking summer trips to the New Jersey shore is just something that you do almost every year. If you don’t go just one year, you miss it!

I love Cape May where the streets are lined with Victorian houses. We stayed in one only once-Poor Richard’s Inn– (the room we stayed in on the second floor has been redone since 1999).

Poor Richard’s Inn, Cape May, NJ

The parking is horrible, but to sit on the porch on the second floor and watch the people go by at night was pretty neat. So was using the bathroom down the narrow, winding staircase (reminded me of a cover of a Nancy Drew book). The beach was a stone’s throw away.

Sean and me a long time ago

Lately we’ve headed to the beaches of Delaware and Maryland for a change of pace. We live about an hour closer. My brother and his family go to Ocean City, MD every year. It’s a huge place and you hardly feel crowded out while sunbathing and enjoying the ocean. Unfortunately, the Jersey beaches tend to get crowded-well Wildwood has such a wide beach, so not so much. The boardwalks are usually crowded at night. People walking off sunburns and eating fattening foods like salt and vinegar fries or huge ice cream cones seem to be in a happy, but tired daze. I love to look out on the dark expanse of beach and to hear the waves crashing on shore. Sometimes there are bands on the beach and that’s a cool experience to stand in the dark watching the lit up stage. I also love to walk by the outdoor restaurants and check out what people are noshing on.

I always have to go to the cross stitch shop on 8th and Broadwalk called ‘Salty Yarns’ when we vacation in OC, MD. It’s a pretty decent shop and I always have to get ‘a prize’ to remember my trip to the beach.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have some bananas that need to be used or tossed. I figure if I make a cake that will get my mind off my sinuses. I found a recipe for a pineapple/banana cake. Yum! Toto is watching over that piece I just cut!

Pineapple banana cake

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ice falling off vehicles has been a terrible hazard around these parts! There have been a few people on the news, one of which was a 2 yr old boy-so sad-his lips were all swollen from a hunk of ice that flew off a van (his mom said the size of her windshield) and crashed into their windshield! Mom is 38 weeks pregnant. Was she ever lucky just to have cuts on her face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
and to end on a happier note (while I hope the music has helped)
Jo, my heART winner received her goodies-they all arrived in New Zealand fine. Thanks for the nice post Jo!

Feb19

The Mercer Museum

Posted on by
Standard

Mercer MuseumUp in Bucks County, a few hours away, is a wonderful museum located in Doylestown. This area is one of my favorites and the museum is a ‘must see’ for those exploring Bucks (along with New Hope). I’ve been there twice, as has Brian. We took Sean up there a few years ago on his birthday. Instead of having parties, we take day trips for our birthdays. Mine are usually to either Dover, DE or New Hope.

Henry Mercer collected artifacts from all over the country and built this humongous structure to house it all. Each floor has several different areas of interest displayed in glass encased rooms. I know I mentioned this before, but it’s really a cool place. How many Conestoga wagons does one see in our lifetime, especially ones hanging from a ceiling! The one room with the medical instruments (if you can call most of them that) was frightening and I’m so glad I live in modern day American. We actually walked under gallows-chilling.

So if you get a chance to explore PA., drop by the Mercer Museum.

Inside the concrete palace

Feeling better-went looking for tummy med and found Equalactin and that seems to have made the burn go away. I had other stronger stuff but it was all expired. Most of thet time I try mint or ginger first before resorting to medicine.

Feb18

Cooking tip for the day-oven bags

Posted on by
Standard

I probably mentioned this before, but when you are roasting beef, chicken or turkey, they will stay pretty darn moist in a Reynold’s Oven bag. You add a little flour to the bottom of the bag, add your meat, seasoning and veggies (like onions, celery and carrots) and tie the bag. Stick some holes in it and it’s ready to go! I have a turkey breast all cooked and we’re waiting on the potatoes.

Bri and I have had funny tummies this weekend. I woke up about 4 am suffering for garlic overload (I won’t go into details). I should have been watching my diet, but no, I had to have some white pizza last night. I can’t seem to handle yeasty foods-soft pretzels, homemade bread-doughy things in general. I’ve never really had that problem before (too much). I’m feeling better though.

I made some more ATC-I’m up to like 25 of them! These have some glitter on them! I traded 3 of these and I’ll get 3 back. I also made some St. Paddy’s ‘items’ for my crafting friends. They turned out nice and I’ll share soon.

Craft tip: You know those desk calendars printed on sturdy paper? Well I had a cat one and didn’t know what to do with it. You guessed it, I’m using some of the smaller kitties for ATC! They are cute if I don’t say so myself!
Cat ATC

Feb17

Photo Hunt-ANTIQUE

Posted on by
Standard

I have two things, one I know a little about and the other I know nothing about. Bri thinks the binoculars belonged to his grandfather. I like how worn and used they look. I found the beaded oval piece at a tail gate sale and just liked it because it was old and handmade. I wonder if it was on a dress or hat or what decade it came from? These are little treasure I keep tucked inside my curio table.

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

field binoculars

Beaded piece

Feb16

Sparked a memory

Posted on by
Standard

 

This is a rewrite as wordpress got the hiccups when I was in the middle of writing before.

 

Bill Henley, one of the NBC10 tv guys, was in a community service ad this morning and mentioned the Crystal Tea Room. When we were little kids, especially around Christmastime, mom and my grandmom would take us first to John Wanamakers. This was a top notch store in downtown Philadelphia. We first had to drive down to 69th St and then take the el train which was fun and scary at the same time. When we reached our destination, we usually caught the light show on the main floor. Then we headed up to the 9th floor where the Crystal Tea room was (mom updated me with this info). It was so elegant and beautifully decorated. We usually had tea sandwiches (which I still love) which consisted of chicken salad, tuna, deviled ham or cucumbers. And I believe we had soup too. The menu was quite brief, one side of a menu. For dessert, we had a snowball with the fake holly leaf to adorn the top. We thought we were special. The snowball was vanilla ice cream rolled in coconut. The store was smart to have the art supply/toy area near the restaurant as we always got a drawing tablet and one of those fat ink pens that held about 10 multi-color inks.

 

Here is what the tea room looks like today, very much like what I remember:

Wanamaker’s Crystal tea room

Feb16

February crawling along

Posted on by
Standard

I try not to let cabin fever bother me too much. I have so much I could do, whether it is cleaning, cooking or crafting-ha-the 3 ‘c’s! I’m here fairly warm in my little haven and my fellas have to go out and brave the cold.

A few of the bloggers in my blogroll said they think they need a break from writing here. I think it happens to the best of us. One lady has two little girls and wants to spend time with them and write some children’s books. I am stalled in a way, but with eBay. I’ve been selling there pretty steadily since Aug. ’99. I find when I purchase something to sell, I do a search and there’s always a number of others selling the same thing. This can be discouraging. I have A LOT of things accumulated for eBay. I think it’s time to get rid of most of it. The last few things I tried to sell went over like a lead balloon. I think since I share the computer with the guys, it’s hard for me to hop on it all the time. When Sean goes away, I see me getting into it again or if all is well, getting a part time job.

For me today, it’s stitching on Carol’s NRR which is coming along beautifully and venturing out to the store. I noticed there is a bunch of snow on the roof of the van. I heard you aren’t allowed to have packed snow on your vehicle and I know in the past it’s flown off. Luckily, I have 1/2 mile to go and probably there won’t be anyone behind me. I hope.

Have a great weekend!

Feb14

Icy Valentines

Posted on by
Standard

Snow!My two guys had the worst time chipping away all the ice and stuff from the cars and trying to clear the drive today. Brian’s whole back was soaked with sweat when he came in over an hour later. The wind is suppose to whip up even more, continuing havoc, especially with the temperature.

We didn’t go out to dinner (of course) so I made the fellas a spaghetti and meatball dinner and more bread. The bread was herb and cheese and the top fell in when it was baking. I don’t know why as the bread yesterday did pretty well. We ate it anyway.

I got Bri the Beatles ‘Love’ cd. Isn’t that the show in Vegas? He now has most of the Beatles ‘newer’ releases. He got me a little sapphire and diamond heart-I have one already and I think he gave it to me last year. (Not too many stores in this immediate area for last minute shoppers). I’ll take it back and chose something else-when I can get out. He also got me a flashcard (hmmm) for the new camera and cute red sockies. I’m hard to buy for, what can I say?

Sean gave us a lovely Victorian decorated card and the verse was so touching. Ahhh…sweet guy. He bought us dinner this past Saturday. 

I hope everyone was able to spend quality time with their loved ones today.

Enjoy the video player ‘pod’ I added in my sidebar. It’s spankin’ new by wordpress. Took a while to figure it out, but it’s cool!