Temperamental Tuesday

First, my son misses the bus on the 2nd day of school. Speaking of school, I think he's going to like it as he sounded really optimistic when he got home yesterday. Brian was ranting at me while I was lying there in bed this morning about calling and complaining (I don't even know the bus #) and the computer was restarting itself again on the AOL screen. This prompted me to go to AOL tech support online. The guy made me take off the AOL we were using before reinstalling a new version. Get this, it rebooted when the new software was looking for the modem! Something is rotten in Denmark-or AOL land! I did reinstall the AOL adapter a few times and that seemed to help.
I'm in the process of moving at least 300 books so we can move our existing bookcase to the opposite wall and move the computer desk where the bookcase was. I'm getting a second bookcase so it will be right next to the older on. Brian asked if that would be a lot of weight? There's no basement under the floor, only the old cement garage floor! This use to be the garage. Plus the books are all around here anyway. I really think I will try to get rid of many of them anyway. Not only do we have to exchange things, but I need to paint in here as it's been almost 12 years since we converted the room to living space. I love the golden butter color. I may go a shade darker just for something a little different.

Facts about my hometown of Media, PA

Thanks to Mindy for giving me this idea
Media is the county seat of Delaware and incorporated as a borough March 10, 1850.The land on which Media is located was bought by settlers from William Penn.It was largely farmland until the courthouse was erected in 1851 and the commercial districts grew around the county offices.
It use to be a famous summer resort for well off Philadelphians. Media grew as a thriving business and governmental area that it is today.
Some famous residences old and new:
abolitionist Lucretta Mott
William Jennings Bryan
President Zachary Taylor and Mrs. Ida McKinley had Media connections
Tug McGraw, Mike Schmidt and Darrin Daulton of the Phillies baseball team all made Media their hometown at one time.
The following famous people went to my high school Penncrest:
Curt Weldon-US House of Reps
Bill Whitaker-Emmy winning CBS-tv news journalist
Elizabeth Ann Crumb-Tony nominated Broadway actress
Todd Robinson-(my class of '77) Emmy winner for his direction of The Legend of Billy the Kid. Todd also wrote the screen play for the movie White Squall.

And in closing, Media is 'Everyone's hometown' (slogan)

Sean after he just got his driver's license back in April of this year. Now he's a high school senior.  

Dianne and her niece Tori 

All by myself...

All by myself today, except for the cat and a computer that didn't want to get online. I think I may have figured it out, but we'll give it a few days. I uninstalled the AOL adapter because I remember the auto fix doing it a few times. It's a major pain or PITA.
Then everything rained down, not only outside, but inside too. My brother called and said it would cost almost 1K to fix my almost 9 yr old van's anti-freeze gasket. My husband came home from the dentist and said he had three cavities-yep-more moola for that right around Sean's 18th birthday.
Sometimes I feel like George Bailey from the classic movie 'It's a Wonderful Life'. He always came inches in doing something he wanted and then got screwed. Like I wanted a second bookcase for all my books all over the house and I finally ordered one. I said, 'What the heck' and ordered one of those microfiber sofas in red! I love red as an accent in my family room. I have a red slipcover on my 12 yr old sofa now. So then the van started acting up and I know I shouldn't really spend the money on the above furniture. I've been dying to spruce up my 1960s honey wood kitchen too. I want to redo the entire thing. I just don' t know where the money is coming from. I guess I'll probably have to get a real job other than just doing eBay.

Cosmo Cat my little furbaby boy 

More on the trip...

We got on our way Wednesday about 11 am to stop off in Ocean City, NJ and maybe a nearby mall. The luggage situation was driving me nuts as I tried to rearrange things this way and that. Mom and I ended up being squeezed in like sardines in the backseat. While we were waiting for the guys to get the car, I gave her a lecture about taking too many clothes and when you go with someone to honor their wishes. I also said later that she needed to think ahead about the consequences to her actions. She got in a huff, oh poor me. When the guys pulled up, my son the new driver was behind the wheel in the crazy driving city that AC is. He did ok in the general AC area, but screwed up bad on the AC Expressway-like almost stopping dead in the middle of 65 mph traffic because he almost missed the exit. He had trouble getting on a bypass too and had cars honking at him from behind. I felt bad for him as he doesn't know the rules of driving in those kinds of situations, but I don't want to see my life passing before my eyes again.
Ocean City is a nice beach town, a little boring and the same old thing. It cost $10 to park-the parking cost us an arm and a leg everywhere. We hit a bookstore that I usually love, but this one was small and didn't have much. I mainly sat on a bench the whole big hour we were there. Mom wanted to stroll up and down the boards with Sean. What a change! The best part was going in a candy store and picking out goodies to enjoy later.

End of summer scorcher

I haven't ventured out today as it's warm and humid. We sure have been spoiled here with the cooler than usual summer. A few years ago we were praying for rain and I think we've had about 16 inches this year. I know a lot about the weather because of my son Sean. He is a weather fanatic. In fact, next year at this time, I bet he starts his freshman year in college majoring in meterology!
We went to Atlantic City from Monday to Wednesday. We take really short trips because we have no one to watch the cat. Plus it gets to expensive. We had my almost 74 yr old mom with us. She's been suffering with sciatica for about 10 months and has lost about 25 pounds. It started after she had a weird virus last October and went from bad to worse. Too bad she had to get it in the wintertime. My sister-in-law and I took turns taking her to doctor appts and chiropractors. I am glad to say she did pretty well with the walking down in AC! But she is a bit eccentric (I guess we all are). I asked her to only bring about 6 outfits as we were squeezing in our Taurus instead of using the Windstar (has an anti-freeze leak that no one wants to repair). So going against my wishes she brought 4 bags, 3 jammed with clothes! We didn't use a bellhop at the casino, so dragged the stuff through all these walkways and up two elevators. The room was nice, but we were cramped in the double beds. The beach was really windy and mom and I couldn't stand it for more than an hour on the first day.
That night we were so bushed, we took a cab like 3 blocks to Caesars to eat dinner at their buffet. Usually it is really good and varied. They had a coupon special that my f-in-law got in the mail. I wanted steak so bad and it was half cooked. You could tell they didn't take their time with it on the grill. The only good thing about dinner was the dessert.
The next day we went shopping at the new places behind Caesars called 'The Walk'. It is basically outlet shopping. This time we had gift certificates for the different stores. We divided them up and mom and I went one way and the guys went the other way. I ended up buying only a hooded burgundy sweater from The Gap (I was cold) and a silk lighter color burgundy top from Van Huesen. I couldn't believe my husband Brian used his to buy yet another watch from Fossil (he has at least a dozen watches). Sean bought some shirts and a watch. Sean's watch is cool though. The face changes to different colors. Can you tell we like to shop? Mom bought herself a red rain coat. I bought her a little sand castle candle holder with a 'Seaside Memories' candle for the Yankee candle store.
That night we went to the Rainforest Cafe. It was so crowded there. Sean really wanted to go. They have cool tropical fish tanks-more like tubes. When you are seated, it's like you are in the middle of a jungle. Every 15 minutes or so, there is a simulated tropical storm-the lights flash, there is thunder, etc.-but no rain, thank goodness! LOL There was a fake gorilla who pounded his chest once in a while. I told Brian that he was that way in the morning. It was hard to chose what to eat. We all basically had shrimp or catfish.
More later.

Summer is ending

Wow, I can't believe this is the last week of my son's vacation! He's a senior in high school. Darn, I remember when I was a senior and that was over 25 yrs ago. We are going down to the 'Jersey shore' as we say around here for a couple of days. I am doing something I never thought I would do-stay at a casino in 'sin city'-Atlantic City! Every year we go to some beach resort-Delaware, New Jersey or Maryland. We are lucky to live so close to them, but I am tired of the same old thing-walking on the boardwalk-seeing people eating themselves silly, the noise and crowds, etc. I wanted to do something 'grown up' for a change. We're staying at a 4 star hotel and the beach is suppose to be nicer with little tiki bars here and there.
I'll let you know how it goes.