Happy Halloweenie Part 2

Dianne and niece Tori (age 6) as Tinkerbelle wearing her candy corn hat!
Cousins Sean and Kenny (age 9) as Slash from Guns and Roses. Kenny made the guitar!


Tori and daddy Ken who is wearing Kenny's hat!

Happy Halloween

I'm off to my mom's in about 13 hours, but I'd thought I'd share the candy corn hats I crocheted for my niece and nephew as modeled by a couple of my teddy bears. Hope they like them. These guys had the biggest heads!Watch for some kiddo photos later.

Sibling bonding

My brother Don in Florida is surviving without electricity. He has running water, but every night he uses the flashlight to read. He is cooking on the grill (even spaghetti!) This has been going on for almost a week. Mom asked me to order him a battery-operated lamp yesterday. After a little searching, I found a $36 one for $19 at Walmart.com. So I ordered it and 2 packages of batteries for him. Hopefully he'll be able to see more at night in a few days time.
It took Don 4 hours to get gas yesterday. Most of the gas stations have conveniently taken down the price signs. Isn't that nice of them?
Don called on a phone he bought at a store where he had to tell them what he wanted and then they went in and got the stuff for you. I guess it's a battery-operated phone. So he called when we were unloading groceries and I called him back. We talked for over an hour. I had to fill him in on Survivor and The Apprentice. We talked about the silly antics of our pets. We talked about our mom. I haven't seen Don in over 3 yrs since Sean, mom and I went down to visit him. He said he may not have power until Thanksgiving! I don't know how all the senior citizens down there will cope. I hope our government officials get cracking.

My brain hurts...

Thanks for sending Nancy!

Your Brain's Pattern

You have a dreamy mind, full of fancy and fantasy. You have the ability to stay forever entertained with your thoughts. People may say you're hard to read, but that's because you're so internally focused. But when you do share what you're thinking, people are impressed with your imagination.

What Pattern Is Your Brain?

I'm a #11

Thanks for this link, Nancy. I actually followed it from another link.
And I was born in the 11th month also. I can relate to a lot of this info.
You entered: Dianne
There are 6 letters in your name.
Those 6 letters total to 29
There are 3 vowels and 3 consonants in your name.

Your number is: 11

The characteristics of #11 are: High spiritual plane, intuitive, illumination, idealist, a dreamer.

The expression or destiny for #11:
Your Expression number is 11. The number 11 is the first of the master numbers. It is associated with idealistic concepts and rather spiritual issues. Accordingly, it is a number with potentials that are somewhat more difficult to live up to. You have the capacity to be inspirational, and the ability to lead merely by your own example. An inborn inner strength and awareness can make you an excellent teacher, social worker, philosopher, or advisor. No matter what area of work you pursue, you are very aware and sensitive to the highest sense of your environment. Your intuition is very strong; in fact, many psychic people and those involved in occult studies have the number 11 expression. You possess a good mind with keen analytical ability. Because of this you can probably succeed in most lines of work, however, you will do better and be happier outside of the business world. Oddly enough, even here you generally succeed, owing to your often original and unusual approach. Nonetheless, you are more content working with your ideals, rather than dollars and cents.

The positive aspect of the number 11 expression is an always idealistic attitude. Your thinking is long term, and you are able to grasp the far-reaching effects of actions and plans. You are disappointed by the shortsighted views of many of your contemporaries. You are deeply concerned and supportive of art, music, or of beauty in any form.

The negative attitudes associated with the number 11 expression include a continuous sense of nervous tension; you may be too sensitive and temperamental. You tend to dream a lot and may be more of a dreamer than a doer. Fantasy and reality sometimes become intermingled and you are sometimes very impractical. You tend to want to spread the illumination of your knowledge to others irrespective of their desire or need.

Brother Don hit hard in Florida

So I'm talking about crocheting and all while my brother Don is living in chaos down in suburban Fort Lauderdale. Wilma hit them good. He hasn't had power since Monday. Today he ran out of gas. Thank goodness our Mom sent him a little money in the mail as he was down to his last $4. Everything is on a cash basis too as the gas pumps are all electronic now. Why didn't they at least have a 'manual' pump somewhere where hurricanes can strike several times a year? Dumb and dumber. Don says it's like a third world country with no traffic lights. Wish he would pack up and move north again.
Even the webmistress who runs 'Make A Child Smile' said there will be no kids for November. She was driving around (lives near where Don works) trying to pick up an internet connection on her laptop to write her message above.
I wish them and all the people without power, food and money some relief soon.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It's really quiet here today. I do miss Mom. I forgot to mention she probably needs a hearing aide too. She's fine talking to you when you are sitting right next to her, but move 10 feet away and it's a yelling match. I guess that's another thing to do soon. I'll see her again on Monday when we stop by my brother's on Halloween.

Technorati Tags:
Hurricane Wilma,
Make A Child Smile

Making stars

Picking up my crochet hook again recently lead me to try for the umpteenth time to make stars needed for Brian's American flag afghan that is now going on 3 yrs old. If at first if you don't succeed, try, try again. Finally it dawned on me how the directions wanted me to make the 5 points for the star! Some of those directions are sure vague. I now have actually made 10 stars from last night to tonight! I'll probably only do one side as there is a definite wrong side to the afghan. Hopefully in the next few weeks, I'll be able to post a finished photo of the finally finished afghan. My mom has a finished Granny square afghan she made for my nephew and she never finished it because she didn't put a border on it. I think that's the easiest part. I just picked up a crochet book with a ton of borders in it. I'll have to get her busy with it again.

Technorati Tags:
crochet,
Crocheted Afghans

It's been a rather long week

I just drove my mom home today. She was to stay overnight on Monday, but turned her visit into a 3-day one. I don't really have any problem with this. I do like to observe her and try to get food into her. I am definitely mothering my Mother now. She decided she wanted to sleep on the sofa for 3 nights. It would have been better for her to be in the back room, but she didn't want to sleep there. I have noticed a change in Mom, not that good of a change. Like when she takes her pain pills she like almost passes out if she is semi-sitting on the sofa. She says some funny things. She told me that I should run all my glassware that I display on the window through the dishwasher. Her appetite is terrible. She did eat all her dinner last night plus a piece of Sean's ice cream cake. Today she only ate oatmeal and about 2 McNuggets and fries. I felt bad leaving her after I left her house because her voice just had to crack when she said 'good-bye' and I got wet eyes for a good 15 minutes or so driving in the work traffic home.

Pin cushions

These are some pin cushions I made over the weekend. I had a bad night Friday night (had insomnia) so it was nice to sit at the table and do something creative. The round pin cushion isn't actually finished yet. I will probably add some ribbon to the edge. I took a candy tin and spray painted it a tan color. There are two layers of batting so there is something to stick the needles into. It is a Prairie Schooler freebie called 'Stick it Here'.
The other pin cushions are so easy to make! The bottoms are a spool of thread. Don't pick up the ones that cost $2.50 each like I did! The tops are half a styrofoam ball cover with fabric. The red one has a little glass 'drop' with a mushroom inside that someone sent me when I ordered a handmade glass item from them. I thought it looked cute hanging from this. Mom saw them and asked if she could have one! I plan to make more!
My mom stayed overnight and will probably be here another night. She needed to get away from her house, plus she got to go to the Olive Garden with us!

Happy 19th Birthday Sean

19 yrs ago Sean was about 8 hours old at this time. I was completely exhausted after going 18 hours and then having a C-section. Oh how the years fly by! What a prize Sean is to us. : )

Blimey I know already!

For cripes sake, I use to watch Monty Python on PBS when I was a teenager!

Jolly good, wot! Anyone for tennis? That'll be ten ponies, guv. You're the epitome of everything that is english. Yey :) Hoist that Union Jack!

How British are you?

this quiz was made by alanna

Halloween Deer

Thanks to my friend Karin (well, really her friend from Elk Grove Village, IL) who saw this 'ghostly' baby deer in his yard a few weeks ago. I love deer and I feel bad for this little one who will obviously stand out anywhere he goes.

Crocheting!

The crafters over at '25 Things for Charity' have inspired me to try my hand at crocheting again. I started with some booties for babies. I actually had to look up the different stitches it's been so long, but I caught on right away. Brian seeing me crocheting booties made him do a double take! ~LOL~ So I sat tonight while 'Three Wishes' and a special about 'The Smithsonian' was on and did most of one bootie. It needs it cuff-that top part. I really like crocheting as it's so fast and you get end results right away. I don't have to pay attention that much after I get going. Booties are a little different because you have to make the heel part.
Crocheting won't take the place of cross stitch for me, but I like to use my hands creating and this is a nice diversion.
I'll post them here and at the Charity blog when I am finished.
I asked mom if she wants Sean to get her on Monday (his birthday) and she said she would really like to come out if she feels strong enough. Mom hasn't been here since July 4th. She's been in sort of a downward spiral since Hunter passed away. She even called the vet to see where the dog was cremated. She had to tell me this when I was trying to eat Lean Cuisine chicken parmagiana. He's in Quakertown.
~Update~
Here are the booties plus a matching fedora that I made in a few days! That is my childhood doll-Thumbelina modeling them, but they are really too big for her.

Congrats to Sean

I am so proud of Sean! He got a 'B' on his latest Meteorology exam which brought his grade up. The teacher is a hard one to figure out as I may have mentioned earlier. Sean really studied the book this time and it paid off.
Now, one of the questions was as follows: 'If you are walking north on campus and the wind is hitting your back, what direction is the wind blowing?' It's not what you think!
Let me know your answers in the comments.
So, now Sean probably has all 'A's and 'B's. Too bad the school and loan company can't get their business settled. We used a company that the school doesn't recommend and they aren't communicating at all. Sean got an email that said they were freezing his account so he can't register for next semester. Now, I have called the school and the loan company more times then I can remember. I had to give the school a call and they are still recording the incorrect amount from the loan company which is falling short of the tuition payment. We had to charge almost $400 on the CC for his books and it doesn't look they we will see money to pay for them any time soon. In my day when I got a loan for school it was all cut and dry. What a major hassle thid has been.
I hope this gets straightened out by Monday, Sean's birthday.
~~Congrats to my nephew Patrick who was recently inducted in the National Honor Society~~

Stitching Blogger Questions

I'm doing two questions in one week:
How do you `non-hoopists' who use a rotation system handle it (as it seems to be lot easier if you are in good terms with hoop)? Do you have several scroll frames? Do you use Q-snaps or maybe something completely different? Or do you just have one or two big projects and others are small enough to be kept in hand while stitching?
I have about 4 sets Q-snaps. I can only enjoy and handle the smaller ones that are about 12"x12". If I am working on an ornament I stitch in hand which is difficult for me. I do have a scroll frame that I should try to utilize for bigger pieces.

Do you mark or hi-lite your patterns or can you follow them without any markings? Do you make copies to mark up, or do you mark originals?
No, I put the pattern in a see-through
plastic sleeve and use either a post-it or piece of tacky masking tape to guide me. To make it easier, I try to do a bunch of the same color stitches at a time. I can usually follow smaller patterns no bigger than 4" without marking my spot.

Not much new in the stitching dept. I did finish a freebie from Prairie Schooler called 'Stick it Here'. Thanks to Barbara for that. I am going to apply it to the lid of a round tin. Before I do that, I will spray paint the tin a tan color. I got a nice neutral color so I can use it on the other tins I have.
I am alternating the two Love Quilt squares due early next year. I am bored to tears with the train engine. I will persevere because I am adding a special touch to it. I'll share it when I complete it. I am also doing a cute bear from a UK magazine. I just frogged it a bit tonight, but I love doing this one. I am working on a few little things too, but I can't tell you what they are until the holidays are over.
I think a stitching question should be-" Do you know all the DMC colors by their numbers?" I sure do. I was in Walmart yesterday and I always pick up a few and I decided I needed '611' and '612' (browns) two colors that The Prairie Schooler patterns use. I really could have grabbed a '844' too. : )

Give me a Dakota

I am mesmerized by this child. I hope someday to have a granddaughter who looks and acts just like Dakota Fanning. It's possible! ; )

Cider press time

Not only is it time to make cider, it's also time for my mammogram slam. Yep, you can compare the two as a press is used in both incidences. I've been having them done for a number of years, usually with a uteran ultrasound which required me to drink 32 oz of water and drive myself over to the office. It wasn't a nice drive at all. Sometimes, I'd cheat and go to the bathroom a little and just drink more water. I always got the ultrasound done without the tech really saying anything except that my bladder wasn't all the way 'filled'. So, at the gyn, the midwife decided I didn't need the ultrasound this year. Crossing fingers for this other 'event' to pass smoothly.
Next will be Sean and my eye exams at the beginning of November. This scares me too as my mom has both cataracts and glaucoma, as did her mom. My eyes are the same color as my grandmom's, down to the speckles-hope that doesn't mean anything else.
Not much is new. I found that Tuesday is a good day to go to the grocery store as there was hardly anyone there. Sean needs to write down all his food intake for a week. He didn't even eat all his dinner. I just had a stir fry prepared sweet and sour shrimp dish. He left most of the snow peas (he just doesn't like peas of any form).
I have been to a few book sales now and I have a good pile of books for resale. I also need to clean up my selling table and donate things that never sold. I got a cute book of bazaar items to make and I may make a few of the things I saw in it as gifts.
Off to shower-I can't have any deodorant residue on me as it messes up the films.
~Update-It really wasn't that terrible this year and only hurt a little. I think I have been gardening more this year thus developing that area. I hope I won't be eating my words tomorrow as I seem to skip a day in the pain area.

Mom lost her faithful companion

'Denial isn't a river, it's a huge ocean' (or something to
that effect)-from Gray's Anatomy the tv show.

This is so true. My mom has been in denial that her dog Hunter was sick for months. First he lost his bark. Then he couldn't climb the steps to the second floor anymore. This past Thursday, he took off, down a 100 foot driveway up a busy road. If my brother hadn't been test driving a car for a pal, Hunter would have been a goner that night. He barely lasted 3 more days. He thrashed around so much at the vet's on Saturday, that he dislocated both his back legs. He had a tumor on his behind area. All I could see was this dog, the size of a lab, with his back legs in a wheeled contraption. My skinny mom couldn't really deal with a large dog. Hunter was 13.5 yrs old. Mom also had his mother Lucie, aunt Tara and grandmom Pita as pets. They all did their parts of doing various doggie things to the house, but mom loved them all through thick and thin. Hunter was suppose to be our dog, but I believe at the time Brian had lost his job of 13 yrs and we couldn't afford to put up the fence we wanted to, so mom kept him. He looked like Chewbacca from 'Star Wars' as he had long blonde fur. That fur was all over mom's house and all over her clothes when she came to visit here. That fur blew out about 5 vaccuums.
Whether or not he is replaced is a big question. I would like to see her get a house cat to get the mice that seem to sneak in. My brother says 'no'. We'll see what happens in the next few months. Mom needs to get herself in better shape, she is so thin.
I spent 6 hours with mom today. I took her to a book sale. I saw the lady from high school (that I saw about 3 weeks ago at AC Moore) at the sale and we chatted a bit. That was cool. She did remember me.
I took mom out to dinner and she seemed better. The thing is, mom's pal Jim who boards at her house loved Hunter to pieces. When she told him about his passing he was a wreck. Sad stuff.

Linda Eder Concert

The concert was really enjoyable! I didn't know Linda was mostly going to sing old Judy Garland standards. Well, she did just do a CD of Judy songs. I think Judy Garland was great and 'The Wizard of Oz' is one of my favorite movies. Linda came out in a gray paisley gown with the paisley being outlined in crystals or something slightly sparkly. I envy her her long legs-Ms. 5'10"! But her voice is so Broadway-she had those speakers vibrating. After the break, she came out in a black lace cocktail dress with a pretty diamond like pin at the top. The songs I loved the most that she sang were 'Always Catching Rainbows/Somewhere over the Rainbow', 'By Myself', 'You Made me Love You' and her signature song 'Vienna'.
She didn't have a sold-out house and some people near us moved on the ground level (are you allowed to do that?), I thought our balcony seats were fairly good.
She didn't talk at all about her 6 yr old son. She said she was 44 and had a new guy Craig who was in the audience, though she didn't point him out. She had some groupies there in the front row. I could never be that caught up with someone. A girl up front said she had seen Linda 18 times!
On the way there, we made one wrong turn, asked for directions and got on track again. The neighborhoods near the Grand were a bit seedy. We had to walk about 1/4 mile to the place-me in my patent leathers-whew- I was a bit winded. On the way home we were headed toward 95 and made a turn and then I told Brian to make the next left and he didn't. He made a 'u'-bie right in the middle of this 4 lane highway-don't worry, it was dead. And my instinct was correct-we were headed toward 52 again.
I was hungry, but it was too late to stop for a snack, so Brian got some donuts and we had one with tea when we got home.
Linda's Trail Mix show about horse lovers will be on Animal Planet in January 2006.

Here is Brian and me before heading out. I didn't wear either of the new tops I had just purchased.

Fall surprise

An iris I just planted a few months ago got a bud. I haven't gone out to check it lately. My impatiens still look good. They must love all the rain. And my November birth flower, the mum in my favorite yellow-gold color greets me near the front door.

Messy trees

Here's one of the Chestnut trees (the other is about 25 feet to the left) that drops 3 different things-fuzzy things, the burrs and then leaves. I heard these are rare, but who needs to deal with this? We don't eat the chesnuts as they get wormy. Pictured is the second dump of burrs that Bri is just getting around to cleaning up today.

Shopping with Sean

Another dismal day here. We only have seen sun for minutes at a time for over a week. It's depressing. What do you do when you are depressed (besides eating?) You go shopping! Yesterday I went shopping at a Tuesday morning store looking for birthday things for Sean. I found a few things, but a great find was kitchen stuff for my Katrina box for 60-75% off! I was so happy. I am including a pretty oven mit and dish towel set and a few sandwich plates with butterflies as decorations (along with more stuff!). I am glad I can send new things. So as I was looking around in TM, I happen to recognize a lady I went to high school with. I didn't say anything to her, but she looked exactly the same. Brian says I should say something, but I don't as I am afraid they won't recognize me. So Carol Ackerman C., I saw you in Hockessin on the 13th and saw your old pal Cathy Simms L. in AC Moore about 3 weeks ago!
Sean was looking for Penn State clothing and we decided to go to Dick's down in Delaware. (Before we hit the road, Sean went to Wawa and got us lunch-some shortie hoagies). They didn't have anything there, so he picked out some things from Old Navy. I got a pretty silk chartreuse top and mauve top for myself. Then I went into AC Moore and picked up a few of the DMC linen flosses to add to my collection plus some Halloween goodies for the kids.
We decided to go to The Olive Garden. 4:30 is a great time to go as you get seated and waited on right away. We love the big bowl of salad, the garlicky breadsticks, the peach ice tea and of course their yummy pasta. I got Brian take-out from there.
We hit Kohl's and I could have done damage in there with their 75% off rack. I didn't have enough time to 'really' look, but I got a few things and some marked down sterling silver jewelry. We went over to Barnes and Noble so I could look for an UK Digital Photography magazine for Brian. I ended up not getting the correct one, but I also got a cute issue of Crazy for Cross Stitch because of the little Halloween and Christmas designs included. I got a novel recommended from an online group called 'Angry Housewives eating Bon-bons' by Lorna Landvik. I never paid over $10 for a novel-well, not lately. I happened to see something I wanted for my birthday-'Wicked' about the life and times of the Wicked Witch of the West-I love Oz. There's a broadway play about it.
So, the Sports Authority had a few Penn State things-all too big or small. We figure they are picked over because the team is 8th in collegiate football right now. It was nice to spend some time with Sean. I see where he gets the shopping bug from!
Technorati Tags:
Penn State, Shopaholic, Wicked

I am humbled

If you know me, you know I sell on eBay. So I just sold a man in Florida some salt and pepper shakers to 'help replace' things that were lost in Katrina. I pressed him as to what had happened and could I help? He said that a family member had lost their childhood home. I offered some cookbooks and coffee mugs that I have a lot of (these were off the top of me head). I plan to go down to the local Big Lots and see what other goodies I can send. Every little bit helps. So if you see this, maybe you look around the web to if you can help someone in need.
Here's part of the letter:
Dianne, this is so kind! I really don't know what to say. I have been so impressed by the generosity of strangers in this time of trial. These people really have nothing, which is why I am getting them things like salt and pepper shakers. One of my Cousins lost the 150 year old home that she grew up in, it is just gone, obliterated, along with the homes next door that had been my Grandparent's home, and a beloved local School Teacher's. All gone.
Technorati Tags:
Katrina Charities

Moonflower

Can you believe these have been blooming like crazy in this overcast weather? I, of course have been missing them. I happened to look out the bedroom window and saw a big white bloom. I even got the binoculars just to be sure. I had to walk through the chestnut burrs, but here is a shot of the moonflowers. I forgot to see if they have a scent. I had started these from seed in late May or June.

Shout out to new charity blog

Here's a shout out to a new blog group I just joined. The 'aim' of the group '25 Things for Charity' is to make 25 thing to give away in a year's time. It can even be more or less. I already made 5 catnip toys for a homeless pet shelter. I plan to make some kitty mats next. It's not really hard to find places where you can donate handmade things. I did a Google search and found an entire page. So if you'd like to whip out the sewing machine, crochet hook or knitting needles, there are people or pets out there who would be grateful for what you make.

I'm off to the hairdresser in a few hours to cover the skunk strip. Besides having a belly bulge, this bothers the heck out of me. I use to color it myself, but you can't do your entire head of hair all the time as your hair gets way too dark. I may teach Brian how to put it on as I have seen it done enough times now. I am getting brave (and cheap) enough to give this idea a whirl. As for my tummy, the girls on tribe.net have mentioned belly dancing. Now, for someone my age to start that, I don't know. I'd have to test drive it by checking out a video tape. ; )
Sean has a dilemma. He went online to take a vocabulary test-did the first one and hit 'submit' instead of 'next'. Now why would they put a submit button on the first page? So he has to see the teacher and see what to do. He had 3 days to do the test, so I hope he can get it worked out.

Cute photo find on MACS

I was on the Make A Child Smile website to copy down the addresses of the featured kids of the month. I have been sending cards to these special kiddos since August,1998! I am not happy until I get these cards out. So Alexandra, the webmistress (who I met down in Florida in 2002) put up a photo gallery of the kids featured and those from the past, even the dearly departed children. I hope she doesn't mind if I show you a photo of Megan. I just love this photo.
Click on the above link to read up on Megan and the other kids at MACS.

Being in fashion for the fall

I'm not saying I'm a fashion queen, but I do sit up and take notice when they are giving a run down of 'what's in style' on shows like 'The View'. If you are like me, you probably still have some of these styles hanging around. So here goes:
Animal prints
I would stick to maybe a skirt or a scarf not to over do it.
Victorian
Lacy tops with ruffles down the front or velvet. I know someone who never stopped wearing those frilly tops.
Metallic
shoes, bags or tops with accents. Copper looks really pretty.
Here's what 'InStyle' recommends for the 'in look' in the accessory department:
Jet beads
black, shiny beads-they are so cool. I bet you could find some neat vintage jets.
Pom-poms
Not sure about these. They do look cute on the ends of a scarf or hanging from the zipper of a purse.
Chain links
Big links-sorta like what rappers wear. Cute on belts and purses.
Plush velvet
I love anything in velvet. The magazine page shows boots and even a strappy bag in velvet!
Exotic skins
See above-though this page shows snake and crocodile-some faux. I like the python flats.
Fur accents
They are showing lots of bunny fur. I think of my late rabbit Buster. I would have to go for faux.
And also: Anything embellished (we stitchers like this idea!), mini bags (so compact and adorable), stacked heels(I remember these from the 1970s-wonder if they are part of my heel pain in my 40s?), long straps on bags, lace-up shoes (perfect with the Victorian look), fedora hats (cool), wide belts, boxy bags and last but not least bold jewelry-big ol' everything!

On another 'The View' show a woman was saying that Loreal, the make-up company owns Lancome and Maybelline too. I thought that buying from the Lancome counter at Macys was so sophisticated. I could be buying stuff from Walmarts and using my gift certificates for other things!

I hate weekend football

It use to be that we never really watched football that much. Maybe a playoff game or two. I really shouldn't say 'we'. I mean Brian use to watch football on occasion. Then Sean hit about the age of 12 and someone at his grade school really pumped his interest in the sport. So now every weekend it's either they are watching Penn State or Eagles football. I wanted to know if either of them would go to a flea market with me today. "No, the game's on" was my reply. Yesterday they were watching PSU football. So I didn't go to the flea market but to the grocery store (which they had changed around on me). Brian has actually been food shopping with me for the last few weeks, so I shouldn't complain.
When there are shows on that I like, they put them down. They say that are 'stupid' or 'a waste of time' (The Amazing Race and Lost both won Emmys). This grates on my nerves.
I have been waiting to get a new bed all year. We only have the weekends and evenings. I have been waiting to go to the Home Depot to look into getting a new kitchen. This has been put aside for a few years now. I can't do the above things on my own. I'd like to have a new kitchen before I hit the big 5-0 (it's still a little ways off). I think I deserve it. : )

Rainy day Saturday

It's one of those humid-too warm for October days and it's been raining since last night. We need the rain, so I'm not complaining, I love a good rain. I use to walk in the rain with no umbrella when I was little. My newly planted bulbs are getting a good soaking, but hope not too soggy a one.
A local auxiliary had a book sale last night and today. If you can wait until the next day you get a bag of books for $5. We hemmed and hawed and finally went over around 12:45 (they close the doors at 2). This time they provided the bags-not paper but plastic. I noticed a lot of the same books from last time, but I did get a flowers and trees of Hawaii paperback-just for the gorgeous photos. I may never get there, but at least I'll be able to name the greenery of the state!
Brian got a bag of old lps. He's listening to The Moody Blues right now-Days of Future Past. That group was a favorite of a friend of mine in high school.
Sean is seeing some of his old high school buds this afternoon. Jeff is down from Cornell. Billy is home from a tech school in Lancaster. They are going to visit Scott at the University of Delaware for a few hours.
Guess I will pay some bills and stitch a bit. No cleaning for me today! I went through a whole grocery bag of old papers yesterday. We do need groceries-that's another option. I don't know where the food goes in a week when only 3 people live here!

We're going to the Grand Opera House!

While listening to my favorite radio station-WJBR, 99.5, I heard that Linda Eder was coming to Wilmington, DE. That's where the Grand Opera House is. I mentioned to Brian I wouldn't mind seeing her as an early birthday gift and he said 'if you want to'. He happened upon a brochure at work for the GOH and I decided to go ahead and order the tickets tonight. We are going on Oct. 15th. If you don't know who Linda Eder is, well she is not only a singer but a Broadway actress. She played Lucy in Jekyll & Hyde. She's recorded a number of albums and I have a few of them. She is on the order of Barbra Streisand. The first time I saw her was on 'The Rosie O' Donnell Show' and I loved her voice. It should be a treat.
Now get this-tonight I didn't feel like cooking so we got Taco Bell/KFC. I got out my entertainment.com coupon book and we got B1G1F on Border combos. I was flipping through the rest of the book and wasn't there a Grand Opera House coupon- B1G1F for a show!! I called 'just to see' if maybe I could use it and it was too late. Bri, who is really going to the show for me wasn't thrilled. So I am on a mission to use $45 worth of coupons from the same book by November 1st when most of them expire to make up for me not looking in the book first. Live and learn.
Footnote from Linda's site: Aside from music and motherhood, Linda has a lifelong love of animals. She's taking it a step further with "Trail MIX," a new primetime television special she created and is hosting for Animal Planet. The show, Trail MIX, teams host Linda with other celebrities who share her passion for horses. "I can sit all day long with another horse person," she says. "For me, this is pure fun."
She also just released a CD dedicated to the songs of Judy Garland. I'll have to get that one (Oz is one of my favorite movies).

28 bulbs later

Those Breck bulbs better be so worth it! My head nearly exploded after digging 28 holes-half 6" deep. It had to be near 80 degrees in October to boot. I took a few breaks, but when I was almost finished covering the last 8 bulbs, I had to come in and really let myself cool down. I guess that was a lot to plant in super dry dirt, but I wanted to get the job out of the way. Oh, what I planted-the 5 blue allium and 8 giant red tulips along with some daffodils and hyacinths I dug up from an old garden area. I don't think I can do all that digging again unless I have help or it's cooler out. Makes sense doesn't it? I even took my blood pressure because my pulse was so fast and it was fine but my pulse was like 105. It normally is 83. I do feel better now.
Sean has to go to a 4:30 showing of 'Hotel Rowanda' at school. He's reading the book associated with the movie. I said he should have rented it, but he wanted to be there for the question and answer session afterwards.
He was nice enough to take my mom to an office to get one of her benefit cards that she had lost. It was an 1.5 hour wait in a not so nice area. I sure hope mom isn't contagious anymore. The cold seems to have settled in her chest a bit.
I got a phone call from the bus company that takes my father-in-law to Atlantic City. When I saw the name on the caller ID, I was startled a bit. My f-i-l called them to ask them to call us because he was going to be later coming home tonight. He needs a cellphone!
Tonight they moved Martha-the Apprentice to 9 right when Lost is on. It was nice to have her on at 8 and then switch over to Lost. Darn!
Technorati Tags:
ABC Lost,
Spring bulbs,
Atlantic City

I will miss this nice weather

It's not Indian summer until you have a frost and then it warms up again, correct?
Last night I was actually watering the flowers. They still look nice and I can't let them get wilted-not yet. I picked the remaining 3 eggplants-they were 'minis'-they never got bigger than 5 inches long. I also picked an armful of green tomatoes. I fried up some of the two veggies and we ate them with some pasta and shrimp last night.
Tonight we got pizza and salad take-out because Bri won the football pool! Yes!
I keep forgetting about the moonflowers. They are too far away from the house. Next year, if I plant them, they are going in closer to a window. One year they did excellent sprawling all around the mailbox! But for me to go and see them where they are now is like trampling through a bombfield of exploded chestnut burrs. I still hate those trees!
My Breck bulbs came yesterday! Urghh!! I complained through email about a week ago as to where they were and they emailed me back and said, 'they are coming from the Netherlands' and to expect them around the 15th of October! Zoey got her bulbs (she ordered some of the same ones) a few weeks after she placed her order. I feel my order was expedited because of my email.
Speaking of email-isn't it a good thing? Sean was just saying he needed to interview two people for an English assignment and he emailed them. When I had to interview people in college, we either went to see them in person or wrote them a 'snail mail'.
I did pretty good with eBay this past week. I mailed off a bunch of things today. No bids yet on my little Halloween pillows. They do look cuter in person.
Bad girl: I ate Tastykake chocolate krimpets while watching 'The Biggest Loser'. : (
'The Amazing Race' went to York, PA, Washington, DC and on to Virginia. Not Gettysburg as I predicted. Geez, they are following places where we go on vacation. I wonder if they were in DC on a Sunday morning? It didn't look too busy on the streets. I've been to that city enough times to know how terrible congested it can get there. Di trivia-when I was in 5th grade and sitting on the tour bus,I saw Ted Kennedy walk by and was one of the only kids who knew who he was. My mom liked the Kennedys a lot.


Technorati Tags:
gardening, The Amazing Race, email

Blah, blah it's Sean-Count Dracula!

I swear I am not bored! I get on these photo editing kicks at times. Sean wanted to be The Mummy, but I happened upon this shot and thought it was a good one for Halloween. I don't know if he will use it, but I liked it. One problem-even with the fangs, he's just too cute to look evil!

This has been 'posterized'.

Technorati Tags:
Halloween,
PSP

One of those movies that makes me cry...

Brian was channel surfing and landed on the last 1/2 hour of Born Free. Ok, I have some emotional issues with this movie. Every time I watched it as a kid, I had to get up and leave the room, in the last 1/2 hour of the movie....and cry. So tonight, I was a 10 yr old little girl again and when Joy and George dropped Elsa the lion off to fend for herself after having her as a pet, that was all I needed. Brian had moist eyes too. I do love cats of all sizes and this movie especially touched a cord and I love the big cats too. I even had a poem about lions published in jr high in the school paper.

Technorati Tags:Classic Movies,cats

Handmade Halloween pillows

I'm working on another 'scaredy cat' one. These all have felt fronts, except the owl which is fabric. I saw the owl in the design and went from there. Hope you like them!

The Brandywine Valley in the fall

The Brandywine River at the Brandywine River Museum is about 10 minutes from here. It was also in this general area where 'The Village' was filmed a couple of years ago. So this is basically the landscape of the area where we live. Pretty isn't it? Thanks to Corbis.com for this great aerial shot.
Technorati Tags:autumn,Brandywine Valley

Technorati Tags

I get a lot of great ideas from other bloggers. Abby introduced me to tribe.net, My wishlist, de.licio.us and flickr. Know Katie pointed me in the direction of Technorati tags. I have seen tags on Flickr. I thought I'd add them to my posts when I remember to do so. It's fun to click on say 'cross stitch' and see what other bloggers who have tags are saying about cross stitch.
Technorati Tags: Technorati tags
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Not a really exciting weekend. Brian is hurting with his left knee. He cleaned up filling about 8 trash cans with Chestnut burrs (which he dumped down the hill). Then he cut the grass. Today he was limbing around but did go to the grocery store with me because he needed to walk around. And he likes his goodies too. Right now he is on a Perrier water and bagged popcorn kick. He did have a brace on his knee for a while and took some Advil.
I got to try out a purchase from eBay today. I bought this thing that is the ceramic equivilent to a beer can to cook chicken on. I made the mistake of cooking it from about 1-2:45 (Brian's dad came over for a little visit, so I wanted to get the chicken in the oven). I then turned the oven down to 165 where it sat for a few hours wrapped in foil. Plus I had no beer and had to use Worchestershire sauce, water, etc. So I think the beer would have been good. The chicken was a little dry, but I would definitely try it again, maybe with a honey glaze as suggested. For dessert, I bought some caramel and chocolate chip dipped apples-heaven.
I spent the entire evening ripping out a boo-boo on a cross stitch piece I had put aside for a few months. I can't stand when the edges of the design and border don't match up and this would have happened if I hadn't of ripped it out. I have wanted to stitch 'A Walk in the Woods' for ages.
The guys are rejoicing over the Eagles football team winning over Kansas City. It was definitely a comeback kind of game. I am glad the two of them like to watch football together. I feel a little left out sometimes.
chicken recipes,
Philadelphia Eagles