No I haven't fallen off ....

the face of the earth!! I have been having a pretty darn good summer. I can't even remember when or what I posted last..(I just had to know once I typed that when it was I last posted.) I can't believe I haven't posted since June 9.... Well OK I sure can believe it I lied.

Here are some of the highlights of my summer via photos:

Father's Day was in June and the kids and I got Don a new grill here they are humoring me and "supposedly" looking at it in awe.

Kayla turned 22 (who told that child she could grow up??) It was a nice laid back evening with good cake and ice cream!

We made stuffed shells for the first time... well Kay and Don did... they were super yummy!!



My niece graduated from the same high school her mother and I both graduated from..

June was a fun month... it was also filled with lots of graduation parties... funny thing about those... we keep saying wow we don't have any this year... and every year we end up being invited to a least few. I also practiced some glass etching and have gotten better at it. I've also been working on the photography thing too.

July had all the festivities it always has... the 4th which we came home from camping on... it was a fun 3 days camping with my SIL and her family...

and of course the movie New Moon came out which was a must see.... so we all went while we were camping...

July was also a bit stressful because my beauty shop inspector called luckily I wasn't able to see him he said he would be back the following Tue so we spent the weekend getting everything up to code and then some... I recovered the chairs and painted their metal all black,,, no pics of this but it looks great, was very stressful but worth it. Then we took Kay down to Philly to meet her BF and Don and I took some time to reconnect and enjoy just being a couple again... we went to Valley Forge and did a Ghost walk in Gettysburg. It was a great weekend... her are some reenactors from VF and the dressed tour guides in Gettysburg...

That was the fun filled July. 


August was fairly uneventful just worked in the beauty shop and apparently I didn't take any photos... LOL

As Sept. is coming to a close rather quickly I can't believe how fast this summer went but it was a good one and thankfully all the old folks are still hanging in there,,, only a bit worse for wear, as Mom's knee is now full of arthritis and she is mostly in a wheelchair now for a while I was going out to their house and giving Mom a bath every Wed. but it got a bit hard on me with everything else I had going on and it was just all tooo overwhelming.  So I have left it in Dad's hands and I keep telling myself I'm not worrying about it!!!!

I asked my hubby yesterday how his day was, to which he replied not much every changes... and I said,,, well that is a good thing at least nothing bad is happening!!!  Sooo all and all it was a good summer!!


I'm sincerely hoping that I won't wait this long again to post.  I hope you enjoyed my summer in photos!!!

Making Progress Slowly!

I sure am glad I got one of the big stressful projects done. I took Sr. photos of the neighbor kid and his mom ordered a 16 x 20 picture. I was so worried it wouldn’t look nice. I didn’t realize what a stresser that was till it came yesterday along with some massive relief. I think they liked them all and that is what mattered. I was happy with my work. I gave them a great deal and asked if I could use him in my advertising. He said not a problem. Now all I have to do is figure out this order for my niece. For some reason it uploaded all the photos but only found 2, so I need to call the lab this morning and get this figured out. I don’t want to pay again if they got it and end up with 2 orders. I just don’t have the money to eat a 100 dollar order right now.
So I’ve been working on organizing my scrapbooking stuff. This was a huge task I’ll tell ya. I knew I had all this stuff it was just scattered to and fro all over between the dining room and the basement, where I had put up some new shelves to hold it all. Well guess what… uhhmm the new shelves are full and uhh err… all the stuff isn’t put away yet. Not that there is much left but I might have to do some more rolling 3 drawer storage. I was hoping to avoid that but I think I will need one more. I have lots of work left to do, like making labels for the containers and putting away the UFO’s I call them… acronym for UnFinshed Objects!! I think I might put them up here in the big white hutch I got from Amy a few years back. I’m really excited! I can’t wait to get this done. I now have space up here for organizing my sewing stuff and have my sewing machines at my finger tips but also have them put away out of sight!
I think this whole organizing thing will really help me with the liking my home more and not so stressed that someone might stop by. I know this will make my husband feel better about our home too. So far I have been able to keep my computer desk fairly picked up and uncluttered along with the filing cabinet and now the sewing dresser. The next large project I will be tackling is my pictures, which I want to get into photo boxes and labeled so when I sit down to scrap I can just open my boxes and there the photos will be. Right now they are all scattered here there and everywhere, just like the scrapbooking stuff!
I am rather proud of what I have achieved so far even though I have a long way to go I have gotten a good start. I wish my brain was the organizing type. My friends Jayme and Cathy are both wonderfully good at that. I so wish mine worked like that.
Household hint for the day…place a bucket of DampRid under your toilet to keep the sweat from building up on the tank. I have used this DampRid and it really helps and it isn’t too expensive either!

Memorial Day 2010

Memorial Day 2010!

I believe that as we live each year of our lives, especially those formative ones from childhood till the mid 30s, shape us and make us who we are, and believing this I think Memorial Day means different things to each of us. I certainly think that those who have/had family in the military that were hurt or even killed it can be a bitter thing or a hero thing or a very deeply mournful thing. I think those who themselves have served in the military look at it from yet another perspective. Then there are those who never had anyone in the military that use this time to remember loved ones who have passed on. So I believe that depending on our experiences Memorial Day can be a veritable smorgasbord of emotion all tied to who we are and what we have experienced.

I don’t belong to a military family at all, for the most part my Dad who served in WWII doesn’t talk about it and that is a part of his life he would rather forget I believe. I do have a brother in law that served in Nam in the Air Force and was in the reserves for a long time but is now retired. My brother Sam served a few years in the Navy where he was on one of the first nuclear subs. He was sworn to secrecy. I don’t know just how patriotic these individuals are as they aren’t vocal about serving their country and don’t visually display their patriotism. I don’t tend to either and I look at Memorial day as a day for a pic nic and to kick off summer, I don’t even tend graves of loved ones but does that make me less of a good person?? I don’t think so. I love America and I pray on a regular basis for all our men and women serving our country so bravely. I respect our troops and pray for their families because I know if it were my son or daughter put in harms way I would be a basket case with worry. So I want to say I try to do my part by prayinf for all who serve not just our troops but the loved ones waiting and praying for the safe return, who in a way are serving our country by being supportive from home.

That being said I would also like to share just how luke warm I am about everything I used this weekend to work on a home improvement project of sorts and to clean my house and sleep in and eat pic-nic food; however some people get a sense of peace or something from tending graves of relatives that have gone on. I noticed it is more of the older generation doing this and when they can’t do it usually someone younger does it in their steed but mostly for the person who they love that can’t do it any longer than for a purpose that they have of their own.

My parents never tended graves, my Mom is R. Catholic and believes that the soul is what makes a person and if you really want to feel close to someone who has passed on, church is where you go to light a candle and say a prayer. You know the whole dust to dust thing. I know my hubby takes his mom every year now that she can’t do it any longer. They went yesterday and my mother in law just sat in the car. She bought one plant to put on each grave, of which there were 10 at 4 different cemeteries. I did ask Don if he would be doing this after she didn’t want to go any more and he said he didn’t think so that he would put some flowers on his brother’s and parents graves but that would be it as they are just across the road from here. I was wondering if I will do anything for my Mom when the time comes. Dad is donating his body to science so no grave there. If I weren’t to afraid of fire I would like to be cremated then the kids could just burn some of my favorite scrap booking paper and dump it in with me and I would be happy for all eternity! (said with a soft laugh)

So as Memorial Day comes to a close I reflect on what it means to me and realize that even though I don’t show it I have a real sense of pride when I see all those flags in the cemeteries and the red flags with the stars on them for families who have a loved one in the service. I am deeply grateful for the work that they do and the pride and sense of purpose they do it with! I am proud to say I’m an American even though I may not be vocal or visual about it. I will keep doing my part praying and donating to organizations that help our troops and their families.

I hope everyone has had a good Memorial Day and observed it in they way they find most meaningful.

Celebration is in the Air!!!

Kayla just called me all excited she is officially done with her Sports Medicine Bachelors degree. She will graduate on Sunday at 2. I am so excited for her. She said she was going to do some laundry and then take a nap! She said she didn't sleep well last night as she kept dreaming about the information she was studying for her final today. Too funny,,, so I told her she earned herself a long luxurious nap! How very exciting! I am also getting ready for the weekend. I have some ironing to do and pick out my outfits for the weekend. We are heading down Sat. for an awards ceremony and such on Sat. evening and then we will have the fun of Graduation on Sunday at 2. Then I bring my babies home for the summer. I can't wait! I miss them terribly when they are at school, although I am thinking I need to do something about the internet thing because I can't watch my shows on the computer and Paul can't play video games with the same connection. Ahhh the dilemmas! So I will just have to figure something out! Although he is very courteous about asking before he just takes the connection.

I'm not sure what I want to wear this weekend. I don't know how warm is it going to be as Mother Nature is sure to play a naughty trick on us and turn up the heat just for the weekend. We are having temps in the 50's all week till Friday when they are to jump up to the mid to upper 70's. OYY! I also need to get a pair of shoes for this event too. Humm... I hate shoe shopping. I have fat feet!

I do need to do some ironing too this week, which is slipping away rather quickly. So I had better get moving!

The Talking Fridge!

Husband and I were cleaning out the refridgerator/freezer this morning and the man has to narrate everything that is in there and complain about what is too old to eat and whatnot. Needless to say in about 30 min he achieved not only getting the fridge/freeze emptied out but gave me a headache the size of mount Rushmore! Trust me I have seen Mt. Rushmore so I know how big it is and this head ache rivals it.
So as he is going out to take out the garbage he says maybe I should ask your Dad to if he has one more lecture in him to get you to throw stuff away. I laughed because he is sooo the wrong person to even think about telling me to throw anything away as he is a bigger pack rat than I am. Just ask my mom. Anyhow, I am standing there kinda laughing about that and thinking about clutter and I am looking at my fridgerator door and think to myself… you know you can tell a lot about person by what their refridgerator doors look like.
This is what mine says about me…..

The multiple photos of my kids say I love to see their faces…

The family photo I have says I love my family as a whole…

The one or two photos of friends tell you how dear I hold them.,,,

The calendar tells you that I am a busy person and lose things easily because it has to be someplace in a very central place….

The many magnets tell where I have been or where someone we love has been the Eeyore magnet was a gift from a friend I love my gift.

The rest of the magnets hold some sort of information.

The last thing on the fridges tells you I have a bad memory, as it is a little tablet for making lists of things I need to get in town.

So what does your refrigerator door say about you?

Of thing forgotten but want to be remembered

It seems like spring has sprung around here and I am really happy about it. It is rather odd though we didn’t get our usual St. Patrick’s Day snow storm, which makes me leery that there may be one more nasty snow to come, I am hoping not but one never knows with PA weather.
This time of year usually inspires me to get things done. I guess it is that whole nesting thing but I feel I don’t have enough time. I’m sure I do but just don’t use my time wisely. There are so many things I say to myself, “I want to get to that later” but later never comes because I forget what it was I was going to “get to.” I need to make a list of all these things I need to do and work on marking them off and being more focused.
I have the whole project declutter to work on also, 45 min. a week doesn’t seem to be a hard thing to do… as a matter of fact I’m sure I waste far more than that A DAY! My friend Cathy was here and helped me focus. I love her for that, she comes and makes me focus and pushes me to keep going till it is done. I tend to get a bit sidetracked. So with her help I have managed to clean off my computer desk, filing cabinet and scrapbooking dresser in my dining room and I love the look of it all cleaned off,,, it however needs dusting badly.
I wish I could find that focus that Cathy has she is amazing and I so wish I was like her. She gets so much done she reminds me of a that cartoon character Taz, who whirls around!
I have so many projects to get done. I think I am going to use the rest of the day to tidy the house and focus on the clown costume I’m making for a friend. It is coming along. I have the top and bottom almost done now all I have to do is sew the snaps on the collar and I think I might have to go buy some not sure I have any here and I also need to hem the top that finishes them so all that is left to make is the skirt with the giant pockets. Last time I worked on it I didn’t wear a mask because I forgot how sick I get when I breathe those fibers that the serger cuts. I am all better now and I so don’t want to go back there. If I can get this stuff out of my house it will remove some more “stuff” that is just sitting around.
I also think that my whole lack of creativity has something to do with needing to get so much done and I feel stifled because it is distracting. I am slowly working on getting the scrapbooking stuff all organized. HA! I’m thinking that won’t ever be really done but it would be nice to know where most of my stuff is so I can spend more time scrapping and less time looking.
Time is up I need to get ready to go back to work I should have a couple haircuts here in any min. now.
Helpful hint for today…lay a place mat over your computer keyboard to keep the keys from getting dusty.

Of computers and MILs

Ohhh these last week so has had it's moments let me tell you.  First MIL isn't strong enough to come home so they bring her down here to the rehab part of the hospital here.  She has issues with drugs because she has bad kidneys so she doesn't process drugs or anything for that matter right, so basically the doctor is having trouble adjusting her meds.  She is really tired, weak and sometimes dizzy not to mention nauseous.  One of the reasons she might be this way is she doesn't eat well at all... she tells them that she is too full and can't eat much. I watched her eat she maybe eats 4 or 5 tiny bites and says she is done, at this rate she isn't going to get stronger and be able to come home.  Her mind is there so she should know she needs to eat more but she won't and it is frustrating.  She says she is not going to a nursing home but I can't see if she doesn't start getting better she is going to run out of days that her insurance will pay and she will have to either go somewhere where someone can be with her, which she has no where to go (and I highly doubt she would come here we don't have the room, and I probably would drive her nuts) or a home.  I have no clue why I should even be concerned about this because like I said she has her mind and it comes right down to her doctor making the decision.  I am thinking I should distance myself from the whole thing, as I think it makes me a bit anxious.  So in keeping with that I am moving on now...

Ok Friday and Saturday were two really fun days... I spent quite a lot of them working on my computer because when it rebooted itself after the windows update of Feb 25 it was all mucked up!  First it said my profile wasn't there and then when I tried to reset it an earlier time it would load for a few seconds then get the blue screen and then it would reboot and say it was recovering from a bad shutdown and count down the 30 seconds and load windows it would turn blue and shut down and it was a vicious vicious circle. Finally I got it to work by shutting off a couple programs one of which being Symantic (knew I hated that software) and then it loaded correctly and has been behaving well. Although everytime I reboot or turn it on I hold my breath thinking I will be seeing blue any second.  Computers they are marvelous when they work right and when they don't you just want to throw them out the window! 

Not that that was enough this evening Don says what did you send me, what's this?  I looked and here it was a spammed email that like an idiot I opened it and it sent it's self to everyone in my yahoo books.  GRRR!!!!!! So disregard any emails you received me.  I did try to let everyone know that it was not from me, with one from me, and then there was one that I forgot to put the text in the email so it is blank... oops... I have been a bit tired this evening.  So I haven't sent any real emails... oyy! 

So tomorrow is a new day and I'm looking forward to going to the gym and working out after my dentist appt. and then seeing my friend tomorrow as they need hair cuts! 

I hope the weather is good, it is March for goodness sakes... the snow needs to recede so the crocuses can come up!!