Dirty Details on Denise

I'm not sure if any of these will end up actually being "dirty" in any way whatsoever, but since I'm keen on alliteration, I'm keeping that title!! 

Both V.V. Denman & Leah Singer, writers/bloggers with whom I've recently become acquainted, did this kind of list on their blogs, and I found it to be so much fun. I hope it is for you, too, and that you'll do your own list of facts, because it's an interesting way to get to know one another better!

So here goes... the interesting, the obvious & the drivel:

Was a total tomboy who preferred having dirt bomb battles to playing Barbies

Hated History as a subject 

Chemistry & English are my favorites

I love to type after I've cut my nails (hate the click click of nails on a keyboard!)

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to read more than just about anything else

I got married when I was 17 & not yet graduated from high school, and I WAS NOT pregnant!!

Finished high school in a continuation school in the CA desert while married

(they didn't know what to do w/me when they looked at my transcripts -- they weren't capable of helping me finish many of my credits: Physics, French 4, British Lit... it was a weird experience)

AND I've been married to that high school sweetheart for 23 years now

I have three angel babies waiting in Heaven for me

(little Marshall lost at 20 weeks due to a knot in the umbilical cord, another at 9 weeks whom I always think in my mind as Maddie, and Montie @ 10yr)

I've lived in NJ, PA, CA, MD, and MI, but now we're back in PA 

I've gone to three colleges over the last 23 years, amassed 90+ credits & but STILL haven't earned a degree

My favorite place to be is at home, but if you'd force me to leave, I'd want to be at the beach

Rainy days give me creative urges

I read every night before bed (I would say 8 times out of 10 I read fiction)

I've homeschooled all three of my kiddos, graduated my oldest daughter, and am down to one either grader who's probably going to public school next year 

Longarm quilting is way more fun than piecing... just saying

My heart skipped a beat when I saw The Writer had come in the mail today :)

My favorite place to eat lately is Isaac's (The Club Canary-YUM)

For my birthday tomorrow I've requested an ice cream cake for dessert

I'm mostly introverted & love my alone time (NEED my alone time)

Half a dozen years ago I flew to London w/my hubby & saw Depeche Mode perform 

at Wembly Stadium

My first car was a Honda Civic -really old & blew a lot of exhaust into the air daily (clouds of it that rendered me thoroughly embarrassed in the high school parking lot)

My first job was as a Pharmacy Technician. Between PA & CA I worked a few years in pharmacy & so I'm able to decipher doctor's prescriptions

Before we had kids, we lived in Baltimore City, and I walked to & from work every day

My younger daughter & I have "seen" the same images in our 222 year old home during the same night in different bedrooms

Our old house has been a blacksmith shop, a working tavern where people also paid to sleep,  a bed & breakfast, and now it's just our home

In 9th grade I won first place at both our school & then our regional science fairs for my Physics project on friction

 

My all-time favorite movie is The Sound of Music

I was so proud of myself when at around 16/17 years old I could play the entire Rogers & Hammersteins music from The Sound of Music!

I took 10+ years of piano lessons

We have a very out of tune baby grand piano

I love coffee & most sweets

Am running out of things to say

But I still have room until I get to the bottom of this Sound of Music pic

Almost there...

Okay all, now it's your turn. Let me know when you've posted your own list of little-known-facts!

Thankful to be dry

We watched the rising waters of the Susquehanna River back up into this massive storm drain which leads into our little town. 

The 1st picture was taken this past Friday morning after most of the rain had already stopped pelting. Usually there's barely a trickle in there, but we weren't concerned at this point because it was well below the halfway mark of being full.

However, since we're "down river", this 2nd picture shows how on Saturday, well after the rain had quit falling, we were still watching the river by us rise. 

And by Sunday afternoon, finally, thankfully, the river crested & we could breathe a small sigh of relief. 

(Don't ask me who thought hanging the figure was fun, but it was there... in the way, so it's in my photo >:-/ )

Homes are in danger of flooding here once the water hits the 49' mark. Personally, since we sit a bit higher, we're not in danger of flooding until it hits about 55', just to give a point of reference.

A lot of people who visit us don't understand how the river can possibly flood over the railroad embankment towards our homes. But see that's not how it happens! The picture below shows the view from my front door. The river doesn't flow over the embankment but rather backs up through the above-shown storm drain and then up through the drainage grates by our homes.

During normal weather our rain water runs down our grates into the storm drain and then into the Susquehanna River. But when we have a combination of heavy rains & snow melting up north, it all flows downward towards us & backs everything up.

This last picture shows the view if I walk up onto the railroad embankment & look down to the river. Within those trees are where I usually walk my spastic lab puppy. He'd probably like it down there now --sloshing through the water & mud are his thing. But if he'd take off, it's currently too cold for me to want to go in after him. So yeah, I think we'll just walk the neighborhood until we dry out a bit!

But in the grand scheme of it all... thinking about how scary it can be to worry about my house flooding left me feeling a little....sigh.... what's the word I'm looking for???? .... small, insignificant, but a speck in the realm of world horrors...

A Mysterious Finding...

It seems innocuous enough, but where did it come from?

This bottle of Rita's water mysteriously appeared on our dining room table. 

When it was noticed, everyone wanted to know, "Who went to Rita's & didn't invite me?!?"

But I haven't gone, my husband hasn't been there, my oldest daughter who used to work there hasn't gotten anything from there, and my younger daughter is too young to drive herself to Rita's without one of us!! 

In thinking back to this week's visitors (which weren't many) to the house, no one who hung out or came into the house that far had brought it in.

WHERE DID IT COME FROM???

Perhaps I should let you in on a tidbit about our 221 year old house.... we are a stop on Marietta's Ghost Tour.

Some from here would suggest there have been haunting occurrences...

....some from here have heard things.... seen things...

but none remembers finding random objects none of us brought into the house. 

Hmm.... just thought it was interesting & thought I'd share.

Working Hard or Hardly Working?

Does anyone else feel a little deflated energetically after the hub-bub of the holidays? I know it's my norm, and so I've grown to embrace this slow-down period. Combine my lethargy with the recent snow & ice coating the neighborhood roads, and I've had some nice excuses to stay put in my warm, cozy home!

I've enjoyed movie marathons with my two teenage girls, cross-stitching by the fire, a few unexpected mornings I was able to lay in bed longer than usual (LOVE my electric blanket in our bedroom with no heat vents!!), with the only drawback being that walking Smokey the spastic lab has taken a slightly treacherous feeling as I skirt around and/or over ice & snow patches.

My hubby has been able to take some days off with us too. But he's also begun redoing our bathroom. Remember we live in a 200+ year old house, that has some interesting quirks. Our bathroom is a large quirk. It used to be a small bedroom, but it makes a good size bathroom. I thought I'd post this "mostly before" pictures.....

He's actually started painting already. This is from the doorway looking into the bathroom. To the right behind the brown dresser in the ugly vanity, of which I now realize I didn't get a proper pic. 

Past the draped clothes rack & around the corner lie the toilet & shower (you'll have to excuse the dirty laundry piles- they've been shoved here & there to allow room to move while also painting, etc...

  

Below are the closet/laundry doors as seen from the vanity area...

Will share more pictures of the ugly vanity & updates as prettier things begin to happen!

Last but not least is a small project I tackled, that I've been wanting to try since about November. It's a Snap Happy Snap Bag by Stitchin' Sisters. There are 3 sizes on this pattern, this being the mid-sized bag. Perhaps you've heard of Snap Bags? There's literally a metal tape measure within the top casings to make it snap closed after it's been opened. It's the coolest thing!! So fast & east to make & cute to boot! 

Good night everyone!