I Love Spaniels

These pictures are on old calenders that mom keeps hanging in her room because we love spaniels so much. The cocker spaniel puppy looks like our Buffy did. It's been 4 and a half months without her now and everyday we say how much we miss her. I saw a Cavalier King Charles spaniel like the one on the right at Penn Station in NYC the night of the Bon Jovi concert and just had to pet it and say "Oh, you are so cute!" That made me even more happy than seeing the concert. I wish that I could have another spaniel in my life but it's not in the budget. I would like either kind and even have a name for her - Molly. I did kind of a crappy photo taking job and thought about waiting to do this post until after redoing them but I really wanted to write about this today.

Hall and Oates Concert 2005

My brother and I went to the PNC Arts Center in the summer of 2005 to see Hall and Oates for the first time. We have both been fans of theirs since the early 1980s. Tears For Fears was not there which was disappointing because I like them too. That is kind of a strange pairing. I'm thinking that TFF would go better with The Pet Shop Boys - that's a concert I'd go to see. Todd Rundgren was there instead. I was only familiar with 2 of his songs. Mark and I weren't really into his part of the show and were kind of disappointed when he came out and performed with Hall and Oates during the 3 songs of the encore. Other than that it was a very good concert. We did wish that they had done Out of Touch but they can't do everything, I suppose. It would be nice if we could go to their concert there this summer but it's not really in the budget. Technically it could be if we cut out one day at the US Open which we hopefully will be going to for 3 days. The concert tickets went on sale Saturday. Maybe they are already sold out anyway.

Favourite Childhood Books 1

I received The Velveteen Rabbit as a Christmas gift in either 1977 or 1978 and absolutely loved it. I always pictured my stuffed animals as being real and like my friends and most of them I gave names and personalities so this book really meant alot to me. I lost my original copy of it in the mid 1980s but luckily my mom found one that looked exactly the same.

Handmade Items 2

Mom made my brother and I some yarn dolls, about 5 of them. Two were guys. I only kept the girl but wish that I still had the others too. My Grandma Wrunski made me the mama and baby ducks and snowman. She made a gingerbread man, penguin and a snowman for my brother. He lost the hat for the snowman though. I always loved our handmade toys and other items.

Connect Four

My brother and I used to enjoy playing Connect Four and other games when we were kids. I remember this commercial well. I looked in our game totes for the first time in many years and luckily we still have this. I didn't see Hangman or Monopoly in it though. Maybe there is another game tote. I can't picture us getting rid of those games especially my mom's Monopoly. I'm pretty sure the last time that we actually played a board game was Trivial Pursuit with our cousin Mary and 2nd cousins Karry and Brandy in the late 1980s.

Kenny Rogers Concert - 1984

My mom and her friend Peg went to a Kenny Rogers concert in 1984. I remember wishing that I could go to. I really liked his music back then despite a family friend thinking this was kind of strange. Mom told me that Dolly Parton came out on stage and they performed Islands In The Stream together. I didn't even remember that she got this souvenier book and was pleasantly suprised when I found it in her keepsake tote. I still have his greatest hits tape that I got as a Christmas gift in the early 80's and also a CD of his hits that I got about 6 years ago.

A Handmade Dress

I did not even realize that my mom had kept a few of the dresses that she make me when I was a very little girl. I found them when looking through her keepsake totes last week. She used to have some of these things in a big cedar chest. I'm pretty sure the brand of it was Lane. I wish that she had not left it at the old apartment. She claimed that it would be too heavy for the movers. I am sure that they could have handled it. I remember looking in it only once when I was a kid but had forgotten exactly what was in it. I probably should have put this dress in a different place when taking a photo of it, the sheets kind of clash with the pattern of it. I look like I have a bowl haircut in that photo which I think is from 1972.

Chocolate Delight

I was looking in my mom's keepsake totes a few days ago and found alot of interesting things. In one, there is mostly magazine and newspaper articles about JFK, mainly his death, and also a few books like his Profiles In Courage. I looked through some of the mags and was enjoying seeing the old ads and when I saw this page with chocolate recipes on it I just had to take a picture of it. This is from a Photoplay mag - 1963. Seeing it makes me crave a mocha frappuccino right now but I have to control myself, I can only have 3 of those per week. I do allow myself a little bit of dark chocolate candy every day at lunch though.

Drowning From the Stress

I have taken so many pictures lately, some of which I have already added to the computer and more still on another memory card so I have plenty of topics that I would like to write about but today I'm just feeling too blue to even do so. According to my brother, what I am doing here is a waste of time and stupid. His frequent put downs are really getting to me and standing up for myself just makes things worse. I'm the bitch and crazy one in his eyes. I have to live with this rude, self centered person for
financial reasons plus my mom is here and I have to look after her because her health is bad. I try to do things that I enjoy like coming to this site and reading my favourite blogs and doing my posts but I have to do this when he isn't around because it is
his computer and he seems to hate when I use it. Oh, but I have to be his chauffeur because he is unable to drive. I don't even
care if he sees this. Not that he would. I have it as a link on my Facebook page but it is doubtful that he ever comes here. What's the worst that he could do if he reads this, give me even more verbal abuse?

He is the center of the universe and we must pay attention to him. It doesn't matter if he interrupts mom or I when we are reading or watching something on TV, for what he has to say is far more important. Whatever we read or watch is stupid to him. We should be reading history and educational books, not mysteries. Everytime we put the TV on especially the Food Network he has to say "oh, not the tv again - you always have that on." or something like that. He is allowed to enjoy his sports on it though. And if we interrupt him during anything he has a fit and yells at us yet he can't see how rude he is being towards us.

He wants everything his way. He is worse than a spoiled little boy. Our way is dumb and wrong. His way is right. If I want to keep 2 granola bars in a box that I paid for then I am allowed too but he likes to take things out of boxes and bags at certain points so he will just go into our stuff and do the same. You can not reason with this guy. It is totally futile. We have tried family therapy in the
past and that did not work at all. He thought we were all ganging up on him. I have pictured punching him and worse many times
when he upsets me. I don't even care anymore if God sends me to hell for these mean thoughts. I sort of feel like I'm already there anyway.

I think of my brother as Markzilla or Darth Mark sometimes. He is like the evil character in a movie. I don't even think that there is any hope that he will ever see that he is hurting us so much. When we tell him how upset he makes us sometimes he just accuses us of over reacting. My guy friend is tired of hearing about all the terrible things that Mark does. I try not to complain that much and be positive around him, but obviously living with someone who mentally abuses me like this does take it's toll on me and there are times when I can't help feeling so depressed. Yes, I do go to therapy and this venting to my therapist does help a little, but having to deal with this constant stress makes me feel so fragile, as if I will break soon. I have tried to be strong but there is only so much that one person can take before he or she comes undone. I just pray that I won't have a breakdown.

I could go on and on about all the horrible things that he does and says to make my life so stressful but I'll stop now because even
just thinking about this is making me sick to my stomach, plus it's lunchtime and I want to try to enjoy my meal. Tomorrow I will return to my usual upbeat posts. Sorry to be such a downer today.

My Barbie Dolls - part 1

I didn't realize until after I took this picture that the Malibu Barbie in the center is wearing the dress from my Superstar Barbie. I forgot to put the stole that goes with it on her . The dress on the Barbie on the left also has a basket of flowers that I should have put with her. That poor doll's arm got pulled off accidentally by my cousin Mary in the late 70's. I put fun tac or sticky stuff on it to repair her. I love the purple outfit that my cousin Janet or Ellen crocheted for me around that same time period. I matched it up with the boots back then. I hadn't seen my Barbies probably since the early 90's. I decided it was time to open up the totes and take some photos of them and share them here. I had so much fun playing with them when I was a kid.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

I had forgotten that I even had this decoration. We haven't really decorated for any holidays besides Christmas in a very long time. I have some good memories of being with the Kelly family on St Patrick's Day. The last time we did that was probably in 1994. They would have the traditional corned beef, cabbage and potatoes and Irish Soda Bread. The Quiet Man with John Wayne would be on the television. I haven't watched it since back then. We have that video and my brother keeps saying that we should watch it today but I don't really feel like it. Ireland is definitely on my top 10 list of places overseas to travel to.

This Old Robe - and shoes too!

Should I be ashamed to admit that I have had this robe since about 1985? It is from Macy's and is the Jennifer Moore brand. I used it alot for the first 4 years but then only sometimes. It is still in pretty good shape except for a little fraying around part of the collar. I've only used it for showertime the past 10 years. I hate to get rid of it. If it gets too bad I will though. Mom had one exactly like it in green. It's been at least 12 years since she got rid of hers.

I also still have the pair of shoes that I got in sophmore year of high school back in 1984. I saw a pair like them in Seventeen or Young Miss magazine and just had to have them. I couldn't find a pair with the laces but they did have one with velcro. They are Ciao brand. I wore them alot that year and a little junior year and haven't really worn them since probably the late 80's. I just can't seem to part with them though. Is that weird?

What is the oldest article of clothing, footwear or accessories that you have?

Our Old Encyclopedia Set

My parents got a Collier's Encyclopedia set in the mid 1970s. We used it alot for our schoolwork. Each year we would get a yearbook which we always enjoyed. We have 1976 - 1990. A set of books with children's classic stories also came with this. I really don't remember any of the stories in them. Alice In Wonderland might have been one. We gave that to my Aunt to give to our 2nd cousin Michael in the early 90's. That's about when we threw out the encyclopedias too. We did keep the yearbooks though. I never want to get rid of those. I should look through them someday soon. It has been a long time since I've done so.

Pink Panther

My brother and I loved this cartoon when we were kids as did a couple of our friends. Mark won a nice Pink Panther stuffed animal at a carnival once. He regrets selling it at a flea market. We still have 3 pewter figures of PP. I did buy a stuffed one at a flea market - it has a Mary Kay cosmetic company tag on it. I hadn't seen the cartoon in a very long time and decided today to look it up on You Tube then figured that I'd try for the first time to send it here. I hope that it works and that you enjoy it.

Favourite Elvis Songs

This is one of about the 14 Elvis 45s that once were my Dad's but now my mom has because he took stuff from her during the divorce like the cuckoo clock that her mom got her in Germany so she just kept some of his records. She has a few of her own too. I remember my parents being upset when the heard on the radio that Elvis had died. I always enjoyed his Christmas and other albums that my parents played. Mom didn't even like him when she was younger but grew to like his music. A friend of Dad's brought back a little stone from Graceland for him. I'd like to go there someday.

1. Little Sister

2. Suspicious Minds

3. Kentucky Rain

4. Return to Sender

5. All Shook Up

6. (You're the) Devil in Disguise

7. Heartbreak Hotel

8. Don't Be Cruel

9. It's Now or Never

10. Crying In The Chapel

11. (Marie's the Name) His Latest Flame

12. Can't Help Falling In Love

13. She's Not You

14. Stuck On You

15. If I Can Dream

Germany 1989 Part 3

My friend Ricky, her aunt and uncle and I went to the nice old town of Rothenburg. We ate at a restraunt there. The food was very good. I didn't take that many photos or buy any souveniers. Her aunt did get me a round glass wall hanging with pretty flowers pressed in it. I sent away for the town's guide book a few years later to make up for not getting one when actually there although it's not quite the same as buying it then and there. Here aunt just happens to be in the one photo outside of the cafe. I feel bad that I don't remember the aunt, uncle and a few of Ricky's friend's names. I should have kept a travel journal.

My Family

The bottom photo from left to right is Aunt Jo, mom and Aunt Al in the early 1940s. It got messed up a little from being in a photo album page that was too small for it. Recently I put it in a different kind of page. The photo above this is of their parents from the 1960s. I never knew my grandpa because he died a couple of years before I was born. The top photo is of grandma, mom and my aunts in the mid 1980s. I have only met my Aunt Jo who is 2nd from the left four times - at Aunt Al's house where this picture was taken, at our house around the same time period, during our trip to Florida in 1983 and in the early 90s. Or maybe it was only 3 and she was at our house then we went to my Aunt Al's house during that same visit.

General Motors

My father worked at the General Motors plant in Linden, N.J. for about 23 years. At first he was on the line putting tires on the cars then he was a forklift driver. We toured the plant during the 75th anniversary of the company in 1983. They had vintage cars in the parking lot that were cool. They gave out nice keychains as souveniers. I'll be posting a picture of that once I've put the many photos that I've been taking lately into the computer. Dad could have retired with full pension in only 7 years but he took the buyout in 1986 or 1987 then went to work at Newark airport. I feel bad about thinking that this was pretty foolish of him. I wonder if he regrets what he did. I wouldn't feel right asking him about this. I used to be so proud to say that my dad worked at GM when people would ask what job he has.