Welcome To New Maryland

Hello from Southern Pennsylvania, oops!, I mean New Maryland! For those of you who aren't from the area, let me explain. Several years ago people who live and work in Maryland began buying homes in lower PA. A lower cost of living, suburban lifestyles, good school districts all seemed like attractive PA qualities to the migrant Marylander. I was understanding and empathetic when the migration began. It was of course the boarder of two states. A fluid, transparent boundary existing only on paper and theory. Honestly, when one travels across the Mason-Dixon line, even on 83, not much changes. Now obviously there are many differences between rural PA and Baltimore. However, very few differences, if any at all, exist between the southern most points of PA and the northern most points of MD. However, over the past 15 years the migration has continued 35 miles into PA. So, there you have it, New Maryland! First we had New Mexico on the map, well now we can add "NEW MARYLAND!" I believe I've been tolerant of all the MD license plates driving around 30 miles over the boarder, but then it was the invasion of "busy Maryland Moms" taking over, and micro-managing the soccer team. Now today as I dropped my children off at school, a Maryland mom drove down the side of the drop-off line, cut off the line, pushed her kid out the door, allowed him to cross a lane of traffic (a huge blind spot exists in this area) and then WAITED for him to enter the building! Now, don't get me wrong, I always wait for my kids to enter the building. However, I don't cut off the entire line AND then sit and wait for my kids to get through the door! Even on a slow day the back of the drop off line is only 4 min. to the door. Oh, but MD mom, I KNOW you are so busy, because your job is so IMPORTANT, and you have a 45 min. commute, and you are a woman trying to balance a career and family from 50 miles away! Well, that might seem like that was the topper to my morning, but NO! As my kids were approaching the school door, 2 police cars came flying down the lane and cornered a car. Two teens (the driver and passenger) were quickly removed from the vehicle, and placed in the back of the one cruiser car. As I was pulling away from the school, I spotted the cars license plate. Would you like to guess what state the car was from? OMG! How did you guess? Maryland! So, there you have it folks, welcome to New Maryland! I'm grateful to live in a state where so many WANT to live. I mean come to think of it, an acquaintance of mine just recently married an MD cop, who happens to live 25 miles inside PA. Apparently MD has become such a horrible place to live, even the law enforcement officers can't take it! Wow! To think all this time we've been traveling to MD for the Inner Harbor, dinner, museums, etc. I suppose the culture what is driving the MD residence away.

Mr. Aloe

Mr. Aloe's side view was bugging me. Sadly I don't know how to easily rotate it. Here is a fresh picture after he was cleaned up and repotted. Isn't he handsome! I know...I HAVE ISSUES!

This Is Love

Many would think this picture (yes, it's sideways,sorry) looks like a giant weed in the middle of my mud room. Many more of you may wonder why I would include "Love" in the title of a post containing this picture. And many more of you may be wondering why this post isn't titled "Get That Damn Thing Out Of My House!" Well, let me introduce you to Mr. Aloe. Five or six years ago I found Mr. Aloe at Target. He was on a shelf in the middle of the store, in a wee tiny pot, dying. I had wanted an aloe plant and figured I would purchase the wee tiny plant and nurse it back to health. Well, that I did. Since then Mr. Aloe has gone from a wee tiny plant to, well, somewhat of a giant. Each year when the weather gets cold we move him into the mudroom. Each spring we dump him out of his pot, place him in a larger pot to accommodate his new growth, pull off any new "babies" (yes, we pot the babies and also realize that Mr. Aloe is actually a Ms. Aloe), and then repeat the same process again in the fall. This year Mr. Aloe even flowered twice. I never knew aloes flowered, but alas they do! This year also brought the first, "Are we going to keep Mr. Aloe?" conversation. As you can see, Mr. Aloe takes up a HUGE portion of our mudroom. We need to keep him off the ground to prevent eye injuries to the dogs and kids. James thought this might be the year to keep Mr. Aloe's babies and say good-bye to Mr. Aloe. I was crushed. He's become a member of the family. The kids are fascinated by him, he heals my babies cuts, scrapes and burns, and well, he's grown on us. (Pun intended) I can't bear the thought of letting him die! I called my parents and asked if he could spend the winter in their heated basement. My Mom agreed, but weeks flew by and we never got around to repotting, separating, etc. So, it seemed with frost in the forecast we were going to have to say our final good-byes. I already prepared myself for seeing his limp, wilted, frost-bitten limbs laid out across the lawn. Sunday night, brought frost, I felt horrible about him being outside, but knew he had grown too large for our home and too heavy for James to easily carry. I woke Monday morning and went to let the dogs out, praying the frost had spared Mr. Aloe. As I opened the mudroom door, I witnessed the above sight. James had hauled Mr. Aloe inside late Sunday night, before the frost. Now THAT is LOVE!

Where Have I Been?

Where have I been? Well,on the porch. I've been on the porch and at Lowe's. I've been on the porch sanding, sanding, sanding and sanding some more. Then, after sanding (on the porch) I was at Lowe's. Purchasing stain, polyurethane, sponges, rags, sand paper and drawer pulls. And now after a week of hard work (and lots of inhaled fumes),we now have two awesome dressers and lots more storage. The dressers were originally covered in a peeling, nasty, reddish-brown stain. Now (as you can see in the above picture) they look awesome! Usually James and I take our time on projects, however, with this one we wanted to hurry and finish before the weather got too cool to stain/polyurethane outside. After weeks of warm weather, PA chose to find fall the same week James and I found a new project! Isn't that the way things usually work out! Ha-ha! Well, our work was well worth it. As was the trip to pick up the dressers out of my girlfriends, mom's shed. Lets just say it involved 2 kids, 1 Ford van, no "stow & go" seating, an ancient 4ft. long bungee cord, a decaying spool of twine, a small, sweet and helpful hardware store owner, and finally Gorilla glue tape applied directly to the van's paint. OH! And a drive (including the above items/issues) through an entire county! Yeah, yeah! I know, had to be there! But funny it was!

This Is Hilarious!

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=IsvWK_EedLU


I found this video at Growin With It. I couldn't help but post it here too! Too true and too funny!

Mr. John's Mountain Party

We had a fantastic time yesterday at Mr. John's Annual Mountain Party. For those who may not know, Mr. John is our bachelor neighbor. He has been our neighbor for 6 years and during that time has become like an uncle to our kids. They LOVE their "Mr. John". Each October Mr. John's family has a party at their cabin in the mountains. Last year we had the honor of being invited and had an awesome time. This year we were re-invited and, again, had a great time full of music, great food, smores, Uncle Sonny's fantastic french fries, and "Redneck horseshoes". Thanks for a great time Mr. John!

Why I Am Married

In moments like these, I realize why I am a married woman. My man can dispose of a 3 pound opossum carcass, but I am unable to remove a moth from the dishwasher. How the moth actually got there is beyond me. Fact is, it's there. I tried plucking it out with a fork.... it fluttered! EEEWWWW! The dishes in the sink are piling up, I don't (well won't) hand wash. Just ask my kids. In the mornings when all of our spoons are dirty, I could open the dishwasher and wash a few for use, but NO we simply enjoy "Funky Spoon Day!" We open the kitchen drawers and grab any item that resembles a spoon and use it to eat our cereal. Measuring spoon, melon baller, avocado pitter...etc. So, now I have a sink full of dirty dishes, a dirty dishwasher AND a resident moth! At this rate it looks like we'll have to initiate "Funk Fork Day" for dinner! Hurry home James!!!!!!!!