I am a Victorian Soul, who lives in a small townhouse that was built in the mid 1970's, not a huge Mega Mansion!! I just recently lost my Hubby Joe, who was a Retired Letter Carrier. I worked night shift as an RN on a Hospital based Rehabilitation( Physical Medicine) Unit for 37 years before I had Knee Replacement Surgery and officially Retired in 2019 after 41 years working in Direct Patient Care ... I am so glad that we retired at 62 years of age and got to spend that time together before he passed....I still do love Retirement!!!!

I DABBLE IN A BIT OF THIS AND THAT!!!!

" IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO BE WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE BEEN"
George Eliot
George Eliot was actually a pen name for a woman named Mary Anne Evans......

BLOGGING FOR FUN AND FRIENDSHIP!!!!!!

Saturday, July 5, 2025

A Special Dinner, the Plea Deal & a Patriotic Tablescape

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

Welcome to Debbie-Dabble Blog!!

 
I am so happy you decided to stop by!!
 
Blogging has always been a stress reliever for me along with an avenue to share my passions which are my home and my garden.....
 
 I feel it is a personal Journal that, hopefully, someday, my Twin Granddaughters will be able to look back on to learn about who I was.... 

I will be posting 3 times a week on MONDAYS, THURSDAYS and SATURDAYS....
 

As always, click on each picture if you would like to enlarge it....
 
 
 PINTEREST
 
If you would like to Pin my pictures, please click on them to enlarge them to do so....
 
 
 A NOTE ABOUT COMMENTS
 
I enjoy reading your comments and will return the favor by visiting and commenting on your blog or reply to you directly here if you do not have a blog but I do have my comment section set to Moderation due to spammers and hackers so your comment will not appear immediately...
And since I have a very busy life, like most of us do, it may take me awhile to return your comments but I promise I will....
 
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 In my last post, I shared how I decorated my Front Porch and Yard for the July 4th Holiday week....

 

  

 

Along with a few new additions...

 

 

 Click HERE if you missed that post!!

 

 I want to THANK Lisa, over at Boondock Ramblings, for choosing my blog post, Tea Room Buffet and More in the Dining Room, as one of her features from last week's Weekend Traffic Jam Link Party!! 

 

 

 Thanks so much, Lisa!!

 

 I also want to THANK Andrea, over at The Cottage Market, once again for choosing a post of mine as one of her features from this week's A Morning Cup of Joe... The post was Tea Room Buffet in the Dining Room and More!!

  

 I also really appreciate your kind words, Andrea..."Let me tell you… our friend Debbie never does anything small! I mean not only Holidays or special occasions but even Tea Time!!! Check it out! I think the Queen is coming!"

Thanks so much again!! 

Please stop by and link up to these delightful parties!!

 

 And now for a few Personal Notes...

 

 Well, the big news here in NEPA has been the Plea Deal in the Idaho Killings Case with local NEPA resident Bryan Kohberger pleading guilty!!! 

 
  
If you follow me in FB, you already know that I am a huge fan of Crime shows, both fictional and non-fictional..
 
I truly enjoy shows about serial killers as I love learning about the psychological aspects of their personalities....
 
NEPA has definitely had it's share of Murderers especially Mass Murders like the infamous George Banks, who gained national attention for killing 13 people, mostly his own children!! 

 

" George Emil Banks, a former Camp Hill prison guard. Banks fatally shot 13 people in Wilkes-Barre and Jenkins Township, Pennsylvania. The victims included seven children – five being his own – their mothers, some of their relatives, and one bystander."

You can read about that horrific day HERE....

Some of the murders took place less than 10 minutes from my home and I also took care of George Banks  during his hospital stay for back pain and 2 of his children when I used to cover Pediatrics as a young nurse prior to his killing spree!! 

And then we have Hugo Selenski ,a double murderer who buried the bodies in his back yard...


 He gained national attention when he escaped from prison using bed sheets!!!!

 The hospital I worked at went on lock down as his sister was a nurse working there.... 

In February, 2025, a Documentary about him aired on Crime Nation!! 

I also worked with an Occupational Therapist who had a daughter by him..... 

 

When it first hit the News that they had made an arrest in the Idaho Killings case in the Pocono's, about an hour from my home, we were shocked!!!

Our local ABC Affiliate has been running a series on this case about local resident Bryan Kohberger! 

We were shocked again when the top story on our 6 pm News about a week ago was that he would plead guilty...

My son Joey got a good laugh out of it and looked at me and said "Well....there goes your August!"

I could not wait for the trial to start as I planned on being glued to the TV taking in all I could about it!

I did watch some of the Documentaries on this case and will be watching a new one scheduled to come out on July 11..... 

I do personally believe that life in prison with no chance of appeal and parole is worse than the death penalty and it spares the family going through months of a trial and the possibility that he may have been found NOT guilty!! 

 But I will now have to find something else to occupy my August!!

 LMAO!

 

 Last Sunday, I finally was able to do something that I had planned on doing in May but got a bit delayed because of the rain and heat delaying all the Seasonal Work that I needed to do outside...

I finally got caught up with everything so I was able to invite my late friend Anne Marie's husband Tony down for a lasagna dinner!!!

  What a wonderful afternoon my son  Joey and I had!! 

I made my 4 Cheese Sausage/Hamburg Lasagna....

 

 

For dessert, I also made Banana Bread with chocolate chips!!

 

Anne Marie always had her Dining Room set in beautiful tablescapes....

I can not compare mine to hers because we eat in my Dining Room every day but I attempted to set a nice tablescape for my lasagna dinner....

 

 

 I started with a solid pink tablecloth.... 


Then I added these sweet place mats....
 
 

I used the dinner plates from my Summer Rose China that I bought at Acme Markets before I got married....
 
 

I placed a pretty paper napkin with flowers on it on top of the plate....


My gold flatware and crystal glassware....



In the center of the table......


A brass candelabra that I spray painted pink a very long time ago with pink Home Interiors votive cups....


On a mirrored tray, that was silver and I spray painted gold, is an Angel along with Angel Salt and Pepper Shakers to remember those that we lost....





 
A platter for Italian bread and a bowl for butter.....
 

 Since this china set did not come with dessert/bread plates, I used the plain white ones from my everyday Corelle set....


 I served the Banana Bread in a vintage pink depression glass dish....

 

It was a lovely afternoon.....

We shared some memories, talked about those we lost and also had some good laughs! 

 I know Joe and Anne Marie were up there smiling down on us!! 

We will definitely be doing this again!!!

 

It was just Joey and I on the 4th of July as I am hosting my family Independence Day Celebration with all my kids, grand kids and grand pups on Tuesday, the 8th as my son and DIL had to work the weekend and the 4th of July and are off on Tuesday.... 

 I still wanted to make the 4th festive so I set a simple table for the 2 of us....

 

 This is how we sit for dinner here every evening.....

 

I started with a tablecloth that my late husband Joe bought on clearance a few years back.....

 

 Along with these paper place mats that he also bought.....

 

 I used the Patriotic dinner plates that my friend Anne Marie gifted me.....

 

I recently bought a set of 4 Patriotic dessert plates, with different designs on each of the 4, in Ollies for a little over $3, using a 15% off coupon...
 
I used this one for Joey's place setting..... 



And this one for mine.....
 
 


I also used my red handled flatware from Wegman's and blue glassware that were a yard sale find a long time ago....
 
On a reversible Patriotic place mat is that gold mirrored tray with a fire cracker on it....
 

And my crystal Angel salt and pepper shakers and another Angel, remembering our Angels in heaven....

 
 
 
Now I did not cook since it was Friday and that is the day that Joey treats me to a Take Home meal as I cook dinner for him all week long....
 
He also pays for all my streaming services.... 

We had burgers, fries, mozzarella sticks and Joey had an order of wings.....


For a place whose claim to fame is Chicken, Buffalo Wild Wings sure makes a mean burger!!!


I had to cut it in quarters to fit in my mouth and I ended up saving one quarter for today as a snack....

We also had a piece of this amazing cake that my next door neighbor's gifted me after they had a party celebrating his graduation from Med School.....


Along with a Klondike bar for each of us!!!

After Joey went home I was happy to be able to watch a Live Stream of the fire works that are shot off every year here at Kirby park in Wilkes Barre!!!

It was shot from up high and the reflections of the fireworks were picked up on the Susquehanna River which is right by Kirby Park....

This is the FB feed if you are interested..... 

We used to be able to see the fire works from our front porch when we first moved here but the tree line now blocks them...

 

It has been really nice here the last few days and I took advantage of that to spend some time on my front porch and I started to read a book..

I realize that I have to intentionally plan time to do so....

The cooler , low humidity weather was ushered in with a storm....

These are some pictures of my next door neighbors Usef and Nyla having some fun out in the rain!!!




  

 




LOL!!  
 
Brought back a lot of memories of when I sat out on the porch with my sons watching the lightning and storms roll in from across the river... 
 

 I have a busy weekend as I will be helping out with all the Feast Day Celebrations for my church's little 11 year old Patron Saint, Maria Goretti....

 

Saint Maria Goretti is an Italian virgin martyr of the Catholic Church, known for her purity and forgiveness. Born in 1890, she was tragically killed in 1902 while defending herself from an attack. She is the patron saint of purity, children, and victims of sexual abuse.
 
We celebrated with a Novena and will be having a Mass said in Italian....
 
Then the Community Group that I belong to will be serving Pizza after the 4:30 pm Mass today on Saturday
 
Pastries and donuts after the 9:00 am Mass on Sunday
 
And cookies and ice cream after the 11:00 am Mass on Sunday!! 
 
 Also on Sunday, I am treating my niece Renae and great nieces Cait and Carly to pizza at my house in the evening...
 
 It will be a great weekend!!
 
  
I hope you will be enjoying yours with friends and family!! 
 
 
 I hope you will stop by to visit again on MONDAY for my next post!!   
 
 
 Stay safe, healthy and most of all, HAPPY!!

Thanks to those who took the time out of their busy day to spend a little bit of time with me!!

If you do not have a blog, PLEASE  give me some way to reply to your comment, maybe by including your email in your comment.  If I can not find a way to reach you, I will reply on the post where you commented so please check back......


I am linking up to these parties:
 
 


  THURSDAY
 
 
    Please take some time to visit these terrific hosts and all those joining in on the fun!
 



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4 comments:

  1. Dogmom DivaJuly 5, 2025 at 3:44 PM

    Hi Deb! What a lovely dinner party you had with Joey and Anne Marie's hubby. Looked delicious!
    Your 4th table was very festive
    I don't have holiday tableware anymore, I gave away my Christmas dinnerware a long time ago. Best I can do is seasonal paper plates and napkins lol.
    I too was looking forward to watching the trial. I was just dumbfounded watching him plead guilty 4 times. Definitely has an evil look about him. Eww..
    Enjoy your weekend. I am still recuperating from Pancreatis. Have appt with surgeon on 17th to discuss removing my gallbladder as they seem to think that is the problem triggering this pancreas ordeal.

    Hugs, Barb

    ReplyDelete
  2. Miss MerryJuly 5, 2025 at 6:57 PM

    What a lovely meal with your friend's husband. I know you all had a good time remembering his wife and Joe and enjoying the stories. And your Fourth of July meal looks so delicious and festive, too!
    As you know I belong to a crime podcast club at our library and this has turned into a hobby for me, too. I was thinking the other day how common place these horrible crimes really are. And you are proving that too. A fun young friend of mine and her husband bought a huge lovely farmhouse in the country that they have restored and turned into a care taking business for animals as well as working their professional jobs (her job is online). And their house was the scene of a woman who murdered her husband in a story made for television. And it has been on television - "Snapped" on Oxygen and "Ms Murder" on Tubi and "Forensic Files". When they first bought the house they were approached to film inside and on the grounds. They said NO. But they film from across the street and used drones. You can see my friends car in the driveway.
    A girl I went to high school with drifted out west, was murdered and her body was unidentified for decades. My neighbors cousin was killed in a hit and run in town while walking. The driver was never found. A local family is raising money to revive the case of their sixteen year old who was murdered 20 years ago and whose body was found in a field. It is a sad world and yet, I follow the cases and make notes and hope that they are solved so that their families can get peace.
    My mom worked in our local emergency room with Dr Michael Swango. He was an ER doctor with a service that traveled and would bring donuts spiked with poison as well as poisoning patients. They think he could have committed up to 60 murders. She swears he never brought in donuts when she was working. He has had several tv episodes about him, too.

    ReplyDelete
  3. JeanieJuly 8, 2025 at 7:03 PM

    I heard about the Idaho case but not NEPO! How cool is that? And how lovely you could welcome Anne Marie's husband for dinner. I'm sure he was thrilled to be invited to a delicious meal with a good friend with whom he could talk about Anne Marie.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Teresa BJuly 11, 2025 at 5:40 AM

    I love your tablescapes! Thank you for sharing at The Really Crafty Link Party this week, and have a great weekend.

    ReplyDelete

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