Nephron News

How Cool!

2012-02-09T23:27:00.003-05:00

Alyssa got a new pair of shoes in the mail today from Toms. What a neat idea...buy a pair of shoes and the company will give a pair of new shoes to a child in need :)

8 Layer Casserole

2012-02-08T22:28:00.005-05:00

I recently 'joined' Pinterest and was browsing it the other night, when I came across this recipe. Not being familiar enough with how Pinterest works, I managed to quickly lose it :( and no matter what I did, I couldn't find it again on their web site. Fortunately, I had noticed that the recipe came from Better Homes and Gardens web site. Today I did a web search and luckily found it on their site!

Kurt and I enjoyed it, Alyssa not so much ;) She's didn't like that there were onions in it, and would have preferred more sauce. The nice thing, is that it can be made totally low fat if that's someone's choice. You could use ground turkey, low fat/fat free sour cream, cream cheese, and cheddar cheese.

I rate it a 4 star out of 5 :)

Remembering.....

2012-01-24T21:14:00.003-05:00

I have not taken any of these pictures. I borrowed them all from Facebook. I just want to be able to have these memories on my blog. Rest in peace Joe Paterno.

That's Amore!

2012-01-22T14:07:00.007-05:00

I've found a new favorite restaurant!! And, no, it's not because I know the owner! The food at this place was phenomenal, delicious, awesome, fantastic, extraordinary, outstanding, sensational, marvelous.....shall I go on!??! Get the idea??? The servings were HUGE! Alyssa and I went for lunch this afternoon with Erika and her mom. We all loved it!! It's very casual, BYOB (they do offer you a complimentary glass of wine...it was a bit early for us, we got there just after 11 am, so we passed this time), the staff was very efficient, and, oh, did I mention that the food was GREAT?!?!?!?

It pays to know the chef, this mozzarella salad was compliments of him :) Wanna take a guess what was hidden underneath those slices of fresh mozzarella cheese (besides a slice of tomato)??? Would you believe there was a slice of ORANGE under there?!!? It was delightful!

This was my dish....Pasta al Forno. Yummy! I brought better than half home with me....

Compliments of the chef, mini cannoli's :)

This was posed just in case you couldn't figure that out :)

FAIL:

(on my part, clicked too late!)

Success!!

Thank You.

2012-01-22T13:59:00.000-05:00

Holy Feathers!

2012-01-18T21:09:00.004-05:00

Don't think you'd ever miss one.....

Wedding Day

2012-01-02T20:16:00.003-05:00

Brian & Cortney got married in December. Everyone's friends from DiscipleMakers...

our nephew Matt is on Staff with DM :)

Sarah & Alyssa with the happy couple! Cortney & Brian asked them to be greeters :)

BFF's :)

Alyssa & Lydia

Adam dancin' with his favorite litte girl :)

The ironic thing is this is something Matt would have done with my kids...and now my kids are big enough to do it with his kids :)

Our beautiful children :):):)

Christmas 2011 Pics

2012-01-02T19:32:00.007-05:00

How cool is that?!?!?! Penn State wrapping paper!! (It came in the mail along with a request for a donation to PSU. We've been donating to Penn State for the last 6 years, but in a different way...it's called TUITION!!!!!)

My new Bible from Alyssa! It's blue and has my name engraved on it :)

What more could one want?!?!

OK, so Adam wrapped my gift in layers and layers of store circulars ;)

Once I got through all those layers, this was inside!

I love me my Nittany Lions!!

Kids went to JCPenney's and did pictures for me for Christmas :)

I don't know, this was from Adam and has something to do with Adam always breaking Kurt's drill bits....or something like that....

What more could he want!?!? A Nittany Lion pillow pet :)

And one for Alyssa, too!!

She's pretty sure she knows what's in here! Has way too many Apple products....she recognized the FONT on the packaging slip on the front of the box!

Could it be?!?!?!

OMG!!! IT IS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's an iPad!!!!!! I was so right :):)

This kinda' works well as a cell phone for me :)

No car calendar?!?!?! What's this all about???

Moving into the age of technology....a KINDLE!!

This was to go along with the Blu-Ray player that has wireless internet capabilities (I can farm on TV...LOL!!). Only problem is that once he and Adam had everything all set up, there's FIVE different remote controls needed!! I'm not sure I'll ever be able to watch television again!!

Christmas Day 2011 Take Two

2011-12-28T22:19:00.002-05:00

Christmas Day 2011

2011-12-28T21:43:00.002-05:00

How Sweet :)

2011-12-02T21:28:00.000-05:00

Jamie, Rachel and Pam made me this Christmas quilt decoration yesterday as a decoration for my door in my office. It is made out of paper. Didn't they do a great job?? It's so very creative. Thanks guys, I appreciate it lots :)

DM Conference

2011-11-01T21:09:00.003-04:00

Adam attended the DiscipleMakers Fall Conference this past weekend. There were about 250 students from different colleges/universities. This was the Penn State contingent. Adam's the short one in the back :-)

You learn lots of stuff on FB, too. Saw tonight that he's attending the spring break mission trip to Tennessee next March :) SURPRISE!!!

Our New Kitty :)

2011-10-30T22:11:00.002-04:00

Early Winter?

2011-10-30T14:57:00.003-04:00

Snow in October? Really?!?!?!?

Guess the only thing to do is make a huge tray of lasagna :)

Can You Hear Me Now??

2011-10-30T14:40:00.002-04:00

Alyssa dropped her iPhone last weekend when we were at Penn State. As you can see she shattered her screen :( The phone still worked, but she kept getting glass shards in her fingers...not good. Initially, she figured she'd have to get a new/used phone. Because our contract is not up yet, a new phone could have cost close to $500 (which is nuts, I might add!!). Kurt and I had seen an article in our local paper just the week before about a business in Allentown that actually fixes iPhones. When she got to work on Monday morning, one of the guys in the IT Department actually offered to fix the phone for her, which ended up not working out. Til it was all said and done, Alyssa attempted to fix it herself following the instructions on a YouTube video. That didn't go so well, either. In the middle of the Nor'Easter yesterday, she drove to Allentown and got the phone fixed at Mobile Genius.

Sunset

2011-10-30T14:39:00.002-04:00

We Are.....

2011-10-29T18:20:00.008-04:00

Last weekend was what has turned out to be our annual trek to visit one of our children at Penn State. It's no longer Alyssa we visit, but instead Adam :) I'm so glad it was last weekend, and not this weekend! It was overcast, but I'll take that over the lovely Nor'Easter we had this weekend!!

The kids went to DiscipleMaker's large group meeting on Friday night, so Kurt and I were left on our own. I happened to see that Jerry Seinfeld was going to be on campus and they still had tickets left....I called and got us two tickets. We had a blast! He was phenomenal!

After DM, Alyssa went out with her ex-roomie, Sierra and then spent the night with her at the hotel she was staying at. Adam went to a get-together after DM with friends, and came back to the hotel after the party and stayed overnight with us. We picked Alyssa up in the morning and went to the Arboretum at Penn State and took lots of pictures :)

They were having a pumpkin decorating contest....they had a ton of decorated pumpkins that were due to be judged that afternoon. There were some phenomenal carvings!

Recognize this guy???

This is Old Main:

Old Main again:

This is the Dickinson Law Building:

Our excursion to GoodWill to get Adam clothing for his Hallowe'en parties:

Here's the AccuWeather building in State College. I listen to WAEB every morning on my way into work and they talk to Dr. Joe Sobol from AccuWeather every day...I've always wondered what the building looked like. This visit I insisted we drive by:

And then....best part of all! We spotted JoePa! Two of him, actually :):)

We had lunch at Otto's...it's a favorite of ours:

LOLZ :)

2011-10-23T13:38:00.003-04:00

ALYSSA......

and ADAM.....

I suppose these pictures demand an explanation :) We went to visit Adam Friday/Saturday at Penn State. Alyssa's old roommate from student teaching days lives nearby and came to State College on Friday, so they could go out Friday night. Adam, on the other hand, went to a Zombie Halloween party on Saturday evening at some friends' townhouse. Apparently, according to FaceBook (the authority), they got free Stickies (delicious sticky buns) at the diner they went to because of their awesome-ness!

We took Adam to GoodWill on Saturday to get clothing for this event and another one he'll be going to. He came out of there with a man's suit coat, shirt, sweater, and pants for $25. Look for new pics in the next week or so of his next costume. Ever hear of Peggy from USA Prime Credit!??!! Be prepared :)

East And West

2011-10-17T22:12:00.002-04:00

Driving home on Friday night, looking to my west:

In the same spot, looking to my east:

Driving home from work tonight:

On our way to visit family in Fogelsville last evening:

Homecoming 2011

2011-10-15T20:10:00.003-04:00

Penn State played (and beat, I might add...) Purdue today. The final score was 23-18. Apparently Adam ended up in the 'S' zone today...which is basically just luck. You end up going through the right gate, at the right time, and it's just the luck of the draw. Everyone who ends up in this area gets a free t-shirt. You may remember pics from the time Alyssa and Sarah got in the zone :)

Pics from Adam come along much more sporadically than they did from Alyssa. And generally the only way they come, is for me to beg him for them :) I asked him for one today at the game, he sent me one of the game. I appreciated that, but what I was really looking for was one of him....and maybe his buddies. This is what I got! Oh, well, I can't have everything :)

Company :)

2011-10-09T22:55:00.004-04:00

We had some overnight company last weekend, two of which had a sleepover in Alyssa's room and managed to wake up at 6:45 am! That's mighty early for Alyssa on a day off!! Here the girls are playing with chalk on the sidewalk at 9 in the morning!!

Alyssa with Halle and Riley:

Our nephew, Troy, has mastered the art of cat yodeling. Frodo doesn't seem like he was so excited about it, however :)

India

2011-10-09T21:20:00.005-04:00

Kurt was in India for a week last month. He forgot his camera, but one of the guys that was with him took lots of pictures and was kind enough to share them with Kurt. It makes you appreciate what you have in America. Unfortunately, I have no captions for you. Just look and enjoy!

Los Gatos

2011-10-09T20:49:00.004-04:00

Can never have enough kitty pics :)

Of course, just as I was ready to click the picture, Frodo woke up:

Macy found the only sun in her mommy's room to take a nap:

Who's this!?!? She doesn't belong to us ;) Oh, I know, it's Bridgette....Joss and Jonathan's kitty:

Our little princess:

And this is my favorite kitty ;)

Happy Birthday Adam!!

2011-10-02T16:04:00.002-04:00

OK, my bad. I missed doing this on Friday, which was Adam's 20th birthday. I wish we could have been with him, but sounds like he was so busy on Friday, he wouldn't have had time for us anyway :) I love you Adam and hope you had a fantastic birthday!! We are so looking forward to visiting you in a few weeks :)

Transplant Program

2011-10-01T21:58:00.008-04:00

I organized an informational transplant program last Sunday evening at our church. In addition to me saying a few words, my friend, Sonja, who is a Transplant Coordinator at Lehigh Valley Hospital spoke, along with Todd Franzen who works with Gift of Life Donor Program. One of my patients from my office is the patient liason with the Gift of Life and he was kind enough to come and speak on behalf of the program and also opted to say a few words on a personal note, as a transplant recipient. The second half of the evening was devoted to friends who have somehow been touched by transplant, either receiving an organ, donating one, having a family member receive a transplant or donating a loved one's organs. The whole evening was quite informational, but listening to those individuals was quite emotional. Unfortunately, we learned that only about 45-46% of people in both Lehigh and Northampton County are registered donors on their driver's license. That number should be a whole lot higher! If you're not a donor, won't you consider becoming one?

Sonja:

One of our guests...somehow my photographer managed to get quite a few pics of this little one :)

Todd Franzen from Gift of Life:

Yours truly:

My friend, Nancy, sharing her experience with her daughter's liver transplant at 10 months:

My panel of recipients, donors, etc. At far right, is Pastor Barry who received a liver transplant last year, and to his right, are Rachel, Nancy's daughter and her friend Christie, who also received a liver transplant earlier this year:

Gerri, at very left, donated her husband's organs after he had a brain aneurysm. To her right are Steph and her husband, Chris, who were involved in a paired exchange at Johns Hopkins in Maryland. Chris wanted to donate to his wife, but was not a match. There was another couple being evaluated at Hopkins that was in a similar situation. The husbands ended up donating to each other's wives :)

And there's that little cutie pie again :)

2011-10-01T21:55:00.001-04:00

This Is A Test

I am trying to post from my phone. I am anxious to see if it works.

Beth & Andy

2011-10-01T20:19:00.007-04:00

Our niece Beth got married recently. These are pics from the wedding and reception.

Alyssa with her cousins' girls:

Beth's sister, Rachel:

Beth's sister, Jessica:

Beth and her daddy:

Mr. & Mrs. Andrew Petro:

These little girls just adore Alyssa:

Kurt's brother, Chris, with two of his sons, Kieran and Mike:

Kurt with Uncle Bill :)

(Bill is Martha's brother & quite the character)

From left to right: Tate, Halle, Gabe, Riley & Lydia...what a bunch of cuties:

The reception was along the Susquehanna in Wilkes-Barre, which crested at 42 feet, one foot below the 43 foot wall in front of the hotel. As you can see, the water is still high and muddy. These pics were taken about a week after the flooding:

No wedding cake, but instead cupcakes :)

Beth & Andy:

Everyone was given a page to write your wishes to the happy couple, what they remember most about them, what they should remember about their wedding day, how they know the wedding couple, etc. Alyssa was working on hers here:

Popular Miss Alyssa :)

All five of Chris & Fiona's children....two of them are kinda cut off, though :(

Halle eating her chicken nuggets:

Bloomsburg

2011-09-24T14:25:00.003-04:00

Alyssa and I drove out to Geisinger Medical Center on Thursday to visit one of her absolute bestest friends from church, Holly, who was in a horrific car accident 18 days ago. She is fighting for her life and could use all the prayers anyone is willing to share.

We drove through Bloomsburg on our way to Danville. I was sort of oblivious to my surroundings until Alyssa brought it to my attention as we were driving down Rt. 11 through town. We saw the pictures on TV after the flooding, but it didn't really hit us until we saw it for ourselves. This is just one small area we saw....

Always a Penn State Fan :)

2011-09-12T23:04:00.001-04:00

Old Pics :)

2011-09-12T22:42:00.003-04:00

I've been doing a little cleaning out in one of our upstairs rooms and came across some old pics :) They're not the greatest because I took pictures of the pictures. Oh, well, you get the point :)

PSU Remembers Part 2

2011-09-12T21:54:00.000-04:00

Eat Those Apples!

2011-09-12T01:10:00.004-04:00

OMG, you should have seen these little ones eating from their mom! (If you click on the pic to make it bigger, you'll see there's actually two there having a sip....LOL!) They were sooo rough...I'm surprised she didn't kick 'em in the head!!

I can not believe how close they are to our house!!

Just Another Weekend

2011-09-11T18:12:00.003-04:00

I was doing a little cleaning upstairs yesterday and had some company. He wasn't much of a help, however :) You may ask why there is a twin bed on the floor directly in front of a futon. We currently have all of Alyssa's apartment belongings in our two empty upstairs rooms (although, they're not very empty at the moment....LOL!!)

Not sure what this one had planned:

We spent the day with Erika today. She leaves for college on Thursday. She will be attending Drexel University and majoring in biomedical engineering. She came to church with us this morning, then we all enjoyed the never ending pasta special at Olive Garden. We each had our initial pasta bowl, then really didn't want any more 'cuz we were stuffed, but felt like we needed to have seconds to get our money's worth. The waitress came with smaller bowls, I think we each had like two spoonfuls, then packed the rest up to come home with us :)

I just loved this display of mannequins...OH WAIT!! Two of 'em look a little familiar!

PSU Remembers

2011-09-11T18:04:00.004-04:00

She Insisted

2011-09-06T20:48:00.003-04:00

Alyssa insisted we get this new tube-free toilet paper when we were grocery shopping this past weekend. I argued with her that it was going to be more expensive than the store brand. Turned out it was actually cheaper. Huh. Who woulda' thunk!?!?

This, however, could be an issue. How the heck are we gonna fit the holder in this:

We may not end up doing our part to save the earth if we can't fit the rolls on the holder. This may totally disrupt a certain person's toilet habits in this house ;)

Note the asterisk which notes at the bottom:

Results taken in 2009

Too funny!!

Miscellaneous

2011-09-05T17:48:00.004-04:00

Alyssa's Baby:

Casualty of Irene:

Buzzards stretching their wings:

Sunday Evening Silliness :)

2011-09-04T19:51:00.001-04:00

Shoe #2 :)

2011-09-04T17:58:00.002-04:00

Penn State 41-Indiana State 7

Football Eve!

2011-09-02T23:05:00.002-04:00

So weird. Having Alyssa home here, and getting the pics from Adam instead at Penn State!! He was with a group of friends from DiscipleMakers at Penn State's Football Eve tonight. He had texted me earlier today asking if he could order a new pair of shoes (he has to order his on-line because no one has his size in any store!)....I told him the only way he was allowed to order them was if he sent me some pics from tonight and the game tomorrow!

GO STATE!!!

....and, Adam, you've earned ONE shoe tonight, other one coming tomorrow after I see tomorrow's pics :):)

Irene

2011-08-28T10:33:00.002-04:00

Karlyn's Tarragon Chicken

2011-08-27T20:40:00.003-04:00

We had Tarragon Chicken this evening for Alyssa's birthday. We all really enjoy it and we hadn't had it in quite a while. I checked with Karlyn to be sure it was ok to post the recipe :)

2 Tbsp. butter

1 Tbsp. oil

4 skinless chicken breasts (pounded out, cut into smaller pieces)

3/4 cup dry white cooking wine

2 tsp. dijon mustard

1 Tbsp. fresh chopped tarragon or 1 tsp. dried tarragon

1/2 tsp. salt

3/4 cup heavy cream (I use light cream or half and half)

In a large frying pan, melt butter and oil over medium heat. Add chicken and cook, turning once until lightly browned, about 4 minutes per side. Remove.

Add wine to the pan. Bring to a boil, scraping up the brown bits. Stir in mustard, tarragon, salt and pepper to taste.

Whisk in cream and boil until mixture thickens slightly, about three minutes.

Return chicken to pan, turn in sauce to coat. Simmer 5-10 minutes until chicken is tender.

Serve with either buttered noodles (kid's favorite) or white rice (parent's favorite).

YUMMY!!

Cousins :)

2011-08-25T22:36:00.002-04:00

Adam spent a good portion of Sunday with Matt, Karlyn and kids. Looks like their kids enjoyed him. The ironic part of this is that Lydia used to SCREAM (and I do mean SCREAM....as in a panicked, scared to death SCREAM) when she saw Adam :) Seems like that's all resolved now!

Recognize These Characters?!?!?

2011-08-25T22:33:00.001-04:00

Country Livin'

2011-08-23T23:26:00.002-04:00

We've seen more deer on our property in the last month or so then we ever have! Kurt took the first picture yesterday morning as he was getting ready for work. Five bucks! Wowzers!

The following pictures were taken last week, this guy was looking for apples in the grass. Unfortunately, the camera was set on the wrong setting, so the pics aren't as good as what they could have been :(

You should be able to click on each pic and they'll enlarge to be able to get a closer look :)

PSU Love :)

2011-08-21T21:14:00.006-04:00

We took Adam to Penn State on Friday. It was quite the caravan :) Alyssa and I drove in my car, Kurt drove Adam's beetle and Adam rode his motorcycle. Fortunately, the rain held off until Adam got to State College. We hit sooo much construction on our way, it was ridiculous! We left at 9 am and should have gotten there by about 11:45. We never arrived until after 12:30 :(

This was just one of the construction spots on I-80:

And this was how fast (!!) I was going:

And there was Kurt tagging on behind:

Kurt, Alyssa and I went directly to Matt and Karlyn's when we got to State College and waited out the rain that had started about an hour earlier. Karlyn was sweet enough to feed us lunch. And dessert, too....those carmelitas were delicious!! Since Adam got there before us, he went right to pick up his parking permit, register his motorcycle and pick up his key. Once the rain subsided, we met him on campus at his dorm. His buddy Richard, was with him and helped us carry Adam's belongings in (which I might add fit nicely in the back of my car without even needing the carrier on top...how different than when we moved Alyssa up there her first year...LOL!! Plus we only needed to make one trip up to his dorm!)

Adam and Richard:

Adam's dorm hall. There are 8 floors and he's on the top. The top two floors are devoted to engineering students:

Our two Penn Staters:

His door:

Adam's view out his window:

Just moving in:

Alyssa setting everything up for her brother. Don't know how he would have done it without her :)

I think he'll be using that bookshelf to put his head, so the rest of his body fits on the bed :)

Alyssa even color coordinated his t-shirts! Thank goodness :)

He's at the end of the hallway. Literally.

Darn. We didn't make it to the Creamery :(

The good news is this is what is directly across from his room. The bad news is this is what is directly across from his room:

As of about noon today, his roommate had not arrived yet, so we didn't get a chance to meet him. Alyssa briefly spoke with Adam tonight and he had arrived sometime this afternoon. It doesn't seem like they'll have much in common, so it'll be interesting to see how it all works out.

He has three different modes of transportation....his car, his motorcycle and his bicycle. He found out on arrival that he could register his motorcycle for free and park it right by his dorm. His car is parked in a lot out beyond the football stadium and that was NOT free :( There's no charge for bike space, but it must be registered. So I think he's set as far as getting around campus and State College goes!

I'm having a tough time adjusting to him being gone. I think I've called him a couple of times each day :) It's just odd having him there and Alyssa here! Hopefully he has as good of an experience as she did :)

Night Time

2011-08-10T22:40:00.001-04:00

Happy Birthday Barb!!

2011-08-06T23:34:00.004-04:00

We helped celebrate Barb's 65th birthday today. Her family held a surprise party for her at church today. She got a call that there was a function in our fellowship hall and not enough help showed up to do the cooking and could she come help ;) Well, wasn't she surprised!! There was about 70 friends and family there to honor HER!! (And, no, she didn't have to do any cooking...that was just the ploy to get her there!)

Barb and I have been handbell partners on our bell choir for years...we share the same music and help each other out when one of us is lost or confused (which happens frequently I might add...LOL!!). She is retired, but had been the Spanish teacher at one of the high schools in the Lehigh Valley.

Happy Birthday, Barb!!

LBI 2011

2011-08-06T21:23:00.011-04:00

My plan was to put these pics in some sort of order, but the more I added, the more difficult it became....so.....y'all are just gonna have to deal with them in no particular order :)

This was our home away from home for a week the last week of July. We rented the second floor of this cute little beach front house in Surf City on Long Beach Island. The absolute best part of the whole week was getting to spend 24/7 with my very good friend, Vickie, who I hadn't seen for nearly 12 years.

Vickie and I became close friends when we worked together in the ICU at The Allentown Hospital in the 1980's. She moved to Indiana approximately 15 years ago and we've seen each other once since then :( I tried to arrange a weekend together in Pittsburgh earlier this year while Alyssa was out there doing her student teaching, but it would have been too long of a drive for Vic to get there to only spend a weekend together. She then decided that it had been way too long since she had been to the Jersey shore and maybe she could make the 16 hour trek to LBI, which would allow us to spend a whole week together, while giving her the opportunity to enjoy the beach :)

Kurt and Adam on their way back from a walk on the beach:

Kids enjoying the sun/surf:

The second best part of the week was arranging a little 'surprise' for Vic! Leanne and Vicki (yes, a different one...LOL!) came down for several hours on Friday to see Vic. We all became good friends while working together in the ICU. I had the opportunity to see Leanne and Vicki a couple of months ago at an ICU reunion breakfast and told them that Vic'd be with me on LBI and made plans for them to come down one day and surprise her. Let me tell you....it worked!!! She was totally shocked!! From left to right: me, Leanne, Vickie and Vicki:

We were having such issues not giggling while trying to get some good shots...either one of us had our eyes closed, or someone was making a goofy face. Alyssa loves the candid ones, so she just kept clicking away!

Check out the creepers in the background :)

And then Alyssa likes taking pics of people taking pics :)

Alyssa: "Look lovingly into each other's eyes...." This was the best we could do :)

I don't know....

Alyssa's holding Thor. He's the Broadcast mascot and loves to go on vacation with the members of the planning team!! Thor was rescued from one of those claw games. He recently traveled to Disney World, this trip to the Jersey Shore was probably anti-climactic for him :)

Catchin' up on Glamour magazine:

This is why our health insurance costs so much :)

Adam shared his inner tube with his dad :)

I didn't catch any sunsets but the sky was sure beautiful! That's the kids out there :)

Couldn't leave without getting a couple pics of our friends the seagulls :)

Kids again:

There were a ton of teeny tiny shells in the sand....Alyssa collected quite a few. That bottom one is actually a sand dollar!

My Famous Husband :)

2011-07-10T16:23:00.000-04:00

Gorgeous Day :)

2011-07-09T22:06:00.003-04:00

Today was absolutely gorgeous! I'd like summer much better if it could be like this all the time :) Alyssa and I spent the afternoon into part of the evening at Erika's high school graduation party. She was salutatorian of the Class of 2011 at Northampton and will be attending Drexel University in the fall majoring in Biomedical Engineering with a minor in German. We got her a college 'survival kit'. We put all the necessities in a small rubbermaid tote: bandaids, anti-itch cream, TUMS, ibuprofen, cough syrup, scotch tape, sharpies, pencils, pens, post-it notes, anti-bacterial soap, crayons, headbands, scissors, Gummi vitamins, umbrella, Vitamin C drops, etc. You know....all the important stuff you just HAVE to have :)

Elephants

2011-07-05T21:56:00.003-04:00

Kurt took these pics two weeks ago when he was in Copenhagen, Denmark on business:

Shtuff

2011-07-02T23:23:00.004-04:00

A few sunsets....it's been a while, I know you've been wondering :)

Company we've had for a few weeks:

A late dinner on Friday evening worked out for us. We discovered as we were driving home from the Pennsville Hotel that Woodstone Golf Course was having their fireworks. Alyssa and I dropped Kurt off and we drove back out our road and parked on the shoulder to watch them :)

Thanks To His Sister....

2011-06-24T17:09:00.001-04:00

.....my son was one of them :)

We Done Good :)

2011-06-19T22:51:00.004-04:00

I love the cards we got Kurt this year for Father's Day :)

New Car :)

2011-06-17T21:03:00.003-04:00

Through a series of unfortunate events, Alyssa ended up with a new car today. My mom had a little fender bender with her car last week, rendering her car un-drivable. She will be inheriting Alyssa's old car, thus the reason for Alyssa getting a new car.

It's a 2002 baltic green Jetta with only 39,000 miles on it. It's in terrific condition and the price worked for Kurt :)

And, no, this was not a graduation present for Alyssa....she got a brand new Mac book for graduation. This car is *on loan* to her until she gets a real job and can pay us back.

Geiger/PSU Contingent :)

2011-06-05T16:46:00.002-04:00

Oh, I don't know, what do you think about a building being named in their honor? Seems like enough of our money went to Penn State!!

From left to right: Lyle ('70), Kurt ('76), Troy ('94), Kim ('96), Matt ('99), Alyssa ('11)

Oh, and there's the PSU wannabee in the background! He'll be ('14)....

But Wait!

2011-05-30T22:22:00.004-04:00

There's More!!!

This was Alyssa's graduation present. It was a collection of hints towards her real graduation gift. Anyone care to venture any guesses as to what she was going to get!?!?

And There's Still More....

2011-05-30T20:06:00.012-04:00

Gotta do something to pass the time :)

Cutie pie!

The kiddos all wore blue and white:

LOL! It seems to be the thing to take a nice pic and then a funny one (jsyk, this is the funny one!)

This is our nephew, Matt and his wife, Karlyn with their children, Tate, Lydia and Gabriel. Matt and Karlyn are on staff with DiscipleMakers and live a few miles out of State College. It was so comforting knowing they were nearby these past four years. They picked Alyssa up most Sundays her freshman year and took her to church with them and often fed her afterwards. Matt fixed her car on numerous occasions. They visited her each time she moved into a new place. She babysat for them. They fed her. She attended their church all four years. And now they get Adam for the next three years :) Thanks Matt and Karlyn....we really appreciate all you've done!!

Height does have its advantages :)

Delicious ice cream cake from Coldstone Creamery:

We ordered out from Olive Garden and ate in :)

And There's More :)

2011-05-25T23:08:00.005-04:00

It's Just The Beginning

2011-05-25T22:12:00.005-04:00

....and by that I mean, it's just the beginning of a ton of pictures!!!

This is the group of Math Ed majors:

And this is the group of goofy Math Ed majors:

We took the pictures below back in March when we went to visit Alyssa for the day, thus the bare trees :)

This was where Alyssa spent many days/hours over the last four years!

Awww :)

2011-05-21T21:45:00.000-04:00

That's Some Dryer!

2011-05-14T22:45:00.003-04:00

I used the restroom today while I was shopping at the Giant in Coplay. This is what I call some mega-hand dryer!! You can see by the pics of my hands how forceful that air was coming out of the dryer :)

**and yes, I'm weird for taking pics of something like this....and no, no one saw me doing it :)

Reunion :)

2011-05-14T19:53:00.003-04:00

This morning was the start of what should be a phenomenal weekend (we're going to some graduation tomorrow). I had breakfast with a group of people I worked with in the intensive care unit at The Allentown Hospital back in the early '80's. We started out as colleagues back then, but quickly became close friends. As the years went on, and we moved on, we met other people and unfortunately lost track of many of those friendships. It was so fun today, as one by one another person arrived and we struggled to remember a name, or what their kids' names were, or realize how they still looked the same as they did 25-30 years ago....or....looked totally different.

Apparently approximately 30 people were expected, unfortunately only about 15 people made it. Plans are being made to hold another breakfast this fall, hoping that more people are able to attend. It was fun sitting there as everyone seemed to come up with someone else's name to invite that no one else had thought of!

For those of you who may see this and worked with us,

Left to right, sitting:

Barb, Rosemary, Gina, Jet, Shirley

Left to right, standing:

Renee, Michele, Joanie, Linda, Leanne, Vicki, Linda, Mary, Mercedes

This was just a portion of our group that hung out together and did many things outside of work. We all worked night shift together in the ICU. I remember many a mornings at the local bar eating omelettes, drinking beer and playing pool :)

And this is Mary....Mary was in our wedding :)

Cutie Patootie!

2011-05-09T20:16:00.003-04:00

How cute is this little one?!?! This is Josslyn, my BFF's little girl...she is also my god-child :)

Pumpkin Muffins

2011-05-08T12:09:00.002-04:00

This recipe goes way back to when the kids were in nursery school at Hope Lutheran in Cherryville. They made these one day in school, then came home with the recipe. We have made them ever since :) They are very easy to make and are delicious! Plus making them always brings back fond memories of those days when Alyssa and Adam were much younger :)

1 3/4 cup flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 1/2 cup sugar

1 cup pumpkin

1/2 cup oil

1/3 cup water

2 eggs

In a large bowl, thoroughly stir together the flour, baking soda and cinnamon. Add sugar and stir well. In a medium mixing bowl, beat together the pumpkin, oil and water. add eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture. Add the pumpkin mixture and stir just until the flour is moistened. Spray muffin tins with a non stick cooking spray. Fill tins 3/4 full. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Remove from tin and cool on a rack.

Really??

2011-05-02T08:32:00.006-04:00

I think it's great that a crazed terrorist is gone, but really?!? Was this truly sincere or do Penn State students take any opportunity to riot!?!?!?! This is what State College looked like last night after the news broke that Osama Bin Laden had been killed:

**pictures courtesy of The Daily Collegian Online

Bushes Be Gone!

2011-04-30T21:22:00.004-04:00

Kurt planted bushes many years ago....over time they have become way overgrown. He has been talking about pulling them out for several years now, but it's never happened. Today Adam got it in his crawl that he needed to get rid of them. As I write this, he pulled out two bushes. Knowing Adam, the excitement has worn off, and unless I bug him or Kurt, the remaining three will just sit there for another several years! I'll keep you posted!

It's Not The End.....

2011-04-21T23:34:00.004-04:00

It's Just the Beginning......

Today was Alyssa's last day of student teaching. I can hardly believe it. It seems like just yesterday she was packing her bags to leave for college! This is Alyssa with her mentor teacher, Mrs. B. :)

Mrs. B. got her this gorgeous Vera Bradley laptop case. She must know that Alyssa has a preference for pink :)

She also made a cake for in the faculty room:

I got Alyssa and Sierra, her roommate, a gift card for The Cheesecake Factory to celebrate the end of teaching and living together. They used it this evening. This is the list of all the cheesecake flavors they have:

This was Sierra's entree:

And Alyssa's:

Alyssa and her chocolate mousse cheesecake for dessert:

Sierra's in love, I think :)

They went to the Duquesne Incline after dinner and took some pics with neat backgrounds:

While back home here, Kurt and Adam are ready to leave on their road trip tomorrow afternoon to bring Alyssa and her stuff home :)

It's My Birthday :)

2011-04-17T15:35:00.002-04:00

Macy Moose says she got the bestest birthday present ever!! She is obsessed with palms and they go bye-bye when the Christmas decorations come out :( A brand new supply came home today from church :)

Spring Has Sprung :)

2011-04-09T12:05:00.002-04:00

Cream of Potato Soup

2011-04-03T22:41:00.003-04:00

Recipe compliments of Jamie :)

1 and 1/2 cups each of chopped onions and celery:

8 potatoes, diced:

Saute onions and celery in 6 Tbsp. butter:

Add potatoes and 4 cups water, cook potatoes til done:

Add 2 1/3 cups milk mixed with 4 Tbsp. flour and add to soup mixture:

Add 1 lb. velveeta cheese, cut into pieces:

Optional-add one bag frozen or one head, fresh broccoli florets:

Enjoy!!

The soup was delicious...we all enjoyed it! I did end up adding one small can of chicken broth just before I served it, as it had gotten very thick (there went the vegetarian soup...LOL!) This made enough for two meals for the three of us, plus I had a small container left over for my lunch tomorrow :)

Teaser :)

2011-03-27T15:15:00.004-04:00

A very last minute decision was made to make a trip to State College yesterday to see Alyssa who happened to be visiting Penn State for the weekend. She and her math education major friends are attending an education career fair tomorrow sponsored by PSU, thus her need to make the trip from Pittsburgh. In addition to having the opportunity to visit with her, we brought some of her rubbermaid totes and a suitcase for her to take back to Pittsburgh, as she isalready in her last month of student teaching and will be home by Easter.

Adam and his buddy Doug came along and went off on their own visiting their friends. We picked up Sarah and the four of us went to lunch together, then took some special pictures, most of which will have to wait to be posted until after graduation, but here's a few we took that I can post :)

Alyssa, Sarah and JoePa:

My favorite site when entering State College:

A favorite Penn State football coach's modest house:

Please note Sarah and Alyssa's similar but contrasting colors. That was not done intentionally, but needs to be pointed out :)

Dumb Bird!

2011-03-27T13:48:00.001-04:00

We have had this visitor outside our kitchen window for about six hours. Adam posted a video of it on YouTube:

Shepherd's Pie

2011-03-24T13:31:00.003-04:00

I found this recipe for Shepherd's Pie on-line and thought I'd give it a try. It was very good, although a bit on the bland side. I don't generally add salt to my food, but needed to with this casserole. I think I'd make it again, but next time add a bit more salt to something...either the mashed potato topping or the meat mixture underneath. It was also good as a left over.

Onion Snow?

2011-03-24T12:52:00.003-04:00

Psychedelic Man!

2011-03-14T23:25:00.000-04:00

Bet Aunt Martha's brown sugar cookies never saw this kind of action :)

Boys....

2011-03-06T15:45:00.002-05:00

Will be boys :)

Adam and Colin decided it would be great fun to frolic on the four wheeler in the rain and mud. This is the result of said frolicking:

Finally!

2011-03-05T16:38:00.002-05:00

Easy Chicken & Dumplings

2011-03-03T19:21:00.004-05:00

(And I do mean EASY....)

I found this recipe in my Taste of Home magazine. I've never made dumplings before, but I think they must have been the easiest in the world to make :) It says it costs $1.04 per serving.

I doubled the recipe, but since it ended up only being Kurt and I eating it, I could have just made a single batch. I have enough leftovers for me and Jamie for lunch tomorrow, plus one additional serving.

The dumplings part of the recipe calls for french fried onion rings and I'm not sure that I even really tasted them, so I'd almost be tempted to leave them out the next time. See the ingredients below:

This is just after I added the dumplings by heaping teaspoonful into the pot. I doubled the dumpling part of the recipe, but I think I probably should have just made a single batch. I had double of the batter but still only had the one size pot and could only fit the same amount of dumplings in the pot. Plus the dumplings grew as they cooked :) I ended up throwing some of the batter away.

Finished product! It was quite good and I'll probably make it again.

Recipe (Singled):

1- 1/2 cups milk (I used 1%, it calls for 2%)

1- 1/2 cups frozen mixed vegetables, thawed (a whole bag = 3 cups)

2- 1/2 cups shredded or cubed cooked chicken (I used 3 breasts for a double recipe)

1 can condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1/4 tsp. poultry seasoning

Dumplings:

1 cup Bisquick

1/3 cup french fried onions, coarsely chopped (Wegman's brand is actually in pieces)

7 tbsp. milk

1/2 tsp. dried parsley flakes (oops, forgot 'em)

In a Dutch oven, combine the first six ingredients; bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the biscuit mix, onions, milk and parsley just until moistened. Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls onto simmering stew. Cook, uncovered, for 10 minutes.

Cover and simmer 10-12 minutes longer or until a toothpick inserted in a dumpling comes out clean. Do not lift the cover while simmering.

Kitty Time

2011-03-03T14:40:00.004-05:00

Giving Macy some treats:

Feeding Frodo a treat:

Ahhh...nice kitty :)

Trying to share some juice with Frodo:

Gorgeous!

2011-03-03T14:38:00.002-05:00

Jealous!!

2011-03-01T20:44:00.001-05:00

Alyssa is jealous that she doesn't have a shirt like her cousins do :)

THON 2011!

2011-02-20T15:10:00.008-05:00

$9, 563,016.09 RAISED!!

Comments twittered during THON's live webcast:

Statement made by a parent whose child who died from cancer: "Most of all, I want you to dance, I want you to THON, because I don't want you to ever -- ever -- have your child die in your arms." :*(

Statement made by a dancer: "There's a difference between dancing with your feet and dancing with your heart."

17 year old valedictorian, student council president and cancer fighter closing out his speech to THON participants: "I don't want to survive. I want to live." (Quote from Wall-E)

Penn State student dancer: "He was never a sick kid to me, he was just my little brother. Through 8 years of treatment, he was happiest here at THON."
Quote from Charles Millard, founder of Four Diamonds Fund: "When we do things for ourselves, they die with us. When we do things for humanity, they live on forever."
Unknown: "One day we will dance in celebration. Until then, we dance for a cure."

Khloe Kardashian: "How are my THON dolls doing?! Almost over!! "

Dr. Spanier: "Nothing makes me more proud as President of Penn State than THON."
THON dancer: "Our backs are sore, our feet our sore, but our pain is nothing compared to what those kids go through."
Joe Paterno: When they say, ‘We Are Penn State,’ this is what they are talking about.”
Unknown: "Its a great day to be a penn stater!" <3

Other comments:
Alyssa Geiger: $9, 563, 016.09 all for the kids, the families and the cure. What an incredible year. Thank you to everyone who made it possible.
Sarah Dickert: Waddup atlas and your $381,000!!! Oh btw, my school raised $9.56 million for kids with cancer, what did your school do?

LOVE!

2011-02-17T11:50:00.004-05:00

I spent the day with my sister-in-law last Friday. She has this fabulous secret recipe for cookies that everyone just loves! I asked her if we could make a batch to send to Alyssa for Valentine's Day. She was kind enough to make the batch the night before (it has to chill overnight in the fridge) and when I got there Friday morning we (mostly she...LOL!) made the cookies, then while we went out to get a bite to eat and make a quick stop to Walmart to get a container and bubble wrap, they cooled. When we returned home we iced them.

As you can see, Alyssa was ecstatic! They received 30 cookies (note that they're fairly sizable) on Monday. Last night when I spoke with her, there were only three left!!! Now, they did give a few to one of the guys in their major who lives in the same complex, but I don't expect they shared too many with him :)

The cutest thing, however, was how excited she was that we had packed the box with PINK bubblewrap :):)

Now, THAT'S The Life :)

2011-02-13T21:43:00.001-05:00

Green Thumb

2011-02-03T23:56:00.000-05:00

.....or not so much :)

Ice Storm 2011

2011-02-02T13:48:00.004-05:00

Brrrr.....

2011-02-01T20:17:00.000-05:00

Yay!

2011-02-01T20:15:00.001-05:00

(Rumor has it that there's gonna be another one of these coming for his sibling, too!!)

Oopsies....Forgot Two!

2011-01-14T17:51:00.000-05:00

Pittsburgh Pics

2011-01-12T21:23:00.011-05:00

These are sorta categorized, but not in order of how they happened. It's kinda tough when I have a lot of pics in a post to get them chronologically placed. So....just deal with it :)

ALYSSA!

ERIKA!

ALYSSA AND ERIKA!

PITTSBURGH!

Duquesne:

Some neat architecture:

Pitt:

There was a disabled car in the tunnel ahead. Traffic came to a total stop. I was regretting our plan to drive into Pittsburgh at this point :)

After sitting for about 10 minutes we heard a siren behind us. The road was two lanes, there were already cars on the shoulder. We had to make enough room for that huge fire truck to get through. I could have shook hands with the guy sitting in the passenger seat, lemme' tell you! I really should have folded in my side view mirror!

We stopped at the Monroeville Mall (our hotel was actually on the complex of the mall) for Alyssa to get a planner at Barnes and Noble. We hadn't had lunch at that point (it was like 2:30 pm), saw this alongside the book store and decided to take a chance. Man....were we glad we did!! It was phenomenal!

Chicken bowtie festival! We all had this...it was delicious!!

At one point we were just kind of randomly driving around and ended up in front of this church. You ask why would we be excited about this?!?! Well.....it was the church our niece got married in several years ago! As big as Pittsburgh is, it was amazing we ended up here!

Erika loves dinosaurs. When the girls saw this, they made me stop so Erika could have her pic taken with it. It was in front of a TV studio....we think it had something to do with Mr. Rogers.

Alyssa caught this on the back of the bus. The electronic sign alternated between the bus number and what you see below:

A beautiful building:

Way cool rhino:

Self explanatory :)

Neat pic:

Cool bridge:

We were at a traffic light and I caught this:

Heinz Field:

**Several of these pics were borrowed from Erika. She has a great camera....and great picture taking ability :) Thanks, Erika!

Alyssa's School!

2011-01-12T20:05:00.004-05:00

All the schools are in the same complex. The building off in the distance is the high school where Alyssa'll spend her next three and a half months.

Black Bean Mexican Chicken

2011-01-12T19:22:00.005-05:00

Mix one can drained black beans, one bag frozen corn and one regular size jar salsa (mild or medium):

Place chicken breasts in crock pot:

Place bean and corn mixture over chicken:

Cook on low for 6 hours. Turn crockpot off 20 minutes before ready to eat and add cut up brick of cream cheese in pot:

Stir after 20 minutes:

Our latest favorite-spinach, dried cranberries, sliced strawberries, glazed walnuts or pecans, poppyseed dressing:

Serve over rice (or with tortilla shells):

YUM!!