The Game

Kurt and I went to the football game last night. Kurt hasn't been to a game since we have been married; I was to one when Alyssa was in middle school. Northampton was playing his alma mater, Parkland. They pretty much beat the s_ _ t out of Northampton. Kurt was very gracious....applauding when Northampton got a first down or moved the ball down the field. I think deep down, though, in his heart, he was wishing for Parkland to win!!

We pretty much went to the game to see Alyssa in the band. With her doing this part-time marching band option, she marches into the stadium with the band and plays in the stands with them, but doesn't go out onto the field when they do their show. The band director, however, asked her to introduce the
Big N Band at half-time during the home games. So for any of you who were at the game on Friday night, that was Alyssa announcing the half time show. She did a nice job!

Unfortunately, with her previous dance obligations, she was never able to participate in the marching band. This new option had never been offered prior to this year. Now that she has had a chance to participate in these football games, she loves it! She is only obligated to attend the home games, but has been going to the away games, too. She said to me the other night, "Mom, football games are fun!" Too bad it took her til her senior year to figure that out!

Adam is at Bear Creek Camp this weekend with 13 other teens for their first year catechetical retreat. He loves Bear Creek Camp and looks forward to camping there every summer. He wasn't quite as excited to go this weekend, though....especially since today is his 15th birthday, and he is not home for it! As a surprise, I sent along a birthday cake, candles, balloons and ice cream for everyone to celebrate his birthday this evening , so I hope that made up for him being away.

Oh, and p.s....it rained again...maybe it's not the scouts...maybe it's Adam!!

Tidbits

I forgot to mention that we paid $2.159 for gas on Saturday when we were in Shippensburg. We think it had to do with the fact that a new gas station had just opened that week and that 'price war' thing was going on between them and the other gas stations in town. When we got there in the morning, the price at this new gas station was $2.229; by the time we were leaving at 5 p.m. the price had come down to $2.159. Can't beat that!!

Adam camped this past weekend with the Boy Scouts. You do remember what happens when the Boy Scouts go camping, right?!?!?! Yup...it rained! Told you so.....

Saggy Boobs

Alyssa was sooo excited last month when she received her letter from dance that they had located a place so that dance classes could continue. She wanted to take a teen tap class one night and a teen ballet class another night. It turned out that none of the teens she has danced with for years came back; most all have transferred to other dance studios. As a result, neither of the classes she wanted are being offered as she is the only student for both of them. She could have gone into a Monday night class, but she already has another commitment at church.

The director of the studio offered Alyssa the option of attending the adult tap class. She attended her first class this evening. It's a nice small class....she makes the 4th student...

Her and the three 50 year olds!!!!!

I drove her to her first class to be sure that she knew how to get there since it is in a different location. When I picked her up, she jumped right in telling me all about class. I don't remember when she seemed as excited about class as she was tonite!! I can just picture her there amongst these three peri-menopausal beginner tap dancers! One of the women never did tap at all. Alyssa has been doing tap for thirteen years!!

One woman was complaining about how far apart her bra straps were and how they wouldn't stay up. The discussion soon turned to saggy boobs and when they become that way. Next the conversation changed to hot flashes. Then they decided they should meet at Applebee's for a drink before class! As Alyssa was telling me all this, I had such a funny picture in my mind of her in the center of these middle aged women.

At one point, the instructor asked the women to tap dance down the floor doing a particular tap step. For some of the women, this was a new step to them. They took their time going down the floor trying to get it right. Alyssa, on the other hand, practically flew from one end to the other! They were in awe of her. The lady who never tapped before just couldn't seem to get the step right. Alyssa put her previous teaching skills to good use. She said, "Mom, I taught her how to do the step just like I used to teach my little girls."

When class was over, one of the women came up to her and said, "I hope you plan on coming back next week!" Alyssa said, "I wouldn't miss it for the world!"
She realizes she is definitely more advanced than any of them, but she says she will take this opportunity to improve and perfect her steps. I suspect these women will adopt her as their own. And I supposed she'll learn a whole lot more about hot flashes and saggy boobs.....

We'll be in real trouble when she tells me she's leaving early to meet them at Applebee's.....

SHIP Ahoy!

Kurt, Alyssa and I went to Shippenburg University's Open House today. We left home at 5:50 a.m. and got there about 8:20 a.m. It was raining when we got there and we needed our umbrellas. By the time we moved from the first building to the next, it had slowed to a fine mist and by noon, it was still cloudy, but the rain was over.

As you know, Alyssa really wants to go to Penn State and Penn State only. We asked her to please consider a second choice just in case PSU weren't to work out. This was her second choice. She basically told us the other day that she was only doing this to appease us. But she was a sport and off to Ship we went!

I was very impressed, as was Kurt. Alyssa did like it, but not enough to change her mind. We had the opportunity to visit the mathematics department and hear two of the math profs talk about the math program. One of the big differences between PSU and Ship is that at PSU you get a BS in secondary education with an option in math and at Shippensburg you get a BS in math with a certificate in secondary education. That way if you end up deciding not to teach, you still have a math degree which you can put to use in some other area. Kurt and I liked the size of the classes; the profs get to know the kids and it seems like you're not just a number, where as at Penn State, you may have classes with hundreds of people in them. Alyssa doesn't seem to mind that thought, while we feel that Ship is more personal due to the smaller ratio of students to teachers.

We also learned today that Ship accepts a 3 on the two AP classes that she will have had in high school. She had AP Gov't last year and is taking AP Calculus this year. Penn State will only accept 4's or 5's; thus the 3 she got on her gov't final last year won't be accepted there, but would be at Ship.

The campus is nice; it's not too big and not too small; it's just right. The dorms aren't all the way across town like at Penn State. We didn't see a regular dorm room today, although we could have if we wanted to. One of Alyssa's friends from church is there and as a sophomore was eligible for a suite. We visited with Jen for about two hours this afternoon and got to see her suite. There are two bedrooms which have 3 girls in each, two bathrooms and a common living area with a dinette table and living area with a sofa and two chairs.

It's about 160 miles to Penn State and about 136 miles to Ship. Both of which are far enough away from Adam to qualify (that seems to be the main stimulus!!), so distance shouldn't be an issue in her decision!!

To round out the day, we had a very nice visit with Jen, she gave Alyssa a lot of good insight into college life and what it's like to be a Ship student. We all went to Red Robin for dinner before we set off for home.

If nothing else was accomplished today, at least Alyssa got psyched enough to decide that she wants to do both (PSU and Shippensburg) on line applications tomorrow, which is certainly a step in the right direction!

Thus begins the next chapter in her life......

Oh, and p.s....As we were leaving Red Robin to come home, I had my window open and I got hit on the arm with BIRD POOP! Yuch.....

She Won.....Kinda!

So Alyssa wanted to spend her birthday money on a designer Dooney & Bourke purse that could cost up to $200. As a parent, I felt the need to step in and not allow her to do it. I realize it was her own money that she would be wasting, but I thought that part of my job as a parent was to help her make wise decisions. We were at a party recently and this whole issue came up; well, everyone was AGAINST me. They all felt that she could do with her money what she wanted to, even if it meant she was wasting it. Despite being in the minority, I didn't give in and she didn't get her purse.

Well, today she had the opportunity to make some purchases at a party and she didn't get just one purse, she got two purses, a wallet and a scarf for probably 1/2 the price of one D&B purse.

Contagious Joy

Just a few purchases...book came with tote

Lisa (Worship team leader), Patsy (A Diana Ross and Supremes 'wanna-be'), Sandi Patti


A group of us from church traveled to Philadelphia this weekend to attend the annual Women of Faith conference. 25,000 women worshiped, sang, prayed, listened, laughed, danced, hugged and cried. Our keynote speaker on Saturday was Robin McGraw (wife of Dr. Phil McGraw). After her very inspiring talk, as we were giving her a standing ovation (there was a lot of that all weekend...LOL!), the camera panned down the aisle and who was walking down the aisle but Dr. Phil himself! You should have heard the hootin' and hollerin' going on! I don't watch his show, but apparently his wife walks him on and off the stage every day on his TV show. Well, he gets up on stage and says, "My wife has walked me on and off the stage 756 times, I think it's only fair that I do the same for her today!" You should have heard the crowd. He briefly talked about how their faith is so important to them and thanked us for allowing Robin to share her story with us.

We had the pleasure of hearing the Christian group, Avalon. They have won numerous Dove awards (Christian music awards). And, OMG, have you ever heard Sandi Patti's voice?!?!? Wow....it's unbelievable!

This is about the fifth WOF conference I attended and it was by far, the BEST! I wasn't ready for it to end. Each year we talk about which speakers we liked the best and which ones we didn't really care for. This year every speaker, every musical group was just phenomenal!

I had the distinct pleasure of having Alyssa sit alongside me and watch her enjoying most every minute of it. I was sooo proud of her as she sang along with the music, doing the motions, dancing in the aisle and really getting into it. Her favorite part of the conference was hearing Sheila Walsh speak and listening and rockin' with Avalon. This will be the last conference she'll be able to attend with me...that was sad to think about, but if I'm still going in five years, maybe I'll just be able to invite her to come along once again!

Click here to meet the Women of Faith team!

Oh, and P.S....The 'Porch Pals', as the WOF team is called, will be on the Dr. Phil show on October 3, 2006. Be sure to watch it or throw a tape in!

Christian group, AVALON

Alyssa and Rachel having a snack at WOF

Front of brochure

For Vic

Here are a few pictures of our living room with the wall knocked down.

1 hr, 47 mins, 23 secs

That's how long Vickie and I talked on the phone tonite. It was wonderful! She and I have been friends since our days in ICU at The Allentown Hospital in the early 80's. She was in my wedding; I went through her pregnancies with her and she with mine. She and her family moved to Indiana in '96; it's hard to believe she's been gone for ten years. I think we've seen each other twice since then. About seven years ago, Alyssa and I met her in Pittsburgh for the weekend. We shopped and talked, talked and shopped and then shopped some more! That was the last time we were together.

Today I got a birthday card from her; what a surprise it was! You see, my birthday is in May!! Vic believes in half-birthdays! The really ironic part was that earlier today when Alyssa and I were out, I bought her birthday card; her birthday is later this month. I try to stay on time with the real birthday. I know, I know...it's not as much fun that way...it's too predictable...LOL!!

Vic taught me how to be a professional shopper. She and her sister and I once spent twelve hours shopping and all we were looking for was a nice white t-shirt for Vickie. She assured me today that our time had not been wasted...she said she still wears that shirt from time to time.

It's funny...we rarely talk any more; sometimes six months go by before we talk on the phone, but when we do, before the conversation is over, I feel like I'm right there with her. We catch up on each other's families, our jobs, our animals, what books we're reading, what movies we're watching and everything in between.

I just wish Indiana wasn't 14 hours away.....

Stress Buster

Click here!

One Last Wedding Pic (Thanks to Sue!)

Show Your Support

Please go to this website and show your support and appreciation to our US military. Xerox Corp. is sponsoring the site; you can send a free postcard to our military. Over 2 million messages have been sent thus far.

A Few More Pics

Jamie and Kris

Junior bridesmaids dresses...aren't they adorable?!?!?

Rachel's comfy shoes (she put them on during the reception)

The Wedding

Today was Rachel and Kyle's wedding. Rachel works in the office where I work. We have all eagerly anticipated this day; we have heard about it for months and months. We saw sample invitations, fonts, material swatches, favors, etc. It seemed so far away and now it's over. Rachel was a beautiful bride; her dress was gorgeous. And Kyle didn't look too bad either...LOL!

Some of the current and previous employees of our office:
Front row, Left to right: Cathy, Renee, Bev and MaryJo
Back row, Left to right: Sue, Michele, Jen, Rachel, Erma, Cindy, Susie, Chris

Good friends!

On left: Kris and Matt, On right: Jamie and John

Pam and Mike