It's THON weekend!

Happy 17th Birthday, Erika!!

Cheesy Chicken Chowder

I found this recipe in one of our local newspapers and it seemed easy enough to try. I am so glad I did! It was yummy!!

Peel and wash the vegetables:

Buy an already made chicken at your local grocery store:

Dice carrots, celery, onions and potatoes:

Clean meat off the chicken:

Melt butter, mix with flour and add milk. Stir til thick:

Simmer veggies in chicken broth til cooked, about 15 minutes:

Add grated sharp cheddar cheese to thickened milk:

Stir til cheese is melted:

Add chicken to veggies:

Add cheese/milk to veggies and chicken:

Serve with rolls:

Ask your son to make a face as though it's the best thing he's ever eaten:

Whaaattt?!?!!?

You didn't have to heat it to 3000 Kelvin, Mom (I have no idea how hot that actually is)

Well, I think it's yummy:

Adam's answer to cool off the soup was to add frozen corn to his bowl! Of course, he opened one of the bags that you can steam the veggies right in the bag in the microwave....I figured at that point, he might as well just add the rest of the corn in the bag to the pot. So our leftovers will have corn in it! I have enough soup left for another meal, plus I took some out for my lunch on Monday. Please note, however, that I did double the recipe. The recipe below is NOT doubled:

Cheesy Chicken Chowder

2 (14 oz) cans chicken broth
2 cups diced, peeled potatoes
1 cup diced carrots
1 cup diced celery
1/2 cup diced onion
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/4 cup butter (just added 2/16/10....i missed this!!)
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
2 cups diced or shredded cooked chicken (cook your own, or buy a rotisserie from the store)

1. Bring chicken broth to a boil in a large saucepan. Reduce heat. Add potatoes, carrots, celery, onion, salt and pepper. Cover and simmer until vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes.

2. Melt butter in a medium saucepan. Add flour and mix well. Gradually stir in milk and cook over low heat until slightly thickened. Stir in cheese and cook until melted. Add cheese mixture to broth and vegetables along with chicken. Cook and stir over low heat until thoroughly heated.

Serves 8.

Diggin' Out!

Adam and I took a road trip to Nazareth late this morning in the truck with the snowblower secured in the back to open mom's driveway up. In addition, since Jamie and John with kids in tow are enjoying the balmy Florida weather this week, they needed to have their walks shoveled and car dug out and cleaned off.

We left around 11 am and encountered some pretty snowy, drifted roads:

Thank goodness for the snowblower....anyone having to shovel that driveway would have been there forever! It's good to know, for the future, that it wasn't that difficult to get it in the back of the truck.

Mom's lovely neighbor beneath her had someone shovel her car out; the &$!%* idiot shoveled ALL the snow on the top of her driveway!! So on top of the 10-12 inches already there the goofball added to it! None of us were happy about that!

As we were driving into town, Adam says, "I never see garbage trucks collecting garbage in Nazareth...I wonder when they do it?" I responded, suggesting they most likely do it in the middle of the night, which would be why he never sees them. Ironically, when we had to go around the block and went up the alley by mom's house....what did we get behind?!?! And couldn't pass?!?!!? The garbage truck!


This is the view looking towards Broad St. That's Jamie's porch to the right. Adam's off in the distance closing up the back of the truck to move it from where he parked it momentarily to get the snow blower off the back. (Notice the new parking meter IN FRONT of Jamie and John's house...everyone on the street is very unhappy that they have added three meters on the street...all because the jeweler at the end of the street complained that her customers have no where to park. It apparently doesn't matter that they have now placed them in a residential area of town. And it's not so nice for Jamie who now can not park by her house.)

Starting to open the driveway:

Note mom sticking her head out the door:

See how deep the snow was?!!?

Cici was waiting to say hello when we came in to take a break:

And to have lunch:

They were still cleaning up the snow on our way home!

Penn State Snow

This is the result of the snowstorm from this previous weekend:

Snowstorm 2/10/10

Handsome-ness :)

Geiger Counter

Official definition: A Geiger counter, also called a Geiger-Müller counter, is a type of particle detector that measures ionizing radiation. Geiger counters are used to detect ionizing radiation. An inert gas-filled tube briefly conducts electricity when a particle or photon of radiation makes the gas conductive. The tube amplifies this conduction by a cascade effect and outputs a current pulse, which is then often displayed by a needle or lamp and/or audible . Modern instruments can report radioactivity over several orders of magnitude.


My definition of Geiger counter: Geiger individual who summarizes amount of snow received February 5-6, 2010 as reported by assorted Geiger individuals in varying parts of the country.

DANIELSVILLE, PA- whopping 3-4 inches

FOGELSVILLE, PA- 7-8 inches

GREENCASTLE, PA- 18-20 inches

STATE COLLEGE, PA- 14 inches

TOWNSEND, DELAWARE- 24 inches

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, FLORIDA- Uh. You all figure this one out :)
I don't wanna talk about it :(

Snow Family!

Congrats Jamie and John!

Jamie and John got married this evening in a small, but intimate wedding ceremony led by our Pastor Barry. It was simple, yet beautiful. We had a little celebration after the ceremony and after all the pictures were taken. I offered to get everything together for the refreshments after the wedding, figuring Jamie had enough to worry about without that, too.

I had a few surprises in store for them. Jamie ordered the cake the other day while we were at work; I heard her telling them to not put anything on the cake. Well, I knew that wasn't gonna fly with me!! I went to Wegman's yesterday and corrected that...LOL!! See below:

I picked up some balloons today when I picked up the cake:

I made some favors with the help of my nephew Kieran. Thanks Kieran!

Mr. & Mrs. Staniec with their children, Jonathan and Josslyn

Not sure what's going on in the next two pics...I handed my camera over to my assistant, Erika (Thanks, Erika!!), so I could finish getting the refreshments ready:

Jamie and John with John's foster parents, Sue and Chuck:

Jamie with her friend Colleen. Thanks Colleen for the beautiful toast you made to Jamie and John!

I regret putting this pic on here, but it's the only one I have of Jamie and her brother, Cory. He looks possessed...I'm hoping Jamie can send me a nicer one!

Jamie and John with John's good friend Jay. Jay is Josslyn's godfather.

Pastor Barry blessing the happy couple:

Me and Jamie with Josslyn:

Cutting the cake:

Handsome Jonathan eating his rice krispie treat:

Adam and Erika:

Nani Louise with Jonathan:

Joss, who was sooo tired, but never cried once!