Packed and Ready To Go

The car's all packed and ready to go for our trip to PSU in the morning. Everything is so tightly packed in the back of the trailblazer, I'm not sure we'll be able to get it out!! We ended up needing the cargo trunk on the top to fit it all in!

I got a cool book from Jamie at Christmas titled, "Don't Tell Me What to Do, Just Send Money"...they suggest that you wait at least a couple of months before you visit your child at school. I'm having a tough time digesting that, but since I saw that same recommendation in another college book, I guess it's a wise idea. We'll tough it out and wait til she's done with the summer session. Then she'll be home for a week.

Everything we did today, I just kept thinking, Alyssa won't be here tomorrow night: sitting alongside me playing computer games, petting the cats, playing cards with me and Adam, coming downstairs to get a drink, whistling incessantly, singing along with that song on the radio......

I'm just gonna miss her soo soo much......I just wanna sit by her bed tonite and look at her all night....

P.S.- I might mention too, that I believe Adam is now realizing the ramifications of this whole thing....he was hanging with her sooo much today....I've never seen anything quite like it....

Pics

We stopped by Kurt's parent's house earlier today so Alyssa could say good-bye to them before she leaves on Sunday. I couldn't resist taking the pic of Adam standing by the doorway...doesn't it almost look like he's in a miniature house?!?!? Alyssa's cousins were home 'sick' from day camp...they don't seem too sick to me...LOL!!!!!

Alyssa and her cousins

Adam at Grandma and Grandpa's (Is he tall or is that house small?!?!?)

Random-ness

Adam and his cousins (The green shirt was Adam's!)

Dumpster Diving!

Flowers Alyssa got from all of us at dance recital

Close-up of the flowers

Plant for Alyssa's dorm room

Recital Pics

Nicole and Alyssa danced a tap dance

Alyssa, Megan and Nicole (Megan was their teacher)

Seniors being honored

Front row are the teachers at the dance studio

This one just makes me want to cry

Last of "The Lasts"

Today is Alyssa's final dance recital. We weren't sure if it would ever happen, though. You may remember that her dance studio was forced to move out of their location after last year's recital. There were renovations planned for the building to make way for medical office space. I might mention that, as of yet, they have done NOTHING to the building, a year later, which is quite annoying!

They managed to find some space in a local gym and have held classes there this past year. You might also recall that she ended up in a class with several 50 year olds. She managed to convince a couple of friends to join her, so she ended up not being the only young one there. Apparently, the fifty year olds have already moved on to a different activity now that the weather has improved (I think she said they're golfing...). She and her friend Nicole choreographed a tap dance and will be performing it in the recital today.

I must say this year has been much cheaper with her only taking one class! And they didn't order an outfit for today's recital either. We're used to paying for four classes a week, and anywhere from 3-5 outfits for the recital at $50-60 a piece!

But looking back on it....it's all been worth it!

Sickness

So, Adam called Kurt just now and told him that they need to be picked up from camp today, as opposed to tomorrow. Apparently there is some virus running rampant throughout the camp and they are asking everyone to leave to prevent further spread. Fortunately, according to Kurt, according to Adam, no one in Adam's troop has gotten ill. So Kurt will leave after work today to go pick him up.

I'm doing OK, still hungry, but sore. I knew it was too good to be true that I felt so well yesterday! I even debated going to work today, but am glad now that I decided against doing that!

Mom came to make supper....roast pork sandwiches for everyone else, cream of potato soup for me!

Wisdom-less

So....I've had two wisdom teeth that have been cracked and broken off for quite a while, but being the chicken that I am, didn't schedule an appointment to have them extracted. Big mistake! About two days ago, I developed a tolerable tooth ache; by Wednesday AM, I was pretty miserable. I made an emergency appointment at the dentist, who put me on an antibiotic, gave me Tylenol with Codeine and urged me to have my wisdom teeth out in the next week.

My discomfort was tolerable yesterday during the day, but by day's end yesterday, I was miserable. I slept downstairs last night, so I could sleep sitting up (less throbbing), and alternated an ice pack with a heating pad throughout the night, hoping one of those would provide some relief. I think the best sleep I got was from 6 to 9 this am.

As soon as I got up, I called the oral surgeon to schedule an appointment, I assumed for a consult, at which time they would schedule the appointment for the extractions. After I gave her my demographics and insurance information, she asked if I was in pain. I quickly said, "YES!" She asked me if I had had anything to eat yet, which I hadn't, other than to take a sip of orange juice to take my antibiotic. They were kind enough to schedule me for today, in fact as we were talking at 10:10 a.m. she asked if I could be there by 10:45!

Everyone was very nice, and once they called me back (We sat out in the waiting room for over an hour...), everything was over with in about 35 mins. When I was called back, Alyssa left to go across the street to the mall to kill time. She said they called her within 25 mins to come back and pick me up.

Beyond them taking my blood pressure, inserting the IV, and putting an oxygen mask over my nose, I don't remember a thing! They extracted the three wisdom teeth (I had one removed many years ago....should have had them all done then....) without difficulty. Next thing they were walking me over to a lounge chair to sit in until Alyssa came. They gave me directions, most of which I don't remember, and also a tshirt as a gift! I saw it on the kitchen table awhile ago and asked Alyssa where it came from!!

I'm feeling OK, don't have much pain (nothing compared to last night!) and am alternating a bag of frozen corn on both sides of my cheeks. My big problem right now is that I am STARVING!! I haven't had anything to eat since about 6 p.m. and I can only eat soft foods today and tomorrow! And Kurt sat right in front of me eating his turkey BBQ and my home made delish macaroni salad! How rude!!

Packed and Ready To Go

OK, so she didn't jump in there on her own! But it sure was a cute photo moment, huh?!?

Of Note...

I was just looking at my daily trivia on the left side of my blog. I noticed that today in 1950 the first kidney transplant took place. Many things have changed since then, I'm sure. I know that there have been many changes since I began working with kidney transplant patients in 1998. When I began in '98, we had about 60 transplant patients...now we have over 120. Some of them received their transplants from a deceased donor, some from a sibling, parent or child and some from a spouse or co-worker. It surely is a Gift of Life!

Shhh....Don't Tell!

Adam and eight of his scout buddies left for a week at boy scout camp today. We took him to Camp Ockanickon this afternoon. He'll be there til Saturday morning. It seems like maybe, just maybe, the weather may cooperate this week. It looks like there's a chance of thunderstorms mid-week, but hopefully they'll be isolated and maybe not hit them at camp.

All their junk in the trailer

From (L) to (R): Robin, Jason, Doug, Alex, Adam, Shawn, Shawn, Mikey & Rio

As for us, I have an extra day off this week, and am hoping that Alyssa and I can take this opportunity to do something special this week, as she winds down her time at home. Two weeks from today, at this time in the evening, she'll be in State College and hopefully by then I'll have stopped sobbing...LOL!!

We Have a Roommate!

Alyssa has resisted creating a MySpace or Facebook page, says she doesn't want to be sitting on the computer day and night. Well, tonite, she got an invitation to become a friend to one of her high school friends on Facebook. I don't know exactly what possessed her, but she created a Facebook page and invited quite a few of her friends to become friends on her page. I was sitting alongside her the whole time watching her create her profile and add pictures to her page. At one point she saw that she had a message in her inbox; she went to it, here it was from her roommate up at PSU this summer. We have diligently been checking the PSU website to see if her roommate was listed. I even checked today, as late as 4:45 pm, and there was nothing there!

Her name is Sarah and she is from near Pittsburgh. Her favorite color? Yep, you guessed it....PINK!! Alyssa mentioned that she will bring her DVD player (Sarah got a TV for graduation, she's gonna bring it...) and that she has a ton of girly DVD's. Sarah asked her if she had Mean Girls; when Alyssa said she did, Sarah said, "That's all we need then...we're set!!" At first glance, it seems like they have enough in common to have a good start. But at this point, they are just summer roommates. I had asked if there was any chance that the summer roommates could end up living together if they wanted to in the fall and the director of the LEAP program said it's possible, but the decision almost has to be made the first week of the summer session. That's awfully soon to know if you want to live with someone!

So, thanks, Rachel for the Facebook invitation! Had Alyssa not created her own page, she still wouldn't know who her roommate is!

Friends

From left to right: Lourie, Pam, Renee, MaryJo, Bev, Cindy, Jamie, Michele

We had the opportunity to get together tonite at the Olive Garden to visit with Cindy who used to work with us. Cindy moved to another state a couple of years ago and is home to visit for a week. We enjoyed food, fun and laughs....

Sunsets

Deflated

See those balloons on the floor? That's how I feel! Deflated! It was a physically and emotionally draining weekend....

Now it's time to dwell on the leaving for college thing in less than three weeks! With a week of boy scout camp in between.....

The Party...Continued...

I chose to not post any adult pictures, as I know there are some that prefer not having their pictures 'out there' in cyberspace. I'm sure the kids don't mind; they all have their own myspace accounts! And I believe the little one behind the balloons is safely hidden!!

The Party

The Graduate's Family

Congratulations!

Well, it's over...she did it!! Congratulations Alyssa....2007 graduate of NASD!

We got lost going to Stabler Arena...that was only after we got caught up in a very, very long line of traffic. I called my friend Kathy from church, who is originally from that area in Bethlehem, to get us out of the traffic jam and help us take a shortcut. She was gracious enough to stay on the phone with me as we went up over the mountain. We got to the top of the mountain, went the wrong way, and lost phone service all at the same time!! By the time we realized where we were, and that we needed to turn around, Kathy's daughter had called Alyssa and gotten my cell phone number. Kathy called and got us back on track...and before we knew it, we were there. We were in our seats by 6 p.m., but graduation didn't begin until 7! We had great seats...only four rows back and on the same side that Alyssa was sitting. Because of being in the National Honor Society, she managed to end up in the first row!

Close up of front row (Alyssa is right under her name!)

The ceremony itself was quite long. It wasn't over until almost 10 pm. It was mass confusion afterwards! I'm not sure how anyone found anybody! Sarah and her family, Karlie and her family and our family went to Perkins afterwards. I think we went there intending to get desserts, but we all ended up eating appetizers and entrees, PLUS desserts! We had a very nice time. There were quite a few other graduates' families there, as well.

Sarah, Karlie and Alyssa

Sarah, Karlie, Alyssa with Laura in the background

From left to right: Sarah, Karlie, Alyssa G., Adam, Alyssa C., Krista

Alyssa and Karlie

The Big Day

Leaving for the high school

Flowers Alyssa got from us