First Day of School

Adam was fairly excited about the first day of school; part of the renovations are done and some of the classes have moved into the new building. The bus was fifteen minutes late-not a great start; it's even worse considering we are one of the first stops! It should be interesting as no one got their schedules this year prior to the first day. I'm not sure what that was all about; I'm guessing it's gonna be sheer chaos today! It's quite common for schedules to be messed up with kids having to meet with a guidance counselor prior to the start of the year to get them straightened out. I'll be anxious to hear how the day went when he gets home. I think I'll take him to Olive Garden tonite to celebrate the start of the new year (sorry, Alyssa...it's the price you pay for deciding to go to college)!

In absentia...

Oh, and p.s...I tried, via long distance, to plan a surprise birthday party for Alyssa yesterday for her 18th birthday. I was totally disappointed, when as of 9:30 p.m. nothing had happened! Apparently they did it at 10! I'll be anxious to talk to Alyssa later today to get details. Sounds like it didn't happen quite like I anticipated, but I'll wait to hear from her before I pass judgement!! I'll post more later...

And double p.s...I didn't know my washing machine and dryer worked this early in the morning! I put the towels in at 6 and they're now drying at 7! For any of you who know me, this is NOT my prime time!! Unfortunately, Kurt is in Denmark, so it was up to me to get Adam up....and now that he's sleeping downstairs (that's another story for another time...I gotta take a nap!!), I had to really get up, since we're two floors away now!

G'nite!

Small World

Tomorrow is Alyssa's first day of classes. She has her english, math and spanish classes tomorrow and every MWF. Tuesdays and Thursdays are computer science and math.

She had been going to DiscipleMakers meetings over the summer, so naturally went to tonite's opening meeting/ice cream social for the new year. How ironic that there was a guy there that she had graduated with at Northampton!! I am just totally blown away by that; there are thousands of kids up there...what a small world that he would be at this meeting tonite!!

Amish Friendship Bread

My sister in law, Martha (not real name), gave me a ziploc bag with amish friendship bread starter batter. After ten days of mashing the batter in the bag and keeping the air out of it, you add flour, milk and sugar, then divide it evenly into 4 batches.

Three are meant to be given away and one is to keep to make two loaves of bread. I kept two batches and am in the process of making four loaves of bread (second batch of two loaves just went in at 11 p.m.!!). We are visiting friends in Vermont over this coming weekend, so I thought it would be nice to take a loaf or two with us. The recipe clearly states that the batter shouldn't be mixed in a metal mixing bowl. I called Martha and asked if that meant you couldn't use a mixer either. She used a wooden spoon, so I decided I better not attempt the mixer. I decided to make Alyssa proud and use my pampered chef whisk; she always gives me a rough time that I don't use it enough. As I was almost done mixing all the wetter ingredients, I thought, you fool....if you shouldn't be using a metal bowl or metal mixing paddles, I bet I shouldn't be using a METAL whisk....duh!! At that point, there wasn't much I could do about it, so we'll just have to see how it turns out.

I've taken the first two loaves out and they LOOK fine, hopefully they'll taste good, too! Two down and two to go!

I'll Learn

So as we were coming home from church today, Adam told us how someone at church is offering him a set of humongous speakers. Kurt's concern is where exactly he would put these big speakers. We made the mistake a number of years ago allowing him to get a full size bed in his room which is basically too small for a full size bed! He barely has room for a dresser and TV, let alone more speakers! I made the mistake of, off the cuff, saying, 'Maybe we should move your bedroom down in the basement...'

Well, guess who's downstairs in the basement, as we speak, cleaning up and putting stuff away?!!?!? To Adam, that statement was a done deal!! If it is up to him, he'll have his bed down there tonite!

I must admit, the thought is attractive to me! I hate how crowded his room looks. We could make the basement into almost a little studio apartment....there's a sofa and loveseat (not very attractive, however...) down there, plus a cheap entertainment center. Then once his room is empty, we could turn that room into a little office and get rid of all the junk at the top of our steps, which is currently a catch all for everything!

It's cool down there during the summer, so there wouldn't be a need for an air conditioner. The only concern is that it's also cool down there in the winter; but now Kurt is talking about putting a coal stove in.

I'm sure Adam will not let us forget this suggestion and will force us to make a decision very soon!

I'll keep you posted!

Hooray!

I really have no clue what I just did, but almost all the pics on my blog look fine now. I had Kurt's brother, Fernando **, look at it and he felt certain that a setting changed somehow...whether I had done it intentionally or it had somehow done it on its own. He said there wasn't enough color in the pictures, which was why they looked the way they did. So I have spent the last two hours trying every different possibility attempting to correct it. After clicking on the one picture for about the hundredth time, it was nice and clear!

**The name has been changed to protect the innocent

I have two pics from earlier tonite, which I'm gonna put in this post just to be sure everything's better!

Tonite when we went to Red Robin with Fernando and Martha **, we found Kurt's other brother and sister-in-law there celebrating their son's bday. (No, Adam, didn't eat with them; he just scooted in the booth to say hi to Kieran! And note the haircut...Yay!)

**Names have been changed to protect the innocent

Self-explanatory

Woo-Hoo!

Ok, so we didn't leave quite on time...but we were only off by about 15 minutes, and then stopped at McDonald's for our new 'driving to PSU' tradition: sweet tea! We managed to get to Matt's by 8:35 a.m. though, which was great. Alyssa called her roommate around 9 to warn her that we would be getting there soon, so she had time to rise and shine. According to Alyssa, she was already up and was going to grab some breakfast and then take a walk to give us some time to get everything in the room (Per Alyssa, 'old roommate wouldn't have done that...').

It was much less hectic today than a month and a half ago. We found a parking space right in front of the main entrance...three times, as a matter of fact! I should say that the moving in was less hectic...but that was all! The traffic was horrendous...Walmart was packed-we think lots of kids wait til they get up there to stock up on stuff. I think the bulk of the kids come in tomorrow...I can't even imagine what it'll be like then! And the parking, once the unpacking was done, was atrocious. Kurt found on-street parking, not that far away from Alyssa's room, but you can only park there for 90 minutes...it's a quarter for every 15 minutes.

Alyssa's roommate, Kaylynn, showed up about 45 minutes after we got everything upstairs. She is very personable, flexible, talkative....completely opposite from the last one! The room was set up very oddly; she was all for rearranging to make it better (Per Alyssa, 'old roommate wouldn't have done that...'). She talked to us the whole time (Per Alyssa, 'old roommate wouldn't have done that...'). She helped rearrange the furniture (Per Alyssa....you know...LOL!). We used her vacuum cleaner and Windex....she used our paper towels and duct tape (Ditto....).

You could tell Alyssa is glad to be back. I called her on our way home tonite, she was with a group of girls on their way to a volleyball game, then off to see Night at the Museum on the giant screen on the HUB lawn. Her facebook message says: Alyssa is at Penn State in her awesome room with her sooooo much better roomie!

Enjoy the pics (glad you all can see them clearly....cuz I can't...boo! Jamie, I'll be bugging you about that as soon as you get home!)

This is originally where Alyssa's bed was when we got there. Note how it is alongside the bookshelves. The RA told us that if she and Kaylynn chose to, the bookshelves could be removed, but they would NEVER be put back up. They are, in fact, destroyed. I think they were both nervous about making that decision! Plus, I think, they hated losing shelving space. They came up with a much better plan, I think...see below!

They moved Kaylynn's desk out of the one corner and put Alyssa's bed where the desk was, then moved Kaylynn's desk alongside the shelves. While we were at lunch, Kaylynn moved the micro-fridge from in front of the window (you can kind of see it behind where Alyssa is standing in the previous pic) to in between the book shelves and Kaylynn's bed (see this pic).

Alyssa's bed in the new spot (Note they both have same light from Target) I don't know who the character is in her bed, though...LOL

Kaylynn and Alyssa

Kaylynn's side of the room. She let Alyssa have the bed by the window; she remembered Alyssa telling her about her old roommate and the window issues (Per Alyssa...you know the drill...). Although, Kaylynn had requested a wall, so they both kind of got what they were looking for...

So hopefully, all will go well this year; I know Alyssa is looking forward to it. I did fine leaving her today; the last six weeks helped to break me in! The only thing that does bother me is that she has to be alone on her 18th birthday on Tuesday. She'll be fine, it'll be me who's a wreck...LOL!!!!

Hmmmm

I don't know what's going on with my pictures...I must have something set on my camera that is making my pictures look like they look. I have no clue what it is, however! As long as you don't enlarge them, you'll be OK. In the meantime, I'll continue trying to figure out what I have done wrong! Thanks for your patience!

P.S....So I have figured out that it must be something with my computer. Jamie's pictures on her blog look the same way when I blow them up. It almost looks like I have some night setting on, which I don't. I'm not even sure how to figure out what the problem is and how to resolve it. If there's anyone out there looking at my blog, can you let me know how my pictures look when you enlarge them? Thanks!

Various and Sundry

Adam's new 4XL crocs

Alyssa's new sunglasses....NOT

Here we go again...we leave 5:30 a.m. to go back to PSU. And that's not all the stuff in Matt's garage!

Happy 18th Birthday

Tonight we celebrated Alyssa's 18th birthday day, even though it's not until next Tuesday the 28th. It's been our tradition to go out to eat and allow them to choose the restaurant and entree of their choice. She chose Red Lobster (aren't those rolls to die for?!?!?!?). Since we won't see her on her birthday, we also gave her her birthday present, which you can see below.

And There's More...

And this doesn't include the light pink ones, the gray ones with the pink lettering, the blue and white ones...and maybe even a brown one with blue lettering....

Alyssa finally gave me her laundry, only about 36 hrs before it's time to leave. So here I am at 1230 a.m. trying to get it all done, so it'll hopefully dry hanging in the laundry room before she needs to pack it later on today...

CF '07

We generally have corn fritters once per summer. My mom always makes them using an old family recipe that involves grating the corn with a 'corn grater.' She bought six dozen ears of corn this morning at Wegman's, but ended up only using five dozen. It's so much work that when you make a batch, you make a lot!! They're so yummy! We ended up eating almost 3/4 of the batter that she made; the rest got made up and mom will have leftovers the rest of the week.



Mom has two corn graters; the one on the right she found at a flea market about ten years ago. The other one is much newer. She did have a grater that was my grandmother's, but it was lost when our house burned down in '83. After husking the corn, you pull the corn against the teeth in the center of the grater; it 'opens' the kernels and the juice runs in to the dish beneath. Once done grating the corn, you add flour, eggs, salt and baking powder.

Nice Surprise

Earlier today at the end of our contemporary service at church, Pastor Elizabeth asked Alyssa to come up front. She presented her with a prayer shawl that had been made by one of the ladies at our church. They recently began a new prayer ministry which entails ladies crocheting prayer shawls and lap robes for members/friends who are ill. They have since decided to include young people going off to college to let them know there are people from Emmanuel's thinking of them and praying for them. This was a total shock to us; we had no clue she was going to be receiving this! It is beautiful! We asked Pastor E. if she knew who had made it and she said she actually didn't. It turned out that the woman who made it was actually at the service this morning; she walked by us as we were talking after the service with three skeins of yarn; I stopped her and asked her if, per chance, she had made it and it turns out, she had! So we got to thank her in person for doing such a wonderful job! Unfortunately, it's either a new member or a regular visitor to our church and we didn't get her name.

Misc.

*We brought Alyssa home on Wednesday evening. The majority of her stuff is stored in our nephew's garage in State College (Thanks, Matt and Karlyn!). It's already Friday; we take her back in a week...it's going way too fast! Those are her new school sneakers (pink, you'll note!).

*I believe she couldn't wait to be rid of her roommate. She has been very tolerant during the past six weeks, but I think it just got to be too much. She even wrote a paper about how NOT to be a good roommate (and got an A on it, I might mention!!) See excerpt....
Day 1: When you first find out who your new roommate is, do not talk on the phone, only speak via the internet. If you do so, your roommate will not be able to hear the tone of your voice, and therefore will not be able to tell what exactly you mean when you say something. When I first instant messaged my roommate, we were both very excited to get to know each other, so we put on facades that showed how nice and excited we were. I could not see her true colors through the computer screen.

*Frodo has a buddy:

*Macy got a new present, too...the sneaker box:


*My favorite author has a new book out! I was surprised to see one so soon. It's usually a couple of years in between his books; this one seems to have come out sooner than that.

*Today is Kurt's parents 60th wedding anniversary. That's a long time to be married! Congratulations!

Too Funny

Shower

Tonite is the best night to view the Perseid meteor shower. Check it out!

PSU Fun...Part 4!

Alyssa's new Vera Bradley purse....she's been wanting one!

PSU Fun....Part 3 (Was that pink planned?!?!?)

PSU Fun...Part 2

PSU Fun

Alyssa's friends, Sarah and Karlie, are spending the weekend up at PSU with her. It sounds like they have been having a great time and she'll be bummed when it's time for them to leave. They went shopping downtown yesterday and saw a movie last night. Today they went to the Nittany Mall and shopped til they almost dropped! Tonite they ordered pizza and are watching DVD's. Tomorrow is Olive Garden for lunch and pix with the lion!

Sarah will be attending the Lehigh Valley campus of PSU this year and Karlie leaves soon for Monmouth College in NJ. Apparently, Sarah's major will have her transferring to main campus after her first year....maybe she and Alyssa will end up being roomies at some point.

Alyssa's roommate was 'kind' enough to stay at her brother's apartment for the weekend. It would have been a little tight in their room with four people!

Relaxing at the Bon-Ton (I absolutely LOVE that chair!)

Sarah and Karlie

Sarah, Karlie and Alyssa

The girls at lunch (Self-portrait, I believe..)

Missin' My Mom

Hi, my name is Macy. If any of you out there see my mom, could you let her know that I really, really miss her? I don't know what happened to her. One day she was here and the next, she was gone. My Ga'ama tells me that mommy's coming home soon, but I still haven't seen her. I keep waiting in her room for her; I sit in her chair or wait on her bed, but the only people I see are Ga'ama, Ga'pa and something that looks like Herman Munster. Here's a picture of what my mommy looks like in case anyone out there sees her. If you do, could you please tell her to come home real soon?

Sitting nice and pretty in case mommy comes

This is getting tiring!

I'll just take a quick nap, then maybe she'll be here when I wake up