B-Day Gift

I've been keeping an eye on this for the last six months. It's not cheap, so I didn't think there was any chance of ever owning one. The office that Jamie and I work at is gracious enough to give everyone generous Visa gift cards for administrative professionals day, as well as Nurse's Day (that would be me...LOL!!). I still have last year's card, as well as this years. Using the two of them brought the Kindle down to a more manageable price. Kurt is always asking me for ideas for my birthday and Christmas and I often don't have any suggestions for him. I decided to be brave and email him the link to this and tell him that I would love this for my birthday. I just got done ordering it from Amazon. It's due to be delivered by Friday. My birthday's not until May, but since the one gift card is a year old, I was afraid that they would begin deducting a monthly fee starting in May, so figured it would make more sense to not lose any money on the card. Happy Birthday to me!

Palm Tuesday

I'll stand on anyone's shoulders in order to play with those palms!

Truly An Inspiration

If you have some time, please go to this link and watch either the video of this brave man or the story done by Prime Time about his life.

Us Minus One :(

Etc.

It's been about a week, not much new to say, but a few things do come to mind.
*Adam just finished putting his engine back in the VW. Something about oil leaking out and ordering a new carburetor. They had to order parts that took a week and a half to come. He came in the house tonight and looked like one big grease monkey after having worked on his car all day.

*When we were at the bell festival a few weeks ago, I saw how some of the choirs had pencil cases in each of their music notebooks, which I thought was a neat idea. We currently have a coffee can with pencils and a few highlighters in it. I got the crazy idea to pick up 8 pencil cases at Walmart the other day, then today filled them with pencils, erasers, a highlighter, a pen and some reinforcements.

*I can't believe there's less than two weeks til Alyssa comes home. This freshman year just flew right by! Soon we'll have a college sophomore! This semester was a bit more challenging than her last one, and I don't expect we'll see Dean's List this time, which is fine, as long as we know she is doing her best. Kurt and Adam will be going to pick her up on Friday, May 9th. I think Adam feels a cold coming on....LOL ('cuz he'll have to skip school)!! I'll stay home and hold down the fort at work!

*Kurt is beating himself up right now as I write this; he just accidentally erased everything on the hard drive on his DVR. He lost over 100 shows (combination of car shows, car races, religious shows, etc). He was trying to figure out how to record something on a disk (I think so he could take it to church tomorrow and show it during his Sunday School class), and said yes to something he should not have said yes to! I haven't seen him this upset with himself in a long time. (I am just very thankful that it wasn't Adam that did it!)

Frodo chillin' out

Two sunset shots taken on my way home from work Friday night

Green.....er......Brown Thumb

Most of you know I DO not have a green thumb! I can kill a cactus...quite easily, I might add! I have had tulips and daffodils planted in one small flower bed alongside one set of outside steps. I'm fairly certain there's some rule that every so many years, you are to dig the bulbs up....why or for how long, I have no clue. Well, I have never done that. I believe they have been planted there for at least 15 years, and I have never dug them up.

Over the years, the tulips overtook the daffodils and this particular bed no longer has any daffodils that come up, even though the green thingies (what are they called anyway?!?!?) come up. At least every year, there has been, eh, probably 20-25 tulips that have sprouted. Well this year, there's a load of green thingies, between the tulips and daffodils and a whopping TWO tulips! And the daffodils that have come up are in an area of the yard I never planted any! Go figure!

I figured I better take a couple of pictures this year, in case nothing comes up next year! (Aren't the few that I have, pretty, though?!?!?)

We Have A Situation

I walked in the house this afternoon, dropped my purse and groceries on the kitchen table, and looked up to find this! Adam came in with the rest of the groceries and I said to him, "We have a situation!" He cracked up! After watching it for a couple of seconds and then doing this videotape, Mr. Adam put his brains on, took out the screen and reached out to the bird feeder. (You should have seen the bird going nuts, then!) He realized the glass windows slid up about two inches. He proceeded to get a paper clip, unfold it and prop one of the windows up. The dumb bird still didn't get it! He just kept walking all around in a tizzy. So then Adam figured he'd swing the feeder around and kinda scare him from where he was and see if he would realize there was an out for him; it didn't take long before he flew away!

Again....

**That first shot is kind of a mystery pic...there's something in the pic that I was trying to take a picture of...it didn't work out so well! But if you look really close, you might be able to see what (or who) it is hiding behind the glass (and, no, it's not me...LOL!!)...

Fun!

Kurt, Adam and I went shopping this afternoon....yes, you read that correctly...Kurt went shopping with us! We also had a very nice lunch at Lone Star Steakhouse, which was lots of fun. All that was missing was Alyssa to make it perfect! Adam is being confirmed on May 11th and needs to have a nice outfit for the occasion. The pastors generally ask that the guys have either a suit or at least a sports coat with nice pants for the service. I believe the last time he had a sports coat was for a wedding of one his cousin's and he was probably about 7 or 8! Well, it was quite the adventure at JCPenney's trying to find the appropriate size! I didn't pull any punches once we got there; I went right up to one of the customer associates and said he needs a jacket, and I have no clue what size he needs! Turned out he's a 54 long....and they didn't have a ton of them to choose from! And whether or not, he was convinced he wanted a black jacket, black pants and a black shirt....I was like....NO WAY!! We had a very cool woman helping us and she convinced him that that would not look so good! He finally agreed to charcoal gray pants, which were cuffed on top of it! And the only size 18, 37-38 shirt they had that went with black and gray was white, which worked for me (I was hoping for a pink shirt, but noooooooo, he didn't want to have anything to do with that....LOL!!). He picked out a nice gray, black and white tie to go with it. Now we need to just get him a pair of boats, er, I mean shoes to go with his new outfit.

With the jacket and pants on

Dad, can you button that little button on my neck...I can't get it!

Would you stop it with that stupid camera?!?!?!

I guess I'm glad I tried this, so I know never to get Bubble Tea again....it was disgusting! And those tapioca pearls at the bottom??? Yuck!

Leap Pride Reunion

Several of the students who spent the summer together last year in the education leap pride got together for dinner on Thursday evening

Grrrrrr......

MEN.

Oopsies

I was trying to kill two birds with one stone...was emptying the dishwasher, while filling the sink to wash up a few dishes...kinda' forgot that the water was running!

Bell Concert, Part Deux

Unfortunately, I can't remember which song this was (doesn't really matter, anyway, LOL!), but it was one of the songs played totally on bells. (Our choir is on the far right side, about 3/4 of the way back, with the white shirts!)

Bell Concert

First of two videos from our concert on Saturday night. This was Pie Jesu played totally on chimes.

Meet Me At The Lion

Now That I'm Awake

I spent the last two evenings sound asleep with the computer sitting on my lap, with the full intention of blogging. It never happened...I'm getting too old for this college life! Between spending the entire day on Saturday on my feet practicing bells and then keeping up with the kids Friday night, Saturday night and a good portion of the day on Sunday, I was wiped when we got home Sunday evening. I took an hour nap on Sunday night, and last night I was out like a light from about 8:30 until 11 p.m.!!

We had a blast this weekend in State College. Let me start with the bell festival. We practiced from 9-12 noon and then 1-5 p.m. on Saturday; it was a long, tiring day, but very fruitful. My feet were killing me, though, by the end of the day! We then performed a concert for the public that evening. There were about 13 bell choirs participating. They bring in a nationally recognized bell conductor to direct us...this year's conductor was Tim Waugh from West Virginia. He shared with us that he had a kidney transplant about 2 years ago. As soon as Jamie and I heard that, we knew we had to go up to him and introduce ourselves, which we did after lunch. He told us about his transplant and how he is currently doing. It was a pleasure talking with him; and to top it off, he is an excellent clinician! I would guess there were probably about 150-200 people who attended the concert that evening. Alyssa and Adam were there, as well as Alyssa's friend, Kristin. In addition, our niece and nephew, Matt and Karlyn, were able to find a sitter and came, too!

At rehearsal on Saturday

At concert

We had about two hours in between practice and the concert; Jamie and I tried to figure out how to handle dinner and changing in that short period of time, in addition to picking up the kids. We decided to go change right away at the hotel (at which time, we couldn't get into the room, because the key had gotten de-activated because i had it in the same pocket as my cell phone...who knew?!?!?!). We finally got in the room, changed quickly, and then I dropped Jamie off at the Perkin's right in front of our hotel, where she would get us a table and order drinks right away, while I picked Alyssa, Adam and Kristin up. We got back to Perkin's where Jamie had our table with our drinks; we ordered our food at 5:50 p.m., and by 6:50 p.m. we were still waiting for our food! We needed to be back at the school where the concert was, by 7 p.m.!!! I had already spoken to one of the managers about fifteen minutes prior to that, and he said they were rushing our food. Well, by 6:50 we knew if we did, per chance, get our food, we would have to gulp it down, so we opted to leave. I explained to the other manager that we just couldn't wait any longer, and offered to pay for our drinks, which she told me not to worry about! We ended up going to Ruby Tuesday's after the concert and had so much more fun than if we had eaten at Perkin's and rushed to eat our food. We all probably would have had stomach aches!

Jamie, Kristin and Alyssa

Kristin, Alyssa and Adam

College Life

Adam spent this past weekend with Alyssa and slept in her room on Friday and Saturday night. I think he had a good time, and enjoyed his little piece of college life. On Saturday night, he spent about two hours helping one of Alyssa's friends with her chemistry homework!! They ate at the commons on Saturday and Sunday for lunch, walked downtown in State College on Saturday afternoon while Jamie and I were at our bell festival practice and played Guitar Hero and watched a movie with one of Alyssa's friends late into the night on Saturday.

At dinner on Friday night

Still at dinner on Friday night

"Just Jack"-Alyssa and Sarah's pet goldfish

Bell Teaser

We're home after a terrific weekend! Everything was wonderful...ok, except for our Perkins' experience...it's late, I'm tired and don't want to be up til the wee hours of the morning posting all my pics, so here's just a teaser. (Alyssa took about 10 videos of our concert; I need to spend some time listening to them and picking a couple to post!)

The most interesting side note of the weekend was when the conductor took a second on Saturday morning to take his anti-rejection medications for his kidney transplant!! When he announced that, Jamie and I just looked at one another...we knew then and there we had to introduce ourselves to him!

More details later.....

Bells and chimes

Our conductor...Tim Waugh....excellent!

Just prior to start of concert

Emmanuel's Bell Choir

Me and Jamie just prior to concert start

Jamie, Kristin and Alyssa at Ruby Tuesday's

Us being goofy

Visiting the lion

We're Off!!!

Jamie, Adam and I are off to Penn State tomorrow for the weekend. We're all quite excited! Jamie and I are participating with our bell choir from church in the Nittany Valley Handbell Festival on Saturday. Our choir will be one of probably 40-50 choirs; we practice music all day long, then will participate in a handbell concert for the public on Saturday evening. Adam is gonna see what college life is all about and stay with Alyssa in her dorm room (she ok'd it as long as he promised not to be annoying...LOL!!). We're gonna stay Saturday night, so we can spend some time with Alyssa on Sunday and show Jamie around campus. Her only request is that we get ice cream at the Creamery....guess we'll suck it up, and go there just for her...LOL! I'll be sure to take lots of pictures and maybe I'll have Alyssa do a video or two of some of our songs, too, so you all can share in a piece of the concert. See y'all next week!!

He Did It

Adam passed his driver's test this morning! Woo Hoo! (I think.....LOL!) He was told by the gentleman who tested him that he didn't have his hands in the correct position to be rounding corners; he had them at like 1:00 and 7:00 and also suggested that even though the speed limit on the road he was on was 40 mph and that was what he was going, he should have been going a bit slower. (Not sure what that was all about.....) Either way, he passed him! He apparently did a flawless job with his parallel parking.

So now the discussions begin....is he gonna be allowed to drive to school? Adam wants to drive every day, Kurt doesn't want him to drive any day! My suggestion is that we meet half way in the middle: we let him drive two days per week. Kurt's argument tonite at the dinner table was that Alyssa began driving to school the spring of her junior year in high school, so that's when Adam should be allowed to drive to school (he's only a sophomore). It's not Adam's fault that we had him when we had him...he shouldn't be penalized that he was born in September and she was born in August! She didn't get her permit until the beginning of her junior year; with his birthday in September, he got his the beginning of his sophomore year. I'll serve as Adam's advocate on this one!!

Wow

1986 World oil prices dip below $10 a barrel
(as seen on my sidebar Today in History)

Thanks, Jamie for noticing that!