Surprise!!

Should be self-explanatory!

Sarah Palin

I LIKE HER.....LOTS!!!

Happy 19th Birthday, Alyssa!

Happy 50th BDay Dave!

One of our friends from church, David, hosted a gala birthday event this evening at Coca-Cola Park in Allentown. The Iron Pigs played the Pawtucket Red Sox. The Iron Pigs were winning for the first five innings....then they blew it! The final score was Red Sox 8, Iron Pigs 5. Despite their loss, we all had a great time! And the best part was a beautiful fire works display after the game was over.

Program and ticket

National Anthem (Mr. & Mrs. Ferrous are at home plate)

That's David on the field!!

Another shot of Dave on the field

Action shot

David's name on the sign

What a beautiful day!

Ball field signs

David and his mom, Arlene

Grounds crew prior to start of game

Big sign at night

Back of you know who! (He's standing on next level below us...it looks like he's sitting next to me!)

I even caught a sunset.....

or two.....

Tidbits

So Alyssa says that they have a bat in their hallway now for the second night in a row. I am soooo glad I am here and not there! I am petrified of them! She says the RA's are trying to get rid of it...but in mean time, they have their legs crossed waiting to go to the bathroom!

She also mentioned that their cable is out.

And one of her friends in another hall has no electricity.

What is it that we are paying for?!?!!? Oh, yeah, that's right....a closet!! LOL!

Another Heart!

Eureka!

Kurt and I checked out Oreck, Hoover and Eureka vacuum cleaners last evening. I think out of all of them Oreck was probably the superior of all of them, however....
I just couldn't bring myself to spend $300 for one. Their ad in the paper is for their classic, which was $200, but it was a very basic cleaner. It didn't have a light, had a shorter cord, a basic handle, etc. As a result, I would have preferred the upgrade, but along with a light, longer cord, ergonomic handle and a better warranty, came an extra $100 added on to the price. I knew Kurt wasn't gonna be excited about a $300 vacuum cleaner and even I couldn't bring myself to pay that price!

I've never had a Eureka, but of the ones we compared, we both preferred this one over the others. It's definitely heavier than the Oreck, and also seems heavier than my Hoover that broke. The one thing I was afraid I would miss with the Oreck was the fact that there are no attachments on their vacuums. You get a separate hand held vacuum that comes with all the attachments. This one has everything attached. Kurt put it together this morning, and we both tried it out. At first glance, I think I'll like it!

Twins?

Did anyone happen to notice that Sarah and Alyssa had on pink Penn State t-shirts, blue jean capris and brown/black flip flops on move in day?!!? And that was not planned.....

Sarah's mom told me that Sarah told her that she and Alyssa are 'two peas in a pod'.....

Houston, We Have Another Problem

I came home from work today to find my vacuum cleaner in many pieces! Kurt called me this morning (he is on vacation) asking if I had any extra bags, that the vacuum cleaner seemed to be running slow. That was the last I heard. Til I came home. And saw this. We'll be shopping for a new vacuum cleaner tomorrow evening. I'm thinking Oreck.

Can You Say SMALL?!?!?

Dinky, dwarf, little, pint-size, slight, micro, minute, teeny, inadequate, skimpy, sparse, miniature, microscopic, insufficient....and the list goes on

All synonyms for the word small....all describe the size of Alyssa and Sarah's room this year! Not only did they not get their choice of dorm hall, I've seen walk-in closets bigger than their room!!

I'm so glad they are such good friends, or it might not be pretty! Their room last year now seems like a banquet hall!!

We ran to Ollie's after we got there to get a rug for the room....an 8x12 foot rug pretty much covered the entire floor!! Initially, the chest of drawers were in the closets...now that did add a little extra space in the room, but having them in there, made it tough to fit much in the closets. Those quickly came out!

They are tucked away in a small wing of the building, with narrow hallways and a bathroom that is in another hallway and up about five steps. To get to their room with all their belongings we had to get in an elevator to the second floor, get out, go into another elevator to the fourth floor, get out, go up about five steps, walk down a hallway, go down about five steps and walk down the narrow hallway!

Hopefully, Alyssa will take a few pics once they have the room all put together...when we left, it was still a huge mess and there was quite a bit to be put away yet.

Large spacious hallway (We were all standing out in the hallway, as both dad's were struggling with laying the carpet in the room)

Their door

Looking into the room (This was prior to rearranging the beds, desks, dressers, etc. trying to fit everything in)

Sarah, in the closet, attempting to get the dresser out of the closet!

That's Alyssa's desk on the left...I have no clue where she's gonna go with all that stuff!!

My PSU gal....with her tshirt and hat on

Resting after the move in (Note Alyssa's new comforter)

Adam and Erika (More on that later...)

A Birthday Send-Off

We took Alyssa to Bravo Cucina Italiana this evening for an early birthday dinner. Her bday isn't until the 28th, but obviously she'll be back at school. We let the kids pick where they would like to eat for their birthday dinner, and if I remember correctly, she's picked Red Lobster the past few years. My mom and Alyssa ate here one day for lunch about a year ago. Alyssa couldn't stop talking about the lobster bisque. When we talked about going out tonite, I reminded her of this place. She quickly jumped on the idea! We had a delicious dinner, plus I managed to get the waitress's attention to alert her that it was Alyssa's bday. She brought her their birthday dessert...a combination of their vanilla gelato and mocha crunch gelato with a cookie, topped off with whipped cream. We were all stuffed, so we kind of all shared it. Sir Adam had already left, so he missed out! (More on that in a future post....)

(That's a hair straightener from Adam and a Target gift card from us)