LOL

poor alyssa..... :)

Bonding

Don't see this too often! So what if it is due to a broken ball joint on Adam's car?!?!?!?

PSU Update

I think they are excited to be able to cook. I know Alyssa is, at least! This was meal numero uno:

Sarah making meal numero dos:
(Note the pink)

Maybe the next Food Network Star??

Yum! Cranberry chicken:
(Note the fancy schmancy napkin holder...AND...that's Noritake fine china plates! What else should college students have?!?!!?)

K-10 comes for a visit! Alyssa made fettucine alfredo with chicken and broccoli.

Looks delish!

Kitchen now that they have everything put away:

Another view:
(Note the pink toaster oven...LOL! Thanks, Aunt Renee and Uncle Jeff!!)

Closet way full:

Study area:

(Note the $25 Ikea desks)

Sleeping area:

Living room area:

(That's a $20 Ikea coffee table in front of the sofa!)

Another view of the living area:

Dining and living area:
(Note the flowers on the table; we sent them to Alyssa for her 20th bday yesterday)

Still one more view:

(Note the creeper in that pic!!)

Bathroom view:
(Love the colors!)

Shelves in the BR to keep supplies:

That's all folks!!

**Special thanks to Sarah (who works at the Noritake outlet, I might add), for her phine photography:):)

Heaven!!

My favorite!

Office supplies!

Only Jamie will know how much it means to have EIGHT different colors of highlighters!! And now we can change our push pins!! Now that drug companies no longer give away freebies (pens, stickies, etc), I am forced to purchase my own stickies (the office has started buying them, but they are that boring pale yellow...LOL!).

Well Said.

This was an email sent to one of the local radio stations I listen to and thought it was very well said:

Please ask anyone who believes that “Cash for Clunkers” is a good idea the following questions:

Would you take $4,500 of your own money to buy your neighbor’s old car? If so, would you then take that car (that you just paid $4,500 for) to the scrap yard to have it destroyed?

I suspect that most people would answer no to both of those questions.

Why then, do some insist that it is a good idea for the government to use our tax dollars to do the same thing?

Happy 20th Birthday Miss Alyssa!

B.O.D. (and a cloud)

*B.O.D.-Bargain of the Day

End Of An Era

Today was the last time I'll ever need to take a picture of a child's first day of school. Well....it was sorta his first day of school! And yes, that is Adam underneath all that garb!

Adam has three first days of school this year! He is taking two dual enrollment on line courses through Northampton Community College, one in the fall and one in the spring. This past Monday the 24th was the start of their classes. He was accepted into an Applied Engineering Program taught by a Professor from Lafayette College that is held at Bethlehem Area VoTech (BAVTS). He will receive 3 engineering credits from this class. Today was the first day of this class. Plus then, he still is a senior at Northampton Area School District!! And they start this coming Monday the 31st!

Just to brag a bit, by the time he graduates next June, he will have at least 16 college credits and possibly 25!! He got a 5 in his AP Calculus exam (gives him 4 PSU credits), a 4 in AP Macro economics (3 college credits), a 3 in AP Micro economics (gets him squat...LOL...but....says he didn't study for this one and knows if he studies he'll get a 4 or 5, which would give him 3 credits, so he's considering sitting for the exam again this coming May). He will get 3 engineering credits for this class he's taking at BAVTS, 3 credits for the online speech class (yeah, I don't get it either...how do you take an online speech class?!?!?), and 3 credits for the online English class next spring. And then.....he's taking AP Physics this year (3 credits if he gets a 4 or a 5).....plus possibly AP Stats (if they approve counting the NCC English class for his 12th grade English class, which would then open a spot for him to have room for the AP Stats class). Alyssa was quick to point out that he could be a sophomore before he finishes his freshman year!!

For the time being he has decided he wants to major in nuclear engineering and only has eyes for Penn State. He is fine with attending the Lehigh Valley campus if he's not accepted at University Park ( as opposed to Alyssa, who only had her sights on UP).

Movin' In

**Pictures will be more effective by clicking on them to enlarge them**

Can I mention that this summer just flew by?!?!? It seems like just yesterday that we brought Alyssa and her belongings home from school. And now she's gone again. Even harder for me to believe is that she's beginning her junior year already! Before we know it she'll be graduating!

As we drove on Route 80 this morning, I mentioned to Kurt that I wouldn't be surprised if there was a line to get off Exit 161 to PSU. He acted like I was nuts. Ha! Joke was on him! We got caught up in a line about a half mile just stopped on Rt. 80, as cars galore were headed to State College. Adam rode with Alyssa and since they had little Ms. GPS (not sure what name Alyssa has given her...LOL) they flew right past the exit and got off at the next one. We, on the other hand, just sat there and inched our way off the interstate.

This was our view coming into State College:

The car packed FULL:

Somehow, by God's good grace, we managed to get a parking space right by the apartment building. You had to be there to understand what it was like. There were cars, trucks, U-Haul trucks, cars, people, bikes, cars, people, trucks...did I mention cars?!?!? How about people?!?!? Not only did we find a spot for us, there was one for Alyssa, too! We ended up trading spots with Alyssa and Sarah's parents, to get their minivan closer to the building to be able to empty their vehicle emptied out. I stayed out by the vehicles, guarded both unlocked cars and unloaded as much as I could to make it easier for the haulers.

Here's a tour of their efficiency apartment. It's a mess, but that's understandable, since they haven't had much chance to unpack. I'm sure once they've got the place in tip top shape, Alyssa will take pics that I can post.

This is their tiny kitchen with more supplies than I believe I have in my kitchen!! Sarah's mom with a little help from me, cleaned the cabinets and counter tops, but were hesitant to put anything away, so they could do it the way they wanted it to be:

The bathroom is small, but that's OK. They got the shower curtain at Target:

The bunk beds are neat, but neither of them wanted to have anything to do with the top or the bottom. Sarah's dad took the beds apart, all the wood is being stored in their walk in closet, and will have to be put back together whenever they move out!

Not quite sure what was going on here, but you can see that both their beds fit in the area nicely.

This is their walk in closet that is to the right when you walk in the door of the apartment. You can see a portion of the bunk beds on the left.

That door is the main door. To the left is the walk in closet (behind that wall), and to the right by the entrance door is the kitchen. You can kind of see the glass table to the left...that is their kitchen table.

This picture is taken from the little area between the kitchen and the walk in closet. Note the sofa is up against the wall. The next picture will show how they moved it. This is the 'living room' area.

See how they moved the sofa? This kind of divides the living room area from the dining area.

I took this so you can see how they tie dyed their Penn State white-out t-shirts. One of the home football games each year, they have a white-out, where everyone is asked to wear white. Alyssa is wearing the 2007 shirt and Adam has on the 2008 shirt.

Two excited, tired friends excited to fix up their apartment and ready to take on the new school year:

And what would a post be without a sunset pic(s)? We stopped at our halfway point on the way home for some supper, came out from the new Chinese buffet we found (awesome, BTW!), and saw this:

Happy Birthday David!!

I joined my friend, David, tonite to help him celebrate his 51st birthday. He had a bottle of this 110% proof liquor called Absinthe that he waited to break open until today. It wasn't as simple as opening the bottle and pouring it out, as you will see!

Outside of the box (note the spoon)

One shot of absinthe to one shot of water. Pour water over a sugar cube which is laid on top of special spoon. Sugar dissolves into the absinthe. Stir with special spoon and enjoy!

Tastes kinda like Nyquil (yuck...LOL!)

Yvonne and I celebrating David's 51st birthday with him!!

**Also got to try a shot of Jaegermeister...it tasted like cherry cough medicine! (Double-yuck!!)