DCF

This is what Adam did this past weekend:

He was at the DiscipleMakers Fall Conference.  There were close to 400 students from multiple colleges.  This was just the Penn State contingent :-)

(He's the tall one in the pic!)

Yum!

Well, this is a keeper for sure!!  I saw this slow cooker sauce in the coupon circular this weekend and found it at the grocery store (of course, I hadn't cut the coupon out...LOL!!).  They have about 4 different flavors for different meats, this was the only one that I thought we might like. I decided to add a can of mushrooms, but other than that, all I did this morning before I left for work was put the roast in the crock pot (not browned), added the mushrooms, 4 potatoes (I peeled them last night and soaked them in water) and the packet of sauce.  Tonight I made salads and peas and voila!  We really enjoyed it!  And it was SO easy!!  It had a great flavor, the mushrooms were delicious and the meat just fell apart.

Now, where'd these come from!??!

This is Samson's absolute favorite way to be held!  He loves his paws hanging down, whether he's in our arms or sitting on the sofa....or sink....or kitchen table.... ;-)

So Sweet!

I had a patient bring these for me today :-) He and his wife are moving South and he stopped by to say goodbye and thank me for everything I've done for him over the years.

Most of us teared up when I read the card aloud: I am leaving the area but will think of you. You have set the bar high for caring, compassion and the love of giving. You can't be replaced.....

This couldn't have happened on a better day.  There's a lot of change going on in our office right now, and for many of us, sadness...and a few other emotions that I won't get into right now.  Today was a particularly rough day; this was a bright spot in the middle of a bad day.

One of Our Favorites! And So Easy, Too :-)

This is so quick, easy.....and yummy on top of it! For three of us, I buy four boxes of frozen veggies (as below) and fry up one pound of ground turkey (or beef). I microwave all four boxes of veggies at the same time for 12 minutes while the turkey is browning. I add either Season All or Nature's Seasoning to the meat, too. Then just throw it all together and stir! Voila! Done!!  I make a tossed salad to go with it.

If you don't want leftovers, then one box per person is sufficient.  I like having leftovers for lunch the next day at work :-)

The 'icing on the cake' is adding french fried onions on top when serving!

Delicious!!

Vacation: Part One

This was our last (tear) fall trip to State College with a student enrolled at Penn State :-(  It was pretty laid back.  We met Adam at the Chick-Fil-A in State College when we got there; he and a friend were 'babysitting' Rosie, an adorable little girl who was actually celebrating her first birthday that day!  Adam and Gene were giving their parents a few hours alone as their present to Rosie ;-)

Adam had something he needed to do for about an hour after that, so we went to the hotel and checked in, then he met us there.  After we got something for dinner, we went back to the hotel for the kids to get a swim in.

Saturday brought us making a quick stop at Family Clothesline for us to pick up some Penn State attire for pictures :-)

We can't go to Happy Valley without making a stop at Matt and Karlyn's to say hello!  Here's Tate, Gabe and Lydia with Alyssa and Adam.

On the recommendation of Adam's boss, we took a ride to Millheim, PA to have lunch at Elk Creek Cafe & Aleworks.  Adam had the sampler, as you can see.  We all took little tastes.  I personally would have been happy if they would have served Coors Light.  LOL.  The food was good, however!

After lunch, we headed to two wineries, Mt. Nittany Winery and Happy Valley Winery :-)

Can't leave without ice cream from the Creamery!

We rounded the day out by going back to Adam's apartment and ordering wings from Wings Over before heading home.

All in all, a great visit!

EZ Pass

So Kurt has been very resistant to get an EZ Pass. Alyssa recently obtained one; in fact, it just arrived a few days before we left on vacation. I asked Alyssa if we could borrow it for our trip.   She had actually added my car and its license number when she registered for one anyway.   She got an extra adhesive, too, so it seemed like a no-brainer to me!

Kurt's issue with EZ Pass is that he doesn't like the fact that they (EZ Pass) are holding on to our money. My argument for him is, it's just sitting in our bank account NOT accruing interest anyway, so what does it matter where it's sitting?!?!?  On top of that,  I've watched toll prices go up and up, while EZ Pass users rates have gone up much less. Finally, why would you want to sit in a long line when you can just zip right through with an EZ Pass :-)

I'm not sure we've changed his mind and that he'll run right out and sign up for one, but I think he's totally enjoyed zipping through those toll plazas!

I do find it quite funny that the first toll we had was $13 to go over the Washington Bridge!!

***FYI, I totally just did this entire post on my iPad!  I'm moving up in the world. I did end up buying a $3.99 app (Picasa), but otherwise it seems to have worked well. I'm excited!

Cuteness :-)

My Heart Can't Take Too Many Games Like That One!!

FINAL SCORE PENN STATE 43-MICHIGAN STATE 40

Oh my heavens! What a game that was!! Penn State tied it up with less than a minute left in the game. It took FOUR overtimes until someone won the game. And it was PSU that pulled it off!!! 

Jamie's dad was given 4 tickets to the game, so she, John, Jonathan and her Dad made the trek to Happy Valley to go to the game.  What an exciting one to be at!!  She shared her pics with me so I could blog them ;-)

It was Homecoming and the stadium was FULL!  And as you can see it was a total White-Out....well, except for Phil, who thought maybe his Wolverines would win.  How'd that work out for ya, Phil!?!?!?  LOL :-)

  Thanks for sharing your pics, Jamie!!

Happy Birthday Adam!!

I don't get the excitement of this gift...but he was thrilled!

We went to the Sunset Grille to celebrate his 22nd birthday:

Adam's arms are so long he could get the 4 of us in a 'selfie'.  He said he's already done a 'selfie' with 19 in the picture...LOL!!

Me and my guy :-)

Road Trip to Lancaster

I made a solo road trip to Lancaster last week. One of my friends at work, Pam, and I wanted to get Jamie a graduation gift.  We talked about what we wanted to get her, and ultimately decided we wanted to get her a quilt wall hanging.  Pam and I both love Lancaster and quilts. We thought this would be something that not only would be a lasting gift, but also something that would always remind her of us :-)

I avoided all the commercial quilt stores....I don't think I've ever been in one of them!  I went to 4 different places, 3 of which were in people's homes.  I found some that I sort of liked, but there wasn't one that stuck out for me that I really liked that I thought Jamie'd like, too.  All day long I was texting pictures to Pam at work (shhh, don't tell the boss!) with some of the quilts I thought were possibilities.

These were some of the options:

This was the one I had pretty much decided on, and Pam was good with it, too:

Until I found this one at Hannah's:

You may not be able to tell it, but, in addition to different materials and colors, there's quite a few different stitches.  If you look at the maroon border, there's leaves and acorns in there!  I think as soon as we both saw it we thought it was perfect for Jamie!

I love Hannah's!  I've gotten several wall hangings and pillows from here.  I love supporting this Amish family, instead of some commercial business.  

You can't go to Lancaster without doing some sightseeing.  Even though I was all by myself, I put my windows down (which at a few points, was a bad, bad idea.  There was some fertilizing going on!!), and just drove on many of the roads between Rts. 30 and 23.

I follow a blog that the writer reviews and rates buffets.  His all time favorite buffet is Shady Maple in East Earl.  I don't even think he's from Lancaster, let alone even Pennsylvania.  He's written several times about this restaurant and I knew for a while that I wanted to check it out the next time I got to Lancaster.  It's attached to a grocery store/farm market.  It's not near as big as Shady Maple, but that's OK.  The day I was there they had 4 different kinds of soup (chili, New England clam chowder, chicken rice and beef vegetable) and quite a few main dishes (ham balls, 'Henny Penny chicken', roast beef, beef stew, pork and sauerkraut, turkey, catfish) and lots of sides.  They also had a stir fry bar that you could pick your ingredients to be stir-fried, plus a burger bar, neither of which I tried.  They had a nice variety of desserts, but all I had was half of a white creme filled donut :)

And you can't leave Lancaster without stopping at Lapp's Dairy Farm for an ice cream cone!

This guy jumped up on the picnic table while I was sitting there and wanted to be petted:

And here's Jamie holding her new wall hanging:

(If you click on this pic, you can see the stitching on the border)

New Recipe-Loaded Chicken & Potatoes

I saw this recipe floating around on Facebook and decided to try it.  Kurt and I both found it quite tasty!  It is spicy, but one could choose to not put any of the hot sauce in the recipe....or even use less.  Since it has chicken in it, I made it our main meal.  I served it with tossed salad and some cut up fresh fruit.  I tried it with both ranch dressing and sour cream...it was good with both, but I think i preferred the sour cream most.

1 lb. boneless chicken breasts, cubed (~1 inch cubes)
6-8 medium, skin on, red potatoes, cubed (~1/2 inch cubes)
1/3 cup olive oil
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper
1 Tbsp. paprika
2 Tbsp. garlic powder
2 Tbsp. hot sauce (use more, less or none)

Topping:
2 cups fiesta blended cheese
1 cup crumbled bacon
1 cup diced green onion

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Spray 9x13 pan with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, mix together the olive oil, salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder and hot sauce. Add the cubed potatoes and chicken; stir to coat.  Carefully scoop the potatoes and chicken into the prepared baking dish.

Bake the potatoes and chicken for 55-60 minutes, stirring every 20 minutes, until cooked through, crispy and browned on the outside.  While the potatoes are cooking, fry your bacon (about 1/2 pound).

Once the potatoes and chicken are fully cooked, remove from the oven.  Top the cooked potatoes with the cheese, bacon and green onions.  Return the casserole to the oven and bake for an addt'l 5 minutes or until the cheese in melted.

Serve with addt'l hot sauce, ranch dressing or sour cream.

Yummy!!

Congrats Jamie!

Today was Jamie's first day back at work after having taken the summer off to finish her LPN program at Northampton Community College.  We had bagels, fresh fruit and pastries from Panera for breakfast, and then this awesome cake with cannoli filling for our afternoon snack.

Congratulations Jamie and good luck on your boards...whenever they are ;-)