Teaser :)

A very last minute decision was made to make a trip to State College yesterday to see Alyssa who happened to be visiting Penn State for the weekend. She and her math education major friends are attending an education career fair tomorrow sponsored by PSU, thus her need to make the trip from Pittsburgh. In addition to having the opportunity to visit with her, we brought some of her rubbermaid totes and a suitcase for her to take back to Pittsburgh, as she isalready in her last month of student teaching and will be home by Easter.

Adam and his buddy Doug came along and went off on their own visiting their friends. We picked up Sarah and the four of us went to lunch together, then took some special pictures, most of which will have to wait to be posted until after graduation, but here's a few we took that I can post :)

Alyssa, Sarah and JoePa:

My favorite site when entering State College:

A favorite Penn State football coach's modest house:

Please note Sarah and Alyssa's similar but contrasting colors. That was not done intentionally, but needs to be pointed out :)

Dumb Bird!

We have had this visitor outside our kitchen window for about six hours. Adam posted a video of it on YouTube:

Shepherd's Pie

I found this recipe for Shepherd's Pie on-line and thought I'd give it a try. It was very good, although a bit on the bland side. I don't generally add salt to my food, but needed to with this casserole. I think I'd make it again, but next time add a bit more salt to something...either the mashed potato topping or the meat mixture underneath. It was also good as a left over.

Onion Snow?

Psychedelic Man!

Bet Aunt Martha's brown sugar cookies never saw this kind of action :)

Boys....

Will be boys :)

Adam and Colin decided it would be great fun to frolic on the four wheeler in the rain and mud. This is the result of said frolicking:

Finally!

Easy Chicken & Dumplings

(And I do mean EASY....)

I found this recipe in my Taste of Home magazine. I've never made dumplings before, but I think they must have been the easiest in the world to make :) It says it costs $1.04 per serving.

I doubled the recipe, but since it ended up only being Kurt and I eating it, I could have just made a single batch. I have enough leftovers for me and Jamie for lunch tomorrow, plus one additional serving.

The dumplings part of the recipe calls for french fried onion rings and I'm not sure that I even really tasted them, so I'd almost be tempted to leave them out the next time. See the ingredients below:

This is just after I added the dumplings by heaping teaspoonful into the pot. I doubled the dumpling part of the recipe, but I think I probably should have just made a single batch. I had double of the batter but still only had the one size pot and could only fit the same amount of dumplings in the pot. Plus the dumplings grew as they cooked :) I ended up throwing some of the batter away.

Finished product! It was quite good and I'll probably make it again.

Recipe (Singled):

1- 1/2 cups milk (I used 1%, it calls for 2%)

1- 1/2 cups frozen mixed vegetables, thawed (a whole bag = 3 cups)

2- 1/2 cups shredded or cubed cooked chicken (I used 3 breasts for a double recipe)

1 can condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1/4 tsp. poultry seasoning

Dumplings:

1 cup Bisquick

1/3 cup french fried onions, coarsely chopped (Wegman's brand is actually in pieces)

7 tbsp. milk

1/2 tsp. dried parsley flakes (oops, forgot 'em)

In a Dutch oven, combine the first six ingredients; bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the biscuit mix, onions, milk and parsley just until moistened. Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls onto simmering stew. Cook, uncovered, for 10 minutes.

Cover and simmer 10-12 minutes longer or until a toothpick inserted in a dumpling comes out clean. Do not lift the cover while simmering.

Kitty Time

Giving Macy some treats:

Feeding Frodo a treat:

Ahhh...nice kitty :)

Trying to share some juice with Frodo:

Gorgeous!

Jealous!!

Alyssa is jealous that she doesn't have a shirt like her cousins do :)

THON 2011!

$9, 563,016.09 RAISED!!

Comments twittered during THON's live webcast:

Statement made by a parent whose child who died from cancer: "Most of all, I want you to dance, I want you to THON, because I don't want you to ever -- ever -- have your child die in your arms." :*(

Statement made by a dancer: "There's a difference between dancing with your feet and dancing with your heart."

17 year old valedictorian, student council president and cancer fighter closing out his speech to THON participants: "I don't want to survive. I want to live." (Quote from Wall-E)

Penn State student dancer: "He was never a sick kid to me, he was just my little brother. Through 8 years of treatment, he was happiest here at THON."
Quote from Charles Millard, founder of Four Diamonds Fund: "When we do things for ourselves, they die with us. When we do things for humanity, they live on forever."
Unknown: "One day we will dance in celebration. Until then, we dance for a cure."

Khloe Kardashian: "How are my THON dolls doing?! Almost over!! "

Dr. Spanier: "Nothing makes me more proud as President of Penn State than THON."
THON dancer: "Our backs are sore, our feet our sore, but our pain is nothing compared to what those kids go through."
Joe Paterno: When they say, ‘We Are Penn State,’ this is what they are talking about.”
Unknown: "Its a great day to be a penn stater!" <3

Other comments:
Alyssa Geiger: $9, 563, 016.09 all for the kids, the families and the cure. What an incredible year. Thank you to everyone who made it possible.
Sarah Dickert: Waddup atlas and your $381,000!!! Oh btw, my school raised $9.56 million for kids with cancer, what did your school do?

LOVE!

I spent the day with my sister-in-law last Friday. She has this fabulous secret recipe for cookies that everyone just loves! I asked her if we could make a batch to send to Alyssa for Valentine's Day. She was kind enough to make the batch the night before (it has to chill overnight in the fridge) and when I got there Friday morning we (mostly she...LOL!) made the cookies, then while we went out to get a bite to eat and make a quick stop to Walmart to get a container and bubble wrap, they cooled. When we returned home we iced them.

As you can see, Alyssa was ecstatic! They received 30 cookies (note that they're fairly sizable) on Monday. Last night when I spoke with her, there were only three left!!! Now, they did give a few to one of the guys in their major who lives in the same complex, but I don't expect they shared too many with him :)

The cutest thing, however, was how excited she was that we had packed the box with PINK bubblewrap :):)

Now, THAT'S The Life :)

Green Thumb

.....or not so much :)

Ice Storm 2011