"To live content with small means, to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion, to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich, to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly, to listen to stars and birds, to babes and sages, with open heart, to bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never, in a word to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common, this is to be my symphony."

This is from Kim's mom....

I just LOVE snow! It is so peaceful and untouched...now if it sould just stop so we can pick Emma up at the airport!

I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much.

God doesn't require us to succeed; he only requires that you try.
Mother Teresa

"Born in a stable, cradled in a manger, He came forth from heaven to live on earth as mortal man and to establish the kingdom of God. During His earthly ministry, He taught men the higher law. His glorious gospel reshaped the thinking of the world. He blessed the sick. He caused the lame to walk, the blind to see, the deaf to hear. He even raised the dead to life. To us He has said, 'Come, follow me.'"As we seek Christ, as we find Him, as we follow Him, we shall have the Christmas spirit, not for one fleeting day each year, but as a companion always. We shall learn to forget ourselves. We shall turn our thoughts to the greater benefit of others"
~Thomas S. Monson

Once a Pennsylvanian, ALWAYS a Pennsylvanian!

About Pennsylvanians:

You've never referred to Philadelphia as anything

but 'Philly' and New Jersey has always been ' Jersey '

You refer to Pennsylvania as 'PA' (pronounced Pee-ay). How many other states do that?

'You guys' is a perfectly acceptable reference to

a group of men and women

You know how to respond to the question 'Djeetyet?'

(Did you eat yet?)

You learned to pronounce Bryn Mawr, Wilkes-Barre ,

Schuylkill, the Pocono's, Tamaqua, Tunkannock, Bala

Cynwyd, Duquesne and Monongahela.

And we know Lancaster is pronounced Lank aster,

not Lan kaster.

You know what a 'Mummer' is, and are disappointed

if you can't catch at least highlights of the parade.

You know what 'Punxsutawney Phil' is, and what it means if he sees his shadow.

The first day of buck and the first day of doe season are school holidays.

At least five people on your block have electric 'candles' in all or most of their windows all year long.

You know what a 'State Store' is, and your out-of-state friends find it incredulous that you can't purchase liquor at the mini-mart.

Words like 'hoagie,' 'crick,' 'chipped ham,' 'dippy eggs',

'sticky buns,' 'shoo-fly pie,' 'lemon sponge pie', pierogies' and 'pocketbook' actually mean something to you.

That's PA slang for purse!

You can eat cold pizza (even for breakfast) and know

others who do the same. Those from NY find this 'barbaric.'

You not only have heard of Birch Beer, but you know it comes in several colors.

You know the difference between a cheese steak and

a pizza steak sandwich, and know that you can't get a really good one outside PA,

except Atlantic City on the boardwalk.

You live for summer, when street and county fairs

signal the beginning of funnel cake season.

You know that Blue Ball, Intercourse, Paradise , Climax, Bird-in-Hand, Beaver, Moon, Virginville, Mars, and Slippery Rock are PA towns. (and the first three were consecutive stops on the Reading RR).

You know what a township, borough, and commonwealth is.

You can identify drivers from New York , New Jersey , Maryland or other neighboring states by their

unique and irritating driving habits.

A traffic jam is 10 cars waiting to pass a horse-drawn carriage on the highway in Lancaster County.

You know several people who have hit deer more than once.

You carry jumper cables in your car and your female passengers know how to use them.

Driving is always better in winter because the potholes are filled with snow.

As a kid you built snow forts and leaf piles that were taller than you were.

You know beer doesn't grow in a garden but you know where to find a beer garden.

You also know someone who lives 'down the lane'.

You actually understand all this and send it on to other Pennsylvanians or former Pennsylvanians!

YEAH! THAT'S 'PA' AND WE LOVE IT

How exciting, it is almost Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday ever! I love the smells and the fun of doing nothing! Ok maybe cooking and watching football and just relaxing. It wont be the same this year without Emma. But she will be coing home for Christmas. I just glad she is doing to well at Weber. When she was at Ship I did nothing but worry about her and Katie, they were miserable there. I would not reccommend Ship to anyone unless you have no goals in life and all you want to do is party.

Well it is over and my vote hopefully made a difference, Yes, I voted for Obama. I voted for Bush the first time, mistake number one...the second time I didn't waste my vote on him. It would be nice to have "W" out of office today, but...He has done so many terrible things to our country. I fear for the future, he has made it such a mess. I pray Obama will not let us down. He cannot fix everything, baby steps...it would be nice to have everyone working again, like Quinn going back to full time instead of part time. It would be nice to "make" these rotten companies that have moved over seas get penalized for going to India where you cannot understand them and taking jobs from our countrymen. At the same token we as Americans need to pull together and stop looking in the mirror so much at ourselves and look around and see what we can do to help those around us.
We had a very nice lady in our office last week getting her new dentures, boy was she excited. She just smiled and smiled! While talking to her she told us where she lives...in a tent down by the Susquehanna River...she was happy,,,she has next to nothing and she was so happy. Why is it those who have so much want more and more and will stop at nothing to get what they want (CEO's, etc...) and stomp on the worker bee's? Let's see what we can do for others...not just at this holiday time of the year, but everyday. Let's come together and give President Elect Obama our full support...

ELECTION DAY!

Today is a very historic day! I've done my part and placed my vote. I have put my trust in Barack Obama. We cannot continue with the same another 4 years. We need fresh ideas and most of all we need hope that things will get better. We have to stop these companies taking jobs away from the American people and sending them overseas. At the same time we as Americans have to stop being so greedy and be more grateful. We have no one to blame but ourselves. Greed have become so prevalent it is very scary when you read bout how regular people are stealing from their employer or their church, bank robberies are up...we have got to do something different and I honestly do not feel it is with McCain and Palin. What we fail to take into consideration is the fact that if McCain wins, and something should happen to him, Palin will be our president...heaven help us. You turn on the TV and all you hear is how Obama has no experience...and Palin does? The mere thought of her being the president is enough to make me leave this country. I keep hearing how Obama is a terrorist...due to Avery, well just because I have a Dr living on my street doesn't make me a Dr. There have been very hateful things sent us and we have friends who have been called and told their voting location has changed only to find out they are receiving bogus phone calls....regardless of who or what you are voting for....just vote, make your voice be heard, if you don't vote.................SHUT UP and don't complain :-)

iPod

So, I finally got an iPod, everyone in the family with the exception of the dogs have one...so I now have a itty bitty shuffle very cute and very blue. DO you think I can put anything on it? NO and no one is very helpful in helping me put music on it. I am now iPod challenged!

We also had some bad news yesterday, our very dear friend Dr. Robert E Lee one of the professors in the Geography Dept from Fresno State with Frank passed away yesterday. He had been battling his illness for several years and will be missed. We send our prayers to Fresno to Pat.

Poor Emma she has an ear infection in both ears and a sinus infection. I do not like being across the country from her! I'm so grateful her grandparents are there...
Hannah cheered for her last football game of the season last Friday night, it was our Homecoming game which we killed Warwick....and our wonderful neighbor Betsy won Queen! It is so nice to have someone "normal" win and not one of the massively popular girls who are over achievers! Betsy is a great gal with a good head on her shoulders.

It's now time to cheer for Wrestling! Go Knights!! Go Hannah!!

It is super cold here today, in the 30's with wind 30-50 mph, it will be interesting to see if we end up with Halloween items (not our's) on our front porch!

I did come home from work to a goodies filled pumpkin on my front doorknob, not sure who it's from...but it was a very nice thing to find!

Burrr...it's cold

I don't know about anyone else but I'm ready for fall and the cool air, notice I said cool not COLD! It has gone from being summer/hot to downright cold. We will not turn on the heat, but instead put on a lot more clothes.

I could use a double double right about now!

Forever and a Day!

Wow...it has been forever since I was here! How life has changed and moved on...Mom passed away in January 2007...it has been very hard and lonely without her...but I know she is in a much better place...I'm going to try and figure out this blog thing and hopefully make it pretty and fun!