We truly hope that you and yours had a fantastic Christmas!

This Christmas, we were expecting Max to be gung-ho about the whole opening presents, tearing paper, playing with boxes thing.  Alas, not so much.  He had a great time, but we think he got over stimulated.  He didn't cry, just got real quiet and snuggled with Daddy or Uncle Dave.  It was the year of stuffed fuzzies (Nana made him a doll, and Daddy got him a stuffed bear named Maxwell from London), trucks, and books.  The most fascinating thing?  The big box Aunt Katie wrapped her homemade blanket for him in.

The crowing achievement for me was the photo you see below.  Taken with a timer on my Nikon D40, with all the settings on manual.  Pretty proud of myself.

Have a Happy New Year!

So we just received our first order from Angel Food Ministries.  My mom has been getting food from them for a while and always gave us what she didn't want or felt we needed (she's a mom, after all).  When we went on food stamps, we looked for the place where we could get the biggest bang for our buck, and Angel Food seemed like the best choice.  The crazy part is that there is no qualifying for Angel Food...if you eat, you can participate (hence why mom was getting it.  She's frugal).  Why we didn't get this stuff before, I don't know, but I'm kicking myself for not doing it.  We got a TON of food (meat, veggies, fruit, easy-prepare meals, sauces, etc).  Our freezer is as full as I've ever remembered, and we only spent a little over $100.  Each "Signature Box" feeds a family of 4 for a week, and its only $30!  Now, if you're a vegetarian, or looking for top choice stuff, you're not going to get it from here.  But it is "restaurant grade" food, and a balance of items for good nutrition, and some fun stuff too.  

Go to the website and check it out!  They have information on the local suppliers in your area.

Here endeth the commercial.

So, I'm sitting here in studio a day after a large snow storm hit Central PA.  We struck our outdoor production of Romeo and Juliet yesterday afternoon, causing me to have flashbacks from my days as a construction carpenter.  It was muddy, snowy, and windy.  I received a text from the PSU Omnitext system at 6:45am today saying that school was on, but all the trees were falling down because of the 4" of wet heavy snow.  The trees still have their leaves, and they're holding a lot of weight.  So I was sittting here in studio and outside the window, a tree just fell over.  Big sucker, too.  Could have seriously hurt someone.  Crazy.

SO glad we're having class today.  Better make sure I stay away from all the trees here at PSU...

My doctor called me today with the results of my blood test from last week.  The tests showed no tumor markers.  He's going to present my CAT scan at the biweekly "Tumor Board" meeting at Hershey, which all of the oncologists and radiologists attend and consult.  I feel rather special knowing that some of the best minds at Hershey Medical Center will be looking at my lungs....I would have worn better underwear had I known that was going to happen....