Facts of Life?

I'm in Utah right now, taking care of my Dad. He had a mountain biking accident and broke his hip. He's doing very well, but just has to hobble around on crutches and needs a little extra help doing things.
I dropped him off at a stake (church) meeting last night and went over to my sister's to see her and her husband and play with their five kids. I've really missed them! I had fun playing wii with my nephew Matt, watching Lucy take some of her first steps, and reading stories to Lizzie, Josh, and Sam. Josh and Sam (aka the "cage fighters") are true guys - i.e. tried the whole night to impress me and outdo eachother with their flatulence.
Anyway, when I put Lizzie to bed, she asked me to cuddle with her, so I lay down by her and we talked about whatever comes in to an 8-year-old girl's head right before she falls asleep. We started talking about wedding receptions and she told me how much she liked mine and remembered being on the boat. She then told me that she wanted to have a large reception so that she and her husband could sneak out in the middle and... (of course at this point, I was wondering what in the world she was going to say.) ... go to the slurpee store for slurpees! She then assured me that brides and grooms will sneak out of their wedding receptions to go get slurpees or candy. When I asked her how she knew that, she said she just listened carefully, like when her Mom was on the phone, and just found these things out.
Of course Lindsay, her Mom, denies any such phone conversation.

Our Dog is Crazy

Phoebe loves stuffed animals!! And they're even more fun if they make noise. In fact, the more annoying the noise, the more fun the toy is. Grannie (Mom Boyer) sent this toy frog to Phoebe for Valentine's Day. Hopefully you can hear the clip and experience the "ribbit" for yourself... Also, my sister Martha is obsessed with pointing out and mocking nerdy laughs. Mo - check out my laugh after Sammie's joke. WORST EVER!!!!!

In this next clip, which is shorter, you can hear Sammie in the background, telling me about Luke losing his appendix. (Welcome to the A- team, Luke!)

Finally, last December I had a huge stack of papers to grade, so naturally, I was looking for unimportant things to do to avoid grading. I ended up taking pictures of Phoebe and thought it was funny how well she posed for the camera.

Sammie's Christmas Present

Sammie and I have had a deal since we got married that I would keep my hair long as long as he kept his face shaved (when we started dating, he had a goatee). Every once in a while, I would tease him about wanting to cut my hair. Finally, on Christmas he granted me permission to cut my hair, promising not to grow out his facial hair. Well, once I had the permission, I lost my nerve. It wasn't until he was in Istanbul and I was contemplating a hot and humid Texas summer that I finally did it. And I'm glad I did! It hasn't been this short since about 1999...

My R-Square is bigger than your R-Square

Just remember, when you're forecasting demand from historical data that includes trend, level and seasonality -- you darn well better be sure that your independent variables cut the mustard or someone like me is going to have a different forecast result and as we all know, he who has the bigger R-Square wins. And, FYI, if you have multiple sets of demand and need to find out which of them, if any, contain trend, level and/or seasonality, I would recommend using a bivariate correlation to measure significance on all variables in one shot rather than doing things the long way and running multiple linear regressions until one of these pops up. (Yes Mike, that means you.)

That pretty much sums up my life for the day. No kidding. That's what I did. And my R-Square was bigger than Kyle's so we ended up using my forecast results for the assignment instead of his.

Perhaps my father is the only who understands what this all means which makes the picture below all the more amusing.




My mom took this picture while my parents were here last week. It begs for a humorous caption -- specifically one that reflects what Phoebe is thinking. Please post whatever caption you think fits. The ones we have so far are:

"Who ARE these people? And when will Melba come home and take me on a walk?" -- Vernon P.

"8 Billion people in the world -- and I get stuck with these two?" -- Melba

"How do I get online?" -- Grandma Dewey

"Hey, a quarter!" -- My brother Jeff

"Well, it could be worse. At least these guys aren't lawyers." -- Vernon P. (that one is for you, Jeremy.)

"Phoebe's the only one in the picture I can relate to. It's the story of my life." Larry (Mom Boyer)

And this is my favorite -- from my sister:

Back from Istanbul.

Istanbul is a cool city. I spent the first week of March there as part of the MBA Program -- it was a graded course. Here's a picture for you.

.

School has started up again. Time to hit the books.

Enough About You... Let's Talk About Me!

I had a tedious project to do at work today. I thought it would be more palatable if I opened up some blogs to glance at while I worked. 45 minutes later, I was caught up on my blog reading and the project still sat in front of me, untouched. oops. I especially liked the "all about me" posts so I'm inviting myself to the party!

6 quirks. My sisters Carrie, Martha, and Anna all posted their quirks and tagged me. I had a hard time coming up with some, even though I could list a lot of quirks about people around me.

1. When I grade papers, I have to grade with a mechanical pencil and a pink eraser. I can't grade in pen.

2. I love to walk Phoebe and listen to my ipod. But I usually don't listen to music. I listen to lectures from The Teaching Company. Right now I'm switching back and forth between The History of Africa and History of World Literature.

3. I'm scared of being alone in the dark. The first summer I lived in DC, all the power went out one night and I was home alone. I literally had an anxiety attack, convinced that there was someone in the house waiting to attack me. I was on the phone with my summer fling and he was trying to calm me down. He reassured me by saying, "Baby, when the power goes out those kinds of people aren't going after you, they're robbing electronics stores."

4. I love playing spider solitaire and other time-wasting computer games. I also love crosswords, sudoku, and any kind of word game. Sammie makes fun of me, but at least I'm warding off alzheimer's.

5. I crochet while I watch the Superbowl.

6. I'm really particular about my temperature at night and will sometimes get up in the middle of the night to change clothes if I'm too hot or too cold.

I'm definitely tagging Sammie for this one. He's my favorite quirk!!

I also liked this fill-in-the-blank...

Places I've Lived:
- Torrance, CA
- Salt Lake City, UT
- Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Jerusalem, Israel
- Campinas, Brazil
- Harrisburg, PA
- Falls Church, VA
- State College, PA

Job's I've Had:
- Drycleaner
- Candy Jar
- MTC Teacher
- Software Trainer/Project Leader
- College Instructor
- Reading Enhancement Instructor

Most-loved Vacations:
(what's not to love about a vacation?)
- 2 tours through Brazil with my parents
- Some wonderful trips to Europe
- 2 weeks spent in Maine when I was 11
- Some great Moab trips with College friends
- A crazy trip to China
- Puerto Vallarta
- Israel in June 2007 with some of my family
- Roadtrips across the country! Once with my Mom, once with Sammie and Phoebe
- Numerous trips to Charlottesville to visit the Kaelberers
- Outer Banks
- Condo in St. George
- Lake Powell
- And, of course, our numerous trips to Balboa Island, CA

Lifetime Aspirations:
- Have kids!
- Learn, read, teach always
- At the end of my life, I want to say, "But as for me and my house, we [served] the Lord."

Tag - All of my favorite people. (You know who you are!) :)

Funkweiler in the Dell

OK, lots to write and little time to do it. I just finished Mod 3. It was quite a killer. Not only was it a complete overload of assignments and such, but it was also when the big recruiters came to campus. Each class was really challenging and they all required a lot of homework. The cases aren’t easy anymore… They are really tough. They require a lot of thinking, calculations and everything you recommend has to be supported by quantifiable data. Ugh.

I spent a lot of time perfecting my resume over the break (the Boyer’s will probably remember me in their basement on Christmas Day working on my resume…) in anticipation of the recruiters coming to campus. I applied for just about every opening thinking that I could play the odds and get a handful of interviews. I ended up getting an interview offer for every position I applied for. (Thank you, Career Services, for all of the resume workshops.) Trust me when I say interviewing is very time consuming – it requires the interview, online applications, dinners, info sessions, researching the company, etc.

By the middle of the Mod I was overwhelmed school and interviewing and I decided it was more important to get an intern than it was to get good grades. I got 2 offers in early Feb – both of which were good, but not exactly what we wanted. I kept approaching other companies and got 2 more offers – from Dell and ExxonMobil – that were both exactly what we wanted. Dell’s offer was in Operations and Exxon’s was in Procurement. (Exxon has A LOT of money, believe you me…) I flew to Austin last week to visit Dell and signed papers with them while I was there. So we’ll be in Austin this summer. Intern starts May 19^th and ends August 1^st.

My brain really hurts right now because I just finished 2 finals and had another one yesterday. I don’t know what my grades will be like, but I have an internship. Melba is really sweet – she drove me to school today (eyes hurt too much for contacts so I couldn’t drive…) and when she brought me home there was a big bunch of green balloons in the living room with sayings like, “YOU ROCK!!!” and “Me loves You.”

Now I’m off to Istanbul for a week and then Spring Break and then Mod 4 starts. I’m glad I’ll time to sleep on the airplane – because I really need some. I’ll write more later and try to give a better update. Sorry there’s nothing really funny in this blog. It was more of an update –I have been way too slammed than to do anything but study, study, fly out to interviews, study, do more interviews, and study.

Indiana Jones

I clearly remember my 6th birthday when my Dad took me to my favorite restaurant, McDonald's, and then took me to see my favorite movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark. I remember ordering a cheeseburger, chocolate milk shake and then when we were at the movie I closed my eyes during the 'spider' part and asked my Dad to tell me when it was over so I could watch the rest of the film. I had no clue what was going on over the 2-hour movie, but I loved every minute of it. Well, except for the spiders on the guy's back at the beginning.

It's now almost 27 years later and I'm just as excited to see the new Indiana Jones movie as I was back then.

I have a new recipe blog! Come try it out at

http://www.somethingsmellsgoodinmelbaskitchen.blogspot.com/

Peppermint Patties not so innocent after all

In case you don't know Sammie and me very well, we are faithful members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As such, we don't drink alcoholic beverages. Neither of us have ever had a drink in our lives. Until yesterday.

I finished my institute class at the church (similar to Bible Study) and had an hour before I had to be at work, which is just down the road. I took myself and a good book to Ruby Tuesdays for a quiet lunch. As I was finishing up a sensible lunch of salad and chili, I started fantasizing some hot chocolate to sip on while I read. I picked up a dessert/specialty menu and found a "peppermint patty." The menu described a cup of hot chocolate with peppermint schnapps, whip cream, and chocolate sprinkles on top. Now, I've heard of schnapps before, but somehow it didn't register. I was thinking along the lines of the peppermint hot chocolate I love to order from Starbucks. I thought, "Oh! So that's what that peppermint flavoring is called." I ordered the drink (The creep didn't ask for ID. Would it have killed him to flatter me by asking me to prove I was over 21? Not to mention it would have tipped me off...) When it came, I decided the peppermint flavoring was way too strong. I didn't like it and only drank 1/2 a cup. When the bill came, I gaped at the $6 cup of hot chocolate. (Shoulda gone to Starbucks!)
It wasn't until I was at work, feeling sick to my stomach, and getting a headache that it dawned on me what had happened. I asked a coworker what "schnapps" is and she explained. How stupid did I feel? At least I know alcohol is not for me. I felt so crappy, I had to leave work early and go home.
I'm sure you can imagine the jokes that have come out of this. My boss warned that if I come to work under the influence of alcohol, she'll have to let me go. Sammie's worried that the stress of his busy MBA schedule and his long days on campus are driving me to drink. When I slept in this morning, it was, of course, a hangover.

Road Trippin'!!

It turns out, road tripping across the country is a blast! Even in winter and with a dog. Since Sammie had so much time off for Christmas this year, we decided to drive out to Utah to visit our families, rather than fly. (We had a wonderful time in Utah with family and friends. More on that later…) We looked at the weather forecast for Interstate 80, found the perfect window of time to get out of town, and drove! Except for one night in Wyoming, we had perfect weather the whole way. I never realized how cold Wisconsin, Minnesota, and South Dakota are, though. Every time I got out of the car, I thought, “Geez! Who lives here?!?” (And Cath, I was very aware of you NORTH of me. Stay warm!)
I compiled a list of top 10s for the trip. Here goes…

10. Infrastructure… Infrawhat? Let me explain. When Ben and Julie, Sammie’s parents, returned from their mission in Ghana, they repeatedly talked about infrastructure and how blessed we are to live in a country that has things like regular running water, electricity, roads, street lights, etc. I was so glad they pointed this out, because we really are lucky to have all this! For example, Interstate 80 runs about 5 miles from my house in PA all the way across America to about 5 miles from my parents house in Utah. And there were flushing toilets, nice hotels, places to eat, etc. all along the way. We were having trouble with weather in Wyoming (as I mentioned before). The wind was blowing snow across the freeway, which was pushing the car around a little, but then we would hit a patch of ice and it would push the car around a lot. 20 minutes after it became unbearable, though, we were in a warm, comfortable hotel ordering Chinese takeout.

9. Belgian Waffles… We stayed at some great hotels! Each morning, we got on the internet, figured out about how far we wanted to travel, then logged on to petswelcome.com to find pet-friendly hotels near our destination. We always had continental breakfast at the hotel and especially loved the make-your-own Belgian Waffles. Yeah carbs!!

8. Starbucks… Sammie and I are Starbucks addicts. “2 venti hot chocolate with hazelnut.” It just rolls off the tongue. Especially when you say it three times a day… (btw – some of you protest that Starbucks offers nothing for the non-coffee drinker during the summer. We’d like to point you to the frappuccinos. Strawberries ‘n’ crème or chocolate chocolate chip. yum!)

7. The Prius… We love our car! We were amazed at how well it handled (except for the wind in Wyoming) and how much room we had. We put down the seats, so Phoebe hung out in the back with the suitcases while Sammie and I sat in front. My wonderful husband loves to drive. He thinks maybe he should have been a trucker. He drove most of the way while I crocheted, read, or played word puzzles. I finished an afghan for my sister Martha and started another one for the Thon auction. We bought some Bill Cosby cds and listened to those, or to other music, or to the local radio stations.

6. GPS… Sammie’s Christmas present this year was a GPS navigation system. We first bought a TomTom, but it died in Utah, so we exchanged it for a Garmin. We recommend the Garmin. Not just because it’s still alive after a month, but because it’s cool! We were able to keep track of exactly where we were and how far we had to go, plus we could find any cool restaurant we wanted to. More on that later!

5. Church… On Saturday night, we made it to Worthington, Minnesota. We found a local ward and attended church there Sunday morning. We loved the Spirit in the meeting. The saints bore humble testimonies of the workings of the Lord in their lives. We could tell that there was a lot of love and fellowship in the branch. A high councilor spoke about surviving a heart attack and his renewed appreciation for life. It was a wonderful service! We only stayed for Sacrament Meeting because of Phoebe (3 hours in a cold car...) but felt grateful we could be there.

4. Maggiano’s … Sammie’s favorite restaurant and for one reason only. Eggplant Parmigiana. He OBSESSES about this stuff. It’s really kind of cute. Anyway, we don’t have a Maggiano’s in State College, so obviously we needed to find one on our road trip. We found two.
We stayed our first night in South Bend, Indiana, and drove through Chicago the next morning. Our GPS was telling us that we were within a few miles of 3-4 Maggiano’s restaurants but we weren’t hungry yet. What oh what to do? We figured we would be ready for lunch in Madison, Wisconsin. (You I-80 enthusiasts will note that we are deviating from our route. See below.) But, there was no Maggiano’s in Madison. However, there was one in Milwaukee. And it was only a slight deviation from our route. Like traveling along the two sides of a triangle rather than across the hypotenuse. The servers at the restaurant were impressed when we told them we had driven about 50 miles out of our way to go to Maggiano’s.
The second Maggiano’s encounter happened on the way home. It was our last night and we knew if we could stay in Chicago that night, we could make it home the next day. We had directions to a pet-friendly hotel along I-80, but further research revealed that the nearest Maggiano’s would be 20 miles away. So we changed our night’s plans to stay closer to the Maggiano’s. (I didn’t really realize what big of freaks we are until typing this out.) As we neared our Italian oasis, however, we began to run out of time. A snippy-ish guy on the phone told me that Maggiano’s would close at 8:45 and we wouldn’t be able to get food after that. I’m usually the faster driver, but that news added some lead to Sammie’s right foot. We made it in the nick of time! (And then found out that the guy was wrong and we could have gotten food much later. Oh well.) We cuddled up in a warm hotel that night with Maggiano’s take out, knowing we would be home and in our own bed the next night!

3. Mount Rushmore… In a word: Wow! Sammie had wanted to see it since he was a wee lad. I had never seen it, either, and we both loved it! Our trip to Rushmore says a lot about our personalities. As soon as we got there, I had to rush to the bathroom. Sammie wandered all over the monument, taking pictures from every possible cool angle he could find. I rented a headset and did the audio tour, taking every opportunity to “press pound for more information.” When we got to the giftshop, I immediately went to the book section while Sammie checked out the DVD documentaries on Rushmore. We’re such nerds…

2. Phoebe… We love our dog! She was wonderful on the drive across the country. For the first hour or so through PA, she stared out the window and panicked each time a truck would pass. But then she calmed down and slept or stared at the driver. We worked out a system at rest stops—whoever had to go to the bathroom the most would do so while the other walked Phoebe, then we would switch. Most states had nice rest stops with designated pet areas. She was great in the hotels, too. At home, we don’t let her on our bed, but since it was vacation, we let her on to the hotel beds. It was fun to cuddle with her or play hide-and-seek in the sheets. She earned some more nicknames while on the trip… Feeble, from my Mom, and Phobia, from Anna and Spencer.

1. Being together… Cheesy, I know. But it’s true. Sammie’s a great travel companion. I had hardly seen him all semester, so it was fun to just be with him all day. He’s a good man and I definitely have a crush on him!

Phoebe Delilah

It's been a while since we've posted. Christmas break was long and relaxing. School has now started back up and it is just as time consuming as ever. Internship interviews are a plenty and offers are starting to come in. More on that later when there's something solid to write about. For now, you have to deal with one of 'those' dog owners who treats their dog like a child. We have a new joy in life and that is watching Phoebe play in the snow. She looks more like a rabbit because she leaps through it. Her tracks are mostly just big holes about 4 feet apart. If she's chasing something the holes are 6-7 apart (no kidding). It is quite humorous to watch because she just frolics through the snow leaping up and down and up and down and up and down. When she gets into really deep snow (like 2 feet or more) the leaps are a bit smaller and all you can see is her head popping up every couple of seconds. My nephew Matt really loves Phoebe and I hope he can someday see this - he will love it. Here is a picture of Phoebe leaping at me. We'll give a much longer post sometime later with an update.

Rise and Shout, the Cougars are Out

Not to bring up any sore subjects - but here's the latest email from my Dad. OK, actually I am trying to bring up a sore subject. Hee, hee, hee......

There is always a lot of talk around Utah about the "holy war," also known as the annual BYU vs. Utah football game. For the last two years BYU has won in the last few seconds with amazing plays--this year a long pass completion on 4th down and 18 yards to go with seconds left. Some folks here in Happy Valley believe BYU's victories are a sign of Divine intervention. I personally think it is just luck on the field and see no indication of religious significance. Take for instance, this picture of this year's long pass reception by recently returned missionary, Austin Collie. I see no indication of anything but good football. Dad

Lime Away

I'm stinky and sweaty right now because I just expended a ton of elbow grease cleaning hardwater stains off my shower walls. My parents come into town tomorrow so, of course, I'm madly trying to do away with 4 months worth of buildup from no deep cleaning. I'm not known for my housekeeping skills. (Anyone in my family or anyone who has lived with me just gaffawed and yelled, "d'ya think?!") It's not that I'm a total pig. I do the dishes (although I sleep very soundly with dirty dishes in the sink. They'll still be there in the morning, or the next evening after work) and I vacuum and clean bathrooms. But I don't really deep clean. But I actually enjoyed it tonight! And the whole time I was doing it, I was thinking of ways to motivate myself to do it more. Because my house would look awesome! And then I found myself actually aspiring to being obsessed with cleaning, because then I would do it all the time. I'm obsessed with cooking, so Sammie and I eat very well. And I'm obsessed enough with reading, crossword puzzles, and other word games that I think I'll ward off Alzheimers until I'm 270. And I'm obsessed with knitting, crocheting, and cross stitch, so we have cute Christmas stockings (that Phoebe ate, did I blog about that?), some afghans, a lot of scarves and I even now have a beautiful sweater that I made! Wouldn't it be nice if I also had a clean house?

Tonight I also kept thinking of my sister Carrie's favorite quote by Erma Bombeck (a woman who really understands what it's all about): "Housework, if you do it right, will kill you."

Cost Accounting is truly fascinating. To me, at least.

School is going well. My apologies to everyone who I completely ignore – I’m just too busy with school to talk to any of you. ‘You’ in this case is pretty much everyone besides Melba – who actually doesn’t get near as much of my time as she would like. And even then, it’s usually me explaining something to her that I think is really cool and she thinks is really nerdy.

This weekend I was slammed with homework to the point that I gave away my football tickets because I needed THE ENTIRE weekend to work on homework. Don’t worry, I still watched the game on TV – while I did homework. Friday night was all about the homework too, as was most of the day today, except for dinner because we had friends over. Here is the conversation Melba and I had (verbatim) after dinner:

Sammie: Melba, thank you SOOOO much for doing the dishes. You are so wonderful.

Melba: You’re welcome.

Sammie: Seriously, Melba. I have been struggling with this accounting homework since Friday night. Thank you so much for making the meals and doing the dishes. Just for that I owe you thanks. But especially because it gave me time to finish this assignment.

Melba: You’re welcome. (And then she walked over and kissed me.)

Sammie: The good news is that I’ve figured it out and I must say – this is absolutely fascinating stuff.

Melba: (With a really sly look on her face) Well, since I’m so wonderful for doing all of the dishes all weekend – can I get out of hearing about what you’re learning?

She laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed and I think you get the idea………

PS – Don’t think I only did Accounting homework this weekend – I also finished my Risk Analysis and Decisions, Economics, and Communications homework, too.

Sammie's claim to not-so-fame

Sammie loves to tell people that he played a gig with the former drummer of the P-funk. The who? Exactly.

Friday night, we were sitting in the PSU Creamery eating ice cream with our friends, the Kidds. They've been our partners in crime for many adventures and we were thrilled that they came to visit us in State College. Ever since we met Jeremy Kidd, he has been going to finish his doctoral dissertation in economics in the next couple of months. That was two and a half years ago. It's not like he's been idle, he just graduated from law school with honors and passed the Utah Bar. And he and his wonderful wife, Heather, are very involved in church service, playing games, buying dvds, and buying bookshelves to store their dvds and books. Sammie loves to tease Jeremy about the dissertation and the subject came up at the creamery. The conversation went something like this:

Sammie: How old are you?
Jeremy: 33
Sammie: Law school's only three years. How come you're only just graduating? Oh wait, you spent 7 years NOT getting a PhD in Economics.

(Laughter and guffaws from the spectators - me and Heather)

Jeremy: Well business school is only 2 years. How come you're just starting when I'm finishing law school?

(More laughter, oohs and aahs, from spectators)

Sammie: Well, while you weren't getting your PhD in Economics, I was out playing a gig with the former drummer of the P-funk.

And this is where I stepped in. As we stood up to throw out our ice cream bowls (which were licked very clean), I stopped at a nearby table, excused myself, and asked if anyone there had heard of the P-funk. From their blank stares, it was obvious they hadn't. Sammie tried to help them out: "Parliament Funkadelic? Parliament? George Clinton?" Nothing. It was hopeless.

We laughed all the way to the car. And laughed as we got in the car. And were still laughing when we stopped at the kiosk to pay the parking attendant. As Sammie handed her the parking ticket, he made one last attempt to salvage his dignity: "Excuse me, have you heard of the P-funk?"

We held our breath. Sammie's ego hung in the balance. Had he actually brushed greatness during his rock star career in LA? Did he achieve enough status that he is now a "has-been"? or is he simply a "never was"?

"The P-funk? No. Should I have?"

We laughed the rest of the way home and, well, pretty much all weekend.

Juniata College

I love the campus of Juniata College, where I am teaching freshman composition. It's in Huntingdon, which is about 45 minutes south of State College. It's a beautiful drive, although the combination of a 2-lane road and slow PA drivers sometimes makes me crazy.

Here's my office

And this is an outside view of Quinter House, where my office is. A few weeks ago, I held student conferences in the rockers on the porch.

My classroom is in Good Hall, which faces the main quad of the campus.

And this is looking up the sleepy little street that runs right through campus.

And, finally, I convinced one of my classes to pose for a picture. This is my "11:00" class. They're my favorites. :)

ps - sorry about the weird formatting. Blogger is making me crazy...

Oh how I love my Melba. Let me count the ways...

What am I doing right now? Well, duh – homework. Let me catch you up quickly on my wife… What is she doing now? Here’s what she is saying – and she’s not being funny here – she is REALLY mad. ”Oh my gosh, I’m going to hit somebody! This isn’t X-Men – this is commercials. Why are there so many commercials? I want X-Men! This channel is supposed to be showing X-Men – they’re just showing commercials! It’s like 20 minutes of commercials for every seven minutes of X-Men.”

This reminds me of what she said last week as I sat on the couch doing homework while football was on. This is a direct quote from Melba after I incorrectly stated the conference Penn State is in. “Sammie, Penn State is in the Big Ten, not the Pac-10. (Loud burp) When are you going to cook me steak?”

X-Men is now back on. I just asked her, "Melba, do you want to know what I'm posting on the blog right now?" Her response, "Can you tell me during the next commercial?"

I'm not kidding here.

Our New Home
We've been promising to post pictures of our new house in State College. Last Saturday I had a Relief Society birthday brunch here and, since the house was somewhat clean, I took pictures. The first is the front of the house. Nobody lives next door yet, so we take advantage of the extra driveway.

I didn't take any pictures of the front entryway cuz it's all still boxes (Mom's project when she comes next month is to help me decorate it). Here are pictures of the living room, kitchen and dining rooms. Complete with "Happy Birthday" sign (a Christmas present from my sister Lindsay) and orange rolls waiting to go in the oven.

The upstairs has three bedrooms. First, the master bedroom

And then the Master Bath, complete with full jacuzzi tub (one of our big reasons for buying the place)

The second bedroom is Phoebe's room (although we hope to someday displace her with another occupant) and the third bedroom is our study/studio/mess. I gave up waiting for this room to be clean to take a picture of it. Studies just aren't meant to be tidy. Especially when they're associated with me.

These are pictures taken from outside. The first is the cornfield at the end of the street. The second is Beaver Stadium as seen from just outside our subdivision. The view's a little different from the one we had in Northern Virginia...

It looks like we live out in the middle of nowhere, but we actually only live on the edge of nowhere. We're also very close to Walmart, Sam's Club, Nitanny Mall, Bed Bath and Beyond, and, most significantly, Barnes and Noble.

Finally, a picture of the lampposts. We first looked at this house at the end of a long day of househunting. We already pretty much knew which place we wanted to buy, but, of course, wanted to see the rest of the options. We drove into the subdivision and I immediately noticed the lampposts. Then I saw the red shutters and the stone facing on the house. Then the kitchen and the large master bedroom. Finally, I saw the jacuzzi tub. That clenched it and here we are!