PGH2JAX

up close and personal

I'm coming right along with my pressure cooking. Tonight I did one of Matty's favorites - artichokes - delicious!

Just had to tell you how great God is. I had been dreading Mom's doc appointment since they told me the schedule (last week). We were to be picked up at 11 for a 2:30 follow up doctor appt. Her lunch time also falls during that time so I was stressing about it but I prayed about it and just had to trust God to work it out for His glory. So this is what happened. 1st Mom's transport was moved to 12:30, this gave her enough time to eat lunch in the lunch room and go to the bathroom prior to leaving. She apparently had 3 "movements" earlier in the day so she was cleaned out which meant not having to use the bathroom while out. Last but not least we arrived in the doctor office at 1:45, saw the doc at 2:45 and got back to rehab facility by 4:00pm. Such an answer to prayers. God is great and just had to tell how He takes care of me and Mom. Love you all. Hope God reveals Himself to you too sometime throughout your days. Love you and am praying for you all each ...

Your curtains look so good! Your house definately has good style. Leaving for Phoenix tomorrow. Hope we make lots of good memories. : )) love you guys.

So glad we finally watched it. It was so worth it. That Zooey is Bones' younger sister. They look a lot alike. The movie  kind of reminded me of the feel of "Love Actually", an offbeat movie that wasn't exactly a romance. Ats, i bet you get the soundtrack.

Risotto with Asparagus - it took only 7 minutes! Stuffed chicken breast with it - didn't make that in the pressure cooker but it was still good!

Matty & jayne's new marble dining table. Look how pretty the table is! Matty grilled the italian bread and brie on his charcoal grill. Unbelievably delicious. Jayne's cupcakes taunted me all night long. The salad, believe it or not, was just as good as the cupcakes. Tommy and his new sous chef jayne. I was fired. Jayne set a gorgeous table. The star of the show, tommy's chicken piccata. Oh yeah! yummo!

I really like this gossip blog. http://www.crazydaysandnights.net/

Day 22 into the new year and my weight loss diet is now in effect. Doc appt. Monday was a wake up call. have lost 6 lbs. since Monday. Funny what what no soda and eating oatmeal for breakfast and lots of fruit do to your system. No more coffee (sniff sniff) with delicious creamer. Let's see how we do with exercise. Going to try to temp the boys to ride bikes to visit mom tomorrow. I'm back in my RL khaki jeans. Yeah! How are you doing with your new year's resolutions?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4v8FJhQ-teE do you guys like this band? Stars - this song is your ex-lover is dead

My friend from work sent me this link - http://www.watch-movies-online.tv/ She says click on a movie, gives u several media links to choose from.. always choose one with green rating ( LIKE 90% GOOD), etc you can watch it all the way thru... just dont choose "megavideo".. they are only ones who stop the move 1/2 way thru and make u come back to it later.. rest are good tho thought i'd share - haven't tried it yet but i've got my eye on up in the air

I rented this movie from Netflix - Sandra Bullock - i love her it was cute

We had a perfectly beautiful Sunday, as pretty as it could get for being a cold, grey,  non-stop rainy day in Pittsburgh. It was a museum day. After church at St. Paul's Cathedral, we went to Lulu's Noodles for lunch, a Pittsburgh and Rieker family favorite. Anna wanted to have her luncheon reception for her first communion there. Even I didn't think that was such a great idea considering the Polish, Irish, German family majority. That's how much we like it though. Anna and I love to go for soup and Pad Thai, Rieker likes the General Tso's. As usual, the food was amazing. We then walked to the Carnegie Museum to hang out for a few hours. I had to encourage rieker at the restaurant not to stuff himself into nap mode. I took the picture of the statue as proof of where matty got what I thought was his "patented" dance move, little did I know where he got his inspiration! I liked my outfit, but for some reason, left my raincoat on in the restaurant to ward of...

look what we picked from our orange tree. quite a haul right? it was pretty good.

Logan's card for mom. i did not get to take a picture of jonah's. i think someone came in as i was trying to take a pic. tulips we picked up to cheer her up. she really loves flowers. they were so pretty when they opened up all the way. james looks so happy and mom is in the throes of the painkillers. she is a trooper. This was our "country club hospital" digs during Mom's stay. It even had curvy track lighting in the ceiling. I liked the picture on the wall. We were here for 4-1/2 days. even though it was an ok room it was still a hospital. the bed was state of the art. it even had a built in scale. too bad it added about 20 lbs. the thing on her forehead was supposed to measure her oxygen. she was wired to the gills.

If you have been following fb visual bookshelf you would have seen i really enjoyed sarah strohmeyer's other book. this one was a popular selection she had written before so i picked it up and it was pretty good. new version of a cinderella story -- a motivator for weight loss. check it out. it's a total chick lit but a quick read. hope you enjoy as much as i did.

The weather has warmed up some, so I was able to walk out of the house in something other than my black "tundra" coat. I wore a wool sweater with my plaid woolrich plaid vest with a real fur collar, and my black "after riding" harley davidson boots. I wanted to take a picture of my outfit, but rieker wasn't around to help me out. This setup was the best I could do. I should learn how to use the camera timer don't you think?

I made this quick recipe last night for dinner and it was delicious http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chicken-and-Dumplings-III-2/Detail.aspx

TARGET's on TARGET look at this! rieker got me my silver shoes from chickdowntown made by cynthia vincent. i wonder what her target line  will look like. i haven't even seen the rodarte collection at target. have you guys? are the pieces on sale yet? from: http://mandalyzing.blogspot.com/ "Target has been unstoppable when it comes to tapping some of the most talented designers to collaborate with, and now they’ve got Eugenia Kim, the queen of hats, on board, along with shoe, bag, and clothing maven Cynthia Vincent. Each of the two designers will be launching a limited edition collection for Spring 2010 for the retailer. The Eugenia Kim for Target collection will mark the first hat launch in a series of limited-time-only accessory designers for Target, and will be hitting stores and the web April 18th through June 20th (hopefully some knit hats!). The Cynthia Vincent for Target collection is the fifth footwear launch, and will be available at Target stores nationwide a...

This tasted so good - just be sure NOT to add any salt. Even using the low sodium chicken broth, when you look at the sodium in the tomatoes and broth, it's a lot. I'll try to use dried white beans next time since I have been wanting to try something like this with my pressure cooker. Ok, Joy, I'm convinced -- pressure cookers are great! Jayne, hope you are enjoying yours as much as i am enjoying mine. Saw this recipe and thought it would be a good one for this cold season (can you believe it has been below 30 in the morning here in Jax?). Sausage and Spinach Soup Fresh herbs are added after the soup cooks so they'll retain their bright color and flavor. You can substitute 1 teaspoon dried herbs for each tablespoon fresh, but add them with the tomatoes. Serve with a toasted baguette. Yield: 4 servings Ingredients ...

Please keep up with the zotter blog and leave me some feedback here if not there. thanks and love, http://zotterthepotter.blogspot.com/

Vicary Mansion is the official home of the Beaver County Historical Research & Landmarks Foundation in Beaver County, PA. One woman started a long term letter writing program to save it from being demolished a few decades ago. There is a plaque at the mansion dedicated to what a difference one person in the world can make, and is dedicated to her. The mansion was in a wierd spot, and it took us a while to locate this historic landmark because it was in the back of the block, rather than the front. Blink and you missed it. http://www.bchrlf.org/history__of__the_vicary_mansion.htm

We were Sunday driving (aka looking for a good jeepin' spot), when we took a chance and stopped at DeAngelis Donuts in Rochester, PA in Beaver County. We have driven past it many times before doing our Metroguiding, but had never stopped. The time was right around 4pm, when rieker is most likely to want a sweet afternoon "pick-me-up". It was an old school, nothing fancy donut shop. It was neat and clean, and already decorated for Valentine's Day. I'm glad it wasn't a dud. I don't know if we'll ever go back, but I'm glad we stopped. The "twins" got coconut something, I got boston creme.

It is so cold! I hate to leave the house without at least 4 layers of clothing on. And! I think that winter makes you hungrier so you can stay warm. Right? Rieker and I went to the chinese buffet jayne and I had gone to the last month. I knew my way around the place, which kind of surprised rieker because he did not know I had gone with jayne not too long before, on the other hand, I forgot that rieker wasn't the last person I had gone to that buffet with. haha By the way, he told me to lose the jitney hat look. I might have to agree,what do you guys think? Not on the same day, believe it or not, but this past weekend,  we stopped by Aiello's Pizza in Squirrel Hill on the way to drop Anna off at the Battle of the Bands and the JCC. Who doesn't love their delicious slices and the bad attitude they serve there? Got a picture of rieker in front of Franco Harris's signed Aiello's t-shirt they had hanging on the wall. That place is one of the best things of Pittsbur...

I thought this was a lovely book. I was only planning on reading a chapter when I started, and found I could not put it down. I was surprised that I remembered all the characters from the first book "Love Walked In"; and I found myself copying a lot of the music and movie references they made throughout the novel so I can check them out later. Did you?

What did you guys think of this one. A lot went on, right? I was surprised at some of the characters they got rid of, were you? I'm liking Eric more and more, Bill, less and less. Quinn? I'm on the fence, especially now that I like Eric more. How they heck are they going to follow up this one?

It is a snowy tundra outside. It's hard to keep up with the snow shoveling because it WON'T stop snowing. Not that I'm complaining. But, it looks like a snowy wasteland. Check out the sidewalks and roads. It's the kind of day that makes me want to eat homemade chicken & cabbage soup (with rice), made with my pressure cooker of course in less than 30 minutes. I ate a happy colored orange for dessert. Yummy.

so i picked up these 2 gems from the library yesterday after they emailed me to say they came in - you know - chick with a guitar - she's good though. what was awesome was when i went to the library all my 'friends' were there. one older lady was trying to rush out this dude so she could help me but he wouldn't go away - he was asking her to look up gi joe: attack of the cobra and the 2nd was some hulk movie - and he was stinky - what a weirdo. no wonder the library ladies love me - i'm normal compared to most. then my other 'friend' came down and helped me. she gave me the 'yeah she's good' pointing to the cd's. so joy - i'll make you a copy of these cd's if you're interested