Husker Volleyball

Wow! What a match!! If you didn't watch the Huskers and the Nittany Lions duke it out last night on the volleyball court, you missed out. Huskers.com says Nittany Lions Nip Nebraska in NCAA Semifinals. It was an awesome 5 sets to watch! Check out some great stats at Post-Match Notes: Penn State vs. Nebraska. I really love watching Nebraska Volleyball. :)This picture is from their win over Washington. Sorry I couldn't find any pictures from last night. I'll update when I find some. PSU has some amazing players. Their hitters were so powerful. Sadly my turncoat hubby was secretly cheering for them. In light of the fact, that we weren't supposed to have a chance against Penn State, I'm really happy we put up such a great fight. And I'm happy we broke their consecutive set win streak! Unless we have it, I think records are made to be broken. :) I've decided to cheer for Stanford on Saturday. I've watched them make it to the championship game the last 3 years and not get the final victory. I've seen Barboza, Klineman and Akinradewo have some awesome games in the finals and walk away disappointed. This is their year! And I just can't go for a PSU repeat and total domination of this year. I love an underdog!

Congrats on a great season Huskers!

Different Christmas

Apparently the Piper family doesn't subscribe to the Santa Christmas either...



Please comment! I would love to hear what Christmas traditions your family celebrate (even if they include the red-suited man)!

I Wish Wednesday

I Wish that it snowed in Nebraska the way it snows in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. It's so beautiful! We always had a few feet of snow but somehow it never affected the roads. Apparently road crews are smarter in the mountains.

I Wish there were more days in December.

I Wish I were more dedicated to remember Christ in this Advent season as I anticipate Christmas. This year our church is not doing the lighting of the Advent candles. I actually miss it. I know that the ceremony of Advent is from pagan rituals (or is that only Lent?) but I have always appreciated the goal of Advent. I need to be reminded that Christmas is to celebrate Christ's birth and not a time for presents, family and drowning in busyness!

I Wish "Merry Christmas" wasn't taboo at work. I have never worked at a place where they specifically told me that I can't say Merry Christmas to people because they might sue the company. What is the world coming to when we can't say Merry Christmas because it speaks of Christ but yet I'm being dumb if I'm not a fan of Santa Clause or Halloween!? Yes, I'll say it - I believe telling your kids Santa Clause is real is lying to them. I never believed in Santa or celebrated Halloween and I don't think I missed out. Anyhow, that's a topic for another day! :)

Addendum: To clarify, I think telling children Santa is REAL is wrong, not that Santa is evil. If he is a tradition in your family enjoy, but be truthful so we can learn how to be thankful to those who gave the gifts. If we, as Christians don't encourage our children to learn to thank people in their lives for gifts, how will they learn to thank God for His many gifts and the greatest gift that we celebrate at Christmas?

New Features

1. Weekly Bites - Recent Articles that have Struck a Chord. I enjoy keeping up with the world via Google Reader. Here are some articles that I've read recently. They excite me, anger me or just interest me.

2. My first poll. Vote for how old you think I look! :) Let me explain why I am even doing this poll... A few weeks ago I went to Hyvee on Sunday afternoon for my weekly grocery run. At the deli counter I get the same kind of meat and cheese and the same amounts. And I almost always see the same employee working the counter. That week he said, "Has anyone ever told you that you look really young to be married?" I'd had a rough day and didn't have on a stitch of make-up. I laughed and said, "Yes all the time! I have a younger sister that looks older than me and so I take it as a compliment. I figure when I'm 60 and look young it will be a good thing." So I am curious how old do other people see me as? Vote and leave your comments on this post!!

Runner Hair

My hair drives me crazy when I'm running! I have tried all those cute little headbands and they just slide right off my head. I spend more time adjusting my headband than focusing on running. I usually end up putting in half a dozen bobby pins.
I just read about these headbands from Bondi Bands. I can't wait to try them out in spring. Because I am a fair weather runner! :)

Do you have any other suggestions for me? How should I tame my mane?

I Wish Wednesday

I know Wednesday was yesterday. I'm delayed. :)
I'm going to try a new thing here. Well, it's new for me. I picked 'I wish' not because I really live my life in a wishy way but because it's rhymes with Wednesday and sounded cute. And right now I have a large 'to do' list.

i wish i was 10 and didn't have to worry about family growing pains. Remember the days when you just showed up at family gatherings and ate food and played the day away. Miss those days!

i wish my house was clean. Permanent wish.

i wish my Christmas decorations could hang themselves. Like I said, I'm swamped. I love putting up my tree and all the rest of my Christmas stuff but it sure takes a lot of time.

i wish the day had more hours. ... husband says the days have more hours if you get up earlier. Hmm, very funny hubby. I think more hours to sleep and more hours to get stuff done would be great! Why is it that work takes up most of my hours?

I Love PA

We went to PA to visit family over Thanksgiving. Here are some highlights...

1. Family.

We get to see J's extended family from PA every couple of years. They are a lively bunch and a joy to spend time with. We enjoy some great games of Hand and Foot with his grandparents. We stayed up nearly every night playing cards! If you have never played hand and foot, you're missing out and should definitely try it sometime!

2. Food.

We ate soo much!! Roast beef with mashed potatoes and gravy, ham salad sandwiches, the stewed tomato special, cheese steaks (this was J's), sweet potato fries, turkey, GM's stuffing, red beet eggs (not good but better deviled), pickles at every meal, cherry pie, local pretzels, chocolate coffee cheesecake, peanut butter swirl ice cream and the best was a peanut butter filled donut with chocolate frosting! If you are ever offered a peanut butter filled donut, do not turn it down. It should be on your bucket list to try one! :) As you can tell we ate a lot and it was all wonderful. And my Pilates videos will be well used this winter working it all off.

3. King of Prussia Mall.

We went to the biggest mall (well second to Mall of America) I've ever been too. I count this as my biggest because I'm now old enough to truly appreciate it for the shopping. Sorry the only picture I have is on my cell phone. See the directory here.There are 2 buildings and 2 levels in each building.

Let me explain how it is that I was privileged enough to visit this mall while on vacation since we all know J does not view mall visiting as a vacation worthy experience. :) Before we went to PA, J was making plans to go mountain biking with his uncle Junior nearly every day while we were there. They did lots of biking and had a blast and no broken bones, see...

I questioned what I would be doing during that time. He suggested that I go Christmas shopping at a mall with his cousin B. He was referring to a mall closer to his grandparent's house that we had been to last time. I was satisfied with this idea and B was also up for it. Then my mom started telling me about the King of Prussia mall that she wanted to visit when she was out east with sister A. So after finding out that this mall wasn't that far from where we would be and that B would be pumped to go there, I decided we would try to make that work. J and Junior were slightly skeptical of my driving skills and B's navigation skills so they decided to take us to the mall. I assumed that this meant they would drive us and leave us to the shopping. Sadly it ended up being a group shopping trip. I do not shop well in groups, especially when my husband or men in general are part of the group. Needless to say, my frustration got the best of me and the trip wasn't all I hoped it would be. But we accomplished some Christmas shopping and had cheesecake so it all turned out fine! :)

4. Overall cuteness of PA.
I know I've said it before, but all the houses and barns are very cute in PA. I don't know if it's the paint or the rolling hills or that the barns are made of wood and not metal, but I think they're cute. Another thing I enjoyed was the Mennonite grocery store that Grandma F shops at. It was fun to hear the girl at the check out tell how she would be gone after Christmas because she was getting married. I wish we had small grocery stores with home-grown produce and shops with local products and privately owned family bakeries. Oh well, I guess I'll have to keep visiting! :)