Babysitting

I was up early this morning so I could watch my nieces 2 children. I do enjoy having them around, it livens up the house. I so miss those days, but I'm blessed to have littles ones around to enjoy taking care of.

Alexis and her girlfriends got together to do some sleigh  riding Thursday after the snow and then that evening they  celebrated Erika's 18th birthday at the Standard restaurant. What a beautiful group of girlfriends she has, I will miss them all when they go away to college, and all our little talks  and laughs. I hope when they come home to visit they stop by.

Dolmathes aka...stuffed grape vine leaves

Stephen and I have been wanting to make stuffed grape vine leaves. We finally were able to obtain his mother's recipe. We decided on a Sunday afternoon that we would spend the time and make them, since they're very time-consuming. Having never made these before it was quite a challenge to live up to his mothers recipe. After getting some advice from his aunt Pat we proceeded to make them and boy did they come out delicious. Needless to say between Stephen and Alexis they have them gone in four days. Stephen was so proud of the outcome that he was able to deliver some to his sister and brother that evening to also try. I had a couple of girlfriends over the Friday night before and they were also interested in trying them so I delivered some to them, they were a hit  

Hardware store Christmas party

They decided to have our Christmas party for the store in January, after all the hustle and bustle of the season when everyone could relax. We had a chicken Marsala, meatballs, scrumptious garlic bread,  a beautiful Caesar salad and a chocolate moose for desert.

Some minor surgery

Went to the dermatologist recently and had to have some spots removed, better safe then sorry down the road.

Winter lights

Now that the holidays are over I do miss all the lights, but I do keep up what I call my Winter trees . I leave the outside lights on for a while, they are sp pretty especially when it snows. My neighbors must think we're crazy but I don't care it's for my enjoyment.  I'm feeling better now it was a tough cold/flu that went through the  house thank God Stephen didn't get it.

So happy for Troy !

There are connections and there are connections, that's what BC does for there students. This is Hugh for Troy. He will visit Dr Scree when he goes to San Diego this May..and to Nebraska the end of July.  Until then we hoped to get a paid internship this summer in Boston.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Sreenivas Koka
Date: Tue, Jan 13, 2015 at 12:06 PM
Subject: Introduction
To: Troy Vagianelis

Dear Hans-Peter:

Hope your holiday is going superbly and that your time with family is a memory-filled one.  I am sure you are enjoying the time in your family chalet as well and all of the special feelings it evokes to stay there.

I want to introduce you to Troy Vagianelis, an undergrad student at Boston College and who is pre-dent. I am wondering if you can meet with him at Tufts to learn a little more about him, share your experiences in dentistry, and also explore if there are any summer employment or observational opportunities at Tufts.  I am super impressed with Troy and especially his mix of academic intelligence (he did very well on the DAT) and  and his sense of compassionate service (lots of volunteer spirit and activity) and I think that you will be impressed too.  Also, if there might be the chance for him to observe you and/or Kenny in your private practice, that would be great.

I am copying Troy on this email to put the pressure on him to live up to my description.  Seriously, he is a good young man with lots of potential to improve our world.  Just looking for ways to enable him to do so.

My best to you, Hans-Peter,

Sree

The Road to Life

Now that I'm finally better from this horrific cold/flu. I can catch up on things that I put aside the last week. Troy has gone back to school he left this past Friday and oh how I miss that boy. He is such a great kid I am very blessed. I decided to write my daughter a poem. I sent Troy to college with a poem that I had written him, and a picture book. I plan on doing the same for Alexis. The road to life. Has many paths and sometimes you may wander. When you come to a crossroad and you're not quite sure. Sit for a moment and ponder. The choices you make, will not always be right. sometimes you will go astray.  But remember, my girl, no matter how far you have walked turn around and go the right way.  Follow your dreams and follow your heart forever they guide you. The most distant star is not that far and I'll be right beside you. Love you mom!

On the 12th day of Christmas !

IM SICK ! 

On the 11th day of Christmas !

My niece Megan needed me to watch the kids, so she and Carlos could go to work. They dropped the kids off around 7:30am. They immediately went down into the basement to play video games. I finished making my meatloaf and potatoes for dinner, then went down with my tea to join them. I miss those mornings with my kids. We would play a few games then come upstairs take part of the tree down, go down play some more, come back up until we finished and had the tree all packed up. We made some cinnamon buns and frosted them, yummy ! I took down my tree in living room and put up my winter trees. It looks so nice not cluttered with stuff. My New Year is to Simplify !

On the 10th day of Christmas !

We celebrated the Greek Christmas with the Vagianelis' side of the family, always a treat ! It was the basis of both my children's college applications essay, gee, I wonder why, if you have ever seen the movie  The Big Fat Greek Wedding you understand completely. They mean well, but Oh how they get into your space.

On the 9th day of Christmas!

I had to get up early and go into work to put my hours in and finish up some end of year office work. Alexis went to the gym and Troy took the dog out. Alexis has heard from another college so now she has a choice but she still staying  with Plattsburgh, for now. I got some bad news from one of my friends/client, she was just told she has a cancerous tumor in her colon after having a Colonoscopy earlier this week. She will see a colon cancer specialty surgeon next week, please give her some prayers. Troy and I went out shopping, he is getting ready to go back to school next Friday, he needed to get some more school supplies.  Chinese for dinner tonight from the garden, in Voorheesville   I will be off to play LCR at Mary Lozanos tonight. We have another busy day tomorrow celebrating Christmas with the Vagianelis side.

On the 8th day of Christmas !

We celebrated into the morning of the New Year with our friends. Thank you Pam and Pete Formica for hosting such a fabulous night. The food was delicious and the company was even better. We were able to FaceTime with the kids at midnight as they enjoyed there time with their friends. It has been a lazy morning and will probably be a lazy day. Alexis came home early and is back in bed, and Troy got home at 1pm and will probably take a nap too. We had a leisurely night watched Anchorman 2 and my nieces came over for milkshakes.