Death of a Child...

LIFE...

What does it take to be happy in a marriage?

What does it take to be happy in a marriage? Here are 10 habits of happy couples. Any to add? 1. Go to bed at the same time: Happy couples resist the temptation to go to bed at different times. They go to bed at the same time, even if one partner wakes up later to do things while their partner sleeps. 2. Cultivate common interests: Don’t minimize the importance of activities you can do together that you both enjoy. If common interests are not present, happy couples develop them. Also cultivate interests of your own; this will make you more interesting to your mate and prevent you from appearing too dependent. 3. Walk hand in hand or side by side: Rather than one partner lagging or dragging behind the other, happy couples walk comfortably hand in hand or side by side. They know it’s more important to be with their partner than to see the sights along the way. 4. Make trust and forgiveness your default mode: If and when they have a disagreement or argument, and if they can’t resolve it, happy couples default to trusting and forgiving rather than distrusting and begrudging. 5. Focus more on what your partner does right than what he or she does wrong: If you look for things your partner does wrong, you can always find something. If you look for what he or she does right, you can always find something, too. It all depends on what you want to look for. Happy couples accentuate the positive. 6. Hug each other as soon as you see each other after work: Our skin has a memory of “good touch” (loved), “bad touch” (abused) and “no touch” (neglected). Couples who say hello with a hug keep their skin bathed in the “good touch,” which can inoculate your spirit against anonymity in the world. 7. Say “I love you” and “Have a good day” every morning: This is a great way to buy some patience and tolerance as each partner sets out each day to battle traffic jams, long lines and other annoyances. 8. Say “Good night” every night, regardless of how you feel This tells your partner that, regardless of how upset you are with him or her, you still want to be in the relationship. It says that what you and your partner have is bigger than any single upsetting incident. 9. Do a “weather” check during the day: Call your partner at home or at work to see how his or her day is going. This is a great way to adjust expectations so that you’re more in sync when you connect after work. For instance, if your partner is having an awful day, it might be unreasonable to expect him or her to be enthusiastic about something good that happened to you. 10. Be proud to be seen with your partner: Happy couples are pleased to be seen together and are often in some kind of affectionate contact — hand on hand or hand on shoulder or knee or back of neck. They are not showing off but rather just saying that they belong with each other.

Source:http://www.alternet.org/sex-amp-relationships/10-habits-happy-couples

Oh Greggy...

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self seeking, it is not easily angered, and it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres. Love never fails. Laughter is the sunshine in any life, and Gregory Edward you gave us a life time of love and laughter. You lived and loved full throttle and we simply delighted in you.

It seems like it was just yesterday that you held out your little hand for mine as you toddled towards me. Your smile was a ray of light after a storm – it was so bright – your infectious giggle used to bring tears of joy to my eyes when I would listen to you and your brothers’ playing. I can still hear you and your brothers playing while watching Barney. I can close my eyes and still see you and your brothers marching around the house singing. “I Love you, you love me, we’re a happy family with a great big hug & a kiss from me to you, won’t you say you love me too!” I can remember teaching you all what it meant to be gentlemen, and from that early teaching watching you grow into fine young men. 

Gregory, you and your brothers were inseparable, and yet you were so different from each other. The love that you felt for one another was beautiful, however, it was your friendship with each other that gave me the most comfort because you chose to be friends and you just happened to be brothers as well. My Three Sons, you all were The Three Musketeers, The Three Amigos, & The Three Greatest Gifts God Ever Gave me!

I used to think every moment with you and your brothers, was a Kodak moment and had my camera almost always ready! You & your brothers were such hambones – you all would stop and pose for me regardless of what you were doing. But then sometimes you all would run off and hide, saying No more Pictures Mom! As you grew older, I would pull out my camera & you would shoot me the dirtiest looks and say no way and dart off again. Those pictures never failed to make me laugh – you were such a stinker. I used to think the more determined I was to capture every moment the more resolute you were to make me work for my pictures. But that last Halloween day when you dressed up in those butterfly wings & asked me to put on your makeup... You didn’t have a problem with me taking photos that night.

Gregory, you were the most determined child – so opinionated in your likes and dislikes – so passionate for the family. You never failed to amaze me with your love for our family. You were the one who always helped me plan our next family meal or trip. It used to make me smile when you would share your heart with me, and tell me about your day, and then tie that into us going out to Sonic for Milkshakes or you driving to Arby’s for Dinner for you, Dad, & me...

Oh Gregory, if only I knew that Sunday Night was going to be our last conversation, I would have held on and never let you go. If only I knew as I watched you, make those silly faces at the patio door, that Thursday that it would be the last time I saw you laughing, I would have thanked you for all the joy and love you have ever given to me. If only I knew the last time I hugged & kissed you that Thursday was to say goodbye to you forever. If only I knew...

Gregory every day of my life I have given thanks for the privilege of being your mother, you were such a blessing and a joy to your father and I. We loved you so, and will continue to love you as we always have. The years went by too quickly. I still had so much to say to you, so much to teach you. However, as I struggle with my loss, and the over whelming grief I feel, it is your voice I hear as you teasingly remind me that love is a gift that never goes away, and the blessings never end, because love never fails.

10 Things that will be gone soon...

This is USA oriented, but Canada & the rest will not be far behind…

Whether these changes are good or bad depends in part on how we adapt to them.  But, ready or not, here they come.

1. THE POST OFFICE

Get ready to imagine a world without the post office.  They are so deeply in financial trouble that there is probably no way to sustain it long term.  Email, Fed Ex, and UPS have just about wiped out the minimum revenue needed to keep the post office alive.  Most of your mail every day is junk mail and bills, not to mention the pompous attitudes of the postal works in the post office.

2. THE CHECK

Britain is already laying the groundwork to do away with the check by 2018.  It costs the financial system billions of dollars a year to process checks.  Plastic cards and online transitions will lead to the eventual demise of the check.  This plays right into the death of the post office.  If you never paid your bills by mail and never received them by mail, the post office would absolutely go out of business.

3. THE NEWSPAPER

The younger generation simply doesn’t read the newspaper.  They certainly don’t subscribe to a daily delivered print edition.  That may go the way of the milkman and the laundry man.  As for reading the paper online, get ready to pay for it.  The rise in mobile Internet devise and e-readers has caused all the newspaper and magazine publishers to form an alliance.  They have met with Apple, Amazon, and the major cell phone companies to develop a model for paid subscription services.

4. THE BOOK

You say you will never give up the physical book that you hold in your hand and turn the literal pages.  I said the same thing about downloading music from iTunes.  I wanted my hard copy CD.  But I quickly changed my mind when I discovered that I could get albums for half the price without ever leaving home to get the latest music.  The same thing will happen with books.  You can browse a bookstore online and even read a preview chapter before you buy.  And the price is less than half that of a real book.  And think of the convenience!  Once you start flicking your fingers on the screen instead of the books, you find that you are lost in the story, can’t wait to see what happens next, and you forget that you’re holding a gadget instead of a book.  I may get a reader for Christmas (if Santa “read” my wish list.)

5. THE LAND LINE TELEPHONE

Unless you have a large family and make a lot of local calls, you don’t need it anymore.  Most people keep it simply because they’ve always had it.  But you are paying double charges for that extra service.  All the cell phone companies will let you call customers using the same cell provider for no charge against your minutes. I would have done away with it last year, but AT&T wireless reception sucks way up here in Commerce.  We live in the basement of our son’s home and had to buy the AT&T mini tower to boost the signal… but it drops calls and wavers in strength.  Since Judy works from home now, we have to have a secure, stable line and that is with the land line.  Dammit!

6. MUSIC

This is one of the saddest parts of the change story.  The music industry is dying a slow death.  Not just because of illegal downloading.  It’s the lack of innovative new music being given a hance to get to the people who would like to hear it.  Greed and corruption is the problem.  The record labels and the radio conglomerates are simply self-destructing.  Over 40% of the music purchased today is “catalogue items,” meaning the traditional music that the public is familiar with.  Older established artist!  This is also true on the live concert circuit.  To explore this fascinating and disturbing topic further, check out the book, “Appetite for Self-Destruction” by Steve Knopper, and the video documentary, “Before the Music Dies.”

7. TELEVISION REVENUES

Revenues to the networks are down dramatically.  Not just because of the economy.  People are watching TV and movies streamed from their computers.  And they’re playing games and doing lots of other things that take up the time that used to be spent watching TV.  Prime time shows have degenerated down to lower than the lowest common denominator.  Cable rates are skyrocketing and commercials run about every 4 minutes and 30 seconds.  I say good riddance to most of it.  It’s time for the cable companies to be put out of their misery.  Let the people choose what they want to watch online and through Netflix.

8. THE “THINGS” THAT YOU OWN

Many of the very possessions that we used to own are still in our lives, but we may not actually own them in the future.  They may simply reside in “the cloud.”  Today your computer has a hard drive and you store your pictures, music, movies, and documents.  Your software is on a CD or DVD, and you can always re-install it if you need be.  But all of that is changing.  Apple, Microsoft, and Google are all finishing up their latest “cloud services.”  That means that when you turn on a computer, the Internet will be built into the operating system.  So, Windows, Google, and the MacOS will be tied straight into the Internet.  If you click an icon, it will open something in the Internet could.  If you save something, it will be saved in the cloud.  And you may pay a monthly subscription fee to the cloud provider.  In this virtual world, you can access your music or your books, or your whatever from any laptop or handheld device.  That’s the good news.  But, will you actually own any of this “stuff” or will it all be able to disappear at any moment in a big “Poof?”  Will most of the things in our lives be disposable and whimsical?  Will the government have easier access to your “stuff” (i.e. privacy)?   It makes you want to run to the closet and pull out that photo album, grab a book from the shelf, or open up a CD case and pull out the insert.

9. JOINED HANDWRITING (CURSIVE)

Cursive is already gone in some schools who no longer teach “joined handwriting” because nearly everything is done now on computers or keyboards of some type.

10. PRIVACY

If there ever was concept that we can look back on nostalgically, it would be privacy.  That’s gone.  It’s been gone for a long time anyway.  There are cameras on the street, in most of the buildings, and even built into your computer and cell phone.  But you can be sure that 24/7, “THEY” know who you are and where you are, right down to the GPS coordinates, and the Google Street View.  If you buy something, your habit is put into a zillion profiles, and your ads will change to reflect those habits.  “They” will try to get you to buy something else.  Again and again!

All we will have left that can’t be changed are “Memories”… unless “THEY” put you somewhere and alter those memories

REPURPOSING OLD WRENCHES

For when you run out of something to do...

Truly amazing and beautiful and can you imaging how durable!

Lost Wrenches

No wonder I can never find the right size, he's got them all!

How cool is this guy???

He lives near Boort, Victoria, Australia and does it all by himself from a wheel chair. Amazing!

Wasn't this worth looking at?

Amazing work...

Judy Kay Schertzer will be sorely missed...

God, Your word says, 'You are a very present help in times of trouble...' Judy's Family & Friends need Your help right now, for this is a time of trouble for them. Please let Your Presence become very real to them. I ask that you would lift the heaviness of their heart, and that You would bear their burden of sorrow and begin to exchange it for peace and hope. Father, shower them with unexpected tokens of Your love, so they would know how much You really do care. God, we do not understand suffering, but we are grateful that You have promised to be with us in the midst of it. Let Your words be a comfort to my friends in this time of tears. 'Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.' In Jesus mighty name. Amen

Judy Kay Schertzer 48 of Penbrook, died Thursday, January 2, 2014, at her home.
Mrs. Schertzer was born in Washington, MD, and was the late daughter of the late William Russell and Constance Ellen (Lyter) Stakley. She graduated from Dauphin County Vo-Tech. She was formerly employed with Walmart, where she was a cashier. She was a member of the Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church and was a volunteer at the Middletown-Hummelstown Railroad.
Mrs. Schertzer is survived by her Husband of 23 years, Scott D. Schertzer, one Sister, Robin (Rick) Snyder of Harrisburg; Several Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Nieces and Nephews.
A Memorial Service will be held on Saturday, January 11, 2014, at 12 Noon, at the Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church, 2730 Booser Ave., (Penbrook) Harrisburg. The Rev. Pamela J. Carnes, will be officiating.
A Visitation will be held on Saturday, January 11, 2014 from 10:30 AM to 12:00 Noon.
Memorial Contributions may be made to Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute, Attn Ruth Moore, 2501 N. 3rd Street, Harrisburg Pa. 17110.

Judy, I miss you...

He only takes the best

God saw you getting tired, 

The cure was not to be 

He wrapped you in His loving Arms, 

And whispered "Come to Me" 

You suffered much in silence, 

Your spirit did not bend 

You faced your pain with courage, 

Until the very end 

You tried so hard to stay with us 

Your fight was not in vain 

God took you to His loving Home

And freed you from your pain 

A golden heart stopped beating, 

Two working hands at rest 

God broke our hearts to prove to us, 

HE ONLY TAKES THE BEST

Crispy Cheddar Chicken

2 lbs chicken tenders or 4 large chicken breasts
2 sleeves Ritz crackers
1/4 teaspoons salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup whole milk
3 cups cheddar cheese, grated
1 teaspoon dried parsley

Sauce:
1 10 ounce can cream of chicken soup
2 tablespoon sour cream
2 tablespoon butter

Crush crackers. If using chicken breasts and not tenders, cut each chicken breast into 3 large pieces. Pour the milk, cheese and cracker crumbs into 3 separate small pans. Toss the salt and pepper into the cracker crumbs and stir the mixture around to combine. Dip each piece of chicken into the milk and then the cheese. Press the cheese into the chicken with your fingers. Then press the cheesy coated chicken into the cracker crumbs and press it in.

Spray a 9×13 pan with cooking spray and lay the chicken inside the pan. Sprinkle the dried parsley over the chicken. Cover the pan with tin foil and bake at 400 degrees for 35 minutes. Remove the tin foil, bake for an additional 10-15 minutes, or until the edges of the chicken are golden brown and crispy.

In a medium sized sauce pan combine the cream of chicken soup, sour cream and butter with a whisk. Stir it over medium high heat until the sauce is nice and hot. Serve over the chicken