Coloring Eggs

A long established childhood pastime took place in our house last night: Coloring eggs for Easter. The kit, as always, sucked. The crayons, as always, were broken. But the spirit of the activity was as high as it always is. There were the traditional dirty eggs included, as well as the pretty ones, the ones with names on, and the Easter-themed ones.

So I'd just like to say that I wish everyone a happy Easter!

P.S. I was informed that I forgot to mention what the free gift in the previous entry was, and it apparently is causing anticipation in the minds of my constant readers. All it was, was a large bag of samples. Alas, the effort was not worth it in my mind...

Free Gift Syndrome

Today I woke up at 9:30 am by my mom who said, "Want to go to Sam's?" Little did I know that the real reason for the trip was not the fact that we were preparing for Easter. It was a little yellow piece of paper stating that Muhlenberg School Employees would get a free gift if they were among the first fifty people in line. We were there at approximately 10:18, and the paper said 10:30, but of course all the other people who had said yellow paper in hand, were there early as well.

Unfortunately, my mom, who is the Muhlenberg Employee, neglected to read the part that said you were required to register ahead of time. But no, this did not stop us. As we approached the front of the line, we heard that the person behind us failed to register as well. So my mom, with all her Gill whit, got to the front of the line and told them that she "tried to call, but it kept ringing and ringing, and when someone finally answered, they said we didn't need to register." Well then the people behind us told the same story, and instead of not believing us, the people from the store said, "They did the same thing to them!"

So we got our free gift in the end. Then we proceeded to walk all around Sam's collecting various free samples (and, I should add, buying almost ALL of them-- Everything in excess!!) along with the things we needed for Easter, all adding up to a mere 200 something dollars.

But, we left our beloved Sammy's with all the things on our list, full tummies, and yes, our free gift.

Pagoda Express

Ahh the Pagoda... What can be said about Reading's famous monument? In general the Pagoda causes a feeling of dread for me every time someone mentions trekking up Mount Penn to see the landmark, as the road is very steep, meaning it has to twist and turn so you don't lose control of your car when there is a sheet of ice on it during the winter. Meaning there have been many moments of carsickness associated with the Pagoda.

If you don't know, the Pagoda is a building that sits on top of Mount Penn in Reading PA, and its general look is reminiscent of Japanese / Asian structures of the same name. Generally, they are towers which have multiple tiers sticking out and were used for religious purposes (for the record, Wikipedia has an entry with similar wording...) When it was built here in Reading, it was meant to be a hotel with a restaurant, but that didn't last long. So now it is recognizable as our city's landmark, and from most places in Reading and the surrounding areas, you can see its red lights shining in the nighttime, but other than that pretty much nothing happens there.

The most prominent memory that sticks in my mind about the pagoda is that every time we would go there, my dad mentioned the fact that my great grandmother was always up there as a child and as she grew up. It served as a place of socializing and meditation for her. So much so that her dying wish was that she be cremated and have her ashes thrown over the sides of the Pagoda.

Today when I picked up the newspaper, the front cover stated that a movie is going to be shot at the Pagoda in the next few weeks, which is what brought on this little entry of mine. I got pretty excited when I heard about it, so I thought I would share.
If you click here you can read the article yourself. :)