As you can see, my blog is a few weeks late. My husband felt that I needed a new computer. He upgraded me from a laptop to a desktop. So he spent the weekend downloading everything from the laptop to the desktop. That's great for the extra memory. He was concerned that I might lose my photos and files and it seemed my laptop was straining. The only issue I have is that he bought me a 20 inch computer screen for a 10 inch sized desk. I practically need to sit half way across the family room to type a note because it is so big and hard to read! I compromised by shrinking everything in half. He also neglected to transfer my blog so when I sat down to type I couldn't locate the program. But I am back on line now and readjusting(kinda). This computer actually has the touch screen but I am not as excited about it as the rest of the family.

Anyhow, we have certainly had a few busy weeks and weekends(of course). As you may recall, Tom went out of town to LA two weeks agoe but he did not get a chance to see my brother Mike. I was on my own with the kids. Not a problem on the holiday(MLK day) as the kids were out of school. I was happy to go to work since I get paid double time for working a holiday. On that Tuesday we had an ice/snow storm so the kids again were out of school-this time for a snow day. No problem-they stayed home together. On that Weds though the kids had a 2 hour delay. I was the only one available to drop off. And now that my company has decided I am a salaried worker, I had to figure out how to balance my work hours to get paid for the most productive amount of work time. After a few phone calls to Human Resources and my boss it was decided that I could work 4 hours Weds and 4 hours Friday. I can't wait to see my yearly review. I was told that as a professional, it was my responsibility to make arrangements for these events. I told them that my arrangement was in LA. They don't care. My boss and the HR girl said so. As my boss said, the reason I was switched to salaried is mainly so they can ask me to work late without paying me extra if needed. How special. So I made it through work that week. I even got out a bit early to take SCott to gymnastics on Thursday night.

The biggest problem with the school schedule was that we were right in the middle of Allison's midterms. School had to do a lot of reconfiguring the schedule in able to get all the tests in. On the day the kids went in late they had them stay through lunch. Normally the kids are home before lunch. They didn't bother to tell the kids if they were going to feed them though! I sent an email to school and a school wide revised schedule was sent out including a new lunch schedule. Of course, the kids would not have known since they sent it out after they had already gone to school! Allison said it was a zoo, squeezing the entire school into 5 separate 1/2hr lunch breaks. Somehow they managed to feed the kids tacos and chicken nuggets. I wonder if they sent out to Taco bell and Chick Fil A? The kids still did not get all their midterms in-Allison had to take a 2 hour spanish midterm the following week! Thank goodness she is only taking regular Spanish 2! I don't think they spend this much time teaching the kids English! Tom wants to know when Allison will have to know the spanish word for "jumpsuit"(it was on the test). I guess at an Elvis Presley convention in Tijuana or maybe in LA or Las Vegas. I think the spanish teacher takes her class a bit too seriously.

Anyhow, Allison managed to get another semester of all A's. And we are busy with the next quarter. We were also very busy with scouts that week. I was going to take Scott to a boy scout meeting but he really needs to go with his DAd. Scott will be bridging from cub scouts to boy scouts in Feb and they need to visit a scout meeting. I am letting Tom and Scott decide which troop they want to join since they will be the ones spending the most time at them. We missed a few meetings and a few were rescheduled. Scott had too much homework and tests to study for and wasn't feeling too well on the night of the meeting. There will be other chances. Instead, at the end of the week, Tom and Scott were busy making the final adjustments to the Pinewood Derby car for the races held on Saturday. Scott was not interested in winning a trophy for speed this year-instead he was going for the "Cool Car" trophy. He designed and built a lego racecar that Tom attached to the wheel base after they painted it red. Unfortunately, SCott's design was too heavy so Tom had a lot of readjustments to do before race day. He got home from LA Thursday night and spent all day Friday working on the right weight and dimensions(it also has a length and width requirement). They were one of the first races on SAturday morning, so they both rushed up to the school for the weigh in since they missed Friday nights schedule. I arrived shortly before the race to help out. Sure enough, Scott only took 5th place for speed. We had to wait all day until after the last race for the judging on coolest car, most scariest, most original design, and most colorful. Sure enough, Scott won for "coolest car". He also won for most original design and had many votes for all the other categories too! However, he could only take home one trophy so he opted for Coolest. Congrats SCott! And many thanks Dad! I heard about Scott's car all day-all the way to my Girl Scout rollerblading/rollerskating event held the same weekend. I volunteered my Troop to run the event(we skated for free) and to get some experience in case we run an event for the boy scouts. We have this skating event every year on SAturday and Sunday evening. We registered 300 girls on Saturday and 175 girls on Sunday. I had extra help from a freshman HS troop and a lead scout who took care of the registration. All in all I think it went well.

And on top of that, Allison was offered a job at the roller rink as a rink guard! WE spent Sunday filling out her application. She is only 15 and can't work more than 4 hours or past 7pm, but I think if she actually gets hired that she will enjoy the job. It pays minimum wage-no taxes and she gets a free membership to the Columbia Association which means free access to all the gyms and pools and discount prices for bday parties, etc. Sounds great! Now we just have to wait for them to call her and get her a work permit.

We also spent the weekend filling out more applications-one specifically for school. Allison had to make out her class list for next year(Junior already!). She would like to do an internship at her old elementary school as one of her classes, so she had to fill out a lengthy application which included a resume, current class list, two teacher recommendations and answering 6 essay questions of why she wants to do this. She is really hoping to get accepted. They usually don't choose juniors but wait until the kids are seniors. She may actually want to do it for two years in a row if she could.

And Tom had to pick Allison up early from skating on Sunday night for their field hockey games. ONce again Allison was recruited to play on a traveling team, but Tom did not feel like driving to Delaware!

Plus on Friday since I had to go into work I decided to take Cookie in for a yearly check up when I got home. Her appointment involved a lot of shots. Boy did she cry. The vet said she was quite the drama queen! And she cried all week when someone touched her. At least she is a healthy girl -all of 2 years now. Not so sure about one of our gerbils. Gwen wasn't looking too well. The gerbils are about 3 yrs old, but they don't last too long(Tom says that is good news). He considers them to be just like the two mice we caught in the attic(rats!).

A very special Happy Birthday to Grandpa Joe Borg(my mom's dad) who turned 98 on Friday January 21st. I hope we got his longevity genes!

I included a picture of Scott's car and his Lego pit stop he made to go along with it for the judging.
Kathleen