Well my story continues. Last Sunday Tom flew off to Long Beach CA for a week of work. I was busy dropping off and picking up Allison from work, running errands with Scott and cutting the lawn. Still no real issues with my back or neck, so I thought I would try to see if I could get some work done.

Monday I had to drop the van off at the dealership and pick up a rental car since I spotted some scratches on the fender after they washed it. They said they could buff those right out. They also scratched up the back door when they placed a temporary license plate on it so we could test drive the van. They were going to fix those as well.

Tuesday I had to send Scott off to his boy scout meeting with a fellow scout family since Allison and I had a program to attend with the Girl SCout choir. We were singing for Flag Day at Ft McHenry in Baltimore. I dropped Scott off around dinner time and he got to go to Fuddruckers for dessert. Allison and I drove downtown to Ft McHenry for the Flag Day celebration. If you recall your history, Ft McHenry was the place where Francis Scott Key got the inspiration to write our National Anthem during the War of 1812-US against the British. Baltimore fought off the British right after they stormed DC and burned the White House. The original Stars and Stripes flag is hanging in the Smithsonian-some of you have seen it with us. Our choir sang two songs this year-Swing Low, Sweet Chariot and Rolling Hills-two short songs but I thought we sounded good. We were also asked to help the boy scouts carry the state flags in the Parade of Flags. They were short by 15 scouts, so all the girls were included. And a few of us adults too-I carried an American flag. It was a lot of fun, and afterwards we sat down with some friends to watch the fireworks over the harbor and listen to the Navy Band play along. I then had to rush home to pick up Scott.

By Thursday night my car was done and I turned the rental back in. They did a great job on the back door, but missed the fender. Guess I will be taking it back. After I picked up the van, I stopped into a friend's house for a Pampered Chef party. Turns out the demonstrator was an OT! No real surprise to me! We OT's are into everything. Speaking of OT's, I have been getting myself into trouble at work by speaking up about our recent renovations in our out patient department. We finally had a bathroom and kitchen installed in the out patient department. Something we have been discussing all 8 years I have been working there. However, they did not bother to hook anything up. The shower stall, dishwasher and the stove were inoperable. All we added was a sink, bigger fridge, newer microwave and toilet. The administration figured I could "practice" on the non functioning appliances. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to practice if nothing worked. I just couldn't believe they would spend all that money and not make everything work! So I said so. And I got reprimanded. But they hooked up my stove! And my boss bought me a rolling bag for my computer too! Finally! I have to lug my laptop all around campus since I work at so many different clinics and not only have I developed bursitis in my hip, but I also had a swollen knee most of the year. The hip is good, the knee is better and I am now still recovering from this car accident. And getting lectured at work. But I can't wait to try out my new work space with the patients.

It was fun to take a break at the Pampered Chef party with a bunch of moms. I found out that one of them has a son in Allison's government class. She was telling me all about the forms we need for Drivers Ed -to obtain the Driving Permit. Guess Allison will have a few more tasks to do next week besides take her finals.

She has really been working hard this last week of school. She finished up all her projects and turned in all her papers and notebooks for grading. They were also preparing for her finals by going over review packets. Her English final however took 3 days this week. She had an English Quarterly exam that took 2 days and the English final for the class on the 3rd day. At least she won't have to worry about that one next week. Sounds like college!

Tom was off to LA and even had time to visit with my brother and go out to dinner. Mike starts his new job in a week at a new library right near Magic Mountain. I think he will like it! Tom flew home through Dulles airport and arrived early Friday morning. He had the day off so we went up to see what we could salvage from my damaged car. SCott was with us since he was home all week. I actually hired our neighbor's son to stay with him for the week. Summer camps had not started, and I did not want Scott spending the whole day stuck in the house by himself. He and Alex had a great time playing video games, having water balloon fights and riding their bikes up to 7 Eleven for slurpees.

They brought my van around from the salvage lot on a fork lift. It was all wrapped in plastic to keep everything dry in case of rain. We even had a sparrow inside that must have got trapped when they wrapped it! I was able to pick up most of my things in the front, but the back of the van was smashed in and I couldn't pull out my lawn chairs that were there from the Wine in the Woods festival. I also noticed that a tool was stolen out of my van-they stole the tool and left the ripped box on the front seat. I figured something like that would happen. Anyway, while digging through my van, Tom finished negotiating a settlement price with our insurance company. It was about $3000 more than they originally offered. Way to go Tom.

We had to head back home since I had a dentist appointment, so we all had lunch at the mall and after my check up we all went to see Green Lantern. It was a fun movie. Then we had to get home to take Allison to her last piano lesson of the school year.

On Saturday, Allison was back at work. Scott was supposed to go on a Water Trip Boy Scout outing, but noone got it organized in time. We did go to our neighbor's house that evening to help our friend Phil celebrate his 50th birthday. The kids had a great time swimming in their pool while we adults all put together some interesting gag gifts. Tom also picked up an autographed photo of Gordie Howe (the hockey player). Phil is a Michigan boy and big Hockey fan. He also plays ice hockey, so Tom picked him up a 8x10 autographed photo on ebay. Unfortunately, Tom bought it from some guy in Canada, and their postal service is on strike and it is stuck in the mail somewhere between here and Toronto. So we gave him a photo copy of the real thing to come.

And then we had Father's Day the next day. Tom spent his time power washing the back of our house. It always builds up a layer of algae on the siding back there. He also washed and waxed the two small cars. I was busy cleaning the house since we decided to have our neighbors Dan and Gloria and their kids over for dinner. I also had some grocery shopping to do. But mostly I spent my afternoon studying for finals with Allison while we waited at the CVS Minute Clinic for a sports physical for Allison for fall Field Hockey. We decided to get her paperwork in before school let out since we will probably in Michigan the week before try outs in August. I just wanted to make sure they had all the forms so Allison could just step out on the field when we get back. Our medical insurance would not schedule another appointment until August and we will be gone then. By the time we got home, I was busy putting dinner together for our guests.

So Happy Father's Day all you guys! We got Tom a cordless LED work light for the garage, a set of adapter plugs for traveling(Tom is now planning on a trip to Britain next week) and I also got him a set of cooking spices from Pampered Chef.

Here are some photos from our evening at Ft McHenry. Anyone recognize this state flag?

More to come