This Sunday I was busy washing SCott's camping clothes. Surprisingly, the entire month of March has been beautiful as far as the weather goes. Naturally, when it was time for the boys to go camping, it decided to rain and tstorm all weekend. Fortunately, the area where SCott was camping did not have as much rain and limited tstorms. And this Spring campout was still better than last year when they headed north into Pennsylvania, and it snowed and the temps dropped to 20 below at night! They couldn't even get water last year since all the pipes in the camp froze. Scott was pretty miserable then, but he seemed to enjoy this weekend. It had a cowboy/indians theme, so they got to shoot rifles, do archery and throw axes. They also brought in animals-cows and horses and did a badge on mammals. Scott even volunteered to help the new kid with the cooking(still not as good a cook as Scott). Tom drove Scott up to the boy scout camp on Friday and helped him set up since they were the first ones there. As usual, we did not have any clear communication on who was driving or what activities they were doing. We did take advantage of one of the scout leaders giving Scott a ride home on Sunday, and he even quizzed Scott on a few requirements for his scout levels.  That was helpful.

  Meanwhile, the rest of us were busy running around here at home this weekend. Allison and I participated in a Girl Scout Choir Workshop on Saturday afternoon. We are preparing troops for the huge sing a long scheduled in Washington DC on June 9th-Rock the Mall. And we were excited to learn that our choir was chosen to sing on stage during the event(at least 3 songs). Very cool. WE are also learning a Flash Mob to a song written specifically for Girl SCouts called "Ignite"(as seen on utube). We also had a lot of fun teaching the girls our songs and the dance on Saturday. We also talked about seeing "The Hunger GAmes" movie, but Allison had to work late SAturday night, and Tom and I did not want to see it without her. She also spent part of her Friday evening at a game night with her Senior high school friends before going to work so she and Tom were not available. And since she had homework and work to do on Sunday, it did not leave much time for movies. Tom read the book, but he says he is not as interested in seeing the movie since he already knows the story line.

    After our 2.5hr long workshop on Saturday, I had to drop Allison off to work for the evening. She also picked up extra hours on Friday night and was scheduled to work Sunday afternoon. Her poor feet were killing her. She was already full of blisters from her new dress shoes that she had to wear to school on Thursday for her mock interview. The woman that interviewed Allison asked her to tell her a little about herself. Allison started out with "I have been a Girl SCout since Kindergarten". The woman said "I have heard enough, you pass the interview". She also complained that Allison did not write enough on her resume, but that was because the English teacher only allowed them one page. As we all told Allison, in the real world, you can make it much longer if you need to. She was just happy to have passed, and was very pleased with her wardrobe choice. Looks like she was one of a very few that actually wore a skirt.

   I also had Allison busy writing her speech this weekend for the Distinguished Women's Award banquet. The banquet is not until the end of April, but the speech was due to the Girl SCout council this week for review. Allison and I also attended our yearly GS Board meeting on Tuesday night. They had an Orioles baseball theme meeting complete with baseball food(hot dogs, cracker jacks, etc. ) Too bad we ate dinner beforehand. It was a very informative meeting, and they even showed photos from our trip to Houston(most of them were taken by Allison and myself). I guess our group of girls that were planning activities at the Orioles stadium was disbanded since they "fired" the volunteer that was in charge(she really had no clue on how a baseball game worked, and had never even stepped foot in the Orioles stadium). Looks like they have a competent committee running the event now though, and perhaps they will use some of our ideas.

   Now Allison is busy preparing for end of term exams/county assessments. Scott spent all last week taking standardized tests. He was just glad that he did not have any homework. (Me too)

     I was busy with my Friday off taking my van in for the 15000 check up. I also had a doctor's appointment and while I was there, I had time to drop off medical forms for SCott for summer camp for the doctor to fill out(need to beat the rush).  I also spent part of the weekend running to several Kohls stores to find more shoes like Allison's(for me). But sadly they were out. Even on line they were out. And I also need to find some navy blue dress pants for our choir uniform since they changed outfits on us for the Rock the Mall event as well as the Orioles stadium event.

   It has actually felt like summer has already arrived. Definitely Spring came early, and everyone has Spring FEver. All the neighbors were out cutting their lawns, putting down mulch and fertilizing. Tom managed to squeeze in fertilizing between rain showers. He also spent some time on Sunday visiting with our friend Matt from MSU. Looks like Matt and his wife Diana finally decided to get divorced. Matt's drinking problem really put an end to their relationship. And Diana had started a new life with her friends in her running group. Matt was not doing quite so well with the whole experience and almost killed himself mixing sleeping pills and alcohol. He has since switched to anti depressants, but keeps on with his drinking. He is house sitting for a friend while he and Diana settle their divorce. Diana is still taking care of their two boys, although one is college age, and the other will be graduating from high school next year.  Tom stopped in on Sunday for a visit with Matt since he just celebrated his 49th birthday. Fortunately he has stayed busy with work since it is tax season and Matt is an accountant. He can certainly use the work. Getting divorced is expensive. We wish him well, but his alcoholism has plagued him his whole life. And it does not look like he has any plans to quite anytime soon.

  So another interesting week here in Maryland. I am hoping a few cherry blossoms will be on the cherry trees next weekend in DC. I was hoping to spend the day there for the yearly kite festival.

  We'll let you know.   Kathleen