Happy St Patrick's Day! Happy Palm Sunday!  Hope you all enjoyed your day of  Wearing of the Green and waving of the Palms! I am surprised our GS choir did not sing in one of the parades this year, but also grateful since the weekend before St Patty's Day was quite rainy. And we were at the Christian Rock concert.

A decent way for Allison to start her Spring Break. However, she spent the entire 1st day of the week at the dentist. She was trying to find out if she needed to have her wisdom teeth pulled. I had to send her to our dentist office that has the oral surgeon for a full assessment-xrays, cleaning. She found out she can wait a few more years on the wisdom teeth, but she had two small cavities that needed taken care of. So in the morning she had the exam and in the afternoon she had the cleaning. She had to go back on Friday morning to fill the cavities. What an exciting way to spend your time off! I also put her computer skills to work downloading some photos from Facebook of the Fall wedding we attended in Michigan. I was able to download several great family photos from my cousin Ryan Borg and  his wedding last Sept. to Meg as well as family photos of my Uncle Joe(mom's younger brother) and his wife Kathy Borg.  I am not a Facebooker so I have to rely on Allison for news of extended family and friends. Sadly I heard through Facebook that one of my dear friends and fellow GS Leaders passed away from ovarian cancer last Friday night. Julie and I shared leadership positions in Girl Scouts-I had her daughter, Becky in my Troop. Becky and Allison were classmates and both attend Salisbury U. Julie ran her younger daughter Grace's girl scout troop. Grace was in Scott's class. We spent a lot of time camping together and attending different GS events as well as enjoying the kid's school and church events like field trips, First Communion and Confirmation programs. Julie's funeral is scheduled next week, before Easter.

Meanwhile, Allison managed to squeeze in some fun. She and her roommate, Jen spent a day in DC. They toured the Smithsonian Natural History museum, the Holocaust museum, checked out a few blooming cherry trees and dropped into the National Zoo. Fortunately they missed the big train shut down by 1 day(all DC trains shut down for repairs after reoccurring electrical fires in the tunnels). Also they missed out on a small chemical explosion that occurred at the zoo by 1 day. Living life on the edge!  Allison also enjoyed attending the local high school musical Guys and Dolls with her roommate and their family. I also went along to check it out and see if my mom would enjoy the performance. We went on Thursday night, St Patty's Day. It was not very crowded and the kids did a great job, especially performing "Luck Be A Lady Tonight" and "Bushel and a Peck", plus a lot of other fun music. I also needed to see how long the play was-2.5 hrs. I was not sure my mom could sit through that long of a performance.

But on Friday night the family took my mom out for dinner to our new favorite Chinese restaurant and then we both went to the play. I actually enjoyed the play better the second time around. They switch the actors so more kids get a chance to participate. It was fun to see how different kids interpret the characters and have different singing abilities. And the place was packed. Mom and I  sat in the back and you could actually see so much better. A lot of the acting occurs in the aisles, so we had a better view of the whole show. And mom did great with the 2.5 hrs and kept asking if they were high school kids. She was very impressed with the whole show. It is amazing what $5 bucks can get you!

Scott is busy wrapping up his Leadership position in boy scouts, planning the Troop's weekly meetings. He and Tom also spent last Saturday morning collecting food in local neighborhood's for the county food drive. And he passed on the Robotics qualifying tournament on Sunday. He was not feeling too well. He did make it to work on Saturday night however.

Allison and I enjoyed the Passion Play at church on palm Sunday and then she packed up and headed back to school after lunch at Einsteins. She was not able to completely enjoy her time off from class as one of her professors forgot to give them their midterm exam before break! So she had to study and work on a project that was due Monday morning.  And fortunately the weather held out for her to drive back to school as one last(we hope)late Winter/Early spring snow came in on Saturday night. Scott was hoping for one more snow day on Monday, but no such luck.

Cookie wishes everyone a Happy St Patrick's Day!

Happy Spring Ahead! So Tom and I have been slowly getting back on our feet-fighting colds and stomach upset. So far it looks like the kids are staying healthy. A good thing since both have packed schedules, although Tom is busy once again with his new class.

Scott actually tried out for the Boys Track team again. He participated in the shot put event last year and really enjoyed it. This year, the entire football team showed up to participate and Scott quickly dropped to the bottom. The new coach assured Scott with lots of practice, including Saturdays, he could improve Scott's skill and participation on the team. Unfortunately, Scott just does not have the extra time to give to improving in this sport. With school, work, scouts, video club, and guitar, he really does not have enough hours in the day or week to squeeze in one more event. He would have loved to continue, but we decided the other activities took top rank. Especially school.

Scott had some big tests in math and science, so Tom kept him home from everything so he could study. Including his last planning meeting for scouts and the weekly meeting. Instead I dropped by the scout meeting to pick up bags for the upcoming scouting for food drive. Last Saturday morning, Tom and Scott headed out to place bags on local neighborhood mailboxes. This weekend, they will make the same rounds and pick up(hopefully)bags full of food.  Scott did participate in an after school choir competition at a local theatre. He had to drag his tux in to class all day. And I asked Tom to drop by my place of work last Friday afternoon and bring Scott so he could start his Eagle project.   I am still helping fill in extra hours at work, so I went in on Friday afternoon. The weather had been absolutely beautiful, so I thought Tom could bring Scott over to my nursing home to scope out an Eagle project. Our activity coordinator, Donna, would like Scott to make elevated wheelchair accessible planters. Scott toured the facility and chatted with Donna and took photos, measurements and made sketches.  She took his photo to put an article in our newsletter and gave him a volunteer application to fill out. Now Scott just has to write up a plan and speak to his Eagle project coach. Then he will be meeting with the multiple Eagle boards for approval of the project before he can even get started. Plus he may need to look for some donations for building supplies for the project-maybe Home Depot or Lowes or Ace Hardware. Our rehab team was hoping to have him build us benches to place outside for family members or patients to sit on while visiting.   Not sure if  we are going to get any benches. The director wants about 6 planters. That is a big Eagle project right there. So Scott's creative brain is working on it.

He also has to fill out a National Honor Society application. It has gotten so complicated for our kids. When we were in school, they automatically signed you up for NHS if you had good grades. Now you have to apply with good grades, be incredibly involved in sports/clubs/arts clubs, demonstrate community volunteerism and get forms filled out proving all your participation along with 5 teacher references. And if you get in, you have to maintain 20 volunteer hours each year. So it has become a thing. Allison managed to become a member. Many kids just don't want to spend the time filling out the application. And the kids that participate in scouts do have an advantage over other applicants since they commit a portion of their time to volunteer work. Eagle projects usually push it over the top!

So Scott and Tom spent about an hour at my work place. That is the first time Tom has been to my workplace in almost 3 yrs. He agreed that the place is a dump. But we do have a great staff-unfortunately, we rent the building and can't do much about remodeling. And Medicaid does not pay that much. Scott's planters will be a nice addition. And possibly the scouts can do some landscape repairs on a few flower beds that were built into the side of the hill. The wooden logs holding up the hillside have collapsed. A 15 yo Eagle scout project that needs repair. But that would also include further donations.

Besides initiating his Eagle project, Scott did get to his guitar lesson this week. He also stopped into robotics to pick up his tshirt and drop off his permission slip for the robotics competition last weekend. The preliminary competitions started and he spent all day last Sunday at a high school in Bethesda MD watching the robots in action. Good thing he brought along his tablet, phone and homework. It makes for a long day. We ran out of the door this morning 5 mins before the bus was leaving at 7am. I really hate the spring ahead! The tournament started Friday night.  Looks like their robot had some electrical issues  and they missed 3 matches while they did repairs. Scott is one of the members of the pit crew. He does not like being responsible for the computer programming or operation of the robot. Too much stress. He enjoys the building. Hopefully they will not need his services. Apparently their robot was the biggest there. Robots have to compete in multiple tasks and gain points to win. Their robot was too big to go under obstacles, but it is the only one that was built to go over obstacles. They did not earn a lot of points during this tournament, but other teams want them to join in an alliance for a bigger win. We will see how they do this coming weekend.

Allison came home for Spring Break on Friday. Looking forward to having her around the house, although she considered traveling. We just did not have time to put that all together. Instead, she has a busy schedule planned for her time off. We spent Friday  night having dinner at a new chinese restaurant that opened up nearby. I think we found a new favorite eatery. We then stayed home to enjoy watching The Martian. Allison just finished reading the book and really liked it. We thought the movie was very good. Scott had already seen it at school.

I did kick off Allison's Spring break with a new experience. One of my coworkers was looking for some company to attend a Christian Rock concert in downtown Baltimore last Sunday. I thought Allison and I could join her. How bad could a christian rock concert be? And Allison has really enjoyed the music of Christian singer, Steven Curtis Chapman, although he was not playing at this event. I thought there might be similar performers. Turns out it was quite an experience-an all day experience. Ann purchased VIP tickets so we had seats on the main floor right next to the stage. Also we had early seating and a few private performances before the main concert began. And we enjoyed lunch at Outback before heading to downtown Baltimore. It was a very busy day downtown too with the St Patrick's Day parade, the musical Motown at our Hippodrome theatre and this event. All in the rain. Overall we had a really good time. The concert was a mix of single performers, a few of them previous American Idol participants, as well as a few bands. One of the groups, Newsboys is featured in an upcoming film, God is Not Dead II in which a teacher goes to the Supreme court to fight her case against answering a religious question in public school. We missed God is Not Dead I in which college students fought against a professor who tried to make his students admit that there is no God. The Newsboys are also headlining along with a few of the other groups at Busch Gardens during the upcoming Glory in the Garden concert series. So even though Allison was a bit hesitant to go, as was I, we just enjoyed the whole concert experience.

I also pent some time with my mom last weekend. We both visited the Hair Salon. I needed a hair cut and she needed a wash and set. I did not want her spending time in our house, catching a bug. So this past weekend  since we were feeling better, I dragged her out for some grocery shopping before coming over to the house. I also put up her St Patty's Day and Easter decorations. I can't handle two holidays in one month!  We were able to have mom over for dinner and a movie while Scott was at work. We watched The Intern-it had a good start but then kinda fizzled out.

Looking forward to having Allison home for a week during her Spring Break.

We enjoyed performances by Christian Rock groups including The Family Force Five and Newsboys. The FF5 performed with trampolines and chainsaws. Crazy.

 The light show and special effects were pretty amazing, including the Newsboys drummer. His entire drum set was on a rotating and spinning elevated platform. Crazy,

 We enjoyed the uplifting music by multiple soloists such as Jeremy Camp and Mandisa. Most performers also do Missionary work and travel all around the world. They played lots of videos of their travels on the large video screen onstage during their performances.

Mt Hebron High School Robot

Happy Spring Ahead! So Tom and I have been slowly getting back on our feet-fighting colds and stomach upset. So far it looks like the kids are staying healthy. A good thing since both have packed schedules, although Tom is busy once again with his new class.

Scott actually tried out for the Boys Track team again. He participated in the shot put event last year and really enjoyed it. This year, the entire football team showed up to participate and Scott quickly dropped to the bottom. The new coach assured Scott with lots of practice, including Saturdays, he could improve Scott's skill and participation on the team. Unfortunately, Scott just does not have the extra time to give to improving in this sport. With school, work, scouts, video club, and guitar, he really does not have enough hours in the day or week to squeeze in one more event. He would have loved to continue, but we decided the other activities took top rank. Especially school.

Scott had some big tests in math and science, so Tom kept him home from everything so he could study. Including his last planning meeting for scouts and the weekly meeting. Instead I dropped by the scout meeting to pick up bags for the upcoming scouting for food drive. Last Saturday morning, Tom and Scott headed out to place bags on local neighborhood mailboxes. This weekend, they will make the same rounds and pick up(hopefully)bags full of food.  Scott did participate in an after school choir competition at a local theatre. He had to drag his tux in to class all day. And I asked Tom to drop by my place of work last Friday afternoon and bring Scott so he could start his Eagle project.   I am still helping fill in extra hours at work, so I went in on Friday afternoon. The weather had been absolutely beautiful, so I thought Tom could bring Scott over to my nursing home to scope out an Eagle project. Our activity coordinator, Donna, would like Scott to make elevated wheelchair accessible planters. Scott toured the facility and chatted with Donna and took photos, measurements and made sketches.  She took his photo to put an article in our newsletter and gave him a volunteer application to fill out. Now Scott just has to write up a plan and speak to his Eagle project coach. Then he will be meeting with the multiple Eagle boards for approval of the project before he can even get started. Plus he may need to look for some donations for building supplies for the project-maybe Home Depot or Lowes or Ace Hardware. Our rehab team was hoping to have him build us benches to place outside for family members or patients to sit on while visiting.   Not sure if  we are going to get any benches. The director wants about 6 planters. That is a big Eagle project right there. So Scott's creative brain is working on it.

He also has to fill out a National Honor Society application. It has gotten so complicated for our kids. When we were in school, they automatically signed you up for NHS if you had good grades. Now you have to apply with good grades, be incredibly involved in sports/clubs/arts clubs, demonstrate community volunteerism and get forms filled out proving all your participation along with 5 teacher references. And if you get in, you have to maintain 20 volunteer hours each year. So it has become a thing. Allison managed to become a member. Many kids just don't want to spend the time filling out the application. And the kids that participate in scouts do have an advantage over other applicants since they commit a portion of their time to volunteer work. Eagle projects usually push it over the top!

So Scott and Tom spent about an hour at my work place. That is the first time Tom has been to my workplace in almost 3 yrs. He agreed that the place is a dump. But we do have a great staff-unfortunately, we rent the building and can't do much about remodeling. And Medicaid does not pay that much. Scott's planters will be a nice addition. And possibly the scouts can do some landscape repairs on a few flower beds that were built into the side of the hill. The wooden logs holding up the hillside have collapsed. A 15 yo Eagle scout project that needs repair. But that would also include further donations.

Besides initiating his Eagle project, Scott did get to his guitar lesson this week. He also stopped into robotics to pick up his tshirt and drop off his permission slip for the robotics competition last weekend. The preliminary competitions started and he spent all day last Sunday at a high school in Bethesda MD watching the robots in action. Good thing he brought along his tablet, phone and homework. It makes for a long day. We ran out of the door this morning 5 mins before the bus was leaving at 7am. I really hate the spring ahead! The tournament started Friday night.  Looks like their robot had some electrical issues  and they missed 3 matches while they did repairs. Scott is one of the members of the pit crew. He does not like being responsible for the computer programming or operation of the robot. Too much stress. He enjoys the building. Hopefully they will not need his services. Apparently their robot was the biggest there. Robots have to compete in multiple tasks and gain points to win. Their robot was too big to go under obstacles, but it is the only one that was built to go over obstacles. They did not earn a lot of points during this tournament, but other teams want them to join in an alliance for a bigger win. We will see how they do this coming weekend.

Allison came home for Spring Break on Friday. Looking forward to having her around the house, although she considered traveling. We just did not have time to put that all together. Instead, she has a busy schedule planned for her time off. We spent Friday  night having dinner at a new chinese restaurant that opened up nearby. I think we found a new favorite eatery. We then stayed home to enjoy watching The Martian. Allison just finished reading the book and really liked it. We thought the movie was very good. Scott had already seen it at school.

I did kick off Allison's Spring break with a new experience. One of my coworkers was looking for some company to attend a Christian Rock concert in downtown Baltimore last Sunday. I thought Allison and I could join her. How bad could a christian rock concert be? And Allison has really enjoyed the music of Christian singer, Steven Curtis Chapman, although he was not playing at this event. I thought there might be similar performers. Turns out it was quite an experience-an all day experience. Ann purchased VIP tickets so we had seats on the main floor right next to the stage. Also we had early seating and a few private performances before the main concert began. And we enjoyed lunch at Outback before heading to downtown Baltimore. It was a very busy day downtown too with the St Patrick's Day parade, the musical Motown at our Hippodrome theatre and this event. All in the rain. Overall we had a really good time. The concert was a mix of single performers, a few of them previous American Idol participants, as well as a few bands. One of the groups, Newsboys is featured in an upcoming film, God is Not Dead II in which a teacher goes to the Supreme court to fight her case against answering a religious question in public school. We missed God is Not Dead I in which college students fought against a professor who tried to make his students admit that there is no God. The Newsboys are also headlining along with a few of the other groups at Busch Gardens during the upcoming Glory in the Garden concert series. So even though Allison was a bit hesitant to go, as was I, we just enjoyed the whole concert experience.

I also pent some time with my mom last weekend. We both visited the Hair Salon. I needed a hair cut and she needed a wash and set. I did not want her spending time in our house, catching a bug. So this past weekend  since we were feeling better, I dragged her out for some grocery shopping before coming over to the house. I also put up her St Patty's Day and Easter decorations. I can't handle two holidays in one month!  We were able to have mom over for dinner and a movie while Scott was at work. We watched The Intern-it had a good start but then kinda fizzled out.

Looking forward to having Allison home for a week during her Spring Break.

We enjoyed performances by Christian Rock groups including The Family Force Five and Newsboys. The FF5 performed with trampolines and chainsaws. Crazy.

 The light show and special effects were pretty amazing, including the Newsboys drummer. His entire drum set was on a rotating and spinning elevated platform. Crazy,

 We enjoyed the uplifting music by multiple soloists such as Jeremy Camp and Mandisa. Most performers also do Missionary work and travel all around the world. They played lots of videos of their travels on the large video screen onstage during their performances.

Mt Hebron High School Robot

So last week I spent a few days at home from work, resting up and recovering from the flu(stomach virus as work called it). I guess since I had the flu shot I could not officially get the flu. Whatever, I felt horrible and decided I needed a few days in bed. I had to regain my strength for the upcoming weekend.

I ended up working Weds-Fri. I still have the OT student, so it was helpful to go in on Friday to supervise her work. And I had a Bunco night out to enjoy with the neighbor ladies. I enjoy getting to know the people that live nearby. Turns out our recent Bunco party was hosted by the wife of Scott's Boy Scout Troop Eagle project mentor. Mr Johnson also teaches the archery program every year at the Cub Scout summer camp. All their boys are grown and off to college, but he still enjoys working with the scout program.  Small world.

We enjoyed the benefits of belonging to the scout organization by heading off to the ski slopes on Saturday for Scout Ski Weekend. We got a terrific deal on lift tickets, rentals and lessons. Only $49.00 to ski all day. (or as long as I can last). I tried to gather up a large group of Scott's friends, but we could only get one response from his girlfriend Tori. I also tried to recruit Allison's group of friends and roommates, but the girls had a frisbee tournament in Delaware that weekend. Sounds like Allison would have preferred skiing. She was one of the only drivers in the group, and 10 of them ended up sharing 1 hotel room. Needless to say, Allison did not get much sleep last weekend. Especially since the girls all wanted to go out late Sat. night. And since the girls stayed out late the night before, it did not do much for their playing skills on Sunday. Allison reports they managed to win  only 1 game. She was not amused.

Meanwhile, Scott, Tori and I had a wonderful day out on the slopes. You take a risk having to buy tickets in advance. Never know what the weather will be like. And since it is so close to Spring, you can't be sure if it will be too warm to really keep any snow on the hills.  Fortunately it was a bit chilly the week before. We even had a bit of snow that Friday morning. Scott had hoped for 1 more day off school, but no such luck. At least it was cold enough to make snow on the mountain in Pennsylvania where we skiied. I was happy to just stay in bed most of the week before,  resting up from the flu as well as giving my broken toe time to heal. We headed off early Saturday morning and arrived early enough to get our equipment and head outside. It was partly cloudy, and chilly when the sun was not out. But a bit warm when it was shining. At least the snow was not melting down the hill, although it was a bit icy. And it was packed so hard in the morning when they groomed the slopes that when you turned, you slid sideways down the hill! You really had to dig in your skis. So it made for quite a work out. At least the slopes were not too crowded(another bonus of skiing later in the season). I used to love Spring skiing out west. Lots of warm sun, but you can still ski. You don't have to wear all those heavy coats and sweaters! Just don't fall down in the snow. Then it gets cold.   I heard the scout ski event the weekend before was packed. So I enjoyed a day of skiing on my own. Scott and Tori spent half the day skiing and then took their lunch break mid afternoon. Afterwards, they decided to try their hand at snowboarding. Neither one had ever tried boarding, and this was their chance to take a lesson and switch equipment without any extra costs. Turns out they were both naturals at boarding, and Scott really fell in love with this new experience. Now he would like to just go snowboarding. I would have loved to have seen them in action, but they were just too fast for me. Plus I stayed on the beginner slopes and they spent most of the day on the intermediate slopes after their lesson. By then I was eating lunch. And it was still just a bit icy to take on the black diamond slopes, especially for Tori. I decided to wrap up one last run late in the afternoon and headed up the ski lift. I knew it was time to quit when my ski fell off! The staff picked it up and passed it on to some medics a few chairs back. So great, I would have my ski at the top of the slope to get back down. However, there was still the trick of skiing off the chair lift. ON ONE SKI! So I invented my own sport. Slalom skiing. At least they slowed the chair lift down a bit. I managed to balance on my right ski while heading down the ramp. I used my left boot for balance, along with my poles, but my broken toe took most of the pressure. But everyone was so impressed that I did not fall down! And it looked like my ski binding was not working well. The medics locked it in place as best they could so at least I was able to make it down the hill. Ski trip over for me. It was a very fun day overall!

Meanwhile, Tom was busy recuperating at home. He has been sick with a cold/bronchitis/pneumonia something and coughing his lungs out for over two weeks now. I did not want to bring my mom over to our house. I was already worried that Allison was going to catch something. Scott seemed to squeak by with just a cold through all this. Neither kid can afford to get sick. Allison is busy with classes and frisbee. Scott is busy with school and scouts. He set up another successful scout meeting with a presentation on public health. I spent the meeting helping the parents prepare Scouting for Food bags. And of course Scott had to work and go to his guitar lesson. Plus I had to take him for his yearly check up to fill out the boy scout forms for summer camp.   Tom and I can't afford to get sick either, but we make do. Tom finished his first online class on a high note and signed up for another semester. He hated the class and the teaching method of  his new prof., so he dropped the course and picked up another. At least he can do his classwork and some work work from home on the computer. His new class is better, but he is annoyed by new profs issues with paper writing protocol. Tom is not sure if the prof is actually reading the papers. Sometimes he is not even sure how many profs are actually teaching his class at times either. He knew he had too good of a start with his first class. But he is really enjoying the experience so far.

Congratulations goes to Allison who was accepted into the Perdue Business School Sorority,
Beta Gamma Sigma. Basically an Honor Society in the Business school for the top 10% in their class. We will be attending her induction ceremony and dinner at Salisbury in April.
 

 Scott and Tori gear up for snowboarding!

                                                                            Hitting the slopes

I certainly had a tough week! Tom was out of town last week in Atlanta on business. He left Tuesday morning. That evening I was busy cleaning the kitchen and gathering up the recyclables. I dropped an empty wine bottle in a plastic bag and it went right through the bag and dropped onto my toe! It hurt so bad, I was pretty sure it was broken. I know they can't do much for broken toes. I did the usual-ice and elevated, but my entire foot was swollen the next day and I could barely walk. I had to call out of work on Weds-I could not get my shoe on! Instead I figured I could go to the doctor and perhaps get a boot to wear for work. I made an appointment that morning and they decided it did not look seriously broken-no bones sticking out!. They skipped the xray since they would not do anything even if I had a hairline fracture. So I requested a boot to wear to go back to work. The clinic I visited was out of boots my size and they sent me to another facility across town. I headed over only to find out that the boots they have do not cover toes. And in a hospital setting, you need to have your toes covered! They sent me on a wild goose chase calling all sorts of medical supply companies in the area, but no one had any boots with foot covers in stock. I would have to buy something online and wait for delivery, not to mention pay over $100 for a foot splint. Not worth it.

By Thursday I could at least slip my shoe on, even though I was still hobbling along. But it looked like I was going to recuperate. Or so I thought. On Saturday night I got the chills and ended up with the flu! I was stuck in bed for several days. I haven't been this sick in quite a while. I even had the flu vaccination. It does appear to be going around. Before I got sick, I had spent the day out and about. Scott and I started off the morning volunteering with the Boy Scouts for the Cub Scout Klondike event. Scott's troop mans a rope bridge. We also serve hot chocolate and coffee to many grateful adults. We spent a few hours in the morning assisting boys across the bridge and pouring hot chocolate until Scott had to get to work. After dropping him off I headed over to my mom's place. Her phone was not working all week, so I had to chase down some staff to get it up and running again.

Timing could not be any worse. My department at work decided to let one of our OT assistants go. She was having a difficult time performing her job due to medical issues. So that leaves a bit more work for me. Also, she was supervising a student. So that responsibility went to me too! Fortunately the student has been at our facility for several weeks and felt comfortable taking on a bigger workload. And there is still another OT assistant in the building to help out plus my supervisor. I just want to rest up so I can get back to my busy schedule.

I had already planned on working an extra day last week since our staffing was down. I could only work  a 1/2 day Friday since I had already made an eye appt. for myself and had a follow up vet appt for Cookie in the afternoon. I have not been to the eye doctor in about 2 yrs. I know my vision has gotten worse, but I can survive with drugstore glasses. I just wanted to make sure I did not have any medical issues with my vision. I even had the extra retinal photos taken for future reference. And my eyes are very healthy(if not a little worse for wear). I just need those glasses for very small print, and maybe a pair for distance. And Tom says I should get a pair just for computer use. Wow, it is tough getting old!

I am probably doing a little better than Sheila Bozyk who is recuperating from gall bladder surgery. Hope you are feeling better soon Sheila!  They decided not to do surgery on Mom B when she was diagnosed with gall stones. I hope that does not keep acting up for her.

I also hope I did not share any of my germs with the rest of the family. Allison was home last weekend(briefly). She had a frisbee tournament at Uof Maryland College Park. She decided to bunk in her own bed for the weekend. She came home Friday night but was gone most of the day on Saturday, and then off again on Sunday.She had games on Saturday and Sunday and then headed back to school. The girls won half and lost half of their games and came in 3rd place overall! She also ran into one of her high school Field Hockey team members who is playing Ultimate Frisbee for Uof Maryland. I think it must have been strange to play against a former teammate. She also had a new experience at school. Riding out a tornado warning with her two roommates in a tiny downstairs bathroom of their condo. Looks like Spring has arrived. The storm came through on Weds night. Scott and I experienced a pretty typical tstorm that night while traveling to the boy scout meeting. Looks like Virginia had worse weather with 8 reported tornadoes. Spring is here! Tom missed all the bad weather in the South and came home Friday.

Scott managed to put together a weather oriented Boy Scout meeting complete with indoor board games  and a Bill Nye Science guy weather video. . He will be happy when his programming role is done next month! He will still be busy with his Video Club, his guitar lessons, schoolwork, Sports Club job and next week, Track. He would like to go out for the shot put event again. We dropped off his paperwork this past week. And his workplace wants him to take on a bigger role at the Sports Club. He just does not have any more free time!  His robotics team wrapped up their build. They actually have to bag the robot so no one can work on it anymore. The trial competitions are coming up in March. Scott also worked a few days last weekend. We have also been letting him get more driving time in. I let him drive to the park for the Cub Scout event. He definitely needs some parking practice as he bumped the big pick up truck in front of him while pulling into his space. He panicked when the parking team waived him into a specific spot. I am just glad he did not panic too much and hit the gas! Tom started to have Scott drive to work and back under his watchful eye. One day he will be driving himself!  Unlike Allison's job, when she just worked as a skate guard, under new management Scott has been asked to take on more roles. Last weekend he spent his shift in the cafe, making pretzels and selling pizza. He also learned how to operate the cash register. Good life experiences.

Speaking of life experiences, Allison is busy looking for a summer business management internship. She got an email from a former mentor. Allison spent a day in high school shadowing the owner of a family run Chemical company in Baltimore through the Girl Scout program. Allison keeps in touch with the owner who said she may have a job for her this summer covering the Accounts Receivable position while her sister has surgery. That would be something!  Just in case, she is keeping all options open. Before you know it, summer will be here!

Tom finished up his first class and signed up for another. Which he hated. Not crazy about the prof. So he dropped it and signed up for a different class. Which he prefers. He has also been busy with a few household projects. He got our taxes done. And our kitchen faucet needed replaced since it was leaking and the brackets had all rusted out. He ordered a replacement online. Now we have a touch on/off faucet. I am still not sure if I like that or not.

We are also sending out a Big Happy Birthday to Susan (Seitz) Potts! Tom sent her some baseball tickets for the pre season baseball games in Sarasota.  She can catch the Orioles along with her husband John(who will be celebrating his upcoming birthday) as well as Mom and Dad Seitz(also who will be celebrating an upcoming birthday in March)