Happy Paczki Day! Happy Fat Tuesday! Happy Mardis Gras! Happy Ash Wednesday!Happy Valentine's Day! That is way too many Holidays for one week!

I was so excited to see that the local grocery store was selling one of my favorite Lenten treats, thanks to Laura Hejza! Polish donuts AKA Paczkis!(pronounced Punch Keys) on Fat Tuesday. I decided to pick some up on my way to work to share them with the staff. Unfortunately, they did not have any ready. They did have a German donut equivalent which Tom and I had never heard of-Fastnacht. Which makes sense(the night of fasting), but they looked plain and boring. Not like the big, fat, jelly filled, powdered Paczki donuts I have come to love!

The bakery manager asked if he could help me out and I told him my dilemma. No problem. He said they would make up a couple of containers of donuts for me in just a few minutes! Well it took more than a few minutes since it took the bakers awhile to figure them out,  but I came out of the store with freshly baked Raspberry and Lemon filled donuts and my co workers were very excited. And so was I!

.I started my Valentine's Day/Ash Wednesday off by taking Mom B to the dentist. She has a very bad cavity, but the new dentist we have wanted to try a different treatment than drilling and filling. They have a fluoride tx that they use on children with bad teeth. It slows down the growth of the cavity, which is great, but unfortunately it turns your teeth black! Not so bad for kids if their baby teeth are falling out anyway, but most adults do not really want permanent black teeth. The dentist put a little on Mom's tooth at the gum line which is way in the back to slow down the cavity. It is not usually used on adults, so it will be a bit of an experiment. But our dentist has attended several seminars on the subject and feels comfortable that it will make a great difference for her-especially since she usually does not remember to brush her teeth!

And what a way to start off Valentine's Day! No candy for Mom! And how crazy, it was also the very first day of Lent and Ash Weds! Not Fair!  I decided to give up cakes and cookies so I could at least enjoy one of my favorite treats-Chocolate! Especially since Tom had just attended another Hershey Bear game the weekend before and brought home some fun bags of Hershey Valentine's Day candy. I shared Valentine's gifts with Scott and Tom. Scott received a pair of socks with a favorite Mario video game emblem, and Tom got a Darth Vadar Hoodie!  Tom and Scott thought I might like a computer watch, similar to the Apple watch. I mentioned that I often miss important telephone calls or emails at work since we are not supposed to have our phones out. I usually check my phone at lunch, and then again late in the afternoon. Sometimes I miss calls/emails about my mom so I thought this would be great solution. I have watched a fellow co worker use her Apple watch and thought it would work for me. Not so. First I don't have an Apple phone and the watch the boys programmed for me, the Pebble was not exactly like the Apple watch. First you have to flick your arm every time you want to see the watch face. It shuts down to save power since Apple watches have to be recharged every 8 hrs. So I was getting tendonitis in my elbow from all the flicking(and that was just in a few minutes!). At work I need to keep close tabs on time since we bill each patient for the time we spend, as well as timing patient's activities like standing tolerance. And I wash my hands alot, so it needs to be at least water resistant. Not to mention the fact that I could not read the tiny, poorly lit screen. And don't get me started on all the buttons! I had the watch disconnected from the internet in less than 1 minute! The more expensive systems are touch screen and in color and not quite as bulky. I guess it is just not my time for a Dick Tracy watch! And Tom is not an Apple product fan. But I appreciated the Valentine's Day thought! And strangely, I did not even have any chocolate that day!

I got to work a bit late, but just in time for a family meeting. And I stayed a bit later since I was in close to noon. Tom and Scott picked up some Burger King fish sandwiches for dinner, but I made salmon on Friday. Allison planned on coming home for the weekend. She wanted to attend an Ultimate Frisbee clinic on Saturday in Fredericksburg, VA. She could not talk any of her team mates into joining her. The drive from Salisbury was about 3hrs, and 1.5 hrs from our house. She tried talking some of the girls into staying at our house and then traveling down to VA for the clinic, but no takers. Instead, Allison was going to head out on her own, but I told her to skip it. We had a small snow/ice storm on Saturday afternoon and I did not want Allison stuck driving in that, even though the weather was nicer down south. So she stayed in Salisbury to get ahead on her studies. I spent the afternoon making chili. I have also been trying to reorganize the kid's old clothes and toys. Allison started us off by putting together some of her kid's toys and selling them online. First her Barbie dolls to our neighbors, and then a box of collectibles, like her My Little Pony sets to a Toy Store in Old Ellicott City. I put together a big box of kids winter coats and snow pants and sold them to the Kid's Consignment store. Now I am trying to put together Spring and Summer clothes/shoes to take in. So much easier than putting on a garage sale! And it was a good day to stay indoors and start cleaning out the storage unit in the basement. Both Tom and Scott were busy with homework.

On Sunday, it was still wet and rainy and Tom decided he wanted to see the new Black Panther movie. We could have joined Scott's High School for a private showing on Saturday afternoon, but we did not want to head out into the snow/ice storm. And Scott was not interested in attending a High School event with his parents! So we took our chances on Sunday afternoon. It was just like our first attempts to see Star Wars-it was sold out at every movie theater we went to, or sold out for the late afternoon movie times. So many of our theaters have gone to reserved seating in our area as well as the convenience of buying tickets online ahead of time. Every theater we visited was sold out for the entire afternoon. Tom even offered to drive to Salisbury to pick up Allison and catch the movie there. Scott was off school on Monday for President's Day and Tom was heading to San Diego in the morning, so no heavy schedule to worry about. However, Allison already had plans to see the movie with some friends that afternoon, so I told her to buy her tickets early! So she got to see it and enjoyed the movie. Now it is a quest for the rest of us.

On Friday, Scott was off school for a teacher inservice day. He decided to go into work both in the morning and afternoon at the AfterCare program. I was busy taking Cookie into the vet for her 8yr old check up! She passed with flying colors! And even lost a bit of weight, thanks to all the extra walks with Allison. She is definitely missing that with Allison back to school. Scott also attended his NHS meeting, although he has completed his volunteer hours for the year. He still has to attend the meetings. At least with Friday off he was able to get a jump on his weekend homework.

Happy Birthday Eric Seitz! While Eric was celebrating his 28th birthday, his new baby girl, Claire,  was celebrating her week 3! She has the most adorable outfits! I especially loved her Super Bowl outfit with the tiny cheesehead. Go Packers!

We have all been busy with school and work. Allison decided to come home this past weekend on Friday to make sure she filled out all the proper information online with Tom to accept her job offer from Northrop Grumman. Everything is done online nowadays. She finished up with her classes M-W, and then attended ultimate frisbee practice on Thursday. I was happy she came home on Friday.  I had her join me at our friend's house Friday night to attend a memorial service. Our friend Beth lost her mom a few weeks ago-she would have been 97 yrs old on Friday. Tom was going to attend with me, but he was home most of the week with a cold and fever and he did not want to share. So Allison graciously offered to come with me. First I had her help pick up a gift. I wanted to order a silver engraveable picture frame from  the Things Remembered store. I thought it would be nice for Beth to put in a photo of her mom/family and have her birth/death date enscribed. I found a beautiful hinged silver frame online, however, they only had the item in stock in the mall in Salisbury. Not to worry. I ordered it and Allison picked it up the same day before heading home. I also added some white tulips. And even Cookie was invited to the memorial service at their house, but we decided to get her cleaned up a bit before heading over. Allison and I dropped Cookie off at the groomers for a quick trim and bath(turns out not so quick). Boy she has a lot of fur and gets very fluffy when she is all brushed out! Barry, Beth's husband could not get over how poofy her ears and head were after the bath and brush out. They have Ripley, also a cavachon and she has never been that fluffy. The two dogs enjoyed each other's company while we ate dinner and sat and chatted with family members, as well as watching a photo video slide program of Beth's mom and family members. We missed the opening ceremony since we were waiting for Cookie to get groomed. Basically Beth had put together a Biography of her mom and read it out loud at the gathering along with the video. Her mom donated her body for research, so they won't receive the ashes for several years from now! Beth's father, who passed away many years ago,  was in the coast guard, flying helicopters, so the family moved around alot. I don't think they ever had a place that they really called home. We felt very special to be invited to the service.

On Saturday we decided to go out to dinner with my Mom to celebrate Allison's new job as well as to get a jump on celebrating Valentine's Day. I figured we would all be busy during the week so we might as well take advantage of everyone being home on the weekend. We had dinner at the same restaurant where we ate at for my birthday. Tom, Mom and I really enjoyed our meals, but the kids were not too impressed. Allison thinks Scott does a better job grilling!  Tough crowd. I try not to take my mom to any place too overwhelming(she gets flustered when she sees the food prices!)She is much more comfortable with Burger King(and then only gets a burger and wants to share the fries). Very thrifty!  Tom and I stopped into her apt to pick her up Saturday afternoon. I wanted to drop off an early Valentine gift. I had a wedding photo blown up and mounted on a canvas from the JCPenny Portrait studio. They had an incredible sale, and I thought it was time for Mom to have a wedding photo of her own on the wall. She and Dad always had a large photo of Gma and Gpa Bozyk's wedding photo hanging in their bedroom, so I thought she needed one of her own. I thought it turned out great considering it was a scanned, black and white photo. Tom also brought Mom a box of Hershey chocolates, and hooked up a tv antenna so you can at least pick up a few channels when we are visiting. We cancelled her cable since she was not watching the tv in her room anymore to save some money. But it is nice to have access to the tv if she gets stuck in there again with a flu/virus outbreak. She just needs someone to turn the tv on with the remote! Lastly I picked up a few new, long sleeved shirts. As the ground hog predicted, the winter is supposed to hang around for another month.

However,  Sunday it rained all day and was very foggy. I talked Allison into staying home one more day and heading back to school on Monday morning. Tom, Scott and Allison went off to the mall to shop for school rings for Allison. We were looking online for a college ring and really have not found anything we like. We actually loved the high school rings, but not as much to choose from for college. She stopped into a jewelry store to check her ring size and actually look at rings to get an idea of size and style, although they only sell high school rings. Then they headed off to the Harris Teeter grocery store for Allison to finish some research for her marketing class on Coleman meats(never heard of them). They have an organic/gluten free line. We tried the hot dogs. Tom says he will stick with the Koegel Viennas. We all agree. Meanwhile, I stayed home and made some sausage and shrimp jambalaya in advance of  Mardis Gras. I also put in an old film for Allison(I have been catching her up on some classics that I enjoy). I had her watch the football movie, Rudy. The Blue collar Indiana boy who wanted to attend Notre Dame University as well as play on their football team and did it. Also Erin Brochovich(I just love that movie!)-the Julia Roberts movie in which she portrays real life Erin B, a single mom of 3 who with no formal college training, but a gift with a photographic memory. She takes on the PGE company in California through a small law firm when they discover the plant has been poisoning the water in the area for decades and trying to cover it up. I never get tired of that movie!

And we have also started watching the Olympics. Although I missed the opening ceremony since Allison and I were at the Memorial service and Tom was not interested enough to record it. I did catch the tail ending and was amazed at the use of the drones for lit figures of athletes in the sky. Also surprised to hear John Lennon's Imagine song sung in english by Korean performers. 

I spent one evening after work at a Howard County Board meeting supporting a vote with fellow neighbors for limited growth in our county. However, after 2 hours of listening to voting for other bills, I gave up and went home for dinner(at 9pm). The Board meeting was actually running late since they started out honoring a 99 yo woman from our area who spent quite a bit of her life volunteering and working with our govt. officials and police department. Naturally there were lots of photo opps and speeches, but she was especially amazing to listen to speak since she was very well spoken and wishing everyone could just take a little time out of their day to just do something nice or give something, no matter how small, to help others out. It was all very special

, but it did push the meeting back 1 hr, and then I had to sit through a debate on how many minutes a person should be allowed to speak in front of the board vs how many minutes a group rep. should be allowed to speak in front of the board(3 vs 5 mins) and after 20 mins or so of that debate, the board could not come up with a decision and decided to table the vote for more discussion. However, they could not decide if they were tabling just that part of the bill, or the rest of the amendments and by then I had given up. Now I know why I could never stand to work in politics. So I will just have to read in the paper how they decided to vote for the limited growth discussion(if at all!). 

Happy Ground Hog's Day!  Looks like we are going to have 6 more weeks of Winter! (according to the fuzzy creature). We have not had a lot of snow here in Baltimore this winter, but it has been really cold. And we have had several ice storms. Thank goodness we have not lost our power, but Scott has missed out on school due to closings. I am sure the school district will have the kids pay for it somehow in the future to make up the days.

Scott was back to his usual schedule however at school. He also had to attend the NTHS(National Tech Honor Society) Induction Ceremony after getting off work at the After Care program early in the week. He also spent time after school during the week volunteering at the Concession stand for the Basketball games. He is now officially done with all his NHS volunteer hours. He is really moving along! Only 4 more months left of high school! And he brought home another fantastic report card of all A's!  He is busy wrapping up his Engineering project-the handicap planter. He built one by hand in class using left over scrap wood and cut each piece with a hand saw!  It turned out very nice. He is planning on staining it and he added a push handle and some hooks to hang tools off the side. Besides the protocol unit, he also has to turn in drawings to scale and building plans and reports which he has been doing on the computer. In English, his class is wrapping up The Canterbury Tales and Scott had to write a rap song with a group on the story line. They even had to present their song in front of the class. Not one of  Scott's favorite assignments, but they did a great job. Next they will be reading Hamlet and the class is headed to DC to see the play. He also went on line to sign up for housing at Western Michigan. He just saved his place in line basically. He won't be able to choose his dorm or request a type of roommate for a few months, but it is better to be at the top of the list. He is looking to move into the engineering dormitory in the Valley at  WMU. On Friday he decided it would be a good idea to get a flu shot since he works with so many little sick kids at the After Care program. So I headed over to the clinic with Scott for his shot and then we picked up dinner.

Allison also started back to her 3rd semester of Grad school with 3 classes. She was worried the most about her finance class, but turns out the Prof is teaching Excel which Allison is very comfortable with and now it seems to be her favorite class!  On Monday, before she headed back to Salisbury, she had lunch with Tom and one of his previous mentee's Nishay. Nishay is an incredibly wonderful person from Pakistan whose family has had all of us over to their historic home in Catonsville for several traditional meals. She completed the Northrop Management internship and now is a full time employee.We thought it would be helpful if Allison sat down with her for some pointers on the interview and the job description. So all 3 met for lunch at a Kabob place(which now Allison loves) to share info on Northrop and the Professional Development program(PDP). The program rotates new hires through the management department at Northrop for 1 year to get better acclimated to the company.   Allison returned home at the end of the week for her interview. It was scheduled for Thursday, Feb 1 at 4pm, but they bumped her up to 315. So she drove home in the morning, changed clothes and headed to Northrop. She arrived early and Tom and Nishay met her for a small tour and refresher on the company before Allison headed in for the interview. She did not expect to hear back for several weeks. She came home and filled out her Thank You notes, and on Friday, she received a job offer email!  And before she has even finished school! Allison reports the Interviewer thought her resume was impressive. We are all absolutely amazed at the quick response! And this was Allison's first interview! Plus she skipped an interview offer 2 years ago in Virginia with Northrop since she really was not wild on driving over 2 hours each day, there and back home. And Tom was not going to rent another apartment/hotel in Virginia just for an internship. So he was afraid they would no longer be interested in her. But she managed to earn this job all on her own merit! Well done Allison! We are so proud of you. Now comes the Acceptance email and paperwork process/salary negotiation for a Business Management Analyst 2 job position. She can even choose her own starting date, so she is looking to begin work at the end of July offered by the HR Dept. And she can work the flexible 4days, 10 hrs schedule like Tom which would give her every other Friday off. How amazing! Plus she will be working right here in Baltimore in the same building that Tom is at currently.  The extra time off  after graduation will give her the opportunity to move out of her condo in Salisbury and get a bit of a break before starting in the real world!

Allison also spent her weekend home from school volunteering for a day at Girl Scout camp. The scouts put on an overnight winter camping experience and Allison drove up for the day to Camp Conwingo to help out with the activities. She was put in charge of the GPS activity/orienteering. It was a very cold and long day, but she enjoyed being outdoors.

I spent my Saturday at work. We were extremely busy the week before since one of our therapists had a family emergency in Florida and had to travel out of the state for a few days. So we had some catching up to do on the weekend. Afterwards I stopped in for a haircut and did some grocery shopping. On Sunday we were invited to our neighbors to enjoy dinner and the Super Bowl game. Allison and I were busy cooking on Sunday morning-making brownies, chocolate chip banana muffins and Buffalo Chicken Dip.  We had a great time enjoying the game, the silly commercials and the incredible food. We could have used nicer weather though as another ice storm rolled in. Before the weather turned, I spent the afternoon at Girl Scout choir rehearsal. Looks like we are going to have a busy Spring season. I passed on singing the National Anthem for the Baltimore Blast soccer game. Not a huge soccer fan. Looks like I have some new songs to learn though.

And I was glad Tom made it home from New Hampshire before the weather turned. He just flew up for a few days of work. Looks like he will be doing a bit of traveling in the next few months. When he is home, he is busy working on his classwork for his PhD, but it looks like he is finally getting into some steady projects at work with his new position. He took a break with our friend John on Saturday evening to attend a Hershey Hockey game in PA(no win for Hershey, but fun for the boys)

I was sorry I missed my mom this weekend, but the weather was pretty lousy to go out in, and I was not home very much to stop in for a visit. If we had hosted the Super Bowl and the weather was nicer, I would have brought her over to our house. But her facility always puts on a nice Super Bowl party as well. So she was covered for festivities. We plan on taking her out to dinner with us to celebrate Allison's new job next weekend

Another weekend and another Girl Scout event. I volunteered to assist with the annual Rollerblade/Rollerskate event on Saturday and Sunday. It pretty much took up my whole weekend. We had a planning meeting on Friday night at Starbucks. The event leader wanted to fill in all the other volunteers on the check in process. We also have young Girl Scouts helping with the check in process. We collect cleaning supplies for Habitat for Humanity and this year we added Hurricane victims. So we wanted to let the Adult Leaders know what to expect and what their girls would be doing. I was in a bit of a hurry though. Allison and I were meeting for a manicure/pedicure.

On Friday, Allison and I had a day out shopping after swim aerobics. She received an offer for a job interview at Northrop the following week!  We needed to get her a business suit for the interview scheduled. Figures the interview did not come until after school starts. She will have to come home from school for the interview. But first we needed to get her properly dressed. Unfortunately, the pickings were slim for business suits at this time of year. The stores were making room for all the spring outfits and Easter dresses. We did manage to find two very nice sleeveless dresses and two dress jackets. Then we had to find shoes and a watch. It was a very busy day. After my GS meeting, we relaxed in the nail salon for a much deserved manicure/pedicure and chair massage. We needed to get Allison in tip top shape for the interview!

Allison also spent her last weekend at home visiting with friends. The girls had a pasta party and watched a movie. She also had to order her school books online and pay for classes, plus do all her laundry and pack. And she squeezed in one more blood test to see how her iron levels were running. We won't have the results for a week or so. She waited to go back to school on Monday morning since classes start  at 6pm. This semester she has 3 classes, M-W and again at night.

Scott finished up his week of Mid Terms. He had tests pretty much every day and was worn out by the end of the week. He still had to go to work as well. But he celebrated the end of the semester with friends out to dinner at a Korean Steakhouse where the kids cooked their own food at the table. He and his friends decided to celebrate their Senior year early together and they had a great time.

We also decided to squeeze in a trip on  Saturday to the yearly Pet Expo with Cookie. A nice visit out since the weather was cold. We love seeing all the different types of dogs that visit the event. So does Cookie, although she especially enjoyed the bunnies this year!  And Allison had fun with all the different types of birds. She has gained an interest in birds ever since she did her Maryland Bird Trail at the Nature Center for her GS Gold Award.

On Weds night we spent time with my Mom. She had a dentist appointment to make up, so Allison picked her up and I met them both at the dentist office. Afterwards I brought Mom B over to the house for my French Dip sandwiches dinner, and then took her home after watching a movie. Allison put on one of her favorites, The Road to El Dorado-an animated cartoon movie-not too long and cute story of two thieves/con artists that travel to South America and try to take the gold from the Lost City of the Mayans before the Spaniard army shows up. Music by Elton John. Before dropping Mom off, we pulled through the car wash nearby. We tried previously to run through a car wash to get all the salt off the van, but so did everyone else in Maryland. The line of cars at the car wash was down the main street when we tried to get it washed the week before. The weather had warmed up and everyone had the same idea. This time it was late and there was no line at the drive thru car wash. We even took Cookie in the car for her first car wash. She was not impressed. But I was impressed with the great job it did washing my car!

Meanwhile, Tom's overseas trip was cut short. The government shut down temporarily which sent the government employees home from the trip. So Tom was stranded in Scotland with no work to do and bored. He would have been happy waiting for his original flight home if he could have worked on his classwork. He had started another PhD class, but could not really get much done away from home since he needed his own computer system and research info. So instead, he switched flights and headed home Weds. Looks like they will have to reschedule his trip. In the meantime, he has some local trips scheduled.

A very exciting weekend for the Seitz clan. Our grand neice was born on Sunday, January 21st! Claire Eliza Seitz arrived a month early(or did she?) to Eric and Sarah Seitz. She seems to be a perfect 6lbs 11oz and has lots of hair!And she is absolutely adorable! We can't wait to meet her.

Meanwhile, our family was busy here in Baltimore. Or some of us anyway. Tom was sent to England and Scotland for 2 weeks. The first part of his trip was spent in Edinburgh, Scotland. He went last year, and discovered there really is not a whole lot going on there. It was rainy, cold and grey. Lots of old stone buildings. It has not changed it seems. He is looking forward to at least visiting Glasgow which he hears has more to see and do, as well as traveling back to England.

So while he was away, the kids and I took over the kitchen. Tom likes to stick to a low carb diet, so the kids and I had fun making lots of pasta dishes and pizza. Scott and Allison discovered the wonder of making your own pizza with pre purchased pizza dough. We also made French Dip sandwiches and had chinese food take out. I have been working late hours, so Scott and Allison have been helping out a great deal with cooking dinner. As long as I make sure the fridge is stocked!  I spent my Friday out running errands after my swim class. I still had some items to return from Christmas. I was also getting a heads start on Birthday gift shopping for the upcoming year for the whole family.

I had to get an early start to the weekend since Allison and I were scheduled to attend a Girl Scout  Planning Committee meeting on Sunday afternoon. Allison volunteered the two of us to assist with an upcoming Girl Scout jamboree in May at Camp Conowingo. The camp theme is Everything Maryland. During the last meeting that I attended, we came up with programming. I talked the group into letting Allison run Archery since she loves it and so do the scouts. This meeting, Allison was home and able to attend with me. We decided upon the menu, and assigned volunteer positions. I thought I was going to help Allison with archery, but since I am not a certified instructor like she is, I volunteered for the Arts and Crafts booth. We are going to be painting window screens. In historical Downtown Baltimore, before air conditioning was available, residents would keep their screened house windows open. So in order to keep the windows open, but still get some privacy, they painted scenes on the screens like lakes or forests, cabins or flowers to block the view but still look nice.  And it became an Art(like all crazy things do). So that is what I will be doing. I hope it works. We still have a few more meetings to go. I mentioned before that I  had to pick out a camp name. Allison is Dragon and is all things Dragon. I decided a Michigan name would be best and since "Michigan" was already taken, I chose Petoskey. Not only can the staff not pronounce it, they had no idea what it was. So I educated them at the meeting with a few Petoskey stones, my Legend of the Petoskey stone book(indian lore) and my new, really cool Petoskey tshirt in the form of the state of Michigan and the Great Lakes that Allison and I ordered online. I love it. Although we will also have camp Staff shirts. (See Mark, there are lots of other things you can do with your retirement, like volunteer with the scouts! I am getting a head start. Working and Volunteering). And I still have an upcoming GS Roller Blade weekend event, not to mention GS choir to fill my weekends!

Meanwhile, Allison is enjoying the last few weeks of winter break. She has been visiting with friends, sending out resumes-mostly online and most importantly, taking Cookie for a walk every day!  Cookie is in heaven! Scott enjoyed a day off on MLK day, although he spent it doing homework. At least he did not have to work, and we had a snow day in between which gave him more time to study.