November 26-Dec 2

Scott had returned to school on Sunday afternoon, right before a big snowstorm hit the area. There was a blizzard in Kansas City and Chicago before the snow headed to Kalamazoo. Glad also that Mark and Linda had returned from their visit in Kansas to Indiana before the snow arrived.

Happy Birthday Scott! Scott celebrated his 19th Birthday at school on Tuesday, the 27th. Scott enjoyed a steak dinner to go for his special day with a free meal coupon he and Tom received over the move in weekend. He also received a special treat delivery that I had sent to his dorm. There is a delivery service available in Kalamazoo called Delivertomykid.com  and the owner will hand pick items to deliver anywhere on and off school campus. I had heard about a donut shop called Sweetwater Mill with a reputation for really good donuts. I thought it would be a nice change from cake (or pie) and the right size special treat to celebrate a birthday. So I was able to hand pick the flavors, and they picked up the donuts, added some balloons and delivered it to Scott's dorm on his Bday. Scott was surprised and thought the donuts were very good. And I heard through Facebook that Alton Brown the celebrity chef and even Kevin Costner have requested these donuts in the past! Scott tried the Oreo, Snickers Bar, Reeses Peanut Butter Bar and German Chocolate. Sadly they did not have the Cheesecake or Key Lime Pie available at this time of year. I ordered a few extra donuts thinking Scott might like to share, but he was happy enjoying them all to himself! And Allison, Tom and I made sure to wake him up with a Happy Birthday song in the morning before he headed off to pre calc!

Also wishing Sheila Bozyk a very Happy Birthday on Weds the 28th as she celebrates back in Houston.

It was nice having Thanksgiving a little earlier in the month. I felt like I had an extra week to prepare for Christmas. And this year I did not have to start off the first weekend in December volunteering for any Christmas events. Instead, Allison and I had an enjoyable two days. On Saturday we attended a Baby Shower for our neighbor's daughter at their house. This was actually Allison's first Baby Shower. She said she did not know what to expect, but had a good time. This was actually a mixed group of women, men and kids. The Mom to Be, Caitlin arrived with her husband, Louis from New York City where they both live in a one bedroom apartment downtown. We talked about the big difference raising a child in the city vs the suburbs or country. Apparently New Jersey is considered the suburbs of New York for many families and this couple talked about maybe moving there one day. Currently however, Louis is a financial planner and Caitlin had been a professional model. Although she recently obtained her MBA-good for her! And they are expecting a little girl in January. So it was fun shopping for little pink clothes and seeing all the cute baby gifts. Plus it was fun catching up with a few of the neighbor girls. No baby games, but they did put out little cotton bibs for guests to decorate. Allison had fun drawing birds and kittens on a few bibs, and we all put in our guess for the birth date, weight and time of birth. The men finally gave up after the food and found Tom back at home watching football and painting the ceilings to share a few beers. Tom had opted out of attending the shower in the first place! And since it rained all weekend, he was unable to hang outdoor Christmas lights. Instead he continued to tackle the small cracks and nail pops in our kitchen and living room ceiling along with repainting.

On Sunday, Allison and I joined a few of her friends to attend the play "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" at the high school. The kids did a terrific job and their costumes were amazing. They even made a huge, puppet like lion operated by 3 actors and the White Witch ran around on stilts the entire 2 hours. And she did a terrific job(but she was a little loud and scary-a few young kids left crying!). So we enjoyed our afternoon and the weekend.

Allison also helped Tom record some education videos for work since Tom was getting ready to head out of town for the upcoming week. She's also assisting with a project at his office building to assist with interviews along with  one of Tom's previous interns, Nishay. So Allison spent a few afternoons in Tom's building last week. She also managed to get herself in for a dentist appointment (using her own dental insurance!)

I got called into work one day last week and heard from the facility that they were interested in hiring me as a permanent, full time staff.  I had spoken to the rehab manager about a possible part time position. And then received an email from the HR department inquiring about any interest in a full time position, 30 hours. The facility is looking to expand their out patient services and will need extra staff for the in patient unit in the near future. I mentioned my plan to travel to Florida over the holiday break and they said I could put off the start date until January when we return. Sounds good to me!  With 30 hours I am still eligible for full benefits, but I will have a flexible work week like I used to have at the previous facility. And this place is closer to home. Although I am still finishing the sign on portion for an on call OT position at another facility. On Friday I went to complete a drug test a local clinic. I figure the extra work can't hurt(and it pays well). But I did manage to obtain a raise as well with the upcoming full time job. A win-win overall.

For now I am using my extra time to continue to clean out closets. I bagged up some more clothes for donation, as well as kid's toys. This is a great time of year to find local agencies asking for donations. I have also been using my extra time to continue to complete the online courses for orientation. I had a 5 hour Dementia video to watch with a quiz afterwards. Almost done! One class to go. And when the weather is nice, I am busy pulling Christmas decorations out of the attic and raking up the eternal leaves!   I was also busy collecting Mom B's Christmas items from her storage unit. I decided to pick up a small tree since the apartment is smaller, and to switch to a blue theme to match the walls. So I bought  different items to decorate her apartment with, including a new manger set as her previous set had mismatched statues. I never did find the ceramic manger set that my Grandmother made while packing up the Michigan houses. And Scott was busy decorating his dorm room with the Christmas items from his stocking. He was saddened to find out that he could not hang a wreath on his door(I warned him about the fire hazard rule). So he opted for a flat, paper wreath. Not sure how this is safer. He was told as long as it did not block his room number. Interesting. The kids are also not allowed to hang wipe off boards on their doors. Sad. We used to love to come home and find messages on our doors when we were at MSU. They are sucking all the fun out of college.