Happy Ground Hog's Day! Feb 1-Feb 7 

  The Ground Hog swore he saw his shadow on Feb 2nd. Not sure how since it was overcast and snowing in Puxatawney, PA as well as here in Maryland. But supposedly he did and now we are to expect 6 more weeks of winter, according to the little rodent. So far he is right. We have had cold temperatures and another snowy day so far this week, but nothing extreme. We even creeped up to the 50s which pretty well melted everything we had last weekend. And with a little bit of warmth, I noticed my daffodils are all starting to peek up out of the dirt. And the bluebirds keep coming back to visit their nesting house. So no shoveling for me this week. I did have a poor start to my Ground Hog's Day. I forgot my purse at home and had to drive all the way back to pick it up. I thought I would take a quick route home via the freeway and it turned out to be the slowest with a traffic jam! I felt like Bill Murray in his Ground Hog movie. Just glad I did not have to relive that morning!  Our neighbor Gloria planned on taking Cookie for walks when I was at work, but I have been home more now, so I take Cookie out pretty much every day when the weather is decent. I just don't like walking her when there are lots of muddy puddles on the sidewalk from melting snow(she manages to walk through every one of them and gets filthy!) So on Sunday morning, she got a bath in the kitchen sink!  I  had a few days off work since things have slowed down in my section of the building.  We had a positive COVID case,  so we are still following CDC guidelines and recommendations not to work between our two facilities-the Long Term Care/Rehab unit and the Assisted Living unit where I have been seeing residents. So my boss thought it would be better if I consolidated all my patients to less days of the week rather than going in  for just a few hours every day and only seeing one or two residents at a time since they only get treated 3x/week. 

The extra days off gave me time to drop off some more video tapes to Costco to download to DVDs and to look through some of the Bozyk photo collection. I picked up my mom's Valentine's Day decorations from her storage unit and while I was there I pulled out a few more boxes of photos and video tapes. I have also been working on the Bozyk/Borg family tree online, trying to pick through my mom's notes and journals. I also keep updating my address book since a few of my Christmas cards came back undelivered due to family members/friends moving with no forwarding address. Thank goodness for the internet since I am almost always able to locate people online or even through Facebook(it has some good use!). However, I just can't seem to get enough information for my family tree, especially for those people from the 1800s unless I pay for a service like Ancestory.com. And I am having some difficulty with the photos since many of them are not labeled, so I don't know who is in the picture or where it was taken. And I don't really have a lot of family members left to ask that may know! I do enjoy the challenge however of figuring out the history. Tom asked why I find the Family Tree  so interesting. To me it is like completing a puzzle, which I especially enjoy. Plus I like learning  the history of our families to see where we all came from. 

So I am trying to preserve the photos and videos that I have and Costco has the best prices on their services. And I recently found out that they will be closing their instore booths and providing less services online by Feb 14th, so I was eager to drop off as many items as I could before that deadline. Since we expected some snow over the weekend, the stores were all busy and packed. Especially Costco. I could barely get into the parking lot as the line for gas was blocking the driveway. And with the Super Bowl on Sunday afternoon, the crowds have not lessened. Good thing Maryland's COVID numbers are dropping, along with our positivity rate currently at 5.9%.  Tom and Allison are next on the list for a COVID vaccination. They recently received their letters from Northrop outlining their need for vaccination since they are considered essential workers in the field of manufacturing and Defense. Especially for Tom who is currently working on top secret space projects and needs to be in the facility, meeting with other staff members. However, every time they have someone in the group test positive for COVID, they have to shut down and do a thorough cleaning. Both Tom and Allison signed up on several websites, getting "in line" for a vaccination. Allison continues to work from home. She even interviewed for a permanent position of her choosing with data analysis/Finance and got the job! She will start her new rotation in June and will receive a top security clearance like Tom. So she will probably have to at least go into work at some point. However,  even after COVID days have passed, many companies are looking at offering their staff the opportunity to continue to work from home as needed. Which can be a nice option. Even schools are looking to cancel snow days, providing students with the opportunity to keep learning remotely, online. Unless of course there is a power outage. Which fortunately we have not had widespread. We did get some heavy snow and ice and a portion of our neighborhood lost power, but nothing extreme. 

We ended up enjoying the Super Bowl game with our neighbors, Dan and Gloria. They invited us over for dinner and the game Sunday evening, including Allison and Cookie. Allison ended up carrying Cookie over to their house to avoid further puddles since I just washed her! Tom and I brought Buffalo Chicken dip and dessert- brownies, plus I made an apple crisp. Dan and Gloria served Maryland Crab soup with steak, german potato salad and a green salad, as well as having chips and salsa and some homemade peanut butter cups. Way too much food, but so very good! And the game was interesting to say the least. No one in our group really wanted to see Tom Brady take home another Super Bowl win, but it was nice to see Tampa Bay have that opportunity over Kansas City since they just had a win last year. And that is how the crazy game turned out! Looks like Tampa Bay and Tom Brady were favored after all. 

And since I had some time off work during the week, I decided to sign up for my swim class on Friday morning. I have not been to my exercise class in a year, and it felt wonderful to get back in the pool! It is just not an easy feat. They don't offer as many classes as they used to. You have to sign up ahead of time with a two day window before the class begins and often the class is already full. They can take 20 people in the shallow pool and we are lined up in the pool with lane dividers, 5 per lane,  to keep 6 ft apart. You get your temperature taken when you enter the building and have to wear a mask except when you're in the pool. I skipped the shower afterwards since I did not want to wash and blow dry my hair. They removed all the blow dryers anyway. So I changed and came home and took a shower. I am hoping I can continue to get into the classes since it felt so good(and so normal!).

Happy Birthday to Eric Seitz! He was gifted a day off work to celebrate his day on Friday , February 5th with his girls! 

Feb 8-Feb 14th, 2021 Happy Valentine's Day! 

We wrapped up this week with a subtle Valentine's Day celebration. Tom is still not vaccinated and does not feel terribly comfortable eating inside restaurants yet. And we don't really enjoy eating a meal while freezing outside in a tent, even if it has a heater. Plus there are not very many of those around anyway. Instead we stayed home and swapped Valentine's goodie bags and enjoyed a homemade steak dinner.  I spent most of the week wrapping up Valentine goodie bags/boxes and cards for Scott, Allison and my mom and delivering/mailing them out. Plus I sent Mom and Dad Seitz a framed photo I had printed off our Christmas pictures. At least the mail is now getting delivered in a timely fashion. I also treated myself to a mani/pedi Sunday afternoon. I had to go in later though since we had a horrible ice storm that left my car and the driveway/streets coated in a sheet of ice. 

I have been collecting tax documents for us and for my mom. I also spent some time speaking to our broker. I was surprised to hear that our Merrill Lynch advisor left the company and switched to Morgan Stanley. He had been with ML for 20 years. I guess he decided he had more flexibility to make recommendations for his clients at MS than he did working for ML. So I decided to switch my account over to him  since I  trust him and enjoy working with him which we have been doing for the past few weeks. But I left my mom's account at ML. They are owned by Bank of America which she uses and it is just so much easier to keep track of all her finances with one stop shopping. Not to mention it was quite the challenge over several years to get it organized and is doing just fine. If it ain't broke. So I used some of my days off to make the phone calls and set up a new account online with Tom's help as well as contact the new advisor at ML. Turns out it is a guy I worked with initially when I opened Mom and Dad's account, so we had a nice chat catching up. 

I also spent a day off making a dentist appointment. I called during the week to see if they had any openings for a check up. I have not been to the dentist in over a year. We usually go at least twice a year, but I wanted to wait until I had my second vaccination. Turns out they had a cancellation and were able to see me. We have a wonderful dentist. She and her techs/hygienists have all been vaccinated. They continue to wear extensive PPE and have large filters in each exam room. You have to wait outside for your appointment and then they come get you and take your temperature. They actually opened their front door because they were hot with all their PPE on, but it was a bit chilly for the rest of us. However, good air circulation! Tom and Allison had already been to the dentist last year. I was surprised they felt comfortable with a dental appointment during COVID. But with all the precautions from the dentist office, the risk seemed low. 

Tom actually just got a hair cut in a barber shop for the first time since COVID began. Funny he felt less safe with a mask on getting a 20 min haircut in a barber shop than a 30+ min dentist appointment with his mask off. Anyway, he has been trimming away at his hair for the past year, but had an upcoming class that he was teaching and decided he needed to be a bit more presentable. He mostly stays home, so was not so worried about how he looked. Even when he goes into work he is usually by himself in his office. And when he is not working, he is busy writing his Thesis. His class ended on Friday before Valentine's Day. He basically is writing a book and has 5 chapters scheduled. He is currently on Chapter 2 and has had to go back several times for rewrites per his professor. Appears Tom is trying to put too much info into this project and the prof keeps asking him to cut back. Makes it tougher to decide what not to include since Tom knows all the info is important. At this point, the profs are just trying to get him through the process to get to his PhD. 

Scott is working diligently on his online coursework, trying to stay warm in Michigan. The dorms actually were out of heat for at least a day-not sure why. Usually the kids are melting in their dorm rooms and keep their windows cracked open so they don't overheat as they don't have control over the temperature in their rooms. Good thing he has plenty of warm clothes and blankets. 

Allison is working hard from home on this rotation. She continues to enjoy meeting up with her friends for sessions of Dungeons and Dragons and visiting with boyfriend Gabe on the weekends. She really misses working out in the clubhouse at her apartment complex. The building has been closed down for remodeling for several months. Instead she is working out in front of the tv and I pulled out some hand weights for her to increase her work out level. She is excited that her college friend, Jen, recently bought a house near Salisbury and can't wait to visit after she is finished moving in with her fiance. Her other friend Sophia also bought a house with her fiance in New Jersey. I imagine there will be a lot of road trips once the COVID spread slows down while America gets vaccinated. Even Scott is hoping to visit with a girl in person that he has been talking to with some online college friends in Louisiana for about a year. I will just be excited to visit in person with my mom! She is scheduled for her second vaccination on the 21st of Feb, so I made a reservation to visit on the 28th of Feb. Still wearing masks, but a big step forward!

 

Jan 25-Jan 31st, 2021

. Covid Shot 2

We ended this week with snow. So far this has been a fairly mild winter with not a lot of snow or ice. Not to say that it hasn't been cold. Before this snow storm blew in it was quite frigid and windy. It made walking Cookie a bit challenging.  Although my neighbor Gloria is going to try to come to my rescue. She has been off work since last summer as a traveling Cardiac Nurse OR Manager and is bored. She has volunteered to take Cookie for walks during the week. That would be terrific since I sometimes get home late and have to take a COVID shower before doing anything around the house. Including walking Cookie. And now Tom has been going into work a bit more frequently, so Cookie is home alone during the day again. Missing all the company. So Gloria was able to take her for one walk before the weather turned. And then she had to travel with her husband Dan to Ohio for a  family funeral, so it is a work in progress. 

And when Tom is not going into work he is at home in the basement working on his computer. He noticed the house seemed a bit colder the past week, especially down in the basement where he has his office. Turns out our furnace had stopped working. It did seem like the house was a bit chillier than usual. We also have a gas fireplace set on a thermostat so we weren't freezing, but there seemed to be a bit of a cool breeze moving through the house. Tom did a quick lookover but couldn't figure out the problem. He wanted to call a repair company that specifically works on Lenox, our furnace brand. Mainly to make sure they could get any parts necessary. Turns out there are a few Lenox parts stores in the area, so it really did not matter who we contacted. But I did contact a Lenox repair company on Monday night. I was able to take off Tuesday from work since my caseload was light. When I contacted the repair company though Tuesday morning they said they don't service our area anymore. Would have been nice to know when I checked their webpage and called and made an appointment the night before. No matter, we went with Plan B of calling the company that worked on our air conditioner 4 years ago. They did such a great job then, and did not fail us this time. I called Tuesday morning and the repair man was out by 10am. He was the same guy that fixed our air conditioner and he remembered the issues we had with that unit, better than I did. (like mice chewing through the wiring outside!). He quickly discovered that our furnace motor was burned out and he was able to locate a replacement part which he picked up and installed all before lunch. Unfortunately he reported that since COVID, the cost of parts doubled and are more scarce since most come from you know where-(China). He tossed around the idea of replacing the whole unit, although that would include both the furnace and air conditioner. To be fair, our gas furnace is about 24 yrs old, so it has held up pretty well. Even the guy that sold the part inquired about installing a new system. But as Tom said, paying less than $1000 for a repair is much better than a $12,000  replacement for now! And it seems to be working quite well. Just in time for the snow we had this past weekend. We also had a small snow and sleet storm blow in on Monday, but the roads were pretty clear by Tuesday afternoon. Waiting to shovel. 

Other big news this week was my scheduled #2 COVID vaccination on Jan 29th. CVS came in again on Friday. Turns out I was off on Thursday from work as well to work on Saturday. I was not crazy about working the day after my vaccination. I had heard the second shot could be more intense. I would agree, but it hasn't put me completely down. Unlike my first Pfizer shot, this one caused my arm to swell more with more pain/discomfort in my neck and across my shoulders although it did not last as long. The weirdest feeling is having my lymph nodes swell quite a bit with pain under my left arm where I got the shot to the size of a softball! It is listed as a possible side effect. Made working a bit uncomfortable the next day, but Tylenol seems to be really helping with the discomfort/muscle pain/headache and swelling. Hot shower feels good too!  

Although staff have now received both vaccinations, we continue to wear masks and face shields at work and get tested twice a week. I was surprised to see one of our nurse's aides at my facility tested positive for COVID last week. Turns out she did not want the vaccination. I thought everyone got the vaccination, even those that were initially hesitant. This info is difficult to know since I have to worry about my mom sitting in her apartment, not vaccinated yet, relying on nursing aides to care for her that may not want to get the vaccine. Especially since there are still staff members at my mom's place testing positive for COVID.  Not only that, but it brings up the question of where are these people catching the virus -from out in the community, at home, or is there still some traces of the virus in our building? And you still have to worry about new patients coming into our building and possibly catching COVID. We have slowly been taking in new patients, but not enough to keep all 4 of us OT's busy all day. And we are still not allowed to travel throughout the building to treat patients, so I have been primarily treating the residents in our Assisted Living wing. 

 I also get continuous updates on my mom's health and her facility is testing the residents consistently as well. Especially if they were exposed to someone who tested positive for COVID which seems to keep happening on and off. Fortunately, mom got her first vaccine on Sunday, Jan 31st. CVS sent in about a dozen employees to get ahead of the upcoming snow storm early on Sunday morning. They had 100 residents to vaccinate as well as  100 staff!  

Besides having the furnace repaired, I spent my days off going through the Bozyk family photos from my mom's storage unit. I had planned on taking old video tapes and kodachrome 8mm film in to Costco to have it converted to DVDs. I checked their service online and discovered that they were closing down all their in store Photo Centers by Feb 14th. Granted I have not utilized the photo center in quite some time. I used to get all my film cartridges processed there(it was very cheap!).  But since everything is digital now, I don't have to drop off any film. And if I want any photos printed now I usually send them to Walgreens. Their prices are very good and they usually have discounts for prints or special projects like calendars or the quilt I printed for my mom. But Costco had better prices for video transfer. So I was busy looking through all the photos/videos and movie reels to drop off at the store before the deadline. Looks like I could still use their service after the deadline, but then you have to mail it in. This way I could just drop off the film at the desk. Should be done in a few weeks. Can't wait to see what I end up with! I was also interested in having some photos restored-colorization restored and tears repaired however it is about $30 per photo-a bit rich for my wallet. And while I was looking through photos, I was also trying to pick up names here and there for my Family Tree. I managed to add some more names and dates and discover some more family members. I also discovered that one of my Great Great Great Aunts on my mother's father's side(Borg) married into the Phillips family. The family had 10 children and one of them discovered oil in Oklahoma, establishing Phillips 66 oil company. Another of the Phillips boys had a very large ranch in New Mexico and donated a portion of the property to the Boy Scouts, known today as Philmont Boy Scout Reservation! Scott's BS troop scheduled a trip and trained for the long hike when Scott was in his last year of scouting, but we all opted out. Too much work preparing for the strenuous daily hikes. I also discovered a ceramic nativity set that my Grandmother Borg made which I had given up on ever finding! I looked through all of my parent's Christmas  boxes in two different houses and never found them. It has been 6 years since I moved my parents to Maryland, and lo and behold I found the statues in a small cardboard box at the bottom of a box of photos! We didn't have time to look through all the photos when we were moving, so I never came across it. Not sure why my mom packed them in that box, but I am glad the mystery is solved!

I also check in with Scott via Skype. He was still struggling with his online schedule and assignments-the school and staff seem to have a difficult time ironing out all the online issues at the beginning of the semesters including due dates for assignments and correct zoom codes to log in to live webcasts, but after a few weeks things seem to be straightening out. Looks like Scott will be all virtual however. We were hoping at least one of his engineering labs would be in person, but not for now. Scott also had to sign up for housing for next school year, so he chose a single dorm room on the same floor in the same hall right across from his current room. This one however has it's own bathroom which Scott prefers. No more sharing the one shower and one toilet! Here in Maryland, the public schools are still primarily online and the Governor has announced he wants to return to the buildings by March 1st. Looks like our county is still pushing for an April start date. Teachers are still hesitant to go back into the classrooms until they get their COVID vaccinations. Our state is passing out COVID shots to categories 1A and 1B-all hospitals, nursing homes, first responders, Group Homes and Assisted Living Facilities as well as those 65+. 1C will be essential workers like the postal service, grocery store employees, teachers. Even Tom and Allison in Manufacturing/Defense. Tom and Allison are still waiting to hear from work on how/where to sign up.  

Well, looks like I need to bundle up and do some shoveling. Not sure how much snow we are going to get but I want to be able to get out of the driveway on Monday to get to work!