Wrapping up the month of February

February 15-21, 2021

     Happy President's Day! Happy Paczki Day! Happy Fat Tuesday! Happy Ash Wednesday!

Special Happy 25th Birthday to twins, Caroline and Clayton Bozyk on Saturday, Feb 20th!  

What a very busy week this has been. We started off with a National Holiday(Presidents Day) and some people off work(mostly government workers). And no sooner did we finish with special Valentine's treats, but it was time to give up something for Lent! Tuesday was the last day to pig out on the sweets since I planned on giving them up during Lent(at least the chocolate treats!). 

I did go looking for some of my favorite Fat Tuesday treats. Paczkis! Those fat little cream or jelly filled polish donuts. I mostly saw the New Orleans favorite, King Cakes(very similar to a cinnamon coffee cake), colored in purple, green and gold with a surprise baked inside-a plastic baby! And pancakes seem to be a big part of Baltimore's Shrove Tuesday celebration. So much food, so little time!  And before I knew it, Ash Wednesday was upon us and no meat. Nothing but beans and rice. I did have the day off and I managed to keep up with one of the Ash Weds traditions-ashes! Turns out the Methodist church nearby where Scott's Boy Scout Troop was affiliated with had drive through ashes available in the afternoon for a few hours. Since I was out running errands and dropping off supplies to my mom, I decided to swing by and get ashes. I figured there would be a long line of participants, but when I pulled into the parking lot it was empty. Except for some guys reroofing the church building. There was a small table set up but no one there. Just a jar of ashes on the table and I almost got out to do it myself except the pastor came running out and apologized for having to take a box into the building. He was happy to give me some ashes on my forehead(drive through method) with the use of a Qtip! Very clever. He also gave me a Lenten packet with some palm crosses(getting ready for Easter!). I did not get a mass in-you still have to put in reservations and I am not exactly sure about my weekly work schedule. 

Turns out I did have Weds and Friday off again last week. My patients were bundled into 3 days. I am still just working in one part of our building-the Assisted Living facility. We still have to get tested twice a week for COVID. We are still on 14 day isolation precautions due to a recent positive COVID test in one of the staff who did not get the vaccine. So since I had some time off I used it to participate in my pool exercise class on Weds and Friday morning. I try to take advantage of the time off and opportunity to participate in the Pool exercise class. You have to make a reservation a few days beforehand, and it fills up quickly. It has been so nice to be able to get back to my favorite exercise class. 

I also appreciate the extra days off to spend doing extra projects and running errands. I decided to have lunch on Friday with Allison and picked up some McDonald's fish sandwiches after my swim class. That was quite an experience. I checked at two different Chick Fil A's for fish sandwiches first. Allison was pretty sure they had them last year, but apparently not this year! Instead, I ended up getting an orange street cone stuck under my front bumper while driving through the ridiculously long drive thru at the large, local Chik Fil A. A very nice man helped me pull it out from underneath!  After our lenten meal and catching up with Disney's Wanda Vision at Allison's apartment, she asked me to join her in dress shopping. Turns out she has two, not one wedding to attend with her boyfriend Gabe. He is actually in one of the weddings set in March in New Jersey. I told Allison she needed a fancy dress and off we went to Burlington. They usually have a great selection and fantastic prices. Unfortunately, it looks like they have not been stocking the store like usual and even stopped selling items online. We did however manage to find a very lovely dress, and even a few others for work when she goes back at terrific prices. They closed the dressing rooms, so we had to sneak into the bathroom to try on the pile of dresses we pulled off the racks. Looks like she will need one more fancy dress for the second wedding. Guess we will just have to keep shopping! 

On Saturday I spent the day cleaning the house and Tom cooked a steak dinner for our neighbor's Dan and Gloria. Afterwards we decided to rent the movie "News of the World" with Tom Hanks. It was very good, although a bit hard to follow at first. We have enjoyed a few, first run movies at home including 'Wonder Woman' and 'Love and Monsters'. On Sunday we had Allison over for dinner and we watched some Disney movies. A new release about a super hero squirrel! Very cute but Tom skipped that one. We did sit through the Disney movie with the computer generated dog in 'Call of the Wild' with Harrison Ford. I think we enjoyed the dog in Love and Monsters so much better. Mainly because it was real and not computer generated! And cute!

Mostly it was just Cookie and I at home during the week. I've been taking her out on a lot of walks. Since the weather has been rather nasty-cold, sleet, snow, our neighbor Gloria has decided to wait for better weather to become our dog walker. She did get Cookie out on one nice day. And since we had a some lousy weather over the weekend, I decided it would be a good time to give Cookie a bath. It is not too easy to get down and wash her in the bathtub, especially with the glass doors, so I decided to use the kitchen sink. It is just my height and has a sprayer, so she put up with me scrubbing her down and then a long brush and blow dry. She'll go in for a grooming when the weather warms up, so for now she has to put up with kitchen sink baths. 

Tom was out of town during the week. He was asked to go down to the DC Dulles area to teach a statistics class for 10 participants in a support company for Northrop. Tom usually teaches this class with another person, but because of COVID they kept the numbers down. So when he returned, he pretty much had lost his voice. He also said he really did not get many breaks since the participants were busy asking him questions at that time. And the class was supposed to run Monday through Thursday, but we had a snow/sleet storm so they sent everyone home Weds night. Instead, Tom ended up teaching the class remotely from home on Thursday while I battled the elements getting to work. I have several appointments on my calendar next week so I am still hoping for a light work schedule. 

Other exciting news on Sunday, my mom had her second COVID vaccination! I scheduled an indoor visit the first weekend in March at her place. I have to get a COVID test before visiting, at least 3 days ahead of time, still wear a mask and stay 6 feet apart sitting behind a plastic barrier

. Not sure when the CDC will determine when vaccinated people will be able to get back to life. 

February 22-28, 2021  Happy Birthday to Tom's sister Susan who celebrated her special day on Friday the 26th with a Lenten Fish and Chips dinner at the beach in Florida with hubby John and Dad (Dick)Seitz. 

Over the weekend,  while Allison was visiting, our neighbor Gloria gave Tom a call to let him know she had an email link from the University of Maryland scheduling COVID vaccinations during the upcoming week at our Baltimore Convention Center Field Hospital. The email had been circulating in our neighborhood all weekend but I did not bother to tell Tom. Most people found out that it was a shared link and most people were being turned down for appointments. Gloria used to work for the hospital system though and she received her COVID vaccination downtown at the hospital so Tom took a chance and logged on. He was able to make appointments for both himself and Allison on Monday morning and Gloria's husband Dan also made a Monday morning appointment. My mom received her second vaccination on Sunday the 21st with her entire Assisted Living Facility. I went online to sign up for an indoor visit scheduled on Sunday the 28th. I figured that would give us both enough time to have an immunology bubble built up, although we still have to wear masks and get tested 72 hrs before visiting, even with the vaccinations. And we still cannot roam freely in the facilities. Happily the Maryland positivity rate is going down and is currently at 3.4. Still doesn't help school openings. Teachers and Teacher Unions, School Boards are still struggling over wanting to open and wanting all teachers to be vaccinated. They just opened up vaccinations to teachers, however, there just aren't enough vaccines to go around. We have plenty of places to deliver them, but not enough vaccine. Fortunately, the Johnson and Johnson vaccine produced here in Baltimore was just approved this weekend by the FDA. And it is only 1 shot. So more people (that want it) should have a chance to get the vaccine. 

Turns out Monday morning was another snowy/sleeting day. Tom and Allison even had a tumble on our front lawn while walking over to Dan's house. We have had varying snow and sleet storms and all the snow piles have turned to ice. I even had to dig out a huge snow drift that was frozen solid in front of our door so the neighbors could get in. Tom had used the snow blower on the driveway and sidewalk last week, but left a pile in front of the door that froze solid. But I figured the bad weather could be an advantage for Tom and Allison getting their first vaccine dose since most people don't like to travel in bad weather. Dan ended up driving all of them down and parked nearby in a parking garage and headed into the Convention Center. Dan's website had him filling out medical paperwork, but nothing for Tom and Allison-that did not look good. As they neared their vaccination scheduled time, they figured someone would come by and turn them away. However, that did not happen and all 3 got vaccinated! Dan fit's the age limit of 65 and Tom and Allison have letters stating they are essential workers in Defense and manufacturing, but they did not need to fill out anymore paperwork. I was so surprised, but very excited that two more members of the family have their vaccine. Both complained of some soreness, while Tom felt a bit dizzy and Allison felt a little under the weather during the week, but nothing serious. I am also excited that they were given follow up appointments for the second vaccination. By the end of the week they closed that vaccine site to Baltimore City residents only due to complaints of inequality on vaccination distribution. 

It was a very busy week for both of us. Naturally as our furnace needed repairs recently, the hot water heater decided to spring a leak. Tom thought he could salvage the unit by changing a hose. Unfortunately, the tank kept leaking and putting out the pilot light. Tom decided since we have had it for 15 years that it was time to replace the unit. So we were without hot water for 2 days. (Guess we were still better off than the family in Texas). They had been without power, water, internet and even cell connection for at least a week during a severe cold snap and snow/ice storm. Most of the country has been under some storm warning for the past few weeks with lots of multiple car pile ups on the freeways with over 50 cars or more in some states. Most of it has been due to ice storms. They are the worst! 

Tom decided to purchase a slightly smaller hot water tank and install it himself. He borrowed my van and drove to a Home Depot about 30 mins from our house-that was the only place that had the one he wanted in stock. He brought it home and disconnected the old tank. He discovered that it was probably a good idea to put in a new one since he discovered our old tank appeared to have rusted out. He was able to bring the new tank into the house and down to the basement with a dolly, but the old tank is just too heavy and bulky to move by himself. Probably will have to wait until Scott comes home for some extra muscle to move it! I am just happy to have hot water again so I can take a shower and get the laundry and dishes done!

I was also happy to have just a 4 day work week, going in on Saturday. I was able to sign up for one of the Pool classes at the Y in the morning on Thursday. I was happy to have time off again during the week since I had some appointments on my calendar. I finally had an appointment to try Acupuncture for my hip and low back pain with our insurance provider. I wanted to try something better than just getting a cortisone injection per the ortho recommendation. He also told me to come back in 10 years to get a new hip! I can't wait that long and I am not crazy about cortisone injections-they don't last very long, so once you start getting them, you usually have to go back multiple times. And you can only get so many since it has side effects  like thinning your bones or eating up any cartilage left! I wanted something to help with my pain so I could get back to moving again. I remember Mom (Bonnie) Seitz having acupuncture on a trip to Hawaii and reported wonderful relief. I must say after just 1 treatment I felt so much better. And nice to have it covered by our insurance. There are more Physical Therapists and Chiropractors using dry needling to aid in pain management and increasing mobility. Looking forward to more treatment sessions and getting back to my exercise class. I also took Cookie in for her yearly check up. I tried to see if I could go into the clinic during her visit with the vet, but they said their staff is not yet vaccinated so as usual, I sat in the parking lot and they took Cookie in. Everything looked pretty good, except I was shocked to hear she had worms in her stool. Looks like she picked up some nasty stuff on all those walks! Since everyone has been home for a year now, the whole neighborhood has been out walking their dogs and getting puppies. Cookie must have eaten something contaminated out on her walks since she is such a garbage hound! Now she is on medication for a few days. And I gave her another bath at the end of the week since she has been getting so muddy with all our walks through the puddles on the sidewalks as the snow and ice begins to melt.  

On Sunday Tom decided to have our neighbors, Dan and Gloria over for dinner. Tom purchased several steaks and made mashed potatoes with broccoli/cauliflower salad and homemade whiskey sours with appetizers. I decided to go get my hair cut. I am still wearing a face shield, so it is nice to have a shorter hair cut to deal with all the mask ear straps and face shield band. We missed having Allison over for the weekend-she was busy visiting with her friends and Gabe.