December 1-15, 2021 Week? of COVID

Happy St Nick's Day! Happy Hannukah! Happy Advent! Dec 6th, St Nick's Day landed on a Monday. We decided to celebrate Little Christmas over the weekend. Scott already had his "stocking" when he came home over Thanksgiving-lots of survival items for the last few weeks of school. Allison stopped by Sunday morning, Dec 5th,  so we could all enjoy our "stockings" together. We usually get some ornaments and fun snacks, Christmas themed jewelry or socks, tshirts. Things that we can use before Christmas. Tom got some Hershey hockey tickets so we can all catch a game when Scott gets home. Just hope they will be playing in a few weeks since they had a COVID outbreak and the league had to halt their games. I also found some Alexa outlet cords for the outdoor lights-voice activated for Tom to try out instead of the usual timers. He is just not sure the WiFi will work outside the home from the inside devices. It will be interesting to try-if he decides to put out any Christmas lights. I think he has been looking for an excuse to skip it this year. He did put up his Star Trek themed Christmas tree over Thanksgiving weekend. Scott set up the artificial tree, and Tom decorated it with all his Star Trek spaceships and figures. He even changed all the batteries in the talking ornaments or ships that light up. And of course he topped the tree with his Star Trek Enterprise I got him last year that plays one of the old tv shows. Last year I bought him a few characters and added a new one this year-Spock -to the collection. So we get to hear more of the show. He can't wait to get all of the characters to hear the entire recording. Hallmark even has a Star Wars version with a Death Star Tree Topper. I am just amazed how long both of the recordings are-Allison made the mistake of hitting the Star Wars button in the shop one day. But it is pretty cool. Unfortunately, the tree does not look decorated! All the ships are grey or white and they just get lost in the branches. I tried to help it out with Mom's old red and gold bulbs from her previous tree. I think it looks a bit better, but I still don't think it is as festive as our tree full of my Rocking Horses and Glass Blown bulbs. If I get up enough energy I may pull out one of our 3ft trees to decorate. If not, Tom previously purchased a second 7ft tree just for his collection, but that is a lot of work! 

I also took a "stocking" over to my mom on Sunday. She opened her treats while I decorated her room with her Christmas collection. I set up her nativity with the ceramic pieces her mother made when we were little. I finally found them this summer packed away on the bottom of a box of photos. So glad I was able to find them-I have been looking for them for 7 years! That's how long Mom has been with us in Maryland. I had picked up all of mom's Christmas decorations from her storage unit, so I packed up her Fall decorations and got busy decorating her room. I had to make two trips out to my van. I was just surprised the lights were out on her little Christmas tree. So I had to pick up a new strand the following weekend. I switched her ornaments to a blue theme and I also had picked up a cute black and white door panel complete with a big bow and hung her wreath with Mickey and Minnie Mouse. So now her room is very festive. Probably more than our house! We shared a baby coke and some shortbread cookies while I put away her clean clothes and finished the last touches on her room. I also discovered that my little Alexa Dot works in her apartment, so next time I will have to play some music while we visit. Since a few COVID cases keep popping up, I am not allowed to visit with Mom in the public areas at her facility. But you can visit in the apartments. Now they are asking us to keep our masks on all the time. 

I really keep running out of days to get everything done, especially on the weekends. Finally the weather cleared enough to get out and start bagging up the leaves. I spent an entire Saturday leaf sucking with my portable leaf vacuum, clearing out all the Fall decorations from the front door and bagging up tons of leaves that accumulated around our garage. And still I did not get to the piles out in front of our house. Tom had managed to cut the lawn one more time at Thanksgiving, and blew all the leaves into the street so I could pick them up. I just have not had the time. Can't do it after work since it gets very dark by 4:45 and I don't get home til 6pm usually. Then it's time to take Cookie for a walk in the dark with my flashlight. So I waited for one more beautiful Saturday and started bagging leaves by the road. Naturally I ran out of paper leaf bags and have had a hard time finding more. I cleaned out the few they had left at Sam's Club, but Costco was sold out. Hope they are still picking up yard waste! I set out 8 bags already for pick up and added another 8 this past weekend. I  have a lot more to clean up, but it was a very good start. And Tom even joined me outside to put up some lights on the bushes. He was just frustrated to see so many of the LED lights had burned out. I added candles to our windows and at least we have a more festive look to the place. I was actually impressed by how many homes in our neighborhood decorated this year. I really don't mind taking Cookie for her walks after dark since all the Christmas lights look so cheery and really light up the streets.

My work load continues to fluctuate from extremely busy to a bit lighter. I took advantage of my Saturday off when no new patients came in for me to treat to stay home and clean up the leaves. But other days I am working late. And I finally told my coworkers and manager that I will not be returning after the end of the year so I can get my hip surgery. They were all surprised, but then again not so much since we are all therapists and it is obvious now that something is very wrong with my leg. Even my dementia patients notice I have a significant limp! Needless to say, my fellow OT's are not too happy. We work for a contract company that doesn't offer much help. Not sure who will cover for me while I am out for 3 months. I also started my presurgery medical check ups. So far, so good. I just had a major screw up with my paperwork-trying to get Family Medical Leave-and the paperwork got stuck in the computer system since before Thanksgiving. I had a very hard time trying to track it down through our medical record department and it was due Dec 2nd. Just got it turned in to the HR Dept in Illinois on the 11th of Dec. Now waiting to hear back.  All very frustrating. I also ran back to the dentist to make sure everything was ok since I had been having some pain in one of my upper molars. I have a root canal in that tooth, and any time I get a stuffy head it starts to ache since it runs into my sinus cavity! I have to make sure to get any dental work done before my surgery to avoid infection traveling to my new hip. Fortunately everything looked fine. I'm just trying to get all my medical care in order before surgery.

We did start to get in a more festive Christmas mood by attending a show "White Christmas" at our local dinner theater with our wonderful neighbors Dan and Gloria. They treated us to the dinner and show, we treated them to our drinks and desserts. They have a buffet dinner before they put on the show-we had a terrific meal and it was a great performance. Even Tom who is not a big fan of musicals enjoyed the whole experience. 

We also spent a lovely afternoon visiting with friends Barry and Beth watching the Ravens game. Had a great visit but would have been more enjoyable if the Ravens won! Our team is very hard to watch!

Beginning of December also brought some birthdays! We took one of Tom and Allison's coworker and her sister out for dinner to celebrate her special day. And our very own Cookie turned 13 on the 13th! She got a chew toy. Tom also got together with some of his coworkers after work at the Guinness brewery. I was at home on a zoom call-GS Planning Meeting for our Camping weekend scheduled next May. Not sure if/when we will be meeting in person again. Zoom actually can be very convenient-more efficient with our time. 

 

November 16-30th

We wrapped up the month of November with  the Thanksgiving Holiday, along with celebration of Scott's 22nd Birthday! Happy Birthday wishes also go out to Sheila Bozyk who celebrated on the 28th. 

Tom invited our dear friend John Dutton to come visit over the long weekend. I can't believe John has been living in his own house in Ohio and working for Northrop in Dayton for 2 years now!  He was able to arrive on Sunday before the holiday. John arrived in the early afternoon just in time for the Ravens football game. Tom invited Dan and Gloria over too since they were friends with John as well. Tom grilled up some bratwurst and by the time the usual crazy Ravens game was over, we were too stuffed for dinner. We put John up in our 'guest bedroom' in the basement. 

I had been busy working each day including Saturday and Sunday. Our whole department chose to work on Sunday so we could all take off Thanksgiving Day. So I worked 10 days straight up until Thanksgiving day. I had to take a bit of time off  on Tuesday morning to take Cookie in for a well check. Fortunately her lump under her neck cleared right up and she was back to her cute self. Since I was busy working, Tom was busy entertaining. John had some business to take care of on Monday, so the two guys decided to spend some time close to home in Olde Ellicott City.  Turns out, all the shops and restaurants are basically closed on Mondays. Instead the ended up having lunch at Glory Days before John went off for his appointment at the credit union. On Tuesday they decided to trek up to Gettysburg. John really enjoys history and they  built a new visitor center at the park which none of us have toured yet.  So the guys headed up to Pennsylvania, stopping for lunch in a local diner. They toured the museum and then looked into a bus tour of the park. The bus tours seemed to be full, so they purchased a CD and book and took themselves on a guided tour of the battleground. Now we have a self guided tour so we'll all have to return some time.

I was hoping to be able to join them, but as I said, I was busy working. And preparing for Scott's return home as well as John's visit. Fortunately I did my grocery shopping for Turkey Day a few weeks ahead of time. There was talk about turkey shortages and rising food prices, but that did not seem to be a problem. On Weds Scott flew home from school. Allison was able to pick him up at the airport, and the four of them headed up to Hershey for a hockey game. I ended up staying home since I got out of work too late. Instead I got busy on preparing stuffing and an egg casserole for breakfast Thursday morning. The group really enjoyed the game and a trip to Candyland before hand(aka chocolate store).

I pretty much spent the next day cooking. I don't think I sat down until dinner. After preparing breakfast, I mixed up a batch of hot buffalo chicken dip and a tray of cheese and crackers for a lunch snack. Allison came over early and spent the day with us. In the meantime, we enjoyed the Macy's Thanksgiving parade and football games up until dinner time. The meal was wonderful-we all pitched in to get the food on the table and we had more than enough. We rounded out the meal with pumpkin pie and pumpkin cheesecake. We were all stuffed and settled down for an evening of movie watching. 

On Friday I was back to work. John decided to head home early-he was trying to miss an upcoming snow storm in the mountains. On Friday Scott spent the afternoon visiting with his high school friend Matt. They stayed busy playing video games and decided to make homemade egg nog as well as baking  a Birthday cookie cake we bought him at Hershey. Saturday we celebrated Scott's 22nd birthday by catching the new Ghostbusters movie(fun) and dinner at our favorite mexican restaurant, La Palapa. Tom had baked him a pistachio pie that we had for dessert while Scott opened his gifts. On Sunday I had signed us all up for our family photo return at JCPenney studios which turned out to be the event from H-E-double toothpicks.  I signed us up for an afternoon slot to make sure we had plenty of time to get dressed and have lunch. We arrived in plenty of time to check in-the place was packed. We were told it was going to be about a 30 min wait, so we all ran off to do a little shopping. Unfortunately when we returned  the wait extended to another 45 mins at least and the crowds that had formed around the studio were asked to move out of the nearby mattress displays. There was no place to sit, and Penney recently moved all the furniture out of the area and replaced it with mattresses. We used to all sit on the couches and chairs and no one complained. So the management roped off the mattress area and put out two long rows of chairs, blocking the entrance to the studio. And when you walked into the studio, you had to put on a face mask, but could remove them for the photo. It was getting crazier and crazier as the afternoon wore on. The kids had hoped to catch an early movie-Disney's Encanto at 4pm. Unfortunately, that is about the time they called us in for our 130 appointment. We also had to worry about groups jumping ahead in line. People were getting rather agitated. There was no way the studio staff could contact you so there was no waiting around the entrance-they declined to call or text people back and certainly did not have a pager system. There really was not enough staff and only 2 studios running. I was also upset to see someone brought their dog for photos-not a service dog and not allowed during regular photo shoot sessions. If so we would have brought Cookie along. They did have time you could schedule a photo of your pet with Santa in the mall, but you had to sign up for that ahead of time. We usually just get a free dog photo with Santa at Pet Smart. Well we finally got our photo session and Allison and I edited our own family photos and  photo cards since they did not have enough people to help. We did get someone to at least ring it up, but then they lost our clipboard with my coupon. So one of the staff members put in some code and rang it up and informed me that you can no longer pick up the photos in 2 weeks, but it would probably take 3 weeks until I get them mailed to me. So the ordeal was over and the family informed me they would never return again. So much for a wonderful family tradition(at least I thought so!). Hoping the photos actually turn out. 

Since the kids missed their afternoon movie, we decided to catch some dinner, drop Tom off at home and I joined the kids at an evening showing of  Encanto(not too bad). On  Monday Tom had to drop Scott off at the airport to head back to school. It was actually cheaper for Scott to return on Monday morning and he had plenty of time to catch his afternoon class.  

Cannot believe November is over. Time to put away the Thanksgiving decorations and get out the Christmas stuff!

 November 1-15, 2021

Another one of my favorite months of the year(birthday month!).  And not only my birthday, but Scott and sister in law Sheila Bozyk too! November starts off with All Saints Day as well as Dia De Los Muertos and quickly moves to Veterans Day. It's officially Fall, but our leaves have slowly been changing and still clinging to the trees. So I have not been doing much raking or bagging. Tom and I managed to get in one more grass cutting, mainly to mulch up some leaves. But the frost rolled in, so no more lawn work! I also did not pull up the last of my summer flowers or pepper plants, so they are now cemented in the ground. I still need to do a bit more trimming of bushes, but I will save it for a warmer weekend. We finally had to turn on the fireplace since the temperatures really dropped at the beginning of the month. And Tom signed us up for a bug spraying service. He finally got tired of fighting all the slab ants that move into our front door threshold and come in the back door off our deck. We get the house sprayed inside and out-safe for pets and kids. And no more bugs in the house! (Almost).

I celebrated my Birthday this month with Tom, Allison and Gabe at a Mexican Restaurant that I have been wanting to check out-Uncle Julios. Mainly because for dessert they have a Chocolate Pinata! The restaurant is located in our local mall. It took over part of the Sears store and was surprisingly small and absolutely packed with humans. They even have a big take out section with shelving by the front door which was loaded with To Go bags. Too bad the weather wasn't nicer because their outdoor patio looked wonderful. But we sat inside in a booth-place was a bit loud. I was just amazed at the huge tables of families-lots of kids and 20 people at least at multiple tables. We all enjoyed fajitas(Tom was disappointed they did not seem to have burritos on the menu). I treated myself to an apple cranberry margarita and the chocolate pinata was the hit of the evening. They bring a huge Death Star chocolate ball to the table hanging on a rack over a cutting board decorated with chocolate swirls and whipped cream and a few small bowls of melted chocolate. Then they hand you a club and you give it a little whack in the center and boom! Out shoots fruit-pineapple and strawberries as well as little baby churros. I am afraid Gabe got hit with a strawberry-unfortunately he was sitting in the line of fire. Allison posted my pinata video on Facebook. After we were sufficiently stuffed, I thought it would be fun to stop into the other half of the Sears store which is now a Dave and Busters gaming rip off entertainment center. That also was packed with families. Reminded us of an adult Chucky Cheese. Lots of kids running around. You have to stand in line to buy tokens to play the different games. They did not have as many games set up as Dave and Busters and all were packed with players. We figured we would probably end up standing around all night waiting for the 1 game we wanted to play. We decided to spend an hour bowling and got in line to buy tickets. Surprisingly even though most of the lanes looked open, they were all reserved, so we left. They did chase us down at the door to tell us they had an opening on the wait list! No thanks. Looks like the world has gotten back to pre COVID times. So we ended our evening with drinks back at our house. I opened my gifts from Tom before dinner-I am now the proud owner of a Hershey Bears Hockey Jersey! Tom also picked me up a smart watch that tells me my blood pressure. Very good for work! Allison purchased a Girl Scout ceramic cabin to add to my Christmas village-crazy story-her good friend Jen won it in a raffle and sold it to Allison. Perfect gift for me! Allison also got me an inflatable flotation device and waterproof fanny pack for when we get back to kayaking! Scott sent me a huge "I Love Lucifer" shirt that is so long it will make a great nightshirt! He knew I binge watched all the "Lucifer" series on Netflix(supposed to be the devil who ran away from Hell to Los Angeles on a vacation and ended up staying).  I started watching the show on tv in 2017 and then it disappeared. Like everything else, it ended up on a streaming service. I even got Tom watching to the end-all 6 seasons! I have Scott to thank for that gift too since he purchased Net Flix to watch some shows up at school. 

Tom and I are also enjoying football season. Both college level and NFL. Mostly I think we are enjoying watching games with our friends, having some snacks, drinks and a bit of dessert a few times during the week. Sometimes just the guys get together(Monday night I need to catch Dancing With the Stars and The Good Doctor!). I am boycotting "The Bachelorette" since they kicked off the host and producer, Chris Harrison over a racial issue with one of the contestants last season.  Still have a few shows to catch up on with Net Flix(Tiger King 2). 

However, I don't have too much time to watch shows. My work schedule keeps fluctuating as far as how busy I am. I still have to go in 5-6 days a week, but the number of patients keeps going up and down, depending on any COVID cases. Thankfully COVID patients have been admitted on a very limited basis or none at all. And the number of staff with COVID has dropped.  I don't mind not having to work long hours, but standing on my feet all day and moving patients around continues to wear on my hip. I did need to take a little bit of time off to take Cookie to the vet at the beginning of the month. I found a huge lump in all that fur under her neck. I worried about the worst-possible lymphoma. Especially since she had the strange elevated white blood cell count this summer. Fortunately it was not her lymph nodes, but a strange infection that the vet and I could not figure out the source. Maybe something bit her or she got scratched on something that became infected? I took her to see a part time vet who I really liked. Too bad the vet is just helping out at the practice since they are down several vets and very busy. She was very good and very personable. So many people bought pets during COVID times when they were stuck at home and are filling the clinic. Anyhow, Cookie took a week of antibiotics and looks very good, especially with her new haircut(and pushing 13). 

I also treated myself to a new haircut and highlights. Getting ready for Christmas photos! I plan on scheduling a family photo session again at JCPenney this year when Scott comes home for Thanksgiving break. Although the family all preferred our impromptu photo shoot last year at the neighbors with the dog. The same neighbors even had Tom and I over to help celebrate my birthday with a German Chocolate cake and snacks, plus they bought me a beautiful green malachite and copper necklace, earrings and bracelet set from a local art show. 

Besides taking time off for Cookie, I also had to take time off work to meet with Mom's broker. Our previous broker left for Morgan Stanley and now I am working with his understudy from Merrill Lynch. The understudy is OK, but very 'green'. I liked my previous broker so much I followed him with my 401Ks to Morgan Stanley to let him manage my funds.  I figured it was too big a hassle to move Mom's investments, so she will stay where she is. Last year the government put a hold on Minimum Distribution Withdrawals from IRAs for those over 65, but it is that time of year again to move Mom's investments around. Just glad she is very comfortable with her funds, especially since the cost of the facility and Mom's care went up. She is needing a bit more daily assistance, and the cost of care especially during COVID increased. I actually had an in-person meeting in the ML office, but I had to wear a mask through the hallways. When we were in the board room I was able to take off my mask. I also noticed their guest soda in the fridge in the lobby had gone flat. Guess there have not been very many actual customers visiting over the last year and a half. We decided it was time to shed Mom's Lincoln Annuity since it peaked-just waiting on the paperwork to go through and will have to get some notarized signatures and then all of her finances will be under ML and Bank of America. So much easier to manage. 

 I've also been doing some closet and storage room cleaning when I get a chance. A school teacher in the neighborhood was looking for items for kids to use in the classroom for their lessons-building supplies, small plastic animals and people. I managed to bag up quite a few ziplock baggies with various animals, like Littlest Pet Shop creatures and people/small dolls, along with some odds and ends building supplies from Scott's younger days. And I had a brand new math teaching program with manipulatives that my mom gave me (in case one of the kids went into teaching). The neighborhood teacher was very excited to get all the new/used goodies for her kids in her classroom. And I was glad they had a new home! Making room in my basement storage closet for my arts and craft supplies. I have also been busy lining up some projects around the house for when I am home recuperating from my upcoming hip surgery in December. I want to scan all our Bozyk family photos into the computer and type up my mom's daily journals. I love reading through her old notes since she really cannot communicate anymore verbally. Lately I have only had time to stop in and drop off supplies and clean clothing. We are not allowed to visit in public areas in her building and she is usually sitting in the dining /activity room. And I really only have time to drop off and pick up or straighten a bit in her room. I have brought her home a few times, but it is getting harder for her to move in and out of our house, especially with the several steps through our front door and into the living room. It is going to be enough of a challenge for me when I get my hip done. I plan on sleeping downstairs on the 1st level with mom's old twin bed set up. I have been busy gathering my rehab equipment(just need to order a potty chair to place over our toilet for increased seat height.). So glad I am an OT. 

Tom has been especially busy at work. After he fully returned to the office he decided his current position in the Space program was not busy enough. So he transferred to another Department and now he has more work than he can handle. He also finished up his school semester with a Zoom presentation of his thesis in front of a school board consisting of several professors. He had been waiting for his paper to be reviewed and edited and he ended up revamping the entire thing when they were done. He cut it down from 500 pages originally to about 170 and cut down his research from three to one thesis ideas. The good thing is he passed the oral presentation(which apparently the University board is not used to seeing on the first try). Now he has to wait for the next semester to sign up and continue with the process of sending out surveys concerning his data. Still trying to keep on track for finishing up his PhD next year! 

We're hoping to have 2 graduates next year. Scott keeps working very hard this semester, finishing up his midterms after returning from Fall Break and his Disney trip.  But he had to set aside time to meet with his counselor to sign up for classes already for next semester. He has to finish a computer programming class and has one more Manufacturing class, but he also has a Senior project planning class which helps the students get prepared for their final semester. He had to get permission from his counselor to sign up for that one. The only difficulty he is having now is figuring out what electives he wants and if he can actually minor in something else. He is just waiting to meet with counselors from other departments since he has to have permission to sign up(they let the freshman sign up first for minors). Seems like you never get a break when it comes to scheduling college classes!