This Sunday I was busy washing SCott's camping clothes. Surprisingly, the entire month of March has been beautiful as far as the weather goes. Naturally, when it was time for the boys to go camping, it decided to rain and tstorm all weekend. Fortunately, the area where SCott was camping did not have as much rain and limited tstorms. And this Spring campout was still better than last year when they headed north into Pennsylvania, and it snowed and the temps dropped to 20 below at night! They couldn't even get water last year since all the pipes in the camp froze. Scott was pretty miserable then, but he seemed to enjoy this weekend. It had a cowboy/indians theme, so they got to shoot rifles, do archery and throw axes. They also brought in animals-cows and horses and did a badge on mammals. Scott even volunteered to help the new kid with the cooking(still not as good a cook as Scott). Tom drove Scott up to the boy scout camp on Friday and helped him set up since they were the first ones there. As usual, we did not have any clear communication on who was driving or what activities they were doing. We did take advantage of one of the scout leaders giving Scott a ride home on Sunday, and he even quizzed Scott on a few requirements for his scout levels.  That was helpful.

  Meanwhile, the rest of us were busy running around here at home this weekend. Allison and I participated in a Girl Scout Choir Workshop on Saturday afternoon. We are preparing troops for the huge sing a long scheduled in Washington DC on June 9th-Rock the Mall. And we were excited to learn that our choir was chosen to sing on stage during the event(at least 3 songs). Very cool. WE are also learning a Flash Mob to a song written specifically for Girl SCouts called "Ignite"(as seen on utube). We also had a lot of fun teaching the girls our songs and the dance on Saturday. We also talked about seeing "The Hunger GAmes" movie, but Allison had to work late SAturday night, and Tom and I did not want to see it without her. She also spent part of her Friday evening at a game night with her Senior high school friends before going to work so she and Tom were not available. And since she had homework and work to do on Sunday, it did not leave much time for movies. Tom read the book, but he says he is not as interested in seeing the movie since he already knows the story line.

    After our 2.5hr long workshop on Saturday, I had to drop Allison off to work for the evening. She also picked up extra hours on Friday night and was scheduled to work Sunday afternoon. Her poor feet were killing her. She was already full of blisters from her new dress shoes that she had to wear to school on Thursday for her mock interview. The woman that interviewed Allison asked her to tell her a little about herself. Allison started out with "I have been a Girl SCout since Kindergarten". The woman said "I have heard enough, you pass the interview". She also complained that Allison did not write enough on her resume, but that was because the English teacher only allowed them one page. As we all told Allison, in the real world, you can make it much longer if you need to. She was just happy to have passed, and was very pleased with her wardrobe choice. Looks like she was one of a very few that actually wore a skirt.

   I also had Allison busy writing her speech this weekend for the Distinguished Women's Award banquet. The banquet is not until the end of April, but the speech was due to the Girl SCout council this week for review. Allison and I also attended our yearly GS Board meeting on Tuesday night. They had an Orioles baseball theme meeting complete with baseball food(hot dogs, cracker jacks, etc. ) Too bad we ate dinner beforehand. It was a very informative meeting, and they even showed photos from our trip to Houston(most of them were taken by Allison and myself). I guess our group of girls that were planning activities at the Orioles stadium was disbanded since they "fired" the volunteer that was in charge(she really had no clue on how a baseball game worked, and had never even stepped foot in the Orioles stadium). Looks like they have a competent committee running the event now though, and perhaps they will use some of our ideas.

   Now Allison is busy preparing for end of term exams/county assessments. Scott spent all last week taking standardized tests. He was just glad that he did not have any homework. (Me too)

     I was busy with my Friday off taking my van in for the 15000 check up. I also had a doctor's appointment and while I was there, I had time to drop off medical forms for SCott for summer camp for the doctor to fill out(need to beat the rush).  I also spent part of the weekend running to several Kohls stores to find more shoes like Allison's(for me). But sadly they were out. Even on line they were out. And I also need to find some navy blue dress pants for our choir uniform since they changed outfits on us for the Rock the Mall event as well as the Orioles stadium event.

   It has actually felt like summer has already arrived. Definitely Spring came early, and everyone has Spring FEver. All the neighbors were out cutting their lawns, putting down mulch and fertilizing. Tom managed to squeeze in fertilizing between rain showers. He also spent some time on Sunday visiting with our friend Matt from MSU. Looks like Matt and his wife Diana finally decided to get divorced. Matt's drinking problem really put an end to their relationship. And Diana had started a new life with her friends in her running group. Matt was not doing quite so well with the whole experience and almost killed himself mixing sleeping pills and alcohol. He has since switched to anti depressants, but keeps on with his drinking. He is house sitting for a friend while he and Diana settle their divorce. Diana is still taking care of their two boys, although one is college age, and the other will be graduating from high school next year.  Tom stopped in on Sunday for a visit with Matt since he just celebrated his 49th birthday. Fortunately he has stayed busy with work since it is tax season and Matt is an accountant. He can certainly use the work. Getting divorced is expensive. We wish him well, but his alcoholism has plagued him his whole life. And it does not look like he has any plans to quite anytime soon.

  So another interesting week here in Maryland. I am hoping a few cherry blossoms will be on the cherry trees next weekend in DC. I was hoping to spend the day there for the yearly kite festival.

  We'll let you know.   Kathleen

     Well it has been another hectic week. I was on the phone with my parent's doctor Monday night. She gave me a call and told me she had done everything she could for my Dad, what else did I want from her. She was also very nasty about it and said my parents were disturbing her office. When I questioned her about looking further into possible cardiac issues-a possible blockage in the brain for my Dad's change in behavior and thinking, she said the two had nothing to do with each other. I was shocked. I was also shocked that she said they don't hospitalize people for changes in their cognition. She felt he was perfectly fine when she saw him, but I tried to explain to her that his behavior was fluctuating(improve and then get worse). Even during the day. And that all these changes had occurred within a two weeks time. She did not want to hear from me. She even went so far as to call herself an Ahole because I questioned her limited medical exam of my father. Needless to say, she was very rude. I did get her to schedule Dad an appointment with a neurologist however this past Friday. He did not have one scheduled, just an appointment next month at a memory clinic. And mom talked with someone at that clinic who said there was something on the MRI that the Dr did not mention or talk about or missed.

So off went Mom and Dad to the neurologist on Friday morning at downtown Henry Ford Hospital. Unfortunately, mom cannot explain to me what the neurologist said and she currently cannot find the MRI report. And Dad mumbled something about blood vessels and bleed, but says it is normal aging and he is feeling and doing much better and as far as they are concerned, that is that. So I still don't know exactly what all happened. The neurologist wants to do a sleep study/EEG and DAd does not want to because he will have to spend the night in the hospital hooked up to lots of electrodes on his head and he doesn't think he can do that. I would just be happy if he saw his cardiologist to make sure he doesn't have any blockage in his carotid arteries leading to his brain. He has had 6 stents in the past for clogged arteries, so it would not be impossible for him to have a blockage going to his brain as well. He is not interested. Mom is working on him. And they don't want to sue anyone, which I am happy to do-like the ER that turned him away, or the doctor that seems more annoyed with them bothering her. They did agree to stop seeing her and plan to write a nasty note to the hospital. I would prefer the doctor be removed. It didn't sound like the other staff were too pleased with her-mom said the technician at the memory clinic didn't seem to have a very good opinion of her. I actually met this doctor when my mom took my grandmother to see her. I was about 15, and I really didn't like her then and I certainly don't like her now. So I guess we will wait and see. I did think that my Dad sounded a whole lot better and clearer when I spoke to him over the weekend. 

Meanwhile, we were still pretty busy back here in Baltimore. Thursday night was Scott's SCience FAir organized by Tom and the school 8th grade science teacher and sponsored by Northrop Grumman. I managed to help the boys get their poster boards together and kept the dog from eating anymore of Scott's milk and glue samples. WE had to drop everything off on Monday so the school could check out the presentations. The Lego club wanted to set up an exhibition table too, so we made them a poster as well. Scott usually can't compete for the overall awards since Tom is a judge and runs the fair, but he did manage to win 1st place in his grade level. Tom said his experiment should have taken 1st place overall-the judges agreed. But Scott was happy with his 1st place ribbon, and Tom got him an Itunes gift card. His experiment involved milk and turning it into plastics and adhesives, like glue. Actually the 8th grade science teacher was very impressed with SCott's presentation. He really thought that Tom probably coached Scott through the whole thing and did all the work for him, (he actually thought about disqualifying Scott because Scott was bragging about how great his experiment was and that he was going to win).  But the Science teacher was quite surprised to hear SCott's accurate explanation of his experiment and agreed he did a fantastic job. So Scott was not so far off on his bragging rights(he just needs to practice humility!)

So Thursday night we were busy with the kids Northrop Grumman SCience Fair. On Friday, I volunteered to  work all day with SCott's class at the Junior Achievement Business World. The kids traveled to the facility which is like a big kids museum full of little shops like Papa John's Pizza and Bank of America. The kids had been practicing writing checks and interviewing for jobs for several weeks beforehand. SCott was an Engineer(for Northrop no less). I was working at UPS. Myself and another mom supervised 8 kids. WE had an extremely busy office and I was on my feet all day. Each company had a CEO and an accountant, and all the businesses had to pay off their leases, pay their employees and make money. EAch company got to sell a  few products(usually some type of souvenir from the company they were representing). OUr UPS sold supplies to all the other companies to make their products, plus we made and sold candy grams. The kids did a terrific job and I was pretty exhausted by the end of the day. But I still managed to get out Friday night with Allison to do some clothes and shoe shopping. She needed an outfit for school for Interviews. Her class is practicing writing Cover Letters and Resumes(which she already started last year when she applied for several girl scout opportunities).  Now the kids are going to practice Interviewing and the girls are supposed to wear skirts and blouses and dress shoes.I pretty much collapsed into bed on Friday night.

But SAturday morning, St Patricks Day,  I was up bright and early with Scott so we could head out with the boy scouts for a road clean up. WE only managed to get in an hours worth of work and then had to leave for Scott's swim lesson. Afterwards I had to take him to the uniform store to buy some school pants. The weather has really warmed up, but the principal is sticking to her April deadline for the kids to switch to their spring uniforms-shorts. Scott could not wait that long. He is down to one pair of pants, so shopping we did go. It would be nice if he could still wear them next year.  While we were gone, Tom took Allison to work and then washed and waxed his car(in between visits from the neighbors). Afterwards, Tom picked Allison up and dropped her off to the movies for her first "date" night with a boy from school. They saw "John Carter" but Allison did not like it as much as Tom and I did. While she was out at the movies, Tom and I went over to our neighbors for dinner to celebrate St Pattys Day. Tom then had to run and pick her up after the movie got out. (It sure will be nice when she gets her license!).

On Sunday afternoon we had tickets for the whole family to see the Broadway play "The Addams FAmily" like the tv series. It was fun and clever. I think the kids especially liked it. AFterwards we all went out to dinner with one of my raffle gift cards at Carrabas. I then ran into Kohls with Allison after we ate and she found her shoes and a scarf to wear for her interviewing outfit. Yeah.

We were also busy with choir and piano and gymanstics and more piano since Allison missed two classes studying for the SAT.  And I finally got back to the dentist and had another crown put in place. So far this one has lasted more than 1.5 days! (Still can't drink real coffee though).

Scott is busy with standardized testing for the next two weeks, so yeah! no homework. Instead I will keep him busy with boy scout projects. I think we found someone to assess his dog care badge, and the troop is working on his Communication badge and Citizenship badge. Next weekend he is going camping, and our neighbor's son is going to join Scott's troop this week. So hopefully Tom will have someone to play with at boy scout camp when his DAd starts helping out(I hope).

I am including a few photos of SCott at the Science FAir. The medal he is wearing around his neck is made out of milk. He is also posing with the Northrop Grumman sign at JA Biztown, and you can see from our flowers that spring has come early to Maryland.   It has been in the 70s and looks to stay that way. Just so we don't invite any of those nasty tornadoes like they had in Michigan over the weekend.

        It has been a bit of a stressful week. My Dad has been having some medical problems, and he has had a few tests and exams, and even went to the ER because he couldn't get a doctor's appointment right away. But so far the doctors haven't found anything to explain his condition. And he is not getting any better. I also feel that my Dad really needs a complete physical and so far the doctors haven't done a thorough exam. He did have an MRI of his brain which they say is fine, and some blood work and a urine test, (both fine). But he had these tests after several return visits to the doctor's office and the ER. And only because I had my mom ask for them. He does not have a fever and his blood pressure and heart rate seems fine. So no one can seem to find anything wrong with him. He has a neurology exam scheduled,  but not for another 3 weeks. I spent Friday by the phone trying to talk my mom into getting him admitted to the hospital after she called my in the morning frantic with his condition,  but apparently the doctors don't see anything they feel is serious enough to admit him. I was very shocked to hear that after my mom and dad returned to the Henry Ford Emergency Room on Friday, hoping for a hospital admission, they were turned away. The ER wouldn't even look at him. Mom did get a doctor appointment that same day, and the doctor said the only way Dad can be admitted to the hospital is through the ER. As my brother Dan asked-Is this Obama Care?  I am hoping I can talk my mom into trying to get my Dad an appointment with the neurologist sooner than 3wks. Perhaps the neurologist can have more influence on getting further testing completed. I even called the doctor's office and left a message with the front desk on Friday in Michigan to let them know that he really needs to have a complete physical, and still I don't think they have done enough. I know at the Retirement Community where I work that we have to admit residents to the hospital frequently for a complete work up when they have had a decline. Even I had a complete work up in the ER with a CAT scan of my brain, EKG of my heart, chest xray, and blood and urine work up when I had my allergic reaction to the antibiotic.  And they even asked me if I wanted to be admitted to the hospital overnight. I had to tell my parents to return to the ER just to get a urine test because it wasn't done in the doctor's office!  I am extremely frustrated and will keep trying to get someone to listen sooner than later. In the meantime, we are praying that someone can figure out what exactly is going on.

     In the meantime, life is still quite busy around our house. I took Scott to his Boy Scout meeting this past week after dropping Allison off at her SAT class. Tom was not available as he was asked to be a guest speaker at a class at Johns Hopkins. It is quite nice since he gets paid and he only speaks for a brief time.

The Scout leaders and boys were a lot more attentive at this weeks meeting in getting things done after I complained about how disorganized they were for the past several meetings. I think they are back on track(still no word on how to find a Dog Care Badge counselor or the status of our membership).  Scott also started up his swim lessons on Saturday morning. And Tom got him to gymnastics on Friday night. They spent all day today working on organizing his Science Fair presentation which will be held this coming Thursday. They had to redo part of the experiment as Cookie decided to eat part of his presentation. Tom and SCott had some homemade glue made with milk drying by the fireplace which Cookie apparently found interesting(and tasty). I spent one morning cleaning up the mess as it made her sick. I tried to explain to Tom that " Yes  Dogs do eat your Homework"!  Including science experiments.

I am  glad that Tom will be in town this year for the Science FAir as things did not seem to go quite as smoothly last year without him supervising. He also went in to Scott's school on Weds afternoon to see if any kids had last minute questions on their presentations or experiments, but since no one showed up, he stopped in to the Lego club to see if they needed any help setting up their robot.  They are also going to present at the Science Fair. The teacher who runs the Lego club decided she needed to work with the younger kids, and so she left Tom with the middle school kids. Tom was not prepared and did not know what she wanted, and basically ended up babysitting for an hour. Since Scott is really the only one who knew how to program the robot, the two of them tried to explain it to a few other kids on the team. Scott is going to be a busy boy on Thursday when he has to present his own experiment and help out with the Lego Club presentation.

Allison on the other hand was busy preparing for the SAT(real test this time) which she took Saturday morning. She had to rearrange her work schedule for the entire month of March due to her incredibly busy schedule.  She had to work Saturday night since her SAT testing ran into the afternoon work session. She did not have to go in until 6pm, so Tom took her out  for a celebratory  "I survived the SAT" lunch. SCott had his best friend SAmmy over late in the afternoon for a play date after finishing all his homework and studying, so after I took Allison to work, we all decided to go see the John Carter movie. It was playing at a theater near Allison's workplace, and it got out just when she got off work, so that was very convenient. By the way, we all loved the movie. The story was written by Edgar Rice Burroughs. I had never heard of it. The only John Carter I knew was the doctor on ER. But I did think ER Burroughs wrote Tarzan. Tom did not agree, but I looked it up online when we got home. And yes he did write Tarzan. As a matter of fact, Mr Burroughs bought a ranch in California which he called Tarzana and after which the town of Tarzana in California was named! There is also a Tarzan Texas named after his famous character. Anyhow, we all loved the movie-it had everything(Star WArs, Cowboys and Aliens, a big mix of everything). And it was funny! The only problem about being out late on SAturday was having to turn our clocks ahead one hour. It was very late when we went to bed after dropping Sammy and his bike off to his house.

And that made getting up Sunday morning even tougher since Scott served the 9am mass. Fortunately, not as many people showed up for the mass. The Saturday night mass was packed though!  And on Sunday afternoon Allison and I attended a High Tea held by her mentor for Shadow DAy at the mentor's house near Hopkins University. She was putting on the tea as a fundraiser, but Allison was her guest. She had a lot of posters with photos of scout activities including her day with Allison. She also had pictures from her days as a scout along with her sisters. We even had a GS council member show up who reported that Allison was one of 100 girls that applied for the opportunity, and was then narrowed down to 12 interviews. After which only 5 girls were chosen and Allison was one. We also enjoyed the tea so much that I think I will organize one for my scouts and their moms for Mother's Day.

Here are photos of the High Tea. Allison is next to her mentor, Jeannette Partlow in the plaid skirt. She is the President of the family's Chemical Company, and works along with 3 of her younger sisters. Her mom is seen on the far left of the group photo. She told us the story about visiting the White House during King George's visit(the same king from the movie "The Kings Speech") in 1939 as a girl scout. 

Well, it is time to go glue together SCott's science poster.  

By the way, I am pushing for Mom Bozyk to get my Dad into a neurology appointment sooner than 3 weeks. She plans to call the doctor back tomorrow.

Kathleen

     I woke up late last Sunday afternoon. Allison and I and my girl scouts were up all Saturday night at our local mall, putting on programs for younger girl scouts. My girls were busy making lanyards(key chains) all night with 4th and 5th graders. This is great volunteer work when you need hours, but most of my girls have completed all their volunteer hour requirements for school.  They just enjoy staying up all night, talking and eating chinese food at 3am.  This is the first year I had to take a nap around 3am in my camp chair. I wasn't drinking caffeine this time since I did not want to take any chances with my antibiotic recovery. I did not need to feel dizzy when I had to drive the girls home at 5am. I also did not have any other adults to talk to since most of the parents and leaders I know did not come this year. The crowd of kids seemed a lot lower too ever since they changed our girl scout program(and they changed it to bring up the numbers). Go figure.

     I feel your pain Susan. I was so happy to be able to make it through a full week of work finally. I switched to hot chocolate from coffee just in case for breakfast. I don't know how long I am going to have symptoms from the antibiotic. But hopefully not for much longer. I have too many things scheduled!

     I spent Saturday morning running errands and stopped into the Y to see if I could get SCott signed up for the next swim level. The good news is that he graduated to the next level, but the bad news is that the classes were full(of course). Fortunately his instructor filled out a report card so Scott can move up to the next level during the next session, and his instructor said she actually had some openings in his last class,  so he can continue with his previous lessons starting next Saturday. She had to drop a few kids down to a lower level that were signed up but just weren't ready. She said Scott was actually her best student!

     Allison had to change her work schedule all around since she is so busy this month. She had to work last SAturday afternoon, before our GS event, so Tom took her and picked her up. I was busy babysitting one of the girls whose parents dropped her off at 6pm. The girls weren't scheduled to show up until 10pm. I wanted to catch up on my sleep, but instead I was visiting with our guest. Her parents had to drop her off early because they were going out to a fundraiser for a fellow school teacher that was recently paralyzed. I understand, but I also don't like to be treated like an unpaid babysitter. And that coming from a fellow girl scout leader. Sadly this happens quite frequently.

  But I enjoy seeing the girls all together. And there are some terrific opportunities with the scouts. Allison had a big day last week when she played hooky on Tuesday and spent the day with her Girl SCout mentor. Her mentor owns a Chemical company in Baltimore that she took over from the family. Tom and Allison had to be down to the shipping yard in Baltimore at 7am to catch a shipment, which they missed as it was switched to 6am.  But Tom and Allison met the whole family, including the Dad. Allison got to try out a fork lift, had a warehouse tour and then spent the day visiting a school which the company is providing funding for and ran into a bunch of University of Michigan education students doing an internship on their spring break. She also sat in on a hearing at the Mayor's office discussing shipping and chemical safety. All in all a very busy day. She even got herself a baseball cap with the company's insignia. And a reporter from GS council followed her around in the morning taking photos.  Next Sunday, Allison and I are invited to a High Tea as a GS fundraiser put on by the Chemical Company. Allison will be the guest of honor. I think she made a very good friend. And we all think her mentor looks like Jane Goodall. Now Allison just has to work on her presentation which is due at the end of April at the GS gala. Allison also ran into the reporter at the Mall Sleep IN and this time we both had to sit and do interviews and get a photo shoot.(Big year with our 100th anniversary and Maryland's own GS council celebrating our 50th anniversary). So lots of coverage.

     On Friday, both Tom and I were off work so we stopped into Costco to pick up a new tv for our bedroom. The old tv has been around for many years and the tube finally went, so no picture(yes tube).  Tom said he could probably try to fix it, but the whole plastic casing was dissolving and cracking from years of moving and being dropped and just plain wear and tear. So we picked up a nice, small flat screen. Then I spent the evening with Scott at his gymnastics class.

     I also had to spend an evening in class myself last week for a volunteer project for SCott's school. His 6th grade class and the 4th grade class are participating in a business day with Junior Achievement Biztown in a few weeks, so I had to go through orientation. I will be working at the UPS store. Scott is interviewing for an engineer job. The kids have jobs and collect pay checks and deposit them in the bank. They can take out money to buy things, like their lunch or souvenirs, buy health insurance, or invest in  a few companies and earn more spending money. Their companies just have to make enough money during the day to pay their lease. There is also a mayor, and each company has a CEO who is in charge of making sure everything runs smoothly(and then there are us volunteer parents). I think it is going to be a fun, long day. Scott is really excited about it too. I also had a dentist appointment(again)to remove my broken crown and make another mold for the new tooth. The dentist was amazed that my new crown only lasted a day and a half. That's me! Nothing can be simple. The dentist had a few choice words for his lab that made the crown. So I will be heading back in a few weeks for the new crown(which hopefully will make it past 1.5 days).

And Allison started a class to prepare for the SAT in a few weeks(this one is for real). She was not too happy as her first class was on the same day as her GS Mentor Shadow day. She was very tired and had a lot of tests to study for and not enough hours in the day. But I think the review program is a good idea. (Even if she didn't think so).

  She and Tom also finished up their Indoor Field Hockey Season. Allison played one game as goalie, and then a defense position as another girl tried out the goalie position. Allison really enjoyed trying something new, even though the travel team they played completely wiped them out(travel teams are very serious and practice and play games several times a week).  Allison made the travel team when she was a freshman, but Tom and I were not up to driving her around every week to DC or New Jersey or Delaware for tournaments and games.  I think Tom is happy most of all not to have to worry about coaching anymore.

  He and I have our hands full with this Boy Scout troop! Tom has been taking SCott to his meetings, and even Tom is getting frustrated with the fact that we both have not received our Boy SCout membership even though we paid two years in a row, and filled out the applications and took the Boy SCout safety training program. And it appears that the boys have a different schedule than the parents, so things have been a bit crazy these past few weeks as they work on two merit badges-Communication(which stinks right now-they pointed that out) and Citizenship. Although Tom likes the idea of a small troop, they are just not as organized as I would like. It makes it hard to plan ahead when schedules are so lax. Good thing Tom and Scott are so flexible.

  Enjoy the pictures of Allison and her Girl Scout activities! She is in the back, right in this last picture having her interview!
Kathleen