Wow! What an incredible week! Mostly for Allison. This week she had to give her speech for the Distinguished Women's Girl Scout Award at the yearly gala. This involved her spending the day at work last month with a woman CEO chosen by the Girl SCout council as a Leader in the Baltimore community. Usually it turns out that woman was also a Girl SCout or currently has a daughter that is a girl scout. Allison's mentor owns a chemical company in Baltimore. Allison spent the day with her at the factory, driving a fork lift and taking a tour, then over to a school where the company was sponsoring a fund raising event, and then off to a meeting at city hall where Allison's mentor had to give a speech concerning the status of small and independent businesses. Mrs Partlow also invited us to a High Tea GS fund raiser at her home as guests of honor. So Thursday night Allison had to give her speech about her mentor and how they spent the day at the company, along with 5 other girls. Normally, there are only 5 girls total, but this year since it is our 100th Anniversary, they added another Award to our Mayor of Baltimore, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. and had a scout follow her around City Hall for a day.

Allison had to practice her speech in front of the GS delegation on Monday night, and then again at a dress rehearsal at the Country Club on Weds. night. But the Thursday night gala was her big moment, and Tom and I and SCott were all able to attend at no cost to us($100 per ticket). And we think Allison did a great job giving her speech to approx 300 people. What a wonderful experience. You can listen to her speech on my video link.

She didn't slow down then. On Saturday night she had her High School Prom. I  spent the morning picking up her flowers and getting her to a manicure/pedicure appt. She also had to pick out her makeup. But most importantly she had to get some homework done because she plans on sleeping all day Sunday. Not only did her group go out to dinner(all you can eat Chinese buffet) and then the actual prom dance, but then the school sponsored an Up All Night party at our YMCA. They had gambling, karoake, dancing, swimming, movies,  the gym and rock wall climbing were open, as well as door prizes and character drawings. Allison got a great character drawing as an archer. The best part of all was that I did not have to do any driving(picking up and dropping off). One very nice parent purchased a stretch limo for Allison's group.  So the limo came to our house to pick them up after photos, then to the restaurant, then the hall where the dance was held and then to the Y for the after party and  each kid was dropped off at their front door at 5am Sunday morning. All I had to do was let Allison in the front door. I would have been happy to stay up all night and volunteer at the After Prom party since I am used to those kind of GS events. But Tom was gone and I did not want to leave SCott all alone for the night.

Tom  had headed off to the airport Saturday night as Allison was getting dressed. He will be in England all this week. Apparently along with my brother Dave who is working in London probably until July. I think he should stay for the Olympics! Dave did actually get the chance to see some of the Olympic games before when he was working in Korea. 

I asked Tom to look for some fun High Tea items since I am going to have a tea party with my scouts and their moms this month. Works out for Mother's Day! I have been busy picking up odds and ends tea cups and tea pots at the Goodwill store and garage sales. Didn't think I would have so much trouble picking up a few cups, but apparently people are holding onto those. I believe I will do better at our big Treasure Sale at work coming up just before the tea.

I had a few other activities I would have liked to have done this weekend, we just ran out of time. The Girl Scouts had a 100th Anniversary camping weekend that I would have taken the girls to if we did not have the prom scheduled. A few other girls in my troop were going to prom as well. We were also supposed to lead a campfire sing a long at the campout on Friday night with the GS choir, but Allison had to work, SCott had gymnastics and I did not feel like driving 1.5 hrs to get to camp to sing and then turn around and come home. By myself.  There was also an amazing Science and Engineering FAir going on in DC this past weekend. I really wanted to take the kids, and Tom too. Bill Nye the Science Guy was there as well as the Myth Busters, Jamie and Adam. They also had an incredible number of authors, shows, a career tent and lots of activities-everything from math programs to outer space/astronauts/physics/marine biology/medicine/robots-everything. We just did not have enough time.

Scott spent his Saturday wrapping up his community hours for his boy scout Citizenship in the Community badge. He worked all day at a church kids fair-set up/games/clean up. 7 hours total. Plus an hour for road side clean up last month to reach his 8 hrs volunteer work for the church. Way to go Scott.

Tom and I managed to get away for a quick date since we both had Friday off. In between running errands, we went to see a movie-The Raven. It is a murder mystery based on the writings of Edgar Allen Poe-like The Pit and the Pendulum. It is based in the 1800s in Baltimore where Poe lived and wrote a lot of his stories. (Hence our football teams name, The Ravens. Plus it works well with the Orioles).  Poe is also buried here after he died and was found lying in the streets. The movie was OK, it was mostly fun just hearing them say Baltimore over and over again. AFterwards we cheated on our dessert free diets and had lunch at the Cheese CAke FActory and brought home a slice of cheesecake for everyone.

Overall quite an amazing week. I even had a chance to get out and do a bit of yardwork on Sunday. I had some plants to move and started weeding the flower beds. ONe day we will order mulch when we are around to put it down. And Tom got the grass cut Saturday morning before we actually got some rain. As opposed to the beginning of the week when it snowed in the Maryland mountains.

Well, time to go make dinner and study with SCott for his upcoming week full of tests!

Another busy week and interesting weather. We went from the 80s down to 40s in one week. I was ready for the air conditioner to go on and then the furnace. Definitely spring. And we got some very much needed rain(finally). We were actually into drought levels.

So I haven't done much gardening yet. Tom did manage to get the grass cut before the rain came in this past weekend. And SCott brought home his award winning planter box. He managed to win the contest for his planter box design. The prize included a hand shovel and a gift certificate to Barnes and Noble. The contest was put on by the librarian at the school. She would like the Boy Scout Troop to make some planter boxes for an Eagle Scout project. Scott enjoyed picking out books.

Scott spent another Saturday morning asking for food donations at the grocery store for Scouting for Food. Donations go to our county food bank. While he was with the Scouts, Tom was dropping Allison off to work. I volunteered to go in and help out at work for a few hours. Some of the staff members were off for the week and things got very busy. I didn't have time on Friday, but offered my SAturday morning. I had forgotten however that I invited a large group of neighbors over for dinner that night. We never had a formal EAster dinner, so I thought it was a good time to get everyone together and enjoy a traditional Easter ham dinner. Plus one of our good friends has been bugging us to come over for dinner and a game night. I thought it would be more tolerable for Tom to invite a large group of people over to enjoy the board games. Tom is not terribly interested in playing board games.   I tried something new and bought the FAmily Feud game for the Wii system. It turned out to be quite an experience. We had kids and adults playing, about 12 people in all. But we are not so sure about who answers these questions. Last time we checked, a rat was not a bug. And I can't believe that people actually bargain for the price of toilet paper. Very strange. After about an hour we switched to the Apples and Apples board game. I was surprised that most people felt more comfortable playing that game. Tom on the other hand was happy with his hockey games.

It was fun having all the neighbors over. We haven't seen a few of them since our Christmas party.

And my house always gets a major cleaning. I spent Friday afternoon cleaning, but mostly I was waiting for the dishwasher repair man. Fortunately it got it right this time and I had many loads of dishes to catch up on.
I also like parties because I have lots of left over food. Not to mention the food that the neighbors brought. So on Sunday there was no cooking. Which was a good thing since most of our day was full of activities. IN the morning, SCott served mass. He had a chance to show a new older boy the ropes. Then Allison and I were off  for hair cuts. She is getting prepared for her prom next weekend. Then we had a 2.5 hour Girl SCout choir rehearsal. We have a lot of performances coming up so we needed to prepare. Including the addition of our flash mob dance for the Orioles game.  I then spent the rest of my free time helping SCott write a paper on Mexican food for spanish class, and studying for a few upcoming tests.  Allison also ran her speech by us for practice for her upcoming GS gala/Shadow Day speech coming up next week.

She did not have to work on Sunday, but went in on Saturday afternoon, and signed up for Friday night. She will be missing a few days next weekend because of the prom, so she thought she would pick up a few days. She was even called to work on Monday evening for an extra  training session to learn the computer system/cash register to help check in customers on busy days. We had just enough time on Friday after she got home from school to run out and buy some jewelry for her prom dress and the undergarments. I also stopped into the florist to order her wrist corsage and we made an appointment for her nails. I think she is all set.   She will be going out to dinner and attending prom with her friends, and then going to the Up All Night party afterwards. Should be a lot of fun.

Scott managed to finish another level of scouting and just has to complete the review to advance in rank. We have so many scout projects to focus on we can hardly keep up. He finished his swim class last week and will start a new level next week. He still has another month of gymnastics. And Allison has another month of piano lessons. She is currently working on a new song for her piano class final.

We also had a few medical appointments to keep this week. Scott and Allison had dental check ups. Yeah no cavities. But my new crown was still hurting. They did an xray but did not see any problems. INstead they filed it down and it already feels so much better. Who would have thought. I also had an appointment on Friday with the ENT(Ears/Nose/Throat MD). My throat has been hurting and felt swollen since November when I choked. I thought I had a problem from my whiplash. AFter a new experience, having my throat scoped(through your nose-freaky), the MD decided I was developing a mild reflux disorder. He wants me to take an antacid medication, Prilosec twice a day. I read the warnings on the prescription and decided to wait until Tom comes home from England. The warnings sounded very much like the Cipro allergy reactions(racing heart, itching, numbness, difficulty breathing). Not that I will have an allergic reaction, but I am just starting to feel a little better from my cipro recovery and I am a bit nervous about another strange reaction. I also can't believe I have reflux. Heartburn is not really a major issue that I have noticed, but I guess it can be sneaky. At least I feel better knowing what is going on.

I also had a chance to check in with my parents. They were back from their trip to Northern Michigan. Dad Bozyk had some medical appointments so they have to hang around the West Bloomfield house for awhile. Tom's parents are back in Indiana for a few weeks before they head back to Florida for the summer. Brother Dave headed out to England for a few months. Tom will also be traveling to England next week(but just for a week long work visit).

I will let you know how I manage with him gone. For now we have one more busy week ahead. Looking forward to Allison's speech at the gala and her Prom weekend. 

Sending another shot of SCott with his now award winning planter for the Garden Club Challenge! Scott's photo was also posted on the school website.

So this was a short week, however it sure seemed long. Mainly because we crammed so much activity into one short week. It was hard to go back to work and school on Tuesday after returning home from our trip to Williamsburg on Monday evening. Scott on the other hand was heavy into his Spring Break.

He didn't have any special plans, so we left him home to play computer games and build Lego Star WArs models. Fortunately he only had 3 days by himself. On Thursday he spent the night with his best buddy and visited all day Friday. He also had time by himself during the week to write up his design for a garden box. His school is participating in a contest so he wanted his design completed and turned in on Monday along with a model of his garden box. He just needed Tom's help putting it together and gathering up the supplies.

So on Sunday afternoon the two of them joined forces in the garage to assemble a very cute garden box and I picked up some herbs for him to plant. He brought it into school on Monday morning much to the excitement of our librarian who is heading up a gardening project at the school. She is also a big fan of the Science Fair and invited a woman engineer to school to have lunch with all the Science FAir participants before break. So Scott got to sit down with a free luncheon and chatting with the engineer. The librarian was quite amazed by how Scott's mind operates after listening to his comments and questions to the engineer. (ACtually a little scary sometimes).

We also had Scott push to get through his rank requirements for Boy SCouts this past week. He just has one more requirement to achieve the next level. He also spent Saturday morning asking for food donations for our yearly Harvest for the Hungry Food Drive. Next weekend the boys will be out in front of the store again, as well as picking up bags of food from homes where they dropped off newsletters asking for donations.  He also had his boy scout meeting last Tuesday and was disappointed that he had to go since he was on break, but it was nice since he got a lot accomplished that night. He was hoping to really get a break from everything, but he still had swimming on Saturday and gymnastics on Friday. He finished his last Shark swim class and I was able to sign him up for the last level-the Porpoise Club(a pre swim team training class). It would be nice to get him involved in his own sport, especially for high school.

Allison was back in school and had a busy weekend working at the rink. But since she did not have to work on Sunday afternoon, she volunteered for a Nature DAy at the Girl SCout camp on the archery range. I figured it would be good to get back into practice for summer camp. She agreed it was a good reorientation and she enjoyed teaching the girls(and a few boys too). I dropped in with Scott in the morning since the fee was not that high. He enjoyed mining for gems and breaking open a geode. He also shot a few arrows at the archery range and checked out all the turtles, snakes, lizards and frogs, honey bees and owls and hawks at all the displays and our nature center at the Girl SCout camp. Allison got to do everything for free and earned a patch, bag and tshirt for volunteering.  Scott also got some extra ideas for his planter from the University of Maryland Master Gardener booth. It certainly was a beautiful day to get outside. I even broke down and did a little container planting but not too much yet. We still had a few nights down in the 30s but mostly it has been warm and extremely dry.  While the rest of the country is having tornadoes and lots of rain, we are having a drought.

Tom certainly had his hands full this past week too. He repaired the basement wall and was ready to paint. After the first coat of the textured paint he was quite disappointed. It looked like someone threw dirt on the walls and left streaks on top of that. Fortunately things smoothed out with a second coat. Just in time for our new couch to arrive on Friday. And it took all day Friday to disassemble the unit and reassemble it in the basement. Tom says it is well built and very comfortable(amazing for a pull out couch). Fortunately Tom was home to supervise the event. Which he says took 4 hours!  Sadly the dishwasher repairman stopped in as well but after he replaced one part he found it was still not working. Now he is ordering another part and I guess I am washing dishes by hand until at least next Friday. It wouldn't have been so bad except Tom invited Matt WAgner over for dinner on Saturday and Matt invited his kids over as well, along with a girl friend. So Tom was busy cooking up a storm of steaks and crab cakes, grilled asparagus and coleslaw(and I am still washing the dishes). Matt wanted to come over for EAster, but since we were gone, Tom invited him this past weekend. He is still depressed and angry and used his visit to catch up with their oldest son, Jacob. Jacob will be 21 in a few months and has failed at college classes for the past several years and unable to keep a job(any job). He is currently interviewing at a Starbucks. Meanwhile the youngest, Nick is failing out of high school, has ADHD and has started drinking. He would not come over on Saturday night. Fine with me. We already had enough drama with Matt. And as usual Matt passed out on our couch after dinner, but this time Diana was not there to drive him home. He had to leave early though on Sunday morning since MOnday was the tax deadline and he was extremely busy working being an accountant and all. Not sure if he will be able to keep his business though as he apparently had a falling out with his partner on SAturday.  Tom and I agree he is not moving in with us.

I was also busy with a Girl SCout Leadership meeting on Weds night. We have a lot of activities coming up this year in honor of the 100th Anniversary of Girl SCouting. I can hardly keep up. I also fussed to our Service Leader about Allison's rejection for her gold award project on rebuilding the therapeutic horseback riding ramp. WE put in a formal complaint to the Girl SCout council but I am not sure that they will change their minds. Therefore, Allison will have to start all over(yuck). 

Another special April Birthday. A Big Happy Birthday goes out to SArah Bozyk who celebrated on Friday the 13th!

I also started taking a ONe A Day Vitamin with extra Magnesium. I did some more research on my cipro allergic reaction and the only thing they recommend  is to take Magnesium to help my heart. I found I still can't walk around campus without getting winded and my heart racing. I am not sure I will be able to participate in the Dragon Boat races this year. According to the research, it can take 1-2years to recuperate. Oh joy. I am hoping the vitamins and minerals help. As the research states-there is no magic antidote.

Check out our photos of the Girl Scout Outdoor Event-Scott at the archery range with Allison, mining for gems and his geode treasure. Also a shot of Scott with his planter box at school on display in the main lobby along with his report. And our new suede pull out queen sized couch and textured painted wall.

More adventures to come. Kathleen

Happy Easter!  I am blogging late as we headed down to Busch Gardens in Williamsburg on Easter Sunday. Both kids were off on Monday, and Allison was off from work so we thought we would take the kids down for a quick Spring Break.

Allison was off of school all last week, but she did not have much time to herself. She was scheduled to work 3 days last week, which meant I had to leave work at lunch to drop her off on two of the days. Tom was able to pick her up when she got off. On Friday she went in to work but it was my day off, so no running out at lunch. I also dropped Scott off at the roller rink Friday afternoon since he just started his spring vacation while I ran some errands( mostly Easter Bunny shopping). Scott was pretty worn out from 3 hrs of roller blading and then an evening of gymnastics. Plus he had his swimming lesson on Saturday morning-45 minutes of laps. What a way to start your Spring Break. The kids had two separate weeks off so we could not head out to Florida this year. And it certainly did not seem like much of a break for Allison. She had a piano lesson to make up, and I signed her up for her last driving test. She was not very pleased with this last lesson as she had a hard time understanding her instructor's accent. He was also very big into grabbing her steering wheel and hitting the brakes. (Sounds like the good old days!). He did have her practice on the MVA course though so now she has some idea of the driving test. She will be ready when she finishes up her 60 hours driving practice(much closer now). We also had to call the MVA and make sure she was registered as having finished the class. Now she has to go online and make an appointment for her driving test-they say there is about a two month wait list. Wow(not like the good old days). She also had a take home World History test and Chemistry homework over break for school. So no rest for the weary. She did have some time to hang out with her friends last week since they got out of school early. They had a game night and were busy celebrating one of the girls birthdays. She was just sad to hear that her friend's Dad passed away over the Easter weekend from cancer.We are going to the wake on Weds evening.

We  certainly had our hands full with Birthday celebrations last week.   Tom celebrated his birthday on Weds(not quite 50 yet!). We started celebrating last Sunday when we went to the Hershey Bear game. They lost by 1 point in an overtime shoot out. It was still a lot of fun with great seats and lots of girl scouts(girl scout night). We ended up in an overtime shoot out on boy scout night too at Christmas(and a loss by one point). Still fun. On WEds we took Tom out to dinner at OUtback(I still had a gift card from my raffle basket). Then Allison and I took him to see Hunger Games. Scott opted to stay home and play computer games. I thought the movie was OK(Tom actually had time to read the book and said it was very close to the story). Allison enjoyed it but has not read the books. Now we have to wait for the sequels. And Tom got a US driving Tour book and Books on CD as a survival package for our planned cross country trip in July.

A Big Happy Birthday to Sandra Bozyk who celebrated on Friday, and Happy Easter Birthday to Dad Bozyk.

Besides running errands on Friday, I spent the day on the phone trying to schedule appointments. Our dishwasher died again, so Tom and I were trying to decide if it was worth buying a new one or getting this one repaired. It seems the control panel keeps getting fried. It did come back one for one more load of dishes, but we had to hang around the house on Saturday waiting for the repair man. The parts are under warranty, so the repairman has to look at the dishwasher to make sure he orders the right parts( a $60.00 visit) and then he has to order the parts so they are covered under the warranty. When the parts arrive he will have to install them(another $60.00). We are still considering a new type of dishwasher for future purchase. Although I do really like the Bosch, it appears the company has gone through some changes and the products are not what they used to be.  I also had to call and set up a time to have our new sofa bed couch delivered-that will be next Friday. We bought it over Christmas break to replace the two couches in the basement. Tom already pulled the broken sofa couch out of the basement, so he spent SAturday hauling up the other couch. If the back cushions weren't all torn up it would have been a very nice couch. Since it was about 23 yrs old, it has seen a lot of use. And Goodwill does not take anything damaged or dirty anymore, so it went to the dump. Along with the kid's old computer chair. And we also spent part of Saturday doing yardwork since the weather was so nice. Not to mention that Allison needed a ride to and from work on SAturday night(a very long day).

Since the new couch is coming on Friday, we had our hands full on Saturday giving the basement a new look. I wanted the walls painted, so Tom and I went out paint shopping. We wanted textured pain which Home Depot no longer sells, so we were off to Lowes. Tom decided he wanted to do a little patching before he painted, so that is where we are now. We also had to pack up some of the kids old toys, and vacuum. Hopefully the basement will be ready when the couch comes on Friday!  And then SCott can assemble his new computer desk chair for the basement computer. He actually had to hunt for his computer desk chair as part of his EAster basket. Since we were short on time Easter Sunday, the kids opted to have their baskets sitting out Sunday morning(but we still put SCott to work on a scavenger hunt for the chair). Sunday morning we had to run Cookie over to the kennel, and then back to church for the sunrise service. I like that mass-you don't have to get all dressed up for Easter mass and it is not so crowded that you get stuck in the gymnasium like the 9am mass. Scott was just grateful that I didn't sign him up for altar serving. We were on the road by 9am and at Busch Gardens by noon. It was a beautiful sunny day, and we had a great time riding a few rides and seeing a few shows. We left a little early to go catch a movie and dinner. Tom wanted to see Wrath of the Titans(again an OK movie). But fun to go out to the movies. And naturally dinner was at Buffalo Wild Wings.

On Monday we decided to head back into the park-it was a bit more crowded on EAster Monday. But we saw a few more shows including the Predators show with the wolves, and we even got Allison to go on the 3D Darkcastle ride for her first time.   WE then spent the afternoon shopping at the outlet malls. Scott needed hiking boots and I can't believe he went from a size 6 to 7 1/2! Good thing we took him shopping. And we even found Allison a skirt to wear with her GS uniform for her presentation at the gala on the 26th of April(when she gives her speech for her Shadow Work Day). I thought a skirt would look nicer than pants, but it had to be khaki. Luckily we found one at LLBean. And we even checked out the newly opened Pottery Barn outlet mall. It is still pretty empty, but Tom especially enjoyed shopping in their wine section. They sell lots of plants, linens, cookware, dishes-everything for your home. And they still make the flower pots right there. The old buildings were turned into storage and they have a fancy new mall.  Tom's parents remember the original shopping experience.

So we are back home and back to school for Allison. Scott is now on break and loving every minute to himself.

Here are some shots from Busch Gardens including the white wolves in the predator show. Also, Scott can't wait for the new rollercoaster to open(car theme). And check out the newly opened Williamsburg Pottery. 

Happy Holidays!  Kathleen

     Happy Palm Sunday! And no, we did not win the lottery. We didn't even have time to buy a ticket.

Instead we spent our last day of March at the Cherry Blossom Kite Festival in DC. Tom was not too excited to go-he hates that is takes so long to get into DC, and having to pay for parking and the train, not to mention he is not crazy about the crowds. But he agreed to go, and I think we all actually had a very nice time. And we managed to squeeze in a few extra activities as well while we were down there. At first it looked like the weather might keep us home. It was a bit rainy this weekend. And then we decided SCott should go to his swim lesson in the morning, so that limited the amount of time we could spend in DC. But we managed to get down to the Washington Monument by 2pm after parking in Union Station and taking the train to the Smithsonian. I even brought along a few small kites for the kids to fly and they had fun trying to keep them from dive bombing us and everyone around us!  They still have the WAshington Monument closed off due to damage from last summer's east coast quake. And all the water is out of the reflecting pond(looks strange), and we missed the cherry blossoms by 1 week. They were just too early. The Cherry Blossom Festival parade is not even until the 14th of April.  And today was the Cherry Blossom 10 mile run. Just no cherry blossoms.  But we did enjoy seeing all the kites, and there was a pretty good breeze blowing. And we even squeezed in time to sneak through the Smithsonian Natural History museum. We wanted to see the prehistoric snake exhibit-titanoboa. They just discovered this prehistoric snake in Columbia. We need to watch the National Geographic special that was on Sunday night at 8pm(we recorded it). The thing was so big it swallowed alligators whole!  That is a big snake. We also had to get Allison back to work by 6 and stop and pick her up dinner, so there was not much time for dawdling. After we dropped Allison off, Scott, Tom and I went out to dinner. Yeah no cooking for me.

And no cooking on Sunday night as we are took Tom out for his birthday to a Hershey Bears Hockey Game. He was so sad when he tried to buy tickets a month ago and he said they were all sold out. Ha Ha. I got on line and bought us 4 tickets for Sunday's game as it was Girl SCout night!  I even got cool patches. Allison could not find someone to work for her, so she  just took off an hour early so we could get up to Hershey in time for the puck to drop. Happy Early Birthday Tom! His gifts are simple this year. He already spent his birthday money rebuilding his computer. (But I still have one or two more surprises for him besides the hockey tickets).

During the week we were busy with boy scout meetings, piano, gymnastics-the usual. We also enjoyed the Cultural Arts night at SCott's school. He had a few pieces of his artwork on display, as well as helping to demonstrate the Lego robotic system. Tom spent some time planning out next year's event with the school team captain. (Guess that means he may be even more involved next year). And they also announced the winners of the science fair in the church paper this week. All those tasks keeps SCott and Tom busy. So busy, Tom has not had a chance to get out and cut the grass. Not that it desperately needs it, but our neighborhood has certainly caught spring fever. Everyone is busy mulching and trimming and cutting the lawns. Tom has just not had a chance in between rain showers. At least he did get a chance to see if the mower started(and it did). We thought it was done for last season. Tom and I even ran out on Friday to check out mowers just in case. 

I couldn't spend too much time away from home on Friday though. I was trying to take care of some phone calls, including a call to our insurance agent to close on my car accident from last June. I want to make sure all my medical bills have been paid before I settle with the other two insurance companies involved in the accident. I was also waiting to hear back from our furniture salesman. We bought a pull out couch in December and had not heard if it was ready for delivery yet. We had one phone call saying it may be back ordered, but it looks like it will be coming in on time after all. Then on Friday night Allison had to work and SCott was at gymnastics.

And I was busy trying to order Allison some Girl SCout accessories she needs for her uniform when she makes her presentation at the Distinguished Women's Dinner at the end of the month. The Girl Scout store changed their website and it seems they left off the online order form. So instead I called the store and placed the order by phone. I also needed some Green 100th Anniversary tshirts for upcoming GS events, like our Orioles game. And then I needed to sign Allison up for the SAT(again). She was not pleased with her score from the first test, so she decided to try again. That is not until May. Tom also wants us to schedule out a few college visits. It looks like Allison is going to be spending a week at a University on the Eastern shore this summer. WE put in for a Girls Legislature week long camp scholarship sponsored by the American Legion. If they accept her application, she will get a chance to try out college life for a week. We actually have had a few college orientations, but there are a few more places on our list. Spring break seems like a nice time to visit colleges(if we weren't working and if the open houses were scheduled then!).

And speaking of Birthdays, this is a very busy time of the year! The first Happy Birthday goes out to Dad Seitz. Hope you enjoyed dinner out. I am sending out some photos of SCott at his Cultural Arts night-with a sculpture and the Lego robotic table, photos from the Mall in DC-Kite Festival and the kids flying their mini kites. Check out the amazing snorkeling woman kite. They even had a guy scuba diver, but I don't think it was windy enough. Also, since there were no more cherry blossoms, I got some shots of the wisteria vine growing on the wall of one of the Smithsonian museums. Also a shot of the prehistoric snake(that is an alligator tail hanging out of its mouth!).

See you next week! Kathleen

    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.