Summer decided to arrive last weekend! And just as quickly, it left. The temperature was in the 80s last Saturday. We were busy catching up with our spring cleaning. Both inside and out. The whole neighborhood was busy cutting the grass and cleaning up the flower beds. Including us. Everything seems to be blooming all at once.

Tom had been out working in LA all last week. He got home Friday night and spent Saturday sprucing up the lawn mower so he could get the grass cut. Scott helped out by restacking our stone wall around the beds in the front. He was not happy to come across a small snake in the process!

At least Tom had a chance to meet up with my brother Mike in LA and they enjoyed dinner together. Back here in Baltimore, Scott and I had a busy week. On Tuesday night we attended Scott's Confirmation pot luck dinner. I asked Scott to put a lasagna in the oven, but he missed the timing. So I had to run and pick up some wings from Pizza Hut, and throw some spinach pie in the oven before heading over. Fortunately there was more than enough food. The dinner was to give the candidates and their sponsors time to think about the whole confirmation process and chat. Scott enjoyed visiting with his friends. They also made sure the kids completed all their requirements. Looks like Scott is right on track for his big day, May 9th. We will be enjoying having Mark and Linda Seitz come visit as Mark is Scott's sponsor.

Scott and I were also busy on Thursday night. Tom assisted with organizing the Resurrection Science Fair. Again, he was out of town during the event, so he conveniently signed me up to help out. Not a problem except I did not want to judge the projects. That is what I was assigned to do anyway. I just remember how strict the judges were on Scott and Allison, and I was not sure I was up to the job. So Tom requested that Scott join me as a judging partner. Turns out we only had 12 projects and 8 judges, so we did not need to interview every kid. However, no one knew how the process worked, including the teacher. Tom usually gave out the instructions. I decided we would pair off and judge at least 3 projects each which worked out. There were also 3 research projects and an engineering challenge(balloon cars). But they only had 8 entries for the engineering  contest and two teachers judged the research projects. So it did not take us too long to come up with the top 3 science projects. The number one project was an experiment by two 4th grader boys on the Super Powers of Dog Drool. They placed dog and human saliva in petri dishes with bacteria to see how it would react. The bacteria won, so don't let your dog lick your wounds/cuts/etc! Antibiotics work better for infections it would appear. They did a great job with their experimentation and the presentation. So we wrapped up the evening around 8pm.

And last week was a first for Scott with his track team. He finally competed(twice) last week in a track and field event. He got to throw the shot put and a discus. He likes the shot put better and throws a little over 20 ft. It is a whole new experience for him. He especially enjoyed the bus ride over with the team to a local high school for one of the meets. This is his first, official team sport. He continues to work out at the Y on Friday nights also with a friend. That gives me time to run errands-like picking him up a suit for his confirmation. I get my exercise class done on Friday mornings.

And since we had such a beautiful weekend, we decided to make sure our bikes were up and running for next weekends camping/biking trip with the boy scouts. I was going to take my parents out for a small boat ride on the Potomac as a birthday gift for my Dad, but the weather turned a bit windy and chilly. Best to save that for a warmer day. Instead, Scott, Tom and I took out our bikes on a quick ride up  a trail nearby. It was all uphill, and Tom and I decided to take a break midway at a local bakery for a drink break. Scott went on another block to the top of the hill and then we coasted all the way back. Unfortunately I blew my back tire on the way down and had to get off and walk. At least we were close to home for a repair. And later that evening, I had to take Scott over for his Boy Scout annual swim test with the whole troop.I was nominated to mark off the boys as they finished their tests. Scott bailed me out so he could get home and study!

1st Place Winners of Science Fair-Dog Drool

 Spring has finally arrived!

 Saucer Magnolia

Meanwhile, Allison spent her busy weekend in Delaware playing Field Hockey. Her Club team signed up for the Delaware Beach Bash tournament and needed a goalie. Allison played every game for two days and was completely exhausted(and bruised too). But she had a lot of fun, even though their wins were limited. Seems that the entire team was a bit out of shape. Not used to playing in the spring. She is staying busy with classes too. But managed to finally meet up with a guy that her friends introduced her to since he is a computer science major and they have a lot in common(ie video gaming).

We also kept busy last weekend enjoying dinner with friends at their house(Beth and Barry). Naturally, Cookie came along to keep their puppy company. We will be puppy sitting soon, so we want them to remain friends!

Dave, I mentioned in a previous email that I had copies made of your family photos, framed them and has you can see, they have a prominent spot on mom and dad's new cabinet in their apt(top R hand shelf). 

Did you ever have one of those days? That was my Sunday. Tom and I have a running joke that we seem to break kids that are under our care. When Allison and Scott were little, we had a few mishaps with a couple of the neighbor children under our watchful eyes during playdates. We broke two of them-one wrist fracture and one elbow fracture.

This weekend we had one go to the hospital with an asthma attack. On our watch. We did not cause the asthma attack, but we keep wondering why we volunteer to watch other people's kids. Anyhow, we opened up our house to Allison's Ultimate Frisbee team. All 20 girls. The team travels each weekend to different Universities for tournaments and they usually bunk down at a house of one of the players. Allison has had the pleasure of staying at several different homes, and we thought it was our turn to volunteer. And so we did. We spent last week frantically cleaning bathrooms and making floor space to accommodate  up to 20 girls. Also planning a dinner and two breakfasts. Plus the shopping.

As well as celebrating Dad Bozyk's 80th Birthday smack dab in the middle of the week. (We actually had to postpone dinner until Saturday). I did a run by their apt with a balloon bouquet on Weds night, but Dad had already drifted off to sleep by 8pm. It is tough turning 80! At least he seems over his cold. And they removed the room restrictions in their building.

So Friday evening, we were lucky to have just 8 girls sleep over at the house. They all drove up together from school. They enjoyed dinner of pizza and salad(per their request), along with cookies and cheese puffs. EAsy enough. Then they were up watching movies and slept in our basement, our play room and the living room couch. On Saturday I was up early making breakfast-egg casserole and french toast casserole along with the usual breakfast stand-bys-cereal and bananas. They were out the door by 9am. They played all day and then about 12 showed up in the late afternoon to start taking showers and get ready to go out to dinner. Of course they were all sunburned. Our Spring/Summer has officially arrived. I was busy passing out the Aloe Vera gel, along with ice bags, bacitracin and bandages for a few banged up girls. (Remember, this is non tackle football with a frisbee). Yeah, no sprained ankles or wrists! But they did not win any games that day.

Tom and I had been out for an early dinner with my parents. We took Dad Bozyk out to Olive Garden, courtesy of Mike Bozyk, and then opened birthday gifts. We decided to hurry home when we heard all the girls were coming back to the house early. After they cleaned up, they all went out to dinner at Pizzeria Unos(see a theme here?). But not all of them came back right away. Late at night a few girls informed me that Allison had driven one of them to the Howard County Hospital ER. She was having an asthma attack. Oh great. Her parents were in New Jersey-4 hours away. The young lady was admitted to the hospital but hoped to be discharged in the early morning hours. I was waiting up to go pick her up and drop her off at another girl's house in the neighborhood(Allison's roommate). They were pet free and I did not want the girl to have any more issues that might involve our cat. Turns out the hospital kept her overnight, and then kept her until Tuesday morning! Apparently it was more than an asthma attack.

Our girls were up very early Sunday morning. Tom picked them up Einstein bagels and left for the airport to travel out to LA for work. I filled them up on fruit and cereal and they packed up and left. They had a few early games(won at least a game) and then drove back to Salisbury. I still had the hospitalized girl's suitcase and pillow. Her mother arrived at our house in the afternoon from Jersey. Very sweet but a bit overwhelmed trying to find her way around and of course worrying about her daughter. She was just glad she had been staying at our house(little did she know our reputation!). Anyhow,  she picked up her daughter's belongings and I offered our house if she wanted to stay. She thought she might stay in the hospital with her daughter, or look for a hotel. But she was going to insist that her daughter see a specialist when she got back home.

In the meantime, while waiting for her to stop by the house, I was trying to decide if I should drive about an hour north of Baltimore to pick up Scott at his Confirmation retreat. Apparently their bus broke down and they had to wait 1.5 hrs for another ride. Both Scott and the girl's mom were supposed to show up at our house at the same time. Scott opted to wait for another bus so I just had to pick him up from the church parking lot. Right before the girl's mom arrived. Never a dull moment.

Anyway, Scott survived his weekend away at retreat from Friday night to Sunday and he had a lot of homework to catch up on. Plus a letter to write to the Bishop due the next day. He also was back in school last week after an exhausting Spring Break. They had a wonderful article in the local paper on the Robotics Tournament held at U of Maryland over break that Scott participated in. Even his Boy Scout troop was in the paper this past week to honor one of the scouts that developed a patch for the Honor Guard used to conduct flag ceremonies. Scott's troop has a group of boys that volunteer for special programs such as activities involving the Wounded Warriors to act as Honor Guards during flag ceremonies. And now they have a National Patch to go along with the job.

We definitely stay busy here in Maryland!

Another Birthday Wish goes out to Sandra Bozyk who also celebrated her special day this past week.

Dad Bozyk turns 80

 Salisbury Frisbee girls in the House!

Happy Easter! Spring has finally arrived in Maryland. Thank goodness. The flowers are starting to bloom and the trees are getting their leaves. For those with allergies, this is not a good time. And with Spring comes Spring cleaning! Tom and I started working on projects all over the house including putting away winter holiday decorations. This weekend, Tom put up a bluebird house for me in hopes that a pair of birds hanging around our yard will move in. He also put down crab grass killer and fertilizer on the lawn.

Easter puppy brings treats

Last week he stayed home a day as we had roofers out to the house repairing areas around our chimney and vents as well as replacing our skylight. We would like to have the whole roof replaced and repaired, but it is a bit pricey. For now, we just wanted to keep the rain from leaking into our family room.

We are also getting ready for a house full of girls this coming weekend. Allison and her frisbee team will be bunking down in our house for a tournament over the weekend. All 20 of them! For now I was just getting ready for EAster and the April birthdays.

Saturday was Tom's birthday. Allison came home for the weekend to help us celebrate. We took him out for dinner at Maggiones Italian restaurant. He tried to eat there with Allison a week ago and there was a 2hr wait. So we made reservations and had a wonderful late evening dinner. We wanted to go out to the movies, but the timing was not good. So we came home and enjoyed a variety of cupcakes that Allison picked up at a local bakery and opened gifts. Tom wanted to update his Kindle. And we picked up a new camp chair(in Salisbury colors) to sit and watch Allison play Field Hockey or Ultimate frisbee. I also put together a wine package complete with a gift card that I won in an auction at the high school Viking fest. And a Capitals hockey shirt to top things off. I am also trying to get Tom to look into picking up a Hershey bear tickets package. Plus I picked up a new garden hose rewinder. Just to keep things interesting!

We also were enjoying our MSU in the Final Four basketball tournament. I made sure to put out our school flag, but sadly they did not make it to the end. I knew something was wrong when Cookie's MSU dog collar broke.

On Easter morning, the kids hunted for their Easter baskets before church. They loved all their treats and a few extra gifts including clothes and even an egg cooker for Scott! (He loves to make deviled eggs). We decided to go to Charlestown Retirement Community center for the morning mass at the cathedral on the grounds. We really enjoy the pastor, Fr Leo and his homilies. He always preaches a positive message. Afterwards we had an early Easter dinner since Allison had to head back to school.

My parents have been staying indoors most of the week. Their whole building is closed down for respiratory illnesses-bronchitis, pneumonia and colds/coughs/fevers. Dad seems to have caught a bad chest cold. I had to take both mom and dad to the dentist on Weds. and we spent a few hours there while they got a cleaning and xrays. Mom could not get the whole cleaning done since she was supposed to have antibiotics before her appointment and they missed giving her the medication at the right time at the facility. So she has to go back. Dad needs more work and will have to seen an endodontist and oral surgeon. Afterwards we picked up Boston Market and stopped at our house for dinner. But Dad had had enough, and was ready for bed.  So Mom and I packed him up and got him back to the facility.

So they have been mostly staying in the apt with meals brought up to all the residents. I did stop in on Friday for a meeting with the nursing staff and dropped in on mom and dad. On Saturday I took mom over to get her hair washed and set and then on Easter Sunday I dropped off their Easter baskets and Easter dinner. It was so beautiful outside, I had to take them out for a little walk around a local lake. Mom sat in the van since she has a sore knee, but Dad and I went for a short stroll with Cookie tagging along. When they got back, they enjoyed the meal I brought them. So mostly they have been stuck inside. They missed mass and even their swimming pool trip again. Maybe next week they can get out to the Sr Center.

Scott was busy enjoying his week off from school, although he stayed at home. He still had homework assignments to complete. And he spent 3 full days participating in a Mt Hebron HS Robotics competition at Uof Maryland campus. The team was gone from 7am to 7pm each day. He did get out a bit early on Friday and asked me to pick him up. Yuck. Traffic on 1-95 on Friday night on a Holiday weekend is not fun. But I went to get him. It just took a couple of hours. And his team did well, but not well enough to get into the Finals. They came in 17 out of 58. There were teams from all over the world including Brazil and Israel, as well as local high school teams competing. Scott primarily enjoyed checking out all the vendor booths including a Microsoft booth and their free stuff. He was not really needed since he was on maintenance, and the robot was running well. He was not interested in driving the robot as it is a big pressure position and you need a lot of practice. The robot was designed to complete a particular task. They had to pick up and stack containers. Scott was disappointed that the team did not go with a different design that he voted on since other teams seemed to do better. Maybe next year. I also tried to get him to a dermatology appt, but we were running late in the rain and traffic so they had to reschedule. He did catch a boy scout meeting too. And he could not let April Fools Day go by without abusing me. Including adding hot sauce to my water bottle! (too much time on his hands!).  So his break was quickly over and he will be going  back to school this coming week.

So Happy Birthday again Tom!

This past week was the kickoff for Scott's Spring Break. Allison has been busy with classes as she returned to school. She was excited to be traveling back to our neck of the woods to participate in an Ultimate Frisbee weekend of games. Hard to think about playing Football Frisbee when it is so cold outside. But they managed to squeek out a few wins, and Allison managed to resprain her Left wrist. But like a trooper, she wrapped it and kept playing. Now she  has bum L wrist and L ankle. Just like a true sportswoman. We would have enjoyed her coming home for a visit, but the girls all stay in one house together(very nice parents of one of the team members volunteer for the event). We also would have enjoyed traveling to watch some of her games, but they landed on top of our busy weekend schedule.

On Saturday we spent the morning storing away the winter decorations(ie snowmen) in the garage attic. I put Scott to work on his 1st official day of Spring Break running up the attic ladder with loads of holiday decorations. We are still at it. Plus we needed to bring down the Easter bunnies. (Spring is really trying to get here). None of the flowers have popped up yet, but soon. Even the Cherry Blossoms in DC are late this year. I was going to take the family down to DC on Saturday for the annual Kite Festival, but it was so cold and windy and I spotted a few snowflakes. Plus we had to be home early to attend our friend's 60th Birthday party. That was alot of fun. Plus we got to take Cookie since it was a house party and they have their Cavachon puppy too. I just had my hands full keeping the dogs out of the kitchen area and getting under the feet of the caterers. And Cookie had her paws full trying to keep Ripley from biting her ears. At least Cookie's ears are a whole lot shorter since she got her Spring Shearing(aka haircut).

On Friday I was busy dropping off Cookie at the pet store for her trim. Also I took Tom and SCott out to lunch at a new Mexican restaurant in our area. Scott had a half day to kick off his spring break and Tom was off work. I needed to pick up a gift card to the Painting/Wine drinking place as a birthday gift and we decided to check out the restaurants in the new shopping complex. Afterwards we had errands to run, and then Scott wanted to spend the evening with his friend. So they worked out at the Y and then it was off to rollerblade. Scott wanted to try out his new rollerblades before starting his new job, and his friend had never skated before and wanted to try. Unfortunately for his friend, the rink was very crowded with kids on Spring Break and he fell down a lot. After 1 hour, he had enough and Tom picked them up so they could hang out here and watch movies and play video games. His friend stayed the night and enjoyed Scott's waffles in the morning before going home.

On Palm Sunday we were up early as Scott served the 9am mass. They always do a re enactment of the Passion and the mass usually runs late. Afterwards we headed over to Mom and Dad Bozyks's for brunch at their complex. Dad was not feeling well and stayed up in the apt for his breakfast. Mom came down and had brunch with us. They did a nice job serving shrimp and Mimosa's(with real champagne), roast beef and eggs, chicken and carrots, green beans and rolls plus homemade peanut butter caramel pie. Afterwards I had Scott dye some Easter eggs up in their apt.

Now I am just getting ready for all the upcoming Birthdays and EAster. Tom celebrates his birthday this coming weekend along with my Dad who is going to be 80! And a Huge Happy Birthday to Dad Seitz who unfortunately celebrated his birthday in the hospital this past Sunday! I think medical procedures should be scheduled after the Birthday celebration.

So Scott will be home this week during his Spring Break. He is just happy not to have to go to school although he does have a few assignments over the holiday. And he will still be busy with a scout meeting and a Robotics Tournament.

And By the Way, Go MSU! Who knew? The Final Four Basketball championship. I need to go put out my MSU flag!

Scott dying Easter Eggs at Gma and Gpa Bozyk's after Sunday Brunch

Happy Spring! Hope you all enjoyed St Patrick's Day. We celebrated with Irish Soda Bread. I attempted to locate some green bagels at our local grocery stores and bakeries, but no one seemed to put in the effort this year. Besides wearing green, our holiday was pretty low key. My family does not enjoy corned beef and cabbage. Although they did enjoy my sausage and kale soup. One of my patients made a big batch of kale at work and I did not want it to go to waste. I also enjoyed trying out a new recipe on the kids-stuffed french toast (complete with nutella and ricotta cheese). They asked for seconds.

 So Winter seems to be hanging on as we celebrated the first day of Spring with a snow storm.
Tom spent most of the week in bed, recovering from whatever bug he caught the weekend before. He had to drag himself into work for a few days though since he was busy teaching a class.

Allison was busy enjoying her Spring Break. We felt bad though since most of her friends had traveled to Florida. Allison would probably have enjoyed a visit with her Aunt and Uncle and Grandma and Grandpa in Venice, FL, but actually we were a bit selfish and wanted to keep her home to visit with us. She managed to make good use of her time off though. She had a dentist appt and got her hair cut. She also enjoyed some outings with her roommate. They spent the day at the Baltimore zoo. They also saw the HS musical, Hello Dolly. That was actually Allison's first time at a school musical. (Looks like she had to graduate first). Even SCott managed to enjoy a school musical, West Side Story,  with his friend's at their Catholic High school. And Tom and Allison enjoyed an evening out on the town, watching a movie and having dinner out while Scott and I were off on a Boy Scout overnight. Allison had hoped to take her roommate to DC to visit the Smithsonian and the National Zoo, but her roommate's mom did not feel it would be a safe outing for the two girls. Funny, I felt comfortable about Allison acting as a tour guide. I guess it is because we have been there so often and the kids know their way around the train stations and museums. I offered to take both girls on a field trip on my day off, but the weather was pretty nasty with sleet and snow and ice, so we opted to stay off the roads. It was actually worse down in DC. But schools stayed open in this area. Scott already has several snow days to make up at the end of the year.

So on Sunday, Allison headed back to school to finish up her Spring semester. So far she is happy with her classes and did well on her midterms before break. Although her accounting midterms were pushed back after break because of their snow days. So she has some work to catch up in that class. Meanwhile, the art teacher keeps trying to get her to change her major and become an art student full time!

Scott and I certainly had a busy Scout weekend. We have been looking forward to a trip to the Baltimore Harbor and an overnight on a WWII Liberty Ship-a floating museum. The SS John Brown was built in the Baltimore Harbor and celebrates 75 years afloat. The ship actually still runs and makes several runs down the Chesapeake Bay each year with a dinner and period shows, plus a fly over of WWII planes. Actors portraying The Andrew Sisters and Gen MacArthur entertain the guests during the day. The Liberty ships were built in the '40s to transport tanks, planes, weapons and Troops to Europe. So it is a big, floating warehouse. Scott and I arrived early Saturday morning and helped transport the food onto the ship as well as our own gear. The ship is docked in the harbor next to a empty warehouse which is used as a parking lot. As big as our ship was, the 2 new Naval ships docked on the other side of the pier dwarfed our vessel. We had 18 boys and 12 Adults on the trip. The scouts and the Dad's all slept on narrow bunk beds, 4 levels high. As the only girl in the bunch, I was able to get my very own "state room" complete with regular bunk beds and a bathroom. Saturday we spent the day on a tour of the ship. The boys also assisted with several service projects including using a crane to haul some trash off the ship and sweeping and mopping the decks. Plus they took a few classes in navigation and knot tying.  The ship is run by retired naval personnel and volunteers. It is a lot of upkeep.
. The tough part was climbing all the stairwells(narrow ladders) to all the decks and pushing open the heavy doors between compartments. We stopped for lunch of grilled cheese and soup which we all prepared in the ship's galley. The tough part was running up and down the stairwells for water as the ship was still winterized on the lower decks and no running water. And the ship was cold! I was a bit spoiled as my section of the ship was heated. We set up tables on the 'tween deck high above the lower hold. A little spooky knowing we were standing on wooden slats and metal beams high above trucks and tanks. Dinner and dessert were served on the same deck and included garlic bread, meatballs and pasta and salad along with mud pie and a snack during a late night movie-Battleship. Scott and I were pretty worn out and took time out for a nap. We had to get up for an hour during the night to complete a Night Watch which is typical on ships. Scott took the 3am to 4am watch and I did the 4-5am watch. Fortunately the ship was pretty comfortable and quiet and we got some decent sleep-even with the threat of ghosts! Sunday morning we were up early and helped with clean up and packing after breakfast of pancakes and sausage. We headed home early as Scott had a busy day planned working on a school presentation for English class.

He also continues with boy scout meetings, confirmation catechism classes and working out with the track team or meeting with his video club after school. Plus he is getting ready to participate in the upcoming Robotics tournament near DC over his Spring Break.

On Sunday afternoon, I had to get cleaned up from our overnight as I was participating in a Girl Scout choir benefit concert for The National Federation of the Blind. The concert was held at a local 7th Day Adventist Church and included youth choirs from all around Maryland, including The Boys Choir of MD. Naturally my OT skills were put to work as I helped blind guests into the bathroom. I can't go anywhere without getting caught up in my work role! But I certainly don't mind helping. I am wired that way. Anyway, the concert was very nice and the kids did an excellent job. We did not stay for the whole event. I was falling asleep in the pew waiting to sing!

And before my big weekend, I was out with a few of the neighbor girls on Friday night at another high school fund raiser. This time it was a 50th Anniversary Dinner-The Viking Fest-held at a local church. Complete with catering from Outback Steakhouse, a live band and separate piano player, open bar and martini stand(I stayed away from there!). They were serving Vikingtinis which they concocted on their own. Also a silent auction, door prize raffles, 20/20 raffles, photo booth and wine grab bags. Since most of our neighborhood kids attend Mt Hebron high school, it really felt like a block party. At the last minute, the husbands decided they wanted to come, but the event was already sold out.

So the week goes on! Back to school and Back to work.

Welcome Aboard! The SS John W Brown Liberty ship

 Eagle clutching a German sub and Japanese. airplane(kamikaze).

 Ship tour-Scott 3rd from the right

 Spare anchor

 Operating a crane(Scott up above)

 Scott manning the guns(we attacked Fort McHenry across the harbor).

 Tween Deck(dining hall and sleeping quarters)

 Dining on top of the cargo hold

 Sleeping quarters

 Scott gets comfy

 Ship scale model

 Ship chapel(lifeboat pulpit)

Two weeks ago:

Easy Come, Easy Go. Just as quickly as the snow came, it went. The week before  was  a bit warmer with rain which melted most of the snow. We still had some snow piles here and there, but mainly we had mud puddles. Made for walking Cookie a bit of a challenge.

And it did nothing to help those with allergies. Which includes Tom, Scott and Allison. Tom spent last weekend in bed with a fever. Scott had a sore throat and Allison came home on Spring Break with a runny nose. I was the only disease free one so far.

Before everyone got sick, they were very busy. Scott finally put in a full week of school and track practice. He also had a Court of Honor dinner on Weds night with Boy Scouts. We enjoyed a catered dinner and lots of awards and presentations. He was also  very busy with homework, projects and tests as the end of the semester rolls around. He had just 2 more weeks until the end of the semester  and Spring Break begins(for him). And at sometime the kids will have to make up 3 snow days.

Allison had also been very busy with classes and midterm exams. She wrapped up her last class on a Friday and headed home. She certainly needed  the rest. But she started off her Spring break by inviting some girl friends over to spend the night on Friday. The next morning I filled the girls up with Belgian waffles for breakfast and then they all went out for Korean food for lunch. Even Scott was invited along. Spring break means lots of errands so she tried to get her hair cut, but our hair stylist was too busy this weekend. No matter. Allison was much happier resting on the sofa. She can get her hair cut during the week.

We had a busy scout weekend a week ago. Scott and Tom spent Saturday morning picking up bags of donated food for the Boy Scout food drive. I spent Saturday afternoon singing with the Girl Scout choir at the Charlestown Retirment Village where I used to work. In honor of Girl Scout week,  a group of elderly men and woman at the retirement village known as The Forever Scouts invited us over to sing campfire songs. We had a fun time singing with the group and they even videotaped us to share with residents in the nursing home at a later date. It was also fun driving around campus too to see the new construction going on and checking out the changes already completed. I am still happy to be working at the current nursing home though as I have heard the old company keeps taking away staff benefits. Plus I have a lot of flexibility in my new job, as well as the benefits.

I think I will be even busier at work however since one of our physical therapists just resigned. She decided she would be happier working with developmentally challenged kids rather than the nursing home patient. So we will be down a therapist which means more work for the rest of us. Until we can find a replacement. I ended up driving back to work last Friday evening so we could take her out to dinner at a local pub. I also picked up some dessert to share with the staff and a shamrock for her to wish her good luck.

I had spent most of last Friday with my parents.We had a meeting early in the morning with their broker and a notary to sign some papers. Then we walked over to the grocery store. Tom was off work so he met us for lunch. We tried out an Italian restaurant near their apt.  with a brick oven. Mom and Dad inhaled their pizza. Afterwards, I spent the afternoon looking through some old family photos and putting up St Patty's Day decorations with my parents.

Tom on the other hand spent the morning at the car dealership getting my tire gauges recalibrated. Turns out I ended up with a flat tire. Tom took a morning off from work to get the tire fixed, but then had to take the van in for the gauges to be reset. What a pain. But I am back in business. Thanks Tom. I returned the favor by dropping off science fair trophies that Tom ordered at the kids old school.

Then Tom decided to spend some time test driving new cars. Seems his old Toyota Echo had a rough time this winter and we could use a replacement.

Here is the shelving system Tom assembled for my parent's apartment. It is pretty roomy for all their photos, trinkets and storage below for albums and books.

.