Trying to catch up with the month of March.  I was trying to adapt to the new time change, just like the rest of us that still change our clocks! I really like that it is light out now when I leave work in the evening, but I am not fond of getting up in the dark.

 I needed some restful sleep-I had a very busy weekend scheduled!  Allison was finishing up two finals and a midterm  before heading home for her Spring Break mid March. She was very nervous about two of her finals, Finance and Information Systems. At least she was starting to feel better after recuperating from a cold. She made it through her Monday Info final and felt confident in at least a B for the class. On Tuesday she participated in a group presentation for a Midterm grade. Her Team is researching an off brand of Perdue chicken-organic, gluten free meats. They have struggled with the project from day one-not a very good group mix. They have not been able to contact the Perdue rep all semester, and she showed up for the presentation 10 mins before going on!  Looks like the group was doing well, until they discussed some of the issues they felt the company had going for it. Turns out their prof did not want them to discuss possible product problems, but issues the team had working together. On Weds Allison called in a panic. The prof was afraid they had offended the Perdue rep and wanted to kick Allison and her team out of the MBA program!Allison was devastated. After multiple phone calls to me and some of her friends, she was calm enough to get through her Finance exam that evening and then meet with the Prof and the Dean of the Business school along with her classmates. They had also contacted the Perdue Rep who reported she was not offended by the presentation, and it was decided that the students would be given a second chance in the Spring semester. Fortunately this class extends into the next semester as this was considered the midterm. Next semester however the Prof will be working very closely with the team to make sure they are on track. Allison is grateful for the assistance-she has worked too hard and has too much to look forward to without worrying about failing! The crazy thing is her Prof said if they had just left that piece out of their presentation he would have given them 100%. Allison feels confident that she and her teammates can only succeed from this point on. And she was ecstatic to learn that she got A's in both of the other classes!(and those were the hardest that she worried most about!). So she only has two new classes left to complete her MBA and finish up this Marketing class. She will be so happy and relieved to be done!

Scotty is also counting the days until graduation!  He stopped into his NHS meeting for the month of March even though he is done with his required hours. He is still quite busy with his Physics and English classes as the teachers are trying to still catch up from this winter's snow days. He finished reading Hamlet in English class and now they are on a tragic story called The Kite Runner(story line sounds horrible). No wonder these poor kids are so depressed in high school-they are always reading sad, tragic stories in English class about someone dying or being assaulted. I think they have enough drama in their own lives!  Scott is however looking forward to his upcoming trip to Kalamazoo and a day long orientation at Western Michigan with Tom towards the end of March. He will actually have to take off 2 days of school, but we had no other choice in dates as there were no scheduled events at Western during his Spring Break. This was the closest date he could get.

 I had an extremely busy weekend planned with Allison.  She came home on Thursday. We decided to kick off her Spring Break with a trip to DC along with her old roommate, Jen. Jen is studying to become a librarian and I have always wanted to visit The National Library of Congress. Jen has never visited the National Library and I just never seem to get the chance to visit with our family, so it seemed our duty to go on the field trip. Our Parks and Rec Dept for Howard County had a trip planned that day with a bus ride down to DC. Unfortunately the trip sold out very quickly. I was put on a waiting list and inquired about them getting a second bus. Which they did so we could go! And it was so much easier taking the chartered bus than trying to drive down and look for parking or catch the train and walk from Union Station.  And I am glad we saved our walking for the Library! The building is gorgeous inside, but full of 4 flights of marble steps, very steep. We were exhausted at the end of our visit from running up and down and all around. Plus it was very cold and windy that day outside which would have made it even more stressful for walking around town.  The Library sits behind the Capital building. It was built when the government was just getting set up in DC. They used to store library books in the basement of the Capital building and heat the buildings with fireplaces. But after several fires sparked by ashes burned up all the books collected for government research,Thomas Jefferson  sold his private collection of books to the Library to restock the shelves. Unfortunately his books were not safe either. Another fire took most of his collection, but many still remain onsite in the Jefferson room. And they are trying to replace copies of some of the books he owned and had sold to the Library. The inside of the foyer/grand hall of the Library was hand decorated(carvings and paintings) by Italian immigrants. They were only given room and board for their work, and the art supplies were included. It is like visiting one of the many cathedrals or palaces in Europe. You can get a Library card, but you cannot check out any books unless you are the President or a member of Congress. However, you can read any books you want there. Also,

the Library is busy digitizing all their collections so you can access anything they have from your own computer(think modern microfiche). And they don't just house books, but movies and music. They had a small display room with info on Bob Hope(Allison and Jen had not heard of him). I think they liked his political humor. Also a Gershwin display and a privately donated collection of Political comics and drawings done by women as well as a room full of historical maps primarily of North and South America during Columbus days with Mayan artifacts. We took one of the private tours of the Main Library but pooped out after all the walking and  went in search of lunch. The Library is a bit like the Smithsonian with two other buildings full of resources all connected underground by tunnels. We followed one tunnel until we got to a Subway sandwich shop  for lunch and then it was off to the gift shop before heading home on the bus. A wonderful, busy day and I did not have to drive in DC traffic! Plus we got a little taste of the Cherry blossoms as they were starting to bloom in DC on schedule for the Cherry Blossom festival starting March 30th. Too bad the Kite festival wasn't scheduled for that day-they would have had no problem getting the kites up in that wind!

My busy weekend was not over. I was up early on Saturday morning to celebrate St Patricks Day!  Our Girl Scout choir was participating in a St Patrick's Day parade. We had a small group, but big enough to make a difference. We have marched in this parade in the past with all the bag pipers, Irish dancers and dogs dressed in their finest green outfits! But this year the Parade leaders seemed in a big hurry to finish and we felt like we ran for 1 hr, while singing and doing hand gestures to our songs! There were no rest periods! Our poor choir director, Dr Pat was exhausted. She has to walk and sing and carry and play the accordion! We really do need a float! It was also a bit chilly that day, and windy. And we ended our event with a medical issue-one of our mom's slipped off a curb and sprained/strained or broke her ankle at the end of our parade. It swelled horribly in just a few minutes. Fortunately there were lots of police and emergency people around for the event, so she got immediate help. But she was also a ride home for some of  us! We regrouped and car pooled with other family members and I hope she is on the mend.

I did not have much time to spare after the parade. I did a bit of errand running, but then Allison and I were off for dinner and a concert Saturday night at a local church. My co worker Anne heard of a Steven Curtis Chapman concert scheduled near our house at a local Lutheran church in their auditorium. This is one of Allison's favorite christian singers. He plays guitar and sings about Love and Family and God. He is married with 3 kids of his own and several chinese adopted children. All are grown now. Sadly they lost one of their adopted children to a tragic car accident. But he and his wife also raise money to help adopt out children from China and to support their orphanages in China, especially for special needs children. Steven's father was also a musician and still teaches guitar lessons back in Kentucky in his 80s. Steven's first song he learned to play on guitar from his Dad was Fulsom Prison by Johnny Cash(he shared a bit of it with us!). And it was a wonderful concert as he played and sang all by himself for 3 hrs(he also mentioned that he is a bit ADHD). It also gave him a chance to talk about his life and his family and their work in China. And we learned that he attended Anderson,  the same college that our nephew Eric's wife, Sarah graduated from in Indiana! Such an enjoyable concert.

So it made for a very long weekend. But I was not done yet. On Sunday, Allison and I joined Jen and her family to see the high school musical, Andrew Lloyd Weber's Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. We had not seen this play before and were pleasantly pleased with the music and performance. Although it was quite different than I expected. This is the story from the bible of Joseph, one of Jacob's 12 sons who is a favorite of his dad, and able to interpret dreams. His brothers become jealous and sell him into slavery in Egypt. He is thrown in prison and while there interprets a few dreams. The pharaoh finds out and has him interpret some of his own dreams and makes Joseph his right hand man. Meanwhile, Joseph's family is struggling to survive with drought and limited food sources. They go to Egypt to beg pharaoh for food and do not realize it is Joseph they are asking for the help they need. Joseph plays a trick on them and accuses them of stealing a gold cup. They beg for mercy and he doesn't have the heart to torture them more and reveals himself. And goes home a hero. The entire play is sung, and each song has a different theme(like country, rock n roll Elvis as the Pharaoh, roaring twenties) with a full choir of elementary school kids in the background. Very fun. I plan to take my Mom next weekend.

We got home too late to catch my mom for dinner from the play. I had stopped in after church while she was eating lunch on Sunday, and I picked up a few more items from her apartment to drop off to storage. We have an appointment for mom for her medical assessment in the upcoming week to look into moving into another facility, Harmony Hall.

So our power was out for another day to start off the week. I took my shower at the YMCA in the morning before heading to work Monday. Scott was off to school-they had power at the High School. Allison was back at Salisbury for class-she never lost her power.  Tom was off to work-Northrop had power. We had the generator running all day to keep the fridges going at home. Power was restored after 6pm Monday night. Yeah!  Scott went to work after school-they had power too.  But the county continued to work in the neighborhood-cutting up trees and running power lines as well as restoring telephone poles. We had been without power for 4 days, but other parts of our neighborhood were still out.

Allison stayed at school at the end of the week. She was supposed to participate in a frisbee tournament in Virginia Beach over the weekend, but it was cancelled. She was actually pretty happy with the news. She had caught a cold in New Jersey the weekend before. Must have been all the sneezing and coughing from girls in the hotel room with her along with running around outside in freezing temperatures. And while she was fighting a cold, she was also studying for her upcoming finals. She had 2 finals and 1 midterm presentation. She was a bit worried about her Finance final exam. During midterms the prof allowed the students to utilize the Excel computer program to solve problems, which Allison was comfortable with and did well on the exam.  However, now the prof decided some of the students were not comfortable with Excel and he wanted the final to be completed with a Finance calculator. Allison did not know how to use one nor did she own one! So Tom sent her a Finance calculator and she oriented herself to it with online videos and support from fellow students and the prof. She was quite comfortable with her Midterm Marketing presentation which was a power point with 4 other group members. The group had been struggling the whole semester though. A few of the students did not speak clear english which made it difficult to write a group paper. And she was a bit concerned about the final in her 3rd class, Info Systems. But she was getting lots of study time. This has been her hardest term. Wish her luck!

Tom  also had to FedEx her passport during the week as Northrop asked her to complete her fingerprinting background check. She had already had the drug testing done, and Tom has been helping her fill out all the background check online(lots of names, addresses and dates). So we had to get her passport to her overnight. She went to the Salisbury U police station for fingerprinting, but did not have the Northrop form. The HR people were all in a meeting and did not get back to her in time. So she sent in the only basic form they had at the station and it turned out to be fine. Now she just has to wait several months while they process all her info for top secret level! I also sent her a St Paddy's Day goodie box to help her get through Finals week. Scott and I picked up some items while shopping at Target over the weekend when the power was out. We got her a stress relieving pillow, some St Patrick Day decorations and lots of healthy snacks to keep her going.

When Friday rolled around I had to take Cookie back to the vet. Naturally she got an ear infection(she had to wait two weeks after her last check up so I could spend more money on a vet visit!). I also had another Assisted Living Facility visit scheduled for the afternoon. Tom decided to come with me on this visit. We had been to Harmony Hall for an Estate planning presentation last year at this facility which is just across the street from Mom's current apartment building. We thought it was a bit too big at the time, but it has a built in alarm system-wanderguard system-which consists of a bracelet you wear that sets off an alarm and locks the elevators and outside doors/front door if someone tries to access it. We are hoping Mom could move to this facility which would hopefully allow her more freedom with the safety of keeping her from leaving. So far I have not yet found any other facility in the area that offers this program. Just locked units. So we met with the marketing team and went on a tour and put down a deposit. Now Mom's doctor has to fill out paperwork and the facility nurse has to assess mom and we should be able to move in!

Wouldn't you know someone backed into my van when Tom and I were leaving Burger King right before our appointment. We stopped in for a quick fish sandwich and someone just happened to back into my van. We exchanged info, but to Tom's surprise, there was not even a scratch on my van. Much to the relief of the guy that backed into me. And we were still on time for our appointment. After our appointment,  I dropped Tom back at home and went to have fish dinner with my mom on her floor.  I also stopped into her apartment to pack up a few more items. And I chatted with the marketing rep at Sunrise on our moving plans. Of course they are very interested in having mom's apartment to rent out to new residents. I don't blame them-it was a very nice and large apartment in a great location on the 2nd floor. They can move in two residents and make more money. I hope we can find something as nice for mom at the new facility. I also got the name of a moving company, so we should be set when the paperwork is all completed! Meanwhile, they have been telling mom that her old apartment needed some work done. I don't think she notices. She is very adaptable-except when it comes to wanting to go back to Michigan!

I could not stay too long with mom after dinner. I had to get back to attend Scott's Film Presentation ceremony at our library.  Scott and his classmates produced a short Drama film through his Television class and submitted it to the Howard County Film Festival. Their high school teacher encouraged the boys to submit their work and he also attended the ceremony. It was held at our local library after hours. There were a few other groups from his school as well that participated, however, much to our surprise, the boys film won a Judge's Choice award(Top 5 out of 30 submissions)! They each won an awesome trophy and 1 tshirt to share amongst each other!  Very cool. Their story was based on a robbery and a faulty Alexa computer system. We got to see a quick clip of all the student's videos, and then they played the full videos of the top 5. The big winner was an anime cartoon-no words, just black and white chalk drawings. Seems to be the up and coming thing.

It seemed to be the Weekend of Scott! He also received a scholarship from Western for the Manufacturing Engineering program! Way to Go Scott! He was feeling a bit disappointed since Allison had earned several scholarships after high school graduation and he had not been as successful. But now he has a scholarship from Western! And we are still working on a few more from high school. He was asked to submit a resume for a Senior scholarship from the school's Booster club. It doesn't hurt to fill out the paperwork! He did skip his Robotics team's first tournament. They traveled to Alexandria, VA for the day. A very long day. The bus left the school parking lot at 7am and returned at 9pm. Scott would have gone if he could have driven himself(and left early), but we did not want him to tackle the DC beltway on his own just yet(new driver and all). The Robotics team was back at it on Sunday, but it sounds like their robot had some issues. They will have another local tournament in 2 weeks. Scott is hoping they do enough to head to the State Tournament at Uof Md. He really enjoys that event since they have lots of computer vendors in attendance. He really does not get to do much during the tournaments since he really only helped design and build the robot, not program or operate. And even then, the coach brought back his sons from college to help out and Scott felt that they did not get to do as much as the guys took over the design plans.

When the weekend rolled around, Tom asked if we could drive up to the Towson mall to pick up an item for our neighbors. Our good friend Dan Z lost his Dad the weekend before. He was 93 and living at home with his wife, Dan's mom, in Ohio. His Dad had been struggling the last few years of his life with medical problems, macular degeneration(limited vision) and loss of hearing which made it impossible for him to manage by himself even though he was very alert. Dan had been out to visit the week before he passed. Tom was looking for a special gift to send them and I recommended he purchase an item from Things Remembered. I had sent a picture frame to my friend Beth for her mother's memorial, and Tom found a beautiful whiskey decanter and had his Dad's name engraved on the outside. It was ready for pick up at the store, so Tom, Scott and I headed over to pick it up. We decided to stop in and have an early dinner at World of Beer and catch a movie(we tried to see Black Panther-again sold out!). And Scott had seen it, so we opted for Death Wish. Tom was not too excited since it was a remake of the Charles Bronson movie with a twist. Bruce Willis plays a surgeon who attempts to avenge the death of his wife and his daughter's assault by going after criminals. Scott and I enjoyed the remake and the popcorn. I did not however enjoy Spring Ahead. I could have used an extra hour of sleep!

On Sunday we tried to have Dan and Gloria over for dinner and to pick up their gift. Gloria was fighting a cold, so Dan opted to drop by for drinks and dessert in the evening. I picked up my mom for a steak dinner at our house before Dan stopped over. Turns out it became a guys night as another neighbor just happened to stop by while walking his dog. I decided to turn in early with The Walking Dead. Another very long and busy week! At least we finally got our power back on!

Spring is certainly coming in like a Lion!  We haven't even made it to the official first day of Spring, but we are getting a taste with a lovely Nor'Easter. We were warned that the wind would be very strong and to expect power outages. I woke up around 3am on Friday morning to the sound of the creaking house and howling windows.  Cookie was not a happy camper. Also the power was flickering. It managed to stay on though, so I had a cup of coffee and caught the morning show early  since I am off on Fridays and Cookie and I could not sleep. I did however have an appointment that afternoon to tour a new Assisted Living facility for my mom.

Turns out Mom B decided to walk out of her facility on Tuesday that week which got her a Fast Pass to the locked unit in her building. I was not very happy to hear that. They put her up with another resident since they did not have any open apartments. Also not happy to hear that. The locked unit worked fine for my Dad-he really had no concept of what was going on. But Mom still participates in many activities, including outings and trips, so I really don't want her world to be limited on a locked unit. Not to mention most of the other residents on the locked unit need more assistance, or wander in and out of the rooms, or take items out of the rooms. So now I am left with having to move Mom out of her large, 2 room apt and pack up all her belongings. And look for another facility to that allows for more freedom with safety so she can't wander out. Great.

So on Friday afternoon I spent all my time visiting two facilities and speaking to the Marketing reps. One facility reported being secure, but that only meant at night. It also had a locked unit like the one Mom is staying on, so never mind that place. But I liked their apartments and it was close to home. The next facility was beautiful, but very expensive and farther away and I hated their apartments. And it had a locked unit too, but it was quite large. I was just amazed that this brand new facility had design issues. The strong wind outside was blowing open their doors that lead out to the balcony. They actually had to prop heavy trash cans in front of them to keep them shut. So I did not make much headway all afternoon and I came home to find that our power was out.

Scott was home for the day. They had cancelled school since they figured it was going to be a bad storm. And it was. We did not have much snow or ice, but a lot of trees and branches came down all over Baltimore and power was out for nearly 400,000 homes and businesses. It got dark pretty quick, so Scott and I pulled out the lanterns and flashlights. Mom had power at her place, and so did Allison at school. Not that it mattered, as she was off to New Jersey for a frisbee tournament.

Besides dark and still very windy, it was quite cold. Scott and I kept warm with our gas fireplace. Other neighbors headed to hotels. We decided to head out to dinner and were surprised to see all the businesses and street lights out on our main road, Rt 40. So we went to dinner near Gma's place at the mall since they had power. Afterwards, we tried to see a movie-The Black Panther. Again, sold out. So we headed home to sit in the dark. Scott had gotten most of his homework done in the morning and was able to send it via email on his phone to his teachers. He decided to entertain me by introducing me to a few video games on his cell phone. That is how desperate we were for entertainment! He pulled out his Nintendo switch control which you hold in one or two hands and he  showed me how to play Tetris(which I always hated and suck at-nothing changed). And then he introduced me to Mario Kart. Mostly he beat me, but I did manage to beat him on the last game while dodging buses with my Mario Kart! It made for a terribly funny end to a long day!

Meanwhile, Tom was supposed to be coming home from his business trip to Scotland. Wouldn't you know, Europe had the biggest snow storm they'd seen in 10 years! Scotland was snowed under. Tom said none of the buses or trains could run. He had to walk everywhere. And his flight was delayed by 1 day. No matter-we had lots of cancelled flights here in Maryland. So he made it home on Saturday night instead of Friday. He had hoped our power would have come on by then. Not likely. Scott and I were out and about on Saturday assessing the damage. Whole trees came down bringing whole telephone poles with them in our neighborhood, so we figured it would be awhile before we got up and running again.

I borrowed Scott on Saturday and we picked up coffee and plastic containers at Target and headed to my Mom's place to start the packing. Of course we ran into half of our neighborhood in one of the few places with power and stopped to chat a bit before going to see my mom. Scott and I managed to get quite a bit of packing done and then took mom out to lunch. Afterwards we spent a few more hours packing and hauled a few things out to the car and then dropped it off at her storage unit. On Sunday, Tom pulled out our generator and got it running for the fridges and one power strip for a lamp and to charge our phones. Also we have been practicing using our portable chargers for our cell phones. The chargers have been coming in handy. I also took advantage of the hot showers at the Y. And naturally I ran into most of our neighborhood. I spent some time catching up with the neighbors while drying my hair on the status of our power outage, and even ran into a few people I haven't seen for many years. I skipped my Girl Scout choir practice and headed over to pack up some more of mom's items. Plus move a few items into her temporary room, like clothes. I took her to church in the afternoon-just in time for the return of their power! And then we went out to dinner at Boston Market. Tom was visiting the library to get his homework done for his new class since our power was still out, and Scott finally made reservations to go see The Black Panther with his friend from school. After all that, he did not like the film.

So I was getting behind in laundry and dishes since I could not run anything with the power outage. I also had the added bonus of finding a leak under our kitchen sink during the week. Turns out Tom installed a filter for our garbage disposal with an easy access pipe connection. And the connection decided to come apart and leak under the kitchen sink. Long enough to fill up a drip tray that Tom conveniently left under the sink in case it leaked. I knew I kept hearing water dripping, but thought it was the coffee maker. No. So Tom also spent Saturday refitting the plumbing. However, it did not really matter since I could not run the dishwasher.

What a lovely week I had.

Wrapping up the end of February! Took awhile since we were out of power for 4 days recently with a strong Nor'Easter. First, a Happy Birthday shout out to Caroline and Clayton Bozyk who celebrated Feb 20!

 Allison came home for the weekend to collect some paperwork for Northrop, including her summer job tax forms and High School and College diplomas. I was very happy to have her home(as usual). She had a short visit however, coming home on Friday afternoon and returning to school Sunday afternoon. She has classes from Monday to Weds, and then likes to play Ultimate Frisbee on Thursdays. She went with me to the vets for a cat checkup for Pika. Now that she is getting much older(18), the vet likes to keep an eye on her weight. Happily she gained a bit since December. She actually has an amazing appetite, but the pancreatitis keeps her from gaining too much weight. And she never was a very big kitty anyway. Under 5lbs. So I guess I will keep feeding her chicken(her favorite besides cheese).

I also enjoyed having Allison home since she joined Tom and I at our friend's house for dinner on Saturday night. We were celebrating our friend Beth's birthday and they invited us over for a crab cake and filet mignon dinner(very tasty) and of course cake! I contributed ice cream and made some chocolate dipped strawberries. Plus I picked up some sushi as an appetizer(everything went fast it was so good!). After dinner we tried out a new game(new to us). Fibbage-an interactive tv/computer game that you play with your cell phone! It flashes questions on the tv screen and each person takes a turn filling in the blank by typing your response and voting on your phone. (Sad that we all had our phones.) You can try to answer with a real response or make up something silly. Then everyone votes for the best answer. So if you make something up and everyone votes for your answer, you earn more points!  And if you guess the right answer, you earn the most points. It was terribly funny and we had a wonderful time playing(Allison had the sneakiest answers!).

Scott missed our outing unfortunately. But he had a good reason. He was invited to his old Cub Scout Pack Blue and Gold Dinner as a guest speaker. One of the Pack Leaders saw him at work in school and asked him to come speak to the younger kids about his experience of becoming an Eagle scout. So he gave a 5 minute speech, and then was asked to judge the cake contest. He loved that the best! And I ran into the scout leader at church the next morning, and she said Scott did an awesome job.And Scott was a bit surprised to see that the Cub Scouts have already started to incorporate girls into the program(1 lone girl). Still not quite happy with the change. I think it cheats on  the Girl Scout organization.

I was busy with the Girl Scout choir program on Saturday afternoon. We were asked to sing for an opening ceremony at Girl Scout Thinking Day(a day set aside to celebrate Girl Scouts around the country and around the world). So no long program-just one song. But it gave us all the chance to practice some songs for the upcoming musical. I need the practice!

On Sunday afternoon it was just Scott and I. Tom had returned from San Diego late Friday night and was now on a plane for Scotland! He had to finish up his work from the last visit overseas when everyone left due to the Government shutdown.  He was really looking forward to returning and doing a little more sightseeing in Glasgow. He is not so crazy about visiting San Diego. He decided to stop into the zoo one afternoon when he had some extra time and was shocked to see the ticket prices are now almost $100!  Glad we visited in the past with the kids. Allison was headed back to school. So I picked up my mom and we stopped into a new store that opened on the corner called Tuesday Morning. It is a chain store and sells discount home and garden items. I actually bought two spring wreaths. I think Mom enjoyed looking at all the items, but wore herself out walking up and down the aisles. I was just filling time until dinner was ready-I had put some chicken parm in the oven before I left. We had my mom over for pasta night the weekend before. It certainly is easy to fix! And I was back on track with The Walking Dead Sunday night. Yeah!

Scott had a pretty quick week with school closed on President's Day. He enjoyed getting his homework done and spending time playing video games with his friends and going out to lunch on his day off.

Happy Paczki Day! Happy Fat Tuesday! Happy Mardis Gras! Happy Ash Wednesday!Happy Valentine's Day! That is way too many Holidays for one week!

I was so excited to see that the local grocery store was selling one of my favorite Lenten treats, thanks to Laura Hejza! Polish donuts AKA Paczkis!(pronounced Punch Keys) on Fat Tuesday. I decided to pick some up on my way to work to share them with the staff. Unfortunately, they did not have any ready. They did have a German donut equivalent which Tom and I had never heard of-Fastnacht. Which makes sense(the night of fasting), but they looked plain and boring. Not like the big, fat, jelly filled, powdered Paczki donuts I have come to love!

The bakery manager asked if he could help me out and I told him my dilemma. No problem. He said they would make up a couple of containers of donuts for me in just a few minutes! Well it took more than a few minutes since it took the bakers awhile to figure them out,  but I came out of the store with freshly baked Raspberry and Lemon filled donuts and my co workers were very excited. And so was I!

.I started my Valentine's Day/Ash Wednesday off by taking Mom B to the dentist. She has a very bad cavity, but the new dentist we have wanted to try a different treatment than drilling and filling. They have a fluoride tx that they use on children with bad teeth. It slows down the growth of the cavity, which is great, but unfortunately it turns your teeth black! Not so bad for kids if their baby teeth are falling out anyway, but most adults do not really want permanent black teeth. The dentist put a little on Mom's tooth at the gum line which is way in the back to slow down the cavity. It is not usually used on adults, so it will be a bit of an experiment. But our dentist has attended several seminars on the subject and feels comfortable that it will make a great difference for her-especially since she usually does not remember to brush her teeth!

And what a way to start off Valentine's Day! No candy for Mom! And how crazy, it was also the very first day of Lent and Ash Weds! Not Fair!  I decided to give up cakes and cookies so I could at least enjoy one of my favorite treats-Chocolate! Especially since Tom had just attended another Hershey Bear game the weekend before and brought home some fun bags of Hershey Valentine's Day candy. I shared Valentine's gifts with Scott and Tom. Scott received a pair of socks with a favorite Mario video game emblem, and Tom got a Darth Vadar Hoodie!  Tom and Scott thought I might like a computer watch, similar to the Apple watch. I mentioned that I often miss important telephone calls or emails at work since we are not supposed to have our phones out. I usually check my phone at lunch, and then again late in the afternoon. Sometimes I miss calls/emails about my mom so I thought this would be great solution. I have watched a fellow co worker use her Apple watch and thought it would work for me. Not so. First I don't have an Apple phone and the watch the boys programmed for me, the Pebble was not exactly like the Apple watch. First you have to flick your arm every time you want to see the watch face. It shuts down to save power since Apple watches have to be recharged every 8 hrs. So I was getting tendonitis in my elbow from all the flicking(and that was just in a few minutes!). At work I need to keep close tabs on time since we bill each patient for the time we spend, as well as timing patient's activities like standing tolerance. And I wash my hands alot, so it needs to be at least water resistant. Not to mention the fact that I could not read the tiny, poorly lit screen. And don't get me started on all the buttons! I had the watch disconnected from the internet in less than 1 minute! The more expensive systems are touch screen and in color and not quite as bulky. I guess it is just not my time for a Dick Tracy watch! And Tom is not an Apple product fan. But I appreciated the Valentine's Day thought! And strangely, I did not even have any chocolate that day!

I got to work a bit late, but just in time for a family meeting. And I stayed a bit later since I was in close to noon. Tom and Scott picked up some Burger King fish sandwiches for dinner, but I made salmon on Friday. Allison planned on coming home for the weekend. She wanted to attend an Ultimate Frisbee clinic on Saturday in Fredericksburg, VA. She could not talk any of her team mates into joining her. The drive from Salisbury was about 3hrs, and 1.5 hrs from our house. She tried talking some of the girls into staying at our house and then traveling down to VA for the clinic, but no takers. Instead, Allison was going to head out on her own, but I told her to skip it. We had a small snow/ice storm on Saturday afternoon and I did not want Allison stuck driving in that, even though the weather was nicer down south. So she stayed in Salisbury to get ahead on her studies. I spent the afternoon making chili. I have also been trying to reorganize the kid's old clothes and toys. Allison started us off by putting together some of her kid's toys and selling them online. First her Barbie dolls to our neighbors, and then a box of collectibles, like her My Little Pony sets to a Toy Store in Old Ellicott City. I put together a big box of kids winter coats and snow pants and sold them to the Kid's Consignment store. Now I am trying to put together Spring and Summer clothes/shoes to take in. So much easier than putting on a garage sale! And it was a good day to stay indoors and start cleaning out the storage unit in the basement. Both Tom and Scott were busy with homework.

On Sunday, it was still wet and rainy and Tom decided he wanted to see the new Black Panther movie. We could have joined Scott's High School for a private showing on Saturday afternoon, but we did not want to head out into the snow/ice storm. And Scott was not interested in attending a High School event with his parents! So we took our chances on Sunday afternoon. It was just like our first attempts to see Star Wars-it was sold out at every movie theater we went to, or sold out for the late afternoon movie times. So many of our theaters have gone to reserved seating in our area as well as the convenience of buying tickets online ahead of time. Every theater we visited was sold out for the entire afternoon. Tom even offered to drive to Salisbury to pick up Allison and catch the movie there. Scott was off school on Monday for President's Day and Tom was heading to San Diego in the morning, so no heavy schedule to worry about. However, Allison already had plans to see the movie with some friends that afternoon, so I told her to buy her tickets early! So she got to see it and enjoyed the movie. Now it is a quest for the rest of us.

On Friday, Scott was off school for a teacher inservice day. He decided to go into work both in the morning and afternoon at the AfterCare program. I was busy taking Cookie into the vet for her 8yr old check up! She passed with flying colors! And even lost a bit of weight, thanks to all the extra walks with Allison. She is definitely missing that with Allison back to school. Scott also attended his NHS meeting, although he has completed his volunteer hours for the year. He still has to attend the meetings. At least with Friday off he was able to get a jump on his weekend homework.

Happy Birthday Eric Seitz! While Eric was celebrating his 28th birthday, his new baby girl, Claire,  was celebrating her week 3! She has the most adorable outfits! I especially loved her Super Bowl outfit with the tiny cheesehead. Go Packers!

We have all been busy with school and work. Allison decided to come home this past weekend on Friday to make sure she filled out all the proper information online with Tom to accept her job offer from Northrop Grumman. Everything is done online nowadays. She finished up with her classes M-W, and then attended ultimate frisbee practice on Thursday. I was happy she came home on Friday.  I had her join me at our friend's house Friday night to attend a memorial service. Our friend Beth lost her mom a few weeks ago-she would have been 97 yrs old on Friday. Tom was going to attend with me, but he was home most of the week with a cold and fever and he did not want to share. So Allison graciously offered to come with me. First I had her help pick up a gift. I wanted to order a silver engraveable picture frame from  the Things Remembered store. I thought it would be nice for Beth to put in a photo of her mom/family and have her birth/death date enscribed. I found a beautiful hinged silver frame online, however, they only had the item in stock in the mall in Salisbury. Not to worry. I ordered it and Allison picked it up the same day before heading home. I also added some white tulips. And even Cookie was invited to the memorial service at their house, but we decided to get her cleaned up a bit before heading over. Allison and I dropped Cookie off at the groomers for a quick trim and bath(turns out not so quick). Boy she has a lot of fur and gets very fluffy when she is all brushed out! Barry, Beth's husband could not get over how poofy her ears and head were after the bath and brush out. They have Ripley, also a cavachon and she has never been that fluffy. The two dogs enjoyed each other's company while we ate dinner and sat and chatted with family members, as well as watching a photo video slide program of Beth's mom and family members. We missed the opening ceremony since we were waiting for Cookie to get groomed. Basically Beth had put together a Biography of her mom and read it out loud at the gathering along with the video. Her mom donated her body for research, so they won't receive the ashes for several years from now! Beth's father, who passed away many years ago,  was in the coast guard, flying helicopters, so the family moved around alot. I don't think they ever had a place that they really called home. We felt very special to be invited to the service.

On Saturday we decided to go out to dinner with my Mom to celebrate Allison's new job as well as to get a jump on celebrating Valentine's Day. I figured we would all be busy during the week so we might as well take advantage of everyone being home on the weekend. We had dinner at the same restaurant where we ate at for my birthday. Tom, Mom and I really enjoyed our meals, but the kids were not too impressed. Allison thinks Scott does a better job grilling!  Tough crowd. I try not to take my mom to any place too overwhelming(she gets flustered when she sees the food prices!)She is much more comfortable with Burger King(and then only gets a burger and wants to share the fries). Very thrifty!  Tom and I stopped into her apt to pick her up Saturday afternoon. I wanted to drop off an early Valentine gift. I had a wedding photo blown up and mounted on a canvas from the JCPenny Portrait studio. They had an incredible sale, and I thought it was time for Mom to have a wedding photo of her own on the wall. She and Dad always had a large photo of Gma and Gpa Bozyk's wedding photo hanging in their bedroom, so I thought she needed one of her own. I thought it turned out great considering it was a scanned, black and white photo. Tom also brought Mom a box of Hershey chocolates, and hooked up a tv antenna so you can at least pick up a few channels when we are visiting. We cancelled her cable since she was not watching the tv in her room anymore to save some money. But it is nice to have access to the tv if she gets stuck in there again with a flu/virus outbreak. She just needs someone to turn the tv on with the remote! Lastly I picked up a few new, long sleeved shirts. As the ground hog predicted, the winter is supposed to hang around for another month.

However,  Sunday it rained all day and was very foggy. I talked Allison into staying home one more day and heading back to school on Monday morning. Tom, Scott and Allison went off to the mall to shop for school rings for Allison. We were looking online for a college ring and really have not found anything we like. We actually loved the high school rings, but not as much to choose from for college. She stopped into a jewelry store to check her ring size and actually look at rings to get an idea of size and style, although they only sell high school rings. Then they headed off to the Harris Teeter grocery store for Allison to finish some research for her marketing class on Coleman meats(never heard of them). They have an organic/gluten free line. We tried the hot dogs. Tom says he will stick with the Koegel Viennas. We all agree. Meanwhile, I stayed home and made some sausage and shrimp jambalaya in advance of  Mardis Gras. I also put in an old film for Allison(I have been catching her up on some classics that I enjoy). I had her watch the football movie, Rudy. The Blue collar Indiana boy who wanted to attend Notre Dame University as well as play on their football team and did it. Also Erin Brochovich(I just love that movie!)-the Julia Roberts movie in which she portrays real life Erin B, a single mom of 3 who with no formal college training, but a gift with a photographic memory. She takes on the PGE company in California through a small law firm when they discover the plant has been poisoning the water in the area for decades and trying to cover it up. I never get tired of that movie!

And we have also started watching the Olympics. Although I missed the opening ceremony since Allison and I were at the Memorial service and Tom was not interested enough to record it. I did catch the tail ending and was amazed at the use of the drones for lit figures of athletes in the sky. Also surprised to hear John Lennon's Imagine song sung in english by Korean performers. 

I spent one evening after work at a Howard County Board meeting supporting a vote with fellow neighbors for limited growth in our county. However, after 2 hours of listening to voting for other bills, I gave up and went home for dinner(at 9pm). The Board meeting was actually running late since they started out honoring a 99 yo woman from our area who spent quite a bit of her life volunteering and working with our govt. officials and police department. Naturally there were lots of photo opps and speeches, but she was especially amazing to listen to speak since she was very well spoken and wishing everyone could just take a little time out of their day to just do something nice or give something, no matter how small, to help others out. It was all very special

, but it did push the meeting back 1 hr, and then I had to sit through a debate on how many minutes a person should be allowed to speak in front of the board vs how many minutes a group rep. should be allowed to speak in front of the board(3 vs 5 mins) and after 20 mins or so of that debate, the board could not come up with a decision and decided to table the vote for more discussion. However, they could not decide if they were tabling just that part of the bill, or the rest of the amendments and by then I had given up. Now I know why I could never stand to work in politics. So I will just have to read in the paper how they decided to vote for the limited growth discussion(if at all!). 

Happy Ground Hog's Day!  Looks like we are going to have 6 more weeks of Winter! (according to the fuzzy creature). We have not had a lot of snow here in Baltimore this winter, but it has been really cold. And we have had several ice storms. Thank goodness we have not lost our power, but Scott has missed out on school due to closings. I am sure the school district will have the kids pay for it somehow in the future to make up the days.

Scott was back to his usual schedule however at school. He also had to attend the NTHS(National Tech Honor Society) Induction Ceremony after getting off work at the After Care program early in the week. He also spent time after school during the week volunteering at the Concession stand for the Basketball games. He is now officially done with all his NHS volunteer hours. He is really moving along! Only 4 more months left of high school! And he brought home another fantastic report card of all A's!  He is busy wrapping up his Engineering project-the handicap planter. He built one by hand in class using left over scrap wood and cut each piece with a hand saw!  It turned out very nice. He is planning on staining it and he added a push handle and some hooks to hang tools off the side. Besides the protocol unit, he also has to turn in drawings to scale and building plans and reports which he has been doing on the computer. In English, his class is wrapping up The Canterbury Tales and Scott had to write a rap song with a group on the story line. They even had to present their song in front of the class. Not one of  Scott's favorite assignments, but they did a great job. Next they will be reading Hamlet and the class is headed to DC to see the play. He also went on line to sign up for housing at Western Michigan. He just saved his place in line basically. He won't be able to choose his dorm or request a type of roommate for a few months, but it is better to be at the top of the list. He is looking to move into the engineering dormitory in the Valley at  WMU. On Friday he decided it would be a good idea to get a flu shot since he works with so many little sick kids at the After Care program. So I headed over to the clinic with Scott for his shot and then we picked up dinner.

Allison also started back to her 3rd semester of Grad school with 3 classes. She was worried the most about her finance class, but turns out the Prof is teaching Excel which Allison is very comfortable with and now it seems to be her favorite class!  On Monday, before she headed back to Salisbury, she had lunch with Tom and one of his previous mentee's Nishay. Nishay is an incredibly wonderful person from Pakistan whose family has had all of us over to their historic home in Catonsville for several traditional meals. She completed the Northrop Management internship and now is a full time employee.We thought it would be helpful if Allison sat down with her for some pointers on the interview and the job description. So all 3 met for lunch at a Kabob place(which now Allison loves) to share info on Northrop and the Professional Development program(PDP). The program rotates new hires through the management department at Northrop for 1 year to get better acclimated to the company.   Allison returned home at the end of the week for her interview. It was scheduled for Thursday, Feb 1 at 4pm, but they bumped her up to 315. So she drove home in the morning, changed clothes and headed to Northrop. She arrived early and Tom and Nishay met her for a small tour and refresher on the company before Allison headed in for the interview. She did not expect to hear back for several weeks. She came home and filled out her Thank You notes, and on Friday, she received a job offer email!  And before she has even finished school! Allison reports the Interviewer thought her resume was impressive. We are all absolutely amazed at the quick response! And this was Allison's first interview! Plus she skipped an interview offer 2 years ago in Virginia with Northrop since she really was not wild on driving over 2 hours each day, there and back home. And Tom was not going to rent another apartment/hotel in Virginia just for an internship. So he was afraid they would no longer be interested in her. But she managed to earn this job all on her own merit! Well done Allison! We are so proud of you. Now comes the Acceptance email and paperwork process/salary negotiation for a Business Management Analyst 2 job position. She can even choose her own starting date, so she is looking to begin work at the end of July offered by the HR Dept. And she can work the flexible 4days, 10 hrs schedule like Tom which would give her every other Friday off. How amazing! Plus she will be working right here in Baltimore in the same building that Tom is at currently.  The extra time off  after graduation will give her the opportunity to move out of her condo in Salisbury and get a bit of a break before starting in the real world!

Allison also spent her weekend home from school volunteering for a day at Girl Scout camp. The scouts put on an overnight winter camping experience and Allison drove up for the day to Camp Conwingo to help out with the activities. She was put in charge of the GPS activity/orienteering. It was a very cold and long day, but she enjoyed being outdoors.

I spent my Saturday at work. We were extremely busy the week before since one of our therapists had a family emergency in Florida and had to travel out of the state for a few days. So we had some catching up to do on the weekend. Afterwards I stopped in for a haircut and did some grocery shopping. On Sunday we were invited to our neighbors to enjoy dinner and the Super Bowl game. Allison and I were busy cooking on Sunday morning-making brownies, chocolate chip banana muffins and Buffalo Chicken Dip.  We had a great time enjoying the game, the silly commercials and the incredible food. We could have used nicer weather though as another ice storm rolled in. Before the weather turned, I spent the afternoon at Girl Scout choir rehearsal. Looks like we are going to have a busy Spring season. I passed on singing the National Anthem for the Baltimore Blast soccer game. Not a huge soccer fan. Looks like I have some new songs to learn though.

And I was glad Tom made it home from New Hampshire before the weather turned. He just flew up for a few days of work. Looks like he will be doing a bit of traveling in the next few months. When he is home, he is busy working on his classwork for his PhD, but it looks like he is finally getting into some steady projects at work with his new position. He took a break with our friend John on Saturday evening to attend a Hershey Hockey game in PA(no win for Hershey, but fun for the boys)

I was sorry I missed my mom this weekend, but the weather was pretty lousy to go out in, and I was not home very much to stop in for a visit. If we had hosted the Super Bowl and the weather was nicer, I would have brought her over to our house. But her facility always puts on a nice Super Bowl party as well. So she was covered for festivities. We plan on taking her out to dinner with us to celebrate Allison's new job next weekend