April 23-29

Finally the big weekend for Scott's Eagle Court of Honor. I had spent countless hours beforehand researching Eagle ceremonies, typing up the program, recruiting readers for the ceremony, sending out invitations and assembling decorations including photo collages of Scott's lengthy scout career starting with Cub Scouts in the 1st grade! It was quite the project! But I really think it paid off.

We were so excited to share the experience with Tom's brother Mark and wife Linda. They arrived on Friday afternoon. I made a ham dinner for Friday night-a belated Easter meal for us. I was planning on a full house for dinner, but turns out Scott was working on a television taping with his classmates and went out to dinner. Allison was not coming home until Saturday morning to join us. She had an end of the season Ultimate frisbee potluck on Friday night. But she was able to join us for the weekend.

On Saturday after Allison got home, we all decided to take a day trip up to Gettysburg. Tom purchased bus tour tickets of the area. The tour company spent two hours driving around the park and explained the multiple day Civil War battle. We have all visited the park a few times, but this was the first time we had the event so well laid out and explained. I would still like to go back and spend time touring the new Visitor's Center. It is huge and they recommend a few hours to explore the place. We really ran out of time and energy to take it all in! And it had just starting raining hard after our bus tour wrapped up.

We drove back home and went out to dinner. It started sprinkling a bit in the afternoon, but it did not really interrupt our tour as we hopped on and off the bus to tour the park firsthand. So we made it through our tour before any heavy downpours. As usual, our local restaurants back home were packed on Saturday night along with kids out for Prom night,  and we had to wait awhile for dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings. That night, Scott was off to celebrate After Prom with his classmates! After Prom runs from midnite to 430am. Just a little busy this weekend. Scott was happy to drive himself to After Prom at our YMCA(and so were we!).  He really enjoyed spending the night participating in Bounce House obstacle courses and Dodge ball, as well as attempting to eat all the free food! Scott actually designed a Don't Drink and Drive poster for the event that won second place in a county wide contest that provided $500 towards the event! Sadly he did not even get a free tshirt or gift card for his efforts from the event. But he still had a great time and came home and slept in preparation for our Eagle event in the afternoon.

Tom, Scott and Allison meanwhile spent Sunday morning with Mark at our local park. Allison and Tom took Cookie for a long walk around the lake while Mark got in a run. I had to pack up my van with items I was taking to the Glory Days restaurant for the event in the afternoon. I had some more running around to do before the big day too. On Friday I had to drive about 40 mins to pick up a special cake from a coworkers sister. Faith is a baker and over the years we enjoyed some of her cakes and cupcakes brought in by her sister at work. So I thought it would be fun to have a custom Eagle cake. I also picked up some cookies and cupcakes from Sams Club just in case. So Friday I was off to pick up the cake, along with a quick visit to check on my Mom. On Saturday morning I was picking up the cupcakes from Sams Club before our trip to Gettysburg. On Sunday afternoon  I had to pick up my Mom. She has been living in her new apartment now for 1 week. She still had not been given a shower, and her laundry was piling up, and I had not been successful in getting her into the onsite hair salon. I spoke to the nurse and she immediately got up and gave Mom a shower and washed her hair while I picked out some clothes. I got mom dressed, curled her hair a bit, put on her makeup and away we went! We had to arrive early to set up the room.

Glory Days restaurant has a banquet room with tables and large screen tvs. They were able to turn off the music and tvs during the event. Although the guys asked that the tvs go back on during dinner so they could catch up the NHL! We set up a podium and a display table, dessert table. Glory Days set up a buffet table with chicken tenders, chicken pasta, burgers and fries, and steamed broccoli along with a soda bar. Everyone on our guest list arrived, about 30 people which included neighbors and scout members.  We had the ceremony before dinner and everyone did a great job. The food was very good and plentiful, and I thought the cannoli Eagle cake was especially tasty. Although some people were happy with the cupcakes and cookies. Turns out the Scoutmaster and Asst Scoutmaster got a sneak peak at Scott's cake since they are friends with Faith's dad. He was asking about the Eagle ceremony since he knew the men were involved in scouting, and turns out he had a photo of Scott's Eagle cake. Small world! Special thanks go out to Mark and Allison for participating in the readings and taking photos!  I had Allison read a poem about Eagles for the ending. The poem talks about the fact that when storms are near, eagles rise above them. I thought it was very appropriate for our event. And so now Scott joins a special group of Eagle scouts. (He would have been approved as an eagle scout without the ceremony, but I thought it was a nice way to celebrate the event). Most members just have their ceremonies at the church. But I heard it was hard to find an available date there to book the room, as well as the added issue of getting the food delivered or picked up and served. It was so much nicer to have someone else do all the food prep and most of the clean up. Thanks also to Linda who helped set up and clean up our decorations!  I think everyone had a good time. I just wish I could have had more time to chat with everyone, but Mom was getting ansy so I dropped her

back off to her apt and got her ready for bed. Then I was ready for bed! It was a very activity packed weekend. We just could not squeeze in the new Avengers Movie. As if!

April 16-22.

Finally we reached the big day! The day Mom Bozyk moved into her new apartment on Friday April 20. On Saturday, Tom was able to help out with a few items. Scott and I had picked up Mom's large screen tv to bring home a few days earlier from her old apt, and Tom brought over a smaller flat screen and was able to hook up an antenna for free tv in her new apartment. If not, cable is $75 per month from the facility. Tom also hung some pictures and set up the phone system. But the biggest project I needed help with was Mom's bed. I had bought her a beautiful twin bed with under mattress storage unit and a storage headboard. I was a bit worried it would be too high for mom, so I bought a bedrail to assist with getting in and out. However, it still seemed a bit too high and I worried about her all night. So on Saturday, Tom pulled the drawer unit out from under the bed and he and Scott attached a twin frame to the headboard. Much lower to the ground so mom could climb in and out. Sadly we lost the extra storage, but now I don't have to worry about Mom falling while getting in and out of bed!

The apartment looks great! Mom really likes it. She seemed to settle in pretty quickly. She is used to the daily schedule of meals in the dining room and activities. She still thinks she can do everything herself though, but I put her on for weekly showers. I also spent some time speaking to the staff to help them to get to know Mom, like the aides, nursing staff and activity staff. I also sat in on a few different activities with mom including a prayer group on Sunday, and enjoyed a sing a long during Happy Hour on Friday. And since we finally moved Mom out of the Sunrise facility on Friday, we decided to move the rest of her items from her old apartment over the weekend. We three had it cleared out in no time. Some of the items are going into Mom's storage unit for now and a few more items ended up in the new apartment. All the staff at Sunrise were so sad to see Mom leave, however, most of them never really got to see her lately since she was locked up on the 3rd floor. Mom lived at Sunrise for 4 years. So far she seems to be very happy with her new place. Now I need to get her on schedule for hair appointments and participation in more activities in the building.

I was so busy with Mom's apartment, I missed one of our GS choir events-singing at a local nursing home. We were going to put on the GS musical again. I just could not get away from working at the apartment. I did take time on Sunday however to join the GS choir at an Outdoor Event after visiting with mom. We celebrated Earth Day by singing at the GS event near our house. I was asked to come early to help with registration for the event, but I just did not have the time.

Scott had a busy week at school, but enjoyed a free day on Friday when his Physics class traveled to Six Flags Amusement Park. It is tradition for the class to attend Physics Day at the amusement park and complete a physics worksheet as well as enjoy a day on the rides. Scott was expecting warm weather and a chance to hang out at the water park area, but it was still a bit too chilly for bathing suits

. He was also expecting to get home in time to go to work, but the class decided to stay late. No worries. His boss was quite understanding.

Besides moving Mom into her new apartment, I was busy organizing Scott's upcoming Eagle Court of Honor. Tom's brother Mark and wife Linda planned on attending and staying with us, so I needed to get the house in order too! Both inside and out. Tom and Scott also worked on a project that we started last fall-trimming branches off the large maple trees along the street. Tom wanted to get some of the large branches off that were blocking the grass from growing before they sprouted all their leaves. They spent a whole day trimming and cutting up a few extremely large branches. I then posted the pile of cut wood on our neighborhood website and it was gone within a few hours! Soon it will be time to cut the grass!

So when I last left off, April 9- April 15, my van was not working and parked at Mom Bozyk's Sunrise apartment.  So on Monday morning, Tom took time before work to call and meet a tow truck for my van. He had it towed over to the nearest dealership and figured it was going to be a several thousand dollar repair. Not an easy fix like a loose oil cap. Turns out, a seal broke on my oil filter that was under recall. Toyota never bothered letting anyone know I guess because they figured the vehicles would no longer be running after 100,000 miles. So fortunately for me, the repair was free, I got a free oil change and they also caught up with the repair on my power sliding doors which also were under recall. They kept my van for 3 days, so I still got it back before the weekend, and more apt moving scheduled for my mom!

Yes, another weekend in April and more moving into Mom Bozyk's newest apartment. On Friday the College Hunk movers arrived in the morning to start loading furniture. It only took about 2 hrs to wrap and load up all the furniture. Fortunately the drive was just across the street and then another two hours to put all the furniture back into the new apartment. They also helped me place the new floor rug that Tom had ordered and was delivered to our house the night before which we put down in the sitting room before bringing in all the furniture. I was very excited to see that most of the furniture fit into the new apartment. And it looks terrific!  I spent the afternoon with Mom B again, pushing small cart loads of clothing into the apartment. And I put Mom to work again hanging it all up in the closets! Plus we took some time to meet some of the new staff. Mom's move in date was scheduled for April 20th.

I could not spend the evening with Mom since I had scheduled an outing with our friends participating in Trivia Night at church. The church youth group put on a fund raiser Trivia Pub Night. You could have up to 8 people on your team and I was happy to see it did not take much to gather 8 participants together among our group of friends. Allison even came up with a terrific team name, Team Redundancy Team. We actually were one man short! Our neighbor Gloria had to work late, so I tried talking Scott into joining us. He was not interested in spending anymore time at the school in which he works, plus he had a television project to work on. So we only had 7 team members, but it did not slow us down. Turns out we had the perfect mix of trivia knowledge between us. And we were competing against more than 100 other people that showed up that night. Allison wished she could have come home for the event, but she was off to northern Maryland for a frisbee tournament. She enjoys playing Trivia night at the local University bars. Our game was set up very similar. There were two rounds with 5 questions each, all different subjects. You bet on your answers, and pick the amount depending on much you think you have the right answer. There are also bonus points. So we got through the first round, and during intermission we played a trivia game where we had to come up with the name of movies based on posters, and match cars with commercial slogans. They announced the leader after intermission, and to our surprise, it was our team! So far we had gotten most of all of the questions right, including 100% on the intermission quiz! Next we had round two, and again we were very successful! Just one more bonus question which none of us got right! So our Team Redundancy Team Won! I was hoping for a European trip, or large cash amount, but we had to settle on Starbucks cards. Second place winners got Subway. Not sure what 3rd place won(maybe they had to clean up the cafeteria!). Especially since they served pub food during the event. And cheap beer! So we had a lot of fun and came out victorious! I pat myself on the back and take all the credit for our win since I am constantly scheduling games during our holiday get togethers! And this was all on Friday the 13th! By the way, another reason for celebrating April 13th, Sarah Bozyk's Birthday!

On Saturday I spent the morning moving items into Mom's new apartment, including clothes. I had brought home all her dishes and cups and ran them through the dishwasher. I had things to move back to Mom's apartment from the garage and from her old apartment, as well as putting items in her storage unit. I was not able to spend the whole day since Scott and I signed up to attend one of his fellow Boy Scouts Eagle Court of Honor at the local church. We wanted to attend the ceremony to get some ideas for our upcoming event, as well as to support SCott's fellow patrol member, Nathan. We really enjoyed the ceremony and their food and I got some great ideas for putting on SCott's own ceremony. I borrowed some left over court of honor supplies, but I was going to have to work out a different system for some of the candle lighting ceremonies since the troop uses two very large boards and I could not transport them to the Glory Days restaurant where Scott's program was scheduled.

On Sunday I had a little bit of time to move a few more of mom's items to her new apartment. But then in the afternoon I was off to GS camp to sing with the GS choir. The choir put together an adorable musical based on the songs from Mary Poppins. It tells the story of the Brownies-little fairies that do good deeds and clean and tidy up the house. Fortunately I did not have to memorize any music, and just sang with the chorus. The little girls did all the work by memorizing the songs and lines. They acted out the story and some very dedicated parents made adorable costumes and props. And fortunately it was not a very long performance, only about 45 mins. I really could use a break!

I kept borrowing Tom and Scott when I could to help with the move and my van. But Tom was still busy with his latest class, and Scott is slowly making it to the end of school. He had his last NHS meeting that he needed to attend. He finished all his volunteer work, so no worries. They voted for next years board members. On Thursday, Scott and I ran off to the Mall for the County Schools Art Show. One of Scott's art pieces was chosen for the display at the Mall. I loved seeing Scott's work on display, but I really enjoyed the free cookies and juice boxes too! And dinner out with Scott afterwards!

Also Happy Birthday to Sarah Bozyk on Friday the 13th(a terrific number!).

So we all had Monday off(the day after Easter). We drove Allison back to Salisbury-she had class that evening. The trip back home is also like a mini vacation. We stopped in for lunch on the eastern shore on the way back. A small diner that Allison and her frisbee team hid out in during a tornado warning on their way to Virginia beach. We actually wanted to try the homemade pie, but we were still too stuffed from all the food we ate in Williamsburg! We also enjoyed watching the dolphins swim alongside the long bridge/tunnel that joins the eastern shore to Norfolk VA along our way.

We dropped Allison off to her place, drove home and picked up Cookie from our neighbors. Scott was off school until Weds and he had the whole week off work since the Catholic school was on Spring break. Tom and I were back to work on Tuesday. I actually was signed up to work on Friday to make up for taking off Monday.  On Weds we celebrated Tom's 55th birthday. I made him lemon poppyseed scones for breakfast and when we got home we all went out to dinner at his favorite italian restaurant, Maggiones. They had a special dinner combo-appetizer/salad, two meals and dessert to share for two(plus two dinners to take home!). And of course I had a coupon!  Tom opened a few small presents at the restaurant and he finished opening gifts when we got home. Tom's big gift was a toaster oven!  Scott mentioned that Tom was talking about wanting to try out a toaster oven since our regular toaster was starting to poop out. When Scott and I visited JCPenny they had a terrific sale on their appliances, so we picked one up. Turns out it is pretty fancy with a convection oven setting too. I just think it is hysterical that Tom wanted a toaster oven. I always think of that as an old person appliance. All the residents in the retirement homes I've worked in have toaster ovens. Now I feel old. Turns out Tom and Scott absolutely love the toaster oven. Even Allison has a toaster oven and she loves hers too! It really is handy-you can heat up your food without having to wait for the big oven to preheat. Comes in handy with small portions. And it makes great toast! Who knew. Old people must be smart!  The best part of being 55 as Tom's Dad pointed out is that now Tom can live in the Retirement community in Florida! However, I don't think he plans on retiring anytime soon. Currently he is very busy with his newest class(lots of busy work!).

It was nice to go out for dinner during the week. I had a very busy schedule planned for the upcoming weekend. I was starting the move into my mom's new apartment. And I was a bit concerned as I heard a clunking sound in my van when I hit the brakes driving to work. Tom said he would take a look at it, or run it up to the local garage for a once over. He did not get to it on Thursday, so Friday morning we dropped it off at Midas before I headed to work. They really did not find anything wrong with my brakes, so at least I felt more comfortable driving. I really needed my van for the weekend. I had scheduled the start of my mom's big move and I was using my van to move some items myself.

So on Saturday morning I headed to the new apartment to wait for delivery of a new bed and couch. A few weekends earlier I stopped into Bob's furniture and picked out a twin sized bed with extra under the bed storage and headboard storage. I also picked out a comfy couch to match her recliner chair. And Tom found a beautiful persian rug for the bedroom. I wanted to get one down on the floor before setting up the bed. Now we need a bigger one for the living room area. The apt has wood laminate and is a bit noisy, but pretty. I really like this apartment. Not as fancy as the Sunrise apt, but very cozy and quiet with a nice view into a courtyard. So the furniture delivery came around lunch. I brought Scott with me to apartment sit while I ran across the street and picked up a few of mom's clothes and lamps. I have also been downsizing her items, but there still is a lot to move.  I also signed up for mom's phone service with Verizon. Apparently now you get a box like cable to hook up your phone. And if you want more than one phone you have to buy another box. Crazy. Scott helped me sign up for the service. We headed home and decided to enjoy an evening out by seeing the movie "Isle of Dogs", a japanese anime movie. Allison really wanted to see it too, but it was not playing at many movie theaters over the Easter weekend. Scott and I really liked it, Tom was not very excited. It had a lot of famous actor voices, but the humor was a bit dark and dry. Not exactly a Disney special, although the dark side kinda fits the bill.

On Sunday I decided to move some more of mom's personal items and clothes over to the apartment. I bought some bathroom towels. Tom had put up the shower curtain and assembled the shower chair. The other apartment had many of these items. This apartment was stripped down to nothing. I also moved her dishes and glassware after bringing it all home and running it through the dishwasher. She has a small kitchenette, but I don't think I will add a microwave. She really did not use hers much in the other apartment. Mostly she kept unplugging it. Messes up the clock! Mom was a real trooper. I put her to work and had her pushing a small cart loaded with clothes and dishes to her new apt. She helped hang up clothes and I checked to see if she could get into the bed! It is a bit high-I think I will order a bed rail. She likes the apartment and the building. However, she thinks it is my apartment and that I am moving in! She keeps asking if Tom is ok with it and where is his bed.

Afterwards we picked up Tom and Scott and headed out to dinner to celebrate Tom's birthday with my mom. I also wanted Tom and Scott to help move some items out of mom's apartment, including the big screen tv. After a nice dinner out, we headed over to mom's old apartment to drop her off and pick up the large screen tv. However, when I pulled into the parking lot, Tom noticed smoke and oil pouring out of my van engine!  When we popped the hood, we noticed a large pool of oil in the bottom of the engine well. Crazy. Well, so much for moving the large tv. We dropped mom off to her floor, and then called an Uber ride to get home. Guess I was right about something not working in my van! I just can't believe no alarms or warning lights came on before this.

On a better note, a Big Happy Birthday also goes out to Sandra Bozyk!

Scott-Spring Break-no work at RSPS, Busch Gardens, High School photo shoot. Allison returned to school=spring semester. Easter. Shopping for Tom's bday. (end of Lent) Pi day. Dad Seitz bday

So we come to the end of March and the beginning of April. Lots of activities scheduled this weekend. Easter arrived on April 1st(no April Fools!). All four of us celebrated in Williamsburg with a trip to Busch Gardens. Allison worked extra hard to get her homework done so she could have a few days off to join us. We actually prefer to pick her up in Salisbury and drive down to Virginia along the eastern shore(less traffic). And along our ride we watched a rocket as it was blasting off from the Wallops NASA  base! Very cool. We left on Saturday morning after dropping Cookie off to our friends house. We got to Busch Gardens around 3pm so we spent some time on the rides and visiting the shops. That evening we decided to catch a movie and dinner and watched "Ready Player One". The kids were not excited about seeing the film, but surprisingly enjoyed it!  Especially all the video game references and characters. On Sunday we headed to church-there is a beautiful Catholic church with an amazing choir which we visited before-just don't like trying to get out of the parking lot! Afterwards we enjoyed opening our Easter baskets(yeah I can have dessert again!). I was pretty good this year, but I did cheat on Pi Day with a slice of Key Lime Mango Pie. And some birthday cake for our friend Beth's celebration.  We headed back to the park and still had time to do some shopping in Old Town Williamsburg before meeting up with our neighbors for a Chinese buffet dinner. They had decided to drive down to Busch Gardens for the long weekend as well. They invited us back to their hotel suite for drinks while the kids headed back to our hotel room. We enjoyed gin and tonics while watching the live version of Jesus Christ Superstar on tv.

On Monday we all had off, except Allison had class in the evening. So we did some outlet shopping and then drove back to Salisbury. Allison was happy to buy some new clothes for her Northrop job and used her $50 gift card from the Indy car show. We picked up Gift cards from the Ford dealership after signing up for test drives. Funny thing is in Maryland you don't actually have to test drive the car to get the gift card!

Scott was officially on Spring Break starting on Friday. I started his holiday off with a visit to the doctor to get an immunization shot and a physical. Then on Friday I dragged him off to  the mall to visit the photo studio to get his graduation pictures  at the JCPenny studio(I had a gift card) and to do some birthday shopping for Tom's birthday and go out to lunch. We had a great time and got alot done, although Scott was not too excited about the photo shoot. I met him at the mall after stopping into my mom's new apartment complex to pick up the keys, visit the room  and sign the lease. Scott was mostly happy that he had the day off school and did not have to work.  I say a few days because they took away 3 of the students vacation days to make up for snow days. So he was back to school on Weds. Many of the kids were not at school since parents had already made vacation plans months ago. Scott did mind going back to school since he was able to get ahead in a few classes, especially Physics. He even had a quiz that week! All the other kids would have to make up the work. As it is, the classes are all behind because of all the days off due to bad weather.

Allison was just busy with classes and projects with an occasional frisbee practice break. So she really appreciated the break from studying and group projects.

Happy Birthday to Dad Seitz who celebrated his big day on March 29th!

Almost caught up! So Allison was home for the week to enjoy her Spring break in March. She was just happy not to have to worry about homework or schedules. We were also celebrating the First Day of Spring!  Last year Spring came early in February as the weather warmed and lots of flowers and trees were blooming by then. This year it has been chilly, and we actually had a big snow storm on the first day of Spring!

So once again the schools were all closed for several days. We did not just have snow, but lots of ice too. And lots of car accidents. I was supposed to go with the kids for a preliminary oral surgery appointment to have their wisdom teeth removed. I left work early in the snow/ice storm on Tuesday, but when I got home, the clinic had already called to cancel appointments for the rest of the day. Even Scott got out of school early. Scott and Tom were planning on traveling to Kalamazoo for an orientation day for Scott at Western over the upcoming weekend. In order to get a non stop flight up to Grand Rapids they had to leave the day before Orientation at noon. Since the weather had turned, we did not know if their flight was going to be cancelled. Fortunately that did not happen. Their flight was right on scheduled on Thursday. They flew up to Grand Rapids, about a 1 hour flight. They rented a car and drove down to Kzoo, about another hour of travel. They had time to shop at the University bookstore and then attend a Freshman mixer in the evening that I signed them both up for at a local Bowling Alley(similar to a Dave and Busters called the Revel and Roll). They had snacks and coney dogs and did some bowling. They also got some insider tips on planning their Orientation Day on Friday. And one of the girls working the event wouldn't leave Scott alone! Tom finally invited her to bowl with them. And she actually gave them the good tips on getting through the system.

They showed up early for Orientation and walked right in and got to all the stations before the big crowds arrived. Thanks orientation girl!  Primarily Scott was able to get his college photo  ID and make sure he is scheduled for his 2 day orientation  in June. Then he will actually sign up for his classes and get his dorm room assignment. Scott and Tom then  spent the afternoon visiting the Engineering building and met with one of the advisors to talk about the Manufacturing Engineering program and the classes Scott will be taking. They visited the engineer dorm and enjoyed lunch in the new Valley dining hall nearby. Tom was especially impressed with the food choices(not like when we went to school!). Apparently it has an even bigger Food Court set up than Salisbury and lots of terrific menu choices. They also had time to tour a bit of Kalamazoo and have dinner at one of the downtown taverns. And they  spent more time shopping at the bookstore since they were given coupons to buy more Western souvenirs. Overall they both had a wonderful visit and were very productive. They finished up their evening with a movie-Tomb Raider.  So Scott ended up missing only one day of school and work on Friday since everything was closed on Thursday because of the weather.  They flew home on Saturday afternoon after visiting the zoo in Grand Rapids. And Tom took Cookie back to the groomers to take "a little more off the top". She was still looking a bit shaggy. I just couldn't convince him to get her picture with the Easter Bunny at PetSmart(Cookie, like the kids, hates mascots dressed in crazy suits!).

I was expecting to spend the weekend home alone since Allison was scheduled to attend a Frisbee tournament in York PA. Unfortunately for her, they had to cancel the tournament because of all the snow! So instead she was home with me. We enjoyed my water aerobics class in the morning, and did some shopping. We also had to drop off Cookie for her spring trim and pick her up and then we headed over to my mom's apartment to pack up some items.  We then took mom over for her assessment for the new facility. I was hoping to also sign the lease, but unfortunately we could only meet with the nurse. They needed to determine how much assistance Mom is going to need and decided she should move to their 3rd floor medical unit. This floor is not locked, however, Mom will have to wear a bracelet to keep her from accessing the elevators on her own and attempting to leave the building. I think it will be better for her to have more freedom and a bigger, cozier apartment than she currently has on the locked unit in her Sunrise building. And I think we will also enjoy visiting her there. Most of the other residents on that floor have medical conditions and are confined to wheelchairs or using walkers and need more physical assistance. Fortunately Mom does not need as much physical help. The facility is not as fancy-it has been around much longer. But they seem to have quite an extensive amount of activities since it is a much bigger place. I actually think she could easily get lost in the building, so it is probably better that she remain on one floor. So next week I am supposed to meet with the business office to sign the lease and get the paperwork completed. Also Mom needs a chest xray or TB test before moving into the facility.

So on Saturday afternoon I picked Mom up after a wonderful Spring brunch at Sunrise and we went to see the High School's musical together. I had already seen Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat with Allison and her friend Jen and their family, and I thought Mom would really enjoy it too. Plus they had added more shows since the snow days cancelled their evening shows during the week. We had great seats in the auditorium for the matinee show, it wasn't too crowded(the price is always right) and Mom really seemed to enjoy it!  When we returned to her current apt, I discovered that an xray technician was waiting for us to complete Mom's chest xray! So I got her settled in her room, got the xray and she decided to stay in bed and take a nap before dinner! I really wore her out!

On Sunday, Allison and I had a GS planning meeting to attend. We will be working at an upcoming GS Spring Jamboree camping weekend the first of May, so the team has been meeting to plan activities and food. I was glad Allison was at home to attend the meeting with me. She will be supervising archery and I am helping out with arts and crafts. But on Monday Allison had to head back to school.

On a sad note, I wanted to mention that my best friend, Laura H., lost her mother to heart failure. Rita Cerankowski, 88, was a wonderful woman and mother. Laura's father passed away many years ago, so her mom was living with Laura's brother in their Detroit home. She even tried moving in with Laura and her family when her health began declining, but missed being back in her own place and moved back! We always enjoyed visiting with her and the family when we were in Michigan and traveling through the Detroit area. She was such an active person-loved the Detroit Tigers and the Red Wings and often attended games. She was a Wayne State Grad and had worked as a Lab Technician. And very involved in her church and with the Polish Dance Group, sewing costumes and teaching/managing. I was excited to hear that Laura had taken over the management of their Polish dance group several years ago after teaching and dancing with them herself. I am sure her mom was very proud! We will all miss her Laura and Hejza family!

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.