My brain is fried. I had to increase my new blood pressure medicine last week. Fortunately I can email my doctor and was able to get a message from her the same day to start doubling my dose. Now I am trying to get used to a new medication. This beta blocker seems to work better for me, but I am still adjusting. Hopefully I will be adjusted enough when Allison and I leave on Weds for Europe. Not sure if this is going to be a relaxing vacation, but I will make the most of it!

I say my brain is fried. I dropped SCott and his friend off for an end of the school year party at Allison's Sports club Friday night. They were supposed to have the run of the Sports Club complete with swimming, rollerblading, rock wall climbing, raquetball and pizza and door prizes. Unfortunately, I failed to see the small print that said the boys had to preregister the week before for the event. Scott and his friend made the best of it by spending the evening rollerblading and then came home for a sleepover and a movie.

I also managed to burn our Father's Day rib dinner. I had to make two batches and we were having dinner on Saturday night as Tom and Allison were headed down to her school Sunday afternoon to register for classes. I cooked dinner for Allison early since she had to work Saturday night. Tom was busy cutting the grass so I didn't get the ribs on the grill until late. I got distracted looking up prerequisite classes for Allison for the business school, and the next thing I knew Tom was ordering pizza to replace the charcoal briquettes that used to be ribs. How sad. Tom also spent Saturday morning buying new tires for my van. I did not realize how really bad they had worn down-guess that happens with All Wheel Drive more frequently. Thank goodness Costco had the tires in stock. There went my first pay check. At least I made it through work last week.

And I have been busy with last minute preparations for our trip, including calling the banks and picking up Euros for our tour guide tip money. Allison  needed some supplies and clothes, plus a hair cut so I kept her busy Friday and Saturday afternoon.  Allison worked Friday and SAturday night.She also finished her piano lessons for the year. And visited the nature center to look over the mounting system for her bird statues with the manager. He wants galvanized screws. I had hoped she would be getting the birds actually on the trees since she will be out of town now. Sadly, everyone was too busy to help her out from the nature center. It should not take too long to mount the birds once they decide where. Allison and I were also busy with our last girl scout choir performance at a local nursing home. Afterwards we had our business meeting and awards. The photo is a shot of all our Senior Girl SCouts in the the choir. Too bad they are talking about taking the choir to another level and looking to send girls to New York and overseas to perform in the future. Maybe Allison and I can chaperone!Scott was busy too with his boy scout award meeting. He entered the baking contest and submitted bacon brownie chocolate chip cookie dough bars. Yes bacon. Sadly he only took 3rd place but I think it was because none of the judges actually tasted them. They were surprisingly very good. Especially with ice cream and chocolate sauce/caramel sauce and whipped cream! The scoutmaster took the first taste! He had seconds! Scott also attended his Patrol Leader meeting. Since he is out of school I have put him to work on his badges as well. He will be going off to boy scout summer camp soon. 

Tom was off to Chicago last week teaching a class. He did not have time to sight see but did enjoy watching the Blackhawks at a local bar in the Stanley Cup-last week's overtime ran until about 2am with 3 periods! Even Allison stayed up to watch! For Father's Day, we picked him up a WAshington's CApital's hockey polo shirt, even though they did not make the playoffs. He also got a new grilling book(maybe I should have read it!), some wine and steak jerky and a guide to local Baltimore restaurants. We never seem to know where to go out to eat when we are in Baltimore, or any of the history of the restaurants. Just an excuse to try new things, especially when guests come to visit! Anyhow, Tom liked his shirt the best! And he didn't even notice the bad weather they had in Chicago. They showed a photo of lightning hitting the Sears tower. And then all that bad weather hit us with a few small tornadoes in the area. Right when Allison was headed home from piano!

Tom spent his FAther's Day driving with Allison down to the Ocean and to her University. They had an all day parent/new student orientation that started at 8am on Monday. Early Monday morning I received an email that said Allison had been accepted into the Business Honors dorm. Only 24 students are chosen for this program out of 100s of applicants. She will live on a dorm floor with business students, and has a few classes in the dorm itself. By the end of the day she had her pre business classes set up for the Fall-Economics, Calculus, Computers, Information Systems, and World Civilizations. Tom was overwhelmed with info, and I think Allison was too. But most importantly, they both loved the food!  And shopping at the bookstore. And shopping at the outlet mall. They also enjoyed a stroll down the boardwalk in Ocean City and caught the Superman movie.

It was more togetherness when Tom took Tuesday off to take Allison and her girlfriends, plus Scott to 6 Flags Amusement Park. Allison wanted to spend some time with her younger high school friends before she goes off to college. She was going to take them, but their moms wouldn't let Allison drive alone. So Tom chaperoned. Tom is not crazy about this park, and it was not the nicest day to visit the park. It rained most of the afternoon, and the park shut down at 4pm. Scott enjoyed trying out the waterpark though. And they did get all the big rollercoaster rides in since most everyone left early. Plus Allison tried out a new, scary rollercoaster-The Batwing(batman theme). And they came home early and watched a movie and had pizza. More time together than during the school year. By the way Susan, didn't I tell you that Water Country USA was the best water park I had ever been to? We got your phone message. Although Scott seemed to enjoy the water park at 6 Flags too.

So Allison and I are off on our Girl Scout Adventure to Europe on WEds. We will be returning home the following Friday. Be ready for lots of info and photos of London, Paris, Florence and Rome. Tom wants me to drive  to the DC airport so we have a car handy when we get back(and so he does not have to deal with the DC beltway I think). I just wish they had flown us out of BWI, but I think the timing was not right to meet up with our group. It consists of girls from all over the country-mostly the west coast. Should be amazing. I even picked up some Maryland patches to swap with girl scouts at the World Headquarters in London. See you all soon!

So Tom returned from San Francisco early Saturday morning. He even had a chance to pick me up a Denver Starbucks mug since his flight was diverted. He arrived home

just in time for the two of us to go lawn mower shopping and get the grass cut before all the rain came. During the week Scott and I tried to get the old mower working so we could finish cutting the backyard. Tom was having trouble keeping the mower going last weekend and the rain did not help so we did not finish cutting the grass.  By Tuesday I got the mower working again and started on the jungle in the back. It proved to be too much for our poor old mower and it actually blew up! No starting it up again with a hole in the engine block! So Tom and I dropped it off to a scrap metal fund raiser collection for the football team at the high school and picked up a new push mower that we both like. Tom had to cut the lawn twice since it was so overgrown and wet, but he reports the new mower is so much better. I am sure the kids and I will have plenty of time to try it out.

While he was busy cutting the grass, I went off to get my hair cut and highlighted. Now I am ready for the summer! I have also been working with Scott on his Social Studies power point project on Madagascar, as well as a few other homework/test studying activities. He was off school on Weds and we spent the whole day working on school projects. I was not as helpful to Allison however. Her Physics mouse trap project was failing and was due Thursday. She was in a panic. She and her teammate had built the project mostly out of cardboard, so the more they ran it, the more it fell apart. I knew she needed some PVC piping, but I was off with Scott Weds night to a boy scout field trip to our county emergency center. Since Tom was out of town, I quickly gave my neighbor Dan a call. He came to Allison's rescue with a hacksaw after I located some plastic pipes and it was a miracle!  The project worked the first time Thursday morning in Physics class, and Allison not only got full credit, but extra credit for keeping the whole thing within a small base! Basically the project involved using 4 different simple machines(pulleys, hinges, etc) to make something happen. Her project turned on a light switch. So life is good and thank you Mr Dan!

Meanwhile, Scott and I were touring the 911 center for our county which was very interesting. We even got to hear a call come in for a fire. ON Thursday and Friday night we were off with the scouts once again, this time volunteering to assist with the hot air balloon festival in honor of the Preakness Horse Race this past weekend. (Sorry the Indy time trials were preempted Mark!) Our local golf resort puts on the fair with about a dozen balloons set up out on the course. You can get a ride up in the balloons, or they take off for a flight. Mainly we were helping keep the balloons grounded that would glow when the sun went down. On Thursday night the wind was blowing too strong, so we had to let our balloon deflate. I thought we would be holding onto guide ropes. We actually had to cling to the basket(really made out of wicker!) to keep the balloons on the ground. We also had to help inflate/deflate and pack and unpack the very heavy balloons. Friday we were able to keep the balloon up and enjoyed watching all the balloons glow at sunset. And it was interesting speaking to the balloon operator as he was from Battle Creek, Mi and travels all around the country for the different hot air balloon festivals.  I didn't realize how hard this job really was and how toasty it is under the blower! Boy was I sore after all that work! Mainly because I had just had a few shots Friday morning in prep for our European trip. (Those tetanus shots really hurt!) But Scott said he would do it again next year!

On Saturday afternoon he had his last golf lesson-a make up since it rained last weekend. He really enjoyed the lesson since they actually went out on the course and he got his first Birdie!  Too bad we didn't have time to get to his swim lessons this week.

On Sunday Tom and I took the kids to see the new Star Trek movie. Tom and I loved it, and the kids did too, but they sure have a lot of catching up to do! Between the Wrath of Kahn and The Trouble with Tribbles we could spend a whole summer doing Star Trek! We will make them little Trekkies yet! And Sunday evening we were busy being geeks again when Tom and Scott visited some friends to help their son set up a new computer system. I was not planning on getting involved, but I had to deliver some software for Tom to the house, so I took advantage of my visit with a glass of wine and some snacks. 

Allison meanwhile finished up her last official week of classes and her internship with the Kindergarteners. She enjoyed her last visit chaperoning a trip to the Baltimore zoo. Good thing she went since she is so familiar with the zoo she was able to guide the teachers and the kids around. They thankfully had a beautiful day, but she had to get home to go to work that night. And the kids and teachers gave her a big send off with really cute cards, gift cards to Target and the Salisbury bookstore, a necklace and keychainr and one child even made her a decoupage wooden box covered in Salisbury University pictures/High School pictures and Grade school pictures. Allison can't wait to take it to school. I just registered her for her college orientation this June. Tom will take her to campus for the whole day to register for fall classes and for an orientation program for parents and kids just before we head to Europe. I also had to mail off her immunizations for school, but she still needs a few more shots before she goes in the fall. So now she just has to get through finals week and practice for graduation.

I continue to keep myself very busy at Scott's school and around the house. Last Monday afternoon I was busy helping decorate the school cafeteria for the choir/band reception. Monday night I attended SCott's choir and band concert at his school. Allison got a chance to hear them during her internship. I am still running items up to the kids resale shop as I clean out closets and the garage. I just sold the kids old plastic wagon that we had since Allison was born! Since I have my fancy new folding wagon for camping, I did not need the bulky plastic one. I also managed to get all my flowers planted and sent out all of Allison's graduation announcements. Never a dull moment. I also had heard some sad news from my previous co workers. Our secretary's 26 year old son passed away, probably from an overdose. He had issues. I found out too late to attend the wake or funeral, so I will probably just send flowers and a card. We had some other sad news in our town concerning two special ed students from Allison's high school. Seems the 14 yo girl asked her 19 yo boyfriend to kill her father here in Ellicott City. I guess he was divorced and remarrying. Looks like his daughter wasn't too fond of the idea. Crazy world. And sadly we lost one of our hermit crabs. He had just shed his skin, but didn't make it. Boy did that smell!

Here are some photos from last week's activities, including Allison's physics project(it really worked!). Working with the boy scouts at the balloon festival. Scott rolled down the balloon to help deflate before rolling it up and stuffing it into a bag. He climbed up on the basket and we held it down too! We worked on two balloons "Stinky" and the "Purple People Eater". Scouts at the 911 center and the School Band/choir concert reception. I attempted to include a video clip of the kids singing. Hopefully it works!


On a happier note, a big Happy Birthday goes out to Stacey Seitz! And glad to hear Mark Seitz is feeling better after another medical issue. Once again, sorry about the horse racing Mark. I see the Kentucky Derby winner, Orb, came in 4th. Too bad. But the 50 yo jockey won our Maryland Preakness! Good for him.

Happy Mother's Day!!!!  Tom took off for San Jose, CA early this morning. Scott took me out to breakfast after serving mass this morning as an altar server. I think he has served every Mother's Day mass. Allison was busy this morning with her classmate finishing up her physics project that looks like a motorized Mouse Trap game. She has spent the weekend finishing up projects, doing homework and studying for upcoming tests. She has 3 more weeks of school and Scott has 4.

I was hoping Allison would have spent this weekend working on her Girl SCout Gold Award project. She needs Tom's help mounting her wooden bird models along the nature trail. I took Tom over to the nature center on Friday since he had just returned from his trip to Salt Lake City. I wanted to pick up the bird models for Allison and have Tom talk to the nature center manager to determine the best way to attach the wooden models to the trees. Turns out the nature center is making this project a lot more complicated. First Allison needs to coat her bird models with polyurethane and they recommend a week to dry, so no mounting of the bird models this weekend. I was a bit concerned that Allison needed to get this project done before her 18th birthday just like the boy scouts. Turns out she has until Sept 30th of this year to finish, so not as much of a rush. The nature center would like Allison to teach her classes during their July summer camps for the Kindergartners, so we have plenty of time. Allison has her presentation made up and just needs to print up a brochure for the trail portion of her bird education program.

Instead, this week she was busy finishing up some of her school projects. She had turned in her research paper and posterboard for her work completed at Resurrection with the Kindergartners-assessing test taking with computers vs paper/pencil. On Thursday night they had a Research Fair she attended with her Kindergartner Teacher/Mentor present. Tom got home early enough on Thursday night to run up to the school with me to check out all the projects. Tom was busy grilling all the kids on their supposed research projects(some kids just look up information rather than actually carry out research like Allison did). Tom thinks our elementary school kids at the catholic school did a better job with their science research than some of the high school kids. And of course, Allison did a great job on her research and her presentation.

The night before the two of us were at the GS board meeting/dinner. Allison received recognition as a graduating girl scout, and we had to sing at the event with the GS choir. The choir also won a recognition for all our performances. Allison went up to receive that award. And we laughed during the board meeting end of year review video as they used 3 different pictures of Allison in the presentation. And of course we spotted her photo in a GS brochure doing archery(again). Allison wants royalty payments!

I had to get Scott a ride to his boy scout meeting that night. He was just happy he did not have to participate in any service projects this weekend. (That is next weekend). I have also been busy helping him work on a power point presentation on Madagascar for his last assignment in Social Studies. But he also had a lot of tests to review for last week. We didn't make swim lessons on Thursday night because he was busy studying while Tom and I were off to Allison's presentation. Instead he went Saturday since it has been raining and storming this past week and golf was cancelled. I hope he gets a make up class since he was looking forward to going out on the course this last lesson. I told Tom he should sign up for the BS golf merit badge!

On Friday Tom and I had a play date. We finally got to see Iron Man 3(very good!). Afterwards we had lunch at Cheesecake Factory and shopped at LLBean that is closing in the mall. Scott needed a new book bag(couldn't make it to the end of the year!). Everything was on sale. We also went out shopping for a new push lawn mower but we can't settle on one that we both like and can use! Tom managed to get part of the lawn cut before the storms hit this weekend, but the mower is slowly dying. Has been for years now. Scott and I tried to start it this weekend to finish up, but we couldn't get it to roll over. I should invest in goats!

I also went back for another 2.5 hour session with the endodontist last week. She is determined to fix my tooth, but I now think it is a lost cause. We have 1 more session left, but she hasn't been able to get rid of the tooth sensitivity and I don't think she can. Mainly she just has to redo the root canal and close it up. Guess I will have to live with it, but at least it doesn't need pulled! I also had an online medical appointment with the traveling nurse. I wanted to make sure Allison and I had all our vaccinations before we went to Europe. It appears that Allison is covered, but I need a tetanus shot which I will get this coming week. The traveling nurse was jealous and wanted to come along on our trip! I did not make it back to the gym last week-just when I thought I was feeling better, I wasn't. Thank goodness Cookie gets a walk everyday!

Instead I did manage to make the kids mass this past Weds for the Crowning of Mary. They also have the 2nd grade class come dressed in their 1st communion outfits(very cute). And they had donuts and coffee before school to celebrate Mother's Day. Nice to be able to attend for a change. See all the fun I am having! I have also been busy cleaning our carpets with my new toy(Tom says Mother's Day gift). The Spot Bot by Bissell. A motorized small rug cleaner. It is great for kid and pet spills and spots. I was just sad I actually missed our neighborhood garage sale. They did not put out many signs, and I had given up on our web page since it was last updated in Oct. Guess they updated it cause the sale was on Saturday. I just did not have enough time to haul everything out of the closets to the garage! Guess it is back to the resale shop.

So another big Happy Birthday Wish-This time it goes out to Mark Seitz! 

Here are some photos of SCott at school on Mom's Day as well as Altar SErving. Allison working on her GS project as well as with her Kindergarten teacher mentor at the Research FAir and at the GS Board meeting with the Head of the Board, Sheela Murthy. 

Hope everyone has a great week!

I never realized just how busy my life was without going to work every day! I spent all last week running back and forth to the kids resale shop selling Scott and Allison's spring clothes that they outgrew. I managed to make over $100 and clean out their closets and drawers as well! And when I wasn't running to the resale shop, I was packing up extra clothing for a collection at church this past weekend. Not to mention all the errands I was trying to get caught up on like trips to the dry cleaner and returning items to several different stores. I also had to get a blood test for my new job.

I also spent some time shopping for a new wardrobe for the European trip scheduled this coming June! I can't believe it is just around the corner. And so is the trip I plan on taking to Michigan this summer with the Girl Scout troop. I was busy making reservations at the Cedar Point hotel, Castaway Bay which is an indoor water park. We will spend one night there at the end of July and then on to Cedar Point for a day before heading to Michigan and Charlevoix. I am hoping to spend a day with the girls at Mackinac Island as well. So that pretty much used up all our cookie money!

But before we get to the summer months, there is still a lot to do! Like Spring cleaning. I am amazed how behind I have gotten in my housework. Of course there is the everyday dishes and laundry and a quick wipedown. But real heavy duty cleaning takes a lot of work and time! I also got back to my swim aerobics class at the Y. And I even took time to attend the kids mass at Scott's school. Naturally, I went and caught the kid's cold too so I have been moving at half speed.

Allison was winding down from her bad cold, but I had to take her to the doctor for eye drops since she got a terrible case of pink eye. Can't work with the Kindergarteners like that! Fortunately, she was off on Thursday(Teacher Education Day) although she still had to work. And on Friday she attended National Physics Day at Six Flags Amusement Park with her high school class. Even though Allison is not big into riding coasters, she does enjoy their old wooden coaster which she rode several times. And anything that spins in a circle is good with her. She also had to fill out a physics worksheet-F=MA and all that. And they got a cool tshirt. There were other activities going on like science experiments and an egg drop, but the kids were busy mostly with the rides. Overall she had a great time, even though they had to go to class earlier in the morning as the park did not open until 10am.

But her big day was on Saturday, Prom night. She got her nails done in the morning before heading to work that afternoon. Afterwards she ran home and changed, and I took her up to our Golf course resort down the street so she and 22 other kids in her group could get photos! They wanted to use a gazebo, but there were already 2 outdoor weddings taking place and another monstrous group of prom goers taking photos by the swans. We got the goose pond instead and had to dodge golf balls out on the course! She then joined 15 other kids for a limo ride to a local restaurant, and then down to our Aquarium where they held the prom. She would have enjoyed walking around the aquarium, but it only stayed open for an hour and they were off eating dinner. They did get to enjoy the dolphin and jellyfish tanks though during the event. Around midnite, the limo dropped them off at the YMCA for the after prom party until 430am. Fortunately, Allison got a ride home so Tom and I did not have to get up early and go get her. But neither one of us slept well waiting to see if she still needed a ride home. Allison however slept very well most of the day on Sunday, but then she had to attend a GS summer camp organizational meeting in the evening. Not to mention getting caught up on homework and facebook!

We were also busy this past week with a girl scout event at a local country club honoring previous and current award winning women entrepreneurs at the GS Distinguished Women's Event. Allison was chosen last year to follow a business woman around her chemical company for the day. This year her mentor, Mrs Partlow,  paid for both Allison and myself to attend the fund raiser event with her and her family and to hear the experiences of this year's  newly chosen girl scouts. I see Allison manged to get her picture in their program booklet again(teaching archery) as well as getting a big hug and complement from one of the girl presenters on how awesome Allison is as the ultimate girl scout.

And since Tom was off to San Francisco for the week, I filled in at Boy Scouts. I attended a very long parents meeting on Monday night and joined SCott at his meeting on Weds night. Scott managed to finish up his Communication badge(another Eagle badge-Yeah!). He also spent his Saturday morning putting down mulch at his Scout's parish church with Tom. Service hours. Afterwards I ran him up to his golf lesson. Scott reported he did not have enough time to hit some golf balls on the range, so the two of us got out our 7 irons and hit a bucket of balls. I can't even remember the last time I picked up a golf club, but it actually felt pretty good to get in some nice swings. Guess all those lessons paid off! And SCott got a few tips on his swing from a fellow golfer on the range. His service hours spread into a half day at school when the kids headed out to a local park to plant trees on a rainy day. They came back full of mud. Maybe not a great school event!

And since Spring hit us hard, we have been busy again with our yard work. Scott had a half day of school on Friday. His school spent the morning participating in Field Day-outdoor games-which they usually do every spring. This year was a bit early. I was surprised they didn't need any more volunteers. I also would have signed up for Allison's trip to the amusement park or to her After Prom event, but she gets too embarrassed to have mom around. Anyway, we put Scott to work cutting the lawn along with Tom while I raked leaves out of the flower beds(again!).

Enjoy the prom photos and Allison with Jeannette Partlow at the GS Event.

I decided to start my midlife crisis early this year. I was let go from my OT job at the retirement community. It would appear that our new administration and myself came to irreconcilable differences. Which is fine with me since they were pushing me to go to a 5 day+ work week, stopped paying me for holidays, overtime and took away the monthly volunteer paid time off(without really telling anyone). I usually found out afterwards on my time card. So it actually seems to have been a good thing.

I had the chance to look into other job openings and found a new position with a health care contract company in a nearby nursing home, working the hours I want with a raise and paid everything(holidays, overtime). And I only have to work 32 hours to be considered a full time employee with full time benefits(not available at my last job). So I start orientation in May and we move into the nursing home facility on June 1st.  I am looking forward to a lot less stress and the excitement of starting with a new company that actually seems to care about their staff.

So I had an interview last Friday and was hired the following Saturday. To celebrate with my extra time off, I decided to make an appointment with an endodontist. I had been waiting to see someone about my previous root canal that was still bothering me. After 3.5 hours in the dentist chair, the endodontist decided she was not quite sure what was up, but noticed that my roots pretty much run up into my skull! So she is trying to treat my tooth with some type of medication/steroid for the roots that were missed, and I go back in a month. It actually already feels better. It was my poor jaw that suffered the most after being pried open for over 3 hours!And the best thing is, she did not crack my crown.(yet).

So much fun! But life goes on. Tom was out of town the first week, so I was busy running around with the kids(boy scouts mostly). I had to help Tom and Scott pack up for their Bike/Hike weekend. And Scott decided to cook for his Cooking merit badge, so we needed to make up a menu and buy supplies. We also had to pick up all the scout gear(tents/tables and cooking supplies). I actually missed my girl scout leader meeting so I could attend Scott's boy scout meeting and pick up camping gear. Tom returned home from LA on Thursday night, so he had plenty of time to shop for supplies and  pack the van before heading off to Western Maryland on Friday afternoon. I also had to pick out a bike for Scott since he outgrew his last bike. He ended up riding my bike! Tom opted for the hike. They strolled/rode up and down the C and O canal with Scott's group biking 20 miles and they had a very nice weekend. (Scott's butt is still sore from his ride though).

As soon as they returned home on Sunday, they were both busy assembling SCott's Science Fair project. Tom was organizing the Science Fair at Scott's school again(one more year to go). This year they added an engineering challenge including building a light weight bridge that was strong enough to withstand added weight. Scott's foam design took 1st place in his grade level and 1st place overall in the science fair(out of 30 projects submitted). He got a nice trophy, certificate and $50 gift card(thanks to Tom). Which he quickly spent on a new video game.

The science fair was on a Weds night(boy scout night), so I had to stand in for both Scott and Tom at Boy Scouts since the troop was participating in a food drive and Scott is the Patrol Leader and Tom was the Patrol Adviser. On Weds night I took out 5 boys and we passed out bags to the nearby neighborhood. On Saturday morning, Tom and Scott picked up the bags full of food. Right before I ran SCott up to his golf lesson. He wants to pick up some type of sport(swimming is a huge commitment) and he really enjoys golf. But he hasn't had lessons since 2nd grade, so we decided to have him brush up on his skills. He had a great time and is looking forward to his upcoming lessons and actually getting out on the course. But he will probably continue with his swimming lessons at the Y as well since he really enjoys that too!

While Tom and Scott were off camping, Allison and I were busy picking up her Prom accessories. Her big day is next weekend. She needed some jewelry, shoes and undergarments so we hit the mall. Right after working on her Girl Scout project at the nature center. We walked the trail and marked her bird locations. Now she just needs the staff approval before mounting the bird models(probably with Tom's help if he can stay home long enough!).  We also had our own Girl SCout activities that weekend. Allison worked a Girl Scout Up All Night event at the roller blade rink, getting off work around 2am. The next day we were off singing with the choir at our local GS camp for a yearly Outdoor Earth Day event. And Allison has started her orientation for GS summer camp. She is volunteering again this year on the archery range.

Tom is off to San Francisco this week. Before he left though we celebrated his 50th birthday with neighbors on Saturday. I had set up a Food Tour in Baltimore as one of his Birthday gifts. I wanted a special birthday party without having to do all the work. Our group met in Little Italy in downtown Baltimore. Our hostess gave us some insight into the history of the area and we were off to several restaurants to sample their specialties. We actually started out at a jewish deli opened in 1915 on the edge of Little Italy(and the corned beef was lean!). Next to a very italian restaurant owned by Anthony Gambino for meatballs and wine. Afterwards to a wine bar for wine tasting and antipasto. But the last stop was the best as it included a large plate of Borghanese pasta, an enormous cappuccino and our favorite, Tiramisu for dessert. (Supposedly the birthplace of Tiramisu). And as if we did not have enough to eat and drink, everyone came over to our house for drinks, snacks and a few more desserts(which was eaten mostly by the kids). Tom even took home a few gifts including a very large RAvens beer tankard, a restaurant gift card and his own whiskey making kit(complete with barrels!). A nice way to end our weekend together.

On Sunday morning I whisked Allison off for her Senior portraits. They turned out great! Afterwards we ran home to pick up a few girl scouts to attend a high school musical starring one of my girl scouts. She was the lead in Legally Blonde at her catholic all girls high school. We enjoyed the show, even though it was about 3 hours long! Guess we got our money's worth. And now Allison can say she attended a high school musical(even though it wasn't her high school!).

And then there was the whole Boston bombing last week. It was eerie waking up to hear all the craziness on the news that went on at MIT and Cambridge, Harvard and Watertown. That was our backyard for several years when we lived in Belmont, MA while Tom was going to school. And to even have had the experience to enjoy the Boston Marathon first hand when Tom's brother Mark ran in it on Patriots Day. We were just grateful that all our friends up there are doing OK.
 
So I am sure I will be busy doing Spring Cleaning with my spare time until I am back to work(which I already started by cleaning out the clothes that the kids have outgrown and taking them over to the resale shop).

So wish me luck on my life do over! Kathleen

Here are my girl scouts at the play.   Our Saturday night dinner tour stopping by the Flag House in Baltimore. Mary Pickett actually sewed the huge flag in this house and in the street(it was too big for the house)that flew over Ft McHenry in Baltimore. You can see (or have seen) that flag in the Smithsonian which inspired our nation's Star Spangled Banner National Anthem. And snuggling up to the bar at Ciao Bella's restaurant owned by the Gambino family. 

So now it finally feels like Spring. The cherry blossoms in DC are two weeks behind their peak bloom as calculated ahead of time by the National Park Service. So the Cherry Blossom festival came and went without cherry blossoms. We have still been too busy to go into DC to enjoy it all. The kids were off of school on Spring Break all week, but Tom and I were back to work. I even went in for a half day on Saturday to help out(I need all the brownie points I can get).

Tom did take an extra day off on Tuesday to work with Scott on his Science Fair project which is fast approaching. Scott designed a bridge out of foam to pass a weight test(similar to Allison's toothpick bridge project in physics). Allison was happy not to have homework since she just finished a semester. SCott just started a new semester. I still can't figure out how Allison is supposed to squeeze in any significant learning/testing in two months time. But that is how it is for Seniors. I wish she could have worked more on her GS project. She needs to mark the placement for her birds on the nature trail, but we could use a few more leaves on the trees. They are just starting to peak out with the flowers. Mainly Allison spent the week working at the roller rink, almost every day. They open up when the kids are off school. She did take Scott to the Y to work out after a make up piano lesson on her one day off.  And SCott wants to repaint his room so he has been busy picking out paint with Tom and now needs to strip his old wallpaper.  He also studied some math and social studies because it is going to be a very busy two months until school gets out.

I took Scott to his Boy Scout meeting on WEds night since Tom was busy working on a presentation for his trip out west today. Tom got up early and headed out to the airport for a trip to LA. for the week. He almost didn't get to the airport when a large herd of deer ran across the freeway. Good thing he took the new car(better brakes!).

Scott is going on a Bike/Hike trip this coming weekend with the troop and Tom in tow. So we had a lecture about bike care at his meeting. They will be riding along the C and O canal. Scott however has outgrown his bike. We picked up a used mountain bike from our neighbor, but it needs some work. If Tom doesn't have time to mess with it, SCott may be riding my bike this weekend. He may even be cooking for his patrol since he needs to work on his cooking merit badge. It is going to be an Eagle scout required badge next year. Fortunately Tom is supposed to get back on Thursday, so they can spend Friday getting ready for the trip. Scott and I wrote up the last of his Communications badge so he can review it with the badge counselor(another eagle scout required badge).

We also had a busy week celebrating Tom's 50th Birthday! We all went out to dinner on Thursday night at Don Pablos Mexican restaurant. Tom wouldn't wear the sombrero or let them sing Happy Birthday/Felize Cumpleanos, but he did take the free dessert! And he enjoyed his gifts(all of them a surprise). One of the gifts included tickets to a Hershey Bear Hockey Game on Saturday night. Tom has been going through hockey withdrawal since the NHL started out the season on strike, and then all the local Hershey Bear's games were sold out. I managed to get 5 tickets on Scout Night and we took along our friend John Dutton. Of course we had to stop into the Hershey store to pick up chocolate on sale after EAster. The kids(and Tom) enjoyed finding their baskets in the hotel room(not too difficult) on Easter Sunday. But they did not get a whole lot of candy. Scott enjoyed his Lego kit(even assembled it in the hotel room before we left). Allison liked her new shirts and Thin Mint GS Bear from Build A Bear. Although she was most happy with her gasoline gift card. 

So the Bears lost and played terrible, but it was fun watching them fight and we had center ice seats to see it all. The place is not huge, but it holds 11,000 and it was sold out(as usual). I am also taking Tom on a Charm City Food Tour through Little Italy in a few weeks with several couples to celebrate his big day. I had to wait until my neighbor's wife returned home for a visit from her traveling nursing job in Oklahoma. Should be fun and a great way to learn more about the history and restaurants of downtown Baltimore. The tour takes us to  visit several restaurants and sample different dishes and wines, including tiramisu for dessert which is supposed to be its birthplace here in Baltimore.

The kids also had fun shopping(mostly Allison) since we found her dresses. But she also picked up a few books from Barnes and Noble with previous gift cards and spent part of her week just reading for fun.  We also picked up some new tennis shoes for Scott(he won't stop growing!). And Tom needed a whole new wardrobe last weekend since he managed to pack his suitcase and leave it in the bedroom! Fortunately he doesn't require much.

And his sister Susan and John very nicely sent a gift package full of different types of meats from Omaha Steaks which made cooking dinner last week a breeze! Thanks so much you two! We especially enjoyed the little cheesecakes since Lent is over!  Even Tom's fellow employees baked him a low carb cheesecake(since he is back on that diet). Right after they reminded him it was time for a colonoscopy. What fun it is getting older!

Now I am going through withdrawal since no more Walking Dead on Sunday night until October. I will just have to enjoy The Apprentice.

Have a great week! Here is our visit to Hershey Park on Saturday night for the hockey game.

Happy Easter! Happy Spring? We recently returned from an extended weekend trip to the eastern shore and Williamsburg/Busch Gardens.

We took off last Friday and returned Monday night. Our primary plan was to visit Allison's Salisbury University for a college tour. Allison actually had an official tour last summer went she went to government camp. But we had a lot of questions and wanted to spend more time checking out the campus since she plans on going there. We had a tour scheduled in the afternoon, so I had time to drop Cookie off at the kennel before heading out for the 2.5hr drive. We stopped outside the campus and had a terrific seafood lunch at a local restaurant and major hangout, Brew River(Good Friday). Afterwards we headed over to the 30 min presentation and then toured the campus for an hour and a half. Allison was surprised to see so many of her high school classmates at the orientation. I even ran into one of my fellow girl scout leaders and her daughter on the tour. All the parents and high school students were taking advantage of Spring Break to visit college campuses.

We were primarily interested in the Perdue business school(Perdue Chicken). The several million dollar building was opened in the fall of 2011 and it is chock full of high tech stuff to keep track of the national and international business world. Salisbury is known for its business school, as well as Teaching/Education program(they also have a brand new building) and nursing/physical therapy. Students may request placement in one dorm all together. So all the business students can live together on one floor in the dorm. They even offer some of their classes right in the dorms. I think I was even more impressed with the dining services-the main dining hall looks like a food court in the mall! And outside guests are allowed to eat in the dining hall for a small fee. We tried to talk Allison into trying out Make Your Own Pizza night, but we found ourselves in a movie during dinner time.  Even the laundry service in the dorms was impressive. First of all it is free. The washing machines all have prefilled detergent, and you can set the machine to text you when your laundry is done! I don't know-it takes all the thinking out of the process. Guess the students are supposed to spend more time studying. The campus is not huge but not tiny either. We thought the town of Salisbury was mostly farmland, but it is more city than we thought. We managed to find the large mall and movie theater. And the campus is only 30 minutes from Ocean City. They even run a shuttle bus down to the beach. Class sizes average 17-25 students. Allison will have to return in June to sign up for classes and will be assigned to a dorm in July. The dorm rooms hold two students per room with an adjoining bathroom/showers. You can rent a fridge and microwave so you don't have to haul one back and forth to school. Some of the students had flat screen tvs in their rooms and computers of course.  They also offer summer camps and international learning on Winter break or over the summer. Tom wants to study business in Argentina with Allison. So we all enjoyed the campus and the school and we think Allison will be spoiled and will love it. And Tom wants Allison to become an RA in the future.One step at a time.

After our tour of the school, we spent the night in a very nice Hampton Inn and decided to spend the next day getting to know more of Salisbury. We decided to tour the campus on our own. We found out that the University does not give out sports scholarships, so it is probably not to Allison's advantage to try out for the Field Hockey team. But if she wants to keep playing, they have travel teams and IM teams on campus(so play for fun instead of the school). And Allison already has a school scholarship for her academics. But we checked out the sports fields anyhow. And we decided to walk around the free zoo in Salisbury. Small but a few very interesting animals. And a whole lot of geese sitting on nests and being very grumpy! We considered a drive up to Delaware for the tax free outlet stores, but it would have taken us out of our way by several hours.

Instead we headed to Williamsburg VA via the eastern shore. There is a whole lot of nothing there, and when you get to the end you take an incredibly long bridge/tunnel to cross the opening of the Chesapeake Bay which takes you into Norfolk and Newport News VA(navy town). The bridge/tunnel is one of the great wonders of modern engineering. It's designed so the huge navy ships so could travel up the bay without stopping traffic with a drawbridge system. We arrived at Busch Gardens early in the afternoon. It was busy and cool outside, but not overly crowded. Tom and Scott just wanted to ride the new rollercoaster that was broke down last Easter when we visited. So they enjoyed their ride and most of the others.

Easter Sunday we headed to mass at the local catholic church. We really enjoyed the priest and the whole ceremony, but came out to pouring rain. We had to change clothes after mass at the hotel, and thought the day was a bust. The outlet store was not open so early, so we had lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings and considered a movie. We had seen Oz on Friday night and the family was disappointed in the primary special effects of the movie. Tom was hoping for more of a real story and less special effects. I assured him Disney just wanted to make something cheap and quick which they did. Instead of a movie, we ended up checking out a few stores that had opened at the outlet mall. We were primarily interested in finding Allison her two dresses-a white dress for graduation and a prom dress. We managed to find a white dress at the White and Black Shop(naturally). And for a great price. And since the rain had stopped, we decided to try our chances back at Busch GArdens. It turned out well since there were not many people at the park and Scott and Tom were able to get on all their favorite rides. Of course Allison and I hit all the shows and then we met up with our neighbor and his kids as they were also visiting the park. Our neighbors wife was still working out in Oklahoma though. We finally decided to stop into Golden Corral for a huge Easter buffet. Steak, shrimp but most importantly, a chocolate fountain!

Overall a great weekend and a lazy drive home(or so we thought). The traffic was terrible. We thought we could pop into Busch gardens for one more run around the park but it was overly crowded. Guess the rain had kept so many people away that they all came Monday instead. Traffic was so bad on the freeway and there was a bad accident, so Tom tried the surface road(just as horrible). But we decided to stop off at the mall along the way to stretch our legs. Turned out well since we found a great, reasonable formal dress shop and bought Allison's prom dress! So a very successful weekend!

A Big Happy Birthday to Dad Seitz! Sorry it landed on Good Friday. I had been trying to get to confession at church since they added sessions on WEds night for the lenten season. Finally Allison and I were free to attend while Tom and SCott were at a BS meeting. When we arrived at the small chapel, they only had two priests and the line was out the door. The gentleman behind me figured we would be in line for about 1.5 hrs if everyone standing in front of us spent 5 minutes with the priest.  We finally all squashed into the foyer of the building just to keep warm. We had just had a big snow storm the Monday before and the kids were out of school that day so it was still chilly. Turns out someone in line knew another priest and gave him a call from a local university. He showed up, set up and I just happened to be standing right in front of the door to the room he set up in. I was the first one in his chair, and Allison right after me! God works in mysterious ways!  EVeryone in line was shocked! I told them "All good things come to those who wait and patience is a virtue" All those cliches came in handy and we were out the door before Tom and Scott got home! Next year I am not waiting until the last session before EAster!

I think I needed it since work continues to drive me crazy with the new management. Fortunately they fired one of the new assistant managers after less than 5 months. Thank goodness(God works in mysterious ways). Now we have to continue to work with the management we have in place(God help us all!). Sadly our new manager is a good administrator, but not a good clinical manager. She is completely unfamiliar with our computer programs and staffing/scheduling/billing. Not good for business.

We'll see how long this lasts.

Here are some shots from Busch Gardens and the new rollercoaster. The grumpy geese at the Salisbury zoo on their nests and shots from Salisbury University(yes they are the fighting Seagulls!). Have you been to the beach? Seagulls can be nasty! And Allison at the Perdue Business School.  (Notice we are surrounded by birds?). Even Allison's GS project has to do with birds. Interesting.

A special Happy Easter to my parents who spent their holiday snowed in Up North in Charlevoix. Stay warm!

Kathleen