April 1-April 11, 2021. 

 

April 1-April 11, 2021. 

What a very busy start to the new month!  We kicked off the start of the month with April Fool's Day. Fortunately no crazy stuff going on around here, but the weekend was going to get very busy. 

Easter and Tom's Birthday landed on the same day this year, April 4th. I asked Tom what he wanted for his Birthday dinner and he said "pizza!".  I put my foot down serving pizza on Easter Sunday. So we decided to celebrate Tom's Birthday on Saturday. Now my whole month is off! Anyway, Tom has been anxious to get to a hockey game, and it turns out the Hershey Bears allowed the general public back into the ice rink starting on Saturday. They were allowing some fans into the stadium, but only pass holders and everyone was very spread out wearing masks. And you could not get up and walk around. Food had to be ordered and delivered to your seat. But now they were allowing more people in, still with masks and spread out. And they opened a few of the snack shops that you could purchase food directly at the counter. Tom was very excited to get 4 tickets on the club level although their snack bar was not open. Just more comfortable seats and private bathroom. And center ice for great viewing. So all four of us celebrated Tom's birthday with a trip to Hershey and a very fun (and winning) hockey game and some stadium food. 

We also decided to stop into the Hershey chocolate world store since it was the day before Easter to check out any candy specials. Little did we know that the park just opened that weekend and the area was packed. We saw a huge crowd outside the store and Tom decided it was not worth the wait, but we would check again after the game. I looked up their website online during the game and discovered you needed a timed entry to the store, so I put in our reservation. We had to wait about 30 mins before our timed entry. Tom and Scott went on a walk about to check out the newly designed entrance to the park. Looks like they put in a new store-reminds me of an outdoor mall. But no chocolate for sale in those stores. Anyway, we finally made our way in and we all had a great time picking out candy. I grabbed a small box of mixed snack sized candy bars and kisses for my mom's Easter basket along with several varieties of kisses to take into work, including new flavors like Strawberry Cheesecake and Birthday Cake(I was surprised how much I liked the Birthday cake flavor-it has sprinkles!). And everyone was terribly excited to have Kisses at work on Monday. Although our boss did buy us each a Lindt chocolate gold bunny. Very nice. And she also purchased us OT's a chocolate chip cookie cake for the start of OT month! I could not believe a whole year has gone by already dealing with COVID. 

So after our hockey game and visit to Chocolate World, Tom tried to stop into a local brewery to try some of their beer along with Scott with plans to have Allison drive us all home. However, the facility had over an hour wait to be seated inside with limited capacity. And there was no service at the outside spaces, so Tom just bought a few bottles to take home and try with his pizza dinner. Seems like a wasted business practice not to try and serve more people, especially since there were small groups standing around in the parking lot and plenty of empty tables and seats outside. Oh well. We got home in time to order Tom's pizza dinner and salad and enjoy his Traverse City coconut cream pie. Yum! I am not a huge coconut fan, but this was incredibly fresh and delicious! We also opened presents-Scott gave him a gift card for a computer game and Allison had already paid for his subscription to AHL/IHL cable hockey games. I picked him up a few new shirts-a spring dress shirt for work and a Hawaiian shirt for vacation.  I also took Mark Seitz's advice to purchase some new LED 3 way garage lights. Turns out, Tom had purchased 2 of the lights and installed one in our basement furnace room. So now he had 3 lights to put in the garage. And they are wonderfully bright and light up the whole space. Better than his LED shop lights. So he spent the rest of the weekend installing the lights as well as a new gift for himself. A new garage door opener. The previous Genie door opener he installed was just not working well. Looks like they changed the design and it just keep coming off its track and opening and closing, or not closing all the way. So he bought a more expensive brand and it works like a charm-very quiet. So he also bought a new coded garage door opener and installed that as well. And the biggest gift of all was a new Alexa. The one that moves and follows your voice with a much larger speaker. The voice tracking is a bit slow and not always consistent, but it has terrific sound, especially noticeable when playing music. The reviews said if you have to have the newest gadgets, then buy this. Sounded just like Tom! And so far he loves it. 

On Sunday after my Easter tv mass from Milwaukee, it was time to search for baskets. Naturally Scott found all 3 baskets right away but left Allison's basket hidden so she could find it when she came for dinner. And naturally I made the kids decorate some Easter eggs for me. We had a wonderful Easter meal together with a traditional ham, mashed potatoes and asparagus, topped off with berry pie from the Traverse City Pie Company. After dinner we settled down for an evening of Disney + as well as viewing some home videos that I had transferred to DVDs. We watched Allison's big debut when she was born and first brought home to our Downey, CA condo as well as her first Christmas with Mike B. visiting, her Baptism and a visit from my parents. Tom threatened to show the home movies at Allison's wedding someday. I can't wait to see more, but Scott was getting tired of watching Allison take multiple bathes! Guess that was the only time we could get her to sit still! 

Scott did not have much time to relax on Easter Sunday as well as during his Spring Break the week before. He still had lots of school projects, papers and exams to prepare for and some things were due right after break on Easter Monday. So he spent his "vacation" week before Easter primarily studying.  One of his projects included designing and producing a casting piece for his Metal Casting class which he designed on his 3D printer and then formed out of foam. Tom  had to buy a rotary saw to cut out the piece and then mailed it by Fed Ex to campus overnight since the project had to be turned in on Easter Monday. This is actually Scott's final project for this class. If he does well on this, he won't have to take an exam. He also took on the added responsibility of house and cat sitting for neighbors. They had asked Allison to spend the week at their house, but Allison was thinking it would be a bit much to balance the workload at the end/beginning of the month to try and run back and forth to their house multiple times during the day, or even to relocate her work computers to their place, so she passed on the job to Scott. Who really could benefit from the extra income and had more flexibility in his schedule to drop in several times a day. Mainly since one of the cats, Pickles,  likes to go out during the day so Scott had to let her out in the morning and back in during the evening. She even caught a mouse for him! He only has to watch the house for 1 week thank goodness. It is a lot of running back and forth, especially 3 times a day. And Saturday evening he was stuck there for 4 hours waiting for the cat to come back in for the night! Such dedication. If only we could find him a summer engineering internship!

Scott, Tom and I have been sending out resumes for possible manufacturing engineering jobs for this summer in several states since January. So far no nibbles. The only people that are interested in hiring him have been for real live, full time factory positions. And there are a lot of manufacturing engineering jobs posted, but he's just not ready for that. Good to see though. Plus he is not sure what type of manufacturing will be interesting to him right now. Of course the automotive field is big in Michigan. Here in Maryland it is Aerospace. And Biomedical has taken off with the COVID vaccine. Most of their internships are searching for biomedical engineers, chemical engineers and of course there is always software engineering. I tried to see if I could find him his computer programming class to take online or in person this summer but no one seems to be offering it at this time, even Western. He needs a C++ programming class.  It's getting harder for him to take online or remote classes since he is going to be a Senior next year and the rest of his classes appear to be specific to Western and the manufacturing program. So not sure how he will spend his summer months. For now, he just needs to finish up this term. I did not realize he had taken 5 classes. His metal casting class offered a written final exam or a hands on exam where they are instructed to build a piece of a 3D puzzle that the professor will cast on campus. If the piece is built to the proper specifications, it should fit. Scott opted for this method of testing. If it fails, he can always take the written final. But it meant that this portion had to be completed earlier than finals week which is the last week of April. So he was busy manufacturing a mold-first with his 3D printer and then Tom helped him cut it out in foam to be mailed Fed Ex overnight to the prof at Western. Scott also had to write up all the specifications of the mold, like a lab report(any problems it could have, other prototypes he considered, etc). First they had to buy a table saw to cut out the piece-Tom had given away our table saw a few years ago. Then they had to send it overnight(cost $80!). It sure better get an A! On top of all that, Scott was still busy with homework and tests. Plus he had to put together a brochure for his Sustainability class(at least it wasn't a research paper!). Now he primarily has to prepare for his finals. I still think he is happier working from home. 

We all have been enjoying the warmer weather, although we did not need to jump too quickly to summer temps in the upper 70s. Sadly our Saucer Magnolia had filled out with beautiful pink buds right before Easter and when they just started opening we had a cold snap that basically froze all the flowers. So it was not as breathtakingly beautiful this year as only a few blossoms survived. Our cherry tree bloomed right after and looked wonderful this year but did not last long. We usually try to head down to DC around the first week in April for the Cherry Blossom/Kite Festival, but everything was cancelled again this year. Except for the cherry blossoms-they bloomed on schedule-maybe a little bit earlier. The peak lasts about a week-sometimes the blossoms are lost to wind and rain storms, which a few had started rolling in. Maybe next year. 

Some places are just starting to reopen in our area, like museums, libraries and the schools. Restaurants and bars are open-seating is still separated. And some places still have outdoor seating which is nice as the weather warms. Church is still open with reservations and restrictions-socially distanced, masks, no singing or hand shaking. I continue to attend Milwaukee mass on tv at home. The kids have started back to school but on a limited basis with just a few grades at a time going hybrid. Our next door neighbor's son is a Senior at Mt Hebron High School and he went back to class only to discover that just 3 other students showed up in person and even the teacher was virtual!  He decided he might as well stay home and continue to learn on the computer. And stadiums including the baseball stadiums have begun to welcome back the public. Maryland's positivity rate rose to 5.3% after dropping to 3.0 for a few weeks. Universities plan on students returning to school in person in the fall at least for smaller classes and labs. Large classes may continue online. At work, we still  have a few employees and patients testing positive for COVID. There are still employees that prefer not to have the vaccine and we are constantly bringing in new staff which also may be a factor. Due to privacy laws they can't share any of the info on who or what(like did they have the vaccine). We continue to keep newly admitted patients in quarantine for 2 weeks with isolation precautions. We continue to wear masks and face shields around the general population and get tested twice a week. I continue to work in our Assisted Living building and cannot work in both areas of the building on the same day for fear of possibly spreading COVID. Therefore I continue to work 3 days a week and every other Saturday. 

Last Saturday I went to work but got off in plenty of time to go to dinner with our neighbors at a local restaurant. The first time we have all gone out together to celebrate Tom's birthday. We enjoyed our meal and continued the evening with drinks at their house afterwards. I needed to get home and get to bed though because I was up early the next day to attend a Girl Scout rally at our local camp. Turns out our Girl Scout Council finally announced their decision to sell off our local camp to a housing developer in order to use the funds to help support development of another campsite south of us in Anne Arundel County. They have been talking about building several facilities at this campground and including cabins, indoor bathrooms and space for computer access. Sounds lovely, but it is not centrally located, and does not offer as much as our local campsite does for the community at large. In order to help pay for the upkeep of this campsite, they have rented out the property to other programs such as summer camps at the YMCA and providing environmental programs to local schools through the onsite nature center and raptor rescue program. Many GS troops use the site for camping and lots of members take advantage of the large community center and kitchen there for meetings and programming. Even our GS choir uses the community center for year round practices and performances. It would be a great loss if they decide to sell to a housing developer. Many years ago they started by selling off parts of the property on either side. You can actually see the homes while standing in the center, but you still feel quite isolated, especially when the trees and bushes are all in bloom. We are down to 20 acres but it is a well loved space and hidden gem in our county. On Sunday morning we held a rally at the site with a local congresswoman speaking and the local tv station, WBAL. I made a protest sign, picked up breakfast and Allison after tv mass and we headed over along with 200 other socially distanced members. We have posted on Facebook and have a site for signatures to save the camp. Our story aired on the news and I also posted it to my Facebook page. We are hoping that even if the council decides they have to sell the land, that at least it could be preserved as is with another conservation group rather than developed into a neighborhood and more houses. 

We have not been too crazy with changes occurring in the Girl Scout organization. Allison has been on the Gold Award committee for several years now and decided to call it quits. When she started, the committee used to meet in person and discuss all Gold Award project requests-deciding to approve or disapprove. About a year ago they decided to switch to online, not meeting at all in person, before COVID forced us to meet through Zoom. And the committee no longer meets. Instead they divide the projects and send them out to the members for them to decide on their own. And rather than doing it once every quarter, it is a continuous process. So Allison usually ends up reviewing 2-3 projects each week. And they decided that the committee members would also become the mentors. So Allison has to walk each girl through their project, practically rewriting their submissions herself in order to pass. And the team leaders decided they really don't want to turn down any Gold Award proposals, so she has to work with the girl to get it through. So it has become a whole lot more work than she originally signed up for and decided she is done. They did not seem too broken up about her resigning, which is also sad. They don't appreciate what they have until it is gone. Which may happen to a lot of scouts if the GS board decides to sell off this camp to property developers. 

In the meantime, we continue to meet via computer to attempt to plan our upcoming May 1st weekend camping trip for the Girl Scouts. Our program was cancelled last May and it looks like we can go ahead with the event this year, but still not exactly sure. And not sure if we can hold it overnight or just a day event. Not sure about all the restrictions, except we figure we will be wearing masks and wiping everything down after use. We are running out of time, so hope to know more soon! We actually have 16 girl scouts sign up. We usually have 50-75 girls attend. Definitely our GS choir events have been on hold. Usually in the spring we would be singing at GS Board meetings and other administrative events. Our girls have put on musicals and we usually march in the St Patty's Day parade in Dundalk. It will be strange to get back to "normal". 

After our rally at the GS camp, Allison and I picked up lunch and ate back at her apartment. Then we enjoyed a shopping trip to Walmart together before going our separate ways. She had an evening of Dungeons and Dragons, and I had an afternoon of yardwork since the weather cleared. With warmer weather come weeds and long grass. Tom cut the lawn for the first time this year and put down weed killer. I was busy raking leaves(as usual) from under the bushes in our front flower beds as well as doing some weeding and trimming. I was tempted to purchase some flowers and vegetables and get busy with my gardening, but I am still concerned the weather may turn cold before May and kill off the plants. 

Our neighborhood had a little drama as well involving Food Trucks. This past year one of the neighbors set up a schedule of local food trucks to come to our neighborhood to help out their businesses and give us all the chance to "order out" without worrying about going into restaurants. So once a week we have a variety of food trucks, one at a time, that park near our house on the road near a green space, under a street light. It is convenient for us since we can walk there. Scott and I get bored with cooking and sometimes run over on Thursday nights to pick something up, like Philly Cheesesteaks or Gyros and Calzones. Turns out, one of the neighbors complained that there were too many cars waiting for their orders in front of their house near the food trucks, as well as people standing around in/near their yards and threatened to call the police. So the neighborhood asked our church located at the front of the neighborhood if we could use their parking lot and they happily agreed. Just not an easy walk but still a good deal. We have an interesting neighborhood. 

We also had quite a shock at the news of Tom's sister, Susan's husband John. He had a massive heart attack, collapsing while doing work on a neighbor's house-power washing early in the month. After a trip to the ICU at the local hospital, he ended up having arterial stent placements rather than open heart surgery and arterial bypass graphs. Thank goodness. He is now home recovering. We are so happy things turned out in his favor and wish him a quick recovery. 

Sending out some Happy Birthday Greetings for Tom(April 4th), Sandra Bozyk(April 6th) and Dad Bozyk would have celebrated his 86th Birthday on April 8th!

Happy Jazz Appreciation Month!  And most especially, Happy Occupational Therapy Month!

 

March 15-21, 2021

  Happy Spring!  The first day of Spring arrived on Saturday the 20th and so far it has been very nice. Our daffodils and crocuses are all beginning to bloom. Of course, that means more pollen in the air-not good for the allergy sufferers. Doesn't usually bother me. Plus I mostly wear a mask when I am out and about anyway.  I imagine that may help with the runny, sniffly noses. 

We also celebrated St Patrick's Day this week, on Wednesday. I spent the day at home after attending my exercise pool class in the morning. I also made a corned beef brisket to celebrate which I turned into Reubens for Allison and myself(Tom is not a fan of sauerkraut). I was cooking a bigger meal since Allison spent the day with us. She came over early on Tuesday so she could join Tom and our neighbor Dan for a trip downtown for their second COVID vaccine. The appointment was early in the day, so Allison brought over her computer and set up shop in our basement after returning from the convention center where the vaccine site was set up. Turns out the site shut down open appointments after Tom, Allison and Dan had their first shot to open sign up. They reserved any further appointments for Baltimore City residents only. Allison and Tom seemed to be adjusting fine to the vaccination until Allison returned home after dinner. She called in a lot of pain, feeling nauseous and was not able to get her shirt off and undressed because her arm swelled so bad. I went and picked her up and brought her back home, filled her with some tylenol and put an ice pack on her elevated arm after helping her into her jammies. I put on an old movie "Father of the Bride" with Spencer Tracy and Elizabeth Taylor and afterwards she settled into Scott's bed and got some sleep. The next morning, Weds, she was still feeling bad and had a very swollen arm, but during the day her arm slowly shrank back to normal size and the pain subsided. They say the younger kids are having a harder time adjusting to the COVID vaccination. Allison is living proof. At least no fever. She was able to log onto work, but felt well enough to join a zoom meeting. However, she did not bring any casual dress clothes, so we pulled out a polo and sweater jacket from my closet and spiffed her up to participate. (Mom's have it all!). And she was able to stay for my St Patrick's Day dinner. 

I ended up working on Saturday again that week. This time to cover for my day off next Saturday when we will be traveling to Michigan to pick up Scott for Spring Break. Although he won't be returning to campus after the week is over. So I switched my day off and had a very busy, full day. And it turns out, a staff member at our facility tested positive for COVID on Saturday, so we went back into lockdown. Residents and patients have to stay in their rooms and we have to get tested twice a week again. Fortunately Mom B's facility has remained COVID free, although only 75% of the staff agreed to the COVID vaccination as compared to 95% of the residents. But since they are COVID free, I was able to sign up for another visit with her on Friday, and this time did not have to get proof of a negative COVID test. Also I was able to give her a hug again. We still have to visit with masks on, 6 feet apart and no sharing items. Any thing that is dropped off has to be sprayed with disinfectant or quarantined for several days. But we are now allowed to bring real, cut flowers-no plants. They are still concerned that COVID may be hiding in the dirt of live plants. And no visits from puppies. Sadly, even though Cookie is all cleaned up, she did not get to visit with my mom. Don't think I could keep a mask on Cookie either, but she would love to see my mom! Instead I had to show Mom B a photo of Cookie with her new haircut. I was just so happy to hear mom say "Kathleen!" when they asked her "Mrs Bozyk, guess who it is!" after she walked into our visiting room off the lobby. I was able to get a 20 minute visit since I won't be able to visit next weekend. She looks great and seems to be in good spirits. Also I'm kinda getting used to the red hair!

I visited Mom B after taking my van in to Costco to get my tires balanced. I had the Valvoline oil place rotate my tires the weekend before with an oil change and noticed a reverb when driving as well as a bit of a wobble. Unfortunately the back tires had worn on the inside of the wheels, which my van has a tendency to do, and they could do nothing except put them back where they were. The tread is still very good since I bought the tires in 2018. Can't believe that much time has gone by already. Just checking to see if I should replace the two tires, they cost $200 a piece! Guess I will wait awhile. I finished off my Friday with an acupuncture treatment(very relaxing!).  I would have gone to the pool again Friday morning, but turns out when I made a reservation, I was not the only one. You have to sign up for the class a few days ahead of time online. They still only have 20 spots available in the pool. I guess their computer system had a blip and the staff called and said 75 people had signed up for the class! They had to call 55 of us and let us know we were not signed up for the class. I did mention maybe they should consider adding more classes but they said they also are short of instructors.  On Sunday I was busy cleaning up Scott's room and a place to put all his college gear when he comes home next week.

March 22-31st, 2021

  This was a very busy week. I volunteered to cover for one of my coworkers on Wednesday and I had my hands full with new admissions. Plus our new rehab company decided to change our computer programs so it is taking longer to do all the paperwork. Unfortunately, no one really lets you know what is going on from this corporation and the changes just show up and you are left trying to figure it out on your own. So I muddled through and then we had news that a patient tested positive for COVID. So now we are locked down even more. And all the patients were asking us about the new restrictions, because there was no information provided by the facility administration. But it usually means no activities and no leaving your room. Which is not going well for our patients with dementia and the patients that just arrived. Looks like they weren't told they would have to spend two weeks in quarantine, even without the new outbreak and we were the lucky ones to break the news. And we have had a lot more people falling. I was happy to finally have a long weekend as we traveled to Michigan to pick up Scott!

Tom, Allison and I left on Thursday night. We stopped halfway near Pittsburgh in Cranberry. The town houses the Westinghouse headquarters and their building and the area is new and growing. We have stopped there before and on the way to Michigan we usually stop at Starbucks and a wonderful little bakery around the corner for banana choco chip bread and sconces. Yum. We arrived in Kalamazoo around 3pm. Scott had already loaded up his Jeep and he was able to get the rest of his items in my van. Just in case I reserved a storage unit again, but we were not bringing back his desk chair(he got a new one, less beat up at Christmas). And we sacrificed a small table, but it was a bit worn too, so no great loss. He can always pick up another one if he needs it. He has reserved the single room and single bathroom across from his old room for next year-I wish we could have just opened the door and set up his room and stored it there. We spent the night in Kalamazoo. We stopped in for dinner at the RoadHouse Tavern next to campus. It is a very popular place. Tom and Scott ate there during his drive up to school in January-they ate on the patio last time in plastic tents. The tents were down and the restaurant was seating people inside and out. In some ways, we noticed some places seemed to be more strict on COVID precautions now when more people have been vaccinated then during the previous year. We stopped into a local brewery that Tom and now Scott both enjoy, Bells Brewery. They sell their beer here in Maryland and the brewery, shop and small restaurant is located in downtown Kzoo. We stopped into the store-they limit the number of people in the shop and picked up some beer, although Allison found a competition style frisbee too. We were going to eat dinner there, but they had a line out the door. We were lucky to get into the RoadHouse Tavern when we did. We also stopped into Meijers to drop off some returnable bottles and check out any college souvenirs as well as hunt for a few pies from Traverse City Pie Company. I wanted to get Tom his Birthday pie and another for Easter dinner. Pickings were slim in their bakery though. We decided to wait and go to the actual restaurant and Bakery in the morning, so we headed back to our hotel for the night. 

Saturday morning we were up and headed to breakfast at our favorite Michigan coffee shop, Biggby. Then it was a trip to the donut shop, Sweetwaters. We stopped into another Meijers to see if they had more pies to choose from, but no luck. Instead, Allison and I waited 15 mins for the restaurant and bakery to open at 10 and ran in and bought Tom his beloved Coconut Cream Pie as well as an ABC-Apple, Berry, Cherry pie for Easter. I also picked up a small cherry pie for Beth and Barry for watching Cookie and one for a husband/wife couple that recently moved into my work facility. They were missing their trips to Michigan when their son was attending Grad school at MSU, as well as attending the Traverse City Cherry Festival. I thought a cherry pie would put a smile on their faces-it sure did. They were ecstatic when I dropped it off on Monday morning at work! Tom was surprised however to get his pie. He did not know Allison and I snuck in!

We had decided to make our way back home to Maryland through Dayton, Ohio and drop in and see our friend John D. I did not realize we were traveling through Ft Wayne Indiana on the way, so I gave our nephew and niece, Eric and Sarah a quick call, hoping to catch them at home. However, they were out enjoying Eric's first day of Spring Break from teaching and were out running errands. We will just have to wait and see them and their newest addition to the family, Emma and daughter Claire in June when the Seitz family gets together in Hilton Head. So we kept on to Dayton and arrived a few hours before dinner. I took Scott and Allison out to a local museum/zoo. It actually was more for kids, but fun to walk around and look at some of the displays including a disassembled mummy, Hopi Indian characters and a few animal and aquarium displays as well as bird watching treehouse. Unfortunately we missed the Planetarium show and the educational movie on space. But since we came later in the day, we got in for a cheap admission fee. Afterwards we walked down to their pond before heading back to the hotel. We also walked around the large mall next to our hotel and noticed the lines starting to form outside at the nearby restaurants. So John came and picked us up and we headed to a local Mexican chain restaurant near the Wright University. We were seated right away and had a great meal and time to chat before ending our day. We continued our visit Sunday morning over breakfast at a wonderful breakfast cafe that Tom and Scott found on their last visit to Dayton. Wonderful Banana Foster pancakes and Crab Cake and Egg Benedict. And way too much food the whole weekend!

We headed out in our separate vehicles and spent most of the time navigating through wind and rain storms. Surprisingly Allison and I beat Tom and Scott for the first time ever I believe. Mainly because Tom and Scott attempted to stop for lunch and most fast food places had long lines, or people waiting outside. Again, restrictions seem more intense now as we are trying to wind down the COVID crisis. So Allison and I picked up Cookie, and then started to empty my van. We left the big, heavy stuff for Scott when he arrived. But then so did a huge storm. We managed to get everything in the house, or at least the garage before the storm blew in and fortunately did not lose our power. Scott got busy setting up his computer in his room. He was busy with classes right up to the day we left. Western started Spring Break on Friday with no classes(and no food-all of the dining halls were closed except for one across campus that Scott skipped). Some kids still had quizzes or assignments due online. Scott was able to wrap up some tests and a group presentation and paper the week before packing to go home. But he still has lots of work to keep him busy over Spring Break. Plus he was asked to house and cat sit for some friends starting Easter weekend, so he had to run over to their place for 'orientation' on the care and feeding of the house, cats and plants. Allison was going to do it, but decided Scott had more freedom to travel back and forth to their place (and could use the spending cash!). 

The rest of us were busy back at work, although I still had Weds off. I scheduled my mom for a dentist appointment. Her facility is currently COVID free and is allowing family to take residents out for medical appointments. She badly needed a dentist appointment since she usually goes every 3 months and it had been a year since her last visit. The staff brought her down to the front door and mom hopped in(with help). I was able to stay with her during her appointment which went as well as it could-mom does not tolerate xrays-putting the film into her mouth. So they did the best they could and everything looks good so far. Afterwards we stopped off at the house for a quick visit with Cookie and wave to Scott(he is still not vaccinated). I kept mom in the van, especially since it was pouring rain. We then picked up some Burger King at the drive Thru and ate our lunch sitting in the van at a park near one of our local ponds. We also called my brother Mike so he could chat with mom on speaker phone. It is hard to catch her at her apartment on the phone, so this was a great opportunity. Unfortunately she has a difficult time putting words together, but does understand most of what you are saying. I think she especially enjoyed just riding around in the car and being outside. The last time we were together, we were shopping for Easter candy and cards in 2020!I also think she enjoyed her burger, fries and chocolate milkshake! I dropped her back off to her place as well as a lightweight transport wheelchair that I ordered so they could push her down to the lobby during visits. It takes her awhile to walk all the way downstairs as she gets out of breath. They often push her while seated on her rollator, but I would prefer if she could sit in a wheelchair. Especially during our visits in the lobby. Not sure when we will be allowed inside the building, but we can bring cut flowers now. So when I was out shopping at Costco I picked up a spring bouquet for her. 

I pretty much missed Palm Sunday as we were busy driving Scott and his school supplies home that day. 

Sending Dad Seitz Birthday Greetings as he rolled another year on March 29th! Happy Birthday Dad!

 

March 1-March 7, 2021

  In like a Lion, Out like a Lamb. March started out with rain and chilly winds which was a benefit since it dried up all the muddy puddles. Most of the snow is melted, but it left some big puddles along with some rain showers on the sidewalks making it difficult to take Cookie for a walk. She just loves marching through all those puddles. I even put a sweater on her to help keep her from getting too wet and dirty. But it was not enough. And just when I got her cleaned up, I had to give her another bath to get off all the mud. I did sign her up for a haircut, but she'll have to wait a few weeks. I did not take her in earlier because it was still pretty cold and she gets a very short cut-did not want her to freeze! So now is the time for her spring shearing!

And speaking of water, looks like the family is sharing the same type of problems. We needed a new water heater which Tom replaced. Then Allison called us this past week saying water was dripping into her apartment from the ceiling by her laundry room next to the kitchen and front door. We figured her upstairs neighbor(who I call Thumpy because that person walks around very loudly)must have had a leak in their washer, hot water heater or laundry tub. Allison was busy putting out bowls and pots(don't think she owns a bucket!) to catch all the water. Then she had to put towels in the containers to keep the drip noise down so she could fall asleep. She also moved quite a few items into her bedroom to keep things from getting wet in case there was a bigger disaster overnight. We couldn't talk her into going upstairs and speaking to her neighbor about it, but she did get the maintenance staff to stop by the next day. They just came to the door and said they would be back to repair the ceiling. Allison said she heard work being done upstairs and the maintenance worker said they have had to repair the washer in that apartment before. We did notice what appeared to be water damage in that spot when Allison moved in and had her take lots of photos and make a note of it on her move in slip. So they just stopped in and repaired her ceiling again. Guess she'll see how it goes. 

She did come over for a visit on Friday night after getting a hair cut at the salon near our house. She is getting ready for the wedding she is attending with Gabe on March 14th in New Jersey. She picked up some chinese food for dinner for all of us(shrimp and broccoli for me on Fish Friday!) and we watched the finale of WandaVision on Disney+. We also saw "Coming 2 America" on Amazon. It was cute, but I still like the first movie better. Allison has never seen "Coming to America". Just bits and pieces, but the new movie also reran a few of the scenes from the original movie. (all I can say is everybody got old!).  

I also had my second acupuncture treatment Friday evening. I pretty much made an appointment every week and I am hoping I continue to have great results. I am also taking advantage of any time off work to get to the pool at the Y for an exercise class. I really like having some time off during the week-so much easier to make appointments and run errands with less people out. So I didn't mind going into work on Saturday. Since Tom and I don't really have any big plans these COVID days, I don't mind going in for a few hours since I have the rest of the day to myself. Turns out Dan and Gloria invited us over for dinner at their house on Saturday night. I was on dessert duty, so I ended up making something with St Patrick's Day in mind-a layered pistachio pudding with a shortbread crust and cream cheese base. Very tasty and easy to make. I actually put it together on Friday so it had time to settle and chill overnight. We had an incredible Prime Rib dinner with a hot cauliflower casserole and cold crab salad at Dan and Gloria's topped off with my dessert. Just when we started in on our coffee the doorbell rang and the next door neighbor stopped by with homemade pastries. She was paying Dan back for helping with repairs on Zippy the Wonder car. Tom donated the Toyota Echo to Dan and Gloria so she could use the car to drive into Baltimore a few years ago when she had a Home Health job driving her patients to appointments. I think it had around 200,000 miles back then. Both of our kids used the car to learn how to drive and complete their tests for their license. Tom originally bought Zippy to drive down to DC many, many years ago when he was working on a project and was reassigned to a facility off the DC beltway in CardeRock. So when Gloria finished her Home Health contract position, they sold the car to the next door neighbor so their 4 kids could use it to learn how to drive. So far their oldest daughter has graduated from Zippy, and the second daughter is busy practicing. However, the girls have put Zippy through the paces. Their first daughter drove it up and over the hill at our local neighborhood park when she hit the accelerator and not the brake. Smashed up the bumper and front end. It also supposedly has been hit by a deer. They scraped up the windshield when they ran the wipers without a blade. And recently they dug it out of the snow and found the alternator needed replaced and now the tire rims need replaced when someone hit a curb. Dan has been nominated as Zippy's personal repair man since their neighbor is not so into fixing anything. Dan has been trying to teach him some of the basics as well as a few complicated repairs but I think he has a new job for life! And Zippy must be at 300,000 miles by now! We just love driving by every day and waving hello to Zippy as she is parked in the street in front of their house. So Hagit made some traditional Hebrew treats to say Thank You and we got to share. We also had a great conversation(a whole group of vaccinated people!). 

Schools have just opened on a hybrid schedule in Maryland this week after being closed for a whole year. So kids, if they choose, can go into school for a few days and complete their week learning online or just stay home and complete the year online. Hagit is a 3rd grade teacher in downtown Baltimore so she was filling us in on the challenges of splitting your time between educating kids in class and those online. No Thank You. At least the teachers have been added to the vaccine priority in Maryland. There's talk about making this type of learning the 'new normal'. We also talked about scheduling Tom for an in class visit at her school to cover STEM subjects sponsored by Northrop. 

One person who is very tired of online learning is Scott. He would be most grateful to return to the classroom but it does not appear to be in the works for Western.  He just finished his midterms and admits he is getting burned out. He is basically stuck in his dorm room and only goes out to pick up his meals. We try to keep him distracted with sending care packages and cards. Tom ordered him a big blow up palm tree(necessary for every dorm room). I packed him up a St Patrick's Day Goody box and sent it off early. We actually will be picking him up at the end of March, so even though he feels like time is dragging, it will go by fast.  Tom and I have also been sending in Scott's resume for possible summer Manufacturing Engineer Internships in various locations, but so far no luck. He actually had one request for an interview, but it was for a permanent, full time position in an ice cream factory! Darn! 

I also spent the weekend putting together all of my mom's paperwork and adding up her deductions for her 2020 taxes. I was still receiving tax documents in the mail right up through this first week in March. Fortunately her accountant said everything and everyone is behind due to COVID, so no great rush or worries. And I am trying to wrap up some paperwork of my own-transferring a previous IRA into a new account as our broker switched to Morgan Stanley from Merrill Lynch. 

Celebrating his Birthday this week in sunny Florida, right after his wife Susan(Seitz)-Happy Birthday John!

March 8-March 14th, 2021  Happy Pi Day!

This week we were treated to a taste of Spring. The weather really warmed up and the spring flowers have started blooming including the crocus and daffodils. And the trees are starting to bud, especially the maples. Not a great time for allergy sufferers. Lots of sneezing inside masks. At least it is not COVID! Cookie has been enjoying her walks even more(me too since I don't have to bundle up or put on her sweater). No more puddles, although we could use some rain as everything starts to bloom. 

The most exciting news of the week! Our Governor started lifting some of the COVID restrictions as people scramble to get vaccinated. Although the changes are slight, it is an actual breath of fresh air! Even though guidelines continue to change daily, one of the best improvements was being able to hug my mom during a visit on Friday! From one vaccinated person to another! We still had to sit 6 feet apart and wear our masks, only visit for 20 mins and in a small room off the lobby. Families are not allowed to roam freely through the nursing homes or assisted living facilities yet, or visit in the residents rooms. And still only 1 person per visit.  I also still had to make a reservation for the meeting and get COVID tested 72 hrs before stopping in. But that last restriction was lifted on Friday. Meanwhile, Mom B looked great and her eyes got real big when she saw me! And I gave her two big hugs!  We have not seen each other since her birthday visit in September, and have not hugged in a year!  I do send her cards and notes every week when I drop off her supplies. Have not had any luck getting her to answer the phone in her apartment. She really has trouble speaking, but follows directions and does not seem to have declined much in her ability to get around with her rollator in her room and on the floor, helping with her self care skills and participating in group activities(when they are allowed to run them).  And the staff always tells me how happy she seems, always smiling. Thank goodness. Looking forward to the time when I can bring her back to our house, go out on the town and visit with Cookie! (Cookie loves her some Grandma!)

And now Cookie looks a whole lot better with her recent haircut on Saturday. Tom took her in and picked her up. I was busy at work on Saturday. Our facility has been trying to ramp up the rehab admissions. Still a bit slow with the restrictions-hospitals are being asked to continue to put off non emergency surgeries or procedures. So most of our rehab people have been residents that live in our facility with a small, steady flow of hospitalized patients  that have had medical complications or fractures from falls. Some of those patients coming from home have decided to move into our Assisted Living Facility, so I am getting a bit busier on my side of the building. Also spending more time helping on our rehab side completing evaluations as well as spending a day at one of our local facilities covering for their OT that quit. We have been seeing a few more patients that had contracted COVID and are still trying to recuperate with all sorts of symptoms from respiratory and cardiac issues, muscle weakness, swallowing issues and cognitive deficits. And many people feel very depressed as the quarantine restrictions remain in place. Patients have to remain in their rooms for 12 days on isolation when entering most facilities, and we still cannot bring them into our therapy gym. We still have to wear our masks with a face guard and gowns in the isolation rooms. And everything gets wiped down with clorox. Still trying to keep at least my M-Thursday work schedule if at all possible. 

I keep trying to get to my swim exercise class at least once a week, but the classes can fill up fast. Only 20 spots and you need a reservation ahead of time. Our Governor eased up restrictions for the number of people allowed in for restaurants, shopping, entertainment venues, churches and gyms but most places still want a limited number with masks and social distancing or reservations to keep the numbers down. I am still going to tv mass on Sunday morning. Turns out, the wedding Allison was supposed to attend with her boyfriend on Sunday, March 14th in New Jersey was rescheduled for June. Her Ultimate Frisbee teams have not started up again yet. She is happy that her exercise gym reopened at her apt complex, including their clubhouse. She can get back on the treadmill, but also does a video workout in her apartment. I pulled out a set of 3lb hand weights for her to use from the back of my closet when I was cleaning it out. (Still a work in progress). I did manage to pack up all of my snowmen and put out the spring decorations, including getting a jump on the Easter decorations. Seems like all the holidays come at the same time! This year Tom's Birthday lands on Easter so I am also busy birthday shopping as well as putting together Easter baskets. Another reason I enjoy having the extra time off during the week. I also took advantage of my time off to get my oil changed and tires rotated, ready for the big trip to Kzoo. Tom decided to help Allison with her oil change and found out his oil pump sprung a leak, partly in our garage. Looks like he's getting a new pump for his birthday. And he's celebrating with an early birthday present-a streaming service from the AHL so he and Allison can enjoy the Hershey Bears Hockey games at home. He's really hoping they start opening up the ice rink to the general public. So far they are only allowing season pass holders into the games. It's still a limited number, spread out around the rink with masks on. You can't even go up to the food stands-you have to remain in your seats and wait for someone to come take your order. I assume they let you go to the bathroom, but who knows! At least it is a step in the right direction! No more COVID please!

Wrapping up the month of February

February 15-21, 2021

     Happy President's Day! Happy Paczki Day! Happy Fat Tuesday! Happy Ash Wednesday!

Special Happy 25th Birthday to twins, Caroline and Clayton Bozyk on Saturday, Feb 20th!  

What a very busy week this has been. We started off with a National Holiday(Presidents Day) and some people off work(mostly government workers). And no sooner did we finish with special Valentine's treats, but it was time to give up something for Lent! Tuesday was the last day to pig out on the sweets since I planned on giving them up during Lent(at least the chocolate treats!). 

I did go looking for some of my favorite Fat Tuesday treats. Paczkis! Those fat little cream or jelly filled polish donuts. I mostly saw the New Orleans favorite, King Cakes(very similar to a cinnamon coffee cake), colored in purple, green and gold with a surprise baked inside-a plastic baby! And pancakes seem to be a big part of Baltimore's Shrove Tuesday celebration. So much food, so little time!  And before I knew it, Ash Wednesday was upon us and no meat. Nothing but beans and rice. I did have the day off and I managed to keep up with one of the Ash Weds traditions-ashes! Turns out the Methodist church nearby where Scott's Boy Scout Troop was affiliated with had drive through ashes available in the afternoon for a few hours. Since I was out running errands and dropping off supplies to my mom, I decided to swing by and get ashes. I figured there would be a long line of participants, but when I pulled into the parking lot it was empty. Except for some guys reroofing the church building. There was a small table set up but no one there. Just a jar of ashes on the table and I almost got out to do it myself except the pastor came running out and apologized for having to take a box into the building. He was happy to give me some ashes on my forehead(drive through method) with the use of a Qtip! Very clever. He also gave me a Lenten packet with some palm crosses(getting ready for Easter!). I did not get a mass in-you still have to put in reservations and I am not exactly sure about my weekly work schedule. 

Turns out I did have Weds and Friday off again last week. My patients were bundled into 3 days. I am still just working in one part of our building-the Assisted Living facility. We still have to get tested twice a week for COVID. We are still on 14 day isolation precautions due to a recent positive COVID test in one of the staff who did not get the vaccine. So since I had some time off I used it to participate in my pool exercise class on Weds and Friday morning. I try to take advantage of the time off and opportunity to participate in the Pool exercise class. You have to make a reservation a few days beforehand, and it fills up quickly. It has been so nice to be able to get back to my favorite exercise class. 

I also appreciate the extra days off to spend doing extra projects and running errands. I decided to have lunch on Friday with Allison and picked up some McDonald's fish sandwiches after my swim class. That was quite an experience. I checked at two different Chick Fil A's for fish sandwiches first. Allison was pretty sure they had them last year, but apparently not this year! Instead, I ended up getting an orange street cone stuck under my front bumper while driving through the ridiculously long drive thru at the large, local Chik Fil A. A very nice man helped me pull it out from underneath!  After our lenten meal and catching up with Disney's Wanda Vision at Allison's apartment, she asked me to join her in dress shopping. Turns out she has two, not one wedding to attend with her boyfriend Gabe. He is actually in one of the weddings set in March in New Jersey. I told Allison she needed a fancy dress and off we went to Burlington. They usually have a great selection and fantastic prices. Unfortunately, it looks like they have not been stocking the store like usual and even stopped selling items online. We did however manage to find a very lovely dress, and even a few others for work when she goes back at terrific prices. They closed the dressing rooms, so we had to sneak into the bathroom to try on the pile of dresses we pulled off the racks. Looks like she will need one more fancy dress for the second wedding. Guess we will just have to keep shopping! 

On Saturday I spent the day cleaning the house and Tom cooked a steak dinner for our neighbor's Dan and Gloria. Afterwards we decided to rent the movie "News of the World" with Tom Hanks. It was very good, although a bit hard to follow at first. We have enjoyed a few, first run movies at home including 'Wonder Woman' and 'Love and Monsters'. On Sunday we had Allison over for dinner and we watched some Disney movies. A new release about a super hero squirrel! Very cute but Tom skipped that one. We did sit through the Disney movie with the computer generated dog in 'Call of the Wild' with Harrison Ford. I think we enjoyed the dog in Love and Monsters so much better. Mainly because it was real and not computer generated! And cute!

Mostly it was just Cookie and I at home during the week. I've been taking her out on a lot of walks. Since the weather has been rather nasty-cold, sleet, snow, our neighbor Gloria has decided to wait for better weather to become our dog walker. She did get Cookie out on one nice day. And since we had a some lousy weather over the weekend, I decided it would be a good time to give Cookie a bath. It is not too easy to get down and wash her in the bathtub, especially with the glass doors, so I decided to use the kitchen sink. It is just my height and has a sprayer, so she put up with me scrubbing her down and then a long brush and blow dry. She'll go in for a grooming when the weather warms up, so for now she has to put up with kitchen sink baths. 

Tom was out of town during the week. He was asked to go down to the DC Dulles area to teach a statistics class for 10 participants in a support company for Northrop. Tom usually teaches this class with another person, but because of COVID they kept the numbers down. So when he returned, he pretty much had lost his voice. He also said he really did not get many breaks since the participants were busy asking him questions at that time. And the class was supposed to run Monday through Thursday, but we had a snow/sleet storm so they sent everyone home Weds night. Instead, Tom ended up teaching the class remotely from home on Thursday while I battled the elements getting to work. I have several appointments on my calendar next week so I am still hoping for a light work schedule. 

Other exciting news on Sunday, my mom had her second COVID vaccination! I scheduled an indoor visit the first weekend in March at her place. I have to get a COVID test before visiting, at least 3 days ahead of time, still wear a mask and stay 6 feet apart sitting behind a plastic barrier

. Not sure when the CDC will determine when vaccinated people will be able to get back to life. 

February 22-28, 2021  Happy Birthday to Tom's sister Susan who celebrated her special day on Friday the 26th with a Lenten Fish and Chips dinner at the beach in Florida with hubby John and Dad (Dick)Seitz. 

Over the weekend,  while Allison was visiting, our neighbor Gloria gave Tom a call to let him know she had an email link from the University of Maryland scheduling COVID vaccinations during the upcoming week at our Baltimore Convention Center Field Hospital. The email had been circulating in our neighborhood all weekend but I did not bother to tell Tom. Most people found out that it was a shared link and most people were being turned down for appointments. Gloria used to work for the hospital system though and she received her COVID vaccination downtown at the hospital so Tom took a chance and logged on. He was able to make appointments for both himself and Allison on Monday morning and Gloria's husband Dan also made a Monday morning appointment. My mom received her second vaccination on Sunday the 21st with her entire Assisted Living Facility. I went online to sign up for an indoor visit scheduled on Sunday the 28th. I figured that would give us both enough time to have an immunology bubble built up, although we still have to wear masks and get tested 72 hrs before visiting, even with the vaccinations. And we still cannot roam freely in the facilities. Happily the Maryland positivity rate is going down and is currently at 3.4. Still doesn't help school openings. Teachers and Teacher Unions, School Boards are still struggling over wanting to open and wanting all teachers to be vaccinated. They just opened up vaccinations to teachers, however, there just aren't enough vaccines to go around. We have plenty of places to deliver them, but not enough vaccine. Fortunately, the Johnson and Johnson vaccine produced here in Baltimore was just approved this weekend by the FDA. And it is only 1 shot. So more people (that want it) should have a chance to get the vaccine. 

Turns out Monday morning was another snowy/sleeting day. Tom and Allison even had a tumble on our front lawn while walking over to Dan's house. We have had varying snow and sleet storms and all the snow piles have turned to ice. I even had to dig out a huge snow drift that was frozen solid in front of our door so the neighbors could get in. Tom had used the snow blower on the driveway and sidewalk last week, but left a pile in front of the door that froze solid. But I figured the bad weather could be an advantage for Tom and Allison getting their first vaccine dose since most people don't like to travel in bad weather. Dan ended up driving all of them down and parked nearby in a parking garage and headed into the Convention Center. Dan's website had him filling out medical paperwork, but nothing for Tom and Allison-that did not look good. As they neared their vaccination scheduled time, they figured someone would come by and turn them away. However, that did not happen and all 3 got vaccinated! Dan fit's the age limit of 65 and Tom and Allison have letters stating they are essential workers in Defense and manufacturing, but they did not need to fill out anymore paperwork. I was so surprised, but very excited that two more members of the family have their vaccine. Both complained of some soreness, while Tom felt a bit dizzy and Allison felt a little under the weather during the week, but nothing serious. I am also excited that they were given follow up appointments for the second vaccination. By the end of the week they closed that vaccine site to Baltimore City residents only due to complaints of inequality on vaccination distribution. 

It was a very busy week for both of us. Naturally as our furnace needed repairs recently, the hot water heater decided to spring a leak. Tom thought he could salvage the unit by changing a hose. Unfortunately, the tank kept leaking and putting out the pilot light. Tom decided since we have had it for 15 years that it was time to replace the unit. So we were without hot water for 2 days. (Guess we were still better off than the family in Texas). They had been without power, water, internet and even cell connection for at least a week during a severe cold snap and snow/ice storm. Most of the country has been under some storm warning for the past few weeks with lots of multiple car pile ups on the freeways with over 50 cars or more in some states. Most of it has been due to ice storms. They are the worst! 

Tom decided to purchase a slightly smaller hot water tank and install it himself. He borrowed my van and drove to a Home Depot about 30 mins from our house-that was the only place that had the one he wanted in stock. He brought it home and disconnected the old tank. He discovered that it was probably a good idea to put in a new one since he discovered our old tank appeared to have rusted out. He was able to bring the new tank into the house and down to the basement with a dolly, but the old tank is just too heavy and bulky to move by himself. Probably will have to wait until Scott comes home for some extra muscle to move it! I am just happy to have hot water again so I can take a shower and get the laundry and dishes done!

I was also happy to have just a 4 day work week, going in on Saturday. I was able to sign up for one of the Pool classes at the Y in the morning on Thursday. I was happy to have time off again during the week since I had some appointments on my calendar. I finally had an appointment to try Acupuncture for my hip and low back pain with our insurance provider. I wanted to try something better than just getting a cortisone injection per the ortho recommendation. He also told me to come back in 10 years to get a new hip! I can't wait that long and I am not crazy about cortisone injections-they don't last very long, so once you start getting them, you usually have to go back multiple times. And you can only get so many since it has side effects  like thinning your bones or eating up any cartilage left! I wanted something to help with my pain so I could get back to moving again. I remember Mom (Bonnie) Seitz having acupuncture on a trip to Hawaii and reported wonderful relief. I must say after just 1 treatment I felt so much better. And nice to have it covered by our insurance. There are more Physical Therapists and Chiropractors using dry needling to aid in pain management and increasing mobility. Looking forward to more treatment sessions and getting back to my exercise class. I also took Cookie in for her yearly check up. I tried to see if I could go into the clinic during her visit with the vet, but they said their staff is not yet vaccinated so as usual, I sat in the parking lot and they took Cookie in. Everything looked pretty good, except I was shocked to hear she had worms in her stool. Looks like she picked up some nasty stuff on all those walks! Since everyone has been home for a year now, the whole neighborhood has been out walking their dogs and getting puppies. Cookie must have eaten something contaminated out on her walks since she is such a garbage hound! Now she is on medication for a few days. And I gave her another bath at the end of the week since she has been getting so muddy with all our walks through the puddles on the sidewalks as the snow and ice begins to melt.  

On Sunday Tom decided to have our neighbors, Dan and Gloria over for dinner. Tom purchased several steaks and made mashed potatoes with broccoli/cauliflower salad and homemade whiskey sours with appetizers. I decided to go get my hair cut. I am still wearing a face shield, so it is nice to have a shorter hair cut to deal with all the mask ear straps and face shield band. We missed having Allison over for the weekend-she was busy visiting with her friends and Gabe.