Last day of February-resolution time!

I have decided that March 1 is my "new" New Year! Join me! It's spring, a time to reawaken. So I'm rejoining my exercise efforts, back to running, and rejoining the purging efforts, back to throwing away,and Sally-ing.  Also more Ping-Pong. That's crucial! So forward into spring!
Went to work for a few hours this am, and finished the flannel board project, hoo-rah!  Danny is thinking about playing Lacrosse and went to  practice for 2 hours. Had my fab soup and more salad for dinner, so no effort for me! Watched the 3 or 4th week of Chicago Code, a police drama I stumbled upon on the first night is was being shown, Jennifer Beals and others, cool show. so that was fun. Temps dropping to about 10 tonight, so I could turn on the fireplace with no guilt.

and the oscar goes to...ME! Sunday 2/27/11

My party was quite fun. Food was brushetta with sun-dried tomato topping, vegetable spring rolls, southwestern corn-chowder and a big salad.  And Red velvet cupcakes..for the red carpet..get it?? Roseanne, Shawne and Alex, and the girls and I were the guests. We enjoyed watching the E! coverage of the red carpet arrivals, we all liked Natalie Portman's dress and agreed that Jennifer Hudson was stunning! We thought Anne Hathaway was darling but that James guy, I don't see it. Not that cute, certainly no personality..I named him "Keanu Reeves jr."!  All in all the show was fine, my favourite part was Kirk Douglas, I loved how there was an older person showcased, one who had had a stroke, he was able to show that he still has a sense of humor and great comic timing. This is a problem for the elderly and disabled, people think they are not human anymore and are more likely to ignore them. Show the world!
The rest of Sunday proceeded as planned, from 8am mass to work. Kids arrived home mid-afternoon.Charlotte,Alex Me, Shawne and Molly in our movie star glasses, the little party favour I gave my guests.

Ready for my close-up? Not!!

in my haste to get ready for the Oscars tomorrow, I went nuts on the beauty treatments...slight burns on face from at home hair removal cream (what they don't tell you about menopause-you grow hair on your face! I thought it was just Italian Grandmas but apparently not!) two razors needed, one for each leg...(not my fault, remember the poison ivy? well you can't shave that!) exfoliated, and in the morning I color my 1/2 gray roots! Then, bring on the Red Carpet!  Charlotte and I are hosting a watching party, and I am obviously going to be gorgeous now!
Worked today, still slogging through the flannel board files...but seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Quick Costco run for the party food, then basically a night of vegging in front of the fire, reading gossip site posts on Charlie Sheen and Bristol Palin (not together!) random stories about that whack-job Gadhafi, top 10 places to retire, red carpet fashion, and who knows what else.  Boy it is easy to waste a night online!
The kids are at the lake with Jer and Hank, sledding, ice fishing, having winter bonfires and playing countdown, so my self indulgence is harming no one but me!

something new--indoor mini golf!

Today at BDL we had a staff appreciation dinner event. After the library closed at 5pm, we all gathered for appetizers and instructions...we were broken up into 7 teams and given an hour to create our own original mini golf hole. This was super fun! I think I 'll steal this idea for Danny's next party. Our spot was the kids area, and I had brought a small putting green strip we have, and a bunch of plastic popcorn holders from home. My team was one of the trustee's, Chris, and Heather,MaryRose and Nathan(turned 18 today!), all co-workers.  We constructed an awesome movie themed hole, which started by putting through the small castle door into our department, bouncing it off an angled table, heading up a ramp, though a pop up castle, down the ramp on the other side, down an aisle with popcorn holders, through a bookend surrounded by videos, up the putting green and into the hole.  Easy right?!!  We also had John Williams movie score playing on the CD player and movies on display. So we ended up winning the most difficult hole, and the prize was blue ribbon pins and a balloon for each of us(no cash award!)  It was a very enjoyable evening and great to spend time with work friends.

photos from mini golf at the library!

Golf outing at BDL!
Going for the final put into the hole..Danny's hat is good luck!




Teammates Heather and MaryRose help to design our winning hole.

Nate tests the castle jump.

Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

Danny holding model of the Fitzgerald

This model was built by the presentor to a 1/16th scale
The ship was 727 feet long and rode 27 feet under the water

2 shots of ship ;top is riding loaded, bottom riding empty



he shared several theories with us about what caused the sinking, this is a diagram of the sister wave

 Danny and I went to another program through Livingston Reads- this one on the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. It was fantastic. The man who gave the talk is an ex-Army and coast guard, who grew up at his grandparents cottage on Lake Huron. He had a passion for learning about this wreck and researched for seven years. He spoke with the help of an overhead projector with transparencies and a huge cassette boombox to play the Gordon Lightfoot song. When I saw that I thought I was in for a boring presentation...was I wrong! This man had so much passion for his subject, and as a former educator he had no problem keeping our attention ..for 2 hours! Danny and I got home at 9:40, but wow, what a neat way to spend the evening!
argh! can't turn my photos!!

Back to school--but more snow on the way!

Hey, it's another good day!  Danny's snow burn has faded to a mild level of emabarressment red, so the bad mommy guilt has settled down!  My meeting a work was changed til tomrw, so Charlotte and I hung out this morning.  I brought her to school at 12:15 and we talked to Mrs. Rossman. She stayed for 5th and 6th period and went to play practice for a while. VICTORY! We shall see how it goes.  I am most concerned about the lunch time scene with Sam and her controling behaviour. 
I worked in Danny's library, and also got to stop in Kohls(cute $8 spring purse!) and Meijer. I picked up Danny and Charlotte and we headed home. We had a quick dance/weight workout, then started on the homework. It was a good thing that I served dinner early(turkey burgers topped with cheese and salsa, strawberris, edamame and sweet potato frys) because we got a call at %45 that the kids tryout for ByeBye Birdie was at 6pm.!  So off we went!  Danny gave a great shot at the tryout...he had to sing solo lines
(Ed Sul-i-van!) dance and do a little acting.  He had a great time and said he hopes to get a part so that he can be in a play with Charlotte. That is so sweet.  We find out on Saturday.
Mom should be on the ground in NJ now, Donnie is picking her up, and Susan is driving her home tomrw. and taking her to her Doctors apmnt.  I am looking forward to hearing about her trip.

Snow Day is fantastic!

Bright blue sky's and beautiful snow.  Danny and I strap on the snow shoes and head out around the neighborhood, then into the back yard and the woods. We had a blast. It actually got so warm we took our jackets off, we were sweating!
Danny went snowboarding all afternoon with Ryan and Collin and had a great time. He even tried a rail grind on the trick hill! Jake would be proud.
funny story with Molly..when I'm heading out to snowshoe I ask Molly to empty the dishwasher and fill it with the dishes in the sink.  For some reason after she empties the dishwasher and puts the clean dishes away, she empties out the sink by putting all the dirty dishes away too! when I got home, the sink was empty, good I thought..then opened the dishwasher and it was empty...what the heck, then open the draw and see dirty spoons...uh oh...open all the cabinets, and there they all are, complete with water and bits of shredded cheese etc on the floor of the cabinets! Thundering Typhoons! So my project today was rewashing every dish and spoon and cleaning the cabinets too! Never a dull!
Also played multiple games of Uno, and went to court and beat my speeding ticket!!!
It is a good day!

12 inches! and it's heavy!

oh my! We are planning to go to the movies at 11am. with Shawne and the kids, and when Jerry and I head out to shovel at about 9:30am we were shocked at the totals. It is SOO deep! Danny and I did a bunch of sledding on the driveway and the front lawn, and shoveling too.

 As of tonight our neighborhood has not been plowed, and school has been cancelled for tomrw. The kids are very happy, told Danny he could read til "whenever" and he was thrilled.  During the course of the day we did get to the movies, Gnomeo and Juliet(cute enough but no Toy Story 3),celebrate charlotte's birthday with brownie icecream sundaes, push Shawne's car out of the neighborhood after it got stuck, play Life Twists and Turns, and watch some cool skateboarding on ESPN2.
Oh yeah, and Jer, after much delay in the Detroit airport, finally took off, came within feet of touching down in Pittsburgh, the plane in front of his skidded, the tower made Jer's plane pull up, they circled and stacked(name that movie!) and finally went to Buffalo! So now he is in a hotel there, with the earliset flight putting him into JFK for several hours, then on to Pittsburgh landing at 11pm tomrw night. the poor guy.....

Sunday February 20, 2011 More Snow..here we go!

Jerry headed out at 7am to set up the donuts for Knights of Columbus donut ministry, and I delivered Danny and Molly to 8am mass.  When I stopped at Kroger to grab the FreePress, still wearing my PJ's, I decided "what the heck,I'll get my shopping done" so in I trooped in my blue tweety and sylvester bottoms and hoodie and slippers and got my list done in an empty store...I'm going every Sunday morning! Charlotte and I spent a nice morning together, we played her new Disney Scene it game(thanks cousins!) and tidied her room together. I am really trying to start every day taking a look at the child who is with me..not what she did yesterday or who she was or how she acted, or what might be happening tomorrow, but just this day, and how we can help her, on this day.  A friend called her and she went to see Green Hornet. We invited this girl to come back for lunch and to hang out, but the Mom said "No", she was worried about the storm.  "Storm?" I said, and secretly poo-poohed her, thinking she was a worry wart.  Well, I'll eat my snow hat! We got pounded! It started at about 2pm, shockingly they did not cancel Danny's 4pm game and Jer, good-fan Molly and Danny head off through the snow, and Charlotte and I watch the snow pile up. I have to go out to mass, and Shawne and Alex drop by to keep Charlotte company(another tough afternoon) and I can't believe how hard it iis coming down! After mass there is about 5 inches on the ground,and on the car! I really had trouble getting home, 20 minutes for the 6 minute trip, and my wipers stop working effectively, yikes!
And once again, the dinner plans for Steak and shake have been foiled, but I was ready this time. I had put brats in the crockpot, and the family was chowing down when I finally made it home! It snowed all night, but the kids have off tomorrow so no worries!

saturday 2/19/11

Well today was a bit frustrating...we kind of planned the whole day around Danny's 2pm game in Livonia(down by old CC) which we planned to follow with a dinner at Steak and Shake. We had a nice relaxing morning, but basically all hauled down to the school, got there half an hour early, the game that was going on ends, and then a girls team takes to the floor. What? Then the coach says there was an error apparently, and we do not have a game! We are now down there, but we really just ate lunch, and Danny is so bummed. So Jerry suggests we go to the arcade/skeebowl alley in Novi, Lucky Strike. Hooray! The mood in the car lifts tremendously, and we enjoy an hour or so at the arcade (high skee bowl score you ask? why the seaside spoiler, yours truly!).  Charlotte has a major freak out after dinner which takes most of the night and all of my energy. To bed at 8:30 with my book(yes, I am hiding)
tomorrow , Knights of Columbus donut service, 2 bball games, and 5pm Eucharistic min slot for me.

Liam Neeson is Awesome!

Just got back from seeing the new Liam Neeson movie, Unknown. It is great! Lots of action, car chases and fights, and the story is very intriguing. Shawne and I feel quite cool about seeing it on opening night. The kids watched Planet 51 and Jerry worked out.
I had a busy day at work, since Brighton schools were off, lots of older kids at my story time, and loads of patrons all day. I didn't get a whole lot done..oh well!  We are getting lots of positive feedback on the commercial. My friend Sarah posted it, unfortunately calling the account hincka6, so it looks like I posted it, which I was trying to avoid. Again, oh well!
Danny went to a pals house, and played all day with 3 friends. Charlotte helped me out at MGC, then stayed on to go to teen movie in the afternoon. Only 6 kids showed up, so Charlotte got lots of pizza! Life is good!

Sally's spree! It's 50% off Thursday!

whoot! who doesn't love a bargain? Danny and I spent an hour doing some browsing, and we had a blast. He has great taste ("that neckline might be a bit low for the girls") too cute! Then he and I head off to the Library, for a cool program  Icebound:Story of the SS Michigan   The gal who did the presentation started the Michigan Historical Divers Association, and has written books and produced documentaries on all the 14 wrecks she and her group have discovered and dived. The story of the SS Michigan was that it set out to rescue the stranded Oneida on Lake Michigan and became trapped in the ice pack. All 30 crew did survive, but the stories were very cool! I bought Danny a book and she autographed it.  Other highlights of the day included a long coffee talk with Shawne at Panera(thanks for listening!) and returning all my bottles and cans to wal-mart. Ah the life of a housewife!

2/16 Charlotte is 18!

On this day, 18 years ago, in the snow, Charlotte made her appearance at 1:19pm in Ann Arbor, MI! She loves to hear the birth story every year(I edit it,don't worry!) so we recount the fender bender in the parking lot of the post office where we stop to mail the mortgage payment on 242 Jackson St., the resident who thinks I'm not in labor and keeps me waiting in the emergency room. When he finally examines me, he is shocked to find me at 8cm(told you baby doc!) and freaks out trying to get me into the birth unit. Meeting the Dr. who will deliver her while naked in the jacuzzi tub in the room(well none of my other rooms had one and I had to try it out!) and of course the happy moment when they said it was a girl, and I thought now Molly will have sister, as wonderful as my sister Susan. Hopefully they'll start to get along soon! Charlotte and I went to mass to kick off her year, and Father Karl spoke on patience, and GODS time, very appropriate for us, and what we're going through right now. Pray is powerful and change will come and we will get through this. I believe that and need to let HIM help me carry this burden.  From mass we head to Ashley Court for our communion services, and all the residents sing Happy Birthday to Charlotte, which really tickles her.  Charlotte heads home for a run, then goes out to Zukey Lake for a special lunch with Jerry. I was so happy his trip was canceled. I dash into work for 3 hours, then over to Danny's school library for my volunteer job, then home, then back to get Danny, then home, then Danny to bball practice, then home, then Molly and Jerry to church for the Knights of Columbus meeting. Whew! Molly had a chance to give a short speech, then I took her home. Jerry came home around 10 from the meeting very excited. The Knights are on board to help with fund raising for Special Olympics, and we are planning a spaghetti dinner for April.

Tuesday 2/15/11

IEP day, always unpleasant. First up Charlotte and I work in Danny's cafeteria and she does her usual great job. Since today was the first day that she was not expected to go to school, there was no tantrum this am. Whew, I'll take! So she doesn't want to go to the meeting(I don't blame her, all that staff makes it feel overwhelmingly us vs. them) but Shawne kindly invites her over to play with Leah. The meeting goes so long that I'm late to pick up Danny, but we don't sign off on it. I have asked them for help with Charlotte's future plans, as I said to them, parents sometimes have either too high expectations or too low  and we need feedback.  Stay tuned FOC's a questionnaire is coming your way and you can assist us too!  They all miss Charlotte and want her to come back. I've decided that we will talk about it over the weekend, and let her relax for a couple of days. No school on Friday and Monday anyway.
I made some killer chicken and bean enchiladas for dinner! go Me!

Monday, Monday, can't trust that day

I had a bad feeling about this, and it turns out to be true. Charlotte, after some hooky last week, refuses to go back to school.  She screams bloody murder in the kitchen, then basement, then garage.  I make an apmnt with her Doctor-sub, hers is out on maternity leave,for 10:45am. though I'm not sure why. They can never do anything for us, But off we go. the guy seems nice enough, but after you spill your guts to him, explaining how much money and time you've wasted on therapists, tried everything etc. He says,"I'm a third year resident, let me go ask my colleagues about medication changes or direction you should go in" Then returns and says,"my colleagues say you should go to a psychiatrist" Thanks for nothing! It's not that I don't believe in Psych's it's just that they never seem to help us. No one seems to be able to help us, That's the most discouraging part of all this.
Then we came home and she freaked out some more, and so did I, it was not pretty.  Got it under control and we did a bit of talking. She doesn't want to go to school anymore, no matter the play, choir  award, graduation,or any other senior activities. I asked her what she would do and she told me she'd have to have a job. and then she told me that she already has a job, at Danny's school and she likes it and is good at it.
Okay then! At least she is talking.  tomorrow I have a meeting at BHS, supposedly to plan her program for next year.  If past years are any indication, they will have nothing to share with me and no direction to suggest.  I am trying to stay positive and it is tough today.

Sunday Mass and Leo's -- Perfect Together!

8am Mass, and great sermon by Father Mark, a private blessing for Charlotte by Father Mark after mass for her birthday, then breakfast at Leo's! Happy Birthday start! We all hit Marshalls together too, an unusual thing and not one I necessarily want to repeat. I like to shop alone or with my girls.  But Molly got dress black slacks and a cute top(wearing them tonight to see Shrek-The Musical at the Wharton Center with her friend Ryan and his folks) which she really needed and we bought some great luggage for our upcoming trips!
Other than that it was a mellow Sunday. The temps were so mild that Danny and Jerry were able to have a catch out on the cul-de-sac! Here comes spring!  After Molly went off, we had spaghetti and meatballs and bread sticks from Gus's. Charlotte enjoyed it. I'm not sure what will happen tomorrow but I don't think it'll be good...

another saturday night and ....

I'm sitting in front of my fireplace...again! To his credit, Jerry did email me from the bball tourney to see if I wanted to go out to eat with him, but I just wanted to veg. hmmm, I am boring! Danny and I had a blast at the U of M game. They really scared us, a relaxing first half, then almost a tie game with 3 minuted to go..up by 3 into 1 minute, then every time Michigan went to the line the missed the free throw! It was crazy, but they hung on. Plus the doggies that race and jump over little fences performed at half time, yay!!
Jerry's team, on the other hand, got killed in both games. The first game 70-26! Coach Jerry said the other team had 2 guys in their 20's who could have played high school ball. The Panthers never gave up, and the girls each had a couple of 3 pointers! Molly did so good on defense, she even got 2 fouls!  Charlotte's shot was definitely hitting, and they were both happy! We all rendezvoused for dinner at 7:30, ravioli and salad, then we watched Aladdin. I have challenged Danny to watch all our old Disney movies so tonight we got to laugh along with Robin Williams Genie!
My moving forward theme for today is that I got a DVR and actually taped a program and watched it, buzzing through the commercials! Speaking of "a whole new world.."!
Danny also had a chance to have another couple of hours on the bobsled track with Jack, which for him = a perfect day!

Fun filled Friday!

Molly is dressed up and happily heading off to school with her cookies I baked last night at 10pm when she told me that she wanted to bring in a treat to the valentine dance! So good mama me baked some cute sugar cookies with pink and red sugar on top.  Danny was happy to head to school as well. He is doing standardized testing this week and next (Iowa tests). He and I went early to beat the traffic and enjoyed relaxing in the library for 15 minutes before school.  Charlotte is another story, we knew she wouldn't want to go, and we said we would make her, but when it came time and she was screaming bloody murder we just gave up. I know, I know, but I am beaten down.  She stayed in her room til time for mass(for Dad!) and then she stayed at St. Pats and worked the tray line at lunch. Jerry picked her up and had her stay in her room til school would have been out. Jerry picked up the jolly boys and brought them home for pizza and bobsledding! they were outside til way after dark! Then they came in for cocoa,cookies and  indoor laughing and general mayhem! I got home home from work and a quick costco run at 5"45 and Jerry headed out to the Brighton HS boys bball game(tied game with 3 minutes to go the last email update reports!) with the girls. They love to go to the sports things. New report, Brighton wins 60-57! conf. champs! Rhonda stopped by to pick up the boys and we snuck in an hour visit, which was another well needed treat for me!

Thursday 2/10/11 Charlotte falls apart

oh boy. Here we go again. Charlotte basically continues her flip out from Monday, and screams and freaks for 3 hours this morning. I am not sure what I'm supposed to do. Long chat with Susan helps to calm me down(thanks sooz!) but it is just a crappy stressful day.

Wednesday 2/9/10

Out I go to Howell to try to reschedule my plea bargain! They claim they never got the fax from the hospital. Luckily I can provide a copy, and my date is 2/22/11.  I'm sure I'll still have to pay, but at least I'll have my day in court. I have a meeting with Molly's teachers, supposed to be an hour, it lasts 3! Good stuff though, and we talk about getting her on board with chores and behaviour issues. Just being more independent, which hopefully will serve her well! Only 5/6 weeks til she is off to San Diego! That will be weird!
Danny has alter server(no more "boy" PLEASE!) training today and tomorrow. and boy is he excited. Ryan is going as well. It will be awesome to see him serving.  Jerry has been spending a couple of evenings at the high school working on the set construction for the play. He knows the men, and enjoys the camaraderie.

book club night!

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan was a big hit with the book club! What a fantastic story and a great night all around. Our new member and old neighbor Donna Campbell came to her first meeting, with her NOOK, and caused a rumble! She says she'll never go back to a real book again. Rhonda countered that she has read Frank's and really missed the real book.  So jury is out on that, I really want to try one...
Leah came and hung out with me today(yay!!) and we baked Chinese almond cookies and rice pudding, to go with our book. I even found some mandarin orange tea ( "we are a pair of mandarin ducks") and that was a big hit!  Shawne won the door prize, a pretty Chinese paper box.  Our book for next month is Passing by Samaria by Sharon Ewell. I got to pick because it's the one year anniversary of the club, and I started it! so I gave myself the honor!  I hope everyone like it as much as I did. I am looking forward to reading it again.

Here is my Leah showing off the finished cookies! What a smile!

In further news, the Hincka Hill is now officially open, with it's 75foot bobsled run! I hope to post pictures soon! Danny and Jerry tore it up after school today.

More Snow?!

Shoveled for an hour and a half, in anticipation of the temps plummeting tonight Trying to get rid of some of the bulk, especially at the bottom of the driveway, so my book club gals can find me tomorrow night! So at least I got some exercise! Charlotte came home "sick" today at 11:30 (after lunch!), and we had a rough go of it. 'nuff said. I met Danny at school and signed him in about 1pm. This way he won't be too behind tomorrow.
I decided to stimulate the economy a bit, and hit Old Navy, Children's place(sweaters for $2.97!) and Home Goods where I found a cute reading lamp for the family room.  Then I picked up Danny and he got in some bobsled runs. I served my turkey chili and cornbread, and then took Danny to BBall practice. Jerry went down to the high school to work on the set building for Bye,Bye,Birdie. He had a blast! They were working on telephone booths.  I had to go to Target to get Charlotte's RX, and as I waited and wandered, I scored a great deal...so that made my night as you know! Got a Zipfy(zip-fee) mini-luge, regular priced $39.00 for $8.00---and its a LUGE! you know, for the bobsled track!!!! So Danny going to test it in the morning and if it's as awesome as it looks on the website as the luge down the Alps!! then I'll go get a couple more for the girls and/or pals. I'll keep you posted!

Sunday 2/6 /11

Mass at 9:30 kicks off the day, and Father Mark challenges us to talk about Jesus, to yell and be fired up, just like we are for the super bowl. Huh! What an interesting thought! Challenge this week, talk about JESUS to people. So I start right away, when I call Sarah to confirm Charlotte's "play date" with Gracie, and I ask her about JESUS and invite her to mass anytime! GO ME! Go Father Mark! Go JESUS!
We make a tasty Mexican appetizer to take to Patty's later on, and head there at 5:15. With Karen,Eric,Pat,Patty and the girls the evening is so enjoyable! We have a tasty bunch of appies, taco soup, and cookies and brownies. We all wanted the Packers(boo big ben!) so we were happy! And Patty is a big Black-eyed Peas fan so we enjoyed and rocked out during half-time.
It was really fun to hang out with friends, I am blessed!

Hincka's 0-3 on the court today

Tough day on the roundball courts for the kids. Danny's team still searching for that illusive first win, but they hustled!  Molly and Charlotte did the pop-shot, and they both hit it! They were really psyched!  The boys headed up to Posen, and the girls and I went to Kroger, dropped off groceries at the house, changed, and headed to the high school to meet the team at 11:45. Off we go, with Kelly and Marylou in the van with us, and Mindy,Sam and Bill in the other car.  The tourney is a big one, and we arrive in time to watch a few of the other Area 27 teams play.  The Pink Panthers lost both their games, defense was a real problem.  Charlotte and Molly both hustled their heads off, Charlotte got a couple of points, Molly almost did.  We were leaving at about 4:30pm, opened the gym doors to go outside, and there was 4 inches of snow on the ground. Blizzard like conditions, wind and blowing snow, and no plows to be seen. It was a white knuckle 25mph drive all the way back to Brighton and took more than an hour. We arrived home cold, tired and starving! Turned up the heat and started the coffee(of course) and warmed up the leftovers.  Charlotte and I chilled to some I Love Lucy and guess what Molly did? That's right, she went downstairs and watched sports! Well, she's happy!

Friday 2/4 no snow day!

Well back to school and back to work! Molly is excited to show a copy of the movie with the commercial to her classmates, and we sent in a bunch of popcorn. Thanks to Patty for the copies!  I ended up working all day, then staying over til 7:30pm to cover book club for a co-worker whose son was struck with appendicitis at 2pm.  So, it was a long day.  No Friday night bball for the whole month of Feb. due to some school scheduling issues, so boohoo, no Friday nights for me!  Super Dad made a bobsled run down the side of the house, and Danny and 2 neighbor kids gave it a good workout.  Early to bed for all, ready for basketball day tomorrow.

Thursday 2/3/11 Another Snow Day???!

Well this news made Danny's day, since he technically missed yesterdays! We feed him up, he is starving!
I head off to a staff meeting at the library. Carla mentioned the newspaper article and everyone was very nice and supportive.  Jerry dropped Molly off for a pre-arranged playmate at Dolecki's, she already had a day off from school for teacher inservice.She loves to play there, I wish Ann would invite her over more. Danny and Scott joined the Arbours for a trip to Kensington for sledding. The weather was perfect, no wind, they had a blast. I had invited them to come back to our house for cocoa and cake. Funny story, Danny,Charlotte and I had made a cranberry coffee cake in the morning. When we were leaving to take the boys to Ryan's, I asked Jerry to take the cake out when the timer went off.  Then I get a call when Charlotte and I are in costco piking up Aunt Reg's order, "Ker, I ruined your cake, I'm so sorry" What??! Well Jerry thought it was burning, so when he took it out, he immediately turned it upside down onto a plate, and the whole cake just crumbled! Poor Jer felt terrible!  Well when I got home, it had solidified, and actually was servable, especially to Rhonda, good sport that she is, and quite tasty! We were happy and Jerry didn't have to feel so bad. No basketball tonight, so Jerry,Danny and I went to a presentation at the library on diving the Great Lakes. It was awesome! We go to watch video that made you feel like you were diving the wreck. This program was the kick-off for Livingston Reads, and the book this year is  A Superior Murder by Nevada Barr.  I put it on my reading list.

Blowing and barfing!

Danny woke up this morning and started to vomit! Poor guy! He had nothing in his tummy, so it was cramping and puking up bile, which is so gross and feels so yucky. This went on all day, Jer finally had to slog out to Meijer to get Tylenol melt-aways, a new thermometer and some gatorade. I shoveled while he was out and had the driveway cleared when he got back.I also tried the distract with laughter technique, and we all sat down and spent the late afternoon watching I Love Lucy!  Danny thinks it is hilarious(and you know Charlotte and I love it!) so it was really fun.
Jer broiled some steaks for dinner, and Danny had to settle for toast and gatorade, but at least he kept it down.  We palyed a game of GREED in front of the fireplace, Charlotte won, she and Jerry killed us!
At 8pm we got a call out that school is closed again tomrw..? WHAT? WHY? Well at least if Danny is feeling better he'll be able to enjoy the day.

Tuesday 2/1/11 Snow is on the way

Blizzard panic is in full swing! School has been cancelled by 6pm! We don't even need to wear our PJ's inside out! Charlotte works in the cafe today, so I have my usual shuffling Tuesday.  I called Mom in Florida and she sounds great! All went well on the trip down, and when she woke up this morning, it was 80 degrees! Mr. and Mrs. B  whipped her right off to the beach! Yay!!!
 I pick Charlotter up and  we go to Michaels and Staples to pick up the tools for my new family job and behaviour program. We have a family meeting and a chat about our new card,clipboard system. We are doing 2 chores/day and 3 other things, journal writing, reading and exercise. Also incorporating the red/yellow/green behaviour system. Jerry says I am introducing too many things, but I am optimistic!
Jer takes the kids to the early running Brighton BBall game, then Molly has a shortened chorale practice. New NCIS LA tonight so my life is sweet!  The snow starts in earnest at about 9pm. I'll let you know about the totals.