Mar. 31 (Day 90) - A win

Cassie stayed home sick today.  She didn't get up until afternoon.  I told her to get up and we'd be going to Urgent Care.  They diagnosed her with a sinus infection and gave her an antibiotic.

Later at night I took Kevin to his indoor soccer game.  They play with two boys teams mixed together so they didn't even all know each others names.  They still managed to win 8-6.

Mar. 30 (Day 89) - Sunset Photography

We did the normal running around today.  Cassie ran track and Alana went to volleyball practice.   Alana drove on the way there.  Driving on the highway during rush hour is not her favorite thing and it's little nerve-wracking for me too.  We had a few close calls but I guess that's what a learner's permit is for.

I tried to take a picture of the sunset tonight and Mark drove up the driveway right as I was doing it.  I like how his headlights are lighting up the bushes.

Mar. 29 (Day 88) - Science Fair

The girls only went to school for a few hours today because of their colds.  I think Kevin is the only one feeling okay right now.  He worked on his science fair project.  He's testing if magnets effect plant growth.  Thankfully we bought 4 different kinds of seeds because two types never germinated.  Mr. Green Bean here was one of them.

In the evening, Mark, Cassie and I met with a college financial planner.  We're trying to get a handle on where she could go to college and what we can do to maximize the amount of scholarships she could receive.

Mar. 28 (Day 87) - More sickness

Alana's cold got the better of her and she decided not to go to her volleyball tournament this morning.  So everybody slept in until about 10am.  Mark did take her later to cheer on her team in the semi-final and finals.  They lost the final match and ended up second place in the Gold (highest) bracket.

She came home and worked on her needlework for a textiles class.  She very much underestimated how long it would take.  I got a shot of the spot where she sat until 1:45am.  Unfortunately she had already put away her needlework and I didn't want to make her take it back out.  I'll have to get a picture after the teacher returns it.

Mar. 27 (Day 86) - Vet-a-Visit Michigan State

Alana and I got up early to go to Michigan State to visit the vet school.  They had lots of little exhibits and fun things for kids.  We missed most of that but did attend a few lectures on how to position yourself so that you are accepted to vet school.  There are only 29 in the country including Michigan State.  MSU Vet School lets in 108 students a year so it's very difficult to get in.  She's not positive she wants to become a vet but she said attending vet-a-visit made her more interested.  For fun we did go see the horse treadmill demonstration.  Here is Beanie on her treadmill.

After we got home, my cold just wiped me out.  Even though Alana was sick too she got ready and went to her good friend Morgan's 16th birthday party.  Luckily Mark got home last night so he could take Kevin to his 8:30pm soccer game tonight.  There was no way I could do it.

Mar. 26 (Day 85) - Soccer craziness

With Mark gone, I had to take Kevin to his two back to back soccer games.  His team played at 8:30pm and 9:45pm.  By the time we got home it was almost 11:30pm and he was exhausted.  I did not take a picture at the indoor soccer facility, but I figure I can take one next week.

Mar. 25 (Day 84) - This is my Bed

Mark left for business today and I was actually looking forward to having the bed all to myself.  Ollie had another plan. Seriously, with the whole queen-sized bed, does he really have to lay right where my legs are supposed to go.  

Mar. 24 (Day 83) - Insomnia

I think this picture says it all.  Yes, this is AM.

Mar. 23 (Day 82) - Bomb Scare

Cassie texted me from school today.  I knew something was up since you are automatically suspended if a teacher sees or hears your phone.  They were under lockdown since a girl heard two other students talk about detonating a device between classes.  So the teachers and students all locked their classroom doors and covered all windows with black paper while the police checked everything. The teachers were told not to tell the students what was occurring, which I think made them even more nervous.  Cassie's room found out from one of the parent's texting their daughter.  They were in lockdown for about 75 minutes, but everything was okay.

For those that don't know our school district is unique in the country in that we have 3 high schools right next to each other.  The students take classes at all three just like a mini college campus with 6,000 students.  I guess they were talking about a bomb going off between Canton and Salem, possible under the little bridge.  Those are the two schools Cassie and Alana walk back and forth from during the day.

The funniest part of their lockdown story for me was to see all the fan pages the students created and joined on facebook tonight.  The best were:
- I survived a high school bomb threat
- Lockdowns are the bomb
- There's a bomb threat.  Why are we sitting here waiting to explode.

For me, nothing much really happened today.  Just one of those days I guess.  I did manage to take a picture of Alana and Sarah when I dropped them off at volleyball.  I will probably get a photo of the school to replace this one.  Because we know there will be more volleyball.

Mar. 22 (Day 81) - Sick Day

Alana and Cassie both stayed home sick with sore throats today.  I wasn't feeling the best either.  I used the day to do a little laundry and make bookplates for the Mackenzie and Andrew's  Easter books.  They came out really cute.

Mar. 21 (Day 80) - Motor City Madness - Part II

We were up and at Volleyball by 7:30am.  The girls played their first match at 9:00am.  The won it 2-1.  They then played in the semi-finals and lost, 1-2.  All in all it was a great weekend of volleyball.  It's good to see that they are working better as a team.  I was able to get a picture of Rachael jumping for a block.  She's pretty amazing considering she is not that tall.

It was not the best picture taking weekend.  I think I'm going to have to switch to full manual focus in order to get better shots.  Notice this one is focused on Marisa's arms, hidden behind #8.

Mar. 20 (Day 79) - Motor City Madness

I took Alana to her Motor City Madness volleyball tournament.  Her team has not been very successful so far this this year.  They were 20th of 23 teams in their 3 weekend Ohio Tournament.  So it was exciting today when they won their first two matches 2-0, 2-0.  They then played the first place team from the next court over and won again, 2-0.  Michigan is considering a new rule which would allow two liberos on the court.   For anyone who knows volleyball, I'm sure this looks odd.

Alana and I decided last minute to stay in a hotel.  Someone from another team had a room they couldn't use.  It saved us about 90 minutes of driving and we were able to go see a movie, The Bounty Hunter.  Nothing great but we had a good time.

Mar. 19 (Day 78) - Boys and their Toys

More boys came to play today.  Mark and Gary worked on the Shelby.  And Jeff brought over his de Tomaso Pantera tonight.  Wow! 

Alana and I worked on Geometry.  Definitely not a favorite for either of us.

Mar. 18 (Day 77) - Driving, Driving, Driving

Alana had volleyball in Dexter tonight which means two trips there and back.  That's about 2 hours in the car.  Alana has started trying to get some driving hours in so she drove both there and back while she was in the car.  Probably not her best drive, but it was a little harder since it was rush hour and the highway was pretty crowded.

I had some gorgeous views when I was heading to pick her up.

Mar. 17 (Day 76) - Ho Hum Day

It was kind of a boring day, but Cassie and I did have the parent meeting for the Track team.  It lasted over 2 hours.  Her coach spent over 20 minutes lecturing us on the sugar levels of different snack food.  She had bags of snacks and a vial showing the sugar content. The first example was interesting and she truly seems passionate about the subject, but example after example I started to feel like the Peanuts characters.  Aren't we really here just to fill out the paperwork, volunteer to help, and pay the check?  On the bright side, anyone that into the team is bound to be a good coach.

I never took a picture during the day so I decided to take one of my favorite lights in the house.  These are over the island in the kitchen.  I guess I should have highlighted the green one since it's St. Patty's day.  Oops!  I definitely need to make sure I take a more appropriate picture each day.

Mar. 16 (Day 75) - Your Car is on Fire!

It was a really nice day so Mark came home early and pulled out the new old car.  A little later he called from the gas station saying it wouldn't start and would I come give him a jump.  After 15 minutes of trying (and him saying I wasn't pressing the gas down long enough), he was just sitting in his car.  I looked over and the jumper cables were on fire attached to his battery.  It took me yelling "Your cars on Fire!!" many times and then honking repeatedly to get him out of the car.   Luckily it was a pretty small flame so he got it right out.  Then unhooked my car since it was smoking as well.

Our friend Gary came to help so I left to go get Alana from volleyball. I returned home to find another Mustang on the driveway and four of them all hovering around the car.  I guess there will be a lot of that now that Mark has this car.  Lots of talk of parts and fixing things.  For now, it's just a bad starter switch.  All we needed was a screwdriver touched to the solenoid and it started.  Ha, I almost even sound like I know what I'm saying, but it's all a big lie.

Mar. 15 (Day 74) - Just Another Monday

Okay, not exactly.  I did forget to take a picture today or more accurately I was just too lazy.  I fell back to sleep after Kevin went to school and woke up a while later feeling like I was in a coma.  With the weather change it keeps popping open.  Well that caused the heater to continually run and I was in a sauna under 2 blankets.  It just made me groggy the rest of the day.  I did go to a lecture on financial aid and forms for college.  It was interesting but intimidating.

Sunday Digiscrapping Highlights

Here's some really nice products from the ScrapMatters website:

AndiLynn designs has a beautiful new kit, Fair are the Meadows, and there's even a freebie to go with it on her blog, AndiLynn Designs.  I just love the gorgeous colors and patterns.

There's only 3 more days to get the March Monthly Collab from the ScrapMatters Design Team for 50% off.  There's a really cute hopscotch element (shhh, I'm not supposed to tell) that I just love.  After March 18th, you get to see the whole thing, but have to pay full price.

Mar. 14 (Day 73) - Blogging and Such

We had a 10:30am soccer game for Kevin and then a free day.  I used it to redo my blog and get it updated.  Cassie had been complaining that I hadn't yet used the cat she created for me.  It's up now and will be in every blog header unless she makes a new one.  I just love it.

Mar. 13 (Day 72) - Bookplates

We got up early and cleaned rooms and bathrooms.  It felt great to get the house clean.  Mark went to work and I used the time to catch up on some odds and ends.  I finally printed out the labels for the twins Valentine's books.  I've decided to buy them books throughout the year instead of toys for their birthday or Christmas.  Obviously, I haven't quite got the hand of it yet!

Here's the bookplate for Mackenzie's book.

Mar. 12 (Day 71) - Sugar

Just a regular day here.  We did have a 9:25pm soccer game in Wixom.  The boys lost 2-0 but it's there first game since Fall.  I took my camera but didn't even take a single shot. 

So, I decided to take a picture of our cat, since we are kitten-less at the moment.  This is Sugar.  Also known as Sugar-Bugger, Bugger, or Buggie.  Sugar is in love with hand-held massagers.  She'll come running if she hears you turn one on.  She could sit for hours rubbing against it.

Mar. 11 (Day 70) - Inspiration

Today was the spring family event for Mark's professional organization, YPO.  He was the chairperson for the event, so everyone but Alana (who had volleyball) attended.  They arranged for a former prison gang leader, Andre , to come and speak with the teenagers and adults.  He talked about his life experiences and how he turned his life around.  After 10 years in prison, he returned to school, got a degree, and has his own company.  He's given lectures at Harvard and even taught a class at Tufts university.  He still lives in his old neighborhood and helps others turn their lives around.  He was a very interesting and passionate man.

Cassie and Kevin enjoyed it even thought they weren't thrilled to go.  Cassie said it was geared towards the younger teens, but still liked it.  Even though my photo of Andre didn't come out, I did get a good one of Cassie wearing her new boots from Christmas.  She just towers over me when she wears them.

Mar. 10 (Day 69) - Oh no, my Toe!

My toe woke me up early in the morning because it was hurting when I slept on my stomach.  When I woke up it was showing some bruising.  It hurts if I try to push it down (e.g. stepping on the gas pedal) but besides that it really looks worse than it feels.  By tonight though, it really wasn't looking too pretty.  Luckily it's not flip flop season.

I took Alana and her friend Morgan to breakfast before their late start today.  After school, the girls came home and Cassie helped Alana with her geometry.  They were actually really nice to each other.  But don't worry, they were warring over the furnace temperature before the night was over.

Mar. 9 (Day 68) - Scattered Day

We were all kinda all over the place today.  Cassie retook the ACT at school, but doesn't think she did as well as last time.  Alana (w/ Shannon) and Cassie (w/ Erica and Andrea) both went to see Valentine's day at different times with different people.  I took Bobbie to the airport.  She's headed to Arizona for a while.  I tried to get a photo but she was moving too fast and someone had been playing with my camera setting.  Okay, it was me.

Later, Kevin and I ended up being the only ones home at dinnertime and we decided to try out our ebelskiver pan.  I think he was a little disappointed because he hasn't found a filling he loves.  We were out of chocolate chips so we'll have to try that later.  I liked strawberry jam and Kevin said the fresh strawberries were good.  Cassie later tried strawberries and liked it too.

And lastly, I think I stubbed my toe on some uneven cement and it's starting to turn black and blue.  Go figure.

Mar. 8 (Day 67) - More Volunteer Work

Since I'm without kittens I decided to volunteer for 3 hours for the Humane Society Grand Opening. I was supposed to be helping with gift bag items, but we finished it up pretty quickly. So I spent 1 1/2 hours checking off and labeling clinic reminder cards. I only got through a small portion and my stack of post cards was over 3 inches tall. I cannot image how they do this every two months.

Oh, I forgot to add we had fondue for dinner.  This is what we do when Mark is out of town, since he has no patience waiting 2 minutes for each bite of his dinner to cook.  

Mar. 7 (Day 66) - Long, long day

I took Alana to Toledo for volleyball today.  We left at 9:30am and got home at 8:30pm.  The played two matches, won the first and lost the second.  They ended up in 20th out of 22 teams in their power league.  I think they have a little work to do.

I took my new camera lens (Canon 85mm f/1.8) to the games.  It does so much better with the bad lighting than my walk-around lens, but I still need to learn how you use the autofocus correctly.  Here's my best shot of the day.  With the setting it needs to use get the lighting it needs, you only have a little bit of the shot in photo so there's not a lot of room for error.

Mar. 6 (Day 65) - They are sooo silly!

Mark took the Alana to her volleyball league in Toledo and I just hung around the house with a headache.

I spent a bunch of time today reorganizing my blog and updating it.  In between, I checked out the ScrapMatters website.  The ladies have been have fun with the user name titles.  So that's my photo today.  Be glad I didn't snap it earlier in the day when it said "Judy has two husbands.  She doesn't think that's allowed." or before that "I don't want to think.  I just want to be surprised."

Mar. 5 (Day 64) - Seriously Addicted

Right now Kevin and Paul are totally addicted to "Call of Duty 2."  After school and on weekends, you can always find them in the basement in the exact same position.  I keep thinking they will get bored with it but they haven't.

And after dropping off at volleyball, I managed to get to the shelter 5 minutes before they closed.  Guess what!  Lily was adopted yesterday, the same day she went on the floor.  Now we just need someone to take Mama Lotus.

March 4 (Day 63) - Nice and Clean

Doreen came a day early this week.  There is nothing that makes me happier than a sparkling, shiny kitchen.  Doesn't it look great.

Yes, I'll admit I'm pampered.  I have someone come in once a week to clean my house.  And yes, I know you'll think I'm crazy, but she doesn't do our bedrooms and bathrooms, just the powder room.  Because everyone needs to know how to clean up after themselves.  And that includes me.

Mar. 3 (Day 62) - Goodbye, Sweet Mama

Yes, today's the day the kittens and Mama Lotus go back to the shelter.  Otis and Jillybean will be picked up in the evening to go to their forever home at the Hoskos.  Mama Lotus and Lily with have to wait to be selected.

Mama Lotus was a really nice cat.  She will be missed.  The extra cleaning of the counters for any little crumb, grabbing donuts out of  your hand, sitting 1/2 inch from your plate on the table, and, of course, finding her in the kitchen sink again and again, that probably not so much.

And after running around for 2 1/2 hours last night, do you think the painter came today; or even called.  No, I didn't think so.

Mar. 2 (Day 61) - On the Road

I was supposed to go pick up my old laptop and resized bracelet today at the mall but we discovered last night that we had about 3 partial rolls of toilet paper in the house.  So instead I went to Target.  I think I spent $120.00, but I have no idea how.

 

But then I decided I'd better go today anyway since Mark, the painter, is coming to give a quote tomorrow.  So, after the 1/2 hour drive to Dexter to drop off the volleyball players,  I went another 40 minutes to the mall.  Then I had to do it all backward to get them home.  I think I was in the car for 2 1/2 hours.

Good new, though.  Remember when I said the computer quote was first $185 and then $85.  Well Apple charged me $54.00.  So the screen now lights up and they replaced the whole keyboard and palm rest.  What a deal.

Mar. 1 (Day 60) - Laundry Day

This is where I spend my Mondays.  I love that it's so bright and clean and we even have some art of the kids up on the wall.  We really need to hang a few more items.