Thoughts on Getting Older

I received this in an email and I loved it so I thought I'd share it here. Not that I'm old by any means but when I take those first few steps out of bed in the morning I'm really not to sure anymore.

"Old Age, I decided, is a gift. I am now, probably for the first time in my life, the person I have always wanted to be. Oh, not my body! I sometime despair over my body, the wrinkles, the baggy eyes, and the sagging butt. And often I am taken aback by that old person that lives in my mirror (who looks like my mother!), but I don't agonize over those things for long.

I would never trade my amazing friends, my wonderful life, my loving family for less gray hair or a flatter belly. As I've aged, I've become more kind to myself, and less critical of myself. I've become my own friend. I don't chide myself for eating that extra cookie, or for not making my bed, or for buying that silly cement gecko that I didn't need, but looks so avante garde on my patio. I am entitled to a treat, to be messy, to be extravagant.

I have seen too many dear friends leave this world too soon; before they understood the great freedom that comes with aging.

Whose business is it if I choose to read or play on the computer until 4 AM and sleep until noon?

I will dance with myself to those wonderful tunes of the 60&70's, and if I, at the same time, wish to weep over a lost love ... I will.

I will walk the beach in a swim suit that is stretched over a bulging body, and will dive into the waves with abandon if I choose to, despite the pitying glances from the jet set.

They, too, will get old.

I know I am sometimes forgetful. But there again, some of life is just as well forgotten.. And I eventually remember the important things.

Sure, over the years my heart has been broken. How can your heart not break when you lose a loved one, or when a child suffers, or even when somebody's beloved pet gets hit by a car? But broken hearts are what give us strength and understanding and compassion. A heart never broken is pristine and sterile and will never know the joy of being imperfect.

I am so blessed to have lived long enough to have my hair turning gray, and to have my youthful laughs be forever etched into deep grooves on my face. So many have never laughed, and so many have died before their hair could turn silver.

As you get older, it is easier to be positive. You care less about what other people think. I don't question myself anymore. I've even earned the right to be wrong.

So, to answer your question, I like being old. It has set me free. I like the person I have become. I am not going to live forever, but while I am still here, I will not waste time lamenting what could have been, or worrying about what will be. And I shall eat dessert every single day. (If I feel like it)

MAY YOU ALWAYS HAVE A RAINBOW OF SMILES ON YOUR FACE AND IN YOUR HEART FOREVER AND EVER!"

Pictures from Thanksgiving weekend

The 5 Burgess kids - yeah we're all still kids at heart.










The 5 Shipley's - oops make that 4 - Scott missed this one, he's away hunting in Canada.





We had a gingerbread house making contest at Ann and Ric's. The house that Sarah, Jenny and Sam created was deemed the winner according to Judge Dorsey Shipley (and yes he was once judge of the orphans court). Not quite the same type of judging but we thought he could handle the task.

Sarah, Jenny and Sam work on their house.

Our Family's finished entry.

Judge Shipley

All of the entries

Thankgiving

We had a very nice Thanksgiving weekend. Sarah was home from college for a few days and we were able to spend Thanksgiving day, just the 5 of us, at home which was nice for a change. We did our respective big family dinners with the Burgess and Shipley families on Saturday and Sunday. Scott and the kids spent Thanksgiving day preparing dinner for the evening. Here's a picture of Sarah and Jenny preparing roll dough for some of Scott's famous rolls. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family. I began setting up the Christmas tree before heading out to work for the afternoon at the Big K, yes I'm still there a few days a month and yes they were open on Thanksgiving. I'll be able to officially retire and draw a monthly check from Kmart October 1st, 2009. Hopefully the company will still be around by then. I'm not really to sure what would happen to my pension if the company were to go belly up. I am just soooooo thankful that I had the opportunity to change careers 2 years ago. Thank you Fern for coming into Kmart that night. I love my current job with FCB and I know longer worry about the stability of my employer. In addition I am so thankful that Scott was able to give 22 years of service to the Army Reserves which has enabled us to enroll in the military insurance, Tricare Prime, saving us thousands of dollars per year in medical insurance premiums and virtually eliminating the worry of medical insurance as he and I both begin to reach our golden years! Oh my, that's kinda strange to even think in those terms.

Sarah's Ribs

No it's not another rib joint in town - Sarah's cracked a rib from coughing. She had a terrible cold about 2 months ago followed by weeks and weeks of coughing. She called me from school complaining about a good deal of pain on the left side of her chest, kind of under her arm pit and I suggested she see someone in the school infirmary. She even said that she thought it looked a little swollen on that side. She went to the infirmary and they just said they thought she was just sore from all of the coughing that she had been doing so we decided to wait it out. Well things weren't improving so I made an appointment for her last week at Detrick. They did an x-ray and sure enough, she has a cracked rib. Crazy, huh? We were joking about that possibility before her appointment. The x-ray actually showed that she had a "healing" cracked rib so apparently this happened back when she first complained about the pain. She went back to Detrick today and the wrapped her up like a burrito to help support the rib so that it will be able to heal completely. The thing that's a little puzzling to me and to the doctor to some extent was the fact that she's young and they don't typically see a young person crack a rib from coughing. Hopefully it doesn't happen again in the future.

What is it with boys?

This morning it was snowing outside when Sam left the house for the bus stop. He was out the door when I noticed that he was not wearing a coat. Short sleeve t-shirt and jeans, that's it. I called out to him "where's your coat?" His reply was "the bus is coming and I don't need one anyway." Now ... it was snowing so of course it was around the freezing mark and any normal person would have been cold, but not Sam. When I was a kid I remember that there were many, many, times when my brothers would leave the house in the wintertime wearing only the barest minimum of a coat and my mother just figured if they got cold enough they'd put on something heavier so I guess I'll just follow her example and try not to worry about it. I think it must be a guy thing. :)

ACC Results

The band prepares to take the field.

Drum majors and senior class band and guard members line up for awards.

Urbana students help the pit crew assemble the props.

The band was awesome this past weekend finishing 6th with a score of 92.85. Way to go TJ! Our percussion section finish in 3rd place and the color guard finished 1st. Way to go TJ! It was a cold and windy weekend but we managed to get by with only one minor catastrophe. We have 5 giant size snake charmer type baskets on the field during the show and we we able to stabilize 4 of them by positioning 6 people behind them, 3 adults and 3 students that we were able to borrow from the Urbana HS band. But on the remaining 5th basket we only managed to have 3 Urbana students. Well .... that basket decided to take sail. No one was hit or hurt and the band was able to continue with their show as if nothing had even happened. The Urbana students on that prop were so apologetic as if it was their fault but let me tell you even the folks on the baskets with 6 people said they could barely hold them in place. So I'd like to say huge kudos to the 15 band students from Urbana for giving us a helping hand. We had to take a 1 point penalty because there are to be no adults on the field during competition, only students, but i'm sure things would not have went as well if they were not there.

Jenny is the snare drummer on the far left.

ACC's - Here we come!

Look out Allentown, PA. The TJ Band is heading your way. The band competed in the USSBA (US Scholastic Band Association) National Championships help in Annapolis at the Naval Academy last weekend in Group IV competition, finishing 5th out of the 20 bands entered in our group. GO TJ! On Sunday we will be traveling to Allentown, PA to compete in the TOB (Tournament of Bands) Atlantic Coast Championship competition. TOB and USSBA being two different marching band circuits each with their own judging criteria. We are heading into the TOB competition seeded in 7th place out of 30 competing bands and we hoping for a finish of at least 6th or better. 6th place being the highest that the TJ band has ever finished in TOB competition. That occurred last year in 2007. Sam and I will be riding the parent "party bus" as it has been named, which will require us to be at school at 5:15 am to be ready for a 5:45 am departure! Yikes! I'm excited! It's always a long day but always a lot of fun for the parents and the band kids alike. This is the "Super Bowl" of marching band.

The Weekend Results

We had an exciting weekend. Sam's football team made it to the playoffs and competed in their 1st game on Saturday. Unfortunately they lost 7 - 6, but it was sure a close one. Sam made several key receptions that ended in quite a bit of gained yardage but they just weren't able to score that last touchdown to win the game. If I can figure out how to do it I'll add a video clip from the game to the blog.

The TJ Band traveled to Liberty HS and competed in the Chapter 5 Championship. They won the group 3 division giving them an automatic berth to compete in the ACC's (Atlantic Coast Championship) in Allentown PA on November 16th. They are seeded in 7th place out of the 30 bands that will be competing in the competition. Last year the band came home with a 6th place finish at the end of ACC's, their highest finish to date. Jenny's hoping for a higher than 6th place finish this year so she can finish out her senior year in marching band with a bang.

I Voted

I got up a little early this morning and decided to head to the polls to cast my vote before heading into work. I arrived around 7:30 and was out in about 15 minutes. Things weren't to hectic at that time. Sarah was so excited about this election since this is the first time that she could vote in a national election, and what a historical election for her first experience. She drove home from college last evening so that she could vote today. She'll be heading back to school this afternoon. She wanted to tag along with me this morning so she rolled out of bed a few minutes before I was leaving and decided to go vote in her PJ's. Only a 19 year old could get away with that one! At least she brushed her teeth!

Be sure to get out there and vote today!

Tricare Update

My faith is restored in the military healthcare system ..... at least for now. I had an appointment this past week, with a different provider. After the appointment, I had blood work done, 3 scripts filled and I was out of there in an hour and a half. Much better.

Tricare Frustrations!!!

Our family has recently enrolled in Tricare Prime Insurance that is offered through the military. Scott is now an official retiree of the army after 20 years of service in the Army Reserves and the fact that he is now age 60. I have been frustrated from the start of this new insurance. I'm not familiar with the procedures and no one seems to offer any direction on the flow of things in the military health world. I'm constantly asking questions to folks that look at me like I should already know the answer. The up side to all of this so far, and it is a BIG up side, is that we are saving approximately $6700 a year in the cost of the insurance alone. Not to mention free scripts, free doctor visits, and free lab work but in order to take full advantage of all of the perks we need to go to the health clinic located at Fort Detrick. Sam and I had appointments a couple of weeks ago at 9:50 and 10:10 and we didn't get away from the clinic until noon. Sam was prescribed medicine and apparently the way it works is they key it right into the computer during your visit and then you walk across the hall to the pharmacy to pick it up. I wasn't told that until I asked someone how to get Sam's RX. We were so late getting out from our appointments that I decided to come back on another day to pick up the RX. The pharmacy hours are only 8-4 so trying to get there and not interfere with my own work schedule is a chore in itself. When I did get back to the Pharmacy, almost 2 weeks later, I first had to take a number a wait to be called. About 45 minutes later it was my turn, finally! I never in my wildest dreams thought that the RX wouldn't be ready but ... it wasn't. I had assumed that it would be filled once it was enter into the computer by the doctor. At that point I needed to be out of there in order to make it to work on time. So I told them I couldn't wait any longer and that I would send in Jenny that afternoon to pick up the RX. I decided rather than bother Jenny with it (she would have needed to drive to my work to pick up Sam's ID which you need in order to pick up someone else's script) I'd wait until my next late day for work (now late for me is only 10:45) to pick up the RX myself. That was today. Well I went in there and actually had my number called in about 15 minutes only to be told that again it was NOT ready. Now why on earth wasn't it? I talked to the folks behind the counter and even the pharmacist and no one gave me an answer that made any sense. I was almost in tears (one of my traits when I'm frustrated that I just hate) and I didn't have time to sit around while they filled it so I left, in a huff, extremely frustrated and upset.

I'm sending Scott in there next to get it ... he's retired, he's can sit there all bloomin day and wait. I think I can also get RX's filled at the local Walmart or Kmart although that would entail some copays, minimal I think. It may be worth it to avoid all of this frustration. Now I just need to find out how to get an actual written script to take to these stores. Oh my!! That's another day.

PS - I have no idea who this kid is but I found his picture online and I think I was feeling kinda like him today.

Jenny's College Application Essay Question

Jenny is busy these days preparing several college applications which she will be sending out in the not to distant future. I had the privilege of reading one of them the other day and thought I would share it. The prompt for the essay was:

"Tell us about an experience which, at the time, really felt like "the end of the world" -- but had it not happened, you would not be who you are today. Describe the process through which you discovered value in the negative."

I vividly remember this and yes I'm sure Jenny felt like it truly must be the end. I don't remember Jenny ever being as upset as she was on that fateful day.

"One day in early November last year, I drove home after school only to discover my iPod was missing from my car. Frantic, I desperately searched every nook and cranny of my car. Unable to find it, I thought back to earlier that morning. It was pouring when I had arrived at school, and I realized that due to the rain I had ran inside without stopping to lock my car. I knew then that my iPod had been stolen, and that I had to return to school to report it missing. During my desperate search to find my iPod, I had thrown my backpack on the driveway beside of my car and as I backed out of my driveway my backpack ended up underneath my car; underneath the wheels of my car. As I felt the bump of running over my backpack I jumped out of my car to assess the damages. Most of my binders survived, however my brother's PlayStation Portable did not. Now that I had ruined or lost about five hundred dollars in technology, I was very near my breaking point. However I had marching band practice in an hour, so had to prepare a façade of calmness and composure appropriate for drumming. As I arrived at band, I was soon approached by the Percussion Caption Head. Myself being the bass drum section leader, he said he had to have a talk with me. He said that he had to get rid of the first bass drum player due to her being constantly absent or suspended from school. Then he said that I, as second bass drummer, would be playing most if not all of her parts, and I would have to know them prior to our next competition, three days away. It was at this point that I decided that the world was in fact coming to an end. "

"This experience, while devastating and enraging at the time, actually had a positive affect on me and helped shape who I am today. Due to the fact it was my fault my iPod was stolen, I had to get a job to pay for a new one. By getting a job, not only was I able to save up and buy a newer, better iPod; but I also learned how to spend money responsibly, and to always save a good portion of your paycheck. The job I got to pay for my new iPod also helped me meet and befriend two deaf co-workers, which in turn resulted in learning sign language. From receiving all of the first bass drummer’s parts, I became a better drummer. I learned how to quickly memorize parts, and how to play more notes than I already had. Also, my fellow drum line members respected me more as a leader and role model for being able to quickly patch the hole in our tightly knitted section. In early November last year, I had a day that felt like the end of the world. However, it helped to positively shape me into who I am today."

The Secret Life of Bees

Wow - I had read this book several years ago and loved the story then ... and this past weekend I saw the movie. It was great! So many times I've gone to see movies that were made from books and been very dissappointed, not this time.

It's truly one of the nicest films I've seen in a long time! The acting was superb, as was the casting. You are taken from laughing one moment to feeling as though your heart is being tugged out of your body in the next moment. I definitely recommend seeing this film!

Fall

This past weekend was beautiful! The fall colors on the trees were just gorgeous. I really think fall is my favorite time of the year. Cool mornings, warm afternoons, cool evenings ... sweater weather. Sam and I noticed some signs along the side of the road that indicated a "Holiday Showcase with over 20 vendors". We decided to seek it out. Well this showcase was being held at a beautiful secluded spot at the top of Gambrill Mountain called Thorpwood. Check out their website if you get a chance. They are a totally green building which was very interesting in itself. Waterless toilets. I can't begin to tell you how long I looked for a way to flush! Maybe that's a story for another blog. http://www.thorpewood.org/ What we couldn't stop commenting on were the brightly colored trees as we drove through the mountains and the fact that I hadn't even thought to bring along my camera to capture any of this. When we arrived back home I logged on to the computer and thanks to Sarah, she had uploaded some pictures that she and Jenny had taken on their hike in the woods the week before, so ..... I decided to share a couple of them here for everyone to enjoy. I'm hoping to get out again this up coming weekend and capture a few pictures myself. The colors are changing so quickly.

Where the H__ is Matt (update)

For some reason his site seems to be down but you can find his videos on youtube. Just go to youtube and search for "where the h__ is matt" only fill in the missing letters, and his videos will pop up.

But eventually check out his website because his story is kind of interesting. He has three - 20 minute or so videos of a lecture that he gave and I was able to listen to those as well and he talks about how all of this came to be and then his trip around the world filming his videos, pretty cool.

Attitude

A number of years ago, I had a boss that had this posted on his office door. I thought it pretty much hit the nail on the head. I was cleaning out some papers and came across a copy of it that I had made and tucked away with my "keep, don't pitch" papers so I thought I'd share it.

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.

Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company ... a church ... a home.

The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable.

The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude ... I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me, and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you ... we are in charge of our Attitudes.

Charles Swindoll

Where the H__ is Matt?

If you haven't seen this guy's videos, you really need to check them out. The one from 2008 is really great! I've been checking out his website and his videos off and on all day, can you tell we weren't very busy at work? LOL

Sarah received an invitation to a party with a link to his 2008 video and it said that the party would probably be a lot like this video but they were pretty sure that that guy Matt wouldn't be there. It was pretty funny once you viewed the video.

Enjoy

http://www.wherethehellismatt.com/videos.shtml

Vacations

I have a love - hate relationship with vacations. You look forward to them for so long and then all of a sudden they're over. I find myself getting a little depressed towards the end of a vacation because I know that things will soon be back to the same old routine. But all in all vacations are a wonderful thing. When we're home it seems like all of us are constantly moving in different directions and rarely are we all in the same place for very long. So in addition to visiting fun, interesting and sometimes new places, vacations away from home are just as much about spending much needed time with family. Our latest vacation to the Williamsburg, VA area was wonderful. We were able to enjoy this vacation with Sandy and her family as well. We have spent numerous winter ski vacations with Sandy and Bartee in the past but we hadn't had the opportunity to do so for some time. With their move west and the addition of Sanjay and Priya to the family it just hasn't been as easy as it once was.

It was great and I just hope it won't be so long until the next group vacation.

My greatest memory from this trip was the fact that I was able to rekindle my love of roller coasters. Back in the day ... some 30 years ago, I loved coasters, but I haven't riden one for probably about 20 years. But with the persistant coaxing of Sandy, Bartee and Sarah I decided to give it a try. Wow - I'm so glad I did! I loved it. Thanks guys! I even road the Griffon with it's 90 degree, 200 foot drop, which when I saw that coaster in testing last spring I never in my wildest dreams thought that I would ever, ever be a rider. Here's a couple of pictures of Sarah and Bartee on the Griffon. They are in the back row, the 1st and 2nd seats from the left. This picture was taken just after the pause at the top of the first drop ... yes they let you dangle for a few seconds, looking straight down at the ground before they send you flying.

What's even more amazing is the fact that Jenny rode the Big Bad Wolf, The Lock Ness Monster, Apollo's Chariot as well as Griffon! Jenny has never, ever been a coaster rider but she did it! She's actually pretty terrified of coasters. Here's a picture of her on a log ride at Hershey Park from 8 years ago and you've never seen a more frighten face in your life. I was so proud of her! She was about in tears before we left the Griffon station due to her fear, but she hung in there and I really think she like it, but when we got off I asked her if she was ready to get back in line for another ride and she immediately said NO. A friend sent her a pretty funny text message when she go off off Griffon. Here's the text - "Haha watch it chica. You have just barely killed the chicken in you. It's still running around. It's head's just cut off" LOL. Maybe on our next trip to an amusement park she can put the chicken to rest for good. Here's a couple of more pics from our vacation - One from Apollo's Chariot and the other from the Log Flume.

The Apple IIc is Alive and Well!

When I started this blog I mentioned that I had started a journal of sorts on my very first computer, an Apple IIc, back in 1989 after the birth of Sarah. It has no hard drive, just some RAM memory that you have to load info into from floppy disc's so that the computer knows what to do. Well, I uncover it the other night and put in the Appleworks program disc and it worked like a champ! Imagine, I bought it in 1987 and it STILL works better than any of the computers that have resided in my house since. Gotta Love Apple! Maybe I'll dig out my old external floppy drive that I had and then I wouldn't even need to perform the disc switches.

I found the "Journal" file and loaded it up and I was surprised to see I actually had entries until sometime in 1993. So in addition to info about Sarah I have entries pertaining to Jenny as well. I was hoping to be able to print out the file but all of the ribbons that I had for the Immagewriter printer (the Apple printer) had dried out. My next step is to sit down in front of the computer with Sarah's laptop and retype what I had written on the Apple. I'll then be able to send it to my desktop and work with it there.

One other side note, in addition there was a file entitled "Sarah - Helpfull Hints". These were lists of instructions for various baby sitters, grandparents, and daddy that I left with folks when Sarah was in the care of someone other than myself. It was kind of funny to read over these. Even funnier was that Sandy was with me and she said she had done the same thing for her kids.

The Boat

It all began a couple of weeks ago when we received a phone call from the property manager at Deep Creek informing us that our boat had sunk!! How can that happen? Yeah I know, the Titanic sank but as I recall it hit an iceberg and last I checked, as cold as Deep Creek Lake is, I don't think there's any icebergs in the lake! Apparently it sank stern end down. The bow was sticking up out of the water, still attached to the dock. All that was missing was Johnny Depp standing on the point. As I understand it from the insurance folks, they are saying that the bildge filled up with water as a result of heavy rains over the weekend prior to the sinking. Again there's a cover on the boat and I really don't understand how or why this would happen. The boat is stored during the winter at the local marina and it had just been put in the water 2 weeks prior. I'm still not convinced that the marina may have possibly left out the plug when it was put in the water thus causing the bildge to fill. There's a plug to drain the bildge that you pull out when you trailer the boat. There's an automatic bildge pump that should run if water accumulates in the bildge but what they are saying is that the pump had run so much with the heavy rains (or the fact that the plug was out, oops did I say that) that it eventually killed the battery and then it wasn't running anymore. So ...... it sank.

To make a long story short - apparently the boat is repairable but at a hugh cost ... so we've found a used one, another Cobalt, 6" shorter and 4 years newer that Scott was very impressed with, that we can purchase for less than what the repairs would have cost on our boat, "The Titanic 2" as we've named it. Thank goodness for the insurance coverage - that will at least cover the replacement boat.

Catching Up

Ok - I know it's been a long time since I last posted so I'll try to catch up a little.

Sarah's home for the summer. She absolutely loved her 1st year in college. St. Mary's was a perfect match for her. She was a member SMUT (St. Mary's Ultimate Frisby Team), Helped extensively with the threater department and participated in the Orchestra as well as many other campus clubs. She's really matured into a very independent, responsible adult. She's working for Borders, she's one of the techs for the TJ marching band, and tutoring a middle school student this summer to keep busy and earn some spending money. It's kind of funny though, I'm starting to remember how it was to be out of my parent's house for a while and then move back in and having to respect my parents rules. Only this time I'm the parent. We're not having any big issues, but even though she's 19 and technically an adult, I still like to have an idea of where she is and when she'll be home and I don't think she quite feels that it's necessary all the time. She said to me one night, "what do you do when I'm at school?", and I told her, "in my mind when your at school, you're in bed every night by 10" LOL. I'm really thankful for cell phones. Most of the time I can get in touch with her if I need to. But then again the flip side to that is when she doesn't respond to the cell phone then I worry even more! Oh my :(

Jenny's been busy scoping out colleges. Her SAT scores as well as her HS grades are very good so I don't think she'll have a problem getting into most any college that she chooses. We visited Penn State and Virgina Tech last week and she was impressed with both. Her main interest at this point seems to be engineering. I think she's leaning towards Penn State as her first choice at this point. The school spirit in the community as well as the school itself is amazing. Jenny would probably try out to be part of the well known "Blue Band" at Penn State and I can't even imagine the memories that would be created from such an experience if she were to make it. In between college visits and Marching Band rehearsals she's continuing to work for 5 Guys on the creek. She had her senior pictures taken last week. She looked beautiful! Wow - It's so hard to believe that she'll be a senior in the fall.

Sam will be entering the 8th grade in the fall but for now he's just enjoying the summer. He and a friend, Danny, are pretty much joined at the hip lately. They've gone swimming almost every day when the weather is good. He played baseball again this past spring season and his team did very well. Sam was the lead off batter for the team and he even managed to hit a home run this season. There were several close games where Sam was instrumental in getting a hit and creating the go ahead run. For those of you that haven't seen Sam lately I think you'll be very surprised. He grew 3 inches and put on 6 lbs this past year ... and his voice is unbelievably low. He'll be starting football the end of July, another sport that he really enjoys. Scott played football back in the day so I think he's thrilled that Sam likes to play as well. Of course the parent in me is very concerned about injuries but I guess in the whole scheme of things the injuries are few and far between, hopefully.

College Visits

Jenny and I have been pretty busy the last couple of weeks scoping out prospective colleges. I have a hard time realizing that in another year, I will be sending two children off to college. I'm still not used to the fact that Sarah just finished her freshman year at St Mary's College of MD.


We visited University of Maryland on Maryland Day which is kind of like a big open house for prospective students and the community. Each year they try to establish a new record of some sort. This year they created the UMD emblem using 50,000 cupcakes. It was pretty amazing to say the least. The following is an except from an article I found online about the event.

"Yep - 50,000. In honor of the holiday, University of Maryland bakery staff took two months to make the confections, which are being stored in various freezers all over the College Park campus. UMD officials expect about 80,000 people to attend the event today, which is free to the public. The numbers are unbelievable: the ingredients were $14,000, which were paid for in part by corporate sponsors, and the total calorie count for all 50,000 cakes is a staggering 12.6 million. Take that, Weight Watchers."

MIT would be very challanging academically but the rewards that she might gain from receiving a degree from there would be well worth the effort. At the moment she's thinking about appling to MIT as her reach school and Maryland as her fall back school.

We'll be visiting Penn State and Virginia Tech next month. I'm really looking forward to visiting Penn State, we've heard nothing but wonderful things about it from current students as well as alumni. Her interest is in engineering and she prefers the larger schools so if anyone has any suggestions for schools that we should look into please feel free to let me know.

Huge Sinkhole on I-70

Check it out - this thing had traffic snarled up all day yesterday. The following is from the local newspaper.


That sinking feeling
Sinkhole makes mess of I-70
Crews start to fill in a sinkhole Thursday that opened in the westbound lanes of I-70. Traffic on the interstate was getting past in the emergency lane, resulting in lengthy traffic delays.




A 14- by 20-foot sinkhole on I-70 West that snarled traffic throughout the day Thursday has been filled with concrete.

About 4 p.m. Thursday, the State Highway Administration reported that the concrete in the 25-foot-deep hole would take about 12 hours to set. SHA officials planned to lay asphalt over the concrete and expected to have the interstate open by today’s morning rush hour.

The problems began about 7 a.m. when SHA workers closed one lane to make minor repairs on a bump near the South Street exit, said spokesman Dave Buck. While putting grout down on the surface, the section collapsed.

No one was injured and Buck said he was grateful workers closed the road before the collapse.

Thursday evening, drivers were getting by on the left shoulder. SHA set up message boards at both the 59-mile marker and the 62-mile marker advising of the problem and traffic delays.

It is not unusual for sinkholes to pop up after a heavy rainstorm, which the area received last weekend, Buck said.

The area around South Street is prone to sinkholes. In January 2005, a sinkhole about 25 feet by 17 feet and 13 feet in depth opened up behind the guardrail on I-70 near the South Street exit.

In September 2004, six sinkholes opened up near the LaFarge Quarry and beside Monocacy Boulevard near Bailes Lane.

It was a close one ...

Wow - last night Jenny told me that she almost hit a deer while driving home from work. It happened by the Army base near our house. We constantly see lots of deer inside the fence of the base but they never seem to be outside the fence. Apparently though, last night, as she was going past the base, there was a police officer outside the fence try to scatter a group of deer that were hanging out near the side of the road. I guess in doing this one of them decided to cross the road rather than run away from the road. When the deer darted out in front of Jenny, she was able to stop but a car coming in the opposite direction wasn't so lucky. The deer took off after being hit so .... she's not to sure what happened to him or her and Jenny said the car sustained considerable damage but the occupants were OK .. thank goodness. In a way I'm glad that Jenny experienced this without any bad results. There are tons of deer near our house as well and there is one particular spot coming into our community at the bottom of a hill where they like to cross. Hopefully this will slow her down a little when coming into the development. I love the fact that two of my children are able to drive but I constantly worry when I know they are out and about. So many things can happen in the blink of an eye.

Worked on this blog all day long!

Oh my goodness - what have I gotten myself into. I've just spent the greater portion of the day picking out a new layout for my blog. (don't tell my boss and Mary if you're reading this, pretend you didn't). I picked one out earlier in the day that was a real pretty beach landscape but once I put it into my blog it was very difficult to read the writing. I think I've finally found one that I like. Let me know what you think. There are soooooooo... many to pick from and I have such a terrible time making these kinds of decisions.

My First Blog Attempt

My niece, Sandy (http://www.swimming-scrapping-sandy.blogspot.com/) has sparked my interest in creating a blog. I was struggling to come up with an interesting blog name and then it hit me ... my husband (the cook in the family) always said that for a meal to be appetizing you have to add seasoning. I decided that would be an appropriate word to use in the title of my blog as well. It's all the different seasonings or personalities, that make a family flavorful and sometimes pretty wild and crazy.

I'm hoping I will continue to post. When my first daughter was born in 1989 I started a journal on my 1st computer, an Apple IIc. Does that date me or what? Now, before I could even bat an eye, she's almost 19 and in her 1st year in college, I have two other children, a junior in high school, and a 7th grader and I think that I only continued that journal for about a month if even that. I see a lot of younger moms, or moms with small children posting about how time flies, and wow how true that is. I swear my kids were infants, toddlers and preschoolers just last week. So keep your fingers crossed, because oh how I wish I had kept up that journal back in 1989. What a wonderful thing it would have been for the kids to be able to read as they grew. I still have the computer. If I can remember how to work it I'll see if I can find that old journal and maybe transfer those entries here.