I have been tagged to do a MiMe, but will have to come back to that another day. It's been a week of ups and downs. We had a wonderful few days off checking out local sites, theater events, tagging along on AM's work assignments, just general much needed relaxation.


We were on our way back from Frederick on Sunday and stopped by to visit my dad. It was unplanned and we arrived to find him having a hard time breathing and plans to go to the hospital were underway. After a brief visit, we helped get him and his stuff to the car and on his way.

We visited him that night, then again on Monday and Tuesday when he was transferred to the ICU. He was on a respirator and sedated, but able to communicate some between doses. He has always feared being stuck on a respirator, and he had been on one for two weeks a bit over a year ago. His COPD was determined to be the problem, possibly a few silent heart attacks that had further reduced his cardiac capacity, and there were impending kidney problems. Honoring his request, we had the respirator removed on Wednesday night, around 8 pm. His sister and brother-in-law, wife, myself and AM were there to give our love and support. With him comfortable and under sedation, I stayed with him until he passed at 11:50 this morning surrounded by loved ones.

I have been lucky to only have known a few people to die in my lifetime, some tragic, some expected.. but watching the end of his life, knowing how he has struggled with his illness, cancer, lack of energy, chemotherapy, and more... I saw him at peace and at rest. It was a sad, vivid moment that I will always remember, but there was also a sense of calm, knowing he had a wonderful life and that his wishes were done, and his physical battles were over.

Thanks for all you have taught me Dad.. I love you!

The taxes are done! Since we share joint custody of our daughter, we also take turns claiming her as a dependent. This is my year, so I look forward to a sizable increase over last years refund. Wonder who I can spend it on? 200 lbs of chocolate peanut butter fudge perhaps? Would make an impressive Easter basket!

Looking forward to the start of Spring Break this weekend. Going to take some time off and bounce around the area... checking out new places, restaurants, etc... should be fun and relaxing, just what we need. :-)

This past weekend, the farm (remember that place? I think I have mentioned going there once or twice before) had a dressage clinic. So was there bright and early, with one hour less sleep for DST, and several hours less sleep for finishing the taxes. So I guzzled my coffee and got a few photos. The daughter won her class and got another ribbon for the fire hazard display growing in her room.

Tonight was Living History at the school. Not sure how widespread this is, but it is a very interesting program. The kids have been working over the last few months to research, write a script, practice, and get a costume and props together. Tonight they performed for their classmates and the gathered parents. They were all nervous (mine especially), but I could see the sense of accomplishment and relief on each one as they finished. It was an informative, entertaining event. My daughter played Eleanor Roosevelt and her friend played Marian Anderson. They did great! :-)

Why do they do this? I had it programmed into my car, helping me calm down in the Washington D.C. traffic, but after 14 years, my jazz station changed formats and went to the Oldies. I must have missed the memo! Oh well.. my new to me car now has a new to me XM radio, so I can still listen to what I need to get me through those trying commutes. I am still trying to figure out my favorite stations.. which one's do you like (for those of you with XM)?

Tonight it was a delayed return, by way of the Kennedy Center. My daughter's middle school percussion ensemble was selected to play there as part of the Music in Our Schools program. It was a challenge for everyone to get there, but she had wonderful support in her performance from friends and family. While she did not seem to act like it was that big a deal, we all thought it was pretty cool. You can watch the performances from their website (My daughter's group is the second school.. the one's without guitars) You can almost see her in the photo.. ;-)


On my way into the performance, I got an e-mail that informed me that I was selected employee of the month! Not sure what special things I did in February that warranted such recognition, but it was nice just the same! Wonder what I should do with my extra day off? Suggestions?

Another long blogging hiatus. It's not that nothing has been happening around here, just never seem to get around to writing it down. I just finished refinancing my house and am now driving around in my fully registered, titled and tagged, new to me car. Plans for redoing my 70's vintage kitchen are floating through my brain. Planning for a big summer vacation with AM and the kids has been keeping my mind full of things to do, tickets to purchase, passports to renew... where is my daughter's birth certificate? Searching through my cryptic filing system to find it. (I did).

Then there are all the delightful weekend activities. Celebrated a wonderful Valentine's Day with my sweetheart, followed by her birthday a few days later. We had a lovely time together, celebrating, wandering around the historic part of town and shopping. Her youngest bought a puppet that I will wait for her to describe, but she has had us laughing many times with "Chris". We also got to celebrate her dad's birthday, with dinner one weekend and a big party the next.

Weekdays have been primarily work, taking care of the daughter, running back and forth to the farm. I kept the old to me car for farm trips, but we did decide to take it to the car wash and remove at least a few months mud from the inside and outside. I washed the other car too.. which led to the two bouts of winter weather last week, so the Maryland road crews could turn all the roads white with salt and turn my car into something that resembled a giant salt lick. Not complaining too much.. at least I could get out and about.

So, lots of fabulous things going on, many mundane things going on, all in all, life is good! :-)

It's always a challenge, and I don't do this very often.. probably only a few times since I have lived in Maryland. I researched... we both did. Thought we had crossed all the t's, dotted all the i's. But they always find a way, it is their mission... to crush your organizational skills and send you away dejected. You all know this.. I am sure it has happened to all of us! I had the proof of insurance, the title, the lien release on the title, the notarized bill of sale, the inspection certificate.. and I presented these to the Frederick MVA with the hope of getting tags and title to my new to me car. But, noooooo! I had the yellow copy of the inspection.. not the white one! It was a disaster.. everything started to spin.. they were all laughing at me.. the humiliation! :-)

OK, it wasn't that bad... it cost me an extra $20 for a temporary sticker and I have to go back with the white copy in the next month.. but I got the tags and picked up the new to me car at my friend's in Baltimore. This car is a Civic coupe, 5 speed, and it's been a while since I drove a stick regularly, but I got good practice driving it home in rush hour, in a freezing rain storm. What a day! Hope you are all home, safe and warm on a night like this.

Another evening at the farm. I will appreciate when things dry up a bit and I am not tracking so much mud around with me. It was warm today, almost 70 and the storms held off so my daughter was riding in the outdoor ring. Her and her horse were having a nice workout, when the wind started to pick up. After a nice combination jump, the horse got spooked and took off a bit. I was proud to see her sticking with it, but it was a bit of a battle... I stopped taping as they sped past, in case I needed to help in some way, but she worked him into a corner, hopped off and calmed him down. I remember a few years ago that this would have been a major trauma.. but her thoughts were... "I can't wait to post this to my YouTube account!". Boy have things changed since I was a kid. :-)

Here is the video, taken just a few hours ago and now available to the world!

Had another wonderful weekend. Went to my first yoga class on Thursday night and followed it up with a 6 hour "retreat" on Saturday. I now have a full understanding of how inflexible I have become, at least as far as my joints go. ;-) I have to say that I felt very relaxed the rest of the day and just a little bit sore the next morning.

Today I was running errands, picking up my daughter, taking her to the farm, general dashing around stuff. On the way home I was saying we needed to go to the grocery store, the daughter suggested we go during the Superbowl, since it wouldn't be crowded. I though this was not a bad idea, we weren't going to any parties.. so at 6:30, we went to dinner at Uno's (there were 5 groups of people there), service was excellent, and then off to the grocery store, which we completeted in 15 minutes. It was strange seeing how much of an impact this sporting event has on our society... it was a ghost town out there. Oh, and the soda and potato chip aisles at the store were barren!

Did watch the second half... the game was actually more entertaining than the commercials for a change. We enjoyed the horse race with Shaquille O'Neal as a jockey for Vitamin water. What were your favorite commercials?