Jeff and I took Theo to the vet on Monday March 18. Of course, Theo was very excited. The vet took a couple x-rays and his lungs were clear. Theo wouldn't let the vet look down his throat, but the vet still concluded that Theo has partial paralysis of the larynx or windpipe. There's surgery that can be done, but Theo is 11 years old and the surgery can increase his chances of contracting pneumonia. So we'll just reduce his activity and keep him inside more. Jeff's looking into calming supplements that are also helpful.

Paige picked up her graduation announcements and cap and tassle! Her middle name was spelled wrong on her namecards, so we asked to have that corrected. It's coming up soon! She turned in all her completed scholarship applications Wednesday 27th after we went through and made a few edits to her essays then compiled them with her transcripts and letters of recommendation.

Bryn's been home on Spring Break since March 22nd. We took her out for a fish fry that night and when we ordered a beer at the bar, they didn't even check her now-21 ID! Disappointing. Sure was nice to cut down that long commute to coach all week. She had track meets Saturday and Wednesday. And next week the high school has break, so she won't have to drive in then either. Sounds like she and Natalie have agreed upon a week for Bryn to come visit her in Texas: June 6 – 13. Now we start airline ticket shopping!

Kids Day at Hallmark was Saturday March 23rd. Hallmark is filled with Easter crafts for the kids to make, face painting, pictures with the Easter Bunny, treats, a clown and balloons. All employees are expected to work that day and Paige's shift was 10 - 2. Paige texted Kristin the time and date so the girls could visit, but Bella already had a Girl Scout activity. Bryn and I met Kristin, Lucy and Carlo at Hallmark and watched Lucy make her way through all the activities.

That night, Jeff and I met some friends from when I worked out in Waukesha at Rayson, Dave and Judy Birch. I quit that job when I had Paige, almost 18 years ago. I noticed on LinkedIn that my contract job at Core Creative is just blocks away from where Dave is now employed, so I emailed him to see if they wanted to get together. Dave replied, "How about next Saturday?" Their youngest is the same age as our oldest and we had a lot of catching up to do. Of course, the Marquette game ended up being that Saturday night, but we had a good seat at Mo's and watched while we talked.

I'm thankful for my contract work. My regular freelance client just revamped its accounts payable system and it's definitely not working in my favor. I get called in to Core Creative at least once a week through my temp agency and that paycheck arrives dependably every two weeks. Jeff working at MSOE is another godsend.

Knock on wood, my back's been great and I've been able to get back into a routine at the Y again.

Abby drove in from La Crosse last evening and within half an hour she had plans to meet her girlfriends (Kendal, Ali and Lori) out. Kendal, now engaged, asked all 3 of them to be in her wedding in June 2014. Exciting.

Abby is on her way to Panama City, Florida for Cru's Big Break 2013. This year she's going as staff, not a student, so she had a few things to get ready before today. I asked her to please take and post pictures so watch her Facebook wall. (I really need some pictures of Abby!)

We just booked our La Crosse hotel for the weekend after Easter to visit Abby. Hoping the weather's nicer to enjoy the area while we're there. And Pearl's ice cream always tastes better if it's not freezing outside.

Bryn's loving her new coaching position at the high school. To make it official, Paige even got Bryn her very own "Coach Saunders" Falls sweatshirt. She had her first indoor meet with the JV team and felt encouraged. She'll be heading to Parkside tomorrow for an indoor Varsity meet. She'll run with the team at practices as often as she can, but weather or cross training are keeping her from her regular workout routine. Lucky she has that brand spankin' new YMCA on the 1st floor of her dorm!

Jeff and I took off Friday afternoon, March 1st,  to go check out Bryn's new flat she'll be living next schoolyear. It's about the same distance away (2-3 blocks) as the dorm she's in now, just the opposite side of campus. Bryn found out about the space from the 3 girls currently renting in the unit below. Their upper unit has two bedrooms, 1 bath, full kitchen, big living room and another big room at the front of the house that could be converted into another bedroom. They also have access to a washer and dryer in the basement. Bryn and her roommate, Grace, put down their deposit this week and signed the 1year lease. They're actively seeking a 3rd roommate to bring the costs down, but no takers yet. The previous renters had several pets, so Bryn and Grace asked for new carpeting in their contract. They also get to pick out new paint for the walls. They're able to move in May 1st as the flat is currently empty. That might be nice being able to move some items directly from her dorm when school's out in May and into the flat. We were able to negotiate the 1 year lease to run from June to June, just paying for the month of May separately.

I rounded up a 6-man trivia team for the YMCA's sponsored event Friday March 8th. Our team, Random House, tied for 5th place and won a variety of YMCA tshirts. Trivia was fun — and challenging! There were questions on who said famous quotes, identifying the artists of famous paintings, naming the movie given its themesong, filling in the 6 degrees of separation between Kevin Bacon and your assigned actor... When it was our team's turn to choose the category from the list, everybody boo-ed us for picking "Artsy Fartsy." Strategy.

We met Bryn and the Taorminas for Bryn's and Kristin's birthday dinner at the Mayfair Mall food court Saturday (9th) night. That's right! Kristin chose to dine at Rocky Rococo's for her 37th birthday. Nobody was complaining.

I'm sure you're all enjoying my "March: The Month of Bryn" on my Facebook page. It's taken some time, but it's been fun looking for pics of me and Bryn to post throughout her month. I'm kind of reorganizing the bins/boxes in the basement anyways, so it's a two-fer!

That Sunday Jeff and I went with Kristin and Carlo to see Bella perform with her Crescendo troop at the AOK (Accompany of Kids) Gala show. She did really well! I still can't believe that shy girl gets up on stage and sings and dances. The picture shown is from "The Rainbow Connection" song. Super cute. I bought Bella a yellow rose, per Lucy's color advice, to congratulate her with after the show. Needless to say, Lucy also needed a flower. A pink one.

Paige and AJ (or "PayJay" as Meg likes to call them) celebrated their 1 year anniversary on March 11th. They always go out ON THE DAY no matter what day of the week the 11th lands on. AJ didn't let Paige know where they were going for dinner and surprised her when they drove up to PFChangs. AJ got her a Kindle Fire (say "what?"!!!) and Paige got him a Jonathan Lucroy bobblehead and made him a Packers/Brewers fleece tie blanket.

Paige has been very busy filling out local scholarship forms that the high school makes available. Some you have to fill out a separate form, some require writing an essay on a certain topic. I wish her luck, she's put a lot of work into these. We signed her up for PlanIt Purple on June 18 at UWW so she can register for her freshman classes.

Jeff and I have been upgrading little things throughout the house: dishes, blankets, rugs. He's ordered half the shutters for the outside of house that have been down since we had the trim repainted in October. Scary to see how much the olds ones had faded! We want to put new flooring in my office, but that's gonna have to wait. We've got an expensive spring coming up!

Jeff's scheduling a vet appointment for Theo. We've been walking him everyday instead of throwing him the frisbee because Theo's gasping for air with too much activity. Walking hasn't been to pleasant either as he throws up several times along the way. Not sure I want Theo to go to the vet or not.

 The new distance coach for the Menomonee Falls Girls Track team is Bryn Saunders! She is so excited. She came prepared for her interview in January with a full season workout schedule, so along with her recommendations from the summer camp program, they pretty much hired her on the spot. Bryn had to come in for a Meet the Coaches meeting for propective runners and many were really glad to see her in this position. Her first day on the job will be Monday March 4th. Congrats Coach Bryn! We're still waiting to see if Paige listen to all the encouragement she's received from her Powerpuff coaches in the fall and will join the team. Back home here we had to renegotiate vehicles, so Bryn can get back and forth from Carroll to the Falls everyday. Since I'm working from home more often, I'll probably be the one without a vehicle. But Paige is willing to take a ride to school, so that makes things easy.

Paige and AJ looked perfectly paired for the school's Turnabout Dance on Feb. 9th. We forgot all about getting AJ a boutonniere, but luckily the florist made an exception and we were able to order one that morning. The group of 6 had dinner at one of their homes and off they went. For 45 minutes. That's when the school called and informed us that Paige was ready to leave the dance. Apparently less than 50 people turned out and that's not too much fun. They went back to the house that hosted dinner and played games the rest of the evening.

Jeff headed back to Virginia Feb 11 – 14 for their last visit to a heart hospital they're working on to make sure all the equipment is working right and ready to go. Arriving in DC on an evening flight, the 3 co-workers were disappointed to find that their "sedan" from the rental car company was a Ford Focus. The 3rd guy had to sit sideways on their 3-hour trip from the airport to the hotel because there wasn't enough legroom.

It's been a year since Bryn's visited the podiatrist, but her right foot (the one that had the bunion) was hurting and it wasn't going away after 2 weeks. The doctor ordered x-rays and Bryn was relieved to hear that the bone was all healed and looked good. It was a tendon over the top she had strained, so she got new inserts to hold the arch and relieve the strain and prescription-strength naproxen.

Continuing my efforts to make my home workspace as ergonomically-friendly as possible (and to keep me out of physical therapy), I found a highly-rated Herman Miller work chair on Craiglist for a reasonable price. While Paige worked on Sunday Feb 17, Jeff and I drove to McHenry IL to pick it up. It's in great condition and sits like a dream. The ride was nice and we got to stop at Ferch's, an old-fashioned soda shop) for lunch on the way back. Next, Jeff's looking to install a cork floor because it's supposed to keep the room quiet and warm.

This past weekend was an eventful one. Abby was supposed to come home Feb 15 – 17, but she really wanted to attend a skiing night that Friday, so she postponed coming home til this weekend. Bryn even came home and spent Saturday day/night with her sisters. In the meantime, I had already committed to attending the Carroll Alumni Wine & Beer Tasting and had extended the invitation to some of my local fellow alums. That invitation spread and Laura ended up coming in from Rochester NY and Karyn from Winter Springs FL! Since we had people come from such great lengths we made extra plans to see each other. We had a wonderful dinner at The Melting Pot on Friday night. Karyn and Sue toured the Carroll campus on Saturday, which I bowed out of since Abby was home. And Saturday, of course, was the wine tasting. You should have seen us trying to sum up the past 25 years of our lives through chatter and pictures on our devices in just 2 evenings. I'm exhausted today. I even scanned a bunch of photos from our college years to chuckle over during our visit. I'm excited because I now have standing offers to visit NY and FL!

Back to work and back to pain. :( all those hours sitting at the computer are keeping my hip flexor muscles contracted, so i feel pain down the front of my right leg when I stand or lie flat. And it sounds like a recent injury may have triggered it on. I gracefully fell out of my friend's car just before Christmas outside Starbucks. I caught my right foot (coincidence? I think not) in the car door and the rest of me landed on the ground. My physical therapist says that probably stretched my hip flexor beyond my limits. I see my physical therapist twice a week, and she's recently tapered down my stretches as I've been experiencing more pain than relief so far.

Paige graduated from glasses to contacts this year and I think it's a good thing. She's been wearing her contacts everyday and is amazed how clearly she can see. Sounds like she should've worn her glasses more often... Paige got the hang of it pretty quickly, but it sure would've been been nice to have Abby around.

I took Bryn over to my college roommate's home in Brookfield to discuss careers in science. My roommate, Polly, and her husband are involved in diabetes research at the Medical College of Wisconsin and gave Bryn a great description of what it's like to go to grad school, get your PhD, and ultimately work in academic setting. Their opinion was that Bryn should attend medical school if she wants to set policies in ethics vs just compliance. Lots to think about... Polly and John also turned her on to MCOW's summer internship program in research which Bryn applied for the next day.
Menomonee falls high school head track coach interviewed Bryn for the distance assistant coaching job and basically hired her on the spot! Technically she's waiting for call from the athletic director confirming she's passed her background check, and she's in! She'll start in the beginning of march and  the season goes through may. In the meantime, Jeff and I have to figure out how she's going to get to Menomonee falls from Carroll everyday.


Bryn quit the Carroll indoor track team mid-January after a visit to her general physician confirmed her hip flexor injury and prescribed some intense physical therapy that includes steroids. But Bryn couldn't leave the team, and being the clever girl she is, found a way to make it happen. She rearranged her work study assignment from the library to athletics, and now she's the indoor track team manager! She now gets paid to go to practices and meets! All while doing the same things (helping out) she was doing being injured reserve.

Gallery night landed on jan 18, and it was a little too chilly to stroll the downtown galleries. So we decided to explore a couple larger venues. Jeff and I along with our good friends, Dave and Carrie, got to see the Grohman Museum at MSOE, an art museum featuring men at work, and then moved on to enjoy free admission to the Harley Museum. We were pretty pleased with our gallery night destination selections. We toppped off the night with a drink at the swanky iron horse hotel. So cultured.

The last weekend in January, I traveled to Chicago to watch my niece Logan compete with her two cheer teams at a competition where they took 1st and 2nd. It's scary to see how high those girls are able to toss each other up and build pyramids. Logan, meg, Mia and I stayed at a nearby resort, but weren't able to partake in the nice facilities as we were busy running around. Craig and Clark met us at ikea during a break in the competition where we had lunch (50 cent hot dogs!) and I purchased my desk. Thank goodness meg, Craig, and Clark were so willing to help me load 'er up! Craig and Clark made the investment in new suits and hung out and thoroughly enjoyed the hotel pool.


Jeff put my desk together in the next few days and it looks so nice! And it's so nice to sit at!

Turnabout, Menomonee falls high school's winter formal dance where the girls ask the guys, is coming up next weekend and it was Paige's turn to get creative in the asking. She and her friend, hailey, recruited 10 friends to hang out in WalMart on their day off school last Monday. Hailey and Paige got their boyfriends to meet them at WalMart,  but instead their friend lizz met them with their first clue and her cell phone to record their scavenger hunt. Each clue led them to another area of the store where another friend held the next clue. The 10th and final clue led the boys to Paige and hailey holding  a sign "turnabout?" AJ was really impressed.

My parents called asking if they could come visit the first weekend in Feb. I asked "why?" The response: "It's the Fish Fry!" So they traveled down and we all went to the St. Anthony's Fish Fry with the Taorminas. We arrived a bit later than usual because I was working downtown til 5, so we did notice the dessert tray offered slim pickings. Better luck next time. We had a low-key weekend thanks to my leg/back, but it was nice. We were able to figure out our vacation for this year: a week at Hilton Head in August!

We're looking forward to having Abby home for a visit Feb. 16 as we don't hear or see enough from her.

Just can't get in a groove to do this thing on a regular basis. But my life isn't regular. And so it goes.

As expected, work picked up just after New Year's. I've been able to fill in a bit with help from my old friend, temp agency C2, who was able to get me in quite a few days at Core Creative downtown. Columbia St. Mary's has hired replacements for the two individuals that funneled all the work my way, so that will pick up as they ease into their positions. I was grateful for the time off over the holidays while Abby and Bryn were home on break.

Jeff's been out in Virginia this week. Then he's back and is thrown into the fire. The president of his company resigned and apparently is more than ready to delegate all his duties before he leaves the end of the month. The ex-president scheduled Jeff into a meeting as soon as Jeff's off the plane. And Jeff has no background info going in. That nonsense will soon end. Hoping for a boost in employee morale and emphasis on more social activity with the new president.

Abby was a personal attendant on Dec 15th to UWL friend, Becca, at the first of many weddings in Abby's calendar. Look what Abby created over break for Becca's wedding present: it's Becca's and her huband's vows, their last name and lyrics to the song as she came down the aisle. So cool. So Abby. (Abby hasn't given it to them yet, so please don't share on Facebook.) Abby went off to her annual TCX conference in Minneapolis right after Christmas, but as an organizer – not attendee – this year. She said it wasn't all too different an experience for her – still very positive, as always. However she did pick up a nasty cold or flu virus being huddled with those 500+ attendees in one hotel. It took Abby down for 2 full days and lingered over a week. And of course, she shared with Jeff and I – luckily it wasn't as severe.

Twice over break, Bryn took off to Chicago to visit her good friend Ashley: once for Ashley's birthday and again for New Year's Eve. Bryn also spent a good portion of her break looking into her future. She met with a Hospital Ethicist to inquire about his daily job duties and schooling as that is a possible career path for her. She also applied for the high school coaching position for distance running and a research internship with Dow in Indy. Currently we're in the midst of setting up a meeting with my old college roomie, Polly, and her husband to pick their brains about where Bryn could/should go with her chemistry/philosophy/writing interests. Polly and her husband are research department heads at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Bryn's already working that networking web! Bryn's back at Carroll, not for classes, but for indoor track practice. Her first meet was this Saturday.





Paige was also out and about alot. AJ got her tickets to the Bucks v Heat game. Paige wore her Heat jersey to AJ's Bucks jersey, but soon had to hide her allegiance. As they walked to their nosebleed seats, someone asked if they'd like to upgrade their seats. AJ agreed on the spot to enter a contest and before the game started, Paige and AJ were escorted down on the sidelines as the players were stretching out. There, AJ was given a cookie and 45 seconds on the clock. He had to wiggle the cookie from his forehead to his mouth and HE DID IT! Paige and AJ got to watch the game from box seats! On New Year's Eve Paige took AJ to the Harlem Globetrotters game.

We fit a lot in over the holidays: Christmas in Appleton with Jeff's Mom and sisters and their families, Christmas at the Cabin with my parents, one sister, brother and their families, Christmas in Kimberly with Jeff's sister and Dad, Transiberian Orchestra concert and finally dinner at Maggiano's in Milwaukee to celebrate my Dad's 80th birthday.

Merry Christmas!

So this little family blog has over 4000 views! Should I be nervous that we have stalkers or flattered that we have so many friends?

Abby and Bryn both come home for winter break today. Glad it's today as snow is predicted tomorrow and Thursday and I surely wouldn't want Abby to have to drive 3 hours in that. Their rooms are all ready for them: unopened mail and clean sheets on their beds. Paige is really looking forward to not being an only child.

My regular freelance client base has all but fizzled out the last two weeks, so I signed back up with my staffing resource and was able to help fix some timely website issues at Mars Cheese Castle in Kenosha for a half day last week. And this week I'll be going in to Rockwell for a half day on Friday. I've alerted the staffing agency of my more-than-available status after the holidays so I can get busy again.

It's an awesome time of the year to have the extra time on my hands. The tree is up and decorated, Christmas shopping done, presents wrapped, house clean.

Paige has been very busy at Hallmark. When she works, she typically works til close. Closing up shop is taking way longer than usual — almost an hour after they lock the doors! So some of the employees are volunteering to come in each night an hour before close in order to get everyone out of there quicker.

Paige came home from her Hallmark Christmas Party with the announcement that she'll be attending UW-Whitewater next fall. She's been talking to a lot of people (kids and adults) and concluded that Whitewater is the choice for her. She's excited and now we have to look to see what forms and payments we need to send in.

Last weekend, we got see Bella sing and dance with her Crescendo group, the youngest group in Accompany of Kids. We had to have Bella there early, so of course, I came prepared with crayons and paper and we made cards. It kept Lucy entertained! The show was really impressive! Amazing that 1st graders can remember all those words and dance steps! And the skills were elevated with each age group! Kristin and Carlo had a work party to attend that night, so we kept Bella and Lucy overnight. We watched Elf, ate ice cream, and colored.

And the weekend before Jeff, Paige, AJ and I drove down to Miller Valley and got to see the Miller Holiday Lites display that's set to music. Didn't realize how popular it was—had to wait about 45 minutes til the next show. But it was pretty cool to see—and it was free.