Friendsgiving

This morning Brett was up early and out the door by 8 a.m.   He was scheduled to work at the Union at 2 and wanted to be home in time to unpack and relax a little bit before he went in this afternoon.  Much to his delight when he arrived at the IMU they said that they were closing at 2 p.m and he could take the afternoon off.  They did debate about having him work at the gift shop, but in the end they did not need him and he had the rest of the day to himself.  Needless to say, Brett was extremely excited.  He had not been very interested in working today as the Union was usually dead on Saturday nights and the fact that it was still Thanksgiving break, meant that it would be an even slower evening than usual.  Instead, he went shopping, did some writing and played a few video games.  Since he had to start his new job at 6:30 a.m. tomorrow morning he was extremely thankful for the down time.

Meg made plans today to host a Friendsgiving for lunch.  Several of her friends did not come home for Thanksgiving break, so the group was smaller than usual.  She didn't mind as she enjoyed those that were able to attend - Nick, Rachel, Alex, Kevin and Evan were all in attendance, each bringing a dish to share.  Meg wanted to make chicken pot pie, but Doug talked her into "turkey" pot pie as we still had quite a bit left from Thursday's meal.  She said that it was delicious.  They visited, ate and caught up on the Freshmen year in college all afternoon.  We were glad that it worked out for them to meet.

Cal talked about going to the IU vs. Purdue game in West Lafayette. Doug and Cam had thought about attending it as well.  In the end both groups changed their minds due to the weather forecast - thirties and rain.  As they watched the game on television they were pleased with their decision as the weathermen were 100% correct.  The afternoon was spent watching the game in the warmth of our home instead.  IU jumped out to an early lead and it looked as if they were in command of the game until the fourth quarter when Purdue tied the game on a couple of botched IU runs.  It was an intense double overtime for all of us watching, but thankfully the Hoosiers held on and won their eighth game of the season making #9windiana a strong possibility.

Cal stayed until 7 p.m. leaving shortly after the LSU game.  He stopped at Purdue for the night.  Most of his friends were already there and he needed to pick up Jayce for their return trip to Bloomington tomorrow.  Jayce's car was totaled this fall and Cal didn't mind being his chauffeur.  It gave him a chance to hang out with everyone.

With Cal and Brett gone and Meg on a date with Nick, it was a quiet evening at home.  We brought all of the Christmas upstairs.  I worked on a little bit of it, but in the end we decided to play cards instead.  I was glad for that.  I love having the Christmas decorations up, but setting up in one day can be overwhelming.

Black Friday Changes

For the first time since I could remember we did not go shopping as a family on Thanksgiving night.  I did not miss the crowds or the drive to South Bend.  Cal and Meg kept me abreast of what they bought, however.  That way I felt like I was still a part of it, but without the hassle.  They were happy with their purchases and I was glad to hear that.

This morning Meg took Jackie to Glenbrook.  She wanted to find a dress for Bethany's semi-formal.  While they were gone, Cal, Brett, Cam and I watched all three Garfield holiday specials. We enjoyed each of them, although we disagreed on which one was the best.  As usual Doug declined our invite to join our watch party.  

Typically, we have spent the Friday after Thanksgiving getting out the Christmas tubs and setting up the tree.  We decided to wait this year as we had invited the Lamles over for lasagna tonight.  They had wanted to go to an Italian restaurant in Fort Wayne, but we knew that would be challenging for us to schedule this week.  We'll definitely try that with them another time.  Doug's meal was delicious and we all enjoyed the dirt pudding that Hannah-Marie made.  Right after dinner everyone headed straight to the pool table.  Mike and Cameron finished the night at 5-0.  They were proud of their record.  The rest of the night was spent playing Disney Scene It and Euchre where Meg finally dethroned Brett as the trivia champion and Cam and Mike continued their winning streak at cards.  All four Heinisch children told us tonight that they had a a lot of fun tonight.  I was happy to hear that as we did too.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had decided earlier in the month to hold our Thanksgiving dinner during the late afternoon today. Brett wasn't sure of his schedule at work and both Nick and Hannah-Marie's families planned to eat at 1 p.m.  Therefore we chose 4 p.m. for our family feast and were extremely thankful that everyone could join us.  

In the end I actually preferred the late dinner.  It gave Doug plenty of time to prepare the meal and watch the Bears game.  We even got in a game of Catan before everyone arrived.  It was by far the most relaxing Thanksgiving afternoon that I could remember.  Last year Doug wanted to try lasagna for our main dish, but returned to turkey this year.  We all liked the lasagna, but thanks to Bell Trace Brett brought home a twenty-one pound bird for us to enjoy.  That along with mashed potatoes, noodles, green bean casserole, homemade bread, apple pie, and apple dumplings made for a wonderful meal.  I didn't even complain about the oyster dressing and was impressed that both Cal and HM tried Doug's favorite dish.  I in turn surprised everyone when I tried a piece of turkey.  I hadn't had the Thanksgiving staple in over twenty years.  It was definitely better than I remembered.

After dinner everyone except for Meg, Grandma and I played pool.  We used the time to clean the kitchen.  Cal and HM were the first ones to leave as they had plans to go "Black Friday" shopping with Robyn and Mike.  The rest of us then had time to play Disney Scene It before Meg and Nick headed to Glenbrook as well.  Oh Hell was next on the agenda and then a three way match of Ticket to Ride between Doug, Brett and I.  A fortunate block of the path from Portland to Seattle and we finally found a way to beat Doug.  It was a fun way to end a wonderful day!

A Day Off for All

Doug took today off joining the rest of us already on Thanksgiving break.  Cal and Brett started their day off with flu shots.  Both found it interesting that it took more time to fill out the paperwork than it did to get the shot.  They were home by lunch time and Doug fixed paninis for all that were interested.  Meg also got a flu shot today, but added in a visit to the doctor for her cold sores.  Either the stress of midterms or the weather at IU had aggravated them this fall and she's had more than normal.  The doctor was able to give her medication that should help.  Grandma and Grandpa went to lunch with her afterward.

Cal spent his afternoon working and hanging out with HM.  He had broken his phone last night, so that put a minor glitch in his day.  Thankfully, we still had Meg's old one and I was able to set it up for him by the time he left.  Brett, Cam, Doug and I played Catan this afternoon.  Meg spent her time after lunch at Nick's and the evening with Sara.  I had done some early Black Friday shopping this morning, so after our game we went to Target to pick up my deals.  We ate dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings and then came home to play cards and set up our new purchases.  Cal was asleep on the couch, but was glad to hear that we now had a coffee maker in the Heinisch home.  We ended the evening with a game of Ticket to Ride.  Not sure why we keep playing as Doug has been routinely destroying us all.  Tonight was no different, but it was a lot of fun.

Happy Birthday Grandma Jane

Tonight we were all home to celebrate Grandma Jane's birthday.  She had already gotten her main gift from Grandpa - a new sectional couch.  Cal tried it out for them last night and completely approved.  We ordered pizza for dinner and had cheesecake for dessert.  Each of the Heinisch children gave her a small token of their affection:  an  IU ornament from Brett, a weighted blanket from Cal, an IU scarf from Meg and a new bird feeder from Cam.  My Dad had also purchased a robotic vacuum for her as well.  Needless to say, Grandma Jane was extremely pleased with all of her gifts.  After dessert several games of pool were played as well as a round of Oh Hell.  It was a wonderful way to show our appreciation for all that my Mom does for our family and I was very happy that each of the Heinisch children were able to attend the celebration.

Three Heinisch Children Are Home

Cal arrived around 4:30 this afternoon for Thanksgiving break happy to be home.  He had to work at Miso today so he spent the night at his friend Evan's in Speedway yesterday.  That way he only had a short drive to Carmel this morning.  Jayce's car was totaled recently so he rode along with Cal and hung out at their friends until he was done working.  Cal had enough time to bring in a load of laundry and grab the buffalo chicken dip out of the fridge before heading to Hannah Marie's for the night.  He did make a point to stop by Grandma and Grandpa's this evening before returning home.  He absolutely loved their new couch thoroughly enjoying the cushioned ottoman.  Tonight he and Cam played pool and alternated between watching the Ravens game and IU basketball.  There was an ongoing argument about the $10 that Cal owed Cameron.  He promised to pay tomorrow, but we'll have to see which one gives in first.

Meg enjoyed her day at home.  She and Nick went to lunch at Maria's before he drove back to Purdue for a night time flight.  While he was gone Meg hung out with Jackie and Sarah.  They worked on essays and other homework at Starbucks before going to Culver's.  Meg ran into two of her former classmates - Jonah and Angel.  She really enjoyed catching up with them.  She dropped Jackie off at her house before coming back to Syracuse.  Nick stopped by late in the evening.  They hung out and watched movies in the pool table room for awhile.  We were all sound asleep when he arrived.  They have definitely adopted college hours which we have grown accustomed to over the years.

The Yard has Never Looked Better

Since we came home last night Doug had all day to rake leaves.  I know that it wasn't his favorite activity, but I appreciated it very much.  There weren't a lot of leaves, since our neighbors picked up a large batch of them in early November.  The ones we had, however, were spread throughout the yard and it was definitely a time consuming project.  When Doug and I left for dinner tonight he said that our yard had never looked better during this time of the year.  I couldn't have agreed more.

While Doug was busy with leaves, I unpacked everything from our trip to Bloomington.  We had a lot of wet items, but that didn't compare to how many I had left in Brett's Civic.  I got Meg's laundry done as well and still had time to meet her and Jackie at Bethany to watch Pride and Prejudice.  It was entertaining, just a little long.  The play cut out a lot of the plot, but kept the wordy dialogue.  I enjoyed that, but it was confusing to the girls, so I was glad that I was there to interrupt the speeches.

Cameron kept himself busy today with homework and watching football.  He was successful with both as he finished what he was working on and both the Bears and Patriots won.  We asked him if he wanted to go to dinner tonight, but he wanted to stay home.  He was ready for cards when we got back, so we called my parents up for a game of Oh Hell.  Cam absolutely destroyed us and my Dad took the Angry Bird back to his house.  It was a relaxing way to finish an exhausting day.

IU vs Michigan

Our day started off great.  Doug got up early and met Cal and his friends for breakfast club.  He had a lot of fun playing pool, introducing everyone to Guinness and drinking his early morning Bloody Mary.  Once he got back to the apartment we all sat down to a game of Ticket to Ride.  Doug was finally dethroned as champion and we decided over Thanksgiving Break that we might switch to Catan for family game night. 

We debated about going to tailgate as the rain started around 11 a.m.  Doug said that it was supposed to be light, so we decided to give it a try.  Unfortunately, for us the skies opened up as soon as we set up at the grass lots.  Thankfully, the tent held up and we could still enjoy spending time with Jackie, Meg, Brett and Cam.  We were extremely happy that Sharon, Jayce and Andy could join us as well.  Cal bailed on everyone as he said it was "too cold and wet."  He was correct, but that didn't mean that we let him off the hook.

About an hour before game time, we decided that it was probably best if I sat this game out.  Everything was soaked and one of us needed to transfer the wet items to Brett's car, clean up the dishes and dry out as much as possible if we were going to leave tonight.  The girls also talked about leaving at halftime due to the weather.  I told them that I would pick them up and take them back to the dorm.  Doug agreed that this was the best plan as well.  I had no problem getting out of the tailgate.  The crowd was definitely lighter than previous Saturdays.

The rain let up a little bit by the time the game started.  The first half was an awesome one for IU as they scored the first touchdown and led most of the way.  Even though the game was close the girls still decided to leave at the half.  They were soaked and wanted to shower before we left for home.  I used my time to put all of the wet items in Brett's Civic as well as several of Meg's possessions that she wouldn't need before Tuesday.  That would give us a lot more room in the Pilot on the way home.  I was also able to clean up from the tailgate as much as possible and be ready when Doug and Cam wanted to leave.

I was impressed that the guys stayed until the fourth quarter.  It was definitely the coldest and wettest game that they had been to this season.  The real disappointment, however, was not the weather, but the game itself.  Michigan gained momentum in the second half and took control.  IU never scored after the second quarter and lost 39-14.  Cam and Doug were pretty dejected by the time I picked them up. They rebounded well, however, and were glad for dry shoes and socks and a chance to change before we left for home.  The girls were ready when we arrived at Read.  We stopped to get breadsticks on the way out of town.  It was a fun ride home, complete with Disney songs, a lot of conversation and updates of the night games.  Thankfully, it was also a quick trip and we were all unpacked and relaxing in the Heinisch home well before midnight.  

Bloomington Bound

Mom and I met Doug at Bethany Christian at 3:30 today so that we could head straight to Bloomington after school let out.  Cameron and Jackie were ready to leave as soon as we arrived which we really appreciated.  Mom drove the van home for us and we made it to B-Town by 7:15 as traffic was relatively light.  Cam and Jackie spent their time comparing notes on tomorrow's showdown between IU and Michigan.

Meg was more than ready for us to arrive.  She only had a paper to finish this morning and most of her friends left this afternoon.  That did give her plenty of time to pack for Thanksgiving break.  We picked her up at the dorm and the five of us went to Grazie's for dinner.  Meg had been wanting to try it for several months, but it just hadn't worked out until tonight.  Although she had a great time visiting with Jackie, the food wasn't quite as good as she expected.  We agreed that it was nice to try once during her time at IU.  

We dropped Meg and Jackie off at Sample Gates and then we drove to Brett's apartment.  They wanted to walk through campus before going back to Meg's room.  Brett had to work so we did not see him until close to 11 p.m.  Cal had friends down from Purdue so he was busy as well.  We talked about playing Ticket to Ride when he got home, but it was too late for all of us.  Doug needed to get up early anyway, so instead we just enjoyed some downtime.  

Sick Day

Cam and I both slept in this morning which was very nice.  Although he felt a lot better by lunchtime, I had him stay home for the afternoon as well.  He was pretty run down yesterday and I thought that resting would be the best.  We took advantage of our free time to watch Gotham and play Buck Euchre with Grandma and Grandpa.  Winning "money" off of Grandpa definitely lifted his spirits.

Tonight I went out to dinner with Mary and Paula.  It was very nice to catch up with both of them.  They have already been enjoying the Christmas movies on Hallmark Channel and filled me in on several party ideas for our holiday gathering on December 6th.  When I got home I joined Cam and Doug in a round of Sink Your Neighbor before we called my parents back up for a game of Oh Hell.  Cam was definitely on the mend by the time we finished.  Then again winning always seems to make one feel a whole lot better.

Trying to Make it Through the Day

Cameron texted me this morning to let me know that he really didn't feel well.  I wasn't surprised as he sounded awful before we left for school.  I had given him Ibuprofen for a sore throat, but he said that it didn't help much.  He didn't ask to come home, but instead wanted to try medication.  Of course today was one of the few days that I did not have a car as the brakes were being fixed on the van.  Thankfully, my mom was able to run him over Mucinex and Tylenol.  He texted me back at lunchtime and said that he did feel better. 

When I picked him up after school Cameron stated that he was back to feeling "meh."  As he had tennis tonight, I encouraged him to rest up for it.  I hoped that going to it would help and he reported when he got home that it worked at least for the hour he was on the court.  With that said, he thought the best course of action was to stay home.  I agreed immediately as Cam hadn't missed a day of school all year.  He was happy to hear that and planned to sleep in tomorrow morning

Wear Red for Ed

Today several thousand teachers rallied on the Indianapolis Capitol Building in what was termed as “Wear Red for Ed” day.  I had talked to a few of my teacher friends from Milford and knew that one or two of them would be in attendance today.  Their intent was to let legislators know that funds for education needed to be increased as Indiana was listed at 51st for increases in teacher pay since 2002.  No other specific demands were made, but ways to improve education were plentiful.  In the end teachers felt that they had made progress in their plight to made public education better.

I do believe that the teachers and school systems that participated today felt as though they made a difference.  I, however, was more skeptical that any real change would happen.  My experiences with public education had made me a cynic both as a teacher and a parent.  Even so, I did spend some time thinking today about what change I would ask for it I was at the statehouse today.  It wasn’t about a pay raise, although I totally agreed that teaching as a profession was grossly underpaid.  Although there were multiple issues that I had during my tenure in the school system, the one that I thought would solve most problems was class size.  If the state would mandate that classes would be capped at eighteen students, a teacher’s ability to teach curriculum, handle discipline and be a mentor to the students would greatly increase.

I learned this firsthand as the last year I taught I had thirty-two in my math class.  Discipline was ever a problem and it was challenging to help students individually.  This class had so many students that needed my full attention, but it was virtually impossible to spend enough time with each one of them.  My ability to education and support them waned as the year progress.  This didn't surprise me as there are numerous studies that support the idea of smaller class sizes as a mean to improve education.  For some reason, however, our local public education system hadn’t quite bought into the theory.  With all of the curriculum ideas, changes to testing and professional development sessions that I sat in on during my six+ years at Wawasee I never once heard mention of trying to implement change in class size.  I had even brought it up in an administration meeting as Meg’s Pre-Calculus class her sophomore year had thirty-three students without enough seats for each of them.  I was told that the students were smart enough and that they would be fine no matter the size of the high ability classes.  Meg sure appreciated that Bethany did not follow the same philosophy and demonstrated perfectly my suggestion with the majority of her class sizes under fifteen.  Cam also noticed a huge difference.  He felt that in public school that he was "sent to a corner to work quietly on an iPad while other students received more attention." That has never been a complaint since he started at Bethany.  In fact he felt he actually received more interaction with his instructors due to his knowledge of the subject matter and created even stronger bonds with his teachers due to their attentiveness.  I realize that my suggestion would increase a need for more teachers which would in turn call for additional funds.  Even so, I truly believe that that would be money well spent.

One More Month

Cam let me know last night that one of his bracket came off of a front tooth.  It had been quite some time since he had had any problems with his braces, so I was a little surprised.  I asked him what happened and he said that it had been loose, but when he bit into an orange, it popped off.  I thought that was extremely strange as every time he had broken a bracket it had been from a piece of fruit.  I had even said to myself recently that I would be glad when I now longer had to cut up his fruit for his lunches.

I called the orthodontist this morning as soon as I dropped Cam and Jacob off at school.  I almost expected them to say, "Don't worry about it.  He's getting them off in a month and it will be fine until then."  The response was the exact opposite and they set up an appointment for today at 12:10.  Fortunately, I had nothing on my agenda today and it worked out for me to get him to Warsaw and back this afternoon.  I also needed to pick up more rubber bands for Meg, so the trip was well worth it.  They were able to replace the bracket easily.  Cameron did say that it felt weird when it was off and the wire was out.  The reality hit both of us then that soon his braceless smile would return.  He was happy about that.  The first thing that he planned to was grab a pack of gun.

A Busy Sunday

I picked up Mom and Dad at noon for a trip to Auburn as today was Oliver's first birthday.  The party was held at the clubhouse in their apartment complex.  The festivities started a little later than planned, but my Mom didn't mind.  It gave her a lot of time to hang out with Jess' children and Maddux.  She had brought them each a flashlight that roared like the animal it was designed to be.  They were definitely loud, but the young children sure enjoyed playing with them while the food was being prepared.  I also had plenty of time to visit with Aunt Jan, Jennifer and Jeannette.  I hadn't talked to them since the summer.  We were only able to stay until 2:30 or so as I had to get back home.  We missed the gift opening and cake, but from pictures that were posted later, it looked as though Oliver had a lot of fun.

Tonight Doug, Cam and I went to Warsaw.  We thought that it was going to snow on our way, but due to higher than predicted temperatures the rain never changed over.  Our first mission was Kohl's.  Cameron wanted to buy Bailee a birthday gift.  It took him awhile, but he did pick out something that he really liked and I found a few pair of earrings before he was finished shopping.  Cam also needed a new pair of boots and I wanted a new pair of shoes, so we went to Shoe Carnival next.  We each bought something before Doug finished checking out at Kohl's.

We ate dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings.  We did not realize that they had remodeled the inside.  It was a lot nicer and we had a better server than in the past.  Both of these made our meal a lot more enjoyable than we thought that it would be.  We called Grandma and Grandpa on the way home to talk them into playing Oh Hell.  It didn't take much convincing and even Cam joined the fun.  As a bonus we finished in plenty of time for Doug to watch the Bears game.

Bethany Chess Tournament

Cam participated in the Bethany chess tournament today.  Even though it was his first one of the year, he was put in the top open session with the highest rated players since his own rank increased last year.  Thus, his first match was a challenging one as he was pitted against the chess coach from Penn who topped Cam’s rating of 1236 with a 1900.  Cam and the coach had the second longest match of the round, and although Cameron lost, he was proud of his play.  The second one did not go as well and Cameron texted that he felt he played terribly.  He was disappointed, but we knew it would hard for him to focus after the challenging round he had at the beginning of the day.  The last two matches went in Cam’s favor and he ended up in tenth place overall.  Even though he was frustrated with his second loss, Cameron was very happy to have participated in the tournament.  He had played in every one since he was a first grader at Milford.  As always Cam and Doug stayed to help clean up afterward.

Doug and I left for Kelly Jae’s tonight at 6:00 for my official birthday dinner.  We hadn’t been in quite some time and we really enjoyed it.  They had a new flatbread and potato dish to try along with one of favorites - Angus meatballs.  We opted out of dessert since there was still cake in our refrigerator.  While we were eating Cam hung out his grandparents increasing his buck Euchre “winnings.”  They met us at our house once we got back for a round of Oh Hell.  It definitely has become the game of choice lately and we all enjoyed it.

Happy Birthday to Me!

My 51st birthday celebration started early as Jen took me out to dinner last night in honor of the big day.  I chose Down Under for our meal and we had a nice time catching up.  Jen brought me not only a bottle of win, but a lot of information on what she had been up to these past few months.  It was a great night to go out as Doug was busy with County Council and Cam was at Grandma and Grandpa's playing cards.

The celebration continued today with well wishes from each of my children, texts from family and friends and a lot of birthday posts on FaceBook.  Doug offered to take me out to lunch and I was happy to meet him.  He chose Tap and Dine in downtown Elkhart and we both enjoyed the food and conversation.  He had been extremely busy with work this week, so it was especially nice to spend time with him.  I had a couple of hours after lunch to do some shopping.  I really wanted a wall clock to replace ours that kept losing time.  I didn't find what I wanted, but I did get a lot of steps in and bought some cute fall items at Hobby Lobby.

We had talked about going out to dinner tonight, but the three of us were afraid that it would be too crowded since it was a Friday night.  Instead we ordered pizza from sleepy Owl and invited my parents up for a night of cards.  After we ate, I opened my gifts.  My parents gave me money to put toward a clock.  Even though I couldn't find one, I planned on continuing my search.  They also gave me some new Rubbermaid containers and an adorable Charlie Brown music box.  My big gift from Doug was the puzzle table which we already set up and used to start The Biltmore puzzle.  Cam gave me a pair of new pajamas that were extremely comfortable.  The rest of the night was spent playing Pass the Ace, 31 and Oh Hell.  It was a lot of fun and a great way to end a wonderful day.

A Week of Studying

Meg had two big tests today and had spent the entire week studying, visiting a tutor and attending review sessions.  She was extremely stressed out about the A100 midterm and her third Finite exam.  I talked to her several times during the week.  A100 was the biggest worry as there were only two tests in the eight week class and it was known as one of the Kelley weed out classes.  Thankfully, Doug was able to help her with the accounting terminology.   As the days wore on she became more comfortable with the material and felt a lot better about the midterm.  Finite was challenging, but she worked on multiple practice tests, got help from her Bethany Calculus teacher and by noon today she was happy to let me know that she was able to solve every problem.

The first test was at 12:45 and Meg felt very good about it when she checked in afterward.  She decided to take a break from studying and rest before her 7:30 midterm.  She worked on one more balance sheet before walking to Hodge Hall.  The test didn't end until 10:30, but she called well before that.  She was extremely pleased with how it went.  She was able to come up with an answer to each and every problem which was an accomplishment in itself.  She decided to celebrate with a pizza and breadsticks from Pizza X and relax while enjoying Disney +.  I was thrilled that she was done.  It had definitely been a long week for her.

A Day Out

My parents and I had planned on going to Warsaw on Monday to take advantage of the Veteran's Day sales.  The weather changed our plans, but did not cancel them altogether.  Instead, we left this morning for Warsaw.  It was cold, but the main roads were clear.  We stopped at Brouwer's and JB Furniture first so that I could look for a lift lop coffee table.  I wanted on to use as a puzzle table and Doug had offered to get me one for my birthday.  I was disappointed that the ones that we found were either too expensive, the wrong color or even damaged.  We took one last shot and tried a new place, Furniture Factory Outlet.  Dad wasn't going to go in, but once Mom and I walked in the door we went back out to get him.  The store was the perfect place for us to shop as it had a large selection of furniture all at responsible prices.  Mom and Dad looked at couches and mattresses while I checked out the coffee tables.  I couldn't believe it as they had exactly what I was looking for, a brown life top with the perfect dimensions for our living room.  It was even twenty percent off.  I checked in with Doug and he agreed that I should buy it.  I had spent countless hours shopping for one online and in stores and couldn't find one that I wanted.  Thus, I was thrilled to be bringing home my birthday gift.

We stopped next at Ruby Tuesday for an early birthday lunch.  I hadn't been there in quite some time and we all enjoyed the salad bar.  The waitress brought us birthday sundaes as well which were delicious.  We stopped at Walmart and Kohl's before returning home.  My Mom was able to help me get the coffee table in the house.  My Dad still couldn't lift anything because of his surgery.  I had just enough time to rearrange the living room before Doug got home.  I was so happy with the table and how well it fit.

Cam had a good day at school and spent the afternoon playing Madden before we took him to his tennis lesson.  It was at the Blue Gate Inn with three of his Bethany teammates.  The hotel had turned their Splash Pad area into a tennis court.  Cam said that it went very well.  He liked the instructor and was glad that he took an extra racket as his strings broke on the last drill.  While Cam was playing, Doug and I ate dinner at the Blue Gate Restaurant.  It wasn't bad, but I don't know if we'd go back again.

E-Learning #1

We found out last night that Wawasee had a two hour delay.  Therefore, we knew that Cameron would not be going in early today.  I woke up at 5 a.m. and found out that Bethany had one as well and that Wawasee had cancelled.  I texted Cam and then fell back to sleep around 6:30.  By then all of the schools in our area had arranged for an e-learning day and Doug had said that he had experienced one of the worst drives into work in quite some time.

With eight inches of snow on the ground it took me awhile to clear our driveway.  Cam came out to help for awhile as it was part of his PE assignment.  Once we finished, he then went to the backyard to look for signs of animal tracks for his environmental science class.  With those two assignments complete he had finished his e-learning for the day.  Hot chocolate and a game of Swap Meet warmed us both up.  Normally, I run to Penguin Point on e-learning days, but the roads were still not cleared well enough by lunchtime for me to feel comfortable driving, so we ate at home.  Cam didn't mind and learned how to make scrambled eggs before we watched an episode of Gotham.

Doug left work at 5 p.m. again tonight because of the weather.  He said that the roads were definitely better.  He exercised and made chili once he got home.  He then spent the rest of the evening working.  It was a good night for it as I definitely didn't want to go out.  My body was not prepared for this storm and I was happy to see that the forecast called for fifty degrees next week.

What a Veteran's Day

Today was not my typical Veteran's Day.  In the past I always attended the morning Veteran's Day program at one of the Wawasee schools.  This year I knew that I wouldn't be participating in that endeavor as I had actually decided to take advantage of all of the Veteran's Day sales at the local stores.  My parents had offered to go with me and to take me out for an early birthday lunch.  I was happy with my plans, but what I didn't expect was five inches of snow to alter my afternoon activities.

I did post about my favorite Veteran first thing this morning and also did some shopping on Kohl's website, but other than that my day revolved around getting the snow off of my driveway.  As it hadn't started snowing when I dropped Cameron and Jacob off at school, I really thought that the meteorologists had overblown their prediction.  In fact, I made fun of them on the drive.  Obviously the weather gods heard me and while I was halfway through my walk the snow started coming down. By the time I got home, I was soaked and freezing and soon after I showered the roads were completely covered.

I spent some time after lunch finishing laundry and catching up on a few items my computer.  I headed outside at 2:15 to shovel the drive.  It didn't look like a lot of snow, but once I got started I realized that it was very wet and extremely heavy.  Thus, the hour I spent shoveling only cleared enough for me to get my car out of the driveway.  The trip to Bethany was a treacherous one.  Their was a wreck on county road 29, so I had to turn around and take a side road.  It had not been cleared very well, so the detour added an extra twenty minutes to my trip.  Thankfully, my Mom was able to text Cam and let him know that I would be late.  Cam and I took the main roads back home.  It was better than the route to school, but overall it was pretty stressful, especially since I barely avoided an accident in town.  As soon as we arrived I went back outside to finish Doug's side of the driveway and the front walk.  I ran out of steam before I completely cleared the area behind the truck, but I did get enough done that we could get the truck out if we had needed to use it.

Doug's trip home was long and challenging.  He was positive that school would be cancelled tomorrow.  Wawasee had a delay already, so we knew that Cam wouldn't be going in before 9 a.m.  Doug worked at home this evening while we watched television.  We both enjoyed the fifth episode of the Ken Burns' Country Music on PBS and I have a new favorite song, Loretta Lynn's "Don't Come Home a Drinkin' (with Lovin' on Your Mind)."  Even though today wasn't my typical Veteran's Day, it didn't mean that I forgot about PawPaw's time in the army.  The two hours of shoveling actually gave me a lot of time to think about him and remember those who had served.

Calm Before the Storm

All week the forecast called for a winter storm tomorrow.  Normally we don't put much stock in the meteorologists, but once we heard that it was a system snow, we started to believe it.  Thus, we decided to get all of the yard work finished today that we could.  Doug raked, cut down bushes, put away the outside furniture and burned the brush.  I helped by sweeping the back deck, driveway, garage and porch and Cam cleaned off the swing set.  Everything looked very good by nightfall.  We realized that the front two trees still had leaves to fall, but overall we were happy with today's progress.

While Doug was working and watching the Bears, I ran Cam to Goshen so that he could hang out at Bailey's for the afternoon.  They played games with her brothers and enjoyed homemade cinnamon rolls.  He said it was a lot of fun.  The Browns lived close to Walmart so I was able to pick up a few items after I dropped him off. I usually do my shopping on Monday mornings, but wasn't sure I would be able to tomorrow with the predicted storm.  Doug picked Cameron up at 4:30.  He was excited to announce that IU was ranked 24th in the AP football poll.  It was the first time that they had been ranked in twenty-five years.

Doug and I went to dinner tonight.  My parents then came down to play Oh Hell once again.  This time my Mom took home the bird.  Meg called after we were done.  She had enjoyed her bonfire with Hoosier Catholic last night.  She spent today working on accounting and finite.  Doug was able to help her with A100 and she had plans to go to tutoring for math tomorrow.  If Mark wasn't available, her calculus teacher, Renae, said that she would.  Meg was glad to hear that.

Back on the Court

Cameron was back on the court today after a month absence.  He had signed up to play USTA team tennis this winter.  The match was in South Bend this afternoon and he got to play doubles with Aaron first.  Cam was a little rusty in the first couple of games, especially with his serve, but once he got going he played well.  The boys came back from a 1-4 deficient to tie it at 4 all when time was called.  Cam played mixed doubles in the second match of the day and the Bethany duo won easily.  His last match of the day was a singles set.  He served very well in that and was on top of the scoreboard when time ran out.  While we at the racquet club we were also able to get information on upcoming lesson opportunities.  Cameron was extremely interested in participating in those.

After tennis we stopped at a couple of stores to look for a puzzle table.  We didn't purchase anything, but did decide that we wanted a lift top coffee table.  We needed to do some measuring before we bought one, however.  While we were window shopping, Cameron watched the LSU vs. Alabama football game on his phone.  He had missed the ending of Minnesota vs Penn State, so Doug filled him in on the last second drive that left the Nittany Lions just short of a win.  Knowing that Macri's had a great spot for watching multiple games, Cam picked it for dinner.  I was happy as we hadn't been there in quite some time.

We made it home in time to watch several great finishes.  Illinois beat MSU and became bowl bound with six wins on the season.  LSU held off a late run by Alabama and Wisconsin bested Iowa.  Once football was over we ended the evening by playing Oh Hell once again.  Cam destroyed us all.

A Night Out with Friends

Today was spent running errands.  I first paid our property taxes, then met with Key bank about changing our checking account and home equity line, and finally dropped off a check for Cam's 529 plan at Edward Jones.  I was happy to finish everything before I picked him up from school.  He had texted me in the afternoon to let me know that he was more than ready for the weekend.

Tonight I went to dinner at Sleepy Owl with Paula and Wendy.  We had planned it several weeks ago, but I wasn't sure that we'd still be able to go out as everyone kept cancelling.  I was glad that the two of them were still available.  It was the only Friday night in November that I had free and it was a lot of fun catching up with them.  They had just finished the first trimester today and were ready for a break before completing their grade books.  Both had changed positions this year with Wendy becoming the seventh and eighth grade special education teacher at Milford and Paula a sophomore English teacher at the high school.  There were positives and negatives to the change for both, but each agreed that they were ready for the challenge.

While I was out, Doug and Cam played pool.  Doug made nachos for dinner as that has become one of Cam's favorite meals.  My parents came up later to play cards.  It was fun as usual even though I was the big loser once again.

Finally Done!

I have spent this entire week cleaning.  Since I have quit teaching, our house has defintely stayed both cleaner and also more organized.  In saying that, it doesn't mean that I enjoy cleaning.  In fact I started looking on the internet today to see if there were easier ways to clean my house, especially the stove top, bathtubs and toilets.  I actually found a couple of ideas that I am going to try.  I ordered a pumice stone which supposedly removes hard water stains.  I have never seen such high reviews for a product, so I ordered it from Amazon today and can't wait to see if it really works.  I also looked at electric spin brush cleaners in the hope that I don't have to scrub as hard, especially in the showers.  I was hoping that it would decrease the amount of pain in my arms after a week of cleaning.  The reviews weren't as high on those and they were more expensive, so I'll wait on purchasing one.

I told Cameron all about my cleaning finds today when I picked him up.  He was pretty sure that I was going crazy.  He's probably correct, but it did give me a project for the afternoon.  Doug at least pretended to be interested.  Unlike Cameron he could appreciate the amount of time it takes to clean five bathrooms.  No matter their enthusiasm for my week of cleaning, I was more than happy to be done.

Fall Sports Award

Last evening was the fall sports award night at Bethany.  Cam and I had just finished helping with the leaves before we left for the event.  Doug met us there.  We decided not to tell him that we had picked up all of the leaves in the yard and instead surprise him when he got home instead.  He did figure out that my parents were at the house before he left Bethany.  The leaf pile had caught on fire after we raked due to the hot embers leftover from last night.  The wind kept it going and before we pulled out of the driveway I had to call my parents to come up.  Cam had moved most of the wood furniture away from the fire, but I was still afraid that the ashes would drift to the woods or our house.  My Dad kept an eye on it until we returned.  As soon as Doug parked in the garage he hurried out to the fire pit with the yard rake.  Once he made sure that everything was alright, he looked at my Dad and said, "Wait a minute, did you guys pick up our leaves."  It was then that my Mom showed him the pictures of our afternoon.  He was more than pleased with our progress and thankful for our neighbors help.

Even though Doug was worrying about the yard, we did enjoy the fall sports award.  It was a little long, but we expected that.  After the all sports session we went to Matt's room for the tennis portion. Matt spoke highly of the season and then talked about each individual player.  Cam was given the "Confidence" award and earned his letter and numbers.  We agreed with his evaluation of Cam' play this year and talked on the way home about the work that he wanted to do during the offseason.  Overall, it was a nice way to end his first high school fall sports season.

Leaves & More Leaves

I spent the last two days unpacking from our weekend, grocery shopping, putting away the Halloween, getting out the Thanksgiving and dusting the main level.  I was even able to get Cam and I to the dentist in between all of the household chores.  I had just finished putting out the Thanksgiving lighted owl in the front landscaping this afternoon when Roger stopped by to offer his help.  He had noticed Doug raking leaves in the dark last night and knew that he and his John Deere could make a huge dent in the project in a lot shorter period of time.  He also realized that our weekends recently had been spent in Bloomington with the three older Heinisch children and that Doug hadn't had much time recently to make headway on the daunting fall project.  I thanked him for his offer and told him that I would let Doug know.  I also explained that we would be gone tonight for the Bethany fall sports awards, but Doug would be home tomorrow night to do yard work.

About fifteen minutes later I had just sat down for a break from all of the work that I had been doing and to eat a snack.  Pretty soon I heard what sounded like a mower and a leaf blower.  I thought that maybe Josh, our neighbor to the west, was working on his yard.  It quickly dawned on me, however, that the noise was coming from our yard.  I called Cameron down from his room and told him to grab a rake. For the next hour Roger, Darlene, Cam and I raked, mulched and dumped tons of leaves on our burn pile.  Josh even joined the "fun" with his own mower and leaf catcher.  I could not believe how much we accomplished in so little time.  The front and back yard looked awesome.  It was such a nice gesture and I thoroughly appreciated our neighbors help.

Daylight Savings Time

Yesterday we set all of the clocks back an hour in accordance to Daylight Savings Time.   I didn't really think much about the time change after that.  As I posted our pictures from the weekend on Facebook later in the evening, happy that we were able to enjoy the extra time in our day, I was absolutely surprised by the amount of posts complaining about "falling back."  I normally don't read much on Facebook, but as I scrolled through the comments I actually became irritated with the negativity surrounding Daylight Savings Time.  Indiana decided thirteen years ago to join the rest of the country and initiated the change.  It was controversial at the time, but Mitch Daniels believed that it was best for the economic growth of the state.  I understood his rational and although I didn't have an opinion regarding the decision a decade ago, I was glad that the state chose to follow the Eastern time zone instead of Central.  We had lived in Illinois for several years and I could still remember how awful it felt when it got dark at 3:30.

I don't usually get annoyed with posts on Facebook, but tonight's really bothered me.  I wanted to type back "the decision was made thirteen years ago, get over it."  I knew that would be immature so I stopped myself.  I also felt that several of the teachers that were complaining were only doing so because they still resented Daniels for his decisions on education during his tenure as Indiana Governor.  I finally shut my computer when I read a post that stated, "I just want to go back to the old Indiana time."  As the time change yesterday put us back on Eastern Standard time we were "back to the old Indiana time."  It was the same time that we grew up with and the same time zone that felt most comfortable to me.  I realized at that point that ignorance and Facebook tend to go hand in hand and there was no reason to read anymore.  Part of me still wanted to comment on the idiocy of the statements, but I knew that nothing good would be accomplished and I would probably offend some of my friends.  Thus, I refrained and wished that others would have made that same choice as well.

Book of Mormon

With the time change last night we all planned on getting an extra hour of sleep.  Although that sounded great, especially after such a long day on Saturday, we were all up by 7:45 a.m. this morning.  That was alright with us as we used the extra time to play Ticket to Ride.  Afterward Brett and I took a walk around his apartment complex while Doug worked and Cam watched highlights of the Big Ten games yesterday.  As it was only 10:30 when we got back, we decided to play one more game of Ticket to Ride.  Doug won again.  I guess we just can't figure out how to beat him.

We met Robyn, Mike, Cal and Hannah-Marie for lunch at Crazy Horse.  We enjoyed our conversation    with them and were glad that they came down for the weekend as well.  Meg and Nick were not able to join us as they made other plans.  They had a busy weekend hiking in Brown County, tailgating,  and meeting Sarah and her mom.  Meg did have time to go with Brett and I to see the Book of Mormon this afternoon.  We had bought tickets several months ago and were glad that we could all make it.  The musical was just as good as I remembered, although extremely vulgar.  There were a couple of scenes that made Meg and I uncomfortable but overall she and Brett enjoyed it just as much as Doug and I did the first time we saw it.  They also knew more about the South Park writers than I did which added to their enjoyment.

Doug and Cam spent their afternoon watching the Bears lose.  They then packed the Pilot and met me at Read.  We left later than usual, but missed all of the traffic on the way home which made it a quick trip home.  We were all exhausted when we got back and once the Pilot was unloaded we spent the rest of the evening relaxing.  Cam hung out in his room watching television and Doug and I finally finished It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown puzzle.  It was a wonderful way to end an awesome weekend.

Game Day Saturday

Northwestern vs IU drew the 7 p.m. game time slot for the Big Ten Network.  The good part about that was having the morning to play Ticket to Ride and eat lunch at the winery with Brett.  The bad news was that it would make for a cold evening for those of us going to the game.  In the end it worked out pretty well.  We enjoyed our time with Brett before he left for work and made it to the grass lots by 3:15.  We were glad that we arrived early as the majority of the fields were absolutely packed.  We did get a spot in the last lot which by 4 p.m. was completely full.

Our tailgate was a lot of fun.  It was a different crowd than we had had in the past.  Cal, Doug, Cam, Hannah-Marie, Meg and I were there as usual, but in addition Parce, Nick, Robyn, Mike, Pam, her Dad and several of HM's friends also joined us.  Doug had made cheesy potatoes and antipasto squares which were a big hit.  Robyn brought chicken and chips to share.  Pam added fruit and vegetables, so there was plenty for everyone to eat.  Parce had met Cal for breakfast club earlier in the day and we were glad that he walked out to the grass lots to visit us as well.  We hadn't seen him in awhile and Cam had a lot of IU football to talk to him about.  Meg and Nick left early to meet Sarah for dinner.  She was in town for the state cross country meet.  Meg was excited to see her and enjoyed their visit.  Doug had brought plenty of beer for everyone.  Robyn talked everyone into tequila shots to toast IU.  I hadn't had a shot of tequila in a long time, but joined in the festivities.  Doug and I both handled it way better than we thought we would.  

 

 

We packed up and left for the game around 6:30.  Parce had given us his tickets which were in the north end zone and closer than our seats.  Cam had a fantastic view to see the team run out on the field.  At halftime Pam invited us to sit by her Dad.  As good as Parce's seats were, his were even better.  He was three rows behind the team on the forty-nine yard line.  It was really awesome being that close to the players and coaches.  We got some great pictures and thoroughly enjoyed watching IU rout Northwestern 34-3 giving them a 7-2 record on the season thus far.  With an IU victory and good friends and family to spend the day with, it made sitting in the cold not quite as bad as I thought it would be.  

 

Fish FryDay

Cam set a new record for himself at this fall's Bethany fish fry eating thirteen pieces of fish topping last year's total by one.  He thought it was funny that when he asked for five pieces at once the server asked him if he was kidding.  Cam went to the event with Joey who also set a personal best at eight pieces of fish.  He didn't have to work as hard to beat last year's total of two.  When we picked Cam up at 5:45, he was proud of his accomplishment especially since he didn't throw up this year.

We headed straight for Bloomington from Bethany.  Cam wasn't much in for the snacks that we brought down and didn't order anything at Mother Bear's besides a root beer still full from his fish dinner.  Doug and I were ready for pizza, however.  We finished in time to pick up Brett from work.
The four of us then spent the rest of the evening at his apartment playing Ticket to Ride.  We got several updates from my Mom throughout the night.  She agreed to hand out candy to Trick or Treaters for us since Halloween was moved to this evening.  She couldn't believe how many groups came to our door and was happy to announce at the end of the night that she had given out almost all of the candy that I had bought earlier in the week.  We appreciated her and my Dad taking on this task.