A March Snow Storm

The snow was coming down fast and furious this morning.  Doug said that he didn't have any problems driving in, but by the time that we had to leave for school it was another story.  I drove Meg and Cam to school and we were all glad that I did.  It was slick and hard to see in spots.  I thought that the roads were better as I got close to Milford, but as I approached the overpass, there was an accident that had completely closed state road 15.  I had to turn around and go out of my way to get around it.  I was almost ten minutes late to school.  When I called in Carol wasn't surprised as several others had already let her know that they would be late.  After Smart Start I found out that there was an another accident on state road 15 on the other end of Milford closer to Leesburg.  It had delayed students and staff coming from the south as well.  It would have been a nice day for a delay, but the snow arrived too late for them to call one.

I picked up Cam and Meg after school for tennis.  Meg had her last lesson before the start of tennis season.  Cam participated in a drop in session.  They both played well.  I ran to Walmart quickly while they were there to pick up a couple of items that we needed and couldn't find in town.  We had no more problems with the snow.  It was still on the grass, but no traces of it on the roads.  It would be nice if winter would move on out.  It just doesn't seem to want to end.

Basketball Awards

Tonight was the basketball awards night for the girls' team at Bethany.  Normally, I do not enjoy high school awards nights.  Tonight's was different, however.  The girls all seemed to really be friends.  They sat together during the presentations, laughed and had a lot of fun.  The slide show was a nice touch and every girl was given a copy of it to take home.  Bethany does not give chevrons for their lettermen jackets.  Instead those on varsity earn a basketball pin.  Meg received hers tonight.  It will be perfect on her Wawasee jacket as she had opted out of buying a Bethany one.

The best part of the night was listening to the coaches' speeches.  They were personal and filled with stories about each team member.  It was obvious that they all enjoyed coaching this group of girls.  Brent had nothing but praise for Meg and in the end presented her with the JV award.  We couldn't have been more pleased.  It was challenging to have taken two years off of basketball and then come back to it.  Meg worked hard, improved and by the end of the year was a leader on the JV team.  We were happy that she was recognized for it.  KP also had encouraging words to say about Meg.  She was glad that Meg found support and friendship on Bethany's basketball team and so were we.

A Sad Day for Golf Fans

Cam had to leave school early as he had gotten sick during ISTEP.  It seems that he is a lot better, but he just can't clear up his nose.  We don't know if it is the medicine or the nose that is making him sick to his stomach.  He did make it through the test.  They let him take a break and eat some crackers before he finished it.  He thought he still did well and was glad to be done.  They called me at 1 to pick him up.  I couldn't leave, so Doug left as soon as I called him.  I also got ahold of my parents.  They just happened to be in Goshen, so they met Doug there and took Cam home.

I went to my parents' house right after school.  Cam and I watched television with them for awhile and had just started to head out when Dad's phone rang.  We knew it was Rich and thought it was strange that Dad asked us to stay for a minute.  He put him on speaker phone and we couldn't believe what he was saying.  Bob Carlson had died suddenly that afternoon.  We were in complete disbelief.  He was part of Doug and Dad's trivia team Thursday night and they thought he looked well.

I called Doug to let him know and Dad called Cal.  I texted Brett to let him know and told Meg as soon as she got home.  Everyone was in shock.  I have known Bob and Rena since we moved here when I was in 4th grade.  They were always supportive of me and my family especially when it came to golf.  Bob loved to listen to everyone's golf stories.  He would put a positive spin on a tough round and give tips for what to try next time.  He was also a great friend to my Dad.  They shared a love of reading and would trade books throughout the winter months.  They had also traveled to Florida together over the years during the off season.  It will be hard to replace Bob at Maxwelton and for our family I know that the golf course will never be the same.

The Tax Man

I did all of our taxes this year.  We normally had an accounting firm do them, but I realized last year when I did Brett and Cal's that I would be capable.  I had done them when we were first married and never had any issues.  For awhile they were more complicated because of Doug's ownership of PVC, but that was years ago and I decided to try again.

The boys' taxes were pretty easy.  Brett filed in both Indiana and D.C. plus his federal.  He was pleased with the money that he got back.  It will pay for his mission trip to Chicago over Spring Break.  Cal also earned money back, but not as much as he had hoped for.  It will give him some spending money at least.  Our taxes were extremely disappointing.  Since Doug is in a different tax bracket than I am, my tax rate went up.  That made my small yearly salary even less as a good portion of it went to taxes.  I had had a long week at school.  This definitely made for a disappointing Sunday as I had to digest how hard my week was last week coupled with my little pay for it.

There has been so much in the news since Trump was elected President about tax reform which I would definitely now favor.  There is constant talk of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer.  I have never understood that theory.  I have never thought that anyone should have to pay more taxes so that others can remain on welfare.  I do not believe that it is my responsibility to pay for others.  I do believe that we should help those less fortunate than we are with our time, volunteerism and donations, not by being forced to pay taxes.  This is not my idea of fair and equal.  What really makes me frustrated about this year's tax bill is that I could have paid cash for Brett's grad school next year for the same amount.  The government is taking from our family to give to others robbing us the opportunity to pay for our children's college.  There is no one who will ever make me believe that this is a fair system.

Prom Dress Shopping

Today Meg, Jackie and I drove to Fort Wayne.  We had two reasons for going.  The first was that Meg wanted to drive there so that when she goes with her friends she feels comfortable with driving in traffic.  She did well.  We worked on a couple of items, but overall she had a handle on it.  Our second objective was the most important to her - prom dress shopping.

We stopped at the food court first so that we could have lunch at Chic-Fil-A. In the end I think we spent more time there than we did finding a dress.  Meg's first stop of the day was JC Penney.  She found the exact dress that she wanted in no time.  It had a white top and a detached floral bottom.  She picked out a pair of silver shoes to go with it.  We decided that we would call Teresa tomorrow to have her take in the stomach and maybe hem it up a little bit.  Meg, Jackie and I were more than pleased with her purchase.

The girls spent the rest of the afternoon shopping.  We had decided to leave at 4:30 so they could get ready for the Bethany musical.  Doug, Cam and I had plans to go shopping and out to dinner also.   When we got home we showed Doug Meg's dress.  She also took a picture of it and sent it to HM.  Cam had changed his mind about going out to dinner.  He wanted to stay home and play some Fortnite.  He had spent the day with Doug playing pool and watching basketball.  Doug and I ran to Kohl's and Target.  We were able to find what we needed rather quickly and made it to Kelly Jae's for dinner.  Once we got home my parents came up to play Buck Euchre.  I was the big loser of the night, but it was a lot of fun.  Meg and Jackie enjoyed the musical.  They went to Steak and Shake for dinner afterward and arrived just as Grandma and Grandpa left.

Hopefully, the End of the Flu Season

Cam woke up this morning and really wanted to try to make it for a half day.  Doug and I agreed that he could do it, so at 10:50 a.m. I headed home to take him to Bethany.  He called me when I pulled out of the school parking lot to let me know that he had just thrown up and wouldn't be able to make it for the afternoon.  I felt terrible for him as he hasn't been able to do much these past three days and was looking forward to seeing his friends.  He decided to stay at home for awhile and then play cards with my parents for the afternoon.  He was happy when I picked him up as he had learned to play buck euchre.

Meg was out for the night.  She had plans with a friend and didn't make it back until 10:30.  She tried to go to tennis conditioning, but only one other person showed up.  While she was out and Cam was playing Fortnite, Doug and I went out to eat in town and then watched a movie we rented on Vudu.  It has been a great app for us to use.  It has allowed him to rent current movies for a lot less than going to the movie theater.  Tonight's choice was "Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri."  It was very intense, but we liked it a lot.  Brett was even able to watch it from his blu ray player in Bloomington.  It was a quiet night, but the perfect end to a stressful week.

Another Tough Day, But Closer to the Weekend

Today was another tough one at school.  ISTEP is always rough, but this week seemed to be more challenging than normal.  That coupled with Cam's illness made it a long one.  He still felt crummy today, but definitely better than yesterday.  His fever broke, but his nose and throat were still bothering him. He spent the day at my parents.  He didn't feel like doing much, but they did get in one game of Phase 10.  Most of the time, however, he watched Spongebob.  It was rumored that tonight would be the last episode. In the end it turned out to be "fake news."  

Cam and I went home as soon as I got to Mom's.  He hadn't played Fortnite in awhile and was glad to catch up with his classmates through it.  Later in the evening he and I watched an episode of Gotham.   It was the first new episode since January.  We were glad that it was back on.  While we were watching our show Meg was at tennis.  She had a lesson last night as well.  Tonight's was harder for her as she also went to basketball after school as well.  She was tired when she got home.

Doug and my Dad spent the evening at the annual Kiwanis trivia night.  Their normal first place finish wasn't to be had tonight.  Doug enjoyed it, but said that they got their "butts kicked."  There were a lot of pop culture questions that they just didn't know.  In fact they missed 5 out of 6 questions at one point.  They did have a lot of fun, however, and I know they'll be back for more next year.