Dana Daily

We've been planning a trip to the Outer Banks to visit our friends, Katie and Bill, for months now. Bill's rotator cuff has caused him problems for as long as I've known them, 15 years now, and he finally had it operated on two weeks ago. He is set to start physical therapy. Then, they had issues come up with each of their dogs resulting in their oldest having to be put to sleep. The younger one currently has an infected tail and will be having it docked tomorrow. Over the weekend, while all this was going down, Katie called to at least postpone our trip, if not cancel it. I think there was just so much going on and it was quite overwhelming. Not wanting to add to the stress, we were okay with changing our plans. Sal and I had already booked a house on Airbnb, and bought tickets to Monticello in Charlottesville, VA and so we decided to go ahead with those plans. We then started researching and realized Williamsburg, VA is only about 2 hours away. We booked a resort and ...

And so it begins, graduation party season. First on our list was Will Scurci, my coworker Susan's son. I was surprised to receive an invitation, but we had a nice time. We arrived on the early side and only stayed about an hour, but we had dinner and talked to Susan.  Susan had a tent sent up in their driveway with the food set out buffet style in their garage. There were so many delicious options. Fresh vegetables, fruit with dip, a mango/blueberry salad, mac & cheese, pulled pork, baked chicken, home fried potatoes, and cookies and cupcakes for dessert. It was all delicious. They also had a bar tender making mixed drinks and serving wine and beer. A few yard games were set up out back.  We also received invitation from three of Sal's students, but we're only available to attend two of those parties - in fact, we're coming home from vacation early in order to get to Derek Ziarko's party. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of the party,...

Today was Sal's annual band trip to Kennywood. He took his 7th and 8th graders, and Rick took his 5th and 6th. Only one student went missing, but she had the good sense to wait at guest services for someone to find her. The kids ran us from one end of the park to the other, and I have to admit, it's tough making it fun for all of them. Seth did well in Kiddieland, and also rode the merry-go-round and The Whip out in the "big park." Emmy and Sal rode roller coasters, and I tried to ride enough to keep Sarah happy. She's obviously too old for most of the rides in Kiddieland, but she's picky about what she rides. She is cautious of her motion-sickness issues, despite taking Dramamine. She talked Emmy and Sal into riding The Thunderbolt with her so that was a win for her. While those two were on The Thunderbolt, I took Emmy and Seth on The Whip (middle picture below). It's just a silly ride and you can't help but giggle around each corner. I stuck to r...

I've actually enjoyed having the windows open this Spring, although I probably wouldn't feel that way in the heat of summer. Once the house gets above 82/83 the kids start whining and it does feel a little uncomfortable. For the last few weeks though it's been tolerable, and even nice. Our new Lennox air conditioning and furnace were installed today. White Heating will come back and finish tomorrow, but we do have a working unit this evening. We ended up choosing a system that cost us $7300 when all is said and done, and we are paying $4000 up front and took a 12 month same as cash offer for the remaining $3300. I'm hoping to pay it off with our paychecks over the next year, but there's always our 2018 tax refund if push comes to shove. It does feel good to have this huge expense off our chests. We've known for a couple years now that it would need replaced.

Emmy's band concert was this evening. She's come a long way in just a year. She had all of her music "passed off" in January, and has just been playing/practicing her favorites. After the Christmas concert, Sal suggested to Emmy that she play a solo or a duet at the spring. She took that idea and ran with it. She played  Frère Jacques  with another girl and rocked it. In the car after the concert, she said next year she wants to play a solo. I told her she's been bitten by the bug. She loves to perform, and she works hard. She also announced a trio that had elected to play together. She read their names and the title of the song. She did well. We were eight rows from the stage in Shaler's crappy auditorium so this picture is the best one I have. We went to Rita's for a treat after, and it seemed like the rest of the auditorium followed us.

Seth loves trains and for awhile was calling all of them Thomas. Remember his Thomas the Tank Engine birthday party? When I saw that the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad does a Thomas train ride, I knew we had to go. I bought tickets in February for today. We decided to go up the day before to break up the trip, and to have dinner Sal's Uncle Ernie who lives nearby. We also went to Mass at the Nativity of the Lord Jesus Roman Catholic Church in Akron, and visited their replica of the Bethlehem Cave and Nativity Museum . The museum is a collection of nativity scenes from all over the world, and my favorites were from Poland. They were cardboard wrapped in colored aluminum foil, it looked like. Very pretty. The re-created cave isn't what I expected, but it's one of two replicas located in the United States. The original is obviously in Bethlehem. We spent the night in Hudson at a Baymont Inn which was fine. It was quiet and the bed was comfortable. Seth did well sleep...

I received a return email from Mr. Jowers and he stated that while Emily gave him the sweatshirt, she claimed to have forgotten the note. I double checked her backpack without her knowledge prior to her getting on the bus. She had both the note and the sweatshirt. I left work and arrived at school at 10:30 to set her straight. Hauled her butt right out of class, proverbially speaking. We had a nice little chat, and I doled out my punishment. I made it clear to the guidance counselor that I expected the school to follow up with some of their own. Then I drove 30 minutes back to work. Sooner or later they'll figure out that mama don't play, and we're not starting this nonsense with 3 weeks to go.

Sal and the kids went all out for Mother's Day, certainly more than was necessary. I had mentioned wanting a new chaise lounge or other reclining chair for more comfortable reading outside this summer. I received that, in addition to white roses, Sherri's Berries, cards, and a magnet that Seth made in daycare. The girls got me sunglasses and a pair of flip flops. It was like everything I love wrapped up in one day. After church we went to the Square Cafe in Regent Square for a late lunch. Once again I ordered the lemon berry ricotta pancakes. Everyone enjoyed their meals. Sarah's not a fan of breakfast foods, but she tried the buffalo chicken sandwich, and did really well with it until it got too spicy for her. Emmy and Seth had pancakes, and were almost clean platers. Sal also had the buffalo chicken sandwich and had no problem scarfing his down. I bought the circus shirt below on a whim when I saw an ad on Facebook. I knew it would be perfect for Mother's Day, a...

Emmy's team lost their game by a significant amount, but she scored the first goal of the game for her team. Sarah and I took a few selfies prior to the game starting. It was so nice to sit outside and enjoy the sun and bright blue sky. One of these weeks I really need to get a picture of Emmy in uniform, or at least on the field.

Hello Mr. Jowers, Emily came home wearing a plain, off-white sweatshirt today, Friday, and told me she won it playing a coin toss game at JA Day. It seemed a little odd, but we were on my way to pick up my son from daycare, and I let it go for the moment. As I was following her into the garage I noticed the sweatshirt said "Love Pink" on the back. I asked her where she really got it, and she replied that her friend Eva gave it to her. I started a text to Eva's mom to make sure she knew, and that it was okay. Emily stopped me midway through the text and said no, she found the sweatshirt, "in a field" at school. I explained that not only had she stolen someone's sweatshirt, but she took it on a FRIDAY, meaning they wouldn't have their hoodie all weekend. Then, she lied to me  twice  about how she got it in the first in the place. Furthermore, the person who's sweatshirt this is is probably in trouble with her parents for losing it. She has...

We made it through winter only to have a man down today. Sethy's routine is to get out of bed and come into our room every morning. I heard him go downstairs, and I heard him coughing, the kind of coughing where you can't seem to catch your breath in between. I got out of bed and went to check on him. He was sitting in the living room with a train of drool/spit running down him. I assumed he had coughed stuff up, he has been congested, and spit it out not knowing that else to do. I cleaned him up, and he asked for muffins and milk. That's his usual breakfast, but he just didn't seem like himself. I offered him water instead. On what I can only describe as mommy intuition, I grabbed a blanket from upstairs and just kind of hung out with him in the living room. Sure enough, a few minutes later he threw up. I yelled for Sal to come down and we got him cleaned up and undressed. He wasn't projectile vomiting, and asked for something to drink and to eat. He threw up...

Today was the Kids of Steel 5K run in Pittsburgh. Emmy signed up to run it several months ago and has been training after school. Because she was at her dad's he ran it with her, and I had the change to talk to her this evening. I took screenshots of her holding up both the medal and her number. She was so excited to tell me all about it. She loved having total strangers yelling and cheering her on. She also thought it was pretty cool that volunteers passed out water at various points. She cannot wait to run another. She wasn't sure of her exact time, but she said they finished in about 35:00. Not too shabby for her first run.

It's no secret that I love the change in weather, but with the change in weather comes the need for air conditioning. We knew our A/C was having issues last summer. Now, it's completely dead. What Freon remained had leaked out, and we need to replace the entire unit. Because it makes sense to do it, we're also replacing our furnace. We weren't expecting an 8k project this Spring, but the system is 18 years old so we knew it was coming. Now my head is swimming with names like Rheem, Carrier, Lennox, and Trane. I've talked to several companies as well. We need to have this project completed by the end of May so that the house doesn't turn into an oven while we're on vacation in June.

With Spring comes the inevitable road work, and just one street over Seth spotted a backhoe. This made his whole day, and depending on how long it stays, his whole week. He asked for a picture with it, and I love this pose and big grin. He also informed us that this backhoe would be too heavy to carry home and so we needed a box. We're not certain what the issue is, but the road seemed a little sunken. There is a storm drain right across the street from the depression so I imagine it's water related.