Not much changes week to week in our house..this is a good thing in my opinion. This past week we did have some events happen.
First, Lauren went to Marine camp in Key Largo with her 5th grade class. Of course, the keys were expecting record lows for Lauren's snorkeling trip. She called last night and said it was so cold they had to pour warm water on her to get her body temp back to good. Now keep in mind...the water temps were far higher than the water EVER gets in Maine! We are such wimps to the cold now. Hopefully she took some good pictures and I will post as soon as they are developed(underwater camera).

Also, due to the cool temps, Rob and I decided to work on the landscaping aroud the house...Rob got stabbed in the hand by a Palm frond and his hand began to swell and ache severely. The following day it was getting worse, so he went to see the doctor and found our that he had something called Cellulitis and had a strep infection in the hand. The doctor had seen it before but was surprised at how quickly the infection set in. So Rob is on a very heavy(and expensive) dose of antibiotics. He will be okay, but not without embarassment of getting "bit" by a palm tree.

I did make his favorite Apple Crisp recipe from when he was a kid (Thank you Aunt Joan!). That made him feel a lot better. It really is a good one.

Ben's High School fall baseball season has ended and he has about 2 months before the spring season gets up and running. His back has been aching, so the 2 month break is a good time to let his body heal a bit.

He has been driving with his learners permit....I have discovered that I am not a good co-pilot. Thank goodness Rob has instructor experience, he is very calm and patient with our new driver.

Hope all is well with everyone. Smiles, Lynne

This is great! Go Sox!

This is a great moment for Opening Day Red Sox vs. Yankees.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkqAErSitJM

Rethinking our health insurance decision

The health insurance from the city(Rob's work) was getting very expensive so this year Rob and I decided to try out a new option for health insurance. We signed up for the Blue Cross Savings account type insurance. What that means is that we pay much less into the plan each month but we deposit money into a health savings account so if a health emergency should arise, we use the savings to pay the first $3000 of the bills, then the insurance would kick in and cover the rest(most of the rest...).

This type of insurance is a gamble for a family like ours(always in the dr.'s office) but knowing that we would be buying a house this year we decided to go for it.

You can predict what I am about to say...
Both kids are injured!
Lauren has a problem with her wrist. It has been going on for weeks now. She fell off a skateboard. We thought it was getting better but she has somehow aggrivated it and now she is in pain again. I am thinking it is a sprain or a pulled muscle or tendon(please don't let it be a tendon).
Ben was injured in a baseball game on Tuesday. They played on a grass field (not good) and he aggravated a hip flexor problem sliding into 3rd (on grass, not dirt).

So Lauren is in a wrist brace and Ben is on borrowed crutches...hopefully no one calls family services on us! haha

As far as the insurance goes, I am still not sure we made the wrong decision, but if we have to have them looked at, we will need to spend our savings for the closing costs of our new house and then we will be up a creek.

To be continued....

Back to the blog

Yes it has been a while. I have been posting on Facebook quite often but as I said I will post here now and then. Ok for the updates...

Rob: work is looking good. layoffs are always possible(esp. in this economy) but still looking better than in the past. Rob has been working out regularly and is starting to feel a difference in himself. He has started fishing again and is enjoying that during his free time.

Lauren: Is growing like crazy! She is eating me out of house and home(what does that mean anyways?). She has a best friend named Maggie and they have been stuck like glue. They get along so well and they think each other is a riot! She is begging to fly on an airplane to Maine.

Perhaps we will get there next summer or fall, but I doubt we will fly.

Lauren is planning to sign up for soccer this fall season. I am totally a baseball mom, so learning soccer will be new for me. She is very excited about it. Soccer is huge in Florida. Lauren is also asking to take singing lessons...I am very happy that she is discovering her likes and dislikes...it took a while, but she is opening up to trying new things now.

Here is a recent photo of my hippie chick. I think she may end up a democrat although she says she doesn't want the gov't running her life....we shall see.

Ben: Just finished up Little League for the season. He was chosen for the all star team and did really well. Just wish we had better coaching, but he had fun. His High School team has started conditioning practices and he has started to work out on his own as well...we are very proud of him. He has grown into a great young man. He will be turning 14 in August.

Ben has joined a new travel team for the fall season. The Stingers have asked him to play with them for a while now and this was good timing, so we shall go season by season and see how things go. They have stated that they don't plan on doing much traveling or tournaments, just local ball and that is a good fit for us at this time.

Ben has started driving with Rob and he is very good at it. He will get his permit at 15 and licence at 16 but we want him to be very natural and comfortable when the time comes.

Here is a photo of Ben in his All-Star jersey.

Me: Writing about me is always the hardest....I am still working through the summer but I am finding it harder with the kids home from school. I have gained a little weight this summer and I am feeling just terrible about it. I have done a few exercise programs and have found that I really love things like walking outside or biking but with the temp being about 100 most days...I cant even breathe out there...so I do very little to get moving. As soon as the temps get back to normal...I will get moving.

Speaking of moving...we got a call this week that the owner of our condo is selling and that our lease will not be renewed. This is ok because neither Rob nor I like our condo very much. We like the community and the lake view, but not our condo...plain white walls and no side windows...so we may just look for another in Sandoval or may rent a house somewhere else in Cape Coral...we will let you know.

Hope the summer for everyone is going well! Remember the sunscreen and bug spray!

Be happy...Smiles, Lynne

Jury Duty

I have been summoned to jury duty and it starts tomorrow morning 8am.

Of course this is the day that Lauren is receiving an award in front of the school for getting straight A's all year and I will be missing it.

Smiles, Lynne


Update:
Of course I was picked fairly quickly to serve on a jury this morning. There were 600 potential jurors there because there was a murder trial beginning and I was thankfully passed over for that one. So I am on a 2 day trial(hopefully) and should be back to real life on Thursday.

15 years ago today on Wednesday, June 8th in Las Vegas' Little Church of the West, Robert Tracy vowed to love me for better/worse for richer/poorer. What was he thinking!?

I love you Rob! Happy Anniversary.

5 days later...

Looks like the voice is back!

I don't want to get too excited because I haven't used it too much this morning. I am afraid if I do it will go away again.

Not much else to report on here. The kids are on school break this week. They have had lots of fun with friends. Ben has been sleeping at his friends houses all week and Lauren has had her friends here for sleepovers.

We had a big party for the HS baseball team at the volleyball courts here last night. That was very fun. The team has a bunch of great guys on it.

Smiles, Lynne

72 hours...

Still nothing. This is getting old.
Had to play battleship with Lauren using a dry erase board.
sigh.....

48 hours later...

Still no voice. Boy this really stinks.

If you need me, you may want to use the email.

Quiet smiles, Lynne

I know...it never ends with us...

So, got a call from Ben's Doctor and his nose is broken on the right side, which is where the xray showed it was...but he is doing much better, no thanks to the medical community in Florida.

Now, I have had laryngitis for the past 24 hours and still no sign of a voice...Rob and the kids seem to be pleased with the "new me".

Ben played his first HS game since his accident and he did great. They won 10-0 and Ben played 1st base.

Lauren didn't have to suffer through the game this week because her friend Michael had a Birthday party and she got to go with his family for that. She said she wishes Michael would have a birthday every week! I am sure his mom would love to do that on a weekly basis! Haha.

Rob passed his next test that is required for his job. It was a biggie. He studied so much and I am glad he can now take it easy for a while. Still no word on the layoff, but passing the test will hopefully make him even mre valuable as there are not many people with the certifications he now has. We are very proud of him.

I guess I have said it all. But I am sure we will create more "news" soon.

Smiles, Lynne

Liftoff...

The Space Shuttle Discovery lifted off last night. I remembered my camera this time...if you click on the picture so you can see it bigger, you will be able to see the actual shuttle just above the smoke.

We love the evening launches because you can see it so clearly. Keep in mind we are 5 hours away from Kennedy Space Center and we see it this well from our porch.

The launch had been delayed a couple times, so I am glad we remembered it today. It was a treat.

Smiles, Lynne

Ben's friend Danny

This is a link to a commercial that Ben's friend Danny made recently.
It's for Red Lobster.
Danny is the older brother in the clip.

http://web.me.com/spikemarketing/td_lobster09/

Click on True Dads Red Lobster 2009 to view it.
We are very proud of him.

So, if you see the commercial soon, you can say you know that kid!

You can tell it's a slow news week in the Tracy house when I am posting others kids news! haha

What am I missing?

I saw today in the news that due to a big decline in park attendance, Disney will be laying off an unspecified amount of employees......

Now I cannot solve all the worlds issues alone(although put me in a room with about 10 other moms and I bet we could come up with something) but this one seems like such a NO-BRAINER to me.

STOP RAISING THE PRICES OF THE DAMN TICKETS!!

We don't live too far from the Disney parks in Florida and even without the flight or hotel stay, it is impossible for our family of four to be able to afford a day in the parks.

So, here goes my plan to save Disney employees their jobs...

Current prices: $75.00 for 1 day(adult)

Let's say that 25,000 people entered on a Monday.

That's $1,875,000 for gate revenue.

Now those 25,000 people each had to eat and drink all day at avg. $50.00 per person.

That's $1,250,000 for food revenue.

OK, HERE'S WHERE MY BRILLIANT MIND WILL BLOW YOU AWAY!!

Let's cut the gate price in half and assume that due to the great deal...

50,000 people entered the park on Tuesday.

Same gate revenue as Monday with double the amount of people still needing overpriced food and drinks all day long!

Not to mention that is twice the number of people buying that MUST HAVE tee-shirt or Mickey ears (because they saved so much on the entry fee)!

The best part of this...no one looses their jobs and perhaps even a few will be needed to help with such large crowds now.

Food and souvenirs are where the money is at...

Come on Disney...no wonder your stock is falling so low!

Thanks for letting me rant. Smiles. Lynne

I am reading a great book...

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart

Not much going on in the Tracy world today so I thought I would share this info in case you are looking for a good book.

Keep in mind that this book in meant for kids ages of 8-16 but I just love it.

I am always looking for books that my kids will love, so I spend a lot of time reading to test out books. There is a part 2 and a part 3 will be available soon.

Lauren is working on the series called, Diary of a Wimpy Kid...those are very funny.

Have a great weekend! Smiles, Lynne

I know, I know...

Last post...Dec 6th of 2008. Todays date: January 24th, 2009.

There really is no excuse except that I thought no one was reading this thing.

From all the calls and emails I have received over the last month I can see that there are a few of you out there that really do care about what happens at the Tracy house and you all are sick of checking this blog to see no updates day after day.



Well, I am not going to apologize because life gets crazy...you all know that. When it's not crazy, it's boring and uneventful and there is nothing to say anyway.



So, I will do my best and that is all I can offer. besides, with the new wii system the kids got for the holidays...I have spent(wasted) many valuable blogging hours playing video games.



OK...let's catch up. This is a photo of Lauren on Christmas morning outside our house. She has been wavering on the whole "Is there a Santa" thing. Well when she got up and saw that there was snow and Santa's footprints leading into the house...she was convinced for at least another year! Being 80 degrees outside...there HAS to be a Santa!
And may I suggest requesting that Santa does NOT leave snow on your doorstep unless it falls from the sky...as it is terribly slippery and you may have a lawsuit on your hands if you try this.

In 2007 at Christmastime we did not know where we were going to get money to give the kids a good Christmas and thankfully, we had angels help us out. This year we were very blessed to not only be able to provide a good holiday for the kids, but we paid cash for everything. Boy, how things can change. We were even able to donate to a food bank and toys for tots. Amazing!

As some of you know, on Christmas eve, I had a terrible toothache that would not go away. I had a very bad infection in a broken tooth. After a round of antibiotics I was feeling much better and last week I visited the dentist and had two badly broken teeth pulled out.
My dental insurance is just terrible. It will not pay for repair, only extraction...strange.

Ben has been invited to play baseball with a high school baseball team. He is only in 8th grade. He is very excited. We told him it is an honor to play for a high school team at such a young age. I hope he appreciates it. First day of practice, Ben gets hit with a ball in the knee and when he went for his sports physical the next morning the Dr. sent him for xrays because his knee has water on it. Now I have no idea what that means but I know in the game Operation...the guy has a bucket where the knee is for the water.

He is fine now and has Little League Jr/Sr tryouts this Monday. Hopefully we won't be at the Dr.'s again on Tuesday...but you know Ben!

Lauren is sick on the couch today...sore throat and low fever. She got all A's on her report card again. I don't think she is being challenged enough. She had her reading and math levels tested last week. She is reading at a 6th grade level and her math is a 5th grade level. I don't know why they do all this testing though because nothing changes about how they teach her. Sigh...

Ben's report card was ok. He improved from last quarter in most classes...all c's. One of the requirments of playing high school baseball is to keep all grades to a C or better. I like that. Motivation. There is a kid in Ben's class with tourettes syndrome (where they yell out things for no reason) and Ben is a great friend to him. I am glad that Ben as learned compassion.

Rob's work may be having more layoff's soon. If this happens, things don't look good for Rob. He skated by on the last round, but he will get booted if this comes his way. Please keep us in your thoughts...we will need it. We should hear by March maybe sooner.

Ok you can wake up now, I am done.
I will post soon. Smiles, Lynne

Baseball is Back

For the past few weeks Ben has been on a Jr. League Baseball team. The baseball season started during the peak of rainy season in Florida, so there were many rained out practices.

Last week the games started and boy was that a different world. I would have never guessed that 13 year old kids would not know how to catch a ball or swing a bat. I would have assumed that if you are 13 and never played baseball, you would not be picking it up now. I was wrong.

Many of these kids are brand new to the sport. Coming from AAU where the players are the best of the best, we had some adjustments to make on our expectations.

I think Ben is having a good time and taking it for what it is...fun. The coaches are dads who really don't know the rules very well. Ben has had to correct them on their coaching a time or two.

Getting Ben from school to home, finish homework, eat dinner and get to the field in 2 hours is a sport in itself. They should give a trophy to any parent who can get that done.

Lauren is having fun, she of course has made friends and loves to run and play at the ball field after school.

We have already had a round of the flu come and go. I'm not sure it was even the flu because it was quite quick and minor for the most part (4 days), Ben got it worse than the rest of us. It is gone now and we are glad.

I just received my ballot to vote by mail and am very excited to NOT have to stand in line to vote this time around. I am not sure why everyone doesn't vote this way.

I guess that is it for now. Smiles, Lynne

Oh yeah,
AMY, please send me an email...I lost your new email address.

Report Card Time

Yes it is already half way into the quarter. The kids received their mid-term report cards this week.

Ben did ok. He received 3 C's, 3 B's and an A. He is in all honors classes and he is working very hard in them. The grading system is very strange here. When he does a project....it is based on a scale of 1 to 5 so if his project is perfect he gets a 5 which equals a 100%. If it is very good, but not perfect he will get a 4 which equals an 80%. I am finding it hard to believe that an almost perfect report can get an 80%. So his grades really are not showing the value of the work he is doing. Rob and I are both very proud of him.

Lauren got all A's on her report card. She is adjusting very well, however I don't believe that she is being challenged enough. Her math class is working on subtraction and she is well into multiplication at home. Her reading has taken off. She has discovered Judy Blume books(not the teen ones) and she really likes the Fudge books. Rob and I are very happy that she has adjusted so well to school and are proud of her as well.

As far as Rob's work, he is heading to 2nd shift soon. I am just dreading it. We knew it could happen we just didn't know when. He will not be here for meals and homework most nights and I am not looking forward to that. He is a big help with homework time. Looks like he will be on 2nd shift for a few years. Things may change but this is what it looks like right now.

My work is going very well. We have taken on a bunch of new clients which means my work is still in demand in these tough economic times and I am greatful for that.

My sister in Maine has just started contracting for the same company and I am happy for her. With the oil bills coming soon, this is sure to help out her family. Maybe she can even have some extra to set aside and come visit her sister in Florida. Hint Hint!

Hurricane Ike is long gone (we just got the wind and waves on that one) and none in the near future, it is nice to relax from the worry. In the condos we are in, all the older people are having the new type of shutters installed. They stay up and just "accordian " away. They don't look very nice, but you just pull them closed and lock them. It is about $3000.00 to have them installed! That is a lot of money.

Ben started Jr/Sr Little League last week. He really likes being back on a team, it's nothing like AAU but he likes it. Some of the kids on the team have no baseball skills at all, but it doesn't seem to bother Ben, which is good.

I guess that is about it for now. I hope everyone is well. Enjoy the fall.

Smiles, Lynne

A "little" surprise at the beach

On Sunday Rob, the kids and I went to the beach for some fun in the waves.

Sadly, there were none. We had a blast anyway.

On the way back to the car, we spotted a little bit of Florida nature hanging out nearby.

He was at least six feet long. I am just glad it wasn't a beach day for him!

So close, yet....

Not sure if you can see what's going on in this picture, but Whiskers has been tormented by this lizard who is well aware there is a window between them.

The lizard (with his tail missing) has been having fun with the cat. Each day he stops by to tease the cat. It is quite funny to watch.

Will it or wont it?

They say Fay is headed to town. Do we take action and install the storm shutters, purchase all the drinking water we can get our hands on, make ice cubes the size of bricks?

I am always torn as to how to handle these hurricane warnings. Over react and you waste a whole lot of time and money for nothing. Under react and you have a big mess on your hands, not to mention trying finding water and ice after a storm is like trying to find bread in Ethiopia.

Of course the kids start school on Monday, and they should have their first storm day on Tuesday. Kind of funny if you ask me.

People in our neighborhood are already on ladders installing the shutters so they can live for the next few days in darkness...I don't like that at all. Well, I guess if I roll with the odds and leave the shutters off, I can always knock on their door for shelter.

Now it may sound like I am taking this lightly but I am just trying to be optimistic. I am in a brand new condo...up to date hurricane codes...second floor (no flooding here). We will be fine. I will re assess on Monday and see where Fay is planning to visit.

I will keep you posted.
Smiles, Lynne