It has been a strange year at the Moritz residence. It began in January, with the departure of Frances's sister (Hilda) and nephew (Alex) to Guatemala, followed almost immediately by an orthodontist visit for Jesi, who had a couple weeks reprieve between braces when she was allowed to chew gum. This was closely followed by new furniture for Jesi's bedroom, switching her from a bunk bed to a loft bed with built-in desk and bookshelves and a very comfy bean bag chair.
Near the end of February, as expected, Frances's job at MidAmerica Bank ended when the merger with National City was completed. After a couple weeks of rest and job hunting, Eric, Frances and Cassandra went on their long overdue trip to Great Britain, visiting friends and family in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Ipswich and Pinner (with sightseeing in London). As we learned in 2007, Cassandra travels well and enjoys meeting people, so it was a fabulous trip.
After returning to Illinois, as Frances was still within her severance period, she opted to complete her Project Management Professional certification through the Project Management Institute while continuing her job hunt. At the end of May, Frances was offered a part-time telecommuting position with a company that creates Web sites for law firms... yes, that means she works from home and even has spare time. Some of that spare time has been used for crafts - learning how to crochet again and making sure the sewing machine still works.
In the spring, Cassandra and Eric attended a parent/child class at the local Waldorf school. When the new school year began in the fall, Frances was able to attend the first 8 weeks of a transitional preschool class with Cassandra. Cassandra thoroughly enjoys school, except for the fact that it's only two days a week, and is already looking forward to attending kindergarten next year. (Their kindergarten is a two year program, set up for 4 and 5 year olds.) Cassandra is an avid bookworm and board gamer, memorizing the stories and rules to share with her plush.
Our major home renovation for the year was a new front door; the old one had a bit of a draft, and on really cold mornings, frost forming on the inside. The new steel door is also a great place for magnets, like Cassandra's letter set and a snowman. We've done some work on landscaping in the yard, lots of weeding in what will become the vegetable garden, and some initial preparation on our pumpkin patch.
Jesi, in addition to maintaining good grades, is active in the Anime and Fencing clubs at her school, and participated in an introductory archery class through the local park district. She travels more than the rest of the household, splitting her vacations between her father in Florida and her mother in Guatemala.
Jesi, Cassandra and Frances attend several Chicagoland science fiction and gaming conventions; Eric joins them for Anime Central and Dorkstock.
Eric still works for the Post Office, but must now put in vacation requests for the entire year at once; we're anticipating the major 2009 vacation to be a trip to Guatemala for Hilda's wedding.
If you're receiving a printed copy of this, we don't have an e-mail address in the database for you. You can reach us online at our comcast.net e-mail address: CtrlAltTabby for Frances or Cotzbalam for Eric. Frances and Jesi can also be found on Facebook.
For those of you without an online presence, we're still reachable at 28W420 Forest View Ave S, Warrenville, IL 60555. We also have a lovely answering machine at (630)393-1780.