Tuesday, March 31, 2026

Chase was still having stomach problems Tuesday morning but Mama said he had to go to school. When Nanaw picked him up after school, he said he almost threw up during the Chrism Mass field trip today but he managed to not do it. Nanaw told him she was proud of him for that. He said he still didn't feel too good, and he didn't want any after-school snacks, just water. During the pick-up phone call with Mama, he told her he couldn't go to baseball practice, and Mama said he had to send a text to Coach Bernie saying he couldn't come to practice. When they got to Nanaw's house, Chase worked on his homework -- The Hobbit worksheet for chapter 9 and a Middle East Atlas geography worksheet. Nanaw should have had him do his AR reading when he was done with the worksheets but she always forgets to have him do that. He still didn't get his science and English tests back. He didn't do too well on the tests, especially the English one, and Nanaw wants to see what went wrong. She didn't study with him on the English one because he said they had studied a lot in class. But Nanaw is not going to let that happen in the future. No matter how much he says he already studied, Nanaw will insist that they study together. For the science test, Nanaw wants to see what questions he got wrong and try to figure out if there was something they should have studied that they didn't. Uncle Mike came over to Nanaw's again today to do several different things. The one he worked on most was the drain pipe in the front yard. Hopefully, he can get it working the way it should.

Monday, March 30, 2026

Chase stayed home from school today with an upset stomach and diarrhea. Even with all that, Nanaw’s sweet boy was in a good mood . He was happy and entertaining and didn’t mind too much that Nanaw limited him to an hour and a half of phone time. He used some of that time to play on the laptop. Uncle Mike spent most of the day at Nanaw’s, watching over the guys from Helitech who were here to fix the leak in Nanaw’s basement. Uncle Mike said the guys worked hard and did a great job. Helitech had said it would take two days to do the job but they finished up in one day. Uncle Mike and Nanaw had Taco Bell for lunch, and Chase had chicken noodle soup. A little after three, Chase took a nap and Nanaw went up to school to get Chase’s homework. He was up from his nap when Nanaw got home. He worked on the homework till it was time to go home. In the evening, he had 20 minutes of hitting fast-pitched underhand baseball. Mama was going to stop at the library on the way home from baseball to pick up a book, and Nanaw asked her to pick up a book for her, too. Chase and his class are going on a field trip tomorrow to a church in Belleville for a Chrism mass. The Chrism Mass is a major Holy Week liturgy, usually celebrated by the bishop in the cathedral on Holy Thursday morning or shortly before, where the sacred oils (Chrism, Catechumens, Sick) are consecrated/blessed for use throughout the year. It highlights the church's unity, the priesthood, and the diocesan community.

Sunday, March 29, 2026

Chase had a confirmation retreat on Sunday, starting with mass at 11. When Nanaw went to visit Chase after he got home, Chase told Nanaw that various people spoke to the group. IDaddy spent the afternoon at the retreat with Chase. He sat at a table with Brady’s uncle and found out he works for a computer company that deals with finding fraud. Originally, they said the retreat would last till 5:30 or 6 but it turned out that it ended around 4. Chase was still tired from the DC trip so he took a nap when he got home from the retreat. Mama made stir fry for dinner, and Nanaw had some without Ramen noodles and it was really good. After dinner, Mama and Nanaw sat on the sofa and looked at Mama’s DC pictures on her phone. They also looked at videos and pictures on Chase’s phone. Nanaw is looking forward to looking at more of Chase’s photos on his DC project.

Saturday, March 28, 2026

Today was Chase's first baseball game of the season with the Bears. He had two games on Saturday morning at the field in Fenton. Unfortunately, his team lost both games. He pitched in both games but didn't do a good job. That was understandable and forgivable because the DC trip was exhausting for everybody, and Chase was really tired. On Saturday afternoon, Mama and Nanaw went to a birthday party for Brady's grandma Debbie at her son's beautiful house in Swansea, Illinois.(There's a picture of it below that Nanaw took yesterday when she made a reconnaissance trip to make sure she knew how to get there in case Mama couldn't go.) It was a great party with all kinds of interesting people, delicious food and super birthday decorations that Debbie's son Ryan created. Brady was there, having lots of fun. He had on a history-related tie that he probably bought in DC. Chase would have had fun with him but Chase probably preferred staying home to take a nap. Ryan has a swimming pool, and last summer Chase went swimming there with Brady and Emma and their cousins. Mama and Nanaw were talking about the cherry blossom trees in DC as they left the party, and later in the afternoon Mama sent Nanaw a random photo of the trees to show her that the blossoms are white not pink, like Nanaw thought they were. On the drive home, they listened to the Cardinals baseball game on the radio and were dismayed when the Cards lost their four-run lead in the 9th inning. But everything worked out beautifully, thanks to bubble-gum-chewing JJ Wetherholt and his walk-off hit, and the Cardinals won 6 to 5. Tomorrow Chase has a confirmation retreat at church from 11 to 6 and then Nanaw is going to go visit her boy. Also, on this coming Thursday, the 8th grade is having a Stations of the Cross and Chase is one of the readers so Nanaw is going to go see it. 

Friday, March 27, 2026

From the bus on the way home, Mama texted: "We left a couple of  hours ago, about 8 a.m. The guys are playing an online game and others are playing, too (like Henry, etc.) so that’s good. Yesterday after the archives we went to the Bureau of Engraving/Printing and saw money being made. After lunch, we went to Arlington National Cemetery and saw a few sights and saw the changing of the guard for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  We ended up touring memorials like MLK, Vietnam, etc. last night, and Lincoln was the last. One of the Dads, a hockey Dad, bought pizza for the kids last night when we were at the hotel. Chase went down and hung out with the crew in the lobby last night until they had to go up at 10." Mama said they're supposed to arrive back at school at 11, and Life 360 says they're at school so the great Washington, DC adventure is over. Nanaw is looking forward to seeing all the pictures they took. Mama didn't send any pictures of today so the picture below is from last night of Chase with his buddy Hunter. Today Nanaw tried to take Taylor along on Sylvester's walk but the smart little kitty.

Thursday, March 26, 2026

The first two photos below are at the Jefferson Memorial, which looks really cool. In the second photo, you can see the Washington Monument. After that, they went to the National Archives -- where the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights are stored. Mama texted Nanaw that Nanaw would enjoy all the stuff they're learning. Nanaw told her she'll have to teach Nanaw all she's learning. The third picture is the Declaration of Independence. Nanaw thinks it's so wonderful that the kids are getting to see all the things they studied in class. It has to be making a big impression on them. This was their last full day in DC. I'm sure they'll be sorry to go because it's been such a monumental adventure. Mama was a little light on pictures and update texts today but that's understandable after such a full week. Several things on the itinerary for Thursday that Mama didn't mention are the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, Arlington Cemetery, the U.S. Marine Corp Iwo Jima Memorial, Embassy Row, and Monuments and Memorials at the National Mall. One of the pictures is of Mama wearing Hunter's hat. Tomorrow they'll leave for home at 8:45 a.m. and arrive in Columbia at midnight. 

Wednesday, March 25, 2026

Nanaw texted Mama about seeing Chase's kindergarten teacher Mrs. H. at Schnuck's this morning. Mrs. H. left Chase's school several years ago as a kindergarten teacher to take care of her grandson Brooke, just like Nanaw did. She sent her love to Chase and said she can't believe he's graduating this year. She has always been his favorite teacher, and she got him off to a wonderful start at school. She said he would love Gibault; she and her husband and their four children all went there and loved it. Uncle Mike came over today and worked on getting the basement ready for Monday when Helitech comes to fix the leak. Mama only sent two pictures today. Her phone battery was low, and they were off the bus for a long time so she couldn't charge it. She said she took a lot of pictures and maybe she'll send some tomorrow. For sure, they will come in handy for the project Chase has to do when they get back -- the project needs 75 photos so hopefully Mama has that many. In the morning, they went to Ford Theater where Lincoln was shot and then to the Petersen House where Lincoln died. One of the two pictures Mama sent today was a huge stack of all the books written about Lincoln -- very cool. The other picture she sent was the Capitol Building, with the three of them in it. They got to sit where the Senate is but not too many people were there. They went to the Library of Congress where there were a ton of books. They ran out of time so they didn't get to go to the Smithsonian. The White House was on their plan but they skipped it because they were out of time. Nanaw wanted Mama to take a picture of where the East Wing was destroyed so that won't happen. They went to the Kennedy Center instead of the White House. The class got to go bowling after dinner, and Mama said they had fun. Mama had lounge duty tonight, which means watching the kids from 9:15 to 9:45.

Tuesday, March 24, 2026

Tuesday's agenda of sites to see included George Washington’s Mount Vernon, Holocaust Museum, Washington National Cathedral, Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, and 9/11 Pentagon Memorial. Mrs. H. had mentioned in one of her emails that one of the parents was trying to arrange for a visit to a special place, and that turned out to be the Holocaust Museum. They replaced the visit to the National Air and Space Museum with a visit to the Holocaust Museum. Chase is getting to spend lots of time with the crew on this trip, something he definitely enjoys. Mama was excited about the black sheep she saw at Mount Vernon; their picture is below. Mama texted to Nanaw that: "After Mount Vernon, we did the Holocaust Museum. So sad. Then the National Cathedral, then mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. The kids hung out in the lobby when they got back before dinner. They ate in the mall and Chase and I got Auntie Anne's pretzels, and Will got Mama a Stromboli from a pizza place. Their mall is crazy busy like ours used to be. After dinner we went to the Pentagon 9/11 Memorial. I didn't take any photos but I sent one from online. The Memorial is outside the building. On each bench is the name of someone who was on the plane or in the building working who died. So sad. After that, we came back to the hotel. The kids hung out in the lobby till 9:30, which is our curfew to go to their rooms. (We're on Eastern time.) Tomorrow we have to eat at 7:45 and leave at 8:15 for another busy day." Nanaw took Sylvester over to his house around noon because the cleaning lady came to Nanaw's house today. Nanaw managed to get all four cats downstairs, which is a miracle. Below, towards the end, is a picture of Sylvester in the Gascar chair and then one on his walk. Nanaw wasn't able to get Taylor in the cat stroller today so it was just Nanaw and Sly. He saw three other dogs and a runner so he had lots to bark at. 

Monday, March 23, 2026

Mama texted trip reports to Nanaw: "The phones are back with us again lol.  We had them until about 9. I think Chase got a nap earlier. I’m in front of Nick's dad, across from Michelle, and behind AJ and Will.  Our Will is diagonally across from me and Chase/Brady are 4 rows ahead.  We miss Becky; she’s up towards the front. I watched an episode of PD so far and read on the Kindle. We ate at Golden Corral. I don’t know what Chase ate because we didn’t sit together. I think the mall food court happens later?" Mama sent the picture below of what she called a delicious cookie that Lorelei's mother made. Mama took a bite out of it before she took a picture. Evidently, the teachers take the kids' phones away every once in a while so they don't have them all the time. Nanaw will have to ask Mama about that. They're going to have dinner in Arlington, Virginia, and that's where they're staying.  Mama reported that they passed by the CIA, which is very exciting. They ate at the mall in Arlington; Mama, Daddy and Chase all had orange chicken from Panda. After dinner, they went to the hotel where they're on the 5th floor. They played cards down in the lounge for a bit. Mama bought Chase a Shirley Temple, then they all went up to their room. DC is about 20 minutes away from where they're staying in Arlington. Mama said Father Brian is there; he may have been one of the people who flew there rather riding the bus. Mama says they start all the stuff tomorrow. Nanaw took Sylvester and Taylor for a walk this afternoon; Sylvester was on his leach and Taylor was in the cat stroller. Nanaw brought some of the guys over to her house to spend the week with her. 

Sunday, March 22, 2026

The first photo below is a selfie Chase sent to Nanaw yesterday. In the weekend hockey tournament, Mama texted that Chase's team tied their first game on Sunday. Then later, at the 1:15 game, Mama sent a picture of her and Chase in the penalty box; Mama was working in the penalty box and Chase got a penalty. But in the photo, they're both grinning so it must have been okay. The third photo is Chase on the ice. The team won the second Sunday game, which was Chase's last game with Affton, 3 to 0. Mama says Chase has played with them for four years, and they've made lots of friends. This tournament was Chase's last with Affton. Next, he starts playing with Columbia. At about 4:30. Mama and Chase brought Sylvester and Tyler and all of their paraphernalia over to Nanaw's house. Chase stayed to visit with Nanaw till 6. He played on his phone for a while, then he and Nanaw went into his room to play pencil hockey. They call it pencil hockey and sometimes pencils are involved. But it also involves hockey sticks, plastic knives, machetes, a hatchet, and lots of other random things Chase uses to hit plastic balls into the hockey net. What a character he is! When Nanaw took Chase home, Mama was in his room packing his clothes for the DC trip. They have to be up at school by 3:15 a.m., and they'll leave at 3:45 a.m. Hopefully, Mama will keep Nanaw up-to-date on their activities in DC.

Saturday, March 21, 2026

On Saturday morning, Mama texted Nanaw that Chase's hockey team won their Friday night game 6 to 0. Chase got an assist on one of the goals his team made, which was very exciting. Chase plays defense and doesn't get much time with goals so this was really special. Mama sent Nanaw a picture of Chase on the ice and of the scoring showing that Chase got the assist. Later in the day, Mama texted Nanaw just before the Saturday hockey game started about what Chase had done during the day. She and Chase went to Dollar General to buy snacks for the trip to DC. Later he did some baseball and then had some screen time. In the evening, Mama texted that the team lost their evening game 5 to 0, and it was awful. Everybody thought that the other team added some A level players to make their team better, which they're not supposed to do. She said parents were yelling, and it was not fun. Hopefully, that won't happen in tomorrow's game.

Friday, March 20, 2026

Chase was happy he didn’t have to study for anything before school on Friday morning. He made sure to take his Mount Vernon poster so he could turn it in when he went to history class. When Nanaw picked Chase up from school, he told Nanaw he had good news about who he was sitting with on the bus ride to DC. He wanted Nanaw to guess but her guesses were wrong. Chase finally told Nanaw that he was riding with Brady. Brady is one of Chase’s best friends and always has been so Chase is really happy about this. For awhile after school, Chase and Nanaw spent time in Chase’s room. Chase played pencil hockey while Nanaw sat in the special rocking chair putting together the papers for her income taxes. Next, they went into the dining room where Chase played on the computer and Nanaw finished up with the taxes. Chase had a hockey game tonight in one of his final tournaments with Affton. He also has games tomorrow and Sunday. Mama told Nanaw that hockey Coach Dave and his wife were going to Rockbridge on Monday -- Coach Dave wanted to do some trout fishing. That’s a fun thing. Uncle Mike told Nanaw yesterday that he should have ridden along with Aunt Becky and her friends yesterday when they were going to Mansfield, Missouri, which is close to Rockbridge. He said he dould have gotten a day pass at Rockbridge to fish. But he didn't do it. 

Thursday, March 19, 2026

Chase and Nanaw studied for the science test again on Thursday morning. On the drive to school, Chase told Nanaw he thought he would do well on the test, maybe even get a 100. Nanaw said that if he got a good grade, she would take him to one of the big, fancy Schnuck's stores, and he could spend some of her $70 in rewards funds on whatever he wanted. Chase liked that idea. During the day, Uncle Mike and Nanaw went on an adventure to the Monroe Recycling Center, which also takes trash. Nanaw had lots of trash bags from stuff in the basement, and Uncle Mike brought along some things he wanted to get rid of. Uncle Mike and the man who works there threw everything but the metal things into a big trash truck. At one point, the man ground things up in the truck, which was interesting to watch. When Nanaw picked Chase up from school, she didn't ask about the science test because Chase says sometimes she asks too many questions. He finally volunteered that he might have gotten a 100 on the science test, or an A. Nanaw was happy about that. At Nanaw's house, he finished up his Washington DC poster on Mount Vernon to turn in tomorrow. He has an English test tomorrow on phrases, clauses and verbals, but told Nanaw that the English class has spent the past couple of days intensive studying for Friday's test, and that he didn't need to do any more studying. Nanaw said, okay, go play! And he did.

Wednesday, March 18, 2026

On Wednesday morning, Nanaw reminded Chase about turning in his vocabulary packet and going home with Brady after school. It was early dismissal today, and Nanaw had a church meeting and couldn't pick him up till 2:30. In the afternoon, as Nanaw was going to pick Chase up at Brady's house, she got a text from Chase saying that Debbie was taking Emma, Brady and Chase to Dairy Queen and that Nanaw should pick him up there. Debbie treated them all to ice cream, which gave her three happy kids. Back at Nanaw's house, Chase said he was going to work on his Washington, DC poster, and then they could study for Thursday's science test. Nanaw would have rather spent the whole time studying for the science test but Chase really wanted to work on his poster so they did. The students had to select one of the places or monuments they were going to visit in DC and make a poster about that monument. Chase selected George Washington's home, Mount Vernon. Chase did a really good job on the poster, and when it's completely finished, she'll take a picture of it for Days of Chase. He still has a white space on the poster, and he wants to include a picture or two of George Washington at Mount Vernon there. For the science test, there was a lot of material to study: the textbook and the review highpoints and study questions in the textbook; the multi-page packet covering chapter 5, and the notes Chase took in his notebook covering the material that would be on the test. He did a good job studying and planned to study again tonight. Then tomorrow morning before school, Chase and Nanaw would go through the material again. The second picture below is a time hop photo from Mama's Facebook page from seven years ago. 

 

Tuesday, March 17, 2026

For St. Patrick's Day, Chase and Mama had matching shirts with a St. Pat's skeleton and decorations on it -- very cool. The principal at Chase's school told the students that they could have a dress-down day and could wear St. Pat's clothing. When Nanaw picked Chase up from school, she saw lots of green clothes. The principal was wearing a bright green top hat. At Nanaw's house, Chase worked on his Hobbit chapter 8 worksheet, which is due tomorrow. Then Chase and Nanaw went into his room to study for Thursday's Chapter 5 test in Science. Chase played pencil hockey while Nanaw quizzed him on the chapter. She ready study material at the end of the chapter, then asked him the review questions. Then she asked him some questions from the chapter 5 packet and from chapter 5 in the textbook. Nanaw is determined that to the best of Chase's ability and Nanaw's ability Chase will study really hard for all tests in all classes and try to not get a low grade on any tests. Once you get a low grade on a test, it's really difficult to raise your grade, to make up for the low test score. Daddy was taking Chase to his workout tonight because Mama was having a St. Pat's dinner with Aunt Becca at Sunset Overlook.

Monday, March 16, 2026

After school on Monday, Chase had his Bunny Tracks ice cream, which he loves. Nanaw asked him if she should get more at the grocery store, and he said yes. He worked on his lesson 25 vocabulary packet, which is due Wednesday. When he finished, Nanaw looked it over, and he had done a perfect job. He has a special Washington DC trip project due Friday. The students have to pick a monument in Washington and make a poster about it. Chase selected George Washington’s home Mount Vernon on the Potomac River. Nanaw is going forward to seeing it. The school is providing poster board so Mama is happy she doesn’t have to worry about getting it. Nanaw thinks Chase is excited about the Washington trip. He told Nanaw he couldn’t believe he was really going to DC next week. It's so great that he's looking forward to the trip. Before he went home, Chase played pencil hockey in his room and watched his hockey TV channel. Today was Chase’s weighing and measuring day. He weighs 110.5 pounds and is 5 ft 5 inches tall. He's grown two inches and gained almost five pounds since last September. Yay for Chase! Nanaw forgot to take a picture of Chase so she asked him to send a selfie and he did!

Sunday, March 15, 2026

 Chase and Daddy went to 5 o’clock Mass on Saturday evening because of Chase’s sleepover. Mama said Chase and Tucker had a great time at their sleepover last night. Unfortunately Chase had an earache and went to bed at 12:30. Mama gave him ear drops and Tylenol so he was feeling better  Tucker stayed up till 3 a.m. Mama got donuts for their breakfast. In the afternoon, Nanaw texted Mama and Chase that she was working on The Hobbit chapter 8 worksheet and the vocabulary lesson 25. Nanaw asked Mama to see if Chase was working on them, too. Chase said vocab wasn’t due til Wednesday and he’d work on it tomorrow. He said they weren’t done with chapter 8 yet and he’d do the worksheet when they were done. All day, Columbia had a severe wind warning. Then at around 5 o’clock it started to pour down rain. Then there were tornado warnings and sirens. Mama, Daddy and Chase went downstairs. After the warnings were over, Chase and Mama worked together to fix dinner. They prepared one pot spaghetti with meatballs. That led Mama to find a song from her childhood — On Top of Spaghetti. Part of the lyrics said: “I lost my meatball “ Chase and Nanaw think Mama is funny.

on top of spaghetti share.google

Saturday, March 14, 2026

Mama texted Nanaw that she thinks Chase had a great time at Top Golf with Brady and other members of the crew last night. She also said that Chase and Tucker saw each other at their workout this morning and discovered that neither of them had anything to do tonight. So Chase asked Mama if they could have a sleepover, and she said yes. Of course, Chase was very excited about that. Tonight Mama was going to dinner with two friends who are in town from Oklahoma and who used to work with her, plus some other former work friends. They were going to Failoni's, an Italian restaurant on Manchester. Nanaw said Mama would of course have pizza, and Mama said yes, unless something else caught her eye. Mama sent Nanaw a picture of Chase playing knee hockey and a picture of Sly. In the afternoon, Nanaw was out running errands, and she stopped off at Chase's house to give Mama the Nancy Drew mystery The Secret of the Old Clock from ThriftBooks that arrived today. She also took along the Wimpy Kid books she bought for Chase. He kept one of them to start reading for AR. Nanaw was happy to see Chase when she dropped by with books. He was playing the keyboard downstairs, and Nanaw stayed with him for a little while to listen. Nanaw asked him about the No Brainer books -- the one from the County Library and the one she bought for Chase. She couldn’t find either of them but Chase said he didn't have them, and they looked in his backpack and on the kitchen table but didn't find them. Nanaw went to the library and asked her friends there if it was possible she'd turned the book in but that the system hadn't checked it in. But that wasn't the case so Nanaw said she'd keep looking. Her two friends are retired teachers who work part-time at the library, and they told her how wonderful the Wimpy Kids books are and that teachers say they accurately represent how crazy and mixed-up schools are and that Nanaw should read them. Chase likes them and that's a good thing. At home Nanaw thought of two places she hadn't looked in for the two missing No Brainer books, and she found both of them -- Yay! The one she bought for Chase was in the little bookcase next to her computer in the dining room The library book was in a stack of newspapers, magazines and books in the living room where Nanaw keeps the things she's going to read or is going to return to the library. So all is well, and Nanaw apologized to Mama and Chase for making them search. She'll also apologize to her library friends the next time she sees them. 

Friday, March 13, 2026

Chase had two quizzes on Friday: one in geography on the Persian Gulf and one in English on the DLR. When Nanaw picked him up from school, he said he thought he did well on both of them. The Friday afternoon rule is that even if Chase has homework he doesn’t have to do it until sometime over the weekend. So at first, Chase played on his phone in his room. Then he turned on the hockey channel on TV and played pencil hockey. Nanaw brought in The Hobbit and sat in Chase’s room reading chapter 8. Chase had an activity-free weekend to look forward to — no hockey, no baseball and no workouts - and hardly any homework. At five, Chase had an adventure for Friday evening. Brady was having his birthday celebration with his crew of friends. They were going to Top Golf, one of Chase’s favorites. Chase decided he wanted to take his golf clubs. So when he got home from Nanaw's, he and Daddy went outside to look at them and decide if he was going to take them. Nanaw hoped he had a great time with his friends.

Monday, March 9, Tuesday, March 10, Wednesday, March 11, and Thursday, March 12, 2026

On Monday, Nanaw ordered three more Wimpy Kid books for Chase from ThriftBooks for him to read for his AR requirements. Nanaw also ordered the Nancy Drew Mystery, The Secret of the Old Clock, for Mama, who requested it. For homework, Chase had the Hobbit Chapter 7 worksheet to do, plus an infinitives worksheet in English. His vocabulary test is Wednesday, and he has a history test on the 1920s on Thursday. Nanaw printed out information on No Brainer, one of the Wimpy books, for Chase to study. It was 18 pages of notes about the book, and Nanaw wasn't sure if Chase would have enough patience to read the whole thing. He wants to take the AR test on the book tomorrow. He's trying to get as close as possible to his goal for AR points. On Tuesday, Chase took the AR test on No Brainer and got three points, bringing him a little closer to his goal. He thinks his goal is 16 points. He has a North Africa geography quiz tomorrow and a verbal worksheet in English for homework. Nanaw had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday morning for the lump at the base of her right thumb. They took an X-ray and said it was a subchondral cyst, and Nanaw has to go see a hand specialist (who knew that such a doctor existed!). Nanaw made an appointment for March 23, and they asked her to get a copy of the X-ray. Chase and Nanaw studied for Wednesday's vocabulary test, and Chase seems to really know the words well. On Wednesday, Nanaw went to St. Clare hospital in the cold, rainy weather and picked up a copy of her hand X-ray. When Nanaw picked Chase up from school, he said he thought he did well on the vocabulary test. They studied for Thursday's history test on the 1920s using a cool online study guide called Kahoots that asks the multiple choice questions that might be on the test and gives the user four answers to choose from. Chase zipped through the questions several times, getting the answers right. On Thursday, Uncle Mike came over to take things to Goodwill and to work on installing an electrical outlet for the sump pump that's going to be installed in Nanaw's basement. After Goodwill, Uncle Mike said let's go to lunch so they went to Taco Bell. Uncle Mike wanted to pay but Nanaw got her credit card faster than he got out his debit card. So Nanaw said next time he could pay. After school, Chase told Nanaw he thought he did really well on the history test. He studied for Friday's DLR quiz, the Persian Gulf/Levant geography quiz and finished his English worksheet on phrases and clauses. Chase was very excited because he had a completely free evening tonight: no hockey, no baseball, no workout, and no homework -- just playing on his phone and other devices.