Happy New Year! We spent New Years Eve near DC at the Gaylord National Hotel, touring the Ice Show. Down across from the Reagan National Airport they built a small town and large hotel a few years ago in what used to be swamp land. The Gaylord hotel is located in several large cities. It has a large atrium with small buildings and shops inside, all decorated for the holidays. They even have a large crystal Christmas tree hanging from the ceiling. The hotel faces the Potomac river. The weather was nice-near 60 degrees but a bit breezy. We stopped into Baja Fresh for lunch while looking out from our bar height chairs to the sidewalk and river before heading into the temporary tent that houses the Ice display. They also had an ice skating rink set up, and the kids wanted to give it a try, but we told them we would be happy to take them skating at the rink near our house. We did join our next door neighbors though and headed into the world of Merry Madagascar. All the ice sculptures were the animals from the cartoon movie Madagascar(lion, hippo, giraffe, zebra) and the lemurs from the island along with Santa and his sled. They actually hire ice sculptors from China to make the scenes which include lighting and colored ice. We decided we actually preferred the clear ice sculpture of the nativity scene at the end of the tour. And you really don't spend too much time in with the displays as the temperature is kept at 5 degrees! They actually pass out parkas to wear while you tour the display to keep you warm. We brought our own gloves and hats which made a huge difference. And Scott and Allison tried out the ice slide before heading home. I thought we would stay longer to see the laser light show in the hotel and the snowfall but it did not start until after 6pm. I also had hoped to do a DC drive by to check out the National Christmas tree, but Tom does not enjoy wandering around DC at night, so instead we headed home and caught the absolutely packed 515 pm mass. We were all pretty pooped out for the day and just barely made it to midnight to watch the ball drop in New York and the firework display in Baltimore on tv. I had Allison watch Jaws on Spike tv that night so she could understand all the shark displays we have seen at Universal studios and the aquariums. We fell asleep to the loud fireworks going off nearby at our Holiday Festival of the Lights display in Columbia. We celebrated the New Year with dinner on Sunday night with our neighbors Dan and Gloria and their kids. We had them and their family over for Christmas dinner and exchanged gifts. They are always very generous to our family and kids. Sunday night we enjoyed our champagne toast and a round of the Apples to Apples game.

Tom spent Sunday afternoon "undecorating" the outside of our house, taking down the lights. The weather was pretty mild, just a few passing rain showers. Meanwhile, I took my parents out to the Target studio for a photo session. I received a $50.00 gift card when we had our family Christmas photo taken, so I decided it would be nice to get a photo shoot of my parents and we three ladies-Allison, my mom and myself. While we were at Target, Scott was enjoying a play date with a classmate. His mom thought the boys could get together on Monday, but our kids will be back in school on Jan 2nd.

I can't believe how quickly this week has gone by. Monday afternoon my mom and I enjoyed antique shopping in Olde Ellicott City after dropping Allison off to work.


On Tuesday, we signed Allison up for an early morning drivers training class.  Allison  has 3 on the road classes to complete and already completed one class. This class was supposed to focus on parking, but after an hour her instructor said she looks good and he jumped to freeway driving. She will get one more class that focuses on freeway driving and then it is on her to pass her driving test. She is not eligible for the test until April. Tom took her out for a bit more driving practice and then we all hit the mall and saw a few movies. Tom and Scott opted to see the new Mission Impossible movie. Allison, my parents and myself all saw War Horse. It reminded me of Black Beauty except it took place during WWI.  We all enjoyed our movies, and we enjoyed using our movie gift card. Afterwards we stopped into dinner at one of the mall restaurants.

On Weds Allison was back to work. We picked her up and then all drove up to Hershey Pennsylvania for a hockey game(Tom and Allison's Christmas gift). It was Scout night and the place was packed. I had already picked up 4 tickets for our family and added on 2 more for my parents. Tom and Allison were very happy with their new seats near the goalie, two rows from the ice. The rest of us were packed in like sardines in the upper rows, but you had a great view of the entire game and we enjoyed our hot dogs and popcorn/drinks that came with the tickets. I also picked up a few patches for the kids for scout night.   The game went into double overtime with a shoot out with the poor Hershey Bears losing by a point. But Tom and Allison were very happy with the whole experience.

On Weds I was  very happy to see our roofers finally made it out to fix our leak. They were very behind with jobs since we have had a steady rain storm every week. They would have come on Tuesday, but you guessed it-it was pouring rain.  Fortunately it did not take very long, and the repair blends in quite nicely. The roofers mentioned that the roof was very wet underneath the shingles, so Tom and I were happy to get the repair done.


Thursday morning I was up early and off to the dentist. I had tried to get a tooth repaired-an old cavity refilled, but the tooth was still bothering me since November. The dentist felt it would benefit from a root canal which is what I had been thinking. So I was busy in the dentist chair for 1.5 hours. I felt better knowing that my procedure was successful. The dentist mentioned that he had been busy working on another patient with a root canal last Thursday when the power went out. That was when Tom was busy trying to clean and vacuum. Turns out a car accident took out the power supply to the neighborhood. I was glad it was not during my visit! While I was at the dentist, Tom took the kids to our new library. Allison was meeting with a fellow student to work on a chemistry project. Scott was scoping out the new building. Scott reports the library is very high tech. That afternoon Allison was busy filling out Thank You Holiday cards while I attached them to boxes of Girl Scout cookies. I scheduled a trip out to our Baltimore Washington Airport with my girl scouts to pass out our donated GS cookies to the arriving soldiers. Looks like the other scout troops had the same idea as several other troops showed up with cart loads of cases of girl scout cookies. (just a little competition). But this was the only free day myself and my coleader had available.  I also took my parents along to enjoy the experience. It was quite crowded and there were several boy and girl scout troops present. I had Scott come to represent his boy scout troop and he was asked to hold a flag along the exit route when the soldiers came off the plane with my coleader's son who is also a boy scout. Meanwhile, Allison and my coleader's daughter passed out boxes of cookies to the soldiers and family members. It was fun visiting during the holiday season as the airport had a beautiful Christmas tree set up and even Santa was there to say Welcome Home.We didn't pass out all the cookies, but I left the rest to be added to the goodie bags that the staff make up and pass out.

On Friday Allison was back to work. I dropped Scott off to the rollerblade rink with his friend Sammy for an afternoon play date. Meanwhile, Tom and I were doing a little shopping with my parents-returns and purchases.(Back to Costco!).


So we made it through the last week of 2011! We had a lot of fun, ate too much, worked on the Family Tree program on the computer and organized paperwork(birth certificates and baptismal certificates), and did a lot of running around.

Here's to a Wonderful New Year! Enjoy photos from the Ice show featuring the Madagascar characters, the Gaylord Hotel, church Nativity and the Airport-passing out cookies to the returning soldiers. The Baltimore Blog

Merry Christmas!  Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!

My parents decided to make the trip out to our house after all. They drove out last Thursday with a slight delay in their trip as Dad exited the freeway a bit too soon. They were driving around in western Howard County in farm country. Fortunately they had their cell phone and were able to call and double check directions. Of course it was dark and raining. But they made it and we have been keeping them busy ever since.

Before they arrived we were busy preparing the house for their visit. Tom spent his first day off on Weds moving our spare bed down to the basement and cleaning/vacuuming. He also dragged our old hot water heater down to the street for pick up. I sweet talked the Monday Night Football guys into helping Tom carry it up the stairs and then called the county to have it picked up. We had to wait a whole month though until they had an open time to come pick it up. (And we are still waiting for someone to come out and do the repair on our roof). It keeps raining and we keep getting put on hold. He also spent a day assembling a new computer system for my parents. They have relied on Tom to update their computer systems and their last hard drive finally called it quits. Tom was not able to update it any more, so he ordered a new system. He also had to order himself a new monitor as his own quit on him too.

He had the day to himself as Scott was finished with school at noon and went home with his best friend Sammy. He stayed overnight since he is not going to be able to spend the holiday week visiting as his friend was heading out of town. I was busy that afternoon at my two work parties. Both my rehab department and the Home Health department which I cover for had scheduled their holiday parties on the same day. One was from 3-5pm and the other party was from 5-8pm. We saw patients in the morning, and then headed out for lunch at a local restaurant. I then left and headed to another restaurant for dinner and gift exchanges! I enjoyed chatting the night away with one of my old OT coworkers from St Agnes hospital when Tom and I first moved here to Maryland. She works part time at Charlestown, but I rarely get to see her, let alone sit and chat.

I was a bit upset with Scott's school since they scheduled his school holiday concert on Monday afternoon. Usually they schedule the concert on the last half day before break. Tom and I have not missed a concert since Allison started Kindergarten. This was the first concert we missed. Tom was just too busy on Monday, as was I at work and we could not leave for a 2pm concert. Scott was pretty much performing for the whole event as he sang several songs with the choir and he also sang with his class. On Monday night I was out hunting down a tshirt for him to wear at school with a Christmas theme. I could not believe how limited the Christmas supplies were this year. I finally located a Grinch tshirt in the mens dept at Kohls that was acceptable to SCott to wear on Tuesday for his holiday party. (I couldn't talk him into wearing the Christmas Story tshirt-I Shot My Eye Out!). Turns out he won a small prize for his shirt(complete with a blinking Christmas tree pin)! I also had to pick up some party supplies for his school party and a party at the Boy Scout meeting. And wrap up a few gifts for his teachers.

Allison had a full week of school and was busy with studying and homework every night. Tom got her to her piano lesson on Thursday night while I was waiting for my parents. . She also had the opportunity to play one of her Christmas songs at school in her piano class. The instructor held a small recital in the auditorium and invited the school administrators. Allison played last and everyone loved her version of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen".

Friday I drove my parents over in their Explorer to Costco to fill up on cheaper gas and do a little shopping. I needed to pick up some dessert for Christmas dinner, but we also enjoyed sampling all the food items and picking up a few last minute Christmas presents. Tom had Scott off to his gymnastics class that night.  Earlier in the day, Mom and I got some grocery shopping done plus a few errands that I had to run-the bank, the post office and trying to get a photo copied for one of my high school buddies to send out her Christmas card.

On Saturday we had a few last minute grocery items to pick up, but mainly I was busy wrapping presents for Santa. I also made an early Christmas Eve dinner that we had at 5pm before heading out to the 7pm Christmas mass. We invited our neighbors to join us at the cathedral on the campus at my work place. We have a beautiful chapel, full of Italian marble and lots of statues and a very enjoyable Christmas mass with Fr. Leo. Our neighbors really enjoyed the experience. Not terribly crowded, beautiful music and beautiful decorations. I always enjoy seeing a few of my previous patients too. When we arrived home we had some dessert and opened a few gifts sent from friends and relative out of state. Tom then entertained the troops with "Its a Wonderful Life" while I finished hauling all the presents downstairs. I left the Santa job of placing the gifts under the tree for Tom. I was too worn out.

Christmas day the kids were anxiously waiting for Grandma and Grandpa to wake up. We finally sent Cookie down as a morning wake up call at 9am. After a quick breakfast(Scott learned how to make breakfast casserole) we dove into the gifts. Allison is so happy to have lots of items with her favorite cartoon character, Invader Zim. She plans on attending a comic convention next summer in LA as we are planning a cross country drive. So she received several tickets to the event. SCott is ecstatic with his IPOD and video games. Although he did receive some boy scout supplies-a new hiking backpack and tent.  I am looking forward to seeing "The Addams Family" musical and Neil Diamond next year as Tom picked up some tickets. Tom is looking forward to a family outing to Hershey next week to see the Hershey Bears Hockey game in his new Hockey sweatshirt.

It has been quite an interesting week. Sadly I heard that my grandfather(Carol Bozyk's father), Joseph Borg, passed away after illness in the hospital on St Nick's Day, Dec 6th. He was 98 yrs old. He would have been 99 on his Birthday on Jan. 21st. He was cremated and will be taken down to Florida with the rest of the family in the Venice cemetery along with his wife,(my Grandma), his mother and brother in laws and sister in laws.

If longevity is inherited, you may be reading my blogs for a very long time!

And looks like my parents were able to get some of their projects completed including having a new furnace installed in time to visit with us over the holidays after all! Yeah! Looks like we will be setting up a spare bedroom in the basement so they can have some peace and quiet (and have their very own bathroom with the higher toilet!).

I have been busy cleaning the house anyway since we just hosted the dessert portion of our neighborhood progressive holiday party. The past few years I talked the neighbors into having a Progressive Party where you split the courses in several different houses-one house serves appetizers and drinks, the second has the main meal and the third serves dessert. We also swap White Elephant gifts which can be anything(something fun, nice or silly). The first year we tried this game the neighbors seemed to have a difficult time coming up with gift ideas. They got upset if they were stuck with a silly gift. Now after three years they are really getting into it and the gifts get more interesting.(I am a little concerned about what our neighbors keep in their closets!)  Like the inflatable cooked turkey which was quite the hit.

Neighbors around the corner hosted the appetizers and drinks. This was the first year I got to go! Tom however had to pick Allison up from work. She was working a church party at the rink(lots of religious music!). Dinner was down the street. The hostess is very religious, jewish and directly from Israel.  She put a few restrictions on side dishes including no pork, no shellfish as well as no dairy products. That wiped out several green bean casseroles and mashed potatoes. Usually the hostess provides one or two main dishes and the guests bring side dishes, but since there were so many limitations, the hostess decided to do all the cooking. However, we all modified our dishes to fit the restrictions and we all brought food. So we basically had enough food to feed all of Ellicott City! Hagit our hostess had built a huge buffet table in the dining room, as well as a bar in the living room and set up two large tables in both rooms. We also had people sitting on couches for dinner and the kitchen counter was buried in food. And afterwards, everyone headed over to our house for dessert. I decided I did not want to get stuck with lots of leftover cake and pie, so I put out small portions. I did actually bake something myself -a rum cake. The rest included cookies, mini cheesecakes, mini red velvet cupcakes, mini eclairs and mini cannolis. Even though we were all pretty stuffed, everyone seemed to make a good dent in the dessert trays as well as finishing off 4 pots of coffee. All in all, another successful neighborhood event.

And we all needed some fun after a stressful week with  our next door neighbors  house being robbed.  Apparently the thief/ves tried a house around the corner, but the alarm went off. They cut through the woods and broke into the back of our neighbor's house and ransacked the place. They even found a safe and broke into it and stole the handgun inside. Just like the movies, they loaded up pillow cases and walked out the front door. We heard during the dinner party that a fingerprint was found and a person identified from Baltimore City. We will have to follow the newspaper and see if they catch anyone. They did pull over a pickup truck cruising the neighborhood and someone was arrested but not necessarily the same thief.  We keep up to date through emails in the neighborhood. Unfortunately the kids are a bit nervous now. The robbery took place at 11 am. It's bad enough we have had our cars broken in to, but it is a whole nother story when they break into the houses.

Other fun news, Allison and I went to the dentist for a cleaning and the dentist decided Allison could use braces again on her bottom teeth. I came away with a scheduled root canal. The tooth I had refilled has been hurting worse and looks like a root canal is in my future(a fun way to spend the holiday week!).

And the 6th grade Mom's Ornament Exchange party scheduled for Thursday night was cancelled due to lack of participation. Out of 64 moms, only 6 signed up! Guess everyone is busy.

I had plenty of other activities to keep me busy though. Allison and I had a follow up meeting(with pizza) on Monday night for the Girl Scout convention. Allison will be providing a power point presentation at the Board Meeting this spring. On Tuesday Tom got Scott to his boy scout meeting and Friday was gymnastics. Scott has been running a tight schedule as his Lego Team is trying to wrap up their project for a January tournament. Tom was brought in to the project and helped build a platform on Friday after school, right after he met with the Science teacher to plan next year's Science Fair. Tom is not so sure the Lego Team will be ready in time. They have been meeting extra before and after school, but they won't be working on it during break, and the tournament is just a week after they go back to school.Scott is in charge of the programming, and the rest of the team has not finished building their robot.

On SAturday Tom and Scott spent the whole day with the boy scouts at the Air and Space museum near Dulles airport by DC. The boys needed to visit a museum as part of their requirements for rank. Tom was a chaperone. We have only been out to the museum when it first opened. Tom was impressed with how much more they added. Scott enjoyed the flight simulator the most. You actually got to control this one.

I was back home with Allison, dropping her off at work. But first I took her early in the morning for a practice SAT exam. She has taken the PSATs but it does not include the whole test. They have added an essay portion to the SAT since Tom and I last took it. This was a chance to try the whole test and get feedback on how she does. She will be taking the test for real in the spring. She thought the math was fine, along  with the essay, but had a bit more trouble on the english. I'm glad she tried it.  However, we did miss the grand opening of our new library. We have been waiting for a new library since we moved here 15 yrs ago. It looks like it is a wonderful addition to Ellicott City.

I also stopped into Allison's school last week for a presentation on the internship program. Allison was accepted into the program this year, but really could not fit all the requirements into her very packed schedule. She was to intern with our Kindergarten teacher at Scott's school as part of the teaching program and as a class. (The same teacher Allison had in Kindergarten). She will also have a research project to complete. Our biggest drawback was that she could not drive and her time is limited between school and field hockey. She could not even get to the school long enough to complete her hours and then back to practice. So the instructor said she is welcome to complete the internship next year-she doesn't even have to apply again.  And hopefully next year she will be driving by herself!

OK. I have to go clean something or mail something or bake something or wrap something. Kathleen

Well it was no surprise to me that last week was terribly hectic. Tom was in San Francisco, so I had the kids to myself and another busy schedule. I was still very helping the kids with their homework and studies(mostly Scotty). Allison is pretty self sufficient. I was also busy helping St Nick pack Christmas stockings Monday night.
Tuesday morning the kids enjoyed opening up their stockings before heading to school. They always enjoy getting their yearly ornament. On Tuesday night Scott had a boy scout meeting. I tried to get him a ride but the family was held up at a end of the season soccer dinner. I couldn't take him since Allison and I were off singing with the Girl Scout choir at a nursing home and did not finish until 730 pm.
Weds was absolutely miserable. It had started raining Tuesday night and did not quit until Thursday. I had a GS Leader meeting Weds night and had to pack my car with lots of donated wrapped gifts for the kids at the Head Start program and the Family Violence Center. I had to wrap everything in trash bags to keep the wrapping paper from getting wet. I also had 3 donated cases of cookies to drop off for the US soldiers and made an appetizer to share for our holiday party. I had to load up my van and then help reload all the packages into another van for delivery. By the time I got home I was soaking wet from head to toe. And I had another GS leader angry at me since I said I would not take over our yearly rollerblading/skating event. With my girls graduating next year I don't expect to continue. She was not happy to hear I was not planning on taking over. And the weather was so bad, it started sleeting and snowing on the drive home, besides the rain blowing sideways. ONe of our new leaders even slipped and fell on the wet leaves in the parking lot in the dark and broke her casserole dish! She had to sweep it up with a flashlight. Girl Scout life is tough!
It gets better. When I got to work on Thursday I discovered that we lost another OT, this one due to a torn rotator cuff in her shoulder so she will be off work for several months. So I was asked to come in on Friday to work. I had planned on spending the day preparing for my Girl Scout HOliday party. I haven't had a meeting with the girls all Fall, so I had a lot of info to share, besides supplies to purchase for the meeting. I couldn't get out on Thursday night since I had to take Allison to piano. INstead I spent Friday morning at work. Then I had to run and purchase supplies and pick up the house when I got home. Allison arrived home from school and started putting up more Christmas decorations and helped lay out the supplies for our cooking session. When the girls arrived they were busy munching on goodies while I picked Scott up from school and dropped him off to gymnastics. We then spent the evening making chicken and rice casseroles and cookies for our Catholic Charity Homeless shelter. Afterwards I had the girls play Pictionary just like we did at Halloween, except this time they had to draw Christmas Carols. It was very funny. And they all got goodie bags before they left just as Tom was pulling into the driveway from California. I had him stop and give my co leader's car a jump before he stepped foot into the house since her key was stuck in the ignition the whole night and the lights were on and it drained the battery! I also made a list of jobs for him for the weekend which included getting my robot mop to work again and cleaning up the car oil from the drip pan that overflowed onto the driveway when it rained all day. I also gave up on his timers for the Christmas lights for the house and just plugged them directly into the outlets to keep them on. I think the house looks silly when half of the lights are lit and the other half is dark.
I was also disappointed that the roofers did not call or come out to do the repair work this past week. I imagine with the rain that they are behind in their work.
On Saturday I was busy working with Scott on homework projects while Tom took Allison to work. When she got off we went out to dinner with our neighbors and then headed to a US Army Field Band Jazz Holiday concert. The concerts are free and always very good. They do not always perform in our area as they travel all around the US and the world for that matter. Since we are so close to DC though we always seem to luck out. We went last year and always enjoy the concerts and we were not disappointed again.
Sunday was a big day of homework and Allison had another work day. She enjoyed the holiday party they put on that day and was glad she did not have to work the private party scheduled in the evening. She had switched her shifts since she had her End of the Season Field Hockey dinner. She was also very excited to receive her Varsity Letter in Field Hockey. Unfortunately we could not stay for the whole party as Allison and Tom had their first Indoor Field Hockey season. Allison had to get a goalie substitute for the first game but I rushed her over for the second game later that night. Tom is the coach and appears to have a very good team. They did a great job and won their game. I think one of the coaches plans on stealing a few of Tom's top players to make the teams more even.
  Here are some photos of Allison suited up for her indoor Field Hockey game and at the Field Hockey party after she received her Varsity letter. She is also posing with the trophy(on the ground) that was awarded the team for the State Finals for Outstanding Sportsmanship(a first for their school). Besides the Varsity Letters, many of the girls including Allison were also given certificates from the State of Maryland for high level academics(3.2 GPA or higher) while playing sports.  We have a lot of very smart girls on the team!
Now I have to get to those Christmas cards! Kathleen

So I am all done with my shingles medicine and headed back to work on Monday, but I was still itchy and sore. At least the blisters are healing! I don't look quite like a leper anymore. And after having a week at work where they were so short of help over the holiday, we ended up with too much help as the other OT with the broken foot was allowed to come back. Things were so slow I was sent to another community to work for a day. (Not my favorite drive since it involves the Baltimore beltway and of course it was raining that day which usually means slower traffic and accidents). But I am back. I couldn't even go to the Holiday concert at work at the nursing home that the Girl SCout choir performed. I just had to drop off Allison.
Instead I was able to participate in the Christmas Parade with Allison and the GS choir last Saturday. They used to run the parade in November and most of the time it was so warm we could just wear our short sleeved polo shirts. Not any more! Although the weather was quite chilly, at least it was sunny and not raining, snowing or sleeting! We haven't had too many chances to perform in Holiday concerts this season. We were not asked to perform at the Festival of Christmas Trees this year over Thanksgiving weekend. The sponsors like to vary the shows from year to year. And the malls are rather picky about who they have perform. Our best audiences are usually the nursing homes. As it was we only had 12 performers attend the parade, and most of them were very young children new to the concert and unfamiliar with the songs. Allison said she had to sing a few solo parts at the Charlestown concert since she was the oldest one attending(it's good for her ego!).
While Allison and I were busy singing, Scott and Tom enjoyed Breakfast with Santa at the school, and then went off to get our Christmas tree. Meanwhile I had to get Allison to work. I decided to drop into the GS store on the way over and everyone was happy to see I survived my trip to the ER when I had trouble breathing(that was the last time I was there). Turns out the girl that helped me was involved in a horrible car accident herself that same weekend. She was on her way to Pittsburgh and got caught in the sleet on the freeway. Next thing she knows she had spun out of control and was hit head on by an 18 wheeler! She says she came out with a lot of bruises and a new car. I know the feeling. We Girl Scouts certainly live life on the edge!
That afternoon I asked Tom to take my van back to the dealership to have the windshield wiper replaced after it was damaged during the oil change. After another 2 hour wait my wiper was replaced. Not so sure it is worth all the free oil changes at the dealership! By the time he got home it was time to pick up Allison from work. Meanwhile I spent my time studying with SCott for another full week of tests. And when we all were home again, we headed over to our neighbors for dinner. They missed us at Thanksgiving when they headed out to Ohio to visit with family. I was planning on having them over since they had us over last year, but they changed their plans. So they decided to invite us over to their house for a belated Thanksgiving dinner. It was wonderful all over again. And we got to share SCott's Snickers Ice Cream Birthday Cake for dessert since we were too full last weekend after our milk shakes at Cheeburger Cheeburger.
On Sunday I was busy working with SCott again on his studies as well as helping him work on a research paper on witchcraft and witches. The class has been reading The Witch of Blackbird Pond and Scott was assigned to write a report about the Salem Witch trials and the belief in witchcraft(rather sophisticated for 6th grade). Tom meanwhile was heading out the door to spend the week working in San Francisco. Before he left he put up the Christmas tree and the lights so we can decorate it during the week. I also spent some time putting together Christmas stockings for St Nick's Day which is on Tuesday Dec 6th. Many years ago we decided that St Nick should bring our stockings early so the kids could enjoy wearing new Christmas stockings, jewelry, or t-shirts and hang their new ornaments before the holiday was over. So far it has worked out nicely. (Except for the gift wrapper!)
Sunday night I had to pick Allison up from work, so Scott and I took a quick break to get her and I stopped into a local church for their WAlk to Bethlehem. They had reenacted the Nativity Story out in their parking lot with small scenes in which a guide walked you through and told the story. The kids especially liked the feisty pony they used as a donkey for Mary to ride on, and the cute goats standing in as sheep for the shepherds. The little kids dressed as Angels and singing were adorable. But the favorite was at the end when they gave us plastic gold coins to shop at their market. They had tents set up in the auditorium to look like a market in the middle east. Scott loved spending his coins on the snacks-dried fruit and nuts, bread and cheese. They also had basket makers, sandal makers and jewelry to make. My favorite was the basket of guinea pigs that you could feed. (I did not know Jesus played with Guinea Pigs!). I also especially enjoyed watching the Roman soldiers in their plastic skirts directing traffic with spears!). A nice break in the holiday rush!
on Friday morning I was busy at Target picking up St Nicks Day goodies since our Holiday family photos were ready. I was also picking up items for my Girl SCout Holiday party scheduled for next week. The girls are going to bake cookies and casseroles for food donations. (and have a bit of fun as well).
I had to rush home since I had contacted a few roofers during the week online and I made an appointment with someone to come out and figure out where our leak was coming from. Tom had stayed home one morning during the week and had a roofer come out, charge us $100 bucks and tell us we needed a whole new roof for $12,000! He said he could not do any less. I had a guy come out, find the leak and I signed a contract for repair and supplies for $1400. They will be out to put weather proofing in our roof valley where the leak is forming this week(hopefully before the next big rain). We were very happy to see they still make our shingle. I think we will put off getting a new roof on our next house!
After the roofer stopped by I had to load up my van for our last GS cookie booth sale. We set up outside Advanced Auto Parts which is conveniently located next to a bar/restaurant(which was very busy). Needless to say we had some great sales! While Allison and I were off selling cookies, Tom took Scott to gymnastics.
I managed to squeeze in a little fun for myself Friday morning when I attended the Mother's Tea at SCott's School. Each year the school hosts a light breakfast for the moms at school at a local restaurant owned by one of the school families. They have tea and coffee and pastries, bagels and usually door prizes and an ornament for each guest. I have been able to attend every year since it is on a Friday when I am not scheduled to work. This year a new mom took over and no more ornaments, and no fancy pastries. But it was still nice to catch up with the other moms.
I also took an evening for myself to get recertified in CPR and this time added First Aid with the scouts. Many events for scouts require a First Aider and I can no longer rely on my co leader to always cover for our events as she is extra busy these days. She is a nurse and is going to school to get her masters in teaching and working longer hours since she has two kids now in private catholic high school to pay for, not to mention college soon after. So I would rather be covered for all events myself.
We also enjoyed an evening at the local bookstore Barnes and Noble when Scott's school choir entertained us all with a holiday concert. The school had a fundraiser that evening and the teachers wrap presents for free. It is a good night to get shopping done, make some money for the school and enjoy hearing the kids sing. Tom stopped in briefly since he was off to his Monday night football game with the neighbor boys. I took the kids out to dinner afterwards to Pizzeria Uno since that was also a fund raiser night and I had a gift card from my raffle basket.
  Enjoy our photos of the Christmas parade with the GS choir, and the Nativity as well as SCott enjoying some goodies at their market.
A very busy week! But we'd like to wish Sheila Bozyk a
very Happy Birthday who celebrated on November 28th!

So I spent my Holiday week at home with my shingles taking lots of medicine 5 times a day. I was supposed to be resting according to my doctor and I never got a chance. Instead I spent the whole time cooking and cleaning(and Christmas shopping!).

Even though we did not end up hosting Thanksgiving dinner as planned, we still ended up cooking quite a bit of food to take our neighbor's house for dinner. We had planned on having our next door neighbors who hosted Turkey Day dinner last year. We figured we owed them. Instead they ended up traveling to Ohio to visit family. So at least I did not have to do massive house cleaning. But I managed to get that in as well. Since we were home and the weather was gorgeous over the Thanksgiving weekend(temps hit the 70s), we spent a lot of time outside. I was busy putting away FAll decorations, Halloween decorations and raking tons of leaves. I even recruited SCott to fill the wheelbarrow and dump the leaves for me. I thought I would get a jump on spring cleaning. Then Tom spent the weekend putting up lots of great Christmas lights. I also spent quite a bit of time cleaning out the closets and dropping off kids clothes to the resale shop. It is a very busy place there at this time of year with the holidays just around the corner, so it is a good time to sell outgrown clothes, shoes and toys. I also needed to pick up a few items for Scott since he was the one that did most of the outgrowing this year!

I also spent quite a bit of time at the grocery store picking up supplies. We had dinner with neighbors that recently moved back to our area and a few friends of theirs. We ended up supplying the turkey, stuffing, crab dip appetizer and cranberry sauce(made from scratch). And since we love the leftovers so much, I ended up making double recipes so we could enjoy our own Seitz casserole(turkey and sausage stuffing mixed with gravy(Yum). So I had a lot of different grocery stores to stop into since many were already out of Turkey day supplies the weekend before. So as I said, I spent a lot of time shopping, cooking and washing dishes. At least I enjoyed the Macy's Day Parade while I was cooking. I did not enjoy the Lions Football game. I did enjoy the company of our friends and playing with their new talking phone at dinner. And I was too exhausted to stay up and watch the Ravens Football game. I was sound asleep by 9pm. So Happy Thanksgiving to everyone that I missed! The kids kept themselves busy taking Cookie on a long walk around the lake in the park that backs up to our friend's house. That and video games kept them busy during the day.

We opted not to go out early in the morning on Black Friday to shop. Tom does the majority of his shopping on line anyway. We did make it a quest to find a new pull out couch/sectional for the basement to replace the broken set. We were in a hurry to get something in stock since my parents talked about visiting at Christmas. We did lots of online searches and spent a lot of time stopping into furniture stores all last week. We settled on a system from LazyBoy and then my parents announced that they probably would not be visiting at Christmas after all. So back went the couch system on Sunday night.

We decided we probably needed the extra funds to put towards fixing our roof as we discovered a large leak somewhere up there. Next week's project is to find a roofer. Preferably before any more big rain arrives.

On top of an already tight schedule, we had to get Allison to work on Friday and Sat. and I had a few more Cookie Booth sales this past weekend. At one point I was manning the cookie booth all alone(high school girls are way too busy). It is a good thing I am still cute cause I can certainly sell cookies. I plan on having one more booth sale next weekend. Thanks for the cookie donations Grandma and Grandpa Bozyk! We should be dropping off donations to the military for Christmas next week for shipping. Allison also still had deliveries to make of her own-she just hasn't been around enough to drop off all the cookies and desserts and pizzas she sold this Fall! Things are a little more relaxed now that Field Hockey is over.

Allison had half days of school last week, but it did not keep the teachers from loading up the time with lots of tests and homework assignments. She thought she would have it easy over break, but no such thing. Even Scott was busy with homework. And when he wasn't doing that, I kept him busy working on his Dog Care Merit BAdge for scouts. He had a scout meeting(finally he could go) last week but gymnastics was cancelled. Same with Allison's piano class.

And it was helpful being off work to pick the kids up from school on their half days, especially since it was raining at the beginning of the week. I ended up waiting for Allison for 1.5hrs in the school parking lot while she finished up a math test and met with her Field Hockey coach.

Poor Scott spent most of the holiday weekend searching for a friend to go rollerblading with at Allison's rink. Unfortunately, most of Scott's buddies had all headed out of town to visit family. And on Sunday we celebrated Scott's 12th Birthday! He started the day by serving mass(very entertaining since they began the new wording). FYI-we don't like it, but nobody asked us. WE THE PEOPLE doesn't count for much. Same in Girl SCouts when they changed our whole program and got rid of all badges. Don't bother asking us what we like-we just pay for everything and volunteer to run the programs(for free). Anyhow, we certainly enjoyed the new CAtholic phrases like "consubstantial". I prefer Constantinople-it flows better but doesn't really fit. After I screwed up Scott by telling him it was time to take up the bible for the opening prayer(the priest already had the bible), it was time to go home. But instead we headed off for our yearly family Holiday portrait. We had to wait over 30 mins for the crying babies to get their pictures, and then we took Scott out for Birthday lunch at Cheeburger Cheeburger. He got a huge free birthday ice cream dessert and we enjoyed pumpkin and candy cane milk shakes. He preferred an early celebration so he could go home and play his new video games. So besides Christmas shopping I had to do Birthday shopping(whatever Tom did not get online) and gift wrapping. 

And I will be off to work again next week(and at least I should not be contagious).

Scott says Thank You to all of you that sent Birthday cards and money. He has been having a good time shopping at Game Stop!

Kathleen

So we made it back to Baltimore late Sunday night. Tom and SCott were busy trying to celebrate my birthday. They had spent their time over the weekend shopping and cleaning. Needless to say, Sunday was too late. And the week wasn't looking very good either.

Scott still had one more week of his semester left and the teachers made sure to fill his evenings with lots of tests and homework assignments. He has been so busy with schoolwork, he has not been to boy scouts or gymnastics for about 1 month. Allison on the other hand was trying to get caught up with the 3 days she missed. You would have thought she had been gone for months rather than days.

ON top of that, I was driving to work one morning and it started raining and when I turned on my windshield wipers they didn't work. The wipers were not even touching the window! I know Tom only took my van in for an oil change so I couldn't imagine how my wipers were damaged. Tom could only think that the automatic sensor on the blades went off when they sent the car through the car wash after the maintenance check and oil change. I had a lot of fun flying down the 70 freeway without seeing where I was going at 65mph. So I knew I had another extra task to my already full plate-taking my car in again for repair.

I also noticed that my rash was starting to blister and actually become painful, so I made myself a doctor appointment for Friday morning(my only free time). I was starting to get suspicious that this rash was more than bug bites.

Tom had headed off to Charlottesville, so I was doing double time like getting Allison to piano and studying with Scott. Before he left though he managed to squeeze in my birthday dinner and ice cream cake along with some fun presents. I especially wanted a fold up wagon for our outings-one that folds down in the car(so I can stuff more stuff inside) and then have a way to haul my stuff! Like when we go camping, or to a lawn concert or to the beach. As a matter of fact, I saw these wagons when we were at Hilton Head. I would like to retire my Fisher Price wagon since it takes up so much room in the van. So now I can. Tom also invested in a new rolling cooler(also for camping, lawn concerts, etc). Detect a theme? On the lighter side I got a Christmas stories book and a black pearl necklace and earrings. I already spent plenty on myself with the trip to Houston and my silver charm bracelet and lots of GS souvenirs. At least that part of my birthday was fun!

As I mentioned a few blogs back, getting older can be tough. Things start to fall apart and change on us(usually not for the better). I still need to shop for new eyeglasses and I am afraid to eat a banana now(choking incident). So of course why should I be surprised when the doctor told me I had shingles at my appointment Friday morning. Shingles is basically chicken pox for old people. It pops out when your immune system is compromised, like if you have HIV/Aids or are being treated for Cancer, or if you have been under a lot of stress! Imagine that! So I have been banned from work until after Thanksgiving break. Even older people don't want to catch this from me. I have to take lots of drugs for 10 days before I can go back to work. Needless to say, work was not happy. We are already down one therapist with a broken foot(she has to stay off her foot for 4 wks). I was planning on working overtime this holiday(help pay off my trip). Seems like God had other plans. Instead I am sure I will stay home and clean(some break!).

I did try to get my windshield wiper replaced. I don't think the dealership believed me when I told them it must have been damaged in the car wash. They said if that had happened, it probably would have been torn off completely. I asked them how else it could have been damaged during an oil change(no answer). So I think they believe we broke it. Tom had to bend it back in place and they said it needs readjusted but not that way. So they ordered me the part and now I have to take it in again next week for repair. So much for a simple oil change.

I didn't let my illness slow me down. Now that I was on drugs I was feeling better and I had a great time Friday night playing Bingo with the high school moms. This was a fund raiser for Allison's school's sport teams-Longaberger baskets and Vera Bradley bags all stuffed with expensive stuff. I love Bingo but it does not love me. I needed you there Laura-you always win something! Allison was there but not playing-she was working the concession stand for volunteer hours for Nat Honor Society. I had a lot of fun and did not win one Bingo prize-although everyone around me and the ladies I came with all won big prizes. Until the very last raffle ticket was drawn and I actually WON! And I thought my gift was terrific-about $300.00 worth of restaurant gift cards. Something our whole family could use and already did this past weekend.

We certainly were using them at the Qdoba Mexican restaurant while selling GS cookies at our booth sale over the weekend on Saturday and Sunday. My scouts are all so busy doing other things, I only had 3 helping on Saturday, and just Allison on Sunday. She had to work SAturday and sing at my Nursing Home on Sunday. She sang with our Girl Scout choir for a Christmas/Holiday concert. She was also able to count her time for volunteer hours for NHS. So at one point I was selling cookies on my own(people noticed)! In between selling cookies, Allison was studying and doing homework. But we did take time off on Saturday night along with one other scout to go see the new Twilight movie(we really enjoyed it).

So now I have to stay home for a week. I guess I will enjoy the vacation, but I know I will spend all my time taking medicine and cleaning the house(not to mention cooking for Thanksgiving dinner)! And they think stress causes Shingles! Imagine that!

I hope you enjoyed a few of the photos Allison took at the GS Conference last week. She got a nice shot of Katie Couric, but my shot of Robin Roberts came out blurry(right before my camera battery died!).

And she managed to get a shot of the Bozyk family having dinner on our first night in Houston. Thanks again Dan and Dave and family for a wonderful visit. I know it was short, but it was wonderful just seeing everyone again. And an added bonus seeing Sheila's parents and Sandra's sister during my visit on Friday.

Kathleen

Looks like I survived long enough to join Allison on our trip to Houston last week. Needless to say we had a wonderful time, but it was a lot of hard work too. Primarily for Allison. We traveled to Houston TX last Weds to attend the Girls Scouts of the USA National Convention. The Conventions are primarily for the Board Members running the entire organization, so I usually don't attend. But this year they added some courses for GS Leaders. Primarily, Allison was attending as a delegate and she had to go to the daily meetings and vote on new proposals. I also signed her up for a few seminars. The classes I wanted to sign her up for were full-they were on interviewing and writing college applications. Instead I put her in a Research and Development class which she thought would be boring. Turns out the person teaching the class was one of the cast members from the PBS show ZOOM which we all enjoy. Allison was thrilled and enjoyed the class. Much better than the presentation from NASA she went to (Allison is certainly not interested in zooming into space!). She was just keeping a friend company during the presentation. So the information was great, but the entertainment was even better. Katie Couric spoke at our opening ceremony, wearing an old GS uniform like she had growing up in Arlington VA. And Robin Roberts from Good Morning America spoke at our closing ceremony. There were lots of performances, one being Sarah Bareilles.(Sp?) and a bunch of up and coming singers. WE had a big dinner party on Saturday night. The girls had their own entertainment and a new boy band-Mindless Behavior. They opened for Justin Bieber and Janet Jackson. Allison wasn't really into 13 and 14 y.o. boys singing rap, but she loved the games and Wii dance. Our party consisted of good but incredibly loud music so you could barely talk to anyone, good food but no tables to sit at and a limited number of chairs and a big Birthday cake(which they ran out of) to celebrate our 100th Anniversary which will be next year-2012 The Year of the Girl. They did manage to pull off a wonderful fireworks show outside the convention center afterwards(little scary I thought with the drought and all) but fun. I actually think I enjoyed the big GS sing- a- long most after the party. About 8 GS adults had brought along their guitars and we sat around a hotel conference room singing. It was like having a campfire without the fire (but the lights were on). I finally pooped out around 11pm.
I couldn't believe how tired I was every night. We did do a lot of walking though. On our first day there we walked through downtown Houston and had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. Allison and I haven't been to Houston in about 5 years so it was a special treat to see my brothers and their families. ON Weds night Allison and I joined them all for dinner at one of my favorite Houston restaurants-mexican. WE got to visit with Dan and his wife Sheila, her parents, and their two kids Caroline and Clayton. We also met with DAve and his wife Sandra and their two boys Christopher and Nicholas. Their daughter Sarah is away at LSU. Poor Allison was so exhausted she would have rather gone back to the hotel and gone to bed. We had to get up at 4am that morning to get checked into the airport by 6am. Which we did quite nicely. She also still had quite a bit of homework to do since she missed 3 days of school. I personally had a great time that night. I also spent Friday afternoon at a Christmas Bazaar shopping for gifts with my brother Dave. I managed to pick out some fun items for myself including some silver charms and a new bracelet. I really couldn't haul back a bunch of breakable Christmas decorations(and I really don't need more!). Dave and I also enjoyed sampling food items from all over the country and Texas, like Pecan Pie and were surprised to see a company there from Michigan selling cherry jams and salsa, etc. I figured I can get that stuff in Michigan! After walking around for several hours(and looking at most everything) we headed out to lunch(yeah more mexican). Then it was back to DAve and Sandra's to see the kids, the dogs and the sugargliders. And the house which I hadn't been to since they first bought it 5 years ago. They had purchased the house and then moved to London before we could get down to Houston and visit at that time.

I opted to leave Allison downtown Friday evening. She was trying to get a bunch of girls together for an outing to the Galleria Mall. Allison was hoping to go ice skating as they have an indoor rink. However, our hotel did not have a shuttle to the mall, and the taxi would have been too expensive for all the girls and adult supervisor. INstead they had dinner at the steak restaurant at the hotel and went swimming in the hotel pool. (Not only was the entire trip paid for by Girl SCouts for the girls to attend, they were also given $200.00 spending cash which came in handy for meals and souvenirs). Meanwhile, I stayed with my brother Dave and had dinner with Dave and Sandra and Christopher at their house. Nicholas went out to dinner with his girlfriend and her parents for his girlfriend's birthday. It was odd seeing Nicholas driving by himself since Allison and Nick are the same age, but Maryland's law is 1 yr later for a driving permit than Michigan and apparently TExas, and Allison is still working towards her driver's license.

We enjoyed a walk around the neighborhood with the dogs and a visit from Sandra's sister too before Dave drove me back to the hotel.

Saturday Allison was busy in meetings and I spent time on an outing to the local park inside the HOuston beltway, Memorial Park. I visited an arboretum where local girl scout troops had designed rain gardens and put up a water cistern for times of drought. Dave had already pointed out many marked trees in the park that have to come down since they died in the drought this summer. The arboretum had girl scout troops planting new rain gardens and they gave them some seeds to take home and plant themselves. I picked up an activity patch and some Texas coneflower seeds for myself. I also enjoyed spending time in our Exhibit hallat the Convention Center buying 100th anniversary shirts and pins, patches and GS shirts for Allison and my uniform along with checking out all the activities and programs available for Girl Scouts all over the U.S.

We spent our last day(which just happened to be my birthday) at the closing ceremony and went to lunch at a restaurant in the local aquarium in downtown Houston. The restaurant had large tanks full of salt water fish, and some plastic decorations that made you feel like you were underwater. The food was great and the atmosphere was even better(it felt like Sea World meets RAinforest Cafe). A nice treat for my Bday. Afterwards we took a quick train ride through a shark tank before heading back to the hotel and then the airport. WE didn't get home until 11pm. Allison was busy trying to catch up with her homework in the airport and on the plane. She had to unpack and repack for school the next day.

We had also been busy monitoring the status of her Field Hockey team. On Monday before our trip, her team won the first round of the state Semi Finals. They made it to the Finals game on Saturday Nov 12th. Unfortunately Allison was in Texas and missed the game. Turns out the team lost in double overtime. She was sorry she missed it, but she did receive a personal trophy for the semi finals game. She also finished her first semester, and considering she had a very busy start of the school year, she managed to come out with A's on her report card.

Scott and Tom meanwhile were holding down the fort and Tom managed to help SCott get through all his assignments and study for tests as he still had a week to go in his semester. I had spent the weekend before trying to help Scott get ahead with a few of his school projects due at the end of the week. They celebrated Scott being done with his first semester by going out to see PUss in Boots which even Tom enjoyed, and driving up to Hershey for a Hockey GAme(sold out as usual). I think they got the last two tickets. Tom even sat in the dealership for me and got my oil changed on the van(boy did I appreciate that!).

The only thing I did not like about our trip was that I brought home a very strange rash on my abdomen and trunk which is very itchy. I was a bit worried about bed bugs. Guess I will find out at my doctor appointment next week.

I decided it is too hard getting old. My eyes have gotten worse, I practically needed a tooth reconstruction last week since I had a chipped tooth and an old silver filling that needed replaced, and on top of all that, I spent SAturday afternoon at the hospital ER when I had a choking episode while driving to the Girl SCout headquarters munching on a banana. The doctor said it was possible I had an allergic reaction as my throat seemed to tighten up, my blood pressure soared and I thought I was going to pass out while driving down the beltway! I had the girls at the GS store ring up my patches to swap in Houston before they called an ambulance. After a breathing treatment I was feeling much better and Tom came to pick me up. He had to run and take Allison to work while I was checking into the hospital ER, and then he had to run and pick her up.

In the meantime, he was trying to cut the grass since we missed out last week, and waiting for a garage door repairman. One of the garage door cables slipped and Tom said the door could have come crashing down on me! Oh what fun I have had this week!

Tom ended up leaving to get Allison and I met the repairman when I pulled in the driveway. At least I did not have to worry about making dinner since we were invited to the neighbors for my birthday. I was just glad I felt well enough to join them all. And our door is repaired. And I am still breathing. And my tooth doesn't hurt as much. But I still need to get glasses! And the ER at Sinai is very nice.

We had started the week off on a busy foot since Monday was Halloween. The kids were upset that it was a school night since we only let them stay out until 8pm. And our neighborhood was packed with kids. Scott's old friend Sammy came to visit, but got to our house around 7pm so it was a quick tour around the neighborhood. Scott and Allison also enjoyed passing out the candy just as much as trick or treating. Allison really didn't go begging, but walked around with a few of her younger friends.

After a holiday it was back to reality. SChool was very busy this past week as Allison finished her first semester. Scott still has a few weeks to go but is just as busy.

ON top of all that, Allison's Field Hockey game had their county regional playoffs and ended up winning! Now they are on to the State Finals with a game on Monday. The principal came out and presented the team with a plaque after the game and a photo opp. We are kinda secretly hoping that the team doesn't play in the last State Final game since it is on SAturday the 12th of Nov., and Allison will miss the game as she is going to be in Houston for the Girl Scout National Convention. So added wins meant added practices.

Friday both kids were off for the end of semester(just Allison though, as SCott was off in conjunction with the county schedule). She had a field hockey practice early in the morning so I had to drop her off and pick her up. They have to practice on turf since that is where the finals are held and that is a park too far from our house to walk. IN the meantime I was trying to serve breakfast at a local Adult Day Care program for our Dragon Boat team. I was able to make a few egg/sausage casseroles and pick up some french toast casseroles from other staff members at work to drop off, but I did not actually get to stay and serve breakfast since I had to pick up Allison. Then I needed to drop off GS cookie money at the bank since the Cookie Company was making a withdrawal that day. I also had to get Allison home to change and take her to work for the afternoon at the skating rink.

While Allison was working, I took Cookie to the vet. She had another ear infection. Now they recommend treating dogs for one month, once a day. The vet said Cookie has had the average amount of ear infections so not to worry too much. She was miserable though during the week. Tom woke me up around midnite as she was crying and scratching her ear and shaking her head non stop. Poor puppy. I got her to calm down a bit and go to sleep after I squeezed a few left over drops of ear medicine in her affected ear. I also saved myself a few bucks on her vet visit since I had a vet referral coupon from a fellow GS leader who is also from Michigan, a big Euchre fan and who bought a CAvachon puppy for their family after meeting Cookie. Since I had a coupon I also stocked up on Cookies heart worm medicine.

After the vet it was time to pick up Allison. I fell asleep in the van waiting for her. She was 30 minutes late getting out of work. It was a day off of school for all the kids and 200 skaters showed up. Allison was the only staff member that showed up too! She had to run the rink all by herself, including supervising 2 birthday parties! She was exhausted.

After I got her home, I got dinner for the kids and then sent Scott off with Tom to gymnastics and Allison and I went to GS choir rehearsal for the night.

No wonder I fell apart on SAturday!

Sunday we took it easy getting packing done and laundry done and shopping done. I have been trying to get Allison to buy some Khaki pants for several years now for her girl scout uniform and she has been fighting me all along. She has to wear khaki pants and white shirts for her uniform so we were off to Kohls. I also took SCott along to get some supplies for his Health Class project. WE did very well considering all the other projects we had to work on that day and Allison actually found some pants.

I also took some time last week to attend an open house at the Community College in Allison's place. She was too busy. They have an Honor's program which assists students into transitioning into a 4 year college after earning their Associates degree. Allison is interested in teaching and could earn her Associate's degree for Maryland. She could also earn a scholarship through the program and use the funding for a travel learning opportunity or put it towards school. It was a very nice presentation-the auditorium was packed and afterwards they had a reception with questions/answers. I did a quick run through on the munchies and asked my questions and headed home. Scott had to miss Boy Scouts that night since he had several big tests the next day.

So I am going back to packing!

Enjoy the Halloween photos-me as a fancy witch, Scott in his Morph suit, Cookie as a pumpkin at home and Allison as a witch in the Haunted Hayride and dressed as a sorceress Halloween night. I also added a photo of the winning Field Hockey team at Regionals. Allison is on the left in her goalie outfit.

Happy Snowtober! Last SAturday our Girl SCout Troop was supposed to be standing in front of Pizza Hut selling Girl Scout cookies. However it was snowing, sleeting and raining all at the same time so I made an executive decision and decided no one wanted cookies that badly. As a matter of fact, most people did not leave their homes. They even had to salt the roads. And SCott made his first snowman of the year! Afterwards, Cookie ate it.

Instead we spent the day cleaning and setting up for our traditional Halloween party. This party was a bit different however since I did not invite the entire neighborhood. Tom had his first surgery experience on Friday and I was not sure what shape he was going to be in. I did not want the masses(especially all the little kids) running around destroying the house while Tom was feeling miserable. Last year the weather was nice enough to let all the kids go out and play, but this past SAturday's weather did not allow us to host the party in the yard, or even in the garage. So instead I invited 6 families which meant about 24 people rather than the 50+ that usually show up. It was just the right number of guests. It allowed me to host a few games, primarily a round of Pictionary. No one except Tom and I had ever played(and it is not Tom's favorite game). He was the timekeeper. Also since he really couldn't talk. And I did not really play since I knew all the answers. The theme was The TOp 50 Scary Movies and it was a fun and rather interesting time. Surprisingly, the tweens were the biggest help. Although most of them have not even seen these movies, they have all heard about them(or maybe have seen clips). Thank you internet. I know they have seen worse. Anyhow, we had a winning team that were treated to candy bars. And of course we gave out a jar of candy corn to the guest who guessed the closest number. And naturally lots of good food. It also got us in the mood for Trick or Treating on Monday.

Friday I had some errands to run in the morning before taking Tom in to have all 4 wisdom teeth pulled at noon. He was done in an hour, but still really out of it. I dropped him off in bed with lots of Coke and Vernors since he wasn't feeling well. He has never been put out for any type of surgery and he said the gas they gave him first made him feel dizzy and sick to his stomach. We guess they gave it to him to help calm him down. It took several days for him to start to feel better-less dizzy. He actually stayed home on Halloween day and slept.

While he was recuperating at home Friday night, I had picked Allison up from a Field Hockey game-her team played twice that week and won both games. So now they are in the County playoffs. I had to rush her home and pick up SCott from school and rush him home and get them and my girl scouts over to a Haunted Hay Ride. This year instead of riding on the wagon we were participating in the actual show! We received an email from our local Farm Heritage Museum looking for volunteers and a chance to earn Volunteer hours which some of the girls need for NHS. I brought 7 kids and 2 adults. They had specific costumes for us to wear. Scott was a zombie, Allison and I were witches. Scott was out in the graveyard scene chasing around one of his girl scout class mates, Allison and I were in charge of a cauldron filled with bones and a smoky skull. When the wagons came by, a spotlight came on and we went into action. Allison and I chased down the wagon and asked the guests to join us for dinner. One guy accepted my offer(I guess). I couldn't hear much with my wig and hat pulled down over my ears. It started to sleet around 9pm, so they shut down after about 100+ people went through. We were supposed to run until 10pm. I was happy to quit-it was getting cold. Afterwards they treated us to hot dogs and hot chocolate. Quite an interesting experience. If we had time, we would have gone back for the kid friendly session on Sunday afternoon, but the kids had lots of homework and studying to do. And Allison had to work at the Skating Rink-she had to go in early to help set up for their Halloween Session. She even got to wear a costume. SCott wanted to go, but we had already spent too much time partying over the weekend. I think I should hire Scott out to the neighbors-he helped clean, cook and decorate the house for our Halloween Party on Saturday night. I couldn't have done it without him!

I also had to leave work early on WEds to get my eyes checked. I hadn't been to the vision clinic in two years and I had a slight decline in my vision. I needed to get them checked since I am now supposed to wear my glasses when I drive. I could have figured that out when Tom and I were driving home from the Octoberfest the weekend before and neither one of us could read the exit sign. Even with the help from the GPS it is hard to tell if you have reached your turn. Anyway, we ended up getting off at the security enforced NSA exit(not good). I was just happy to be able to merge back onto the freeway. Guess glasses would help both of us!

I needed my eyes checked since I had to get a new driver's license. So Friday morning before I took Tom in for his surgery I was off getting a new license. I wanted to make sure I had the new license before we travel to Houston since it expires on my birthday on the 13th.

I also spent the week picking up food orders and dropping them off, including GS cookies and the fund raiser food items that Allison sold for Prom Tickets and Field Hockey. Feels more like Christmas!

At least we did not have to mow the lawn! Then again, we did not even have to shovel snow!

So I managed to survive another week without Tom and an extremely busy schedule. Tom had to leave on Sunday for LA. Meanwhile, Allison and I were off to Girl SCout choir practice. The choir was asked to sing the National Anthem at Girl Scout headquarters for a ceremony honoring MD Senator Barbara Mikulski. She has been very influential in getting funding for several girl scout projects. The girl scout council also had Northrop Grumman to thank for providing funding for our headquarter remodel and installation of engineering programs for girl scouts, as well as the STEM program(science, technology, engineering and math programs) that all the schools are pushing right now. No one was available as a representative from Northrop, so I texted Tom and thanked him. I also sent him a photo of B Mikulski. He thought it was cool, but not as cool as running into one of the stars of the ICarley show in LA. in a pizzaria-Miranda Cosgrove. After we sang, Allison and I still had to stay for the delegate meeting. Barbara spoke for 30 minutes and then stayed with her aids for a photo opportunity, so we were running late. We also had a General come speak and thank the senator for her support in funding as well as for the generous girl scout cookie donations we have provided the servicemen and women over the years. He also thanked the scouts for visiting the returning soldiers at the airport and introduced a program for girl scouts offered through the Army. General Nick Justice. He was a very good speaker and as B Mikulski said-what a great name. All in all it was a fun evening, but long (and I finally met someone much shorter than I am!).

ON Tuesday I was running again to get Scott to his Boy SCout meeting.

WEds we had a break and got to stay home and study and do homework. Allison had finished up her regular season of Field Hockey games. A makeup game on Monday (which they lost to the top ranking team and that had been rained out on Friday), and their last game on Tuesday which honored the Senior players with a tailgate after the game. Scott and I arrived after the game was over, but stayed for a brief presentation to the seniors. Allison enjoyed that game since she played and they won. Now they are practicing for State Finals. I had the added dilemma of trying to get her to practice at 3pm at the local parks. The girls need to practice on turf since most of the finals are played on the artificial fields. Fortunately she got a ride to the fields and I just had to pick her up.

On Thursday I was back running early since I went to a class on cognition and dementia/Alzheimers. After class I had to pick up the kids and get them dinner so I could go to Scott's Parent Teacher Conferences. I wish Tom could have joined me for that, but I talked enough for the both of us. Afterwards, Allison had a piano lesson. It is fun to hear her working on the Christmas music, but I am not ready for that holiday!

Friday the kids were off school, so Tom and I had planned on traveling to Williamsburg to the Howl O Scream Haunt fest at Busch Gardens. INstead, I took the kids myself since Tom did not arrive home until late Friday night. At least Cookie did not have to go to the kennel. We took her for a nice long walk in the morning, and after I ran a few errands, we were on our way. Friday was a bit chilly, but very sunny and dry. WE had a wonderful time at the park. We met up with our neighbors and their kids who were also spending the weekend. I especially enjoyed the haunted houses, but the kids aren't interested. Scott even had an issue with crossing a bridge to one of his favorite roller coasters since it was haunted by zombie clowns(He couldn't handle it). Needless to say, I couldn't bribe or drag him across so I gave up and ended up returning the next morning(rather than outlet shopping boo hoo), so he could ride in the safety of daylight. (These cannot be my kids when it comes to scary stuff). I can't get enough. Anyhow, we spent the night and had a beautiful morning back at the park before returning to Baltimore after lunch.

Saturday night Allison had to work, so while we were waiting for her I decided it would be fun to invite the neighbors out to a local Octoberfest celebration. We have a local hall named after Max Blob(Blob's Park) which features polish dancing primarily, but in October they sponsor the Germans and lots of beer and brats(with polka dancing included). The place holds 850 people, and it was packed. With only 7 waitresses. Tom and our friend Eladio decided it couldn't actually be run by Germans since it was so disorganized and slow when it came to serving beer and food. We opted for the buffet, and got there early which helped. I had a great time dancing the chicken dance, the Hokey Pokey and a new German line dance that involved flying like an airplane and schwimming in the ocean(apparently all the rage in Europe) and sounded like something from the Brady Bunch singers. Good thing they had lots of beer. Tom even joined me for a few polkas, but I thought we were going to pass out from all the hopping and jumping. We also enjoyed watching the really old guys in lederhosen out on the dance floor doing traditional German dances. Surprisingly the kids were not on board with this entertainment factor. They were bored. How sad they did not grow up with our traditional weddings and family get togethers. They didn't understand how much fun they were missing(although I am not so sure about the old german guys in shorts). It was certainly an interesting evening. And to make things more crazy, they paired it with a Haunted House-Bennett's Curse. One of the scariest in the country, and it was jam packed with people. We got stuck behind a firetruck and ambulance when we tried to leave. At least we did not get stuck like our friends behind the truck that blew a tire when it hit a guard rail trying to get around the fire truck!

Sunday morning we were off to church early as Scott had to altar serve. He had his friend Sammy spend the night so he joined us at church. Scott was a bit nervous since this was his first time without Allison serving by his side. But he held his own and did just what he needed to do. So in the afternoon I took him to get his hair cut since he has school photos in a week. We also picked up a few more fish for his tank and did some Halloween party shopping.

ON a sad note, Tom lost his Aunt Joan Conrad to Alzheimers last week. She had been living in a nursing home in Colorado for several years. Her husband also has Alzheimers, so it was Tom's cousin Scott from California that let us know.

And we wish Tom's Dad a speedy recovery from his fractured forearm after he stepped off a ladder too soon while hanging the Halloween decorations. (Hope you have fun with your OT Dad when that cast comes off!) I spend most of my time at work treating fractured wrists and forearms, but not usually from stepping off ladders in our community. Maybe a step stool.

Work actually slowed down a bit which was nice. Last month I had to put on an open house-I was in charge of food of course. This month I had to present to our Low Vision support group and spent a few days taking classes.

Enjoy our Halloween photo shots from Busch Gardens, The May POle dance at Octoberfest and Sen B Mikulski(in the green suit). Kathleen