Another activity packed week. Happy Father's Day by the way to all you Dads! I sent Dad Bozyk a big bouquet of fruit and a bag of trail mix(peanuts and M&Ms). I figured he could use the energy. And lots of cards to cheer him up, along with a Father's Day balloon so he can keep track of the time. Unfortunately, he looks like he is not scheduled for surgery until the 19th of July. That is just such a long time to wait. In the meantime, he pulled out his catheter at night last week and ended up in the ER at the hospital. He still can't urinate, so all the urine backed up over night and Mom found him in a stupor in bed in the morning. The nursing staff couldn't get the catheter back in so he had to go to the ER for the procedure. He was pretty wiped out after the whole ordeal. So he did not have to go to his scheduled urology appointment where they were going to comfortably remove the catheter and see if he could urinate on his own. Guess they found out he can't the hard way. So the urologist finally came to the conclusion that Dad will probably need surgery, but he is scheduled in another month. And no word about doing the biopsy. Mom said they may just test the tissue after they remove the prostate(doesn't sound like they plan on removing the whole thing the first time). So in the meantime Dad is miserable in the rehab center/nursing home and Mom sounds pretty wiped out running around.

She has been trying to get some things done around the house like dropping off paper and magazines to the recycle center. She also gave their old couch and chairs to the Salvation Army. However, they moved most of their belongings to the house up north, so the WB house is pretty bare. Even their tv died. At least they can keep up with the world on the tv at the nursing home. Not sure how long they will let Dad stay there though. Mom is not looking forward to having to monitor Dad and his catheter-especially if he wants to pull it out at night. Mom also had a plumber come in and do some repairs to the bathroom fixtures. He also recommends replacing a few of the old toilets. A big job for a house that is going to be sold. Mom is holding off on that.

I was busy running around this week as well. The kids were both home-done with school and no camps yet. Allison ran every day and SCott and Cookie kept her company to start getting in shape for Field Hockey. She had a meeting with the team and high school coach on Monday afternoon at Einstein bagel. I made her take Scott so he could get some lunch and get out of the house(maybe a mistake). At least they both spent time sorting through their old school work papers and cleaning up their rooms. (as well as catching up on computer gaming).

They still kept busy as Scott had a boy scout meeting and Allison had her last school scheduled piano lesson and her first scheduled summer piano lesson all in one week.  I also signed Allison up for a Leadership Girl SCout class on SAturday. I have tried to sign her up for this program for the last several years. They only offer it twice a year, and it is usually cancelled because of limited enrollment. This class went on as scheduled, and it was shorter because they changed the curriculum. It trains girls to run a GS troop on their own when they turn 18. Allison knows how to run the new GS program-I am awful tempted to retire and let her take over our troop! Too bad she will only be 17 this July. So I was so excited that she finally got to complete this training. However, I did not notice that she was supposed to be at work at the same time! I thought she was working at night. Her boss kept calling and I couldn't understand why. Fortunately, the group of girls in the class were so efficient, they finished an hour early and I ran and picked up Allison and got her to work just one hour late. It really wasn't too terrible that she came late. ONly 20 guests showed up, but the other staff member was new and Allison's boss was worried the girl would freak out working by herself. Allison is so good, she has had to handle the floor on her own in the past, and with a whole lot more guests! Anyhow, I had offered to bring her in for the night shift, but they wanted her for the afternoon time slot. That actually worked out for all of us as we decided to celebrate Dad's Day early.

I made up some ribs and corn on the cob and baked potatoes and picked up a Boston Creme Pie for dinner SAturday night. After dinner we invited our neighbors Dan and Gloria over to help us with dessert and drinks.  The kids bought Tom some summer vacation clothes for Dad's day including a new Hawaiian shirt and a Marvel Comic  tshirt. I thought he needed a special gift from me, but he said he didn't want anything. So I used the opportunity to get me something-tickets to see Mamma Mia the Broadway play. It is based on the disco music from ABBA.  We saw the movie, but I think the play was much better. And fun. Tom was not as familiar with ABBA's music(what a surprise), but he actually enjoyed it. So that was how we spent FAther's Day.

I certainly dated myself this week. Not only was I jamming to ABBAs greatest hits, but I went off to DC to see Neil Diamond in concert with my neighbor Gloria. I last saw Neil at Pine Knob in Michigan when I was 16. He and I have certainly added a few years, but Neil can still belt out his songs! I just wish I could have heard him in a different place-the Verizon Center stadium does not have the best acoustics. Although it usually works well for watching the Nationals play hockey. I would have loved to have seen Neil Diamond in LA at the outdoor Greek theater. That place has wonderful acoustics. But it was still a wonderful concert. He is doing a world tour, and he attracts everyone from 6 to 60. And he was only in town for one night. Gloria and I had fun driving down to Union Station-I showed her around since she had never been there before. We like to park there and then take the train to other places in the DC area. Union station(besides having trains) has a food court and restaurants, shops and wonderful acoustics as well(great for free Christmas concerts). We did not have a lot of time to get dinner. We wanted to stop into China town, but thought we should get to the concert. Good thing we did because Neil does not have a warm up band, and he sang for 2.5 hours with no breaks. Amazing(he and the Queen!). Just keep going.

Friday I kept busy with a doctor appointment for me, vet appointment for the cat and Allison's first summer piano class. She then decided to cut the grass for Tom while I trimmed a few tree branches. ONe of the neighbors even yelled at me for dumping the branches in the field across the street. He said he was going to call the county on me for dumping. I mentioned I was just following his lead as he dumps his grass, leaves and I have seen him cut up a whole tree and put it in the woods. It really is good for the environment and the wildlife. He was just upset because Scott was trying to help out last weekend by throwing these large branches out in the woods, but he only got as far as the top of the hill on the sidewalk. I explained to the neighbor that I had moved the branches for Scott. Not sure why this neighbor is so grumpy to Tom and I(he has accused us of dumping trash there before. As if(us being scouts and all!)  So I guess if he wants to call the county, he will lose out on his special dumping site too ! Meanwhile, Allison did a terrific job and I finished the backyard on Sunday afternoon.

I really would have liked to have spent my weekend down near the Bay and the Harbor for the kick off of the Bicentennial Celebration of the WAr of 1812. They brought in beautiful tall ships(sailing ships) from all over the world docked in the harbor and had the first ever Blue Angels air show over the harbor. Tom and I could hear the jets overhead in the theater while we were watching Mamma Mia.  We then saw them zip by while making a u turn over Baltimore. This was the war that gave us The Star Spangled Banner by Francis Scott Key. He wrote it after seeing the flag was still standing at Ft McHenry while the British bombed us from their ships. Baltimore kept them away. And the war ended in 1814(we won). The fort is open for tours and they just redid the visitors center last year. SCott went there and said it was terrific. So for the next two years we are going to have special events in and around Baltimore for the celebration.

We were also busy Sunday morning getting Allison to her Girls Nation camp. She won a scholarship to camp and will be there all week. She is staying in a dorm at Salisbury University and so far seems to be having a wonderful time. The girls run for office, attempt to pass bills and learn all about the government process. They have two political parties(Federalists and Nationalists) and each girl is assigned to a town or city. This is a camp just for girls that finished the 11th grade, so she is meeting a whole lot of people and having a good time on top of it. We had a two hour drive and then checked Allison into her dorm room before flying back to Baltimore for the play. We had about 2 mins to spare! But we did it!

On top of all that, Tom decided to surprise me by putting away some bonus money and buying me an anniversary ring. It was quite lovely(and big) and I told him it was dwarfing my wedding ring and I did not think it should upstage my wedding ring. We had my ring appraised to see if I could trade it in. They insulted me by saying it was not worth anything to them, not to mention the appraiser thought I was missing a few diamonds(not really, they are just that small). And the ring was filthy. Which is why I don't want a huge replacement ring. But I had a hard time finding something I liked to replace my original ring. That is how dated I am-everything is either platinum or white gold. And marquis cut diamonds are not in style. So I took out a huge book and started shopping. I think I find the style ring I want for Tom's price tag. But I could not shop since I had to run and get Allison from her GS class. It is always something.