We were out late last night so I did not get a chance to write my blog! I am off work today since one of my coworkers wanted to switch days off. I really did not want to work this coming Friday(day after Halloween) since I was looking forward to taking down all the decorations that day. Guess it will have to wait for the weekend.

In the meantime we are still getting ready for Halloween! We were out late last night attending a Dracula play. This play was unique since it took place outside and around the ruins of an old all girls school in Ellicott City-The Patapsco Female Institute. Back in the 1800s, the school was quite world renowned for its education for girls only. When girls were not allowed to play sports or participate in classes in science or math, they were playing basketball and studying biology from a book written by one of their own instructors. Girls traveled from Europe to attend school here in Ellicott City, and they even had an Indian Princess (yes like cowboys and indians) attend the school. Now all that is left of the building are the walls and window frames and fireplaces. I know a little about the place since I have taken my girl scouts to several historical programs offered there. So we also have a few groups, including a Shakespeare theater group that uses the space to put on plays outside. The Dracula play was a lot of fun since it was held at night around the building with dim lighting, smoke machines and even a few special effects like flying bats! Scott was invited to attend with our friends and their boys, and I decided Tom and I should join him. Before the play we grabbed a quick dinner together in Olde Ellicott City. Tom was not terribly impressed with the walk around play effect since he said some of the scenes were hard to see with the large number of people and limited seating. Guess I am lucky being short because I was always in the front! But they must be doing something right since all the shows are sold out every weekend until Halloween.

Allison even managed to enjoy a Halloween outing as her University provided a day trip on Coach buses to her favorite amusement park, 6 Flags near DC on Saturday. I had taken Scott and his friend there for the Fright Fest a few weeks ago and Scott had a great time. I knew Allison would enjoy it too. And she did. It has been a bit cold here but at least no rain.

And on Saturday night we went over to enjoy a Halloween party at our fellow Michigan neighbors. This is the first year Tom and I did not host the Halloween party. This was a smaller group of neighbors. The neighbor's party was supposed to be on Labor Day weekend, but everyone has been so busy, this was the only time they could host a get together. Of course we had tons of food and I was asked to bring the entertainment! I am getting a bad reputation for myself. I was not going to haul over my easel and pad of paper for Halloween pictionary like I usually do, so instead I looked up some games on the internet and decided on the $10,000 Pyramid, where the teams had to guess words associated with Halloween like "Scary Movies made into Sequels" or "Things you find in Dracula's castle". I also found a picture game where guests had to figure out the titles to scary movies just using the picture clues and a Scary Movie guessing game with scary movie quotes. So I kept the group entertained(including the kids). They love to play too.  And everyone had a great time and earned a big chocolate bar for playing. So even though I did not host the party, I still spent the day preparing food and games to take. At least I didn't have to do massive housecleaning and decorating too!

Now the neighbors want Tom and I to host another beer tasting party and a Progressive White Elephant
Christmas party! Even Tom wanted to know if I'd like a 50th birthday party here at the house with the neighbors and I said 'No Way'! Even though he offered to do the house cleaning and grocery shopping and meal prep/cooking, I am sure I would have to get involved somehow. I think that is too much work just to turn 50!

Speaking of 50, I scheduled my upcoming yearly exam and I am trying my 3rd Blood Pressure medication. I just can't seem to find a medication that likes me. I have had blurred vision and dizziness from the last two medications that I tried that really interferes with my driving and working. Not to mention that I always feel like I have to eat since I am dizzy all the time and nauseous. So it has not done my weight or ability to exercise any good either. I sure hope this medication works better for me. Turning 50 has not been fun for me.

I am also trying to get prepared for an upcoming boy scout trip with Scott's troop in Nov for rappelling and zipline. Don't think I am going to do those activities, but I need to help with meal prep for adults as Tom signed us up. I am also in charge of the money and paperwork and reservations. Again, thanks Tom for volunteering me. Scott and Tom were also busy selling Boy Scout popcorn this weekend. And in order to stay active in the troop, Tom and I have to complete online ongoing training which we did this weekend. It's tough being a Boy Scout! Speaking of tough, I also signed up Scott to earn a religious medal. His program starts next weekend. Just to keep things interesting, I also signed Scott and I up for a Boy Scout sleepover trip in December on the New Jersey Battleship in Camden New Jersey. Apparently it was the most decorated naval ship in the fleet. And much bigger than the Coast Guard ship that we slept on last year! Now I just have to tell the neighbors that I am busy that weekend and we will have to reschedule the Christmas Progressive party. Not enough time!

Right now we are just trying to get through Halloween week. When we returned from our visit to Salisbury we discovered an old broken down car in front of our house-no tags. Tom believed it belonged to our neighbor's son down the street who apparently had just returned from Alaska where he was working on repairing fishing boats like you see in the tv show "Deadliest Catch". It pays well but according to their son was a terrible life(mostly spent all his free time drinking). So he came back to go to automotive school after a previous stint in the army(skipped college). And he took his '67 Chevelle out for a test drive on the weekend and it broke down in front of our house. But he did not know how to repair it, and he did not bother to figure out how to get it back down the street and up their long driveway where it started. And he did not bother to call or leave a note or email. After a week of me harrassing his mom to move the car, Tom finally had to go out and see if he could help get it started or at least tow it. What frustrated me is that they did not want to spend the money to have it towed, or taken to a garage to have it repaired or that they never even figured out how to get it back to their house on their own. Tom used his tow rope and his own car to pull it back to their house. And the son is studying automotive repair. Tom was happy to help. I was just happy  the car was moved. It just added to the bliss of having our neighbor's van permanently parked across the street from our driveway which is only used to take their two german shephards to the dog park on the weekends. Their other two cars are parked in the garage and no extra room on their driveway. Plus there is our next door neighbor whose son's truck is usually parked blocking our mailbox while he travels to Africa, but that is another story. People are interesting.

Overall we have very nice neighbors. Our friend and neighbor, Gloria was supposed to take a traveling nurse manager job to Sacramento CA but with the furloughs and govt. shutdown she could not get a license quick enough. So instead they are sending her to Pennsylvania. I think she will prefer that with the holidays coming up since she can travel much easier to Baltimore from PA then from CA. She was only going to visit at the holidays from CA. I think their kids are disappointed though as they were planning a visit out there at Christmas break.

By the way, we are planning a trip to Florida at Christmas break since the kids are going to be off school for so long and I will finally have vacation hours to spend. I just realized Scott had a full week of school without any days off! However, he did participate in the fund raiser at school, Run for Education on Weds. They had a beautiful day to be outside walking/running for an hour for each grade and the school made double what they expected in fund raising. So thanks to all that contributed! The money goes directly to the school for supply purchases like the Ipads for the 8th graders that they are getting next month. And the staff was so excited to see how many people from all around the country contributed. Again, thank you for your generosity. Scott even earned himself an out of uniform day and crazy hat day for the event.

So I am going to carve my pumpkin and put up a few more spiderwebs before I go watch the Mt Hebron High School girls compete in a regional Field Hockey tournament this afternoon. Allison finished up her Field Hockey Club season at Salisbury by playing goalie for the last two games(won both!). Way to go Allison. They may also go to the Club playoffs. She also is enjoying her Floor Hockey experience( and making it through midterms!).

Here are some Halloween photos. Scott carved Sonic the Hedgehog from Nintendo(looks very good with a red light at night), and a few shots from the Patapsco Female Institute ruins where we saw the Dracula play. Tom and Scott and the neighbor boys on the front steps as well as one of the scenes from the play. Kathleen

So we had a very busy weekend visiting with Allison at Salisbury University. Every year the school puts on FAmily Weekend. We drove to the eastern shore on Friday since Scott was out of school and Tom and I were off work. Scott actually had a very short week with Monday and Friday off and a half day on Thursday. He finally got to ride his bike to and from school which amazed all the kids and staff(no one rides to school) although he did not have to since the buses were running that day. But he enjoyed it.

So we took Allison her car on Friday. Which meant both Tom and I had to drive. I had Scott and Cookie. We decided to drop her off at a kennel near the University so Allison could visit and so that we did not have to wait an extra day to pick her up as we usually get home late. We made it to Salisbury around 11 and Tom dropped off Allison's car while I picked Allison up so we could all drive to the kennel and drop off Cookie! Sound confusing? Afterwards, we stopped into lunch at one of Allison's new favorite coffee shops next to where she plays Field Hockey. Turns out the owner was from Birmingham, Michigan. Her use of the word "POP" gave her away when I asked for something to drink. After lunch we picked up a new fish for Allison's tank(the first one didn't do quite so well). We stopped her fish into her room and Tom assembled a night stand next to her bunk bed that he put together. We also stopped into the bookstore to pick up some Salisbury tshirts to wear for the weekend. That evening, we had dinner in the main dining hall. They had a Halloween themed dinner with salmon, hot wings and roast beef, mashed potatoes and lots of fun, chocolatey desserts! They even had a band playing during dinner. Afterwards we took Allison and Scott to a haunted hay ride/haunted house/corn maze over the border in Delaware. This was a yearly event put on by the Volunteer fire dept. and boy scouts. It was pretty creepy and a fun evening.

On Saturday we started the morning with a continental breakfast outside and a meet and greet of a few of Allison's business school profs. Tom and Allison worked on a business proposal as part of a contest-still waiting to hear if we won! Since breakfast was not very filling, we tried a breakfast restaurant just off campus for bacon and eggs before heading over to the Salisbury football game. They don't have a very big stadium-actually they don't have a stadium at all. Just bleachers like a high school football field. Apparently they are building a stadium, but for now we brought our own chairs and sat on the lawn at the end zone. The game was fun-Salisbury beat a very enthusiastic team from New York-John Fisher College. But it was rainy the whole time so we were happy to be finished and back in our car. We ended up at the movies at the local mall. Allison and I wanted to see Captain Phillips, the Somalia pirate movie. It was very intense. And dry. And had lots of popcorn. After the movie, we caught some dinner at Ruby Tuesdays and headed back to campus for a free Comedy/Magic show with an Asian guy from LA called Joseph Tran. Very funny and he had some great card tricks. We even met up with another family from Ellicott City(and one of my former girl scouts).  

On Sunday we ate breakfast back in the dining hall and enjoyed listening to a  jazz band play during our made to order omelet meals. Afterwards we headed over  to watch Allison play Field Hockey  against William and Mary. They had two games and won both. Allison played in the second. It was a much sunnier day and we enjoyed sitting out on our chairs cheering on the girls. We then took Allison out to lunch and walked around the Salisbury zoo for a few hours before picking up Cookie at the kennel. She enjoyed walking around campus a bit and saying hi to nice college girls that wanted to pet her. But then she had to sit in the car while we ate dinner and watched our RAvens lose miserably to the Pittsburgh Steelers at Buffalo Wild Wings(surprisingly surrounded by a lot of Pittsburgh fans). Then we had to say goodbye to Allison and get back home.

Both Scott and Allison got the majority of their homework done before the weekend which put a lot less pressure on them both to have fun. Allison is busy with midterms. I have been busy sending her care packages. I even had a Salisbury pumpkin made for her at Michaels. I could use a green S pumpkin for State!  So we had a fun weekend and loved seeing Allison!

Congrats to neice Stacey on running her first Marathon in Indy. How cool is that! I will be enjoying my 5K walk with Cookie in a few weeks to raise money for the Brain Injury Association with my fellow coworkers. Scott will soon be participating in his run/walk at school.

So we asked for rain and we got it! More than we needed of course-about 6 inches in just a few days. At least we did not look like Colorado, but it was a lot of wet. Allison missed her field hockey practice, but her Away game was still scheduled on Saturday near Philly.

So Saturday afternoon Tom and I packed up some chairs and headed to Drexel University to see Allison play. They actually had a double header and played Drexel as well as James Madison(they were tough). Sadly the girls lost both games, but it was fun to watch. They played on turf which they don't have at Salisbury, so it is a bit different. The ball travels a lot quicker. So next weekend is the end of the season. We will get to see Allison play again when we travel there for the weekend for the Family Event. It was nice to see her, even if it was just for a quick hug! She had to get on the van for the long drive back. And we had to get going too. We promised our neighbors that we would stop in for drinks. We were supposed to go for dinner, but the games ran late. We also stopped for a Philly cheesesteak sandwich and for Tom to pick up  some tax free liquor in Delaware at the Costco(they bottle their own brand). We were invited to celebrate Dan's birthday and Gloria's new traveling nurse manager position Saturday night. Gloria finished working in Oklahoma, and now is going to work in California near Sacramento. She won't be back for a visit until Thanksgiving. So we enjoyed some birthday cake together and chatting about kids and college.

Scott stayed home on Saturday so he could get some studying and homework done. I had hoped to get him to a golf lesson to make up for a cancelled session, but it was rained out too. Apparently his boy scout troop was also hoping he would have attended a leadership class for boy scouts all day. He actually attended last year, but I guess they like the boys to be extra well prepared. Guess we'll have to catch next year's session. I did have Scott sign up for a Boy Scout religious program. He worked on a couple religious medals as a cub scout, but I thought he should complete the boy scout programs too. Especially since our church is putting on the classes for free. Tom stopped by the boy scout store and picked up SCott's book since the scoutmaster had to sign it. We also had to turn in our popcorn orders this week. SCott still has one more booth sale. His earnings help pay for summer camp. And I had to make an announcement at his troop meeting about our upcoming rappelling and zipline camping trip in November since Tom and I are in charge of the event. Oh joy.

Scott didn't mind staying home on Saturday. On Sunday he went to his golf lesson(in between the rain drops) and we did some studying together. He is just happy to have a 3 day weekend since he is off on Monday(Columbus Day). He decided to spend Sunday afternoon getting a head start on his Halloween decorating, so he and Tom put up an archway over our sidewalk and covered it with spiderwebs. He wants to fill it with spiders! Scott is really into the spooky Halloween Houses now! Actually, Scott and Tom discussed a drive down to Busch Gardens tonight for Fright Fest since Scott was out of school on Monday, but I think Tom had enough time on the road this weekend. Plus it was supposed to rain in Williamsburg, so they were not too excited about the trip. Instead, we talked about visiting a  Haunted House on the eastern shore in Delaware when we visit Allison next weekend.  Scott also had a half day last week and wanted to try riding his bike home from school. Instead it poured rain so Tom was able to pick him up early. Tom has some extra hours to use up before the end of the year, so he stayed home to get some chores done. After our power came back on! Guess the rain was too much. He hung a new ceiling fan in our basement and fixed a slow drip in the bathroom sink. He is also building Allison a small table to put next to her bunk bed in her dorm room.

This will seem like a short week as we head to Salisbury on Friday. I was just happy to get in to a swim aerobics class last week, along with running my errands and getting Cookie out for a walk in between the rain storms. And we still need to put out our Halloween decorations. At least I don't have to put on a party this year. Instead, we will be going to a Halloween party. The first in all the years we have been here!

Here is Allison playing Field Hockey this weekend(goalie) in Philly on her Club Team.

Happy Augtober! Our weather has been unbelievably hot this past week-in the 90s!  And humid too. And we just turned off the AC. We are trying to have Fall. The leaves are starting to turn and it is cooler at night(thank goodness). The Halloween decorations are coming out(but the Christmas decorations are close behind).

In keeping with the spirit of Halloween, I spent all day Saturday with Scott and his friend Bryce at Six Flags America enjoying Fright Fest. It just happened to be Boy Scout day. They had a discount for Boy Scouts and even a campout on Friday night. I was unable to convince the Troop to attend the event-especially since they had already committed to a church clean up on Saturday. Scott opted out of the clean up to enjoy a day of Amusement park rides and haunted houses. Scott finally decided that the Haunted Houses are actually fun. His friend Bryce joined him-the boy who broke his arm this summer and missed out on the Amusement Park Summer camp. The boys had a great time and I was completely exhausted after 12 hrs walking around the park with temps in the 90s.

We also enjoyed a quick visit to church Saturday morning with Cookie for the annual St Francis Blessing of the Animals service. Cookie enjoyed showing off a few of her tricks to Msgr. John. Friday was the Feast Day of St Francis. I caught the morning mass after dropping Scott off at school. I also enjoyed watching the news Friday as Pope Francis visited the home of St Francis- Assisi, Italy and held Mass. It was exciting to see the Pope at all the places Allison and I visited when we traveled to Assisi, Italy this past summer.

I was getting a head start on Parent Teacher conferences at Scott's school. Tom and I are very familiar with most of Scott's teachers since he has been with them for the past several years. But I did want to speak to his new Language Arts teacher as she is new to the school. The school only blocked two afternoons off for parent meetings and of course they are all filled already. The teachers were nice enough to set up time before and after school to meet and speak to the rest of us who couldn't schedule an appointment at the set times. So Friday morning I stopped in for our scheduled discussion. She is a very nice, young teacher. Her husband also graduated from Salisbury University(Allison's school). So far SCott is doing pretty well-lots of tests. Which is what kept him busy last week. This weekend he is busy writing a paper.

Tom spent his week in Indianapolis-much to his surprise. He had just returned from Chicago, and thought he had a week off of traveling. He even enjoyed an evening having the neighborhood boys over for Monday night football and beer and snacks. Next thing he knew, on Tuesday morning he was off to Indy. He returned home early Friday morning, but had to go into work to go over the week's progress. He had plenty of time to run up to his favorite new computer store with Scott in the evening though. He picked up a laptop for Scott and I to use-hopefully for me to take to work to do my notes when they hook up the wireless connections, and Scott was having trouble with the computer system for his Lego Robotics team at school. So I thought he could use this one too to program the robot. Especially since Scott has the most expertise in programming the robots. He just can't work on it at home. So every Monday and Tuesday after school he is off to Lego club. And on Weds night at Scouts he received his chemistry badge he earned last week, along with his new official job as Troop Librarian. He keeps track of all the badge books during their meetings and checks them in and out. A stress less job during a busy school year.

I should know. After a busy week helping SCott with his studies and attending scout meetings, I was glad to have a day to myself to run errands. Friday I was gone most of the day, or on the telephone. It's nice to have one day to myself to get (most) everything done.I just wish I could have had some extra time to get back to my swim aerobics classes. I had to settle for taking Cookie for a walk. Of course, Scott and I got a work out on Sunday afternoon with yard work-cutting the grass, trimming bushes and raking leaves. Not to mention having to spray for yellow jackets. Now if we could just get a little rain.

Meanwhile, Tom headed out to Salisbury U to catch Allison's Field Hockey games. So far she is undefeated in the net! Just 3 more weekends of games, then she switches to Floor Hockey(mostly for fun). Allison was surprised to see Tom at school since he really didn't tell her he was coming. He also brought her new vacuum cleaner which I heard got a lot of use already. Her Senior yearbook and some Fall mums to brighten up the room. And a case of water for Field Hockey. So after the game Tom took her out for a late lunch and caught the Ravens game at Buffalo Wild Wings.

I have also been keeping track of my brother Mike's visit to Michigan with my parents. He drove Mom and Dad up to Charlevoix to bring back a few items and apparently fill in some dirt under the pole barn. The rain storms really cause havoc on the landscaping since all the water flows from the street in the back down to the lake in the front taking the sand and soil with it apparently. They also had time for a little fishing and swimming(warm there too). So Mike headed back to LA today.

Meanwhile, things are a little crazy around here. DC seems to be having a tough time. It brought out the crazies with a woman being shot for attempting to ram the White House and Capitol, along with a man setting himself on fire. Guess we are not missing much at the museums or national monuments down there. We have many neighbors and friends who are on furlough right now since they have government jobs. Too crazy. Meanwhile, our neighbor Gloria has finished her traveling nursing job in Oklahoma and heads to California this week. Guess you do what you can. Although our county was named one of the top 10 in the US for highest incomes. They didn't check with me!

Just a little shout out to our nephew Clayton Bozyk-Congrats on your acceptance to Texas A&M! We hear your twin sister Caroline is looking at Oklahoma.  Also congrats to cousin Eric Borg on the announcement of the birth of his son Julian Samuel-another July birthday baby! 

Here's hoping it cools down. Also a shot of Scott at his golf lesson today on the driving range, Cookie enjoying Mass for the Animals along with all the dogs and Msgr John. Allison's Salisbury Field Hockey Club Team and Scott and Bryce at Six Flags Fright Fest.