This turned out to be a week of surprises. Mainly a surprise Birthday party for me! I had mentioned to Tom that I did not want to host my own birthday party(too much work). So our very kind neighbors hosted a surprise party at their house. Tom did all the grocery shopping and they did all the cooking. Mainly it was an appetizer party, but there was so much food and dessert, you didn't need anymore. And most everyone who came brought a dish, so lots to eat and lots to drink. Tom kept everyone entertained playing 50 yrs of my life pictionary. What a competitive bunch! There were about 12 of us-a nice number to sit and chat and eat chocolate cake. I had expected we were going out to dinner with our neighbors and we stopped in at their house for a drink before we left. Not! They even did a great job keeping their cars parked down the street so I wouldn't notice the extra guests. Overall a very fun, relaxing evening. And I got some funny gag gifts and a few nice gifts too. It makes turning 50 a lot more enjoyable. Actually nobody could believe I was turning 50(they are so sweet). And one guest thought it was a party for Tom and brought him a gift!

Since we did not go out to dinner on Saturday night, Tom and I decided to take our neighbors out for brunch on Sunday morning, along with SCott. We have some gift cards to use up. Scott missed the Saturday night party since he was sleeping over at a friends. They had spent the entire day in western Maryland navigating several very large corn mazes. Scott really enjoyed the experience. They were so busy with the mazes, they missed out on apple picking. Even Allison had hoped to drive home for my party. Instead, she was off to Virginia Beach on Friday night for a Regional Field Hockey tournament. The first one in a long time for Salisbury University. The team payed for hotels and transportation. Allison had 3 games on Saturday. They needed to win 2 in order to move on to Sunday's games, but they only won 1 game. They lost by a close score to Boston College, got slammed by Penn State and then beat St Joseph. I think Allison enjoyed the trip-her first time to Virginia Beach. But she would have loved it more if they could have swam in the ocean. Their hotel was right on the ocean, so they had time to stroll the boardwalk. So her field hockey and floor hockey season has come to an end. Now she is looking forward to her visit home at Thanksgiving.And sadly her High School Field Hockey team lost their State Championship game as well, so everybody is done and winter sport season starts. Not sure who to follow anymore(can't really deal with the Ravens right now). At least MSU's football team has been worth cheering for(sorry UofM).  And Allison learned her first real hard lesson about college life-you can't always get the classes you want! She called up very upset last week because most of the classes she wanted were already full. Fortunately she worked something out. I just can't believe they are signing up for spring classes already! And of course they will want to be paid.

While Scott was off in the corn maze on Saturday, I decided to take advantage of some free time and get my hair cut and highlighted. I missed my free day on Friday. I was asked to work since one of our new coworkers was on vacation and my boss was afraid we were going to have a lot of new admissions. Instead I spent the day chasing my patients around since none of them were terribly excited to do anything. Scott and Tom had the day off too. I guess Tom spent the day shopping for my party at Costco. He also helped Scott work on a science lab. They are still at it tonight. And Scott was busy cutting the grass and installing my early birthday present bird feeder. I certainly hope this one is squirrel proof. And in the evening I took him over to his first religion class for his boy scout badge. He was not to excited to spend 3 hrs Friday night in a religion class with just one other boy. (he'll survive). And then it was off to serve mass on Sunday morning. I had to pick him up from his friend's house since he spent the night. He is getting his fill of holy!

Since I lost a free day on Friday, I had to hurry to catch up on my weekend projects including updating our boy scout list and permission slips and payments for the upcoming rappelling and zipline trip next weekend. It is supposed to drop down to the 20s this week with possible snow on Tuesday! I just hope it warms up a little when the weekend rolls around. I really don't want to freeze. I was busy looking through our camping supplies as well as cleaning out the attic in the garage and putting away all the Halloween decorations. I still want to enjoy a few Thanksgiving decorations before I put out the Christmas stuff! So I am not quite done.

Last week I had to stop into the doctor's office for a blood pressure check. I have an annual physical scheduled in December. I will see how this medication is working for me. On Weds night Scott and I skipped the boy scout meeting. Instead I sent Tom to collect checks and permission slips while Scott and I visited with a few Delegates and Senators from our county at his school. For his Citizenship badge he is supposed to speak with someone in the legislative office about a topic important to him or his community. They were discussing tax breaks for private schools so I thought this was a terrific opportunity for SCott to meet up and actually speak with someone in the govt. Unfortunately there were only a few representatives and they were too busy to chat. But Delegate Gail Bates gave him her business card and he sent her an email. We'll see if we get a response. She even posed for a photo with Scott(she loves scouts). Allison's troop met her when I took them down to Legislative Day in Annapolis when the girls were in 7th grade. So we are half way there. Plus Scott earned an out of uniform day for showing up.

Well I have to get back to my boy scout packing. I have another busy week scheduled and I am not getting any younger! Literally!

Here is a shot of SCott schmoozing with Delegate Gail Bates and discussing tax breaks for those donating to private schools. Also a few of my birthday gifts from the neighbors including a handpainted serving dish and a few new snow babies to add to my collection. Along with some gift cards and a calendar.