Happy Thanksgiving Holiday Weekend! Hope everyone had a great holiday! I know I especially enjoyed Thanksgiving Day because I did not have to cook and I got to watch the entire Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade from start to finish in my pjs without any interruptions! We got to cheer on the Towson University Marching Band from Towson, MD(just north of Baltimore City-they have an OT school there and we often get OT students doing their internships at our clinic. There were also a few kids from Howard County chosen to be in the parade; a few go to Allison's high school. After the parade, the kids and I headed out to our neighborhood park with Cookie and our neighbor's dog Misty. We didn't sign up for a Turkey Trot this year(no Uncle Mark to organize the walk), so we decided to have our own in the neighborhood. We could have gotten up early and headed out to the YMCA in Towson, but it was much nicer to sleep in.
Allison was pet sitting for the weekend, so we decided to take the dogs out for a run in the park even though it was a bit damp. When we arrived at the park, there were two other women out on the field with their big dogs, so we decided to let our pups run around the enclosed tennis courts. They even had tennis balls lying around to keep the dogs happy. By the time we got home it was time to head over to our neighbors, The Zarlengas, for dinner.
Friday morning we got up early(Tom very early). Tom was in line at the Game Stop at 5am to get Scott a new DS video game. They had a special which included game cartridges and the DS video game. They only had 4 in stock, but Tom is a familiar face there so the manager set one aside for him. That was Scott's replacement gift for his birthday. His last DS game was stolen out of Tom's car with all his games. So now he is back on track. Just a few more games to go.
I got up a bit later and headed out for some early morning shopping-some shopping was just for me! I needed some new pants for work and Kohls had great sales. I haven't finished my Christmas shopping, but I was still picking up a few gifts for Scott's Birthday which was also on Friday. So besides shopping at Kohls and Walmart, I also managed to get in a work out at the Y that morning! Pretty good schedule. Friday night we sat down to dinner for Scott's birthday(he requested spaghetti and meatballs, so I also had to run to the grocery store). He also wanted ice cream cake, so I got him an M&M carvel ice cream cake. He loved it, and all his gifts. Including his very own bank/gumball dispenser. Right now it is busy dispensing M&Ms(hmmm-is there a theme developing?). He also got some pjs and long sleeved Nintendo Mario shirts. We watched the video UP that night which was hilarious. Talking dogs and grumpy old people-what's not to love! Scott also has a birthday party scheduled next weekend at a local pool with indoor water tube slides. They let us swim all afternoon and provide all the food and cake and ice cream. We just have to make up the goody bags. Easy party.
On Saturday we had our own Thanksgiving dinner and invited Matt and Di over for the evening. We wanted to have our own turkey leftovers-and of course we are also enjoying Seitz Turkey Casserole for dinner this evening(left over stuffing and turkey mixed with gravy and heated in a casserole dish). Yum! Tom grilled our turkey and I spent Saturday morning preparing the stuffing and baked potatoe casserole. I walked Allison through an apple crumb top pie which turned out wonderful. She wanted to try out my pampered chef apple peeler/slicer so I picked up some delicious Honey Crisp apples and we made pie(yum). Diana brought her sweet potatoe casserole(just like pie) and pumpkin pie, so we had more than enough food. They also brought over their new puppy- a replacement Wisla to take Elvis's place. Elvis died at age 9 this past spring from cancer, so now they have a rescue pup-9 months old named Winston. (They keep calling the dog Elvis). It is a bit more dog than Cookie could handle, but the two got along well enough. Diana took both dogs out for a walk after dinner while Allison checked on the neighbor's dog. She also had to check in on the Zarlenga's dog since they went off to DC for an overnight excursion. There is a new hotel-The Gaylord International-down on the Potomac that has a Christmas holiday program package. They stayed at the hotel and had tickets to see their ice scuplture show, ice skate and see some Christmas shows in the huge hotel lobby. They also have a 30 foot crystal Christmas tree lit up and it snows every night in the atrium. It's a Vegas sized hotel complete with a small town inside the atrium. They said they had a great time.
Allison was busy not only dog sitting but kid sitting as well last week. With the short school and work week, she was in demand for her babysitting services. At least she managed to get in some schoolwork and piano practicing over the long holiday break so she is ahead of schedule. Both kids also got their final report cards this week: both got all As and B+s so things are looking pretty good so far. We stopped into Allison's school on Monday morning to talk to Allison's teachers for her parent teacher conference. Tom took a few days off to stay with the kids since they had half days. Scott needed picked up at noon. In the meantime, Tom was busy patching the wall and ceiling where he discovered the leaking bathtub, however, he managed to locate a new leak. This one happens to be from the skylight over the kids bathtub! Oh great. I quickly managed to convince Tom that this was not the handyman's project for him. Tom was already trying to figure out how he was going to keep from falling off our steep roof while he replaced the skylight. I pointed out the fact that some of our neighbors already had someone experienced in replacing skylights since they also had leaks and they have the same house design as we all had the same builder. We called our neighbors and got the name of the repairman, and he's already been over to the house to check out the work and give us a quote. We can get the whole thing done for only $700! Including sealing up around a vent and the fireplace too. Sounds terrific. Now we just have to wait for him to have some free time and hope the rain stays away! Meanwhile, our play room is still a mess, and Tom has to install the ceiling fan and light, plus patch the ceiling and repaint. I do really love my new french doors-so thank you leaks!
Besides trying to patch our house back together, Tom took advantage of his time off to hang all our Christmas lights outside. He had to put on new hooks under the eaves(twice since one set fell off), but he managed to get all the lights up and then hooked up a synchronized music and light show system I got him for St Nicks Day last year at Sam's Club. The house flashes the Christmas lights in tune to the Christmas music. We can't believe how many cars have stopped in front of our house over the Thanksgiving weekend-we even had a few close call car accidents as people stop or slow down to check out the lights. Of course, some people just don't get it-the neighbors down the street thought we had a short in our lights! We don't run it every night-it is a bit much! But all environmentally friendly(and cheap)LED lights.
I had a hard time putting away the Thanksgiving decorations this weekend-it is Turkey day! So we had fall decorations along with some Christmas decorations. Although we have not yet gotten the tree-we did see quite a few go by on top of the cars this weekend.
We also have been busy getting the house in order for Christmas and Tom's parent's visit in a few weeks. It's nice to get in some Spring cleaning(either I am really early or a bit late!). Allison and I also spent the weekend finishing up her Girl Scout cookie deliveries since the money was due this weekend. And Scott finished his cub scout popcorn delivery too.
I also had to put together some gift boxes for donations for kids in area shelters through girl scouts along with boxes from each of my girls. My troop will be busy making food donations this coming week at our holiday party(cookies and candy), along with thank you cards for the US Troops. I also plan on taking the girls to the Melting Pot Fondue restaurant for a dessert night! Should be chocolatey.
I had Scott and Allison practice making some of the goodies this weekend which helped me out since I needed something to bring to my GS Leader meeting this coming Weds. We learned to make Turtle candies with a small pretzel, rolo candy and a pecan half all heated in the oven. They are addictive! Scott and Allison made me a batch to take to my meeting(if I can keep everyone from eating them!).
So Happy Post Thanksgiving! And a Big Happy Birthday to Sheila Bozyk! I don't think you ate M&M cake and watched the movie UP, or got a DS, but I hope it was just as fun a Birthday as Scott's!
I will be on my own again this week(very busy week) as Tom will be heading out to Charlottesville. Wish me luck! Kathleen and family