So we are getting closer to Halloween! I spent most of my Saturday afternoon out shopping for party items. We have agreed to host the neighborhood Halloween party this year. About 20 people. I told them to come in costume and I plan on sending them out on a neighborhood scavenger hunt. We will see how it goes. Meanwhile I had to start picking up food and am still trying to get the decorations down from the attic and put up. I am missing my assistance from Scott.

He has been very busy with school and scouts and work. His semester is ending next Friday, right before Halloween this year. So the teachers have all been scheduling lots of projects and tests. He is also extra busy with Boy Scouts since signing up for the Asst. Sr. Patrol Leader position. Extra meetings to attend during the week and lots of extra planning since they put him in charge of scheduling activities. This coming week the boys decided to have a pumpkin carving contest and talk about woodcarving. They are also having a costume contest, so I had to pick up some gift items for the winners. And on Saturday he had to attend an all day Leadership training event. He has gone to many of these programs, but they insist the boys keep repeating the class each time they sign up for a leadership position. He is also scheduled to work every Sunday afternoon so he needs a ride. I then need to make sure Tom and I are home to take him and pick him up. But we are working on that too! Tom started taking Scott out on the road to practice driving since he now has his driving permit. Scott has been very excited to start learning. Looks like we need to work on Stop signs!

Besides getting ready for the holidays, I have been busy helping my mom with her finances as well as making funeral plans for my dad. I have set up a church service down in Florida in Venice in Dec.-we used to attend Easter and Christmas mass at this parish. Tom's parents also are members of this church. The staff there are incredibly kind and accommodating. I have already worked out the mass, complete with readings and music over the phone with their volunteer coordinator. They think of everything.( Guess they have done this before). They even had a memorial mass for Dad already and put his name in their church bulletin. And if I wanted, I could have the whole service in Polish! Not that any of us would understand a word, but I think that is amazing. I did request an accordion, but I don't think they actually have anyone that can play. However, they do supply a choir and organist. Wow. I also had to settle on a cemetery which will be in Venice where most of my mom's family is buried. And then a place to have lunch and a memorial of our own after the ceremony-I plan on bringing lots of digital photos. Plus I printed up memorial photo cards so those need to be mailed out. And then there's the finances. I kept my mom busy all day Friday running to the bank, the broker's office and making phone calls. I still need to meet with their lawyer next week for their trust.  Lots of papers to sign and forms to fill out. And don't get me started about the bank. That is the most complicated, messed up service of all. Amazing how your life comes down to lots of forms.

I am also trying to keep my mom busy. She attends a program each week at our local Senior center, but I think I am going to bump her up to 2x/wk. We use a volunteer car ride program to get her around. There is a small fee for each ride, but the drivers are all volunteers using their own cars. What a great service. They also have outings each week to local restaurants with her facility. She has started attending regularly. Last week they went out west to Friendly Farms for a family style meal complete with fried chicken(mom's favorite). They also enjoyed the fall color on the long ride there and back. It has been rather chilly out here, we even had our first frost. A lot earlier than usual.

At least I managed to get my fall flowers planted and I was happy to get back to my swim aerobics class on Friday morning. Tom was  home on Friday which gave him time to cut the grass and put down the winter fertilizer. He also spent some time doing maintenance on the cars. And he drove over to Delaware on Saturday with our neighbor for an alcohol run at the Costco. They have great prices and don't sell alcohol in our Costcos in Maryland. We needed some beer for our upcoming Halloween party and our neighbor wanted to stock up for the upcoming holidays. We both enjoyed an evening out with our neighbors having dinner at the Ellicott Mills Brewery and watching the movie Zombieland on a big screen outside at the Wine Bin in their parking lot. The Wine Bin serves free popcorn to go along with their wine. Besides a few sprinkles, the night was very pleasant. I was surprised to see mostly adults there watching the movie. They have weekly movies all summer long and we have brought the kids and the dog. It is a kid and pet friendly wine store. And we especially like it because the owner is an MSU grad. He runs a lot of neighborhood activities and has fundraisers for local charities in olde town Ellicott City. We want him to have tailgate parties for MSU. Speaking of, MSU won again this weekend against Indiana U in the pouring rain. At least we have one team to cheer for since our Ravens have been very disappointing this year. We heard the poor UofM quarterback was getting death threats over last weeks unbelievable game ending. Shame on you Michigan. He can come play for the Ravens.

Tom and I were also out on the town on Tuesday night as we attended Tom's Northrop Grumman Leadership Award dinner at the Lord Baltimore hotel downtown. We attended an award dinner a few weeks ago at the Westin, but that was for local groups. This was for National groups. We sat at a table with several couples all from San Francisco. We also ran into Tom's previous boss who now lives out in San Jose, Karen Campbell. Tom often spends time working with Karen when he heads to the west coast. We would love for Allison to get a summer internship with Northrop and maybe even stay with Karen out in California. Tom got a big, glass trophy(he would have preferred tickets to Disney or even a day off work). And I took home the table flower arrangement(that was in a cinderblock base). I think Tom threw his back out carrying it out to the car.

Allison is still very busy with school and Field Hockey. She had two games last Sunday in Philly and will play today at Salisbury. Her season ends next Saturday at UofMaryland, so we are hoping she can come home for Halloween. As you can see, we all get into the spirit!

I have been busy doctoring the cat for the past few weeks. We found out she has pancreatitis. Apparently it is treatable in cats, but she was losing quite a bit of weight. She was fur and bones. Her appetite is back, but even pickier. She mainly will eat canned chicken now. But she also enjoyed pumpkin pie and muffins along with donuts. Chews right through the packaging if it is sitting on the kitchen counter. Appetite stimulants will do that!

Tom says the cat will outlive me!