Cannot believe we are in November already! Scott was off school on Halloween Monday and busy wrapping up his first semester with lots of tests and projects for the rest of the week. He attended Boy Scouts on Weds night to assist with an Open House event. His group was busy reviewing Knots with Cub Scouts. The Boy Scout Troops always host Open Houses to attract bridging Cub Scouts to join. They usually host a number of activity stations such as pitching tents, knots, dutch oven cooking, a craft and a game. This year the Troop added dart blowing to their list of activities!  Scott was also busy on the weekend with his work schedule, but he took time off to attend a Hershey Hockey Game with Tom and Allison.

I invited Allison home for the weekend. She had just finished her midterms and had a little break. We decided to travel down to Uof Maryland to watch the Women's Big Ten Field Hockey Tournament. Games were scheduled on Friday afternoon, so Allison was free with no classes that day. She drove from Salisbury and met me at Bobby Flays at College Park for a hamburger lunch before the games. We had a great lunch and then drove 1 car onto campus to the Field Hockey tourney. We arrived just as Uof Michigan took the field against Penn State. What an exciting game and a beautiful day to sit out in the very warm sun. We actually were getting sun burned! Good thing we wore short sleeve shirts. I had my MSU shirt and Allison was in her Salisbury Field Hockey shirt. There were lots of Michigan fans present, but unfortunately their tailgate party was a sad one as they lost to Penn State in the last few minutes of the game 1-0. Allison and I really enjoyed watching the girls play and Allison picked up a Big 10 Field Hockey tshirt on the way out. We decided not to wait for the next game which started around 4pm. The following Final games were scheduled for Sunday, but we had other plans so did not make that day. Turns out Penn State won the entire Tournament. We decided to head out Friday afternoon to try and miss some of the evening rush hour traffic back home. Scott was on his way to work, and Allison and I were headed out again to the monthly Bunco neighborhood event Friday evening. We packed up some appetizers and headed over to our neighbor's house. I always enjoy chatting with the neighbor girls-catching up on their activities and even doing a bit of networking. I was trying to hook up my neighbor Gloria, the nurse manager. Again she is out of a job when her new workplace decided not to give her the salary they originally promised and she quit. We were speaking to one of the guests, a local physician with a private practice to see if she had any job connections. Always good to ask. And the ladies enjoyed catching up with Allison and all of her activities. Most of us have kids in college, so it is nice to get their perspective on campus life, education and job hunting.  I was also busy shopping for a tutor for Scott's Honors math class. Scott was doing well until the last two big exams given right before the end of the semester that pulled his grade down. We tried to schedule a high school tutor for him right before the final test, but had difficulty with reliability on the two students selected for him. And my neighbor that teaches math at the local colleges did not feel comfortable getting involved with someone she knows too well. I tried to recruit her at the Bunco party.  So we will keep looking. Anyway, Allison and I also enjoyed our Bunco game, especially since I won!

I really needed a pick me up. I was not having much luck lately. Did you ever have one of those weeks where everything goes wrong? Over the last few weeks our Keurig coffee maker died, so Tom picked up a brand new one that also died. It looked like a coffee maker graveyard in the kitchen. We finally got one working again, (I need my coffee in the morning!) My dryer was acting up-I cleaned out the air ducts just in case and it is working again(thank goodness). My car alarms were going off-low air in the tires, noisy air filters, front power seat not working, interior lights not working. Fortunately turns out nothing serious or expensive. Even Allison had issues with her car-low air in the tire, and I found a nick in her front window that Tom was able to fix. Our trip to Uof Maryland was interesting. We got stuck on a parking curb with Allison's low riding car, we got stuck with a parking ticket at the Tournament and had to stop into the Campus Police station to fight it(worth the fight since it is $175!). Fortunately they dropped it down to $15.00. And it is not fun driving around the Uof Maryland campus.  I also left my credit card at Bobby Flays. The girl that took our order forgot to give it back to me when we were talking about parking on campus! So I had to drop into the bank on Saturday to pick up a new card. Annoying. At least the weekend turned out well after all.

Scott, Tom and Allison headed off on Saturday evening to see a Hershey Hockey game. They had club seats and all enjoyed the Bears winning game. I decided to hang back. I thought I needed the rest since I had an early morning on Sunday. I decided to participate in the 10K walk/run across our Chesapeake Bay Bridge. I have always wanted to walk across the Mackinac bridge but never had the opportunity. I was so surprised to hear my best buddy, Laura from Michigan recently walked the Mackinac Bridge. Great minds think alike. I decided before my next Bday that I would walk across the bridge. I joined a few fellow therapists and we headed out early Sunday morning to the Navy Stadium in Annapolis. We were shuttled over to the Northrop Grumman facility on the western side of the bridge where we were separated into large groups or waves. Since we arrived early we headed out before our scheduled time. The walk was 6 miles and my feet were pretty tired by the time we crossed the finish line. We got an amazing medal, our tshirts and some free snacks(sadly no free beer or food). We made the crossing in 2 hrs. A few of the other therapists actually ran across the bridge and then got stuck on the bus ride back for 2 hrs. The rest of us took a quick ride back across the bridge and stopped into the Macaroni Grill for lunch. We were starving! I couldn't talk Allison into trying the walk, but she can always sign up before her 53rd Bday! I am done.