Happy Birthday Linda Seitz! Happy Birthday Cookie Seitz! Two very special somebodies celebrated their birthdays this past weekend. One got a cake, the other a bone. Although Cookie also got into Tom's St Nick's Day stocking and ate up his peanut/yogurt mix. She is such a garbage hound! We celebrated her big day with a long walk. And then she tried to mooch food off Grandma. My favorite was when she kept trying to jump up on Grandma's lap when mom was taking her newly rented power scooter out for a test drive on the driveway. Cookie does love her car rides! No matter how small. Cookie turned 7 this year. I won't say what birthday Linda celebrated. (more than 7).

Mom seems to have taken to the scooter quite easily(although she still wants a car). I feel so bad. I took mom to the ortho MD last Thursday for a cortisone injection in her arthritic knee. Since we are going on a big trip, I wanted her to be in tip top shape(if that is possible for anyone). She has been going to PT 2x/wk which helps, but the cortisone shot can really  help with pain and swelling. She really had no idea what they were going to do. I did. I hear the injection is very painful. The MD told her she would hate him at first and then love him. It was true. She said her knee feels wonderful! And we were even able to go out to dinner afterwards.   On Friday I was busy meeting with her broker for end of the year business. On Saturday I took her to get her hair done, and then she joined us and our neighbors for a wonderful Holiday party at their house. I also picked her up on Sunday afternoon and took her to our GS choir performance at the B and O Railroad museum. She got to meet Santa and Mrs Claus and enjoy all the Holiday decorations. Afterwards I brought her home for a steak dinner.

Most of us here on the East coast are experiencing a heat wave! It feels like Miami! We hit temps in the low 70s this past weekend. Which made for a very nice party at our neighbor's house on Saturday. The food was incredible, the company terrific and the weather beautiful. It got cool enough in the evening to sit around their new fire pit on the patio,  chatting the night away with drinks and dessert. I felt like I was in an LLBean commercial. Our neighbors spent a lot of time putting up beautiful decorations both inside and out for the party. And of course I supplied the entertainment. We played Christmas Trivia. Boy are we a competitive bunch. I treated them all to candy bars for their efforts.

On Friday I had two parties to attend, but could only be at one. I picked the Bunco Holiday party. We had a white elephant gift exchange. I got a nice Margarita set complete with glasses and mix. I had picked the tupperware set, but being with a group of mom's with single college aged kids living in their first apts and needing gift ideas, it disappeared. (Still a little young for the margarita gift set). Next year Allison! I skipped the cookie exchange party. I was not ready to bake and besides, I have a cookie exchange party coming up this weekend with Scott!

He is winding down at school. Of course the teachers are cramming in lots of tests and assignments. He will be in school right up to Christmas. And he is getting ready for his school Holiday concert next week. Not to mention getting in some work hours over the weekend. And driving lessons when he and Tom have the chance. Plus he ran another successful boy scout meeting with a plumbing theme(yes there is a plumbing merit badge).

And Allison can't wait to get through finals! She will be done next week and then head home. She took a study break and made cookies and decorated a Christmas stocking. Very cute.

I am running around like a crazy person getting ready for our trip to Florida and getting ready for Christmas. I hope I make it!

Mom B and Mrs Claus

 Mom B has been a very good girl this year Santa!

 Mom B meets the North Pole!

 B and O Railroad at Christmas

 Neighborhood Party

Happy St Nick's Day! Tom and Scott and I enjoyed our annual ritual of opening our Christmas stockings on Sunday morning. St Nick brings our stockings early so that if we get any Christmas socks, tshirts, ornaments or jewelry we can wear it or display it before Christmas.  Everyone was very happy with their loot. Allison had her stocking early when she visited over Thanksgiving weekend. St Nick stocked her up with lots of goodies to help her through the upcoming Finals week. She will start with one of her tests this coming week and then finish up next week. She managed to get in a bit of celebrating at a formal party with her Ultimate Frisbee team this past weekend in between all the studying, and even got to wear her new dress.


My St Nick's Day gift was an evening out with our neighbors to see our favorite group, Straight No Chaser. They are the acoppella group from Indiana. They were in town for just one night at a sold out concert(again). Tom bought the tickets months ago. Sadly, one of their main singers was out on Paternity leave. We noticed. Although we really enjoy the group, having one member missing seemed to really affect the quality of the concert. We thought last year's event was much better. Although the concert was very good, it seemed a bit subdued. We felt like we should have been given a discount. But our neighbors really enjoyed it since they had never seen them before. And we all enjoyed dinner out beforehand. And I got a new tshirt, although no concert schedule on the back this time?

My weekend was also jam packed with scout activities. On Saturday morning, Scott and I got up early to volunteer at the Jingle Bell 5K Arthritis Fundraiser run. Scott decided to run again this year, so we signed him up at the walk up registration table. He seems to keep a consistent time of 34 mins. The run is a bit tough since it is around our local lake, very hilly and slippery as the path was very frosty in the early morning. Scott and I both helped direct traffic before the event. Mainly I just like checking out all the costumes (on both the people and the dogs!). And getting a free shirt for volunteering! Afterwards, Scott went off to assist one of the scouts with his Eagle project. By the time Scott arrived, all the boys that volunteered earlier in the morning had already completed all the work. So instead, Scott and Tom spent the afternoon practicing driving. Scott was almost run over by our neighbor's daughter as she was backing out of their driveway. And right after that, a mailman ran the stop sign on our street. Scott is learning at the Driving School of Hard Knocks.

After volunteering at the Jingle Run, I went off to the Baltimore Harbor to sing with the Girl Scout choir at the German Christmas Village. Our choir sings Christmas songs on stage for about an hour. I mostly enjoy shopping at all the booths and especially the tent full of German Christmas decorations. On Sunday I sang with the choir in the Baltimore Mayor's Parade. It makes for a long day-the parade is two hours long. You have to arrive an hour before the parade starts to line up. And then the parade starts at 1, but we don't actually start moving until 130 because of all the different entries. It is not my favorite parade, but they always need extra voices for the crowds.

Again I spent my Friday off work helping out my mom. This past Friday we started off with a PT appointment. Afterwards, I dropped into a medical supply company with mom. We are looking at getting a portable scooter to rent/purchase to help her get around this coming holiday trip to Florida. We were able to rent a scooter for now and are sending in paperwork to the insurance company to see if it will be covered. Then we were off to the bank, lunch and dessert at the mall, Christmas shopping and back to her apt where I spent 2 hours decorating for Christmas. I finally sent mom down to dinner and headed home quite exhausted. I still had enough energy in me to get in some Christmas shopping of my own at Kohls. Wow, what a jam packed weekend. We ended it off having dinner with our friends at their house. Of course Cookie was invited to spend time with their Cavachon, Ripley and we celebrated both of our boy's 16th Birthday party with a big ice cream cake.

I was just as busy during the week. Tom was off working in DC for the week. Scott and I had to throw together a boy scout meeting last Weds. His guest speaker got sick at the last minute, so Scott and I had to come up with a new plan. Scott asked one of the counselors to present the Art Merit Badge. She agreed and after her presentation we had a drawing contest. The boys loved it. When they were done and the awards given out, we asked the boys to make some Holiday cards. They also loved that! Overall, a very successful scout meeting which is Scott's current role as Sr Assistant Patrol Leader.

Scott in the Jingle Bell Run

 Waiting for the Baltimore Mayor's Christmas Parade/Hanging out with the Charm City Rollers

 Scott and Bryce celebrate their 16th Birthdays

Hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving! We had a wonderful holiday with all the family and guest. Allison came home from school on Tuesday night and enjoyed a long weekend with all of us. She had to drop off her roommate and boyfriend first, so she got home late. Plus she had a test in Finance that morning to get through and had to pack up her fish. Only 2 more weeks left for her in this semester!  I picked up my mom for dinner on Thursday and we invited our good friend John over for Thanksgiving dinner as well. The meal was a family project. Tom did the honors of cooking the 25lb turkey on the rotisserie grill. I got the stuffing put together on Weds night after work, and Allison cooked the loaded baked potato casserole on Thursday morning. Scott had salad and rolls. Grandma opened the cranberry sauce! John brought the wine. Pumpkin pie and pumpkin cheesecake courtesy of Costco for dessert.  All in all a very good meal and good company!  And it was the warmest Thanksgiving day I could remember. I ate dinner in shorts and my Turkey trot tshirt.

Allison, Scott and I started our Thursday morning by participating in the YMCA Turkey trot. Scott ended up running in the event and Allison and I took up the back of the pack with Cookie in tow. Cookie was sporting her pumpkin outfit while Allison and I had our turkey hats on! We brought a wagon for Cookie-she still has issues with her torn ACL in the knee(very much like our Joe Flacco, Ravens Qback). We tried pulling Cookie some of the way, especially up the hills, but she was not interested. She kept whining and jumping out. She desperately wanted to walk with us. Now she is paying for it since she is limping around the house.

Just like poor Scott too. He wore himself out this weekend with the race as well as rollerblading at work every day since Weds. And he got a whole year older this Friday. Happy 16th Birthday to Scott! We brought my mom over for his Bday dinner after picking him up from work. Allison made him a chocolate coconut cream pie(his request). It tasted just like a Girl Scout Samoa cookie. And  he was very excited to get a hoverboard,  It is basically a Segway without the handle, and he seems to have mastered it.  I am making him wear a helmet though, and he wants to see if he can ride it at the rink at work(not sure about that). He also wants to see if he can ride it to school(not sure about that either) The thing weighs a ton. He would have to haul it in to his locker. I am sure someone would think he was trying to smuggle in a bomb if he put it in a duffle bag to carry it around. And we think you need to be licensed to use one. At least he is covered with his driver's permit! We really don't want all the kids in the neighborhood asking to try it(don't want to be responsible for broken legs or clunked heads!) It takes some getting used to and good ankle strength!

We spent the rest of the weekend getting in some shopping. The family was off school and work on Weds, although Scott had to work at the roller rink and I was in at the nursing home. Allison did some dress shopping for an upcoming party next weekend at school with her roommate after dropping Scott off. And Tom treated everyone to a Hershey Bears Hockey game Weds night. They had a great time and enjoyed the overtime win. They did not enjoy the new high security screening before the game as they missed the first quarter standing in a very long line. Not sure how many terrroists have made their way to Hershey PA at this time. I stayed home and made stuffing after work as well as putting in my eye drops for pink eye and now rubbing on lotion to avoid getting scabies! We had a lovely scabies outbreak at our facility before the holidays. Never a dull moment!

Allison also spent the weekend getting caught up on some homework, and I put her to work helping me organize a computer photo slide show for my Dad for his memorial service this coming Christmas. Scott also had some homework to finish up this weekend, and even Tom had been on the computer completing online homework. Tom was recently in Chicago on business(glad he got home before the snow up there!). Now he will be traveling down to DC for the upcoming week for work.

On Saturday I enjoyed a special day with the family taking our Christmas photo. Afterwards we went out to lunch and to see the movie ending of The Hunger Games. In the evening, Scott went into work and Allison visited with her boyfriend Tyler and his family at his house. His family  put on a surprise  graduation party for him since he is a Senior and not interested in attending his school ceremony at the end of this winter semester.

On Sunday, Allison spent the morning working on her resume with Tom. She wants to send it in to Northrop for a possible internship next summer. She headed back to school after picking up her passengers for the return trip. I sent her off with an early St Nicks Day stocking as well as a few for her roommates. She also packed up a few holiday decorations for their condo. Scott was off to work in the afternoon after finishing up his homework. I dropped him off and then ran some errands, including having my new tires torque checked at Costco. Tom set up a few outdoor Christmas lights. Nothing too extravagant this year since we will be out of town. I also took down our Thanksgiving decorations. I was putting the candles in all the windows and noticed that a small lamp was left on in our spare bedroom. We had moved a pile of blankets off the guest bed to take it up to Allison's school condo and the blankets landed on the lamp. And they started burning! Along with the lampshade. Thank God I did not burn down our house!

Turkey Trot!

 We made it!

 Thanksgiving Dinner

 Happy 16th Bday Scott!

Unique gifts:
 Scotty O'Hotty Hot Sauce

 Hover Board

Later in the evening, we picked up Scott from work and then Tom and I enjoyed an evening out with our friend John and my fellow co worker, Ann. We headed to DC for dinner at a chinese buffet along with our neighbors and afterwards attended the Christmas Carol Dickens play at the historic Ford Theater where Lincoln was shot. John and I  attended the play several years ago along with Scott and Allison and thought it was an amazing experience. Tom was not able to come since he was traveling for business, So I thought he would enjoy this special program. I also gave our group a quick tour of the Lincoln museum in the basement during the intermission. They have the actual pistol that John Wilkes Booth used to kill Lincoln. And this time I noticed they have the suit Lincoln was wearing when he was killed, along with a blood stained pillow his head was lying on. They also had Lincoln's custom made size 14 shoes! And the actual theatre door to the balcony that Booth shimmied shut when he slipped in behind Lincoln.  And we got home in time for me to watch my recorded mid season finale of the Walking Dead.

All in all, a wonderful Holiday weekend. A big  Happy Birthday to sister in law Sheila Bozyk  who also celebrated her big day this past weekend.

I ended last week with a fun night of Bingo and then topped it off with a case of pink eye. Scott's high school had a fundraiser Bingo event. I have attended with the neighbor ladies for the last 5 years and usually come away with some type of win. Not so this year. But I had a great time. I just wish I had felt better.

Instead, I had to head over to the doctor's office on Saturday morning for eye drops. I was still busy filling up my days off with lots of activities. Again I had some financial issues to deal with for my mom on Friday(phone calls and office visits). I did manage to get to my water aerobics class though on Friday morning, even though my eye started burning.  On Saturday I was busy shopping for Thanksgiving Day dinner as well as buying new tires for my mini van. I left the van at Costco all day while I did some shopping. Tom picked me up and we had lunch together. We then spent the afternoon shopping until the car was ready. We started to pick up a few new Christmas decorations too. The Christmas Holiday decorations have sure gone up a lot earlier than in the past. I am still trying to enjoy the Thanksgiving Holiday! And Scott and I just got the Halloween decorations put away in the attic!

Scott was very busy with tests and projects since this was the last full week of school before the Holiday break. He is really looking forward to a break from school. He did get a small break last Tuesday when he participated in a field trip to a local computer company, Ciena, with his Robotics team. The group was treated to a tour of the company by the CEO, free lunch(designer pizza) and computer tote bags with polo shirts and pens.  He also managed to run another successful boy scout meeting. This week the theme revolved around music. He had the badge counselor for the Music badge and the Bugler. It made for an interesting meeting. He also attended a a planning meeting on Monday and volunteered on Thursday evening for their blood drive. I was busy making cookies to donate to their bake sale. Scott was also busy working this past weekend at the roller rink.

On Sunday I went in to work for a few hours to get caught up before the Holiday week. In the afternoon I picked up my mom for a hair appointment. Afterwards we went to church and then headed home for dinner. I also managed to get a few bags of leaves out to the curb. Most of them have fallen off the trees onto our lawn, so it keeps me very busy!

A very busy week. Just wish I was feeling a bit better. We are looking forward to seeing Allison when she comes home for the Thanksgiving Holiday! We are looking forward to participating in the YMCA Turkey Trot this Thanksgiving morning!

Happy Birthday to Me! I celebrated my big day on Friday the 13th. Actually, it was 11/13/15. A date that does not pop up that often(3 consecutive odd numbers). So it was extra special! Our family enjoyed dinner out on Friday night along with my mom at Olive Garden. I especially enjoyed my free pumpkin cheesecake while opening up my gifts. I also decided to throw my own birthday party and invited all our neighbors to join us for dinner out on Saturday night. Afterwards, we girls headed over to enjoy an evening of painting, cake and wine. I have been to the Painting Wine Bar before(painted in the dark when the power went out!). This time we took on Van Gogh's Starry Starry Night. (I think Tom enjoys the original better). But I really had a great time and enjoyed the company.   (And the presents!)

I was also looking forward to a bit of relaxation after spending the whole week with my mom in the hospital. She was admitted last Tuesday after throwing up(again). Looks like she has an issue with gall stones. She spent Tuesday night and most of Weds sleeping in the ER. Weds night she was admitted to the cardiac unit in the hospital for observation and then discharged Thursday night. It made for a very long week. Especially since I had two classes to attend on Thursday-one before work and one after. I had just returned home from a very long day and had to head out again to the ER. Fortunately she seems to be doing much better. Nothing really recommended for treatment. But now we know. I also spent most of Saturday at a class dealing with Alzheimers and dementia. It was a program put on for caregivers. Very nicely done. They served breakfast and lunch, I received a back massage and even won a gift basket! All in all, a wonderful (but tiring) day.

Mom was feeling well enough to join us for dinner on Friday night. On Sunday afternoon I picked her up after getting Scott from work. We went to church and came home for dinner(and more birthday cake).

Scott continues to stay busy at work on the weekends at the roller rink. He also is busy running the weekly boy scout meetings. And he had an added bonus of running a Video game tournament at his school on Friday night. The Business Club president asked Scott if he would help organize an event at the school. 60 kids showed up! Looks like it was a success. They are looking forward to working together in the future and running more tournaments. And then there is always school. He also squeezed in a dentist appointment and has been meeting with his robotics team. They are planning a Field Trip next week to a company that makes circuit boards.

I tried talking Allison into coming home and joining me in my painting class. But she was busy with another day of Ultimate Frisbee. I was surprised she could play since we had a very windy weekend. Scott even went out driving with Tom (on the freeway this time!). Scott was amazed how difficult it can be to keep control of the car in high wind.

And Tom headed out to Chicago on Sunday morning to work. At least his trip went smoothly. With all the chaos in Paris, the airports have been especially on high alert. Just glad he had a safe trip.

This was certainly an action packed week. I started Monday off with a phone call at work  from my mom's apartment complex letting me know that she was in the hospital. She had gone down to lunch and was throwing up. They were checking her out to see if she'd had a heart attack or stroke or was dehydrated. After spending the entire day with her in the ER and waiting for them to run lots of tests, they decided she had a stomach virus. They pumped her up with IV fluids just in case. I took her home, helped her get a shower, a sandwich and sent her to bed. They kept her locked up in her apt for a few days just in case.

As soon as I got home Monday night,  the phone was ringing. The boy scouts were looking for Scott for their Sr Patrol meeting. Back in the car. Scott has been running around about as much as I have. He did a terrific job running the Halloween boy scout meeting last week, and this week it was an Open House for the cub scouts with lots of work stations. I have been busy collecting permission slips and checks for the boys upcoming rappelling and zipline camping trip(which we are all skipping this year). Too many other activities. He also has to make phone calls and set up guest speakers for each meeting to present scout badges. It is keeping him on his toes. Plus his video club is participating in a county wide tournament at his high school this coming week. So he needs to send out fliers. And robotics is kicking it up a notch, planning each week in the evening for this year's upcoming tournament. He has also been working at the roller rink consistently every weekend and is really enjoying it. Oh yes, and in his spare time he does his homework. He is so happy to have survived his first semester which ended last week.

I also spent all day Friday assisting my mom with her finances. Pretty much every financial disaster that could occur did. I started the morning off with the IRA account for my dad from Charles Schwab. Mom and I had spent over an hour filling out paperwork two weeks ago to switch the account to her name. Guess it did not work. They screwed up the whole transaction and still wanted more ID on mom. After multiple phone calls(and advice from our broker), we straightened it out. Then it was on to their Huntington account. They just now switched the address(I requested the switch over a year ago). No one answered their phone. Next disaster. They have been overcharging my parent's account at the Sunrise apt complex. So much for automatic deduction. I was on the phone over an hour with their billing office. Needless to say, they owe mom quite a bit of money. And last but not least, we spent another hour at Bank of America, still trying to close out my Dad's account and switch it over to my mom only. Unfortunately most of these offices don't have the authority to do anything and the large corporation offices(mostly in Texas I found out) can't keep track of all the data. So you spend the entire day on the phone and pushing papers. Only a year and a half and I have not yet gotten my parent's business finished. Guess I never really will.

I was also busy making family dentist appointments and a PT appointment for my mom's arthritic knee.  At least I got in a water exercise class Friday morning. And I ended the day on a high note playing BUNCO with the neighborhood girls. On Saturday, Tom and I dropped Scott off at work and picked up my mom to go see the new James Bond movie Spectre. It is a full 2.5hrs long. Mom seemed to really enjoy it-it was loud and full of action. So it did not matter that she chatted away the entire movie. I don't think anyone could hear her! After picking up Scott from work, we all headed out for dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse. It was a great day to spend at the movies since it rained.

Friday the temp jumped up to 80! Tom was able to get outside and cut the grass and mulch the leaves. On Sunday I spent some time shoveling up the leaves while Scott was at work. It was a bit chilly, but very sunny. A good day to take Cookie for a walk too. Only after I did all my shopping errands. I am getting a head start on Christmas shopping! And I still have some Halloween decorations to put away and finish putting up the Thanksgiving knick knacks(before the Christmas decorations come out!). And our Girl Scout choir has started up another season of singing. I did not make the Monday night performance with the Pride of Baltimore Sweet Adeline singers. Fortunately they had lots of girl scouts singing. I have been too busy to make all the practice sessions too. I should be ok on the Christmas songs at least.

Another exciting Halloween has come and gone. I was busy running around last Friday and Saturday getting food ready for our neighborhood party as well as cleaning and decorating. I mainly spent Friday running errands for my mom(as usual). In the morning I had to meet with the estate planning lawyer to rewrite my Dad's trust. Afterwards I met with the broker to discuss the finances under the upcoming new trust. I finally made it over to my mom's apartment to pick her up for a hair appointment. When I arrived, I found all the residents sitting in the front lobby waiting for trick or treaters. There is a Goddard Day care program next door and the kids came over after their naps for trick or treating. There must have been about 50 or more kids! I think the parents picked up the older kids from school and added them to the toddler bunch. But the kids were so adorable! And the residents seemed to really enjoy passing out the candy and getting dressed up themselves. Mom was sporting Mickey Mouse ears. She had a lot of visits from Minnie Mouses!  After two hours of passing out candy, we were out the door for both of our hair appointments.

I decided to get my hair cut too. While mom was busy at the salon I finished running my errands. I picked her up and we headed home for dinner. I even put her to work helping me make chili for the party as well as an apple pie from the apples we had picked ourselves. Then I dropped her back home, only to pick her up on Saturday evening for our Halloween party. What a beautiful evening it turned out to be. We were running around the neighborhood in tshirts. I sent two small groups of guests out on a scavenger hunt. It was a great excuse to get out and see all the decorations and kids and dogs in their costumes. Our neighbors down the street had a bonfire in their driveway and were hosting a cook out. I was sporting my Walking Dead costume(the neighborhood kids thought I was Jack Sparrow the pirate). What do kids know. I was Michonne from the Walking Dead(she kills zombies with a ninja sword and has dreadlocks). I bought a wig. Everyone came to our party dressed in some type of costume. It was terrific. We ate tons of food and played Pictionary afterwards. Mom kept score. She said she just enjoyed watching all of us make fools of ourselves. We also had two cavachon puppies running around under our feet-Cookie dressed as a Ton Ton with Luke Skywalker riding her and Ripley borrowed our pumpkin outfit. They were adorable. Or as one guest pointed out, Cookie came dressed as Ripley and Ripley as Cookie(they really do look exactly alike). Anyhow, the extra hour came in handy on Saturday night. I dropped mom off around 11pm(10pm daylight savings time). And it was nice to sleep in on Sunday morning.

We were especially happy to have Allison home for the party. She spent the entire day playing Field Hockey at Uof Maryland. They were in the playoffs, but lost their 1st two games. So they were eliminated. But they were asked to play a 3rd game. Allison played incredibly well and they won. By the way, she was the only goalie playing for her team that day and each game is 1 hour long. They were asked to play a 4th game at 6pm and that is when the girls called it quits. They may have played all night and then would have had to play again on Sunday. The girls were exhausted and just wanted to go home.

It was so fun having kids at our Halloween party. It is nice that the different generations can hang out together and have a lot of fun doing so. Scott had tried to organize his friends in order to have another scary moviethon but last minute planning did not work out. They are rescheduling this coming weekend.

Scott was also busy working this past weekend at the roller rink, although he said it was surprisingly slow. Guess all the kids were off doing other activities. He finished his 1st semester of school on Friday and was so relieved to have a little break(very little). He still had lots of assignments to catch up on Sunday afternoon after work. He has also been busy running the boy scout meetings. Last week the boys enjoyed themselves with a costume contest and pumpkin carving contest. I picked up a few prizes for the boys and came dressed in my Star Wars skirt. (It glows in the dark!)  The scout leader and his wife were sporting their Star Trek uniforms. Guess we are all geeks! Scott is still trying to adjust to his new role as Assistant Sr Patrol Leader. Last week he had to run the meeting himself when all the rest of the boys came down with the flu. And he is still very busy keeping his video club running. I am also busy working with the boy scouts-attending the parents meeting on Monday and collecting money and permission slips for an upcoming rappelling and zipline camping trip.

Allison headed back to school Sunday afternoon(before it got dark). I packed her up with plenty of food and candy bars.

It was nice to end October on a high note. Last week was a bit depressing as I said goodbye to 3 wonderful people that recently passed away. On Thursday, Tom and I attended a wake for a good neighbor of ours-Paul Rehmet. He was in his late 80s. His wife Winnie is amazing and is staying on in their home. (must be that german heritage). After the wake, Tom and I decided to go out to dinner. I was also shocked to hear that the kids previous school nurse passed away last week-she was only 54. Not sure what happened to her. And then I received a phone call from my old high school pet store boss. Al and Bonnie informed me that our dear friend, Rochelle had passed away suddenly of a heart attack. She was 75 and living with her youngest daughter in Las Vegas. We used to all hang out together when I was in high school working at the pet store. And after going to the late Sunday mass, I was shocked to hear that one of my girl scout moms and fellow co leader was recently diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Not a great week.

On a good note, Congratulations go out to Tom for being accepted into an online University PhD program. He is studying Management and took his first online test this weekend. Only 3 more years to go! Happy Birthday to Stacey's husband Matt. Hope you all got to do something fun and special to celebrate. And Congrats to Eric and Sarah on the purchase of their 1st home! What fun!

Scott carves his pumpkin at Boy Scouts

 Lots of Decorations for Halloween

 Spooky house guests!

 Our spooky house

 Beautiful Fall Color