Catchin up is hard to do.....

Well, well, well it's been another week (again) since my last post. If I'm gonna do this thing and do it right I've got to learn to slow down. So, what has kept me from my blog?!



Let me think....as you've previously read we started Tee-ball this year and it's a two time a week ordeal...if we are here we're there and if aren't there we're here....it's been fun watching these little guys learn the "ins" and "OUTS" of baseball....there's absolutely no consistency in their game which makes each game night even more FUN! We've got one that thinks "tag the runner" means throwing the ball at him and another that likes to "twirl" in circles as he runs from base to base. It really has been a lot of fun - Buttermaker's doing a good job and even manages to hold off the cold one until he gets home....though I'm pretty sure I saw a few of them (the coaches) secretly sharin' some brew last night - it WAS really hot!



Aside from tee-ball it's been the usual for this city girl gone country and I'm happy to report that all of the animals have been tended to by Matt and the kids - thank you God! It's starting to get pretty out here again - the grasses are turning green and the flowers are blooming everywhere...I've got to work on snapping a couple of bluebonnet pics before it gets too hot and they all die....which could be tomorrow - one never knows here in Texas.



I attended a women's retreat this last weekend in New Braunfels! I've had this retreat planned since January and not two days after I send in my registration fee Matt decides to let me know that he has their annual Bullet and Bugs "thingy" at work that weekend and OF COURSE has to be there at the butt crack of dawn "probably" until dark.....where does that leave me? On a mad search for a babysitter - as always! So - I was able to get Glady's (our tried and true) to come and spend her Saturday with our kids while we are both off doing our thing.





I head to the retreat via Austin stopping at every new Marshalls and Target along the way....my how Austin has grown! As registration time gets close to being OVER I decide I'd better get a move on it and head South.....I know that the San Marcos Outlet Stores are soon to appear on my left and have to talk myself out of stopping. I'm sure those passing me think I've lost my mind as I'm talking to myself....neck cranked to the left, driving too slow in the fast lane trying to take it all in.....planning my attack for the return trip...my mouth's watering as I pass KENNETH COLE, MICHAEL KORS, WHITE/BLACK, COACH and the list goes ON and ON! So anyway, I arrive at T bar M and get my registration packet and room key. I've never met my roommate before but know that she is from La Grange. I unload my bags (you'd think I was staying 2 weeks not 2 nights) and lug them up the stairs, I find my room and knock on the door. My new roomie answers and I'm pleasantly surprised! A striking woman with blonde hair and a beautiful smile maybe just a bit older than myself - excited we make our introductions and visit for a minute before heading to dinner. I sit with my new roomie and some other ladies from La Grange - it's nice to be able to put names with faces! After dinner and the welcoming ceremony we head back to our room. AND that's when it happened......my roomie looks at me and asks the dreaded question...."do you snore?".....me, snore? No - and I'm praying to God at this very moment that YOU DON'T EITHER! She tells me that she does snore and that she mentioned it when she registered....I tell her that it's okay - thinking to myself "it can't be that bad - she's not overweight, doesn't smoke, appears to be healthy....she probably just sends out a little gurgle here and there....I can handle that - I'll just take a little more of my sleeping pill and all will be fine!" We prepare for bed and watch a re-run of 2.5 Men laughing hysterically b/c Charlie Sheen is such a pig......11:00 comes around and lights are out - all is quiet and I fall into the best sleep I've had in a while....how blissful! And suddenly I am awakened by the most horrifying sound - a sound so powerful I'm sure the walls are shaking and the pictures are about to hit the floor. I sit up completely startled and realize that it is, in fact, my roomie! How can that be? How can she make such a sound? But most importantly how am I going to get the sleep that I am so craving? I go to the bathroom and turn two wads of toilet paper into "earplugs" throw the pillow over my head and think for a split second that my problem is solved BUT no such luck. I lay there until I can't take it anymore and decide to go down to the front desk to see if it is possible for me to be put in another room. I approach this college kid that is warming up his ramen noodle dinner. With a unmistakable "bed head" and glassy, groggy eyes I tell him ... I've been put in a room with someone who snores (can't you hear her?) and can't sleep. Is it possible for you to put me in another room? Okay, obviously I am in a sleep deprived daze b/c I'm seriously asking for another room....and of course I get this response..."I can put you in another room but I'll have to charge you" DUH! ?! I've already paid for a room I just want one that I can actually sleep in!!! So then I ask the starving college student if he might happen to have any cotton balls b/c the toilet paper I tried DIDN'T WORK! He digs around searching for NOTHING I'm sure and comes up with another familiar answer...NO! By this time I'm sure his ramen noodles are cold and I'm feeling a little okay about that! (Now that's just not nice is it?) At the same time I'm feeling gratification for keeping him from his hot ramen noodle dinner I'm also eyeballing the couch in the lobby wondering if I go park it on his sofa might he throw me a blankie?? Frustrated and almost tearful I drag on back toward my room and I suddenly allow by half dead brain to "think". I go to the car and retrieve a pair of the headphones that go with the DVD system - white noise! Of course! This noise has got to be better than that noise.....so I go upstairs quietly.....trying not to wake my roomie up....as if this could actually happen, put the toilet paper earplugs in my ears, place the headphones over my toilet paper stuffed ears and top it off with my pillow! Are you kidding me? I can still hear the rumble of my roomies throat(?) At this point I don't believe there is any noise that could drowned out the sounds my roomie was belting out! Soon morning arrives and I look at my watch 6:00 - guess I could go to the 6:30 YOGA session OR I could take advantage of this unfamiliar thing called silence....I rearrange my pilot sized headphones almost tempted to take them off and doze off for about 30 seconds and there she goes again! The alarm goes off to get up (not sure how my roomie heard it) and we start to stir....of course the first thing out of my roomies mouth was "did I snore and keep you up?" I cannot tell a lie......YES! YES you did -- ALL NIGHT LONG (lionel richie?) She felt horrible, of course, but we laughed about all of my antics - I just couldn't keep them to myself! We both agreed that we will work on better sleeping arrangements for my last night there!

So, I decide to call Matt and wish him a "good day" as this would be the first time we'd actually spoken in the last couple of days due to some tension that has come up due to a whole different situation. And wouldn't you know it? Berkleigh has been throwing up since one o'clock in the morning...every hour! Just what I needed to hear...and where exactly was Matt's place in all of this? At the "work related" "thingy" -- of course....it's ALWAYS work related and he can NEVER miss it! UGH! So I ask him as he's traveling toward his destination and I'm preparing to head home....."does Glady's have Gatorade, crackers, bananas ANYTHING?" The response? "There's a couple of bottles of Propel on the floor in the pantry." A couple of bottles of Propel? Are you kidding me?...can you NOT think outside of YOUR box?.....so with a calmness in my voice I ask him..."don't you think you should have taken a few minutes to get Glady's the things she might need to keep Berkleigh HYDRATED for the 12 hours that she might be with her?" Frustrated, I hung up and called home to check on Berkleigh.....Gladys said that Berkleigh was fine, wasn't running fever and that I shouldn't head home....she can handle the throwing up and Matt just came back with Gatorade and crackers....hmm...way to SYA - she said she would call me if she needed me! Feeling very confident with Gladys carrying for my sick child I stayed at the retreat. As lunch approached I thought it might be time for me to figure out a way to get some sleep....the only other person I knew at the retreat well enough to invite myself over for the night was my girlfriend Tracy. So I explain my previous night to Tracy and she invites me to stay in her snore free room without hesitation. She then tells me that she is sharing her room with her mother and her friend Candra. Candra and Tracy are both psychotherapists and they are each doing a workshop at the retreat! Well, what a night it turned out to be! After dinner and dessert we head back to the room. It didn't take me long to learn that there should be a heavy emphasis on the word "psycho" when referring to these two ladies! I LOVE it! It was like a high school slumber party all over and these three smarties were throwing out words and acronyms left and right....I was trying to pick up everything I could so I could use them at a later date!! I too am SMART ha ha! We laughed so hard that night - about anything and everything. There was a picture on the wall in the room that had "buffalo bill" in it so the lead us into a "Silence of the Lambs" quote fest ... "last time I ate a man's liver, I ate it with a can of fava beans and a nice glass of Chianti....then there's that crazy tongue thing he does at the end...." YIKES! And what about "it puts the lotion on it's skin, it does this when it's told" Giggle, giggle, giggle. We really got tickled when a quote that has been around for ever was misquoted ... someone said something about being "old in the tooth" uhhhh? Isn't it "long in the tooth" - I'm not sure why but we all got so tickled at that we just couldn't quit laughing. (especially Pam aka Bathsheba) We finally all dozed off and yes, there was a little gurgle coming from the other side of the room but it didn't bother me...God had purposely put me in that room to make new friends and to build on the friendship I had already started..... and that He did!!! Until next time!