Time is flying!

Hello! This week has been total chaos! I'm not sure where to start. The past week has just flown by and I'm not sure really what I've accomplished. I want to apologize to the groups I belong to for not posting but life is a little chaotic at the moment. My Father was admitted to the hospital in the early morning hours on Monday. I wanted to rush to NY right then (I had originally planned on visiting next week anyway) but after talking to my Mother she assured me that it wasn't necessary. Sometimes it's hard to know if she wants her solitude or if she really needs a helping hand. I've been calling often and even spoke with Dad on the phone yesterday, who is now home from the hospital. I don't get to talk to him often as he can't hear well but I was able to get a laugh out of him which sounded like heaven to me! I'll be leaving for NY in a day or two. My family is so busy, it's hard to divide my time, sometimes I think I need a clone!

So let me back up to the retreat. I had the best time! The ladies who go on this retreat are soooooo much fun! I swear my sides are still hurting from all the laughing we did. These ladies are hillarious! I think they liked the bookmarks I made, I didn't hear any complaints anyway...haha. It is a peaceful, lovely setting on the water and in the morning the water was like glass. So calm and peaceful. We watched a swan taking off one morning, and a heron the next (I never realized they were so big!). We stay up late, get up early and unless we are eating, we do nothing but stitch! I took the ASAW SAL with me and they LOVED the patterns and gave me some good ideas about how to proceed. I'll post pictures another day. It rained quite a bit, but it didn't matter, we were too busy stitching! One lady brought some Smith Island cake. You can find a little bit about it here http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=88412262 This cake was "created" on Smith Island in the Chesapeake Bay and has become a local legend, not to mention the state cake. It is to die for! They have different kinds, but Pat brought two kinds with her, a chocolate and a strawberry. They have at least 7 layers, most are thinner than 1/4 inch, with frosting in between. We look forward to them every year because there are very few places outside Smith Island that you can get them, and Pat lives in the same town as one of their bakeries. We also play "Yankee Trader" and I "won" a candle, a tin and a pair of stitching girl socks!!! Debbie's husband makes baskets and this year he made each of us one! I'll put up pictures next time, I promise. The ladies are camera shy so I didn't take any pictures of them, but I'll put some pictures up of the cabin next time.

This week I have done nothing but run errands, make appointments, sort out family issues and run myself ragged. I realized last night that I'm uptight because I haven't been able to stitch. It's amazing how much it relaxes me! So I'm catching you up on the news then I have a few more errands to run today, then I'm going to park myself and get some stitching in before tonight's activities take over! My son will be going on a teen lock-in tonight. The church is sponsoring this, they bus them to the local mall where they will have a scavenger hunt, have a quick bite to eat, then back to the church where they will stay up all night playing games and having fun. Ben looks forward to their lock-ins, he always has a great time. One time they had the kids take a huge box and cut and decorate it to look like a car, then they parked them in the gym and watched a "drive-in" movie! There are some creative people in our church that make life fun for the kids! But, while the cat's away, the mice will play! DH and I have plans of our own. We don't get out on our own much so we'll have a "date night" of our own. I'm looking forward to it as much as DS is to his night!

Ok, time to get this day rolling. I don't know when I'll post again, probably not until I get back from NY. Will catch you up on the news then. Take care!