vacation is over.

it's good to be home from vacation. it's been quite a week, but i'm living through it. kate didn't give me quite the reaction i wanted when i got home. (picturing soft music, kate running towards me in slow motion with arms wide open for a hug, then a huge kiss) but more of a "ah." that's all she said. but she has enjoyed my being home.
tuesday was spent at staff meeting, returning lots of voice mails, and i also took kate to andy's cabbage ball game. don't ask me what cabbage ball is, all i know is that it's a really big ball, bigger than softball, and you don't need gloves. i do know that kate did not enjoy it because it was past her bedtime, but i did satisfy andy with some biscuits from popeyes when he got home from his game.
wednesday i ran the front desk at lagniappe, which was hard and busy. i met some homeless people, some hurricane victims, and did my best to get some help for them. andy and i took kate to lane shaw's home for dinner, which involved me chasing after kate while she pushed the stroller. she is so busy these days, that there is no relaxing involved during her waking hours. those of you with babies that still sit in a rear-facing car seat, enjoy!
thursday i headed to the big city of gulfport, ms for my first trial as a special master, which is where i am working in a court case as a novice mediator, something that i've done before. i enjoyed the hearing and i can definitely see a future for me in something like court reporting. i was very captivated and even took notes. i can't discuss the case but i'm glad to help out.
i also visited barnes and noble, where i shopped, browsed. as i passed the bargain table, i saw the book "don't sweat the small stuff" and remembered that the author of such book passed away 2 years ago of a heart attack. what irony. i still can't get over it. i think he was 47.
friday i spent working around the house, and then andy and i had a set of friends babysit, so we were able to get out of the house for the 1st time since march. we went across the st louis bay bridge over to the pass where we looked at boats, then back to daniel's in bsl for dinner and to listen to one of my favorite bands, easy street. i know i've mentioned them here before but i was so happy to find out they were playing that night. it was lots of fun. i had some wing wang woo's with my friend tina and then we headed home.
saturday i took kate to lagniappe so that we could have lunch with the group of volunteers from brookhaven, and it was great to chat with them about lagniappe and the bay. i am always so encouraged to see the teams from brookhaven, because it reminds me of the wonderful church i grew up in.
that afternoon we played at home and then went to the beach with amanda, susan, and crew. it was great. i love going to the beach. kate did pretty well and andy fished.
later we headed out for another favorite band, dr zarr and the amazing funk monster. we had a great time, and it was probably my 5th time to see them, but it was the best. so much fun. i am so glad we went!
sunday was another day of the memorial day weekend, and andy went to church while i rested with kate. we had a long naptime, which is always good on sundays.
monday andy worked lots of the day, but was able to come home to take kate and me to the beach for a long afternoon. it was kate's longest day at the beach, and she had SUCH fun riding floats, building sandcastles with amanda, running around, and swimming. although our car broke down, it was out of the shop today, which was very quick. i was so tired after the whole day that i went to sleep at 8 pm.
today we worked worked worked and now we are ready to sleep. but i haven't blogged in so long that i had to catch up.
so you haven't missed too much!