A Few Days In Louisville Kentucky

Hello and happy Monday. Last Sunday I had to take a trip to Louisville Kentucky for a work meeting. I was meeting with the tourism group that my work is a part of. I will have a much more detailed post on each of the attractions that we visited. I had such a fun time.

As you may know. The Kentucky Derby was held on Saturday May 4th just four miles from the hotel we were staying in. We were going into the city on Sunday so most of the action had already calmed down before we got into town. I was traveling alone and I left out Sunday afternoon. It was about a five hour drive for me. Of course I put off packing until the last minute. I think if I felt better about how I look in my clothes it would be easier to prepare and know what to pack, but that is a story for another time.

I left out about 2:00 PM on Sunday and drove the entire drive with just a couple of quick stops. When I arrived the hotel was still decorated with hundreds of flowers from the Derby celebration.

We stayed downtown at The Embassy Suites on Fourth Street. It was so nice and the staff really had it going on in The hospitality department. Everyone at the hotel was so nice and helpful. Even though they had just dealt with hundreds of people staying at the hotel for the Derby. Our hotel was within walking distance of Museum Row, and the Muhammad Ali Center. And we were just four miles from Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby.

I had stopped for a quick bite on my way in so once I got to the hotel I just settled into my room. It was very nice. It was actually a suite.

And you know me. I brought a good book and some knitting. My meeting the following day didn’t start until noon so I slept in. Such decadence!!!! Only a meeting and dinner was scheduled for Monday.

Along with the meetings I knew a lot of fun had been planned as well. When we do these meetings we usually get to meet with several of their lead tourism people. On Tuesday we got a behind the scenes tour of Churchill Downs, Toured the Derby Museum, visited a Loom House and was able to do a little weaving, we had a bourbon tasting at the Frazier History Museum, and finished the day off at The Louisville Slugger Museum. What a fun and tiring day.

***Churchill Downs. It was hard to believe that only 48 hours earlier this track was full of the sound of thundering hooves.***

***The Little Loom House. One of my favorite stops.***

I can’t begin to tell you in one post about each of these wonderful places. I will put them in separate posts so that you can experience each place.

After a short meeting on Wednesday morning I started my long drive home. Unfortunately it rained most of the way home and took me even longer to get there.

I was so happy to get home even though I did have to go right back to work the next morning. I think the inside kitties missed me a lot. They both insisted on sleeping on the bed with me.

That is what I have been up to. Add in Playing catch up at work and it has made for a very busy week. I have missed all of you and I am happy to be back.

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!

Hello Monday

Hello and happy Monday. I have been struggling the past three weeks with a bad knee. I think I pulled something a few weeks ago when we were moving things out of my mother in law’s apartment at the Assisted Living Village.

Knee injuries are nothing new to me. I have had them on my right knee a couple of different times throughout the years. I hobbled around for a week or so. I decided to give myself two weeks and if it wasn’t better I would see an Orthapedic Doctor. It is better. I have been wearing a knee brace and it is much much better. Thank goodness.

The weather here has been really nice and we have had a lot of things blooming. We are currently experiencing a cold snap which I think may be whip-poor-will winter. Or maybe Locust Winter. I have been hearing the whip-poor-will calling in the woods at night and early morning.

I spent some time last weekend out on my deck. The weather was so nice. I read a lot of my book. I’ve trying to stay off of my devices when I am at home and just enjoy the things around me. Plus I couldn’t really do much around the house with my bum knee.

***My view from the deck. A lot of bugs flying around this time of year. I guess you just have to take the good with the bad.***

I couldn’t remember if I had introduced you to my latest orchid, Camilla, I bought her a couple of weeks ago. She is doing great!!! My niece rescued three orchids from a building that had housed a nursery. A lot of plants that were struggling were just left behind. She brought me three. I will let you know more about those later. I need to replant them and get them settled in.

I celebrated my Birthday and Wedding Anniversary this past week. My sister had a pizza party for me yesterday. We had such a great time. My coworkers had Birthday cake for me too. My husband had to work so we will be celebrating the Anniversary and Birthday later this week.

***I have to leave you with a picture of my sweet Izzy. She is almost the exact color of the rocks.***

Have a wonderful week

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!

Sunrise Sunset

Hello friends. What a week it has been. I hope yours has been much better. I am sorry that it has been a bit quiet here on the blog but as Dolly Parton says, I haven’t had time to scratch.

Last Saturday, eleven days ago to be exact, my little mother in law fell. We got the call from the Assisted Living Village, where she lives, around noon on Saturday. My husband and I were on our way to Lowe’s to pick out a new refrigerator and stove and have a late Valentine’s Day lunch. So we were actually already in town. They told us they thought she had broken her leg.

An ambulance was called and we spent several hours at our local hospital ER. After doing X-Rays and a CT scan they told us nothing was broken and she was just bruised up. She was sent back to the assisted living village.

She was in more pain than ever the next day and the village called for a mobile X-ray unit. They discovered that her hip had a fracture. The same hip she broke in 2018. We then spent several hours back at our local ER for more images. They confirmed the fractured hip and referred us to The University of Tennessee Hospital in Knoxville. She was taken by ambulance. This was around 2:00 AM on Monday morning. I was told that the check in process in Knoxville would take several hours. I ran home to get a bag to take with me. I got to the hospital a short while after the ambulance. It was about 4:30 AM. We waited ten hours to get a hospital room. It was a nightmare. The ER was packed.

After consulting with the surgeons and the ER doctor we decided against the surgery. She doesn’t walk now and they knew and we knew she couldn’t and wouldn’t do the therapy. The pain would be handled with medication.

In the last six months my husband and I have watched her decline quickly. After being put in the hospital it was worse. She doesn’t know us most of the time. She won’t eat. A lot is going on. Thursday we were ready to have her moved to a full care facility. Transport had been called and she was given a Covid test. She tested positive for Covid. WHAT??? I felt so sorry for her. So she is still in the hospital. She will probably be there for a while. The full care facility will not take her until ten days after testing positive for Covid. Things are not looking good.

***This is me and my little mother in law on. Valentine’s Day. I was able to visit her and eat lunch with her.***

So this last week has been a whirl wind of hospital and work for me and my husband. There is no one else to help. My husband’s only brother passed away last July. His mom was an only child so it is just the two of us. We have either been at the hospital or work almost every day since this happened. The first two days she was in the hospital I took off from work and stayed with her all day leaving her only at night. I packed a bag with lots of books and knitting and anything else I thought I would need.

I stayed at home all day yesterday and caught up on laundry and just a lot of things that needed attention. It was good to be at home. I know Gus has missed us being at home he has been extra loving to us. It’s funny how animals always seem to know when you need some extra attention. The other cats have been their same aloof selves.

A lot of things happened in the last couple of weeks and I will catch up on all of them in a future post. My blog turned six years old. The Anniversary of my husband’s kidney transplant was last Saturday. It has been 13 years. We named the kidney Baby Kay. Since we don’t have children and the kidney did belong to me for many years we decided to name her. So Baby Kay officially turned 13 and is now a teenager. If you would like to read more about the kidney transplant you can find it in a previous blog post here

The reason I named this post Sunrise Sunset is because the sun was usually rising about the time that I got to the hospital to be with my mother in law and then setting when I started for home. The hospital is an hour and fifteen minutes from where we live. I think during times of stress and worry it helps to appreciate the little things that are really quite beautiful things.

***Daffodils are starting to pop up everywhere.***

The daffodils are blooming and spring is in the air. Of course with our crazy East Tennessee weather it could be snowing next week. I hope you are having a great start to your week.

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!

Pound Cake and Some Thrift Store Finds – Hello Monday!!!

Hello and happy Monday how was your weekend? It rained all weekend and most of today. But at the end of the day the clouds suddenly parted and the sun came out. It was a nice surprise.

Over the weekend I decided to bake a pound cake in my bundt pan. I have had this pan for years. It weighs a ton. I got it from my husband’s grandmother. I haven’t used it for a long time. I got the pan out, it is cast iron, greased it really well and made my cake. I decided for extra moistness I would add an additional egg, some extra butter, and a little extra water to the mix.

***Oh I forgot to mention it also stuck to the pan.***

At first all looked well. The cake rose beautifully, even though my oven is somewhat on its last legs, and that may be what I am getting for Valentine’s Day. I know, so romantic. But when I took the cake out it seemed to deflate. It sunk down to about half the height that it was. But it tasted great anyway. I think adding all the extras was probably a little too much. In the past I have added a couple of things but it was probably a little too much at one time.

On Saturday I visited a couple of thrift stores in search of some bottles for my bottle tree. I didn’t have any luck. I had ordered a few extra from Amazon and I put those on the tree. Even though I didn’t find any bottles I did find a few other things that I just couldn’t seem to pass up.

I still have several stems for bottles. I will continue my search. I think that will be half the fun.

First, this purse. I just love it. The tag had spring purse on the label. I found it at a local antique mall. The booth was a new one with a lot of great stuff. The purse is brand new. I don’t think it would hold a lot of things but it will be perfect for spring and summer. It’s also quite large. It may make a good knitting bag.

Next, A few weeks ago I bought these green glass bottles and this week I found the little glass flowers. I think they go great together.

I bought this book by Beverly Cleary. I had so many of her books growing up. I still have a lot of them. This is one I didn’t have so I was so happy to get it.

Next, I love this little yellow McCoy bowl. I will probably save it to give as a Birthday gift to someone. I actually bought it with them in mind.

And finally look at these stickers. I don’t know about where you are from but stickers are big now. We sell a lot of them in our gift shop at work. I work with a lot of young people. They will love these. All of these stickers came in a small pack for $1.00. There are ten different stickers in each pack!!! I bought three packs because I didn’t really know if they were stickers. They are, and I plan to give them out to our team members. I will go back and get more of these.

Look at the lake at our house. Because of all the rain over the weekend the lake rose quickly and it is really muddy.

I leave you with a picture of my little Izzy. She is so adventurous and a scaredy cat at the same time. She is mama cat’s favorite of the outside kitties. But you didn’t hear that from me.