Red Butterfly

...Do as the Romans

2010-06-04T15:48:00.003-04:00

Day Two was busy! We were up and out of the hotel by 8 a.m. and on the way to tour the Colosseum. While the architecture wasn't as glorious as what the Greek's produced, the engineering is a marvel. Taking two amphitheaters and putting them together to create the first arena, with a cover on top (domed arena), pulleys and elevators to bring animals and gladiators, and prisoners to the surface for battles of "sport," and the ability to seat 50,000 people who could all get out of the building at the end of the day within 15 minutes. Anyone who has sat in post-game traffic can appreciate that fete.

We then headed over to the Arch of Constantine and on to the Roman Forum. Lisa called the Forum the "Pit of Death" after she returned from visiting Rome in June several years ago. We were there on a lovely spring day with highs in the low 70's, but the lack of any shade and being in a bowl several feet below street level did make me appreciate how horrible it must have been for her and her companions. It was amazing to see the Rostrum, or "Speaker's Corner," and the Temple of Julius Caesar, where his body was cremated, along with the House of the Vestal Virgins and the remains of several other temples, but it was the Curia, or Roman Senate, that made this political geek's heart soar. I mean, here, in this spot, Julius Caesar, Marc Antony, Brutus, and Augustus, among so many others we know, debated, deliberated, and in many cases, plotted to overthrow by one means or another. Here also was the beginnings of a republican (little "R") form of government. I was overwhelmed again.

Next we were supposed to head to the Pantheon, stopping on the way to see a Michelangelo and a Bernini, not to mention getting a bite to eat. However, I decided to let Mom do a little of the guiding, and so handed over the map once we were in front of the Victor Emmanuel Monument, ready for her to take us a few blocks northwest. We headed down a quaint little roadway, farther south than I thought was necessary, but she was in charge. It was so lovely to walk through some back streets where you didn't worry about the traffic running you over. We enjoyed some street music, while still wandering back streets, and then we turned a corner and I knew exactly where we were. We were in the ghetto. Mom was horrified, quickly looking up from the map, thinking we were going to be mugged any moment. But it was a perfectly good neighborhood, and not what Americans think of when we use the word "ghetto." I meant the original meaning of the word. The Jewish Ghetto, that is. Every deli and restaurant sign declared Kosher food. It was fun to see, but having studied the map for a long time, I knew we were also several blocks south of where we wanted to be. That was the end of Mom's time as tour guide.

Finally we wound our way north and found some lunch, and some gelato. We also finally saw Bernini's elephant, which stole Mom's heart, along with our first of many Michelangelo's.

Then we were at the Pantheon. The oldest, continually used building in Rome. Originally a temple, turned into a Christian church, and the burial place of Raphael and two of Italy's first kings, it is another engineering marvel. And it was just lovely inside, lit up by the ocular "eye in the sky." We listened to a RS audioguide and enjoyed the cool air.

Afterwards we moved on to Piazza Navona, where we had an early dinner and enjoyed the Four Rivers Fountain and street art. We were still feeling pretty good, even after a long day of playing tourist, so we decided to try to follow Rick Steves's Night Walk Across Rome, from the Campo de Fiori to the Spanish Steps. We backtracked a bit, as Piazza Navona was the third stop on the walking tour, and visited the statue of the heretic Bruno, along with the remains of the old Pompey Theater, which was where Julius Caesar was assassinated while the Senate rented space in the building. We moved on through Piazza Navona and back to the Pantheon, where we ran into the beginning act of a mime. He was so good that we stayed and watched him for 45 minutes, by which time no one was willing to walk through the circle of spectators ringing around him for fear of unwittingly becoming part of the show.

We continued on, getting more gelato along the way and finally, finally making it as far as the Trevi Fountain, after a little confusion as to where we were. By that time the 13 hour day and the many miles walked were beginning to wear on us. We decided the Spanish Steps could wait for a different day, and Mom "encouraged" the idea of a taxi, which we gladly took back to our little hotel by the Colosseum.

This was the one and only day on our trip where we did not take a break from morning until night. We felt so good after a full night's sleep and we were so excited to be in Rome and with so much to see that we just kept going. And were exhausted by the end of the day. From then on, we spent just a little time every afternoon taking a break in our hotel room. All in all, I think there were only a few minor places that I had on our ambitious itinerary that we didn't get to, and the rest was well worth it. After all, I certainly intend to go back!

When in Rome...

2010-06-03T15:05:00.005-04:00

At the end of April Mom and I hopped on a plane bound for Italy. Rome, Florence, and Venice to be exact. While I've been all over North America, this was my first "overseas" trip. And even though my mom was an experienced traveller, I was the one completely in charge. I used the Rick Steves Italy 2010 guidebook and his podcasts of audioguides for major sites in all three cities. I cannot recommend these books highly enough - Rick never once led us astray, and his tips truly made the trip more enjoyable and efficient. His books will be my go-to guides for all of my future trips to Europe.

Things I learned along the way:

I don't function well without sleep, and I rarely if ever sleep on planes. I actually knew this about myself, but man, oh man, was I aware of these flaws by the time the plane landed in Rome at 8 a.m. and I had been up for over 24 hours.

Taking a short nap will not kill your ability to adjust to the jet lag. We wandered around the neighborhood of our hotel and had lunch while mostly comatose, killing time while we were waiting for our hotel room to be ready. Then we took a 2 hour nap, got up and out, and were still able to sleep soundly that night. After that the time zone felt completely normal.

IKEA is everywhere:

Our hotel was literally around the corner from the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. Even though we didn't visit these sites until the next day, it was just amazing to see that much history. Nine days later I was still overwhelmed by it all.

We mainly wandered around the Colosseum, Piazza Venezia, and the Capitoline District that first afternoon and evening, not straying too far from "home base."

Piazza Venezia is home to the Victor Emmanuel Monument, which is what I'm 'holding up' here. While Romans apparently deride this monument by dubbing it the "wedding cake", "typewriter", or "dentures", it did serve as a great landmark because it's basically in the center of the city. The Colosseum, Forum, and Capitoline Hill are just south, the shopping district with the Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain are to the north, the Pantheon is just the the west, with Vatican City being further west past the Tiber River, and the National Museum and train station are to the east.

So far I've uploaded 624 pictures from the trip to my Flickr page, and am slowly going through and identifying them all. However, there are probably another 200 or so that I still have to upload to my Rome set, as we were there for over 4 days and I've only uploaded pictures 2 1/2 so far! I'm going to pick out a few favorites from each day to blog about, more as a reminder to me than anything else. Feel free to enjoy these few snapshots, or take the much longer trip through my Flickr account.

Ciao!

Psych, Part II

2010-05-18T15:42:00.003-04:00

So much more to be said, but let me update my last entry. After receiving yet another letter providing a later date for a decision to be made about the second batch of documentation provided to the IRS, and then receiving a letter telling me that they have determined that my documentation is sufficient and a check will be forthcoming in 6 to 8 weeks (which would have put me into early July), I was blown away yesterday to actually receive and honest-to-goodness check from the IRS with my first time homebuyer's tax credit inside. With interest. Who knew that the IRS paid interest? Not me, but I'm not questioning it!

I deposited the check first thing this morning. Now for paying off the credit card on which I put my dining room furniture purchases last fall when I presumed a check would be in the mail any week now (ha!), and for finally putting shelves up in my master bedroom closet. I'm so excited to get that organized!

Psych

2010-03-16T09:57:00.001-04:00

Psych, originally uploaded by kyredbutterfly.

So I bought the condo in August. It took me awhile to get my paperwork in order, but I filed for my first time homebuyer's tax credit on October 6th. I turned in everything the IRS asked for. And sighed when I read that it could take up to fourteen weeks to get my refund. Fourteen weeks doesn't sound long, but that's three and a half months. When you're spending money on a new place, that's more than long enough.

So I waited. And right on cue, the second week of February I got a large packet from the IRS in the mail. Sadly, not a check. Instead, a slew of additional paperwork that they now require. Apparently these additional documents are supposed to prevent fraud. Sigh.

So after a week of pouting I sent in the additional paperwork. And the next day some disgruntled man flew a plane into the building in Austin, Texas where EVERY SINGLE first time homebuyer's tax credit in the country is being processed. Now, this was a tragedy for those federal workers who were injured, and I felt for them. But I have to admit, my next thought was that I was probably never going to see that tax credit. At least, not before I got my tax return for last year's taxes.

All of this means I was pretty psyched when I saw this thin envelope from the IRS in the mail yesterday. Finally, my check! I was amazed that they were still processing claims this well, given what had happened, but I was excited.

I was wrong. No check. Just a confirmation letter, telling me they received my "correspondence." And really, I appreciate that, because with all that happened, I'm sure I was one of thousands who wondered if their paperwork was destroyed. So I understand why they sent the letter. And in it they tell me that I should receive a reply in the next 30 days. Of course, it was three weeks between when they got my documents and when they issued the reply letter.

If all goes "well," I should get my tax credit six months after I filed for it.

And so the wait goes on.

A little Starbucks love

2010-02-24T15:07:00.001-05:00

A little Starbucks love, originally uploaded by kyredbutterfly.

I had a great experience this morning. I indulged myself and stopped to get a little something at Starbucks on my way to work, which I do about once a week. I used the drive-through, and when I pulled up to the window, the young woman there asked how I was and if I was heading to work. I said yes, and then she asked where I worked. I told her I worked in Frankfort, in the capitol building, and left it at that because I usually get glazed looks when I say that I work for the state legislature. But she asked me what I do, so I explained who I worked for and said that I mainly "draft legislation," which is a huge simplication, but again, I was going for simple.

Instead of politely nodding and moving on, she lit up, and explained that she grew up in Alabama and paged in the Alabama state legislature when she was a kid. Then, to top it off, as she handed me my drink she said, "Thanks for everything you do for us."

Wow. I'm a public servant, and usually we're not particularly appreciated. Most public conversations center around how lazy, well-paid (ha!) or lucky state employees are to have the health benefits they have. While I'm sometimes thanked by legislators, and my job is appreciated by those who know me well, I don't think I've ever been thanked by a stranger. It put a smile on my face, and I stammered out my own "Thank you" before driving off. Her thoughtfulness made my day

*******

Let's just ignore that I'm jumping back on here after a 4 month absence, okay? Thanks. It's been a busy 4 months; sorry I failed to share.

November is Finally Here

2009-11-18T13:26:00.001-05:00

Sweet as honey, originally uploaded by kyredbutterfly.

I know we're actually more than half way through the month, but we've been experiencing warm, September-like days of late. It finally starting raining yesterday and it was chilly enough that I turned the heat on. All day I wished I had all the fireplace accessories I needed to use my fireplace, but it sat empty and cold. It did entice me to some online browsing to find fireplace grates, screens, and tools that I liked. I think I'll be heading back to Lowe's soon, since that seems to be the only place locally that has all of those things for something less than an arm and two legs.

But despite the chill, yesterday was a long-awaited day because my sectional sofa from Crate and Barrel finally arrived. Mom and I first saw the couch when we were on a Cincinnati scouting trip for my then-future condo. I was going to need furniture in a bad way once I moved in. But buying a couch wasn't on the agenda. I fell in love, however, and couldn't resist an offer that made it possible for me to have it. The delivery truck arrived early yesterday afternoon, and I must say that my productivity level went sadly downhill after they put the sofa in the living room. I had to test it out, right? Alas, no pictures, yet. However, all three occupants of the house definitely approve of the new addition!

Now if I can just get the dining room table and six chairs from Ikea set up and in place in time for Thanksgiving dinner at my place next week! The rest of the recently purchased furniture can wait awhile, but I think everyone would be very happy if there was someplace to eat.

Decadence

2009-11-13T10:12:00.001-05:00

Decadence, originally uploaded by kyredbutterfly.

Last weekend I and 14 women near and dear to my heart descending on Pigeon Forge, TN for the annual shopping extravaganza. I'm not a huge fan of shopping, and the miles and miles of outlet malls outside of Gatlinburg try my need for peace and quiet, but every year is a fun time of hanging out with wonderful women. The older generation of mothers has been going for twenty-five years or more. The rule was that their daughters were only allowed to join in on the fun once they were fully employed (and able to pay their own way). This is my 11th year. Over the years we've adopted good friends to join us, and each year there are good stories to tell.

Things have changed over the years, but much stays the same. Some outlets have closed, while others (I'm talking to you, Five Oaks) have become ginormous. Cell phones have helped us have more freedom to do what we want while keeping in touch. We shop less, play more games in the hotel rooms. We definitely start our days later than in the past.

And we eat! There must be more pancake restaurants between Sevierville, Pigeon Forge, and Gatlinburg, than pretty much anywhere else in the world. For the past few years we haven't gone to any pancake places because the hotel we were staying in provided breakfast for free. This year we tried a condo, which was a wonderful change and allowed for more fun and games, and decided to enjoy a couple mornings of pancakes. The photo above is supposed to be my mom's favorite cherry crepes. But as you may be able to see, they aren't very crepe-like. They are really pancakes in disguise. She was disappointed.

The photo was taken with my iphone using the "ShakeIt" app. I love it! It's so worth the $.99 just to play with what looks like a good old polaroid picture.

Anyway, though the miles and miles of shopping tries my patience, I can't wait for the hilarity to ensue again next year.

Present Tense

2009-10-20T11:37:00.000-04:00

My whole life I've been someone who focused on long-range goals. When I was a little girl I remember asking my mom when I could wear makeup, get my ears pierced, and date. I never argued for a different answer, I just wanted to be able to factor that into my internal timeline. I've always been pretty clear on what I wanted to accomplish in life. And to be honest, in almost every area, I've been blessed to get wherever I wanted to go, through the grace of God, my family, and a lot of hard work. This has felt particularly true recently:

I finally own my own place. Check.
I've achieved a position at work that I could easily stay in for the next 15 or more years, or until I retire. (Staffing for the state legislature is a very flat organization.) Check.
I have family, friends and a city I love. I have no plans to move anywhere else. Check.

That's not to say that I don't wish for other things. I would love to be married to a best friend and I would love to have a child. These things may never happen, and I've made my peace with that, truly. I wish I was healthier and in better shape. That will always be a work in progress for me. And there are hobbies that I'd like to try, places I want to travel to. But...

Awhile ago my mother casually asked me, "What are you going to do with the rest of your life?" And while I've kidded her about asking me such a loaded question, the truth is that for maybe the first time in my life, I realize I don't have any huge goals lined up for the next 5 or 10 years. That certainly feels oddly foreign to me, the girl who has always had a future vision of her life. But the truth is, I find that I am content with simply trying to enjoy the here and now and allowing life's surprises to find me, rather than going out and striving for that next goal. I'm going to try to simply live in the present and leave the future for another day.

Just What the Doctor Ordered

2009-10-19T11:26:00.003-04:00

So a few things have changed since July 27 (ahem). I packed, I moved, and I am slowly unpacking. I was so exhausted from the pre-move frenzy that I haven't forced myself to rush to get everything unpacked. And then I got distracted. Not long after the move my Mom went in for knee-replacement surgery. The surgery went fine, recovery not so much. Ten days after the original surgery they did a second surgery. Then she went back to the rehab facility. Finally, finally, just last Friday she was released to return home. Everything's going well now, but it's been a hectic three weeks that has left me getting home at 10 p.m. many nights. That wouldn't be so horrible if the alarm clock wasn't set for 5:15 a.m.

Friday night I joined two girlfriends for a little knitting and a lot of chatting. It was a great way to end the week. The rest of the weekend I spent holed up in my house. From Friday night through Sunday night, I didn't leave for one minute, and I loved it. I cooked chili, unpacked a bit, cleaned a bit, did a lot of laundry, and took care of a pet who was under the weather. I also watched football and read and knitted some more. It was just what I needed to recharge and refocus after several months of good but time-consuming distractions.

For the Love of Books

2009-07-27T09:57:00.006-04:00

(Picture from http://www.julieandjulia.com/)

Last week I finished reading "Julie and Julia." Bought it forever ago, started it and was smitten, and then somehow it got lost in the shuffle of life and I never finished it. But I knew I had to read the book before seeing the movie, which I definitely want to see. I loved, loved, loved the book. Loved the humor and the crazy scenes, loved the various characters, and shuddered repeatedly at the idea of following some of Julia's recipes. It probably doesn't help that for all of my love of food and cooking, I'm not a huge fan of French food. I know, shoot me. But man, oh man, the enjoyment I got from the book just makes me even more eager to see the movie!

It also made me realize that I never mentioned that I did manage to accomplish a few things on my birthday list that I created a year ago. Some of it I failed at, much of it is still a work in progress for this year too, and some things I accomplished. I read three "classics," and surprised myself by picking two nonfiction classics. I tend to gravitate towards fiction.

My first choice was an easy one: Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice." Okay, a very easy choice! Especially since I have the BBC mini-series version practically memorized, and it stays very true to the text of the novel. I thoroughly enjoyed it in written form, though I do believe that I had read it once before. I didn't remember that until I was deep into the story again, so I'm counting this one. I also purchased Austen's "Mansfield Park," but didn't delve into it after reading the foreword and learning that it's one of her most controversial works, and not quite as light-hearted as her others. I've picked it up again this weekend, and plan to tackle it for this year's classics.

Next up I chose Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood." I've not seen the movie (of the killing or the author's biopic), and knew just the bare bones of the story. I was enthralled and couldn't put it down, in the "accident on the side of the road" way of horrific voyeurism. I enjoyed it, as much as one can a story where you know 'who dun it' and what's going to happen, but the gruesomeness was hard to think about.

You might think that my third choice followed in the same line, and I did read them back to back, mostly because I'd procrastinated and time was short. But I don't connect Capote's telling of the murder of a family with Elie Wiesel's "Night," which is his autobiographical account of surviving a Nazi concentration camp. I've had the book for over a decade, buying it at a time that I was reading a lot about that horrible period of world history. I could never bring myself to read this personal account, however, because I knew how it would tear at my heart. To be honest, the only reason I finally read it was because of all the "classics" I have waiting on my bookshelf to be read, this was the shortest one, and I was down to the week before my birthday. It was a gut-wrenching, horrifying, and terribly beautiful story. I'm glad I read it, but oh how it has haunted me.

So, at least I can check that task off for my 35th year, though I want to match it for this year as well. Possibilities include the aforementioned "Mansfield Park," "All the Kings Men," "A Tale of Two Cities," and "The Picture of Dorian Gray." There are probably others on the bookshelf as well, but these come to mind.

I Got Nuthin'

2009-07-23T11:54:00.002-04:00

Hi there. Yes, I'm still here. I'm just in one of those ruts where I don't think I have anything very interesting to say. The house buying is progressing. I'm closing on August 5th and hoping to move on September 3. I've picked out paint colors and will be buying the paint on Saturday because it's on sale and the savings are worth having to store it for a few more weeks before being able to start actually painting.

Over July 4th weekend Mom and I went up to Cincinnati to shop at all the great stores Louisville unfortunately doesn't have, like Ikea, Crate & Barrel, West Elm, and Restoration Hardware. While we spent two whole days shopping, we honestly didn't buy too much. It was mostly a planning and documenting trip with plans for a repeat visit once I have the condo, and more importantly, the first time home buyer's money! In terms of big ticket items, we found a couch (unplanned), a dining room table, and pieces to make a "mud room" sort of bench/cubby combo. I did buy the bed I wanted, because I didn't want to move a full size bed and only weeks later have to remove it for the queen that I'm splurging on. The best part was that I was able to use my iPhone to take pictures of all the items I want to purchase next time and their information tag, in the case of Ikea products. That will make the return trip much easier to handle.

In the meantime, the house is a wreck and awash in packing boxes, piles to be sent to Goodwill, yard sale items (those are Lisa's; after last year I swore no more yard sales for me), and stuff to be thrown away or recycled. I'm trying very hard to take only what I need or what I love. We'll see.

In the craft department, I've packed up most everything I have, mostly to make sure I'm not tempted to procrastinate the packing process too much. The one item I left myself was a very large, long-term knitting project that is for someone who reads this blog. So I can't even show you a picture of that, because even if I didn't identify what it was, she would know it was for her because of the color.

Anyway, be forewarned that any future posts, at least through September, are likely to be house and moving related. I'll try to at least post pictures to make it visually appealing. This will be easier once the place is actually mine and I can get into it at any time, without the help of my realtor and permission from the seller's realtor.

In the meantime, enjoy your summer!

Rainy Days and Mondays

2009-06-22T18:26:00.002-04:00

Love this color, originally uploaded by kyredbutterfly.

I took this picture probably a month ago. Back when I still owned a camera separate from my iphone. Sigh. I hope whoever found it enjoys it thoroughly. But other than the fact that the flowers have raindrops caressing the petals, it has nothing to do with anything. I just thought it was pretty. Oh, and it's. still. raining. here. Daily. But also horribly hot and humid. Talk about the worst combination of summer.

Anyway, despite the heat, I found myself making French Onion Soup on Saturday evening. I had four Vidalia Onions that needed to be used. I had beef stock. Like always, it was a match made in heaven. I had to get a little creative with the cheesy toast, however. All I had was a dense oatmeal wheat bread sliced for sandwiches. But I wasn't deterred. I broiled it with provolone cheese on top, and it served as a successful substitute to the typical French bread.

I just finished having a second helping of my soup, along with a salad featuring veggies from my community supported agriculture half of a half share for dinner. At work. With no end in sight. These would be the Mondays when working for the state legislature doesn't seem nearly as great of a career choice. I think I'll be here for several more hours while the legislators debate. I just love special sessions.

At least the soup was good. And the air conditioning is working.

A Home of One's Own

2009-06-14T19:40:00.005-04:00

With respect to Virginia Wolff, I appreciate the idea of a room of one's own, but I'm finally ready for a home of my own. Or in my case, condo. This is a view from the walkway leading up to either the (open) front door or the side porch. More pictures can be found at my flickr site. One thing none of the pictures show is the fact that the condo comes with a full unfinished basement. Woot!

Now that the seller has agreed to the repairs I've requested, everything should go smoothly. (Ha!) Closing won't occur until sometime in August, probably, but I'm having a hard time thinking about much of anything else these days. I'm really looking forward to being able to paint all the rooms different colors. In fact, I've just about figured out what color each room will be, all based upon this fabric, which will be my bed set. Those of you who know me well won't be surprised that I love the colors, but you might be shocked because it is a type of floral, which isn't something I'm typically attracted to.

My camera still hasn't appeared, so this little site might be without decoration for awhile. I'm going to use what I've got, and see how my iphone pictures look when uploaded, but it could get a little grim. A new camera isn't in the budget right now, when I'm planning for closing costs, movers, and a new bed!

Good Tidings...

2009-06-11T13:38:00.001-04:00

DSC00858, originally uploaded by kyredbutterfly.

Oh, where or where to begin?!? First, happy belated birthday to my dear friend Kat, who spent her birthday on Sunday enjoying Portland's Rose Festival by dragonboating. Such fun. My birthday was on Saturday. I managed to extend the celebrations from last Thursday through this coming Friday. Talk about a successful birthday bash!

While I intended to blog about her regardless, the sadder reason for using this picture from my April visit to Portland is that I think I've permanently lost my camera. Boo hoo. There's still a possibility that it's at a particular restaurant, but it hasn't been seen since Friday night, and I just realized that yesterday. And unfortunately, the money isn't there to replace or upgrade this camera at the moment. So we may be stuck with iphone pictures for awhile.

There's good news, though. The reason a replacement camera isn't in the budget right now is that the budget is completely devoted to the condominium that I have a contract to purchase on! Woo Hoo! I should be closing sometime in August. Pictures to come - I downloaded some onto the computer, but was too lazy to upload them onto flickr a few weeks ago.

I'm very, very excited about my new place. So far everything's going along fine. There are a few things I want the seller to fix, but the place is in really great shape. I am definitely hoping to have enough time between closing and moving to paint throughout, but that's about all the work that will need done prior to occupany.

As you can imagine, the last few weeks have been a whirlwind of looking, making an offer, getting financing lined up, having the home inspection, etc. Being totally new to this process, each step is like a new discovery to me. Oh, I need to do that now? Okay. I can't imagine selling a home while buying another one. The buying alone is complicated enough. May I live in this condo for years to come!

Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes. Here's hoping that one of them helps me find my camera. But at least I'm finally moving towards the "home of my own" goal!

What I Did On My Blogcation

2009-05-13T15:33:00.002-04:00

DSC00897, originally uploaded by kyredbutterfly.

Apparently this is just going to happen from time to time, these unexpected absences. There are several excuses, such as the awesome vacation I had with my good friends in Portland, or the fact that I lost my camera cord for a couple weeks when I returned and couldn't download pictures (and was too stubborn to go and buy another cord when I knew it had to be somewhere in the house). Then there was the evil illness that befell me. No, it wasn't swine flu (no matter what you say, Mom), but it was bad enough that even though the computer was within reach, I had no interest in turning it on. For two weeks.

But really, the biggest reason for the absence is this little toy that I got a couple months ago. I love, love, love my iphone. I love how convenient it is to pop onto facebook or the internet, and jump off again. It's so bad that I've basically stopped turning on my laptop, because I can do just about everything I want to do on a computer on my iphone. But blogging from my phone, though totally do-able, is tedious. I promise, I'll try to do better! Promises, promises.

Who Me? Intimidated? No Way!

2009-04-06T03:47:00.005-04:00

I have to confess: my sewing machine intimidates me. I don't know why, because I realize it can all be ripped out. This philosophy helps me conquer my knitting fears (oh, the joy of frogging) so I don't know why the seam ripper doesn't calm my fears of turning on the sewing machine, but it doesn't. However, it was on my life list for this year, and I'm running out of months before I have to talley my accomplishments.

My dear friend Chrissie sent me her sewing machine about a year ago, and there it sat. Taunting me. In October I signed up for two sewing classes through the public school adult ed programs. The first was a one night class to get to know your machine. The second was a multi-night course to do home decorating sewing. I went to the one night class and felt a little more confident when I left. Unfortunately, the other course was cancelled because of lack of participants. And still the sewing machine sat. It continued to smirk and laugh at my fear.

But I'm leaving town very early Tuesday morning, which means that Sunday was the perfect day to pull the sewing machine out and get over my intimidation, right? Well, anyway, that's what I did. And of course I waited until I was home alone, and Lisa wasn't even around to help me figure out my mistakes. Why make this easy on myself?

But the amazing this is that I did it! I wound the bobbin, I threaded the machine, I figured out my settings and I finally sewed. I even changed a needle when the one in the machine when I got it out of the box finally bit the dust. I fixed the situation when my bobbin got off course and thread was knotting up. I even considered my options for raising the presser foot. Nothing stopped me!

And I even produced the product I wanted to make. It's a coil bowl. I made one of these in the one week sewing camp my Mother signed me up for when I was 17. That was 16 years before the crafting bug bit me, so you can imagine I wasn't very impressed with the class. The shorts and shirt I sewed that week are long, long gone, but beside my bed is the coil bowl I made that week. And ever since I've had this machine, I've been wanting to make more coil bowls.

This one is by no means perfect. In fact, I feel a bit like a kindergartner with a craft project that only a mother would love. But I'm pleased that I finally faced up to the intimidation and didn't let myself back down until I accomplished what I intended to accomplish. More bowls to come. And maybe I'll find a way to fix the wonky height variations!

My Peeps

2009-03-31T13:53:00.004-04:00

No, not these kinds of peeps - though I do so love me some marshmallow Peeps! (And thanks to Wikipedia for a Peep picture.)

I'm talking about the peeps I had lunch with after church on Sunday, the peeps that aren't family but might as well be, because I consider the older adults to be other parents of mine, and those that are my age are good, good friends. I've known these people my entire life. My mother joined a church when I was three months old and soon found a Sunday School class where she felt comfortable. One of my earliest church-related memories is standing outside of my mother's classroom, with other children, jumping as high as we could because our parents had ignored the bell that told them Sunday School was over and we were beginning to wonder if they were ever going to come out so we could go to worship service. Talk about reversal of roles.

The "fathers" have helped me move, gone with me to court when a man assaulted my car and I pressed charges, offered advice on how to fix things, and generally have played the role of father that my own father didn't. The "mothers" have consoled me when I found out I had diabetes, told me how to get stains out of clothes and quilts, given me ideas on substitutes when I was half-way through a recipe and realized I was missing a key ingredient, and share recipes and homemaking tips. I've gone on trips with these lovely people, taken "retreats" with some just we so could go play cards, eat food, and talk. I've babysat some of their children. I remember a childhood full of times spent at their houses, during adult parties and play dates.

Their daughters (and oddly enough, they almost all had daughters) are dear friends. We weren't always that way, but thankfully we are now. I go on trips and retreats with them, too, and dinner parties, back yard barbecues, movie nights, game nights, and on and on. They hold me accountable to my values, and are always willing to listen when I'm whiny or down. They lift my spirits and support me.

Having this group of people who have known me my whole life, who love me, sometimes in spite of myself, who laugh at and with me, and who will be there no matter what, is such a great blessing. I've come to realize that more and more these past few years, as I've seen some of them less and less. You see, for some very messy reasons, I no longer attend the same church they do. It was a hard decision to move on and find a new church, but I don't regret it. What I do regret is that not being in the same pew as they are week after week means that I don't see some of them for months at a time. I miss them. It had been a long time between visits when we were finally able to get together this past Sunday. I'm so glad we did! In fact, I was enjoying myself so much that it didn't even occur to me to get my camera out and take a picture or two!

Green Week 4 - Green with a bit of "Red"

2009-03-05T08:03:00.001-05:00

I hate having my picture taken. This is why I have no picture of me uploaded that I can use as my "thumbnail" when I comment on flickr or otherwise. But green week has led to me sneaking into a shot. This great mirror (greener than it appears here) was given to me several years ago by my friend Judy. Right now it's hiding behind the door to my office. And back in that little corner I don't often think to look into it, or even see it. Maybe when I move to my condo I'll find a nicer place to put it and hang another mirror back there that I don't love as much as I do this one. Oh, and the red hair is the inspiration for the red part of kyredbutterfly. Happy green week!

A green kick, with lime

2009-03-04T20:02:00.002-05:00

A green kick, with lime, originally uploaded by kyredbutterfly.

The salad I had at lunch was delicious and exactly what I needed. But I didn't want to get too crazy and be healthy all day long! Haha. So when the legislature allowed us to get home at a decent hour on Tuesday, Lisa and I met at our neighborhood Mexican restaurant and I broke my 6 month ban on margaritas. It totally hit the spot!

Green Week 2 - Ripening

2009-03-03T08:00:00.006-05:00

Well, I'm shamelessly copying Sarah, sort of. Her avocados were homegrown and shipped to her. Mine come from...somewhere much more tropical than Kentucky in March. And mine are definitely not ripe yet.

I stopped by the store on the way home and knew I had to pick these up, along with all the ingredients for a great salad. I've been craving salad, which I don't believe is a sentence I've ever thought, much less admitted. I'm not a huge salad fan. Don't get me wrong, I like my veggies. I don't usually prefer them raw, but I eat them that way a lot, just not all mixed together in salad form. But all day yesterday, that's all I wanted. I thought I'd get one for lunch, but that was a no-go. I wasn't able to grab lunch until 2 p.m., and by then I was afraid of what might be left on the cafeteria salad bar. So I knew I had to remedy that last evening, and after buying lots of green goodies, I came home and cleaned, chopped, and packaged up a ton of good things to take with me to work today.

Good thing, too, as I'll probably be eating three meals there, at least until Friday (and maybe even then). It's the time of the long days, every day, as the legislative session reaches its fevered pitch.

Maybe the avocados will be ripe by the weekend. Something to look forward to! In the meantime, here's the flickr link for Green Week. But also check out the blog entries, listed here.

Green Week 1 - Where, oh where, to begin?

2009-03-01T21:09:00.006-05:00

It's no secret to those who know me that I love the color green. I love to wear green and decorate with green. I love to walk through green forests and sleep under green quilts. And, as the picture above shows, I like to knit with green yarn. Actually, I guess this picture really only shows that I like to purchase and stash green yarn. But most of these were acquired with projects in mind, if only there was enough time in the day for me to knit to my heart's content. And if only my sore elbow would let me. Anyway, I decided I'd start my green love this week with my lovely green yarn.

Thanks to the shining egg for suggesting green week. Please check out all the various participants' offerings. Green, oh green, you give me faith that spring is coming!

Side note: Only 36 more days until I touch ground in Portland, OR...a truly Emerald City where it's always green, even when it's gray!

Forty-One and Definitely Counting!

2009-02-25T08:00:00.002-05:00

No, not years. Not for another 5+ years! But forty-one days until I touch down in my beloved Portland, OR and get to spend an entire week with Kat, Josh, Melo, Chrissie, Keving, their girls Leina and Kulia, etc., etc.!!!! Can you tell I'm out of this world excited? I haven't been in Portland since August 2005. Wayyyy too long ago for my soul. And, of course, I've already told Kat about all the wonderful things I want to do while I'm visiting. Too many things, actually. But she knows me, and knows that once I'm there I will be thrilled, no matter what we do.

Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler!*

2009-02-23T22:58:00.002-05:00

So, what's in a muffuletta?, originally uploaded by kyredbutterfly.

Happy Fat Tuesday, everyone! My only form of celebration will be a work pot luck where there will be no jambalaya, gumbo, red beans and rice, crawfish, benets, or muffulettas! This is the educational sign that hangs in the French Quarter grocery that supposedly created the wonderfully delicious muffuletta. No matter how you celebrate, eat, drink and be merry!

* Let the good times roll!

A Hint of Yellow

2009-02-20T12:24:00.002-05:00

DSC00207, originally uploaded by kyredbutterfly.

It snowed again this week. Thankfully, it didn't last long. But as I've said, I'm ready for spring at this point, which always means tulips for me. I think I may have to splurge this weekend and buy some to put in a vase...on a high shelf where the cats can't eat them, or knock them over. I didn't get a chance to download more pictures last night, so I dug around in my archives and found this little shot. I love the almost technicolor quality of the red, and that one blaze of yellow! Yellow Week has been so much fun. Thanks Erin, for hosting it! (Check out Erin's banner, too. I love all that green!)

Yellow Week 4 - Yarn Love

2009-02-19T07:00:00.001-05:00

Before I could pick an angle to snap a picture of the yellow yarn on the quilt, Cassius snuck up and started getting comfortable. Eventually, he was resting his little chin on the skeins of yarn - so sweet. But photographing a black cat can be difficult with the best of light. At night, getting a good shot is nearly impossible for me. But I liked this one best, with the yellow light infusing the shot. However, he was much happier when I stopped taking the pictures and he could settle in for a long nap.

Don't forget to jump over to Flickr to see all the other great pictures from Yellow Week! I'm so impressed by the submissions. It's like we're willing spring to come.

Yellow 3 - Tonight's Dinner

2009-02-18T07:46:00.003-05:00

I've decided to go Moroccan for dinner, so here are some of my ingredients for my take on the Squash and Chickpea Moroccan Stew from SmittenKitchen. When I add the saffron threads, even my dinner will remind me of yellow week! As the picture shows, I'm going with a fresh lemon instead of the preserved lemons called for in the recipe. I'm not sold on them enough to go on an expensive search. A little lemon juice, some zest, and a little more salt added to what's called for will be just dandy for me.

Tea Time - Yellow 2

2009-02-17T21:03:00.004-05:00

A mug of lemon tea was a welcome respite to a stressful day. Made all the more so because my computer and/or internet has been giving me fits for days now. Just when I commit to uploading pictures daily for Yellow Week, my computer doesn't want to let me link to pictures on my blog or upload them to Flickr. A borrowed computer was the only way to solve the problem!

Yellow Monday

2009-02-16T20:07:00.010-05:00

***For some unknown reason blogger won't let me upload my photos tonight. Please see the links below, or click on my Flickr link to the right, to see my first four entries into Yellow Week. I'm going to try to keep working on this, but until then...***

Erin is hosting a color week. I jumped in at the last moment, knowing that it would be a challenge for me on several levels. It would require me to post daily, and it would require me to put my photos out there amongst other much more accomplished photographers with much nicer cameras than my little point-and-click Sony Cybershot.

Don't get me wrong, I love my camera and it's more than enough for me, personally. But when I look at other blogs with pictures taken with cameras that create immensely better photographs, and are taken by people who know something about taking a good picture, well, it's a little intimidating. But mostly, I knew that I am sick, sick, sick of winter and ready to embrace spring. The warm weather from last week was just a flirtation. So I knew I needed to go looking for spring, and Erin's color week was just the thing to help me find a few moments of spring in my days.

I took these shots in and around the state capitol, since I knew I wouldn't be getting home tonight until after dark. I at least wanted my yellow to look cheerful. I was surprised that I found so much yellow lurking around me!

This and That

2009-02-08T18:10:00.011-05:00

If I had blogged last week, as I intended to, the title would have been "Snap, Crackle, Pop" as the perfect description of living through the snow and ice storm that shut down large swaths of the state. It snowed all day on a Tuesday, then that night the ice started, and you could hear the tree limbs creaking and snapping under the weight of the ice. Finally, by Wednesday, lines started snapping and transformers popped as the power went out, at our house and throughout the state. Here are my pictures from the front porch and back door of our house.

But this weekend has been about puttering around the house, cooking, laundry, knitting, and listening to "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" on CD. My second attempt at bread from this book was much more successful than my first loaf (the rest of that dough went into the trash after the storm). Seriously, is there anyone out there that doesn't have this book yet? Everywhere I look, someone is blogging about baking something from it. I've had it for several months now, but peer pressure finally got me to start trying it. This could be very bad for my health goals for the year!

The mushroom barley soup I made to go with it on Saturday tasted great, except for some of the mushrooms were too woody to eat. This is rather disappointing, since they came from a "gourmet" dried mix of mushrooms I bought at Costco. I love mushrooms, but they have such horrible shelf-life that I like to use dried mushrooms. These looked like a good deal, but if half of them aren't palatable, it doesn't do me much good. The broth and the rest of the soup is great, though. The recipe is definitely a keeper. I just have to find a better mix of dried mushrooms.

Today I indulged in one of my favorite meals. I made a "hearty" breakfast of scrambled eggs with peppers and onions, hash browns and bacon. I adore breakfast. I adore hash browns. And I love, love, love bacon. So much so that this is the first time I've bought bacon in over a year. I have a hard time saying "No," so it's better if it just never enters my house. But I'd been craving this kind of breakfast for about a month now, so I finally gave in on a lazy morning. It was a very nice treat. When I was in law school I'd cook this kind of breakfast once a month or so, for my roommate and I. It's the only kind of luxury I could afford back then. It's a good thing I don't indulge in this habit too often, however! The bread is going to be bad enough.

(**Sorry for the stars...for some reason I keep having trouble getting new paragraphs to format correctly. This at least keeps the entire post from being one very long block of text!)

These Hallowed Halls

2009-01-20T06:00:00.004-05:00

Most mornings I get to work at 7:30, when the state capitol building is still dark and quiet. I enjoy the grand silence as I walk up the marble steps between the first and third floors, and the view. Looking down the length of the building where governors govern, legislators legislate, and justices judge fills me with awe. Working for 138 legislators/politicians can be a cynical business at times, but in the core of my being I still stand in reverent awe over the form of government our forefathers created and that has been refined over generations and centuries.

But today is a historical day, no matter how you voted on November 4, 2008 (or if you voted at all). Our country's history is scattered with moments that turned on racial issues, for the worse and for the better. And while many people supported Barack Obama's presidency because he was an African-American, and many people did not for the very same reason, many more supported him or didn't for reasons that had nothing to do with the color of his skin or the fact that his father was froom Africa and his mother from Kansas. Today is another turning point. It makes me proud to participate in representative democracy. It makes me proud to be an American and know that the people did have a choice, and the choice means another barrier has crumbled.

Happy inauguration day, everyone. I'll be watching from the attic of the capitol in the state where Abraham Lincoln was born. The Great Emancipator would be proud of his country, and so am I.

Baby, it's COLD outside!

2009-01-16T10:39:00.004-05:00

Canada, thank you very much for the generous offer, but you can have your frigid winter temperatures back now. We in the south - even the northern edge of the South/southern edge of the Midwest - aren't prepared to handle this commitment. We have to save up for air conditioning, bug spray and citronella candles for when the temperatures top 100 degrees Fahrenheit and the humidity levels make us feel like we're breathing through water. If we could work out some sort of swap, I would definitely be interested. You can always put on more clothes and find/knit more blankets when it's cold, but there comes a point where taking off more clothes to beat the oppressive heat of summer will get you arrested. So until we can come to a timeshare agreement, you need to come pick up your negative wind chill and take it back to where it belongs. Thank you.

Honor Thy Father

2009-01-15T12:19:00.011-05:00

If he had lived, my father would be 66 today. He died less than one month short of his 60th birthday, the week before Christmas in 2002.

He's been on my mind lately because I have such crystal-clear memories of the days surrounding his death. How I was obsessed with wrapping Christmas gifts and so went to Target at about 10 p.m. on December 23 and came home with everything I would need to wrap gifts because the idea of digging out the wrapping paper I already owned was more than I could contemplate. I used up the last of that paper this past Christmas (I really loved that paper, so it was used sparingly after that initial year).

I remember how I drove back to Louisville on the afternoon of his funeral and collapsed into bed, exhausted. And how I was still just lying there 45 minutes later, unable to sleep. A friend from law school called me all the way from Russia, having just heard the news. How dear of her - I needed that distraction. The call made me realize that sleep wasn't coming, so I got into my car and drove to the movie theater and watched one of the Harry Potter movies, hoping to get lost from my life in the darkness of the movie theater. I started falling asleep half way through the movie and could only laugh at the irony.

Organizing my paperwork (again) a few weeks ago reminded me of the disaster my apartment had become during the six weeks he was in the hospital, and how I came home and realized how horrible it would be for my mother if I were to suddenly die because all of my documents were a total mess and she'd never know where anything was. I started organizing right then and there. Of course, that realization wore off over time, but it shouldn't. It would be horrible for her, and I would hate to burden her like that.

The odd thing about all of these ruminations is that my father and I weren't particularly close, and as horrible as it sounds, I don't miss him. He was an alcoholic, which ultimately led to his death and made it difficult at times growing up. Also, I am very much like my mother, and very not like him. The only thing we ever had in common was education and watching sports. He was very proud to be the first in his family to graduate from college, and was supremely proud of my academic achievements. And he, along with my mother, taught me to love and understand basketball, football, and even baseball (which I understand but don't really appreciate). But you can only have so many conversations about grades and basketball games. Unfortunately, by the time of his death, his drinking was so heavy in the evenings when I would stop by to see him and have dinner that it wasn't a particularly useful few hours, and so I avoided going. My last visit with him, about two weeks before he went into the hospital, was particularly unpleasant.

I never doubted that my father loved me. He told me that every time we saw each other or talked. It was important for him to say that to me, because that was something his Catholic, hard-working, farming parents never said to him. But he didn't "get" me and really didn't understand what I needed him to be as a father. I loved him, too, and resolved my feelings about him years ago. I just wish I could say I missed him.

Instead, I miss what I never had.

*******************************

Okay ... I promise we'll get back to regularly scheduled programming now, with no more "deep thoughts" posts for awhile! It must be a holdover from the new year contemplations, but I'm done now. Truly. I'm working on a Noro two-stripe scarf for myself and will show you WIP pictures shortly. And there's sewing planned for this weekend, so maybe I'll show some of that too. I'm a little intimidated still by the sewing machine, being a novice, but I'm determined to conquer my fears.

Coveting is Bad, Right? Giveaway Alert.

2009-01-08T09:55:00.002-05:00

I read this post about the Epson Artisan 800 printer and literally, I started to drool. Just reading mommycoddle's description makes my brain start whirling with ideas. I've wanted a scanner/printer/fax for a long time, but with plans for buying a house this year, I was living with the idea that there was definitely no room in the budget anytime soon. Maybe I'll win this one that's she's giving away! Go over there and post a comment. If you win, I promise not to be (too) jealous.

UPDATED: I didn't win. And I'm jealous. But I'm filing away the information about this wonderful toy/machine, for later. Maybe by then something bigger and better will come along and this beauty will be discounted!

Christmas Knits in Review

2009-01-06T20:22:00.003-05:00

Toasty (see link below) in Malabrigo worsted: Vermillion. The color's redder than seen here. These still need to be delivered to their recipient.

Malabrigo worsted in VA (?), basic hat pattern from my LYS. Mustapha, along with Andrew and Rhonda in the pictures below, were nice enough to pose for me, since I didn't get pre-giving pics. Unfortunately, that meant taking the pictures under flourescent lights. Ugh. The colors here are about right, though it's slightly greener and all the colors are much, much richer than appear here.

Same pattern in Malabrigo worsted: Black Forest. The color is very camouflagey, more than advertised when I bought it online. But it works for Andrew, who's in the National Guard.

Toasty in Malabrigo worsted: Indigo. Very "UK blue," which suits Rhonda to a "T". I'm hoping these help keep her fingers warm as she types, since her desk is in a cold hallway and her space heater doesn't do much to warm her hands!

I had bigger handmade plans, but I'm pleased that I got these done and am going to finish up some more gift items to give at random times to a few patient friends and family members!

Goodbye to Time

2009-01-04T13:49:00.004-05:00

Okay, so that may be an exaggeration. But this is the first year since law school that I feel like I've had a Christmas break. Being a single person without children and a very small, flexible family, I'm always the one who happily works during the weeks of Christmas and New Years while others take time off. But this year I've been away from work for a week and a half, and most of the days have been rather unstructured (Read: A few days have been spent in PJs, knitting away and watching football and movies). It's gotten so bad that my roommate and I have been confirming with one another what day of the week it is.

Added to the sense of being out of the normalcy of daily life was the short trip I took with my mom to Daytona Beach. She had to go for a high school boy's basketball tournament for which she was keeping the score books. I "had" to go because it meant a few days staring at the ocean, walking on the beach, enjoying fresh seafood, and generally loving life. It was all of that and more. Our seventh floor hotel room had two walls of windows overlooking the beach, and a long balcony to sit out and enjoy the ocean air. The weather was beautiful, and there was always a nice breeze. The water was pretty darn cold, but I didn't do more than dip my toes. We drove on the beach, explored back roads and ritzy developments, and took in a movie (Doubt: very good acting, mesmerizing story, but you leave with as many questions as you have throughout.). It was the perfect tonic to the gray and cold winter weather of home.

But tomorrow the alarm will go off while it's still dark as night outside and I'll be forced to wear work clothes, put on makeup, and do my hair. I'll be getting to work around the time the sun rises, and I'll leave when the sun is setting. With the legislature coming back to the capitol this week for the beginning of the legislative session, it will be busy. Time to jump back into the regular tempo of life with both feet. As I sat in church this morning, after having taken communion and waiting while others were served, I have to admit my brain started racing on all the things I need to do this evening to prepare for the week to come, and all of the errands that must be done. Sigh. It had to come to an end at some point, and the day has almost arrived.

But first, one more moment of time away. This afternoon, the University of Kentucky plays the University of Louisville in men's basketball. In this basketball-crazed state, this is *the* game of the year. Time to go root, root, root for my team!

Simplify

2009-01-02T21:46:00.008-05:00

One enduring aspect of being my mother's daughter (and oh, am I ever!) is that at least half the time that I see her she hands me something. Either something she's unearthed from my childhood, like the Christmas ornament from our trip to the Rocky Mountain National Park when I was about 11 years old, or even more likely, a clipping from a newspaper or magazine. Last week when I received the ornament I also got a couple clippings.

There was an article from the October 2008 copy of Southern Living magazine (I can't find a direct link to the article) entitled "Less is More" by Jan DeBlieu. It's a commentary, the kind frequently found at the end of a magazine. She starts off quoting a cross-stitch sampler from her childhood which said "Use it up/Wear it out/Make it do or/Do without." That phrase certainly speaks to me today after spending hours wading through the accumulation of paper from the past year and bringing a certain degree of order to chaos. I love feeling organized, but I'm very lazy about staying organized, so for me these days tend to require Herculean efforts. Tonight I'm feeling good about what's been accomplished and trying not to be overwhelmed by all that has yet to be done to bring order to the house in general.

It also speaks to me as I begin to prepare myself for packing and moving later this summer into a condo of my own. Having moved many, many times since I graduated from high school (4 official addresses in 1998 alone, as I graduated from law school, moved back to my hometown, moved to a small town near where I work, then moved a block away from where I work. Ugh.), I know that I don't handle the rush of packing that every previous move has required, and end up so exhausted by the process of getting everything ready for the move that I live amongst boxes for months afterwards, not caring to see my possessions again. But I want this move to be different because it's finally going to be my stuff in my place, and I want it to feel like mine as soon as possible. So I'm hoping small steps of packing as I purge makes the pre-move period a little less stressful. And as I go through everything, my mantra is to be brutal. I want to take only what I need or love, and nothing more. Sorry Mom, because I know the pack rat in you shivers at the thought of what might be given away or tossed. What you don't know can't hurt you.

2009. It's About Time.

2009-01-01T19:12:00.007-05:00

Cassius says, "It's about darn time you got off your duff and got back onto your blog!" Can I simply say that I don't know what happened. I'm amongst friends, so I'm going to assume you'll forgive me and we can all just move onward and upward. I mean, it's a new year after all, so it's time to let bygones be bygones and start fresh!

I'm excited for the new year. But I always am. I love those times during the year that signal a new beginning - the new year, my birthday, the start of school in the fall (doesn't matter that it's been 10 years since I had a fall term, it still gets me all excited). Yes, I have goals for the new year. They fall under the categories of Health, Create, Simplify, and Learn. I have not set myself up for failure by expecting too much from myself with these goals. I am hopeful, and know that if I even complete half of them, it will be a very good year.

2008 had it's struggles, worldwide, within my circle of friends, and personally (though I am grateful they were not plentiful on the personal front). But I am wealthy in so many, many ways that count more than the stock market or my bank account. And I am deeply grateful for all that has been given to me during this past year and in my life. I am hopeful for what 2009 holds, despite the fears and difficulties that the news brings daily.

I wish nothing but the best for you, my friends, and will let you in on one goal for this new year - I will keep you better informed, right here, on what I'm up to in my corner of the universe. Happy New Year to one and all!

Shout Out!

2008-10-21T09:49:00.001-04:00

Had to drop in and say a very big "Happy Birthday!" to my friend and roomie, Lisa! Have a great birthday (made all the better because you aren't at work today)!

My Favorite Month

2008-10-02T07:58:00.002-04:00

Amongst the Balloons, originally uploaded by kyredbutterfly.

For as long as I can remember, I have loved, loved, loved October. It is the essence of autumn in these parts. Sometimes September feels like fall, but usually it's still too warm. By November, it's getting colder and grayer. But October...October is a chill in the air, crisp, blue skies, glorious color and falling leaves, pumpkins and bonfires, and so much more...everything that I love!

I got a jump-start on the fall love by going with Lisa to a balloon glow last Friday night. They've been doing this balloon glow for several years at the airfield a mile from my house, but this was the first chance I had to go and walk amongst the balloons. They were fun and beautiful, and a bit overwhelming to walk under.

It reminded me of the one hot air balloon trip I've been on, when I was about 12. Mom gave my grandfather a balloon ride for a Christmas present - my grandfather was a bomber pilot in the Air Force, so being up in the air was second nature to him. I was lucky enough to get to ride on the first leg of his trip. It was breathtaking! The view, the gush of currents, the heat from the flame, the gentleness of gliding in the basket. It's a great memory.

This Friday I also get to indulge in another of my favorite fall traditions - going to the St. James Art Show in Old Louisville. It's one of my favorite neighborhoods and with over 750 vendors, it's a *huge* affair! Some years I buy multiple items, some years I walk away with empty hands. But I always love the atmosphere and considering all of the beautiful art. And again, October is coming through and giving us perfect weather for the show...tomorrow it's supposed to be sunny and 70. A perfect day in my favorite month!

P.S. - Birthday wishes

2008-09-15T12:38:00.002-04:00

Oops, meant to give a big shout out to my friend Kevin, whose birthday was yesterday! Had I been able to send an email or blog, my birthday wishes would have been more timely!

Hope you had a great day, Kev!

Please Be Patient With Me

2008-09-15T12:25:00.002-04:00

When I was a little kid my mom would frequently intone the dreaded saying, "Patience is a virtue." I had no idea what that sentence was supposed to mean, but I was smart enough to know that it was invoked when I wanted something, and wanted it now. Finally, when I was about four years old, after hearing this phrase yet again, I replied, "If patience is a virtue, I don't want any virtues!" Needless to say, my mother was rather shocked at that idea. Of course, had I known what a virtue was, maybe I wouldn't have been quite so emphatic.

I tell this story of myself because we don't have power at the house these days and it's looking like it could be a long while before we get any power back. Yesterday the remnants of Hurricane Ike literally swept through the 'Ville with up to 75 mph winds. My neighborhood looks like a tornado touched down in it. There's actually more people without power than when the infamous 1974 tornado did take down lots of Louisville. They are predicting 10 to 14 days without electricity. I'll try to find a coffee shop with WiFi to post some pictures, soon, but even most businesses are closed right now.

And while I'm excited to get back to the posting, first on my list is finding someone who has power where I can dry my hair. My curly hair without a diffuser is a scary, scary site. Then comes begging for a go at their washing machine and dryer. Then, and only then, will I get back to the pics and the blog!

So, I ask for patience. Remember, it's a virtue.

Fall Forward

2008-09-05T11:18:00.002-04:00

Um. Hi. Sorry for the almost two-month absence. I didn't mean to be gone this long. I really didn't start out being gone at all. But here we all are, on the cusp of fall - which I am ready to wholeheartedly embrace, not being a summer person - and I guess I'll just chalk it up to a nice summer vacation!

So, what I did on my summer blogcation -

Went to New Orleans for a work conference. Drank a hurricane (among other things). Ate a few beignets. Grooved in the French Quarter. Didn't gamble at Harrahs, across the street from my hotel. Ate wonderful, yummy Creole and Cajun food. Sweated and sweated and sweated some more. There's a reason Mardi Gras and the Jazz Fest aren't held during the summer. It's hot, folks!
Went to Sacramento for a 9 day training seminar. Met fabulous folks who work in legislatures across the country and learned tons of good stuff about leadership and management. Practical stuff. Went to San Fran for one day and did a short boat ride around the bay, bought cheap purses of questionable origin, and ate good sourdough bread. Yum!
Almost finished an Elizabeth Zimmerman Baby Surprise Jacket for a friend who had her little girl last month. I'm one row, a bind off, sew-up, and attaching buttons away from finishing my first sweater. And I've been at this point since July 20. Oops. Apparently the blog wasn't the only thing I let slip.
Am working on a big knitting project that must remain a secret because it is for someone who actually reads this blog regularly. It's going to take awhile, but I'm enjoying it so far.
Celebrated with Mom that her two big projects for the year are finally, finally finished - her dental work and her new hardwood floors. Helped her paint her living room, dining room, and hallway before the new floors went in. Now she's talking about painting the sunroom and her bedroom! She's on a roll!

Okay, enough for now. Pictures to follow on my flickr page about all of the goodies listed here. Thanks for patiently waiting for me to come back to the fold!

Blue & Gray

2008-07-10T21:34:00.005-04:00

Now, normally in these parts, when that phrase is used, we're talking about the Civil War (or as more southern Southerners than I will still call it, "The War of Northern Aggression." We hold on to grudges down here is these parts.), but in this case, I'm talking about the cloudy skies we've had of late. The last few weeks we've had several thunder storms and hazy days.

All of this seems to be mirroring life. There are a lot of mixed blessings going around in my life and the lives of family and friends. Health scares and waiting for further information, frustration over projects not moving forward as planned, added to the general unease that listening to the national and international news brings on.

The good news is that, as in this picture, there is plenty to smile about because not all clouds are gray and filled with rain. The sun will shine again, and all of these issues will eventually resolve themselves. I'm waiting patiently for the clouds to part.

Dinners and Desserts

2008-07-10T21:05:00.003-04:00

I've been on a cooking binge, at least by my standards. When people ask me about my interests, I almost always mention that I like to cook, but the irony is that I don't often actually make what I consider "real meals." My friend Nancy actually makes fun of me because I can happily eat popcorn for dinner (or breakfast, I hate to admit). Mostly this is because, as a single person, there's always so much extra food whenever I follow a recipe that it doesn't seem worth the hassle. That and the fact that I also have to clean up. I hate doing both.

For awhile now I've been trying to think of ways to incorporate my love of very spicy food in healthier ways than my go-to Mexican dishes, since they so often include at least cheese, if not also fat of several kinds. I know that there are lots of spicy Asian dishes, and Indian food is some of my favorite. So I've bought a few new cookbooks and set out to acquire all the necessary ingredients. In and of itself, this is a change for me. I have a lot of cookbooks, and love reading them (like novels, in fact), but I am rarely organized enough to have an idea of what recipes I want to cook and have a list when I go to the grocery. Too often I just rely on my easy standbys.

My new plan worked out well, because on the day that I was shopping for the many ingredients, my friend Maria called me up looking for some company that evening. We happily made plans for me to bring the groceries to her place, and that night we cooked two great noodle dishes. For closer looks, click on my flickr page. Since then I've also made some yummy tikka masala and even baked - which I really don't like to do!

Happy Anniversary!!!

2008-07-07T12:51:00.001-04:00

Just popping in to say a big "Happy, happy Day" to Kat and Josh! Enjoy your day and I hope you get to spend some good time doing something you both love, together. Or at least eating great food and drinking good drinks!

And for everyone else, I know, I know! I've been on "summer vacation" from the blog. I promise to get back on this horse very, very soon!

With Friends

2008-06-22T22:42:00.003-04:00

So I'm realizing that this will be the second post in a row without a picture. Oops. That's not good. Sorry!

Last night I got to hang out with some great friends and enjoy their company, good food - lots and lots of good food, one half of a weird movie and one good standby movie, and enjoy our hostess's beautiful new condo. Thanks, Maria for having Pam, Crady, Gina and I over. The homemade pizzas were fabulous, even with the dough that wasn't quite defrosted! The salad made us all feel like we were eating healthy, at least for a little bit, though the bread sticks balanced that illusion out somewhat. Then there was the dessert course...homemade ice cream, banana pudding, large bakery cookies with lots of icing, and thankfully, some fresh fruit (to again make us feel a little virtuous). Yum! Okay, so much for the healthy eating idea. Who could resist having one of everything?

We tried watching Funny Games, but this bizarre movie freaked a few of us out a little too much, so we switched to watching Double Jeopardy instead. Nothing great about this movie, but at least there's no animal and child torture, or threat of a rape scene in Ashley Judd's movie!

Maria, the condo looks fabulous! I know you're loving it, which you so very much deserve after the first 5 months of this year and the ongoing issues that you will continue to deal with. You look so happy and comfortable in your new space, and it's so nice to hear you talk about your plans for this place of your own. I'm so, so happy for you!

Summer Showers

2008-06-20T08:34:00.003-04:00

I got home last night just in time for a thunderstorm. The sky had been growing steadily darker, so I knew it was coming. All I did last night was curl up with a book and listen to the storm. I *love* summer storms. One of my favorite childhood memories was watching the storms cross over when I was at my grandparents' house in Tennessee. You could see the storm building, building, building, until finally the pressure was almost visible, and then that first crack of lightening would light up the sky and the thunder would just roll and roll. One thing I missed when I lived in Portland were thunderstorms. There was just not enough land between the coast and the city to build up that kind of pressure.

I didn't turn on the TV to see what was going on with last night's storm. My love for thunderstorms has been hijacked in recent years with all the new technology that can track a storm's progress, block by block, through the city. Now that I know all the details, fear has crept in and replaced the sheer joy and wonder. Now I worry about where to hide if there's a tornado, or winds strong enough to topple the tree in the front yard. This fear was exacerbated earlier this year when we had a bad storm in the middle of the night. I had heard it was coming, but it wasn't expected to reach my area until after midnight. It was a weeknight and I was tired, so I went to sleep. Anyone who knows me knows that sleeping through a storm is no problem for me...I sleep like the dead. But apparently I shouldn't have slept through that one, probably. One home just 4 blocks away was completely destroyed, several others had severe damage, and you could see where the tornado had touched down and grazed homes within 100 yards of my house. Hmmm...maybe I shouldn't be so sanguine about these storms.

But that didn't stop me last night. I wasn't about to turn on the TV. Blissfully ignorant, I can still enjoy the storm for what it is, rather than what it may bring. Now if I just had a screened in porch where I could sit and watch it roll by.

Butterfly Summer

2008-06-19T10:24:00.002-04:00

Butterfly Shoes, originally uploaded by kyredbutterfly.

Sounds better than "Cicada Summer," somehow! While my neighborhood had the big cicada fest several years ago, they are about done flying around Frankfort...thank goodness! They are freaky bugs, and soooo loud. I was not amused to find them in NC, too, and even less amused when one tried to hitch a ride on my shirt. Eeewww!

Anyway, I had to post a picture of my butterfly shoes because I always think of summer whenever I catch a glimpse of them. Aren't they too cute? I bought them in Hawaii four years ago, and even though they aren't an "everyday" kind of shoe, I love them. They make me smile all day long whenever I wear them. This week it's been the best kind of summer...warm but not muggy, with a light breeze. Unfortunately, around here, it's also the kind of summer that lasts for about one week in June and one week in September. Since last week was in the high 90's with tons of humidity, I was afraid we'd passed right on by this kind of weather. I'm glad it made an appearance, however briefly!

Carolina on My Mind

2008-06-17T14:11:00.002-04:00

I spent the weekend with my mom in Asheville, NC. The reason for going in the first place was a concert by one of my favorite artists, David LaMotte. While we were there, we sampled several local eateries, took a historic trolley tour, shopped, enjoyed the architecture and personality of the city, and toured Biltmore House, seen here. There's plenty of pictures on my Flickr page, which you can get to by clicking on the thumbnail to the right. I was really charmed by Asheville. It reminds me of a very small Portland, OR. Very hippie-ish. Mom made the comment that it was sometimes hard to tell the hippies from the homeless. But the downtown, small as it is, was full of people, artists, and bustling shops. Besides our hotel room and meals, we also contributed to the economy through a few purchases. I bought some luscious alpaca yarn to make a scarf for myself. Mom bought a beautiful red leather love seat. It just barely fit in the C-RV, with less than an inch to spare in all directions. Whew! It was a whirlwind weekend and both Mom and I came back more tired than we were when we left, but it was a lot of fun, too.

Belated Birthday Love

2008-06-11T12:44:00.001-04:00

Bday Ballgame, originally uploaded by kyredbutterfly.

Meant to get this posted over the weekend, but oh well! I knew there was a surprise coming, but I just didn't know what it was (sort of). Anyway, on Thursday night Mom whisked me off to the ballpark to have a fun night with the girls. Here's most of us hanging out pretty early on in the evening. Mom, Linda P., and Lisa S. are missing from the shot. Thanks to everyone for coming! And a big, huge thanks to my Mom for getting us all there and giving us such a fun night! Even the weather cooperated and made things pleasant. I had a blast and it was a great way to usher in the new (for me) year!

Happy Birthday, Kat!!!

2008-06-07T09:49:00.002-04:00

I have to give a shout out to my friend Kat, whose birthday it is today. It's also Dragon Boat weekend in Portland, so Kat, I hope your birthday is just a ton of fun! Josh, I'm sure dinner last night for your wife was righteously good (you can take the girl out of the '80s, but you can't take the '80s out of the girl).

Life List for the New Year

2008-06-06T14:34:00.006-04:00

Today is the big day where I turned 35. It feels a bit momentous, though I don't really think it is. But because of that feeling, I started working on a list of things I wanted to do during my 35th year on this little planet of ours. The following isn't everything on the list (I do have a few secrets to keep) but it's representative of my whole list:

Learn to sew, using the brand new - to me - sewing machine Chrissie sent to me. Just awesome. I am sew excited! *groan*

Learn to play chess.

Use the Cuisinart my mom gave to me, on "loan."

Plan meals and take advantage of the farmers' markets in the area.

Prepare for yard sale this fall and pack along the way for move next year.

Get back to walking regularly.

Stop using the TV as "background noise" - get up and move, listen to music, or just enjoy the silence.

Ride the van to work daily so you can save on gas.

Clean out paperwork and files; take stuff to shredder at bank.

Walk the labyrinth regularly and become more attentive to my prayer life.

Blog and Flickr more frequently.

Take more pictures.

Read at least three classic novels a year.

There are several other things on the lists, like projects around the house and more detailed ideas about some of the above, but this is a start. One that makes me feel good about myself. I have already put a few of these ideas into practise: I've read The Three Musketeers by Alexander Dumas, have been good about getting to the van pool on time, been to the farmers' market, and am carrying my camera with me everywhere I go.

Christmas in May

2008-05-30T14:32:00.013-04:00

I love how alike Kat and I are. We clicked right off the bat when we met in law school, the very first day she rolled into town and stopped off at the school. After a year with some pretty bizarre other roommate antics (including a stopover at the mental ward of the local hospital for one roommate), Kat and I shared apartments by ourselves for the next two years of law school. After that little nugget of information, can you blame us?

Anyway, besides just liking each other off the bat, we soon discovered we were born a day apart. So for both of us, birthdays are coming up within the next week. Happy early birthday, friend!

We also have tons of other things in common, one of which is our apparent inability to get gifts sent off in the mail on time for a birthday or holiday. (I can't remember exactly when I sent her Christmas package, but I believe it was late February.) A couple weeks ago a box arrived from Portland. When I opened it, I found a treasure trove of "Christmas" goodies! Wouldn't you love to have gotten all these things? And believe it or not, I love, love, love that my Christmas present came in May, because it's totally random and out of the blue and instead of being lost in the haze that is the holiday season, all of these great gifts stand out and will always be remembered.

So, my fellow Gemini friend, just know that come September or October, start looking for a package to arrive on your front porch. It'll be right on time.

Catchin' Up

2008-05-30T14:07:00.010-04:00

Whenever I get into a conversation about food, I always tell people that I love to cook, but I don't bake. Not that I can't bake, I just don't like to. Mostly because I'm the only one cleaning up after myself in the kitchen and baking requires getting a lot of stuff dirty. Add that to the need to precisely measure ingredients and all desire flies out the window. The only thing that really has ever interested me in baking is bread. And by bread I don't even mean bread-machine quality bread, but artisanal quality bread. Suspecting it takes a lot of know how and talent to achieve that kind of bread, I kept going back to local shops and purchasing rather than trying my hand at it in the kitchen.
Then I came across the No Knead Bread recipe that's been storming through blogs for two years now (I never claimed to be cutting edge!). Flour, yeast, salt, water. That seemed simple enough. In the back of my mind I kept hearing this voice that said "Surely you could do that." And so I finally got up the nerve and tried. This loaf was my first attempt. It was delicious! I was so impressed with myself, even though it obviously is a pretty easy thing to do, given it's popularity. I've since made one other loaf, adding in some wheat flour to make it slightly healthier.
I've also recently purchased this book, again on the advice of multiple blog gushing (like this one) over its wonderfulness. I haven't tried any of the recipes yet. I'm doing what the book asks, which is that you read about why it works and how it works before jumping and with both feet and doing normal bread baking things that won't work with this basic recipe. Oh, and I also checked out the website along with the errors page that explains the mistakes in the book. Key things, I think, for making it work. I'll report back soon!

Yo, Oregon!

2008-05-20T11:14:00.004-04:00

Hope you voters and friends in Oregon are enjoying your primary day as much as we are here in Kentucky. Of course, in your vote-by-mail state, you've probably sent in your ballots already. We have way too much "vote hauling" (read that to mean, in most cases, "vote buying") to actually enjoy the luxury of sending in our ballots. I voted on the way into work, so I'm taken care of, too.

For those of you here in KY or in OR, get out there and vote if you haven't already. It's your civic right and duty, and personally, if you don't take advantage of this opportunity, I really don't want to hear your opinions on the state of the state or nation. You had your chance.

But I must say, it's kinda nice to be the center of the news media universe for something other than our lack of education, poor health, or post-storm trailer park interviews!

"Sew? What Did You Say?"

2008-05-08T15:23:00.003-04:00

And now for a little humor directed at myself.

I learned to knit last August. It was Kat's fault, really. When she came to visit last July she wanted to go to a yarn shop, so I took her to the Knit Nook. Petting the yarn, I was suddenly seized with the desire to learn how to knit. Weird, very, very weird. I don't do crafts. Never have, really, outside of Bible School and Girl Scout camp. But that's what started it all.

Since then I've learned the basics of knitting, and continue to learn (tomorrow starts a short "felting" class - woo hoo!). I don't yet think of myself as a knitter, but as someone who knows how to knit. And I've not yet decided what the difference is, but in my mind there is one. Along the way, I've searched out websites and blogs of other knitters, and slowly came to realize that along with knitting, I was beginning to get the urge to sew.

Sew. This was not a good development. After keeping the idea to myself for a few months, I finally admitted to Kat in a comment on her blog that this newest urge was taking over, and her response was that knitting was akin to marijuana in that knitting was a gateway craft to other crafting endeavors the way some say pot leads to other drugs. I tried resisting the urge to get hooked, mostly because doing so would mean admitting this to my mother.

And now, as Paul Harvey intones, is the rest of the story:

When I was 17 my mother informed me that I wouldn't be able to go on the church choir tour to Canada, that summer because my mom didn't trust the choir director. You can call up your own memories of being told "no" as a teenager and get a good idea of how well I handled this decision. Yelling and tears, and lots of both. Instead mom signed me up for a sewing camp at the local mega sewing store. To me, this seemed like further cruelty. I took voice lessons and sang in 3 choirs in high school, so singing was a big thing for me. Sewing...I had never so much as been interested in sewing for one minute of my life. To add salt to the wound, I was the oldest "student" by at least 4 years, and was actually closer to the age of the instructor. I went, because my summer would have been even worse if I hadn't (you didn't cross my mom, as cool as she was/is), but I wasn't happy. I clearly remember the various projects we did, including a tank top and shorts and a cloth bowl. I actually have always loved the cloth bowl, but it still didn't make up for the class in my memory.

As time passed and long after my mother and I both survived that very unhappy summer, I have been able to use my mom's idea that a sewing class would make up for a missed choir trip in a humorous way of pointing out "What were you thinking?" Soooo, the idea of mentioning to her now that I wanted to (re)learn how to sew was going to be a huge thing. She would now be able to lord this over me in much the same way as I have during the intervening years. Was I willing to give her this gift and live with the consequences?

I considered learning to sew "in the dark" and simply not telling her. Kat could teach me the next time I went to Portland for a visit. But sewing is a hard hobby to hide, when you consider the amount of equipment and raw material (haha) involved. The clincher was that my mother is the proud owner of a Bernina sewing machine and serger. I don't know much about sewing, but I know Bernina's a good machines (and expensive). If I really was serious and really was going to learn, I was probably going to want to use her machine...and maybe even borrow it for an extended period of time.

I commiserated with Kat over this dilemma last Saturday, and then suddenly found myself confessing my urge to my mom on Sunday when we went out to brunch after church. Despite having some pretty serious difficulties with her teeth that made her not want to open her mouth very much, my confession brought forth a very loud hoot on my mom's part. And I was clearly right, because when I checked in with her earlier today she asked if I'd blogged anymore and mentioned that she thought this would be a good story to tell. It's never going to end, and I knew this was the way it would be.

Now I guess I need to go sign up for another class at the mega sewing store where I went to sewing camp 18 years ago.

In the Wake of the Race

2008-05-08T15:07:00.004-04:00

Since I mentioned that I was putting down a bet on Eight Belles for the Derby in my last post, I have felt all week that I needed to say a little something about her death immediately following that incredible race. She looked outstanding the whole way around the track, with only Big Brown (wow! What a horse!) looking better. Please understand, I know very little about thoroughbreds and horse racing. But you can't live in Kentucky and not be familiar with some of it.

For those saying that horse racing is the equivalent of dogfighting or a form animal abuse, all I can say is that I strenuously disagree. These horses are bred to do what they do, and yes, breeding may very well have something to do with Eight Belles's tragic end, since for years now thoroughbreds have be bred for speed over endurance. But these horses want to run, and most of them love the competition of the race. Certainly the ones entered in that race did - otherwise they wouldn't have even qualified for the race. You could see their love of racing during the Derby - she was as eager to chase Big Brown as all the other horses were to chase her. And these horses live very, very well. Trust me, many of the places they live are better than the house I live in; these horses are anything but neglected.

While it is shocking to watch a horse be euthanized on the track, and while tears sprang to my eyes, I am grateful to those who were there for responding as quickly as they did, as they probably kept Eight Belles from feeling a great deal of the pain of her injuries. I am sorry for the owner, trainer, and jockey, all of whom are being put under what seems to me to be an unfair microscope. I am sorry for horse racing, but I hope the industry can find a way to learn from this tragedy, as they did from Barbaro's injuries. Most of all, I am sorry for Eight Belles, who was a beautiful horse who went down in one stride. I would have enjoyed watching her continue her career.

The money I won on her last race will be donated to a group here in KY that takes care of retired racehorses... it is not much (just a $2 across the board bet) but it's the least I can do to honor her life and the joy she was to watch racing against the boys.

Run for the Roses

2008-05-01T10:02:00.002-04:00

Mare and foal, originally uploaded by kyredbutterfly.

I couldn't resist adding a picture of this little foal and his mama for my Derby post. Just like Dan Fogelburg (R.I.P.) sang, "From sire to sire, it's born in the blood - the fire of a mare and the strength of a stud. It's breeding and it's training and it's something unknown, that drives you and carries you home," I bet this beautiful young one is already dreaming of his chance to run for the roses on the first Saturday in May - maybe as soon as next year.

I've made my Derby picks for this year - Eight Belles and Monba. Why these two? Nothing "scientific" - not that picking horses is scientific, especially in a field of 20 horse all of whom are running further than ever before - but because Eight Belles is a filly and I always bet the fillies, and because Monba is a gray and I always bet the grays (in loving memory of my great grandfather). The last time a filly won in 1988, Winning Colors, I won big by betting on her and really annoyed my father in the process. It was great.

Both are currently at morning line odds of 20-1, so neither are supposed to win. But that won't stop me from putting my meager $2 bets on each of them!

Whatever else you're doing on Saturday, I hope you turn on NBC and watch "The Greatest Two Minutes in Sports." Raise a class (filled with a mint julep, or at least a good Kentucky bourbon drink of your choice) to the beautiful horses, and hum a few bars...

And it's run for the roses
As fast as you can
Your fate is delivered
Your moment's at hand
It's the chance of a lifetime
In a lifetime of chance
And it's high time you joined
In the dance
It's high time you joined
In the dance.

Knitterly Goodness & Belated Thanks

2008-04-29T11:35:00.005-04:00

DSC00157, originally uploaded by kyredbutterfly.

I'm going to take full advantage of all my work last night and finally thank my dear friend Chrissie for packing up and sending me all of this delicious yarn and magazines and books. (The books are a little hard to identify, as Phoenix the Cat felt the need to pose on top of them. It must have been the smell of Artie the Dog, because no matter what I did, Phoenix wouldn't move!)

I know it's been way too long, but thanks, Chrissie! I've got a few goodies planned for all this fun yarn.

It sure doesn't take much!

2008-04-28T18:33:00.004-04:00

(Just a gratuitous picture of the tulips that were beautifully displayed in front of the Capitol earlier this month. Now, here's why they're posted here...)

To make me downright ecstatic, that is! As I said last time, it was about darn time I got on the ride and uploaded my photos to Flickr, got pics on this darn blog, and eventually figured out how to put a Flickr badge onto my blog.

The big problem was that we've been having massive internet problems at home. Between the frustration level and the fact that I was beginning to think that I was going to have pay someone to come fix the problem, I kept putting it off. It's gotten to the point that most days I don't even look at the router to see if it's working more than once a day. As I walked into the house after work today I just happened to glance over and Oh. My. Gosh! It's working! Drop everything. Turn computer on. Find Flickr account information from when Kat visited last July. Do not stop to go to the bathroom, do not get anything to drink, don't even take off jewelry. Get online - now!

Not only did I get a select few pics onto Flickr (and think I've figured an easier way to do it out), but I tagged and named and described the ones I did upload. I figured by then I was probably pushing my luck to attempt the badge thing all by myself, given the lengths Kat went through to try and unsuccessfully put a badge onto my old blog design, but I held my breath and gave it a shot. Anyone with two eyes (or heck, even just one) can look to the right of this post and see that I actually succeeded. Not that it was hard. Not that most anyone could do it. I realize this isn't rocket science. But the fact that I did do it...well, heck, I don't like trying to hook up the DVD player if I can find someone else to fool with it.

So, I'm ecstatic. But I must also admit, given the hour-long drive home and the hour that I've been enjoying internet usage again, my bladder's pretty darn full and I'm going to risk it. I mean, why not, I actually accomplished one of my "big" goals for this spring. Maybe I'll get really, really lucky and the internet connection will not break down when I turn my back for a few minutes. A girl can dream, can't she?

Long Time, No Words

2008-04-17T10:47:00.003-04:00

Did you all (all 6 or 7 of you who actually read this, that is) think I'd dropped off the face of the earth? Well, sometimes working for the state legislature during the last days of their annual session feels that way. Really, it's been a combination of the job and the frustration over a decision I made about a month ago that I haven't been able to implement.

The legislature's now left town (for now), meaning I can leave the office on time again and have more time for outside pursuits, like this blog baby. However, I'd vowed that I was going to be better about adding pictures to my blogs, getting my pictures over onto Flickr, and trying to link my Flickr pics to the blog. Kat and I tried last year when she came to visit and had a frustrating time ending in (obvious) defeat. But blogs without any pictures can be boring, so that was a goal I'd set for myself. Then my home internet service decided to go bye-bye, just in time for me to not have the time to get it fixed.

That left me faced with the dilemma...do I blog without pictures (and when, because of work obligations, there wasn't much to share) or do I wait until I got the pictures downloaded to Flickr and figure out how to make the link work properly? You can tell which one I chose! At this point I'm thinking of bringing the camera into work so I can just load the pictures to Flickr and be done with it. (Sshhh...don't tell!)

Also, the new look for the blog...The blog hit the one year mark this month, and I was itching to make some changes. And, I love, love, love green, and spring's the time for a new look. I'm also secretly hoping it's easier to create the Flickr link in this template than the other one I was using. Kat seemed to think that was the problem. I guess we'll see.

Style Confirmation

2008-03-03T18:44:00.004-05:00

On Saturday I walked into the living room where Lisa was watching a re-run of TLC's "What Not to Wear" that had aired the night before (there was a serious lack of good TV to choose from, since Lisa had already seen the episode from Friday night). I got there just before the in-studio "reveal" of three outfits purchased by the episode's "patient." I watch the show on occasion, so I sat down to enjoy the final 15 minutes or so of the episode while Lisa fills me in on some the the patients former ways. When she walks out with her second outfit, they specifically focus at one point on the woman's shoes, and suddenly I'm pointing and am getting excited. They are the same as a pair I bought a few weeks ago. The exact same shoe! What a bizarre moment...if I hadn't walked into the living room just in time to see this segment of the show, I would never know that at least in one small area of my closet exists a pair of shoes worthy of Stacey and Clinton's approval. Oh, and my mom likes them, too.

Contrarian

2008-02-29T14:03:00.003-05:00

During session I frequently relish a very quiet weekend. Particularly now that I'm the lead staff person for my committee. My phone never stops ringing. Being an introvert, when a Friday during session comes I'm generally craving a couple days of doing my own thing, in my own time, without a lot of interaction with my friends and family. Love them dearly, but I need my space!

Last weekend was full of activity, and I'd come down with a cold that meant I really, really, really just wanted to sleep and knit and read and watch TV. I managed to make it to my events on Saturday, but I had to cancel church and a luncheon and a church meeting on Sunday. I felt cruddy and just wanted my time.

This weekend there's nothing on the agenda, but now that I have the freedom to have my space, I'm really feeling a bit at loose ends and craving some activity and connection with people. Go figure. When I have to be social I don't want to be, when I don't have any need to be, I'm seeking it out. Mind you, I still turned down an invitation to go to an Irish restaurant (that doesn't take reservations) with my friend Nancy, her husband Jason, and their almost 3 year old son Grant, tonight. You see, it's Lent, and Louisville is a very Catholic city. People will be packed into this restaurant waiting for seats in order to eat the compulsory fish and chips (Catholics eat fish on Fridays during Lent, for those who don't get my meaning). I may want contact with people, but not that much contact. It'll be a madhouse.

I've got lots of little errands to run and to-do's around the house to accomplish, and I do have church and lunch afterwards to look forward to on Sunday. But I may have to take my knitting and make my way to my LYS for some social knitting before the weekend is over.

I'm such a wild child, I know.

p.s. One of my to-do's is to take pictures of my knitting and download my pictures...so hopefully I'll have a few entertaining posts over the next week or so. Cross your fingers!

Just Like a Girl

2008-02-12T10:24:00.001-05:00

I don't really consider myself a girlie-girl. I don't like pink, I love watching sports, and I don't scream when I see a spider or freak out when there's a dead bat in the living room (yes, it's happened). But when it comes to shoes, well, you've got me there - I'm definitely a girl. I like shoes so much that I don't let myself go shoe shopping very often. I usually end up buying a couple pairs in November with the annual Pigeon Forge Shop-Til-You-Drop trip, and maybe a sandal or two in the spring, but that's it. I have a hard time controlling myself, so I simply forbid it.

But over the past few weeks there have been a few incidents that clearly called for the need for new shoes. My black boots that are in such bad shape that they should have been thrown away at the end of last year, but I loved the fit so I was holding out for another season. Then the button on the side of one of them fell off, so that there's this flap of "(not) leather" hanging off the boot. No more black boots. My brown boots are great to look at, but they kill my feet, so I end up not wearing them very often. I also have a severe affinity for sling-back shoes, but my one pair of black heels includes a left shoe that has stretched to the point that the sling falls off my heel after a couple steps. This is not good when you're running, literally, to a committee meeting. Finally, I realized I only had one pair of dress brown heels, too, and they are very, very narrow. So I hate to wear them to work when I know I may be on my feet for 12 or more hours. They're fine for church or dinner out, but not for a full day.

Based on all of that, I decided that the situation had risen to the level that my strict moratorium on shoe buying had to take a day or two off. Last Friday I stopped at one discount shoe store and ended up with 2 pair of boots (black and brown) and a pair of brown high heels. All had been on sale, so I felt pretty good about the splurge. Then on Saturday I went to a different discount shoe store, relatively new to the Louisville area, and that's when things got way out of control. Four pairs of shoes and one pair of boots later, I walked out thinking I would have to eat saltine crackers for the next few weeks until I could pay off the credit card. The boots I bought on Saturday will replace one pair that I bought on Friday, because I liked them better, but when all is said and done, I ended the weekend with 7 pairs of shoes & boots more than I'd started out owning. This is why I'm not allowed to go shoe shopping!

And even though I heard all the dire weather predictions for snow and ice (all of which came true), of course I had to wear one of my new pairs of shoes on Monday. And no, I wasn't even sensible enough to wear the boots. So there I was on Monday night, having fought my way back to Louisville in the snow and wind, at the grocery store, delicately stepping through the sludge in my brand new black kitten heel shoes to get milk and something for dinner.

A girl's got to do what a girl's got to do.

Hey Phil? Where Did the Winter Go?

2008-02-07T13:54:00.000-05:00

So I heard the news bright and early on Groundhog Day that Punxatawney Phil had predicted six more weeks of winter, and I sighed. I've rarely seen daylight recently because it's dark when I get to work and usually dark when I leave work, so the idea of six more weeks of this sort of bummed me out. Especially since Saturday was a lovely, warm, sunny day in Louisville and I kept thinking "I want more of this!" But alas, I think I made a mistake with that thought.

We enjoyed the unseasonably warm weather through Tuesday night, when the jet stream moved and here came the thunderstorms and tornadoes. This is the second Tuesday in a row where most everyone in the state spent the night watching the local weather news or listening to the radio from the "comfort" of their basement or hall closet. Not a fun way to pass the time.

Last week we lost electricity for 10 hours, but since a house one block from me had a huge tree cave in on it, I felt fortunate that all I had to do was rescue my garbage can lid and clean up some trees limbs strewn across the front yard. This week we never lost power, and the tornadoes weren't in my part of the county, so my night wasn't as bad as others. Strangely enough, the internet connection that got messed up by last week's storm has resolved itself after this week's storm. But even though we got off easier this week, more peopl died across Kentucky and in several other states from the storms.

The storm did bring the temperature down from highs in the 70s to a more seasonal low 40s and high 30s. Of course, tomorrow it's supposed to be in the 50s, followed by a high of 28 degrees, and then bouncing back to the 40s. So I'm admitting my folly and asking for forgiveness from Phil and Old Man Winter, and begging that winter comes back for the next six weeks. I'll take that over deadly tornadoes in early February!

Brrrrr...

2008-01-25T09:46:00.001-05:00

I know, I know...it's been awhile since I've blogged. I think I agree with my friend Chrissie, when you get out of the habit it's hard to jump in again. She recently wrote: "Funny thing about blogging is that once you fall out of the habit, it's hard to pick it up again. So I guess I'm going to have to get back up on the horse and dust off the keyboard." Of course, she wrote this back on January 8th and has blogged a lot since then. So I'm shamed.

It's been a fast-paced but good new year. The day after Christmas, one of my staff members informed me he was taking a new job...4 days after the legislative session began. Yikes! That put me in a bit of a tizzy, but so far we've managed okay. I'm just now starting the interview process for his replacement. It's hard to fit the time in when you're drafting bills and scheduling meetings and answering phone calls from legislators all day long. But today is the 13th day of our 60 day session, and it would be nice to get a replacement before the 60th day, even if that person doesn't know how to draft a bill.

Otherwise I've been very selfish with my personal time. When the weekend gets here, I just don't want to commit to much because it takes so much to gear up for another week of craziness and long hours at work. I am getting into another knitting craze, though. I bought lots of yarn last week when Michaels was having a sale, and tonight I'm starting a very short class on how to knit cables. I'm excited, because other than plain garter stitching and knitting hats in the round, I don't know how to do anything else yet. And I still can't read most patterns because there's always something in there that I have no idea how to do. This class may be the only one I can fit in before the session ends in April, so I expect I'll be knitting lots and lots of cables between now and then!

We were all beginning to wonder whether or not winter was every really going to come. As recently as New Year's Eve we were having weather more appropriate for late October or early April. But finally Old Man Winter has arrived (as it has in much of the country). We're not used to temperatures in the single digits (and that's without wind chill factored in). All I can say is thank goodness for knitted hats and scarves. Now if I could just learn how to do gloves and mittens!

I know my good friend Kat is going to ask where are all my pictures of the few things I've managed to complete so far, so let me just say that I'm not that organized yet! I'll try to get a few pictures of what I still have in my possession, but a couple things had to be given as gifts before I snapped any photos. Oops! I promise to do better...which is an easier promise to make now that I've finally invested in my own digital camera. Now I just have to download everything to Flickr.

A Very Merry Day

2007-12-27T12:08:00.001-05:00

I wasn't much in the Christmas spirit this year. A couple big changes in my life in 2007 meant things were going to be a little different, and I'm afraid part of me was dwelling too much on those changes. Also, one of my biggest joys of the season is singing along to Christmas songs while driving in the car (madrigal Christmas music, anyone?)...but due to a lingering bronchial infection, my voice wasn't up to it. I sounded pitiful, when I was able to make any sound at all.

In the end, the season was very merry and bright, however. Going to worship on Sunday morning and again on Monday night really catapulted my mood in the right direction, even though my voice started acting up again by the time I got to the third hymn on Christmas Eve. Mom and I left church and met our friends (family, really) for the annual Christmas Eve dinner. Mom and I have participated in this dinner out since I was in elementary school, and it's been going on a little longer than that. For probably 30 years it was always at a restaurant in a hotel in downtown Louisville, but that ended a few years ago. Since then we've been a wandering group in search of a restaurant. This year we ended up at a Chinese buffet! But we still had a great time. I look forward to that meal every year.

Christmas day was equally magical, though it was just Mom and I celebrating at her house. You might think two people wouldn't make it very merry, but it does make it very relaxing...none of the stress of lots of family with different ideas of what should be done when. We lounged or slept until late morning, opened gifts, had Christmas brunch at 1 p.m. (including green eggs and ham...literally), and then decided on a marathon DVD session with "Nero Wolfe."

Earlier in the day Mom and I had talked about Christmas memories that stand out in our minds, and reminisced together. As I stumbled home that evening, laden with so many wonderful gifts and good food, I realized that this Christmas was one that will stand out too...full of surprises and reassurance that all is merry and bright in my little corner of the world. May it be so with you as well!

Folderol

2007-12-14T15:56:00.001-05:00

folderol \FAHL-duh-rahl\ noun
1 : a useless ornament or accessory : trifle *2 : nonsense
Example sentence: Cherie dismissed the tabloid article as useless folderol.

Did you know? Hogwash. Claptrap. Hooey. Drivel. Malarkey. English is rife with words that mean "nonsense," and "folderol" is one of the many. Though not the most common of the words for nonsense, it's been around since 1820 and is still heard today. "Folderol" comes from "fol-de-rol" (or "fal-de-ral"), which used to be a nonsense refrain in songs, much like "tra-la-la." The oldest recorded instance of someone "singing folderol" occurs in Irish dramatist George Farquhar’s 1701 play Sir Harry Wildair, in which a character sings, "Fal, al, deral!"

********** ********** ********** **********

Every day I get a "Word of the Day" email from Merriam-Webster. Today's is listed above. Most days I read it, even when I know the word's meaning, just to read about the etymology of words. I mean, I did take Latin for 3 years, and this is one of the few times that I'm likely to use that learning directly!

Today's word really hit home, however. It's getting close to Christmas (I'm no longer panicking, as I've made a significant dent in purchasing presents in the past few days), and there's certainly a lot of of ornamentation and accessorizing going on these days.

More importantly, there's a lot of nonsense around me recently. Mostly this is work-related. Our long legislative session starts on Jan. 8 and we're in full bill drafting mode right now. Sometimes being a bill drafter is a thankless job. There are a lot of bills that we draft that never see the light of day because the legislator decides he or she doesn't want to file it and make it public. That happens a lot. Then there are those bills that the sponsor is very enthusiastic about but you know for political or practical reasons that the bill won't ever be heard in committee. For those raised on Schoolhouse Rock ditties, and you know who you are, you know that getting out of committee is the first step on a Bill's journey to becoming a Law. So you get this assignment to draft some complicated piece of legislation and you know that this bill will never make that journey.

But just in case we get too cocky about knowing what's going to happen, each session it seems that some piece of legislation that you never in a million years thought was going to go anywhere, much less become a law, actually moves through the process and gets enacted. So despite the sometimes thanklessness of the job, you also always do your best job you know how, no matter what the odds seem on that document ever seeing the light of day, much less ending up codified in the statutes. (And trust me, even some of those are hogwash, malarkey, or folderol!

So tra-la-la and fol-de-rol and Merry Christmas to all!

What Do You Mean There's Only 15 Days Left?!?!

2007-12-10T15:21:00.001-05:00

Surely it can't be December 10th. I'm still wondering what happened to October, much less November! I can't already have missed 1/3 of December. It's just not possible.

Life has been just way too busy recently. I vaguely remember it being mid-November I I was telling myself to just get through December 1st. By that time Mom and I would have travelled to Arizona over the Thanksgiving weekend, I would have attended my conference at the Arizona Biltmore (and finished my small speaking role), and hosted a slew of my friends at my house for an after-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving meal, turkey and all.

All of that happened. Mom and I had a great time traipsing around Arizona (Phoenix to Jerome to Sedona to Flagstaff, back to Sedona and Phoenix, to Tucson and Tombstone, and again back to Phoenix to drop Mom at the airport). Jerome is a great little town literally sticking off the side of a mountain. Sedona is beautiful and ritzy. The drive between Sedona and Flagstaff is breathtaking. Flagstaff brought back good memories of when we were there 22 years ago or so. Tombstone is stuck in its O.K. Corral past and proud of it. Tucson is the perfect size city, I think...while very Southwestern, it also reminded me of Louisville - very user-friendly. And that's despite all of the downtown interstate exits being closed for construction. Phoenix is just big, and bigger. But after dropping Mom off I did go and enjoy Taliesin West, which was the perfect preview for staying at the Biltmore, since Frank Lloyd Wright was a consultant on the project and his influence is evident throughout the facility. The conference went really well, too.

Less than 24 hours after my plane landed, the turkey was ready (there's a very funny story about the bird, but I'm not going to humiliate myself to all of the web, even if only about 4 people ever read this), and Lisa and I welcomed people in for a formal dinner. Thankfully it was a potluck, because we got to eat a lot of very good food and have a lot of laughs. The house hasn't quite recovered yet, but it was well worth it. What started out as me whining about wanting a real Thanksgiving meal (all the way back in July) turned out to be a great night of fun and food. Thanks to all who came and made the evening so much fun.

So things were supposed to slow down once the party was over. Except that I forgot that I had to organize an out-of-town meeting for my legislative committee members. So before I had a chance to do all of my laundry, I was repacking my bag on Tuesday to go to Fort Campbell U.S. Army Base on Wednesday and Thursday. My staff and I didn't roll into Frankfort until 9 p.m. Thursday night...UGH! It was a long trip for being less than 36 hours long. And I promptly came down with the crud in time to spend most of the weekend trying to recuperate from it all.

And now it's December 10th. I'm going to try to not stress (too much). I'm thinking Christmas cards are just not going to happen this year. Lisa's already decided not to put up a tree this year, so at least I'm not the only one going "Oh well, maybe next year." Tomorrow is the gubernatorial inauguration here, so I get the day off from work (having all those parking spaces is more valuable than having us try to work while festivities surround the capitol building). I'm going shopping and hope that I manage to take care of several people's gifts. I've got to, because with session starting on Jan. 8th, I'm finding it hard to find another good time to take off work and get more shopping done.

For all of you who are feeling a little stressed out there, my sympathies. Who knew there were only 15 days left until Christmas. I certainly didn't! Good luck!

Rainy Days and Mondays

2007-11-13T16:07:00.000-05:00

Okay, so today's actually Tuesday, but it's a rainy day, so the title still applies. And even though I had yesterday off of work to celebrate Veterans' Day (Thanks, all of you who have served our country in the military, regardless of what I might think about the various wars that have been fought.), yesterday still managed to get me down because I've been struggling with a vicious cold all weekend (and on through today with no end in sight).

It's been awhile since I blogged but that's mostly due to the fact that when I was on the computer I was too busy to stop and write, and when I could tear myself away from working on the computer, the last thing I wanted to do was be back on the computer, even just to check in.

A few weekends ago I took a pastel drawing/painting workshop, which was a great deal of fun. When I was in 6th grade I won a county-wide art competition with a pastel drawing I did in art class, but that's really the last time I ever used any artistic ability I have. Mom's always said I had it in me (and she would know), but for various reasons I've never pursued it until now. I'm still not sure how much I'll do on my own...I really need to take more classes to learn techniques and the basics of drawing. That's on my to-do list for next spring once the legislature adjourns and I have some free time.

The next weekend was the annual Pigeon Forge Shopping Extravaganza event, and I trundled off with Mom and the other moms and daughters from church for yet another shop-til-you-drop weekend at the outlet malls near Gatlinburg, TN. We leave on a Thursday night and come back on Sunday, and in between we ignore the beautiful Smoky Mountains, the colorful leaves and/or Christmas decorations, the variety of shows, and all other possible distractions and just eat, sleep and shop. Actually, we're slowing down a bit and resting more, and this year we even played several games together. Mostly, though, the shopping is a great excuse for a lot of laughter, story telling, and good conversations. I love these women, most of whom I've known my whole life, so it's great to get away and just be together for awhile.

Last week we had an election for governor and other constitutional officers. There will be a new governor inaugurated on Dec. 11th, and lots of things will change around Frankfort. No election has a direct impact on my job (even legislative elections, which we didn't have this year), so that's not a worry. But I was just beginning to think that I'd met all of the "big wigs" associated with the committee for which I'm the lead staff person, and now many or all of those people will be moving on and new people will fill those roles. So here goes the "meet and greet" merry-go-round again. Fun, fun!

Now, if I could only shake this cold, the rainy days wouldn't seem quite so bad.

The Life and Times of a Slug

2007-10-15T11:07:00.000-04:00

I admit it, I was a slug this weekend. I made it out of the house every day, but that's not saying too much, to tell the truth. The past month has been a busy one, and I still felt like I hadn't caught up from last weekend, so I intentionally kept my weekend clear of much activity.

While it doesn't speak highly of my social life, I spent Friday night finishing a book Maria had lent me on Tuesday and working on a knitting project that I have to have done by next week. "In the Bleak Midwinter" by Julia Spencer-Fleming is an interesting and entertaining murder mystery set in the New York Adirondacks, and of all things, the main character is a female Episcopalian priest. Finishing the book was part of what got me out and about a bit on Saturday...to return it to the library and pick up some lunch. But before and after that, I was simply knitting, sleeping, watching TV, and reading.

Saturday evening I did venture out to Judy and Scott's house in rural Kentucky (south of Frankfort). Judy had invited me to come and enjoy their dinner and bonfire. Two of her sons were there with their friends, as were two couples of friends closer to Judy and Scott's age. We all collectively painted a chair, watched UK beat LSU in football (Go Cats!), ate lots of good food, and laughed together. I did finally get to go for a walk back in their woods, which was so peaceful, and allowed another chance for Judy and I to have a few good conversations. It was a fun evening!

On Sunday I decided to skip church, mostly because Lisa's cat thought that it was time to wake up at 5 a.m., when I'd only been asleep for about 3 hours, and I just didn't want to try to stay awake through the service. Despite that lack of structure I did go out briefly again on Sunday...to the knitting store for needles and yarn and back to the library, this time to pick up the next 2 books by the same author.

So, you can see the theme of my sluggish weekend...sleep, knit, read, sleep, eat, knit, read...and the worst of it is, I'm still sleepy!

A Disturbing Development

2007-10-08T14:19:00.000-04:00

I got a call from my mother a few minutes ago, asking me why I hadn't posted a new blog yet. Good grief, it's only been 5 days! I posted all of 2 blog entries in the entire month of September. My response was that I've been a little busy, which is true. The other part of it is that I hadn't even thought about a new entry.

But here I am, feeling pressure from Mom to put something down. With my work travels, I was in 5 different airports over the course of about 38 hours between Thursday and Friday. I spent most of Saturday trying to sleep off the dregs of the traveling. I don't know how people travel for work, week in and week out. They must find a well of stamina somewhere that I've never tapped.

Saturday night I met my friends Pam, (Kim, but we never call her that) Crady, Gina & her husband Nick and their two boys, Jackson and Charlie, for dinner at the corner Mexican restaurant, and then the girls and I headed to the movie theater. We saw "In the Valley of Elah," which is by far the best performance by Tommy Lee Jones I've ever seen. But it is also one very sad, depressing, and tense movie. We all walked out in total silence, and didn't speak for over a minute. I found myself thinking about the movie later that night and again on Sunday, which is always the mark of a good movie. Next time, though, I think we'll seek out a comedy.

Sunday I met Mom at church and was glad to see Nancy and Davis Gray visiting St. Paul, too. Then Mom and I headed down to the St. James Art Fair, which I look forward to every year. Of course, it's not over 90 degrees every year, either, and the heat and humidity took it's toll. We didn't stay nearly as long as we have in past years. But I did find some beautiful pieces of pewter, and even have a pewter nativity to look forward to as a Christmas gift (thanks, Mom!). The rest of Sunday was pretty quiet, at least for me. Lisa was running around like crazy getting ready to leave for her chorus competition in Calgary. I dropped her off at the airport on my way to work this morning. I hope the competition goes well and that they place at least as high as they did 2 years ago, if not even higher!

So, Mom, I hope you're happy. I've caught everyone up on the excitement of my weekend, and have spent some time today just trying to catch myself up.

A Quickie

2007-10-03T12:32:00.000-04:00

(Oh, if it were only so! Hahaha!) Anyway, I'm getting ready to head off on a little adventure including a work meeting in Eastern Kentucky and then a quick one-night trip to D.C. for another work related meeting. There's nothing like meeting the expectation of legislators away from the office and trying to coordinate all of that. And since this is my first time at this, it's been an eye-opening experience.

Besides all of that, it's been a busy few weeks. I've gotten a chance to catch up with some friends over coffee or knitting, got to shop at some funky stores I don't visit often enough, and found a few moments to hole up in my bedroom and just veg. I finished my first official knitting project, a cool little hat (I'll put up a picture whenever I get a chance). Woo hoo! I'm so proud of myself and it just whets my appetite for learning more.

Gotta run, time to load up the van with a cooler, water, soft drinks, US and state flags, meeting folder, gavels, name plates, coffee cups, a state seal....now you see what I mean!

Dog Days of Autumn

2007-09-24T16:07:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was the Autumnal Equinox (and my mom's birthday, by the way)...and it is 97 degrees in Louisville today. Somebody forgot to mention the change of seasons to Mother Nature. It's hard enough in the early days of fall to find clothes appropriate for the season, but even more so when all you want to wear are shorts and a tank top and you don't want to move too much because you'll start sweating and never stop.

Mom and I celebrated her birthday by driving to Paris (Kentucky, unfortunately) and having a lovely dinner at Migdalia's in the heart of the small downtown district. We walked around just a little bit and enjoyed some of the very old buildings, but it was just too hot to do much sight-seeing, so instead we went to the bar and had a leisurely drink and interesting conversation with the bartender before sitting down for a great meal. Paris is a neat little town smack dab in the middle of horse country. It's very quaint to drive along and see all of the yearlings frolicking in the pasture, and then see mares with babies behind the black wooden fences.

We listened to the University of Kentucky football game on the way home from dinner. The Bluegrass state has slipped into some kind of alternate universe when the University of Louisville slips to 2-2 after losing to Syracuse (Syracuse?? In football???), and UK goes 4-0 in a comeback win over Arkansas. Mom and I made it back to her house in time to see the final few plays of that game. UofL drops out of the top 25, and UK is ranked 14th. It's a strange, strange, strange, strange world.

But then, it's also supposed to be fall, and it surely isn't that, either!

On a Wing and a Prayer

2007-09-13T10:16:00.000-04:00

My first difficult moment in my new job as head of the staff for the Seniors, Veterans, Military Affairs & Public Protection committee was to take care of some miscommunication about the committee flying on a C-130 to Fort Knox. With a grandfather who retired as a colonel from the Air Force and a boyfriend who is into all thing military, I knew what a C-130 looked like, and didn't think it would be a particularly comfortable ride, no matter how short it was. Of course, I may have just delayed the inevitable...we may be riding on a C-130 next year instead. I'm already plotting how I can get out of actually having to be on the plane.

On the other hand, my committee's going to a regional airport in October and some of the owners of the planes housed at the airport are reportedly going to be giving rides, including one who does loops and other "showy" moves. That I would love to participate in (though I don't think I'll be able to). I think flying is in my family's blood. My grandfather was a pilot, my uncle took lessons and passeed his solo flight before never piloting again, and both Mom and I have always said we'd love to learn. There are bi-plane rides advertised at Louisville Bowman Field, and every time I pass by I say I'm going to treat myself to a ride on one someday. I haven't done it yet...but there's always my birthday next year! Maybe that will be my present to myself.

Otherwise, the new job is going well. I really like the staff I'm working on, and I'm doing my best to not forget all the little details that I am now responsible for that I've never had to do before. So far I don't think I've messed up too badly! I'm certainly doing my best to quickly mount the massive learning curve.

Life is settling into the fall routine, which sounds odd since I don't have children, so the whole back-to-school thing shouldn't really apply. Somehow, though, fall always seems to mean a shift back into a slightly higher gear, as work picks up and other activitie start, too. I'm still loving my knitting classes that I'm taking, which got a head start on the back-to-school time period. And my young adult group has moved into a new phase where we're meeting away from the church we originally formed at. Last week the group met at my house and then we went on a field trip to the Chartres style labyrinth right inside the grounds of the Louisville Presbyterian Seminary, which is just a couple miles from my house. Also, as I've already mentioned, I'm back at Weight Watchers weekly, which is going well (though Lisa's lost more than I have so far - and she much deserves credit for her diligence)!

So as the temperature has *finally* dropped around here and there is just the slightest chill in the air when I leave for work in the mornings, I know my favorite time of year is here. Time to get busy, enjoy the weather, enjoy the football, and know how lucky I am to have such a full life!

Me and Linda Blair

2007-08-28T22:28:00.000-04:00

It's been so crazy these past few weeks that my head's spinning. Thankfully, I'm not throwing up green pea baby food, too!

It's been fun, and "interesting," trying to finish up all the work I have for the Elections committee and trying desperately to catch up with a very active Seniors, Military Affairs & Public Safety committee (SMAPS, for short). Officially I start next Tuesday. Of course, I was so busy trying to figure out what I was doing that I completely spaced the fact that Monday is a holiday. Normally I would be thrilled with an extra weekend day. But not this next Monday, which is 4 days before my new committee has a meeting. Nothing like hitting the ground running! Guess that's why I'm planning on unpacking in my new office on Saturday. So much for that extra weekend day, after all. Despite the stress, I'm really excited.

Last week the General Assembly was called back into special session, so that just added to the fun last week. It actually only really meant a few extra work hours for me, which I managed to fill just fine.

On top of all the changes at work (and moving the office is just one of them), I've been a little busy in other areas, too. I'm still knitting, and learned how to purl this weekend, so now my teacher says I know everything I need to know. I'm not so sure I believe that, but it's still exciting. I also went back to Weight Watchers with Lisa last week. It's not news that I need to lose weight, and at least for awhile I feel the need to have some accountability while getting in the groove. Lisa's been really into it, trying new recipes and checking out the website. I've been a little slower getting everything online, but I'm still following the program and that's what counts.

Oh, and Lisa...Linda Blair says "Hi!" Sorry...I couldn't resist!

I'm Hooked!

2007-08-19T00:09:00.000-04:00

It's all Kat's fault, really. Me, who has never in my life been a crafty person...there I was today, taking a craft class. And I loved it. I can see myself becoming obsessed.

Kat has always been Mrs. Crafty woman, and recently she's been into knitting big time. Predictably, when she came to visit in July, she wanted to visit our one dedicated knit shop in Louisville, The Knit Nook. And that's where the bug bit me. As I walked around with Kat, looking at the various examples hanging around the shop and feeling the different yarns, it occurred to me that this was a craft I might actually like. And so I started looking around and seeing where I might take knitting lessons, if I could learn on my own over the internet or through a book, and in general yearning for a time when I actually got my hands on some yarn!

This was a new thing for me. I always liked art class, no matter the project, but I never liked doing crafts. Maybe that's because the only one I knew well was cross stitching, and I never really liked the finished products enough to get into it seriously.

Today I finally got my hands on some yarn. And to do it, I returned to the scene of the crime...to The Knit Nook, where Kristin spent 2 hours teaching me and 3 other women of all ages and types how to do the simple acts of casting on and the first basic stitch. Maybe next week I'll learn purling...Kristin offered to teach me today, but I didn't want to get confused when I picked up my knitting later in the week. My muscle memory isn't developed yet, so I knew I wouldn't be able to remember which is which!

Scarves and hats and felted purses, here I come!

Fast Times

2007-08-18T17:44:00.000-04:00

It's been a doozy of a week, but in a good way for the most part. I was sort of in slow motion when I got back from Boston. Truthfully, I still have a suitcase of laundry that needs to be done (and soon, too). But I was just lazy last weekend.

Which is why on Tuesday I got an email from my friend Crady, asking me if I was ever, ever, ever going to do any scrapbook pages for the book that many of us were putting together in appreciation for everything that our friend Maria had done in leading our Affirmation Group (young adult small group started at my old church). We had to get it done by Wednesday because that was when Maria was officially stepping down as group leader and when we as a group really had to start making concrete decisions on what we are going to do as we move forward. Most likely we'll still be meeting, but just somewhere else and probably at some other time. And we'll definitely be splitting up the responsibilities of the group.

I've been distracted all week, though, because there was a potential that I might get a promotion at work. I knew this was a possibility 3 weeks ago, but nothing else had happened since, so I wasn't sure what was happening. A committee staff administrator (CSA) of another committee is retiring at the end of the month. Finally, they decided to hold interviews late this week, so on Thursday morning I got to talk with my agency's director about the position.

Well, I found out about 26 hours later that I got the job! Starting September 1 I will be the CSA of the Seniors, Military Affairs, & Public Safety committee. There are 2 other full-time analysts on the committee, along with a committee assistant (secretary of the committee), and a part-time analyst who is the retired former CSA of the committee. Even before the announcement was made that I was getting the job, one of the chairwomen of the committee had already given me a few things to do for her. And even when I officially start, there won't be much of a grace period because the first committee meeting will be 4 days later. Whew!!! The only downside to the whole thing is that one of my friends was also in the running for the position, and I hated that me getting it meant she didn't. That's just a tough situation.

As a bonus from out of the blue, Mom gave me the emerald and diamond ring she'd bought in Philadelphia two years ago and that I've coveted ever since. She told me that she was planning on giving it to me at Christmas, but decided that my promotion was an excellent opportunity. I love this ring! And I may not be taking it off any time soon.

Boston Commons

2007-08-13T14:29:00.000-04:00

All last week I was in Boston for the National Conference of State Legislatures. It's the second time I've been in Boston this year, though the first time was only for a day. I like Boston a lot...much like I like Philadelphia. I think it's cool being in a city that is so old. But the traffic stresses me out. I'm a pretty aggressive driver (by Midwest standards), but watching our bus drivers slide through "lanes" with less that six inches on either side made my heart race. I don't know how any cars in Boston maintain their side-view mirrors.

In addition to the informative topical sessions I went to in order to hopefully serve the legislature better, we were treated to a tour of Fenway, including seeing the dugout and locker room of the Red Sox. I'm not a big baseball fan, but it was still cool to stand next to the field and hear my guy friends talk about the Green Monster. And Bostonians are pretty rabid about their BoSox, much like Kentuckians are about Big Blue Basketball.

One afternoon I went with a few other co-workers to visit the JFK Library. I'd never been to a presidential library, but it was fascinating. I think my favorite part is the room you come into at the very end of the museum. It is a huge, 3 story concrete floor & glass wall room in the shape of the front of a boat. It sits on a peninsula, just a few feet from Boston Harbor. When we had entered the museum it was bright and sunny, but by the time I got to that room, the fog had rolled in and I felt enveloped in a cocoon. I felt very, very small in that room.

Our last night in Boston included a concert by the Boston Pops in an open-air auditorium on the harbor. We got to sample lots of New England food specialties, and enjoyed the performance. It was a perfect day for being outside, too, with temperatures in the low 80s and little humidity. I felt even more fortunate because I knew it was around 100 degrees in Louisville and as muggy as it gets!

There were several things I wanted to do while in Boston, but didn't get a chance to do: dim sum, the U.S.S. Constitution, Mike's Bakery, and Spectacle Island all come to mind. But what I was really bummed about is that during my entire stay, I never saw a Boston Terrier! Lisa will tell you that I'm somewhat obsessed with these little dogs. It will be several years before I ever have the ability to adopt a dog, but this is definitely the breed I will get. I love these guys. :-) At least I did come home from Boston with a small stuffed BT.

TB or not TB, that is the question!

2007-07-31T16:08:00.001-04:00

Kudos to Lisa for coming up with the title of this blog. I give her all the punny credit she deserves!

Yep, I received a notice from my physical therapist's office in the mail over the weekend that I'd been exposed to tuberculosis and needed to go get tested. Now, if this notice had come a year ago, I have to admit I probably would have blown it off. But after the furor earlier this year when a man who had tested positive flew internationally, I must admit I decided to go today and get the shot and will go back on Thursday so my doctor's office can read the test to see if I'm positive for TB. I certainly hope not, because I'm set to fly to Boston on Sunday for a conference4!

Not to mention the horror of trying to think about all the places I've been over the past several days (and possibly weeks).

Scott was notified through work yesterday that he, too, has been exposed. Not surprising that it's all over Frankfort, at the very least, and probably Louisville and Lexington, too, given how many state workers commute.

I'm just thankful that so far I haven't been shunned from the community as an unclean leper!

Two Ways to Rest

2007-07-29T00:48:00.000-04:00

Last weekend I headed to the woods with 7 other good friends for a weekend retreat. Maria had organized a large contingency of the girls of the Affirmation Group to go to a friend's family's weekend home several miles outside Louisville. We met and carpooled together on Friday night to the Hyde's wonderful "Hyde-away," which we were all ready to take over the minute we saw the place. We had a great time, staying up until after 2:30 a.m. on Saturday morning, playing games and talking, eating, talking, talking, eating.

Most of us didn't sleep in as much as we would have liked (Thanks, again, Corrie for the kitchen work early Saturday morning!)! :-) Of course, Gina was the exception, since she slept until well after noon. We lounged all day on the deck, enjoying the wonderful weather and peaceful locale. We had a few devotions, a few games, lots and lots more food, and plenty of laughs. While I drove back to Louisville and my home late Saturday night, it was a wonderful way to rest and relax with women who mean so much to me. Thanks, ladies!

This weekend has been nice, too, because everything that I've done has been at my own time and my own place. Other than going out with Scott at some point (which happened today), and going to church tomorrow, the rest I've made up as I went along. It's been nice to relax around the house, hanging out with Lisa some. And I'm looking forward to a scheduled brunch tomorrow after church, and then some shopping.

It's about time...

2007-07-28T12:27:00.001-04:00

I guess I'm ready to move on. Or at least, I know it's time to move on, even if I'm not really ready for it. Kat left to go home a week and a half ago. But I'm still grumpy about it and keep thinking any moment I can call her up and suggest we meet at Heine Bros. Coffee (yep, that's their real last name they used, pronounced like a synonym for your bum). SIGH...so needless to say, I'm still in mourning, but I know I have to accept the fact that it will be awhile before we get together for coffee again.

I had a great time with her, from the first moment to the last. We took it easy the first day she was there because Kat had taken the red-eye across the country and had had a stressful few days before that. We met Scott for lunch at the Bristol and enjoyed the unseasonably good weather by sitting outside on the patio. The led to Scott and I sharing our "urban chic" story of the first time we'd sat outside at the Bristol and got more of a show than we bargained for. That evening Kat and I went to see the latest Harry Potter movie and critiqued what we liked and disliked about it. Overall, we both gave it thumbs up!

On Friday Kat and I drove to Frankfort and met some of my work friends for lunch at the Glenn Willis tea room, again eating outside on the back porch, which overlooks the Kentucky River. I was glad Kat got to meet the women from work that she hears about so much, and vice versa. Then we moseyed down the road to Woodford Reserve Distillery and took their tour. For the first time I actually go to see them in production, including sending barrels down the barrel run. We ended the tour with a small tasting and a healthy sampling of the bourbon balls they provide. Yum! On the way out we drove past several horse farms and got some great pictures of a mare and her colt standing next to the fence. Very sweet! That night we dined at one of my favorite Louisville restaurants, Napa River Grill. Despite all the good food, we felt compelled to stop at the Homemade Pie and Ice Cream Kitchen on our way home!

Saturday, once we both woke up (which was way late in the morning) we hit Heine Bros. again and then did some window shopping along Frankfort Avenue, which Kat compared to Portland's North Mississippi area. Funky shops, funky restaurants, lots of people enjoying the beautiful weather. Since Kat and I hadn't really eaten a proper meal, we headed to a local Indian restaurant and had lots of yummy food before heading back to my place and watching movies. Kat talked me into watching the most recent version of "Pride and Prejudice" (with Keira Knightley). It still doesn't top my beloved A&E version, but it was pretty good.

On Sunday Mom picked Kat and I up, then we stopped to get our friend Linda Pursell, and we all headed to Lynn's Paradise Cafe for brunch. Yummy!!! Lynn's is still *the* funky place to have a hearty breakfast in Louisville. Kat and I then hit the local yarn shop, the Knit Knook, along with the Swanson Reed Gallery along Bardstown Road, our version of Hawthorne Street. The rain showers that started put us into a bit of a funk, so we headed home early and watched TV and ate bad-for-us food. A fun, relaxing day!

We treated ourselves to pedicures on Monday, along with yummy sandwiches at the Lotsa Pasta grocery store/deli. As I had promised, Kat and I checked out the 4th Street Live! complex downtown, including having a Bourbon Ball Martini at the Maker's Mark Lounge. Those martinis are scary good! Thankfully, one was more than plenty. Then we met Scott for a quick dinner at the Tumbleweed restaurant that overlooks the Ohio River. It's a very popular spot these days, with the great views of the city and river and the blessed breezes that you can only find next to the Ohio River.

Tuesday was the last day we had together, as I had to take Kat to the airport that evening and say goodbye. We definitely made the most of it, that's for sure. Unlike the other days when we were lazy in the mornings and relaxed whenever we were tired, we packed the fun in on Tuesday. Although we'd hit a spot here and there on Bardstown Road, I kept promising that we'd do some window shopping there, and Tuesday was the day. We ate lunch at Ditto's, hit Kizito for a cookie dessert, fell in love with the Edenside Gallery's offerings, and hit plenty of other shops. We worked up such a sweat that we stopped for ice cream before going home. Before packing up, Kat showed me some way cool things to add onto my blog. Unfortunately we couldn't get the Library thing to work, but she did show me the whole picture thing, as seen in the last post.

It really sucked to have to hug Kat goodbye at the airport. When she called to say she was worried that she hadn't checked in early enough for her delayed flight, I was almost glad for the opportunity to go back and pick her up! Unfortunately, she was able to get her bags packed and eventually made it back to Portland. Too bad! I wads really getting used to having her around.

So, Josh, what do you think about Derby 2008????? I'd love an excuse to host both of you again, soon!

Scott and Me at the Park

2007-07-17T17:14:00.001-04:00

Kat 030, originally uploaded by kyredbutterfly.

Kat took this pic of Scott and me at Waterfront Park when she was visiting with me. So Chrissie, now you know what Scott looks like! We actually have ver few pictures of ourselves, so it's nice to have a few to choose from now. Thanks, Kat!

P.S. Kat hasn't even left yet and I'm already missing her!!!

They're "in" but they're "out."

2007-07-10T14:57:00.000-04:00

You know it's bad when you get onto the elevator in the capitol building and someone who works for the same agency you do, and even works in the director's office, asks "So is the legislature still in session?" Last night I got my wish, sort of. The Governor finally announced around 8 p.m. last night that he was adjourning the special session until July 30 for a cooling off period. Apparently he's hoping to come to some sort of agreement between now and then and jump-start the session again at the end of the month. But the Senate didn't sine die like the House did last week, so we're all a little confused - still - about what is really going on.

Regardless of whether or not the legislature is in session (Apparently they are, technically, because there are reports that they are still going to be paid. And other reports saying the legislators will refuse or refund their pay. Who knows.), my wish as stated in my last blog was that the legislature wouldn't be actually gavelling in on Thursday, Friday, or next Monday or Tuesday, because I didn't want Kat to have to sit in my office with me the whole time she's visiting. Now that won't be a problem! Yea! We'll probably stop off in Frankfort for lunch on our way to do a bourbon tasting at the Woodford Reserve distillery sometime this week, but that's as close as we'll get to my office!

She's coming!!! Are they going???

2007-07-09T14:03:00.000-04:00

It's been awhile since I posted anything. Life's been a little strange of late, but I've also been focused on this coming Thursday.

My friend, Kat, who I shared 3 different apartments with over the course of our 3 years in law school, is coming to visit me for the first time since the 2000 Ky. Derby! I was last out in Portland in August of 2005 and I declared at that time that I wasn't coming back to visit until she came to Louisville to visit me. I don't think she believed me at first, and then she and her husband Josh started pleading with me to cave, but I stood firm. And finally, she's coming. We'll have a blast, even if we don't do anything very exciting. But don't worry, Kat, we'll do plenty of fun things!

Josh got the ball rolling with a series of emails trying to figure out when was a good time in my schedule, and her work schedule (which is always hellish), and even in his own schedule. (As a side-note, Josh, good luck with work move #1. Don't kill anyone, it's not worth it!) As I said then, the only possible problem I had at any time during July was the potential for the governor to call a special session.

Well, guess what? The governor didn't disappoint. He issued the call on July 2, for a session to start July 5th. Mentally I started cringing, thinking that Kat would have to spend hours and hours sitting in my office with me, watching the legislative process up close and personal. Don't get me wrong, I love working for the legislature, but I also firmly believe the old saying by Otto Von Bismarck: "Laws are like sausages. It's better not to see them being made."

There has, however, been a development which may mean Kat and I won't being spending all of our time in Frankfort. I'm not sure. You see, the House of Representatives chose to adjourn sine die (permanently) on Thursday, the first day of the special session. There's a great deal of debate over the constitutionality of that move, and since then the various sides (House, Senate, and Governor) have been negotiating and holding press conferences and issuing statements. The Senate has continued to meet and consider legislation, but has nowhere to send it if they do pass the bills that have been introduced.

Kat and I talked last night and she asked me what this all meant. Honestly, I had to tell her that I didn't know, and no one else did, either. It's certainly an interesting constitutional question, but I don't have a dog in that fight. The Senate may adjourn sine die before Thursday rolls around, too. The Governor could issue another call and a new special session to start. Who knows? There have been too many surprises already about this session for anyone to be able to predict.

Personally, because my friend's coming into town to visit, I'd love for this session to be over with by Thursday. I'd rather be showing her all the many cool things there are to do in Louisville instead of sitting in my office watching bills be debated. But no matter what, Kat's going to be in Kentucky in 72 hours, so I'm a happy girl!

Summer Doldrums

2007-06-28T11:12:00.001-04:00

It's not that I haven't thought about blogging in the past week and a half. It's just that nothing really sparked my interest to talk about. Don't get me wrong, I've had plenty going on...besides work and physical therapy (which seems to be taking up more and more time!). It's just that no one thing inspired an entire post. So this will be a grab-bag of comments.

Last Saturday I had lunch with 3 ladies from my former church. As a group, we ranged in ages from 80-something to me, the youngest, at 34. Missing was an even older woman who is currently sick and rather frail. It was wonderful to see them again, as we had originally gotten to know each other very well by doing a series of small group studies about 2 years ago. I facilitated those studies, and it was so gratifying to share experiences across different ages and life experiences. All in all we spent every Thursday night together for about a year, not counting the "breaks" we took between studies. After we finished having lunch we all went to visit the other member who couldn't get out of the house to join us. It was a special afternoon, and they are special women I will always cherish.

Last Thursday Lisa and I went to see "Hello Dolly" at the Iroquois Amphitheater. The show was one of the productions put on by Music Theater Louisville. Even though I've seen the musical on larger stages (with Carol Channing in her final run), MTL did a fabulous job. As always, I was impressed with the quality of the performers, the costumes, choreography, and staging. But there was one staging distraction...all throughout the first act there was a door that actors were supposed to go through multiple times, and it kept sticking! I'm not sure how many of the "blue hairs" around us noticed this, but Lisa and I were giggling mightily as the actors would yank and yank on the door, and then try to slide through the very small gap provided once they were able to get the door to open at all. It was fixed by the second act, but by that time the door wasn't nearly as central to the staging!

Yesterday I took the day off of work so that Scott and I could spend a little more time together. He's now working Fridays through Tuesdays, and our conflicting schedules mean that most weeks we get together for a couple of quick dinners and that's it. We went to the Frazier International History Museum and enjoyed delving into history, especially the history or armor and weaponry. I never thought I'd really enjoy the museum, but Scott and I went there shortly after we started dating, and it's fascinating. It was fun to go back. As always, Scott's knowledge of history amazes me. After a quick stop for ice cream, because it's awfully hot and muggy in Louisville these days, we headed back to my house. Scott wasn't planning on staying, but then he decided to help me out by putting together an etarge' I'd purchased at Target several weeks ago. He kindly admitted that even I could have probably gotten it together, but there's no way I could have lifted it on my own! Thanks, Hon!

Well, that brings you up to date. Today's my friend Stephen's birthday, so I need to send him an email wishing him an enjoyable day.

"Oh How I Want to Be in That Number!"

2007-06-19T10:07:00.000-04:00

This past weekend I went to the funeral of a 95 year old woman who I knew from my former church. For many years, Mom and I would sit in front of or behind this wonderful woman and her extensive family during the worship service. Beryl was a neat lady. She would tell you exactly what she thought, she had a firm hand on her 3 sons, 2 of whom were my high school Sunday School teachers and mentors, and she loved life. She listened to opera, watched sports, rode on motorcycles and 4-wheelers, shot firearms, and loved her church.

She had had to raise her boys without her husband, who was killed when the boys were young, but she raised them well. The two I know, Larry and Alvin, are highly successful professionally and wonderful fathers and men. They used to ride their motorcycles to church and exchange bike magazines once they got to our classroom. I remember Larry once answering the question, "What did the kitchen of your childhood smell like," with the succinct answer, "Scotch." As I said, Beryl lived life to the fullest! Thankfully, knowing Beryl and her sons, I knew that Larry's answer was surely true, but not an indication of a difficult home environment.

Beryl's funeral service was very thoughtful, and a reflection of her. We sang many hymns, some of the great hymns of faith, and we said an affirmation of faith that includes the lines, "We are not alone. We live in God's world. ... In life, in death, in life beyond death, God is with us, we are not alone." How fitting. And finally, after songs were sung and words were spoken, we concluded the service with a rousing send-off: "Oh when the saints go marching in!" Perfect for the woman from New Orleans who lived life to the fullest.

I told Larry that if, by the end of my life, I was half the woman Beryl was, I would know that I had lived a successful and full life. God bless her!

Waiting for The Call

2007-06-14T16:17:00.000-04:00

The morning that my friends and I were packing up to leave Cape Cod and head home, Scott sent me a text message telling me that the governor had "called a special session." After saying a few choice words, I called Lisa to get the scoop. Not so fast, she said. All the governor has said is that he's going to call a special session. *Big* difference!

I know that sounds like semantics to all normal people whose lives aren't affected by 138 legislators meeting in Frankfort, but for those of us in the business, we know one doesn't equate the other. You see, there's a difference between "calling a special session" and "issuing the call for a special session." The "call" is the actual piece of paper that the governor must file with the secretary of state on which the governor spells out the day the special session will start and the specific topics that the legislature is allowed to consider. The "call" is what's really important to those of us who work here, because up until that piece of paper is filed, everything is open to change and compromise.

I've been back for 14 days now, and guess what? No call has been issued yet. Rumors are running rampant about when the special session will start. Co-workers are holding their collective breaths, hoping that their summer vacation will miraculously not be ruined by the requirements of their jobs. That's right, if there's a special session, people end up usually having to cancel all of their plans. And the worst part of that is, unless the area of law you work with is directly being considered by the legislature during the session, you really don't have much work that relates to the session at all. Needless to say, we know it's part of the job, and most of us really like our jobs (as I do), but the possibility of a special session is probably our least favorite part of the job because you just never know when one will pop up.

So I'm still holding my breath, too, because although I don't have another vacation planned, my friend Kat is *finally* coming to visit me in July (for the first time in 7 years!). And of all the things I've thought we might do while she's here, sitting in my office watching the legislature debate a new law was not one of them!

Oh, the joys of politics!!!

"Where's Your Pastor?"

2007-06-11T12:08:00.000-04:00

My weekend started off slowly and gained speed as the days flew by. I was a homebody on Friday night and most of Saturday during the day. I was ok with that, as it gave me time to recuperate from the week and also allowed me to purchase and figure out the wireless router for my laptop. Woo Hoo!!! This should be considered a pretty major accomplishment for me, since I still don't understand how to download a CD onto my computer. If this blog service didn't give step-by-step instructions, I would still only be thinking about blogging because I never would have figured it out on my own.

Saturday night I did venture out to meet Scott for dinner downtown at the BBC on Theatre Square. Even though Scott was a tired boy after working that day, we did enjoy the lovely non-humid weather by taking a short walk around the blocks and seeing the progress, or lack thereof, of some downtown redevelopment projects. Scott and I both have a big affinity for the downtown area and are excited about a lot of the things that are happening down there.

But Sunday was the big day, in several ways. The Kentucky Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church started that afternoon down at the Galt House. The past two times Louisville has hosted the conference my Mom was in charge of all of the volunteers and making sure all of the "behind-the-scenes" non-business related things were taken care of. It's a huge job and I and many others were drafted into service. While you sleep very little and have 300 different questions asked of you each day, it's also a lot of fun (or at least I think so). Well, this year Mom has a slightly different role at the conference, which means I'm not living down there for the next 4 days, but I'm still volunteering. I was there from about 1:45 until 9:45 last night. Ugh! And I'll be back there this evening, too, for our Ordination and Commissioning service.

Anyway, my volunteer spot is the information booth, and I had just taken up my post and was trying to get oriented when an older minister came up to me and said "Where's your pastor?" He knew what church I belonged to because it was on my name tag. Well, I was dumbfounded, at least for a good 10 seconds. You see, I had joined a new church Sunday morning - the first church other than the one I grew up in and was a member of for 34 years. While I'd been going to my new church for over 6 months, I guess I still hadn't quite thought of the minister there as "my pastor" just yet. It probably doesn't help that I've known my pastor for 20 years, and know him in many different roles other than as the minister at St. Paul UMC. So when the gentleman asked, I was slow on my feet and had to consider exactly who the man was asking about. Eventually my brain caught up with his question and I was able to give him the correct answer: "I don't know, I haven't seen him here yet." But it made me realize that I have a long way to go still in wrapping my mind around the reality of my new church family and the pain I went through in leaving my other one.

Highlights and Lowlights

2007-06-08T16:02:00.000-04:00

It's been a pretty quiet week, despite my birthday celebrations. Mostly that's because I haven't felt great since Wednesday. I think I've finally narrowed it down to one of the medications I'm supposed to be taking. Physical therapy has been good so far. And if I get my appetite back, I'll be a happy camper.

I did have a great birthday, despite everything. Scott and I went out on Tuesday night (his "Friday" since he has Wed. and Thurs. off work) and celebrated with a dinner. He bought me this beautiful brown felt hat with black piping. The brown is a reddish-brown, so it looks great with my hair and skin. Of course, it's a winter hat, so I won't be wearing it just yet, but it definitely gives me a reason to look forward to those cold days to come. He also found this great old hat box from a milliner in Lexington. He did very well!

My upset stomach blew my Mom's plans for an impromptu surprise party on Wednesday night at my small group's gathering. She had brought little cupcakes and ice cream sandwiches for us to have as we started our next study, but alas, I wasn't there! She kindly saved me a few of each, and brought those along with my gifts over to my house. Mom was very generous, giving me an iPod, 3 DVDs, and a Best Buy gift card! I can't wait to hook up the new wireless router Lisa and I are going to get and test all my new toys.

My friends at work have spread my birthday out a bit. I was taken out to lunch on Tuesday, had a birthday breakfast on Thursday, and on Wednesday Judy brought me a beautiful linen jacket and a mesmerizing abalone ring. I have the best boss, and a wonderful friend!

So that about sums it up. My birthday was certainly better than Derby Day, but this herniated disk sure is mucking up life in several different ways! I just hope the PT keeps helping me make progress. I guess there's nothing to do for that but do the exercises they give me and wait and see.

Awesome Trip!

2007-06-05T10:01:00.000-04:00

Even though it's taken me a few days to jump back on the blog and write about my trip to Cape Cod, don't take that as a sign that it wasn't a lot of fun. Even with my back problems keeping me from doing a couple things, I had a blast. Going with Pam, Maria and Crady was so much fun!

Maria picked an awesome place for us to stay in Falmouth. We were right across the street from the beach - one of the 5 top beaches on the cape, according to Frommer's. The town itself was very pretty and quaint, but big enough to offer the necessities.

We spent a good amount of time just lounging on the beach, but by no means were we sedentary! One day we drove to Provincetown on the far end of the cape. We definitely enjoyed the interesting stores and art galleries, and the food was great. The great number of gay and lesbian couples was an interesting phenomenon to some of our group. The best part of the day was the whale-watching trip we took. We saw 15 different humpback whales, and the entertained us with lots of activity. We probably entertained them, too, as we rushed back and forth across the boat, trying to all see and get the best shot.

We also spent one day in Boston, walking the Freedom Trail, or in my case, part of it! I let the others walk the last part while I backtracked to Quincy Market where I rested and people-watched. Then we met up and went to dinner at this very cool Chinese restaurant that the Frommer's guide suggested. When we got there, we were the only Caucasians in the place, and all of the Asian guests watched us walk in and sit down. But we had some good dim sum and other foods. Yum!

Our last day was spent on Martha's Vineyard, which we could see at night from our balcony. Apparently the Vineyard is the "lower class cousin" to Nantucket, but I think I like it better because it's more laid-back. Even a short shower didn't stop us from walking around the towns, shopping, and enjoying the day.

There's too many stories to tell: the vortex that is Providence, R.I., the Hooty, the sailing trip that never happened, and on and on. Anyway, I had a blast!

Medical Update

2007-06-05T09:47:00.000-04:00

The back/leg problems continue. I've not felt most of my left foot since Derby Day (one month ago today). After the ER visit, my regular doctor sent me for an MRI and a visit with a neurosurgeon who specializes in back problems. As for the MRI, that is a hellish experience that I hope I never have to repeat. If so, I want some Xanax or some other drug to keep me from hyperventilating, because it was not fun and I didn't think I was going to survive.

Anyway, the neurosurgeon tells me that I have a herniated disk. Thankfully, most of the pain is gone, most of the time. If I do too much it comes back, but I have plenty of drugs to take care of it: pain medication, anti-inflammatories, and muscle relaxers. He also prescribed physical therapy. Apparently either PT or epidural shots (Yuck!) work for about 80% of patients. I intend to be one of that 80% because I definitely don't want surgery.

Because the doc gave me the go-ahead to go to Cape Cod, the PT didn't start until yesterday. Before I went I grilled everyone I knew who had used PT so I knew what to expect. And I was pleasantly surprised. The therapist said that unlike some patients that have to go through pain to get better, his goal was to keep me out of pain and to get relief for my leg, first and foremost. Then we'd see if there was a way to lessen the impact of the herniated disk. I will do whatever they prescribe, including the exercises. Speaking of which, I need to close the door to my office and do those here in a minute!

Anyway, just wanted to let you all (all 4 of you! Ha!) know what's going on.

Cape-ward Bound

2007-05-25T12:57:00.001-04:00

I'm headed out of town tonight with three good friends. We're going to Cape Cod to enjoy the ocean, seafood, and lots of laughter. The doctor said I could go, and gave me some good drugs to make the travel a little easier on my gimpy leg. I warned my friends that I will do what I can to keep up with them, but if we have to run to catch a plane, I'm going to be left behind!

I can't wait to smell the ocean, taste some lobster, and play "Pit" for hours. While I've been to Cape Cod for a brief day and a half, it will be nice to be there for an entire week and to really have a chance to enjoy the cape.

Maybe once I get back I'll actually figure out how to upload pictures to the blog and show you how much fun Maria, Pam, (Kim) Crady, and I had! Until then, enjoy yourselves!

The Sound of Silence

2007-05-25T12:35:00.000-04:00

I'm a typical redhead, at least when it comes to my temper. I don't suffer fools gladly, but usually I don't blow up at them, either. I generally try to stick with logic and reasonableness, but if pushed far enough, watch out! My anger is loud and explosive, the typical fiery temper of a true redhead. Be afraid, be very afraid. Of course, if you can stand to stay in the same place as I am when I'm angry, you'll also find out that I don't stay mad very long after I've had my say, and am ready for equilibrium to return.

Oh, if everyone else reacted the same way I do, how happy I would be! I grew up in a household where silence reigned whenever my Mom got mad at me. And my Mom can sustain that silence for a very long time. Maybe that's why I hate it so much whenever someone reacts to anger with silence. I feel like a little kid again, being punished with that oppressive, distainful lack of conversation. As a kid it never occurred to me to lash out and say my mind. Instead I would go into my room or outside and have conversations in my head where I yelled everything I wanted to say in response to the silent treatment. Eventually I would calm down again and just have to wait the silence out, most of the time even feeling guilty enough to apologize, even when I didn't think I was in the wrong.

Mom was surprised, and not in a pleasant way, when I grew up and went to law school and stopped letting her get away with giving me that silent treatment. While law school played a part, because if it did anything, it taught me how to argue a point into the ground, for the most part this change simply coincided with my going to law school rather than being a consequence of it. In college I had experienced the anger and silence of someone who had been a friend, and this person was so passive-aggressive that I never knew what caused the rift. I still don't. When I moved across the country and started a new phase of my life in a place where I knew no one, I also decided that I didn't want to have any more passive-aggressive relationships with people. I would tell people when they angered or hurt me. If it meant I lost the friendship, that would be the price I paid. But I was going to be true to my feelings.

I still try to do that, even with people in my life who prefer going silent when they are angry about something. Now on those few occassions when Mom and I are angry with each other, even if she won't talk, I will make sure she hears what I have to say. It drives her crazy.

Of course, there are times when the petty side of me rears its ugly little head, and my thoughts tend to be, "To heck with her. If she doesn't want to talk to me, fine. I can outlast her!" I know that doesn't do either person any good, and I end up going over and what I'd like to say in my head, just like when I was a kid. Today I've been feeling like this. Which means I need to get a few things off my chest with someone. So I'm going to try to live up to that decision I made so long ago, and try to not be passive-aggressive.

Instead of the sound of silence, let freedom (and words) ring!

What's that smell?

2007-05-21T11:39:00.001-04:00

Last Friday Scott and I headed to the Honda dealership after work and he bought a new car. The whole experience was as good as I guess one can ask for when dealing with a car salesman. We were in and out of the dealership within 2 hours, and he drove home with a shiny new car, "new car smell" and all!

Since he's started working in Frankfort we've been car pooling, but we've had to use my car. Scott's was 10 years old and on it's last leg. Given the miles, and the fear of having anything go wrong with the new job, he's been anxious to a new car and not have to worry about the potential that the car would die somewhere between his house and mine. No more worries now. And getting the car in Frankfort also had the added bonus that Frankfort is essentially a company town, the "company" being state government. So the dealership knows how secure those jobs are, and the way the pay structure works. They were able to give Scott some extra time before his first payment is due, since a new state employee has to work a month before getting a paycheck.

As tired as we both were, we had to go out and celebrate a little after successfully purchasing his new Honda Civic. Of course, since we'd both been up at 5:30 a.m., even our celebration wasn't much more than dinner and good conversation. But all around, it was a great night!

Good to Be Surprised Sometimes

2007-05-21T10:30:00.001-04:00

I'm a planner. I've mentioned that before, and it's as true today as it was when I was a child. As Mom and I were relating to Scott during lunch yesterday, when I was a kid I wanted to know the timetable for everything: when I could get my ears pierced, wear makeup, go on a date, stop taking piano lessons, etc. What I never figured out was that my Mom hadn't mapped out my life like I seemed to insist upon, and was instead making spur-of-the-moment decisions when I posed these questions. Decisions she then felt like she had to abide by in order that I knew she didn't go back on her word. The other thing I was really slow in figuring out was that I should carefully pick and choose when I asked Mom about this weighty issues. Laying one on her when she was on a step ladder, searching for something in the back of the hall closet, was probably not the prime time. Oh well, I still asked, and I still planned.

Even today, I try to map out my life in big and small ways. Thank goodness I also try to stay somewhat flexible. If not, I would have despaired long ago, because I certainly haven't lived up to all of my personal timelines. Scott may say I'm not quite as flexible as I think I am, but I think that's a matter of perception. Whenever he suggests that we do something other than what I had planned, I'm usually receptive, but I pause before answering and he generally takes that to mean I'm not pleased with the change of plans. Typically that's not the case. It's just that I'm such a planner that I have to take a moment to reorder my brain, then I'm ready to say "Sure, let's go!"

But as I have also said, I'm a fan of whimsy. Whimsy often takes the form of surprises, at least the good variety of surprises. Thankfully, I count myself blessed that most of the big surprises in my life have been good ones. Scott certainly falls into that category. I wasn't necessarily looking for what I found, but I am ever thankful for the surprises our two-year relationship has offered to me so far.

In fact, Scott's been surprising me quite a lot recently, and it's been interesting. Some of the things I learn fall under stories he thought I already knew, some stories he specifically hasn't told me until now, and some are just creative thoughts rattling around in his head. I'm glad to have learned everything, even the more interesting of the tidbits.

"Interesting" is one of those words Southerners have appropriated to mean more than simply "of interest." "Interesting," in the Southern connotation, is a way of politely delivering a negative judgment or impression instead of bluntly pointing out your disapproval. Examples: "That's an interesting color combination you've chosen for your living room" or "My cousin's had some interesting experiences in his lifetime."

I'm glad Scott's surprised me with all of these tales and thoughts, even if all of the stories haven't been pleasant ones. I know everyone has secrets and thoughts that they keep hidden. But the fewer the secret stories and thoughts, the more two people who care about each other can continue to care about one another, and grow into more than they were.

So even when life springs interesting events upon us, it can be good to be surprised sometimes.

A Kink in All My Plans

2007-05-17T13:15:00.000-04:00

I was so looking forward to Derby Day. I love the race, and I was going to enjoy the company of lots of friends at two different parties. Earlier in the day I was going to plant the herbs I bought the Friday before the big race. And then everything changed.

Going home Friday afternoon I tried to relieve the nagging ache I'd been experiencing in my right hip by sitting more on my left side. I could barely get out of the car once Scott and I made it to my house. I'd screwed up my back. GRRRR! My back went out last September and while I wasn't in pain all the time, everything wasn't completely back to normal, either, because every once in awhile I'd have sciatic nerve pain down my left or right leg, or my back muscles would tighten up. But it was fleeting and I tried to ignore it. There was no ignoring it that evening.

So I spent Friday night and Saturday morning in bed, taking muscle relaxers and using a heating pad. Talk about making me feel old! Then I called my friends and told them I wouldn't be making it to either party. I was grumpy and frustrated and thought it was a bad Derby Day for me. Little did I know!

By 6 p.m., when the horses were called to the post for the big race, I was writhing in pain and crying. My left leg was screaming in pain, from my hip down to my toes. I vaguely was aware of the race itself, mostly because no matter how much pain I was in, I would be a huge social faux pas to call someone in Louisville right before the race. So I waited all of 5 minutes after Street Sense blew the other vaulted horses away and called Mom to take me to the emergency room.

That's right, folks! I spent Derby night at the hospital, and didn't even have any fun (and alcohol) to blame it on. By the time Mom got me back in my bed, my leg was still killing me, but I had good drugs in my system. Unfortunately, the problem persists, even a week and a half later (and on my first day back at work). My left foot is still numb, sitting is uncomfortable and requires pain medication to ease the worst of it, my herbs are still in their little plastic cups (but are hanging on so far), and there's no end in sight. I missed my cousin's graduation in California (sorry, Cole!!!!), and the trip Mom and I had planned on taking to Yosemite and San Francisco after our stop in L.A. Last night I had an MRI (that was Hell!), and there is apparently enough to go by that the doctor wants to send me to a neuro- or orthopedic surgeon to discuss treatment options. Not fun.

So, this is the reason for a lack of posts recently, and for a lack of much else of interest to talk about. I've been couped up in bed confirming my opinion of daytime television (worse than TV in general!) and going rather stir crazy. I'm back at work, but am wiped out by the effort. And the immediate future isn't looking too bright, either. But, by gum, I'm going on my trip to Cape Cod next week, unless some doctor specifically tells me it will induce permanent and unfixable damage!

Herbal Remedies

2007-05-04T14:10:00.000-04:00

It's going to happen this year. Last year I did all the planning, but none of the follow through (How many times will I have to say that about myself in this lifetime?)...I bought books, I bought soil, I checked out inventories around town, I even figured out where I'd put them. But what I didn't do was actually go out and buy all of the herbs (and tomatoes and peppers) that I wanted to plant. I'm in love with the idea of growing herbs and gardening. I'm not nearly as excited about the reality. I'm not particularly fond of being sweaty and insect bitten, which I am whenever I walk outside into the Ohio Valley heat and humidity that we affectionately call "summer."

I've grown some herbs before, and enjoyed using them. Unfortunately, my only desire is to use the herbs in cooking, and as much as I really like to cook, I don't cook nearly as much as I always plan to. Sounds like a familiar pattern in my life, doesn't it? It is. The books I bought last year that are all about herbs also include lots of other uses for herbs other than cooking. But if living in Portland, Oregon, didn't make me into a natural-homeopathic-vegan-carbon neutral-earthy-crunchy girl, then it's just not meant to be who I am. I can't see myself making sachet for teas or nice smelling baths.

But I started taking the plunge again today. Actually, I acquired a rosemary plant several months ago and haven't killed it yet (though I've also not used it much, either). Today a local school was selling plants and herbs as a fundraiser, and I got suckered in. I bought lots of cilantro, because I love it, basil, oregano, flat and curly parsley, and dill, as well as 4 Roma tomato plants. They'd already run out of the pepper plants I wanted, so I'll have to go elsewhere for those and for a few more herbs and tomatoes.

Heaven help me! With this latest endeavor, I'd better start cooking every night! At least that will be an herbal remedy for my bank balance, which shows way too much take out and restaurant food. No matter what, I think I'll be digging in some dirt this weekend. I'll let you know how it goes.

The Stuff of Nightmares

2007-05-03T09:58:00.000-04:00

It's been a weird work-week, and Friday probably won't bring any relief.

On the good side, Scott started his state job on Tuesday, and things looked promising. He's doing security work, meaning he will patrol the facility and oversee visitors to various state buildings. As part of his training, he was sent to shadow an officer at the state crime lab yesterday. That's when things stopped looking so great. Apparently they don't just check in visitors at the crime lab; they also check in the recently deceased. Yuck! Especially when you think that bodies being sent to the crime lab don't die of peaceful deaths. Just within the first few hours there Scott reported he'd seen enough to know his dreams would be haunted. I guess it's a lot easier looking at dead bodies on "CSI" than it is seeing a gunshot victim roll through the door (with the body bag open for all to see)! I told him it must be a hazing ritual that they put all of the officers through. He's just hoping he's not permanently assigned there.

Then there's my job. I love my job. I work for the state legislature, doing research and drafting bills. I love my issue area. I've always liked constitutional issues, but I also found that I like elections and campaign finance law. I love my boss, Judy. She's one of the coolest women I have ever known, and she's smart and fair. She's my friend, not just my boss. But don't get me wrong, I don't always like working for the legislature, or more specifically, for a particular legislator. I have to do stuff for people even when I think their ideas are the worst things I've ever heard of. However, I know this is what I was meant to do and I'm very thankful that I've got this job.

Unfortunately, every job has "stuff" that goes on that just is no fun at all, and people that you have to work with that make life annoying or miserable. Let's just say that at this point there's a lot of that going on around here, and my little corner of this job is directly involved. Wish it wasn't, that's for sure! Especially since no matter what, these things never end well. I'm not particularly worried about my own job, but this whole thing won't shake out for some time to come. We're all in the midst of the storm.

It's really the stuff of nightmares.

Margaritas Rather Than Mint Julips

2007-05-01T10:20:00.000-04:00

It's a busy time to be in Louisville, KY. Derby fever has taken us all for a spin. The Kentucky Derby is 4 days away! Do you have your horses yet? What? You say you don't even know what horses are running? What's wrong with you people!?!?! Time to get on the ball and go place your bets. (Kat and Josh: Your Pegasus Pins will be in the mail tomorrow...hope you get them by Saturday!)

I'll be spending Derby Day working in my yard, in the morning at least, and then over at my friends' Emily and John's house for a party and the big race. I think I'm even going to bring the big bucket of margarita mix. Yum! Bourbon-based Mint Julips are the drink du jour for Derby, but I'd rather drink my bourbon neat, or in the yummy Maker's Mark Bourbon Ball Martini concoction. Those are actually too dangerous for me to have around, as they taste like an adult milk shake and are just as quickly consumed. So instead I'll stick with my margaritas. Thankfully, Emily and John only live about 4 blocks from me, so if I have too much fun with the horses and the margaritas, I can probably get home without breaking any laws.

Louisville's been enjoying the festivities for the past week and a half. Last night were the bed races. Really. It's a fundraiser for a local charity. We've also had balloon glows and races, and a mini-Marathon (Good job, Lisa!). Actually, picking Lisa up from the mini-Marathon and trying to get her to her car was like experiencing the 5th circle of Hell, but that's not a story I want to relive. Tomorrow night is a boat race between paddle boats, and Thursday is the parade. Friday is Oaks Day, where fillies (i.e., female) horses only race.

Needless to say, it's been one big party in Louisville recently. We'll all wake up on Sunday and feel the letdown of another Derby gone by. Many will trek to Lynn's Paradise Cafe for the post-Derby breakfast party. And everyone will be talking about the next possible Triple Crown winner. Fans of the Derby and of horse racing keep waiting for some horse to be special enough to win the Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes. It's been a long, long time. Maybe we'll have another special horse to fall in love with, just as we all did with Barbaro last year (God rest his big-horse soul!). No matter what, you can be sure there will be some poignant and fun stories to revel in on Sunday.

Happy Kentucky Derby to all!