Lots to catch up on!

It has been a really long time since I have posted, and I am sorry. It has been a very varied time -LOL. The later part on March and first part of April I was pretty sick. After being at the doctor's a couple of times with sinusitis and bronchitis, I felt like I was improving. However, because of all the drugs I was taking, I had an adverse reaction and ended up spending seven hours in ER (not the show) and overnight in the chest pain section. What a waste of time it really was, but that is so much easier to determine in hindsight.

The weekend after all those fun and games was the Derby Festival kickoff, better known as Thunder Over Louisville. Here is a picture of our family with a few hundred thousand other folks enjoying an incredibly beautiful day and a fantastic show. There is a huge airshow with lots of really cool acrobatic airplane teams and many of our newest and finest aircraft. You can really feel the power of the Air Force jets as they come over the show area and do a right angle turn and fly straight up - WOW!! They also have helicopter rescue demonstrations that are amazing. I know it looks like he is under that bridge, but not quite. The airshow lasts from early afternoon until just after dark. There is a very special time where there are two of the big helicopters flying with huge American flags hanging beneath them while God Bless America, I am Proud to be an American, and finally, The Star Spangled Banner play over the loud speakers. The crowd is amazingly quiet during that! After that comes THUNDER!! It is the largest annual fireworks display in the country, and it is fantastic. It lasts about a half an hour, and it sounds like the climax the whole time. It is probably my most favorite thing to do every year. And my whole family loves it with me which makes it even more special.

The weekend after Thunder, we had our group of close friends down here for a project. Grandaddy (my DH Bill) and Uncle Paul had to put together a playhouse for Lily. We had found the kit at Sam's during a Grand Opening at a price we could not pass up, so we didn't. So the "boys" got together and built it. The "girls" had to go out and get some plastic tea sets and other "necessities" for the house. And then, even though we were going to wait until it was my daughter, Lisa's birthday to give it to Lily (her birthday is in October, and there was no way we were going to wait that long) we had to call Lisa and get her down here so that she and Lily could see the house. Lisa was blown away, and Lily just started playing as if she always had this house. We thought she might be scared at first, but not our Lily! We all got a real kick out of seeing her enjoying it so much. And heck, that is just one more reason for Lisa and Lily to come visit us. (Lisa lives in an apartment, so the house will stay with us until they move into a home of their own) It was fun to watch the guys putting it together - I think they were really enjoying it.

This weekend was Derby, and since we had tickets, we were actually at the track which is quite an experience. Not only is it a day full of horse racing, it has to top the list of the best people watching experience ever. There are people there from all over the world (one young man sitting near us was from Holland), and in all forms of attire. There was a lady near us who had on an exquisite silk suit with a amazing hat, sitting next to a couple in jeans and sweatshirts. This year was a wider range of clothing because we had such bad weather forecasts. It was only in the low 60's and threatened rain all day long. So, some people dressed for the weather, and some people wore their fancy clothes that they had bought special for this event. We had quite an experience for the actual Derby. One of our good friends sent us out there with some money and several bets they wanted us to place for them. Well, two of the bets were on the winner, and if you don't know, it was the second biggest upset in Derby history, and paid a minimum of $100 a ticket!! I was actually shaking when I turned in the ticket and got the payoff. That was the biggest I had ever seen.

The only real time I have had to do any stitching was during the wait at the ER - LOL. It did give me an opportunity to finish my April Stamp and therefore the whole series of stamps. I did spend a great deal of time carting Lily around to different fabric stores trying to find some fabric to make the wall hanging, and while I was at it, finding someone to tell me HOW to make the wall hanging. I got the how, and I got the solid color fabric to frame each stamp with, but I did not get the muted calico print I want to make it look quilty. I think that it was a successful shopping trip all in all. I am going to try and start cutting out the fabric pieces and trimming the stamps next weekend. I don't know when I will actually get around to sewing it - hopefully very soon.

Well, I have babbled enough for several posts, so I think I will be going to pack for this week's trip to Louisville. Oh, by the way, Renee was the "lucky" winner of the PIF, and I will be contacting her soon to see what we can arrange.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week full of fun and stitches!