SMILING!

That's me! Smiling big :-)

Harry Connick Jr is coming back to Indy! Yessssss. He does one of the best shows ever. He's so damn happy. I LOVE that. Oh, and he's super cute too *wink*

And "Wicked" is coming in November. I've heard awesome things about that show so Chuck's daughter and I are going to go. Good stuff man!!!

Happy Earth Day!

No, I haven't started it yet but...today is a good reminder that's it's still in my 'to do' folder  :-)

Yee'haw!

I love country music. Not just country music but it's what I listen to most of the time.

So naturally, I love Nashville Tennessee. It really is Music City. Monday we drove on down so I could go to the “We’re All For the Hall” concert on Tuesday night. We really crammed A LOT into a day and a ½.  Since we’re all about give and take, our first stop was the Lane Motor Museum. We’ve been before but they get new things all the time.

 look at this lil' cutie - like it should be in "Cars"

I like all the different badges though;

There were plenty more but I know most of you aren't gear heads :-)

Tuesday was super duper busy! First up was the Ryman Auditorium - the original Grand Ole Opry.
It was amazing! The history of the place is really something. First of all, it's over a hundred years old. Second, anybody who was anybody played/performed at the Opry. Not just country music artist but everybody! It's incredible to be standing at that stage and think, Teddy Roosevelt, President Taft, Helen Keller, Houdini, Mae West, Caruso and Will Rogers stood on this stage. Then the Grand Ole Opry moved in! Elvis Presley, Patsy Cline, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton and the list goes on.

Then we went to the Country Music Hall of Fame. Just as much fun the second time around :-)
Oh, and last time, you know I complained that Garth Brooks wasn't in there...he is now!!!

And now to the main event - the concert! Oh my gosh! It was FANTASTIC! I might go every year! This years theme was "Rebels and Renegades" Right up my alley for sure! Hosted by Keith Urban and Vince Gill;

There's Montgomery Gentry - they're a good party duo with a reputation

And Trace Adkins, a big, big man! He's had a hard life. He also has "the voice of God", deep and booming. He sang, Fishin' and Ladies Love Country Boys

And Hank Williams Jr. Talk about a rebel! He's mellowed a lot as he's gotten older.

And Willie Nelson. Still a renegade. And at almost 80, he's still out there having a great time! He sang, On the Road Again and Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die.

Kris Kristofferson. Also getting older for sure but still having a lot fun for an old rebel.

And Kid Rock and Jason Aldean and Eric Church and Rosanne Cash and Jesse Colter and Brantly Gilbert and Tim McGraw!

The best energy came from Jason Aldean and Tim McGraw (sang I'm a Real Good Man) - who is smokin' hot by the way!
I don't get the whole Sheryl Crow thing though. I mean, she's ok but what's the big deal about her???? Oh, and Kid Rock? Country? Whatever. He was having a great time though so that counts in my book.
It was a really great couple of days!

Is this cool or WHAT?!?!?

http://www.childsown.com/

Oh my gosh!! This is by far one of the best ideas EVER! How stinkin' cute is this?  LOVE it!

random things

First up, hail! No really, it hailed yesterday. Check it out;

That was pretty big for our neck of the woods. When I left work yesterday it was 81 degrees. When I got home an hour later, it was 68 out. Crazy I know! Also, I was wondering, what happens to all the birds when it's hailing like that? Or, if you live in the Midwest and you have a farm, what do all the cows do? Because you know it has to hurt. One of the ladies in the office said, "hail is a natural meat tenderizer". Ewwww. (I laughed though)

Next up, an old story. This summer, my honey bunch and I are going to Michigan for a week. We'll be gone for 7 days and we won't be staying in the same place longer than one night. There's a lot to do in Michigan...and we won't even do ANY of the inland things! Anyway, there is a young woman in our office who is from the upper peninsula so I emailed her and asked her what the 'must do' and/or 'must see' things are. She emailed me back a couple days later and apologized for taking so long but she had emailed her Mom to ask her and was waiting for her to reply.  I looked at her list and they were all things I already had on our agenda. But then it hit me...she had to ask her MOM? Oh, because I wouldn't possibly like anything she herself would think is fun? Because I'm OLD? Like her MOM?!  Harrumph.

This is a sad story;

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/04/11/17704463-parents-students-fatal-text-serves-as-warning#comments

If you don't want to read it, it's about 2 parents who just released the last screen on their son's phone. He died when he rolled his car after jerking his steering wheel trying to get out of oncoming traffic. He was texting a friend. He was cut off in mid sentence. I CAN happen to you.

There was something else random I wanted to say, but I've forgotten. Must be my old age.

Spring has sprung!

...well, mostly. Todays high is 74. Fridays high is 48. Yep, Spring in the Midwest is a wonder!

Look at all the pretty things I found in the yard the last few days;

Here are the purple Hyacinth - the white ones are little slower to pop up for some reason.

 and look at these cute little wild flowers growing by the mailbox

And then there are these little pitiful things around the corner;

But at least it's color!

sports mentality

Today I want to rant about this country's sports mentality. Or, I guess it's the world's sports mentality. Why do we put athletes so high up on a pedestal? I know there have been articles written about this. Many of them probably. But it doesn't ever change, does it? It's almost crazy that we think it's OK for them to earn 10, 20 MILLION dollars a YEAR! It IS crazy to put sports above, oh let's say, compassion, dignity, kindness, common sense, or even the law. What is it about sports that makes people practically worship their favorite teams athletes?? I know I'm not a joiner and I've never been part of a team so to speak, but outside of the arena/field/court that the game is played on, what makes them so much better than you that you can overlook their bad behavior?

These are the two examples that really stood out for me;
A few weeks ago, two high school football players in Steubenville Ohio, were tried and convicted of raping a drunk, passed out, 16 year old girl. The kicker is, one, NO ONE came to her aid, two, that arrests were only made after pictures and video were seen on FB for Gods sake (which is a whole other topic),  and three, the town was very divided about what they thought should happen to those 2 boys. A lot of the town thought "what should a girl think is going to happen to her if she gets drunk with a bunch of boys" or that the boys should get their hands slapped and maybe be suspended from a few games. All because they were part of the football team - a high school football team. Which means of course that that mentality starts early.

The next example comes from today's headline. Mice Rice, a Rutgers College basketball coach was fired today. He was fired for being an asshole and a mean person who has some issues. Actually, he was fired for abusing, verbally and physically, the guys on team.There's a video of him throwing the ball at players and shoving and pushing and yelling obscenities at them. Here's the kicker for me on this story...this video was presented to the college president and other college officials, last OCTOBER. They reviewed it and decided in December, that they would suspend him for 3 games, fine him $50K and send him to anger management classes. Seriously? They should have fired him right then and there. But nooooooo - it's college hoops. Big business right? So now they've fired him because the video went viral and the public is all pissed off. I was left wondering though - while all of that was going on, didn't anyone else report it? Why did the players take that kind of abuse? Why didn't any of the other players complain. Why didn't any of the PARENTS complain? As a pseudo Mom, if I ever saw my son treated that way by a coach, I would have been difficult to restrain. Especially verbally!

Priorities have certainly shifted.

April Fools!

Oh wait...I missed it didn't I. Nobody pranked me and I didn't think to prank anybody either. Uh oh...I have a feeling that that means I'm getting old? pishaw!

And what's up with Easter being over by April 1st? What is there to do now?

The North American Quilling Guilds annual convention is in my neck of the woods this year. Only about 3 hours aways. I'm still trying to decide if I want to go. You know I LOVE quilling, but I'm not really a joiner. Oh, I belong to the Guild but I just can't see myself hanging out with a bunch of people I don't know talking about things I can learn how to do on the net. Well, I still have a couple weeks to decide. Hmmmmm.

Spring has finally arrived! It's going to be in the 60's by the weekend. Woohoo! Oh, sunshiney too! Finally, a break from the gloom and gray. Ahhhhhhh. The Crocus in our neighbors yard has started blooming too so there's hope yet for our flowers. I love seeing everyone outside trying to spruce up their yards and fill in all the holes the squirrels made over the winter. Little varmints.

Oh right, and if you haven't gotten your taxes done yet...tic toc tic toc people.

And Earth Day is the 22nd. I saw this picture on FB somewhere...I liked it;

Hey! I could start on my EARTH quilling project! Now we're talking!