Spring Breakin

Okay...where have I been? Well, I have been on Spring Break of course! Instead of following all the others to the Gulf beaches, me and daughter decided to do something totally different. Hubby had some important stuff going on at work and could not take time off, so we decided to take a girl trip. We headed north to Lexington, Kentucky to see horses. This is something we have always wanted to do since I grew up with horses and daughter loves them too. Hubby is not so much a horse fan, so this was something we could do together that we had a genuine intrest in. We had Quarter Horses when I was growing up and yes, I admit, I was a country bumpkin - but who cares? I had a lot of fun although it was hard living in the city and wearing cowboy boots to school when everyone else dressed differently. In the words of Barbra Mandrell, "I was country, when country wasn't cool". Of course in the early 80's I fit right in because of Urban Cowboy, everyone wanted to be country. Darlin, I was already there. We lived in the city, but had land in the country and that's where we kept our cows, horses, ducks and pigs. Occsionally we had goats too, but they would end up eating their way into someone else's land or something and just disappear. It was hard because we had to go out there several times a week and check on the animals and other things, but we had neighbors out there that kept an eye on things too. When I was a teenager I actually showed horses in Western Pleasure and sometimes run barrels or pole bend too. I know, I am such a city slicker now it's hard to imagine, but put on some Hank Williams Jr., and the old me comes out. I go back to the horse show and rodeo days.

Anyways, daughter got her top braces on Monday and so we gave her a day to get settled into those before we headed out. We ended up leaving Tuesday morning around 10ish and drove straight up. We were going to stop at Kentucky Down Under, but it started snowing and it was absolutely freezing so we decided to save that for on the way back. We didn't have much for breakfast because we had decided we were going to stop at the very first White Castle we could find and pig out (we love White Castle but do not have one around here). We did stop at the very first one and yes, we did pig out. We got into Lexington around 4ish and stayed here:


That's the Campbell House Inn. It was very nice, but I will warn you, it's right accross from the hospital so occasionally during the night you will be awaken by ambulance sirens. The rooms were very nice and it was pretty much center to everything we wanted to do.

Wednesday morning we got up and headed to The Kentucky Horse Park. Okay, this we pure heaven for my daughter. We got to see some retired race horses as well as other horses that were on the premises. She was very excited to see Cigar! We also did the Saddlebred Horse Museum the same day. The people there were very nice and the horses were awesome.

Daughter making a new friend.


Thursday morning we got up and had breakfast and drove over to Keeneland Race Park. They were not having any live races that day, but simulcast ones, so it was not that busy. We walked around the area and took some great pictures. There were some people there that had been working their horses so they let us hang out with them and watch things that went on behind the scenes. That was a great experience for my daughter. She really loved it. She met up with some thoroughbred horses that were getting shod, so we watched and one of the owners gave my daughter some peppermints to feed them as they waited their turn.




Exciting note here: We went into the simulcast area and I decided I wanted to bet on a horse for the first time. I went to the information desk and asked how to do it. After it was explained to me, I let daughter pick the horse and it won! I won five whole bucks! Needless to say, I stopped while I was ahead and took my winnings and bought moon pies and cherry cokes with it.

After that, we decided to head out to Pleasant Hill, Shaker Village. This was really a beautiful place. I love shaker furniture and crafts and this was a place I had always wanted to go. Since Kentucky schools had already had their spring break, it was virtually deserted so daughter and I had run of the place. It was fantastic! Here are some pictures for you to enjoy!



Staircase in the hotel/dining house


We ate dinner at Shaker Village and it was fantastic. Too much food to eat, but definately worth it if you ever get the chance to head up that way.

Friday we headed back home, but stopped in Lousiville on the way back to visit Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby Museum. It was much better than I thought. We got to go behind the scenes and see where much of the action starts and finishes. It is amazing when you see all the work that actually goes into all the racing. Here are some pictures:

The grandstands


Down the track


We never did get to stop at Kentucky Down Under because guess what? It was snowing on the way back too! Besides that, daughter wanted to get home and see her boyfriend and her friends. We had a great time and I am glad we decided to do something different. Hubby was completely jealous that we went without him.

Life or something like it

Here I sit. This morning finds me sipping coffee and looking at all the magazines and catalogs I have not had time to read. Oh well. It's nice really, sitting here doing nothing. The last few days have been stormy with threats of high winds, hail and tornados. Today is beautiful, sunny and a little cooler thanks to the cold front that whipped through here yesturday. That's a good thing because 80 degrees in March is totally too hot. Ya know, I have about a million things to do today, but I am just not motivated. Yesturday hubbby and I started working on our storage closet. Well, really just hubby started on it because the majority of stuff in it is his family stuff. He sat down last night and started going through some old paper work. We inherited some timeshares but have never used them because when his mother gave him the huge bag of literature, contracts, brochures, etc., we have never had time to sit down and figure it out. It doesn't help that his mother never throws out one shread of paper that is mailed to her house. Never. I think she took every piece of mail that even mentioned the timeshare and shoved them in paper bags. ARgh! The timeshares are all paid for and there is 3 of them. What really pisses me off is that one of them is in Destin and we just figured out last night that our week is next week (which is Spring Break) and I have already made plans to do something else. I guess I could change it, but I think we already had to tell them that we were actually going to use it that week or they rent it out or something. I don't know, it's too confusing and hubby is figuring it all out. It's sad that these timeshares have not been used in about 10 years. Hopefully we will get it figured out and use them. Believe me, we could all use a break around here.

This will be a busy week. Yesturday my daughter had band competition in which they received all superior ratings. Go them!! Today is a more calm day spent running various errands. Tomorrow daughter gets her teeth cleaned and then spacers to prepare her for braces. She will get her braces on next Monday. Her trumpet teacher is begging her to not get them. It will be interesting to see how tough she is playing trumpet with braces. Poor girl. Sadly, she will get them on the day before we leave for our Spring Break trip. Won't that be fun looking for places on the road that has soup or soft foods? Friday is the big luncheon thing I am planning at work. I decided on Bennigans for the food since it sounds Irish. Today I will be heading out to Party City to get festive plates and stuff to decorate our conference room. Thursday I plan to make a cheesecake with an oreo crust and dye it green. Creative huh?

I guess I better get off my creative butt and get out there and get stuff done.

Have a great day!

We interrupt spring cleaning for this

Have you guys started on your spring cleaning yet? I am sorta starting on it today since today is my day off. I have started in my daughter's bathroom for some odd reason. I have been going through her cabinets and stuff and throwing out old hairbows that she has not worn since she was like..umm 2 or something. Also, all those little cheapo make up kits that people give when they think it's cute for your kid to get all dolled up like a hooker. Those kits have been replaced with MAC and Too Faced stuff with an occasional Clinique thrown in (for some reason Clinique really irritates her skin). I cannot wait to start on her closet. I am in such a throwing out mood. I am not sure which room will be next, but I am hoping to be done with this one today.

I am in charge of our monthly get together luncheon at work this week. It was supposed to be this Wednesday, but I changed it til next Friday which I didn't realize until I changed it, that next Friday is St. Patrick's Day. I guess Mama Fu's isn't going to be the ordering out food of choice for next week. For some reason, I don't think noodles and chinese type food has anything to do with St. Patrick's Day. They do have a green background on their website though. If I get funky St. Patrick's Day paper plates and decorations, do you think anyone will notice we are eating chinese?

I was sad to learn this morning that Dana Reeves has died of lung cancer at the young age of 44. Please keep her family and her children in your thoughts and prayers.

Unbelievable, but true

This morning I did something so crazy and off the wall, I just had to post about it. The other day a girl at work approached me for a donation for a very worthy charity and in exchange for that, I could run in a 5k. HAHAHAHHAHAHAAHHA - right. Well, guess what? I did it this morning. Me, I ran in a 5k. Now I have not run in any kind of k since about 4 years ago when I did a 10k for some crazy reason. But anyways, I had been walking a little bit lately and I figured I would just walk the whole thing, but I ended up jogging about half. Here's the punch line: I came in first place for my age division in the female group. Can you believe that? That was so worth blogging let me tell you. I needed record of this day.

Go Me!

Thursdays Grrrrr's

Today's Grrrrr's include:

Getting up early....grrrrrrr
Grumpy kids.........grrrrrrr
People that don't understand how to play Deal or No Deal...grrrrrrrr
Sinus infections......grrrrrrrrr
Running out of allergy medication......grrrrrrr
Mean and jealous teenage girls.....grrrrrrrrrr
30 degrees one day and 70 degrees the next.......grrrrrrrrrr
Laundry..........grrrrrrrr
Having to work on Friday.......grrrrrrrr

You got grrrrrr's?

Random:

1. Before I walk out the door, I always check to make sure I turned off the stove - even when I didn't use it (anal huh?).
2. I can't seem to catch up on my housework...more grrring here.
3. The one surface in my house that always seems to get cluttered fast is my countertop with mail and stuff.
4. If I sleep past noon, I feel that I've slept in too late.
5. No matter how hard I try, I just can't seem to get orgainized.
6. I hope to have my income taxes done by TODAY!!!! Yippeeee!!
7. This year I'd like to make more time for getting orgainized.