Small...

I had an appointment at my doctor's office this morning...
I got there at 10:20 a.m....
I was still sitting there at 11:20 a.m....
And 12:20 p.m....
It's not like this was an emergency appointment.  I've had this appointment scheduled for three months!
Fridays, incidentally, are my sleepy days.
I dozed off in the waiting room, through some show called 'Starting Over'? and through 'The Price is Right'...
When they finally called me back to a room, and said, "He (the doctor) will be here in a minute (Yeah, right!).", I was just relieved to get out of the waiting room with the staring people and the bad TV.
I fell asleep in the room waiting for the doctor.  This time, not dozing...I REALLY fell asleep.  I don't even remember the first ten minutes of our conversation after the doctor came in and woke me up, because I was, um, still trying to wake up...
I went to work after that, worked late to make up for it, and came home, took another nap, ate dinner...D and I started to watch last night's CSI but when I turned on the TV that Elvis thing was on.
So you know we had to watch that...well, I had to watch that...
Did I ever mention that I have an Elvis umbrella?
I DO live in the South End of Louisville, you know...
I tucked my daughter in bed and now I'm trying to write my entry and I have my left eye closed and my right eye open, that's the only way I'm getting this done. 
I'm so tired, the waves of sleep are crashing over me...and all I can think about are the hours I spent at the doctor's office this morning. 
Lack of sleep does strange things to your perception...

I'm losing my Friday night!...

Friday night is MY night...I go to bed early, or stay up reading...there's no fighting with my daughter about my bedtime, and if I'm not too tired from the week I can catch up on computer time...
I love my Friday nights...quiet, restful stay-in nights...Sunday through Thursday are full of stress and Saturday nights are full of fun but Friday nights are MINE...
Except tonight...
Tonight I have to take my daughter and go over to my brother's house so that we can sleep on his floor, all because of where we live...

You see that enclosed circle where the Derby miniMarathon starts?
That's my neighborhood...
(sigh)
Every year, those of who live here either try to make it out before the roads close, or just sleep in that day, because otherwise we're stuck making circles around our neighborhood for a couple of hours waiting for the 7,000 runners to go by...
But this year, I don't have the luxury of sleeping in, because my daughter has to be at Saturday School at 9 a.m...
Delinquent child!
So since the roads will be closed unless I choose to leave my house at 6 a.m. (I don't think so!), my brother's house it is...
I'm taking my laptop anyway, just in case...

Some week...

...and after lots of sleep and medicine I think I've nearly recovered from the flu or whatever it was that I had.  Please God!
I really can't believe it's been a week since I've posted anything...but then again maybe I can believe it, the past week seems to me a blur of going to work, collapsing in bed, going to doctor appointments and making phone calls...
Monday I took my daughter to the ENT and the prognosis is...well, not better...so she's scheduled for surgery on the 15th, to get the stuff off the eardrum, inspect the eardrum to make sure it's still intact from the 'ear patch' surgery she had a couple years ago, and the doctor will also take some cultures from the ear, hoping to find out why it's not healing.
Was it October, or November, when she first got sick? I never ever would have imagined it hanging on until March and resulting in surgery...I'm honestly scared.
Tuesday was the visit with my daughter's counselor...things going backward...we have to visit her pediatrician this week.  We also visited the eye doctor, updated her prescription, and got her two new pairs of glasses.  Stylish purple ones, of course!  And when she gets her braces, she has already picked out pink ones...can you picture it...purple glasses...pink braces....she is sooo twelve! LOL!
I also called the university Tuesday and withdrew from my class this semester.  My daughter is having way too many problems right now... I hated to do it, for all the work I've put into it so far and the money that it's going to cost me, but I only have one daughter, and she needs me more... I wish there was some way I could work only part time, but unfortunately that isn't possible.  So something had to give, and school was it!  Maybe next semester...
Friday D and I went to see an Easter pageant held at the huge church on the other side of town...There was probably about 12,000 people there!  I'd never been there (I'm a South End girl!)... The pageant was huge and awesome and inspiring and sad... everyone left a better person, which is a good thing because, logistically, 12,000 people trying to leave at one time was a nightmare, we sat in traffic a looooong time... but all the better, that was more time to sit and think about Love...
Saturday I got the letter from my daughter's school, letting me know the final totals, after all the fundraising, for the New York City trip, and that the amount is due March 2.  WHAT?  You mean, this Wednesday, March 2?!
Gee, thanks for giving me that long 4-day notice!  $1012.37 in four days, sure...
Today (Sunday) I had to go to the funeral home...My aunt's best friend died.  She was only 48.  My aunt is devastated...they were lifelong friends...I went to the funeral home and held my aunt and just said "I'm so sorry", and that was all it took for us to start crying...
So tonight, I'm going to wrap up this not-so-cheerful entry (sorry), finally, and go to bed...my daughter went to bed over two hours ago and she is still awake and moaning about not being able to sleep...the only way she's going to go to sleep, I think, is if I turn out all the lights so she knows that I'm asleep...
Is there anything...simple...about anything?
Well, today, I noticed something funny about my pear trees.  I went and inspected them and...yes...they have little fuzzy things growing out of them!  My pear trees think Spring is on the way!
Please, Spring, come fast, and bring Summer with you...

It's Derby time...

I had to go to an Easter egg hunt at 10 this (Saturday) morning.  I'm rushing, rushing, run out to my car, tear down the street, around the corner, up the street, and...stop.
   
The road is blocked by some kind of race.  I go around a different way and it's blocked there too.  I manage to make a huge backwards square in a way that's not blocked and finally get to where I'm going.

This happens to me every year, and signals the advent of DERBY TIME.  

I live in Louisville, KY, home of the Kentucky Derby.  While most people know about this horse race, most people probably don't know that this city throws a huge three-week party up to the start of the Derby, consisting of festivals, chow wagons, walks, runs, a balloon race, and a huge fireworks display.  There is also no school on the day before the Derby (Derby Eve). The Derby is the big thing here.

I really love this city, it's beautiful.  I didn't always live here, because I was an Army brat and moved around on the average of every 1 to 3 years growing up, in the US and in Germany.  I was very thankful to settle back down here when I was almost 13 and I've been here ever since.  I've lived in other beautiful places, cities with castles and 1000-year histories, but there's really no place like home.

However, for three weeks every year at this time, I'm kind of slightly frustrated being here, when I deal with the inconvenience of living in the South End of Louisville, where Churchill Downs happens to be, and the roads are closed down ALL THE TIME.  

When I was working nights a few years ago, I got off early one morning and actually had to leave my car parked a mile and a half away, and walk home.  Culprit: the mini-marathon.  And I don't even want to talk about OAKS day, when for the past two years my exit off the expressway on my way home from work has been blocked, and backtracking my way home has taken an extra hour.

And I guess I'll stop complaining, because I wouldn't trade the inconvenience for anything... since along with it comes the excitement of being in the middle of something really great!  

This city wouldn't be as charming without all the Derby craziness.  It's springtime, and the trees and flowers are blooming, the drabness of winter is being painted over with greens and pinks and purples, and my city prepares to put its best face forward to the world who watches us for two minutes every year.

And there's lots of helicopters.