Martini Musings

  June is Busting Out All Over!! Hello to my Blog family! Thank you for reading and supporting my blog for the past five years! As you may remember from reading, June used to be my favorite month, but that hasn’t been so during the past few years. It used to be the month of anniversaries, birthdays, and the beginning of summer! Then, it became the reminder of heartache and divorce. Five years ago, that was the beginning of my next chapter. Today, the day before June 1…I announce to you that June has become my favorite month again! This month, I’ll remember those days, but only naturally. My wedding anniversary and my divorcary (I know, it’s not really a word!), will come and go and I will be just fine! No, I’ll be great! June 1, I will begin receiving care from Medicare! I will be traveling with my daughter for a mother/daughter trip mid-June, and I will celebrate 65 later in the month! Well, actually, I'll celebrate all month! Life for me is good. I am fortunate to have ...

  What a difference a week makes… Last week at this time, I was in Washington, DC with Dad, enjoying our Honor Flight trip with 188 other people. It was an amazing day and honestly, we were both overwhelmed with how many people cared and supported us before, during and after this journey. It’s been a wild ride since we returned, close to midnight last night. With that being said, I had hoped to get a blogpost out last Thursday, but something didn’t feel right while I was trying to summarize our day. I felt like I was trying to do a summary of a 20-hour trip on two pages and my words were boring me, so I knew they would bore you too. Many of you have been to Washington, DC and I am certain that you have seen many of the monuments. If you haven’t, you should. It’s a treat to have so much of our history in one place and free of charge. I can vouch for the thousands of 8 th graders that have visited during the tail end of the school year…many were there while we were. To re-ha...

  Let’s Catch Up! Tonight, I’m trying to decide what to write about and I feel like I have a few things that I need to follow up on, so here we go! Derby is over …It was less hectic for me this year but still a great week! The city did really well and despite the ugly news of shootings the past few weeks, it was a great weekend! Friends, food and drink and lots of watching the celebrations and festivities on TV. I did a little online gambling and have a small amount coming back to me! I didn’t win big but I didn’t lose!! The weather was good and at the end of Derby Day, a huge thunderstorm came through. Fortunately, I was home and relaxing from the week! Overall, a great Derby week! Next year, I want to try and make more plans, but then again, we’ll see how I’m feeling when it’s time to make those plans. Of course, the Coronation was a part of the day as well. As much as I enjoy the Royals, 5am was too early for me! I had to settle for the recorded version on Sunday afternoon...

  These are Two of My Favorite Things…   Grandsons and Derby! Yes, these are two of my favorite things! I spent two nights/three days with my grandsons and returned home in time to enjoy Derby week. This week’s blog post must include a little of both!! First of course, the grandsons! Remember back in June when I thought I could never do an overnight babysitting gig again? I returned to Pittsburgh to take care of those toddlers for a couple of nights. I have to say, it was much more enjoyable this time around! Clearly, they are nearly a year older from last June, which helped immensely with communication. Although Adrian still speaks only a few words, Gabriel is a good translator and we figured it all out without issue! Their schedules were good and I was able to “bribe” them when needed with CeCe’s treat bag. This bag had fruit snacks, Rice Krispie treats, goldfish, and Cinnamon Toast Crunch bars. Gabriel is a good big brother and Adrian wants to do everything Gabriel...

  Up Up & Away!!! For the first time in a long time, I’m leaving on a jet plane, headed to Pittsburgh! I have the task of babysitting for two extra special fellas for a couple of nights while their parents get a couple of nights away! Now, what’s to worry about? I’m not really worried, just a little anxious about a few things. The flying part is not scary, but the delays and technical issues with Southwest is a little unnerving. I always loved Southwest because of their humor and fun on flights. I’m guessing they may not be doing a lot of that these days…or maybe, they are making fun of themselves! We shall see! I also have not flown since the various Covid restrictions and end of restrictions have occurred. I plan to wear a mask. It just seems logical in the big crowds. I won’t like it, but I also know that it’s important for me to stay healthy for my grandsons and my parents. Will I be the only one wearing a mask? I’m guessing maybe, but hopefully, I’ll see others feel...

  Goodbye Storage Unit!! (and a lot of other stuff!) After nearly three years of payments for my storage space, in 48 hours, it will be empty and all of my belongings will be in this house with me. I have been working hard to purge and unload things and although I have a lot of possessions that are still in bins in the basement below me, it will be good to give up the storage unit. It will also make it easier to go through these boxes. I’ve tried to organize things enough to make it easy to pull out a bin now and then to go through, but for now, the goal is to move the rest of the furniture (not a lot!) and the remaining bins here to my parent’s house. We have borrowed the storage unit truck for Friday afternoon and I have a couple of young men who will help make one final trip and unload and manage the steps to get everything else in place. The process of sorting through the bins has been therapeutic, while some times, there were tears, most times, there were smiles and swee...

  Louisville…my hometown   After a quiet Easter, ham dinner, playing games outside, and just enjoying the sunny day, never could I have imagined that Monday, Louisville would become the center of national news. Yes, just hours after the Easter candy was unwrapped and egg hunts were over, a 23-year-old walked into a meeting room at a downtown bank and opened fire on fellow employees, killing five people who had started their week normally, with their meeting. Lives were changed forever in Louisville, once again. Although the news was on all day long, I felt like I was watching another city, not my Louisville. We are just three weeks away from Derby when people from all over the world will descend upon our city for a dose of southern hospitality. Our city puts on a great week-long party and I’m always so proud to be a part of it! On a day like Monday, I felt like there wasn’t a band aid big enough to fix this pain. We’ve been down this road before, all over the count...