We had a gimpy good time!

Yesterday, Mom and Dad returned to Nebraska. And, as predicted, the time flew by way too fast.

Ribs and Margaritas
When they arrived at the house on Thursday night, John had prepared a feast of country pork ribs, corn on the cob and baked beans. Yuuuummmmmmy. Mom & Dad seemed to really like them (in fact they ate the leftover ribs cold on Saturday afternoon!) I made a few margaritas and we visited until about 11 p.m.

PF changs -
John had to work on Friday, so Mom, Dad and I spent the day running around Nashville. The Genghis Grill idea didn't sound fun to Mom & Dad...they don't want to have to prepare their own food when they go out to eat! HA. So, we decided to go to PF Chang's instead. It was great. We had chicken lettuce wraps, Mongolian beef, lemon scallops and chicken with black bean sauce. I can't believe we ate every last morsel!

Jeanne's Pot Rack Puncture -
After a little shoe shopping and cruising around Music Row, the three of us decided to check out some antique stores on 8th Avenue. We had a great time and there were tons of cool things to see. The last store we visited had all of these cool compasses. Apparently they were selling them for a bank whose client had passed on and left a huge collection of them. They were soooooo cool...big ones, little ones, watch compasses, ring compasses, ship compasses...you name it.

After I finished looking at the compasses on the table near the door of the shop, I turned to suggest we take off for home. As I stepped down, I felt something go through my shoe. It was a similar sensation to stepping hard on a big piece of gravel or rock. When I looked down to see what I had stepped on, there sat a pot rack (you know...the things some people hang in their kitchen to store pots / pans). The hook of the rack did not look like something that would go through my shoe. A little dazed, I reached down and took my shoe off to see if it had in fact punctured my shoe. What I found out as I removed my shoe was that it had not only gone straight through my shoe, it had also gone into my foot quite a way and was gushing blood all over the place. I'm not sure exactly what / how things went for the next couple minutes, but I think Mom asked me if I was okay and I remember saying, "No...I'm bleeding a lot..." Then the lady from the store came over, got me a chair and we took a look at it. (Yikers. I sure do know how to do it right.) Gail, the store lady, went to the back and came out with some clean towels and peroxide. She generously poured the peroxide over my wound while Mom moved the pot rack to a table along the wall. When the bleeding subsided, Gail put three band-aides over the gash. We chit-chatted a little and then went home.

I didn't want to go to the ER, but when John got home from work around 3 p.m., he and my parents convinced me it would be a good idea. If nothing else, to at least get a tetanus shot. So, John took me to the Emergency Room at Centennial where I did get a tetanus shot, a Keflex prescription and another good wound cleaning. The ER doc said I could probably use some stitches if I wanted them, but said stitches on the bottom of the foot usually don't fare well because of the calluses and their location. So, I opted for no stitches, they wrapped it up and sent us on our way. At that time, it was pretty sore, but I had no idea what I was in for over the weekend!

Grand Ole Opry
Gimping along, I was determined to continue on with the original plan for the weekend. Mind over matter...mind over matter...that's what I kept thinking. So, we went to the Opry as planned. It was a GREAT show. We saw John Conlee, Little Jimmy Dickens, Mark Wills, the Old Crow Medicine Show and a host of other cool artists. (I took a TON of photos and plan to post them here on the blog sometime tonight.) Dad & Mom really enjoyed it... in fact we all really enjoyed it. The seats were GREAT. Little Jimmy Dickens was soooooo funny and the Old Crow Medicine Show was probably my favorite act.

By the time we were ready to go, I knew the weekend plans were in deep jeopardy. My foot had swelled up pretty good and I could feel every heartbeat in my big toe. Walking out of the Opry was going to be a challenge (not to mention trying to stand on stage at the Bluebird on Sunday!)...so, John went to get the car and my Dad pretended he was my crutch to help me out. With the help of a woman with a golf cart, we made it out to the car where John picked us up.

At home, I took copious amounts of ibuprofen (four) and put my foot up in the air with a full ice bag on it. I slept on the couch with my foot up in the air. I still had hopes that we could road trip to see John play at the Jen Jam in Cairo, IL on Saturday.

Change of Plans on Saturday
On Saturday morning, I kept my foot up with bunches of ice. But, the effort was futile. There was just no way I could travel three hours to Cairo and back...plus try to walk around at a festival. Going would be asking for trouble. So, with the help of John, Mom and Dad, I was persuaded to stay in Nashville. John went on to the Jen Jam without us. : (

Dad, Mom and I stayed home and ordered pizza for lunch. Staying home actually turned out to be a cool thing. Instead of running around, we got to spend some quality hang-out time together.

Mom saved the day by letting me wear her shoes. I was having trouble finding a pair of shoes that would allow me to walk without squishing my swelled foot. Since she has size 8 feet and my feet are 6.5 or 7, I was able to wear a pair of her Birkenstocks most of the day...and weekend for that matter...which enabled me to walk with less of a limp and no "squish-factor."

The three of us ran a couple errands (to the shoe store, the auto store and Sonic). Later, Dad fixed the rear-view mirror on John's van and Mom messed in my garden for a while. We had a couple margaritas late afternoon and when John returned Saturday night (his gig went GREAT BTW...BMT got a standing ovation and an encore!), we ate breakfast for supper...Belgian waffles, homemade maple syrup and crumbled sausage. Good stuff.

Singing in church...
On Sunday, I sang "He is Waiting" in church. Wow. I wish you could hear the words to this song. They are so powerful. Anyway, going to church with John, Dad and Mom felt good. Mom & Dad got to meet a bunch of cool people in the congregation...in fact, several people were amazed that they were my parents. They thought for sure we were brother and sister instead!

In the kitchen at Buca di Beppo's
After church, we changed and then went sight seeing on the way to our big feast in the kitchen table at Buca di Beppo's. John and I showed Mom & Dad where Kenny Chesney lives...just a few miles south from our house. We also showed them some of the giant houses on the Governor's Club and a big castle type house that is worth $3.4 million. Amazing. Very cool to look at but we sure wouldn't want to clean those things! HA.

Buca's was a blast. We chowed down on some calamari, garlic cheese bread, tomato salad, chicken saltimbocca, shrimp parmigana, green beans and the big finale...fresh strawberry saltimbocca with lemon ice and strawberries. Yummy in our tummy. Sitting in the kitchen was a hoot and it was definitely a new experience for my parents.

Jeanne's Bluebird Cafe Debut
After Buca's we went back home so I could put my foot up with ice until we had to leave for the Bluebird.

We arrived to stand in a long line waiting to get a good seats for the early show. Gwen got there early and was able to save seats for us. I was blown away by how many friends, co-workers and family there. All counted, 38 people (not including John and I) were there for the show. I am truly blessed.

The 6:30 Sunday Spotlight, with Sean Patrick McGraw . was really good. I think a couple of his songs are definitely cuttable. Hopefully someone else who can actually make that happen will hear them someday, too!

At 8 p.m., the Sunday Writer's night began. I was fourth on the list of performers and so excited I could hardly contain myself. To keep the limping to a minimum on stage, I popped a few more ibuprofen and went for it. Steve C and John kicked-booty. We had a blast performing my three song slot. And, the crowd really seemed to get into it as well. It felt really good and I was bummed when it was over. It went toooooo fast! We would have played all night if they'd have let us!

Micol and Ricky were there (whoohoooooooo!) and Micol agreed to snap a couple photos while we were performing. (I'll post a couple tonight...and if I can figure it out, I'll also post a video clip she shot.)

After the show, the four of us all met back at the house and had a little post-bluebird noshing. Chips, dip, left-over pizza and sandwiches. We had fun hashing over the night's performances...who we liked, who was interesting and the whole Bluebird experience.

Monday Goodbyes
John said his goodbye to Mom & Dad bright and early before he left for work. Then, the three of us hung out most of the morning...packing, visiting and hashing over the events of the weekend. My foot incident had kept us away from shopping, so we decided to grab some breakfast at Cracker Barrel and then head over to Opry Mills to see if I could find some shoes that would allow me to walk the rest of the week.

Breakfast was a hit! Opry Mills was a bust (I did find a pair of shoes...in the meantime, while we were walking around I also proceeded to make my foot swell more and hurt more!). So, the three of us went to Friday's and had a soda to visit and pass the time before Dad & Mom had to catch their flight.

We finally made our way to the airport, goofed around in the coffee shop a little before they had to get on their flight and then they were off.

I miss them already.
The weekend was too short, but I am so thankful that Dad & Mom were able to be here.

Now...it is time for me to get my butt to work. I'll post photos of the weekend events tonight.

Have a GREAT day.
XOXOXO,
BB