Whew!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's All an Adventure!!!!!!

Wow!!!!!!!!!!!! I haven't been this busy in ages! And it isn't over yet! It's been fun but tiring with my upstairs neighbors contributing but that will be another blog. Sigh. I did, however, promise to keep y'all posted and now that my kitchen and front porch are cleaned up, I'm gonna take a break to bring you up to speed before I hit the showers and get gussied up. I've been neglecting your blogs, too, and hopefully begin that huge task tonight when I get home and finish it up tomorrow.

The Rib Burn Off was, as always, an adventure in eating -- expensive eating but what the heck! I always head straight for the guys who come down from Austintown, Ohio -- they make seriously good ribs with a sauce from heaven. I also load up on roasted corn -- there's goes what's left of my waistline! I usually try a couple bones from other vendors but they never appeal to me like the Austintown fellas' ribs do.

After we got our fair share of calories we headed over to the grandstand. Pat Benatar gave us her best shot -- pun definitely intended -- and put on one hellacious show! I don't remember sitting down at all through her performance. It was a blast from days gone and the aches I felt the next morning sent a blast to remind me that I can still rock the night away but not without pain relievers in the morning. LOL

My boss laughed as I trundled my suitcase with my dress, etc. into the office this morning and, of course, he had a stack of work for me. He said it was to keep me calm. Right. The good news is when I called him in to look at the new database I made, he pronounced it perfect! I had to explain to countless people that I could make the copies they needed and seeing the boss wasn't necessary, so my Spanish got a workout. I changed into my ensemble for the Enshrinee's Cocktail Party and Dinner and after getting rave reviews on my dress from my coworkers, I headed to perform my duties at the Civic Center.

It's a nice affair where the Hall of Fame Enshrinees are honored and the new class receives their gold blazers. It was nice seeing some of the former enshrinees who I'd met in past years as a volunteer. Lou "The Toe" Groza, my favorite of the Cleveland Browns, used to come back every year, as he said, to see if he was still in the Hall. I think a lot of others do the same. The Hall of Fame Queen and her court were in attendance as they are at every Festival event -- it's a grueling schedule for these lovely, poised young ladies who seem to handle it without breaking a sweat in the ninety degree heat. I had interest in them this year because a friend's beautiful daughter was a a member of the court. They had the annual Style Show and Luncheon earlier in the day and I can only imagine how tired they were. Afterwards, I met the gang who were fresh from another night of ribs & Country singer Darryl Worley who they enjoyed immensely, for a much needed adult beverage before heading home. I got home and stopped over at my neighbor's party for a minute as promised.

This morning I was up and at 'em (kinda) at 5:00 a.m. getting things ready for company. I live a couple blocks off the route of the Timken Grand Parade -- a 2.2 mile march from downtown -- it's one of the longest parades in the country. Only the Tournament of Roses Parade is longer -- but don't quote me. I put my famous breakfast casserole in the oven, made a couple gallons of coffee, a gallon each of orange and V-8 juice and laid a buffet on my big, covered front porch just as a friend showed up with a couple dozen Mary Ann doughnuts -- everybody's favorite here -- and the rest of our crew turned up bringing more food for the cookout after the parade. We chowed down and did in the food post haste and laughed at lot about how we're getting too old for this until we headed over to the route.

The parade steps off downtown at 8:00 am and 200,000 turn out for the event filled with floats, balloons, marching bands, celebrities, former and present enshrinees and all manor of entertainment. Fox News covered the event with hometown hero and a Hall of Famer himself, Dan Dierdorf of Monday Night Football fame. I went to high school with him and it's always nice to see him back in town. He is a genuinely good guy.

After the parade was past our vantage point, we came back and fired up the grill for hot dogs, burgers and brats (my mom is from Wisconsin so I consider them football food.) and an assortment of picnic food and ice cold beverages -- adult and otherwise. Most of the guys were going over to the Hall of Fame for the Enshrinement. The gals helped me get cleanup started and the leftovers stowed. We're skipping the fireworks and concert downtown tonight. While I'm inclined to stay home, I'm going to dinner with some old friends who are in from upstate New York and we'll be joining the crew later at yet another party.

Tomorrow is the game and it's sold out -- it has been for months. This year it's the Pittsburgh Steelers vs. the New Orleans Saints (yawn). As a true Browns fan, I wouldn't dare cross the street to watch the Steelers unless they're playing the Browns -- right, Joared? -- so the weekend is pretty much over for me tonight and life will return to it's usual dullness.

Hope y'all are having a great weekend and didn't miss me too much!!!!!!! lol

Happy Blogging!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kay