The Morning After

I was really hoping I could convince Mr. Smiff to carry out some trash for me this morning, but, I don't know that that's gonna happen. Mr. Smiff is not a haughty type of guy, but, I can't seem to scrape him off the ceiling this morning. I guess winning Entertainer of the Year will do that to a guy.

Some important things I forgot to do before commencing to the Opry House: I forgot to get a black bra and forgot to shave my legs. I forgot to put mascara on and we had to stop at Walgreens on the way to get some. That's so typical of me. I got a makeup smudge on my skirt before we left and on my black top. I can never go anywhere with everything intact, the way it's supposed to be.

The whole Hee Haw Gang of Smiffs had a great evening last night. We were joined by Hazel and our nephew, Adam. I am so glad our kids were able to be there and experience the whole thing. It was such a long night for them and I know at times they were bored, but, they all agreed that the longness of it all was worth it.

I was pretty bummed that the Bluegrass Blog was having server problems, but, that's live entertainment for you. Thank you to all those who attempted to follow along. I'm going to try to recap the night over there during the day today.

In spite of the snafus, I thoroughly enjoyed getting to meet and hang with the guys behind the Bluegrass Blog, John and Brance. Super guys who are so passionate about the music. Also, Tina Potter, who is with the IBMA was great to everybody. I got so tickled at Tina after the Entertainer award was announced when she said "I've been sitting on that for a week and couldn't tell anybody!"

I really enjoyed hanging with my blogging sister/XM Queen Producer J. She and Kyle Cantrell are such great friends to the Grascals and to the Smiffs. I've known Kyle since I was about 14.

I made a new girlfriend last night in Sheri Easter. I wish she lived next door to me. She is so down to earth. Not a phony bone in her body. Loved chatting with her and her adorable husband, Jeff. They participated in the grand finale with Sheri's family, The Lewis Family,who was inducted into the IBMA's Hall of Honor.

Vince Gill is very thin. I don't remember ever seeing him so thin.

The general consenus amongst the women backstage is that high heels are just plain bad. My feet hurt like hell. That's what I get for getting cheap shoes. One of these days, I will learn. It wasn't just me...just about every female I encountered was saying their feet hurt....even Sharon (Mrs. Ricky) Skaggs was carrying her shoes. Producer J has learnt her lesson and had on comfy flats. That is a smart woman. I tried to get Jimmy Mattingly's little girl, Ansley, to rub my feet. I offered her a buck. Can't imagine why she wouldn't oblige me.

I got the biggest kick out of running into my former boss, Stan Hitchcock. I was shocked to hear him say he is a regular reader here and gets whiffed often. I haven't seen Stan in about 16 years. He looks the same as he did when I answered his phone and took his messages. Seems like a lifetime ago.

It was a great night for everybody associated with The Grascals. Y'all have heard me whine about this and that being married to a traveling road musician. This year has been the hardest in all these 17 years, in terms of Mr. Smiff being gone, us not seeing him, him missing this and that, but, stuff like last night makes it worth it.

They are going to be guesting on the Grand Ole Opry tomorrow (Saturday 9/30) and will be on the televised portion on GAC so watch for them or listen live online.

I'll hopefully have pictures later today.