I Should Have Just Stayed Home

Ever just have one of those days? I have crazy days at work. I expect that. I have stressful days, that's normal and part of life. I mean one of those days you just feel like the Universe is just telling you to go home and not leave?

I had one of those today. It was so stupid I felt like it needed to be shared.

I started the day working from home. So it started good, and I was feeling good because I didn't have to leave the house til lunch. Tony and I headed to Bob Evan's. Everyone that knows us, knows that Tony and I eat here often for lunch. Tony really likes their coffee and its very convenient to our offices. And we  usually get good service. Not today my friends. not today. Not only did the waitress fail to show up with my lemons (in which I had asked for three times) but she never showed up with our soups. In fact we never saw her again...period. We left after only partaking in our salad portion of our soup/salad combo.

After lunch I needed to make a deposit at the bank. I needed an ink pen to fill out my deposit slip. Not one was to be found in my purse. I try to always keep at least two. Where those two are nobody knows, well at least I have no clue. I began digging through compartments in the van, in which I find one. After about two numbers into writing my pen broke. I mean the kind of broke where you are finding new ink spots on your body for a couple of days.

At that point I should have seen some kind of warning signs and just gone home. But groceries had to be bought if we were going to eat this weekend. There was a point in the Food City  parking lot I said to myself, it looks like it could be busy. But I talked myself to going in anyway. OH MY WORD!!!!! I have never seen Food City this busy in all my days shopping. It was wall to wall people. You literally had to wait in line to be able to go down an aisle. I had to wait in line just to get close enough to wedge myself between two people to grab some chicken. I bulldozed my way through and tried to get the essentials. I did in fact have to call Tony at one point just to vent. I  felt like it was necessary because I was ready to vent on everyone around me in that store. Here's a couple of pics for those of you who are saying to yourself...now come on Terri, it couldn't have been that bad. These are taken at the checkouts.

See what I mean?

Leaving Food City I noticed the line at Mcdonalds wasn't bad. So I decided a coffee would help with the trauma I had just incurred from grocery shopping. Mcdonalds, the home of the two lanes that we all enjoy because everyone obviously knows how to use them? Yep, you guessed it..someone jumped ahead of me in line. Then to top of my Mcdonalds experience I took too big of a drink of my coffee. As I was taking this drink my mind was saying, "You really shouldn't be taking such a big drink as your first drink.", but my heart was saying, "It's cold and you love coffe..DRINK!"   I am pretty sure I lost a complete layer of skin from my tongue to my stomach.

I decided at that point, that it was most definitely time to go home. I headed to the office to get Tony and get my butt to the house!! Right about that time the car in front me decided to stop very, very fast. Which means that I had to stop very, very fast. Which caused all my groceries to come flying to the front of the van. Good thing I didn't buy eggs. Now I know you are saying that it could have been worse. I could have hit the car in front of me. Yes, this is true. But then the title of this blog would have been much more serious.

I managed to get back to the office just in time for a large truck to be pulling in with a large delivery for Tony. A delivery that was on palettes that had to be unwrapped and then carried into the warehouse. This is my business too and I wasn't about to let Tony do all by himself. So Tony and I stood outside and froze our tushes off. I guess now that I look back, the extremely hot coffee may have saved my life since my core body temp had to me up a couple degrees.

FINALLY, finally it was time to go home. Tony helped me carry the bags into the house. He started a fire while I put everything away and started some spaghetti. At that point I made the comment to Tony that I didn't have my mushrooms that I had bought just for the spaghetti. Tony made the comment that they were probably in the van under a seat since my stuff was thrown all over the back. I told him not to worry about it and not to go back out into the cold just for mushrooms.

Now I sit here writing this blog. While I was telling you all how hard it was just for me to get to the chicken, it dawned on me that I don't remember putting the chicken away. So I went and checked. Yep, you guessed it...no chicken. So I decided to check my receipt, because at this point it's obvious a bag was left behind. This is a list of stuff that didn't make it home with me.

Two packs of boneless, skinless chicken

Two packs of chicken sausage

A pack of mushrooms

A bag of green beans

A box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch

That my friends is A LOT of food to leave behind. That's how bad I wanted out of that store.

There you go, there's my day. The day I should have just stayed home curled up with a blanket and just hid from the world. Thanks for sharing it with me, and I hope to have a more fun story the next time.

                                                                                                          The Boss Lady

Oh What a weekend....Brad Paisley, ballgames and a bridal show.

This blog is going to serve a double purpose. The first is for me to show my gratitude towards my crew and let them know how much I appreciated all of their hard work this weekend. The second is let you come backstage with me during the Brad Paisley concert in Pikeville.


This past Friday we had Brad Paisley scheduled at the Expo. It was a fairly large show for that size of arena. It's not the biggest show we have done, (Carrie Underwood takes that title) but it was up there in the top three. That itself was going to be a lot of work on its own but thanks to a crazy January schedule the concert fell between ballgames. So our schedule went something like this; ballgames, clean arena, remove court, place stage, arrive for load in, have concert, load out concert, clean arena, install basketball court, full day of ballgames, ending the weekend with a bridal show on Sunday. So before we even began a long show day, I already had crews working to put the court down and building the stage.  They then also had to work after the concert ALL night to get the basketball court back down, get the stage out of the way and all the other stuff that had to be set up for the games that would begin at noon the next day. 

Which leads me to my cleaning crew. They put in sooooooo many hours. They worked the games, cleaned the arena, worked the concert, cleaned the arena after the concert (which took until morning), then was back to work a full day of basketball games and then clean the arena after. And dont forget that I mentioned a bridal show on Sunday.  I can not express how much I depend on these guys and I appreciate how much work they did this weekend. 

bt Event Service stagehands, cleaning crew and maintenance crew I thank you from the bottom of my heart and want you to know I see all of your hard work!!

The morning of the show started early for me, 5:30am to be exact. But overall load in went pretty smooth. It took a smidge longer than anticipated but the show changed some things with rigging two or three times which slowed things down about an hour and a half. 

The following pics were taken during load in. 

And now its time for my funny/dumb moment of the show. While standing backstage getting ready for sound checks, someone asked me a question about Brad Paisley. My answer to the question was, "I don't know I haven't seen him all day." To which I was told," He's standing RIGHT behind you."  Maybe it was because  I was a little tired, or maybe it was just because Brad Paisley is just so cool and awesome that he can hang out and blend in with us plain folks. He was awesome by the way! 

Paisley brought his own catering with him, and boy was it good. Here is Tabor and Loren enjoying that great food.

BTW, this was Loren's first show working as my assistant. I am pretty sure I wore her out. 

The show was amazing. I loved his video show, laser show...and his hologram of Carrie Underwood. It was so life like many show goers actually thought she was there.

The finished product.

This is a shot of the cool laser intro/first song.

Show days can be very long and you find yourself waiting for a place and time you can rest. Most of the time I end up finding a road case and laying down for a few. If I am really lucky I actually get to nap. 

This show Tony chose road cases, Tabor scored and found an empty set cart.

Load out was the crazy organized mess it always is. And after 3 hours this is what the arena looked like.

At this point I still had a cleaning crew going full force to get the place cleaned. Also while I was taking this pic I had a crew starting the basketball court behind me. It was about 2:30 in the morning. Everybody worked very hard and the games started at noon. Yes we had a full day of basketball games less than 12 hours from the time the concert ended. 

Saturday night Tony, Kevin and Jason headed out to Columbus to represent Mountain Music Exchange at guitar show scheduled for Sunday. So while Tony was peddling guitars and amps, Brian and I were working it at a bridal show. 

And boy was my dogs-a-barking afterwards. I actually felt like one of these......

had ran over me. Actually I kinda felt like they all ran over me.

                                                                          The Boss Lady

Our Last Two Shows of 2013...Bring on 2014!!

Its a New Year!! I was very blessed with a great 2013 and can't wait to see what 2014 will bring the Mullins Family.

I had plans on writing this blog before the new year began but I had some technical issues with my laptop and could not access my Dropbox, therefore unable to retrieve any of my pictures. (I'm not going to get into how the technical problem was all my fault because I accidentally downloaded a horrible malware called gorilla pricing). So after Tony doing a complete re-install on my laptop I'm back. Yes, I said complete re-install, it was that bad.

Our last larger Arena show was TobyMac in Corbin. It was a yucky rainy day, making us all happy to be working indoors. The weather had slowed down the show and they ended up being late for load in. But they finally pulled in...

We then got down to business and starting putting the show together.

Here I am "discussing" the show with the riggers.

The load in went extremely well and we were done with some free time before the show. The crew and I headed to Cracker Barrel for some lunch. Then on to my favorite place to spend time chilling....Starbucks!

On the way back into the arena one of the truck drivers we had worked with that morning stopped me to tell me how much he loved my guys. He told me that I had one of the best crews in the nation!! This man has worked in tons of venues all over the country and his exact words were that he would love to see my crew at every building he pulled into. I just love when the shows brag on us. Here is Jordan and Brian with our new favorite truck driver.

The show was very high energy and went as planned.

They had these cool corn hole boards that everyone played on during the day.

Load out went great even tho we had to work thru the snow....

That my friends is a boat load of confetti that was shot out at the end of the show. I felt really bad for the person who had to sweep it. This by the way is how shows look at the end of the night when we are done. Minus the confetti, that is.


Our very last show of the year was an easy one in Pikeville. It was Landeau Eugene Murphy, JR., winner of Americas Got Talent. Not only had we done this show before, but the production company was our good friends from Studimo. So the day was an easy one working with friends.

Now its first of January and I am deep into working on the Brad Paisley show that's in Pikeville the 10th. We have ballgames the night before and after the show, so its going to be interesting. I'll be back with that story!


Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a happy New Year. See ya soon!!!



                                                                                                                   The Boss Lady

A Quick Trip to The Music City.

A few weeks ago some friends of ours found out they were going to get to play on the Grand Ole Opry. Of course this is a huge step for an artist and we decided we wanted to be there for it. The group's name is Sundy Best and one of the duo is the brother of Tony's best friend Brett. His name is Kris Bentley.  We have known Kris since he was a small child. We have watched him grow up and watched the two of them from the beginning of their career. Tony actually recorded their first cd, before they were called Sundy Best and was still Nick and Kris. It only made sense that we would be there to support them during this great step in their career.

I ordered the tickets and made reservations for the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. I knew timing was going to be tight because of the holiday but I knew we could make it work.

I love Nashville. Its one of my favorite cites anywhere. Add to that my friends playing at the Opry and also my son, Tabor and his girlfriend Loren getting to go with us, I knew it was going to be a fun trip.

The weekend before we were to leave Tony and I decided to buy a mini-van. I had been wanting a mom van for traveling.  We agreed to shop for one. So that is exactly what I did on Monday. Yes the Monday before we were to leave. The Monday I could have been shopping for my Thanksgiving dinner. No! I was on a mission.

We ended up buying a Chrysler Town & Country.

I love it! It has all the bells and whistles. And it is sooooo comfortable! I am pretty sure Tabor and Loren loved being able to watch movies all the way there.

Don't they look comfortable?


I wish I could say we had a pleasant, relaxing drive there. But it rained the whole way and Tony was fighting a cold so I had him drugged up on cough syrup. But I did enjoy "getting to know" my new vehicle and figuring stuff out on it. And well....Tabor and Loren relaxed all the way there.

We were booked at the Embassy Suites on Broadway. Over all I was very happy with the hotel. This is the view of the rooms and open atrium from the door to our room.

All rooms were suites. They were very spacious and nicely decorated. We had one little hiccup when we first got there, but it was very minor.

Right after we checked in our friends Brett and Blair were checking in, along with Brett's mom and dad and some other family members. So I was not paying attention and I left Tony's iPad laying on the counter. The front desk kept trying to call me to tell me but I couldn't hear them. So they sent someone up to fix the phone. He brought a new cord and switched it out. After he left I realized the phone still wasn't working but then I noticed that he had plugged it in the data port. No big deal, and I thought it was funny. The guy was seemed to more interested in talking to Tabor and Loren...lol.

We decided to grab an appetizer in the hotel restaurant which was a Omaha Steaks. It was pretty good. The onion soup I ordered was very good. We then we grabbed a taxi and headed for the Ryman. Did I mention they were playing at the Ryman? Well.....not only were they getting to play The Grand Ole Opry, but they were playing at the Ryman. The building historically known for the Opry.

And here they are living the dream!

During intermission I think I discovered the true reason the Grand Ole Opry was moved to Opryland. The restrooms. I promise I have been in shorter lines in arenas. I missed the first two songs of the second half.


Tabor and Loren at the Ryman.

And Tony and I with Kristofer. We were so proud!!

After the show we walked down the street to Margaritaville and grabbed some grub.

I would get into what we ate. But it honestly wasn't good enough to mention.

 It ended up being too cold to walk around, so we grabbed a cab back to the hotel to hang out there. I ended up crashing around midnight and since Tony was sick I don't think he lasted much longer than that.

The next morning I decided to run across the street to grab some Gigi's cupcakes to add to my  deserts for Thanksgiving dinner. The cold wind literally took my breath away and I was pretty sure I was going to die before I made it back to the hotel. But the cupcakes were worth it...lol.

We then checked out and waited for the valet to bring us our van. We were standing there waiting with another family when our van pulled up. Tabor kept saying, "That's not ours." He was right it wasn't. As Tony was going for the back hatch he noticed the license plate was from Tennessee..lol. The other family just stood there and stared at us like we were morons. Well, I had only had if for two days! I wasn't use to it yet..lol.

It was a beautiful sunny day even if it was incredibly cold. Made for a nice drive most of the way home,that is  until we hit snow a couple of hours from home. But it still wasn't too bad. It was then off to the grocery store for me to buy my Thanksgiving dinner. Yes I shopped for my dinner at 8pm the night before.

I am proud to say that I pulled off Thanksgiving dinner without a hitch even if I was up til 2am the night before baking pies!


Thanks again for coming along on one of the Mullins Family crazy excursions! Hope to see you again soon!



                                                                                                         The Boss Lady

My Crazy, End of Festival Season October

I know, I know......I have been gone for a bit. I have been neglectful. But I promise I had  good reason for being missing in action for October. We were crazy insane busy.

The first weekend of October is Apple days. Its an event that takes us away from home for three days. Its putting up a stage, setting up production and running a stage. It's exhausting on its own, but this year we decided to throw some other stuff in for fun.

Our stage at Apple Days.

Tony and the guys running sound and lights.

We were also hired to take care of production for the Chris Stapleton show on Friday night. Thankfully it was in a venue that was only about ten minutes from the stage. So we left our guys with the stage downtown, took a couple of our other guys with us and took care of the show.

What a show!! This guy is super crazy insanely talented. I can listen to him sing ANYTHING. If you have never heard him then do yourself your favor and look up some of his stuff. 

We were up early the next morning and back at the stage. Don't I look excited?

I hung out behind the stage for awhile and rested on some road cases and had this view of the stage.

I watch a LOT of shows from this angle.

Tony plays keys for a guy named Logan Hall on occasion. That night Logan had a big show about an hour from Apple Days at the Knott County Trail Ride. Again we left the stage in the hands of our crew and I played roadie for Tony. 

Tony snapped some pics of the crowd from the stage.

After the show we headed back to Apple Days to tear down the production and stage there. Needless to say we didn't MOVE on Sunday.

But we didnt have much time to recuperate. It was on to Lousia for a show there on Wednesday. Tabor during setup of that concert.

In years past, Apple Days always marked the end of our outdoor festival season. But this year we were booked to take care of Harvest Days in Inez, KY.  I love the experiences these festivals bring us. I love interacting with new people and I never know what situations I will find myself in. This festival found me as an official "cake walk spot picker". It was a blast.

One of the bluegrass bands from the weekend.

And that ended the summer Festival season for bt Media Group. But that didnt mean things slowed down or we would be able to take any kind of break.

The weekend progressed into a crazy week. The University of Pikeville was inaugurating a new President 

and the event was huge. We spent the week setting up production and rehearsing. The day of the event the Expo pulled off one of its craziest changeovers ever. 

We started the day with the arena looking like this.

And we changed it over to this....

in an hour and a half. It was crazy, it was mad, it was EPIC. 

bt Media went from that event that night to DJing the UPike homecoming dance the next night. Then Sunday we provided sound for comedian James Gregory. 

The last weekend of the month found us providing production for Exile at the Jenny Wiley Convention Center.

In between these events there were meetings, housing keeping staff, estimates, the recording studio and the music store all to take care of.  

I apologize for this being so long, October was a long crazy month. I also apologize for being so late on taking so long to write this. There has been a lot of catching up on things in November. 

Hopefully I won't be gone so long with the next one, and thanks again for spending some time again with the Boss Lady. 

                                                                                                                 The Boss Lady

Festival Season Comes To An End

Next weekend is the Apple Festival in Paintsville, the next weekend is the Harvest Festival in Inez. Then everything moves indoors!

Summer aka festival season is busy crazy time for bt Media Group. This summer was no exception. It's long hours in the heat, and sometimes in the rain. We had a great crew working with us and it made working a lot easier and more fun!

Here are a few of things we were busy with;

We started the summer season with this Day of Prayer event.

July Jam in the Pikeville City Park

The Chamber dinner with 1964 a Tribute (Beatles tribute band). Ok, this one was inside. It's nice when things are indoors during the summer.

We did a couple of events at this church in Ohio at their outdoor pavilion.

We did several shows for Main Street Live again this summer. They always end up fun and we ended up having a great weather for the ones we were involved with.

We were also involved greatly with the Hatfiled Mcoy festival held for the first time in Pikeville this year. We did production for the Expo stage, the park stage, and had a Rodney Adkins concert thrown in. Here is a pic of some of my crew waiting backstage for Rodney Atkins to come off the stage so that we could load out. At this point I am laying on a road case. I had started the day at 7am. It was close to 11pm and I still had at least 3 hours of work ahead of me. So I was trying to get a little rest. Or at least the amount of rest one can get from laying on top of a road case. Which surprisingly I have gotten quite use to.

It was a good thing we had just had a vacation right before this...we needed to be all rested up for this long three day weekend!


We do work our tails off but we also have lots of laughs. Here we are loading out from Gingerbread Days.

A night that this jewel of picture was taken!

These are only a few of the things we were involved with this summer. Tony has also been very busy with installs, studio work and other shows.. I admit it's kinda nice that we have a business that changes like the seasons with the seasons. Keeps things from getting boring.

 Arena season will be picking up in the next month and I will be busy with shows, ballgames and all other kinds of events. I hope you decide to join me for the fall season as we head towards Christmas.

 OMG did I just say Christmas?


                                                                                                    The Boss Lady