The Fair

So I would say that I don't get the whole "State Fair" thing, but I do get it. I just don't think I'm a fair kind of girl. I would have loved it if the girls were older and would do what we ask or get some enjoyment out of it. I would have loved it if we could have even found the building I wanted to find so I could look at displays and such, the scrapbook layouts and all that. I would have loved it if we could have looked at the displays, the agriculture, the energy exhibits, etc. I could have loved if the food and drink wasn't so darned expensive, or if even the kiddie rides didn't cost an arm AND a leg. So basically, what did I like about the fair yesterday? Well, it was only 1/2 price to get in, but since I would never pay full price for that experience, 1/2 was a good thing. Parking was $5 because we didn't have 5 people in our car (don't twins count as 3??? lol). So we spent $15 just getting in the door.

Edit to say that Blogger isn't cooperating, so I"ll have to add images of my little farmers later.

THANKFULLY, the very first thing encountered was the number one thing on my list to do - take the girls to the "Little Hands on the Farm" exhibit. There, they get to be farmers, wear cute aprons and hats, had they not been out of hats, and carry a pail to collect veggies and such. Then they take their veggies, eggs, milk to market, sell for $1, and spend their $1 in the general store. VERY fun. Only not fun part is that it's very rushed with so many people, and the girls didn't really get to enjoy it as much as they were just shuffled through it with lots of "ok, come on, we have to go to the next one; you have to put your veggies in the buckets; come on, others are waiting....." Not so fun, that part.

The rest of the fair? Eh. We don't do rides. We don't do junk. We got the girls a sucker. I did get a very good caramel apple that I enjoyed and shared with the girls (they count apples among their fave foods, thank goodness). After a lot of walking and squeezing through crowds with the stroller, which only held Minnie Mouse and Larry the Cucumber a lot of the time, we never found the right building with the scrapbook layouts and I basically thought the entire experience after Little Hands sucked. Yeah, there were lots of people to see; yeah, lots of food to be had for a ton of money, except the Pork Chops on a stick, which were our first choice for food, but the booth had closed. I mean, really.

So my whole thing is this - I'm just not a fair kind of girl. I know the girls would love it if they had more stamina for the heat and crowds, maybe they were a bit older to understand what all was going on, and if we had tons of funds for doing all the rides (though it's an insult to pay it, funds or not). I thought they would enjoy seeing the 4-H kinda fair stuff, but we never got far enough into things to even find animals. The husband likes the fair; he likes the food; he likes just walking around. My thing is, I'd like walking around, too, if the girls wanted to stay in the stroller and weren't chanting "ice cream" non-stop after seeing it, and if they wanted to go in the buildings and actually stroll through and see exhibits without whining. I wonder if I'll get kicked out of Iowa if I say I don't like the fair?

Hello

Surprised to see a new post, huh? Well, me, too! The husband and I have been pretty busy lately, working opposite schedules, running like crazy. Makes it hard to relax and do anything but read and keep up with the essentials. Hopefully, things will get back to normal soon. He's training for a weekend job now, so that's more hours than there will be when things settle out, and I'm also working double, it seems, so we're getting used to that kind of hustle and bustle. I'm loving the days at A's though. Nice change from the evening pace. I miss (generally nighttime supervisor) Dana though! I am going to be teaching 3 different upcoming workshops, which is cool! Doodling (RF stamps workshop), Hero Arts cards, and calendar workshop.

Umm..what else. Finished the She CJ from CKU-A in Chicago. Need to take and upload some photos of my intro pages and my lo for my theme that everyone completed layouts on, which is "Why I Scrapbook." I am in LOVE with my pages, as I finally used my Rhonna Farrer paper that I've been coveting. Also finished up a recipe swap and, when combined with two previous recipe swaps, gives me a nice 8x8 album that I altered the cover on and made a nice title page for (and that is one of the Elsie book challenges, too, so neato on that). And today, yep, I'm on a roll!, I did 2 pages and have one more going for my Heidi Swapp "She" album from CKU. Woohoo! Still, piles of stuff I wanna do, layouts and all, but at least there's progress. I'm so proud of my She CJ that I can't stand myself. Oh, and get this - I got my CKU Minneapolis CJ back! Woohoo!! This is from 2005, friends. I had Nietra bring it to me as soon as she got it, even though she didn't do her pages yet (hear that, Nietra? Make my pages!!). I'm thrilled, as I thought I'd never see it again. Hoping Miss Tina (yeah, you) will do a page set for me, even though she wasn't in the cj but was at CKU in 2005 with us. It's an 8 1/2x11 format, theme is "What I Know for Sure," and no tag, but sign a 3x3 piece of cardstock for the intro mini book, please.

Job front for the husband - weekend job going great-check; two phone interviews for 2 different jobs-check; at least one of those REALLY sounding good-check; classes started for masters in education program-check. So, the "worst" could be worse, I guess, and time will tell how we'll be for the long run.

Oh, house still a mess - yeah, as always. LOL We barely stay on top of the must-do's and can't get to the need-to-do's or want-to-do's, though the husband did clean crayon off half a wall in the basement today. Maybe someday we'll finish painting down there.

Visited with miss Nietra on Friday night and some Saturday. We cropped an hour or so here late Friday night, then she cropped at A's on Saturday while I worked. Fun, seeing a friend. They are in short supply these days, that's for sure. Miss Shannon now has a new baby girl!! How exciting and I know a relief for her. Visited a couple few weeks ago, handed off a ton of baby girl stuff, clothes and all, and I hope she's home and comfy very soon if not already. Can't wait to see new baby!

Okie doke.....gotta check on my girlies, who I believe are watching a Disney movie, so cool. :)