Off to the Fair…

Working on shower and baby thank you’s has been a bit more of a challenge than I thought. Almost done with the shower Thank you’s. Now I just have to do all of the other ones, as well as devising a system to help us keep track of which ones has been given/mailed out, so that we don’t miss anyone. It may seem like a lot of work, and taking too long, but who wants to be the one who didn’t get thanked? :-/

I finally got to go to a fair and see the quilts. I have been wanting to do that for several years now, and it was quite a nice little outing for Jordan and I and Lydia. Jordan went to Sierra Vista for a job walk with the boss, and so I stayed with the boss’s wife until Jordan and the boss got back, and then we all left to go to the fair. We were ahead of everyone else, which was fine by me. We could go at our own pace. We went and saw some old vehicles, a shark show (swimming with the sharks…it was kinda neat actually.) They had this rather large shark tank built right into a semi trailer. I was admiring the wrap job done on the trailer, but as I decided that taking the camera in with me was too much stuff (diaper bag, purse, etc), I have no pictures to show you. My favorite part was before the diver went into the tank, he had a volunteer (young boy around 12 years old) come up and demonstrate how well made the tank was, and that the glass was strong. Before the boy demonstrated, the diver (Which had a bit of an Australian accent, or so I thought), said “Now, if the glass WERE to break, DON”T PANIC! The sharks will go everywhere, and while they are on the ground, reach down, pick it up, hold it TIGHTLY as it will be flopping around, and head as quickly as you can to the sting ray aquarium and GENTLY put them in, but don’t disturb the stingrays!”

After that, he told the boy to pound as hard as he could on the glass…UH OH, before you do, hey…that shark right there was eyeing you! 😀  Okay go ahead and pound! Right as the boy started banging, they played a soundtrack of glass breaking, and a small hole right below where he was banging started spraying the audience. You should have seen that boy dive under the audience railing! 😀 The guy pulled him back and said “Hey hey! It’s leaking. You gotta stop it!” Finally after a few humored comments (Such as “I hope you’ve got a strong arm..cuz we got a long show”), he asked for some chewing gum, and all of the little kids in the audience that had chewing gum were frantically waving their hands. They plugged up the “leak” with the chewing gum, and started back on with the show. It was very funny, but the guy said, “I’m sure you all in the back find this more humorous than all of the people in the front” (who all got wet.) 😀

So after that we walked around, found the quilts and home arts, as well as a few people we knew. After talking with them for a bit, we moved on, entertaining Lydia and admiring the quilts. I’ve wanted to try to enter a quilt into the fair, but later I told Jordan “I don’t know whether to be intimidated, or inspired.” There were some very nice quilts, and I am not an expert quilter yet. Ha! I’m not really even a quilter. I’ve got a list of about a dozen quilts to make, and I’m still trying to figure out how to run a house, much less add a few quilts into the mix! Sorry, Sarah and Jonathan. Your quilt may be a 5 year anniversary present! :-/

After that, we decided to see the sheep, goats, chickens, and whatever other livestock that they had there. Lydia decided she didn’t want any of it (According to Jordan. :p) We saw this HUGE turkey there. It was so big it could hardly walk. The thing looked like it had been pumped up with air! Definitely not your grocery store turkey. This would take a VERY large oven to bake it. I don’t think that it would fit into most ovens that I have seen. It is more like roasted turkey on a spit over a fire pit (with a walnut in it’s beak. :D)

Then, finally deciding to leave (because I was tired) we started heading out when I spied some cute little dresses at a booth. I think it was Native American items, and so I just stepped closer to take a look. As I did, a man stepped out and started showing me the dresses, taking one down, and I said “How much?”.

“Tirty-Five.” (English wasn’t his first language.)

“Okay, thank you.” I started to walk away. It was a bit too much, and I wasn’t planning on buying anyways.

“You want?” He offered the dress.

“No thank you. I have to save my nickels for next year.”

“I can do twenny five.”

“No thank you, I have to save my nickels for next year.”

“How about twenny?”

“I didn’t bring any cash with me.” (Jordan had it all. :P)

“We take credit card.” (Please make sure those are hispanic R’s when you read that. :p)

I shook my head. “I really don’t want to do that. Thank you though.”

He looked at me incredulously, dress in hand. “You woodn’t even take it for TEN?!”

I was humored at this point. I hadn’t even TRIED to haggle him down! I said “No thank you…but thank you.” and we walked away. Well…it started naggling at me. Most dresses are a good price at $10. So I asked Jordan and he was okay with it, so I counted out the quarters, and I had $10. I told JOrdan, “I’m going to go offer him $8.” Jordan said, “Aw…don’t haggle with him.” (he was feeling pity for the guy.) So I decided not to.

I walked back to the booth, and saw the guy, and asked him…”Still ten?”

He shook his head. “I changed my mind.”

I asked him, “what did you change it to?”

“Twenny five.”

I said “I have $10, but I don’t have $25. Thank you” and walked away, as I didn’t even HAVE $25, so it was okay to walk away. Needless to say, it has kind of naggled at me that I didn’t get the dress right then when he offered it at $10, or that I didn’t even counter offer for $8, (Saying that I had found $8 to buy it with.) I do remember my Dad telling me that you can really do some haggling as long as you are willing to walk away from whatever you are haggling over.

So, somewhat disappointed now, Jordan and I left, and he decided to console me with Costco pizza (which is his favorite :p), and this Mocha Cappuccino drink by Bolthouse Farms sold in Walmart. It is a rich, chocolatey drink with a mild coffee flavor…and Jordan and I both THOROUGHLY enjoy it! That helped…and I had to have Jordan tell me that I could make a dress like that, and even prettier. 😀 Yes…I had to have my ego soothed after that. 😀

So those were my adventures at the fair. Jordan offered to buy me ice cream while we were there, and I knew he was trying to do it to be sweet because I was getting tired, hot, and trying to find a place to try to nurse Lydia because she was a little cranky, but Jordan and I tell each other that we could buy a whole quart, or half gallon at the prices that they charge for ice cream at various places, so I did turn him down, but took him up on the pizza and the drink! 😀 Over all, I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and had a lot of memories.

Developments on Lydia…she has been making razzing noises back at the ones that I do at her. They are SO CUTE! 😀 That, and the other day, she lifted her head up so high that she got top heavy and tipped over. It isn’t the first time that she rolled over, but it is definitely the most memorable. 😀 I was in the shower watching her on the towel on the floor (because she had an exploding diaper which got all over her, me and the couch cover, all which had to be washed), and she was looking at me, and raised up higher and higher until she just wobbled over. She didn’t hit the toilet, for which I was very thankful! She is getting stronger and stronger every day, and she loves to be raised up into a sitting position by holding her hands. She pulls and I help, and she absolutely loves that!

Okay…back to Thank yous! She is still sleeping at the moment (best as I can tell, she is silent). Gonna go tip-toe in there to check on her, and then I’ll be back to my gratefulness session. Tell you what…after so many, you really realize what it means to be thankful, and in realizing how much people have done for you. It’s been good. 🙂 A tip: when Princess Diana of Wales was asked out to an engagement (dinner, lunch, etc) she had a pre-addressed envelope with a blank thank you sitting on her desk for when she got back so that she could immediately pen a thank you and have it sent off right away. I know…I’m working on it. 😀

Martha