301 Mid-South Fair

The Whole Flickr Set can be seen HERE!

Monday after Katie got home from school (and Chip got home from golf) we headed out to the Mid-South Fair. This is the first year that it has taken place at the Desoto Civic Center. It used to take place at Liberty Land, but our Memphis amusement park is now defunct. They are slowly working the Mid-South Fair down to Tunica, MS but for a few years it will be right here in Southaven/Horn Lake, MS. I won't complain, it was nice having it so close to home.

It is, of course, a smaller fair than it was when it was located at Liberty Land. Back in the "good 'ol days" you got the fair rides AND the Liberty Land rides, but it was still a total blast for Katie. She couldn't decided what she wanted to ride next. She would say that she wanted to ride alone, but usually when it came down to getting in line she would ask Daddy to go with her. Daddy had the wristband, and Mommy was on Connor duty. Connor was stuck in the stroller ... until he rebelled about 2 hours in and we had to start carrying him around. Katie rode most of the rides. There were several that she rode and wished she hadn't. They were a couple that Daddy wished they hadn't rode either.

Connor even got to ride one ride. He was so HAPPY! I was afraid he would freak out when he got strapped in and Daddy walked away, but he didn't care at all! He was with SIssy and they had a BLAST!

Katie also played several games, and she even won some prizes. I think we were just lucky to get some of the nicest people in charge of the games. The first game that Katie played was a Ball Toss. For $5 you got 5 balls, all you had to do was get two balls into these big tubs. Of course they would bounce out. The guy was trying to coach her through. He taught her how to throw underhanded, and he told her to throw it soft like she was throwing to her brother. Finally, he put his hand on the lip of the tub and told her to throw it softly to him. SHE FINALLY GOT TWO IN! He probably let her throw 15 times. So amazing! She won a "leopard skin rug", and she is SO proud! He even gave Connor a stuffed monkey with banana pants. She played a few other games. The water gun one, and she did great, but she wasn't the first to fill her tube. It was her first "loss" and she was very disappointed. She chose two rubber duckies and won a stuffed pig. We were there for over FOUR HOURS! And still Katie pouted when it was time to leave. Daddy tried to throw softballs and break beer bottles (sounds super safe, huh) but he only managed to break one. I had glanced at the "Strong Man" game. You know the one where you try to ring the bell by swinging the mallet? I was standing there looking at it, but I really didn't care about any of the prizes, and I didn't want to spend the money to play just to see. The guy must have been bored because he motioned us over. "$1 and I will let you swing" he said to Chip ... that is when Chip told him it was me that wanted to swing :) So, I swung.... DING! It was the women's one, and I was "ALL WOMAN", so he told me to try the men's one. I swung ... and it went to 1400 and STUCK ... it never came back down. Sure wish I knew how high it would have gone. He had said that I would just get to swing for the $1, but he went ahead and gave us a blow up 3 foot long hammer. Katie and Connor LOVE it!And you can't go to the fair without getting some fair food, right? Around here it is the Pronto Pup that really says you are having fun. Chip only bought two because Katie usually turns up her nose at corn dogs, and Connor hasn't been big on eating real food. Chip and I barely got a few bites. Connor was in Pronto Pup Heaven! Katie wouldn't turn it loose. I am still a little sad that I didn't get any cotton candy or even a funnel cake. I didn't even mention the livestock. And I won't put more pics up. Katie was able to feed some animals and ride a horse. They had a "cow milking" thing set up, just tubes and such. Katie hunkered down and started milking right away. She was a pro. I think Katie's favorite was the baby pot-bellied pigs. She ended up choosing the stuffed pig after petting the real pig. Don't worry, we followed it up with LOTS of sanitizer.

If you are in the area, I highly recommend heading out to the fair before it leaves on Sunday!!

300 Cleaning and Crafting

Friday night I told Katie that until her room was clean that she could not have her friends over again. Her room was so messed up that it was a feat just to walk to her bed to tuck her in. I had to take a cup off her bedside table so it wouldn't fall. It was full of some milky fluid and HAIR! Katie likes to make "potions" with water and lotion and bath gels, but the hair had me stumped. She had given her Build A Bear a haircut. Her Siberian Husky looked like it had been shaved for hip surgery. I was irate! It probably made me so mad because I loved my stuff animals when I was a kid. I might have cut Barbie's hair and snapped her bendy knees the wrong way, but I loved my stuffed animals. I managed to get her to sleep and escape (normally I fall asleep after her bedtime story). I went straight to "my room" and began to play. I needed to de-stress. I started on a few things. I broke out the paint and the Modge Podge :)
This one came about only because a single strand on the paint brush I was using to Modge Podge was sticking out. I already had the dark brown paint out, and as soon as I mad a single brush stroke this is what I saw. Although, I seem to be painting a lot of trees lately (did I mention that my grandfather was a tree surgeon).
This one is just in its first stage, but I have no clue what the next stage is going to be.And this one will have a girl added to it. I have some ideas ...
The next morning, Katie woke up and got to work cleaning. She cleaned and cleaned ... two hours later she came downstairs to ask if she had cleaned enough. I trudged up the stairs, hoping HOPING that she had made some good headway on her room. And this is what I saw ....It took her TWO HOURS to shove her stuff out of the way to create a path? I wonder how much of that two hours was spent playing? 90-95%? So, of course I did what I had said I wouldn't do ... I started cleaning her room. And as I uncovered her floor this is what I found. I have no clue what it is. It is black and tarry/waxy. I am sure it is from make-up, and I was afraid it wouldn't come up. It was about that time that I looked in the hallway to find that Connor had dumped a whole bottle of blood red medicine on the floor. Luckily he did not try to take it. My old paint palette was laying in the hallway, and he tried to pour it in there. He missed. So, I had to bust out the steam cleaner. That thing has had quite a workout lately! It may not have gotten all of the mess up, but it did a pretty good job. I was afraid the black wouldn't come out at all. I thought I deserved a little relaxation, and using your old craft stuff is KIND OF like cleaning, right?! I saw this cute little felt plushie on Stix on the Beach, and I knew I would have to make one of my own oneday. Yesterday was the day. I grabbed what I had nearby (yeah, I have felt in the kitchen - well, in the buffet in the dining area) and got to work. I sketched out a basic shape for the body, and I winged it on the other pieces. It took me about two hours to hand sew the little guy. I started out thinking I would make a "boy" but when I started on its mouth that changed. Two stitches in and it looked like cupie bow lips, so I went with it. Katie named her Rose (which is much preferred to Heart Love that she wanted to name everything last year). Her neck looked a little bare, and my inspiration was wearing a scarf/necklace, so I decided she needed a scarf of her own. Connor adopted her rather quickly ... And he took Rose on her first swing.

All I needed was a little crafty time. It is amazing how it can calm me down. I need to do it more often, OBVIOUSLY!

299 SOOC: MOO

I am so in love with my Mini Moo cards! Aren't they adorable?? And they have all the pertinent information on the back. For right now they will be doubling as my "business cards" ... you know, if I ever need to give one out. This was my first batch, so I was picking and choosing around my Flickr account, but I think I will be creating a special MOO folder that will be ready for the next time. I bought a box of 100 and you can get every single one different if you like. Next time I might go for the full on business card though.

I am especially glad that they came in already. Next weekend I will be headed to Atlanta for a reception for the Picture Hope project. I was honored to have an image in their book, and I am looking forward to meeting many new people and internet friends. I will be the dork with my copy of the book trying to get signatures.

SOOC Saturday is hosted by Melody at Slurping Life. Head on over, share a SOOC (straight out of the camera) of your own, or just check out everyone elses!

edited to add:
Apparently I forgot to say that I made the little felt holder. You can buy them from MOO, but I have all kinds of felt lying around so I thought I would give it a shot. I may try to be more creative on the next one, or I may go back into "too lazy to craft" mode and stick to just the one. I am sure I will let you know :)

298 Sad Excuse for a Post

I have missed several days in the 50for50 Flickr group. Which should be no surprise since I haven't been motivated enough to blog. I blame the nasty weather and my neck that decided to betray me. In lieu of an actual post with worthwhile content (yeah, I don't usually do those anyway) I will just post my 50for5o shots from the last week.

I JUST noticed that there was a thread in the group discussions that posted periodic themes for our group. They are just suggested themes. A jumping off point. I may not try all of them, but here are the first two for themes.

Blue

Tranquil

Group Pool for 50for50 on Flickr

297 SOOC Easy Bakin'

For some reason Katie remembered her Easy Bake oven this week. Maybe it was the sheer boredom of being home sick for a week. She has rediscovered a lot of things in the house this week. Oh well, at least they are getting some use. These cookies were baked for a tea party ... the first one this weekend. We are up to two, and she wants another one tonight.
She is feeling better, and she did not have any fever this morning. You know what that means? SHE GETS TO GO TO SCHOOL TOMORROW! (not that I am excited or anything) I am chiming in a day late on Straight Out Of the Camera Saturday, but luckily Melody doesn't mind :) If you are getting a late start, or just want to check out some other SOOC posts, head over to Slurping Life!!

296 Making the Love

NO! Not that! Get your minds out of the gutter! Tsk Tsk Tsk!

I had a sudden urge to play with the paper clay that has been floating around on my desk for months. It has been inside, outside, and back inside. Connor has been dying to get his hands on it. So, I obliged. I pulled out a small chunk just to see if it was still workable. Luckily, I recently made chocolate pies so I had some tins to put the clay in. I might have to make a few more pies just in case I decide to get crafty again. Yeah, for the crafts! I was real technical with my creations. I rolled out the clay using a glue stick. I grabbed the first cookie cutter I could find. I snagged the stamps that have been sitting on my table waiting to be taken to their home in my "craft room". And this is what I came up with ... and then I remembered it was Love Thursday! Perfect! I had stamped Katie's initials in one and started painting it silver. I was thinking necklace, but she saw it and immediately wanted to put it on her pink Christmas tree. I am more than happy to share the love with her! So, how are you spreading the love today?

Head over to Chookooloonks and check out Love Thursday!

295 Another Rainy Day

It is a good thing that the kiddos are sick because they would be going crazy if they had to stay inside this long without being ill. Connor managed to escape for a few minutes to get a few sprinkles on his head. Poor guy could have used a deluge to wash the paint off of him (don't worry, I popped him in the tub when I got him inside). Katie has spent most of her time upstairs where Connor can't beat her up. He tends to smack at her and try to take whatever she is playing with at the time. That brother training is ingrained in them! We did keep Katie home from school another day. She was still running a slight fever and she has a dry cough. The school sent home another reminder NOT to bring your kids to school if they are sick, so we decided to err on the side of caution. I would hate to send her in and another child get sick. And the paper said they have to be fever free for 24 hours before you can send them in, so it looks like she will be home again tomorrow.I grabbed one of Katie's umbrellas so that I could keep the camera dry, but Connor decided that the umbrella looked like a lot of fun. I couldn't turn him down, so I handed it on over. And he was so darn cute that I snapped a few pics before returning my camera to the safety of the indoors.
Hopefully we can get this round of strep knocked out, and we can keep the kiddos healthy!

294 feeling blah

It has been incredibly overcast around here for the last few days. We have really needed some rain, so I won't complain (too much). But the lighting has been terrible, especially in the house where the grey has not been able to penetrate. I managed to snap a few pics when I wandered outside to change the filter on the pool. But there is very little to take photos of these days in my backyard, so I ended up at the althea again. Mid-morning on Monday we got a call from one of Katie's little friends. She had just tested positive for H1N1 and the girls had spent the night at our house on Friday night!! So, we headed to the school and checked Katie out. We sat at the doctor's office for three hours. Three hours of trying to entertain Connor. Three hours of trying to entertain Katie. Three hours of trying to keep them from touching ANYTHING! We did bring some of our own stuff for them to play with, so it was almost bearable. The toys left no room for my camera *sigh* so I had nothing to play with for three hours. But thank goodness, Flu swabs came back negative on both of them. Strep swabs however ... totally different story. Katie was at the docs last week, and had swabbed negative for strep, but this week she was definitely positive. And Connor also is experiencing his first round of strep. On the way home, we swung through the bank and Katie continued to doodle.

Connor fell fast asleep. Poor little guy was up past his nap time, and he had been poked and prodded. He needed a little shut eye.And Katie had missed her lunch at school, so Daddy let her pick what she wanted to eat. No surprise here.

Hope everyone is healthy out there. I know we are sick of sitting in doctor's waiting rooms!

293 50 for 50

I recently joined a group on Flickr called 50 for 50. The basic idea of the group is to shoot strictly with your 50mm lens (at least for any pics submitted). It is just a little way to challenge and encourage you to improve your eye. I love things like this. I love having a rule you have to follow. I need that extra nudge to DO something. Honestly, I haven't taken my 50mm lens off my camera since I popped it on 4 days ago. Here are my first three submissions. I am running a day behind. I shoot one day, submit my fave pic the next. There are some fab photographers in this group, and I am loving being able to see how other people use (roughly) the same equipment.

Day One

Day Two

Day Three