A FUN DAY!

Son and family came for a visit with us for a few days. One day was a visit to Silver Dollar City. Always a fun time. 

Thank goodness for double strollers!

First ride for the day was “Fire-in-the-Hole!”  We have to make sure the little one is tall enough. Whew! Just barely!

We know you are, older brother! (But he wanted to get his pic taken, I think.)

Grandfather’s Mansion is always a hit. Oldest grandson went through it FOUR times!

It’s not a day at SDC if you don’t get your pic taken in the jail window!

This horse is in front of the woodworking shop. They made it right there.

Here’s one of the newest areas at SDC — just big enough for the small ones. It’s called The Grand Explosion. The kids loved all the rides!

Son got a kidding after riding the jumping frogs with the family.

Here’s another one of the rides. The boys liked this one too!

We had a beautiful, fun and tiring day. But certainly worth every minute! It was nice to get back home and relax. I watched the two little ones the next day so the older “kids” could go back and ride the “adult” rides. I didn’t take any pics of the babysitting day but we had a lot of fun playing with balls and bubbles in the back yard.

I love when they visit!

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BAGGED IT

Today was a contest called “It’s in the Bag.”  There were two contests for bags. One was a bag that you make yourself and the other was a purchased bag that you decorate. I entered both contests of course. If anyone knows me at all, then they know that I’m an unofficial “bag” lady. I collect bags (mostly tote bags) especially if they have a business name on them. I even found a bag that had “The Ultimate Bag Lady” printed on it.  I think it was an advertisement for a lady that made purses, but I just had to have it.

In this picture they were just getting ready to judge them. Mine is the striped one in the middle. I crocheted it in single crochet in different colored stripes. The handles are plastic. I got the pattern from the magazine Crochet Today! They’ve got some really neat patterns. Anyway, I got a first place ribbon on it!   

 

The other bag I entered was a purchased canvas tote bag that I decorated with paint, ribbon, and novelty buttons. I painted an apple-shaped school house on it in puff paint that looked like stitching, then ironed a ruler-printed ribbon all around the top. I found some novelty buttons in the shape and color of crayons that I sewed around the “school” apple. It turned out really cute, I thought, but I only got a third place on it.   Here’s a picture of them both on display.

My sis went with me to the fair today. She used to go every year and take crafts and baked goods like I do. But a few years ago, the Fair had to start charging the exhibitors a small fee to enter their items. Costs go up, but she thought it wasn’t right that we had to pay to show our crafts. So she’s been turned off on the Fair ever since. Last year she gave me a cross stitch picture for my birthday that she’d done for me. It was beautiful and she’d done such a wonderful job on it. So I took it upon myself to enter her picture in the Fair. She got a blue ribbon (1st place) on it! I asked her if she’d like to go with me to the bag contest today and she surprised me by saying “yes”. She seemed to enjoy herself. One of the ladies that always works there every year had to come up to her and tell her how much everyone has missed her. Sis made the comment that “maybe you’ll see some of my things one of these days.” I was hoping that I could get her interested in participating again. We’ll see!

There’s three days left of the Fair for this year. I was supposed to be in two more of the Special Contests, but I believe I’m getting a little “Fair-ed out.” I’ve only got one more day off until I go back to work so I’d like to stay home and get a little cleaning done, etc. Our son and his family will be coming down for a few days this weekend so it’ll be a busy week ahead. But if there are any more Fair goings-on in the next few days, then I’ll be sure to post them.

A FAIR OOPS!

In all the years that I’ve been entering my crafts and cooked foods in the Fair, I’ve never done this. This is a FIRST for me! I spent all morning making cookies for the Grandparents Cookie Contest that was to be at the Fair today. When Hubby and I got there at the time we were supposed to turn our cookies in, the ladies managing the contest told me that this one was already over. It was supposed to have been at 1:00. I was confused and upset to say the least.

I guess what happen is that I got some mis-information about the time to take my cookies today for the Grandparents Cookie Contest. I don’t know where this piece of paper came from, however, I’m sure it came in the same envelope packet that all of my tickets for the special events, information, etc. that I got from the Fair came in. Where else would it have come from?  I made a mental note of the new time, and didn’t think anything else about it. Until today. After we got home from the Fair, I looked at the paper again. This is what it said:

“Attention! Please make a note that we had the wrong time for the Grandparents’ Cookie Contest listed in the Family Living Handbook. The time should be 4:00 PM on Tuesday, July 31, 2007.”

I read it over and over. I couldn’t understand why they sent this to me if it wasn’t right. All of a sudden the date hit me in the head like a rock!! July 31, 2007! What is heck?!? Now I’m wondering if it was indeed in my envelope packet or if not, where did it come from? Nothing like this has ever happened to me.

Well, I made some pretty awesome cookies. The first class was cookies made with chocolate. I baked a chocolate chip cookie without the chocolate chips in a pizza pan. Then melted the chocolate chips on top while it was still hot from the oven. I spread the chips around on the top and then added nuts, cut-up peanut butter cups, vanilla chips, cherries, and some orange candy melts for the toppings. Here’s what half of the cookie looks like. I had to take the other half to the Fair.

The other class was cookies without chocolate. I’ve made these Ginger Cookies before and they’re rrrrrreally good! They almost melt in your mouth.

After Hubby and I got to the Fair and found out that I missed the contest, I just left the cookies with the ladies that manage the contests. One of them had a piece of the chocolate pizza. She said they were first place winners if it was up to her! That was nice of her to say that. We wondered over to the display where the winning cookies were and none of them looked as good as what I brought. I was a little depressed.

Hubby felt sorry for me, I’m sure. But it was totally my fault because I can’t read! Anyway, we got something to eat, (a corndog for me!) and then went to ride the farris wheel. After the ride, we got ourselves some Dippin’ Dots ice cream in a plastic baseball cap (whatever! but the ice cream was delicious!) Sooooo, it wasn’t the greatest day for me, but it ended nice because I got a date with my bestest friend in the whole world.

I’m not in any contests at the Fair tomorrow. (What? I missed a day? What’s up with this?) I’m thinking about doing some shopping. I’d really like to go, but I’m thinking a day at home not having to go anywhere sounds good to me also. I guess I’ll just play it by ear and see what I’m feeling like tomorrow.

Thurs. is a contest called “It’s in the Bag”. There are two classes. One is a bag that you’ve made yourself. The other class is a ready-made bag that you’ve decorated. Now if I just have the right day and time .  .  .  .  .  .  .

Quick Breads

This wasn’t one of my better years at the quick-bread-baking contest. Out of five entries, I got three ribbons. However, one of them was an honorable mention because there were only four entries in this category. Three of which got the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd ribbons with one entry left over. Guess which one was left over? Yep, mine. So to keep it from looking pathetic, the judges give my entry an honorable mention ribbon. But it still looks pretty pathetic from my point of view. It was kind of like a sympathetic vote. I’d rather have gotten nothing.

Anyway, I did get some legitimate ribbons. I got a third place on my cornbread. This is the same recipe that I’ve used in past years with one exception. I used buttermilk instead of regular milk this time. It didn’t taste quite a good as it normally does. I’ve gotten a first place on my cornbread using this recipe before. I guess I need to leave perfection alone! Ha

My second “real” ribbon was a second place on my fruit/nut bread. I made an apricot/pecan bread from a concoction of two different recipes. It turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself. I’ll have to save this recipe and put it in my cookbook that I’m “still” planning on making of all my favorite recipes. I’ve been wanting to compile all these favorite recipes into a cookbook for years now. I can’t seem to get organized enough to get it done. Then I have to go searching all through my recipes again to find one of my favorites when I need it.

Tomorrow is Senior Citizens Day at the Fair. It’s also the Grandparents  Cookie Contest day. I’ll be baking two different kinds of cookies to take tomorrow. It’s also the day that Hubby will be going with me for our day at the Fair. We have tickets to ride the ferris wheel for free! This is a yearly tradition. (Riding the ferris wheel.) I can’t even remember how many years we’ve been doing this. Well before we ever became senior citizens, I know. So, until tomorrow. . . . .

Fair News

I didn’t win the Weird Chocolate Cake contest. If they had given a prize for the ugliest chocolate cake, however, I’m sure mine would have won. It didn’t turn out like I’d planned. It tasted pretty good though. With all that candy in it, plus the icing, it was very sweet to say the least. A cake that had black beans and mashed potatoes in it won the 1st place. Oooo Kkkk.   I wish I could have tasted that one!

Hubby went with me for the contest. Afterward we walked around to see the exhibits. I got ribbons on every craft I took!  Remember the snake?

Here’s the baby afghan I made for the CMN (Children’s Miracle Network) contest

Here’s “Willie Melt”. He was supposed to have been in last year’s Fair, but he didn’t get done.

Here’s my hat! The ladies who set this up has it wrong side out, but the blue ribbon shows up good!

This pic shows three of my knitted items displayed right together. The blue scarf, the peach child’s poncho, and my beige sweater.

And last is the afghan that I didn’t think I should even enter when I first started it. I used a bright white yarn for the stripes, but it didn’t match the white in the varigated yarn. So I frogged it all out and re-knit it with an off white yarn. It matches a lot better! I’m surprised it got a first place ribbon because I wasn’t too happy with the sloppy way I sewed the strips together. I was finishing it up the day before I had to take everything to the fair. Obviously, the judges thought it looked ok. I’m pretty proud of it now.

Today was the pie baking contest. I made a cherry pie and a gooseberry-raisin pie. They both seemed really good to me, (I tasted as I cooked)  especially the gooseberry pie. But I love gooseberry pie with raisins, so I’m a little partial. The cherry pie was judged first and it didn’t place at all. But. . . . . . .

the gooseberry pie won 1st place!! I had to leave half of it at the fair for them to display, but we’ll enjoy the rest of it!!

Monday is quick breads. I have five different quick breads to take. A lot of baking to be done. I’ll let you know how it goes.