Change of Character

So my Lil' Miss does not want to be a princess. Honestly, she is not the princess type.  Norah wore her red and white polka-dot jumper dress to preschool. Her teachers told her she just needed a bow to look like Minnie Mouse.  She now wants to be Minnie Mouse for Halloween.

NOT a princess.

She was o-kay with being a princess; I am not so sure she loved and clung to the idea with utmost excitement.

But Minnie, this actually suits her better.  She has a strong, true love for small figurines of characters.  An intense, burning love, where she must constantly hold a small character.  This love has lingered since she was itty-bitty.   LOVES her characters.  Today she wore a dress with a pocket, and seconds after donning it, Eric asked me to check the contents of that pocket.  A tiny pony was inside, all cozy and comfy.  Hence the need for pockets.  Small, plastic animals or characters are necessities of daily life.  Didn't you know?

So, Minnie seems to be the costume that she loves and that fits her best.

I went to one more resale, Rhea Lana, if you've ever heard of it. If not, see if it is in your area and go, quality items slightly used at great prices.  While there, I picked up a red and white polka-dot bow clip from a vendor.  While perusing the clothes, I found a black and white polka-dot turtle neck and a black and white polka-dot zip-up hoodie that is lined in red!   I also found Minnie Mouse shoes, for $8.00.  A quick check on ebay found them available for $29.95 plus $9.95 for shipping.  I think I got a pretty good deal!  Since Norah's foot is approaching a size 11, her new Minnie Mouse shoes sized 11-12 will be played with for some time to come.  Maybe worn out and about as well!

I made her close her eyes while I put them on her feet.  She was so happy when she opened her eyes.  So happy in fact, that she took them off in just one minute and said, "I don't want to ruin them".

Minnie Mouse ears will be made from felt and hair clips from my basement stash. That's a project we will make together.   I found 1 1/2" wide white elastic in my basement stash and bought a belt buckle at Jo Ann's.  All I need is a big, white, bow to attach to the belt.  I'm hoping to use a large, white hair bow to attach to the middle of the belt.  If I have to make a bow, I will.  Making bows is just so fussy.

Once October comes, no more changing minds!!!  She can be a princess or Minnie Mouse.  I think it will be the mouse.

Oh, and our brave knight is still just that.  He's been happily playing knight since I completed his helmet and found a chest plate with a matching shield at Good Will.  He has made his own sword out of Grandpa's wood and tool set gift.   But oh, the sadness, he was so sad.  The brave knight lost his princess to rescue and protect.  I told him he must now be brave and save his Minnie.

Well Said

Eric asked at dinner last week, "How do we know that there were dinosaurs?". 

My Little Mister sat pondering. 

My 4 year old Lil' Miss answered, "The big rock comes and then their skins peel off and their bones are left". 

And there you have it.

How To Play 30 to Milk

Here is our story, on how to play 30 to Milk, Ready Set Go.  This game brought out the giggles and a lot of family fun.

You need an imaginative, 4-year old girl, who wants everyone at the table to guess something. 

We all were trying to guess what Norah drank for lunch, snack or sometime today. Norah emphatically repeated "ready, set, go" while pounding her fist on the table.  She added "30 to milk" to her chant somewhere along the game.   We shouted our answer all at the same time, to which she awarded each of us zero points. I received 12 20 points for giving her a kiss, then 29 more points for blowing her kisses. She kept saying "ready, set, go", and Eric asked "go where?". She mapped out a route, and declared whoever returned to the table first won. So we all went off running around the house, repeating "30 to milk, ready-set-go".   Some tickling may have been involved.  An unsuccessful attempt for the adults to hide and take a nap was thwarted by the little people.   And dashing to return to the table first enjoyed by all.  Overall, an interestingly fun game.

I really don't know. 

But it sure was fun!

Because I can't help myself . . .

I found a pattern to make this

And then I found a pattern to make this

If you recall from Octobers past, I like to make costumes for my kids.  Not just for the day of Halloween, but items that will last for dual purpose.  So, my knight in shining armor will have a sturdy helmet for bravery and a fiery dragon to slay.  But after the sugary day on October 31st, he will have a hat and scarf set for the upcoming winter.  

Perhaps this will be played with more than even I realize.  I can only imagine a fiery dragon capturing the lovely princess and the brave knight slaying the beast to rescue the fair maiden.  

They will be hand-made, but very boy!  Not cheap plastic that doesn't fit, always falls off, needs a strap modified, or broken after a few uses.

The only difficulty may be finding a variegated green yarn without cream, tan, brown, or camo colors.

Not that I need another project, but I can't help myself.  Simon is thrilled when I make him something. Thrilled, to the point of asking me each day if that is the day I will finish.  Norah has dragon jealousy. She forgets her cape and crown were made for her by me long ago.

A very busy day . . .

Here is what I did today.

12:00 a.m.  Awakened by a wiggly lil' miss who crawled in and bumped me awake and left me with no room left in the bed.  I carried her back, and since I was up, it was difficult to return to a sleeping state.

2:30 a.m.  Awakened by snoring.  The snorer got up and went to work.  I was awakened enough that I could not return to that dreamy, sleepy state no matter how strong my desire was to slumber.  So I got up and:

• checked work items via computer
• made a list
• sorted laundry, started a load and switched a load
• ran upstairs from the basement to silence alarm to prevent waking my lil' miss, she was up before 6:00, and before Eric returned from working 
• emptied dishwasher, loaded dishwasher, washed dishes by hand, cleaned counters
• turned light and watched a raccoon waddle away from our garbage cans
• made oatmeal for my lil' miss
• made my lunch
• made coffee
• showered and readied myself for work

7:10 drove myself to work, eating an egg cheese bagel made for me by Eric

7:30 hit the ground running at school, took a 30 minute working lunch, not sure if  I even used the bathroom, no breaks

3:45 forced myself to leave school for the day-care dash to pick up Norah and come home to Simon and rescue Grandma

4:00ish checked my lil' mister's homework folder, planned dinner, breathed for a bit

4:30 or so:

•  made dinner (corn dogs, carrots and tator tots for the kids and leftover beef roast and fixin's for me)
• math homework while food "baked"
• cleaned off table

5:30

• ate
• math facts practice
• reading, I dozed a bit on the couch while Simon read to Norah and myself

7:45 

• readied the kids for bed 
• changed laundry around 
• emptied dishwasher, put dinner dishes in dishwasher, wiped counters, swept kitchen floor, wiped table

8:30

• changed laundry and started to fold
• watched the 9:00 news
• Eric came home from his golf outing

9:45 felt really, really tired, but still wanted to get things done, like fold another load of laundry

And after all of that, my floors still need a vacuum and a mop and my bathroom could stand a cleaning. My work could use some time management planning.  Good thing there is always tomorrow!

I don't fold socks and if I pick up small plastic items, it usually goes into the garbage.  So I really don't pick up small plastic items.  I have enough to do!!!

A Fabulous Fair Day

Today, we went to the fair.  I knew it would not compare to the MN State Fair, so I had no expectations, just to see animals and have fun.  Any fair should be able to meet those.

I WAS IMPRESSED!!!!

We had an absolutely awesome time.  Fantastic.  And a perfect substitute for the MN State Fair.  Plus it was only 70-ish degrees outside.  The Sandwich Fair is only 1 hour away!  Parking was free, Eric and I paid $8 to get in, Simon was $5 and Norah was free!  While everything was about 5 times smaller, almost every important fair aspect was there.

Here is what we did:

1. Saw, touched, and smelled cows, pigs, sheep, goats, rabbits, chickens/roosters, chicks, a 3 day old calf, pregnant cows - we think. We didn't have Grandpa to confer as an expert farm consultant.
2. Milked Maggie the cow, don't worry, Maggie was sculpted and did not moo.
3. Saw a sheep and cows being showered.  The sheep was quite vocal. 
4. We heard a girl talk fondly of her sheep, and that next week they were going to market.  But they won't die next week.  The week after that.
5. Watched short snippets (due to my kids attention spans) of junior cow, goat, pig and sheep judging.  The cow judging was in a spot of grass just outside the cow barn.  In the afternoon we noticed a huge crowd that must have decided the final beef cow judging.  I would have stopped to watch, but we were off to see rabbits.
6. Saw lots of things you just do not see every day!
7. Climbed on tractors, as often as possible!
8. Saw The Great American Duck Race.  The second show we were chosen!  So Simon and Norah  helped me to race a Mallard Duck, we had Tella Tubby.  When the duck whistle blew, I dropped our duck into the pool and we encouraged and splashed Tella Tubby to second place.  The best part was the border collie shepherding the ducks.  
9. Kids enjoyed corn dogs.
10. We enjoyed the pork sandwiches, purchased just outside the swine barn.  I always love that.  I thanked the pigs for my tasty sandwich!
11. I especially enjoyed the Home Arts building, and found out that I and my Mom could enter into the fair.  They want to fill up the building so entries are welcomed from anywhere.  And no rules of having to complete the item within the year of the fair.  This excites me!  Much smaller building, but lovely.  We saw cakes, cookies, canned goods, and all categories of needlework, yarn goods, quilts, afghans, and sewn items. 
12. The lady I talked to mentioned the Post Office on the grounds.  I forgot about this and did not find it to check on a postal stamp for a postcard.  Something to check on next year!
13. Enjoyed the Arts and Crafts building, filled with kid projects.  Like Lego and perler bead creations, drawings, simple craft projects and dioramas created by kids.  This excites the kids! Photos also entered, by adults, I think.
14. Heard and smelled the tractor pull.
15. Saw a radio station there.
16. Wandered through 2 commercial buildings.  My fave freebie is a pasta stirrer with holes in the handles to measure 1, 2, 3, or 4 servings of pasta.  The kids received medals for being a Champion of Health.  Simon totally was shnuckered into the rubber bristled broom, for $20.  He told us we needed that and he likes to sweep.
17. Many exhibits to walk past, plenty of food stands and gimmicks.  Midway like games were splattered throughout the fair, so we constantly had to tell kids about spending our money wisely and not on a quick one minute or less game where they would uncontrollably sob if they did not win anything.  Plus, we bought them a duck whistle, since we raced our duck for free.
18. Enjoyed the one stage of music to rest our tired tootsies.
19. That, is where I sat down next to a woman crocheting.  I, of course, brought my great take along project.  She started talking to me and asked what I was making, and I told her the whole story of how my amazing quilting aunt was having this project along and I had to join.  She was working on a doily thing with cotton yarn.  Her junior high and/or high school kids were serving in the Catholic church diner and she was waiting for their shift to be over.  She lives local and has spent the week at the fair. She works for he sister for Lion Brand yarn patterns or something like that.  Small story, she used to live in Villa Park and went to the same high school as Eric and his siblings.  She did not recall the names, even though she was just one year behind his sister in high school.  She shared some tough childhood life events, that she did not have an ideal childhood, and moved away to live her life as she wanted.  Her husband recently lost his battle to dementia.  She was so positive and upbeat.  Just us two ladies crocheting away a few minutes.  And in the end, she gave me her little half hour project.  We did not snap a picture, exchange names, give phone numbers, or share websites.  We ended with "maybe I'll see you next year at the fair".  It was lovely.
20. We ran into a teacher who works at my school and goes to the fair every year!
21. We ran into the lady who works in our church nursery and cared for Norah during Bible study and sometimes church when she was tiny. 
22. We watched the end of a cowboy show.  
23.  Three of us fell asleep in the car on the way home.  We had a very lovely, happy day at the fair.

What the differences were:

1. Size - just not as huge.
2. No daily parade
3. No birthing center for all farm animals.  
4. Not as big vendors, like Spam and Home Depot, unless I missed them,
5. While we do not eat a ton of food on a stick at the MN state fair, I sure missed people walking by and wondering what in the heck they were eating.  The variety was just not present at Sandwich. I was impressed with the pork booth and corn on the cob was present. There was a root bear stand that seemed to promise uniqueness.  
6. Princesses and the Butter Queen
7. No all you can drink milk
8. No crazy hats that everyone wears all day at the MN state fair.  Like the chicken hat, pickle hat or fish hat.
9. Not much 4H that I could tell, but definitely an FFA presence
10. No Grandma or Grandpa to enjoy the fair with, to teach farm facts or to enjoy obscure places and spaces with.
11. Not multiple stages for entertainment and places to rest.
12. Not 7 or more hours away over a holiday weekend!  So close to home!!!

We are all very happy this fabulous fair day!