OK, I'm sixty-two. I'll be drawing social security next month. But I still have my "crushes":
and....
Dear Lord, what's wrong with me? I remember my mom having a huge crush on a local weatherman that everyone knows is gay. ACKKKKK!!!! I'm becoming my mother! None of mine are gay, but I can find no real reason why I love them. (I do have a gay friend, however; but hey, Toonguy... I don't have a crush on you... honest!)
I'm so embarrassed.
We girls went to the camper to rest awhile before the opening-night concert. As we were getting ready to go back to the fairgrounds, Natalie once more had her "sock problem".
"I guess I'll just tuck you into bed here, and then Monica and I will go to the concert," I told her.
She had a miraculous recovery, and away we went. (No, people... I would NOT have left an 8-year-old girl alone in the camper... but I heard no more about sock trouble for the rest of our stay, and I detected no limping.)
Four years ago, Monica and I attended a Sawyer Brown concert. You see, on opening night, concert tickets are $5.
It was the best $5 I'd ever spent up to that point.
In the years since then, I really hadn't thought about Sawyer Brown much. I have some of their music here, but seldom listen; you know, there's so many singers I enjoy.
So this year, Sawyer Brown was the opening-day act again... another $5 concert.
At one point, Mark Miller asked everyone to raise a hand who had never been to one of their concerts; about 75% of the crowd raised a hand.
"What?" he said incredulously. "We've been together now for 25 years! Where have you folks been? If you ain't seen us by now, you folks need to get out of the house!" (I love that, because one of Cliff's favorite expressions is, "You gotta get OUT this house!")
Mark Miller, the lead singer, is so appreciative of his audience. And when the group sings their hits, it makes me wonder why I haven't been listening to their songs more. The lyrics are great... like this:
Well I ain't first class
But I ain't white trash
I'm wild and a little crazy too
Some girls don't like boys like me
Aww but some girls do.
Or some that state exactly what I believe:
Daddy worked hard for his dollar
He said some folks don't-but that's ok
They won't know which road to follow
Because an easy street might lead you astray
Chorus
I'll take the dirt road-it's all I know
I've been walking it for years
It's gone where I need to go
Oh it ain't easy-it ain't supposed to be
So I'll take my time
And life won't pass me by
Cause it's right there to find, On the dirt road
I have lived life in the fast lane
You gotta watch your back and look both ways
When it's said and done the time we have is borrowed
You better make real sure you're headed the right way
Oh, and the best thing? Kids don't get bored at Sawyer Brown concerts, unless they're under age four.
Sawyer Brown rocks!
Folks, don't think I'm great because I do this fair thing every year; mainly I do it because I love the fair, and not as a big favor to my grandchildren. And don't think I'm such a wonderful grandma, either. The girls fuss, I threaten. They make messes, I gripe. Natalie informed me her socks hurt her too much to walk, before we even started to the fairgrounds. I said, "So, what are our options here? Either you get along with the socks, or I call Grandpa and have him come and get us." Natalie walked all over the place just fine after that, no complaints.
There are disadvantages to having your grandma babysit you: one is that she takes you for granted, and forgets to notice your good points.
There aren't a lot of food pictures, but that's mostly what we did on opening day at the fair. I stopped counting after I'd had five $1 corn dogs and two $1 pieces of pizza and who-knows-how-many $1 Diet Cokes. The girls also had $1 snow-cones, and Monica enjoyed a $1 funnel cake. Oh yeah, opening day is dollar day, and it's all about eating!
We also went through some of the buildings looking for "free stuff".... a free pill-holder for me, free pencils and rulers for the girls.
Last year, the girls couldn't get enough of the Honeybear Dancers. This year it was Marcoux Corner. Honestly, those guys WERE great, although after seeing three of their shows and listening to their live CD about 5 times, I'd heard enough of them. I'm just glad Monica and Natalie liked them so much. If you want to hear them, click here. I sent the CD home with the granddaughters, knowing it would drive their parents and big brother totally nuts. (insert evil laugh here.)
Oh, the forecast we'd heard the night before turned out to be all wrong: clouds showed up, and it rained enough to get all three of us pretty wet (but not enough to break the drought). Some guy at a booth beckoned us over while we were seeking shelter from the raindrops and said he had rain ponchos for $1. Just what we needed! Trouble is, by the time we got the stupid things on, the thinplastic was totally torn up. The girls sat on theirs on the wet ground to watch the alligator show, until it got rained out. A trash bag would have made a much better poncho.
Anyhow, the day was cooler than expected.
Chef Landry cooked some great stuff, but I'd read all his jokes on the Internet already. Oh, and he mentioned he'd bought all his ingredients at Walmart that morning. Well, the pecans in the dessert were old-tasting. But hey, it was free, right?
We went back to the camper to rest awhile before the Sawyer Brown concert.
I had the bright idea that Cliff might as well get us to the fair a day early, so we could get a head start on eating the dollar corn dogs on Thursday by being there when they opened. So we left Wednesday.
It just happened to be the hottest day of the year, topping out, I believe, at 103. In fact, when we arrived at 10:30, it was already 98 degrees.
We walked the grounds some, and sat in the air-conditioned Matthewson Center watching the society horse show until the girls got bored. When we walked out of that building, it was like stepping into a sauna.
Because we were parked next to a source of water, I told the girls to put on their bathing suits and soak themselves in whatever manner possible. This occupied them for a couple of hours, and also entertained an eight-year-old boy playing under the awning of a nearby camper.
Because we were there early, we had electricity, a rare treat for me at the fair. I set up a little fan to rotate on both girls as they slept, which helped. The only other uses I had for the electricity were the camper lights and my perculator coffee pot. But I was glad to have it!
Forecasts said that opening day, Thursday, would be as hot or hotter than Wednesday. What had I gotten myself into?
Cliff, the girls, and I went to the grocery store today to pick up necessities for the trip to the State Fair. Only trouble is, I failed to notice an important item on my list: BREAD!
There were only four slices left at home. Cliff needed bread in our absence, and the girls and I would need bread for our sandwiches at the fair.
I have not baked bread in Lord knows how many years, but today I found out I haven't lost my touch. Cliff is going to be SO surprised. Oh, and the granddaughters were fascinated by the process of making bread.
AOL Journals' third birthday/anniversary is coming up August 21, and many of us are celebrating the occasion. I've been journaling a little over two years, myself. Let's spread the word around J-Land, shall we?
Each of the following links goes to a journal that will tell you more about what is happening and how you can get involved. If for some reason you don't understand something then email the owner of that journal.
Viv: http://journals.aol.com/viviansullinwank/NwanyiomasJournal/
When I did my entry down below, pushing this project, I failed to mention where I found the idea: It was on one of my favorite journals, one that never fails to make me think... Patrick's Place. A couple of us, his readers, mentioned we were going to do this thing also. Then I wrote about it in my journal, and two of my readers joined in. One was Jackie, of Hope Floats.
Good grief, girl... you know how to get people involved! This is a wonderful example of the ripple effect. I went to the 2996 website and looked at all the new people who had signed on since I had, many of them Jackie's readers. I was amazed.
Patrick is always trying to make this world a better place, and he's done a good job of it today.
Oh, I snatched the graphic above from one of Jackie's readers, Mandy, of Unhappily Ever After. I hope she doesn't mind.
