Texas State Fair

Last weekend Brock, Matt and I drove up to Dallas to stay with Stefanie and go to the TX State Fair!  Friday night Stef cooked a great spaghetti supper for us then we went out for gelato afterward.  At the fair Saturday we saw Big Tex the mascot, the Cotton Bowl stadium, lots of random fried foods (fried smores, fried cheesecake, fried grilled cheese, fried moon pies, fried bacon...), a bizarre butter sculpture, a great 2009 car show, a laser light show, and much more.  Sunday we drove out to the Dallas Farmer's Market - I was on cloud 9!  They had all kinds of flowers & plants and 2 large pavilions of fruits and vegetables.  Between the four of us we walked away with wasabi peas, pears, cantaloupe, raspberries, huge bags of blueberries and lots of free samples in our tummies.  

Big Tex and the Cotton Bowl Stadium

An irresistibly large bootie to pinch.

Expected & very unexpected things come out of their deep friers...

We tried out LOTS of 2009 cars, one of which was the van that has a table in the back!

Butter sclupture of an Egyptian tomb.  Pure butter?  Yes.  Walls and everything?  Yes.  Why?  Because it's a fair.

Waiting on the laser light show. 

Dallas skyline at the farmer's market.

A Good Life.

Sadly, Matt's grandmother passed away this Monday.  Mimi/Ada had been on a slow decline for months , but now she is done waiting and is in Heaven!  Thankfully we can celebrate for her because we know 100% she was a Christian.  

Unfortunately, due to car trouble and a very irresponsible Allstate phone claims person, Matt was unable to make it to DFW to catch his flight to Atlanta.  Very crummy circumstances.

Halloween Hoopla

Halloween night on our street is quite a spectacle.  It's like a scene out of a movie... such as one I used to watch on the Disney Channel where Sarah Jessica Parker & Better Middler are witches and there are a million kids wondering around in costume trick-or-treating.  It's like that, but with bumper to bumper traffic.  In sane.  I'm looking forward to all the hoop-la  again in a few weeks!  Maybe they come because it's an older neighborhood (that's safe) and it's neat for the kids to walk  around on sidewalks with older spooky houses :o)  Below is a wobbly & very unprofessional video clip I took last year after running out of candy and a photo of people lined up for candy at a neighbor's house:

PS - Matt began applying for jobs on Saturday!!!

Halloween Duck & Other Things

My next-door cubicle neighbor has decorated her filing cabinet with statues of a dog & a duck dressed in Halloween costumes. The duck must be a distant cousin of the famous Dothan duck who was always properly dressed in theme for everyday & special occasions.  Can anyone report on the Dothan Duck these days?

The Panera in Waco has a grassy spot next to it in the middle of a shopping center & while driving by recently I saw a man, woman & toddler having a picnic on it.  So cute.  Maybe it was his lunch break so Mom dreamed up the little outdoor adventure in order to get out of the house and spend time with Dad.  I was proud of them for taking advantage of the weather & green grass to have a little family picnic time.  

I spotted gasoline for sale at $3.09 a gallon on my way home from work today!!! 

I often look forward to replacing my car in the next few years, but after washing the windows & shaking out the floor mats I feel like it's a whole new car!  Amazing what a little TLC & Windex can do.  Mom & I found it in November 1999 and it's been a great car ever since.  Assuming newer Civic's only get better than the 1994's I would highly recommend one to anyone.  Except to really tall people.  

I started making a sentimental t-shirt blanket.  It was surprisingly hard deciding which shirts to use and then to cut them, but we each had two crammed drawers full so it was time to downsize and I didn't want to just give our colorful 100% cotton memories away.  After "threading the bobbin" and arranging all the squares I didn't get much further.  The actual sewing part is harder than I remembered.  I need to practice more on scrap fabric before going any further on the blanket.  

I recently went to a garage sale a few blocks away at the Jr. League House not really expecting to find anything but I merrily walked away with some monogrammed paper napkins, a novel, 4 name brand shirts (Gap, Ralph Lauren, Hollister) and... drum roll please... a bread-maker.  But here's the big finale... all that totaled a whopping $1.50!  I was on cloud nine for the next week!  Bargain of the YEAR!

Tonight we're going to enjoy our second loaf of bread from it, rotisserie chicken, minestrone soup and chocolate chip cookies while we continue re-watching Lost with Brock, Jacob & Mandy.