Current Events, Health & Fitness, Northwest Indiana Mom Blog

Today we went to the Lake County Fair in Crown Point, Indiana.  This fair has been in existence since 1852 and it really is a pretty great time for kids and adults.  Unfortunately it was super hot today so we didn’t get to do everything, but we did enough.  We’re all tired!

The highlights:

Jake got an airbrushed tattoo.  He keeps asking if it will stay forever.

Jake and Abby got to ride a couple of rides together.

This lady removed the rope (yes, I said rope) from around her child so he could ride one of the rides.

We saw a lot of farm animal booty (and smelled some too).

We met Mr. Ed.

We saw babies.

Some MomDotters were there.

And there was a lot of food, although none as strange as we expected.

I even rode a couple rides with Jake, the “Spider” and the “Tilt-A-Whirl”.  Wow, I forgot what that is like…all the spinning.  But it was fun!  Until I saw someone throw up after they got off the ride.  Three times!

Overall it was a great day and we are all looking forward to next year.

Today was a little weird.  Below are the highlights.

Small Town Life:

Get this…the bus driver who will be driving the route that Jake will take (if I am brave enough to send him on the bus) actually called to introduce himself.  He told us where the pick-up is and asked if we had any questions.  Do you think it was inappropriate to ask him if he was ever accused of a crime or if he enjoys wearing women’s underwear?

Crappy toy dilemma:

I am mad at Hasbro.  Jake has been begging for a Transformer toy FOREVER.  I gave in yesterday and bought him one.  It broke like 20 minutes after we left the store so we exchanged it for a completely different one.  Today that one broke.  So I had to break my son’s heart and tell him I was not getting him another one because they are junk.

Gas station non-conformity:

I had to get gas today in my van.  I stopped at Speedway.  I always go to Speedway.  We have 2 in our town, 3 blocks apart and I went to the other one, the one I never go to.  Why are the damn gas pumps different?  I’m a tired, cranky and brain fried MOM, and I know just staring at the pump won’t make it go…but I must have stood there for 5 minutes trying to figure it out.  Stupid yellow button next to the credit card slot. What the heck?

School supplies and hand sanitizer conspiracy:

I also went shopping for the rest of Jake’s school supplies today.  Whoever invented school supply shopping needs to be tarred and feathered.  Please, just charge me an extra $30, hell make it $60 and go buy in bulk for the whole classroom instead of forcing unsuspecting parents to spend 2 hours in Target to find 6 things.  And HOLY CRAP if you can find hand sanitizer I think you can probably sell it on the black market and make millions.  They didn’t have any normal sized bottles left, just small ones that looked like single-servings and big ones that will keep an entire planet clean.  I decided not to look cheap and get the five-pound bottle.

I am not a pushover:

Jake is getting more creative in his “stalling” before bed.  He goes to bed just fine but sometimes he comes out of his room like 5 times.  Tonight it was “Mommy I think you need to cut my toenails.”  “Now???? Um. No.  You don’t need short toenails to sleep.”  He bought it and went to bed and didn’t come back out.

I do not appreciate the 600 twisted wires you use to secure a toy to its packaging.  My kid does not want the packging nor does he want his toy attached to it.  It should not require power tools to free said toy and anything that draws blood upon attempts at removal should be outlawed.

I also do not appreciate the 80 little white plastic thingamajigs you use to secure 6 pairs of socks to a flimsy piece of cardboard and to each other.  Put them in a plastic bag/wrapper and be done with it.  I spent 10 minutes trying to fish all the little plastics ends out of the socks (yes some were inside) because if my son finds just ONE and it makes his foot itch or hurt, he will complain about wearing ANY of those 6 pairs until the end of time insisting that “those socks hurt.”

And how many tags do you need on a pair of jeans?  I counted 5 on each of the 2 pairs I just bought for my son.  1 sticker on the front, 2 folded cardboard ones stitched to the waist, one attached by a hanging plastic thingamajig and one tied onto a belt loop.

Do you really think I have time to remove all this crap?

My Mom and I went shopping with the kids today to the mall.  Man it was CROWDED.

Anyhow, I think I did pretty good…

We went to Kohl’s and Macy’s.  At Kohl’s I had 30% off and Macy’s had some 1/2 off stuff.

I spent about $150 and got:

• 2 pairs of jeans for Jake
• 2 football/workout shirts for Jake
• 1 pair of shorts for DH
• 3 spring/summer dresses for next year for Abby
• 1 Transformer Toy (the kid was sick and shopping…he deserved it)
• 2 fall shirts for Abby
• 4 pair of sweat pants/leggings for Abby
• 4 pairs of jeans for Abby
• 4 pairs of spring/summer pajamas for next year for Abby
• 5 tops/tunics for spring/summer for next year for Abby
• 3 pairs of shorts for next year for Abby
• 1 package boys socks
• 3 packages boys underwear

I talked a little about the vomit over on MomDot, so head over there for the bodily fluids.

Since Kim is always saying I live in Hooterville, I thought it was about time to speak up to the contrary.  Well, not really speak up, but rather let the pictures show the truth.

Point #1 – If I really lived in Hooterville, would this be the view from my bedroom window?

That’s a soybean field across the street, the taller stuff in back is corn.  It’s about 250 feet from our house.

Point #2 – If I really lived in Hooterville, could I go on a ten minute bike ride and visit this friend?

Point #3 – If I really lived in Hooterville, would I see this “corn canyon” on the way to visit my friend the horse?

Point #4 – If I really lived in Hooterville, would I stand my kids up against the August corn to show how tall it is?

To give you an idea on the corn’s height, Olivia is five feet tall.

Point #5 – If I really lived in Hooterville, would I see this on a bike ride?

Point #6 – If I really lived in Hooterville, would I see crop dusters at all times of the day?

Point #7 – If I really lived in Hooterville, would my daughter look like Minnie Pearl?

WAIT……..A………..MINUTE……………