Kim's Thoughts
Just a few thoughts I feel worthy of jotting down!
Saturday Adventure
I started out the morning reading the paper online and catching up on blogs – mine and other people’s and catching up on emails! While I was doing that, the girls were having a ton of fun playing and running in and out of the house!
About 10:30 or so, I left the house to head to the Pottery Festival! I stopped by the ATM to get some cash (I knew I would need some…..). I also planned to pop in at the Farmer’s Market before I went to the festival, but changed my mind. There was no place to park anywhere near Depot Park – they were slammed! As I drove by, there was some music playing (not sure what was going on) and it didn’t look like many farmers set up with their produce. I decided that I would be doing a ton of walking at the festival, so I wasn’t willing to walk a long distance to get to Depot Park and not have a large variety of produce to choose from! I’ll go next weekend!
I got to the Pottery Festival just before 11:00. I wandered through the displays inside the Civic Center on my way to the outside tents and dropped my entry into the box for the $1000 prize drawing! Once outside again, I decided to check out the food first – since I hadn’t eaten any breakfast! I always visit the Jackson Bros booth when I go to the Pottery Festival — I have friends from work who are always behind the counter there! So – I made a bee-line to their booth and had a delicious hamburger, fries and a coke (and greeted my friends in the process)! There were other food vendors, as well — Davison’s Steaks and River Lodge had a booth that smelled wonderful and there were several other booths with carnival type food — all looked amazing!!!
I sat down at the tables to eat and take the time to look around, scope out the situation, and plan my strategy for how to most efficiently visit every single booth in every single tent! You can’t just go at it nilly-willy, you know! If you don’t plan your attack, you’ll surely miss something or have to spend extra time back tracking through sections you already looked through to get to ones you didn’t look through yet — I am all for making the most of my time at these types of events and not missing anything!
When I was done eating and people watching, I began making my way through the booths – scanning over the displays at each and every booth and stopping for a longer, closer look at those that caught my eye! I liked that they put the tent with the tables and chairs in a perfect central location – it made it easy for me to go sit down for a while when I needed to (I have a bad knee and hip and it is hard for me to stand/walk for long periods without a break to keep the pain under control).
I found so many lovely things to look at! I know it is called the Pottery Festival and that Pottery is the focus of the event, but there is soooooooooooooo much more to look at!!! People who don’t go because they don’t particularly enjoy pottery are really missing out on something I am sure they will find enjoyable!!!! In fact – unlike previous years – I only bought one thing that was an actual piece of “pottery”, but I did leave a lot of cash behind, so this year there were other things that reached out and grabbed me (and my pocketbook)!!!
So – what did I buy this year?
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The one piece of “pottery” I got is an Angel ornament from Lace Pottery in Kernersville, NC (http://www.maggieweldon.com/). Maggie Weldon is the artist and she has merged her love of crochet and the world of pottery. Her pieces all look just like crochet doilies – so delicate and beautiful. The piece I selected is a white angel ornament to add to my Christmas Tree ornaments – I collect angels and the theme of my Christmas Tree each year is focused heavily on white angels. If you visit Maggie’s web site and click on the link to Lace Pottery, the angel I purchased is the first item on that page!
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I also purchased a ceramic item from Fifth Avenue Designs – a shop from right here in Sanford on South Franklin Drive (http://www.fifthavenuedesigns.com/). I won’t say what I got from them because it is going to be a birthday gift for my sister-in-law and I don’t want her reading this and finding out what she’s getting. It will, unfortunately, arrive late cause I already missed her actual birthday, but as soon as I can get to the UPS Store to get it packed up (they pack MUCH better than I do – it might make it in one piece if I have them do it) and sent out, she’ll get it – better late than never, right???
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The booth for Pretty Baby Naturals of China Grove, NC (http://www.prettybabysoap.com/) caught my eye! They had open jars of hand and body creams that I just had to stop and try out! WOW – they made my hands feel wonderful and the smells were amazing!!! They had all kinds of stuff – soaps, lotions, scrubs, masks, etc – all from 100% natural ingredients and all so beautiful – looking and smelling! I got some hand and body creams – a tube of Mango Tango made from a Mango-Berry blend and Mango Butter and a tube of Belly Dancer made from Bay Rum, Oak Moss, Honey Spice, and Cocoa Butter! I’m gonna love them both, I am sure!
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And, finally, I found a booth I don’t think has been at the festival in years past (unless my strategy for not missing anything didn’t work in those past years)! It was a booth full of homemade breads with trays of samples to check out! Slices of Heaven (http://www.slicesofheavennc.com/) is the name and absolutely accurately describes their products!!!! I had a hard time choosing, but I ended up getting a regular sized loaf of whole wheat sour dough bread, a small loaf of banana nut bread, and a small loaf of chocolate peanut butter fantasy bread — all amazing!
So – that is what I bought this year, but I saw so many other things that I strongly considered and some that I came real close to getting!!! One that I am still thinking of going back today and having a second look at is some yard ornaments – they were made of copper, sit on top of a pole, and spin to show the direction and intensity of the wind! And they were beautiful!!!! I can just see one in my back yard in the corner focal area I have – it is a section on one back corner of my yard that has white stone and my Japanese Weeping Red Maple Tree, along with some other special plants — one of these would really look great there!!!! But, they were rather expensive and I always have to give a ton of thought to anything that I spend more than a few dollars on! I may just have to go back today to get another look – maybe seeing them again will either remind me why they caught my eye and help me decide to get them or show me that, on second thought, one might not be as perfect in that spot as I thought yesterday —- OR —- a second look at the price tag just might convince me that it’s not that great of an idea!!! I can also check to see if they have a web site — maybe they have other styles that I might like better!!!
I had such a good time at the festival and ran into a few people that I haven’t seen in AGES!!!! That was a nice treat!!!
After I spent a couple hours at the Pottery Festival, I went to the movies and saw “Made of Honor” — I’ll post a review later, but I can say that I rather enjoyed this one, which surprised me cause I almost didn’t go thinking it would be one of those “been there, done that” redo of the same old theme!!! But, I was pleasantly surprised by it!
When I got home, I enjoyed playing with the girls and sent an email to my Mom and then IM’d with her for a while………………..and, as I said in the beginning of this post, I went in for a short nap with the girls and didn’t wake up until about 5:30 this morning!!! The girls must have been exhausted from their day of fun, too, cause they never bothered me or tried to get me to get up once — definitely a first!!!!
That was my Saturday — wonder what Sunday has in store for me!!!!????
Back Yard Fun
It is such a lovely morning – sunny, breezy, warm – so I propped the back door open and let the girls come and go as they pleased! They mostly stayed outside and played and had a blast!! I just made them come in for a little break and they immediately fell asleep! ha-ha
Here are some shots of them enjoying the back yard just moments ago:
AMY:
MEGAN:
PLAYING & ROUGH HOUSING:
Pottery Festival Today and Tomorrow!
And then, of course, there is the pottery — lots and lots of beautiful pottery — all shapes, sizes, uses, and styles — traditional and not so traditional — classic and quirky — functional and ornamental — you name it, it is there!!!
Looking for that perfect little inexpensive gift for someone special? It will be there! Looking for an amazing new focal point for your foyer? It will be there! Looking for a nice, way to get out of the house and just browse around looking at beautiful things? It will be there!
My only regret from years past???? I tend to attempt to do some early Christmas and birthday shopping by picking up some small items to stick away for future gifts — BUT — I also tend to buy what “I” like, so unless the future gift comes relatively quickly, I usually rethink the purchase and take it out for my own use/pleasure — which results in me needing to go out and buy other gifts for the future events needing gifts!!! ha-ha-ha
Go – have fun – the weather looks like it is going to hold out and be nice (especially today), so it promises to be a great event!!!
Upcoming Events
Also – don’t forget to take your children to the polls with you on May 6th to participate in Kid’s Voting hosted by Communities In Schools of Lee County in partnership with Lee County Schools and the Sanford Herald!!! It is a great way to expose them to the election process! They don’t have to be just from the public schools, either — home schools, private schools, provisional schools — any children who come can participate!!! We won’t turn any child away — in the last general election, we even had some pre-schoolers participate! If they are able to fill out the ballot, they can participate!! And, we’re doing it again in November for this year’s general election, as well……
The next (and last) show at the Temple for this season is Ain’t Misbehavin’ — it starts on May 29th! Don’t miss it!
We’re gearing up for summer and the events will keep coming!!! Hope to see a ton of you out there enjoying our wonderful city!!!
Amy Update….
Sick Puppy
I woke up this morning just before the alarm went off to the smell of really strong poop!! I opened my eyes and laid there a second or two trying to tell if one or more of the girls had some serious gas or if one of them couldn’t wait until I woke up to let them out — sure enough, I got up, turned the light on, and looked in the bathroom……someone had a bad case of diarrhea last night — and it wasn’t ME!!!! No telling which one – unless I notice that one is acting funny and they weren’t!! So, I let them all out and proceeded to clean it up. Luckily, it was in the bathroom and mostly on the throw rug and the rest on linoleum!! The rug was old and getting pretty badly frayed, so I just rolled it up, put it in a garbage bag and took it out to the can out at the street ready for pick up today!!! Easy!!!! But, man it stunk – super sour!!! Whichever of my poor little babies did it, they must have really felt sick!!!! They must not have had any warning, either, cause it isn’t like them to not wake me up if they have to go out during the night!!!! I’m shocked I didn’t know about it! They usually whine and want to be cuddled when they don’t feel well……..
I let them in, fed them, checked them over, and watched how they acted — they all seemed fine, acting normal, all seemed good……so, I headed to work assuming it was just something she got into that she shouldn’t have!
I got home and opened the door and the smell about knocked me over!!!!! I looked around the living room thinking it had to be close and that Katie was the one who was sick! But found nothing!!! I got in the bedroom where Megan and Amy were (they can’t be trusted in the living room when I’m not home – I wouldn’t have a couch to come home to) and the smell got worse as I got closer!!! When I got there, I found a HORRID sight!!! One of them pooped (or actually I should say exploded) all over the place — what a mess!!!
I let them out and watched to see who looked like they might be having trouble. It was Amy — she pooped almost as soon as she got out and it was all runny!!! I should have guessed because she’s the one with the sensitive stomach and intestinal system!!! I called All Animals, told them what happened, and asked if I could bring her in to find out what was wrong! They asked if there was any blood in it and when it started. I said no blood and it just started last night! So, Dr. Cindy suggested I come get some medicine and special food and if that doesn’t help calm it down, I can bring her in tomorrow. So, I went and got the meds (antibiotics) and some canned, bland prescription food special to control diarrhea —- I’ll try that and see what happens!!!!
Needless to say, I didn’t get to the BPW meeting I was supposed to attend tonight!!! I just shut the bedroom door so I could take care of Amy and get to All Animals before they closed! I got home and began the disgusting process of cleaning up the mess!!! OMG!!! I have an extremely weak stomach!!! No one pukes alone around me!!! But – I got through it! It’s all cleaned up and the saga is over!!
Amy ate a small amount of her special food (not that it was all she wanted – it was all I was told to give her) and took her antibiotic — she seems OK, but really tired! We’ll see how she makes it through the night!
I thought of taking a picture to post on here — but, frankly, it was bad enough that I had to see it!!!! I sure didn’t want to put you all through that!!!! So, I left it at just the sweet one of Amy that is posted above.
Dancing With The Stars
But — I am prompted to post about Marrissa tonight!!! Marrissa has been floating to the top and shining brighter and brighter each week!!! I am so proud of her accomplishments!!! These dances take a lot of stamina and require moves that are difficult for someone who is tall and in great shape — imagine what it is like to keep up with them when you aren’t tall and in great shape!!!! And she’s not “just getting by” — she’s nailing it and getting better and better!!!! And her energy and enthusiasm is beyond incredible!!! She’s a true inspiration!!!
Will she win???? I think she certainly “can” – she’s a true contender and may just make it to the finals!!! I think, unless something bazaar happens, that Kristie Yamaguchi has the win sealed — BUT — you never know what’s going to happen!!!! She could have a really “off” night and lose the fan votes and make the way for someone else…………..but, the way it looks right now, that’s not likely! I’d love to be proven wrong and see Marrissa win it all, though!!!!
Me vs. The Rain
A few weeks ago, I bought a dress at Macy’s in Cary Towne Center and when I got it home, I noticed that the security thingy was still attached to the jacket!!! Uugghh!!! Since I don’t go in to Cary very often, I knew it would be a “special trip” to go back and have it removed or I could find another store here in Sanford that has the same kind of removal tool that would take it off for me. So, it sat in the bag waiting for me to decide what to do about it. Then, this morning when I was considering where I would make my “top down” drive to, it hit me — I could head to Cary and get that thing off my dress so that I can start to get some use out of that purchase!!! So, it was decided!!!!
The top was already down – I just drove it into the garage with it down yesterday when I got home, so I just pulled out and was on my way!!! It was perfect — not too warm, not cool, sunny, breezy — just perfect!!! I got on US 1 headed north, set the cruise control, and just sailed on down the road with the wind in my hair — free as a bird!!!
When I got to Cary, I went in to Macy’s to take care of the dress and found a great new purse! Then, I popped in to Red Lobster to have dinner (yum!!!). I also went to Best Buy to check out the GPS systems, but there were so many to look at and I couldn’t figure out what features I would use, so I left without getting one! (hey, Emily — I think I remember a post you wrote about getting a GPS – what was the brand and model? do you like it? does anyone else have one they particularly like? I’d appreciate any advice any of you may have!) I was going to wander around Target a while, but it looked like it might start raining soon and I didn’t want to drive back with the top up, so I headed back to Sanford, instead!
The sky looked pretty ominous – big, dark clouds and gray coloring in any gaps in the clouds, but I decided to leave the top down as long as I could — I could always pull over and put it up, if I had to! Even though it wasn’t sunny anymore, it was still warm enough to make it a very pleasant experience and every now and then I would run into a “hole” in the clouds where the warm sun would stream through and hit my face and arms! I watched the sky as I seemed to be getting closer and closer to clearer skies! Woo Hoo — maybe I could make it past the clouds before they let loose on me!
As I passed the Apex exit, it started to sprinkle!!! But, I remained brave and determined to go as far as I could before I gave in and put the top up!!! The sprinkling didn’t last long – I soon drove out of it! But, the clear skies off in the distance were getting further and further away!!!! The clouds were FOLLOWING ME!!!!!
I continued on — when I got to the Ferrell Road exit, I had to turn the wipers on, but I wasn’t getting wet at all — must be the windshield and speed deflected the rain away from me!!! So, I kept right on going!!!! I was able to shut off the wipers about the Colon Road exit………….could I make it all the way home???? I was more determined than ever to make it!!!!
As I took the 15/501 exit to head home, the sun was trying to peak out through the clouds!!!! I made it to Sanford – would I make it home? Would I be dry when I got there?
I pulled into the driveway and into the garage without taking time to put the top up (hope it isn’t raining too hard when I try to head out to work in the morning – there isn’t enough head room to put the top up inside the garage without hitting the door opener thingy, so I’ll have to pull out to put it up!)
I went in the house, let the girls do the business out the back door, they came back in to get their supper and BAM – the clouds opened up and let loose!!!!! It’s been raining ever since and is now thundering and lightening pretty bad!!!!
So — I “just” made it — but I did make it!!!! I WON — I beat the rain home!!!! And had a blast doing it…….. That’s enough excitement for one day — think I’ll run a load of laundry, load the dishwasher, and curl up in front of the TV – Desperate Housewives is on tonight!!!! It’s back to the old grind tomorrow!!!
Saturday Ramblings
I had breakfast at Angie’s Breakfast Barn this morning. I have been there a few times, but it doesn’t usually come to mind as one of the first few places I think of – but it should!!! I always have a good breakfast there (and lunch is good, too). I don’t know what they do to their bacon or what kind they use, but it is PERFECT!!! I love bacon — if it wasn’t so bad for me, I’d eat it at every single meal!!! I like it extra crispy – just shy of burnt is fine with me! The bacon I had this morning was rich in flavor and done to perfection – very good!!!
Then, I went to the 10:45 early bird matinee to see the movie Baby Mama (see review in the next post).
I spent the rest of the day playing and lounging around with the girls! It was such a beautiful day, I propped the back door open and let them come and go as they pleased and they really liked that! AND – it was nice to not have to keep getting up and down to let them in, out, in, out, in, out, in, out………and so on, all day long!!! ha-ha-ha They enjoyed playing with their toys and pool – running around and laying in the sun to dry off and take in the warmth – and come in to snuggle and snooze between boosts of energy!!!! It was a full day of play time fun for them and they are now sleeping it off with loud snoring and what look like very active dreams!!!!
Have you ordered a Dominos Pizza online at http://www.dominos.com/ lately? You can order it online and have it delivered — just like most other pizza chains — but, the twist with Dominos is that they have a tracker thingy that comes up after you place your order and you can watch the progress — it tells you when and who starts to prepare your pizza, when and who puts it in the oven, when and who boxes it up, and when and who leaves the store with it to head to your home to deliver it!!! And they really stick to their claim of “got 30 minutes, got a pizza”!!! It is WAY COOL…….
I was flipping around the channels looking for a movie or something on TV and found some sumo-wrestlers on National Geographic Channel…………….am I the only one who finds this sport totally disgusting and revolting to watch?????? Think about it — you have two EXTREMELY large men wearing nothing but a thick padded belt attached to a thong — eeww — who wants to see that?????!!!!!! Then, these two huge, practically naked men hug each other, grab onto each other’s belts, and proceed to try to pick each other up by the belts causing what must be the worst wedgies of all time……………..what exactly is the point??????
I didn’t go for a pedicure, as was part of my thoughts for this weekend – I didn’t really need one – it was just one idea to make this a weekend of relaxation and unwinding from a very difficult week and an especially difficult Friday — but, I found other ways to enjoy the weekend and the girls are always a huge help in getting me to unwind and relax!!!
So, that’s my Saturday — I am now watching Elizabeth on TV – Cate Blanchett’s 1998 portrayal of England’s Queen Elizabeth I. Tomorrow is another day…..
Movie Review – Baby Mama
I was so looking forward to Baby Mama – I really like Tina Fey and Amy Poehler and the previews looked so funny! Well, I’ll start right out by saying that it did NOT live up to the hype!!! I was really quite disappointed in this one!
The story is about a rising executive (Fey) who, at age 37, decides she has missed out on the pleasures of having a baby and begins to go through the process of all the alternatives that are available. She tries in-vitro and is told that the odds she can conceive is a million to one, so she tries adoption and is told that a single woman is likely to have to wait 5+ years. So, she turns to surrogacy. Through a service, she is matched with Amy Poehler, who is a poor white trash girl that you find out is out to scam her. The rest of the movie chronicles their relationship, the things most pregnant people go through, and the “is she or isn’t she” pregnant saga.
What I thought was “off” about this movie was the comedy and character chemistry — the jokes were flat and often not really all that funny. Fey and Poehler’s characters really didn’t have any chemistry and seemed to not belong – I don’t mean that they were from different worlds, that can make for very funny and awkward character mixes that really work – I mean they just didn’t work together, they seemed to just happen to be in the same scenes, but don’t really connect. I didn’t laugh out loud at all and I didn’t hear many others in the audience laugh out loud much – a couple short “ha’s” that were few and far between. I even dozed off at one point!
What I thought was good about this movie was the basic story and the character concepts — the story was really cute and the characters were fun. It would have been MUCH better if they had made the characters work better together (more connected) and if they had focused more on the emotions of the story and less on the poor attempt at slap stick humor. I can see how this could have been a really good movie – it just missed the mark!
The best part of the movie: Greg Kinnear!!! I adore Greg Kinnear and he was his usual great self! His character was the most “real” of all the characters and was very likable.
Sadly, what the movie ended up coming off as was a very long SNL skit — I was engaged in the beginning, lost interest for the middle part, and really enjoyed the ending!
So — I gave the story, Greg Kinnear, and the character concepts the higher points and the comedy and character mismatch the lower points — all averaged out to end up with an “eh, it was OK, but wish I had waited until it came out on cable” reaction, a neutral hand with no thumbs up or down, and a C- rating!!! Not so sure I’d recommend it for a trip to the theater — wait for it to come to cable!
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