Goodnight Irene....

I have so many friends and relatives on the East Coast who are being and will be affected by Hurricane Irene. I am thinking about all of you today and through the next few days, I hope that everyone rides this out safely and that nobody is harmed through this storm. Property can be rebuilt or repurchased, lives cannot. Be safe!

Tonight we'll take advantage of Park-n-Ride and go to the State Fair for dinner and walking through some of the exhibits. This is our time - a chance to see the Fair before my friend Sharon arrives next week. I'm looking forward to being back at the fairgrounds, having a foot-long hotdog or a pronto pup, and seeing some of the exhibits. It's a crazy thing to look forward to, but I do every year without fail. Yippee!

Busy Working and Writing

Yesterday Chickie took the day off to attend the first day of the Minnesota State Fair, so Jim and I worked. I had a lovely quartet of ladies in the morning, one of who was local but the other three were from the East. They kept us hopping for more than an hour, but it was worth it, they made my sales for the day. Huge "Thank You"s go out to the Spirits for bringing those ladies to visit with us.

I think I'm in love with this little rabbit...too cute!

I was so busy yesterday that I barely had a chance to work on my computer and my next chapters. I'm concerned that my character is walking down a road that I had never intended, and I'm not sure it works with her profile. So I'm trying to get my beta reader up to date so that I can bounce this off her and get a second opinion. I would talk about it with my DH, but he persists in trying to mold the story to his own internal image and can't seem to get the idea through his head that it is my story and needs to be clear to my own vision. I hope I'll get a bit more time to work on stories today, I have a monthly story to write also and have two ideas floating around for that one but need to make a decision.

Is my life a maze?

So that seems to be my life this week - working hard, hardly working, writing a lot, wanting to change what I've written. Am I running in place or what?

Running Behind Again

I was supposed to spend yesterday cleaning my house. I did...but I also spent more than four hours just writing my next chapter. OK, I was bad. I did errands in the morning that needed to be done and I got my three loads of laundry complete, changed the sheets on the bed and I did some minor touch-up in the bathroom that I wanted to do. But I had really wanted to tackle the den and that didn't happen. I have two cleaning days left until Sharon arrives next week, and it doesn't look good.

DH has a pre-season football game on Saturday night. I was planning to go to the State Fair with him for dinner and roaming. I'll have to see what happens. I pre-purchased the tickets, but there usually isn't a problem re-selling them outside the gates, it's just one more thing that I'll have to do next week unless DH changes his mind.

And my cousin sent photos of her daughter's wedding. I was originally planning to go to the wedding, but reality hit my bank balance and I knew it would be too much money, so I stayed behind and did Irish Faire instead. It was all good. So now her daughter, a 100% California girl, is living in Nebraska. Quite a change. It looks like it was a lovely wedding though.

The State Fair Starts Tomorrow

OK, why all of this excitement about the State Fair?  The Minnesota State Fair is the second largest state fair in the nation (superceded by Texas, of course) and it takes place so close to my home that I have corn dogs in my bloodstream.  When I first moved up to Minnesota, the small house we moved into was one half block from the main entrance of the Fairgrounds.  We lived there for eight years before moving to the suburbs, but we still own the house and I still consider myself a resident of St Paul and a fair-a-holic.  There is so much to see and do, food to eat, acts to see, animals to pet, people to watch.  I never tire of it. 

My DH and I will probably take the park and ride out to the Fair for dinner and walking on Saturday night after we get off work.  And then, next week, my BFF Sharon comes up from Denver just to spend time with me and we go to the Fair for three days.  It allows us to space out our eating, look at a variety of things without feeling rushed, and shop (of course).  The fourth day of her visit is spent at the Renaissance Festival.  Sharon and I have been doing this annually without fail for twenty-seven years (with one year out when her mother died).  We have a great time. 

So, I'm looking forward to the Great Minnesota Get-Together 2011 version.  And I'm looking forward to seeing my friend Sharon and spending time catching up on things again.  And that's reason enough to celebrate. 

Auto Issues...

I wish we lived in a place with good public transportation.  That was one of the things that I dearly loved about London, with the tube and busses, it was easy to get almost anywhere.  But here, although I live 10 minutes from work if I drive it, if I took public transport it would take anywhere from 1-2 hours for me to get to my shop.  Ridiculous.  So when we have auto issues, things aren't good. 

My Cruiser is a bit more tricked out with chrome

but the color is right.  I love my Cruiser. 



I had started my year by getting tires ($300+) then came the big repair - my brakes and suspension.  They did a terrific job, but the cost...I'll be paying this one down for a long time ($2000+).  Now, I had my regular chiropracter appointment yesterday morning (every two weeks Dr Pat helps me feel younger - great guy!) and when I started my car again, I had the "check engine" light on.  This spooked me.  I've never had one of these come on for me before.  Like an idiot I took Grape to the dealer.  They fixed it, but it really should have been at least $100 less than the $350 it cost me this time.  Jeez, if I didn't love my car so much...

My DH drives a Saturn like this, my mother's
car that I inherited when she died.  DH has

never owned a new car in his life - sad :-( 

But, while my car was being worked on, I had to share my DH's car.  That meant I dropped him back off, went to the shop and did a little bit of work, then drove back home to pick him up, then went back to work.  His car, my mother's old Saturn, is starting to have transmission problems.  If/when that goes, it will be another multi-thousand dollar bill.  So we're walking carefully around his car, and still looking for a new truck. 

Wonderful Sunday...

So yesterday was our first day at this year's Ren Fest.  It seems that most of our friends have signed contracts and even though the Mayor's Enterouge (sp?) was disbanded, almost everyone still has a role to play.  There has been some minor clean-up, but nothing major, and there is a new leather vendor who is doing some really cool claws that I just love.  I did find a corset that I really like and may try on when Sharon is here, but it is expensive and I'm not so sure about the dollars.  It is also back lacing, so DH would have to lace my stays, at least the first time.  But it is fully boned and there are some serious possibilities. 

Curious about what I look like?  This is the

outfit that I wore yesterday for Ren Faire. 

The clouds parted after pouring some quick rain

on us and it was a beautiful, sunny day for the

afternoon.



We didn't see any of the acts this time, just wandered back and forth.  I had $20 to spend - not a lot for this venue.  DH bought my breakfast soup for me, so my $20 was spent on my double-mead ($12 + $2 tip just because I'm a nice person) and $5.75 for my orange chicken bowl, leaving me with 25 cents.  I really wanted a bottle of water, but didn't cave to begging for money from DH. 

I was exhausted from sun and fresh air on the way home though.  I drowsed at the wheel and drifted slightly, making DH both scared and angry.  But it was almost all the way home and we did fine.  I start thinking about things, though, and reality turns off.  Probably not the best thing for behind the wheel when I'm tired.  So I went to bed at 8:30 last night and slept until 3:15 this morning.  I really needed it.