Posts Tagged ‘State Fair of Texas’

In Other News…

–by Carla
 
 
Didn’t you love Heather’s post about The State Fair of Texas?! Listen, if you’re not from these parts (ok, fine…no, we really don’t all talk like that in Texas), my gentle advice to you is to start looking at airfare today for your flight to Dallas for next year’s Great State Fair of Texas. What a great family tradition it has been all my life and it’s something I’m passing along to the boys already. In fact,  
Donald does a bang-up job doing Big Tex: “Hoooooowwwwwwdy Folks! Welcome to the Great State Fair of Texas!” and he’s just two and a half. SO stinkin’ stankin’ cute. We went twice this year. Once on opening day and then the last Friday of the Fair. We paid entry and parking (and of course, coupons) the 1st time, but an awesome friend gave us free tickets with free parking and all we ponied up was money for ….well, more coupons…which were mainly for the corny dogs. Oh my stars, Fletcher’s corny dogs with mustard (if you add anything other than mustard, you’re not from these parts). Not the healthiest thing on earth, but a rare treat once or twice a year. Totally worth it. 
 
Ok enough of  all that. I’m craving another corny dog just writing about it all. Well there was that news story once again last week that the recession was “officially” over. I thought we’d gone over that before, but ok. It’s funny, we were having a screen door installed this week and the husband mentioned something about a local mega-development that has been in the works for years but is now on the brink of foreclosure…and I mockingly said, “Well, I don’t know why. I mean, the recession is over!”. And the worker dude who was installing our door popped his head around the corner (he was pretty chatty, come to think of it) and said, “yeah, right…I don’t buy that for a minute”. Maybe he’s got something there. Man, now that I think of it, he really was blabbing up a storm. That’s a far cry from the fix-it man we had when I was a kid. The one with that sleeping disorder that makes you pass out cold exactly where you are….and you just sleep. Mr. Phillips would be working on something and next thing you know, you’d see his shoes sticking out in the hallway and he’d be snoozing. Poor guy. I’ll never forget Mr. Phillips. We had him over a lot.  
 
So this was a quick post without any of the awesome pics I had picked out because I’m having technical trouble…aka “Carla just doesn’t know her way around a computer”.  I’ll be sure to brush up on all of that in my spare time … just in time for next Friday’s post.
 
In other news…did ya happen to notice the new look here at Recession Mamas? 
 
Have a great weekend!
; )

Posted by admin on October 23rd, 2009 5 Comments

Corn dogs, Coughing and Caring

by Heather

Please excuse me if I make this brief. I’m still a little woozy after doing math homework while “goofy” on the cold medication.  Yes. I’m sick! I have the same crud that everyone else has or has had. Just last week I bragged about how I had avoided it and then Karma came back to get me.

I felt a little sick over the weekend after going to the Great State Fair of Texas and the UT/OU Red River Rivalry game. I’m not saying they pushed this bug into overdrive, I’m just saying they probably didn’t help.

The Great State Fair of Texas is a cornucopia of people, amusement rides, stockyard animals and fried food of every invention. You haven’t lived until you’ve had a Fletcher’s Corny Dog smothered in mustard! Personally, I can live without ever trying the fried butter, chicken fried bacon and the dozens of other heat attack producing, artery clogging, IBS triggering foods that come out of the Fair. But I do enjoy the corn dog just once a year. The kids like the giant fluffs of cotton candy.

Enjoying some cotton candy Enjoying some cotton candy

The fair is expensive. They force you to buy everything with coupons. So you don’t realize that a corn dog is way-too- high or that a spin on the Texas Star is over-the-moon. You just know it’s 6 coupons for the fried food on a stick and 7 to 10 coupons for a ride. You just don’t realize you’re getting ripped off because your senses have been slowed by the grease, swarms of people and the dizzying array of lights. Besides it’s a tradition. So much so, they give school kids a free ticket and a day off to enjoy the big fair. (By the way… the fair raked in $25.7 million dollars on food and rides this year.)

http://www.bigtex.com/  (click here to check out the fair)

Now I’m not completely germ-a-phobic, but I don’t think the trip to the fair coupled with a day of screaming at one of the biggest college football rivalry games did me any favors. I lost my voice and now it feels like someone very large is sitting on my chest. Boo hoo… life must go on.

Thankfully, I have a wonderful family who basically let me checkout for the day on Sunday. I stayed in bed, wiped my nose, coughed and convalesced.

Sure my husband made eggs out of the stir fry pan, left the sink full of dishes, and let the kids scatter toys all over the place.  I didn’t have to look at it, so I didn’t care. Honestly he really didn’t have time to take care of that junk because he was busy taking the kids to the park and lunch. My hero :)

The very thoughtful family brought me a bowl of soup back from lunch. I was hoping for broth, but they served up cream of broccoli and a big piece of tiramisu (not the most sick friendly food, but still appreciated) My very concerned children patted me on the head, wrote me notes, and gave me a stuffed Labrador puppy to help me feel better. They told me they loved me without any prompting. It was so sweet I damn near cried.

soup

My wonderful friend, Ashley, cleaned up the kitchen and ran the kids to birthday parties while my husband was working.

Sure I felt (and still do) like hell. But I think I’m the most blessed person on earth. My dear sweet husband took great care of me and the kids. My friend stepped in to help. And my kids gave me some really adorable Hallmark worthy moments.

 Hacking and coughing aside… It was even better than chowing down on a Fletcher’s Corny dog smothered in mustard. Besides it didn’t cost a coupon or give me heartburn.

(In case you were curious… that cream of broccoli soup was actually good!)

-H

Posted by admin on October 20th, 2009 4 Comments