Minnesota State Fair, Continued

Oh poor blog...I've really been neglecting you!

I think I left off at the Minnesota State Fair which we attended on Friday, September 3rd, along with 155,802 other people. It was both Cody and Grandma A's first time at the Great Minnesota Get-Together! We went for a few hours in the morning before it got too crazy-busy.

We took one of the free shuttle-busses from our favorite Park-N-Ride location, which just so happened to be Cody's first bus ride. He did great and sat perfectly still taking everything in. After hearing about some issues with the shuttles because of a change in bus companies, we were a bit nervous, but it was flawless and we didn't have to wait long at all to either get on or off.

We got to the fair entrance and much to my dismay, paid gate prices after missing buying the discount tickets ahead of time. (Oh well, I'll live :)) Being their first time, both Grandma and Cody loved all the sights and sounds of the Fair.

We went to the Miracle of Life barn where Cody got to pet/touch baby chicks, lambs, calves, bunnies, ponies, etc... As always, it was insanely busy in there so we didn't even bother with getting the camera out to snap any photos.

Everyone knows that the main attraction of the State Fair is the food, but I thought we controlled ourselves pretty well by limiting the food consumption to an ice cream cone (G'ma/Cody), malt (Gordon/Annette), cheese curds (shared), Pronto Pups, and a soda.

Grandma and Cody shared a special moment when they took a ride on the Carousel together. Mommy and Daddy were nervous that Cody would be Mr. Squirm-a-lot, but he did great! He was double finger sucking it pretty hard-core, but I think he enjoyed it. This was actually his second merry-go-round ride ~ he had his first one during our trip to Colorado at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.

(Here is a quick video clip...don't watch if you have motion sickness!)

Another highlight was listening to music at the Leinie Lounge on his daddy's shoulders. Cody absolutely *adores* music.

All-in-all, Cody did great at the State Fair and we can't wait to take him again next year!

Minnesota State Fair

On Friday morning, Gordon, Cody, Grandma A & I all headed to the Great Minnesota Get-Together. A full recap later, but a great time was had by all!

To tide you all over, here's a quick photo! One of my favorites ever :)

#101

A couple days ago, I wrote this post and it was only this morning that I realized it was Blog Post #100! WOW!! Not too bad for starting this blog in December of last year (just 9 months ago), being a working mother, maintaining a home, being a wife, and having a busy (um, did I mention busy?!) toddler. It's been an interesting journey so far, and I plan to continue writing about what I want to. I'm looking forward to blogging about several upcoming things in the next few months ~ sharing the progress on our finished basement project (speaking of, I need to get down there to take photos of the finished framing work), Cody's 18 month old checkups (pediatrician & ophthalmologist), bargain/deal shopping, Cody's first real winter of being able to go outside & play in the snow, the holidays, & much more. Who knows, real life may get in the way, but I'll give it my best shot & we'll see what happens!

Photo Project

I'll be the first to admit that I have grand ideas about different projects that I want to do, but when it comes down to it, I can't seem to get anything accomplished. Just look in my basement (wait...I don't want you to look in my basement!!) for the bins and bins of scrapbook stuff ~ stickers, albums, ticket stubs, souvenirs, photos, etc ~ not to mention, the thousands of digital photos I have not printed out or did anything with.

That said, one thing that I *have* gotten done is the framing/collage of Cody's first year of monthly sign photos. What are those, you ask? See here, here and here for examples.

I was able to take advantage of some deals (of course, are you surprised?!) on Shutterfly for these neat 11x17 collage photo posters. These worked perfectly for what I wanted to do with the monthly photos of Cody. I'm already in need of another collage being made, but for now, these fit on the wall perfectly and I'm super pleased with them. The photos are not that clear (sorry) but you get a general idea.

Garage Sale Finds 8/29

Garage sales were cruddy on Saturday morning. As noted previously, we took Cody along and he did great! It was chilly but he handled things well. My finds were pitiful and definitely not worthy of a blog post, but there is a monster nap going on so I am going to take advantage of it!

1 Christian romance book for my momma - 25 cents

7 kids books for Cody - 75 cents

1 tablecloth - $2.00 [got this right by our house on my way home, had to stop at "just one more".]

1 Noah's Ark plate for Cody - 25 cents

That's it! Ridiculous.

I am getting sad that garage sale season is almost done for the year here in Minnesota. It is such a short season! My "to find list", although technically long gone due to the cell phone mishap of August 2009, still has quite a few things on it. There should still be a few weekends of sales left before the (gasp) snow flies, so there's still time. And if not...there's always next year!

Thrifty Target Treasures

I was lucky enough to meet up with a college friend after work on Friday for appetizers and drinks (hi Lissa!), and Gordon offered to watch the little guy while I did that plus some shopping afterwards. I should admit that I used a $10/$25 coupon at Champps for our "dinner" (if you can call what we had a meal!), so we scored some yummy food and drinks for cheap!

After spending a frustrating time at the mall in Sears, which I will be writing a complaint letter to them about, I stopped into Byerly's to get a movie at Redbox for $1 to watch that night with the hubby. After that, I headed to Target for that week's deals. I was going to take a photo of the loot, but I am too lazy.

Here's the scoop:

6 full size bottles of Johnson & Johnson baby shampoo/wash (some also had "bonus" amounts to boot) - 99 cents each

1 smaller size bottle of J&J baby product - 44 cents

3 baby bottles - free (will save for later ;) or baby gift)

1 big bag of Skittles for hubby for movie night - $1.44

2 packages of Combos (" ") - 87 cents each

1 box of Jose Ole steak & cheddar quesadillas - $2.02 (clearance plus coupon)

1 box of Tyson Any-Tizers chicken - $1.95

1 gallon of whole milk - $1.79

1 bottle of contact solution - $4.51 (clearance plus coupon)

Total Before Savings = $44.85

Saved = $23.80

Total Spent = $21.05

(Thanks to the hubby for the suggestion of my savings bragging!)

So, to summarize, I got three large bags of stuff for just over $20 at Target ~ I call that a victory!

Saturday Morning

Good morning!

Up and at 'em early on a Saturday for a morning of garage saling with Careen and Cody. We usually don't bring Cody along, but Gordon is on-call so I don't want him to have to worry about watching Cody if he ends up having to do some work (as he did when the phone ring-ringed last night at 11:30 p.m. Grrr....). So, garage saling could be interesting (and/or frustrating, and/or fun, and/or tiring, and/or hilarious, and/or exhausting). There's not too many sales listed for today but we never seem to have a problem in finding them in our galavanting around town! (Or should I say "gadding"?!)

One more quick administrative note...I changed the settings on my blog that comments are now moderated, so you may not see your comment immediately appear after you submit it. Give it a little while and it will show up (unless I reject it, ba-ha-ha, enter evil laugh here). I just wanted to make you all aware in case you were wondering where in the world your witty banter went! Keep commenting, please! I really appreciate feedback and it makes blogging that much more enjoyable for me.

I made a quick trip to the (groan) shopping mall, as well as Target last night, so a deal post might be on the horizon in the near future!

With that said, I am off! Hope you have a most enjoyable weekend!