Fair Time!

Last year I entered some knitting and spinning in the El Paso County Fair. It is only $5 to enter up to 10 things, so I figured why not? And last year I won a few ribbons, second and third place. This year though - tada - I won first place in spinning with this entry of handspun merino, a soft and beautiful thick/thin yarn - FIRST PLACE - whoo hoo! That comes with prize money - FOUR WHOLE DOLLARS! More importantly, bragging rights of being the best spinner in El Paso County. And while I do know more talented, experienced and just plain better spinners, they didn't enter, so that makes me the best spinner for the whole next year.


And I won second place in the Miscellaneous category for my knitted wristers. I handspun the alpaca and knit these up and they are so pretty and soft and fuzzy. I really like them, they will soon be up for sale in my Etsy shop. Even though I like them a lot, I do have some all ready.

And lastly, a dishcloth. Yes, I did enter a dishcloth in household. Why not? I saw a winning dishcloth last year and thought, hey, who would have thought it? And look at that, 3rd place (and 2 whole dollars) for that dishcloth which I entered as almost an afterthought. The judge did say my edges were a little tight, and I agree, but I didn't do perfect, since I was going to wipe counters with it. It isn't even a "design" dishcloth, just a regular old dishcloth.

Not only did I win in my knitting and spinning. But L won second place in the junior cookie category with his Snickerdoodles - sorry, no pics of the yummy Snickerdoodles as they were consumed over a month ago - giggle. And the Husband won second place for his Irish shortbread cookies (known in most families as Scottish shortbread, but the Husband is a proud Irish guy).

So, overall I have to say we did pretty well at the fair and had a wonderful time. And again I encourage folks to enter their local fair with whatever their talent may be. It is such a kick! And as time goes on, less and less people enter and participate in fairs and so forth, and we really need to preserve this type of entertainment for our children and their children. The fair is such great fun.

Harvest Time at the Home

Harvest Time! Also known as How I Got My Kids to Love Different Veggies!


We did a garden this year, and for once it has really turned out well. This day we got 2 squash, some green beans and a cherry pepper. Our tomato plants started very slowly, now they finally have beautiful, large tomatoes but we are waiting for them to turn red. K loves the fresh green beans, squash and peppers. Although, I have to say, K is all ready my healthiest eating, easiest to feed, loves fruit and veggies child, but she loves these things from the garden even more.

The green peppers are doing the best. One plant has given us 7 green peppers. Wonderful, they are so good when they are fresh from the garden.
L is very proud of our pumpkin. Yes, it is a pumpkin. Yes, really, it is starting to turn orange. I don't know if it will be our Halloween pumpkin, it may be done too early. But hey, we grew a pumpkin.

And one recent night we made a dinner where 50% of it was grown in our own garden. Squash, green pepper, red pepper, sweet basil and green beans sauteed with some soy sauce and on rice, only the rice, garlic and soy sauce weren't mine. And I have discovered lots of ways to prepare squash, since we got 5 squash in about 5 days - lol! Yep, I am pretty proud of our garden. And so is L. And most important, even L is eating his veggies!