Pal Wow

So the little town I grew up in (Palmyra {where I still live AND work, by the way...}) has a really, really nice park (Buffalo Trace) & for the last few years they have had a little festival thingie called 'The Pal Wow'.  

(I agree, the name could use a little work...)  

They have food booths, little games for kids, a few craft booths, live music & fireworks.

Alicia's family & her parents were going so I said, "Sure!  I'll hang out w/ them.  The kids are great birth control..."

Now - if you wanna read the 'Oh we went to the Pal Wow & it was great' post, you should mosey on over to Alicia's blog, but if you wanna read all about the blood, sweat, tears, forced sober dancing & pounds of sugar intake, please - continue...

I was excited about the band for Saturday night, 'The Juice Box Heroes'.  I've never heard them but I've seen a lot of people talk about them on Facebook so they couldn't be too bad.  My work is a corporate sponsor of the Pal Wow.  You can kinda see our name on the banner (2nd one down).  We also provide the utility vehicles they use to shuttle people around the park.

 We walked around for a couple of hours & then we settled in to enjoy the band.

 Alicia's kids were on a sugar drip the whole time.  It was HILARIOUS to watch.  Every time I saw one of them they were eating something different.  When Daniel got this funnel cake it was like moths to a flame!

 I typically don't dance too much if I'm not drinking (you know - the whole 'no inhibitions' thing) but Alicia drug me kicking & screaming wanted me to dance w/ her.

Now - you may be thinking, 'Jaime Mac, WHY does the band look so close in this pic?  In the picture above you looked farther away...?'

Oh no, people - we had to dance FRONT & CENTER of the stage.  No kind of to the side, no back where we were sitting.  RIGHT.DOWN.FRONT.

Nora is slow to warm up to me, but when she does she's all in! 

We had a great time dancing!

I was very impressed when she showed me her fish face skills.  Of course I had to show her mine & we gave each other fish kisses all night.

Sugar exhibit B.

I mean - this is hilarious, people.  Poor Alicia just laughs...

Nora & her gummy worms...

In the spirit of full disclosure the kid would NOT come dance w/ us if there was food being eaten at the table.

Traitor...

B-rad started harvest last week & in true 'farming doesn't care if I'm listening to a band & dancing' I got a call from him around 8:15pm.  B-rad & I don't typically call each other through the day back & forth to chit chat (& we SURE don't do it during planting & harvest) so when I see his name come up on my screen it strikes fear deep into my soul because I know something's going on.... So I was trying to hear him on the phone while the band is blaring at me in the background.  Moral of the story was he wanted to know if anyone I work with could let him into the store that night or the next morning to make a hydraulic hose.  I jumped into action & starting texting the owner that lives right across the street.  I always try him first A) because it's convenient for him because he lives, uhm, - right across the street. B) I help him (& his kids) a lot after hours & at work w/ different things so I feel like we're trading favors.

He said he would do it that night, but that he had to drop his girls off at the park (which is where I was...)  You can read our exchange below...my responses are in blue... (He refers to me as Apple girl because 90% of the extra favors I do for him {& his kids} relate to their iPhones and/or iPads}).

As I stood there & thought about what I had said {to the owner of my company}...I decided it didn't sound very appropriate so I had to send an amendment text.

Alicia was watching this whole texting exchange & she got quite the kick out of it!

Jake was high from the sugar & he came front & center down to dance w/ us later in the evening.  I'm not sure if you can call 'hopping around & throwing yourself down on the ground, rolling around & then jumping up to start all over again' dancing...but hey, no judgement here -  he was having fun & I was having fun watching him.

 This kid is a mess!  Did you notice Alicia has him in a death grip & I have my hand strongly on his arm?  It's the only way you can keep him still for 10 seconds for a picture!

After I got home I checked my Fitbit to see how I had done for the day... For as much as I complained about Alicia making me dance front & center while sober my Fitbit was super happy w/ me....

I found out from inside intel that the band next year will be 'The Crashers'.  I've never seen them either but I've heard GREAT things about them.  

Alicia - same place for birth control next year?   

(Note to ourselves - smuggle in alcohol!)

Labor Day weekend

We spent Labor Day weekend at the lake.  Brady came home from college & Erin & her family came.  We had a full house to say the least...there were bodies everywhere!

Sarah (Brady's girlfriend) is a cheerleader & she had a game Friday night so her & Brady didn't get there until way after we were all in bed.  B-rad couldn't wait to get his hands on his buddy.... (B-rad was messing w/ his face so he covered up his head...)

(What I love about this pic is Sarah just laying there looking at her phone - like a grown man bear hugging Brady is totally normal.  This should tell you much about our family...)

 We eat all our meals on top of the houseboat.  It was SO hot this weekend that we had to bring a couple of the fans we bought when the a/c went out a couple of weekends ago (Uh yea, that sucked out loud...) up to the top to help move the air.

One major reason I don't like the lake is because cell service SUCKS.  It's really hit & miss...sometimes you can go on top of the boat stand on your head, spin around 5 times & you may get 1 bar of 4G.  (OH THE HUMANITY)  Sometimes first thing in the morning you can get a little something before all the people get out on the water & try to suck up all the cell data (& by little something I mean SLOW SLOW SLOW...) Other than that - you're screwed for cell phone service - I'm talking data & texts, people.  I'm not sure how B-rad expects me to survive a WHOLE weekend w/out checking my social media sites or getting & sending texts...

Obviously I am not the only one who suffers from cell phone withdrawals... 

 For me, sometimes I can get status updates & pics...but I can't load comments... And even though it 'says' 2 bar of LTE it's totally lying... LTE my ass...

or sometimes the picture won't load at all... 

(no lie for 3 days every time I opened Facebook I saw the same status update....it would not load anything...)

Most the time my phone just said  'NO SERVICE'.  I am too impatient to wait forever while things attempt to load so I get frustrated, mad & say to hell w/ it & turn my phone on airplane mode.  (That's my battery saving tip because the whole time my poor phone will TRY to connect to internet for me & it runs the battery dead because there is no internet to be found...)

The joke between Eric & I all weekend was when we'd be talking about something I would say, "WELL Eric - if I could get any cell phone service I would Google it to find out."

Erin's girls LOVE to be big helpers & they LOVE hanging out w/ all of us.  They helped B-rad get our boat out on Saturday.

 We took the houseboat out onto the lake Saturday night to eat dinner.  Brady & Cole went tubing.

Brian & Lora brought their dog, Abby & she was all about cooling off too...

There was TONS of swimming, jumping off the top of the houseboat & sliding!  It was too hot to just sit around.

 I told Lora I would bring food for dinners if she would bring food for breakfasts that way we weren't both buying all kinds of stuff.  Saturday night B-rad grilled us chicken breast.

Dinner on the lake for 12 people...plus Abby.  She shows up twice because she moved while I was taking the panoramic.

The girls were all about me again this weekend.  (Yes, I hated it...)  They wanted to sit by me while we ate so I had to explain to them I would have to sit in the middle so they both could sit beside me.  There is a living room in the boat, but w/ 12 people seating is very limited.  I was perfectly happy going into my room to watch tv & the girls wanted to hang out w/ me.  They were trying to figure out who would sit where & Madelyn said 'Payton - Jaime has to sit in the middle so we can both sit beside her.'

For Sunday night dinner I had made lasagna at home & baked it when we were on the houseboat.  I wanted to do something different than the normal burgers & hotdogs & it feeds a lot of people.  However, Brady was very unhappy when he heard lasagna.  He said, 'WHAT?  No grilling?  You're not grilling for my last weekend on the lake?'  I said, "UHM I wanted to do something different than just burgers & hot dogs like always.  How about instead of complaining you just say, 'thank you Jaime' for slaving over your stove for an hour & a half at home to feed us all dinner?" 

Yes, I did...

After Brady ate 4.2 pieces of lasagna he said, 'Thank you, Jaime'...  I think this is a sign that everyone enjoyed it...

We sang Happy Birthday to all of the kids.  Derik, Brady & Erin all have birthdays 2 weeks apart starting in mid-August, Cole's is in June.

We (the guys) got the boat winterized before we left Mon because of harvest prep & starting harvest we have no plans to go back until it has to be moved to the other dock in mid-October.  (They drain the lake we go to & the boat can't stay here because the water will be gone this winter.)  

When we said our goodbyes to Erin & crew Mon morning, as Madelyn came to give me a hug she was crying.  I said, "Oh Madelyn - please don't cry...you're going to make ME cry..." 

Soooo we stood there & cried as I told her to be a good girl in school & I had SO much fun w/ her this weekend.  All she could do was nod her head.  I told Erin, "She's KILLING me..."  

(PMS is killing me too...)

A birthday gift 37 years in the making

My Grandma Smith (dad's mom) died of Lymphoma when I was 3 years old.  (Her last name was Smith because her husband {my dad's dad} had left her many years before & she re-married a man named Smith but my dad kept 'Brown'.)  I have only two memories of my Grandma... I remember being in the hospital when my parents were visiting her & my dad setting me in the ledge of the windowsill & I could see McDonald's golden arches out the window.  I also remember when mom took her out to eat at Frisch's because I remember the huge statue of the 'big boy'.

Dad & Grandma circa 1944.  Dad was 3 years old.  He told me that she had just started getting money from his dad for being in the service & she went to have this picture made.

Grandma Smith, dad & Grandpa Smith when my parents got married... I'm ashamed to say I don't know the year... I THINK it was 1968...

This is the only pic mom had of me w/ my Grandma.  Mom said she did hold me when I was little, but sometimes she wouldn't because she said she was too weak to do so.  She had lost her hair from chemo.  

I was 2 1/2 years old here...

 Mom was really good about dating all the pics... she knew this was Christmas because she said, 'Well-that was your Christmas outfit.  I made it!'

Maybe 8-9 years ago mom had given me a letter Grandma had written me before I went to her house once.  She told me that, 'she got me some 'Eckrich' bologna because your mommy says that's the only kind you will eat'.  I thought that letter was so sweet because it showed that she loved me so much that she made sure to get the kind of food she knew I would eat.  

I had it in a safe place (or what I thought was a safe place), but when our house was broken into the first time, they took a small safe that had our social security cards, our marriage certificate, the titles to our cars & my grandma's letter....

For a girl who's not sentimental, it made me very sad that it was gone...

My grandma had also left my mom her engagement ring for me.  I used to play with it when I was little (under mom's supervision, of course) & even after the letter got stolen, mom gave me the ring to keep...

There was always another gift for me from Grandma but she would never, ever, ever give it to me.... As I've gotten older we've talked about it from time to time, but mom couldn't remember where she had put it.... (Anybody else do that?)

When I got to mom's for lunch on Monday, I saw some money on the placemat where I sit.  I didn't remember mom or dad owing me any money so I said, "What's this?"  She said, 'I'll give you one guess & if you don't guess it - it will go back to where it was...'

Then I knew...it was that gift from my Grandma...

I said, "It's my birthday money from Grandma!!"
Mom had always told me about it - that Grandma had given me money for my birthday, it was one $5 bill & five $1 bills.  She never would give it to me because she was afraid I would spend it...(yea, she had a good point...$10 is $10 when you're young!)

The date on all the bills is 1977... It was a gift for my 2nd birthday (May, 1978) a year before she died. I asked mom, "What was the significance of $10?"  Mom wasn't sure - she said that all Grandma had was a $5 bill & she made my Aunt Clara (her daughter) give her $5 more dollars for me.  The woman wanted me to have every dollar she had at the time...plus some!

And once again the non-sentimental girl was touched by a gift from a Grandma she doesn't remember.  Now I am tasked w/ finding a safe place for it & NOT forgetting where it is!

Ya'll know I'm more than funny kind than the emotional kind.... but PMS is hitting especially hard this month. When B-rad came home I was working on this post...he said, 'Why do you have a picture of money?' & I immediately started to bawl like a little girl while I tried through the tears to explain to him why the money was special.  Obviously I don't do that often & he just kind of looked at me like, 'Whoa, what did I miss?'

***
And since I'm funny I CANNOT in good conscience leave you guys w/ an 'all serious all the time' post...
Moms been doing some 'spring cleaning' around the house (that's how she found the money she 'put in a safe place').  When we were looking through the family pics for a pic of me & Grandma for this post I flipped through my baby pics as well.  (My mom gave Olan Mills a ton of money, people.)  In one pic I'm posed on my tummy & have a blue afghan kinda thingie draped over the top of my head that goes onto my back.  
Mom: 'That blanket in that picture - it's right over there.' (as she points to a box in the room.)  
Me: "SERIOUSLY?  You've kept that for 39 years?"  
Mom: 'YES.'
Me: "I mean- what do you DO with that kind of stuff?  Like what's the point of having it?"
Mom: 'Well - you put it away for your grandkids....'
Me:  "OHHHH.  Oopsie..."
Mom:  'Yea.  Oopsie...'
I totally walked into that one - rookie mistake...