Stuff
I'm at my parents for the weekend for our annual county fair. As far as small county fairs go, our county's is really well done, and has a lot of fun things to do. It probably gets about 6th highest attendance out of all the 90+ county fairs in the state, top 10 for sure.
Anywho, we've been there twice yesterday and will go back tonight and maybe tomorrow. We've walked around the turn-of-the-century village, gone through the chickens, rabbits and baby cows (the other animals were too big and scared G), had one dish of really yummy homemade ice cream, stopped and talked to 4-5 classmates or friends from high school and gotten some free stuff from the Merchant's building.
Tonight is the ribeye roundup and more walking around. G wanted to go on the train ride (mini "train" that's actually a tractor with some little "cars" hooked up to it that you can ride around the fairgrounds on, but the bell on the crossing signal was too loud and that scared us (oh the joys of having a two-year-old who constantly changes his mind).
It's weird to come back to the fair as an adult. We spent so much time there when we were in school with 4-H or the church food stand or helping out with other things. The fair was this huge, glamorous event at the time. Now, it's still fun to see it through our children's eyes, but we can see the reality of it. They have some mid-level music attractions in the Grandstand (last night was Tracey Lawrence, tonight is Lonestar) that bring in some rather interesting people. But it's a good time with many good memories attached to it, and we'll probably come back as long as we're able.
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It's funny that mom2amelia was talking about money/gifts from parents not that long ago. I'd been talking with my dad about our plan for getting a different vehicle before the baby gets here. Now, my dad is big into buying new cars and usually gets one every 3 years or so. He's also big into researching and figuring out rebates and bonuses and everything to get the best deal. So he thinks we should buy a brand new car and get exactly what we need rather than settling for a used car that fits in our budget. And then he ups and hands me a check for $xxxx. His reasoning is that it doesn't matter if he gave that to us now or in 20 years when they're dead (and this way we don't have to pay tax on it) and that it's really for the grandkids. I know I am extremely fortunate that my parents are able to do that, and I am extremely grateful (sheesh, I'm tearing up as I write this) but I know Nate doesn't always feel the same way (not that he doesn't appreciate it, he just thinks it's unnecessary for them to do that). Either way, we have it now, we can't give it back and we'll most likely use it to pay off what's left on the Jeep so 1) we don't have to dip quite so much into our savings to help finance the new vehicle and 2) we'll own the title outright which will help with trade-in and how much we can negotiate on price for the new vehicle.
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I really don't want to go back home and go back to work on Monday. It's increasingly more difficult for me to stay focused and interested at work. I get more annoyed with my coworkers and I'd rather be at home, lazing around on my butt. Being at my parents just reminds me how much I really do like it up here and how much I don't like living in a city, even when it's a smallish city like CR. But I honestly don't ever think we'd come back up here for good. We might eventually move out to a small acreage, but Nate will probably always work for Rockwell and I'll never get back to school for photography or whatever else piques my interest in the next 10 years. That's just how we operate. We talk a lot, but when it comes right down to it, neither Nate nor I are super motivated to make change, Nate even less so than I. I don't know. I treat it how I treat everything else I don't want to deal with - ignore it and push it to the back of my mind.