Things I have learned at the fair this week:

Things I have learned at the State Fair this week:

1. Probably if you are wearing a bright blue T-shirt bearing “OurWebsiteName.com” on the front, and you walk across the way to get an ice cream, the ice cream vendor will know you are working at a booth at the fair and give you discounted ice cream (or ice cream for however many coupons you might have left in your pocket). I do not encourage anyone to purposely do this, but it could happen on accident. It never hurts to ask.
2. According to the hot tub salesperson, everyone in New Mexico walks as if their center of gravity is a bit behind them and everyone over the age of 14 in Colorado is pregnant. (I do not pretend to spout this information as fact, it is merely what a hot tub salesperson told us, and I have no idea if he has ever even really been to either of the aforementioned states.)
3. If you have only three coupons left at the fair, the only thing you can buy is chips. Yes, that is $1.50 for a small bag of chips.
4. A Fletcher’s corny dog will run you eight coupons, or $4.
5. Wearing a completely white body suit with black underwear to the fair is a no-no. OK – wearing that outfit anywhere, except maybe in the privacy of your own closet, is unacceptable.
6. Regardless of whether your child needs it, you should bring a stroller with you to the fair. That way, after you win multiple plush stuffed animals on the Midway and buy all manner of “as seen on TV” products, you have a convenient shopping cart.
7. Apparently the magic squeegees that clean tile, wood, and even carpet in the blink of an eye are nigh impossible to pass up.
8. It seems there are Clydesdales somewhere at the fair, and I am apparently ignorant for not having “heard about them”. (That’s exactly what the woman asked me: “Have you heard about the Clydesdales?” When I said no, she asked how many days I had been at the fair. When I told her I had been here several days in the last week she rolled her eyes and muttered, “And you haven’t heard about the Clydesdales?”)
9. Even though we are clearly a pregnancy center, offering free pregnancy tests and pregnancy sonograms, and after telling them I am not a medical professional of any sort, people believe they can go ahead and ask me any sonogram related question regarding their personal health: mammogram results, diverticulitis, tumors. My answer will always be (trying to smile), “I don’t know. We just do pregnancy sonograms.”
10. Genuinely nice, friendly people can be found absolutely anywhere…even at the end of a long, hot day at the fair.

Can you tell I have been working at the fair this week? When not working, I have been thinking a lot about our trip to Africa, which commences in 12 days. We have almost everything we need and have secured the proper number and sizes of bags. I looked at the weather and it will not be as hot as I had imagined – only in the 70s (24-25 degrees Celsius) with lots of humidity.

As John demonstrated last week, we now have a video camera so we can share more parts of our trip with everybody. We are by no means professionals, so please don’t raise your expectations too high.

Speaking of expectations, mine are pretty low today. After all this fair-going I think a nap is in order for this afternoon. Hope your Sunday is just as low-key!