I'm pretty sure it wasn't mine.....

Let's just say my day started off in an unusual way yesterday.....

I was scheduled to work at the Sherman Arts Fest at 11:00, and I really like to "wake up slowly" as one of my former students so famously put it. So I figured I'd just leave my alarm set for 5:30, turn it off, doze for a couple of hours, and thereby achieve the whole "wake up slowly" effect, without fear of oversleeping. So...my alarm goes off, I notice that Gracie and Desi are slowly moving around the bed after I turn off the alarm. Great...my plan is going just perfectly. I feel a puppy lie down beside me and, without opening my eyes (this played a very important part), I reached over and grabbed a warm puppy paw and began stroking it with my fingers underneath it and my thumb on top of it. I just love warm, cuddly puppies in the morning! I even broke part of my plan by talking, and saying "Good morning, sweet baby. Mommy loves you." to the warm soft paw. All of a sudden, who knows why, I instantly begin to suspect that it is NOT a paw...I open one eye and glance sideways only to find that it is, in fact, a piece of poo poo. Yes, that's right, I was caressing a turd! Suffice it to say, my "wake up slowly" plan was gone, I sat bolt upright, while screaming "ewwwwwwww" and ran to the bathroom and used a Chlorox wipe on my hands. There was no getting back to sleep then. (By the way, my cousin Allen dared me to post this...)

So, with that kind of a start, I determine that my day will definitely improve from there! I make it to the Arts Fest and actually get a good parking place next to the Municipal Building. Yes, I planned it so that I would have a short walk from my last booth back to the car. Picture it, I'm wearing my Service League T-shirt, which is a lovely shade of turquoise with a Service League emblem on the front and a large message on the back that says "Helping Local Charities." I wore my capri jeans for comfort, even though I really wanted to wear my shorts, but figured it wouldn't look as nice. And I've got my Nike's on (without socks because I had already put the puppies up and it just wasn't worth it to climb back over the gate to get the socks...thought it might look kinda cool without them anyway...) and my silver ankle bracelet with a cross on it. Let's just say I've walked maybe 25 feet toward the festival and I've already got a blister. So I'm limping, sweating (cause I should have worn the shorts...everyone else did) and I realize I've screwed myself in parking farthest away from my first booth where I have to work. I finally get to where the "Kids Alley" is (uphill all the way) and I see kids from school with their t-shirts that they've just finished painting. This is the booth where I'm supposed to work. Basically, I had to find out what size shirt they needed, stuff it with a piece of cardboard, write their name inside the collar with a sharpie, and place 4 thumbtacks through the shirt into the cardboard to hold it in place for the children to paint. This booth is for kids 12 and under only (and it's FREE), sponsored by the Service League, and it's very popular. (Did I mention that there is a rain storm headed our way, humidity is horrendous, and the temp is 95?) I worked feverishly for an hour (the fastest hour I've ever spent) and got to see lots of happy kids with painted t-shirts. (Also lots of the BIGGEST 12 year olds I've ever seen, with the worst sense of honesty....) I had to tell a mom that the shirts were only for the children after she asked for one, to which she said "But it will fit me..." Amazing...you can't even please people when it's FREE! On to my second booth, which is a Service League Cookbook booth. Thank goodness...a chair and a fan!!! I was able to remove my ankle bracelet, which had gotten wedged in between my foot and my sockless shoe, and was causing the blister. We sold 4 cookbooks during my hour...pretty good.

So my day is getting better, I can walk without looking like I forgot my cane somewhere, and I'm headed back to the car. I check my phone and see a message from Sip. He and Allen invited Sophie and Gracie to join their girls, Chloe and Sadie, at Nanny's house. The boys were not invited because there was some fear of promiscuousness (no comment). I ran home, got the girls, leaving a little black pekingese broken-hearted, and headed over to Nanny's. Nanny and Unkie are out of town so it was not quite the same, but we all had fun. We ended up getting all the puppies Halloween costumes at Target. Took pictures with the puppies all trying them on. I'll post pictures of that later. They also had some pretty cool adult costumes. Allen dared me to get the whoopie cushion one for myself, but that was a dare I didn't take!

Anyway, a good time (mostly) was had by all. I'll post some pictures a little later. Hope you're all having a wonderful weekend.