Midwest Folks are so nice!

As you know we've lived in Arizona now a little over one month.  The biggest difference here is not the weather.  Not the congested areas.  Not the pollution.  Not the sun.  Its the people.

Ooogles and oogles of RUDE people! 

Pick up your tray at McDonald's and put your trash in the garbage?  

Nope.

Even if your table is situated right next to the garbage and is practically touching the can?  

Nope.

Let your 14 year old play on the McDonald's play place running around like a heathen?

Yup.

Walk your grocery cart back to the store or to the cart corral?  

Nope.

Even if you are parked right next to the cart corral you will just leave it in your parking space? 

Yup.

Push your cart to the bus stop at the end of the Wal-Mart parking lot to hold your groceries while you wait for the bus and then just leave it there next to the 50 other carts? 

Yup.

Say hello or good morning back when a nice jogger/biker comes by?  

Nope.  

Pretend not to speak English when someone asks where the swim diapers are?  

Yup.

Stare at the 80 year old man in Costco who can't quite lift and load his cat litter but never go over to help? Yup.

Stare at the stranger who decides to help him like she's a freak?  

Yup.

These little things are so frustrating I can barely take it.  I have spouted out a few times about the grocery cart thing to perfect strangers.  Then I remember we are in a big city now and I should just shut my mouth.

Today in the mail we had a nice surprise from Iowa.

The people we sold our house to sent us a thank you card!  How nice!

An older midwestern doctor and his wife sent a hand written note just thanking us for cleaning the house so well when we moved out and helping them measure rooms, remember where we bought hardwood, etc.  The wife even commented that they were initially going to repaint (I LOVE color) but after holding out they decided to leave the red, purple, green, and tan rooms and live with them!  The note wasn't anything too special or intimate but it was just a nice gesture from a stranger. 

It was a good card to get and made me feel great about where we came from.  Now if only we can try to instill old fashioned caring into these westerners....

Review: Snus Hill Winery

Thanks to Groupon, some friends and I snagged a HALF OFF ticket to Snus Hill Winery's wine tasting class and tour and we attended this last Saturday afternoon.

The tasting started out with some history of the winery (Snus is their cat's name) and most of the discussion moved into the Smell pillar of the the four S's of wine (See, Swirl, Smell and Sip).  The owners, who were conducting the "class" themselves, let us taste 4-5 wines and then they set up a little "smell" test with glasses of wine we were to smell and guess the predominant ingredient.

 

I personally got 6 out of 10 which isn't too bad but I'm definitely not a person who can smell wine easily and determine its hint of oak.  I guess I need to see, smell, swirl and sip more! :) 

Check out this Wine Aroma Wheel of smells possibilities!

Next we got to head down to the wine cellar which was definitely neat.

We were able to taste test a couple of wines that weren't quite finished processing yet and get a feel for the pre-finished product.

*Note the "dumping trough" for those who couldn't handle the not finished wine yet.  Nobody in my group dared resist a free glass of wine - done fermenting or not!

Next we were allowed to head up to the purchasing counter to sample any other of their wines that we saw fit - ANY OF THEM!  I ended up with two bottles of wine to take home, one for him and one for her.

Overall it was a great experience and nice to have it half off!

Not to mention with some great ladies!

If you are looking to see a winery in action I would recommend Snus and check out their events calendar.  Nice weather in Iowa brings family friendly gatherings with live bands, food, and wine all on a Friday night!

Only in Iowa

Left side decal:  Bad ass boys drive bad ass toys.

(He does know its a 1995 Chevy Blazer right?)

Right side decal:  cammo shadow of a deer

(I DESPISE CAMMO)

FAIR FOOD!

What did I eat at the fair you ask?

Breakfast booth:

Pancakes, scrambled eggs, toast, water.

$6

Lunch
Gyro & Pepsi; $13!!!!

Snack: Fried Butter. $4.

NASTY.

Snack: Apples w/Caramel, $3.

Not too shabby if I don't say so myself...didn't break the bank or the calorie budget.

Our Day at the Fair

I took the kids to the fair TWICE this year.  That's HUGE for me as I DESPISE the fair.  It costs way too much for this cheap ass and I feel like all we do is walk, eat, walk, eat.  What's the point?

Anyway...my uncle used to take us all day one day when we were kids and let us do whatever we wanted which was AWESOME back then....so I let the kids indulge and we went with him this year.

In between pics of the FAIR FREAKS, we got some good ones.

Launa is not so sure about sitting too close to the wooden old woman.  She was a wee bit freaked out.

It was also 8AM! And she was already asking to ride rides and we had been there approximately two minutes.

Charlie in his farmer gear waiting for pancakes.

This is how Launa measures up to the tallest horse.

Two kids in one seat!  He was loving it...even when we slipped between the bar and almost fell out.

We milked a cow.  For $2.

BIG SLIDE!  Charlie even held his hands up in the air like a roller coaster without being prompted.  He cried a bit at the end but I think because it was over.

Charlie screaming and running for his life away from Clifford.

Costumed people are nasty.  That's my boy.

Launa on the sky ride.  Scary.

Water fountain in the middle of the sidewalk.

Mom got suckered into riding $20 worth of shotty carnival rides.

Carousel.

Musta been a fun day.  FINALLY 5pm.

Zonked.

The People of Iowa State Fair

There are always some interesting folks at the fair so I thought I'd post a version of the sightings similiar to the Wal-Mart site we've all leered at a time or two.

This woman was sporting a 1999 Fair T-shirt of her three kids.

And a fanny pack.

And two of those kids were at the fair with her.

And me.

This is my aunt.

And yes I made fun of her.

And yes I fore-warned her of her appearance on this blog.

Her fanny pack was PUT TO SHAME by this guy:

Cammo and fanny.  A definite DON'T.

It was such a BEAUTIFUL day to be at the fair, breezy, around 80, cloudy.

So why is this man sporting a hat with a small umbrella and a donkey tail sticking out the back?

I could barely contain myself trying to get his picture for this post.

Mullet.

Cut off tshirt

Sweatpant shorts.

HUGE WEDGIE.

Need I explain more?

WTF? 

Leggins under white shorts with strappy sandals.

WTF?

Leggings jeans.

What looked like a weiner baloon animal.

Smokin a cig in the line of the kiddie rides.

Someone's attempt at humor in the Varied Industries: