The Weekend

It is Day Three of the ongoing Computer Saga. I feel disconnected without my internet access!

Today was supposed to be about nine hours of football watching with DH, but instead, he was exhausted from his outing with DD yesterday to the Pumpkin Patch.

While I was gone with my mom and my sister, DH took DD to a local pumpkin patch to buy a few pumpkins to carve for Halloween. He told me that they only spent a couple of hours there because it was crowded. When I got home, I saw a huge pumpkin and two smaller pumpkins on the back porch, waiting to be carved. He thought he might get to it today, but like I said, he was tired.

So, what did we do today? I was in a foul mood. DD bugged me about carving the pumpkins, but I was not up to doing that. She had a book to read for homework, so we read. She read the book; I followed along. (She is in first grade and learning to read.) I almost took a nap because I was tuckered out from the long day on Saturday, but I somehow stayed awake. Instead of sleeping, I wrote in my paper journal. I tried not to worry about the computer failing me, or feel even worse about not making backups of the stuff I wanted to save.

TV was boring so I flipped over to one of the music channels and had that on as background noise. DD wanted to watch cartoons, but there is only so much Spongebob I can deal with in a day.

Oh, I was domestic! I washed four loads of laundry, and one load of dishes. The laundry took approximately all morning, and the dishes took an hour around dinnertime. I had an egg salad sandwich for supper. DD ate some toast, and DH ate leftover barbeque ribs.

We did watch some football during the afternoon. In the evening, we watched an episode of "Mythbusters" we had not seen before and an episode of "Iron Chef America." At 9pm we watched "Food Network Challenge: Cartoon Cakes." It was a thrilling day.

On Saturday, I went to the Covered Bridge Festival in Parke Co., Indiana. It was a beautiful day, starting out rather cool, but warming up to about 60 degrees by the afternoon. My sister drove my mother and I to Bridgeton, a tiny town south of Rockville, IN. In 2004, some stupid prankster burned down the town's covered bridge (he went to prison for it), and last year, it was awful to see the empty place where the bridge had stood for so many years. But this year, we were glad to see that the bridge had been rebuilt, with monetary contributions from the public of donations and fundraisers. The red and white bridge looked just like the old one. The only differences could be seen on the interior, where modern techniques were used in the structure. It was great to see it rebuilt.

Many vendors had set up their wares. The first thing my mom always does when we arrive is buy a cinnamon roll for us to share. After that, we started to look at everything for sale. We like to go to Bridgeton because people still make their own stuff. Other places with similar flea markets seem to attract vendors with junky stuff. In fact, in Bridgeton, some of the vending spaces are only allowed to go to vendors who make their own stuff.

We spent almost the entire day walking from one end of town to the other. I have always wanted to return to Bridgeton in the off-season, to see what the town looks like, because during the festival, tourists pack it to the hilt.

We also spent nearly all of our money. I bought some homemade doggie treats (which the dogs loved, by the way), and a glass paperweight with a sun face on it. My sister got some of her Christmas shopping done, and my mom bought a couple of festival mementos. This year is the 50th anniversary of the festival.