And wasn't there a tank for sale somewhere on Amazon too??? Gotta find it!! ETA: FOUND IT.

YES!!!!! that's the one!!!!!! ahhhhh. Mommy happy now. :001_wub: (Though dh and I are really getting into it on fb where I'd posted the Lady Pens. :D )

Awesome comments. (Didn't we do a thread a while back posting various Amazon products with genius reviews?? Anybody still have the link to that?)

I'm sure it depends on how formal the studio is. At our local place, all the younger classes wore undies except at recital performances.

Corndogs, burgers, and ice cream. (Our last visit to the county fair!) I can't believe I resisted the red velvet funnel cake. Part of me will always wonder what it's like.

We love visiting VA Beach, esp in the off season when hotels are super cheap. I do my usual game of hotels.com and hotwire.com to see how prices are running (in smaller towns like VA Beach, you can sometimes figure out which hotel is offering which blind price), then I go to Priceline and underbid the hotwire price. That's only perfect, of course, if you don't particularly care where you stay and are focused on price. :D

:iagree: This is me too. She's great at worldbuilding, but as someone who lives in a small town, I don't find small town politics interesting or funny. (If I did, I would laugh every time I drove past the town square where they ripped out 100-year-old trees to put in cobblestone and an ugly, black marble statue.) I also don't like being told by a publisher with biased interests that a book is "thought-provoking" or "constantly surprising." I'll make my mind up for myself, thankyouverymuch. PS. Am I at 750 posts yet?? :D

817: satire & humor. As long as we could swap roles now and then.

Oh great. Now I feel compelled to add ten frivolous posts in various places so I can catapult into royalty!! :D

PPS. If you put yolks in because there is no "yellow cupcake" category and you figure by "white" they just meant "non-chocolate," this will disqualify your cupcakes without a second glance. NO, I'M NOT BITTER.

PS. You can mix the cinnamon and nutmeg into the cupcakes themselves, but this colors the batter and may (clears throat awkwardly) disqualify them from the "white cupcake" category, lack of yolks notwithstanding.

Top-secret cupcake recipe--posted SECRETLY on this here TOP SECRET private forum. French toast cupcakes with maple frosting & bacon Cupcakes 1 cup 2% milk, room temp 6 large egg whites, room temp 2 tsp clear vanilla extract 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 1 3/4 cups sugar 4 tsp baking powder 1 tsp salt 12 tsp softened (but not warm) butter Whisk milk, egg whites, and vanilla together. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Add butter in pieces until mixture is crumbly. Add wet mixture (half at a time) and beat on medium for 2 minutes--result should be very smooth and silky. Pour carefully into cupcake papers, filling each one 1/3 of the way up. Sprinkle streusel across. Add more batter until it reaches 3/4 of the way up, and bake at 325 for a few minutes until heavenly gold. Streusel layer Combine with a fork 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1 tablespoon butter, 1 tsp cinnamon, and 1/2 tsp nutmeg. Should be crumbly. If not, add more brown sugar. Maple Frosting Combine 2 cups powdered sugar, 4-6 tablespoons milk (careful; milk is a sneaky rascal), 1/4 cup softened butter, and 1 tsp maple flavoring. Beat on high until light and fluffy. **After cupcakes have cooled, swirl the maple frosting on top. Garnish generously with bacon pieces. :drool5:

At the county fair today red velvet w/ cream cheese was one of the gourmet funnel cake options. I love red velvet, but as a funnel cake....?? No recipes here either, but I'm feeling a bit inspired. Off to Google! And :bigear:.

I should add--my favorite toss of the day was by a lady who accidentally threw hers straight up. Sent people SCREAMING in all directions. She wanted to crawl in a hole and die. It was hilarious. (I mean, since nobody was hurt, obviously.)

"No. There is too much. Let me sum up." --Inigo 1. Deviled eggs were a disaster. I didn't have a deviled egg cup carrying case (raise your hand if you knew there was such a thing), so I lined them up in a square cake pan, where they promptly slipped and slid all over and enthusiastically knocked themselves sideways. I came in 4th out of 4 entries (which means everybody got the free tote except me). The judge gets a blue ribbon for understatement: "Improve presentation." 2. Cupcakes. Sigh. Well, I got 2nd place, but there appeared to only be two entries (most people made chocolate), so that's still last place. Snooty Miz First Place made plain white cupcakes. Plain white cupcakes beat out my French toast with its cinnamon nutmeg streusel layer and maple frosting with bacon pieces?! WHERE'S THE HUMANITY?! And now.... drumroll please... 3. Rolling pin toss. First, they rudely took the HANDLES off, making it hard to get a grip on the very unhelpful cylinder. Some of my throws (you get three) went sideways, which I didn't realize was even possible. Most people seemed to hit in the mid-50 foot range. I hit 61 feet. This is important because though I placed nowhere near the top, I was not last. I will still be able to sleep well tonight. (Or at least I would, if it weren't for the eggs, obviously.) A friend of mine hit 60 feet too, but the thing kept rolling to a jaw-dropping 83 feet. She held first place for the longest time, until-- the softball coach and her prize 18-year-old pitcher showed up. :glare: The coach hit 94 feet, and the pitcher 104. So for next year, I'm thinking I'll throw overhand and hit 100 feet--enough for 2nd place, so people will still be able to recognize how humble I am.

I'm baaaaaaaaaack. And what an interesting day. Update asap.

I'm up and picking cilantro from my garden for the Cowboy deviled eggs, FYI. Well, technically, dd(7)'s out there doing it, since she owes me because I was up til 2am matting her marvelous, last-minute crayon drawings on poster board. (It took so long because I had to watch a movie to take my mind off how much I didn't want to do that.) I can't reveal any of my Top Secret recipes prior to the contest, and anyway if my eggs win anything the state gets to own my recipe which means, I guess, I'd be giving you one of Virginia's classified things which would probably NOT help me the next time I get pulled over. However, I am attaching pics for you. And yes, I will tell you all about the famous, humiliating cupcake DQ of 2011 when I'm back. Rolling pin toss is at 9:30, which sadly is at the same time as the kiddie tractor race. Will dd have permanent emotional scarring if I skip watching her this year?? PS. Why didn't my pics attach?? http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/album.php?albumid=653&pictureid=2781 is one and http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/album.php?albumid=653&pictureid=2780 's the other.

You all are awesome. I've lived here FOUR YEARS and didn't know that. I'm going to show up at the rolling pin contest and be all, "BOOYAH, I practiced in the back 40," and they'll totally think I'm country. Unless I embarrass myself trying to throw the thing, I guess. Off to look for how-to softball videos on YouTube.

OK, thanks! I thought it had something to do with golf. I could totally practice in my back yard, though. Part of me is afraid of hitting the neighbor's cows, but on the up side, I have really bad aim. Which is probably a down side for the contest itself, though. Hmmm.

Oh, and I should add I'm making my family watch the tractor pull with me at noon. Ever since my first year here in the country where I found out a tractor pull is not the same thing as a world's strongest man contest, I've been sort of obsessed.

I am practicing the BooYah yell now. Since I grew up playing Pit, I think I'll have that down pretty quick. Little worried about the other part, though, as I have no rhythm. Does a victory dance need to have rhythm? Now HERE is very helpful advice, thank you! I don't know what a back 40 is, though. Does Walmart carry it? I'm fresh back from there where I bought posterboard to matte my daughter's fine artwork.

So what happens when I show up with my iron skillet and all the other country ladies have their prim 'n' proper pins??? And more importantly, how do I eke a blue ribbon out of this?

[[update on p2]] So after four years living here in the country, guess I'll take a shot at the women's rolling pin toss at the Fair tomorrow and seal my citizenship. (I'm also entering my Cowboy Style deviled eggs and my French Toast cupcakes (recipe in post 42), FYI. And further FYI, there's a bit of tragic story with my cupcakes, which were awesome but DQ'd last year. Trying again this year because I need a blue ribbon or all the old ladies will keep talking about it.) Never tried a rolling pin toss before. Never even seen one. I do have a rolling pin, somewhere in the back of the bottom cupboard by my George Foreman Grill, so at least I'll recognize it when they hand it to me. That counts for something, surely (?). Anybody in all the great WTM world tossed one before and have prize-winning tips for me????

Awwww! Wave to me as you go by!

Happy happy update here. :001_wub: