So. I know. WHERE have I been?

I haven’t blogged in a while. I imagine you noticed that. I’m not making excuses, but we had our county fair. And any 4-H parent knows the down-to-the-bone tiredness that comes with the end of the fair. It’s all-consuming tired. And then there was work stuff. And more work stuff. And. And. And.

Can you relate? Well, it’s been like that around here. We are trying to catch up.

So to catch you up, let’s start at the fair. Remember last year’s favorite photo?

Well, the friendship continued this year:

Good friends two years running. Which inspired me to write this column:

The right priorities

In my world, it’s nearly county fair time–a.k.a. Stay-up-late-washing-clothes-finishing-projects-stress-to-the-max-week.

Anyone who has been a 4-H or FFA parent knows the feeling of the week before the fair. In a nutshell, it’s stress, excitement, tension and anticipation all rolled into one. There’s the legal pads with several lists–one for every day leading up to the fair, one for the next trip to the store and one for all the things that need to be in the car on the morning of check-in. It can be overwhelming.

But recently, I had to sort through some photos of last year’s fair. What I saw made me smile, and helped me change my outlook. <read more>