I survived our Community Fair!!

Ohhhhhh YESSSSS!!!! It was a GREAT success, our local community fair. I have no idea how many people came, but the pancake breakfast was far more well-attended than in previous years. The midway was a FANTASTIC success - the "Lucky Ducky" pond, "Plinko", "Barbie Dunk Tank", and "Tic Tac Toes" (yes, you threw beanbag TOES - how macabre!), as well as "Goofy Golf" and "Tea Party" toin coss were all very successful. We ran out of prizes after 4 hours of FRENZY and went to free play (no charge to play, but no prizes to win, either) - next year we'll up our budget for prizes. The local music was wonderful - we had a bluegrass band and also a classical string trio. Salmon barbeque was a great success as well - selling about 60 or 65 plates out of 70 available tickets. So I think at the end of the day we will find our community association has made some money on this event.

OH! And we raised $619 for the fundraising project to bring a security sensor light to the hall parking lot. I'm chairing the committee and am hoping to raise $3000 and have the project complete by mid-November at the latest. The actual work will only take about a week, but it's the fundraising $3,000 in a small community (of 400!) that will take longer... possibly. After this day of rest, I'll tackle that.

Nonetheless, I still lay awake from 3:30 until 5:30 this morning, rehashing the day and all its events, wondering how to get people more interested in the family fun run and walk to promote healthy communities (prizes?), wondering how to get more of our neighbours interested in attending the day's events (beer garden, says dh?), wondering how to get more volunteers, which are always desperately needed (highschool students that need volunteer credits to graduate?). DH & I put in a nearly 12 hour day, with 2 young children & puppy in tow. Surprisingly, all went well, but GOODNESS are we tired today!!

Oh, and as far as raw food, I managed to subsist quite easily yesterday on:
a banana very early in the morning
3L of green smoothie throughout the day
a few veggies that came with my son's spanakopita and hummus that he got from the concession
1 lb of org cherries
another banana (or two?) throughout the day
some water, but not nearly enough
a sandwich in the evening with raw black sesame bread (ani phyo's recipe), miso, alfalfa sprouts, a tomato and a couple black olives sliced on it.
Oh, I did enjoy a little air-popped popcorn with the kids. We hardly ever make popcorn, and popcorn's not my favourite snack (I have very tight spaces between my teeth so I end up having to floss after popcorn), but the kids really like it, and we get organic bulk popcorn from the food co-op. And let's face it, there's a lot worse things to eat than air-popped organic popcorn. Still, I think that even during a VERY busy day, it's still possible (and actually quite easy) to maintain a raw diet, with very little preparation. All I did in the morning was through the bananas and cherries in the cooler and make up 2 blenders-full of green smoothie, which took less than 20 minutes, easily. I made the sandwich in the evening, at the end of the day.

We've been eating POUNDS of organic yellow plums lately. The kids a few doors over are selling them, and really, we eat a LOT (*I* eat a lot, LMAO). The other day I ate no less than 16 plums. No kidding. Hey, they're in season and wonderfully delicious. And no, I didn't have any *ill* effects from eating that many. LMAO

Oh, and before I forget, dh & I are celebrating our 12th anniversary today. We'll be taking the kids with us out for dinner later, after ds's sports class tonight. 12 yrs married, and together for 14. Wow! ;) 12 yrs ago, it was 31 degrees here (~92 F) and today? It's POURING rain and foggy. (But we desperately need the rain, so no complaints). Amazing difference in weather. The other crazy difference is that I tried my wedding dress on this morning (dd LOVES all things sparkly!) and it literally HANGS on me. It's about 6 sizes too big for me!!! I can't BELIEVE how big it is on me. Wowzers.

Which reminds me, our winter veggies have sprouted fantastically! The kids' garden is full of little teeny collard sprouts, kohlrabi sprouts, and two kinds of beet sprouts as well as lettuce mix. I have more to plant: kale, spinach, peas, more lettuce.... I don't think it's possible to have too many dark leafy greens. Besides, I'm thinking ahead and pondering doing a juice feast this fall, so I want to have my own greens. 2 lbs a day gets expensive to buy (I found out last year). Although I JUST found out that we can now get local organic food delivered to our door!!! (And cases of celery and cucumbers and apples and ginger.... just THINK of the JUICES!!!!!!) Yummers.

Oh geez, I was already hungry and now all this talk of food. Must go and make *something* to munch on. :)

Namaste,
~n~