On a Stick

The Minnesota State Fair was a summer highlight for most of my formative years, back when my metabolism could handle anything offered deep-friend and on a stick. Going to the Fair was a big family day that started early and ended late on the Midway where every last cent was spent trying to win that years hot prize. By high school I realized that I could purchase this hot prize for less than it cost to play the games.

This is when the fair became all about food for me. Sure I enjoyed all the farm animals and equipment, the 4H exhibits, gadget demonstrations and concerts but now I went to this fair to eat. I got a job at The Pancake House which assured my day would start off with an awesome breakfast, then after work I'd eat; cheesecake on a stick, corn dogs, Tom Thumb mini donuts, cheese curds, corn on the cob, cream puffs, this list is never-ending. There's almost nothing you can't get on the famous "stick" even spaghetti and meatballs! . Hot Beef Sundaes and Fried Avocado Bites round out the strange category. To find out the most unusual State Fair food finds log onto delish.com.

And if she's going to a State Fair where hopefully you are broadcasting live it might be a good idea to hand out complimentary samples of Prilosex or Tumms.

Right now she could be

• Golfing
• Reminding her kids to do their summer reading
• Drying beach towels
• Composing a song
• Designing a website

She buzz words

• Blueberry
• Passport
• Drive-in Movie
• Transformers

She keeps reminding herself...

"I will try to remember that telemarketers are people just trying to work and make some money."

She tip!

She needs to remove a label from a glass jar but it won't peel off. First, she should rub regular mayonnaise, butter, or cooking oil onto the label. After a ten-minute soak in very hot water, the label should slip off.

She's aware!

She is wise to get savvy about her teen's online life. She should know the teenage lingo like: Free to Talk (F2T), Best Friends Forever (BFF),

Parents Are Watching (PRW), Too Late (2L8), and Whatever (W/E). It's her job to set rules that protect her kids from online predators and cyberbullies. Generation MySpace by Candice Kelsey (Marlowe & Co.) is a great resource.

Here are a few yummy tidbits about one of her favorite fruits:

• Tomatoes were originally called "Love Apples" by the French. ]
• When Robert Gibbon Johnson brought them to Salem, New Jersey, tomatoes were thought to be poisonous. To prove the theory wrong, Johnson ate a basket-full in the town center in 1820.
• It is a fruit because of the way it's bred, but considered a vegetable due to trade issues. The Supreme Court ruled the tomato a vegetable in 1893 so it could be taxed under tariff law.
• George Clooney stared in the first Attack of the Killer Tomatoes movie in 1978. She says tomato...

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