Fast Paced is the Life for Me

I do everything quickly. I always have. In highschool I got pulled over no less than 100 times for speeding. I was always able to QUICKLY talk my way out of a ticket. I can't tell you how many times I said, "I'm so sorry, sir! I'm late for Sunday school!" =) So bad, I know.
Now that I'm married with kids the fast paced(ness) works as a great tool for getting things done around here. I always speed clean the house by doing things in the same motion(I always start in the same room and work my way around the house in the same motion) each time and running to do things like dusting and vacuuming. I talk fast. I think fast. I walk fast. I just really like the feeling of quickly getting as much done as possible.

Well, today I found my HELL. ON. EARTH. Today was Lulu's birthday, and Scotty and I wanted to do something fun with her instead of buying her something since they get SO much stuff for their birthday's. She decided that she'd really like to take a trip to the Ozark Folk Center.  She's such an old soul. She is fascinated with "old-timey things" and wishes she lived in the days of log cabins in the woods and rag dolls and home churned butter. She'd seen the ad for the folk center in one of my local magazine's and had been waiting for a time to go. Scotty had to lead a workshop this morning about an hour away from there, so we thought we'd just ride up with him and then head on over around noon.

For those of you who aren't aware of what exactly "ozark" means I'll tell you. S-L-O-W!=) I know I'm being really mean, but it's true! When we got there and went in to the park cafeteria our waitress was in no hurry to take our order, get our food, or refill our drinks, which was fine, because it's kind of a big deal when we go out, so it usually takes us a while to get settled at the table and get everyone's order ready. I should have known it wasn't that she was lazy, only part of the beauty of the place. At this point in the day I am still nothing but excited for Liv.

After lunch we walked SLOWLY out of the cafeteria and into the "crafting center" or something like that. It was soon brought to my attention by my well-meaning husband that I was "rushing" everyone and that he and Olivia were going to take a minute to look at the map and figure out what they wanted to see first. In my head I'm thinking, "Just find the point closest to the entrance, and go in clockwise order. Skip any store with out a wheelchair ramp. Look for things that might be free. Focus on Livi having fun!" After oh, say 8.356 minutes that's the same conclusion they came up with give or take a few things. At this point, I'm still mostly nothing but excited for Liv, but also thinking that at this rate WE'RE going to be old-timey by the time we get finished here...=)

The first store we go in takes no less than 30 minutes. There are 24 small stores. Each store has a demonstration. Each person demonstrating their trade is VERY nice and wants so know EVERYTHING about EACH child. I'm telling you they were so so nice and gave us several blessings on our "sweet beautiful family." No one is in a hurry to do anything. No one has anywhere else they'd rather be. Each store has something EVERY child wants. Each store has something every child wants to touch. There are goats to touch and feed. I'm sorry. That has nothing to do with the pace, just that goats are, in my personal opinion NASTY. We spent almost 40 minutes just looking at a guy spinning tops. I thought I was going to fall on my face.  At this point I'm really excited for Olivia because she's having the time of her life, but I'm trying to see if I've gained any wrinkles or grey hair in the 50 years since we've been here.

Please don't see this as me complaining. I feel so blessed to have been able to take our family on an outing and celebrate Olivia. I'm only mostly poking fun at myself for being so nutso about not "wasting time" which in this case couldn't have been further from the truth. The kids had a BLAST. Scotty liked getting to see EVERYTHING(and I mean EVERYTHING). I found a CUTE bonnet for Mia. Olivia felt celebrated. I loved getting to see the kids try new things and see new things. AND, I GUESS I really could use a lesson in slowing down and smelling the roses, or in this case, homemade lye soap...