2/25/08 Sheets, Cheese and Hot Tubs Oh My!

Happy Monday bloggy readers!
I know you were all dying to know about the home and garden show, which is lucky, since that's what I'm going to write about! (What are the odds!?)

Mom and I attended the event in question on Saturday. We arrived at 10am when it opened and stayed until about 7pm. A lot of the vendors are the same from year to year, but there were a lot of new faces as well. This works out better than you'd think because while I wasn't interested in retaining walls last year, this year I am, so it was nice to know that all the landscapers would be there with some great ideas.

Sadly, the hot tub people weren't there this year, which is a shame, because I'm sure I would have purchased one, if only in my dreams. (As soon as I figure out where to put it, I am sooooo getting one...maybe....eventually...okay, it'll be Barbie-sized, but I'll have one!)

One booth that was there that was a big hit was aromatherapy jars, featuring the much anticipated Snore-No-More scent. The idea is that you take 4 or 5 deep whiffs of this scent and then leave it open on the bedside table for a snore-free night. Everybody was really skeptical at first, but it had a 30 day guarantee, so Mom bought a jar to try it because my dad can wake the dead with his snoring. AND OH MY GOODNESS, THE NEXT MORNING MOM REPORTED THAT THERE WAS NO MORE SNORING! I am shocked, but there you go. If you're ever at a home show and you see the aromatherapy booth, the snore-no-more really works.

The other hot booth was the 400 count Egyptian sheets, any size, any color, for $20. They were so soft that even I broke down and bought some, and considering that our usual sheets come from Wal-Mart's "thread count, smead count" economy line, they feel reeeeeeally good. Like silk, if I actually knew what sleeping on silk felt like. Of course, if I act like I like them too much, the cats will shred them, or barf on them, or somehow permanently cat hair them, so I'm playing cool around them. You can't be too careful.

Mom and I also attended several good talks ranging from The Dirt on Soil to Custom Water Features. (You can't go wrong with compost, and string algae is a fact of life). A lot of the speakers were people with HGTV shows, which was fun, although you could tell that they were used to having someone edit out all the random stuff for them, because there was a lot of rambling interwoven with all the good information. I think for a TV host (and/or your average Quirky blog), you just keep talking as much as you can in hopes of getting enough good stuff to air/publish. The rest is filler.

Anyway, I had a blast and I think Mom did too. We ran into Aunt Suzie while we were there (who was purchasing hardwood flooring) and ate a LOT of cheese at the wine and cheese garden. (Ohhh! Buy the horseradish cheese too! I don't even like horseradish, but that stuff was FAB-U-LOUS! I promise you'll love it!)

Next year I think we're going to go on Sunday though. By then, the vendors are tired and not looking forward to packing up all that merchandise and flowers that they trucked in there, so the deals are better. Last year I walked away with some prime free tulips. This year I had to pay for my sheets and cheese, but I did get a lot of free retaining wall brochures.

Next year I'm shooting for the free Barbie-sized hot tub.