Easter Bonnet Contest

On the 23rd of April a local winery, Wide River Winery had a Easter hat contest. I took the day off, went to Goodwill and bought a couple of hats and odds and ends for the hats.
It was a contest for people and their pets.

Of course Baxter had to have a few pictures taken in his Easter duds. For the pets you just had to bring in a photo but for the people you had to show up with your hats.



Baxter is such a good sport about being dressed up. He knows he will get a treat and it only last for a short time. Unless it is just to funny and I keep taking pictures. He has figured out when to shut his eyes and I swear he does it on purpose. I don't know if the camera makes a little noise when you get ready or what. I have several pictures where he looks like he is asleep or bored to death. Of course no matter how the photo shoot goes, he still gets a treat. Such a Good Boy!


Joe and I sat and tasted the wine, and waited for the time to judge the hats. Several people that came in for tasting did not know there was a hat contest going on. It was cute because they ran out to their cars and scraped together whatever they could find.

It was very funny what they came up with. Who knew the strange things that are lying around in your car. Just another argument for never cleaning out the car.

There were several baseball caps, winter stocking hats, anything that would pass as a hat. The gal with the heart shaped balloon with a bear on the side was the strangest one that came out of a car. She said she had been to a museum a few days before and someone had made it and given it to her. TaDa! It was still in her car!

Here are the pictures of Joe's and my hat:

My hat had a big ole purple rabbit holding an egg on it. Joe said I had to walk like a Vega showgirl to keep it from falling off my head. He was right. We were sitting at the bar having our tasting of wine and I pulled out our hats to get ready for the judging when the lady sitting beside me said "Boy, She wants to win this!" We all laughed, it was pretty funny. But, hey, I took the day off of work, drove an hour to get there, ended up buying a case of wine, (they had 15% off a case that day) so yea, I wanted to win...
Well, we had the judging and guess what? Joe's hat won! His little camouflaged hat with the little purple rabbit and peeps on the side. His hat beat out mine! He won a bottle of wine and a small jar of wine jelly. I came in second. I won two wine glasses that have the Wide River Winery logo on them. I love the glasses don't get me wrong. I have been going to buy some when I have been up there. But, jees, he beat me. All the time I was feeling guilty that his hat was smaller than mine. I actually felt bad about it. The judge said she had never seen a camo Easter bonnet and that the purple peeps just did it for her. He was Grand Prize Winner! There was a guy from the Clinton Herald there taking pictures too!

Lucky Joe, he is just so lucky to have me as his wife.

I love the picture I took of him holding my hat after it was all over, I told him -To the victor goes the spoils!










You can look up the Wide River Winery (say that fast 3 times) on Facebook. They have a nice site and you can read all about them. It is a family owned winery and the owners are great. They make you feel special when you visit. The winery overlooks the widest part of the Mississippi River.

Got a nice shot of Joe standing on the cliff overlooking the Mississippi.

I am still waiting to see the photos in the Clinton Herarld. I looked at Mondays but didn't see Joe anywhere. I really want a copy to send to his sister in Florida, she would love it!


I hope you enjoyed our day before Easter outing, we had fun and even the weather was good. We have not heard if Baxter won anything yet, so we are still waiting for that. How could a face like that lose!?

Just another Monday

The picture of the barn is something I drive by all the time. I thought I would share, after all I am a rural gal.

We have been having rain alot here, so my spring burning has been pushed back to whenever.

I do not know or want to know what is living in this underground burrow. It is recently remodeled.

These umbrella shaped plants are called May Flowers, they are just starting to pop, since the weather has not been that warm. Last year our woods and drive were just full of them, they look really cool when there are masses of them in the woods.

I raked some today to let my flowers pop and grow. One of our bridges to Iowa is closed because of flooding, just so much rain. What is it they say? April showers bring May flowers, how true is that.

I am sitting here at just about noon, having a glass of wine already, blogging, does it get any better? I think not. I do want to thank everyone who left a comment after I posted Loss of a Friend. Blogging is therapy, and I have cried my tears and will go on. It was nice to put my feelings down in black and white. I am ready for the spring clean up and moving on. Your comments helped me, and I am carrying on with my chores...

This is our crab apple tree and last year it was just beautiful! I am hoping it is this year but the cold weather may freeze off some of the blossems. It was a birthday present to my hubby who's birthday is in May, so it means a lot when it blooms it's little heart out..






Everyone seemed to enjoy my pictures so I am sharing more today. After an hour or so of raking leaves off my plants I thought I would take a walk in the woods again, see if anything was interesting out there. As always I see beauty in everything. Hope you enjoy the pictures.
If there is anything rural that you would like to see pictures of let me know, we have LOTS of corn around here, lots of cows, lots of barns, trees, little towns, so just let me know if you want to see something Rural.

Loss of a Friend

No my friend did not die. It is a death no less. I am grieving the loss of someone that meant a lot to me. I took the step that I had been dreading today. I went to see my friend and ask her if we were "ok". The answer I got was no. Like most falling aparts no one is right or wrong. Yes, I hurt her, did I do it on purpose, no. Due to what I would say was a misunderstanding, I blew her off for a New Years get together.
Going back about 4 years, I met this wonderful man at a boat safety class. We spoke at break time and found out we had some things in common. Imagine my surprise when they invited us over for supper and there on the table are my Yorktown dishes. Yes, we had a lot in common. She,(as I will refer to her as) loved to cook, loved to shop, liked to eat at 10:30, we always had a good time when we went out.
I have friends, people you met and see now and then, I have friends that are close. The ones you call when your upset, the ones you can tell anything and they will laugh with you or cry with you. She was one of those.
I morn my loss now, being told that I hurt her so there is no going back. I had called a few times asking if they could come for supper, or did they need something in town, just small stuff. Stuff we used to do for each other. I always was told no. Today I just drove over to her house to get the answer to my questions. Are we ok? No. I didn't call first, which we always did, partly because I figured she would tell me she was on her way out or something was going on as she had before. I did not expect to hear the things I did. I needed to hear them from her I suppose. The not knowing was taking a toll on me. Right now I sit her typing with tears in my eyes for her and her family. I have been missing her for several months. Now I miss all that we will not be doing in the future. A friend is so dear to me. I feel bad that I mistreated one. I will try to do better in the future with my friends. I must use this loss as a way to be better in my life. I will forever miss my friend, and yes I will continue to call her that. She has a place in my heart that will not be refilled. I will make more friends in my life, but none like her. She was one in a million. I will morn her, miss her, remember her, but take what I have learned and move on. Perhaps she was a friend who came into my life to teach me how to be a better friend. She was in my life, and I so loved it. I am proud of myself for jumping in the car and going over there. No matter how hard it was, I had to. I care for her, and will for a long time.
My question for you is have you lost a friend that was dear to you. Is there any going back after you have the talk and find out she doesn't want you as a friend anymore? If you heard something happened to someone in the family would you venture to their door, knowing you were not welcome.... so many questions. I have lost a huge hunk of happiness today.

Girl Time

Everybody needs some girl time. This time it was with my daughter Lacey. I stayed overnight at her house after we both got done working at Poopy's. I had to wait about an hour and a half for her shift to end so I took my trusty NookColor with me to work. I sat at the bar and caught up on Facebook and played a game. Nook is really coming in handy. When she finished her shift we headed for her house.

Nothing says girls night like CHIPS-DIP and WINE!

My daughter has one of those XBOX Kenect gadgets without a remote and I just love bowling on it.

We ate chips and dip as fast as we could in between turns of bowling. The wine went perfect with the combo. So far as I know there is nothing that does not go well with a good red wine. Lacey beat me all 3 games, but we still had fun. I have had my share of winning in the past. I love that game without the controllers! I do not understand how it works but what a great idea!




After bowling we went upstairs to her bedroom and cuddled in her bed. We watched some cable shows showing couples looking for houses. We don't have cable so I had fun watching those type of shows. Her hubby Vinny is a drummer in a local band and was gone so we had lots of time to laugh, talk, play and let the day fall off of us. When Lacey got to tired to talk anymore I went to the guest room and settled in for the night. The bad thing with sleeping somewhere different is that I didn't have my favorite pillow for one thing, the other thing is that for years now I sleep with a fan blowing on me all night. (it's an age thing) I could not sleep because it was so dang quiet! I didn't know how much the fan blocks out odd noises and just has this pleasant hummmm to it. On nights where I can't fall asleep I have gotten in the habit of falling asleep to the tv too. Shoot, I didn't know I had all these weird habits! Plus (the age thing again) I was hot then cold, then hot.



Needless to say I did not sleep much.

This picture of Lacey and I is the next morning. She is ready to head off to work again and I am still in my pjs. Gotta love it.

Vinny was off today and was spending some quality time with the cat.

We had a nice bonding night. We are talking about doing it again, so I guess it wasn't to bad having mom around for a while. Vinny is very laid back and a good sport, he even told us that he would sleep in the guest room so Lacey and I could share the bed. I am lucky to have such a nice son-in-law.

Lousy Friday

Things aren't as bad as the title, but, I was to work 5-10 at Poopy's today and got a call about noon to say don't come in. Darn, I look forward to a few hours of work. The season for them is just starting to pick up. I haven't been there but a few days since last November. Weather has a lot to do with Poppy's business.

It is a biker bar, restaurant, tattoo parlor, motorcycle parts, and clothing store. I had fun last summer working there. I met a lot of nice people from all over. The photo of the young man eating a burger is at Poopy's Pub N Grub. He is eating the Big Poop. It is a huge hamburger, takes two hands to eat it, but it is good! I work as a cashier or hostess in the resturant. They are so busy you would not believe it. On weekends when the weather is better they will have bands playing outside on a stage. They offer free camping with a nice place to shower and clean up in the restrooms. Sometimes there has been a 2 hour wait for food. People come stay, eat, drink, get a tattoo, and enjoy the place.

Todays weather is just lousy. Cold, rainy and very windy. Baxter doesn't even want to go out in this wind. Made him walk around our circle driveway this morning and he kept looking behind him like something was coming after him. Wind was just howling, sounded like a freight train. I wore my winter coat and hat again this morning and was glad I did.



Happy Easter from Baxter and I. Hope you have a safe and wonderful holiday.

After posting this I got a call to come in to work! Happy happy! They were so busy there was an hour and a half wait for a table! I was so pooped I slept till 10:30 Saturday morning... love the way it feels to be tired from a good days work.

Sunny Monday

Today I was supposed to go with a girlfriend I hadn't seen for a while to celebrate her birthday. Karen's birthday was in March and we had not been able to get together due to goofy schedules. I was so disappointed when she called and told me she was not feeling well. We waited a few hours to see if it passed but sadly she did not feel better. We said our good byes on the phone and promised to try again another day. Now, I had to figure out what to do with what was left of a beautiful day.
I ate a late lunch but didn't taste all that great because I really had my heart set on a big juicy,rare, bacon cheeseburger. I changed my clothes and went outside and decided to plant a few bulbs that I had. As I finished my plantings I noticed some little white flowers..I was so excited!

This was my first spotting of spring flowers. The new little blossoms always perk me up and tell me that spring has really started.


Since it was so nice out I decided to walk our property. We have about 4 acres and it is mostly trees. I walked our little path in the back and I see we have a lot of trees down.

Looks like there will be a lot of clean up this year. (not much different than the other years..) The path we have in the back has a few trees down over it, so those will have to be cutup first..




Hope you enjoy the rest of my photos, just rural sightings as I drive home from work.

A little something...

As an early Mother's Day present my daughter Lacey made an appointment for both of us to get a "spray" tan. Neither one of us had ever had one so this was to be one of those mother daughter things.

It is behind this door that it all took place. I was so excited when she first told me about it. I have seen the movies and tv shows where you stand in a neat little booth and these spray jets kick in and spray you as you turn around and around.

Not so with this mom's present.

You go into a room and there is a little popup tent, the girl stands in front of the tent and sprays you. Sprays you! You are standing there butt naked or whatever little amount of clothes that you like, and she is air brushing you... A little on the bizarre side for me. But what the heck! A gift is still a gift, right? It's the thought that counts, right? I kept thinking that Lacey was setting me up for a great photo opportunity. She could get me back for all the years of being a mother to her. I was a little more than scared.



In the room there was this odd looking machine, I didn't ask what it was or what it was for, but the name...and after I got over the name of the machine, what was that big thing on the side... ok, try not to think about it. I may have dreams about that machine....

This is the spray paint gun.


I had a lot of questions for this gal, Lindsay, when we got ready to go into that room. Does our $15.00 cover the WHOLE body, and if you run out of spray we don't have to pay more to finish the job. I had this fear of her saying, "Oh! I ran out of paint, that will be $15.00 more to finish you. Or worse yet, to hear giggling. Or the LOOK - Like "OMG, she has guts to stand there no clothes on, getting sprayed." Do you wear a bag over your head so if I see you out on the street I won't have to think "Yuck, she saw me naked!"


Ok,Ok, all kidding aside, Lacey and I had a great time. It was scary, fun, and worth the money. I went first, since I was the scared-est.

I had a little trouble with directions, like turn to your left, no your left. Spread your legs. Turn to the right, no the right. Lacey said she had a little trouble with the directions too. Bet Lindsay thought like mother, like daughter, sure can tell their related.

After it was all over we had a good laugh, and Lindsay was great through it all. She never made me feel uncomfortable, or weird. She joked and talked the whole time, and was very careful while spray painting you. She made me feel relaxed during the whole ordeal and that was not an easy thing to do. I still get undressed in the bathroom, with the door shut. Naked is just not a word I use a lot.

I think Lindsay will be seeing more of me, I like this spray tanning. It is quick, looks good and not to expensive. Yep I think she will be seeing a lot of me.
We had our spray tan done in Savanna, Illinois at Tangles Hair Salon, you can find them on Facebook. The gal that sprayed us was Lindsay Eissens, their number is 815-273-4886. Go ahead and try it, you know you want to....

Spring Rearranging

Last week we paid a gal to come and help us make some changes to our house. We liked her and most of her ideas were easy fixes which is very good. When I moved into my now husband's home he had a bar area and I promptly changed it to a pantry for all my food and baking needs. The pantry has served me well and I was content with it. This gal, Noreen, saw the space and said "take the doors off, open it up and change it back to a bar.. people who are looking to buy will love it." So now I am in the process of taking out all the food and baking stuff and putting our glassware, booze, and what ever I can find that says BAR, into the used to be pantry.

This would not be as much work except our cupboards are tall and I have to climb up and down the step stool with a few glasses in hand and it makes for a lot of trips. Our cupboards are so tall I can't reach the back of the top shelf to wipe it out, or to grab stuff way in the back. I just keep telling myself it will all be worth it in the end. Who's end? The end of ME or the end of this task?

I have a china hutch that Noreen said was stuffed way to full so I have taken out all of my Yorktown dishes and packed them away in a box. I will try to just display my glassware and odds and ends in it for now. We will be getting all new handles for the cupboards to update them a little. That is an easy fix for us, although we have about 45 handles to replace. I bought one handle the other day and we put it on and lived with it a few days. Now we are ready to order the rest.
Bought new lamps for the bedrooms and one for the table in the living room by Joe's chair. I am liking the changes already, even with dishes all over the place, I can see where this is going. Ordered a new bed n bag set for the spare room downstairs to update that and I am looking for a hunter green shower curtain for the bath downstairs. We have some white wicker in the bath downstairs and Noreen suggested we paint it green. It is all white in that room and I like the sound of some green in there. Like I said her suggestions have all been good and easy fixes.

Well, I need to get back to work on the kitchen. We took some stuff into my daughters today and got that out of the house. We have a trunk full of odds and ends, (old lamps) to take to good will tomorrow. I have to say we are moving along in the right direction. I didn't want to start the spring cleaning this year and not have a direction, that was why I called Noreen for help. Now as I clean I know what needs to be done to make the house more sale-able