It's all in the Dance...

Today we set up our trailer at Relleke Pumpkinfest in Pontoon Beach, IL, well, I might as well as it is in St. Louis as we can see the St. Louis Arch from our back door. Other than that Mostly just worked around the house, knowing how busy we will be this weekend. Preston called and is home. He will be home for 10 days, so I hope I get to see him. hugs Since this is boring myself to death… Another favorite saying of mine…I guess I should say, another one that I stole… “Even though life may not be the party we planned on, while we are here we might as well dance”. I’m dancing…..

The Spaghetti Factor

..Today was just another day of working in the yard, the trailer and the house, getting ready to go to Relleke every weekend in October.
The only funny thing that happend today is this:

Bill decided to do some weed eating before supper. I was making spaghetti and was making some grilled garlic bread on the stove, I used real butter and it started smoking, before I could get if off of the stove the fire alarms started going off...Bill came in the door immediately...and his comment was: "I heard the fire alarms and knew that supper was ready"....well, "ain't" he just a comedian?..Ha ha...I am laughing...NOT!

In a way, I kind of got revenge. I didn't MEAN to get revenge, but, you know, when you are using a weedeater for any length of time that even when you turn it off your arm keeps vibrating, well, it was really funny to see him try to keep the spaghetti on his fork!!... To Bill." Ha Ha, back at ya".

How Can Two People have so much Crap?

Wow, it has been a few days...but not to worry, I am here to catch up! Last 3 days....I only have two words.....RUMMAGE SALE!...sun rise...sun set!..Anyway, it is over and then just when it was over mom, me and Dona went to Ingram's Log Cabin Village craft fair! Oh, it was such a beautiful day and what do I do, but go BUY more of what I just got rid of at the rummage sale!

I talked to Shelley Sunday (yesterday), she was all chirpy and giggly just like my little girl! So, I guess she is feeling better now. She is planning the wedding for Dec. 11th.

Today, so exciting!...(Do you hear the irony in my voice?)...went to the Amish market in St. Peter and bought some homemade butter. Then we finally hooked up the dvd player and after pushing all combinations of buttons (i.e., tv remote, vcr remote, universal remote, and dvd remote) and moving the connections 3 times...we finally got it to work! I also installed the DVD burn program on the computer and burned my first dvd, while Bill was watching the Food channel about some lady that collects everything bananas....like I said...so very exciting!
Here are a few pix from the craft fair..................

My life is so exciting, I can't stand it

Life should NOT be a journey to the grave
with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive
and well perserved body, but rather to skid in
sideways; champage in one hand - strawberries in
the other; body thoroughly used up, totally worn
out and screaming......
WHOO HOO - WHAT A RIDE !!

The above is a quote from a good friend of mine that I met on the Clayboard. She has such a great heart and we all love her so much. She has been very ill and has never been able to attend a Clay Aiken concert (our personal favorite), which is a shame, since he has , with the two concert tours, probably performed at least 80 or 90 concerts in the last year. She is going to finally see him in his home town of Raleigh, NC. I am so happy for her. I love the above quote! That's how I want to go out.......just a Whoo Hoo !!! and then....Lights Out!

Sheila...or as my internet friends know me...........

I'll gladly pay you Tuesday

Talked to Darren today. Had to let him know about Shelley. I told him I found a bunch of old record albums when getting ready for the rummage sale. He was wanting the 'Tomita" album, which I found. I think he is really wanting some of the records by Meco, but someone bought them at the last rummage sale. Anyway, I found a few others I thought he might appreciate, including an original album of "In-Da-Gada-Da-Vi-da", thought, being the hippie that he is, he might want it as a keepsake!

Other than that, nothing exciting happened today.

Here Chick, Chick

Today is Monday and since Bill is so serious about having chickens, today we built a chicken coop. I swear I feel like Ava Gabor! Anyway, it will be a few days before we actually get them, but it looks like we will be getting some laying hens. We also are getting ready for a rummage sale Friday. How can two people have so much crap?...anyway, my life is just so exciting!

About those chickens. We went to Tom Hankins house to check out his chickens. Anyway he had a little banty hen that you could pick up, it was so sweet, it would kind of sing and coo while you held it. I think this is the REAL reason Bill wants chickens. It would be kind of hard to have chicken and dumplings if you really love your chickens...:-).

Well, I am boring myself....

The Applefest is goin' to the dogs......

Today was the Applefest at Alma. I was really not in the mood for it, but "the show must go on". It was a beautiful day and we did really well. Alot of kids were running around with green hair and their faces were painted like cheetas. I never found out why, but it was kind of hard to take them seriously when they came up to place an order and their faces were all orange and spotted. Someone was giving away puppies, about 10 of them, they were blue heelers and were gone in a flash! Heather got one for Gary, but Tim wanted to keep it himself. I kept teasing Heather about her new dog!

Mom and Elouise came up and enjoyed the music of Herman Perry and the Chicken nuggets! (Ok, their REAL name is the Golden Nuggets, but that's what we call them behind their back.)

Ok, Bill decided today that he really does want to raise some chickens so that we can have fresh eggs, when he builds his chicken coop he is going to put a sign on it that says 'Chicks Rule'. He saw that on a crafters "Welcome to our Coop" sign today and now he can't wait to build his coop. I guess everyone has to have a goal!

Well, right now, I am watching "Pirates of the Caribbean", and I have to say that my man, Johnny Depp is definately stylin' with all his black eye make up. He said on an interview a while back that he wanted to look like Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones...Keith never looked that good, but the Johnny does.

I am signing off now, because it is time for the sword fight!

Sad News from Decatur....

Today was a very sad day. Shelley had a miscarriage today. She and Cary went to the doctor for their first sonigram, but there was no heartbeat. I am very sad and have cried alot to day. I am doubly sad for her and Cary. She is ok, and will be able to have other babies, but I am just sad that everything didn't work out for her this time.

One a more cheerful not, Preston came home for a few days. It was a surprise, and I needed a smile. He was so great to see his smiling face and to have a nice visit with him.

Hugs to all of my babies!...

Wish I had some Clay.......

Today we headed to Evansville, Indiana, mom, me and Bill. We were going to the Clay Aiken concert at Roberts Stadium. It is our third concert and we were very excited as we met up with some of our internet friends from the Clayboard for lunch. Mary and Joan were such fun. We had met Mary at the St. Louis concert in the spring. Then at 3:30 we went to Kiplees party house for the pre-concert party. Wew, were there some crazy people there, hey, wait a minute, I think we were some of those crazy people! We ate and laughed and played games and watched videos and montages of Clay, on a large screen tv....we even booed Simon when he was shown in the videos! Then came the concert! All I can say is OMG!...our seats were great and Clay sang like an angel! The dancer was a crazy black lady, but I am telling you she was really good. Clay was all funny and interacted with the crowd alot! He seems so happy being out on his own. My favorite part? Was when he and Qiana sang "Chain of Fools", no one would believe that Clay could get down and sing in that growley, "Clay goes motown" voice. The glory note at the end of "Solitaire" was to die for! Every once in a while I would look at mom, and say "Oh, I just love to hear him sing!" He's so purdy!.... It was wonderful and I am still all aglow from just everything: meeting friends I already knew, meeting friends that I have seen and posted to on-line and making new friends! After the concert mom, Mary and I went to the buses and waited for Clay to come out, hoping for a hand shake or something. We waited for a long time. Security made us stay away from the buses. Pretty soon Clay came out with Jerome and some other body guard, however, there was no touching the Clayton tonight! He made eye contact with as many of us as he could. He waved and smiled and told us thank you for being his fans. He was only about 10 feet away, so near , yet so far! It was still a treat to see him after the show. Then onto the buses and off he went to his next destination! We got home about 1:00 a.m. It was such a wonderful day.

I tried taking some pictures at the venue, but the camera police caught me. So I only got 2 pictures, but DID get one of Clay outside at the buses! The best part was getting to share this experience with my beautiful mom! Love ya, mom!

A day at the "CRAPS" Fair....

Today I was off work and spent the day with my best friend, Teresa.



Yes, I know this is a silly picture. I just took the camera and held it out and took it...we are nuts! We have been friends for so long, she is like the sister I never had (just those 3 brothers, who are great, but it would have been nice to have a sister, MOM, what happened???? ha ha)

We went to Mt. Vernon Cedarhurst Craft Fair (or Craps fair as we like to call it). We ate our smoke pork chop sandwich and went to all of the booths and admired all of the things we used to buy and thought we couldn't live without! Since then, we have gotten smarter and only look! Besides our homes are full of "craps" and there is no room for more! The only thing we bought for $4.50, was this......for our menfolk.


Just a cheaply made "Beer Garden" sign on a pole with a beer can. We got alot of laughs from the "serious" craft buyers. We didn't care, besides Bill loved it!
We had a great time, caught up on the news and then drove back to Salem where we went to the Coffee Shoppe downtown, had a raspberry latte and chocolate cheese cake. Later we took our moms to the Bluegrass Festival in the city Park. It was really kind of boring this year. Guess I am just used to the excitement of seeing Clay Aiken in concert. No screaming, crying, laughing, or singing along going on here....*yawn*...still was nice to be with family. Most of all was best to be with my buddy who I don't get to see very much due to our schedules. That was my day!

The Ghost of Mr. Guy....oooooh...I'm scared!

Since today will probably be another just like the other....here is a story that I was just reminded of this week.
We bought the ice cream shoppe in 1999 from a man named Mr. Guy (yes, the guy's name is Guy, no kidding, I couldn't possibly make this stuff up!) I kept the original employees and we all became good friends over the next few years and then they graduated from high school and went on to their real lives. Anyway, one day I was working by myself and I swear I heard the back door open, even felt a rush of air. I went into the kitchen and no one was there, door was locked. I thought I just imagined it. Several days later I was working with a girl named Allison (Ali) and I had this same experience. We stopped and looked at each other and she said 'Did you hear that?" and I said, "Yes, it happened the other day too". She tells me that this has been happening for years and at first it frightened all of them, but then they just decided it was just the "ghost of Mr. Guy". Now mind you, Mr. Guy is NOT dead, he teaches high school Chemistry! So, whatever, whoever it is, they are just going about their spirit life and are intertwined with mine. In a way it is kind of comforting, not scary at all, I was just being snarky with my title..ha ha...(where are my emoticons?). There, in fact, used to be an old home built on the original spot where the ice cream shoppe was built (some 13 years ago now). I like to think it is just somebody's grandpa coming in for the evening meal. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!....

Getting new highlights in my hair today and then off with Teresa to our yearly trek to Cedarhurst where many artisans are showing their wares and lot of good food will be had by all. Love ya, Tuh!

The Dimpled One...

Need I say more, Love you bunches, Preston. Love, Mom

Happy Birthday and a tonsilectomy to you

I talked to Darren today. I called him at work. He is doing fine. I called to tell him that he is going to be an uncle. He wondered why his sister hadn't called him herself! Go figure. Anyway, it was Mindy's birthday today, but her son, Alex, had to have his tonsils out.... Some birthday! Darren took her out Sat. to the gambling boat and they had a really good time. Other than that, nothing exciting today. Just worky, worky for me...Only a few more days and I will be free of the ice cream shoppe...well, until next year.
Here is Mindy and Darren from last winter....hugs to my artistic,musical son and his beautiful and funny fiance, mindy.*

Shelley on graduation day, she's the short one!!!


This is my daughter-in-law, Danielle. She is serving in Iraq right now. Danie, we miss you alot and are awaiting your return. Be safe and hope to see you soon.

It's raining...Parade anyone?

Every Labor Day for the last 3 years, it has rained out our parade in our little town("rain on our parade", that's funny). This year was the 50th anniversary of the Kinmundy Fire department, so there were extra festivities and happenings in our city park. Today there are all kinds of crafts, food, games and music and the all important parade! Mind you our town is very small, 900 inhabitants, so this one event (which is the ONLY yearly event) is a big deal. All was going fine, kind of cloudy, breezy. We were selling the heck out of corndogs and curly fries, lemon shake ups. It is always fun to be in our concession trailer. Lots of work, but still fun! Heather was making us laugh, she is such a nut. Then, alas, it was 2:00, time for the beginning of the parade. We heard the fire sirens which signal the beginning of the parade, then, suddenly, torrents of rain, pouring down. However, you couldn't keep the people of Kinmundy from having a great time...On went the parade....floats, marching band, instruments dripping with water, kids on decorated bikes, 3 wheelers, horses and riders. Everyone just stayed and had a grand time. I thought this was really cool, that the rain didn't stop us. Everyone was dripping wet. Some kids were skateboarding on the tennis courts in the rain, falling down, getting muddy, they didn't care. Some littel girls were actually dancing out in the rain. It was actually a fun day and everyone in town seemed to be there. We made alot of money and now I am tired, but wanted to catch up on my journal. Tomorrow back to the ice cream shoppe, just 6 more days and I will be closed. Just 8 more days and mom and I will be traveling to Evansville, Indiana for the Clay Aiken concert at Robert's Stadium. Lots of our claymate friends are going, can't wait. but, first, 6 more days of work.....waahhhhh!

Orange Chicken and cream puffs

It's Saturday, my day off! My brother, Kent, is home from Kentucky! We met at mom's in Salem. Where do we eat? Where do we eat?..You decide, no you decide! So that's how it went for a while, so Chinese it is! Great buffet with pizza, it wasn't chinese, just plain old pizza, then there were french fries. What part of China are these people from, is there a little Italy in Hong Kong? Cream puffs, little tiny cream puffs for dessert! We ate a bunch. It was alot of fun to see my brother. Then back to mom's house where Kent was trying to make her new Nero burner program work. After much cussing and keyboarding, he got it to work. I just talked to mom, she's burning everything on her puter...All Things Clay Aiken beware, mom has arrived! That was my day. Oh, yeah, Bill and I set up Wild Bill's concession trailer in the city park for the parade and festivities tomorrow. Hope it doesn't rain, it does every year, we will see!

Ship Happens!

So I am having my coffee this morning and Bill goes outside and comes back in with a package from California. "Are you expecting a package?", he asks. Well, I wasn't . It was from my brother and sister-in-law in California. They had been to the "UFO convention" and had sent me some "Alien toilet paper, for those really long abductions"...it has alien faces on each sheet!...also a bumper sticker that says "Ship Happens", with a UFO, and Roswell , july 4, 1947! I called him up and said "How did you know I was out of toilet paper?"..we laughed and then had a nice phone visit! Talked to my sister-in-law too! It's always nice to get a present, especially those unexpected ones...thanks bro.

Good News from Decatur

Shelley called and told me that I am going to be a grandma! Finally!
I also called Preston in North Carolina and told him, he was very happy too, that he was going to be an uncle for the first time. I also told him the good news that the day it is due is April 20th, his birthday! We are all very happy for you Shelley! So,you see, no more nonsense about Medusa, something GREAT happend today!....I am getting my first grand baby, one that I can take up to my ice cream shoppe and get him/her all "sugared up" and then send them back home to mom and dad...ah, being a grand parent will be great!

Being Medusa

I was just thinking today.....wouldn't it be cool to be Medusa? Nobody would bother you, you would live in a nice cave somewhere in the Land of Trolls and Ogres! If somebody DID piss you off you could just look them right in the eye and they would immediately turn to stone, that would be the best...let's see, where's my list....."People I would like to turn to stone".....
The best part, no trips to the beauty shop to have your hair done, just trips to the pet store to buy mice to feed your snake-heads.

Yeah,that's right, nothing exciting happened today.

I was just kidding about the "Jackalope"...hee hee