RAGGEDY ANNIE'S GRANNY: March 2013

Tuesday, March 5th, Ken and I journied to Charleston, Illinois to join my siblings at the County Market for lunch. The County Market is actually a large grocery store with a deli and a dining area above the sales floor!!! My siblings get together quite often on one Tuesday a month when the weather permits .. I am looking forward to being able to attend many more of these get-togethers!!

Ken and I arrived at the County Market early .. we went in and took a look around and snapped a pic of the dining area and then took off for a drive through the town.

When we saw this Antiques shop we instantly pulled into the parking lot to take a look around!! The store was a lot bigger than it looked and held all kinds of wondrous things .. sad to say we made it through just a couple of rooms and there were rooms everywhere .. we will definitely be coming back to visit this place!! I'm hoping our next Tuesday get-together is in the Charleston area .. I'm thinking we could spend a whole day perusing everything in the Copper Eagle!!!

We returned to the County Market in time to get a picture of some of the siblings from the upstairs dining area!! Dorothy Jeanne, Juanita and Bill.

A neat view of the sales floor!!

Ordering lunch at the Deli!

Ken, Shirley, Evelyn

HMMMMM .. this is interesting .. "HOG WASH"!!!

Ken had to get a bottle of course .. LOL!!

One of the County Market employees was kind enough to take our pic. The sun was pouring in that big window and the pics came out a bit dark but if you look real hard you can pick us out!!

On the Left: Shirley, Juanita, Tommy and Bill

On the Right: Ken, Liz, Evelyn and Dorothy Jeanne

Bellies are full .. some of us would be going for a tour of Shirley's new apartment .. and some were going to the hospital to visit my sister June who had received a pacemaker the night before!!

KNOCK KNOCK ..

Anybody home???????

I love the way Shirley decorates!!!

Sorry this pic is so blurry .. I loved everything in Shirley's new home but especially liked her TV entertainment center!!!

Don't you just love it!!!!

Our next "move" was to the conference room to play a rousing game of Blitz!! We were furnished with a delicious fruit tray and Coffee and Tea for our afternoon!! They had also left a bouquet and birthday balloon for Shirley's birthday!! Kay and Jim joined us for the Blitz game .. Kay WON!!!

Time to say goodbye .. .. Ken and I had a great time and we're both looking forward to many more get-togethers with my this bunch!!!

Ken and I stopped by Sarah Bush Hospital to visit with June before heading back to Missouri. I'm happy to say she was looking good and was very chipper .. hard to believe she'd has a pacemaker put in just the night before!!! I'm even happier to say that she was able to go home the next day!! How awesome today's medical wonders are!! Thank You Lord!!

It seems as time goes by that my kids and I see less and less of each other .. last year Madonna and Cris and I decided it was time to do something about that so we came to the conclusion that it would be a great idea to get together for each of our birthdays .. with the birthday person choosing what the three of us would do. Madonna's birthday is March 12th .. and for her birthday she decided Cris should come to Hematite and the we would spend the weekend looking for "treasures" .. crafting items .. and crafting.

Ken made a pan of Brownies to add to our celebration .. he put exactly 49 M & M's in the frosting on top to make the numbers 49!! I was in the computer room as he was doing his decorating .. I heard him mumbling and grumbling and went in to see what on earth was happening .. he had gotten the 49 on there and had 2 more M & M's to squeeze in and had to redo the 9 .. and was NOT happy about it .. LOL LOL LOL!!

FRIDAY, MARCH 8 ..

DAY ONE OF THE CELEBRATION!!!

This was one of those "shop til you drop" days!! Plans were to get back here early evening and work on crafts through the evening .. NOT!! We left Hematite at about 10:30 that morning and didn't get back until 9:30 that night!!!

ITENERARY:

Good Works .. a resale shop in Arnold
Hobby Lobby
Keep Sakes .. a scrapbooking store
Shaefers .. a hobby type store
Culvers .. time for lunch
Savers .. a new resale shop started by Vietnam Veterans .. on the order of Goodwill but prices were higher
Vally Park Flea Market .. resale store
QT .. time for a pit stop
Value Village .. resale store
Wal Mart in Festus
Home at last!!!

We bought more clothes / bath towels / fabric than we did "treasures" so there's nothing "exciting" to take pics of .. but we had a blast looking! I did get a book on doing Counted Cross Stitch for $1.50 .. the ones at Wal Mart were $10.00 -$15.00!!!

We got back so late and we were all pretty pooped so we decided we'd wait and do the crafting part of this venture the next day. Madonna says we will be back here by early afternoon .. oh yeah .. sure .. we'll see .. LOL!!!

It's daylight now .. I think it's time I got into the shower and started getting ready for the day .. can't wait for it to begin!! I hope YOUR day is as fun as I know mine is going to be!!

P.S. Cris did get something she's excited about .. I'll take a pic and post it as soon as I find my camera!!!!!!

Wooooo Hoooo .. Cris found my camera!!!

These are Cris's finds for the day!! The "treasure" of the day was the wooden toy .. Cris is a nurse at the Cumberland County Health Clinic and she was looking for something for kids to play with when Mommy brings them into her office .. this was a real find at only $2.79 at Saver's!!!

My "treasure" of the day was the ring on my ring finger .. I found it at Shafer's Hobby Shop .. there is a lady who makes jewelry and sells it there!!

Madonna took her bags home with her so I'll have to bug her to bring whatever she considers to be her "treasure of the day" over so I can get a pic of it too!!!

Time to get to bed .. planning to get an early start in the morning .. see ya' later!!!!!

SATURDAY, MARCH 9 .. DAY TWO!!

As you know Friday we spent about 10 hours out shopping .. we didn't get any crafting done that day!!!! Madonna was determined that we would get our crafting started on Saturday so we stayed in Festus to do our "treasure" hunting .. went to a few of the many resale shops we have in town .. and to Joanne Fabrics .. stopped at China I to pick up lunch and believe it or not we were back at the "Hematite Bed & Breakfast" by 2:00!!

ITINERARY:

Take off 9:52 .. Whoops .. we got started a bit late!!
Richard's Produce for goodies for those who love vegetables!
Second Time's a Charm .. a resale shop needless to say!
Mom & Me's .. another resale shop
Big Lots
Joann's Fabrics
Dollar General
China I .. lunch to take home with us
Home .. 2:03 PM .. Good Job!!!!
Crafting and laughter the rest of the day!!!
Supper .. Mike's delicious BBQ Pulled Pork, Chips and Dip .. AND Birthday Cake and Brownies of course!!!

Cris and Madonna enjoying their lunch!!

After lunch Cris went to work making Madonna a Birthday Cake!! I just had to get this picture of my little girls licking the beaters .. LOL!!!

Cris had brought along her Mary Englebreit "Queen for the Day" plate to put the Birthday Cake on!!!

Cris did a great job on the cake .. and she made it from scratch!!!!!!

Happy birthday to you. ♫ ♪ ♪ ♫ Happy birthday to you. ♫ ♪ ♪ Happy birthday dear Madonnnnaaaaa ♪ ♪ ♫ Happy birthday tooooo youuuuuuu. ♫ ...and many moooooorrrrrre!!!!

Shopping's done .. lunch is done .. we've had a piece of that delicious cake .. she's opened her gifts .. no more stalling .. it's time for crafting!!!!

It seemed like it took hours to get these strands of embrodiery floss separated and cut and ran through this ever so handy floss holder!!! That was an accomplishment in itself!!! I was actually foolish enough to think that I could do counted cross stitch .. and bought a kitchen towel with a neat counted cross stitch pattern that came along with it to do .. what I hadn't stopped to think about was that it was going to be very hard to see all those little squares to do those little x's in!!! So my first day of crafting wasn't a great accomplishment .. except for getting these 18 inch bunches of floss put on this card!!

AND .. see all those clothespins with floss wrapped around them?????? I did that too .. Woooooo Hoooooo!! That's what Madonna does with her floss .. I thought it was a great idea so I did that with the floss that was left after I put some on the cardboard!! The little flower and the bit of crochet is what Madonna was working on .. when Cris and I weren't bugging her to help us .. LOL!!

The T shirt on the table is what Cris was working on .. she's making a T shirt pillow for Tyler. That bit of bright green fuzz is supposed to go on that T shirt somewhere!!!

SUNDAY, MARCH 10 ..

DAY THREE!!!

ITINERARY:

Breakfast .. Birthday Cake and Brownies .. Yummmmmm!!

Joann Fabrics once again

Lunch .. leftover China I

Crafting .. crafting .. crafting

Raintree Plantation .. Hillsboro .. to show Cris the house.

Cracker Barrel for supper .. Yummmmm!!

Cris leaves for home .. the party's over!!

We started our day at Joann's Fabrics looking for something bright and colorful for Cris to add to Tyler's Seussical the Musical pillow. I found this STAMPED cross stitch kit .. thought it might be easier to do since you didn't have to try to see all those little tiny squares and count them. Sad to say I didn't do much better on this than I did on the counted cross stitch!!!

Tyler's Seussical the Musical pillow. Tyler was in this play when he was still in high school and they have seen the play at the Fabulous Fox in St. Louis .. they all love it!!! Cris is going to make a big flower out of the bright green boa in the earlier picture and add to the pillow!!

Cris had quite a chore getting this fuzzy bright embroidery floss sewed around the neck and the sleeves!! I hope Tyler appreciates the love that was put in every stitch!!!

Cris is actually the only one who accomplished much .. Madonna got some more little flowers made .. and lots of square of fabric cut to make more flowers. Madonna spent most of her time helping Cris and I with our projects!! I managed to do a few x's on my project .. I told Madonna I would work on it again one day then give it to her for Christmas .. and she could work on it .. then the next Christmas she could give it to Cris and she could work on it .. then Cris can pass it back to me .. we'll just keep at it until it's done .. LOL!!!

When we had had enough of crafting .. I called Ken and he came and picked us up to make a run to Hillsboro to show Cris the house .. then we went back to Hematite for Cris to pick up her car as she would be heading back to Illinois and home .. then Cracker Barrel here we come!!

As usual the meal at Cracker Barrel was delicous .. Thanks Ken!! When we walked out of Cracker Barrel it was raining .. and after stepping off it's front porch and heading for the car we discovered this beautiful rainbow!!!

It was the brightest AND biggest rainbow I have ever seen .. much brighter than it looks in this picture!!!

AND it is actually a double rainbow .. if you look real hard you can see the second rainbow to the right of the more dominant rainbow!! The rainbow was so huge it actually ran clear to the other side of Cracker Barrel .. I tried to get a picture showing the building which was practically centered with the rainbow but couldn't get to where I could get the whole thing in!! Madonna took some pics too .. I will have to see what she got and will post some of hers later!!!

Cris left for Illinois and home from Cracker Barrel .. and we headed for Hematite to return Madonna to her home and then to Hillsboro and our home. What a wonderful weekend it had been .. we didn't accomplish a whole lot but we had a lot of laughs .. a lot of fun .. and a lot of love. I can hardly wait for the next birthday celebration!!!

The "treasures" I found when we were shopping on Saturday!!

The main reason I bought the carton of Coke!!! Sad to say there was only ONE Cardinals bottle in the carton but that's okay .. I'm still happy with it!!!