Store update!

hi everyone!

Today I removed the last of my merchandise from The Wagon Wheel. After I find a home for all of it - in my home - I will resume uploading product information to the store shopping cart so I can FINALLY reveal the link! I am waiting for the sun to go down before I remove everything from my car; it was hot enough earlier today while I was putting it in my car in 102 degree temperature. Thankfully I got all remaining merchandise and fixtures in my car in one trip so I did not have to come home, unload (in 102 degree temperature) and drive back to the wheel to reload. So I've been working inside the house all day moving stuff around and organizing everything that was already inside. I needed the exercise anyway, lol!

After all that is done I look forward to getting back into my scraproom and work on creations to share! I have a vacation to scrap! :-)

Freda

New products in!

New to the store, not to the market, lol. I have been going through orders to see what came in. It's like Christmas every time I open a box. Not only because of the number of stuff that comes in, but just because I place an order for something is no guarantee that it will come in. So it really IS a surprise.

I'm excited that I FINALLY have the following products in: Distress Stains, Re-inkers, and Smooch! YAY!
Distress Stains is basically the liquid form of your distress ink, more or less. You know how you run the ink pad upside down on a craft mat, spritz with water and soak up your tag or ribbon with the result? Now you can use the distress stains for that. The re-inkers, well, re-ink your distress ink pad (among other things, such as make your own "glimmer mist"). In case you're wondering, Smooch comes in a plastic bottle so they will not break during shipment. Double YAY!

Another product I really like, and got in, is by Kaiser Craft and for stampers: the Clear Stamper. I got to personally play with this one during the CHA show and what I really like about it is the handle on top so that stampers can press down on their paper instead of trying to grip an acrylic block or stamp by the side. It also allows for even distribution of pressure on your stamp. Each package includes one each of 1.5x1.5, 2x4 and 4x6 acrylic blocks. Simply remove the handle from one to use with another. Cool! huh? ;-) It sells for $14.99 for each set.

These items will be entered into the store online catalog and shopping cart in the next few days. I have just gotten adhesives entered and started accessories. You cannot see the shopping cart just yet but it's coming.

Have a great day all!

Freda

We're back!

Hi everyone! We're back home and I'm very anxious to get back to what I do best: scrappin' and sharing! It may be a few days since I have tons of things to take care of first. It's hard being away from home for 2 weeks! Strange, at home 2 weeks can go by awfully quick. But when you're on vacation for 2 weeks it feels like you've been gone forever when the time comes to go home.

Anyway, this is a message to let you know that I haven't forgotten any of you. I will be updating previous posts with a few pics over the next couple of days. Oh! and how about some blog candy? I'll have to take a look at what I have laying around but you know I have something!

Freda

Vacation: day 8 - Rapid City

First, between last night and tonight DH and I managed to get a photo of every presidential statue in DT Rapid City that was available.

We started our day at Mount Rushmore. What a sight! Then we went to The Cosmos, which was * OK *. Bear Country was FABULOUS! We also went to Crazy Horse and spent some time down in Keystone. TONS of bikers hanging out in Keystone.

Like the other days, I will share pics with you once my internet connection issue resolves itself. Please check back later.

Tomorrow: Devil's Tower, Deadwood, and Sturgis (Extreme Sports Fighting at Knuckle Saloon, Motorcycle museum, Midget Bowling, and Toby Keith show).

Freda

Vacation: day 7 - Sioux Falls, SD

What happened to day 6? there wasn't really one! That was the day we returned from De Smet, really. After DH and I returned my friend and I spent the day with her kids while DH stayed back at her house to relax.

The next day, Saturday, we all went to my friend's parents house for a birthday celebration. I hadn't seen her family in years and we all had a blast!

DH and I said our goodbyes and hit the road. We first stopped at yet ANOTHER roadside attraction in Blue Earth, MN: the jolly green giant! And...there's a museum there! Had we known I think we would have planned the visit differently; oh well.

We stopped in Sioux Falls, SD for the night only because there wasn't a room available in Mitchell where we really wanted to stop. Sturgis traffic. We were lucky to get a room in Sioux Falls. And, it was a good thing too because I thought (for some reason) that the Corn Palace was in or near Rapid City for some reason. So the next morning, when we were on the road again, we started seeing signs for the Corn Palace at exit 332 and exited. I think we would have possibly missed the signs in the dark at 10PM. All things happen for a reason, right?

We also stopped at 1880's museum and Wall, SD. By then we were seeing a LOT of bikers. They were all over the place!

Again, I would share some photos but the internet connection is very poor. Please check back later.

Freda

Vacation: day 5 - Walnut Grove and De Smet

The Laura Ingalls Wilder tour continues! My friend's mother had a birthday party on Saturday so DH and I needed to free up Saturday so we could attend. Otherwise we were going to leave on Saturday morning and do everything we did on Thursday instead.

We took the long way through Mankato and Sleepy Eye (2 of the cities mentioned in the TV series) to Walnut Grove (and then Tracy as we headed to De Smet). We were very surprised that there was far more to do in Walnut Grove than we anticipated! Walnut Grove is about 3 hours from Minneapolis.

We then drove to De Smet, SD, another 2 hours. We got there later than we wanted but that was due to poor planning and the assumption there wouldn't be much to do in Walnut Grove since Laura lived there for only a couple of years. Anyway, De Smet was well worth the drive. Unable to drive all the way back to Minneapolis (a total of 5 hours), we decided to spend the night in Marshall, MN. That put us 3 hours away from Minneapolis.

On the drive back to Minneapolis we stopped at another roadside attraction in Olivia: a giant 12 foot tall corn on the cob! Olivia is known for the present day hybrid type of corn that farmers use.

I would share some photos but my internet connection is very poor. Please check back later.

Freda

Vacation: day 4 - Pepin

Unfortunately there wasn't much to see in Pepin, WI for Laura Ingalls Wilder stuff. Basically a museum of a few items from the 19th century, and a reproduction of a log cabin. My friend's kids had a lot of fun though!

My internet connection is very poor right now. I will try adding photos later.

Freda

Vacation: day 3

Hi everyone! I'm still here! It's been a crazy week!

Ok, let's first start with where I left off. We left off on Monday night of last week when DH and I arrived in Dyersville, IA. We did not make it to the Field of Dreams before they closed. So we ended up spending the night there. We did make it out to the field the next day and we could have stayed around the night before, but the "concession stand" would not have been open for souvenirs. We met a couple from Idaho, the woman at the "concession stand" was an extra in the movie, and by the time we were ready to leave there were all kinds of people showing up!


Last one out turn off the lights:

 

Next, we stopped at a roadside attraction: Strawberry Point (that's me).

 

Then on to Burr Oak, IA for another Laura Ingalls Wilder site:  

 

the Spam Museum in Austin, MN - of which the bottom display deserves an explanation. Do any of you watch Monty Python? They have a Spam sketch...with Vikings (hence the Viking reference in Spam-a-lot). And in the sketch a couple are sitting in the Green Midget Cafe wanting breakfast. The "waitress" (one of the Monty Pythons in drag - which they did well and often) ran down the long list of breakfast items available - all of which involve some portion of spam (spam, eggs, bacon, and spam; spam, spam, eggs, and spam; etc.) The "woman" (another MP in drag) yells "I don't like spam!" Well...the photo of DH and I at the table is a replica of the set used in that Monty Python sketch. And no, I don't like spam:

and Mall of America before arriving at my best friend's home.

Tomorrow we have a somewhat busy day in Rapid City were we finally arrived today. However, tomorrow I will resume with Day 4 of vacation which was a trip out to Pepin, WI on Wednesday for another Laura Ingalls Wilder site - as well as Day 5 when we drove out to Walnut Grove, MN and De Smet, SD for the last LIW sites on this trip. We did not really want to do the back-tracking; however, my friend's mother's birthday was yesterday (Saturday) and the only way DH and I could free up our Saturday (the original departure date) was to shift the last of the LIW sites to another day. It worked out because my friend took her kids to a water park on the day DH and I drove to Walnut Grove and De Smet; and DH and I took the kids with us to Pepin while my friend as at work. More tomorrow!

Vacation: day 2

Today was pretty exciting!

We started the day in Madison County, Iowa and checked out all of the covered bridges and John Wayne's birth place. We also found an old one-room school house made of stone. The bridges are in very poor condition, except for one that was fixed up. Young adults clutter the bridges with graffiti. It was pretty sad. I thought maybe it was high school kids but locals told us it was young adults.


What surprised me was how many gravel roads are in the area. That meant driving a little slower than usual so 1. a rock didn't flip up and hit the windshield; and 2. we didn't kick up a lot of dust. It also surprised me that most of the covered bridges looked very similar to each other; I thought maybe they would at least be different colors.

In the photo of DH at the John Wayne statue, he's trying to pull the rifle away from him. I told DH that would be funnier if it were a statue of Charlton Heston.

I the pic of DH in front of the outhouse at the stone school, well, that was DH trying to be funny (neither the school or the outhouse are operational).


While we did not make it to Dyersville in time to see Field of Dreams before the site closed for the day, it's the first thing on our list for tomorrow morning. We did drive past it so we knew exactly where it is in the morning and I got a couple of pics so I didn't have to worry about it tomorrow when traffic will no doubt be slightly heavier.

There are 3 hotels in this town. One that got very poor reviews; another that the characters Earl and Randy from My Name is Earl would be proud to live in; and the third from a national chain that's slightly above "budget" and "economy" type hotels. We joked it's the premier hotel in Dyersville, lol. Well, it beats driving an additional 20 miles to Dubuque. We were actually lucky to find a room (totally winging it until we get to South Dakota) because there are a bunch of helicopter and airplane pilots here tonight; we got the last room. They're getting ready to do some crop dusting. Didn't know helicopters can do that. There's 4 helicopters parked behind the hotel on the grass!

Tomorrow (Tuesday): Field of Dreams, a giant strawberry roadside attraction, Burr Oak, IA (another Laura Ingalls Wilder site), the Spam Museum (Austin, MN). If we have time Pepin, WI (another Laura Ingalls Wilder site).

Below are some pics:

 

Vacation: first stop

Today we stopped at the Will Rogers Museum just outside of Tulsa off of Route 66. Verrrry interesting. I had no idea that he coined so many pithy sayings such as "I've never met a man I didn't like".

We were on our way out of town, and to keep myself busy I was looking through my Roadside America book. That's when I saw the Blue Whale. DARN! We were right by it at the museum! Sigh! And no! DH would not turn around so we could see it :-(. Meanie!

Ok, next stop, Independence, Kansas for the first of several Laura Ingalls Wilder homes we will visit during our road trip. This was fun for me to see a one room school house (moved to the property), an old post office (also moved to the property). DH thought it was funny to make fun of a well Charles Ingalls dug (called it a hole in the ground). Ok, seriously, DH enjoyed himself and was more than willing to humor me with this stop. He does not think that Michael Landon looked anything like the real Charles Ingalls (he doesn't). On our way out we saw a few bikers walking on to the grounds.

We also got lucky and found another Steak 'n Shake to eat at for dinner! WOO HOO! Our trip uneventful events started in Plano, TX at a Steak 'n Shake there when our car would not start. Fuel line. Luckily we found a place that fixed it for us that same day so we didn't lose much time on the trip. Anyway, I don't know if we'll get lucky again tomorrow; fingers crossed! If you've never eaten at a Steak 'n Shake you really need to. It's the food, not so much the ambiance. DH likes their patty melt and I like their Frisco Melt with bacon. We both had shakes. Yummmmmm!

I hope everyone will forgive me for being short on details. We've had a very long day and tomorrow will be just as long! Right now we are in Des Moines, Iowa. We're going to Madison County to see the covered bridges (yes! just like in the movie Bridges of Madison County!), John Wayne's birthplace and then off to Dubuque. If we get there before the attractions closes, then we will stop at the Field Of Dreams movie site to see the baseball field. If not, then it's the first thing we do Tuesday morning. :-)