Mid-West Adventure

Home again after a month long trip to the beautiful mid-west! 

First stop to my sister's in Illinois, to prepare for Gold Rush.  Cleaned, tagged, and loaded all kinds of goodies in her horse trailer.  Okay fine, we went to an auction too.  We loaded a trailer there too but not to worry, it was all for my nephew.  So of course, I got to visit with my nieces and nephews and great nieces and nephews.

Then on to Oronoco, Minnesota for Gold Rush weekend.  I used to live just down the road from this show so it's my all time favorite. 

Actually got the nerve to drive up our old driveway to see what we could see.  They changed out the deck my husband build 20 years ago, I guess it's about time, for a beautiful huge one.  Would have loved to check out the inside to see if they made some of the improvements I would have like to make if we were still there.

Two of my sisters did the show with me.  I think we had enough fun to try this again, we'll see.  Here's our booth with an early shopper the night before the show officially opens.

 
On the way back to Illinois we stopped at one of our bother's houses in Baraboo, Wisconsin, for a late night visit.  Thanks to my failing Tom Tom navigation and a dead cell phone and Wisconsin's love of round abouts, I almost didn't make it!

Then I had a nice visit at my Mom's in Upper Michigan.  Also seeing an other nephew and uncle.  My mom's side of the family had a mini family reunion in Green Bay.  Mini meaning it was just for the 'local' Kalishek's.  So I guess I was a crasher.  But I did see some relatives I haven't seen in a very, very long time.

My youngest sister didn't do Gold Rush with us so I stopped to visit with her a couple days in Wisconsin, too.  Her young boys just crack me up.   And of course we squeezed in a little thrift shopping while we were at it.

The last 2 weeks were spent in Minneapolis with my little girl.  Helping her move into a new apartment.  After graduation this spring, her internship turned into a real job so she's staying in Minnesota.  The logistics of moving out of one apartment the last of the month and not being able to move into the new one until the next day, toss in the truck rental company not providing as large a vehicle as promised and a new roommates larger than anticipated bed, and did I mention it was move in weekend for college students.  Ya, quite the adventure!  Thankfully, my sister-in-law lives in town and we had someplace to stay overnight and unload to make 2 loads.

But here are a couple pictures of the partially decorated new apartment.

 Her color scheme was salmon and gold.  She looks happy but exhausted!  I brought the headboard from home.  It was a prop I'd used in the past.  She has an idea to put photos in the windows but first making a mirrored mat on the glass to frame them.

Speaking of mirrors.....I bought most of these from home, but it was her idea to do a mirror wall in their dining room. 

Most of my treasures I got on my trip are unpacked and put away, either here or in the storage unit, ha!  Here's one of the finds I got for the boy.  Hope to see him tomorrow.

I just thought it was an interesting piece and if he doesn't want it I'll put it in our upstairs TV room.  I've got some old game boards on the walls up there and this might be fun up there too.

Nice to be home, sleeping in my own bed again.  I always like to count the beds, couches, I sleep on while I'm gone.  9 this trip, ya, good to be home.