Hello From St. Charles, IL

We've had a great trip so far. We left home Sunday morning and stopped to antique in Ravenna OH and Medina OH. We then drove to Port Clinton to spend the night at a friend's condo on Lake Erie. Monday morning after breakfast we drove on to Maumee ( Toledo) to do some more antiquing. I found some old clothespins for $3 to use in my crafts, an old sugar mold for $10 that I'm going to use as a candle holder. It 'had' two glass candle holders inside the molds, but Tom accidentally turned the mold upside down to get a better look and one fell out and broke. Good thing I was buying it anyway. I had seen newer candle molds but I liked this one because the wood really looked 'old'. From Maumee we drove to Allen MI. There are approximately 5 antique places in a row but there are also two shops that feature country primitive items. I was a little disappointed as I'd hoped to find some handmade items for myself but most everything was purchased wholesale for resale. The items had factory tags on them. Not for me. Besides a lot of the items I was seeing, I can make myself. I know crafters hate to hear that, but I'm a crafter myself, and it's true. People normally purchase items they know they can't make or don't have time to make themselves.
I had been looking at faux fireplace mantles. I want one so badly. I found several in the antique shops that were electric and had wood mantles and faux brick fronts. One was 'junk' but there was one I fell in love with and the price was only $175 compared to $450 that I had been seeing. I would have bought it on the spot but Tom insisted we wouldn't have room for it once we got to Chicago. I was silently fuming. Mrs. Hyde was heating up herself and I really had to hog tie her or she would have ruined the whole trip. To calm ourselves down, I silently declared that when we returned home, I was going to do some fireplace searching. I want one in time for Christmas decorating.
From Allen MI we drove through to South Bend, IN to spend the night. In the morning we drove over the state line into Niles, MI where there is an antique shop I love that also has primitive style crafts upstairs. Of course, because I had money to spend, I didn't find much. Looked like I had missed a sale and things were picked over. I did purchase a couple of handmade tree ornies though.
We hit about 5 antique shops in the area and about 1 pm hit the turnpike again and headed to LaPorte IN. There is another shop there that I like and it also has an upstairs with primitive crafts. I bought a wooden sled wall hanger that was handpainted with a pineapple. Really cute.
From there we drove through to our final destination, St. Charles IL.
Yesterday we woke at 7 am and Tom headed over to the Kane County fairgrounds and after my shower I came over to my 'office'. That's what Tom refers to it as...the motel's guest computer.
I checked my emails and websites and it just amazes me how fast the time flies when I'm 'working', before I knew it, it was 10:30 and Tom had come back to take me shopping. Our first stop was The Country Store. I bought a dozen of these really cute little silicone star shaped thingees that you fit over mini-lights. They're going to look perfect entwined with some fresh pine branches that will be sitting atop my non existent fireplace mantel. Calm down Mrs. Hyde, I'm working on it.
We made stops at WalMarts, Hobby Lobby and Menards and called it a day at 5 pm. We were both wore out. Amazing, we didn't work, we just shopped. We didn't even feel like going out for dinner so while I got into my nightie Tom drove over to Arby's and brought us make a sandwich.
We watched TV all evening and just relaxed. I had to really fight to keep my eyes open. Our bed was so comfortable and I know I kept dozing off repeatedly. I managed to stay up until 10 and that was it I was ready to go to sleep. As tired as I was though, I must have gotten up at least 10 times during the night. I have dark circles under my eyes and feel like crap. It will be nice to know what a good nights rest is like again. My appt. for the sleep treatment is the 21st.
Today we are moving over to the Pheasant Run Resort and will remain there until Sunday.