Let's Dare to Share!

It's Friday night, and you know what that means.. 

It is time to Dare to Share! 

Last week I shared that I did not know where we were going to go on out vacation the night before we were due to leave.  We finally did figure out at least what direction we were going the morning we were leaving.  We decided to go to NE Ohio.  Our first stop was Sugarcreek, Ohio. Sugarcreek is a cute little town, with the worlds largest cuckoo clock. It is in Amish country and considered the Little Switzerland of Ohio.  They are known for their cheese. The woman who took this picture of us worked for a nearby store and gave us a coupon for some free cheese. We were hungry for lunch, so we picked up our free cheese and some yummy salads at her store. D loves trains and bought us tickets to go on a nearby Roundhouse Steam Engine tour. He enjoyed the tour a bit more than me, but that's okay, because our next stop was right up my alley. 

Canton, Ohio was not too far away from where we were, and that happens to be the home of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.  I love football, and the museum was so much fun.  They have a really cool experience were you see holograms of famous past players with a 3D effect like you are in a football locker room.  Joe Namath was the main narrator, and the entire thing was really inspiring.  When we finished up at the Pro Football Hall of Fame we decided to drive up to Conneaut, Ohio. It is small beach/lake town in the most far east corner of Ohio. We know someone who used to live there, and he recommended with visit it. We were surprised when we got that the population of the town was way bigger than normal.  They were having a war reenactment with thousands of visitors.  We then found out that between the reenactment and the Morgan Wallen concert at the Browns stadium in Cleveland, a hotel was very hard to come by in all of NE Ohio.

 We finally found a room in Warren about 30 minutes outside of Cleveland.  That next morning we decided to head into Cleveland and visit the Christmas Story house.  The house is in a small neighborhood. It had several buildings around it that included a BnB, museum, gift shop and small pub. The craziest thing about the tour is I was standing in line right beside a woman who was from my town where I lived at in Michigan, and her kids went to the school I used to teach at.  We were 4+ hours from our town in Michigan, so it was definitely a small world moment.   Once we were done with the tour,  we headed over the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. 

While I took a lot of photos at the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, I am not going to post them.  There were several signs that said you were welcome to take pictures for personal use only.   I do not want to risk getting in trouble for posting photos on my blog.  I will say if you go and are a Bon Jovi fan, you need to go to the 6th floor to the Bon Jovi Forever exhibit.  That floor was amazing!  They so many cool exhibits with outfits, guitars, and other items from so many of our favorite bands and musicians.  They currently are having a SNL music exhibit with a really interesting and fun movie talking about back stories about many of the music acts that have been on the show. 

Our next stop was to drive over to Put In Bay to check it out.  It was getting late in the day, and it was too late to take a ferry to the island so we decided to go some place else instead. 

We have all park passes from Kings Island, so we were able to get into Cedar Point for free.  That night was their last special Boardwalk Night, and the last night they were open to 10 pm.  Our passes include food, so we picked up some dinner and enjoyed the party on the Boardwalk.  We went back on Monday, and spent a full day riding roller coasters and enjoying the park.  I actually even rode the new coaster Sirens Curse.  I was anxious standing in line, but it was so much fun! I would definitely ride it again.  You can see reels about our trip on both Instagram  and Tik Tok. 

This weekend I am working on Halloween DIYS so you should start seeing them on the blog soon! 

Well now that you know what I have been up to this week, I would love to see what you have been up to.  Link up and HAVE FUN! 

 

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It's Party Time! Let's Dare to Share!

It's Friday night, and you know what that means.. 
It is time to Dare to Share! 

Happy Friday! 

No, I did not get a new kitten, but we did have a few furry little friends visit the daycare today. I used to have an orange and white cat years ago. He was a wonderful kitty! I was partial to this sweet baby, but we already have two large dogs and two older cats so it is not the right time to get a new kitten. 

 I saw this fun coloring book at the Dollar Tree today.  The reason why I am posting it is we are going to be going on a short vacation soon.  The problem is, we can not decide where we are going to go.  I would love to go back to Lake Michigan like we did five years ago.  D wants to go to some place where we have not been before.  I am sure we will figure it out, and once we do I will probably share about where we went.  

Over the last few weeks, I have been buying and collecting a lot of items for this years Halloween DIYs.   I made these spooky skeleton hands last year with just a few items from the Dollar Tree. What is great about this DIY is it can be turned into Grinch hands which just a few changes.  I will be posting my DIYs on the blog which I will hopefully be starting to put together next week.   If you would love to see all of my Halloween finds and DIYS  on social media, you can follow me on Instagram or TIK TOK.  

Well it looks like it is time to get this party started.  Link up and HAVE FUN!  

                          

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It's Time to Dare to Share!

It's Friday night and you know what that means.. 

It's time to Dare to Share! 

Happy Friday!

I know it is still August, but Halloween items are popping up everywhere.  So much so the new name for August is Augtober.  I am currently on the hunt for a couple of Halloween items.  There is a ghost at Marshalls that is holding a can of Coca Cola (my fav) and a ghost mirror at Dollar Tree. I did end up finding some really cute items, but not the ones I am looking for so far. I really love the cute ghost that is pictured, but it's a bit more than I want to spend.  I am hoping I will have luck finding the items I am looking for this weekend.

 This weekend we are visiting Michigan to see my friends at the dance, and to see my kids tomorrow.  It is a bit later than planned to get the party posted because there was a problem with the first reservation at the a hotel nearby.  They do not have an attendant on the premises but you have to connect on an online person.   D waited several minutes for the attendant to become available, and then she was not able to find a room to match our online reservation.  While the price was good, we probably won't go back because the online check was more complicated than it needed to be and we have to get a refund if his card is charged.  We were lucky enough to find another hotel nearby and get a nice room.  

Did you see the full moon tonight? D got a really good photo while we were at the dance.  I tried to take one on my phone, but all you can see is a yellow blur.  I didn't really take many pictures tonight.  I will have to make sure to take a lot more this weekend. 

Well it is getting very late, so I need to get this party started.  Link up and HAVE FUN! 

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Let's Dare to Share!

It's Friday night, and you know what that means..

It is time to Dare to Share! 

I stopped by Dollar General today after work. They are having a special clearance sale, and I knew that some of their Halloween items have arrived. I was so excited when I saw this display.  This Halloween the colors will definitely be pink, purple and teal. I know it is not traditional for Halloween, but I love those colors. 

If you have been to Walmart recently, their Summerween line also has similar colors.  If you decorate for Halloween do you do traditional colors, scary decor or trendy, like the colors this year? 

This week I have been getting ready for a mid August event, by making some batches of cookie dough to freeze.  Next week we will start baking the cookies and then decorating.  I am trying to figure out what theme of cookies I want to make for mid August.  Anyone have any ideas?  

Has anyone had car trouble this week?  The reason why I am asking is one of our cars broke down, and one of my besties was in a car accident early in the week. (she was not at fault)  Another friend had an accident  last weekend. (she was not at fault either)   With three cars out of commission in such a short time, it made me wonder. Hmm.. 

Quick update on D's back from what I shared last week.  He is doing much better this week.  He has seen a chiropractor the last couple of weeks which has really helped.  He is walking normally again with only occasional back pain. 

Well it is getting late, and I have a busy day tomorrow, so I better get this party started.  Link up and HAVE FUN! 

 

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It's Party Time! Let's Dare to Share!

It's Friday night, and you know what that means..

It's time to Dare to Share!  

Happy Friday! 

This week was busy and eventful.  Last weekend, D hurt his back while weeding in front of our house.  We had tickets for our local minor league baseball game that same night.  Since the weather was beautiful, and we could sit the entire game, we decided to still go. We also had tickets the the Tuesday night game.  I had a lot of fun that night meeting, and taking pictures with a couple of our mascots. Unfortunately we lost both games.  Then on Wednesday night, we won tickets again for the Thursday night game.  We gave them to a friend since we thought already going two times that week was enough.  Our friend went and that was the night that our team won by several runs..  Oh well, hopefully they can do it again the next time we go.  D's back is not back to 100%, but he is improving everyday.  

 I am really starting to get into the Halloween mood.  I know it is because the Dollar Tree is getting a lot of Halloween items in right now, and many are brand new this year.  I have been buying some really cool stuff for the upcoming season.  If you would like to see what I have been buying, and some easy Halloween DIYs you can follow along on Instagram.

Did you know that Walmart had the cutest Summerween line on sale right now?  It is all about Halloween characters having summer fun. I am loving all the colors and fruit made to look like jack o lanterns.  I especially love that most items are $10 and under.  If you would like to see what I am talking about, I have many items posts in my LTK. 

This upcoming weekend I will be working on bakery stuff, and possibly going some place fun if the weather cooperates.  

Now that you see what I have been up to. I would love to see what you have been doing.  Link up and HAVE FUN! 

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Let's Dare to Share!

It's Friday night, and you know what that means.. 

It is time to Dare to Share! 

Even though it is the middle of July, I am seeing more and more Halloween items hitting the shelves.  At Walmart they have the cutest Summerween line out right now, including these adorable Halloween ducks enjoying summer. If you are interested in seeing more the of the Summerween line, you can find it in my LTK, There are so many cute items that are making me looking forward to the real Halloween season soon. 

There is a code orange at the Dollar Tree! Stores are beginning to get their fall and Halloween items.  You can see more about what items I have found on Instagram.

Tomorrow we are supposed to go to a baby shower and a baseball game.  As of right now right now we might not be doing either.  The mother to be has been having some complications and is currently in the hospital.   The baby is okay, but mom has to be closely monitored, so we are not having the shower as planned.   Due to other kinds of showers, the baseball game tomorrow night has a good chance of being canceled as well.  We are expected to have some pretty bad thunderstorms during game time, so we will have to see what happens tomorrow. 

It was a pretty uneventful week this week, and now my exciting plans are changing as well.    Well now that you know what I am not doing this week, what have you been up to?  Link up and HAVE FUN!  

 

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It's Time to Dare to Share!

It's Friday night, and you know that means.. 

It's Time to Dare to Share! 

Tonight the party is being posted a little bit late because we were celebrating the birthdays of four friends at the dance we go to when in Michigan.    We had a lot of fun, and the cake is delicious. 

We were having some fun selfies while at the dance. 

This week was a bit slower than last week.  I did a couple of Dollar Tree visits, and went to trivia and music bingo with my friends. I will be busy with my kids this weekend, and then we will see what next week brings. 

Since it is getting late, and I need to get some sleep, let's get this party started.   Link up and HAVE FUN! 

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Happy 4th of July! Let's Dare to Share!

It's Friday night, and you know what that means.. 

It is time to Dare to Share! 

Happy 4th of July! 

Tonight we had a space at our local 4th of July celebration to sell items from our bakery.  We sold quite a bit, even though it was extremely warm outside.  What was nice about our booth location, we were able to watch the fireworks there and not have to go into the large crowd.   Last weekend (June 28th) we were at another celebration in a different town that did not have a good ending.  Two teenage boys threw an explosive device in a metal trash can which injured two kids when it exploded. We were far away from that area, but we saw many people running scared, because they thought it there were gunshots. Everyone had to leave before the fireworks were over.  Thankfully they were able to catch the boys, and they are currently in custody with several serious charges. 

Here are some of my red, white and blue cookies that we sold tonight. It is not easy to make fireworks as you can tell from the cookie in the upper left. It ended up being one of my favorite cookies, because the firework look so silly.  Someone ended up buying it, so it must not have looked too weird. LOL 

Earlier this week, we went to a baseball game.  We play trivia at a restaurant every week, and have won free tickets a few times.  After several days of rain, that night ended up being beautiful.  We also had the opportunity to be part of a world record. We signed the most autographed baseball while at the park. 

Now that you know what I have been up to, let me see what you have been up to.  It's getting late, so I am to get this party started.  Link up and HAVE FUN! 

 

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It's Time to Dare to Share!

It is Friday night, you know what that means.. 

It is time to Dare to Share! 

 During last week's party I mentioned we were going on another adventure.  Early Saturday morning we left for a day long train trip though parts of Ohio.  It was one of the trips on the Ohio Rail Experience.  D has always love trains, so we decided to try it out.  While it was definitely fun, it was extremely warm that day and we were not in an air conditioned car. We were also delayed a few hours getting back to the station.  We will definitely go on one again, but on a shorter trip.  We left at 8:30 am, and did not get off the train until 9:30 pm.  We were allowed to bring our own food and they also had a food car on the train.  

We did have a three hour stop in Washington Courthouse, Ohio. It's a cute small town about 40 minutes south of Columbus. There were 400-500 of us on the train, so many of the local restaurants had a busy Saturday afternoon.  We ate at the local sushi place called Ohayo.  

The rest of the week we were trying to stay cool, with 90+ temps everyday all week long. I also had to get my professional development done by the end of the month deadline for my work.  

Did you hear that Dollar Tree is raising their prices this weekend? It is not everything in the store, but several items throughout the store. It is a sad time for many Dollar Tree shoppers, but they do still have some great deals.  I posted  what to expect on both Instagram and TIK TOK   if you would like to see what will now be $1.50 and $1.75.  Thankfully it is not the entire store, and many things will still be $1.25 for now.  

Now that you have seen what I have been up to this week, I would love to see what you have been up to.  Link up and HAVE FUN! 

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Let's Dare to Share!

It's Friday night, and you know what that means..

It is time to Dare to Share! 

It was another busy week! Last weekend while running errands we stopped by Bob Evans for lunch. It's strawberry season, so they have a ton of berry goodies on their menu. We tried their strawberry chocolate French toast.. It was so good!!! I am sharing this in case there is anybody here that likes berries and wants to check it out. (this is NOT a paid ad, I just really, really liked this French Toast.)

On Monday I made a couple of batches of cookie dough to freeze for an upcoming market. We also babysat our grandbaby a couple of times.  She is at such a fun age.  She is almost 10 months old, and on the verge of walking.  On Wednesday we went to our weekly trivia night. We won a round, and got third place overall.  Right before trivia was supposed to start, a huge thunderstorm went through our area.  They power went out for a few minutes. While we were fine at the restaurant, the power was out in several parts of the region because of downed trees and power lines.  

On Thursday we took our sons (one mine, one his) to Cedar Point for the day. That too was an adventure.  As soon as we got there it started pouring. We had to run for cover under an awning. The rain started to slow down, so we entered the park.  We had a quick lunch, and got in line for the roller coaster Maverick.  We had been in line for a bit, when over the intercom they said the ride was being shut down for a bit due to heavy rain coming through.  We were then told we could stay in line, or if we decided to leave, we would lose our place in line. Since it was raining and we had shelter, we decided to stay in line. About half the people in line left. We were hoping the rain would stop quickly, but it didn't. The place erupted with cheers when it was announced the ride was starting back up again.  It took a total of 3 hours before we got on the ride.  

I am so surprised I did it, but the four of us rode the TT2.  If you do not know of TT2, it is a super fast and very tall roller coaster.  You will be able to see it in the last photo. 

Once the weather cleared up and the sun came out, the weather was perfect. It was in the low 70s with clear skies.  Toward the end of the day we decided to go on the big Ferris wheel and then ride the Gatekeepers as our last ride.  

I took this picture at the top of the big wheel. The sun was going down over Lake Erie and there was a pretty glow over the park. Do you see that giant tower like thing in the back, that is part of TT2.  The coaster has to go 120 mph to make it over the top. Now that I rode it once, I don't need to do it again. LOL!

This weekend we are on another adventure.  I will post more about it soon! 

Now that you now what I have been up to, I would love to see what you have been up to.  Link up and HAVE FUN! 

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It's Party Time! Let's Dare to Share!

It's Friday night, and you know what that means..

It is time to Dare to Share! 

We had another fun and busy week.  Last Sunday we attended a large strawberry festival not too far from where we live.  I love strawberries and there were so many yummy treats available there. 

It was quite impressed with the stilt walkers walking around the festival.  I am just a little over 5 ft tall and they were double my size! 

On Wednesday we attended the Logan Wilson Celebrity Softball game.  Logan Wilson is a linebacker for the Cincinnati Bengals. This was the 3rd annual game for the Brooks Joshua Anderson foundation which raises funds for SIDS research. 

Many of the Bengals supported this cause and showed up to play. This year Tee Higgins and Jamar Chase joined in the game.  It was so much fun to see the guys enjoying friendly competition.  While they were still being competitive, it was not in a serious way.   The final score of the game was actually like a football score, 31 to 27 in just seven innings!  We hope to go again if Logan Wilson does this again next year. 

We are expecting rain all weekend, so it might be a little less busy.  I still need to post my blog post about how to make the fake bake cookies.  :) 

Now that you know what I have been up to, I would love to see what you have been doing.  Link up and HAVE FUN! 

 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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Let's Dare to Share!

It's Friday night, and you know what that means..

It is time to Dare to Share! 

We are taking a short trip to Michigan this weekend.  We went to the dance with our friends tonight for the first dance of the summer.  It is usually one of the biggest dances of the year with both a DJ and a band.  It will be just a short visit though, because we have something planned back in on Ohio on Sunday.  

The market last weekend was a success! I sold quite a few cookies, and had some interest in the fake bake cookies.  A few people thought they were actually real, and wanted to eat them.  LOL! I did find out though, that they are so light that a big gust a wind can blow them right off the table. I do have a few spots I need to touch up on a couple of them.  We have another market in a few weeks, and I will find a different way to display them.  I am thinking of wrapping them in clear cellophane and  hanging them somehow so they are easier for people to see when walking by our booth. 

I was a little under the weather earlier this week after catching a cold from one of our toddlers at the daycare.  Thankfully it was pretty fast moving, so I am on the tail end of the it. It did take it easy a few days, because it did make me want to rest more than usual. 

Since it is already pretty late, let's get this party started.   Link up and HAVE FUN! 

 

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It's Time to Dare to Share!

It's Friday night, and you know what that means..

It is time to Dare to Share!

It's been a really busy week for me.  Each week I play trivia with D and some friends at a local restaurant.  When you win a round, the prize is tickets to our local minor league baseball  team.  We have won a few times, and I went to the game this week with a one of my friends on our trivia team.  It was a pretty good game with several home runs, but in the end we lost. We still had a lot of fun though. 

This weekend, I will be participating in a market at a nearby festival.  I spent the rest of the week working on products to sell. 

I am excited about my giant fake cookies. They were on the  easy side to make, and look pretty realistic.  I will be sharing how I made them in a blog post.  I will definitely be making more of them to sell, and to decorate my house with during the holidays. 

With the opening of Lilo and Stitch movie out this past weekend, I used the Stitch cookie cutter set that I bought at Aldi at Christmas time to make Stitch cookies  The icing was slightly on the thick side, so it did not turn out quite as smooth as I would like.  This was my first time trying a more complicated cookie, so I am happy with how they turned out.  I know a few things I will try to do a little differently the next time. 

I also make some simpler cookies like flower and butterflies.  It does take practice to make iced sugar cookies, but with each batch I make they become easier and easier.  

Now that you know what I have been up to this week, I would love to see what you have been doing.   So let's get this party started! Link up and HAVE FUN! 

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