Our Saturday Adventure…

On Saturday,  our daughters, Kelli and Kalissa and I left our home at 4:25 am on a drive to Rochester, MN.  Our daughter, Kalissa, is taking EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) classes and needs to put in clinical hours.  She scheduled some in Rochester from 6am to 6pm.  After her accident earlier in the week, there was no way I was sending her off on her own to do this….so off we went.  Rochester is 2 hours away so it didn’t make sense to drive up, drive home just to drive up and drive home again so… Kelli and I decided to waste the day in Rochester.  We thought we would be bored to death but we managed to entertain ourselves by…..

Eating breakfast at McDonalds.  We had planned to stop at JoAnn’s so we killed some time reading the flyers….

Then we were off to Fleet Farm so we could shop for the guys…and dogs.

Then we thought we would stop at Petsmart.  Neither one of us had ever been there.  I was eyeing the parakeets.  We had one when I was a kid and I loved them…blue or green??  I know what Hubby would say…NONE!!

Next stop…Salvation Army.    Kelli managed to find copies of several of my old cookbooks.

From there we were off to Savers.  Kelli had never been there before.  I was looking for picture frames…no luck…but Kelli did find some funky jeans…and no she didn’t buy them!

Next stop….Andy’s Liquor.  I love going there and getting different wines.  We forgot to take a picture there.  We got some fun things like a bottle of pumpkin liquor.  We drank that Sunday with some friends and it was really good.

By then it was lunch time so we stopped at my favorite BBQ restaurant, John Hardy’s BBQ.

From the time we sat down to the time we got our food….8 minutes.  Fast and YUMMY!!

Next stop…Trader Joe’s.  First we did some wine tasting…then into the store.  Kelli is showing off the goat cheese with cranberry and one with blueberry.  They are oh so yummy.  Some cute guy was handing out samples.  I hid these in the refrigerator and we’ll get them out for Thanksgiving.    If you have a Trader Joe’s in your area….TRY THIS!!

From there it was a stop at Pine Needles Quilt Shop.  We didn’t take a picture.  There was nothing we liked.  The store has such a big portion dedicated to selling Bernina’s and not so much for fabric and quilting goodies.

Next stop…All in Stitches in Zumbrota, MN.  We traveled 20 minutes north of Rochester to get there.  They previously had a store in Stewartville, MN but closed that and opened in Zumbrota.

The shop was a definite upgrade from the Stewartville shop as it’s cleaner and more open.  We both bought a bit of fabric…I just got a couple fat quarters for my Easy Street mystery quilt.

From there… We stopped in two clothing stores next door.  Kelli bought shoes and I bought a birthday card.

Then Kelli and I had to feed our addictions…her’s, real fruit smoothies and mine, McDonald’s  Chocolate Chip Frappe’s.

Next, back to Rochester.  Mary at Country Threads told me that I had to go to a “farm store that had antiques in the back room”.  Kelli and I found the place.  We were too late.  They closed at 2pm and it was after that….next times I guess.

Now to JoAnn’s.  We had been plotting our sales ads and coupons.  I ended up with this little stack.  Any idea of what I am doing with that??

Here’s Kelli with a another clue as to what I’m doing with my little stack of goodies….

I am hoping to make a few Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls for baby gifts.  Kelli is showing off her stash of patterns.  She has never really sewn many clothes before and hasn’t read patterns.  I told her, start simple and sew some doll clothes.  Patterns were 5 for $5.  She went a little crazy.  She also bought some yarn in hopes of making a couple scarves like the one I am wearing in all the pictures.  Throughout the day I think I got about 8 compliments on the scarf.  She’s a little nervous about trying to knit one.  She’s just a beginning knitter but it’s been said these are easy to make so we’ll see.

Next stop Wal-Mart.  Kelli and I saw these in the girls section.  Kelli looked and looked and looked hoping they had a XXXXXL but no luck.  These were only for little girls.

Kelli kept saying, “But Mom…it has a beagle on it”… “But Mom…it has a beagle on it”… “But Mom…it has a beagle on it”…   Yes Kelli, it does have a beagle but it is NOT your size…that’s why she has the sad face.

By that time, my phone rang and it was 6:20 pm.  Kalissa was looking for us and wondering how soon we’d be there to pick her up.  We took our goodies to the register and went to pick her up and start on our 2 hour drive home.

So if you are ever wondering how to kill 12 hours in Rochester, MN, I can tell you it’s really pretty easy…and actually lots of fun if you drag Kelli Kramer along with you!