Chicago Wolves Game

The other night we were invited to a party at the Chicago Wolves Game.  I've never been to a hockey game, so I was looking forward to going.  The Wolves were playing against the Rockford Icehogs!

When we got to The Allstate Arena, we were ushered to a private room, where we were each given a souvenir Wolves cap.....

Then we were treated to a buffet dinner of fried fish, hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken, pizza, assorted salads, soda and beer.  There were a lot of people at the party, so we got in line, filled our plates and ate our dinner.  Sorry, so food photos because I was too busy eating!  And enjoying a beer!

After dinner we scooted out to the Private Box so we'd get good seats for the game.  We had great seats, down close to the action and very near the goalie.

In the rear of the box was another food table, loaded down with a huge assortment of cookies, popcorn, chips and dips.  Plus more pop and beer.  I have to say the cookies were excellent!  Check these out....

Before the game, the Zamboni guys cleaned the ice.  We kept a close eye on their technique - my daughter is one of the few female trained Zamboni operators in the country.  She said they did a great job!  LOL!

Pretty soon the music started blasting, the announcer began talking, the crowd went wild and the pre-game show began.  The lights started flashing, sirens blared, fireworks began going off, flaming balls of fire shot thru the air, lazer lights were flying all over the place - it's very loud and fun!

After that the players and the color guard stream out onto the ice...

After the "Star Spangled Banner" and a rousing cheer from the crowd, the game begins!

What's a hockey game without a few punches thrown?

Finally, the Wolves score!!

Hockey is a pretty fast game.  It was fun to watch the players fly across the ice and shoot the puck all over the place...

In the end, the Wolves lost 3 - 2.   And even tho I came to the conclusion that Hockey isn't really my thing, I'm glad we went.  We had a nice evening out, with some fun people.  And some really good cookies!

Are You Using Pinterest?

Are you using Pinterest yet?

Maybe you've seen the Pinterest icon on the sidebar of my blog or seen it on Facebook, or Twitter and wondered what it was.  If you don't know what it is, go click on mine to check it out.  Go ahead, I'll wait for you.  The link is right there on my blog.  Go scroll down a little bit - it's on the right sidebar and it's in red, so you can't miss it.  It says "follow me on Pinterest."  Just click on it and it will take you to my boards.

I think of Pinterest  as a huge bulletin board where I can hang up pictures of stuff I like.  Only it's all electronic and the images are linked to websites.  Pinterest makes it super easy to hang up pictures of things you like, with the links back to where you found them.  You also have the option of following other peoples boards.  Say you find someone who has similar tastes to yours - you can follow them, either all of their boards, or select boards.  Then when they pin something to those boards, you can access them.

You can set up boards for yourself in any category that you like.  Some of mine are Foods, Crochet & Knit, Crafts, Home Organization.  I also have boards for different bloggers who have items for sale that I really like.  It's a great way to keep track of things I'd like for myself, so if someone wants to buy me a present (hint,hint) all they have to do is look at my boards for some great ideas.

One of the really neat things about Pinterest is that it's a great way to track what other people are really interested in.  Say I pin something.  Whenever someone else re-pins it or "likes" it, I get an email telling me so.  Each item on my boards also has a list that shows re-pins and likes.  Yesterday I pinned something from another blog onto my board.  Within ONE hour, that pin got re-pinned 147 times!  OMG!  That was an all-time high for my pinterest boards and told me that people really liked this item that I pinned.  Want to know what it was?  Of course you do.  Click here to go see what this phenomenal item was.

I've only been using Pinterest for a couple of months and I really like it.  It's proving to be another great source of traffic to and from my blog.  I am finding that people who might not be followers of my blog still stop by and pin things.  Or, someone is driven to my Pinterest board by one of my pins and then hops over to my blog and becomes a new follower.  I encourage people to leave comments on the individual pins because that gives me additional feedback.

One thing I've been trying to do now is this - when I pin something I try to write a description of exactly what it is and then the direct link to where I found it.  This does 2 things.  First, it helps me and other bloggers know exactly what the item is, which is especially helpful with food items.  And second, it links directly back to the original source, so other people can find it and so the original poster gets credit for the item.  That's only fair, right?   I've clicked on items on other peoples boards that they've re-pinned and the link is broken, so I have no idea where the item originally came from.  That's really frustrating when I want the recipe or to buy something, and now I can't find it.  Also, the person who originally posted the item wants you to come to their website or blog.  So please, for the sake of yourself and the original poster, be sure to link back to the original.

That's really all there is to it.  Check it out.  It gets really addicting!

Historic Wagner Farm

The other day we took a ride to Glenview, Illinois to visit Wagner Farm....

Wagner Farm is important because it's one of the very few remaining farms in Cook County, Illinois.  It sits on just over 18 acres of property and is smack dab in the middle of a suburban neighborhood and bordered by major streets.  If you look closely in the photo below, you can see the cars on the streets in the distance...

The main building is quite large and houses a museum.....

Inside is a life size replica of an old time grocery store....

They had a Model T Ford.....

Papa tried his hand at milking a cow.....

We checked out the history of draft horses....

Learned about truck farming.....

And weighed Papa on an old fashioned scale....

Then we headed outside to see the animals.  The horses were my favorite....

I love to get close up shots of animal eyes.  They are so beautiful!

The barn was quite large.  A little calf was in the lower level all by himself.  We finally convinced Chablis to pet him.....

Bathroom break anyone?  Not me - those seats were cold!

Last stop was the hen house....

It probably took us about an hour to walk through the whole thing.  It was really interesting, very clean and they had some really nice displays.  And get this - it was free!


If you're ever in the Glenview area, I highly recommend stopping at Wagner Farm.  If you have kids, I think they'd really enjoy it.