I wonder if I am one of the late comers to realize how beautiful central Illinois really is. As I look out my home office at 100 year old oak trees and the meandering Illinois river, it seems I could be anywhere and yet I can't believe this is flat farmland Illinois. The bluffs and ravines are steep and historically rich. Abraham Lincoln practiced law right down the road and Ronald Reagan went to school not far from here. People are incredibly friendly and go out of their way to be helpful to newcomers.

Peoria has a thriving religious community with a diversity I didn't expect. From B'hai to Methodist, Jewish to Catholic there is a variety I would expect in a much bigger city. Huge medical centers are bringing this former Caterpillar based area to new heights as a medical powerhouse. The community theatre is very active and amazingly well known artists come to the Civic Center.

What a fine place to raise a family, with affordable real estate, cost of living and nice people. Wish I had found it sooner and left the rat race of Chicago.

Well, almost time to get the attic ready to open, if I can find the boxes...

My husband and I noticed there was only one teen left out of four and we still had baby stuff in the attic, and oh yes, there was that 'other' attic too, and there was all the historical stuff from the medieval reinactment we've done for nearly two decades. Yes dear, we still have your childhood books and the children's books and....we have to have a plan here..

So, we talked about having a garage sale and that was nixed rather quickly. Garage sales are really boring and you don't meet too many people from interesting places. We decided that opening an Ebay shop was like having a garage sale and inviting the entire world to come look and find treasures that they would cherish and enjoy like we did.

Some of the things are like new, and some are well loved. Some things we made and some we bought from other artisans. It was like looking at our lives, yet wanting to lighten the load a bit so we could move on and do new things.

The grandchildren started to arrive and brought new and exciting days, things change again. And so it goes.