Noted

Childers in Peoria is featuring $5 specials all day long. On a Wednesday we enjoyed two of them, the ribs with fries and an Italian beef sandwich with fries.

The Ice Cream Shack in Sunnyland is open for the season.

Sunday we set out to have breakfast. First stop, closed. Second stop, not much of an offering. Third stop, closed. Fourth stop, paydirt!
One World in Peoria served up a great breakfast, and we will keep them in mind for future Sunday dining.

The Mountain Mudd coffee stands in the area closed a few months ago. We see that the Washington location will soon be taken over by The Blend, operating as The Blend Express.

A reader contacted me and mentioned that eight Peoria area funeral homes are owned by a Texas conglomerate. Clary Funeral Home and Deiters Funeral Home and Crematory are locally owned, to name just a few.

Knollaire Flowers on Sheridan Road in Peoria is going out of business.

A couple of weeks ago we got a USDA choice rib roast from Alwans & Sons Meat Company, so my husband could try his hand at smoking it. Pat was very helpful and the meal turned out great.

As a side note, it's also worth mentioning some great service we received.
Last weekend while running around Peoria, we noticed that one of our tires was losing air. We stopped and put some air in, then headed over to a locally owned tire center only to be told that they were closed. The guy suggested Wal Mart, since he said most other places in the area were closed as well.
Rather than go to Wal Mart, StfRon figured we could make it home and take it to Brecklin's, our local stop.
On a whim, we punched up auto service on our GPS and found Meineke on Prospect, which was about 5 minutes from where we were by then. StfRon gave them a call, and they said to come on in.
Turns out they were closed as well and were just finishing up the last customer's car, but we never even realized it until they were done. They were very friendly and courteous, not at all irritated that we kept them 15-20 minutes over, and had us on our way very quickly.