Its been a while, since I've written. There have been a few things going on but for the most part, everything is status quo. 
When I drove to PA for the HL tent sale, I also attended a family reunion, on my father's side. It was fun catching up with some family I haven't seen in several years.
Mike spent 4th of July in Green Bay, WI working on ABM's computer system.  Seems like everything has been running smoothly since.
My mom visited for a couple days, finally! I'm looking forward to her next visit.
Miss Olivia will be visiting us next week while Mike & I are both on vacation.  Mike is going to try and get her tomorrow, since I am finishing a 2 day trip. Olivia is excited to be flying with 'her Grandpa'. We plan to take her to PA for a couple days to see my parents and towards the end of the week, head to the beach. I believe Jessica will be with us & Missy's mom has agreed to let her go with us as well. We are also hoping Graceanne will join us for a day. We aren't sure if Cheryl will be working or not.

A very good friend's son, Ben Bevington, from PA fell from a ladder on July 7. He is 21yrs old and the drs are not hopeful he will walk again. Please join me in prayer, that whatever the outcome, God will be glorified; that Ben will be able to strengthen his faith & be encouraged. Pray that God will continue to meet financial obligations, as Ben did not have health insurance.  Thanks everyone.

Just Dishes?

I love FiestaWare, we use these dishes each & every day. Some of you may know these can be a bit pricey, if purchased at a store or online. Twice each year Homer Laughlin (the manufacturer) has a tent sale where they sell their seconds for very little. The plant is in Newell WVA (I know, can you believe it, made in the good ole USA). This is approx 35 min from where I am originally from, Beaver County PA. This year the timing of the tent sale happened to coincide with the bi-annual family reunion on my father's side. Hmmm, sounded like a perfect reason to take a road trip, rather than fly. Mike surprised me when I asked if I could drive up to PA and said yes. (Now before you all think I have to ask permission, relax.....I asked out of respect for his position as head of the household. Rarely does he tell me I can't do something. He preferred I didn't drive that distance alone so Jess flew down and drove back with me. I was really excited, knowing I was going to get some new dishes & also spend time with some friends/family I hadn't seen in a long time.
My plan was to leave by 5:30am June 23. We left at 6a and were on our way. Oops, about half hour from home, I realized I had forgotten my laptop. Since we were so close, I called & Mike met us about 15min away with my laptop. We said another round of goodbyes and off we went. It was an uneventful drive, Jessica & I chatted almost non stop. It started to rain right around the time we got to Beckley WVA so we stopped and spent about an hour or so in a big antique mall there. How fun to walk down memory lane. Jessica spent most of her time in the section with vintage clothes, hats & purses, coming away with 2 purses & 1 hat.  I didn't realize I was to get off 77 in Beckley so we ended up going all the way to Charleston WVA before getting on 79.  It was pretty cool to see the capital building but that detour added about an hour onto our already long drive!  

We finally arrived in Beaver County...I took Jess home & went to visit some dear friends of mine in Bridgewater. I then met Jess & Dave at the Brighton Hot Dog Shoppe in Vanport for dinner, around 8p. Fresh burger with chili & cheddar cheese plus chili & cheese fries.....yummy! From there, Jess & I headed to Homer Laughlin, the plan was we would sleep in the car, I'd get up around 4a to stand in line for our tickets to get in (which they start handing out at 7a). Since Thur was the first day of the sale, I knew it would be busy.  Imagine our surprise when I pulled into the parking lot to discover a line of tents & chairs already set up! I was so unprepared, not a chair in the car. We went to the end of the line, where there were a bunch of ladies in chairs, underneath a canopy type thing. I explained how I had not realized I would need a chair and would they be willing to hold my place. 'No, you have to be physically here in order to hold your place.' was their response. Even the offer of cash did not change their minds! (can't blame me for trying though) Jessica had never been to this sale and all she kept saying was 'all this for dishes? 'They are just dishes'. We walked up to the front of the line, talking to people in line, I'm still amazed at this point, at how many are set up. Jessica was concerned about the weather forcast....called for high winds & storms through the night.....and what these people would do in that event.  This pic shows the last tent (with the clear plastic walls looking up to the front of the line. The next one shows the beginning of the line. These people were from Canada & had set up their tent around midnight Tuesday night, for the sale that started Thursday am! Can you believe it?

Jess & I went back to the car, I needed sleep. Mind you, we both had been up since 5a & it was now about 10p. I slept a bit then went back to the end of the line where a couple was setting up a tent. I explained to them my plight, what the other people had said & they were kind, told me not to worry, they would vouch for me. After thanking them, I went back to the car. Jessica wanted to call Dave so she went to our spot (by now held by an Aldi cold bag, box, and beach mat...all I could find in my trunk) to talk. She was out for about an hour & had fun telling me about the people behind us, from Canada. They set up chairs and covered 2 with a tarp, left one guy there saying 'will you be ok? do you want the xbox? anything? Ok, we are going to the hotel, see you in the am.' (guess he drew the short straw). We both slept a few hours & I got up around 430, took a couple more beach mats to our 'spot'. The concession stand was open by then so I was able to get coffee!  Jess joined me and we both got a breakfast sandwich & coffee. I'm sure this is a nice fundraiser for the youth organization that runs that stand. We sat & chatted with others behind us, finding out where everyone was from. Its amazing so many people come to this event. Not so amazing when you realize how many online/ebay stores there are selling Fiesta Ware I guess. Many of these people come for the entire 3 days, going into the tent multiple times each day. Each time in the tent, one is limited to 4 milk crates worth of product. For the record, I filled 3. The sun started to rise, it was beautiful.  I took a few pics of the end of the line, from where we were.    

Here is Jess, lower rt corner, the concession stand, upper rt corner and end of the line, right across from the truck that is parked.  Finally, it got close to 7a and the tents started coming down, we packed up our stuff and waited for our tickets. We were #s 81 & 82. Once we had our numbers we were free to go, had to be back by 915a. Jess & I walked to the convenience store and got more coffee, she painted her finger & toenails while waiting. We again lined up and starting moving down the hill towards the tents. Waited in line there, until 10a when they let the first people into the tents. We got into the tent before 11, were checking out by 11:30! There were so many things there!  Things I didn't see the first time I was there, 2yrs ago, in the afternoon of the 2nd day. I bought a few things for Stacey & a bunch of stuff for me.  Here are pics of my haul.

The first pic shows the 2 disc pitchers I bought; the 2nd the rest of what I bought for me & the peacock & cobalt are Stacey's. (and the coco wheat, since she can't get it in CA). There was another line of people waiting to go down the hill as we were coming back to the car, and we recognized several people who had been in the front of the line, going in for their second time.  Here's a pic of the line as we were leaving.

Much to my dismay, I did not take any pics inside the tent....I was on a mission, to find what I wanted and get out....LOL.  Oh, drat, I guess I'll have to go back next year and take pics inside the tents. Who is up for an adventure next June?