A pottery weekend...

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love McCarty pottery. Peter's pottery, too. It all blends. Most of it, anyway! Well, the first Sunday of each March is the McCarty "2nds" sale. These pieces are either chipped or have a crack in them. Some are badly broken, which can turn out to be a good deal (I've gotten several large platters that have cracks in them for $1.00 and some bigger bowls/canisters for $1.00 that I use to plant flowers - the water can drain out of the cracks!!!). It is so much fun.

My friend Dana has gone with me for 2 years. This year her mom, Mary Jo, decided to go with us. We took their camper and were able to sleep in it! Yes, you have to get there early. There's no getting there at 12:00 noon on Sunday (the sale starts at 1:00). The people who are first in line were there on February 22nd - yes...10 days before the sale! We are not quite that crazy! This year, Jami Truitt joined us again. Jami is married to Rick who was my "boyfriend" in elementary school. He is such a good guy. Jami and I have "gone" to the sale together 3 years in a row. The first 2 years we just happened to end up sitting together. This year it was planned. Tiffanie Russell also joined us this year. She is married to another classmate of mint, Clint (I set them up, by the way!) It was her "rookie" year and I think she kinda wonders what she got herself into! Hopefully she will come back. We have gone to her house for 2 years for showers/freshening up!

Some missing from our group this year were Kimberly and Jamie. Kimberly is pregnant and expecting a little girl in May. Jamie was pregnant at the sale last year and her baby was sick. Maybe they will be there next year! By the way....each year we have had someone pregnant.. .2005 was me pregnant, 2006 was Jamie pregnant, and 2007 was Kimberly pregnant...wonder who will be next!!!

So here's how it works.........people line up in lawn chairs all through the week. According to rules (yes, there are rules posted...this is SERIOUS stuff!), unattended chairs do not hold a spot. We took the camper up on Friday night and put our chairs out. We were #114-#119. Our minds were blown! We have never gotten there this early or been that far back in line.

We stayed in the camper and ate so well! On Saturday, we went to The Gallery, which is the McCarty's resturant. It was so neat to have litterally everything we ate off of be McCarty pottery! We shopped some in the store (it was open) and toured the gardens. They must be amazing when in full bloom!!!

Mama and her neighbor, Ann, came over that afternoon and took us to Peter's Pottery. His sale was from 8:00-12:00, but we were still able to shop the sale stuff!

After that, we went back to the camper to hang out. We did go and sit in our seats SOME, but that was too boring. Daddy and Theresa came over Saturday night and we all went to Crawdad's to eat. It was SO good! See......for all of you who think I may be high maintenance, I can handle this kind of camping!

By the way, did I mention that we did not have electricity in the camper? Only butane for the stove and refrigerator. No generator for electricity or HEAT (cold nights!!!). On Saturday night, Dana, Mary Jo, and I piled up in the queen size bed with 8 blankets on top of us! We were warm!

Jami came Sunday morning and ate breakfast with us (blueberry pancakes and scrambled eggs). Tiffanie came a little later. We all sat out in our chairs while Mary Jo cooked up spaghetti and potato salad. As I said.......my kind of camping!

The doors opened at 1:00 and we finally got in at 3:15. If you haven't been, you can't understand or appreciate the time that is spent there. It's unreal. At 5:41, I exited the building with pottery in tow. Home at 9:00 Round 3 over. Already planning for Round 4 next year.

Hope you enjoy looking at the pictures (another post in itself). I will try to explain each as best I can!