YAPPY HOUR, COACH HOUSE and BASKET CASE

YAPPINESS!
What a hoot! My dear friend Georjette, working with the General Manager at the local Barley House, put together a monthly fund raiser for One of a Kind Pets. Every 2nd Thursday of the month Barley House will offer a Yappy Hour where 15% of all proceeds will be donated to One of a Kind Pets!

Cathy, Georjette and I attended the kick off Yappy Hour last Thursday to see how the place was. This is obviously a college kid hangout with a few local after-hour business folk sprinkled in. With a huge bar and big screen TV’s on the walls, it’s a pretty typical bar. We ordered Cosmopolitans (to Georjette’s exacting instructions) that had both Cathy and Georjette happy. We ordered a plate of BBQ sliders, an order of the pita nachos, and a spinach artichoke dip and they were all excellent!

If you’re in the neighborhood any 2nd Thursdays, please please please stop by – the animals will benefit and you’ll have a fun time.

DEATH TRAP!
Thursday night I attended the first play of the season at Coach House Theater for a performance of Death Trap. This is such a cutie-pie theater, the people are all so friendly and the performance was both funny and surprising. The storyline takes twists and turns with people getting strangled and shot and you just never know for sure who’s trying to kill whom. After 2 glasses of wine at Yappy Hour I was so sleepy I might have dozed off except there were gun shots going off every few minutes and people falling to their "deaths" right in front of me. Nancy said she was tempted to get up and help the characters since we were so close to the action in the front row. Maybe next time we'll get seats a little further away.

The next performance will be “You Can't Take It With You” which is an old screwball comedy written back in the 30’s. The troup will get a chance to sing and dance for this one so it will be interesting to see them pull it off on this tiny little stage, I'm definately looking forward to it.

LONGABERGER BASKETS
I took a bus trip to visit the Homestead of Longaberger Baskets on Saturday. I guess everyone’s heard of these baskets and seen them at some point - they sell through home parties and in stores all over the place. I’ve never had any interest in them (too expensive for my pocketbook) but when the chance came to join some co-workers on this trip I said yes just for the experience and to spend some time with the gals.

The ladies that organized the trip have done this for several years and had us planned out perfectly. We left early in the morning from Wadsworth and got to the Homestead around 10:30 where we joined at least another 20 busloads of (mostly) women. We spent a couple of hours shopping in the clearance store and I was totally overwhelmed. People were shopping with long lists of baskets that they were looking for accessories for and circling the best bargains searching out deals. The oversized shopping carts where piled high with boxes and baskets.

Although I cannot understand why anyone might pay over $100 for a basket (nor really why anyone would have the nerve to charge that much), I’ll admit they have a pretty nice organization there and they turn out some very lovely baskets. They built up a large industry that seems to support the entire little town of Dresden and they are all very proud of the work they do there.

For the cost of my $140 ticket I received one free 9” square basket, a free casserole dish, the bus ride down and back, breakfast, lunch and dinner. Overall it was quite a bargain - although the bus ride itself was a little excruciating. At the Homestead there are many little shops carrying things like Boyd’s Bears, jewelry, clothing, furniture, kitchen accessories and home decorating items. The grounds are really very nice with gazebos, manicured lawns and gigantic baskets holding 3 foot wide apples. It would be easy to pack a picnic lunch or dinner and eat on the grounds during a shopping trip, although there is a snack bar on the grounds and a restaurant in Dresden that is famous for it’s chicken dinners.

We had a little difficulty with the bus and it managed to stall every few minutes. The two hour ride home took nearly 3 hours but we did get back safely and spirits were high even with the threat of having to walk home hanging over our heads.

It turned out to be a lovely trip and I'm really glad I went. I think it's worth going back again...maybe this time NOT in a bus!