Midway Outdoor Flea Market - CLOSED

August 4, 2011 ~ We this was a tough decision to make but we have decided to close our flea market for good. We started our flea market in August 2010 and was a huge success and decided to continue it this year. The weather played a huge role allowing us to be open because the flea market was in an open field. We would open between rainy weekends and then we hit the hot season and it was too hot for vendors and customers to come out. Our first priority is our electric company and this was something to do for fun to bring people to Midway. We made a lot of  friends as well as reuniting with people from years ago. (We have recently put Max to sleep and Mattie had surgery for cancer in her lower intestines which her care require us to be home more) We feel that if we can't give 100% attention to this business and it's not fair to our vendors, customers or ourselves. Many of our vendors set up at flea markets as a source of income and we want everyone to go where they can make the most money.  If you were a vendor, customer or someone who supported what we did .... Thank you! We wish you all the best of luck in anything you do!

Truckstop Missouri Premier

August 3, 2011 ~ Well it finally aired.... TruckStop Missouri is a reality show about Midway Truck stop in my hometown. I will be honest.... I was not for this when I first heard of it but once I understood it was about a locally owned and operated truck stop, I agreed with that. When you saw all of the TV cameras out there filming and asked anyone at the truck stop about the reality show they looked at you like you had a third eye and said they didn't know anything about a reality show.... really? With all these people filming stuff you don't have a clue? I think if they had just been honest and said we can't talk about it right now I would have had a little more respect. I have lived in Midway for 32 years and always went to the truck stop with my grandma and grandpa as well as I purchase fuel there. So last night was the big premier. I watched it at home and tweeted about it with a friend who was there. I was really worried this wouldn't be tasteful and appear that Midway folks were back woods hill-billy type people but it showed day to day operations of running a truck stop with laughter. Some of it appeared to be staged but it's a reality show.... how many reality shows have you watched that just have the boring day in a day out stuff in them? That's the entertainment factor and to keep you watching! I think in the 30 years they have been operating they have seen just about all walks of life come through their doors and it's the same today. I am a huge people watcher and I bet you could sit in the restaurant and get lots of chuckles watching what comes through the door. My favorite quote from the first episode was when they brought the Big 70 food challenge out and the older woman looks over her shoulder and says "That's just wrong!" I think you could use this quote in about 1/2 of the show! When they got to the second episode I about lost it when Biker Granny wanted to get a tattoo! Oh my goodness.... she was a hot mess and I am pretty sure I was yelling at the tattoo guy telling him "Don't do it!" She wasn't afraid to let it all hang out! Guess I am glad they don't do piercings..... Granny might have gone too far! Oh and the poor little fisherman.... bless his little heart! He got his shows all mixed up and meant to be on Pawn Stars or Hard Core Pawn to pawn or sell his special fishin' pole. Then when he was going to catch fish but was fishin' in the lagoon. Overall I think Joe did a good job. Cheesy? Yes, but would you watch a show that wasn't a little cheesy or backwards? It didn't appear that they were making fun of the town of Midway rather poking fun at the "characters" on the show. I think that as business owners we do things that are positive impacts on our business. Midway Truck stop is perfectly placed smack dab in the center of the state and think about all the people that come there prior to the show.... it's really no different and if nothing else it will bring more people in out of curiosity to see what it's all about. I am not on the show nor am I around when the cameras are however I can't blame him for trying it and based on the comments this morning a lot of people watched it. Will they watch next week too? I will be! 

Happy 35th Birthday to me!

August 2, 2011 ~ Well today marks my 35th birthday! It has been an amazing day filled with lots of fun! From text messages starting at 5:45 am, hundreds of facebook wishes, phone calls and e-mails my poor little iphone died twice before 3:00 pm! My wonderful hubby went to town this morning and brought back my favorite Starbuck's hot chocolate (7 pumps of vanilla and made with whole milk), a piece of pumpkin loaf and 3 great cards! I then had a great lunch with Aunt Judy and Stephanie at Hollihan's and got these beautiful flowers from my best friend, Misty and Maxina! Brandon is taking me to Bleu tonight for dinner to finish up a great day! I am such a lucky girl to have so many amazing people in my life! Thank you to everyone for making my birthday extra special!

An early birthday dinner!

Sunday July 31, 2011 ~ Mom cooked my birthday dinner and had all the things I love... Roast, taters (mashed and then some cooked with the roast), wilted lettuce, gravy, fresh sweet corn cut off the cob, and fresh tomatoes! It was so good but then again... momma's cookin' is always the best!

So my sister decided to be really sweet and go to the Sugar Loft at the Lake of the Ozarks... they have the best cupcakes ever! So while she was being really nice she had to be funny at the same time.... yep that is a little dog poo next to the flower (made of chocolate icing) because she told the lady I had dogs and dog poo seemed appropriate on the grass.... that girl ain't right! She is my sister! (As you see that is a white cupcake and I only like chocolate cupcakes.... so you guessed it.... that one is for Brandon!) It was a great dinner with the family and I got to make Jaxon laugh! He's getting so big and loves to be around everyone to see what's going on. (sorry I didn't have my camera with me to get an updated picture of him)

Extreme Make Over!

Saturday July 30, 2011~ I was fortunate to be a small piece to an amazing thing going on in our community this past week. Boone Council on Aging and Fairview Church teamed up and did their 3rd Extreme Make Over Fairview Church style! This project started Wednesday morning with the outside of the home looking like this:

It hard to see but there were shrubs all along the street that kept you from seeing this home and the landscaping was overgrown. When this amazing crew of workers got done with this home it had all the shrubs taken out and replaced with new beautiful landscaping that allowed you to see this adorable home. It also had the old shed removed and a new one built as well as all the fence rows cleaned up and new gravel on the driveway. It was an amazing transformation on the outside. The inside was amazing! She received new carpet, laminate flooring, blinds, curtains, tile in the shower, new vanity in the bathroom, new kitchen cabinets and sink as well as everything was painted. I couldn't believe my eyes when each day more things were looking amazing and I couldn't wait for this woman to see her new home!

This is what the outside of the home looked like once they were done. It was an amazing experience and I am so proud that Ms. Henderson received this make over. She is an 80 year old woman who is on dialysis Monday, Wednesday and Friday and about 10 days ago had a heart attack. She had been recovering in a nursing home her in Columbia, MO and was going to come home Saturday to see her home. It started raining which closed the work on the home because the finishing touches were all inside and they didn't want to track mud in the home so everyone came back around 4:30 pm to finish up. They brought Ms. Henderson home around 5:30-5:45 pm and it was so exciting seeing the big ol' smile on her face! She just couldn't believe it!

This is Brian, the pastor at Fairview Church, showing her all the things that had been done to the exterior of her home once she took a tour of the inside. She was so happy and I am so glad I was able to be there to witness it! She was so deserving! A very special thank you to Boone Council on Aging and all the amazing volunteers of Fairview Church.... you guys are awesome!