For the past couple of years, my amazing sisters and sister's mother in law have organized a bus trip to Ohio to visit the Longaberger Homestead. All three of them are consultants for the company, so if you're in the market for a basket, I can get that handled. (Yep, all those puns were intended!) They have been conscious of when the Homestead does their "Spring Fling" weekends, which is sort of like their grand opening for the season, so that we can enjoy more winning opportunities! This year was no different!
On Friday morning at 6:00 am, 17 ladies and a bus driver named Paul loaded up the Cardinal, hunkered down for the trip and hit the road. Let the winning begin!
Not far into the trip, the games began. Kim, Keely and Bonnie do an outstanding job at planning and executing such a great trip, you don't even realize that you're riding around in a diesel smelling, back and forth rocking, sick in the stomach causing big ol' bus. The 5.5 hours fly by because you're so busy playing games and visiting with friends.
On the bus ride there, we were able to play two rounds of Memory--you got to keep what you uncovered in the memory game. Everything on the board was a product from Longaberger. Hello!!!! Hooray! It turns out my memory is really just as bad as I thought it was, so I wasn't the first to make a match. Or the second. Or the third. Or even the fourth. I think I was more like the 15th or so. But I still won. TWICE, even.
Prize 1: A wallet, cell phone case and make up bag all in the Timeless Fabric.(A new favorite!)
Prize 2: A magazine basket, complete with a liner. Yep, you read that right. A MAGAZINE basket.
Next game...BINGO! Turns out, all my practice at the stinky BINGO hall didn't prove to help me. AT ALL. Again...I have no bragging rights about getting the first BINGO, or the second, or the fourth. More like the 15th. Again. But, I still won.
Prize 3: An 8 x 8 chocolate baker (later traded for a sage color!) Hooray for making a casserole!
Moving on down the road, another hour, another game! Yes!!! The next game we played was the stealing game. Everyone got an envelope that was numbered. The person with #1 had to open their envelope and read the slip of paper on the inside. Then #2 could choose to steal that item, or open their own envelope. #3 got to see what #'s 1 & 2 had, steal one of those, or open their envelope, etc. After a bit of stealing, begging not be stolen from and negotiations, everyone got another prize. Longaberger, of course!
Prize #4: An ivory handled baker.
The bus was just about to the Homestead by then, and my bag was filled with papers or prizes to be redeemed at the hotel! Bring on the games sponsored by the company! I was just getting into the groove of winning and I wasn't about to be done!
There were a couple of things going on that we had to do right when we got off the bus. We had to go to the Welcome Center to put our names in for an hourly door prize drawing, and pick up a sheet for the scavenger hunt that was taking place all around the grounds. Prizes would be drawn at 4:00.
We had arrived in time to participate in the first "Great Homestead Race" which was an opportunity to run around the "At Home" building (the biggest shopping building the company has) and solve clues to find specific items. Unfortunately, no one from our bus had any of the four winning tickets they called. Rats! We stayed to be cheerleaders and watch people huff and puff after they were done running the race.
We were able to go outside and play basketball and the pottery toss for another chance to win prizes. Turns out, I'm not so good at either of those either. I did win some extra tickets for the door prize drawing, but no instant prizes.
Next up, time for "Dash for Baskets." Oh yes, we were ready to dash. The Longaberger employees set up 4 tables around a gazebo, each with a sidewalk sticking straight out from it. Four lucky people are picked (well, their tickets had to match the winning number!) to start out at the end of the sidewalk and run up to the table and grab as many baskets as they could in 45 seconds, and get them successfully back across the sidewalk line. You can take as many trips as needed, but only those across the line at the end of the 45 seconds were yours to keep. Let the praying begin! We wanted to win.
First round of this game, first number...none of ours matched. Second number, same. Third number....WE HAVE A WINNER. Our step mom's sister from Canada, who didn't previously own any baskets, had the winning ticket. We were so excited. After some coaching and stacking advice, she was ready to dash! She ran like a cheetah and cleared her table! 0-32 baskets in 45 seconds. YES! We're on a roll!
Fortunately for us, not everyone was cheetah like as our very own Janice, and some participants didn't clear their tables. With all of the leftover baskets, they began calling additional numbers. If your number was called, you got to go pick from the leftovers. They called my ticket. Oh yes they did! They called others from our bus, too!
Prize #5: Wastebasket--Longaberger, of course!
It was almost time for another "Great Homestead Race." We made our way into the building and were relaxing in the "purchased air" waiting for our winning numbers to be called again. First number...not us. Second number...Marilyn, who was Janice's (see previous Dash for Baskets winner) friend had the winning ticket. In a moment of panic, she throws her ticket at me and says, "You do it." Clearly, she wasn't of sound mind. Do I look like I am a racer? A runner? A fast walker, even? She really should have chosen Keely. She would have had a chance. However, in my excitement of having another winner from our bus, I jump up like it's my job and go sign the waiver. I had to sign a waiver. That should have been my first clue. A waiver. As in, "I won't sue if I finish this race and I can't walk, breathe, feel my legs or vomit." One of those kinds of waivers. But I signed it.
Another person from our bus got called too. We had this. Two of us versus two strangers. We had this. Except. We didn't. Not even really close. Staying for the previous race came in handy because I already knew what four prizes I had to collect. I didn't even need to read the clues. They shout go, we leap off the starting line like a kangaroo and we're off. We (each of us had a Longaberger employee that "fast walked" with us...we promised not to run on the waiver!) flew up the stairs (and by flew, I mean, huffed and puffed up all 412 steps--OK...it wasn't that many...but really...it's an absurd amount!) to our first stop. A t-shirt. Check! I knew that we also needed a book written by Tami Longaberger that was upstairs, so I told Tony (my handy helper) we'd go there next. WRONG. Evidently, I failed to read the small print that said we had to go upstairs and get a prize, then downstairs and get a prize, then repeat the process. Are you kidding me? So down we went. I got distracted by the cheering, headed the wrong way, had to go all the way around the building, accidentally knocked a lady's purse right off her shoulder, tried to stop to say I'm sorry, Tony pushed me forward and told me to keep going until we got to the next prize destination. Dash bowls. Check. And back upstairs we go. At this point, I'm silently cursing the "You can't sue because you signed the waiver" rule and about to die. As we were running, someone quick installed about 798 more steps to go up to get back to the book.About this time, I hear the announcer say that the first person had arrived back..turns out he was a marathon runner. Seriously. I quickly told Tony there was no need to hurry since we didn't win, but he wasn't having it. We had to keep going. Back up the 4,963 steps. Accomplished...with the help of the railing...book. Check. Back down for the last prize...salsa. Check. Across the finish line. We came in second. We got to keep everything we raced for. Since I was running for Marilyn, we fought over who got to keep the prizes. I finally wore her down. She took the book, salsa and dash bowls.
Prize # 6: A red Longaberger T-shirt.
Let the huffing, puffing, lungs burning, coughing, sputtering, lay down and pretend to die on the cool tile begin.
I didn't have time to pass out for long though...it was almost time for another round of "Dash for Baskets." Okay...new plan, I'll just go pass out in the grass.
We headed back out after catching my breath and sat under the tree, waiting for our number to be called to go collect some baskets. First number...not ours. Second number...sounds familiar...it's KIM! As in my sister KIM! Hooray! She's been involved in Longaberger for forever and never gotten to win a Dash for Baskets opportunity. She made it to the gazebo in about 4 hops and was assigned her table. She had to sign a waiver too. We went over to cheer her on...and with her cheetah like skills, she too, cleared her table with time to spare. I really enjoyed the last little hop she made over the finish line for the final time. It was sort of a "I did it. I don't have any leftovers on my table, so take that" kinda hop! She made me proud. We packed her 31 baskets up and headed for dinner. All in all, the first day I think we had something like 10 winners, out of 17 people. Oh yea, it was a winning kinda day! Did I forget to mention that Janice (see the first "Dash for Baskets" winner also won a door prize. I needed her to rub my head.
Saturday morning dawned bright and early and we were back at the shopping thing by 9:00 am! As we loaded up the bus, we had a basket surprise on our seats. Everyone was given a basket that fits my 8 x 8 baker just perfectly! We went downtown Dresden first and spent most of the day down there. We were back at the Homestead for more games by 2:00 though. We made it in time to play more basketball and pottery toss. Turns out the second day didn't improve my skills at all. More tickets, no instant prizes. Hmm...some skills to improve is what that tells me.
First round of "Dash for Baskets" was about to begin, so we grabbed our tickets and assumed our position with the hundreds of other people under the shade trees. First winner...not us. Second number...called...paused...Kim looks up from her phone, says "Wait. What? Wait? What?" all while her arms are flailing about. SHE WON AGAIN. THE SAME KIM. FOR THE SECOND TIME. She got a double dash. Two in one weekend. Seriously? Our entire party went to cheer her on again...but heck, at this point, she was an experienced dasher, and we were simply background noise. She knew what she was doing. She had a plan. She cleared her table. AGAIN. No leftovers. Nothing. We were proud. So proud.
Mr. Paul was not thrilled with the amount of boxes that needed to be stored in the underside of the bus. We just smiled and nodded. There was still another round of this fun game, and we were hoping to win again!
Eventually we moved back in for the last "Great Homestead Race" where we were lucky enough to have another winning member from our bus. We cheered Kim (a different one this time) to a second place finish, and I took a little pride in seeing her breathe heavy, lung pain and drain a water bottle in record time so I wasn't the only one who looked crazy after running the race.
One final "Dash for Baskets" before we left, and our luck had been used up. Sadly, it was the first game since we had arrived that we didn't have representative in. A sad note to leave on, but we certainly couldn't complain about the amount of "donations" Longaberger had made the ladies on our bus.
Two more games after we left. One where we had to write down how much we spent the entire weekend individually, and then guess what we think everyone on the bus spent combined. I was close, but not close enough. No prize for me.
The last game wasn't really a game, but more of a gift exchange. If you wanted to participate, you purchased a $5.00 gift sometime during the shopping extravaganza and wrapped it up. We played a "Right and Left" game where you passed your prize around and whatever you ended up with at the end of the game was what you got to keep.
Prize # 7: A very cool dish towel with a saying on it. I sure do wish I could remember the saying.
What an amazing, winning weekend. That may have been the best $185 I've ever spent!
