Pallets Schmalletz........

So I always see all of these great pallet projects that I'm so envious of and I have ONE pallet that I can't decide what to do with.  But........yesterday, I picked up a whole truckload of these............

Yep......I got a lifetime supply of wooden wire reels!!  Spools if you prefer.  Now, just tell me I can't make some awesomeness out of some of those.  Actually, I have a plan for most of them, they'll be used as tables at our pumpkin patch this fall.  But...I have a spare one....or two for crafting.  Here is the back story.

This is my cousin Karen:

She was my neighbor and childhood babysitter, long before she married my cousin, so I've known her forever.  She's also very awesome!  She lives about an hour and a half away from me just over the state line in Kansas.  (Funny after all these years of both of us living all over, we ended up fairly close.)  She works for an electric company.  Last year when she was visiting, I mentioned that I might like to have some electrical spools and she said she would save some for me.  Last week she sent me an email and asked if I still wanted some.  Why yes I did, thank you very much. ( As I said in the beginning, they make excellent tables at our pumpkin patch.)

So we hooked up the trailer and headed over to Kansas to pick up spools and have dinner with my cousin and her beautiful daughter Kelly:

We found the electric company, no problem.  We pulled into the yard and saw this kind of stuff:

Oh yeah!!  I was lovin it!!  I was also looking around to see what other stuff I could make some crafts out of because, well you know.

So the next thing I know, Karen comes driving this:

Oh how totally awesome is that??!!  Karen can operate a forklift....and very proficiently I might add.  She could flip those spools over, lift them up and put them on the trailer like nobody's business!  This meant we were not going to have to roll those spools onto a ramp and up to the trailer, which was a relief because it was 91 degrees! 
So we began to load spools....I say we, it was actually Sam on the trailer and Karen on the forklift.  Kelly was the logistics expert, figuring out the best way to position them on the trailer so we could pack it full!

See Kelly peeking out from behind those spools??

So, with Karen's mad forklift driving skills, Kelly's logistics expertise and Sam's manual labor, we managed to load 13 spools on to that trailer!  Oh.....what did I do, you ask??  Well, I was the supervisor/blog photographer....duh.
Now I don't know how many of you have ever been to South East Kansas, but they are seriously famous for fried chicken in that little corner of the world.  Particularly Chicken Annie's and Chicken Mary's.  Since we worked up a good appetite, we headed over to Chicken Annies and had some of the best fried chicken I've ever eaten!  Not to mention, some awesome homemade onion rings!

The best part about this whole trip, was sitting at Chicken Annie's and visiting and laughing with two awesome women, who I am so proud to call my family.

And the next best thing?

Waking up this morning and seeing this truckload of awesome possibilities just waiting to be unloaded!  (Look out you amazing furniture-made-from-pallet making people!  You got nothing on me!)

(I'd better get my camera and be ready to supervise!!) 

Thank you Karen and Kelly!  You're the best!