Interview with Willow at Willow Manor

One of my favorite bloggers, Willow over at Willow Manor seems to have had a tremendous response to her interview requests. I too, think it is a great way to learn more about our bloggie friends. I've only been blogging for a very short time - but it is a great experience. The rules for continuing on with the online "meet and greet" can be found at the end of the interview. I'm looking forward to hearing from you. Here we go....

1. How did you and David meet and also, how did you get started as antique dealers?

David and I met in our hometown, Dyersburg, Tennessee, although neither of us lived there at the time. We were introduced by my cousin - and it was love at first sight - literally. I commented to her (my cousin) that he would be my next husband. I have 2 children by a previous marriage, David had none. So, inheriting a family might have seemed pretty scary for most men. But, David has been the perfect stepfather. My children, and especially my grandchildren, adore him - who wouldn't? As it turned out we actually lived down the street from each other all of our lives but being that David is 7 years younger, I never noticed him. Yep - I'm a cradle robber. David is a saint - I have all these crazy ideas, constantly. He usually goes along with them - great that he does - he has to make them work out - like the time I had him turn a truck bed toolbox into a bathroom vanity. It's amazing - I'll post a pic.

I have been a collector of antiques since I was a child when my grandmother and aunt would drag me along to country auctions. As I grew tired of things that I had collected I would sell them. I opened a small antique shop the year before we were married and afterwards I convinced David to quit his job so that we could open a 32,000 square foot antique mall. We had 125 dealers. It was a Kroger grocery store in its previous life. We ended up opening 4 more stores before we moved back to West Tennessee to be closer to our grandchildren.

2. What is your personal favorite vintage possession?

Over the years as antique dealers, and seeing so much, we often find ourselves loving something only for the moment - there's always something better that we run upon. Of course, there have been times that we insisted that we would never sell some great piece that we had found - but we always did and still do. We don't sell our black & white vernacular snapshots though. We have a wonderful collection and have never talked about selling those.

3. What is your greatest accomplishment?

I am fortunate to have had several accomplishments that I consider great opportunities. Before I was an antique dealer, I was a toy designer. I designed a doll called, The Kool-aid Kid which was a great seller and through the use of that doll I created a program for General Foods to get their Kool-Aid product into non-traditional outlets such as Wal-mart. I also designed a toy called Frog Ball - it was a small round ball - about golf ball size - with legs like a frog. When you bounced it, it hopped like a frog. There were other toy spin offs such as Frogball Baseball, Frogball Stickmitt, etc. At one time it was one of the top ten selling toys in the country. Then David and I wrote a book about antiquing across the U.S. - Leggett's Antiques Atlas which we self published for a couple of years and then Random House published it for a couple of years. I have 2 beautiful children, a boy and a girl. But, my greatest accomplishment is yet to come. When my grandchildren become adults, if I can look at them and see that they are outstanding citizens, respectful of the people and the world around them, and knowledgeable and happy - then that will be the greatest accomplishment of my life. Knowing that I played a part in all that.

4. If you could have dinner with a historical figure, who would it be and why?

God - because I have lots of questions that I need to ask Him about this world.

5. Before blogging, what, if any, was your mode of personal expression?

For 3 long years David and I completely transformed an 1890s Victorian farmhouse. This house was a mess when we bought it. There was plenty of opportunity for personal expression. We opened up rooms, painted the plank floors high gloss black, added some unusual elements to the fireplace hearths, included some non-traditional lighting, planted over 150 plants and blooming trees, the list goes on and on. See the post - December, 2008 - the rescripted house.



Instructions:

1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. (I get to pick the
questions).
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview
someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will receive five questions.

(please send me an email when your interview is posted, along with your blog name and URL...thanks!)