Dishes and Tableware

A little about the dishes and tableware that we use. The dish pattern is Blue Willow.
In 1992 when we decided we would open a bed & breakfast, before we even bought the victorian house that eventually became the Hawley Bed & Breakfast, we bought the dishes.
We used to live in North West Lincoln and there was a HyVee grocery store at 14th and Superior where we shopped all the time. In 1992, HyVee started running premiums that could be bought with each $5 purchase in the store. So over the 12 weeks they ran this program, we bought 1 place setting for each $5 we spent on groceries. A place setting was a plate, cup and saucer.
In addition to the place settings we bought each week, there was some other dish you could buy at a very reduced rate. Over time, we bought pitchers, salt & pepper sets, and cream pitcher & sugar bowl sets. We decided we didn't need full sets of serving pieces since we would be serving only breakfast and not other meals.
In 1967, we were living in Guam where John was serving in the Air Force at Anderson Air Force Base. I worked at the Naval hospital.
One day John called me, he was at the Officer Wives shop where they sold all kinds of things their husbands brought back from all over the world. He had spotted a brass table ware set and wanted to buy it for me. So, I asked a few questions and he bought it without me ever seeing it. We have used that set over the years and enjoyed it very much.
When we decided to open the B&B, I wanted to use brass tableware but knew that my large set for 12 may not be enough, I had my daughter Leeza keep a lookout on ebay for another set. She bid on a set for me but we didn't get it. Then a woman contacted her about a set her father in law had. She was planning on selling it on ebay, but offered it to us for what she wanted from ebay. We bought it from her thru paypal. It is a little smaller set than my set from 1967, and not exactly the same, but very close. They can be used together if needed. It also is a set for 12 but fewer pieces. I use it all the time for the B&B and suppliment with my set when more is needed.
We use crystal glasses for parfait, juice and water. Some sets I bought at garage sales, John bought several sets but never used them and some sets were bought in Colorado Springs at garage sales by my niece Roberta.