Thriftin', Giftin', Driftin', and Sippin'

I am now taking Fridays off of work, giving me three-day weekends for the remainder of the summer. But, even with the extra day, I don't know how much more I could have packed into this weekend; it was crazy busy to be sure.

Friday ended up resembling a Saturday, the day I traditionally use to complete household chores and errands, which, was a good thing; I got all of that out of the way, leaving me two whole days to have fun rather than slaving over domestic nonsense.

So, Friday consisted of bookwork at the hardware store, banking, grocery shopping, shopping for a gift for a baby shower later in the weekend, car washing, house cleaning, laundry, gardening, flower bed weeding, porch cleaning (first Porch Night of the season coming soon!), and wedding photo editing (almost ready to deliver my first wedding photo package to the family!). It was exhausting and productive.

Saturday, I got up early to join my friend, Kortni, on a thrifting adventure in a community about thirty miles away. We arrived at the sale early enough to scope out our bargain-hunting competition and to drink a cup of coffee before the barn doors opened (literally) and the sale was on.

I found a few treasures, as did Kortni. I also picked up about a million bites from ravenous mosquitos, but, what I sacrificed in blood, I more than made up for in deals, including the great price I got for a few old yard sticks (I have a project in mind for them) and this antique wicker high chair that I plan to use on the porch.

Once we were certain that we had picked through every available inch of the sale area, we headed out to visit a couple of antique stores in town, as well as stopping in a well-known local chocolate store for a shot of sugar to keep us going.

The chocolatier has been a feature in the town for decades, and, the collection of old cash registers and other antiques that decorate it are almost as delightful as the candy itself. Almost.

Our last stop in town was at an old creamery building, which has been transformed into an antique mall. I scored a vintage milk delivery box and a Bissell sweeper, circa 1906, while Kortni made out like a bandit on antique glassware.

When our thrifting adventure was over, I beat feet back to Petticoat Junction, where I had approximately an hour to relax before racing into Hooterville for the baby shower I mentioned earlier.

The mommy-to-be is the daughter of my girlfriend, Jill, and the sister of the bride for whom I just did the wedding pictures. Jill had asked me if I minded taking some pictures at the shower, and I was more than happy to comply.

The shower was a crazy affair, attended by family members from both sides of the family, especially from the daddy-to-be's side, as he is currently deployed on active military duty and won't be present for the pregnancy or birth; the family wanted to be sure to show their support in his absence.

The shower was hosted at a local gold course, and, while the women played traditional shower games, many of the men golfed, including the Man-Cub, who played on the foursome that finished in third place (out of eight teams, not too shabby!).

The day was beautiful; we could not have asked for better weather, or, for a more perfect location to spend the afternoon and evening.

Sunday was, of course, Father's Day. We chose to celebrate Hugh on the lake, and, while Queen B was at Country Jam and unable to join us, we still had a good enough time.

Chris, Jana, and the kids (minus Kaley, who is working at a youth camp for the summer; our numbers are shrinking!) joined us and we pulled onto the lake in the late afternoon, which, was fortuitous considering the large number of boat trailers in the parking lot upon our arrival. As an aside, the small lake in Pixler used to be largely deserted in the late afternoon/early evening, but, each time we have gone this summer, we have had to share it with more and more boaters; that sucks.

Luckily, a lot of the boaters pulled off the lake not long after we launched, which left us with enough room to drag the children around on the tube and to try my new paddle board as a surf board, which, worked out a lot better than one might have expected.

We finally pulled off the lake at sunset, then headed back to the house for dinner on the porch before retiring for the day.

See what I meant about it being a jam packed weekend? I'm already in need of another three-day weekend, just to decompress and recover. Lucky for me, those three days are just four days away.