Pickin' With the Queen

I am so happy that Queen B is home with us for the next few weeks! We have so many things planned, starting with a trip to Pickin' at the Pea, which happened to coincide with her visit. I love it when the world hands me a gift like that.

Saturday morning, we loaded up on coffee and hit the sale.

Longtime readers of this blog know that Pickin' is a collection of vendors selling vintage items, antiques, handcrafted items, jewelry, and unique pieces that could technically qualify as junk, were they not so creatively displayed. I love the sale and always look forward to attending.

The sale has a different theme every time, but there are always skeletons displayed somewhere. This season, there were more skeletons than usual, which was fun.

As usual, there were also a lot of wacky, unique displays scattered throughout the sale grounds.

And, the kettle corn vendor was front and center. Nothing beats the smell of kettle corn, I swear.

Unless it's the yeasty smell of the glazed donuts the Mennonite ladies bake for the sale, and it wouldn't be Pickin' at the Pea without them.

One of the vendors at the show was a friend of mine who has a booth in one of the antique stores in Hooterville; she was selling vintage blow molds, and you know I was her best customer that day.

Welcome to the family, gentlemen!

Lastly, I will mention that several of the displays honored the late, great Miss Dolly Parton. May she rest in peace.

It was another great sale, and a fabulously relaxing morning with my girl. I also got ten minutes with Jules, who was helping a friend with her booth, so my day was made complete. The Girls haven't had a chance to get together yet this year, and we really need to rectify that situation ASAP.

One Week Later...the Goose is on the Loose

Wednesday night, Hugh and I took Shanti and the Man-Cub out for his birthday dinner. They had been to an appointment earlier in the day and had been told that, while Shanti wasn't making any noticeable progress toward labor, things could change on a dime.

And, change they did, Thursday morning. By that afternoon, they were admitted to the hospital, and things started moving (although not fast enough, in Shanti's opinion).

Hugh was working and happened to have a transfer to the hospital, so he popped in for a minute to say hi (and so he could brag that he got to).

Then, after work, I stopped in for a minute to offer my support before heading home to await news.

Labor and delivery took a little longer than expected because of the size of our little goose (8lbs 13 oz!), who gave her mom a run for her money while making her debut. But it all turned out in the end, and on Friday morning, at 10:13, she delivered the most perfect baby in the world (not biased at all, clearly).

Mom and Dad have taken to their new roles like they were born for it, and we could not be more proud of both of them. They are going to be such good parents.

And, of course, the rest of the family is just thrilled. Queen B flew in just in time to meet the goose, and she will be here for a few weeks to help where she can and to spoil the heck out of the baby.

Hugh is naturally smitten, and I doubt this child will ever hear the word no from him.

As for me, well, I am firmly in my Lovey Era now. I can't think of anywhere I would rather be.

Bump Watch Enters Its Final Week

Today is Shani's official due date. So far, no indication that Goose is in any hurry to vacate her current abode, but her landlord is more than ready to post the eviction notice.

The hospital where Shanti will deliver has a policy that prohibits pregnant women from going more than a week past their due date, so we know we are in the home stretch, but I am really hoping that Shanti will go into labor on her own and won't have to be induced. Induction sucks.

Anyhoodle, sometime in the next seven days or so, we will have a brand new member of the family.

And Shanti will be able to tie her own shoes again.

Friday Favorites

It's been approximately 100 years since I posted a Friday Favorites, and today seems like a really great day to rectify that sad state of affairs.

Let's start with the bouquets from my flower subscription. I purchased this seasonal subscription for the first time last summer and was hooked- picking up a fresh bouquet every week for three months? Yes. Sign me up again. This summer's bouquets have been worth every penny again, and I have no doubt I'll buy the subscription again next year.

Speaking of subscriptions, I recently signed up for a seasonal candle subscription from a local small business. The candles are hand-poured and delivered right to my front door every month through December. My first candle arrived on my porch in the cutest packaging, and with additional treats, to boot. The scent is definitely fall-forward, and I'm excited to start burning it. I love supporting local entrepreneurs.

Despite the ongoing saga of the rodent bastards who consider my garden their own personal breakfast buffet, I managed to get three cantaloupes across the finish line. I can't wait for Queen B to get home to try one.

Last summer, while we were organizing items for Oscar and Emily's downsizing yard sale, they argued fiercely over what Hugh's sister kept calling "the fish plates". I finally asked them what the hell "fish plates" were. Turns out, they were a set of hand-painted plates from Austria that had belonged to Oscar's mother. Emily hated them; Oscar was attached to them (obviously, I mean, they were his mother's), and the fight was on. 

Emily wanted them in the sale; Oscar insisted they were keeping them. The fight ended when I took a picture of them, ran it through Google reverse image search, and discovered they were rare and...valuable. At that point, they went back into the cabinet where they had been dwelling for these forty-five or so years, and the topic was closed. 

Until...the estate sale this past June, when they were the first thing snapped up by the antique dealers who were invited to the pre-sale. Flash forward to a few weeks ago, when I was browsing my favorite antique store downtown, where, what to my wondering eyes did appear...yep, the fish plates. And I felt an overwhelming sense of sadness that Oscar's last piece of Grandma Sherry was on display for strangers. 

Naturally, I bought them. I figure, Emily got what she wanted, which was the cash from the antique dealer; the dealer got my money; Oscar gets to have the plates stay in the family; and I get a pretty kick-ass wall display as well as the satisfaction of knowing Oscar is happy. It's a win all the way around, and people? I don't even like fish.

But I loved Grandma Sherry.

Also, on the topic of vintage things, earlier today I went to a new flea market in Hooterville. A friend who used to own one of the antique stores in town is running it; she decided to do something less time-consuming, so she sold the store and opened the market. The market was fun, and while I didn't find anything that I couldn't live without, I'm excited for the new opportunity.

Lastly, I ended my day today at the fire department's tribute to 9/11. The department invited the community out to remember the sacrifices made by the first responders, as well as the tremendous losses suffered by the families of those lost in the towers, Pentagon, and airplanes. It's hard to believe that it's been 25 years.