Thank You

The day is almost done, a lovely Sunday with a pleasant temperature of 74 degrees with a light breeze.
The house is quiet and I am just catching up on some blogs and have been thinking about the past week. Jim and I put together a baby bed to have here at our home for the baby. We thought it would be easy, but it wasn't! Oh well, it is all put together and we are happy with it. We both looked at each other when it was done and commented that we never thought a baby bed would be set up ready for our grandchild.

I am so thankful tonight. I have been thanking God for this grandbaby, a healthy grandbaby! What a blessing. I am thankful that Angie was able to make it through a hard labor and that she is recovering.
I am thankful for Chris ~ he loves babies. He is great father and we just love having him in our family.

I'm thankful for the relationship that my two daughters have and I do believe that it is stronger now than ever! They are so close and it makes me happy just to watch them together. Gina is so attached to Otto after helping with his delivery. I think it has sparked her mothering instinct! Her hubby Eric is coming down from Seattle tomorrow to meet Prince Otto!

I want to thank all of you who prayed and sent good wishes for Angie and this baby for many months and especially on delivery day. It meant so much to me and I'm just grateful for so many sweet friends. I haven't been blogging as much as I like and I thank those who have been so faithful,sending me messages, even when I haven't been able to visit your blogs.

It will be a busy week, helping the new family. Busy and exciting. 

We Got to Meet Little Otto Today!

I had this little stork cup and saucer set aside to greet little Otto when he arrived! He was born yesterday, July 25th at 10:45 after many hours of labor for his mama. I love this little teacup but I already love my little grandson more!

On Wednesday, our daughters wanted the four of us to go to lunch before Angie and Chris' little one arrived. Gina came down from Seattle to help her sister. What a fun afternoon we had together, just chatting and catching up on things.

Jimmy and his girls...happy times.

Sisters......

I didn't sleep too well on Wednesday night as Angie was to be induced on Thursday. Well, I got a text early on Thursday that she had gone into labor on her own and was off to the hospital. Here she is all checked in and reading her paper work. Little did we know the hours of labor ahead! She had asked us not to be at the hospital, so Gina was our informations person. She ended up helping Chris get Angie through a difficult and long labor. What a team! I am so proud of the three of them and all the effort to get little Otto out into the world. Good Job!!!!

Here's the proud daddy shortly after Otto arrived at 10:45 pm weighing in at 8lbs 11 oz and 20.5 inches long. A big boy!

Right out of the hopper!

We were not able to see everyone last night as he came too late! We couldn't wait to meet him today!!!!
Jimmy and I have waited a very long time to become grandparents. Angie never thought she would be able to have children, so this little babe is very special...a blessing and a miracle.

Here I am, Grandma Linda, holding this Prince Otto for the first time. I love this picture as it captures a moment in time that I will never forget. Nice to have my baby standing next to me too.

The proud parents, pretty tired out. Chris was so sweet to have a little brunch with champagne for us all. I like to call him the party man! Life is always fun with Chris and he makes things so special for us all. Thanks Chris! We sure like having you in the family now. You make cute babies too.

And we cannot forget proud Grandpa Jimmy! Otto looks so tiny in his arms. The grandpa got a bit emotional. My Jimmy....

Auntie Gina looks pretty proud of this little tyke! I think they bonded hours ago. Cute picture. Of course we wish Eric was here to join the fun. I think he's going to try to come down soon. Thanks again for sharing Gina with us. We know you miss her.

Another grand baby for Grandma Kathy! She's a natural and has had lots of experience with Ms Ava. Ava will meet her new brother tomorrow afternoon.

I know this is a lot of pictures for  non family, but as you can imagine, we are so thrilled and thankful for a healthy baby and that Angie is OK. Thank you for all the prayers and support. A special thank you for those how held my hand via text messages all day yesterday! So many of you helped me through Angie's pregnancy when we were so worried she wouldn't carry this little angel.
It's been a long nine months, but our family has been blessed. God is good!

Prince Otto is Here!

Our little guy finally arrived last night around  10:30 pm! Cannot wait to meet him today! I will post all the details later. 

Thank you for all your prayers and  positive  thoughts!!

Tomorrow's the Big Day!

Angie will be induced tomorrow morning at 8 AM! I had the date right, but not the day of the week...silly me! Our family is all excited and ready to meet little Otto. Gina will go to the hospital with the parents-to-be but Jimmy and I will be waiting at home for the phone call.

Thank you for all the positive thoughts and prayers for our family. I hope to have happy news soon.

Just a Few More Days to Wait......

My beautiful first born daughter, Angela Lynne, is on the very last leg of being pregnant! She went to the doctor on Friday and she said if little Otto doesn't make his appearance by Friday, July 25th, they want to induce her. Her blood pressure is up and bit and she is a bit older mom, so they don't want her to go over her due date!

So, baby Otto will soon arrive. My other beautiful daughter Gina will be coming down from Seattle to help her sister and probably keep her mom calm. I have to admit, I am just nervous about all of this and will be happy when the baby is safe and sound on the outside.

I have been praying for months for a safe delivery and a healthy baby. I  have to remind myself to TRUST that all will be just fine. I'm not always good at trusting. I found a very simple verse this morning...Psalm 84:12  " O Lord Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts you!" I will keep this in my heart this week. 

Clark County Garage Sale

This weekend was the Clark County Garage Sale in Ridgefield, WA, which is about 35 minutes from our home. We went last year and wanted to go again. The weather was supposed to be really hot this weekend and I just wasn't going to go if the temps were in the 90's! When we woke up this morning, it was actually misting when we had our coffee outside! I think the weatherman was wrong. We decided to go and we were hoping that it wasn't going to rain. The sky was a bit dark at times and the computer said we had a 30% chance in the afternoon.

Most of the booths are outside and they rearranged everything this year, so it there was a lot more open space. It wasn't as crowded.

As you can see, the sky was a bit threatening at times!

All of a sudden, the sun broke out and it started to get warm as we were almost finished.

Jim found quite a few things for his show in October....big smile! We really had a good time.

Here's a few of my treasures. Some will be for Etsy, but some will be for Linda Lou! This little friendship quilt top was in great shape and was only $2! It was my greatest bargain today. I found a lovely set of hand pieced quilt block too. I've been collecting little metal irons for my cottage and found a great one by the Ohio Toy Company.

Jim looks for interesting wooden items. Here's his two favorite items from the show. The wooden box type item is for gardening. Your tools can go in the sides and the pad in the center is stuffed with horse hair and is for kneeling when working in the garden. It has brass nails and is in great condition.

This duck piece folds out and is a duck decoy. It is just wonderful...three painted ducks. If we had a great big long table, it would make a great centerpiece with fall leaves and pumpkins. It would be fabulous with the Spode Woodland dishes.

It was really fun and we sure found some fun items for our business....and a few personal items for ourselves.

Tea Time Thursday #21 and a Peek at My Cottage

I spent the entire day weeding and cutting back things in my front yard today. It was pretty hot out and by the end of the day, I was pooped, but the yard looks neat and tidy again. I needed to get it done while it was somewhat cool.

So, here it is Tea Time Thursday. I was going to give you a look at my cottage, but it's still not quite done. I am getting close! It was fun to actually use my sewing machine to make my curtain valance. I am going to really like having a place to sew.

Some of you know that I'm decorating my studio with Mary Engelbreit things that I have been collecting for some time now. Here's my teacup for today....it says "Everyone Needs Their Own Spot" and has adorable little dogs running around the saucer. How appropriate....as my cottage certainly will be my SPOT!

I promised some friends that I would show my sewing cabinet. One of the things that was important to me in my studio was to have a lot of space. I decided to get this great sewing cabinet that can open up to provide me with great work space when I'm sewing. Here it is all closed up.

I just opened it up to show the inside and the storage spaces. The machine goes down for storage. I'm still waiting for the acetate cut out that will allow me to have my machine flush with the table. It had to be special ordered.

This is the regular fold out...space on the left and right hand side. Don't you like my RED work chair? I love it!

Then if you need more space, the back will open up too for a very large work space. Sometime you need that when you're working on a quilt.

You can see my cutting table in the back. It folds up too. I just wanted lots of flexibility.

Here's a little shelf I got at the bins and LaVonne sent me some cute pot holders. I have a few more things to do, but will be sharing the finished room soon. It has been so fun to put this room together. This weekend, I am getting a cute cozy chair and my stereo system. Duane put speakers in the ceiling.
It's such a happy room that just makes me smile every time I walk in the door!

I hope you enjoyed this little look into my cottage/studio. I will be sharing more with you soon. Working as much as I can before baby Otto arrives! It's getting close.

Quiet Sunday Morning

A quiet and fresh morning here in Oregon. I love Sundays. I'm afraid it won't be a day of rest for the Colantino's. Jim is finishing up his show and I will go in later to help him pack up. We are so thankful for such a great show. It's a lot of work but a lot of fun too.

Yesterday I stopped at the local berry stand and found 3 of my favorites ready to go....raspberries, blueberries and strawberries. This six pack works great for us. They really will be "gon berries"
soon. I had to laugh when I read that....the Oregon had been cut off but gone is right at our house.

I think I am almost over this nasty bug. I didn't take any meds last night and slept fine. I started to feel like myself yesterday afternoon. This has just been the most lingering annoying cough/cold. I feel like I have lost a few weeks and that's always so hard for me. Thank you to my faithful blogger friends. I hope to get around to all of your blogs this week!

The weather is going to heat up this week...glad we have our little AC up. I know, it is summer. Can't have berries without summer.

Summer Show Time!

It's show time again for Jimmy! The summer show is always a bit different. There is an outside area open only in the summer, so it's a larger show. Jim worked so hard for weeks getting his items all cleaned and priced and ready to tempt his buyers! He loves it. After a rocky start with Duane's truck going out on the the way to unload all his goodies on Thursday, the Early Bird show on Friday was a great success. You just have to go with the flow and Jim did quite well!

Jim invited our son in law Eric, to come and join him. Eric is into watches and this was his first show. It was really fun to have him with us on Friday! Don't these two look cool? Eric will be back on Sunday.

Goofing around a  bit!

Eric's watches after he sold quite a few and his vintage sunglasses. People were loving them. I think Eric is hooked! He's great with his customers and good a selling.

Here he is enjoying a little girl and her daddy....so cute.

You can see our neighbor's littel family in the background. We met them a few years back at the show and were so happy to be next to them again. Little Wilder is 41/2 already! He is sooo cute!

Jim's goods....all set up and ready to sell!

I'm hoping this little doll bed sells as it's TOO tempting. It's really cute.

I have dinner ready for my Jimmy with fresh Oregon berries. I know he'll be tired, but happy tonight. I've chatted with him a few times and he's been having another great day! He sure enjoys his retirement "job"! I'll be helping him pack up tomorrow. I've lost track of how many shows he's done now. He does about 4-5 a year. It sure keeps him out of trouble...ha ha ha!