A Fun Week!!

Well, I had quite a fun week!! :-D  It was quiet and laid-back, but I did some very exciting things (for me!)

The main Very Exciting Thing was that I got a surprise in the mail last weekend --- my very special online friend, Duntie Elaine sent me a present!!! :-D  I happened to mention how much I loved the old cookie cutters awhile ago, and guess what she sent me?.....

Aren't they awesome?!!!!  I LOVE the little feet sticking out of the big one!! :-D  I just LOVE them so much, I'd never be able to get something like this for myself!!!  Thank YOU, Thank YOU, Duntie!!!!! XOXO :-D  I look at them and pet them every day! :-D  
Now I have to think of something special to do for her......hmmmm.....! ;-)

And, I feel really good about myself, because I DID some painting!!  I painted the back doors, finally......

This picture shows only the left side painted, but I did the other side too (just forgot to take a picture!).  It took a little while to do all those squares!  I tried NOT to paint the glass, but I gave up after a few minutes......

As you can see, the whole window needs to be cleaned anyway, so what's a little paint on there??? LOL  They all still need another coat of paint, and I need to paint inside the door frame, and then I need to paint the outside of them! (a different color)  But it sure felt good to get going on it -- I'll finish it up this week!! :-D

The other very extremely, hugely fun thing I did was a garland!!!!!  I have been obsessed with this garland since I saw it on (ahem!) Pinterest.....

Isn't it WONDERFUL?!?!!!!  It's cranberry and string beans, and I just LOVE it!!  At first, I wasn't sure what the string beans were -- they are so papery and spindley looking (which is my favorite thing about them!), so I posted a question on the Primitive Place Forum, and wouldn't you know it, one of the members mentioned a past thread she remembered, and when I looked it up, it was the same garland!!!!!  I couldn't believe it!  The Pinterest woman was on APP Forums years ago, and posted this very garland with instructions on how she made it!!!

Oh, I was THRILLED, and I thought the woman who directed me to it was brilliant for remembering it!  We all know MY memory doesn't work like that!! Haha!  I just wish that woman was still posting on APP -- I LOVE her Pinterest boards! :-D

ANYWAY.....after reading the old thread, I bought some fresh, skinny green beans from the store and defrosted one of my several frozen bags of fresh cranberries.....

They were wet and drippy after they defrosted, so I dried them on a towel (that I didn't care about getting red stains on!)......

And then I got myself all set up!......

I used a really strong thread (that I use for everything!)......

.....and I started stringing!! :-D
I guess the cranberries get mushie from being frozen, because they made quite a mess.....

I just strung on about 9-12 cranberries and 4-6 beans at a time, until I made it as long as I wanted......

It's tricky, because you can't tell how much it's going to shrink when it's fully dried -- it looks long and feels heavy, but that's how I want it to be so it will be a good length when it dries!
I found the perfect hanging spot.....

Haha!!  Why not, when I have all my other project supplies stacked all over this hearth while we work on the wood floor!  It might actually look NICE, except I'm using full quart-sized paint cans and a hammer to hold it up there!! :-D 
This picture is from several days ago, when I first strung this up -- the beans have already started to shrivel a little.....although I think the cranberries are going to take a little longer.  They were a little drippy when I first hung this, but not really bad.  And any juice dried by the next morning.  In another week or so, I'm going to start sliding everything together, so they don't stick in place and make big (ugly) gaps!  If it turns out as nicely as the picture, I'll definitely make more of them!!!

Tomorrow we are getting the last two boards I need -- YAY!!  I'll get them ready this week, and then we can nail them down next weekend!  I'm also going to finish painting down the hallway, too.....Imagine it......completely finished....!  Phew, that's hard to imagine -- what will I do with all that space in my brain when I don't have to think about and plan the family room and hallway???  Life will never be the same....!!! LOL  GOOD! :-D

There were a few other things I was going to show you guys, but it's taken me 7 freakin' hours to type out this post!!!!  People just won't LEAVE ME ALONE for 15 minutes around here!!!! :-P
*Sigh!*

We had a great day today -- we took the kids out after an eye exam to a pizza buffet!  Boy, we get our money's worth at buffets with Brian and my two boys!!  I wish I took a picture, but I FORGOT the camera, of course!  Then when we got home, they worked on getting our pool ready -- usually we have it filled by now (like, in April!), but it's been such a cool spring, it hasn't been warm enough until now!  So they cleaned it out and started filling it.  I love swimming when it's hot out -- nothing cools you off quicker!!! :-D

I hope everyone has a TERRIFIC weekend!!!!  I'll post again with any new fun updates!  There should be a few.....! ^-^