Birthday FUN!!!

Hi!! :-D

I want to say firstly, THANK YOU SO MUCH for all my sweet and wonderful birthday wishes!!!  They really made my birthday more special, and I feel SO lucky and blessed to have my special online friends!!!! :-D  You all really do add so much to my life and my heart!

My birthday-DAY and even the day after was very fun and delightful!!!  We went to my favorite little primitive shop, where I got some fun things and even funner ideas! :-D

I loved this little rusty pot......

I got these pretty fall-ish stems to maybe use to fix a wreath I made (that I showed in my LOST POST) -- I'll show you that a little later! :-P -- anyway, these are pretty......

And I got the two little gourds to add to my pumpkin and squash and bittersweet bowl......

That's a sugar pumpkin, so I'm going to be able to make puree from it when I'm done using it for a decoration!  I LOVE this bowl on my table, it always makes me feel cozy!! :-D

THIS is a gorgeous resin reproduction that I LOVE, but no way can afford (it was $70!!!).....

.....but I took a picture of it because I told Brian I want to make one of my own with a log!!!
He thinks I'm crazy (actually "funny" is a better word -- he laughed at me! LOL), but I think I CAN do it!  I'm going to have him cut a log in half, and then I'm going to dig out the inside of it!!!  It CAN'T fail!!! :-D

And you know WHY I am so confident about it....???  Because of what Brian got me for my birthday present!  Wait until you see......

It's my VERY OWN screwdriver/drill that's cordless!!!!  You can't tell, but it's the smallest one they make! :-D  I never use Brian's because it's way too big and heavy for me, and it drives him crazy to see me using a regular screwdriver! Haha!!  Anyway, I LOVE LOVE this, and I already drilled nuts for a garland with it!
BUT, the best part about this present was that when he bought this, I got to pick another one of their tools FREE.....can you believe that?? (it was a "special buy")  So here's what I picked.....

It's not a great picture, but can you see how I will be able to use it to dig out wood from a log????  Haha, I told you it CAN'T fail!!! :-D

So that was a very exciting birthday for me, with such great new things! :-D  But then the next day, we were driving from the Farmer's Market, and I saw a NEW antique/junk mall, and we just had to stop and take a look!  It was HUGE!!  We only saw about a quarter of it, and we were there for almost an hour!!!  One of the things I saw was this little beat up table in a corner, with some of their tools on it.....but I loved it!  So before we left, I asked one of the guys who owned the place how much for it, and I think he was surprised that I wanted it! LOL  

He went off to see how much HE had paid for it (I think), and I told Brian if he wanted more than $30, I didn't want it......and he came back and said "$30"!!!!  I said "GREAT!", and we took it home!......

YAY!!! :-D

It was covered in mold and spider webs, so I wiped it down with vinegar and water.  You can see the real damage on the top, so I'm going to stain or paint (and distress) it, but not yet.  I want to live with it a little first!!  I should have taken a picture, but while we were cleaning it, we saw it had WOODEN wheels -- that's something I haven't seen before!  I thought they were little metal ones, but they are wood -- NEAT!! :-D

 

So there are my birthday surprises and treats!  I had a wonderfully fun time!!

And actually that was a nice break for me, because the week/weekend before, and the rest of this weekend were actually a little rough.  My poor neighbor has started her last round of chemo, and last weekend, she sat in her car and felt a sting on her butt (of all places!), and as usual for her, she started to swell up!  She's never been allergic to bees, mind you, but because of the chemo and radiation, her immune system is way out of whack and acting completely crazy when it comes to BUGS.  She has a tick bite that is finally healing after 2+ months of being hard and swollen, and she finally got those strange itchy bumps to dry up and go away.  NOW THIS!  So I ran over there with antihistamine pills and drove her to the hospital, where we spent hours waiting for them to get things under control.  Thankfully, she was never in any real danger with her breathing, but she swelled up alot, fast, and another sting might be dangerous to her!  The next day I brought her to her doctor's office for a follow up, and then to her herbalist appointment the day after that. 

I also spent one day over there helping her can tomatoes!  She had bought a small basket of them from a local farmer, and I brought all my "stuff" over and helped her -- she got three quarts out of them and we had fun!! :-)

THIS weekend she had her chemo again, and she always has to go back two days later for a shot to boost her white blood cells, but she needed a ride this time, so Brian and I drove her.  It was deep into Charlotte, and Brian knew the way better than us (her son usually drives her).  It took them about an hour to get her registered and get the medicine delivered to the chemo ward where we were waiting.  It works quickly to make her feel awful -- like she has the flu! :-(  

Being at that hospital with her was actually really difficult, because even though it was Sunday morning, there were a few people there getting their chemo treatments.....I could see that they were sick, and one woman who came in while we were waiting looked really young, like 30s, and she had NO hair at all.  Sitting in there with these people, all struggling and fighting this terrible disease just hurt my heart for them.  As we left, walking by them, I just wanted to reach out and touch them -- squeeze their hand or rub their shoulders, or hug them.....they each smiled and nodded to Cheryl, even though she hadn't seen them before - she is one of them, part of their "club" that no one wants to belong to.  And I couldn't stop thinking about them after we were home, and I was making lunch, and planning the week -- those people STILL had cancer.  They couldn't "go home" and brush it off like I could.....they had to face it and deal with it every moment of every day.  I just felt so sad about it.  And even for my friend, although I am grateful to God that she doesn't look as sick as they did.  

 

So I prayed for them when I couldn't shake the little creeping sadness I felt, and I prayed for them today too, when I prayed for my friend.  And maybe if any of you reading this wouldn't mind, YOU could add them to your prayers as well, if you think of it.  Then a whole bunch of new prayers will go out for them, from people they don't even know! :-)

Anyway, this week I am looking forward to a NOTHING/NOWHERE week -- that means I have NOTHING that I must do, and NOWHERE that I must go, for the whole week!!  YAY!  Maybe I can get going on the rest of my kitchen painting....????  UGH!  I told my Duntie Elaine that I need to get it done so I don't have to turn 45 with my kitchen still unfinished!!!!!! :-D

I also want to post those pictures that got lost in that doomed post of mine -- I promise to try to do that this week!

 

I wish you all a wonderful week, my blogging friends!!! ^-^