Doing Lots of Little Things!! :-)

Well, I've got some painting done!!! :-D
I finished the kitchen wall that's been half-painted for months.....

And if you noticed, I finished the stencil that's been unfinished for years! :-P 
Ah, but there's a problem.....look closely.....

Can you tell....???

I used the wrong stencil colors!!! LOL  Ok, I'm not going to be too hard on myself, because I have (no lie) about 5 different reds that all look so similar.....

.....but I should have remembered about the blue -- I only have 2 of those!

It's an easy fix -- I'm just going to brush a little of the wall paint (Colonial Tan) over it, to dull it, and then just stencil the correct colors right over it.....but not tonight!  Haha!!

I also started on the lower kitchen cabinets, but I don't have pictures of that yet.  I'll wait until it's finished!
I am avoiding the top cabinets because they will be more complicated, and, well, because of THIS.....

Can you believe what a terrible housekeeper I am???  (Duntie, see what I mean about poor mousie....!?)
This is SO disgusting, yet I sit here on my computer instead of cleaning that up!! :-P  It's actually going to be a much bigger job than that, because ALL the upper cabinets are dusty, plus the shelf that is above the table!  *Sigh!*  I hate dust -- it's always everywhere!!!  And it always comes back in a few days! :-P

Anyways, I'm going to have to face that this week at some point, but I'll be SO happy when it's cleaned up and painted.  AND.....don't forget, I have those rusty tin panels to put over the glass fronts, that will look so awesome.....it will be a huge payoff to do that work! :-D

In the meantime, here are the pictures that were in that lost post!
I made a wreath for the front door.....

.....but hated it!!!  It looked like an 80's prom dress to me -- BLEGH!  And I said I was going to change it.
Well, this week I did......

Isn't that much better? :-D
The only thing I don't like about this is that it's fake flowers.....but I was at Hobby Lobby and they were expensive, but On Sale (!!!), and they look so real (and pretty!) that I couldn't resist!  I still feel like it's missing something, so today I bought some burlap "ribbon", and I'm going to wrap a little around it.  That should do the trick!!
That hydrangea looks MUCH better in a basket.....

Another thing I wanted to show was something my wonderful friend Honora sent me -- she has been trying to get Sweet Annie plants to me since the winter!  And she tried live plants several months ago, but they didn't survive, so she sent me A TON of branches of it!!
LOOK at how WONDERFUL it all is.....

(pay NO attention to my very sorry-looking make-shift work station!)I've been shaking the seeds out of them and saving them to sprinkle on the dirt once it cools off around here.  Then they should sprout up next Spring!!! :-D
She also sent me that bit of Bittersweet vine that is in the bowl on my table with the pumpkin and squash (that I love so much)!  I have never been able to find Bittersweet around here, so I was VERY excited to get that, too!!  I just love those Sweet Annie bunches.....I can't wait to put them all over the house and in some crafts I want to make!
Thank you so much, Honora!!!! :-)

I also posted about a new little antique shop we found!  It was one big room, and I found two treasures there -- look at this jug for $5......

And get ready for the MOST awesome thing......

This old box was $10!!!  I LOVE IT! :-D 
Now if I could only get going on making an aged paper box (that I've been talking about for over a year), they would look perfect together!  I also want to try painting/decoupaging that jug to make it look like pottery (I saw it on Pinterest.....of course).  It will be an interesting project.....IF I ever get to it!

Let's see.....OH!  I also posted about buying these to try drying out......

It's going fine so far -- I bought five all together, and after a couple of weeks, this is where they are at.....

And I also posted about some corn cobs I dried out.....

THEY dried out PERFECTLY......

Don't they look great?!!  I got more this weekend to do.....did I mention Brian and the kids think I'm "weird"..... Hahaha!! :-D

And I also did oranges.....

.....and LIMES -- what fun!......

(ok, with another orange!)  Don't they look wonderful?!!!  They aren't fully dried, so I hope they stay looking great like this.....sometimes they change when they are completely dry.

So THERE -- I think that's all the pictures from my "lost" post!  That was really awful!!  I'm still nervous every time I post now......I always "Save" it first, then go to the List to post it.  I can't trust Blogger anymore!

This week I want to get more kitchen painting done.  I really feel like making something, so maybe I'll try papering a box.....it's a little intimidating!  I don't know, I might just end up looking at wallpaper boxes on PINTEREST......that seems to be what I do most lately -- LOOK at things instead of DOING them! :-P 
MAYBE I can motivate myself this week....??? ^-^

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!!! ^-^