I'm actually updating if you can believe it!

Yes it has been a long absence. But everyone survived and no one missed me too much, did they? LOL
This is quick update as to the status of my life and family life, I have been working my hiney off (I wish this were literal) creating and maintaining my new supply shop on etsy. We also took our very first real vacation as a family! Both have been a necessity and blessing. The shop is bringing in a bit more income for me and the vacation to visit my dad and spend time on the beach was the bomb!
Another milestone tomorrow is mine and Terrell's 6th Wedding Anniversary. These have been a crazy wonderful amazing 6 years. We feel like we have been together forever, but I guess the reason is because watching the kids grow up and out. In this short time, we have watched children graduate from middle school, high school and college. We have had 2 weddings, one death in the family, one adoption and two births. We have experienced health problems and a little financial difficulty at times. Wow, what a crazy amount to go through in that amount of time. The stress has been extremely hard at times, but thankfully, our love and our friendship are a strong bond and these things have only served to make us stronger.
I'm getting older and have just discovered gray (actually they are silver, lol, honest!) in my hair.
I always told everyone the dye was coming out whenever I turned gray and the funny thing is I think I've changed my mind. I am not high maintenance but have had a little vanity in the past, but I just feel like those days are gone. Not that I don't want to look good, but my husband is gray (probably from marrying a women with 6 children) and it honestly just doesn't bother me and it really doesn't bother him. He likes that I'm not really high maintenance when it comes to my physical appearance. So I'm cool with the little silver hairs of wisdom gracing my hair. ;)
On vacation, I got to meet one of my heroines. We were able to attend a book signing by Paula Deen and Her husband Michael down in Savannah. Of course, when I started up to her, I cried. She very sweetly just gave me a big hug. I apologized for loosing it and blessed her for being a blessing to me. Her story is so much like many women's story and with the exception of her being a celebrity, it so coincides with mine. I couldn't say much, but I could tell from that short moment that she is as real as she is on T.V. They had been signing books all day and we were close to the end of the line. They had to be tired. Michael talked to Terrell about what kind of bikes they rode and called Abby a doll. It was a real pleasure to meet them.
Of course, we had a wonderful time visiting my family, Tybee beach and Savannah with our family too. I'll make that a second installation soon. Ha, I said this was going to be short. LOL

Digital Collage Sheets!

I've started a new venture, another shop. This one is geared toward crafting and supplies. The name of the shop is Wicked Mama, it is my nemesis site.
Every woman should have a little wicked vixen inside of her to be able to let loose and have a little fun. I create custom Digital Art collage sheets for crafting and collage. I also will be adding bottle cap pendants, glass tile pendants, and maybe some snarzy collage art.

My main focus for now are some great digital collage sheets for crafting and creating.
The Url of this new shop if you are so inclined in to look or you are interested in collage crafts is
http://wickedmama.etsy.com/

Here are a few examples of the digital collage.

Who doesn't want a middle earth map on a paper mache boot?

Found a website this morning from a friend on twitter. I'm up at 6:30 so I had nothing better to do (waiting for family to get up, going to Dollywood today) I've been laughing my head off trying not to wake anyone up.
http://itemnotasdescribed.com/2009/07/13/funny-classifieds-middle-earth-map/

Vintage Indiana Glass on Etsy

This is kind of a test post to try and figure out more about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) on Etsy. Sales have been very consistent for me until recently and although I have really wanted to blame it on the economy and July being a rough month for sales, a new challenge has risen to meet me on the horizon.
So for everyone's amusement, I'm going to try and feature some of mine and others beautiful Vintage Indiana Glass in hopes of helping the SEO feature. We shall see if it works. I don't have a problem with promoting my shop or others, but really wanted to stave off making my blog into an advertisement.

I'd love to show for your consideration these lovely retro Vintage Indiana Whitehall Green Tea glasses from my shop http://iluvlucy8.etsy.com/


There are many shops on Etsy with Indiana Glass. I love it and if I had the room I would collect a roomful. But alas, my loss is someone else's china cabinet treasure. ;)

Here is another beautiful piece from
http://ZenHen.etsy.com/

Ode to the Garden God...

To the Garden God...
Thank you that my garden is growing so prolifically.
I appreciate the gesture.
The cucumbers are crazy,
The beans are busting out,
The mosquitoes are biting,
The potatoes are potato,
The summer squash is seasoned,
The tomatoes are heavenly,
The zucchini is zowsa.
Thank you,
from a garden ho :P

The bittersweet memories of childhood

This is not necessarily a tribute to a dead singer. Just some meandering thoughts from my childhood I'm writing for my sake or whoever loves the innocence of our younger days.
As a child, I only thought about faith and what could be, the good parts of life and hope for a wonderful future. This wasn't because I led a sheltered existence either, I was very emotionally abused and physically too at times. But as a child I had a love for music and literature that helped me transcend the harshness of life. It lifted me above the pain of everyday living. I know this was a gift from my Savior, I have no doubt.
So too I have to weigh in on Michael Jackson's death. I'm heartbroken. Not because of what Michael Jackson became, but because of what he once was to me in my childhood. His music was a big part of lifting me away from the pain and helping me to hang on and have a faith that I wasn't taught by my mother.
What Michael became is much cause for debate. I tend to hope that he wasn't the pedophile that some folks paint him as. I tend to hope the he was very eccentric because of the pain of his own childhood. But I'm not the judge of who he became. I just loved his music. Even as I got older I admired his talent (secretly as not to make my ex mad ;).
But his death shows that he was no God even though to some folks he probably will become one now. He was just a man with many failings.

My tribute is to the bittersweet memories of my childhood. A time when the negative part of the world we live in was in the background and not in the foreground of my mind. A time when I didn't have to worry as much about what could happen because I believed what was best. A time when faith was my survival and music and books were there to comfort me. And a time when I listened to I'll be there over and over and over again on my little 45 records on my small little turntable.

Josiah Stevenson-The Long Run

To say that I'm proud is an understatement. But will forgo the mushy mommy jargon. This is a music video that is a collaboration of Josiah and a friend, Neil McCormack. I think it looks wonderful but decide for yourself. ;)
http://neilmccormack.com/longrun.mov

This is a hmmm? post

Tale of Two Houses

House #1
A 20 room mansion (not including 8 bathrooms) heated by natural gas. Add on a pool (and a pool house) and a separate guest house, all heated by gas. In one month this residence consumes more energy than the average American household does in a year. The average bill for electricity and natural gas runs over $2400 per month. In natural gas alone, this property consumes more than 20 times the national average for an American home. This house is not situated in a Northern or Midwestern 'snow belt' area. It's in the South.

---

House #2
Designed by an architecture professor at a leading national university. This house incorporates every 'green' feature current home construction can provide. The house is 4,000 square feet (4 bedrooms) and is nestled on a high prairie in the American southwest. A central closet in the house holds geothermal heat-pumps drawing ground water through pipes sunk 300 feet into the ground.

The water (usually 67 degrees F) heats the house in the winter and cools it in the summer. The system uses no fossil fuels such as oil or natural gas and it consumes one-quarter electricity required for a conventional heating/cooling system. Rainwater from the roof is collected and funneled into a 25,000 gallon underground cistern. Wastewater from showers, sinks and toilets goes into underground purifying tanks and then into the cistern. The collected water then irrigates the land surrounding the house. Surrounding flowers and shrubs native to the area enable the property to blend into the surrounding rural landscape.

~~~~~
HOUSE #1 is outside of Nashville , Tennessee ;
It is the abode of the 'Environmentalist' Al Gore.

HOUSE #2 is on a ranch near Crawford , Texas ;
It is the residence of the Ex-President of the United States , George W. Bush.

An 'inconvenient truth.'

I sure hope this gets passed to everyone!
And, yes ... I DID check Snopes prior to forwarding it.

Disney Copies their own movies!

Surprise, surprise

My Politics

I try very hard not to interfere with the affairs of politics, except to vote my conscience. But a friend of mine sent this to me and I am posting because I believe with my whole heart that it is a valid important message for us today as a people. I see apathy all around me in the world. I would say I might even have fallen prey to it at times. I hope this little reminder helps us remember.

Cycle of Democracy

"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover they can vote themselves largess from the public treasury.

"From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising them the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship.

"The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed through this sequence:

"From bondage to spiritual faith;
from spiritual faith to great courage;
from courage to liberty;
from liberty to abundance;
from abundance to selfishness;
from selfishness to apathy;
from apathy to dependence;
from dependency back again into bondage."

Dr. Alexander Tytler, a Scot professor, wrote a scholarly tome, from which this concept comes, called "The Athenian Republic" which was published shortly before the thirteen American colonies gained independence from Britain.. "Google" him to learn more.

In publishing a handout on the "Cycle" in 1994 I noted that the national debt had reached a staggering $4.5 trillion dollars. A year ago (Oct. 1, '07) it had soared to $9.06 trillion! Barely one year later (Oct. 17, '08) it is $10.3 trillion!! Our forebears thought of debt as slavery. They would be shocked at what their descendants have done. - - John Wrisley.