Saturday, September 12, 2009

Trusting....


Blogged at my other (art/craft) blog: shebrews
My thoughts for today. shebrews (specific post)


Working on this. To be friends. With my mate. Some days go well, some days stink. Some days its my fault, some days its his, somedays, neither of us try very hard. We celebrated 39 years of marriage, and two years of dating this year. Lots of water under the bridge, as they say.

This week he chose to use Brut after shave. It's amazing what a scent will do for memory. Immediately, I felt the upholstered bucket seats in his 1965 GTO, and heard the rumble of the glass packs as it idled where we always parked. That smell mesmorized me. I told him that he should wear it more often, as it invoked good memories, and made me think good thoughts for building our relationship. As I began to remember the things I admired about him, and the little things he did for me, that perhaps he only abandoned as I took them for granted. Little things matter. They say, little foxes spoil the vineyard. Yes, I agree.

When I get the scent of Brut, I immediately remember the feeling of safety in his arms as a young woman dreams about their future mate. Even now, as I write, it isn't hard to imagine his face back then, his gait, his breath, his quiet voice on the phone so his mother couldn't hear what he was saying to me.

Somethings happen to spoil the magic after all the crisis and drama of raising five children and their friends and acquaintances. Things we differed about became larger than things we agreed on. Sides were taken, preferences made, prejudices built. But, luckily, every now and then, we come together on something so strong, we know we must keep trying. We must remember what drew us together, and once again, appreciate that.

I am going to a 50th wedding celebration tomorrow. I cannot imagine, except, I am so close to that. I watch my children going through the stages of married life and hope they keep the good memories somewhere near the top. Too many give up too soon. I think of one of their favorite movies to watch where the theme song rang: "There are no cats in America, and the streets are lined with cheese."

Yeah, we mice planned as good as we could to expell the cats, but I am reminded of a Proverb that came to my in my first married years, and sustained me because of it. "Where no oxen are, the crib is clean, but strength is in the Ox. "

There is a lot of muscle-lacking today. We have no stamina for the hard stuff. We can afford to ward it off. Or we take the easy way out.

It's hard to keep my arms lifted to Heaven. God doesn't seem to talk much these days. I think He's waiting for us to quiet down. He doesn't really like shouting. He more likes burning bushes and goats on the mountain side. That's what makes me so mad, He doesn't get mad about the things I get mad about......

But, my arms are still up. Like the disciples once told Jesus, "To Whom else would we go?"
So, my mate and I, we struggle along, together. Some days we make it difficult for the other, and some days we just couldn't do it without the other one by our side. It is what it is. He holds my arms up, and I hold his arms up, when we can't do it alone because we are too tired.

Two are better than one, says the same Proverb writer, "For if one falls, the other is there to pick them up." My question is, "Is the fall necessary?"

Come see my art/craft blog: shebrews

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Things I Wish Someone would have told me......


about naming your blog, your on-line etsy store, your Flickr, your Stumble-Upon, your Technorati, and which blog to choose. I am running into problems four years after the fact. The bottom line is, I made some big mistakes. No one told me.

I started out with a completely hand-built web site involving almost a hundred pages, with rolling sizes of pictures of my collages and artwork. This was pain-stakingly done by a dear friend of mine, Nancy, who designed all the templates and instructed me how to upload, change information and fill in the blanks. I had no idea what I was really doing, but managed having a very impressive web-site. I remember the feeling of dragging friends and family over to the computer and watching my then, "dial-up" slowly load the title page. How fun it was to see my artwork on-line!

The problem was, I didn't know enough about writing html to make the needed updates, and change things around occasionally, much like gift shops do, so that the next time you visit, it feels new and wonderful. I am sure that I had this site for at least three years, with a few sales, but it was time for me to come up with my own site that I could manage.

After checking my favorite bloggers, I noticed that the majority of them went with typepad. Typepad had really pretty user friendly templates, but to my surprise, I discovered it wasn't difficult to create your own with their easy tutorials. Typepad gives you thirty day free trial, but, that still isn't enough information. What typepad doesn't tell you is that it is difficult to become one of the community members in quite popular groups because they won't let you link unless you are incredibly computer savvy. Typepad also charges for their services. I always thought that you get what you pay for, but, in my case, I don't feel that way.

Now, I have established my site with Typepad, and changing would be a pain in the "arse". I have my domain located there, etc, etc. When I set up my Technorati, all was well, until I purchased my public domain name, Shebrews, and then something went wonky with the "ping" and I don't have true stats. It doesn't even update my post entries......*argh*.

This week I discovered that I was dropped from the Wist-Etsy group that I joined three years ago, because they couldn't find my Etsy store. My etsy store was named with little thought of linking it to a blog. Etsy name: Ohmy1.

I have a good history of sales there and a "somewhat" following. Do I change my Etsy name now? I lose all that credible history. I need to be trusted, and my previous sales help that, don't they?

I discovered another reason I couldn't find my Wist-Etsy group is because it is listed under my Yahoo group name: Hoursdontcount. Who knew this mattered? I joined the Yahoo group so I could be a member of Flickr and also, join some groups on Etsy. *sigh* Now, how to I link the name Hoursdontcount with Shebrews? They let you link a blogger blog, but not a typepad. Go figure.

I opened a "free" blog account with Google's Blogger because I felt "not connected" with a lot of blogs when I wasn't allowed to open ID to leave comments. I have a blogger blog mostly because I need to leave comments on blogs. That's just what I do. I want to feel a part of the "group".

I loved the idea of Friend Connect. Do you think that typepad supports this? Nooooooooo. I cannot upload the widget for nothing. Blogger seems to be in the know. AND ITS FREE, PEOPLE.

I am telling you now these very important things.
Get your free blog from Google. Get your Friend Connect widget and get some friends. Use the same User Name on all your accounts. That way, when they google your user name, all your stuff appears magically. No confusion. No searching. This is so terribly frustrating. Purchase your domain name at relatively low costs. I went with Go-Daddy, but am not sure that was the smartest, either. I suspect that I am paying for things I don't need. They throw so many options at you, that you get confused and panicky.

My first web page was a clear and simple $4.95 a month. No questions asked, No harrassment with options.

I will continue to try to update this, as it links me to my REAL site, shebrews.
Please go to visit that to see what I am up to in my art/craft world. I would sincerely appreciate that.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Six words to describe your life....



"I am completely taken by surprise"

These words would truly sum up my life so far. All that I imagined, all that I interpreted about life has completely been topsy-turvey. It's true. Life is what happens when you are making other plans..........

I am one of the lucky ones, in that, I have had a colorful and eventful life. There has not been much dull drum here----and, interestingly, it's not that I went pursuing any particular event. In fact, the things I pursued eluded me. Something always won out ahead.

I read an old book that was written in the form of a diary. It's starts out with a twelve year old girl journaling. It was written in early 1900's and is now in reprint. It is titled, "Stepping Heavenward" and is by Elizabeth Prentiss. In it, she grows up, marries, has children and many tough times. In the spirit of Victorian writing, it is mostly sad, but, probably more realistic for the "normal" person.

I know a few people who have escaped the tumbling, ripping and burning events that happen along our way home........and, they seem quite content with this "uneventful" fate they have. In my younger years I thought it was because they did everything right and I continued to fall and trip along the way.

My daughter describes it as "skipping through the woods, singing your favorite song and something pushes a stick in your path and you find yourself on the ground before the last note escapes your lungs".

Hmmmm, well. That's about how it feels. For the most part, I never saw things coming. The things I prepared for, and thought possible, never happened. The things I never thought would be part of my life, were very large.

It's got me thinking about the next life...........

*for my art/craft blog visit me at: shebrews

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Catch and Release.....


One of my favorite parts of the book, "Same Kind of Different As Me" is this:

Ron asks Denver to be his friend. Denver takes time to think about what this means, and then tells Ron:

"Bout bein your friend."....."There's somethin I heard 'bout white folks that bothers me, and it has to do with fishin."...........He spoke slowly and deliberately, keeping me pinned with that eyeball....."I heard that when white folks go fishin they do somethin called 'catch and release'. ..........
"That really bothers me, " Denver went on. "I just can't figure it out. 'Cause when colored folks go fishin, we really proud of what we catch, and we take it and show it off to everybody that'll look. Then we eat what we catch......in other words, we use it to sustain us. So it really bothers me that white folks would go to all that trouble to catch a fish, then when they done caught it, just throw it back in the water."

........."So, Mr. Ron, it occurred to me: If you is fishin for a friend you just gon' catch and release, then I ain't got no desire to be your friend." ............

Suddenly his eyes gentled and he spoke more softly than before: "But if you is lookin for a real friend, then I'll be one. Forever."

*********
wow. I feel ashamed of the period in my life when I was only interested in winning people to my faith..........I actually had a new friend say directly to me, "I hope you are not my friend just so you can try to convert me to your beliefs......" that really convicted me about my motives of a lot of things I do.......

in the essence of "being fishers of men" , this is straight talk........I think of Jesus frying fish on the shoreline with his friends on his last moments on earth after his resurrection. Frying fish.........his straight talk was: "Do you love me?........feed my sheep."...........then I wonder, do sheep eat fish?

I am not being silly, seriously, I think we are to be spent for each other. That's what it's about. Not just proselyte, win others to our beliefs, and send them on their merry way to fight it out alone.......too much of that goes on. "I die daily that others might live." What would that look like in my life? That's what I need to work out.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

same kind of different as me


wow. this is quite the read. please check it out.



Click to enlarge this picture to read the back of the book. I haven't finished it yet, but, believe me, I can barely put it down. My dear friend sent this to me to read.......

Be sure to visit my craft/art/sewing/embroidery blog.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

A Perfect Diary

I found a publication that I am in love with. It's a Korean Artist named Kim Sungshin. I found the diary on Etsy and after looking at the four pictures they get to have, I knew I had to have it. It is very small, 5" x 6 1/2", but I don't mind because it is so rich in illustration. I am doing a full blog post about it at my Shebrews blog . Come over there and look for the post titled: Confessions of a Bibliophile.