Pumpkin Patch Fall Frolicking

Twas a carefree time in the pumpkin patch indeed :)...what a fun time we had and the weather was once again simply beautiful! It was so much fun just watching all the kids running about amongst the pumpkins....and hearing them scream in the corn maze was pretty funny too.  When we were in the maze I hollered out ---------------
" Help! I am soooo Corn-fused!"  And my son was all " You're so corny Mom!"  And yahh--we were full of corn kiddin' that day :)--- I love the Fall!
My "grandaughter" Lexi----(she is my daughter-in-laws' baby from her first marriage)---so she is now my grandaughter as well and I luv her bunches---she is such a fiesty little thing---when she looks at me with those big blue eyes and says "Grandma--you're the best!" I can't help but smile and know how blessed I am to have her in my life. She's one of those kids who can go from super sweet to Tasmanian Devil in the blink of an eye and I often have to hide my giggles when she is being bad---she is just so creatively bad sometimes that it really cracks me up.....
So at the pumpkin patch she instructed me that I should take pictures of her sitting on every pumpkin---and yessssss......we took tons of pictures---but of course Lexi was a bit upset when we had to leave because she hadn't sat on every pumpkin there yet :)  So here are some pics of our little trip to the patch-----

Chloe loves checking-out Grandmas jewelry :)...
I know I have talked a bit about my arthritis and fibro and anyone who has it knows that we have good days and bad days.  I know that trying to remain positive is paramount to feeling better.
Lately I have been "mad at my hands"... my knuckles on my thumbs keep locking up and my hands are just really sore---and it's hard to be creative with hands that won't cooperate LOL! But we simply do what we can do right? Anyways I guess the point I am trying to get to is that when I have baby Chloe in my arms---even on a bad day---I'zzz a Happy Camper and I know that the world is a good place to be in :)
Wishing ya'll a very Happy Spooktacular Halloween..and hoping that all the pumpkin patches throughout the world continue to spread a little sunshine .......
Feeling frolicky today? Have fun :)!!!

About The Final value Fees That eBay Charges Sellers On Shipping As Well

So I have posted a few of my thoughts on the new (now getting old) eBay that I continue to fall un-in-luv-with...
The deal about adding $ to the final value fee and charging sellers more $ from their shipping fees as well---I haven't really said anything about it because if you want to sell there you simply go along with the flow and accept that you will obey!!  LOL!
Anyways---ya'll know I don't sell or list or spend much time there anymore but tonight--I listed an antique book--and I tried to list it as "Flat rate priority envelope" @ $5.99 (.99 cents over--to cover the additional eBay $ that they are going to take from me)--but lo and behold! I got a prompt that eBay has placed a $4.00 flat rate fee in the book category (on an envelope that costs me $5.00 WTH?)--so I had to change my shipping to cover my costs to the parcel post and "weight" category--and now the "calculated shipping fee" if I simply ship locally is more than $7.00--
Imagine that? eBay said they did this to protect "buyers" from overpriced shipping---but their new rules in this case ends up costing potential buyers more $.... All smoke and mirrors---
another Greedy seedy corporate way of changing it up to make more $ for themselves and trying to make excuses about why they did it ! LOL---eBay wants FREE shipping---how about if they pay the shipping costs for all items sold on the sight....??? They own Pay Pal...they could do this----they could make the "free shipping" really FREE----LOL----NOTgonna happen!...
I am just venting because this new deal means that in certain categories---I am not allowed to offer buyers shipping options that would save them money----SIMPLY SUX---IMHO!

People Who Cross Our Paths Are Put In Our Path

Count me in as a firm believer that people who cross our paths or were thrown into our paths or fell into our paths or that we followed their paths---to me this is the real connection here on Earth :)

Here is a story from a recent E-mail from one of my Cuz's--- that really made me smile :)

IrishLuck



I want this back. It DOES work.


His name was Fleming, and he was a poor Scottish farmer. One day, while trying to make a living for his family, he heard a cry for help coming from a nearby bog. He dropped his tools and ran to the bog.


There, mired to his waist in black muck, was a terrified boy, screaming and struggling to free himself. Farmer Fleming saved the lad from what could have been a slow and terrifying death.


The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman's sparse surroundings. An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced himself as the father of the boy Farmer Fleming had saved.


'I want to repay you,' said the nobleman. 'You saved my son's life.'


'No, I can't accept payment for what I did,' the Scottish farmer replied waving off the offer. At that moment, the farmer's own son came to the door of the family hovel.


'Is that your son?' the nobleman asked.


'Yes,' the farmer replied proudly.

'I'll make you a deal. Let me provide him with the level of education my own son will enjoy If the lad is anything like his father, he'll no doubt grow to be a man we both will be proud of.' And that he did.


Farmer Fleming's son attended the very best schools and in time, graduated from St. Mary's Hospital Medical School in London, and went on to become known throughout the world as the noted Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of Penicillin.

Years afterward, the same nobleman's son who was saved from the bog was stricken with pneumonia.

What saved his life this time? Penicillin.

The name of the nobleman? Lord Randolph Churchill .. His son's name?
Sir Winston Churchill.
Someone once said: What goes around comes around.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wow....just "wow" says I :)!









   

Enjoying The Nice Warm Bako Weather While Stumbling Upon The Fall Finds On Zibbet

So the weather here in Bakersfield is still in the 80's and I'm not quite feeling the Fall yet but enjoying the heck out of this still awesome warm weather and wondering if I will be wearing shorts on Halloween :)  Seriously tho with my arthritis I have to say I function a lot better in the warm weather...my bones are just tons "happier".
I bought a tanning bed on eBay a few years ago and in the winter instead of curling up with a hot cup of cocoa I tend to curl up in the tanning bed.  (Yes I tend to be lots tanner in the winter than the summer LOL!)  And I know those UV rays aren't doing me any good but the warmth that creeps way down into my bones and really relaxes me makes it all worth it :) Nonetheless I still love the Fall and hope we don't go from warm weather straight into the wintery cold stuff.
Here are some pics I took in my little garden this morning...my Morning Glories are still thriving all over the place and I even  have a few Hollyhocks still in bloom------

So of course I am still feeling rather "Summery" instead of "Fallery"...but then I got to work and we have this guy called "Jimeny Pumpkin Patch" out in our parking lot with butt-loads of pumpkins and hay all over the place so I suddenly got blasted into the "Fall Mood" Hee-hee-----anyways ---I want to share some of the great Fall Finds I found on Zibbet today....
http://www.zibbet.com/

http://www.zibbet.com/Craftsbycarrie/artwork?artworkId=104593

http://www.zibbet.com/creationsbygena/artwork?artworkId=467833

http://www.zibbet.com/WeddingFlorist/artwork?artworkId=443880

http://www.zibbet.com/Threecats/artwork?artworkId=535914

http://www.zibbet.com/MillionsofStitches/artwork?artworkId=108152

http://www.zibbet.com/LuizaVizoli/artwork?artworkId=158365

If you haven't checked out the Zibbet sight....you should mosey on over sometime-----or take a hay ride or something :)
Or be like me some days and just creep on over---- but hey! What better time to be CREEPY than it's almost Halloween? :)
Hope your October has been Fallistically fantastic so far!

Does Phony Baloney Smell Better When It Is New? Pondering the on-line image

I went to bed last night thinking about this and this morning when I woke up I am still thinking about it so I thought I would share a bit of my thinkering......
When I think about the "On-line image" I immediately think of trust and that trust is a must and absolutely paramount. 
I realize that  myself... sometimes I should simply stick a sock in my mouth or sit on my hands for a bit instead of madly keying away at the keyboard.....but over all I think that peops who come across my path on the net pretty much meet the real deal when they deal with me.
I remember several years ago...when even after I had placed ye old "parental controls" on my sons' net doings....I would still catch him chatting up in different places and his profile would say things like he was 22 and drove a porsche and was an entrepreneur etc.etc.--(quite the life for a 13 yr old kid :) ) So I would tell him things like "That's not nice--be honest" yada yada and he would say things like that if people believed him it was their own fault and that is what made "making it all up" so much fun.
Okay...so the internet is also a huge shopping adventure and you go to a new site and buy things and you simply have to trust that you will receive what you think is there etc.etc.---and I can see why brick and mortars have the advantage because people want to see and feel the real thing without a clause for deception.
You meet people on-line and will probably never see them face to face and you don't really know if their avatar is actually them or if any of the things they say are remotely close to being the truth----you just have to place some sort of blind trust in the whole situation or simply hit the "escape" key.
Recently on a site that I sell a few of my handcrafted and vintage items on--- a person was in the chat rooms starting discussions and talking about "branding" herself and getting her name out there.  And granted she seems like a really nice person.  Then last night when I was looking at some of her items and links---it became evident that on a former sight she has a complete different name and is now calling herself something else and I was just like "WTH?"  I  mean---getting out there and branding herself but which self is she ? I mean I know that actresses change their names and so on and so forth but HELLO?!!... this venue is not a movie. And I kind of felt like I had been duped yet now I know that I will not waste my time joining in any more conversations with or even caring what this person has to say. There may be an explanation or a good excuse for her doing this but all I know is we really do enter into this on-line experience with a lot of blind faith and when your eyes are opened every now and then---by deceptive peops and fabricators--- it makes you realize that there are many more productive things you could be doing in your spare time LOL! But no.....instead I shall keep dredging along with my baloney detector in my pocket :)

Happy surfing and hope ya'll are having a great weekend :)!

Decoupage Bracelet Cuff Created With Vintage Stamps

I have a thing for old stamps.  Well actually I have a thing for a lot of old things. heh-heh. And decoupage  daaaaaaaaaannnnngggg it's just about the greatest thing since cotton candy I think.  Although I'm quite sure that glue and water have been around much longer than cotton candy :) Here is a vintage metal cuff bracelet that I spruced up a bit with some old stamps

http://www.zibbet.com/spankyluvsvintage2/artwork?artworkId=636041

Long live the decoupage squad! :)

Did Noah Fish? Hee-hee

My Cuz Sent me this very funny (I think) joke today.....it made me laugh and I hope it will make someone else out there at least smile :)

DID NOAH FISH?



A Sunday school teacher asked, "Johnny, do you think Noah did a lot of fishing when he was on the Ark ?" "No," replied Johnny. "How could he, with just two worms."

Wormy warmth here..spreading the luv.......:)

Some Of The Things I Scored In Solvang

I posted a few weeks ago about our little trip to Solvang ,Ca.  and I wanted to share a few of the things that I bought there.  It is a good thing we don't live closer to that little town because I know I would be buying waaaaay tooooo much stuff that I don't need! LOL!

                                                             Queen of Hearts Decanter

                                                        "Talk to the hand" porcelain hand 

                           Little vase that I haven't researched to find out what it actually says yet :)

My "Joan Ruth" photo and this is absolutely my favorite!  It was only $8 and I think it was a steal!  The only thing I could find out about her on a google is that she made her operatic debut in "Carmen" in Nov. 1924 at the Metropolitan Opera House.  The work it took me to end up with this picture was pretty funny.  I was walking around the store and I saw a lady holding the pic and then she sat it down but just kept standing there.  I was telling myself "Ooooh I really want that picture... I hope she walks away!". So I was just kind of mingling in the background and looking at other things while keeping one eye on her and the pic and I told hubby what was going on.  All of a sudden I see her walking out the front door and the picture wasn't anywhere near and she hadn't went to the check-out counter.  So I was thinking "OMG..the biscchhh just stole my picture!"  I run and tell my hubby and he says "No, she handed it to her husband over there". So a bit later my  husband comes up to me with the pic and says "Do you still want this?"  He said the guy laid it down and walked away so he grabbed it ! :)  The photo is stuck to the glass in the bottom corner so the condition is not all that great...but I love the pose and now have to find a spot on one of my walls for her to shine!  Dearest Joan Ruth...it was a bit of work nabbing you..but hubby and I were quite the team that day LOL!

I Don't Think I Fit The Etsy Team Mold hee-hee

Okay...before I start my ramblin' about a couple of my Etsy team experiences ..I just want to say a few things first...
#1- I belong to a couple of teams on Zibbet that I think are actual true teams...Zibbet is a fairly new sight and the team members are there to help benefit and promote the whole entire team. That being said---I also believe that team captains and leaders do deserve extra recognition and thanks because of the extra work they do...I just want their true motives to be for the benefit of the team and not simply themselves and that is what I have found so far on Zibbet:)
#2-I do belong to a wonderful team on Etsy that I absolutely LOVE! The Vintage society VESTIES team---the team captains are there promoting their love of vintage and the whole team simply loves vintage and loves finding new vintage things to share and promote--so that team is definitely right up my alley :)
#3-I don't think I am a mean person---I'm not simply gonna come along and take a dump in your sandbox---but if you provoke me I will put my dukes up and keep fighting until I can't find my dukes:)
#4--I don't think the stuff I make or sale is any better than anyone elses...I do not ride a very high horse I guess is what I am trying to say..as a matter of fact--I know that a lot of the things I create are probably stupid--heh-heh--but I love geeky strange dumb stuff---and that is just me.  I also know that there is indeed a buyer out there for everything even if I don't particularly care for it..
so that being said--here is my rant and ramble about a couple of my TEAM experiences on Etsy..and gee maybe this isn't typical and perhaps I am just attracting the wrong crowd--who knows? LOL!
I won't mention any names here as there is no need to single out anyone...I just want to share my experience----
Okay--- so awhile back someone hearted my store and then messaged me telling me about a new team they were starting and asked me to join.  So I did ..and from the get-go the deal was "We're making treasuries--join in and promote and we will pick our favorites yada-yada." So I myself hadn't done many treasuries but noticed that the people who had placed them so far were all listing things from the team captains and then filling in the blanks with other team member items.  So like a proper TEAMIE I followed suit and went along with the "norm". BUT After awhile I started getting the feeling that it seemed to me like the sole purpose of the team was to simply promote the team captains and their shop items . So---I started to back off from the team and didn't join in as much. Then there was a message about if you didn't join in the discussions and participate in the treasury challenges that you would get the boot so I went back and participated for a bit until this happened-------
One of the captains announced the opening of their new shop. And they were now calling it a "shoppe" which I figured they meant that their new shop had a " spurious old-fashioned charm or quaintness:"...  but actually to me it just had a fragrance of stale crapness and OMG! why would someone pay hard earned money for this so-called "handmade" crap???--I honestly felt like I had landed in a bad chapter of "The Emperors' New Clothes" (You know--the one where everyone kept talking about how marvelous his outfit looked when in fact he was actually naked? )So yes!  I admit it right here and now-- I honestly really got my panties in a big ole huge bunch-a-munch about this situation (Hee-hee.)
Okay---the team captain was taking an empty jar and putting wire on the top of it and calling it a "cozy" or something and acting like because it was in a "shoppe" that it was "quaint" and these jars were like $7 and up and shipping was $7 and up...and I was thinking OMG! Who doesn't have an empty jar at home and some wire that would take you something like less than 2 minutes to wrap and make one of these "jar cozies"??? Who in the heck would actually buy something like this or even think it was "creative"?  But honestly at this point in my tenure on the team I knew that people there were so used to arse kissing this captain that I felt she could have wrapped a ribbon around a turd and they would have told her how wonderful and creative it was LOL! So at this point I knew I was done with this team---I opened up my big mouth--spoke up--and then exited stage left--Yes---I bailed on the "team". Now--some people might say I have "shoppe envy" or "jealousy" issues or something--and honestly---I really did have my knickers in such a big wadded up wad--that I think I walked crooked for over a week just trying to pull the bunches out of my arse LOL!  I was just sooooo mad at myself for being a part of this team and promoting all of this fake phony crap and knowing  that the more we all promoted this crap that the more exposure  and "back-links"this team captain received for her IMHO SUPER crappy items.  Anyways...I was not left with a very positive feeling about being a part of that team...but I do miss chatting with some of the very nice peops that I met on the team :)
So one more iffy team experience happened to me quite recently.  A new seller on Etsy opened up several shops and hearted my shop and several items and then started "circling" a bunch of people. (The last time I looked..each shop of hers had over 10,000 people circled...and that is a heck of a lot of circling in your spare time if you ask me:) ).  So then they messaged that they started a team and invited me to join and they have this thread about promoting each other on Facebook .  And I thought it was a nice way for people just starting out a busines page or those who don't have many people on their page to get some support.  Then I noticed that the captains kept saying "Like 10 above you and then go to the top of the list and start liking everyone in your spare time"  And gee...guess who is at the top of the list? OF COURSE--- Drumrolllllll.....it's the captains themselves.....so  suddenly I felt like I was part of a big pyramid scheme where the ones in the middle and the end get lost in the shuffle.  Then I looked at the different team captains and then noticed that they are all from the same town and I figure that they are either the same person with different id's or that they are the same family,business, or whatever. And I am now out (COUNT ME OUTTIEEEE) of that one too.

Anyways... I'm almost thinking I should start up a team...
Maybe I should call it "The Feel Like I WASTED my Time with Some Etsy Teams I've Been A Part Of" team.....
or something like that LOL!

And thats my ramble for today........
And ohhhhhhh :)...............................
Here is my favorite quote about rambling :)

"The last stroke of midnight dies.

All day in the one chair
From dream to dream and rhyme to rhyme I have ranged
In rambling talk with an image of air:
Vague memories, nothing but memories."


~ William Butler Yeats (June 13, 1865 - January

p.s.----I think it is very funny that less than 30 minutes after this blog post posted I got this message....
Hi spankyluvsvintage,


We're sorry to let you know that your membership to the team, "XXXXXXXX,"

has been closed by XXXXXXXXX) and the team's leadership. Leaving the team

may have been your decision, a mutual decision, or one made by the team

leadership.



Teams are managed by the captain and leaders, not by Etsy staff, so if you have

any questions or if you think this was a mistake, please contact the team's

captain, XXXXXXXXXX), through this page:



http://www.etsy.com/teams/6120/XXXXXXXXX


We know having your membership closed can be a bummer. If you still want to

participate in Etsy Teams, there may be another team you could join. Visit the

main Teams page http://www.etsy.com/teams for more information or to learn how

to start your own team.



Thanks,

Etsy



support@etsy.com



P.S.

This message is being sent to you on behalf of the team. On Etsy, teams are

managed by their captains and leaders, not by Etsy Admin.



YES...I did leave your team  AND it was my decision heh-heh.....thanks for the memo...LOL!