Hong Kong Hollahs :)

I made this necklace this morning as a special "surprise" for my new "friend" from Hong Kong who just purchased 10 of my one of a kind pieces on Etsy.   I was surprised and flattered that she liked so many of them.  It's really a kick when someone new finds your stuff 
 I used a vintage spoon ,buttons ,and vintage and new findings on this piece.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

#newfans #recycledvintage #oldspoons #spankyluvsvintage

More drawers more colors 25 dollah hollah

A couple of weeks ago hubby and I were going up to see Pops and Martha and to take Cookie and Muffin and a boat motor to him.  We didn't make any other plans for that Sunday and when we woke up early we decided to do a bit of junkin'.  
When I saw this old chest and asked "How much?"  and the dude said $25.... I didn't even try to haggle....I was all SOLD! 
It's pretty old and several of the drawers are made from old fruit crates.

It was a bit shaky but hubby added some extra support to the outsides yesterday and then he painted the outside surface with grey chalk paint while I went crazy with some colors on all of the drawers.  I really like how it turned out and of course I can't wait to fill all of those drawers up with some more trinkets and findings.  This piece will replace about 4 of my plastic drawer storage shelves in the craft room and will live to see a few more days storing some of my hoard :)  The fact that it only cost $25.....  that makes me smile every time I look at it now!

#colorfuldrawers #chalkpaintredo #vintagerecycle #trinkettroth #synchronizedhoarding #25dollahhollah #noneedtohagglehere
 

Fading Glories captured in some of their last glorius mornings this year :)

This morning on the way to work..... I saw the morning glories on the front fence and they still look so pretty and fresh and alive.
It will be October in a few days and these purple thangs are thriving as only they know how to do every year :)
I shall miss them when they are gone but know full well they will be back next year spreading all over the place.

#morningglories #mylittlegarden #containergardens #purplemorningglories #haveagloriousmorning
 

A nice little Sunday Birthday celebration

We had a nice day Sunday at my great Nephews' 9th Birthday party.....
Logan has been sick for awhile and we found out he has Valley Fever.   Both of my bros have had it.....I never got it but I can remember all of the trips we took back in the day to "shark tooth" mountain.  Anyhoo..... Logan had a great time and so did we :)

Chloe has this new kick where she wants to stick her tongue out in most pics where she knows you are taking one of her...

here is one of her and hubby with their "vampire teeth"

here is one that Chloe took of her sis Lexie wearing some scary vampire teeth :)

here's one hubby took ...

and here is one I took of the girls and their spider friends :)

Even for the end of September it was such a beautiful day.....
here's another one Chloe took......

hope ya'll have a great week!

#birthdayboy #spookyspiders #oildaleteeth #stickoutyourtongue

About those off site links and where we get taken.....they can link - off yah that's right LO aka FO

Prior to this post I linked a "sponsored" link that is very similar to the links at the bottom of every eBay sellers' pages that I have been to lately.......
my how times have evolved since those eBay "noise" roll-outs and "like it or leave it " changes...where some thought it was time to hop out from under the bus before ya got thrown under it.
Yep it was and it is.  And I still buy and sell a bit there.... but dang....
it is not at all what I fell in love with... I have talked about that a bit.
I still like what I can find as a buyer there if I search real hard......
but even with some of my favorite sellers pages that I have kept for years.....
as a buyer it still gets more and more frustrating simply trying to stay on the sellers' page that I freaking want to be on.   Seriously... I consider myself somewhat of a "veteran" internet experienced buyer....
why should I myself not be able to stay on the same page that I want to be on at that place and time and particular moment?????
maddening I say simply maddening :)

and here are some of my thoughts about these "link-offs" as I prefer to call them....

 Here's just about 1/2 of a cent of my 2 cents on this topic..where some today in the Etsy forums are saying it's all good and others are doomsday predicting....I'll just as a buyer give one example of what happens in this "new phase" of  off site links being added to most selling venues-----in today's eBay..... whilst trying to go to the next pages of one of my fave seller pages of items.....when I get to the bottom of the page.... it seems to happen time and time again....even if I am on the big screen monitor.....I will click on page 2 or 3 or whatever next page I want to go to....and then what most likely happens over and over even though I never hovered anywhere near this "click"??? I still somehow "magically" get taken away to the "sponsored" links....

even when I don't even click on them to be taken off of the eBay page that I am on....in my previous post I copied the link at the bottom of the page that somehow had the ability to morph me off of ebay into another dimension even though that was not my intention..
 LOL!Frustrating as a buyer indeed.... but sad for the seller there who has no idea that even when their potential  buyer is doing all they can to remain on that page that for some reason.....they get whisked away to the "sponsored" links" 
imagine that.   so much for transparency .  and for those who see no reason to be concerned that "links" are popping up everywhere.  I would say this. 

we can all wanderlust at our own pace.  we can all find anything and land anywhere we want to be.  but if we are on a venue and want to stay on that venue in a certain land.....I have a big big problem with my little "click" that wasn't a click away (by the way)  that keeps directing me more and more away from where i want to be.  And maybe these "sponsored links" will only be looking at their "views" in the overall pic....
but they might just want to consider how many people who were somehow "forcefully" lead to their off-site and because of this will probably never buy anything from them and as a matter of fact might somehow have some sort of subliminal negative message imbedded in their buyer brain because they landed where they did not want to be in the first place.  Maybe?  Just a thought.

In my opinion.... off site linking is not always a good thing

as a matter of fact....it might be a bit of a bad thing

in the overall picture of the real panorama
of roads that are supposed to lead to somewhere.

but what the hellzz??  I'm old school.  what do I know in this new world of internet sellers and dwellers
allz I know is that these days I am keeping a tighter "gripper" on my "clicker" 

hope ya'll land where you want to be :)  

#whensponsoredlinksstinks #iwanttostayonthepage #ididnotclickaway #whenlinkoffequalsfo

Bako Speedway Budweiser Nationals Oct 11-12 don't miss this one

#LarryHood222 #LaryHoodAFurnitureOutlet #LarryHoodRacePrep #Budweisernationals #BakersfieldSpeedway

TIAs, transient ischemic attacks and ramblings

     I am writing this one because so many times we do not know what is really going on.  I had a customer in the store on Saturday who was talking about being placed on blood pressure medicine and she came in looking flushed and "clammy" and clearly was not feeling good....said things like her hubby told her to "shake it off" etc. etc.  and I was telling her "Please take care of yourself this is very serious I recently had a stroke and it is the silent killer"  and I gave her suggestions on what she needed to do for herself and to stop thinking it was no big deal that it would just go away--yada yada.....
and she thanked me over and over again.... for treating her like she was one of my kids (not simply a customer) LOL!
And I had already had a conversation with my Niece Heather about how I maybe had a TIA attack on Friday....and Heather told me...that I am telling other people about how serious these things are and I need to follow my own advice.
Okay... so I have talked about my initial "stroke" and the recovery and that I do not have high cholesterol, my carotid arteries test showed minimal blockage for my age, and that I already take blood pressure meds and that after the stroke I check it twice a day.
Prior to Friday... I have not had any incidents since the stroke first happened.
Okay so I am at work.... the guys are gone on delivery..... I have a grilled cheese sandwich that I start to eat..... and damn cookie.... my teeth are numb like I have just gotten out of the dentist.  The roof of my mouth is also numb.  It seems like my left eye is kinda blurry but heck....sometimes my vision seems blurred anyways.  So I am telling myself... "MaYbE Something is wrong".   Then I feel that the bottom right side of my lip is numb and the bottom of my nose is tingling.  But it is not as intense as when the stroke happened and I have had a lot of "numbness" situations prior to the stroke that the docs already have checked me for and I wasn't afraid or anything like that but I was thinking okay is this another stroke about to happen do I call 9-11 or what ?
But it never got worse and eventually got better and when the guys got back from delivery I even felt a bit of relief that if something did happen that I could leave and go to the hospital.
Anyways... I messaged my doc thru the Kaiser page and of course it has been the weekend.  I'll get an answer back tomorrow and will go from there.
I'm just not sure at what point in your life when you are totally aware that you need to go to emergency or to call 9-11. In some cases-- if this was a TIA it might mean that something more serious is still on the horizon.  All I know is that my blood pressure was not high that morning or when I got home.  It did not feel like an emergency.  But maybe the reason that it did not feel like an emergency is the reason that this is indeed the silent killer?
I'll follow up with this in another post after I hear from my doc tomorrow.  
All I know is that I am going to do everything that I possibly can to stay healthy and that I am not going to live my life in fear.
But after "googling" TIA's.... maybe I should of been more afraid when this happened than I was.  All I knew is that I had a business to run and that I was gonna do that unless the situation became an emergency.  I was by myself and was not scared but was very aware since the first stroke happened..that things might have gotten bad in a hurry.
But just like my Niece Heather reminded me on Saturday.... "Aunt Rhonda.... you need to follow the same advice that you just told our customer this could be serious"
And I guess I am posting this for others out there (who tend to  just blow things off all of the time like I do and simply think that it's just gonna go away and will get better.  )
Please all of you women out there...take care of yourselves.. don't take a lesson from me and think that you have a duty to take care of everyone else in your life first.
Sometimes especially if you have a lot of people who do depend on you to be here for them....
maybe you should call 9-11...maybe you should go to the hospital when things like this happen.
I guess I'll find out tomorrow(LOL!)
------------------------------------------------------------------
Okay so here's an update 09-10-2013
I basically got chastised yesterday from the nurse for simply leaving a message for the doc over the weekend when no one was in the office.
They put me on a blood thinner and I have a follow-up with neurologist next Monday.  Told me that at any further onset of numbness to call 9-11 or get to hospital.  Will update on anything new :)

#stroke #TIA # transientischemicattacks #begoodtoyourself

Oy Vey the Etsy stars the noise and the beginnings of the aftermath

     So they finally closed the Etsy  Forum thread where so many people were commenting and voicing their opinions about the Feedback situation.  And when you consider the amount of comments and also consider how many people on the venue are still afraid to voice their opinions for fear of being muted or having their shop closed down or perhaps just don't want to rock the boat.... it is evident that there are a large amount of unhappy campers rustling about in Etsy land.  ( But hey it is "Etsy-ville" pardner and they can do whatever they want there.  And you either like it or you leave. )
     I am actually surprised that they left the thread up and running as long as they did even if it was kind of buried in the midst of all the chatter.  I still give them kudos for letting the thread live for awhile and for at least acting like they care about the seller concerns being posted.  I mean you take a creative bunch like this and you take away one of their forms of expression (two way feed-back)....and you tell them that you did it because that is what they asked for.  How is this going to end well?  But I give them props for their attempts at damage control so far.
     I was there in the eBay forums when the similar situation went down and the "tools" were out in full force.  To me it was absolutely disgusting the way the bosses on that venue allowed their employees to treat the eBay sellers who came to the forums and voiced their opinions.  These were people who had suddenly had the rug pulled out from under their feet, they were in shock and truly could not believe this was happening.  Then when they went to the forums the tools were deleting comments almost as fast as they were posted.  The tools were rude arrogant mean and above all
I guess the one word I would use to describe the situation would be "HARSH"....they were totally harsh and it was evident that they were encouraged to act in this manner.
     So that was when the exodus began and people scattered all over.  The way they were treated in those forums made so many people twice as angry about the changes that were eminent.  The way they handled that situation was in my mind  a humongous  clusterfrack
plain and simple.
     Both sites will still keep rolling along.  They will lose people and those people will find other venues that they never may have even heard of or may have never even searched for had changes like these not occurred in a place they thought they were content with.
     If eBay had never done this I myself would have never discovered venues like Etsy, Zibbet, Artfire etc.  And I am glad I found those other venues and have met so many amazing people in these other places.  And now many are wondering "Where to next....should I stay or should I go? "  And this is kind of where I myself am at today.
     I buy and sale a bit on eBay.  
     I have my Etsy shop open and kind of thought twice before renewing a few listings a couple of days ago.  But I still love the venue and the good things you can still find there.
     I have an Artfire shop that I opened quite awhile back and never did anything at all with it.  Kind of an experiment of what happens if you open a shop and don't work on your listings or pics or promote it.  And I have surprisingly sold a few things there without doing anything.  (But just a few LOL!)
     I have the Zibbet shop where most of my items are listed.  But in all honesty...I haven't been doing much there lately as far as promoting my shop or items there.  I am patiently waiting the "Rebuild" to launch and until it does I'm just gonna let it sit and see what happens.  I still believe this site has major potential.  Everyone is so nice and supportive and truly helpful there.  You can ask a question and the head honchos will actually answer it themselves.  They are still a very hands on group.  You can add links to your other venues there.  Which to me is one of the biggest reasons that time may be well spent to set up shop there.
     And speaking of time.... if I had a lot of time I would spend most of it setting up a personal web site with a shopping cart.  Spend some time promoting the venues that you are currently on that you like and that get you seen in the search engines and then spend time getting those people to find your own personal web site.  Because let's face it..... all of these venues once started off small time with good intentions and hopes of where they wanted to end up.  But the more successful a venue becomes means the odds are that eventually the venture capitalists will end up being the ones running the venue and making all of the rules.
     The only chance you have of always resting assured that the rules will never change and that your business is in the hands of someone you can always trust.... is to simply keep it in your own hands on your own web site.  It's a lot of work and I haven't yet found the time to start another web site but am now seriously thinking about it.  I'm thinking for example ....if you spend 4 hours a day promoting someone else's venue that you are selling on..... why not at least split that in half and spend a couple of those hours setting up and promoting your own venue?  And in the same manner that so many sellers on these venues belong to groups and teams promoting shops within those venues..... you could just as easily spend at least half that time promoting each others personal websites . 
     And that's just kind of where I'm at right now :)   Hope ya'll are enjoying the weekend !

Momma's Birthday Labor Day ponderings and I will always believe in miracles

I kind of feel sorry for hubby this time of year.   Since my momma died..
what seems to happen to me (even without sensing Labor Day weekend is about to be upon us).....I just kind of seem to fall into this funk.  I am normally a very upbeat person who makes a point to try and remind those around me to be positive and to be happy that they are here and vertical each day...
but now  this time of year rolls around and I can't help it.....something still just comes over me and it is like this sadness overwhelms me and all I can do is to try and surround myself with things that make me smile.
Thank goodness Chloe girl was here on this weekend to make me laugh and keep me occupied.  Damn how I wish Mom could have held this little one in her arms just once....but I just have to believe that she is up there smiling down.  And yep I do believe in evolution....but in the long run.....I have to go with the overall pic.. I  will always believe in MIRACLES and I don't think there is any Ape out there who can perform many of those....that leaves me thinking without a doubt (even if sometimes in my life that I have had doubts and questioned why things happen) ....I know that I still BELIEVE IN MIRACLES   and to me this means that there has to be something bigger and greater and larger than all of us somewhere out there.  And I think my Momma is up there now.
Sooo..before she died-----
My log point for me to always remember momma's Birthday was Labor Day.  And when Jerry Lewis and his Telethon came on the air.....it was a wake up that Mom's Birthday was just around the bend.
and now I think more about her death on her Birthday than all of the other days. I miss her more on the day she was born than the day that she died and I actually have to pull out her obituary sometimes to remember exactly what day that was.  And maybe that's just weird me in itself . Who knows?
I think that anyone who has lost a loved one will relate to that certain time of year when it just really "gets to you and always will."
And I am still not sure if it ever gets easier when you lose someone that you really have that kind of love for.
Maybe I was better this year..and maybe I wasn't.
Sometimes when someone teaches you how to love strong and love hard..the lessons about losing are not in that picture about how to deal with losing after they are gone you just have to learn that yourself...no one can teach you how to lose no one can teach you how to get through it...and in real life every once in awhile you lose people who mean a lot to you that are still alive...but you lose them for whatever reason..and you are still learning how to lose. You know what it feels like to win in your life....
but those real losses...it is still a learning process as long as you are living..(insert me thinks here)
 Hubby has lost both of his parents as well....and maybe he just has a better way of coping with missing them...I'm not sure how that situation works out for everyone.  All I know is that hubby has a bit of a difficult time with me when this time rolls around.  And he spent the biggest part of his night with me this eve going thru a huge tub of jewelry.  Momma Jo--his mom.....taught him how to do that well....and he was commenting and we were laughing about what Momma Jo would have said-- and also how his dad would have handled the jewelry situation---and it kept me busy and happy and occupied and my mind off of the empty part that was never there in my heart before my Momma died.  And I honestly just can not imagine what it feels like when a parent loses a child after they have held them in their arms and had so many hopes and dreams for them.  I have not had to experience that one yet.... but it has certainly got bad written all over it no matter what day it is.
To me when someone dies....and the day comes that you can not tell them Happy Birthday or buy them a present or whatever you do for a loved one's Birthday......
Yah...the other Holiday gatherings will always  be difficult when you miss not having them around---
but to me.....their Birthday is the worst day that you have to deal with.
And my momma made me promise that I would never forget her and here I am still rocking her spirit and until the day I die I will make sure that I give her the recognition and hollahs for being such a big part of my life and the lives of the ones who mean so much to me in this family of mine.
RIP Linda Darlene Hood

WE Will never forget you.  :)

#RIP dearest moms #sometimes the holidays suck #you must have been a beautiful baby #we will never forget you # shake and bake#you taught me to believe in miracles

Boone Iowa Nationals 2013 222 Larry Hood

The boys are back in Boone Iowa this week.   Good Luck this year Larry Hood!  TDM and have fun guys :)

 #get er did #sideways situation #TDM #Larry Hood

Can a Dildo ever get a five star rating on the new Etsy?

This is just my most recent comment on the Etsy Forum thread about the STARZZZ

 

 

Okay,....here's another one.
I remember dildo gate.....I haven't yet bought a dildo on Etsy...although I myself am not gonna judge anyone who "buys" a dildo here.
Okay....as an Etsy buyer (who has a shop here) I never got the E-mail that in the future when I do a "star rating" for a purchase that my account name here will also be shown.
I might have missed something.....
but my understanding as a buyer in the past year here---without searching the forums---is that I could buy a big fat dildo here and think I was still giving feedback that was not public. If I EVER bought a great as described dildo here of course I would want probably to be able to leave a 10 star rating just saying :)
but as a small time seller here who has bought on this venue as well......
I never got the e-mail that as a buyer my "star" rating would now be public on anything that I left feedback for... did it go to my spam??.....was there some sort of "warning" for the already huge bunch of "buyers" here that if they gave a "rating" it would NOW be public.....
for instance....if they have been on Etsy since "DildoGate" and KNEW nothing would be tied to their account name?
When I tried to leave feed back in this new system...
all I got was a prompt that it was not open for review until such and such a date....do the buyers know..that their review a.k.a buyer name will now be public?
I did not get that memo---
Forgive me if I missed something here. Just asking.

#can't a dildo get some respect here #dildo gate

Get Your Clubs Girl :)

I think one of Chloe's favorite sayings this weekend was "Hey I'm trying to work here!".  So when she tells me she was trying to work for about the 5th time this morning I told her "Girl it's Labor Day time to relax.... get your clubs and let's go outside and take a break you've been working toooooooo hard! "  She says " Okay Gamma! "  and  a lovely Labor Day it was indeed. :)   I thought it was funny how all of the dogs knew to stay out of her way when she was whacking and swinging her clubs around. 
 Hope ya'll had a nice day :)

#Labor Day #get your golf on #sideline spectators #hey I'm trying to work here

Polka dots and nuts On Sunday

Chillin' on another hot weekend with our Chloe munchkin.  We were getting ready to go eat and she said she had to have a yellow necklace to go with her polka dot dress.   When we went to eat she had fun putting rings on her toes and bracelets on her ankles.  Then when we got home she helped me paint this old nut tray and before we were done she was practically covered from head to toe with the black and blue chalk paint. I have this little vintage gold heart necklace that I just put on her and I told her that she needed to be careful with it not to break it because it is kind of expensive.  She said "Oh..... I like expensive necklaces!"   Ruh-rooohhhh hee-hee.
I think we'll be going to bed pretty early tonight. :)  Hope ya'll had a super Sunday!

#trinket troth #recycled nut tray #polka dot munchkin