Sometimes 'CHANGE' Just Happens!

(Crochet Muffin Key Ring by destemps)

         Are YOU good with change?! I mean...like when you go somewhere expecting things to look a certain way, and you get hit in the face with a completely different layout?...or like when you hear a song that you've been bopping along to forever, and you're just getting ready to turn the music up 'loud' and bop along to it again, and somebody brings to your attention that the lyrics to the song are 'not' what you think?!...O_O

       Well, that kind of "change" is the word that would categorize the last few days for me. But before you go and think to yourself..."I thought she said she was in a good mood this weekend?! O_O"...let me assure you "I Was!" These little...what I call... "piddly" changing things didn't wreck my good mood this past weekend. I didn't let ANYTHING do that! ^_^ They just were things that...like life....'happened'!

       I'll be more clear in a minute, but first...let me show you what else 'happened' this weekend!...I finally re-conditioned one of my keychains! :-) ...This one...

      *sigh*...What a sad...and waaay too chunky...brooch it was. I don't know what I was thinking when I made these sad little 'babies'!...Yes I do. I was thinking "Ooooooo! A big flower!" LOL I made a bunch of these brooches back when I was a new 'Wuglyees' shop owner and wasn't thinking about anything but 'MORE!!' ^_^

       My crochet flower making skills have improved....as has my size scale in some instances. But, also, my inspiration for making them has changed.  Case in point...the cute little muffin key chain in the header photo! :-) .....Nowadays I think my crochet flowers should be fun and have appeal to someone else besides ME! LOL

       Here's what the re-conditioned brooch looks like now...Warning: It's colorful! Get prepared!!!! ^_^ ...

       A lot of 'change' going on in this 'baby' now! LOL

      Yes, it really is the same brooch....Well, not a brooch anymore. Now it's a fun keychain! :-) ...I crocheted a backward stitch, in purple, all the way around the edges...back and front...

      ...Added some key rings, a key clip, and a little "Made With Love" tag, and...

     ...as Emeril Lagasse would say...."BAM!" LOL

        Okay, so it's still not the cutest keychain you ever seen. I mean....it ain't no muffin! ^_^ But if you're the kinda girl that carries a handbag, and you hate fishing through it when you're in a hurry...looking for your keys...this is the keychain for you!! Attache your keys to it, throw it in your bag, and it'll be right there every time you reach for your keys! I mean....it will not be ignored!!! LOL

    Be honest now!...What do you think?! Was it a good change or just a unilateral bad, or worse, change?!...Tell me. I can take it! I have a whole shop full of 'Ugly Wuglyees' don't forget!! LOL

       And so that my purple explosion 'baby' isn't the only keychain on display here...besides the cute muffin one I mean...here's a few other cute ones I found on Etsy!...

 (Keychain Coin Holder  by WilliamsGiftshop)

 (Crochet Snail Keychain by BubblegumBelles)

(Crocheted Flower Keychain by knittingcate)

        Okay, all you crochet keychain makers, we're all in this thing together now! LOL

      Okay, now back to what I was saying about 'change'...I'm just gonna say it. I DO NOT, under any circumstances!, like the new Blogger dashboard layout!!!!!....WHY did we need this change?!...WHY?!!! There's nothing all that NEW there! O_O Unless I'm missing something!

      It looks so 'stark' and UN-colorful, and UN-interesting. And frankly...and I'm sorry y'all...it's making me not as interested to spend time over here reading blogs. I don't like that you can practically read some people's whole blog post without ever going to their actual page!!! That doesn't seem fair to them....FOUL, Blogger!!!! What are you trying to do...get all the glory for yourself and not let any of us 'little guys' have any fun?! O_O

      I keep thinking about the fact that some of the bloggers who watch the 'page viewing' numbers on their blog are probably thinking that they're not as interesting to readers anymore now, because no one is visiting their blog. But in fact, they are reading it..just not on your page! Grrr!...unless you write long blogs. Then people have to go there to get the rest of your story...That's 'ONE' for all of us yakkers! LOL

       The new dashboard thing, to me, is sorta like getting with a group of your friends to do a circuit of visits to all of your friend's houses...but when you get to the first house, someone says: "Let's not go to any of the other homes. Let's sit here and call them on the phone, one by one."...But what if they get a busy signal, or no one is home, then the friend doesn't even know they called at all!!" O_O 

    Anyway!!! Moving on!.....let's talk about musical 'change'...Since when did artists start having different 'versions' of their songs?!...A clean version versus a what?...dirty version?! O_O A song or video used to be just.....a song or video! Now you have to know which version you're looking at or listening too, so that your ears and eyes don't explode right out of your head!! LOL

       There's one particular song that I love. It's got a very catchy beat, and it's lyric-filled. So many lyrics, in fact, that I wasn't listening as intensely as I should have been to ALL of them!...And who knew that I was listening to the 'dirty' version!!! O_O I didn't!!! I was just bopping along, belting out the chorus part, when someone said: "Do you know that this song has really bad words in it?!" O_O What?!....Where?....You must be mistaken.

      Cut to me, on Youtube, playing the song once again....without the singing along and bopping this time ^_^ ..and WHAM!...Right in the face I get hit with the 'WORDS'!!!!...UGH!...No, I'm not gonna tell you what song it is, because I might be encouraging someone to listen to bad words! 

        And as a poet I love pretty words, and sometimes straight-forward words, but I don't want to be encouraging people to listen to dirty words. Nor do I want to encourage censorship. So I'll stay in my neutral corner and let you find out on your own!....Most of you probably already know what song I'm talking about anyway....unless...O_O....unless there's a 'lot' of songs with different versions!!!! O_0 ...Whatever happened to eight-track tapes and vinyl records anyway?!....I don't like 'change'!!

        Have a good day, Everybody!....I hope your weather is nice and that it doesn't 'change' on ya!! :-))

Never As Expected

Why can't things go as expected?
No left turn. No oops!...'Snaffu'!
There's always got to be a fly
in the ointment, soup or stew!

Why can't things go as they should,
Without a hitch, impending doom?
Instead of 'Steady as she goes'!
There's always Click, click, click! Then BOOM!!    

Let Me See....Talk About The Weather?!...Or Something Else?

(Wooden Handcrafted Sketch/Journal Book by MsquarePress)

     Do I wanna spend my quiet Sunday morning, and my first words to YOU talking about the weather?....No! But WOW!! Just looking at the weather reports across the country, is like some kind of wild ride at a broken down Amusement Park!! LOL

      Out the window, here in Holyoke, it "looks" like it's just beautiful out. In the backyard I can see that there's a light breeze in the trees,....O_O and a fox! WOW!...{Sorry, I wasn't fast enough with the camera to show you.}...but there's also a cascade of sun everywhere...It looks just like it did yesterday...But wait! Yesterday's pretty-looking weather was deceiving!...It was cold!!! The kind of cold where your fingers look like all the blood has rushed out of them, and you just can't get your hands warm for nothing! O_O

     It appears that these strange weather patterns are happening all over the world too. Do I dare say that it looks like some kind of 'celestial phenomenon'?! O_O ... Okay. That may be just what it looks like to me! LOL...At any rate, it's not the kind of weather that you wanna put your kitties out in!...

(Cotton Fabric Purse by CottonTimes)

       In fact, it might be the kind of weather that makes you open your purse and see if you have enough money to buy a big coat! ^_^ ...Oh Well, it's not gonna discourage me! Sun or no sun, coat or no coat, I've had a pretty good weekend. :-)

       I sold three men's boutonnieres! :-) ...

       ...I sold the two above, and the red and black one I just listed! :-] ...

        I was kinda happily flabbergasted!...Why boutonnieres all of a sudden?!...Then hubby reminded me that it's coming upon wedding season....Ohhhhhh! Yeah. I forgot what time of year it was.....I was thrown off by the WEATHER!!! LOL

      One of the other things I've been doing this weekend is working on a new kind of crochet necklace. One with layers of different colors. I shared this one, as I was making it, on Facebook this weekend...

       The above photos of it was what it looked like prior to the backing and button...Hmmmm....what button would go on here?!...

        ...An old recycled button with some 'Ugly Wuglyee' character! :-) ...

       And I didn't stop at this one....of course! ^_^ I made a few more, and sewed the buttons on before I put the backings on them...

        All three of these are still kinda curling around the outer edge, because they don't have backings on them yet. That's what I'm gonna do today...And put necklaces on them too.

        The only other one I worked on...kinda...is this tiny one...

       This is the tiny leftover flower from the pillow cover project....Yep! Still working on that too! :-) The rest of the little flowers are getting sewn on, but there was no room for this one. So....it'll be a necklace instead! :-) I'm making a backing for it today too...And I'm gonna list this necklace in my Wuglyees shop...

         I have to keep my happy mood going somehow, right?! ^_^ Clearly hubby's breakfast of scrambled eggs and oatmeal is not gonna do it!!...Seeing those eggs mixed up with my oatmeal was trying to take my emotions in a whole other direction! ^_^ But No!....NO!!! :-) ...Have a good rest of the weekend Everybody! :-)

Emotions

Frustration, excitement,
Great anger, Pure joy!
Deep sadness, elation,
intent to annoy.

Loving, disgusted,
triumphant, afraid.
Affection considered,
uneasiness weighed.

Cheerful, proud,
optimistic, despair.
Euphoric, in anguish,
gloom hanging there.

Emotions experienced,
the good and the bad.
Without feeling, sincerely,
what life have you had?!

You need hope and peace,
kindness and love.
An unemotional life is
Not much to speak of.

Good Mood......And Good News!

     This beautiful sunflower is very representative of my mood today. And my mood yesterday too actually... ^_^ ...By the way, I don't know who took this photo. It was in my file without any accreditation. So if any of you know who took it, please let me know so that I can give them the credit they deserve for it!.

      I initially thought it was my husband's because it looks a lot like our backyard. But when I asked him if he took this one, and he started laughing hysterically, I figured out that...Uh....maybe I was mistaken. ^_^ But he did take this one (below)...

      Now you can see why I thought he did the first one, right?...Right?! O_O ... Anyway, back to what I was saying...about my mood...All kinds of nice things happened to, and for, hubby and I yesterday. First...

(Stained Glass Votive Candle Candle Holder by ulteriorvotive)

      ...we had a very nice 'Date Day'. :-) Nothing particularly special, except 'Happy Dances' and 'wild giggling' almost all day...*you had to be there. LOL*

       Then the mailman came and brought me this...

       It didn't come exactly like this...all out of the bag and everything!...but it was the only thing in the bag!...And wen I opened it?...

      ...I realized it was my little mini-cards that I ordered from Moo.com just about a week ago!...Etsy and 'Moo' offered a deal to Etsy shop owners. For a particular time period you could get 100 FREE mini business cards for only the price of shipping, $5.00! And you could design them the way you wanted, with items from your shop on them!

       I have to admit...I wasn't all together sure it was gonna be as good of a deal as they were saying. I had ordered some business cards from 'Moo' back when I started my Etsy shop....back when I didn't know much about how to operate a computer too, by the way!...*shaking my head*...and those cards came back....well....'jacked up!' LOL

     NOW I know that their 'jacked Up-ness' didn't have anything to do with 'Moo'. It was ME!! O_O I didn't realize I could control the centering of the cards and the light or darkness of them, and stuff like that. Some of them came back so dark that I didn't wanna use them. In fact, I still have some of them!!...But these?!...

     BEAUTIFUL!!!! :-) ... They have 100 of the items from my Wuglyees shop on them, and all of my business info on the back!...

       It's probably the best $5.00 I ever spent!! :-)

     That wasn't the only good news yesterday though!...and it came in a phone call too!...You know how much I hate an 'off time' phone call!! Grr!...But this phone call was great! :-) The appeal hubby made to get paid his unemployment benefits went in his favor! :-) Woohoo!!!...And he's gonna get the 'back pay' from February up to now also!!

      Needless to say, we took a huge deep breath yesterday!!...Now, the job hunt can continue without all that desperation! Instead of just taking anything, we can look for something that really fits our needs!...Who knows, maybe I'll become filthy rich on my crochet jewelry and we won't have to worry about it at all!! O_O ...Stop Laughing!! That's just not nice!! LOL

      The other good news is that I received a whole box of beautiful yarn and threads from my friend yesterday! The most beautiful shades of purple, blue, orange, red, etc...I couldn't help myself. I had to crochet a flower, or two, up with it right away! :-)

        I know! I know!...This necklace isn't for everybody. Red, blue, yellow, and with a green button! ^_^ I just had to use the different yarns...Hopefully somebody will like it as much as I do! :-) ... But I also made this, with the orange cord yarn...

       This isn't a tiny necklace though. This is one of my big brooches...

       You can see (above) the difference in the size of it compared to the necklace flower, which is about 2 inches across....So, what do you think?!...I'll be sharing the other colors of thread and flowers with you as I make them.

      These days I'm trying to do more listing. I'm starting to have too many flowers in bags around here! They need to be listed and stored for safe-keeping. So please forgive my crochet flurry upcoming. ^_^ But, who knows, maybe I'll send one of my 'babies' along with the Giveaway brooch this time...You did still remember I have a Giveaway going, didn't you?! O_O I'm asking because I haven't gotten many entries!...Just check the right-hand sidebar for the Giveaway item and details if you're interested.

      Okay, off I go to enjoy the 60 degree sunshine we're due to get today! :-) ...and some talking....and some of the colorful threads too! :-] I think today is gonna be as good of a day as yesterday for me. I hope it is for YOU too,...and that it makes you feel as good as singing this song made Joshua Ledet feel! :-)) ...

...Happy Weekend, Everybody! :-)

 I will Be Happy!

Today I will be happy!
I've decided, and so "There!"
And it won't depend on clothing,
or the way I wear my hair.

My 'Happy' has to be
from my head down to my toes.
And not coincidental,
but because that's what I've chose.

I am trying to be happy
when there's always such bad news.
But the good news is that happy
is a way to squash the blues!

So today I will be happy!
I've decided. Enough said!!
There'll be plenty of time for sadness,
and for taking to my bed.

Are you thinking that my poem
is too 'Optimistic/Sappy'?
Okay, you could be right.
Don't burst my bubble. I am happy!

Windy.....And Words!

(Hand-Knit Fingerless Gloves by annerstreet)

        I know I'm off to a late start today. Sorry...but still...Good Morning! :-) ...at least it's still kinda morning here!...and it's a windy morning too!...

 (Windy Day Photograph by VictoriaEnglishCharm)

      And I don't care. Guess why?!.....Because I'm not going out today! LOL I'm staying in....away from the phone...away from interviewers...and with my crochet hook in hand...to crochet my brains out! ^_^ So, Go ahead wind! Do your thing!! ^_^

       I do have a little date planned for tonight, and a nice visit with my 'Tigger-ific' friend this morning. But other than that, it's just me and my crochet flowers!...Speaking of which, I listed the two crochet flower necklaces yesterday (HERE and HERE). Rather...last night. (I was up, couldn't sleep, and figured why not do some item listing...Why not indeed! LOL) 

        I wanna show you a pretty flower I got in the mail a little while back too!...A flower on a necklace...

       Isn't it gorgeous?! ^_^ ...

         I even love the toggle clasp on the back of it!...

       Where did it come from, you say?! ^_^ It came from a dear friend, as a gift. It was Cindy, of CinLynnBoutique on Etsy...

         And she didn't send it to me for me to 'blow her horn' here on the blog either. She sent it to me, one, because I had been raving about how much I loved it for the longest time...And, two, because she's a good friend who heard that my hubby had lost his job and wanted to give me something to smile about. ;'_'; And after a few tears of joy when I opened the package......mission accomplished Cindy, SMILES all around!!! :-) 

      I waited to show it on the blog at a time when I thought she would have forgotten all about it...so I could surprise her and give her a smile right back. :-) Did it work Cindy?!!...I have the dearest friends. ♥♥♥

       And I have another flower...and necklace...to add to my collection!!...

        Thank you, my friend! ♥ ... And just in case someone else...an actual BUYING customer...wants to take a gander at your beautiful jewelry, here's where they can go! :-) ...

       And, of course, while I was roaming around my shop and Etsy, I came across some other pretty flowers also!...

(Origami Lotus Flower by fishandlotus) 

      I'm officially in love with this shop now! :-) Look at these pretty origami flowers!...

       This one (below) even has poetic French words!...

       Ahhhhhh!...Tres magnifique! :-)

      And speaking of beautiful, how about some beautiful words! :-) Below is the poem that was inspired by the two lines of the unfinished poem that I left on the blog yesterday. I hope you enjoy my thoughtful life. ^_^ And have a good day too!

A Thoughtful Life

A baby needs assistance
for a chance at living life.
An old man needs some help
to look and see his tree of life.

A troubled life will need
an "On Alert" lifeguard,
to help it navigate
the waves, cuz yeah! life is hard.

A lifeline will be needed
for a drowning sinking life,
when good and bad will come,
because, oh well, that's life!

An undiscovered life
can have a chance of a lifetime.
A life not truly lived
is just a waste of life and rhyme.

Light and batteries
are measured in a half-a-life.
Light in knowledge sparks
the way to save your spark-less life.

Insurance sometimes comes
in "Term"-life, or in "Whole".
In no uncertain terms though,
life must be the goal.

When lived well, you can have
 the best time of your life,
and the memory of it
keeps you for the whole rest of your life.

Life is worth the living
for every woman, child or man,
and worth the time and heartache
from the race of life you ran.

Though life's outer beauty
 has a short shelf life,
it's rich and inner beauty
has a full-stocked pantry life.