Am I done yet?

YAY! The weekend Tag Sale is DONE! We did pretty good too...at least we did on Friday. Saturday was such a beautiful day, weather-wise, that people took the opportunity to go biking with the kids, barbecuing, or just going for walks in the sunshine. NOT Tag Saleing! Saturday's take was about $30.00, and that's how much we paid my sister for sitting and helping us. So, it was a break-even day. Friday we made enough to cover either 1/4 of a mortgage, 1/60th of a car payment, 4 weeks worth of grocery, or 1/10th of that beautiful living room furniture I want to buy!!! LOL
  That was the good news of the weekend. The other news is that I had a "friend" visit again after not seeing them for a whole 6 months!!! UGH! I hate to be indelicate, so I won't get into details. When I say "My Friend" though, women...you know what I mean!! I'm almost 51. Enough said. Needless to say, this is one "Friend" I thought I was never going to see again!! Oh well, I guess I'm not DONE with this "friend" yet. I saw a print, done from an artist's original acrylic painting, that said it all! It's by an ETSY shop owner named artbytrudy http://www.etsy.com/shop/artbytrudy It's titled "Yellow Giclee Print Women Illustration Hand Printed Humourous Red".

  SAD,...but true! LOL Although I wish "Myself" wasn't such a BEAR at that time. It doesn't make for a nice friendly Tag Sale Hostess. All those fruitages of the spirit get a real work out!!! Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, mildness, and especially self-control!!! Maybe it'll be at least another 6 months before this "friend" visits again...or never!...That would be GOOD!!...Sad to say that about a friend that you've been familiar with since your late teenage years (Yep! I was late....VERY!!!  I was about 16. If not for a hurried trip to the Emergency room with Appendicitis, and being asked by the nurse about my Menses...and not knowing what she was talking about, I may have never even known about this "Friend". But a little pill from the doctor and me and my "friend" have been constant, battling, companions every since!). I know, too much information! LOL
  As you can see, while I try to be tactful in my speech, no subject is really off limits with me. I learned a long time ago how healthy it was for me to just be myself...and so I am! But thankfully for you, except for the poem below, now I'm DONE! :-)) {By the way, I wrote this poem almost 3 years ago. A lot has changed in that short period of time!!...NOW I'm done!}

Change Of Life

I have one good week a month-
A change of life that drives me mad!
At 48, this is the worst
of all the changes that I've  had.

The week before-I start to crave.
I clear the fridge-bit by bit.
My 'Slightly Hungry' appetite
becomes a raging bottomless pit.

My highly focused, scheduled mind
now loses shoes, and curries fears.
My hair gets all dried out
and I become a ball of tears.

Then there's  the trembling of the legs,
Flashes-hot and cold alike,
headaches that don't  seem to quit,
charlie horses in the night.

In the mirror is a woman
I recognize-but she scares me!
"Lock me up, please, just this week,
and kindly throw away the key!"

But first, make sure my cave's  in order-
all my things where they should be,
'cause I'll  be checking 'Every Hour'
when I wake up-to go pee.

Then-the flowing starts.
I can't wait til this is less!.
I just stay in my nightgown-
its now 'Unreasonable' to dress.

This goes on for days and days
while brain cells flee, and calmness too.
I'm  frustrated, tired and mad
and please tell me: "Where's  my shoe?"

And then-Hurrah! The flow subsides-
Then all my bones begin to hurt.
All my muscles start to cramp,
and my suspicion's  on alert.

"Everything', with me, is wrong-
Depression now has raised its rear.
The only good thing is-this means
that soon my good week will be here.

Yes-it happens every month!
This change of life will drive me mad!
(At least 3 weeks in the month-
because one week its not so bad!!)



  
    

Wire Gifts!

The nicest thing happened to me yesterday. A very good friend brought me a gift...some 32 gage wire. RED! She knows how much I love color! She gave it to me to make my flowers out of. She even sat and watched me make one! ...Don't you love it when you have friends that are good enough friends to know just what you like?!...and then they give it to you!!!
  This same friend is the one responsible for me opening up my ETSY shop! She saw all of the things I had crocheted, and that were just sitting in my house, and she said: "Why don't you sell them on ETSY? I have a shop there!" I said: "What's ETSY?" The rest is history! :-))...She's a beautiful jewelry designer herself. Her shop is under some renovations right now, but she does such beautiful work! http://www.etsy.com/shop/SpanishLullabies  Let me show you what she brought me!

 She knew that I was thinking about how to make my flowers with wire because we kinda sorta talked about it in the past. Can you see the flower I made?!

She says it looks almost like a spider's web. I agree...but sturdier. Now I have to decide if I want to put one of my crocheted backings on it. It's so delicate looking that I fear that the backing may take away from it. What do you think? Backing, or no backing?!...
  I must say, between my friends and my hubby, I've been getting some pretty good gifts lately!!! As a matter of fact, my hubby went to a local jewelry supply shop recently looking for jewelry mannequins for me, and came back with NO mannequin...but he brought me this gift.

 Apparently the supply store is going out of business and the lady said she was going to open up another shop somewhere else. She didn't have anymore mannequins, but since she was getting rid of everything...and saw my hubby coming!...she sold him these chains for only $1.00 a piece!!! He was so excited because, as he said,  "You sell jewelry, and I just KNEW you would love these!!!" He was so excited when he presented me my gift. I didn't have the heart to tell him that I really didn't need necklaces...I NEEDED A JEWELRY MANNEQUIN!!! LOL...Oh well, a gift is a gift! And I don't take it lightly when anyone gives me one!
   Before I end, let me show you two of the necklaces my friend made. I bought one of them from her shop, and she gave me the other one FREE,...as a gift!

Who is a Friend?

Dependable and loving,
all your jokes make perfect sense;
To keep you happy and unharmed,
they'd gladly spare no small expense.

They know your moods,
Can take the heat.
They know the things
you like to eat.

Will tell you things
that lift your fear,
and even the things
you don't want to hear.

They'll quickly point out
your "panicky" smile;
and pull up your slip
that's been hanging a mile.

They'll be your cheerleader-
Pom Poms in the air!
And when others are gone,
they will always be there.

Laughter and glee,
sobs and deep pain,
are shared by your friend,
in the sun or the rain.

Your accomplishments cause
only joy to their heart;
When they see your success,
it's as if they're a part.

And even though they know
the very worst that you do,
they map your intentions-
and they still love you.

So who is this friend?
It's your mother, your wife,
your neighbor, your kid,
someone who's sharing your life.

They may be close, and related,
or may live very far;
but this friend is 'your' friend
and they know who you are.

Your secrets are safe,
your feelings secure,
their shoulder is ready,
and their motives are pure.

And The Winner Is...

It's Give Away Day!!! Hubby shook them up, and shook them up again, put it up so he couldn't look in the box while he was drawing the name and..........................The Winner Is:..."CRAFTGAL"!!! I'll be getting the book and necklace in the mail to her as soon I get the address... Congratulations!!!...This was fun!! I'll have to do it again soon!

  Besides doing the drawing this morning, hubby had his mind on something else today....Tag Sale! It's so early in the morning, and already he's in a frazzle! He's gathering all of the tag sale things into the living room, looking for tape (to use to put the signs up on street markers), talking about what he's going to get at the donut shop for the guys that are helping him take the things out of the house, etc...He's making me tired just looking at him! :-)) But as frazzled as he appears, he loves this kind of thing!!! I think now that he's been off work for 3 whole weeks he was just waiting for something big and confusing to sink his teeth into...taking care of my breakfast apparently wasn't challenging enough...Go Figure! LOL
  I almost don't want to show you what my living room looks like, but here goes! Every thing on this table...AND the table and chairs...is in the tag sale today!...EXCEPT my red T.V.! That's not going anywhere!...Hey! What is it doing on that table?!!

  Then I have two lamps that used to be touch lamps, until I touched all of the 'touch' out of them!! LOL We had them re-wired a while back because I loved them so much. But now there is just nowhere to put them. I'm hoping someone else will want to love them like I did... *deep sigh*

  There's also some computer equipment that dates back to the time of the dinosaurs, I think! My girlfriend said she doesn't even think anybody would buy them for parts! LOL Well, I hope she's wrong. Maybe someone wants to buy them to use as decorative art!...Okay, so I'm still a bit delusional about my stuff!

Let's see...what else is in this mess...EH!...UM...wonderful tag sale?!

  As you can see, it's quite a lot of...stuff! And the part I'm showing you is only the tip of the iceberg! I also have a bunch of my crocheted blankets, a sofa bed, some dishware, a chair and ottoman, glasses, and some other stuff in there too! We might actually be able to see our way around our new home when we're finished!!! That is if all of this STUFF sells!!!....PLEASE SELL!!! I want to see if Jimmy Hoffa is buried in here! LOL Now, let me see...what is gonna fill up all of this empty space?! I know...LOVE!


Love Fills The Holes

Isn't  it wondrous,
this life that we live,
the holes we fill up
from the love that we give?

Even the hard times
make wonders abound,
because of the memories
of times safe and sound.

The good times, they come,
they fill us, they flow
and leave behind a smile,
like the hard rain's  rainbow.

So, its the love that keeps growing,
that adds wonder to life;
because no matter how peaceful,
or how full of strife,

Isn't  it wondrous,
this life that we live!
Cherish it always-
for the holes it will fill.

The GOOD, the BAD, and the WUGLYEE

***TOMORROW, May 21, 2010, I will draw a name out of the box for the GIVE AWAY! So, if you want the book and necklace today is your last chance to get your name in the box. See the "Connection Rules" blog post from this blog for instructions on how.***

  I named this posting the Good, the BAD, and the WUGLYEE because that's how I'm going to post it this morning...Entertaining myself! *Teehee!* And as you'll see, sometimes finding a reason to smile comes in handy.
First, the GOOD: Hubby took some beautifully good pictures of his pansies in the backyard!

  Aren't they pretty! He's getting pretty good with that camera!
  Next, the BAD: the weather has been really bad around here. Rain all the time,... and wind. It has really saturated the backyard. (okay, so that could still be a good thing!)

  But I'm afraid the person that said: "Into each life a little rain must fall" knew what he was talking about because the bad of this weather brought something really bad to my backyard. Remember the Robin egg that was placed back in the nest? Well, after all that rain and wind hubby went to check on it...It's not good. The pictures speak for themselves.

  Part of the nest looked like this. And this is how he found the part where the egg HAD BEEN.

 Hanging sideways...With this on the ground. (*sigh!*)

  The egg had crashed onto the ground into two pieces. He couldn't force himself to look anymore to see if the egg had a baby in it. We're going to prefer to think that it was an unfertilized egg. Maybe that was why it was light enough to keep blowing around so easily in the wind...Any other thoughts about it would be too ugly to conceive.
  So, on to the WUGLYEE: I just wanted to show a closer look of the Wuglyee necklace I'm giving away tomorrow.

 My crocheted flower jewelry makes me smile, and I hope this one brings a smile to the face of whoever receives it...Another thing that makes me smile is writing my poetry. I'll leave you with that smile today...because we need one!

Ease, By Rhyme

To ease my mind,
I jot down a rhyme.

When forced to think,
my brain cells link.

With emotions on paper,
anxieties taper.

With the flow of my pen,
I'm  at peace again.

And to jot down this rhyme,
brought ease to my mind.

Baby Bird's Words

As anyone who has been reading my words the last two or three weeks knows I'm having a GIVE AWAY! I've shown you in earlier posts all about how I make my crocheted necklaces, which is one of the things I'm giving away on Friday. This one

 If you want to see more photos of it up close look through the other 4 pictures of it here http://www.etsy.com/listing/32190332/every-day-soft-yellow-feminine-focal
It has one of my favorite buttons on it too!...The book I'm giving away has 20 of my poems in there. That's what I want to talk about today.  My poetry is not one subject, one theme, one type. I write about everything, and in whatever way I'm feeling at the time. Sometimes that's really good....sometimes NOT! LOL But no matter how I write them you know you're getting a piece of me...With my book it's the same thing.
  The description of my book, on Etsy, reads:  "As a little girl growing up on the farm I saw baby chicks following happily behind their mama in the yard. But, if a baby chick ever got weak or wounded, other chickens would peck at it endlessly until it died...unless mama came to it's rescue...Many times mama wasn't as quick as she needed to be. I know, it doesn't sound like a good start for a book of poems, but that's what prompted the name." The name of it is "Baby Bird's Words"...I'm the baby bird. The description goes on:  "These poems were...written at different points in my life to encourage myself, mark events or just to say what happened.
  The 20 poems included on these cloud filled pages cover many subjects. A few of the titles are: "I Love Me!", "Teenage Thoughts", "Sisters", "Manipulated Silence", "I Used To Be Able", "My Baby Girl", "The Daddy I Never Had", and "Love Fills The Holes". They cover straight forward, sometimes sensitive, sometimes funny, sometimes inspiring, material not meant for the faint of heart. (And there is no profanity.) The dedication page reads: "I dedicate this book to all those who have fought the fight of abuse...and won; And to all those still fighting! Remember, every day is a new day!" You will learn more than you want to know about me from reading these poems! *Teehee* They represent how I have become the person I am today...for good...or for bad!
  It's a large soft cover book, measuring approx. 11 X 8 & 1/2in.(27.9 X 21.6cm). Each page is covered with sky blue clouds, and the book is personally signed and dated by me. (Just as a side note, the cover is representative of how my life has been lived in 2 worlds, the country and the city. And, just like the butterflies, I've changed over time and now I fly freely!!!...And I've learned a lot in the process, which I would love to share with you!) I hope you enjoy my heart, on paper. :-) And please check out the other creations I've done in my shop!"
  So, the person that receives my book is not going to get just a FREE book. It's a piece of me!...And just as a side note, some of the poems are ones I've shared on this blog every day!
   Okay, so the GIVE AWAY is this coming Friday, May 21st. If you are interested in receiving the necklace and book just tweet, promote, post to your blog, or in some other way talk about the GIVE AWAY and link it back to the blog. Then let me know about it, either by commenting on this blog with a link to where you talked about the GIVE AWAY, or by tweeting it to me on Twitter. I'm @Poetesswug2. http://twitter.com/PoetessWug2
  If you are someone who already has my book, please post a comment and let me know what you think...WARNING: The following poem is one from the book, one of the more serious ones I wrote chronicling the sexual abuse I also experienced in my past. Not an easy subject to talk about, and without poetry......Well, I don't even want to think about what kind of clouded up mind I would have now!!!  Maybe I'll talk about that in my blog in the future.

Manipulated Silence

There is no speech.
There is no word.
There is no voice
to be heard.

There is no sound;
No, not a peep.
There is only silence,
and interrupted sleep.

There is no cry,
and no one to hear.
There is no comfort
to calm the fear.

There's no denying
the touch of abuse.
No pleading victim,
because "What's the use?"

There is no time;
Just crowding of space.
There's no control;
Just your heart at a race.

There is his smell!
There is his touch!
There is his weight,
that you hate so much!

There is no sight;
Just silhouetted dark,
and mental memories
you don't want to mark.

But there is some peace
in your "invisible" suit.
But he'll come again-
'cause you're a helpless child-Cute!

Results of Inspiration!

***Only 3 more days now to the GIVE AWAY!!! On Friday, May 21st. If you haven't gotten your name in the box for the drawing, Please do! Someone will  receive, FREE, a book of my poems AND a crochet/bead necklace that I handmade myself!... See the "Connection Rules" posting on this blog for the details.***

  I have to tell you what happened in the backyard yesterday !!!...But first, on yesterday's posting I mentioned  a couple of things that influence my crocheting and my poetry, and I said that I would love to know what influences some of you. I am so pleased to share with you two wonderful responses that I received...One was from my friend Cindy of http://www.etsy.com/shop/cinlynnboutique . She is on Twitter too! http://twitter.com/Beadlynn7 .

  Quoting her, she said: "....The things that inspire you are the same with me. As an example: I bought a bead about 3 months ago and couldn't decide how I was going to make a purse pull with it. I tried different things...didn't like them, so put it down. The other day, I looked at that bead and knew exactly what I was going to do with it! The result is a great new purse pull!!..." This is the purse pull she was inspired to make.

  Just in general conversation about another subject she said:  "...I LOVE photography myself! I'm always in awe when I capture a truly beautiful moment!" I would venture to say with this picture...DONE!!!
  Another wonderful response I received was from BeautifulSchlop on Twitter http://twitter.com/BeautifulSchlop
 She said: "Last year I found myself very inspired and influenced by nature. 2 of my fav pieces I've created are my cherry blossom and fern Cherry Blossom Pendant http://www.etsy.com/listing/35305930/white-cherry-blossom-branch-pendant  a picture of it popped into my head and I was so proud to have created exactly what I thought up."

  Awwwww! Isn't inspiration great!!!...By the way, you should check out her blog and see the other things she's been inspired to make! http://beautifulschloppglass.blogspot.com/
  Okay, now let me tell you what happened in the backyard!! You see this?

It's a Robin's nest that sits in a tree right outside my window. As you can also see...it's empty! Why?!

Well, I don't know how it happened...whether the strong winds in the backyard the other day, or some other critter toted it off...but look right below the back leg of my bench. Can't see it?!

Yes! It's a Robin egg!!! The most beautiful shade of blue aqua I think I've ever seen! Sitting on my patio, about 7 yards away from the tree where the nest is!...My first thought was how beautiful! My next thought was Uh Oh!!! What should we do?! Now, if I was a computer savvy, quick thinking,  person I would have said "Let me google it!" But all I could think of was that poor Robin hunting around for her baby! So I said to hubby: "Can you put it back in the nest without disturbing or touching it too much?" I was under the impression that if we touched it it would leave our human scent on it and the mommy Robin wouldn't take care of it. So, with my urging, my hubby got a napkin, gently picked it up, and put it back in the nest.

With this little leaf and it's mommy watching over it, I figured it would be just fine. *Sigh of relief!*...But as the day went on, and we saw mommy Robin jumping around the yard, but not in the nest (it appeared that she was looking for the egg!!!!),  I began to worry about my little aqua blue baby. The sun was going down!

Hubby took this picture of the sun setting...REALLY, HE DID...with NO Picassa photo doctoring either! So what we did was...FINALLY IT CROSSED MY MIND! UGH!...googled information about what to do! This link was extremely helpful! http://www.learner.org/jnorth/tm/robin/FAQNestsEggs.html Unfortunately we found out that we should have just left it alone on the patio. But we also found out that there was no need to worry about human scent getting on the egg either! You can read it if you like.
  To tell you the end of the story, when hubby went out to check on the egg a robin flew out of the nest! Apparently one was taking care of the egg and one was hopping around the yard on patrol! (Of course that's just my assessment! lol) They flew in and out until we couldn't see them anymore. I'll keep you up to date if there are any other developments!


Color Is

Auburn is the setting sun.
Blue is a mood.
Black is the night sky.
Brown is dog food.

Green is the grass.
Yellow is the sun.
Gray is the stormy sky.
Purple is just fun.

Pink is carnations.
Plum is a fruit.
Tan is for shoes.
Beige is just cute.

Gold is a metal.
White is plain, mild.
Red is a fire.
Orange is hog wild!
(This poem was written a while ago. Now I would add this stanza...)

Blue is the egg,
Aqua it's shade,
fallen from it's nest.
On the patio it laid.

Influences

***Only 4 more days now to the GIVE AWAY!!! On Friday, May 21st. If you haven't gotten your name in the box for the drawing, Please do! Someone will  receive, FREE, a book of my poems AND a crochet/bead necklace that I handmade myself!... See the "Connection Rules" posting on this blog for the details.***

Today I want to talk about what influences people to create. When I look around etsy I am always amazed, not only at the amount of creativity there is in the world, but also the diverse ways in which people's creativity shows itself! You literally can find almost anything you're looking for on etsy! From crocheted/beaded necklaces, ...which nowadays unfortunately NObody is looking for!...(sorry, couldn't help myself with that one!)...to any vintage item you want from almost any time period. The sky is the limit!... I would love to know what influences some of you. I'd love to share that in my post for tomorrow, with a picture of one of the items you created. Please just leave me a comment below about it, or tweet it to me on Twitter...@PoetessWug2. I'd like to share about 6 items.
  What influences me?!... This...

My backyard influences my calm state of mind that keeps me in the right mood to be creative. That creativity, as far as my crocheting is concerned, comes pretty easily. And anyone that crochets knows how fast the brain can move on to what you can crochet next! For some people that probably means that there's a basket or a bag somewhere in their home with one or two projects still waiting for the wave of inspiration to hit you again so you can finish them!... I have 3 crochet hats that could attest to that!!! I'm having a hard time picking them back up again now that I had to pull them ALL completely a loose and start all over from scratch!!! (I put them down at some point and when I picked them up again I also picked up a hook two sizes smaller, without noticing it, and was crocheting away!!!...UGH!)
  The inspiration for my poetry is much different, and more diverse. Anything can influence my poetry. Sometimes it's just because I'm happy. (A lot of my poems about my hubby were inspired that way!... *Insert sappy here!*)... Other times I was just being silly, was in a sad mood, was reminiscing about something... good or bad, or any number of reasons!...The poem I'm leaving you with today was inspired by something that I saw on the news. It was when the Tsunami hit Thailand and South East Asia. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-8_wEm7t8k I saw the images of that wave on channel after channel and I immediately had to write about it...And cry about it. I never stay in a low mood for long though. Once I write about something the emotions for it are all left in the words. It can all be recalled again by just reading the poem...Nice that poetry can have that kind of influence!
  What influences you?!
 
Taken By A Wave

The Tsunami hit the land-
The southern Asian island home,
where vacationers and natives
used to sunbathe and beach-comb.

An earthquake, under water,
made the waves rise up so high
that those walking on the beach
just could not believe their eye.

The waves that always had a limit
as to just how far they'd  go
just kept coming-Farther-Farther,
with a never-ending flow.

People running for their lives;
Some surprised and could not run!
Homes and bodies floating by;
And when it all was said and done,

There were the eyes of the survivors,
The tears for those they could not save;
The parents looking for their children
at the edge of the wave.

The injured and the missing;
The disease and loss of life;
The unclean drinking water
and the anguish and the strife.

And as if all of this pain
wasn't  heartbreaking enough-
There were predators and looters
to steal the rest of their stuff.

But, just as an observer,
seeing images on the news
of the children-Oh, the children!
I know that this will leave a bruise.

A bruise upon their playfulness,
Their sense of safety-free from care;
A bruise upon their trusting nature,
that no longer will be there;

A bruise upon their hopefulness;
A bruise upon their being brave;
A bruise not even time can heal;
It all was taken by a wave.