Communicating with words

My backyard, after a hard rain yesterday, is communicating that all is well.

  Thankfully, the hail we were expecting to get...we didn't! If we had, I might have had some disturbing communication to show you...I know you're wondering why I'm playing around with the word "communication" today. The reason is because I got a chance to hear a symposium yesterday on the communication of family members. Husbands with wives, wives with husbands, children with their parents, and parents with their teenagers. It was so good!! It got me to thinking about hubby and me and whether we would be considered good communicators.
   Google's definition for "communicate" included 1.) to transmit information...I do that with hubby all the time! "Please put that back where you got it", The garbage bag needs changing", "I don't think you should wear those colors together...especially not with those shoes!"
   And number 2.) to transmit thoughts or feelings...I do this all the time too, but this one is much trickier!
   The speaker giving the symposium gave an example of how husbands and wives sometimes communicate. I'll give you the gist of what he said. He said: 'A husband is 2 hours late getting home from work. His wife has been waiting for him, with dinner buzzers and children "going off!!" He saunters in the door and yells, with a big smile, "I'm home!" He expects everybody to be happy about this, but instead his wife says: "Where have you been? Johnny needs help with his homework, your dinner is on the stove, and the dog needs to go for a walk. I'm going to take a nap. It's your turn to handle some of the things around here!!!"
  The speaker then proceeded to show how the communication could have been better on both sides. He said: The husband sees that he's not going to finish his work project on time, so he calls his wife to apologize and to let her know that he's going to be a couple of hours late. She thanks him for calling and asks if he wants her to wait dinner for the two of them, so that they can be able to eat together. He says what a nice idea. She proceeds to feed the kids, walk the dog, and help Johnny with his homework. He finally gets home. She meets him at the door and says: "You must be tired." Once again he apologizes, tells her that he'll go and take the garbage out after he gets the kids all ready for bed. She thanks him and goes off to take a nap while she waits for their late night dinner together.
  Obviously the 2nd communication was much better...Oh if only things would go that smoothly all the time!!! For hubby and I it's a lot different after 28 years of marriage,...actually 32 years all together! I remember those early years of communicating...at a decibel of sound that only dogs could probably hear! LOL Oh Yea, we were "communicating" all over the place!! And usually not about anything good! We fought over time we weren't spending together, people we were jealous over, and food...we fought over food a lot! (Who was taking the most and who was not being fair to whom about exactly how much the other one had! WOW!) *Shaking my head*...Let's face it, there was not much "communicating" going on there. But there was a lot of transmitting of information....USELESS information!
  I also remember times of me crying about him forgetting our anniversary, him being irate because I destroyed his shirt or something in the wash, me going on for what seemed like hours about my ignored feelings...while he sat looking at the floor in total silence! UGH!!!! Then I would say at the top of my voice: "Say something!" And he inevitably would make the statement that was like throwing gasoline on a lit fire..."What do you WANT me to say?!" It's a wonder he's actually still alive!
  Thankfully, after a few storms (Like in the backyard) and some growing up, our communication became MUCH better...and it became more like loving friends. We talk all the time now. We're still just as passionate about our points of view, but our speech is softer, more thoughtful. We're more aware of the fact that we don't want to win an argument, we want to keep a friend. I think that our level of respect about the fact that we each are entitled to our own opinion, no matter what the other one thinks of it, has been what's made the most difference...Besides the fact that we both have to answer to a higher source than ourselves for the way we behave and "communicate." Now that's something to talk about!

Every Day Love Talk

It's  2:30 in the morning.
The alarm goes off right on cue.
He gets up and shaves and showers;
says "Bye Bye Baby. I love you."

Right around noontime
comes a call on his cell phone,
saying: "I was thinking of you.
I can't  wait til I get home."

When his work day has ended,
he calls to say he's  leaving the job.
I count the minutes I know it will take
before he's turning our doorknob.

Then there's 3 pecks on the lips,
and "Hi Baby! How was your day?"
"Dinner will be ready in a little while;"
and before we go to bed, we pray.

We curl up in each others  arms,
giggle and talk, laying in the moonlight;
and its an "I love you" and "I love you too"
and everything in the world seems right.

 

Virtual World

Don't adjust your screen. The picture is kind of dark because it was 5:45 a.m.! It's what my backyard looked like when I woke up this morning....*deep breath*...I love waking up and feeling like I'm laying in the backyard. Just watching the sun come up is kind of calming.

But I can't lay here staring out of the window all day. I've got things to do, people to see, and flowers to crochet!...Before I take off to do that though, I wonder...have any of you ever visited the Virtual Labs on Etsy?! I ask because I realized yesterday that it's been a long time since I visited a lab. With my tweeting on Twitter ( Come follow me! I'm Poetesswug2 http://twitter.com/PoetessWug2 ), doing my blog every day, crocheting and working on SEO linking in my "Wuglyees" shop ( http://www.etsy.com/shop/wuglyees ), I just haven't taken the time!
   But if you have an Etsy shop, making handmade items to sell, I think the virtual labs are invaluable to your success. I say this because of the wealth of information and encouragement that I personally have received in the labs. Here's what you do....
    Go to Etsy, click on "community" in the upper bar, then click on "Virtual Labs". In the middle column you will see the schedule for upcoming "Events", including the times for them. In the colored boxes, or "Rooms" it'll tell you which one has the current event going on. The size of the boxes kind of tell you the capacity of each room too. (In other words, how many people will be able to fit in there.) The "Auditorium" is the largest.
   I usually visit either the "Newbie Chat" or the "Shop Critiques". The newbie chat, while it sounds like it's just for "NEW" people, isn't!  Not only is it attended by newbies, or people new to Etsy, but there are also always other Etsy shop owners there. They, like me, attend so that they can meet the new owners and offer help if needed. It's a way of giving back what was given to us when we were newbies. The idea of that lab, though, is to help new people get their questions answered about the workings of etsy. I like attending it because I get to share with new people what I've learned: what a "Treasury" is, what the purpose of the forums is, how their announcement page should look, what info should be included in their profile and policies page, how and what to use as item tags, how to take pictures (Okay, so I don't usually do much talking on this subject!! LOL Although I do know HOW it's suppose to be done...I just haven't mastered it yet!), and so forth.
   My favorite, though, is the "Shop Critiques". That's where I've learned the most! What happens in that lab is that a person from Etsy administration visibly pops into the middle of the room, which is configured in little boxes all in a circle around her (Or in a half moon shape in the smaller rooms). Then, while she reads the things we're typing to her, she answers questions, picks different shops (which you can volunteer to be a guinea pig for), and tells them individually what she thinks about their shop. She gives advice on what to fix, what's great already, and what to aim for to make your shop more successful. A lot of people visit this lab so that they can get some personal attention and clues to why they aren't selling more from their shop! It's not easy to get picked. There's thousands of Etsy shops! You have to be quick at typing. I guess I must be pretty quick, because I've been picked a couple of times so far. That's how I found out that I needed to fix my shipping info and how to do it...The last time I was picked she was impressed with my progress and how my shop looked, and was at a loss as to why my shop wasn't selling right now. She gave me some encouragement to keep crocheting and building up supplies because she was sure that come September-ish my sells would pick up. I hope she's right!
   The fun things in the lab are the little symbols that you can play with in the bottom bar, below the chat bar. If you click on the little red 'heart' a lot of other symbols will show up in that row. To sling them across the room, just click and hold on your own avatar, drag and point the line where you want the item to go, and then release the click! (In my opinion this is only fun when the room is empty!!! LOL It is rather annoying when the moderator is talking about something you're trying to pay attention to, and some "joker" starts flinging things at people...Some people never grow up!!)
    I've met some wonderful people, and shared some helpful experiences  with people that I've met in the virtual labs. I'm gonna try to get over there tomorrow. There's a "Shop Critique" scheduled at 4:00p.m. on "Tagging". I think I can use some help in this area too. (for the Etsy searches to pick up more of my items.)  Maybe I'll see some of you there! Just click in one of the boxes, type my Etsy name, "Wuglyees" and say Hello! You can tell if I'm there by my Etsy avatar. It's not the Wuglyee bear that I use on twitter. It's this...

   I'd love to hear what you have to say about my shop, and...look at your shop too! You know how nosy I am!!! LOL...{My poem today is one that I sell in a frame in my Etsy shop!}

Fishing-Life

This world is like a pond in which
you can't help but get wet.
We are like the fish snatched up
into the fisher's net.

The pond-it represents all of
our jobs and bills and debt,
that we swim in every day,
chasing the bait that's hard to get.

The world throws out a line
that we follow to the top;
Then we're pulled away from safety,
and on land we flip and flop.

Even if we get away,
we're now wounded, dry and tired,
`cause we've jumped out of the frying pan,
and now we're in the fire!
http://www.etsy.com/listing/21471916/fishing-life-poem-in-a-frame

New of the Class

   Hubby and I have both been keeping ourselves busy the last couple of days. Me, collecting my thoughts and re-collecting my creative motivation. Hubby, cooking and organizing. Since my physical condition has caused me to not be able to do some of the things I used to do, he has taken over those things. The cooking has been a "work in slow progress" for him. He's sure giving it all the "TRY" he can, but...*I'm trying to say it nicely so that I don't discourage him, but at the same time not encourage him!*...cooking doesn't come easy for him. (Some of the NEW meals he's been cooking lately have been...how shall I say...interesting!) I was going to try to take pictures to show you, but...Shhhhh!...you REALLY don't want to see it!
   As a mental 'picture', think of 2 fried pork chops...sound good? Well, one was very dry on the inside, but the outside had a soft, grayish look. No, it wasn't gravy...poor thing...it was a thick coating of flour! I told him you  have to coat pork chops in flour before you fry them, but I forgot to tell him to shake off the excess so that you just have a thin coating. He apparently thought that he was making a big biscuit with a pork chop in the middle, because that's what it looked like...but the biscuit wasn't done!!! LOL Oh, the things I've been eating with a smile lately!
     My creative motivation hasn't been as good as his. I've been finding that because ETSY has been so slow, I've been slowing myself down as well. But I have got to do something with all of these beads and buttons, thread, and yarn. This is my start at doing that...But first, let me alert you to the BEST BEAD GIVEAWAY EVER!!! You have to see it...well over $350.00 worth of beads!!! http://deniseyezbakmoore.blogspot.com/2010/06/best-bead-give-way-ever.html Okay, now...

   I love this big clear glass drop! I decided to try black and white crochet in a more classic looking flower dangle. I don't have a name for it yet. Maybe you could give me some suggestions. That would be nice! Actually that would serve 2 purposes. I could get some help on what to call it, and also I'd know that I'm not talking to myself...again! LOL
   It must be the time of year it is that made me think about this classic look. But whatever it was that led me in this direction, I'm very glad about it because look at my real work of art that came next!

I don't have a name for this one either, but I have a few ideas. I bought this gorgeous dangle at CinLynnBoutique http://www.etsy.com/shop/cinlynnboutique a little while back. It was so beautiful that every time I crocheted a flower for it I ended up not using it because it didn't feel right! So I decided to do a classic look crocheted flower and to make my own bead and crystal necklace to hang it from. Now I love everything about it: the glass button...

...and the arrangement of the crystals, spacers, and black beads.

The only problem I'm gonna have with this one is how much to charge for it!! I practically give away most of the crochet necklaces in my shop, in my opinion anyway!  But for this one....I've got to get what it's worth...or keep it for myself! :-)) Maybe I can get hubby to make me a biscuit to hide it in! LOL
   I tease him about his cooking, but I'm very thankful he's such a good man. Most husbands probably wouldn't even "TRY" to do what he does! A good man...and I know what a good man is! Wrote a poem about it! (Was there any doubt! LOL)

How Can You Tell a Good Man From a Bad One?

How can you tell a good man
from a bad man nowadays?
The truth is there are many,
many, many, kinds of ways.

A good man, when he meets you,
looks straight into your eye.
A bad man, will look down,
and show his tendency to lie.

A good man, when he owes you,
pays your money right on time.
A bad man says: "I'll pay you."
But he never has a dime!

A good man wants to help you
if you're ever in a pinch.
A bad man, if your car breaks down
won't  even loan a wrench.

A good man, when he dates you,
is not concerned with just 'right now'.
A bad man wants his milk' for free',
and never buys the cow.

A good man is a good boss,
and a sparkling employee.
A bad man likes to take control,
and complains exhaustingly.

A good man brings you flowers,
just because he thought of it.
A bad man, if you ask for them
will quickly throw a fit.

A good man, 'cause he's loved by all,
will know the world is his .
A bad man gets a poem wrote
to show how bad he is!

Relative Death

    Not such good news in the backyard today. I had a death in the family over the weekend. My mother''s brother, my uncle. He passed away after a long illness. We were expecting the news at some time, but not at THIS time!...Those of you who have gone through a prolonged illness with a loved one know what I mean. Even though you expect it,...somehow when it happens it seems sudden!
   He was my mom's baby brother. I'm feeling sad for my mom and her family today. I hadn't seen my uncle  for quite a few years, so the impact of his death is not that strong on me. I'm just in that state of 'strangeness' where...he was a relative, but I didn't really have a relationship with him, but he's my mother's brother, but he lived many miles away, but...I could do this kind of mental assessing all day.
   Death is hard and strange to handle. And no matter who it is that dies, whether a relative, friend, work mate, etc., there is no easy way to process it. As an example, the news of my uncle's death was sad for me, but tough for my hubby too. Even though he never knew him, he feels for the family who he knows is now dealing with funeral arrangements, newspaper obituary wording, and picking out flowers and such...while at the same time trying to keep themselves together for everyone else.
   But, also since this weekend, my hubby is dealing with the loss of a work mate. He was killed in a freak accident, coming out of a store where he was picking up pills for his wife. He was struck by the car of a store employee in a hurry to get home. Whereas my uncle's death caused him sadness, this news caused my hubby to shed tears. He and the work mate saw each other almost every day,  shared life experience, and both were sad about another work mate who recently found out he had terminal cancer.
  Funny how death takes no account of past friendships or talks, doesn't discriminate or curry favor, doesn't care what time it is or how much time has gone. Just like life,...death 'Is What It Is'. But death is also...the enemy! That's what the Bible calls it. And if you don't have some kind of belief system in place about what happens to people when they die, death becomes that much harder to deal with when you lose someone you know!
   I have lost, in death, many people that I've known and loved. My sadness over their deaths has been tempered by a thankfulness  for a solid belief system, and a sure hope of one day seeing them all again. This doesn't make me miss my loved ones any less, but at least my grief doesn't have the added emotion of not knowing where they are. That would have REALLY been hard if, (like was the case with one alcoholic aunt that I loved very much) they had not lived a "GOOD" life.
   I know this is a subject that most people don't talk about, but I talk about everything. Why would this subject be off limits?! Respectfully, I acknowledge that everyone has their own views on the subject of death. I leave you to yours, without debate. If you have questions about mine, I will gladly share. But, for now, I hope that at least the subject causes you to ask yourself a few questions about what your thoughts would be if it was your uncle, aunt, or work mate that died.
  (I used to work in a facility taking care of patients. One day we lost a patient who had no relatives or children. I wrote this poem at that time.)

Obituary Of The Alone

There's not much to be said
about the lonely and the dead,
except that his life's blood was shed,
and all his memories put to bed.
There was no spouse that was wed.
There were no children to be fed,
and no concerns to tax his head;
No one to think the life he led
was worth the writing to be read.
He was alone-and now he's dead.

Teenagers..UGH!

   Yesterday, while I was fishing through some old poems, I ran across one that I wrote a few years back that talked about the feelings a parent has about their teenagers. I wrote it on one of those days when I was remembering my own teenage years, thinking back about what my poor dad must have been thinking at the time.
  Before I tell you that story, let me share with you 2 of MY teenagers...2 crochet flowers I made yesterday that aren't through maturing! LOL
   I made them because I was inspired by something I saw while I was looking around on Etsy. I saw someone's treasury with a theme of Mint Chocolate Chip. I thought: "Hmmmmmm...How would I represent mint chocolate chip in a crocheted flower?!" Then I remembered that I had a gemstone and a dangle that I've been trying to find the perfect places for. I don't know if THESE are their final resting places,...so to speak,...because they're still teenagers now and I haven't decided if I'm completely happy with them yet! But...This is my version of "Mint chocolate chip"...

And...I call this one "Chocolate Sherbet Love"...

 I'm not sure if I want them to 'grow into adult-hood' just yet. My dilemma is about the buttons. I think they're making my 'teenagers' look like they have big noses or something! LOL ....I'll figure it out.
   Okay, back to my story. For the most part my dad didn't have much trouble with me...That's MY assessment! Ha! Ha! He may say differently! But I had a really strong sense of right and wrong from when I was a kid. I think I drove my siblings crazy! They would want to sneak and do something my parents disapproved of, go or eat something they weren't suppose to, and I was always the stick in the mud, saying: "We better not! Suppose they find out? Then we're gonna get a whooping!...I'm not doing it!!" They would spend the next few minutes trying to convince me that my parents wouldn't find out. But to no avail usually. The way I see it, if it wasn't for me, we may never have grown up!!! My parents may have killed us!! LOL ...Again, that's MY assessment. I KNOW my siblings wouldn't agree with that! They called me a "goody 2 shoes"! :-) A name I'm now proud I had. 
   When I was just about to turn 16, my dad was wanting to move to a new house waaaay across town. At that time, those 10 or so blocks away might as well have been the distance between Florida and the moon! I loved my neighborhood! We played ball in the lot across the street, the ice cream truck stopped right in front of our house every day in the summer, the boy I liked...a lot!...lived right next door, and all 3 houses of  me and my friends were right in a triangle so that at night, after the sun went down and we all had to be back in the house....or at least off the street...we sat on our porches and talked, laughed, and sang (this song usually--> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTRfRK0ahYs&feature=related ) .
   The idea of moving far away from there almost killed me! So, I told dad: "I'm NOT MOVING!!!" He argued the point, trying to reason with me that if HE moved, I HAD to move! But telling me that the new tenants to the house might not appreciate having a strange teenager living there didn't motivate me to want to go!
  After about a week of going toe to toe with me, he used a different tactic. He said I could have my own bedroom when we moved into the new house, the biggest bedroom! He offered to even put a phone in my room and put a lock on my door so that I would be the only one with a key! How could I turn that down?!...I couldn't, and...I didn't...The new house turned out to be a great place!
  I am fully aware that dad could have dragged me to the new house, put up with my mood for a few days, and 'let that be that'! But part of the reason I love him so much is because he chose this particular time to give me the confidence to know that I had bargaining power, and that he cared about my feelings. He must have figured out that because I was not normally a defiant child, this moving thing must have been very traumatic for me. I didn't appreciate all of that at the time. I was just glad to get my way!
   Thinking back about it though, I can see that he picked the battles he knew he could win. And in that particular case, not only did he win, but he got a very happy teenager to boot! We never had another toe to toe battle again!...I made new friends, which he knew I would. And the boy next door that I had been so enamored with became an alcoholic drug addict! So, I'd say we all won!!...I hope this story gives parents some encouragement to hold your ground when you need to....but think like a teenager yourself when you want to. Teenagers are just trying to find their way. They may need some help from you...a former teenager, with a good memory.

Dreaded Teenager

She was our little daughter,
with a playful, happy grin;
Now this teenager replaced her-
and our nerves are all on end!

She Was confident and sure;
Now, her self-esteem seems lowered;
She would entertain herself;
But now, no matter what, she's  bored.

She loved taking all the time,
little nuggets  from the heart;
Now, she's  hesitant and shy;
Being bold's a long lost art.

She used to love her sandals;
Now, its all about 'the boot',
She Would wear clothes to keep warm;
Now, she'd rather be cold-and 'cute'!

What happened to the little girl
who just couldn't wait to please;
Who would run and jump and play,
with a giddy kind of ease?

She's now a dreaded teenager!
These years have come too fast;
and my only consolation
is that soon this too shall pass!

Now that's funny!

   What do you find funny, or WHO do you find funny? That's what I was thinking about yesterday. I had a rough day. Actually a rough couple of days. I haven't been feeling very good. And not sleeping good either...(but that's just par for the course.) Go figure, we finally get good weather...no rain...and my body decides that NOW is the time to act up!...Oh well.
   When I don't feel good, or when something negative is trying to take over my mind, I try to counteract it with spiritually good input and then some FUNNY! The things that I find funny don't always gel with what the other people around me find funny though. In fact, that's always been the case. Every time he saw me looking at something on t.v. that had me in full laughter mode, my dad used to say: "Leave it to you to find silly stuff on T.V.!"
   Everybody probably found Lucille Ball to be funny. That whole sequence when her and Ethel were on the chocolate candy conveyor belt?! F-U-N-N-Y!!! I've had some moments like that in real life!...But not with chocolate candy and conveyor belts. A story for another time! :-) ... And my sense of funny has...shall I say...matured...over the years. Martin Lawrence and Tesha Campbell had a whole scene with a "Puppy" on "Chilligan's Island" that had me in stitches for days back in the day. And so did Monty Python's troup, going up the hill toward the castle, beating on coconuts, mimicking the sound of horses clopping!
  More recently I've found that I like more 'settled every day' humor. I can look at almost any episode of "Everybody loves Raymond" and laugh out loud! I think it's because I recognize myself in a lot of the scenes with Raymond and Deborah. Especially the scene when Raymond was going out of town and he left the stinky cheese in the suitcase on the stairs. Any couple that's been married for a while has probably had some version of that happen to them....and it's only really funny in hindsight!
   Here's my short list of who I think is funny: "Bill Cosby Myself"...hilarious, from beginning to end! Cedric the Entertainer, Lucille Ball (Of Course!), Carol Burnett, Margaret Cho (her stand up...clean version only!), Billy Crystal, Bill Engvall, Redd Foxx, Jeff Foxworthy, Goldie Hawn,  Bob Hope, Don Knotts, Jerry Lewis (especially in the movies with Dean Martin), Bob Newhart, Nipsey Russell (his poems he recited, with punchlines), Wanda Sykes (clean version also), Lily Tomlin, Betty White, Flip Wilson, and a whole slew of my personal friends!!!
In fact, my personal friends make me bust up the most!

Aren't friends great?!...And funny too! They always make me feel better...I've written many poems about my individual friends over the years. Some of them, my poems, not my friends, were not very good. Even I know it! I get a little chuckle at them too when I re-read them...What was I thinking?! :-)))))))))))

At Dawn

I just wanted you to know-Dear Dawn,
that you were named well, my friend;
Because you never give up the fight,
whether its from without, or from within.

Nothing ever keeps you down (that I`ve seen!)
With each new morning you just stretch and yawn;
You jump out of bed, and begin again,
(Like the darkness that's soon gone, at dawn.)

At dawn-is when you begin as mom;
At dawn-is when you begin as wife;
At dawn-is when you begin as friend,
as daughter, as student-"at" life!

So, if you didn`t do it exactly right today,
and your thoughts have fallen darker, with the night,
don`t worry too much, because as your name implies-
you`ll get another chance, at first light!



(Now, that's funny!!!!)

See the light of day?

   Have you ever made something, either a blanket that you crocheted, a piece of jewelry where you thought that a certain bead was going to look just perfect on it, or whatever, and then got it finished...and didn't like it?! Well, that's happened to me MANY times! I guess that's what they call the creative process!
   Today I want to show you a few of the items I made that, in my opinion, started out as a good idea, but didn't QUITE get there!...But before I do that, let me show you the backyard this morning. We've had a couple of rainless days and the backyard likes it!...OKAY, I like it!!!

It may be a good day for a little grilled hamburger...

Or just to sit and look at our flowers grow!

  Okay, back to MY creations!...I made this key chain because I thought that maybe I'd start doing a line of crocheted and cotton filled items...

After it was done, I liked the way it felt to the touch, but not the way it looked. It looked liked an over-cooked biscuit! LOL Nobody would probably buy this...but me!
   There was the other bright idea of making hair accessories for toddlers. I'd seen lots of babies with big over-sized flowers in their hair. I figured I'd make a line of crocheted flowers, in lots of baby colors, and with butterflies on them, and they'd just fly out of my shop!...

A quick stop came to that when I realized all the trouble it was to sell items for babies in my shop! CPSIA's guidelines about permanent labels on each item, and testing of materials and buttons for children under 12 (I think that was the age they mentioned), etc....was too much for me to have to deal with! Especially since it would cost me WAAAAAY more than my little shop has even made the whole time I've been in business!...So I still have these. I don't know what I'm going to do with them. We don't have any big head babies. And hubby doesn't look good with butterflies in his hair...He doesn't even have much room for HAIR in his hair!! LOL
   Lastly, was this little beauty...

Frankly, I LOVE IT!!! It has a really vintage button on it and a whole lot of personality! But boy was it a pain in the neck to make!!! I had to change colors all the time, crochet over and sew in the loose colored threads so that they wouldn't be seen in places they weren't suppose to be seen, and put a backing on it that didn't take away from the integrity of the whole flower....WHEW! Now who is ever gonna pay me for what it's worth?!!! It hasn't gone into the shop because I don't want to give it away, and I don't think anyone would care about it as much as I do! So, here it sits!!!
   Would you like for me to show some of your projects that you've had dilemmas about? I'd love to show them. Contact me and I will!...I'm leaving you with a poem that I wrote as an answering machine message...that I also never used. Thought it was too cutesy and long for the callers to have to wait through. :-))

Answering Machine Message

You have reached the home
of Debbie and Jeff;
There's  no need to speak fast;
There's a lot of time left.

If you leave us a message,
and your phone number too,
just as soon as we can
we'll get right back to you.

Now, please don't  hang up;
We want to hear what you say;
And after your message-
you have a nice day!