Drum Roll Please - Giveaway Winner

OK we have a winner for the Grow Your Blog giveaway and it's Ronda from Mountain Delights
Yeaaaaaaaaaaa - clapping and whistling can be heard - cheers all around.  Ronda, I'll be emailing you to get your address and get this

stuffed to the brim with some surprise goodies out to you next week. 

The World From The Side Of The Moon

Now I’m not usually one to be a music groupie although I absolutely love music of all kinds from classic to country to soft rock to jazz.  About the only music I don’t care for is rap (most of it) and hard rock.  I’ve watched American Idol since it began although I don’t always watch all of the shows each season.  But last year it was fantastic and show-cased some of the best singers I’ve seen on a show in a long time. 

One of them, Phillip Phillips, has a very unique sound and with every “theme” Idol threw at him, made the song his own even if it didn’t quite fit.  I really liked him but didn’t think he had much of a chance of winning because he wasn’t so mainstream as some others who had won in the past.  I was beyond pleased when he did win because finally America picked someone who wouldn’t compromise on which music was right for him.

I’ve bought first albums of Idol winners in the past and beyond one or two songs, have usually been disappointed in them (except for Carrie Underwood who is great).  When I saw that yahoo was previewing his album, I went and had a listen – and loved all of the songs. If I had to pick a favorite - which is hard to do on this album - it would be Home.  He has a very jazzy, bluesy sound. So off I went to buy the album and have been enjoying it ever since.  You can preview the songs here 

Phillip Phillips

I would truly like to give this young man a big hug and tell him how proud I am of him. 

It's Grow Your Blog Party Time!

Welcome to my blog and to the Grow Your Blog party  hosted by Vicki at 2 Bags Full.  Click on the Grow Your Blog button on the right and it will take you to the list of party-ers.   I can’t wait to see some blogs I may not have seen before.

I’ve been blogging since 2009 – wow I can’t believe it’s been that long.  And here I thought I’d have nothing to say.  Bwahahaha!  You can’t shut a Southern gal up once she gets started LOL

I love folk art.  The more whimsical, the better!  I’ve crafted since forever and can’t imagine not having creations in my head.  I’m happiest when I’m out in my studio either creating or having friends over and teaching them something they’ve always wanted to learn.  I have more “I want to do that”s on my bucket list than I’ll ever get done but it sure is fun trying.
In honor of Vicki’s party, I’m giving away the creation you see below and it will be stuffed with surprises.

 

This is a wet-felted wool basket with needle-felted locks under the brim.  And nope, not telling you what the surprises will be – you’ll just have to wait for that!  Just leave a comment and be sure you either leave your email address or a link so that I can get in touch with you if you win.  The winner will be chosen with the random generator the evening of Friday, February 1^st    

I recently changed service providers and had to change my email address.  And because I used that address in a previous start-up blog, I can’t seem to figure out how to change things here on blogger.  But I will.  In the meantime, if you need to contact me directly, please email me at whimseyc@yahoo.com

Now go over to Vicki’s blog party and have fun.  But be sure to become a Follower on my blog first so you’ll always know when I have a new post.  Happy partying!

 

The Year of Listening

Listen, can you hear the quiet?  No? 
 

 

Between the never quiet workplace, TVs blaring,  radios playing, phones ringing, text messages dinging, road noise, appliances running, dogs barking, cats meowing, clocks ticking, people talking – and those are just the things that come to mind right now – it is rarely really quiet.  Even when you’re shopping, people seemingly talk to themselves while walking the aisles so that you turn to them thinking they are talking to you – but no, there is a plug in their ear that goes to their phone.

When someone is talking to you - whether in person or on the phone – are you multi-tasking at the same time?  Doing or thinking?  Folding laundry, washing dishes, watching a program on TV?  Maybe thinking of what you will say when they are “done”?  Guilty – I am sooooooo guilty of this.  It doesn’t matter if they can’t SEE us multi-tasking or hear our brains going full speed ahead. 

I believe in my heart that the person conversing with us deserves our full attention – all of it.  If we don’t give our full attention then we also don’t deserve the other person’s full attention.  If we don’t have time to talk, we shouldn’t make the call or pick up the phone when it rings.  If we only have a certain amount of time to spend on a call, then we need to find a way to wind it down gradually  – gracefully - when we know we need to hang up soon. 

Now you might think that is a rant about someone who called me and didn’t give me their full attention  Not so at all.  “LISTEN” is my word for 2013.  Once a month I’ll talk about other kinds of listening, for there are many.  And I intend to master all of them this year.

Gratitude

Gratitude - one of two resolutions for 2013 - to find something to be grateful for in every day. 

Lightening in a Jar



Enjoy!

In The Middle of a Wind Storm

For a long while I’ve felt like my life is in the middle of a wind storm, ready to just pick me up and swirl me away.  Sometimes I’ve wished it would – some place where it’s calm and serene – where no one needs anything from me – where my mind can just not think instead of wondering and worrying and never stopping.

My step-father Frank, of Frank’s Fractured Fairytales, is finally in assisted living .  I no longer have to wonder if he has fallen and is laying on the floor hurt, or is confused and afraid, or is angry and doesn’t know why, or needs something and there is no one to get it for him.  No matter that it took nearly a year of pleading, arguing, and finally going to court to gain guardianship.  All of that doesn’t matter because I can finally breathe again.

I have learned more about North Carolina laws than I ever wanted to.  I have had to prove myself over and over again.  And never will be able to prove myself to his neighbors who think I’m just after his money (he has none) and his house (which will pay for the assisted living).  You have to develop a very hard shell when you’re going through these things and sometimes it just cracks wide open.  But then you have to plaster that crack back up and know that what you are doing is the right thing – or hope it is.  When Frank asks me the same questions over and over again within minutes, or I can see that he really doesn’t understand fully what is being said – I know I haven’t made a mistake.  And no matter what he’s said to me along the journey and perhaps that someday he won’t know who I am exactly, that’s OK because I know who he is in his heart.

The whirling storm is slowing and I know the calm is coming soon.

The Blue Bath Re-do

Well this is very overdue but I finally took some pictures today of my blue bathroom re-do.  Nevermind that I had three stripes of color on the wall behind the door for six months.  A friend (thank you Michelle) helped me paint a month or so ago or I'd probably still have those stripes LOL  The color is Olypmic's Misty Surf and is really more of a robin's egg blue than baby blue as it looks in the pictures.

I can't remember where I picked up the little chicken and cart but have used it to hold paper cups for years - maybe it was World Market.  Sadly we no longer have one near us but I loved that store.   The mirror is courtesy of Hobby Lobby and the mirror actually comes out if you'd rather frame a picture.  And the crosses are new as of today and also from Hobby Lobby.  As a matter of fact all of their glassware, metal, and wood ready-mades are 50% off - wonderful prices - I could have gone crazy in there today!

 

 The cute little ceramic hooks under the picture are courtesy of Anthropologie (where I have to carry a drool rag because I love love love almost everything in their store).  The picture is a poster I picked up on Ebay several years back. 

 

The small picture also came from Hobby Lobby several years ago and the shelf probably from there or maybe Target.

 

 The shower curtain is fabulous and is courtesy of Target - I just love their housewares.

 

 

 

Oh and the rug - the rug is what started the whole thing and if it wasn't full of dog hair I'd have taken a close-up LOL.  It's a beautiful shade of blue with cut pile and bumps in it that looks like a tufted headboard.  Just love it and it came from Lowes.

 

Well here is to makeovers!  May you have a blessed week.