I was back near my hometown last night. I don't get over there very often and figured I'd swing by the local cemetery to grab a couple pics. My cousin's headstone is in the cemetery I went to.
Ben died sixteen years ago in a car accident at the age of 18. From what I remember (I was 14 years old), the accident happened the week before his high school graduation. His girlfriend was driving them home from school and I believe they were following friends. They were driving on a curvy road and Ben's girlfriend lost control of the car and they went into a corn field. Ben's girlfriend was wearing a seat belt. He wasn't.
There are many images from that accident and the week after that I will never forget. There is one that I will mention here. The local news was doing a story on the accident and one of the pictures they took was of the corn field and school books were scattered around. It was just so sad.
Ben's brother accepted his high school diploma on his behalf. I can't imagine what that must have felt like for him. He was closer to my age. Now that I think about it, he must have relived that moment when he accepted his own diploma years later.
When my cousin was buried, they had one of his senior pictures engraved on the front. I've shared pictures of his headstone and others below.
Please remember to buckle up when you drive. It could be the difference between life and death.
A random headstone pic. I loved the effect at the top of it.
Another random pic.
My cousin's head stone with one of his senior pics etched in.
The poem etched into the back of my cousin's head stone.
Halloween Spirit over at the Orange and Black blog has awarded me the Gourdqueens Scream Award. What a fabulous looking award it is! Thanks, friend!
According to her post, this particular award is to be shared with anyone whose blog you just love. Whether it's their art, their interests, the things they share, you just simply love to visit their blog.
Some of the people who I list below may have already gotten this award before. I'm trying to pick those that haven't gotten it yet though. If you've gotten this award before and you're on my list, this just means you've been Super Awarded! So without further adieu and in no particular order, I bestow this award on the following bloggers.
Yes, Diane is listed twice. That's cuz' she has two very different blogs that I like for different reasons. : ) Thanks to all of you for having wonderfully interesting blogs!
Now for a few of the cemetery pics that I took the other night. Enjoy!
UPDATE 6/23/2009: PumpkinBrain awarded me the Gourdqueens Scream Award too! Thanks!
I was out and about today and as I'm driving, I happen to notice a giant peace sign in someone's yard. I was on the phone at the time and had way too much to get done so I went back tonight because I had to take a pic. It's not every day you see something like this! While I had my camera, I decided to grab some other shots. I took some at a local cemetery but those will be on a future post. Enjoy!
There is an ironworkers factory downtown and this is one of the big metal piles in their yard. It was all shiny in the sunset's rays.
Outside of the factory, they have a bunch of metal sculptures.
I don't think I've ever seen one continuous cloud like this?
I've been wanting to share a pic of a recent project I completed for my blogging friend, Diane. It's a belated birthday gift. Really belated! I wanted to keep it a surprise so I refrained from posting a pic here that she would see. : ) Below is what I made for her. I painted the frame silver hoping that was pretty neutral for her decor. Cute, eh? To check out her very sweet blog post about it, visit Diane here.
Check out these cool miniature coke bottles I won from a giveaway! They came all the way from Singapore! I think that's the farthest away I've ever gotten mail from. Very cool. They came from a lady named May who makes the cutest tiny things. To check out her blog, click here. Thanks, May!
My first craft show wasn't all I hoped it would be. We got there an hour early to set up and we were originally told there would be 75 spots reserved and that the craft show was going to be in one side of the park and a fleamarket on the other side. Then we found out that there were only going to be 35 crafters total. After all was said and done, only 12 spots were filled with crafters and then 3 with fleamarket stuff. It ended up raining half the time so I don't know if people cancelled because of the rain or what.
There was a historic home tour going on during the time of the craft show, which brought in people but most of them had white hair and weren't interested in the kinds of crafts I brought. That may sound bad but it was true. I only had one younger girl come by and she thought the frames were cool but she didn't have any money cuz' she didn't have a job. (She was someone that was there selling fleamarket stuff.)
I had a booth with my cousin and she ended up bringing a ton of garage sale items, which I didn't know about. When we had originally talked about the setup, I was going to bring a card table for my stuff and she was going to have a couple card tables and a long table for her stuff. She said she was going to have one box of garage sale items and that her long table would go lengthwise so that we'd share the front of the booth. When we got there and looked at the setup, she decided to put her long table along the front, which seemed okay at the time because I could put my card table on the side and I figured I'd get traffic from that side and people would see my stuff when they were walking by the front.
She ended up having huge displays on the front table that blocked my stuff pretty much completely. (Pic below.) She had three sides of the booth and two of the sides were along the sidewalk so they got most of the attention. All in all, I had maybe 10 people walk on my side to even see my stuff and a few of those were fellow crafters. Most people that walked by our booth didn't even know I had a side.
A couple hours into it when some people started coming through, I mentioned to my cousin that people couldn't see my stuff and she offered to swap sides with me. Well, the other side had a big tree blocking half of it, so it didn't look like a good option. It was actually so obvious that I wasn't getting people that the crafter next to us came over and suggested that I put a couple things on the front table. After that, my cousin gave me a small bit of room to put two picture frames and a bookmark up front but by that time, our "rush" was over and I was ready to pack it up. When I do a craft show in the future, I'll be sure to stand up for room in the front because that's always the most reliable spot to bring people in.
I ended up selling one frame...to my cousin, which was nice of her. I told her that if she really wanted one, I could make one customized for her but she really liked one of them already made so she bought that. She ended up selling jewelry and a scarf to a couple of her family members that came by and she sold one necklace to a regular customer. The rest of what she sold was books from her garage sale pile and food that she had brought (pop and cookies). I looked around and none of the crafters were doing well. Looks like most of the sales went to the fleamarket items, which I guess I can understand in this economy. Us crafters aren't selling our stuff for dirt cheap because we're factoring in our time, effort, and cost.
There was a guy there selling homemade wooden bowls, etc and it was his first craft show too. We talked for a bit about our experiences and we're both going to try again in September. Since I'll have so much time to prepare, I'm going to come up with a whole smorgasbord of stuff and I'll be damned sure I get a decent display area. : )
So what went wrong? Here's what I think:
Not many crafters so we didn't attract much of a crowd.
They combined crafts and fleamarket stuff, which made the craft value go down.
I didn't get a decent spot to display my product.
The age of the crowd.
The weather. Most people don't go out to craft shows when it's raining.
Now some pics for your viewing enjoyment. : ) The below pic is of my product where you can see that the view from the front was obstructed.
The below fountain was across the street from us. It's such a cute park.
This was a gazebo also across the street on the other side of the park. You can tell the craft show was in a small town!
This was a monument in the middle of the park side that we were in. Behind that is one of the historic homes that was on tour. Normally this home is an adult foster care facility.
UPDATE 6/25/2009: My cousin and I talked about the booth set-up and she ended up giving me some cash back from what I had paid for my portion of the booth. We now know better how to do things for next time!
I finished the last bookmark yesterday afternoon. Yay! I put white backs on each of these so you don't see the cross-stitch "junk" and it makes for a nicer product. I only had time to make five but I figure five is a good amount for my first craft show considering I have a lot of other product to sell as well. If they sell like hotcakes, I'll know to make more for the next show. Again, keep in mind that this is a craft show in a conservative small town so everything is cute, not creepy. So that my blog post isn't bogged down with pics, I only gave ya' a couple close-ups. Tell me what ya' think of them! Oh yeah, and wish me luck on the show tomorrow!
Well, I hoped to do this post much earlier tonight but I ended up going out so here it is almost 1am. Better late than never, right? I haven't even made my blog rounds for the day!
So, my picture frames are done. Yay! Keep in mind that these are for a craft show in a very conservative area so they are cute, not creepy. Even though they aren't what I would normally do, I have to admit that I still like them. I mean, I wouldn't make something I didn't like, ya' know? So without further adieu, here they are! The first pic shows a general overview of all of them and then I added a couple close-ups for ya'. There is one that is much larger than the others. That is a cross-stitch that I did and then I put it in a frame, which I had slightly modified. You can still see the hoop rings in the fabric. I'm going to take it out of the frame and iron the crap out of it so hopefully they'll go away. I'm curious to see what you think of them!
On Friday, I'll be posting pics of the bookmarks I made.
I was out and about today running errands and picking up things I need for my craft show this weekend. As I was wandering down an aisle, I came across something so unique that I had to buy it. The person that came up with this idea is one creative genius and should be in charge of all designs going forward. They also had watermelons! In case you can't tell from the pic, the middle of the top comes off and that's where the Kleenex comes out. You can click on the image to make it bigger. (Had to say it cuz' some people don't know that.)
I give props to anyone that comes up with their own ideas. Things that haven't been done before. Creative people rule!
I'll be posting again tonight with finished frame pics!
For those who haven't guessed, you have until tomorrow night to place your bets. : ) The winner will be announced Thursday morning. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, you can click on the goth dog tag in the upper right part of this page or click here.
For those who have guessed, thanks! Here are some cemetery pics that I've taken in the past, for your viewing pleasure.
Mini castle in a local cemetery. I love this!
In a cemetery near where I used to live in Ohio.
Also from Ohio. This little area was far away from all the other graves. Interesting.
This was taken somewhere in Ohio. I had pulled off the highway to check out a cemetery. There were five of these kinds of statues all in a circle.
It's my first giveaway and I've come up with a little gothy gift from me to you. If you guess correctly, that is. I was talking about my giveaway with my blog buddy, Eve, tonight and we were talking about what "game" I could play with you rather than just pulling a name out of a hat. When she does giveaways, she typically shows a pic of a bunch of items and you have to guess how much is in the container. So here's my guessing game for you:
It's my sock drawer! ha ha It normally doesn't look like this but I've mussed it up for the game. So what are the rules for this giveaway, you ask?
1. You have to guess how many individual socks are in the drawer (not pairs of socks). 2. You must be a follower of this blog. 3. You need to put your answer in this post...not any other. 4. Sorry folks but I'm only going to be shipping the giveaway package within the United States.
The person that follows the rules above and is the closest one to the answer without going over, wins! So what could you win? A drink shaker with a skull on it, Halloween cookie cutters, an Emily the Strange wallet, and I'll be throwing in a surprise gift too!
This gift came from The Frog Queen. She sent me a cool Voodoo doll and a Halloween birthday card. The card made me laugh out loud! Isn't she sweet?
Since we all know my camera pretty much sucks, I went out on my deck to take a pic to see if I could get better picture quality. I think this pic looks better than my indoor ones, yes?
Say that title three times fast! ha ha A couple of the blogging buddies that I mentioned in my previous post sent me b-day gifts in the mail. Awww!
I got the below items from Diane along with a very sweet letter. They are buttons that you can pin on your coat/shirt/etc. She made them! I saw them in her Etsy shop awhile back and loved them right away so I was shocked and delighted to see them in my very own home! I tried taking a picture of them with my camera but they kept showing up blurry. : ( So I stole the below pic from her Etsy page. Thanks, Diane!
My buddy, Eve, sent me the below items along with a cute Halloween card. Sorry for the poor picture quality! What you see is a wallet, an Asian good luck charm, Chococat nail stickers, and a pile of Frooliemew stickers. I love stickers! Did you know that Chococat and I have the same birthday (May 10)? Thanks, Eve!
So my birthday yesterday ended up being crazy busy just running errands. I had to get new shoes, pants, and socks for my new job, which I start in about an hour. Yay! Just trying to find the right shoes was a chore because everyone has tons of sandals this time of year. I finally found the right pair at Payless but they didn't have it in my size so I had to travel to the nearest store that had them, which was 30 miles away. It's super hard finding pants for me too because I'm tall and pants that are too short just look silly. I finally had success finding pants too but they were pricey. $55 a pair! Eh, if they fit right, they fit right and I justify the cost that way. Plus I got sweet coupons at that store so it's all good.
While I was out and about, I ended up at a mall that had a Hot Topic so I just had to stop in and see what they had. I ended up buying a Cradle of Filth CD, a Combichrist CD and a Skelanimal necklace (pic below). Had to treat myself, ya' know. When I went to check out, the necklace ended up being only $5 so that was a sweet deal. It was originally $10.
I was at the drive through at Arby's today getting brunch and as I pulled around the corner after ordering, I saw a bunch of smoke in the air. I saw a couple guys across the way that looked like they may have been in construction so I figured it was asphalt dust or something in the air. When I got closer, I saw flames and realized that a car was on fire! Maybe I've seen too many movies or TV but all I could think about was the car exploding and me along with it. No one was behind me in line so I backed up and went to the other side of Arby's and went in for my order. Everyone was watching the car outside. If I had a way to get pictures off of my phone, I would have taken pics for ya'. It looked like it was an engine fire because the whole front end of the car was flaming and melting. Finally the fire department showed up and put it out before the fire spread to the gas tank. The driver of the car was okay.
Alright people, I'm off to check some blogs and then get ready for work. Have a wonderful day, everyone!
NOTE: There appeared to be some words missing from some of the questions so I filled in the blanks (in green) with what I thought should have been there.
1. What is on the walls of your room?
I have to assume that they mean bedroom. Well I took everything down when the realtor came through but I did have Night Watcher by Joseph Vargo over my bed (below). Love his work! Then I had a 3D Halloween scene in a black picture frame on the opposite wall.
2. What type of music do you listen to?
Anything but country and jazz.
3. What do you want more than anything right now?
Someone to buy my home!
4. Do you get scared in the dark?
Heck no. I am the goddess Nyx, you know.
5. What's yourworst fear?
Ooh I know. Being shot with a drug that makes you paralyzed everywhere except for your eyes. You are completely aware of everything that's going on and can't do shit about it.
6. If you could do anything right now, what would it be?
I'd go someplace warm and swim under the full moon.
7. What’s the most meaningful gift that you’ve received?
I was living up north years ago when I was just a young pup (18). I was in an abusive relationship and working at a bakery. It was a small town so everyone knew everyone's business. One of my regular customers gave me a book for my birthday and wrote a note in the front of it. It said this:
"You are a very special young woman. Out of all bad comes good and growth. Know you are cared about and in my thoughts."
I received that book exactly 10 years ago today.
8. Do you have a crush?
Nope.
9. Who is your favorite celebrity?
Tim Burton - for his creativity and his mind.
10. Could you fall in love with someone that you know must leave?
I have before.
11. Share a favorite quote of yours.
I have so many! Here's one:
"If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment."
- Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
12. What’s your weakness?
Every day I say I'm going to do certain things and every night I say that I'll do them tomorrow. When other people rely on me to do something, I'll have it done before you can blink an eye but when I'm the only one affected, I put it off.
13. Do you believe that we all have a soul mate?
I'd like to think so but if that's true, then some people never find theirs.
14. What were you doing before Sunday Stealing?
Watching Stargate Atlantis. There's a link to the show's page on the right side of my blog.
15. What do you get complicated about the most?
I'm guessing this meant conflicted? My answer would be family. Sometimes I'll have a good time with them and good conversations and I'll think that everything is okay and then the next time I see them, they're completely different people and I don't want to have anything to do with them.
16. What turns you off the most from a potential partner?
I have a few things that are pretty high up there. Can't say one turns me off more than another. I don't like men who brag about themselves though. There's a fine line between having good self-esteem and having a giant ego.
17. What is your worst habit?
See answer to #12.
18. When was the last time that you were jealous?
I haven't been truly jealous in many years. I get little faux fits of jealousy when someone talks about something they have that I would like but can't get.
19. Have you ever had a “friend with benefits”?
These questions are kinda' personal! The answer is yes.
20. Do you use sarcasm?
No way! See, I just did right there. : )
21. At the moment, what’s your favorite song?
I don't really do favorites but lately I've been listening to a remix of More Human Than Human by White Zombie. Kick ass song! I went to YouTube to see if I could find it and lo and behold I found part of the song set to The Covenant screenclips. Even better! Great movie, by the way.
22. What is your favorite day of the year?
Halloween!
23. Describe your love life.
Complicated. Yep, that about sums it up.
24. When was your last one night stand?
Seriously? Geesh my personal space is being invaded. Awhile ago.
25. How many past lovers are too many?
If you don't know the number, then that's too many.
My dad came over for my birthday last night and it went surprisingly well. He gave me a card with some moolah. He was going to bring a small cake or cupcakes but instead he brought a box of honey buns (not the Little Debbie brand). I don't like them but it was the thought that counts. He wanted me to keep em' but I sent them back with him. I also gave him the almond milk that I bought for the occasion. (He's lactose intolerant.) If any of you out there are lactose or gluten intolerant, almond milk isn't a bad substitute. You will taste almonds but you also get that milk texture.
I saw my mom today for Mother's Day and she really appreciated the gift I made for her. She even made a spot for it on a shelf in the living room. Awww. We spent a few hours just chatting and hanging out and it was really nice. While I was there, she gave me a birthday card and a Dahlietta Louise Dahlia (below). Purty, huh? The card she gave me is on the right and the card I got from my dad is on the left. Her and I are also going to go horseback riding for the other part of my bday gift. I haven't done that in forever and I'm definitely looking forward to it.
So the birthday time with each of my parents was good. Not the nightmare that family time can be sometimes. : )
I always make my mom something for Mother's Day and this year, I picked a cross-stitch pattern. Keep in mind that this is for my mom and we are complete opposites so instead of vampires and gothy stuff, which I would prefer, it's all bright colors and fluffy stuff. : ) Below is the finished product framed and all. You can see it better if you click on the pic. One of these days I need to get a better camera cuz' I would have preferred to take the pic without the flash but without it, every picture comes out with a yellow hue. Bleh.
UPDATE 6/25/2009: I removed a good chunk of this post due to blog content changes.
I've got good news and bad news. Ugh. I like to get the bad news out of the way so here goes.
I had, what I considered, a good friend at my old job. We would go out for lunch, take breaks together, talk about stuff that was going on in our personal life, etc. She came over to my house once and I was invited to hers but I ended up canceling due to the awful winters we get here and the bad driving conditions it causes. Then we both got busy and I never ended up visiting her house. We were out shopping on our lunch one day and there was a CD that she was looking for but the store didn't have it. Her birthday was coming up so I scoured the stores around town, found it and bought it for her. We had funny nicknames for each other and everything. We were FRIENDS. When I left my last job, I had called her to let her know (it was her day off). She said that we'd keep in touch and that she felt bad for what happened to me. (I've posted in the past about the crap that went on there.)
I didn't hear from her for about a week so I emailed her to ask what was new. She emailed back and everything seemed okay. After I responded to that email, it took three days to hear back from her. That was my first clue that something was up. At the old job, you were in your email all day so I knew that she had gotten my email and just chosen not to respond. This past Monday, I sent her an email wanting to know what was going on. Finally today, she responded saying that our communications felt forced and that the main thing we had in common was working together. Wow. That completely stunned me. I emailed her back and said that if we were just co-workers, we wouldn't have been hanging out, I wouldn't have bought her a birthday gift, I wouldn't have had her come over, she wouldn't have told me that I was one of her best friends, etc. I told her that she wasn't sounding like the friend I had and that it made me sad and a little angry that our whole friendship was a fraud. I doubt I'll hear from her again but at least I got to the bottom of what was going on and was able to say the things I needed to say.
Now for the good news! I have an interview on Friday afternoon for the job I mentioned here. I really hope this one works out because working there would be so much fun it wouldn't feel like I'm working. That's the best type of job!
Eve over at Through Eve's Looking-Glass has a photo game called In "Other" Words where you post a picture of something that you found interesting/amusing/unique. She prefers that you take the picture and then explain it or say what it means to you. My picture below is part of my living room. I love decorating my home with unique things. When I moved in, there were nails already in the wall that were in the perfect location for my spider web. Sometimes my decorating style can be a bit spooky but I feel right at home. : )
If you want to participate, please visit Eve's blog here and add your info to Mr. Linky.
Everyone has a different idea of what an antique is. For me, it's something unique that is at least 50 years old. Usually something that is no longer in production. In the below post, I showed some dishes that I got from my grandparents. I wasn't going to do any research on those items tonight but here it is almost 2 am and I've got news to report. : )
Warning: If you don't give a crap about where things come from, you will probably be bored out of your gourd by reading this post. Hopefully you find this stuff interesting and will keep reading.
The first item in the bottom picture was a milk jug that had "Half Pint Liquid" stamped into the glass. I couldn't find any info on it. From what I read, most dairy companies put their name somewhere on the bottle and this one doesn't have a name anywhere. So this will be a mystery.
The second item in the picture looked like a butter dish to me and it had "Crosley Shelvador" stamped into the glass. After doing some digging, I found some cool info. Powel Crosley Jr. was well known for his work in the automotive industry in the early 1900's. By the early 1920's, he had made quite a name for himself by making radios and starting his own broadcast station. In 1930, he began to make refrigerators and other household appliances. One of his refrigerators even had a radio built-in! He was ahead of his time. The picture below shows an ad from 1937 of the radio refrigerator. Crosley actually invented the idea of putting shelves in a refrigerator and no one else could take this idea until the patent ran out in the 50's. The Shelvador refrigerators came with glass dishes and that's where mine came from. Cool, huh? No pun intended. ha ha
It took awhile to dig up info on the third item in the picture. There was a stamp on the bottom of the bowl that said "Hall's Superior Quality Kitchenware Made In U.S.A.". The Hall China Company was established in 1903 and is still active today. After much searching, I was finally able to tell that the bowl has the Yellow Rose decal and it appears to have been made in the 1930's.
The fourth item in the picture is probably the neatest one to me just based on what I found out tonight and the unique look it has. This little green pitcher has the below info stamped into the bottom.
Hand Made by Cornelisons Since 1845
Cornelison Pottery Bybee, KY
4-9 is written in the clay over part of the stamp. Looks like someone wrote it with a stick before putting it into the kiln. After doing some digging, I found an article with a very similar pitcher. According to that, the piece dates back to the early 1900's. If you run your fingers inside, you can tell it's handmade. Pretty neat. Apparently this pottery business was actually started in 1809 but sales records didn't begin until 1845. The company is still active today and still makes their pottery in the same location, using the same processes. A video showing how they make pitchers can be found here. And just in case you really want to know more, click here. I've emailed the company to see if they are able to give me more info on the piece I have but I don't know if I'll hear back from them.
I don't think I'll ever find out info on the last item in the picture because there is absolutely nothing stamped onto the teapot. Oh well.
UPDATE 5/2/2009: Buzz Cornelison over at Bybee Pottery responded to my email. He said that I had a #49 Syrup Pitcher. The stamp goes back to his grandfather's era and that he had the shop from 1939-1969. Apparently his grandfather seldom used that stamp so that probably adds some value to the pitcher. Buzz's father took over the shop in 1969 and did away with the stamp. Cool info, huh?
My friend, Eve, has a photo game called In "Other" Words. Today we had to post a picture of something that we found interesting/amusing/unique. She prefers you post a picture that you took and then explain it or say what it means to you.
This game was pretty easy for me because I was going to post the below pic anyway. : ) A couple days ago, I talked about getting some dishes from my grandparent's house. All of the items below are considered antiques and my grandma said that a few of the items may be worth a chunk of change. I don't plan on cashing them in but I do plan on doing some research to find out where they came from. The item on the far right is the little teapot that Grandma used to serve my cousin and I hot chocolate when we were kids. Cute, huh?
If you choose to participate, please visit Eve's blog here and add your info to Mr. Linky.
