Monday, October 31, 2011

GECKO GALZ BLOG HOP ~ THERE IS STILL TIME TO HOP!!!!

I have just spent the last hour (or less) visiting all the gals in the TRICK OR TREAT BLOG HOP ~ SEE THE button on my right side panel or the link at the bottom of this post to start it. They are giving away beautiful collage sheets and lots of prizes.  I almost missed it.  We have been busy all weekend with the fallen tree in the yard. A really nice guy came and cut it all up and took it away.  Thank you Lord. 
Thankfully I checked my blog this AM and realized TODAY IS THE LAST DAY!!!!  I really had a great time hitting all the blogs (there are 11)  and reading the comments and playing the game of collecting the mystery word.  Kinda like a scavenger hunt.  Haven't had this much fun in a long time.  Take the time to visit all of the the gals, it really is worth it and I hope they do it again.

This is the starting point, so have lots of fun!!!
God Bless you all!
Mary

Thursday, October 27, 2011

I BET YOU NEVER KNEW????

The following is from an email my brother sent me. I honestly don't know if what it contains is absolutely true or not, but it actually makes a weird kind of sense (which can be dangerous coming from my jokester brother). It IS entertaining if nothing else.

Where did “piss poor” come from ?
Us older people need to learn something new every day..
Just to keep the grey matter tuned up.

Where did "Piss Poor" come from?
Interesting History.
They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all pee in a pot
And then once a day it was taken and sold to the tannery...
if you had to do this to survive you were "Piss Poor".
But worse than that were the really poor folk who couldn't even afford to buy a pot...
They "didn't have a pot to piss in" and were the lowest of the low.
The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water temperature
Isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to be.

Here are some facts about the 1500s...

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May,
And they still smelled pretty good by June. However, since they were starting to smell,
Brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor.
Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water.
The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water,
Then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children.
Last of all the babies.
By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it.
Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the Bath water!"

Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath.
It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals
(mice, bugs) lived in the roof.
When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof.
Hence the saying, "It's raining cats and dogs."
There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house.
This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings
Could mess up your nice clean bed.
Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection.
That's how canopy beds came into existence.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt.
Hence the saying, "Dirt poor." The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery
In the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing.
As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until, when you opened the door,
It would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entrance-way.
Hence: a thresh hold.
(Getting quite an education, aren't you?)

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire.
Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables
And did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers
In the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day.
Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while.
Hence the rhyme:
“Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old”.
Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special.
When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off.
It was a sign of wealth that a man could, "bring home the bacon."
They would cut off a little to share with guests
And would all sit around and chew the fat.

Those with money had plates made of pewter.
Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food,
causing lead poisoning death. This happened most often with tomatoes,
so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Bread was divided according to status.
Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle,
and guests got the top, or the upper crust.

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky.
The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days.
Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial.
They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around
and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up.
Hence the custom; “of holding a wake”.

England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people.
So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house, and reuse the grave.
When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks
on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive.
So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin
and up through the ground and tie it to a bell.
Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the graveyard shift.)
to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be,
“saved by the bell” or was “considered a dead ringer”.

And that's the truth.
Now, whoever said History was boring!!!
So get out there and educate someone! ~~~
Share these facts with a friend.
Inside every older person is a younger person wondering,
'What the heck happened?'

We'll be friends until we are old and senile.
Then we'll be new friends.
2.1190698082@web81608.mail.mud.yahoo.com“Smile”, it gives your face something to do! 3.1190698082@web81608.mail.mud.yahoo.com
I hope if nothing else you got a laugh out of this.
May God be with you and keep you safe.
Hugs, Mary

Thursday, October 20, 2011

DAPHNE NICOLE-LYNDA CADE GIVEAWAY AND RHONDA @ A LITTLE BIT FRENCH GIVEAWAY

You know how I love giveaways, well, while I was visiting over lululiz in lalaland (I love that title) I noticed 2 giveaways that anyone that loves shabby chic would love to win.  First is Rhonda at http://alittlebitfrench.blogspot.com/2011/10/french-friday-giveaway.html .  She has a beautiful shabby chic french lace journal and matching bookmark/tag to go with it.  This drawing is  Friday Oct 28 so you have a little time but not much to get your name in the pot. I love the tattered French lace look on journals etc.  This one looks to be well worth the effort to join. 

Now for the second giveaway (being second DOES NOT mean it is less, just the drawing is later than the first one). Daphne @ http://daphnenicole-lyndacade.blogspot.com/2011/10/giveaway-2-countdown-to-christmas.html is giving away a beautiful lace bag on Oct 31.  Other similar bags have sold for $135 in her store so this is a super fine giveaway. 
 Is this not beautiful?????  Oh be still my heart.  Anyway, it is up for grabs in her giveaway. And while you are there be sure and check out Lynda's beautiful jewelry. Lovely, lovely work. 
I guess that is all for now.  The weather here is beautiful. The high in the 50's  oh so great in place of 90's.
May God bless each of you.
Mary

Monday, October 10, 2011

TAG TUESDAY ~ TATTERED ROMANCE

Well I don't know what I did but I was typing madly away and hit something and everything disappeared. I mean everything. Even the so called 'saved stuff'. I guess this rates up there with the disappearing comments.  Oh well, one more time.  Here is my entry for the current Tag Tuesday challenge http://bellesouth-blogchallengegarden.blogspot.com/2011/10/tattered-romance-tag.html

I did my own ripping and tearing to get the desired look of 'tattered'.  The image I used is from http://intothemagpiesnest.blogspot.com/ . She has some great freebies collage sheets and images, plus great tutorials and some beautiful original artwork. She also has great collage sheets for sale in her ETSY shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/MagpieMine?ref=ss_profile   It's worth the trip to stop by and check her out. Of course the image I used was a freebie.  Perfect for the tag.  I did my first distressing which is a whole different story all together.  NOTHING I do does right the first time. I guess it is always the old learning curve at work.  The biggest problem was the blue copy paper did NOT want to tear.  LOL  I mean it just did NOT want to tear.  And the stamp pad I was using to distress with was 99% dry.  I finally got enough off to color the edges and color bits of scrap paper to make the little torn hearts.  The stamped letters are some of the new stuff WalMart has for $.97 from Studio G.  Can't beat that~the whole alphabet for $.97. They are mounted on wood and you do have to use a knife or small scissors to cut them apart.  I also had to trim the 'r' because it looked like a 'n' or else they put 2 'n''s in the package. The fuzzy soft stuff is torn dryer sheet ~the same one I used to distress the edge of the heart.
I guess that is about it tonight. I have to go fix supper for the hubby now. Check out the other entries at Tag Tuesday and throw together a tag and join us.  Til next time.
Mary

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

COMMENTS THAT EVAPORATE WHEN I TRY TO POST

I have been out in blogland this morning prowling around and catching up on some of my fav blogs and have been TRYING to leave comments. They just evaporate when I click post. Poof and they are gone. What the heck is going on now.  Yesterday I could leave comments. Today I can't. Maybe I am being told to keep my mouth shut. I was being nice. When I see something that strikes my fancy and is pretty or inspirational I try to leave a comment. I like to get comments and I am sure others do too. It makes my day just to get one. It shows somebody, somewhere cares. I care. There are some of the most talented folks on earth out there in blogland, and now something on my blog won't let me tell them they are great. I bet that is where the problem is. Blogger strikes again. I will keep trying.
Love to all of you even if I can't personally leave it on your blog right now.
Mary

Monday, October 3, 2011

BACKGROUNDS, TEMPLATES ETC ~~~ HELP!!!!!

I was trying to change my background side bars to something fallish ~ you know like falling leaves, pumpkins ~ stuff like that. I am NOT into witches and gorey stuff. Too old I guess. I did it the last time about 2 yrs ago. Now I can't figure out how to do it.  I guess I am lucky to still have the old one, but it is not the colors I wanted. Ho Hum, maybe next year.  Sometimes you can't win for trying or so my granny used to say.  Let's just pretend there are pretty fall leaves on the side bars. I can do headers in my sleep. I know that the header doesn't go with the side bars. Oh well, better luck next time. See ya'll later.
Mary

SUPER SNOOKS 13 BEAUTIFUL GIVE AWAY

Gisele at Super Snooks 13 blog is having a giveaway on Nov 1, 2011
She has the most delightful blog.  She mixes altered art with card making (journals, tags and lots of other goodies). I love her style, a mixture of shabby chic, a little grunge, and lots of beautiful imagination.  For her giveaway, she has made a lovely book with pockets and LOTS of art work.  She also has bits of lace, some buttons, vintage images, papers and music papers. A really nice package that anyone that loves shabby and vintage altered art would love to add to their collection. It is an easy giveaway to enter. So hustle on over to http://supersnooks13.blogspot.com/2011/10/giveaway-time.html?showComment=1317654594257#c492442422182056822 and check it out.
Here are some pics:
Mary