OLA Team Blog: 12/01/11

Thursday, December 1, 2011

OLA Team Blog Challenge - The Results

The results of our November Challenge!

Congratulations to all the members of
The OLA Team Blog!

You all did a fantastic job!

Keep blogging!

My idea of Heaven...

A man and his cat were walking along a road. The man was enjoying the scenery, when it occured to him that he was dead. He remembered dying, and the cat had been gone for years. He wondered where the road was leading them..After a while, they came to a high, white stone wall along one side of the road. It looked like fine marble. At the top of a long hill, it was broken by a tall arch that glowed in the sunlight. When he stopped before it, he saw a magnificent gate that looked like mother-of-pearl, and the street that led to the gate was pure gold. He and his cat continued towards the gate, and as he got closer, he saw a man at a desk to one side.
As he got closer he called out. "What is this place?" and the man at the desk answered, "Why Heaven, of course! " "Wow! Would you happen to have some water?" And the man at the desk answered, "Of course sir, come right in, and I'll have some ice water brought right up."

The gate began to open...and the man asked "Can my friend come in too?" gesturing to his cat. The man at the desk answered, "I'm sorry, we dont accept pets."

The man thought a moment, and turned back to the road with his cat and continued walking.
After a while, they came to a long dirt road leading to a farmhouse that looked like it had never been kept up. There was no fence, and as he approached he saw a man leaning against a tree and reading a book. "Excuse me!" he called to the man. "Do you have any water?" The man gestured towards a pump, and called out "Sure! Help yourself!" "What about my friend here?" the man asked yet again gesturing to his cat. "Why yes, here is a bowl, help yourself!" the man leaning on the tree answered. After he took care of his cat, the man asked "What do you call this place?" The man answered "This is Heaven". The man curiously asked, "Well I thought that was what the place down the road with the pearly gates was called." And the man at the tree answered "Oh, no, that is Hell."

"Doesn't it make you mad for them to use your name like that?" the traveler asked. And the Man at the tree answered "NO, we are just happy they screen out the folks who would leave their best friends behind."

I'm goin' wherever my furry angel friends are...( I hope..)

Of course OLA.com is full of REAL angels, but here are some you can buy..

Hummel Angel Water font from Classic_Chloe

Jim Shore Eternal Companion Angel from linman

Heavenly Angels Poppy Seeds from OneStopPoppyShoppe

A Book of Angels from Fleapirates!

And to view items in my store, click here for curiocache and click here for crittercache!

WHEN I WAS A CHILD

This is my favorite time of the year. However I do not care for the time changes. Spring forward...Fall back.

When I was a child we did not have this. We never had to change our clocks, be home earlier because it was getting dark an hour earlier, get up and go to school in the dark.

Live was much simplier when I was a child. We were allowed to play out side without our parents keeping an eye on us every minute. We walked through two small towns to get to the only public swimming pool without being afraid. We went to the movies and sat through seeing it twice. We loved the cartoons before the movie.

We dressed our age and acted our age. I feel sorry for kids today as they try to keep up with what they see on television. Girls want to dress far above their age. And teenage girls want all the new makeup and they wear too much of it.

I think the boys want to dress like what they see on television also. Pants too big and hanging down on their butt. Baseball caps being worn every way but the way they were meant to be worn. Chains hanging from their jeans and earrings in at least one year.

When I was young we walked every where went as we could not afford a car. If we did not walk we rode our bikes. We actually could not afford a television until I was 9 years old and there was very few shows to watch. Most of our time was spent outside playing hop scotch, hide and seek, marbles or kick the can.

It was simple and it was fun. We shared toys and games. We shared almost everything even our food. Heck my brother let me wear one of his extra pair of pants under my skirt as we walked to school and it was cold and snowing. Once we got to school girls had to take off the leggins, or in my case my brothers pants, and put them in the cloak room. Yes cloak room as we did not have lockers back then and girls were not allowed to wear anything but dresses or skirts and sweaters or blouses.

It is not as easy for kids these days as there is such a thing as peer pressure. We did not have that back then. Yes there were some kids at school who dressed better than others and had better homes but that did not seem to matter to us. We were happy with what we had.

I would not change a thing about my childhood. I grew up to respect others and be grateful for what I do have. I am so blessed to have been able to get good grades and go to college (worked my way through). I am happy with the life I have led and proud that my parents raised us to the best of their ability.

My morher dies when I was 22 and my father died when I was 29. I love them and miss them and I thank them for loving me enough to let me be a kid when I was one.

Be safe, be healthy and be happy

Meet the OLA Seller of the Month for December!

Now, I have to admit, I cheated!! Renee posted the winner in the chats but I was so excited, I couldn't wait for it to get out!!

For those of you who don't know SuperGranny, just go back to the previous posts and find hers! She has an absolutely wicked sense of humor that really keeps the rest of us hopping!! And we all love reading her posts and listening to her ideas!!

So meet our OLA Seller of the Month for December!!

SuperGranny

And take a peek at some of the great items she has for sale!!

SuperGrannys Treasures!

There is a complete interview that you can see at Onlineauctionsblog. Check it out!

And thank you, Super Granny, for being a treasured member on OLA.com!!

Christmas Craft Club Anyone?

This is the first time I've been around family in many years. Daughter and I have been collaborating on Christmas gift baskets, with each of us creating little handmade items to be included. She crochets. I knit.

Yesterday I took over my latest creations for her opinion and she brought out hers to share. We ooed and ahhed over each others accomplishments and it gave me an idea.

Remember the cookie parties, where everyone brings several dozen homemade cookies to swap? So why not do the same thing with handcrafted items? Guidelines could be set up way in advance as to how much time and money should be put into each item and the types of items everyone might want so nobody wastes time making things that wouldn't be well received.

In the real world, now would be the time to go to craft fairs or check Craigslist to see what other crafters are doing. Make new contacts, set up some guidelines, like how much the items cost to make, how long they take to work up, how many to make, etc. In January you could have a "kick-off" party to get things going and all the details worked out. 2 or 3 more "progress" parties could be held throughout the year, then the swap party would complete the process.

This could all be done online, too. No matter where I hang out on the Internet, there seems to be a corner for crafters. Make a few posts here and there and you could make a whole lot of new friends and find another excuse to keep Christmas alive all year long.

Just look at all the crafters and hobbyists we have at OLA.

I would love to swap for some of these doilies from KornKountryTreasures. (I already have one and I love it.)

In honor of horses..

I would like to dedicate this blog to our four legged equine friends who have helped humanity over the centuries by providing labor, conquering the wilderness, entertaining us, giving emotional and physical support and yes, even feeding us. I won't say anything political, just post a link to a story should anyone be interested. If you've read my Facebook posts today, you know my position. I've added a little video of Minion last summer, enjoying his life. He has enriched mine, tremendously.

Click here to see the article.