turtle creek quilts

the past...the present...and facebook

i got the new issue of 'real simple' last night and it had a good article about facebook and the use of it in there. yes i am on facebook. i have real friends on there and i think maybe about 6 people i haven't met in real life ,but people i have known for a bit.

why do i want to talk about this? because there is a great part of the article i wish to share and comment on:

"In its early days, media pundits hailed Facebook as the social application of the future, and yet what it really does is change our relationship to the past. Facebook makes contact so casual that it allows people to leapfrog back instantly to a former you, one you thought you had left behind―maybe one you had worked hard to put firmly in the past."

and further more:

“People on Facebook seem to perceive you as the person you were when they last knew you, as if the past 10 years hadn’t happened.”

ok here is the deal...about ten years ago...YES TEN YEARS,,,i was a different person. i was going through a painful divorce. i had nearly no friends, having never come home for a visit when i wanted or should have due to a many number of reasons and mostly because of no money or a controlling husband who , well lets just say did not make it easy for me to do anything.

then things began to change, i had terrific bosses that i worked for at a great cafe in florida who gave me a place to live, a job, friendship and set me up with an email so i could communicate with my sister and some friends. it was the early onset of chat rooms and the like.

 i found a fun group on yahoo of books and literature and made some great friends who would meet up every so often and have get togethers in real life~not just online in our slippers.

so why the post about this? i haven't had a computer for over five years of my own and now i do again. i am working alot, as most of us are trying to do in their lives, and life is busy for me.

 i still have most of the friends i have made online a long time ago, and still occasionally will call or email with some of them. they are some great people and even still bring me goodies from across the pond(by the way i have not had any good shortbread lately !)

~this post is being made because i do have something to say.

i do not go into chat rooms, they are in my opinion, dangerous and totally different from 10 years ago. if i want to chat with someone i pick up the phone or shoot them an email.

yes i am on facebook....and guess what so are alot of people ....why should i be made to feel any different because i am ~and if i am and you 'feel i am on there too much' why does it bother you so much?

i have a blog, yes i do. why? because i want to. sometimes i think i have something relevant to say in this whole wide world. or just share a funny story or a pretty picture.

i am not the same person of ten years ago who had relatively no friends, who found solace and some sort of strange acceptance with people who did not know a thing about me except what i wanted them to...not to know i was the one who left a man who was verbally and emotionally abusive to me and cared more about drugs and alcohol more than anything else in this world.

i could be who i wanted to be. which of course confused me even more, once i started to examine my life and try to find out who i really was and what i wanted to be.

it took time....a long time. but i feel i am finally in a good spot in life.

i have been through alot, and i know everyone has in life.

so please keep this in mind.

i am not the same person of 10 years ago,,,,i am not the same person of even 3 years ago.

i am me.

perhaps you should get to know me.....

not the perception of someone who does not exist anymore.

and i promise to do the same for you....

i love that my best friend from high school and i are on facebook and still can laugh at all the silly stuff we used to do~seriously i think we were the only people to take a bus TO pellston for winter break...we were nuts huh?

its so great to see ian's photo's from upnorth and get a silly update from erlend...seriously SEND SHORTBREAD hahaha!

all my pals at work and i giggle and laugh over silly things that happen there and just send each other general words of encouragement...and yes shawntel i know you don't really hate me.

my girlfriends are there, and most times quicker to get a message to there , just a simple hello or a silly flair button can make someones day.

cousins are there some who i haven't seen in a while or those i occasionally see and some of us instant message or send thougths and hellos and that is good, with all our lives so busy its good to know its there for us to keep in touch.

so next time you want to remember something about how someone was....try and get to know them now.

you might be surprised at how life can change someone.

and most times for the better.

*climbing gingerly off my soapbox now*

stay tuned for more interesting and stunning posts from me!

fish! and my first day of training.....

 

have you ever read this book? i have a few years ago and loved it! it really hits to the core of morale as a whole and in the workplace. its hard to describe how much of an impact this could make on you and your work ethic and workplace if you haven't read it...i recommend it to EVERYONE! no matter what your job, what your beliefs or just generally need a boost of moral in any aspect of your life.

we watched a great video yesterday at my first day of training and i had forgotten how wonderful this book and the company it was based on really was. i was telling one of my current managers about it at work today and i think he would really enjoy it, i passed on the information to him!

you know how your first day at a new job or new situation can be a little nerve wracking and make one apprehensive of their standing in the new group? well i think for the first time ever in my life i was NOT like that....which is HUGE for me. as a child i would cry if you even said hi to me or sang happy birthday...what the heck is that all about what kind of number of total insecurity was done to me when i was a kid? and lets not even get into the number my ex husband did to me for my sense of mental health...we won't venture there. let's just say this was very uncharacteristic of me to be in the front row , totally participating in all group activities and kicking but at the jeopardy game we all had to play of the company's belief's and values!

it was an awesome day!

and at the end of it, i got to see a to drop dead gorgeous wedding being set up for that evening.....

whats old is not so new again

i used to think i had to make everything with a pattern

nothing "out of the box" so to speak

then i learned to release that thinking and get into art quilting and let my creative side take over

recently i was asked to make a shirt for a friend's wedding for her future husband

of course i said yes , so pattern and fabric arrived and i got started on it

and finished quickly, actually. i have to ship it out this week. but i realized while making this shirt

i find patterns very agrivating now!

i love the freedom that i have found with art quilts and the like....the ok to go ahead and make what i want!

but all in all i am sure i will make something with a pattern again, but until then the shirt is done

and i am back to my art quilts!

 

where would you like to live?

that was a question posed to me recently

i like the ocean and i like the country

mountains and ocean well they don't go together all that much you know?

stay in michigan or move to another state,,,,another state a bit south is appealing the winters here can be a bit well hellish at times.

i love the carolina's, near asheville is so pretty.

i lovvvvveeee st. augustine, but then i think , man that salty air is a pain in the butt at times.

and northern michigan, there is nothing like it.

you know how you can just close your eyes and imagine that you are somewhere ,even smelling the air that surrounds you there?

so where is still in debate...and i am not going anywhere anytime soon ...unless there is a fantastic lotto win....and well you just never know about that!

however i do know what i would like to live in......this would be my home if given the choice.

would you like to come for a visit?

 

i promise you will have a comfy bed, feather pillows, and a lazy beagle to pet!

it's nearly my dad's favorite day...

those of you who know my dad, knows he is a funny man and likes to do silly things at times.

easter is one of his favorite days...he still hides eggs on us and makes us play the "hotter...colder" game!

this year will be a bit different however. there will only be myself, mark, mom and dad for easter.

everyone has other plans, which is fine , we all have lives and need to seperate our time evenly with

relatives and loved ones. 

just before easter dad will be having knee surgery too, so i don't know if he will hide the eggs, its ok if he doesn't....i told him to just leave them white and in the fridge! haha!

but, knowing him , he will have mom help him and sit there and laugh his butt off while mark and i try and find all those damn eggs and continually wonder how he keeps coming up with new hiding spots in the same room he has been hiding them in for 30 plus years! (but somehow he does it)

 

the face of determination

 

doesn't sam look determined here...almost possessed!

what is he so intent on you ask......my hot chocolate mug! i even turned away for a minute and caught his little snout in the mug going for a lick~BAD DOG!

did he get his one desire? no he did not. he is now sulking on the easy chair.

today's creative post...

 

this little quilt was made in a class i took with kat campau on "masks" i had found some great batik fabric(of which i have lots of pretty ones) one that resembled a sleeping face and one that was vibrant and bright and looked awake to me. in the middle of the awake eye you will notice a green glass bead,,,when awake we all posses the green eye of envy don't we?

enjoy ..this quilt is called "grow"

changes

i am tired

physically and mentally right now, lots of things are changing in my life and i think i am at a point where i am ready to change.

tired of passing things up...due to no money, lack of time , not wanting to get my heart broken again, or just too chicken to do them.

tired of bitching about not doing said things and just frigging do them already ....tired of missing out on opportunities that i should have taken or been involved in.

i know i have posted about this before and forgive me if i drone on about it....i have taken some steps into getting out of this rut, i think they are going to work well.

 

so stay tuned my friends for some changes coming from me.....i have some interesting things being worked up on my quilting table, yes even some old pieces i am going to finally finish (yes von, the glass one!) i even unearthed a very cool wizard of oz one i started about two years ago!

i need to read too...i used to read alot of books and for some reason i have gotten away from that. our lunch room at work is very loud at times and hard to concentrate when even carrying on conversations with people at your own table...so this should be a good summer to read, my break room will be the great outdoors~ah summer is nearly upon us, well spring at least! so if you have any book recommendations please let me know, and an FYI i have tried with no luck to read "wicked" which i wanted to hurl against the freeway and i don't have a desire for the twilight series(i KNOW most of you are shaking your head in disbelief saying 'oh she doesn't know what she is missing')

so enough belly aching ...enough passing up things i should be doing or involved in..enough taking crap that no normal person would just to make everyone elses life easy or happy...its time

this time i am not passing on opportunities...just like the marque says....

 

don't pass up on yours either...regret is a horrible thing to deal with!

(just before i took this picture the sign began with don't ...don't pass up an opportunity!)

its time

 

nuff said huh?

reconnections

the internet is many things to many people, for some its a research tool , for others an escape , and to me its a chance to reconnect with friends old and new.

i do miss my friends and at times my old life

being gently rocked to sleep on the water, i used to live on a 40 foot sailboat.

 i miss walking around late and night and talking about hopes and dreams with one of my very best friends , who does not talk to me anymore due to a stupid notion he had in his head and well lets just leave it at that.

my church friends and listening to the ancient organ play some old favorites and very recently finding out one of the ladies who always called me granddaughter passed away. i will miss you elaine.

going to the waffle house late at night and making david make us something good to eat.

my weekly lunches out with neva....lordy woman i do miss you so much

getting a call to say marika has ballgame tickets...can i get out of work early!

going on little road trips with lynn and finding unusual yarns and beads and whatever else we found.

being at rita's house...rocking wyatt to sleep and staying up really late to talk with her about life and hopes

stacey, amy, lori, sarah, carrie, dana....all you girls mean something special to me..although stacey still is the only one who can dress mr stud the way he likes hehehe

my most recent reconnection has been with a fantastic couple i have always had fun with , matti and donald!!!

 oh the hours we spent watching movies on your bed..laughing at all those silly rodney carrington bits, and matti our hours of finding out just what those appliques were used for at priscilla's haha!

i have missed you both and i hope we can get together soon!!!!

reach out ....reconnect with someone....even if you just saw the person last week...last month....a few years ago....reach out!