The Passing of a Friend...

A few months ago, she complained about her back hurting... then with a hug, she received a couple of broken ribs. From there, the pain overtook her and she found out there was a mass when she was xrayed for her ribs.

Nancy sold on eBay and was known as PrimsandFancy. I haven't blogged for awhile and am checking my links to the right today and found hers there. I don't have the heart to remove it. It was the link to her eBay store.

About a year ago when the economy starting going downhill, she started closing some of her retail space and asked if I would like to help her sell some of her items. She would ship number 7 boxes filled to the top with her made in China wholesale items. She was a PowerSeller on eBay and strove for perfection everyday, every moment. She emailed me at least 5 times per day, giving me information on my listings, advice, and informing me of our competition and what was selling. She knew the business inside out...

A month before she passed, her emails diminished to one every three days or so. She told me she loved me in every single one of them, something she had never done in all the years of our friendship. The pain was so intense, that she could not sit at the computer for any length of time. She gathered some items together and sent me one last box. The hardest thing after she passed was looking at the items that were next to me on the floor, waiting to be listed. I eventually gathered up the strength deep within me to pick her things up and place them in the family room, with unsold items that she refused to "give away", and had been listed since the beginning of time it seemed...

Now, I am boxing up the items and dropping them off at the local Goodwill shop. Some things I am throwing into the trash next to me, as I sort through each prim and decide if it is worthy of keeping... deciding if Nancy's items would be someone else's treasures.

I am unlisting many items on eBay and will be relisting my quilt items again soon. The items that are not handmade by me, are most likely Nancy's goods. Remember... we are not promised tomorrow. RIP Nancy. I love you, too.

Black Eyed Susans

I love Black Eyed Susans...

They are one of the last perennials to bloom in my yard.

Cicada Time in WV

The sounds of cicadas fill the woods this time of year. It is nice as we affiliate the noise they make to the lazy days of summer. Here is a very informative website all about cicadas: http://www.cicadamania.com/cicadas/

eBay Store and Sale

As most of you know, I have been selling on eBay for approximately 5 years. They have recently changed many things, including how little store exposure we receive. I spent much of the day unlisting items and reducing many that I feel are worthy of listing. I will be making more handmade items when the girls start school and listing pumpkins before that time... If you are looking for Americana signs or other decor, primitive items, fabric strips, eBay templates, dolls, handmade bowl fillers, Christmas decor, please stop in my store and purchase while it is available. The wholesale items and signs listed that are not handmade by me will not be relisted. Once the merchandise is gone, that will be it. Thank you so much for checking out my eBay store and I hope to hear from you there :)

School Starts Soon~~~

Can you believe school will be starting soon? This summer has certainly gone by quickly for us. The leaves, walnuts and hickory nuts are starting to fall. I have to be extra careful now mowing under the walnut trees. The walnuts to NOT feel good when they land on your head... We got our school supplies shopping done and it was fairly painless. We hope to get one more camping trip in before winter and then we will winterize the camper and get ready for the snow to fall :)

The Web

Before you even realize what is happening, your abuser is manipulating you, controlling you and breaking down your self esteem. Your abuser could be your husband, wife, grandparent, guardian, boyfriend, girlfriend, older sibling... anyone in your life that is hurting you could possibly be an abuser.

Charlie had many issues from childhood that were unresolved and still are unresolved. He was abused and I truly believe that if you are with someone that has been deeply hurt and or abused, they have the potential to abuse you, especially if you are a submissive or passive person. Your kindness is seen as a weakness and they will be able to zero in on what makes you tick and what they can do to break you down, continuously and gradually, without you even knowing that it is happening.

Some, as Charlie did, begin to try to remove you from what you are familiar with and from the people that love you and have been in your life for you. They want you out of your safety zone and into their own web where they can shut you off from people that may try to influence you and be there for you to possibly get you out of your relationship with them.

Charlie had the ability to make me feel on top of the world one moment and the next so low that I would cry in silence. No matter what you do, you cannot please them. You can have an immaculate home, most professional looking landscape, dinner on the table, looking like you just stepped off a magazine cover, and they will find something to pick about or dig at you for not doing right or for not doing at all. An abuser is never happy. They are never happy or appreciative of you or what you do. They only want to control you and hurt you because when they succeed in doing so, they somehow feel that they are overcoming their own pain and hurt. To see you hurt, makes them feel better and even successful within themselves.

Why do you continue to stay in your situation? Are you financially stuck because you have been a stay at home mom for your children and you have no job, no sitter, no one there for you? Do you feel that the person you are with is going to change? Do you believe them when they tell you that you are all that they have and all they ever wanted? Do they have a way of making you feel more loved than you have ever been loved, even though they continue to chip your heart away and shut you down? Do you feel that they are the only person that you can have a relationship with? Are you afraid to leave them for fear worse will happen to you? Is it possible that you can say yes to all of the above? YOU ARE NOT ALONE and this is a situation that is so much more common than you think!

People that are being abused usually do not open up and tell others what they are experiencing. You feel as though you deserve it because the person you are with manipulates your mind into thinking that you could have gone to the store to get the milk you forgot or that the dishes in the dishwasher should have been put away... however they convey to you in their own way, an abuser is able to make you feel that you deserved what you received, whether it be verbal abuse, mental abuse or physical abuse. NO ONE DESERVES ABUSE.

Do not let anyone make you feel that you are less than a person. Are you embarrassed because you are abused? Are you ashamed and afraid of how others may view YOU? Is the church you are going to telling you that divorce is the wrong thing, not biblical? God made all of us and God does not want us to suffer or be abused. He does not want us to stay in a situation that hurts us in anyway. Our God is a forgiving God and above all, God knows our heart and God sees everything, feels everything and will help those who ask for His help.

Think about yourself. Forgive yourself. LOVE yourself.

Happy Independence Day!

Martina McBride ~ Independence Day

Please copy and paste the link and insert...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYENO6r5vVo