Friends and Neighbors...and the Real World

Friends and Neighbors

What if we were next door neighbors instead of following each other on Twitter or Facebook?

What if every action or word said was met with an equal or bigger reaction right next door every day?

Instead of measuring by likes, shares, comments and images,

What if your neighborhood suddenly became a scoreboard for every exchange, good or bad?

Sure, you can give online a break and shut it out if you have a bad day.

In the real world, it’s hard to look someone in the eye each day without measuring your actions, words and intent.

In the real world, if a neighbor accidentally bumps into your mailbox or says something out of turn, an apology is usually forthcoming.

With amazing technology and constantly evolving new innovations, I wish we could slow down for a minute to remember one thing…

Earth is just one big neighborhood, becoming more and more connected every day.

If we all treated each other like neighbors, our “neighborhood” would be a lot nicer.

We wouldn’t write graffiti on someone’s garage door or sidewalk…why do we think it’s okay to do it online?

We wouldn’t unfriend someone just because they said something we didn’t agree with.

Equally important, we would share and respect viewpoints without sounding a battle cry at the first sign of a disagreement.

Oh, and hey guys, this is the real world J

M

Button, button...I Have Some Buttons

Bracelet strung with vintage buttons

Have had a busy couple of weeks exploring some other outlets
 for creativity and a mind that never seems to rest enough.

I decided to try my hand at a combination of jewelry making, with vintage pieces (okay, it’s the junk jewelry in the bottom of my drawer) to create new statement pieces.

I was a little timid at first in my approach.  Unsure how to put it all together, I began with a beautiful collection of Czech Glass buttons in brilliant colors…all lovingly preserved from I believe to be the 1930’s.  I bought some stretchy jewelry cord on clearance and started making fun bracelets by stringing these colorful buttons, whose purpose was once to be donned on fine clothing and serve functionally to keep clothing of all sorts all buttoned up!

Feeling a little more confident after throwing together about a dozen of these, I went back to the craft store, Michael’s.  I purchased some random charms, beads, and something I’d never tried my hand at before with jewelry making…tools!  Needle nose pliers and crimping tools.  Suddenly the sky was the limit and I was putting together seaside bracelets, with bold colors and silver charms made of starfish, dolphins, and sea turtles.

See the Speidel watch band turned charm bracelet?

That was when I started rummaging through my junk jewelry, finding once broken necklaces and bracelets, containing perfectly good clasps and loops for my new pieces.

I also started incorporating vintage cufflinks into earring settings, with a little tooling.  I’m hoping to get a soldering gun for my birthday next month…love having a new hobby to play around with and to learn something new.  This started as a craft activity for kids over summer and has quickly turned into something I really enjoy.  Look for new posts on Pinterest in the coming weeks.  In the meantime, I’m sharing a few here.

Feels good to recycle and create at the same time…and then feed my other passion by writing about it J

Have a great weekend everyone!

Old sterling earrings combined with vintage cufflinks!

Christmas in July Top Ten List

 It’s Christmas in July and the only difference is…

No seating challenges…everyone eats outside.

Good China is replaced with #Chinet.

No turkeys at this party…laying it down on the grill, with #QueenCityMeats hot metts, #HebrewNational hot dogs, and 90/10 burgers from #Sam's.

            

Deviled Eggs replace Candied Yams.

 Corn Hole and #Franklin Horse Shoes replaces #X-Box and football.

#Burwinkels Farm Honey Bun Corn on the Cobb replaces Green Bean Casserole

No arguments over Ham or Turkey…”Beef, it’s what’s for dinner!”

#Busch's Baked Beans replace #StoveTop Stuffing.

    #Off Bug Spray and #Tikki Torches replace tapered candles and scented votives.

      Someone always gets drunk…well some things are always in season.  

Happy Fourth of July!

Ante Up and Go "All In"

Why a poker face is not nearly as important as what

you’ve got left at the end of your bluff.

Remember when you were a kid and the sky was the limit?  You only had to wish or imagine what your future would be…and you were young enough to believe it was as simple as going and getting it.  You hadn’t hit any real obstacles yet… and life was fairly simple.  A lifetime in front of you seemed much like one continuous fast pass, with only a short wait in line before the next thrill ride.

As time goes on, you begin to set limits and consider the climb before taking your first step.  Maybe it’s a missed try-out for sports, a hill that popped your tire instead of the planned epic jump…or it’s the first girl or boy you liked, who didn’t like you back.  Early disappointments and bruised egos start to shape and shorten your runway and adjust your ultimate goals.

Your frame of mind has everything to do with your potential and when you limit your dreams, you create an invisible safety net…a stopping point, where you’re unwilling or afraid to go further or step forward across new bridges of opportunity and risk. 

I’ve been guilty of casting that invisible net in my own life as well as that of my three sons.  I have had the best of intentions, trying to shield my kids from being hurt or disappointed.

And despite those good intentions, I realize I’ve also passed on my fear of failure and inadvertently caused them to pull back when they should lean forward.  Like a game of poker, you bluff, you raise the stakes, sometimes you fold…but you always have to show your cards at the end of the game.

The game is a delicate balance of starts and stops, wins and losses.  And what if someone calls your bluff early?  What if you don’t get the card you’ve been waiting for?  If you fold, will you still be able to maintain a poker face and move on to the next hand?

It’s no secret that I have kicked my own game into high gear a little later in life, and most recently, I finally edited and published a book I wrote nearly 20 years ago.  But my kids have been cheering on the sidelines all along and at some point, my fear of failure gave way to setting a better example for my boys.  I’m not sure exactly when it happened, but my poker face was transformed and I was suddenly “all in,” moving from a good bluff to deciding which cards I had left to play in my hand.

Now every new experience or challenge I take on is embraced with reckless abandon and relentless tenacity.  I think in terms of what’s possible and rarely settle in and consider the impossible.  It’s changed my view and line of sight.  I’m older, questionably wiser…and yet somehow more determined and deliberate, ignoring my ego and embracing my battle scars, hard fought and earned.

I changed my mind in the middle of this particular game.  I realize now that the greatest barriers we face in life are the self imposed shackles and constraints we put upon ourselves.  You can’t be afraid to try and you have to be willing to take a few bad hands along with the good to win the game.

And finally, and most importantly, as a player, your definition of “winning” should be self defined and not based upon the chips distributed around the table.  I’m “all in” and I expect my boys to pick up their hands, with endless possibilities and Aces…and a few wild cards just to make life interesting.

If you believe you’ve got a great hand, you need to up the ante…because you could cash out at any time.

#oldschooljournaling

#followdinopath

www.followdinopath.com 

Top Ten Reasons Blue Collar Dads Rock...and Why I'll Always remember mine as the "Big Watashi"

1. My Dad could make an ordinary weekday a supernatural wonder, whipping up magic potions from some leftover dry ice.
2. He made the coolest banks ever, crafted from a metal clad pipe, welded closed at both ends, with just a sliver of an opening for deposits…but absolutely no withdrawals without Dad as the bank teller wielding a torch!
3. Dad always had cool “stuff” and tricks well beyond “pull my finger”…as a kid I knew what mercury was way before Chemistry, having had a chance to see it up close and personal, rolling along the edge of a weathered and much loved work bench that rivaled even Santa’s workshop.
4. This amazing and almost ethereal workbench, lit by a hanging, swinging fluorescent light fixture, with a vice grip anchored to its top for fixing and breaking just about anything we came up with.
5. The brilliance of a dad, who could fix the unfixable…and the summer our dreams came true when he brought home a broken water fountain and tinkered with it to dispense chilled water, installed on the back of our house.  Forget the hose! We were livin’ large J
6. Dad kept our “wheels” moving, replacing flat tires and broken chains effortlessly on 90-degree days, with sweat dripping from his forehead…and usually ending up with a fresh gouge or cut of some sort further demonstrating his already Herculean strength with a set of hands that refused to yield or surrender to any peril.
7. Firm, strong hands made for holding my hand, pulling me back from danger, and letting me go even when he knew there was still unavoidable danger…the natural and painful learning process every child goes through in growing up. 
8. Dad was a race car driver extraordinaire, making even a trip to the grocery store a fun adventure sitting in the back of an old blue Chevy station wagon.
9. My dad had the absolute best retro vinyl recliner, constructed with more wood than fabric…offering plenty of room room for all of us to climb, cuddle, and wrestle with the self proclaimed “Big Watashi.”
10. And when I was a little girl and too tired to climb the stairs and go to bed, he gathered me up in his arms effortlessly, even though he was already carrying the weight of the world and taking care of our family.

Here’s to every blue-collar dad out there being a hero to their kids every day.  Trust me, they will remember…and you are bigger than life to them!

The Purge...Making Room to Grow!

Sampling of Sale

Took a break from our Saturday morning treasure hunts and decided to do a little cleaning out of our own…it only stands to reason that if you are a collector, at some point, you need to do a re-fresh and make room for new finds.

Not family heirlooms or anything like that…anything that remotely belonged to a family member or close friend, I cherish forever.  But all the “second time around” stuff…other treasures from different trees, they don’t always make the cut when I’m trimming my forest J

And so on this particular Saturday morning, I purged boxes and boxes…old and new stuff.  A few items, my husband had to pry out of my hand before I could let it go.  And wouldn’t you know, the items I hoped to keep (and priced especially high) were the ones that sold!

Made a little extra spending money, sent a bunch of remaining stuff to Goodwill…and importantly, made room for new and ever changing décor!