Sunday evening,

Well, another week gone, and a weekend in the bag. This weekend was spent at Dulcimer Days, in Coshocton, Ohio. This event has been held in historic Roscoe Village in previous years. Set among the period buildings and store fronts, on the brick streets, this was a true treat. However, the economy has caused the Roscoe Village community to cancel this event, and the Chamber of Commerce chose to hold it downtown Coshocton on the square.

The weather was good, a little hot, but thankfully no rain. The breeze was good all weekend and it carried the sounds of dulicers, mandolyns, cellos, harps and guitars through the trees and air. There was music everywhere, and singing, my goodness, I can't forget the singing. A great time was had by all.

Unfortunately this was to be a selling event and though there was plenty of music, there were very few people; and fewer customers. A sad situation as it was a good festival in the past. Another victim of the economy.

As well, it was Father's day, and I am sure a multitued of BBQ's, cookouts and dinners, were in order. And so it should be, a day of celebration of Dad's, with family close at hand. I spoke to my Dad in Florida, and a little confused on some things, but he sounded strong and well. And Mike, though he reminds me continually he isn't my Dad, he was stuck working with me, in the park, with the sound of light dulimer music in the air.

Free Give away

It is raining here today, so I will do laundry. I have been pondering how to structure my "FIRST" giveaway. I know it will be chosen from a list of followers. My husband has picked a number of followers and is keeping that number deeply buried in his mind. I am curious to see how close he will be and if he will able to retrieve it when the time comes.

The winner has to be a follower of my blog and must leave a comment on this blog and no where else. If you are not currently a follower, just click on the follow button to begin to follow me.

You must have either a blog or an e-mail to list. I would hate it if I could not notify you when you win. And if you don't post a comment I will assume you are just signing up to win something. I will draw the winner from those comments received; and only those comments. No comments sent to my e-mail or through any of my other connections, just the comments left on my blog.

And do not repost this giveaway on your blog or anywhere else. It will disqualify you. I am offering this to my followers, not to promote your blog or site.

The winner will be drawn on June 28th and notified thereafter. Just in time to enjoy the 4th.


Now the next thing, what to give away. I know I will include a personalized slate. I am working on a new patriotic slate, so with the 4th of July coming up, I believe that should be the slate of choice. I have a friend that makes lovely totes, so I have enlisted her assistance in making me a custom tote just for this occasion. This makes a great start, but I am sure there will be more, the quest continues.

Keep checking in for more details, and I will keep digging for the "treasures". If anyone out there has any insight or suggestions I would love to hear them.

Now off to the ribbon store for more ribbon.

Thanks for stopping and make it a great day.

Call me a freak! A magnet freak.

I am a magnet freak. Until I decided to live in my RV, my household fridge was covered with them. Magnets of every type; sayings, frames for kids pictures, calendars from businesses and my various designs of magnets.

Yesterday I started working on a new line of tag magnets. These are cut out of wooden shapes made to look like manila pricing tags. I painted them various colors from prim to chic and went about looking for the perfect sayings. Here is a shot of the tags prior to decorating.
Using a permanent pen I wrote sayings such as “You had me at woof”, “The only thing normal in this house is the washer” and “I love my cat” for just a few. So many sayings, so little time.




Then the sealing process. Each one was sealed with an interior varnish for easy cleaning and durability. Letting each one dry now it was time to try to match the right complementing ribbon.


Uh Oh! A snag. I like the prim ones with the homespun ribbon, but did not like any of the ribbons that had been purchased for the chic magnets. Back to the drawing board.

The next task will be a trip to my nearest craft store for a selection of perfect ribbons. I will take my tags with me this time to make the perfect match. Then applying the magnet and all done, ready to sell on Etsy or my next craft show.

Hope you enjoyed these and I will share the finished product in a few days. See ya! and make it a great day!

Joy of Creating

I was very fortunate to have two different items from my Etsy store featured in Treasuries and blogs this past week. If you are familiar with Etsy, you know any member can create a treasury based on a color, theme or any other criteria using items of other Etsy members.
The first item was my redneck wind chimes featured in a blog by Debra from Missouri. Her blog http://thehicksfix.blogspot.com/2010/06/yee-haw-time-fer-another-hillbilly.html focuses on good down home fun. My wind chimes fit right in and are so much fun to create. I get such a welcome response when I display them at my shows; everything from “hey these would be great for my dad” to “my son-in-law really needs these.” Everyone gets a chuckle and that is how it is intended, a great gag gift. Check out Debra’s blog, I found it very enjoyable.



The other item is also one I love to create. It is not as popular in the north as in Florida, but it is still a great item; and it sums up my sentiment on most days. It is the “It’s 5 O’clock Somewhere” slate. This was featured in a treasury created by Corkycrafts. She found an entire line of 5 O’clock items, each one unique in its own way. Check out her treasury http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=100309. I am sure you will enjoy her finds and look at CorkyCraft’s Etsy store. She has a unique way to repurpose corks. http://www.etsy.com/shop/Corkycrafts.

Well I am off for today, I am working on a new line of magnets based on a previous line of humorous signs I have created in the past. Check back tomorrow for a sampling of those. I hope you have a great day and make it a great one!

Sprint 4G Service

This morning while listening to the local jazz station, an interesting advertisement for Spring 4G services played. The claim is that it will allow you access to Wi-Fi for over four additional units from your phone.

How can we believe? The customer service of Sprint is lacking severely despite the soft-spoken words of their CEO Dan Hesse, and their network for internet coverage is short of their sales pitch.

Recently, while staying in Crystal River, Florida the coverage was non-existent or constantly went into a roaming state. This triggers additional fees, so upon checking the service coverage map it showed excellent coverage. Then why the terrible coverage and service. After well over an hour on the telephone, and countless conversations, from initial customer service reps to advance tech support, it was determined, that the coverage in the area was excellent and they could not pinpoint the problem. Perhaps purchasing new equipment would resolve the problem. Are you serious?

An e-mail to Dan Hesse’s office resulted in another card offered to attempt a resolve to the problem. The replacement unit could not find enough coverage to initialize. The card was returned to Dan Hesse’s office with a letter asking for some review and resolve. To this date, there has been no answer to the letter or resolve.

In summary, how can one enter into a two-year contract with a service provider that does not provide the service as advertised? What are the steps to resolve such an issue? Regretfully for million of subscribers to Sprint services, these answers are not available, just as their 3G and 4G coverage.

On the road again

Good morning from beautiful Knoxville, Tn. We are traveling on our way home, and not in any particular hurry.

Yesterday we left High Falls State Park in Ga. If you have the opportunity to visit this beautiful park, I highly recommend it. We always stay on the River side, and it is very shady and quiet. A wonderful, relaxing experience. We stayed there while we were preparing for my last show in McDonough, Ga. The Geranium Festival is one of my favorite shows, as the crowd is always so welcoming and appreciative. I didn't set the world on fire, but did make about $25 more than last year, so I consider it a win. And with this being a major fund raiser of the Lions Club, I know the money is put to good use for charitable events.

So Monday, we closed up our camp and headed north on I-75 towards our destination, Ohio. We were doing very well and wanted to make it through Knoxville at night to avoid the traffic. We hoped to touch base with a fellow artist that was staying above Knoxville. Perhaps have a glass of wine or at least a cup of coffee this morning, but a flat on my van in Lenoir City, Tn stopped us. Luckily there was a great staff at the TA truck stop garage got me fixed up and ready to travel again. We decided to call it a night and just dry camp at the Flying J. They have wonderful spots sized for campers and motorhomes and we just pulled in one and spent the night.

Right now we are having our morning coffee and getting ready to travel further north. Don't know if we will make it to Ohio today as we are just driving at a relaxing pace, and it is over 7 1/2 hours to home. But we will get there when we get there. No hurry, my next show isn't until Memorial weekend, so relaxation is the theme today.

Hope to talk to you again soon.

Customer Service, a lost art

I am noticing a lot of hype about customer service. Seems everyone knows that something is lacking, but I fear they do not know how to rectify the problem. From the clerks at the market, to the representative on the telephone, to the youth of today, personal interaction has taken a backseat to perceived efficiency.

The young kids all use electronic devices to talk back and forth, to bank, to pay their bills, this bringing about a large group of individuals that cannot look you in the eye and say, Good morning, how are you today?

Yesterday while at the drive up ATM window at the bank, I noticed the person in front of me was a friend of my nephew. He was definitely making a deposit. The bank was open, several windows were available at the time, but he chose to go to the ATM, which did actually take him a lot longer than had he went to the drive-up window. But that would have involved human contact.

I spent over 25 years in the customer relations field, and I see a terrible trend developing. How as a nation can we continue to grow without human interaction. Getting to know our fellow neighbor or just a greeting to another person.

As a child I watched the Jetsons. What a great life, with machines doing our everything beckoned wants and needs. Did I ever see the Jetsons interacting with other humans outside of work? Did I ever see a dinner party or someone stopping by just to say hi? I don't believe I did.

So today, make it an extra effort to ask someone how they are doing. Tell them to have a nice day, but most of all, look someone in the eyes when you do it.