My Bad......

I'm sorry my friend I missed you this morning
My mind doesn't always keep me true
We share our thoughts and dreams with each other
We laugh and we cry each day anew.

You're always there for me, no matter what
Sometimes your pain's so severe;
Even so you're unfailing in your support
beside me, though you're not near.

So my day will not be as good as it could,
I missed my chance to share with you.
I hope you'll forgive me my error this day
and know that my respect is so true.

Sleep well and when you awake, I'll be here
I can't reel back time undo my snafu;
I can hold fast and assure you I care.
My allegiance is first to you!

Look Ma.... I'm on TV!

Guest Post by Marlia

OK so today was a thriller for Ms Kim Kollert as it was for those who love her to pieces.

She was invited to do a Quilling demonstration on the AM NORTHWEST show on KATU TV.

Having been very very busy working on quilling projects for Christmas - and you can see some of her goods on the Kim's Gift Shoppe tab above - she appeared this morning live on air and impressed the hostess, Helen Raptis, with the variety of beautiful xmas decorations, snowflakes and gift tags that she makes.


 <---- The Green Room

The set of AM Northwest

The show's hosts Helen Raptis and Dave Anderson getting ready to go on air...










Here is the full segment as recorded live.....Kim Kollert Quilling

If you are interested in purchasing any of these lovely items as gifts for Christmas you can contact Kim via her email address kimkollert78@gmail.com.

 
And, just because...here are a few more gorgeous samples to tempt you...

My Wish

My wish to you all is that love fills your life,
that your heart swells each day and each night.
Let this day remind us of all that we have
and provide us with fuel for the fight!

We must ever be vigilant  
And keep our demons at bay.
As they threaten to trip us
We'd be lost in the fray!

Hold high up your beacon
that beckons to all
Don't forget those we've lost
They echo the call.

Love deeply of your life and family
no matter if they're near or far
Don't waste your precious time
Reaching for a forbidden star.

Recognize all your blessings,
today on this day.
Too many are lacking,
too tired to pray.

My wish to you all is that love fills your life,
that your heart swells each day and each night.
Let this day remind us of all that we have
and provide us with fuel for the fight!

Be Careful WHAT You Ask For!

      Be careful what you ask for, how often do you hear that statement?  More to the point, how often do you heed that statement?  How often are we caught in situations when we promise anything just to get out of them?  If I survive this, I WILL stop smoking, drinking, overeating, swearing.......take your pick, we have all chosen one or the other over the years.  Do we follow through?  Hmmmm, the twenty million dollar question; we do when it's convenient, I'm guessing.  Do we think before we utter those promises?  Or is it a say anything, do anything last ditch effort to remedy an event in our lives that seems so traumatic at the time.
    Be careful what you ask for.  I've said and thought these words so many times.  Most often the reply is, "oh yeah, you're right!"  I'm not looking for confirmation of my wit and wisdom here; I'm trying to gently remind myself, first of all, then you, of the impact that words can have in our lives.  What if we were called upon to honor those promises today.........could we?  Take a stroll down memory lane, have we actually done even half of the things we adamantly insisted we would do? 
      Be careful what you ask for, my friends, you just might get it!

To my Sister.......

    My dear sister, how can I tell you thank you one more time with all the gratefullness I can muster?  You have once again given of yourself in so many ways and I can only tell you thank you and I love and appreciate you so much.  It seems so little in return, in some respect, yet it's what I have to offer you.  We've had a lot of ups and downs throughout the years, and the fact that we are sisters has strengthened the bond, no matter what life has thrown at us. 
     Family is everything and ours is dwindling as the years progress, I'm sorry to say.  In spite of that, we stay standing beside one another no matter of the maelstorm around us, no matter the miles between us or how different our lifestyles are.   Love overrides all of those things and there is no way to ever repay you for all you've done, all I can do is bow my head in thanks and keep the love strong.

Enough already

      Ok, I've had it!  I'm through with Two and a half Men.  I missed it Monday night, but I'm certainly not losing any sleep over that.  I have seen Kutcher's bare butt now and heard reference to the size of his 'manhood' too many times.  Also, I am sick of hearing him whine about how much he loves his ex-wife whilst bedding any and everyone that will have him.  This show had it's faults with Charlie Sheen, Lord knows, but they've beat this horse to death, no pun intended, at least for me. 
       To me it's indicative of a lot of things that are wrong with so called entertainment and it's sad to me that this is the best they can do.  Give us some suspense, make us think or at least try to figure out the outcome, with 2 1/2 it's sadly obvious where it's going each week as the abuse seems to be amassing at the cost of the Alan character.  I've never been a big fan of practical jokes, having been the butt of them all too often as a younster, perhaps, has jaded my thinking on them. 
       I realize that this is the kind of thing that makes money, and after all, isn't that what the game is all about?  I certainly wouldn't turn down Kutchers salary for a week if someone offered it to me, but isn't there some other direction this could go in?  At least give it some kind of storyline that doesn't involve debasing one another and frolicking about naked every week.  Isn't there enough degradation already in the world?  For the ones of us that have been at the back end of the line, the last to be chosen, I say give it a rest.  Let's work on building ones self esteem instead of grinding it into the ground with the heel of one's boot.  Love makes all the difference in the world......

Time Flies

        Christmas.  It's almost here again.  It's staggering how fast the days, hours and minutes go; hurtling across my mind like a whirlwind.  Most of my days are spent in our garage lately, I have a work area set up there to go and get lost in.  It's a little cold out there, but I do have a heater so I manage not to turn into a popsicle!
         Everyday is a learning experience for me, new patterns and ideas to experiment with; new things to think about with the holidays coming.  I came very close to flip flopping into the world of commercialism this week.  Instead of thinking about what we would be doing, or whom we would be sharing that time with, I was focusing on how I could make this a lucrative time for me. 

          I love to quill, it's my escape from the helter skelter of the real world out there.  No issues, no disappointments, no worries.  Does it get any better than that?   Quilling for me has always been a special time, and the Holidays are an inspiration, certainly.  But I know in my heart I will never get rich doing this, not in a monetary sense, anyway.  My life is rich in other ways, the ways that really count. I have family and friends that will be there long after my ability to curl paper is gone.
         So, this is a early Happy Holiday to all that venture into my world of blogging.  So many friends and family have passed out of my life over the years, so the ones that remain are very precious to me.  With love and respect to all............

       

      Yes, my friend, one garden is enough, especially one as loved and beautiful as yours.  It adds a space in this world of chaos and mayhem for one to be at peace.  A moment in time, that time forgot, that the calm enveloped you and held you in it's arms, rocking you tenderly.
      Each of us dearly need our own gardens, be they real or in our minds; a place we can go to when the world seems to be crumbling down around us, even though it isn't really.  We are a odd lot sometimes, thinking ours are the only problems or issues that need any attention.  We are but tiny saplings standing in a grove of gigantic Redwood trees, insisting that our dilemmas are equal in importance to the size of the monolith by which we grow. 
      Tend your garden well, nourish and sustain all that grows and each and everyday stand amongst the flowers and draw in their healing scent.  For that time that you take to be still and inhale their gift to you, is time to appreciate all that you have and that you are.  Be grateful for the rain, winds and sunshine, for they are all components that enhance all that you are in your garden of life.  We are all but seedlings, ever growing and reaching for the sky above, spreading up and out and wrapping our tendrils of love and compassion to those who've forgotten what that means. 
      Never cease to tend your garden, reach out each and everyday to someone, the need is so great.  There is never too much empathy for our fellow gardeners and shared knowledge is a wonderful gift one can give; it doesn't cost anything and in truth, enhances our wealth a hundredfold.  The wealth that counts, love, compassion, caring; all increase our life accounts beyond our wildest dreams.
    

          I lie awake, thinking.....

        I'm sitting here playing Bejeweled, it's still dark outside and through my head is running...."In the wee small hours of the morning, when the whole damn world is fast asleep..."  damn, darn, not sure about that one word, but forgive me this error, it's easy enough to check online, but I don't.  From that line in the song, my mind slides off to the side and wonder how many of us lie awake at night whilst our minds run willy nilly.  How many of us make promises we never seem able to keep?  Promises to ourselves-I'll start that diet, I'll quit smoking, I'll do random acts of kindness.  We all know; and we mean it when we say it, but do we follow through?  And does it seem less concrete, less believeable made in the darkness and quiet of the night?  Is that how we justify it to ourselves in the light of the day.  Then when night falls and the whole damn world is fast asleep, do we once again commit ourselves to becoming a better person? 
            Days are so busy, family, jobs, job searching; maintaining your home and all the hurry/scurry things that involves.  Are we able to pause occasionally and remember those promises we so adamantly made to ourselves?  Easy to forget in the daily routines we have wedged ourselves into.  What if we were to take one per day and just work on that?  Make it our mantra for the day, I honestly don't know if this works.  It's definitely worth a try, I believe that anything we set our minds to do, we can do.  Let me know if you have any luck, it feels like it should improve us. 
          So in the wee small hours, we can smile and give ourselves a hug, or a pat on the back, knowing we've done all we can do.

      Musings.......

         Write.  What comes to mind?  Everything and nothing, I guess, bits and pieces of events, conversations, faces; like puzzle pieces strewn across a table waiting to put together.  Kind of like life, isn't it?  We're given all the things we need, what we do with them is up to us.  Each of us has our own strategy, we sort by color or we sort by shape, all the edges in their own area, and the corners, they're the first I look for. 
        Why is it we don't start out with the knowledge that we need to get through the difficulties of life?  Parenthood doesn't come with any kind of manual, nor does surviving all the trials and tribulations that come with growing up.  I have come pretty close to a full circle in life, I think.  What I know, all that I have learned, and sadly, all that I have forgotten would fill a vast arena and that arena is filled with puzzle pieces, sorted and stacked and waiting.      
        We never stop learning, I hope that's true, I am sure our short time here is not at all long enough to learn all there is to learn.  We are given what we need, anything extra we pick up by choice, adding clutter and baggage just in case we might be having too good of a day.....drop the excess and believe you are deserve all the beauty that life has to offer.  Why don't we believe that?  Oh yeah, sounds real good, easy to say, yadda yadda.......just drop the crap and leap and bound through life soaking up the love like rays of sunshine.

       Find what makes  you happy, run with it.  Stand before a tree and sing your song of love.  Lay on your back and watch the clouds drift overhead.  Walk among the flowers and see the dew diamonds sparkling, lighting up the path before you.  This is what makes me happy, creating bouquets and snowflakes.  Each of us have a talent inside, let it out, set it free with wild abandon and let it take you for a ride.  Be safe, be free, be love.........

The art of Quilling. Guest post by Marlia.

 This is a guest post by Marlia of Marliasworld.blogspot.com


Quilling is a craft I never heard of until I became acquainted with my now very dear friend Kim Kollert, aka Hopeful Writer. 

Quilling...not to be confused with quilting, is a unique paper craft based on curled strips of paper shaped and and composed into many configurations.  Also known as paper filigree or paper rolling there are different theories as to  its origin.  Some believe it to originate from egyptian times, others  say it began in China with the creation of paper in the first century AD.  During the 4th and 5th centuries silver and gold wire was curled to make jewellery.  The word quilling arose from the use at one time of goose feathers (or quills).

Ok enough history.

My purpose in this post is to advertise Kim's wares.  I have already been the beneficiary of her work and recently also purchased some of her christmas goodies, including gift tags, ornaments and snowflake decorations.  Since my purchase her range of products has expanded.

Followers of this blog will have seen her work in my post about the software giveaway last month.  You may not have realised what you were seeing so here is some of it again...

A card to cheer me up......

 A framed piece to decorate my desk...

...and another frame from my wall....

Here are samples of her Christmas wares....

Just click on any picture to enter the album and see them in larger format...

 

Different colour snowflakes to adorn the Christmas tree.

She has mini Wreaths as either ornaments for your tree or as magnets for your fridge.

And below her newest angel design gift tags.

If you are interested in purchasing any of these items with Christmas on the horizon you can contact Kim direct via email - KimKollert78@gmail.com.

Kim will provide you with pricing and postage costs.  Since I live in Australia and she lives in Oregon it is obvious she will ship worldwide.

You may be wondering what is in this for me.  Well... nothing except support for my dear friend Kim.  Plus, I spoke recently in my blog about us returning to our roots and taking up crafts again.  Well here is a craft that is unique and beautiful.  So just imagine your house, gifts and xmas tree decorated with some of the above treasures.  Mine will be.  

Just remember this stuff is hand made, and not from cheap flimsy paper either as Kim uses a higher grade card instead.  She works painstakingly over many hours to make them.  So while you can go to K-mart and buy 10 ornaments for $20 the problem is that they are the same as everyone else's.  A few of Kim's wares in your house will be a talking point for you and your friends. 

I paid for mine via Kim's PayPal account so it was easy. 

So how about supporting Kim in her fledgling cottage industry based in her garage in beautiful Wood Village, Oregon.

Email her today ----> kimkollert78@gmail.com. 

Visit her blog -----> http://hopefulwriter-kk.blogspot.com/ 

*****
End of Guest post.  This post appears in Marliasworld.blogspot.com