Filmstrip of new license plates

I really just want to see if this works

Let's have a Soul to Soul Talk

Soul to Soul

Well here I am, feeling guilty that I haven't added anything to the blog. The thing is ~ You never know if anyone is listening. So here's some more info to see if I can draw some attention to ME. Cause after all ~ My blog is about self promotion! It's hard work to develop a presence on the Net. There are tons of folks that say it can't be done by a Soul who is not an expert at any one thing. After all, I'm not Martha Stewart But........


Here's one of my most basic beliefs:
If you have the Power to Change a Negative into a Positive
You also have the Power to do what others say can't be done!

So the name of the game is to be open to education from unexpected sources. I opened my eBay Store - To make some extra income - but I'm getting an education too. A year ago I didn't know anything about HTML. I'm a Bargain Hunter ~ That is My one and only area of Expertise. Ask me to find "IT" and whatever "IT" is ~ I will eventually track it down. ~ I'm like a Boxer ~ Put me in any Shopping Arena and I can"Knock out" the most valuable widget! More often than not ~ at a great price too!

My latest find is a signed Tornado Bowl
made by Wimberly Glass Works, Located right here in Texas

Visit Wimberly Glass Works to learn more about these highly Skilled Artisians.
I almost forgot the Self Promotion part of this equation:
Take a Look at my Listing for this Fabulous Find

Anyway, I've been up almost all night working on a new look for my store. I was going to enter the Best of Stores Contest......I'm embarrassed to admit how long it took me to just figure out how to accomplish the task. Oh well, there's always next year for the Best of Stores Contest PearlShops4U is still a work in progress. Here's the Store and here's Another with some of the latest revisions. On the upside, I got the beginnings of an HTML education and found a great free site with all the HTMLInfo I will ever need. I have to give a Shout Out to fellow eBayer merrygocats for her informative introduction to HTML.

I've got to go........I should be doing so many other things (like Taxes, Housework, Gardening, Laundry, Cleaning....House ....Closets .....Garage ....etc., etc., etc.,) But for now ~ I must sleep! Is anybody listening?

New items in my Store

I'm busy working on the listings for these items, but I wanted to give you a Sneek Preview of just a few of the treasures I will be listing this weekend

HAPPY TREASURE HUNTING!

1947 Greek Medallions

I love the challenge of being a novice researcher and shopper for the unusual, unique and useful. It seems I’m always unearthing an unusual find. I love to share the information I locate and eBay rules regarding links can sometimes make it hard to provide background information for an unusual find.


Here is one such case. My 9yr old daughter found 3 medallions on a recent bargain hunt. I can only guess that they are souvenirs from various Greek cities or archeological sites. The spring-loaded wire on the back is the mystery. There are remnants of glue on the back of the "Bull" and the "Owl" - I wonder if they were sold on ribbons - Like Medals? or attached to something else to make clips. I just don’t know.

I wonder if these Medallions have anything to do with the Final incorporation of the Dodecanese Islands to Greece which I've read happened as late as 1947? in 1947 the President introduced the Truman Doctrine, which was to aid Greece and Turkey in resisting communist expansion So It would appear that Greece was in the middle of political turmoil in 1947. I wonder how many tourists there would have been.

This find lead me on a research mission that has still left many questions unanswered. Most of the information I found came from the following links:

Minoan Civilization
Athena
Egyptian Ships
Merchant Ships
Trireme

Here is what I have figured out so far:

The medal with the Bull is a depiction of the " bull jumping" made famous by the remarkable murals in the Minoan palace of Knossos (the word written at the top) of the island of Crete. This medallion bears a 1947 Backstamp with an animal that could be a Oryx Antelope, an African animal popular in ancient Greek paintings and drawings

Both the owl and the olive-sprig beside it were symbols of Athena and her win over Neptune in competition for the city. It has been said that Athena was once an owl herself. Athena was the patron goddess of wisdom, war, weaving, and Athens was named in her honor. The letters alpha, theta, and eta spell out "ATHE". The same layout was used on an ancient Athenian silver coin called an "obol" (or "obolos" or "obolus")

The Unusual Ship looks like the Athenian Trireme (the “Spear ship” according to Aeschylus). The Trireme has been used on coins and stamps and is considered the fastest ship in antiquity. The Fan Like Attachment on the end may be a "Speaking Horn" (a good place for the captain to sit while yelling at the oarsmen or at other ships) similar to that of ancient Egyptian vessels.

My Decorating Dilemma is a Work in Progress

One Day a 60" Wide-Screen monstrosity magically appeared in the middle of my once elegant living room. The Husband fell in love at the electronics store! Since he had Blown the Bank on the TV, there were no funds left for built-in cabinets. The layout of the room demanded that the TV be raised off the floor and placed in a corner for maximum viewing pleasure.

I started with a modern black lacquer cabinet that had doors with brass handles. Sadly, the doors were removed to house the components. Hopefully, the next time the Husband "falls in love" at the electronics store smaller components will catch his eye! I want to put the doors back on the cabinet.

To make the top bigger, I painted a piece of wood black. Once the TV and speakers were in place, I had a void to fill along the top of the TV. I had damaged pieces of garden edging in the garage. The stakes that you push into the ground had broken off these pieces. (My yard is full of rocks, but that is another story....) I wired the fence pieces to a large pole of bamboo and hung it from the ceiling. I cut bamboo pole "sides" to create the illusion of a structure. I plan to use my Dremel tool to cut bamboo to hide the edge of the new wood top, but until then, I painted the edge gold to match the gold detail on the cabinet.

The old ceiling fan obstructed the view, so it had to go. I found the current ceiling fixture at a garage sale. It is very heavy and made of stained glass. I think it is either old or from a pizza parlor! Somehow the whole thing works for me.

This end of the living room was also rather dark, even after I hid an up-light behind the TV. So I decided to solve my lighting problem by filling the void on each side of the TV with a big light fixture on the "Cheap". I went to World Market in search of paper shades that I could put together to create 2 large light fixtures. As I walked though the store, I noticed the pair of sheepskin shades that now flank the TV. They were made to sit on the floor with the points up. They were covered with dust and on clearance! I added chain to the feet of the fixtures and inverted them to create huge hanging pendents on ceiling hooks. My guests always assume they are stained glass.

I know this look may not be for everyone, but it works for me. If you have a Husband, chances are you have a Big Screen TV to work into your decor. As you know, it can be a challenge. First, you must come to terms with the fact that you are never going to be able to hide it completely! Even behind cabinets, it will take up valuable floor space! So embrace it and dare to be different. I am still working to turn the "Monstrosity" into a nice vignette in my eclectic home.

Vernon Kilns Dinnerware Designer - Don Blanding - Poem

http://www.don-blanding.com/index.htm
DON BLANDING
Vernon Kilns Dinnerware

The Double Life

How very simple life would be
If only there were two of me
A Restless Me to drift and roam
A Quiet Me to stay at home.
A Searching One to find his fill
Of varied skies and newfound thrill
While sane and homely things are done
By the domestic Other One.

And that's just where the trouble lies;
There is a Restless Me that cries
For chancy risks and changing scene,
For arctic blue and tropic green,
For deserts with their mystic spell,
For lusty fun and raising Hell,

But shackled to that Restless Me
My Other Self rebelliously
Resists the frantic urge to move.
It seeks the old familiar groove
That habits make. It finds content
With hearth and home -- dear prisonment,
With candlelight and well-loved books
And treasured loot in dusty nooks,

With puttering and garden things
And dreaming while a cricket sings
And all the while the Restless One
Insists on more exciting fun,
It wants to go with every tide,
No matter where...just for the ride.
Like yowling cats the two selves brawl
Until I have no peace at all.

One eye turns to the forward track,
The other eye looks sadly back.
I'm getting wall-eyed from the strain,
(It's tough to have an idle brain)
But One says "Stay" and One says "Go"
And One says "Yes," and One says "No,"
And One Self wants a home and wife
And One Self craves the drifter's life.

I wish my folks had made me twins.