YouTube Junkie

YouTube never made much sense to me.  Why would anyone want to watch a bunch of people they did not know do random stuff.  Then one day I tried it out.  Had to see what the fuss was all about.  People I knew were raving about the thing.   One boring night, I logged onto the Internet and pulled up YouTube.

Once on the site, I created an account and immediately became lost.  What they suggested was too thrilling.  Ah, there was that wonderful search box.   What did I want to see.  Boston Terriers of course!  Boston Terrier, senior citizens, RoseBud was my precious little girl.  The rest was history.   One video let to another and another and another……  You get the picture. The more I watched the more I wanted to see.   It was a taunting bag of Lays potato chips.  Bet you can’t watch one!  I had to locate the videos on Dachshunds.  Lo and behold,  Little Dog has come across his craziness honestly!  Stubborn as the day is long, silly as Dachshund, senior citizens, petsthe Mad Hatter and faithful to the end of time.

Soon I  discovered Sylvester the Talking Kitty.  My stomach hurt so much from laughing at the silly kitty.  He was hilarious and has quite the potty mouth.   To the right of each video was a whole list of videos.  Some were on the same topic but others of a  different genre.  This is how I began to find extremely interesting, funny, and informative people.  Some were traveling all over the United States visiting strange and of the beaten path places.   Locations I had never heard and probably would have never heard of had they not told me.   The places were amazing though.  Did you know there was a Land of Oz (yes the yellow brick road land) in the mountains of NC?  They were visiting filming locations and matched up each site from the actual film footage to present day shots.  Then the Disneyland frequenters.  Awesome.  Having only been to Disney World once, seeing the west coast Disneyland was so exciting.  I thank Adam the Woo, Justin Scarred and The Carpetbagger for this.

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Walking With Nature

Walking with nature brings joy to one’s soul.  To be in the sunshine and hear the wind blow.  The cry of the birds as they soar through the sky or perch upon the earth resting their wings.  Watching them scurry along the ground in search of tasty morsels.   Just to be and to heal surrounded by the forcee and true beauty it presents.

The cacophony of the world subsides to nothing as you embrace the surroundings.  The worries and pressures of daily life melt away.  Even the physical aches and pains of the body subside and cease to cause worry.

For myself, the sea is Mother Nature’s tranquilizer.  Simply sit upon the sand, eyes closed and face tilted toward the sun above instantaneously relieves all tensions physical or mental.  Regenerate, recharge and revive my spirit just being in the presence of the sea and its creatures.

Breathe deeply taking salt air into the lungs.  Each cell is revived.  The brain is cleared of  pesky cobwebs and clutter. beach, boardwalk, ocean, relaxation An instant reset to entire system.  The only side effect of this tranquilizer is true comfort of a relaxed yet productive presence for the remainder of the day.

Going early in the morning or during evening hours has been the most pleasurable. The intense heat of the day never does anyone a favor other than a sunburn or heat exhaustion.  The early hours or later hours are the most serene.  You have the beach basically to yourself.  The greatest hours to take leisurely walks collecting shells for crafting, spotting driftwood, and mostly beach, sea oats, ocean, relaxationtaking photos without being bombed by all the people passing by.

Just gazing upon the power of the sea in every wave that pounds the shore is a reminder of the power we have within to create our lives. The sound of the waves crashing is music to my ears.  The squawk of  the gulls is the harmony. The sand between my toes and the water splashing on my legs.  A natural relaxant and free pedicure.  Never neglect to gaze out onto the sea’s vast expanse and you may see dolphins.  Early enough in the morning you will capture a gorgeous sunrise.

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Adventures in Craft Shopping

Oh how I love to shop for my craft supplies.  It is so relaxing whether shopping online or in the physical store itself.  Saturday morning,  the Green Buggie (Cyber Green 2000 New Beetle) was revved and roaring to roll on down to the Michaels store.    Really wish it was closer than 35 minutes away but hey that’s what one gets when living rural.  I would rather have the drive than all the hassle of city life.   So, slipping Green Buggie into a parking spot,  let the adventure begin!
Immediately after walking through the doors, I am like a kid in a candy shop.  Time no longer exists only the beautiful colorful paints, sparkling glitters, paint brushes, colored pencils and all the items exploding with potential engulf my mind. Lets try this new brand or lets try this new process.  The types of paints are innumerable and I love it.  Every shade imaginable is present.  A huge rainbow beckoning to be utilized.  Oh my, new porcelain items to paint.  Hooray, these are hard to find if not online.  Plaster Easter eggs and lambs not to mention the wooden items to try out.  A wooden pirate ship.  Now how cool is that.

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Day 5 – Uncle Wiggily and Rejuvenation

Uncle Wiggily, crafters, crafting, senior citizen

Been painting most of the day.  Working on a large rabbit that looks like Uncle Wiggily.  That rabbit is very precious to me, as I grew up reading Uncle Wiggily and playing the Uncle Wiggily board game.  All day has been a grand walk down Memory Lane.

I was raised in Amherst, Massachusetts on Sunset Avenue.  Around the corner on Amity Street lived Howard Garis.  Who is Howard Garis, you ask.  He was the wonderful man who wrote all the Uncle Wiggily books and many other stories.  Of all the stories, I loved Uncle Wiggily most.  Uncle Wiggily was a gentlemanly rabbit with rheumatism.  He had many different friends and a few foes with names that were as quirky as his own. The books related various adventures with his quirky animal friends and fantastic escapes from a few mischievous critters. Just so much fun to read in childhood.

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Day 4 – Doing What I Love


This Crafting Baby Boomer is originally from Massachusetts where I spent most of my life working as a medical transcriptionist.  My husband passed away and many things changed in my life.   A series of twists and turns lead me to coastal Camden County Georgia right smack dab on the Georgia/Florida state line.  An excellent place to be in winter.  If you know anything about winter in Western Massachusetts, I’m sure you will agree.  The last year I was there it was snowing 18-20” every three to four days.  Temperatures were beyond cold with horrific wind chills.  Put it this way…I know what frost bite is much to my chagrin.  Always said my birth was a geographical error.  So ending up down south was no hardship.

Quite a few years lapsed before I returned to work.  When the children were grown, it was time to go out and get involved again.  This turned out to be quite difficult. The area is very small and locating a job in itself was difficult, not to mention as a medical transcriptionist. There was one local hospital which had only one…one transcriptionist in the whole building.  The more I looked it became clear technology ran me out of a job.  Doctors were now all learning to type their own reports with some fantastic software that had been developed, as well as systems translating speech into documentation.  Ouch!

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Day 3 – Jigsaw Puzzle Therapy

Does the day ever become too busy or chaotic you just want to hide in the closet?   Has your brain hit overload with work or people or whatever is occurring in life?   After a long period of painting or working on the computer with pictures or blogging, too many chores or whatever, I get antsy, distracted or develop these huge brain freezes hampering any further productivity.  It makes me want to scream and go hide.  Rather than causing a ruckus in the neighborhood with my clamoring, a different approach was necessary.  Not to mention I would scare the fur right off Little Dog.   This is when my joy of jigsaw puzzles saved me with a relaxing diversion.  I call it Jigsaw Puzzle Therapy, original name right, LOL.

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Day 2 — Every Day is Different

Enjoying this lifestyle greatly.  Every day is different.  One day cleaning out the house preparing for my huge tag sale is top priority.  Downsizing from four bedroom and two full baths is top priority.  Little Dog and I just rattle around in here.  Way to big.  So, cleaning out closets, cupboards, dressers, the attic and putting lots and lots of stuff out.  We need very little.  Just my computer and craft supplies works for me.

Wake up the next day and hitting it hard and heaving in the craft room.  Working on Peter Rabbit right now and several children sets of plaster figurine, one set for the farm yard and another set for the princess and her castle.  Particularly fond of making things for children because then I can play with the toys!

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Hello world – Jeanne Here!

crafting, senior citizen, photography, crochet

Hi, Jeanne here.  A Baby Boomer who is passionate for crafting, turning that passion into one of the greatest adventures ever!  Having plenty of time, now that it is just myself with the kids grown and off on their own, I embark upon a brand new way of life finally pursuing what I love to do.
In the past, I have looked into and/or tried many different crafts.  However, my first love became painting with acrylics.  It all started when a friend showed me how she painted on old roofing slate.  Awesome!  I loved to draw and color and knew I could turn the drawings into paintings which would not just be incredible fun but a far better way to display my art.  The sad day came when I ran out of roofing shingles.  What now?  Well, my creativity took over and I discovered river rocks.  Not only did I get outside into the sun and air to wander the stream beds but got plenty of exercise and enjoyed the plethora of flora, and fauna surrounding me.  Slung over my shoulder was a big sac in which was stashed all strange, unusual and quite regular rocks large, medium and small.  Those were soon turned into doorstops, paperweights, or just a cool conversation piece.  One painting surface led to another and soon was painting ceramic figurines, name plaques on wood, picture plaques, you name it I experimented.  Presently, trying my hand at turning light bulbs into hot air balloons thus extending my surface to glass which is quite interesting.  Can’t wait to discover what’s next once I conquer hot air balloons.

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