Too Busy For A Friend

A friend forwarded this to me in an email and I thought I would share it with you.

One day a teacher asked her students to list the names of the other students in the room on two sheets of paper, leaving a space between each name. Then she told them to think of the nicest thing they could say about each of their classmates and write it down. It took the remainder of the class period to finish their assignment, and as the students left the room, each one handed in the papers.

That Saturday, the teacher wrote down the name of each student on a separate sheet of paper, and listed what everyone else had said about that individual.On Monday she gave each student his or her list. Before long, the entire class was smiling. 'Really?' she heard whispered. 'I never knew that I meant anything to anyone!' and, 'I didn't know others liked me so much,' were most of the comments.

No one ever mentioned those papers in class again. She never knew if they discussed them after class or with their parents, but it didn't matter. The exercise had accomplished its purpose. The students were happy with themselves and one another. That group of students moved on.

Several years later, one of the students was killed in Viet Nam and his teacher attended the funeral of that special student. She had never seen a serviceman in a military coffin before. He looked so handsome, so mature. The church was packed with his friends. One by one those who loved him took a last walk by the coffin. The teacher was the last one to bless the coffin. As she stood there, one of the soldiers who acted as pallbearer came up to her. 'Were you Mark's math teacher?' he asked. She nodded: 'yes.' Then he said: 'Mark talked about you a lot.'

After the funeral, most of Mark's former classmates went together to a luncheon. Mark's mother and father were there, obviously waiting to speak with his teacher. 'We want to show you something,' his father said, taking a wallet out of his pocket 'They found this on Mark when he was killed. We thought you might recognize it.' Opening the billfold, he carefully removed two worn pieces of notebook paper that had obviously been taped, folded and refolded many times. The teacher knew without looking that the papers were the ones on which she had listed all the good things each of Mark's classmates had said about him. 'Thank you so much for doing that,' Mark's mother said. 'As you can see, Mark treasured it.'

All of Mark's former classmates started to gather around. Charlie smiled rather sheepishly and said, 'I still have my list. It's in the top drawer of my desk at home.' Chuck's wife said, 'Chuck asked me to put his in our wedding album.' 'I have mine too,' Marilyn said. 'It's in my diary' Then Vicki, another classmate, reached into her pocketbook, took out her wallet and showed her worn and frazzled list to the group. 'I carry this with me at all times,' Vicki said and without batting an eyelash, she continued: 'I think we all saved our lists' That's when the teacher finally sat down and cried. She cried for Mark and for all his friends who would never see him again.

The density of people in society is so thick that we forget that life will end one day. And we don't know when that one day will be. So please, tell the people you love and care for, that they are special and important. Tell them, before it is too late.

May Your Day Be Blessed As Special As You

The End of the Weekend

I sit here with my laptop on Sunday night thinking back over the weekend. I didn't accomplish as much as I had hoped to this weekend. Why does it fly by so quickly? I did make a few new signs in a new color I just purchased - a dark blue. Here they are:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=20160452
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=20160700

I also sorted my cardmaking embellishments. I bought an organizer in the toolbox section at Home Depot for just $1.99. This was much cheaper than the ones they sell specifically for this purpose in the crafts stores and it works just as well. Of course, I should have bought a bigger one since I cannot seem to stop adding to my collection.

I made two more cards that I have not yet listed. I just recently showed my cards to a few friends who were really impressed with them. It was definitely a boost of confidence. I also showed my closest friend my Etsy shop. She is my biggest critic and supporter and she was very happy for me.

While searching for upcoming craft shows in my area, I came across a crafting forum. In one of the threads, I discovered another place to display my crafts. Perhaps many of my fellow Etsians have already heard of this site but as I am new to selling on the web, it was new to me. I have heard talk of (and visited) Artfire in the Etsy forums but had not heard of this one until I found this thread. Check it out at http://www.shophandmade.com/. The fees are extremely reasonable and it is sponsored by some well known companies. I have already set up my shop there although I have only listed a handful of items so far. Check out my new shop at http://www.shophandmade.com/Store/Bedlam

It is nice to see the growing support for handmade items in such a commercialized world. I would hate to see a world a century from now completely devoid of lovely, handmade craftsmanship. Get the word out, teach your kids to craft, show your friends your handywork. Keep DIY alive!

It's Friday, I am halfway through my work day and looking forward to the weekend! I went to the craft store last night and can never walk out with the one thing I went to buy. So as usual I spent more than I intended to. At least I have new material to work with this weekend.

I think I will work on my photography for my store this weekend. I also want some time to work on my crafts. There is never enough time. I always seem to have too much on my plate. I am thinking about different classes I would like to take to learn new things, different crafts I would like to work on or try. Never enough time.

My Etsy store will be in a showcase this Sunday under woodworking http://www.etsy.com/category_top.php?top_tag=woodworking check it out if you want.

Hey everyone, I just discovered an Etsy mini blog - check it out!
http://etsymini.blogspot.com/

Hi! I am excited to be here and will tell you a little about myself. I would love to hear about you also! I am into crafting - making wood signs and handmade cards. I know, I know, two completely different interests, not to mention crocheting, knitting, sewing. I also enjoy four-wheeling in wayyyyy upstate NY. I like to exercise and I love to hike. I have a teenage son and two cats. Does anyone watch Prison Break? I recently found out that the upcoming season is the last for Prison Break. While I realize they broke out of prison ages ago and that the show had to end at some point.....what woman wouldn't enjoy watching that hot bunch of men? Wellll.....except for Teabag...but he has his appeal, great actor!

Please check out my brand new shop at Etsy at www.bedlamcountrycrafts.etsy.com. I am very happy to have made my first sale last night, so exciting. I am adding new items daily.
I look forward to making some friends here, please feel free to drop by!

Very tired, going to bed. All in all it was a great day. I made my first sale on Etsy and I weighed in for my workplace "biggest loser" contest and I lost 3 pounds this past week. Yippee! Much better than this past weekend when we broke my new sink remodeling and I backed into my friend's truck. Yikes!

Yay, I have added my Etsy store! Check it out when you get a minute!