Bumblebees, Spring, Tea & other stuff....

Newest Sam's Stuff shop listing http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=23789439
So, today I saw the first bumblebee of the season. An adorable, big, fat, fuzzy bumblebee. A sure sign that spring is on it's way. No, even though he was fuzzy & cute, I didn't try to view him up close. He was still a bee, after all. I also saw wasps (not fuzzy or cute), giant spiders (fuzzy, not cute) & adorable little birds, all today. The flowers are blooming & it was a lovely warm, sunny day. A perfect day for a nice cup of iced tea.
Which reminds me... I want to get more of the Gypsy Tea brand Lemon Jasmine tea, delicious (as are many of their flavors). They did not have any at Fred Meyer, where I've gotten it in the past, so I may need to get a refill on-line, at their website. If you've never tried their tea & you like tea, I highly recommend it. I haven't had any flavors that I haven't liked yet! The Coconut Chai is the best chai I've ever tasted & the tins are refillable on-line.
All this talk of tea brings me to... the "tea parties," hosted by Fox News, etc. that have been all over the media this past week. I'm not even sure where to begin with this. It seems to me that this is a comparison of apples & oranges gone horribly wrong, not to mention a terrible waste of money, time & commodity, all rolled into one. The colonists where protesting taxation without representation, the taking of their money, not to put back into the colonial infrastructure, not even really to help the "mother country," but to line the pockets of the already wealthy. Our current government (& not governments of the past, who all had different goals & methods of achieving those goals) is taking money & assets to reinvested in our countries infrastructure, going beyond the whole unsuccessful "trickle down economics" theory of recent administrations to stimulate growth through the creation of jobs & the prevention of property loss. One of the problems they have run into is the lack of real cooperation from some who take this stimulus money & reinvest it into their own little "trickle down" (again, this has not worked in the past, why is it going to work now?)theories, lining their own pockets & companies with money that the average person will never see. The effect is more of choking growth than stimulating it. It's an old model that didn't work in the first place. If it had, we wouldn't be where we are today. So, to get back to the colonists & tea parties, the comparison is way off. We do not have the same situation. The money is meant to create jobs & stave off the concurrent rise of homelessness that the loss of jobs has created. The sooner corporations get with the program & drop old & ineffective models, the better off we'll all be & the sooner we'll truly recover from this crisis. That's my opinion, at any rate, what's yours? How do you think we can best "recover?"

"You should be happy..."

Hi again!
How's everyone doing?
I wanted to start off this time by talking about a phrase that I've been hearing a lot lately: "These days (in these economic times, right now...), you should just be happy you have a job, any job." On the surface, it looks like this is meant to encourage us to look on the bright side of things, be happy for what we have, not worry about striving or struggling over how we could be better off. Generally, this is probably how it's meant, by those who utter these types of catch phrases in a well intentioned attempt to make others feel good about themselves. What does this phrase really say to us, though & how does it often end up being used by the not so well intentioned? I have been finding, that all too often, this is a way to keep us from striving for something more. That we shouldn't look beyond where we are & try for something better suited. It is often used by those in charge as a way to keep employees in check. Don't step out of bounds, don't believe yourself worthy of that promotion (or better position elsewhere), don't question the questionable. There are too many others waiting to take your place (seemingly better suited, possibly friends, relatives or acquaintances, that those in charge would rather see succeed) to take the chance. It's too risky for you. Workplace abuse seems to be on the rise & economic fear is used to perpetuate & justify the practice. Employers don't have to be on their best behavior to attract or keep staff members, employees are too abundant. This is a sad & disheartening state of affairs, to me. Like I said above, I don't believe the everyone is this heartless only that this is a too huge of an opportunity for those that are.
So, that is that.
On to happier things...

This week I finished several new items for my shop:
1. a new framed embroidery featuring a dragon, peace symbol & yin yang symbol
2. a hand embroidered 3 button set featuring floral designs on a hand drawn card
3. a new headband featuring a dragon & a heart
4. the softie that I've been working on

I also started on a new messenger bag featuring a new embroidered character, along with the 'aliens' from 2 of my other bags!

The samsstuff sale continues through the end of March, check it out for one of a kinds gifts for yourself (!), friends, family or the home!
Mother's Day is fast approaching...Why not try samsstuff?
http://samsstuff.etsy.com