I have really missed posting but contracted pneumonia about a week ago and have been so weak I can not sit up for very long.

Long naps are required right now and lots of liquids. No appetite and have lost over 10 pounds, which is the only good thing to come out this!

Do not know why I got it since I hardly ever even get a cold. Grandkids were sick for about 3 days each with fever and lost of appetite. Their Dad got it next and it lasted about 3 days. Then I got it and 3 days later felt great, then the 4 day the fever came back, nausea, no appetite, and extreme thirst.

On antibiotics now and hopefully will be fully recovered in a few more days.

Lady Artisan has just listed her newest journal and it is awesomely beautiful!

She calls it the Temporal Displacement Book and here is the story behind a TDB and TDU.

"Originally produced by a small, unknown manufacturer in southern Illinois called Stughmeier & Sons, this Temporal Displacement Book (TDB) is only one of seven TDB's purchased from the company between 1842 and 1845. The day following the sale of the seventh TDB, the whole factory completely disappeared without a trace.

Each book was purchased by a separate individual in a private sales meeting made available by invitation only. The buyers were all chosen carefully for their adventurous spirits, interest in the unusual and fantastical, and, of course, for their obscene wealth.

This particular TDB that's currently for sale is believed to be the first one made. It was purchased by Maximillian von Zeit, a close friend of the company owner, in June of 1842. Although von Zeit disappeared in the Fall of 1842, this book was recovered from his family's estate earlier this year.

Unfortunately, the Time Displacement Unit (TDU) built into the book, is not currently functioning. But a resourceful individual may be able to restore it to working order. Seller is NOT responsible for personal, temporal or financial damage that may be caused by tampering with the TDU without sufficient knowledge or understanding of its workings.

Whether the TDU works or not, this is an excellent book to use as a personal or art journal. Apparently von Zeit used his TDB regularly to go back to 1842 and "erase" his journal entries, leaving plenty of space for someone else to chronicle their own adventures. Although his only living descendant, Joshua von Zeit, believes that it's more likely his great-great-great-grandfather Maximillian actually went back to 1842 and stole a second book.

At the present time, the locations of the other six (seven?) TDB's are unknown."


The journal is made with leather on the covers, handmade copper wire hinges over copper tubing attached with rivets to the covers and spine. The clockwork sections were designed and carefully placed to look as functional as possible. The text block was sewn onto copper mesh using linen thread in an "X" and dash design. The book will lay completely flat when open but there are a number of protruding parts on the covers to be mindful of.

This book measures 5" x 3.25" and is filled with a combination of Canson Mi Teintes and Fabriano Tiziano pastel papers, excellent for a variety of art media or just for pen and pencil. There are 192 pages (96 leaves).

You are invited to view how she put all this together on her blog: The Elusive Muse

Of course if you want to buy it visit her Etsy shop: Lady Artisan

This is an invite to visit some of our Texas Artfire Guild shops and blogs. Feel free to follow the blogs and add them to your Market.

Beads and Things

Don't Eat Beads
You can also visit Don't Eat Beads on Twitter, Facebook, and Etsy.

Bluebonnet Jewelry Design
Visit her blog: http://bluebonnetjewelrydesign.blogspot.com

DG Designs
Visit her blog: http://dgdesignstx.blogspot.com

Handmade Stuff by Joyce Weaver

Hill Country Collection
You can also visit Hill Country Collection at Etsy and her blog: http://inspiredpink.blogspot.com

Homespun Alley
Visit her other shops and blog (You are there): Lee's Candles Grandma Betty's Body Butters


Jills Jewels

Pathea

The Jeweled Flamingo

All members of Texas Artfire Guild feel free to help promote each other. Put links on your blog or do a blog post about one of the shops if you have a blog.

Thanks to all the shops that responded with their information.

I got an email from a friend telling me that Texas prints a roadside assistance number on the back of every Texas drivers license. I had to look and sure enough there it is!
Bottom left corner in very small print.


Now my question was what will they do for you and will it cost any money?

Here is what I found online at the Texas Department of Public Safety.

The toll-free line has been operated by DPS since 1989 for motorists to use when reporting non-life-threatening situations on Texas roads and highways. DPS then passes the information along to the appropriate local police agency or DPS office.

If a tow truck is ultimately dispatched, the motorist is responsible for any costs incurred. Some cities and agencies do have courtesy patrols and roadside trucks to provide non-towing services and they may be dispatched by the local agencies when appropriate.

The number, 1-800-525-5555, is printed on the back of virtually all Texas driver licenses and identification cards. Customers of participating wireless companies ALLTEL, Nextel, Cingular Wireless, Houston Cellular and Verizon Wireless can dial *DPS (*377) free of airtime charges anywhere in Texas. (Note: I do not know if this is a current list of wireless companies or not)

Examples of when a motorist should call the Roadside Assistance Hotline include: stranded with car problems, hazardous road conditions, debris in the roadway, suspicious activity at a rest area, and obviously intoxicated or dangerous drivers.

The Roadside Assistance Hotline is not intended to replace 911 as an emergency number; 911 should still be the first option for emergency situations.

To better assist our communications operators please have the following information ready:

· Your name, cell phone number (and vehicle description if applicable);

· Highway location (mile marker would be helpful); and

· County location, or city location if inside city limits.

So don't give up your AAA, Allstate, or other Roadside Assistance card if you have one.

I do like that it is available if I am stranded on a remote, lonely road somewhere which we have an abundance of here in Texas. It is especially handy if you don't happen to have a roadside assistance card with a company.

Happy and careful traveling to all.

Texans unite and support your fellow Artfire shops!

Our blog Texas Artfire Guild blog needs your support. At the present we only have 18 followers out of over 70 members. Please visit the blog and sign up to follow it. Leave comments, suggestions and ideas you may have to help promote our shops.

While you are there please follow us at Twitter also.

Visit each shop in your Region or if you have time visit them all and add them to your market. Check their Bio and on the right is more info. Under the picture on the right, the last entry is "Find Me Online @". If they have a blog it should be listed here. Visit their blog and leave comments, tweet, follow them and just enjoy visiting.

The more we help each other the more it will come back to us!

I will be coordinating the Central Texas area for the Texas Artfire Guild.

This is an invite for all present members to contact me with any ideas/suggestions for local networking together to present/sell our handmade products.

This is also an invite to all artists/craftsmen/suppliers and anyone who hand makes items to contact me if you would be interested in being a part of a local networking group. You do not have be a member of Texas Artfire Guild to participate.

At the present time we are including the following areas in the Central area:

Austin
Ballinger
Bergheim
Buda
Burnet
Comfort
Copperas Cove
Elgin
Fredricksburg
Killeen
Pflugerville
San Antonio
Waco

and all surrounding areas.

Here are the other Guild areas:

Southeast - greater Houston area
North - greater Dallas/Ft Worth area
South - greater Corpus Christi and possibly deep south area
West - greater El Paso area
Panhandle - greater Amarillo/Lubbock area

If you are in any of these areas you can contact Heather at Texas Artfire Guild Blog for the contact in your area.

Visit our blog and see how Heather put together a successful show in Houston.

These are some of Heather's ideas:

- Start our own craft shows at local apt complexes where members live
- Jewelry repair/alteration at retirement/disabled/normal apt complexes
- Destash/trade parties at local TA members homes or neutral locations
- Continue to expand to Terrace locations (my original intent)
- Network with each other to find low cost established local craft shows
- Purchase needed supplies in large bulk orders and split the cost with local members to save

If you know of any places, i.e. businesses, apartment complexes, Assisted Living apartments, etc in Central Texas that would like to have us offer our hand made items please contact me by leaving a comment with contact info or just email me directly.

I will be putting together a list of the different types of items available in our Central Texas Artfire Guild and emailing each present member for feedback.

I don't.

I love the United States, the Constitution that our founding fathers worked so hard to establish, our Judeo-Christian background, my relatives that came from overseas and fought so hard to have the right and establish my right to freedom of arms, speech, religion and the pursuit of happiness.

I don't want the UN or any foreign country or court telling the United States what we can or can not do.

I don't want a World Bank telling the United States how to spend our money or who will or will not get loans.

I don't want a Czar telling me what TV or radio channels I can or can not listen to.

I don't want a Czar or World Health group telling me what vaccination I should or should not have or what my kids can or can not have.

I don't want greedy people/corporations, like Al Gore and company, to tell me what vehicle I can or can not drive; what light bulb I can or can not use in my own home; that they will charge me taxes and I will need to buy carbon credits because I am not living my life according to them, even though they can live how they want because they have the money to buy carbon credits.

I don't want a Czar or World group to tell me what to teach my children or how to discipline them, nor do I want them indoctrinating them in their beliefs.

No I do not want a One World Government.

I don't even want the corrupt government that we continually see daily increasing in greed and serving themselves and their special interests, printing money we don't have and will never be able to pay back, giving loans to special interests, taking over companies and pretending they know how to better run these companies/banks even though they have never run a business themselves.

I don't want our representatives to continue to fund corrupt community organizations, labor unions, and radical groups that hate this country and are so interlinked no one knows for sure who is funding who because the reps do not want to 'follow the money' because they may stumble upon themselves hidden in one of these groups.

What I do want is statesmen, elected to serve the people, actually serve the people, protect this great country and obey the Constitution of the United States which was founded "under God".

Our government allows the worst leaders across the world into our country and then allows them to degrade us, spew their hatred for us, practice their religions while telling us we can not longer practice our religion. While the fringe media give them all kinds of air time to spew their hatred even further, under the guise of 'breaking news'. Our government gives them diplomatic immunity so they can break any law in our land and not have to answer for their actions. Our own government politicians have become treasonous and no one is speaking up or investigating because most of them have something to hide and don't want to get investigated themselves.

I don't want our reps to continue to pass bills/laws that they have not read or understand; tacking on amendments to other bills so they can sneak them through; passing bills/laws in the dark of night and on Fridays, hoping no one notices until it is too late; calling anyone who disagrees with them racist, Nazis, brownshirts, astro turfers, etc.

I do not believe that there is a large percentage of people in this country that are any of these things. Yes, there are some awful people out there but not a majority.

I do believe that most Americans believe this country is great and just want to get it back to the founding Constitution, practice their religion, raise their families in a loving environment, have a job to support that family, and continue to live free.

I do not think we can just sit back and wait for the corruption to go away. We need to take a stand and really look at the people we are voting into positions of power and stop with the party line crap. A person is either for supporting our constitution or they are not for supporting our constitution.

If you don't want to become a citizen and support and love this country, then why are you here? (Obviously for those who are not legal residents.)

If you hate the US so much why aren't you staying in your own country and working to make it a better place for yourself and your children.

I welcome comments but if they are just of the "you are a racist" comment, don't bother as I will not publish them. If you wish to have a rational conversation then you are always welcome to comment.

It looks like Entrecard is starting to take paid ads again and calling them Sponsors. Didn't most of the Entrecard community reject this earlier this year? I know I chose to not accept paid ads at that time, as did a lot of other Entrecard bloggers.

It appears that the Sponsors could be from the world at large, not just Entrecard bloggers/members.

This is a copy of the email I received today from Entrecard:

We are pleased that many members are taking advantage of Entrecard services and that Entrecard is able to help users increase traffic to their blog. However in order to continue providing this free service, we will be taking 15% of our entire ad network inventory for sponsors as of Sept. 28, 09. This is a standard business model used by free advertising networks. The revenues generated by our sponsors will help cover overhead expenses and keep our service free to all our members for years to come. To keep things simple and fair, all ads will be distributed evenly in our network. We are currently working on a feature that will allow users to disable sponsor ads that may conflict with their blog. This will be available in a few weeks.

Please be assured that we will screen all sponsor ads to ensure that they meet our guidelines. All sponsor ads WILL be family oriented, and will not promote nudity, violence or anything illegal.

We thank you for your support and understanding. We will continue to make improvements to our network. Our goal is to deliver more traffic to your blog, increase your readers and comments, and let you network with other bloggers. We will focus on fine tuning every aspect of our business to ensure that our users are happy in the years ahead.

Apparently Rush Limbaugh stated on his show the other day that the reason so may people were protesting at the marches and tea parties was because we came not because we are fed up with government but because we are fed up with Democrats and the Democrat president.

Kimberly Fletcher sets Rush straight:

"This isn't about saving the Republican Party; it is about ending government corruption. And we will no longer allow anyone to divide us by race, gender, religion or party. We are not protesting a party; we are fighting for America. We are Americans, coming together to fight for our freedom and our republic. It is as simple as that.

We don't want any more politicians in Washington or anywhere else in this country. We want statesmen – men and women who understand the fundamental principles and guiding values this nation was founded on, men and women who have the courage to stand up for those principles no matter what the cost. We want leaders with integrity and moral character who are willing to sacrifice their lives, fortunes and sacred honor for the public good – men and women who are committed to fighting for a cause that is greater than themselves. That is what we want. And that is what we are fighting for.

Shame on us for not being here before. Shame on us for being asleep at the wheel and allowing this to happen. But we are here now. We are awake. We are engaged. And we are not going anywhere! Enough is enough. No matter what party you are, we are not going to take it anymore. And that, Rush, is what this movement is about."

There are a lot of folks out there analyzing what we stand for and are still getting it wrong. They call us racist, Nazis, brown-coats, hatemongers, gun-toting rednecks, stupid, liars, the list goes on. They, both liberal and conservative, need to actually attend one of the meetings with open ears and actually listen to what we are saying.

Thanks Kimberly for the great post!

Have you heard about the ACORN corruption scandals? Have you seen any of the videos? Where did you hear about this or see this reported?

Do you watch cable news stations? Fox, CNN, MSNBC, HLN? Or do you watch one of the three local networks? NBC, CBS, ABC?

Do you read any newspapers? NY Times, Wall ST Journal, Washington Post? Or local newspapers for your city? San Antonio Express or where ever your city is?


Do you listen to news on your radio? Notice how the news is always from like Associated Press with one liners that don't tell the whole story and it makes you want to ask at least a dozen questions? It is like reading the one liners that run across the TV screen while you are trying to listen and watch a broadcast. These one liners just make you want to ask for more details.

Do you get most of your news from the Internet? If so, what sites? My favorite at the moment is www.biggovernment.com because this is where you will find all the videos about the ACORN corruption plus must more.

If the station, newspaper, radio or internet site you view regularly has not reported this then you really need to rethink just where you want to get your news from.

A great example of a well known station that DID NOT do any reporting on the ACORN corruption is ABC. Anchorman Charles Gibson said when asked why ABC had not reported on ACORN "I didn't know anything about it". Really??

A major news reporter who doesn't know anything about the ACORN scandal, videos showing their corruption, the fact that the US Census has told ACORN they will not need their services for the 2010 census count, the bill that was introduced to stop all funding to ACORN?? I think this may explain why their ratings are at the lowest ever along with NBC and CBS. If they can not report current events then they are not practicing journalism at all.

I have tried them all and seem to end up at Fox most of the time because they keep me current. I also listen to talk radio which also keeps me up on current events. I also have quite a few internet sites that I visit periodically to see what they are covering.

The Drudge Report

Michelle Malkin

Big Government

Marc Chamot

Politicus.US

The Patriot Page

Pick your favorites to stay updated.