Red Heart & Red Heart Love Yarn Brands!

I grew up with a Mother and Grand Mother and several different Great Grand Mothers who crocheted. Everywhere you looked there was yarn, and on going projects, to me- that is normal.

My own project. Gator themed Afghan! Photo courtesy of ME! Deneale Photography

I also grew up left handed and had to be taught to crochet by watching my Mother as I sat on the floor and she crocheted normally, and imitated, using my hand seemingly the same as hers. Mind you, I am told I crochet backwards. However I am left handed... isn't everything I do wrong and/or backwards already??? (I mean honestly?!)

YES I spelled within my crochet! MY own design! Photo & design by ME!

But that is not the moral of this entry, today. The moral here is yarn. 

Red Heart yarn super saver package photo courtesy of Red Heart

I have inherited a great deal of yarn from my Mother and Grand Mother, and I use it, all of it. And there are many different kinds. And along my path of learning to crochet, I also experimented with different brands- and I say this regretfully because some have given me anger, pain, and stress.....

Now that I have myself, been crocheting for lets say: over thirty years, we don't need to have an exact science on numbers, now do we? No, no need.....

I have found myself to prefer 'Red Heart' yarn over all the others. And recently, I guess recently, 'Wal Mart' started carrying a new brand of 'Red Heart' called 'Love.' I accidentally found it when I needed a certain and specific color to match what I was doing. 

Where I live, many craft stores have since closed down, so basically the main thing I have to deal with is 'Wal Mart' and on a rare occasion 'Hobby Lobby.' 

The thing that disappointed me about the 'Red Heart Love' brand what it cost me almost a dollar fifty more. Call me cheap, but to sell ones crafts, one is not going to get the labor and the yarn out of their projects, trust me!

Red Heart Love Brand photo courtesy of Red Heart Brand Yarns

According to 'Hobby Lobby' 'Red Heart Love' has been out for quite sometime, 'Wal Mart' does not keep associates in the Craft section, specifically anymore. They in fact, rarely order properly and run out of colors frequently which is also disappointing. 

The plus side to 'Red Heart Love' yarn, I found, it is softer. Their colors are prettier, and what not, but again- like I said, more costly.

Crafts are some what of a dying breed, which is also why I don't understand why their prices keep going up too, to buy the products to make things yourself.

However, I want to give a thumbs up to 'Red Heart' yarn, both original and 'Love' they do not unravel and fall apart, they survive washing and drying, and always look good and are easy to work with. I give the products on my scale of one to five, a five. A perfect five. I just wish they could cost less, honestly.

I give 'Red Heart' original a four on price, and regret to inform you that I give 'Red Heart Love' yarn a three on pricing. Even if it is priced higher because it is a limited dye lot, or softer, I don't care. It doesn't need to cost more, not an entire dollar and a half!

Through research while writing this blog entry, I did find that 'Red Heart' does have a web site. Here is the location:

http://www.redheart.com/

You can also tweet to them on www.twitter.com by using this: @RedHeartYarns 

I will continue being faithful to 'Red Heart' yarn, there is no better choice!

Thank you 'Red Heart' please bring back the lavender, deep purple and white variegated! I am begging! I will buy gallons upon gallon of it! 

Chinese Fan Stitch & double crochet border made by ME photo courtesy of ME!

Thank you 'Red Heart' from looking through my Grand Parent's and Mother's yarn collection, you have been around for quite sometime!

It does me proud to continue to support a great product!

~

Red Bull Limited Edition Flavors!

The other day my daughter went to '7-11' and on their window advertisements it had 'Red Bull' 'Limited Edition Energy Drinks' and there were three different cans, red white/silver and blue. So curious, she decided to check it out, and get them so that we could try them.

There are three different flavors:

The Blue Edition, The Silver Edition, and the Red Edition. Seems simple enough right? Here let me show you the pretty cans:

Red Bull Limited Edition Photo Courtesy of Drema June Williams of Deneale Photography

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The blue is a blue raspberry taste, the red a strawberry taste and the silver kind of a lemon lime taste.

(Or so they seemed to 'our taste buds, anyway?!?!)

Serving size is one can, consisting of 110 calories. It is 8.4 fluid ounces. 

 But because four of us shared these, to decide whether or not if we even liked the taste, I have no clue if they had given us any extra energy or what not. But we all, and like I said there were four of us sharing these, and discussing the tastes, and we all preferred the red and blue. None of us even remotely liked the silver. 

According to the person behind the Counter at the '7-11' store, they were only supplied a very limited amount of them, and told they will not be a permanent member of the 'Red Bull' Family. 

Myself, I think 'Red Bull' should keep them out, other energy drinks have various flavors to appease the taste buds, I think that they should as well!

Therefore, I decided to blog about them, and this new tasteful limited edition, and hopefully help to put the word out to 'Red Bull' and to those of you who drink and support them, to also encourage 'Red Bull' into keeping these flavors on the Market! 

So give a shout out to 'Red Bull' on their own web page at:

www.RedBull.com

You can also tweet to them on www.twitter.com by using @redbull and give them your piece of mind and/or insight. They also have a www.facebook.com like page at:  www.facebook.com/redbull

and those alone will help get your thoughts and input out to 'Red Bull!'

Original Red Bull photo compliments of Red Bull

 Above is a photo of the original 'Red Bull' for those of you who may not be familiar. 

My personal rating for the Limited Edition blue, is a five. I literally am and always have been a fan of blue raspberry. As for the limited edition red, I give it a four, it was not as awesome, but close. Sadly, as I state, I am faithful to blue raspberry. And lastly the silver, I regret to inform you I give it a two on my one to five scale. It barely had any taste what so ever, and that was to four people!

'7-11' had them on sale, so personally you cannot judge on the price. They were a two for one deal, which there are only three flavors, so it didn't work out. And the special did not roll over onto the original 'Red Bull' so my daughter still didn't make out. And lastly, she bought the last three.

Thank you for your creative juices 'Red Bull!' We look forward to many more in the near future, we hope?

~

 

What is Klout? My Tutorial!

Many people have recently started asking me:

"What is 'Klout?'"

To begin, you can easily learn about Klout on your own by going to their web site at www.klout.com. But on the same token, as a person who floods the net with my own postings about Klout, I can justify posting about them, and share my insight!

Klout measures your social skills, and rewards you for them, with the help of other ad agencies such as "Planters Peanut Butter" (which you will find an article referencing them and their product as well Klout in another article in this blog!) Many companies have worked with, and continue to work with Klout. Sometimes to build up their ow business, and sometimes to get feed back from you after you try and or use their product.

Klout offers you 'Perks.' You post when you accept the perk, and then they prefer you respond and write about your dealing with the perk, after you have received it. Sometimes they have back orders, and delays, but eventually you will receive your products, and they arrive any number of ways: 'Fed Ex', 'UPS' and even regular mail, as well as sometimes even 'Priority Mail.' It all depends on the sender. 

It doesn't cost you anything to receive these perks, they are free to you, usually. However on an occasion there are some that may cost, but the option is yours if you want to purchase them. Things like tickets to a Cruise, (for example!) however it will only be a percentage off the regular ticketed price, or something similar to this. There are also offers where as you must purchase $100 in product to receive a percentage off. Again, you are not required to use or do these. Do not feel obligated at any given time.

Klout keeps score of your social skills thru things like www.twitter.com and www.facebook.com and there are other sites that it allows you to log in and inform them that you do or have those as well, however they are not scoring from all as of yet.

Scoring comes from re-tweets, and replies, and conversations and comments and responses that you and your friends are having. Often it is found better to have your posts re-tweeted and re-posted, that many find that it helps to build you up quicker and easier. This is a matter of opinion, not a proven fact....

You receive free K's each day. It is better to give them away each and every day too. Try not to forget, because it just goes to waste, otherwise. And once you learn that someone has returned your K, until the two (or three? or four?) of you have ran out of K's to and fro, I personally suggest returning them until you both go grey, meaning you are both finished until about a week later. 

K's mean Klout. We give each other K's to build one another up, which also helps our scoring increase. And what we are doing is trading K's. It is also good to create a list of people that you find that are good K traders. There are some who don't do it, and some who only prefer dealing with their own clique of people. 

Depending on what you like to do, this can be quite habit forming, or annoying. But getting and receiving the products, I consider rewarding because sometimes they are full size products, and sometimes they are multiple styles and types because they will want to know which you preferred. 

My Klout Dashboard. Credit: My Print Screen! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Above I took a photo of my own computer screenshot, so that you can see my score and what all I have and what my scoring looks like from the front. 

This shows you activity between myself and Tumor Warrior on Klout courtesy of my print screen feature.

Above is a photo which is self explanitory. Klout pretty much is just that, and it does teach you the steps along the way!

It is easier to learn Klout just by doing it. And once you find people who enjoy returning K's you're all set, it will start growing and increasing from that moment on, trust me.

And if you have any questions, you can always look me up! 

I do not work for Klout, but I have actively doing Klout for well over a year now! At this point and time they do not offer rewards or credit for referrals, unfortunately. Allegedly, at one time, they did though! 

Go check it out and sign up today, trust me, you will be glad you did, especially if you like FREE THINGS! 

www.Klout.com

How much is my Bill @ a Nail Salon!?!?

My daughter and I decided to have a girls spa day, before the wedding of my Son, her Brother. Our goal was to get our nails done, nothing more nothing less, and technically it was all we could really afford with the wedding and Christmas right around the corner.

It was Sunday, December 9, 2012 and most every place we went to happened to be shut. So since my Daughter works at the Mall, she decided the Mall just might be the best place to check. And I used to frequent 'Happy Nails" myself there, when I was avidly getting my nails done.

Low and behold, "Happy Nails" in "Merritt Square Mall" was open. And the woman who used to always take care of me, was now the Manager, and she remembered me, after all of this time! I don't know how? Or maybe she was faking? I am not sure, but she spoke to me like she remembered me, and ask about my Son in the Service, and everything, so it just couldn't be coincidence.

We both explained we needed and wanted a full set of nails. The woman laughed and said, and I quote: "No you need to relax, your daughter told me your Son getting married you need feet and legs done too. You need this MaMa!" (My Daughter ran inside first to make certain they were open and told them of our situation.)

I said I couldn't afford all the extra luxuries. She responded, "You know it worth it, and it not lots of money!" And she escorted myself and my my daughter to chairs and sat us down and started pulling off our shoes. Mind you I was wearing boots, I had no intention on doing anything to my feet, for that matter, my ankle was in a brace!

My Daughter looked at me freaking out. Everywhere I have ever had my feet and toes done, to get your toes done it was another $20, give or take. I told her I would pay for it. I decided I would treat her.

They did the routine, to which I put the photos on "Instagram" and that included toenails painted and legs massaged. It was nice. We did not decorate our toenails, just paint. 

Next we had our finger nails tended to. In the meantime, as I am having my nails tended to the Manager comes over and talks to me to tell me how she likes being the Manager now. As she is doing so, she starts rubbing my neck and shoulders. Were socializing. After a bit, she calls over the woman who had originally taken care of my feet, and she proceeded to massage my neck and shoulders while my nails and getting done. 

After about twenty minutes, if that- I proclaim to the woman who massaged my feet, painted my toe nails and now massaged my neck, that she should consider going to School to become a massage therapist or something because she is very good at it. She thanks me, I then ask her to if she can get me change for a $20 bill. She brings me back two $10s. I give her one $10 and say to her, "This is for the excellent massage. You're awesome! You could get away with charging for that! It was heavenly!" She proceeds to thank me, and walks away with her tip, while my nails are still getting done.

Upon finishing, I now learn I owe over $100. I am flabbergasted. Here they charge you separately for each and every little thing they do. Full set over $25. Massage of legs, separate, massage of neck and shoulders that I did not ask for, and did not know I was going to even be getting, was $35. Full set toes, $25 and so on so forth. I liked to have had a nervous break down and almost cried right then and there. 

As I was drying my Daughter and I were loudly discussing our fees, I was also stating I would be putting this out landish nonsense on my blog, so that others would know. So now the Manager, while I am drying, brings me over a box, deep purple, my favorite color, its called "N'Vive" its a "Creme Naturelle" it "Heals cracked skin-calms itching and redness. She announces to me it is an $18 value. I thanked her.

My Daughter proclaimed, "She heard you state that you're gonna write a bad review on your blog. That is the only reason she gave you that!"

The people here are wonderful and friendly. I dearly love them, and enjoy their company. However, they Bully you into their Services, and their fees. And you have no idea what you're getting into, until you're ready to go. The Establishment is very clean, and the people are very friendly and gentle, and they are also creative with the designs and art work! 

I think their prices are too high, and they need to ask and not just assume you know what you're doing and getting. I have never had a massage at a Nail Salon in my entire life, until this one!! That is a fact! And yes, I did enjoy the massage tremendously. And this time, lucky for me, I could afford it. Can you imagine if I would not have had the money? What would they have done? Thrown me in jail? I wonder. Because I tell you what, technically I do not think I was the one at fault here. Service was not offered, but instead, just assumed and tendered. I think they need to point blank ask.

Here are the details on this establishment should you decide to visit them: 

Happy Nails And Day Spa

321-576-0586

777 E. Merritt Island Cswy

Suite 133

Merritt Island, Florida 32952

Hours: 

Monday thru Saturday 10 am to 9 pm

Sunday 12 pm to 6 pm

Happy Nails I give you a 1 on your prices, you are TOO high. I give you a 5 on your service. I however, put you in this blog to allow others to be warned that you give and conduct services without asking. That I think is wrong, and I think sooner or later it will get you into trouble. It isn't right. You need to inform, not assume. It will make for happier customers, trust me. 

~~~

This is what I posted on my "Instagram" page!

Photograph's are Art & Stealing Them is Theft!

I realize that once you put something on the net, it more-or-less becomes public property. I don't find it fair or right, but it happens. However, if you look hard enough, you can often find where things have originated from.

I have been taking photos since I was little. My Grand Parents put camera's and video equipment in my hands, when they needed someone other then themselves to take a photo. Eventually they learned my photos were descent and that I in fact had an eye for it. It came to the point that I would often just pick up and shoot on my own. 

One year my Father bought me a camera, several rolls of film and several flash bars, as payment for helping him paint our house. He told me to take photos of whatever I deemed necessary, and took the first photo of me on the ladder, high up at the peak of the house. 

From this point on, I have been buying, getting and taking photos. Many of times, I have been hired, and paid for my ability, and never have I received a negative comment, except from myself of course. I always feel I could have done better, and am often disappointed in myself, as with anything I do.

I like the feature on facebook, whereas people whom aren't even your friends may tag your photos, still allowing said photos to remain in your album, as your own, giving you the proper credit you deserve. This is as it should be. 

My Son Darryl on his wedding day 12/12/12 photographer: Me!

I also like the fact, that many people have respect enough, to ask before tagging. There are some who don't, but at least when and if they do, your photo's are not being taken from you, and when the photos appear on their wall, it still shows you as the owner of said photo, thus giving you proper credit. Therefore if someone wants to hire you, because they see the quality you offer, they can do so.

The reason I am writing about this now, I just uploaded over one thousand photos and something like twelve videos over the last two days. During this time frame, I made many new friends, because through several of the events that I photographed, people decided I was a very nice person, even "cool" some have said. And they have friended me, and several even asked to hang out with me in the near future. But that is beside the point.

Shannon Lucarelli-Williams, my Daughter in Law on her wedding day 12/12/12 with her Father John Lucarelli. Photographer: Me!

The person whom hired me, asked to tag their friends. I approved, no problem. Many of the other people, tagged themselves as well, and I tagged some of the new ones who joined me on my page too.

Then I had some from the people whom hired me, I have had their family members tag the photos, some asked, some did not, again, no problem. The photos are still mine, and I am receiving credit where credit is due.

Its the Memorable Moments in Photos that will NEVER be forgotten. Darryl & Shannon! Wedding Day 12/12/12 Photographer: Me! (I love this photo!)

Now I am seeing on the person whom hired me, tags from someones "Mobile Uploads" which is supposed to be or mean from their own phone. I glance at their photos to see if they shot any photos of me. Low and behold the photos this person is posting are my photos! I proceed to write on every photo that I did in fact take this photo, not the person who is claiming it is their own mobile upload. 

Yes, you can call me petty. I myself, think the person who did it, did it only to irritate me, after all- that is all that person has ever done. Why didn't they just tag themselves like everyone else? In my honest opinion, to see if I would react. I wasn't hateful, rude or nasty, but I did point blank lay claim on my photos. 

One of my Projects! Crochet. This is a Gator Themed Afghan. This was made for someone, but similar styles to this are available for sale. Photographer: Me!

For those of you who might not understand, photography is also an art, just as much as painting is. You have to get the right lighting, the people to smile, and timing is also everything. And not to mention, I was on my feet for many hours doing this, and then this person is going to take credit for my work? No thank you! Theft is theft. Just as Art is Art.

I am sick of being used and walked on. Every time I do something good, someone has to knock me down, drag me through the mud, and then leave me in the puddle, in the meantime, they go brush themselves off and clean up, and smile and take credit for everything I do and did. No. It is not right.

You need to look at through my eyes, through the time I put into this, the effort, and look at it as my job. And then think about how this person didn't do any of it, and yet proceeds to steal the photos, and claim them as their own, people are commenting and applauding him and them, and recognizing him and his talents and not mine. Then you also need to think about this: "Dude you took such great photos of that graduation with your phone the other day, do you think you can come over to Bikini Contest and take photos and we'll pay you too!" Now you tell me, do  you still think its fair??

My Camera, but Photographer here is my Husband: David Williams, Sr. He too is a Member of Deneale's Photography and can be found shooting photos when we are both called out on projects together, or at the same time!

The whole idea here, is I wanted to bring to your attention that Photos are also works of art, and when you take and steal them as your own, and then someone hires you because you took such great photos, you are committing fraud. All the while you stole, and if the person has a disclaimer (As I do on my facebook about me section!) you can and are liable to get sued. 

Moral to this entry? Think before you take something from the net that isn't yours. The government can find out where everything came from. And their is always a timeline. And since I posted my photos first, obviously you did steal. Next time, if its on facebook, at least tag yourself. And if the person has their name or info within their photo stating that they made it, don't remove it. That is also fraud. 

And one more thing, creating bogus names and companies and pretending they are photo-shooting you, is also fraud. You might want to check out the name you create and pretend is a business when you use it, before doing so. That too, can cause a law suit. It is better to just be yourself, stop pretending your something you're not, and copying off of other people just because you have nothing better to do with your idle hands. Stop giving into the Devil, and make yourself useful.....

Imagine posting photos of: "The Simpsons TV Show on your page and claiming them as your own. Now you tell me Fox Network as well as the Artist who draws "The Simpsons" and their Attorney's won't be coming after you and I'll tell you that you're dreaming!!!

Thank you for your time and understanding on this matter!