Last week I recieved two wonderful surprises. Both of them touched my heart very much and I so want to share!

One of the surprises was a lovely bookmark hand made by the very lovely Mary. Hopefully I'll get a chance to scan it in later, but trust me, it's beautiful. It has a little fairy on it, and all shades of colors. I absolutely love it. Thank you, Mary!

On Saturday, I recieved an anonymous package from someone that contained two bottles of V'Tae Lemon Rose body lotion and two bottles of Lemon Rose perfume. I was stunned. The only return address is a P.O. box from somewhere in Atlanta, but with the way anonymous gifts go it could have been sent from anyone via a carrier. Some of you may remember I blogged about this not to long ago, and you can imagine my total and complete surprise by recieving such a gift. I have no idea who sent it, but I want to thank you! thank you! thank you!:):):)

WG had a very insightful post on her blog yesterday, one that defintely warrants observation. Since what she describes actually happened on the Mirabilia board, I would like to reiterate a little about a troll I banned from the board not long ago. This troll called herself Avida, and she was a pretty nasty piece of work. One of my regular posters commented on how much she loved a chart and would basically have to content to drolling because she couldn't afford it right now. Avida-troll makes a comment that if she can give a sob story can she get stash too? Okay, so it may seem like an honest question, but frankly, I do not think an honest question asked with a vicious intent warrants any kind of consideration from me. My job is to help create a pleasant and safe environment for Mirabilia stitchers, and that is what I am going to do. As long as the content of a post falls within the board guidelines, a poster is allowed to post whatever they wish. She (or he) should be able to expect to be protected and respected, not attacked or singled out by wandering trolls. If someone thinks (such as the case of Avida or whatever the troll's name was) that someone is begging for stash through a sob story, then my suggestion would be to ignore the thread and not try to stir up trouble. Of course, all anyone saw was her honest question, but no one saw what she posted once she was banned. True to trollish behavior, she created another name, came back to the same thread, and posted the following:

Stupid B***h! Can't keep me off this board. I have a right to express my opinions just like everyone else. H****** is a whiney little witch and she doesn't deserve free stuff.

Needless to say, this thread was promptly moved to our Archives forum. I'm a pretty good judge of character, which is why the I knew Avida's original question was not honest to begin with once I found out about it. And, of course, she proved her true colors by such a 'lovely' response once I banned her. I have *zero* tolerance for stuff like this. Period. And I've said it before, but if I find out Avida is a regular from another board I will expose that person on all the boards, along with the flaming posts she has made that are now nicely archived.

So: while some people may present sob stories in hopes of getting stash, it's certainly not my first thought. I guess I'm just naive, but when I see people post about how they love certain designs but can't afford them and just need to be content to drool, my first thought is how I can *so* relate to that situation! I've posted things very similar to that myself, except my posts usually involve hand dyed fabrics. LOL! But when I've found out that stitchers have got together to make a gift to that person, or other people, 'just because', my heart is warmed. If someone is truly trying to get stash out of others, well, that is on them; I've been completley scammed and burned by a stitcher before many years ago, so I know there are some true lemons out there. However, in the case of sobbing for stash, I've never gotten those vibes on my board, especially not in the previously mentioned situation. But maybe that's just me.

It is true that stash will not solve problems, nor will it replace the real blessings in our lives. That said, I know how a totally unexpected package, no matter how small, has completely brightened my day and reminded me that I have friends all over the globe. And friends, as we all know, are truly blessings indeed.

I'm feeling: giving
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