Mother's Day 2016

I had a very lovely Mother's Day this year.

We had breakfast at Benjamin's Donut Bakery.  We all had donuts and kolaches, milk and coffee.  It was perfect.



Then, we went to the nursery and bought some flowers and plants for our patio, and then we planted them that afternoon.  Some went into the ground by the front door, and some went into some planters that we picked out.



Kevin also installed a new stereo system in my car that connects to Siri on my phone.



With the new stereo and the new tires we put on my car last weekend, that SUV is ready for another 213,000 miles.  Right?



And, they got me a new Pandora charm for my bracelet.



I like bracelets.



They bought me the flower locket charm that says "Sweet Mother" on the inside.

Happy Mother's Day, Y'all!

2012 State of the Bracelet

It appears to be time once again for my State of the Bracelet post. I thought I did these annually, but it seems that I only get around to it once about every 18 months. Who knew?

First of all, my bracelet is practically full. And it is still pretty much blue and purple in theme.


From Left to Right:

Purple Pandora bead - birthday gift from Aunt Kathy
Pumpkin - gift from Aunt Kathy at Circleville Pumpkin Show
Lavender CZ spacer - gift from Ella
Blue Chamilia bead with purple hearts
"K" initial - gift from Aunt Kathy (could stand for Kevin or our last name)
Gold flower spacer - birthday gift from Ella
Chamilia Brothers Charm - Mother's Day gift from Connor and Lex (my favorite)
Blue baby bootie - gift from Big Pa when Lex was born
Blue scroll clip - to cover threads

Purple Lovelinks Bead - I had bought this for my Grandmother, and when she died, I inherited it back
Heart - gift from Aunt Ann
Open Swirls Chamilia Charm
Baby Stroller - gift from Aunt Ann when Connor was born
Baby Bear - gift from Ella when Connor was born
Purple Chamilia bead
Burst clip - to cover other threads

Chamilia Mom Heart bead - Christmas gift from Ella
2nd Blue Chamilia bead with purple hearts
Chamilia Mickey Mouse bead - from trip to Disney World in Florida
2nd Purple Pandora bead - Christmas gift from Grandpa and Ruth
Chamilia heart lock - to keep the beads from falling off the end


As I mentioned, my favorite charm is the Brothers charm. The two little boys remind me of Connor and Lex.


Particularly precious is the word "Brothers" which is stamped on the bottom of their feet.

Connor helped me pick this charm out as a Christmas gift for Grandma Ella one year. I really liked it, so I got my own on the following Mother's Day as a gift from the boys.

The second major development in my Pandora Bracelet collection happened this Christmas, as a result of my first bracelet filling up. I got started on a second bracelet.

I chose a purple leather cord bracelet, which only holds 5 to 7 charms. The bracelet itself was a Christmas gift from Pap Pap.


The moose charm and the gingerbread boy are both Christmas gifts from my mom. The flower spacer was a Christmas gift from Connor.

Welcome to Nana's Moose Lodge

Nana has decorated her Moose Lodge for the holidays.


Connor and Lex and I counted 17 moose in her lodge.

Please note, not all 17 moose are pictured here.
Because I'm lazy.

I think we ought to buy her some more moose stuff for Christmas!

Full disclosure: I already bought her the moose charm for her charm bracelet, and I am totally jealous. I want a moose charm for my very own!

State of the Bracelet

I have only added two charms to my bracelet in the year and a half since my last State of the Bracelet post. Here is my bracelet in all it's current purple-and-blue glory:


Starting from the Pandora clasp at the bottom and working around clockwise, we have:

Chamilia heart lock - to keep the beads from falling off the end
Blue baby bootie - gift from Big Pa when Lex was born
Purple Chamilia bead
Baby Bear - gift from Ella when Connor was born
Blue Chamilia bead with purple hearts
Baby Stroller - gift from Aunt Ann when Connor was born
Blue scroll clip - to cover threads
Heart - gift from Aunt Ann
"K" initial - gift from Aunt Kathy (could stand for Kevin or our last name)
Gold flower spacer - birthday gift from Ella
Open Swirls Chamilia Charm - my newest! Connor helped me pick it out
Purple Pandora bead - birthday gift from Aunt Kathy
Lavender CZ spacer - gift from Ella
Burst clip - to cover other threads
Pumpkin - gift from Aunt Kathy
2nd Blue Chamilia bead with purple hearts - I have two boys, you know
Chamilia swirl lines lock - to keep the beads from driving me crazy on the other end


As you can see, I've got quite a few Chamilia beads and charms on there now. It started with the purple bead - since Pandora didn't have any purple ones at first. Then, I wanted the locks for the ends of my bracelet...and it just progressed from there.

Virtual Shopping Spree: Pandora

Next stop on my virtual shopping spree is Pandora.

First, I want a cotton necklace for wearing some of my charms around my neck, on occasion.
Then, since my first bracelet is almost full (more on the Pandora bracelet that I already own later), I think I would buy another one. And I think that the second one should be gold and silver and black in theme. So, I would start with the silver bracelet with the gold clasp.
Here is the big splurge: the gold snake charm. Why the snake? Because the snake is my Animal Totem.
Then, a set of black and white murano glass beads.

Two gold and silver clips for the center threads.

Some initials for Connor and Lex.


And finally, some pretty gold and silver beads.

Shamrocks and Roses for me!


Total Spent: $1,275.00

Total Remaining in $10,000 Virtual Shopping Spree: $5,968.09

To Do: Done!

I have to take my engagement ring to Jared's every six months to be inspected for the warranty to be valid, in April and October of every year. I slipped my rings on this morning (yeay!) for the first time in about two weeks, and I was super pleased. I was even more pleased when I was actually able to pry them off my finger (which had gotten larger somehow since the morning) when I was at Jared's after lunch. They did not go back on after they were cleaned and inspected, though. But, I got one thing done on my October To-Do List.

Now all I have left to do is to get a new drivers' license. Oh, and have a baby.

While I Jared's, I noticed that there was a new, beautiful, rather large Pandora display. I am so excited that Jared's carries Pandora now! I pointed out a few charms to Connor that I suggested that he buy for me in exchange for making him a big brother and giving him a little brother to play with. He laughed heartily at my suggestion. It was hilarious.

Memo to Kevin: Jared's now sells Pandora charms. Hint!

State of the Bracelet

My Pandora Bracelet

I was feeling pretty good about my Pandora bracelet. Ella bought me two more charms when she came down to visit last, and the whole middle section of my bracelet is basically full. I think I have room for one more spacer in there, but that's about it. I've also decided that I want to get some purple murano glass beads for my bracelet, as I already have one that I wear on the matching necklace that Ella gave me. (Since Pandora doesn't do much in the way of purple, my one purple murano bead is actually from Chamilia.)

So, I had been wearing my bracelet a bit more than usual, and I found out that I am allergic to it! I usually only wear gold jewelry, but I really like the Pandora bracelet, so I wear it, even though it is silver. Well, I got a patchy little rash on my arm where it sits, and I guess that's because I'm allergic to whatever silver metal the jewelry is made of.

(Now that this has happened, I remembered why I switched to gold jewelry when I was just a little girl - elemetary school age, I think - I got a rash on my ears from wearing silver earrings. I have been wearing mostly gold ever since then...)

I guess I'm going to have to wear my bracelet a little less frequently, and I'm going to have to get more glass beads, and hope that I'm not allergic to those as well!

My Pandora Bracelet

I got a Pandora charm bracelet for my birthday (Thank you again, Aunt Kathy!), and Emily recently asked me to blog about what charms I have and how I arrange them. I think it's a good topic (and one I had thought about doing before, but never got around to doing), so here goes!

I only have the two charms that Aunt Kathy gave me when she first gave me the bracelet, one being the pumpkin pictured above, and the other being the letter "K." Then, I went out and purchased two locking clips as birthday gifts to myself, because the charms spinning all the way around the bracelet were driving me nuts! I picked out the silver starburst clip, and the scroll clip with the blue cz stones.

As to how I arrange them, only having two makes it hard to have any real "arrangement." So far, they are arranged in the order that I received them, and that will probably continue to be the case until I decide that they should be arranged by shape or type or something, after I get more charms.
Yesterday I checked the Pandora website, and I found that there are two jewelry stores between my house and Babies 'R Us (which I frequent regularly now) that sell Pandora charms. I'm very tempted to stop in and check them out the next time I'm passing by.