I just wanna say -- the random comments thread

[VRBeauty]

I got my shingles vaccination today. WOOHOOO!

Seriously, a few years ago the father of a friend of mine had a case of shingles that was life-altering, and not in a good way. I swore I'd get my vaccination as soon as my insurance would cover it - and I missed by only a week or two.

 

[VRBeauty]

TechieTechie - I don't know why I didn't see your response earlier. Thank you for that thoughtful post! How wonderful that you were able to use your ASL skills, however limited, in that way!

 

[Matata]

Day 2 of Shaun T's Insanity workout. Everything hurts but my eyelids.

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

Lady at the bank admired my Mc2 necklaces. And asked...did you make those yourself? Not sure Mc2 would find that a compliment!

cheers--Sharon

 

[packrat]

TechieTechie-that's awesome! I am learning sign as well..sloooowly. I love it tho, it's fun. I've had 6 one hour classes and we're starting up another round of them at the end of the month, then whatever I can manage to pick up here and there at work.

 

[pregcurious]

HI:

Lady at the bank admired my Mc2 necklaces. And asked...did you make those yourself? Not sure Mc2 would find that a compliment!

cheers--Sharon

That is hilarious.

 

[pregcurious]

Most of the time by looking at the faceting of the stone. notice she haven't replied since i called her out ?...

Can someone point me to the thread?

 

[Natylad]

I have been taking a break from PS for quite some time now, because i was getting obsessed and i was spending more money than i could afford! I also decided not to purchase any more jewelry or precious stones for a period of one year. Nevertheless, three months ago i found out that a dear friend of mine, who lives in Germany (i live in Athens, Greece) was diagnosed with cancer. Things didn't look good and even his doctors weren't very optimistic. I felt devastated but he didn't lose his faith and he was determined to fight for his life. Against all odds, he's doing so much better now and finally we can be optimistic.
Because he's stuck either at the hospital or at his home, he is in desperate need of entertainment! In general, he's not supposed to receive many guests and he is somehow isolated. A common friend decided to travel to Germany in order to see him and i thought that this was the perfect opportunity to send him a little gift. So i ordered from Blue Nile a .30 ct, SI1, G, excellent cut, RB diamond and sent it to him, even though i know that he has no interest in jewelry and precious stones.
The most amazing thing happened. He fell in love with this unexpected gift and he has spent the last three days taking pictures and videos of it and checking it out under his magnifying glass!!! He is ecstatic about it and he decided to have a ring made and have this diamond set on it, when he finishes his therapy! I just can't explain how moved and happy i feel... My love for diamonds has given me so much happiness and i always enjoy my own stones but i never expected that a small diamond would give so much excitement, inspiration and happiness to my friend..!!!
I came back to PS, in order to share my excitement with the wonderful people of the community I feel so happy

 

[Enerchi]

I have been taking a break from PS for quite some time now, because i was getting obsessed and i was spending more money than i could afford! I also decided not to purchase any more jewelry or precious stones for a period of one year. Nevertheless, three months ago i found out that a dear friend of mine, who lives in Germany (i live in Athens, Greece) was diagnosed with cancer. Things didn't look good and even his doctors weren't very optimistic. I felt devastated but he didn't lose his faith and he was determined to fight for his life. Against all odds, he's doing so much better now and finally we can be optimistic.
Because he's stuck either at the hospital or at his home, he is in desperate need of entertainment! In general, he's not supposed to receive many guests and he is somehow isolated. A common friend decided to travel to Germany in order to see him and i thought that this was the perfect opportunity to send him a little gift. So i ordered from Blue Nile a .30 ct, SI1, G, excellent cut, RB diamond and sent it to him, even though i know that he has no interest in jewelry and precious stones.
The most amazing thing happened. He fell in love with this unexpected gift and he has spent the last three days taking pictures and videos of it and checking it out under his magnifying glass!!! He is ecstatic about it and he decided to have a ring made and have this diamond set on it, when he finishes his therapy! I just can't explain how moved and happy i feel... My love for diamonds has given me so much happiness and i always enjoy my own stones but i never expected that a small diamond would give so much excitement, inspiration and happiness to my friend..!!!
I came back to PS, in order to share my excitement with the wonderful people of the community I feel so happy

What a beautiful story - I'm sad your friend is going thru this but how wonderful your connection with him (and diamonds!) ...helped! who knew? The power of a sparkle could have such an effect!

And I am glad to see you again!! I pop in now and then and reading this was a lovely surprise!!

 

[VRBeauty]

I have been taking a break from PS for quite some time now, because i was getting obsessed and i was spending more money than i could afford! I also decided not to purchase any more jewelry or precious stones for a period of one year. Nevertheless, three months ago i found out that a dear friend of mine, who lives in Germany (i live in Athens, Greece) was diagnosed with cancer. Things didn't look good and even his doctors weren't very optimistic. I felt devastated but he didn't lose his faith and he was determined to fight for his life. Against all odds, he's doing so much better now and finally we can be optimistic.
Because he's stuck either at the hospital or at his home, he is in desperate need of entertainment! In general, he's not supposed to receive many guests and he is somehow isolated. A common friend decided to travel to Germany in order to see him and i thought that this was the perfect opportunity to send him a little gift. So i ordered from Blue Nile a .30 ct, SI1, G, excellent cut, RB diamond and sent it to him, even though i know that he has no interest in jewelry and precious stones.
The most amazing thing happened. He fell in love with this unexpected gift and he has spent the last three days taking pictures and videos of it and checking it out under his magnifying glass!!! He is ecstatic about it and he decided to have a ring made and have this diamond set on it, when he finishes his therapy! I just can't explain how moved and happy i feel... My love for diamonds has given me so much happiness and i always enjoy my own stones but i never expected that a small diamond would give so much excitement, inspiration and happiness to my friend..!!!

I came back to PS, in order to share my excitement with the wonderful people of the community I feel so happy

natyLad - what a wonderful, heartwarming story! And what a wonderful friend you are, to have thought of such a thing!

Enerchi - it's good to see you again!

 

[ame]

I have been taking a break from PS for quite some time now, because i was getting obsessed and i was spending more money than i could afford! I also decided not to purchase any more jewelry or precious stones for a period of one year. Nevertheless, three months ago i found out that a dear friend of mine, who lives in Germany (i live in Athens, Greece) was diagnosed with cancer. Things didn't look good and even his doctors weren't very optimistic. I felt devastated but he didn't lose his faith and he was determined to fight for his life. Against all odds, he's doing so much better now and finally we can be optimistic.
Because he's stuck either at the hospital or at his home, he is in desperate need of entertainment! In general, he's not supposed to receive many guests and he is somehow isolated. A common friend decided to travel to Germany in order to see him and i thought that this was the perfect opportunity to send him a little gift. So i ordered from Blue Nile a .30 ct, SI1, G, excellent cut, RB diamond and sent it to him, even though i know that he has no interest in jewelry and precious stones.
The most amazing thing happened. He fell in love with this unexpected gift and he has spent the last three days taking pictures and videos of it and checking it out under his magnifying glass!!! He is ecstatic about it and he decided to have a ring made and have this diamond set on it, when he finishes his therapy! I just can't explain how moved and happy i feel... My love for diamonds has given me so much happiness and i always enjoy my own stones but i never expected that a small diamond would give so much excitement, inspiration and happiness to my friend..!!!

I came back to PS, in order to share my excitement with the wonderful people of the community I feel so happy

natyLad - what a wonderful, heartwarming story! And what a wonderful friend you are, to have thought of such a thing!

Enerchi - it's good to see you again!

That's a really neat idea NatyLad! I am glad he received it so well and is enjoying himself! Hope all continues to go well with his treatment!

 

[Polished]

Love your story natyLad. Perhaps the self-imposed break from buying jewels for yourself, provided the prompt to buy your friend the diamond? I'm already visualising the diamond in a ring and him enjoying it from all angles. A bezel perhaps?

 

[junebug17]

I have been taking a break from PS for quite some time now, because i was getting obsessed and i was spending more money than i could afford! I also decided not to purchase any more jewelry or precious stones for a period of one year. Nevertheless, three months ago i found out that a dear friend of mine, who lives in Germany (i live in Athens, Greece) was diagnosed with cancer. Things didn't look good and even his doctors weren't very optimistic. I felt devastated but he didn't lose his faith and he was determined to fight for his life. Against all odds, he's doing so much better now and finally we can be optimistic.
Because he's stuck either at the hospital or at his home, he is in desperate need of entertainment! In general, he's not supposed to receive many guests and he is somehow isolated. A common friend decided to travel to Germany in order to see him and i thought that this was the perfect opportunity to send him a little gift. So i ordered from Blue Nile a .30 ct, SI1, G, excellent cut, RB diamond and sent it to him, even though i know that he has no interest in jewelry and precious stones.
The most amazing thing happened. He fell in love with this unexpected gift and he has spent the last three days taking pictures and videos of it and checking it out under his magnifying glass!!! He is ecstatic about it and he decided to have a ring made and have this diamond set on it, when he finishes his therapy! I just can't explain how moved and happy i feel... My love for diamonds has given me so much happiness and i always enjoy my own stones but i never expected that a small diamond would give so much excitement, inspiration and happiness to my friend..!!!
I came back to PS, in order to share my excitement with the wonderful people of the community I feel so happy

Naty, this is such a wonderful story, how great you were able to bring your friend some joy and distraction from his illness and loneliness. This is not the first time I have been impressed by your thoughtfulness and caring nature. It's so cool that he ended up loving the diamond so much! I'm really glad that he is doing better too. It was so good of you to do this naty, and I'm really happy the gift had such a great impact.

And it's so good to hear from you - You are such a great person and I miss your posts! I hope things are going well for you. I understand needing a break though - PS has the same effect on me, if I had any sense I'd take a break too lol.

And so good to see you too Enerchi! I miss you too, I hope you stop in more often!

 

[Calliecake]

What a sweet story Natylad. Thank you for posting!

 

[Natylad]

Enerchi, VRBeauty, ame, Polished, Junebug, Calliecake... My dear PS friends...Thank you for your sweet words and for sharing my excitement with me!
Yesterday my friend sent me a video of his diamond and his mom's diamond, the one next to the other, and he said: I will leave them here together, the one next to the other and i'll go to sleep. I hope that during the night, they'll fall in love, make love and produce many baby diamonds, which will bring even more sparkle in my life!!! I thought that this was soooo cute of him! He is 45 and he is still a child at heart! God bless him...
As far as the ring is concerned, i suggested either a WG band with a bezel setting for the diamond, ot a tension setting, which will allow him to see the stone better. I think that he will go with the tension setting!

 

[Cozystitches]

So, I've been disappointed in the clothes I've found in stores. Or rather, I've had a hard time finding things that look good, fit, washable, and affordable. I figured I could make something, but again have been riddled with failure this summer. I tried again this spring break. After several mistakes (thankfully I've learned to make muslins rather than my real fabric and that I can just do all basting too!), I have been successful!!!

I have made: 2 circle skirts (with POCKETS), and a slip (would be petticoat but I don't have crinoline) and have a wearable muslin top. Here's the big deal: I made a WOVEN shirt that FITS and looks good! This has been a HUGE problem! AND the main part of the pattern is FREE!!!! It's actually a tank top, but I added sleeves from a pattern that didn't work (it looked HORRIBLE on me), but the sleeves work on my franken pattern!!! I have fabric cut out for three tops (must do tomorrow).

Here is what I've learned:

SEAM ALLOWANCES are IMPORTANT!!!!! Oh my goodness! So very important! Wearable muslin (aka the slip), I had to resort to ties as well it's several INCHES too small in the waist. No biggie, as it was cheap to make and valuable lesson. I drafted my pattern (from ummm a lot of blogs). Skirt #1: Used a nice rayon that I bought for something that I can't remember. So nice and flowy! I cut my pattern and had 8 wedges to make a circle skirt. Added pockets, did french seams. Well, french seams are not so great for pockets...will have to figure that out later. Skirt #2 looks great! However, the pattern you cut out originally for 8 pieces worked great, but when you now make 4 on the fold, um those seam allowances that worked great for skirt #1, not so great for #2! Got to take in A LOT so my waistband isn't that pretty, but it's done and looks great! Its also amazing to see how finished they both look and how SAD they look w/o the slip underneath! :O This shocked me!

MAKE a MUSLIN!!! Seriously! Buy the cheap $2.99 (or at 30% 0ff)/yard muslin. Don't wash it, you're not going to wear it! Use BASTING stitches! If it fits, great! If not, look to see how you can adapt it or TOSS it!

Ok, I have more, but I've written a novel. Thank you if you've read this far...

 

[VRBeauty]

Cozystitches - thank you for posting that! One of these days I WILL get my workroom organizes so I can sew again - and heaven knows, fit is the next biggest obstacle. Contrats on perservering and on the project you've completed so far!

 

[Cozystitches]

I can't wait for the day I have my craft room!!!! Currently I sew at the kitchen table. This means that for the past week (we've been on spring break), my kitchen is trashed w/sewing supplies. I'm sure hubby will be happy when I'm done for now....at least till Easter Break at the earliest...if not till summer break

 

[VRBeauty]

I cleared out 2-3 feet of closet space today by getting rid of suits and jackets and coats that I will never wear again - many because I grew out of them a few years ago! It was a bit of a sentimental moment because in a way, I was also saying goodbye to my professional life. In fact, I added a good leather briefbag to the donation pile for good measure! This isn't my first purge or the biggest in terms of volume, but it's probably the most symbolic one. I still have a long, long way to go in weeding through my closets.

 

[packrat]

Just talked to a school mate from many years ago-I've not seen him in..22 years I think? 20? He's a long haul trucker now and happened to be in town for the first time. He contacted my brother a couple weeks ago and they met up for supper. This guy had been like my brother for many years and he left on bad terms around here. Hopefully he's got his head on straight by now. His voice sounds the same-funny how things like that bring back SO many memories.

 

[Cozystitches]

GAH! I spoke too soon! Sigh, the top I (almost) finished doesn't fit right! ARGH!!!!!!! The shoulders look weird and it's lower than I thought. I give up for now....sigh.

 

[VRBeauty]

I'm preparing my tax returns today - a necessary evil. Gathered everything together yesterday and it should all go relatively quickly if I can just stay focused and away from distractions. Wish me luck!

 

[momhappy]

^Wishing you lots of luck!

 

[VRBeauty]

My State and federal taxes are now FILED! YAY!

Now, what to do about those refunds?

 

[momhappy]

Good for you, VR!!!!

 

[VRBeauty]

My 2003 MINI Cooper needs a new transmission... ...

the death knell has sounded!

 

[Natylad]

My friend has had the diamond that I gave him set in a pendant and he's wearing it now 24/7 while recovering at his home. I feel so happy and excited!

 

[VRBeauty]

My friend has had the diamond that I gave him set in a pendant and he's wearing it now 24/7 while recovering at his home. I feel so happy and excited!

How wonderful that you've given him something positive to focus on!

 

[Jambalaya]

Found a beautiful aquamarine marquise ring in a store today! I'm thinking about it overnight but am pretty sure I'm going back to get it tomorrow!

You don't often find a great marquise-cut gemstone!

 

[Polished]

Love his pendant and how he came to acquire it natylad.