Child Labor

Ricky joined me at work yesterday. My shelves all got dusted and my glass cases cleaned. That's why we have offspring, right? ;)

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Another School Year

Okay, am I a horrible mother, or what? I actually forgot to take "first day of school" pictures this year! Honestly, it didn't even occur to me until the end of the week! Then it was almost another whole week before I remembered to bring my camera home from work. Fortunately, it was far less distressing to my son, who gamely posed for "beginning of the school year" pictures last Thursday.

I guess the good thing about being a couple of weeks into the school year before I post his picture is that I can also report on his progress so far. Ricky's in 5th grade this year, and will be playing trombone in band again. (He just loves the band teacher.) So far every paper he's brought home has been an A, and he tested at 9th grade, 8th month level for the Accelerated Reader program. That's the highest in his class, which he thinks is pretty cool, but it also means he's required to earn the most points for reading individual books each grading period, which he's not nearly as thrilled about. I've never had to worry his academics--he makes his mother very proud--it's his "focus" we've needed to work on. And I'm happy to say he appears to be making progress there. A little over two weeks into the school year and he's only forgotten his homework folder once! Haha!

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The Driftwood Backdrop

Last month I posted about some interesting display items that a friend of mine had let me borrow to use for photographing my jewelry. I showed a picture of a cameo that I had taken on a chunk of pyrite, and the same cameo on a chunk of honey onyx. At that time I mentioned the fantastic big piece of driftwood he let me borrow, but I hadn't yet shot any photography using it. Well, I have now! I'm telling you, that thing is FANTASTIC! Every inch of it is different and every inch is beautiful and interesting. The picture above is a dichroic glass and amethyst necklace draped down the driftwood. I just love it! My friend is going to let me keep it for awhile, but sooner or later I'm going to have to get one of my own. I'm told to check out aquarium-supply places, as these large pieces of driftwood are often used to decorate big fish tanks. I sure hope I can find one as beautiful as this!

By the way, this gorgeous necklace is for sale in my Etsy shop!

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Participating in Customers' Lives

I had a couple come in this past weekend with their two children. The woman was so excited to have found my store; they had been looking around Cocoa Village for a couple of hours before one of my fellow merchants directed them to my corner. It seems that this couple had been in my store 10 years ago, looking for a stone to help them with their fertility issues. They had been unsuccessful even with in vitro fertilization efforts, and were willing to try something a little more offbeat.

At the time I had just gone through some fertility issues of my own, and my baby son was about 7 months old. I had been wearing a small ruby crystal point prior to, during, and after my in vitro procedure. I had a couple more unset ruby points and had the lady choose one that felt "good" to her and I set it so she could wear it on a chain.

From what she told me, this happened on August 5, 2000. On August 5, 2001, her daughter Julia was born! A year to the day--she was particularly delighted by that detail! (Apparently after the pressure was off, they were able to conceive their son without further issues.) They were back in the Cocoa Village area for a few days and felt they just had to come and find me and let me know that in my small way, I had helped them start their family! Too cool! The mother told me she had even thought about sending me a birth announcement and pictures, but they couldn't find the business card I had given them. She also said that she wouldn't allow the hospital to remove that ruby pendant, even while she was giving birth, and that she has it now safely put away for when her daughter is older.

Do certain stones actually work to "fix" certain problems? Speaking only for myself, I can say that you can't be around stones and work with them for as long as I have and NOT feel their energies. Who decided what stone works best for what circumstance?...I don't know. There are a number of books on the subject, and all the ones I've seen seem to agree for the most part. Is it psychosomatic? I don't know that either, but if the end result is the result you're looking for, then what does it matter?

The bottom line for me in this situation is that this lovely couple had their kids and they were so happy. I was happy for them, and delighted that I had had the opportunity to participate--even in a tiny way--in an event that was so important to them!

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