Luvs, my parents are not living but we still own their place which has the home, shop, lean to, barn, chicken house and grainery. We sold all but 100 acres and don't know if we'll ever sell it. DS has wanted to buy it but it would be alot further for him to drive to work. He owns three businesses so he's a very busy guy and I don't know if he'll want to now that he just built a new home last year. At this point it's up to me to clean, paint and keep up with maintenance after renters move out. DH cleaned the yard and garage and storage today and I shampooed two more BR's. We need to put in a new sewer system that will cost $15,000 so won't be renting until that's taken care of. The biggest issue is it has a full basement and we need to replace the pipes under it! Theres a new camera out that can go down the line and see where the problem is so will probably try that before we do anything else. I'm not wanting another renter at this time so once it's cleaned will not have to deal with it for awhile. We went out for dinner with our friends and enjoyed steak at a family resturant we have only eaten at twice. Will be going back again with the great prices and service. I ended up giving her the stemware and a different tray with roses I had painted. I just wasn't happy with the way the other turned out. I also made them BBQ country style spare ribs for tomorrow night's dinner. She didn't want to go shopping today so she said we will do it another time. Her way of saying NO MORE, I'm sure.LOL Laughed at your story about turning sprinklers off and on. That's my job so once they are on I don't shut them off unless it rains for a week straight. Is that the difference between paying for water on a meter? I'm so thankful we don't have to worry about that. If we did, I'm sure I wouldn't have all of my flowers and large yard. Can't emagine what it would cost to keep up with 2 acres. We got a nice rain tonight so that should help my flowers. DH mowed lawn for the first time and did ok with that. I'm sure glad cuz it could be more than I want to handle right now. I forgot to tell him about the bee's and he's asleep now. Darn I started painting on a ceramic santa tray tonight. I just didn't know what I wanted to paint and it jumped into my hands! It will be nice to get it finished after all these years. Hope everyone had a great weekend and got some paintin' done. Punk

What a beautiful ring! But, some comments... "set with seventy beautiful round brilliant cut sparkling white diamonds weighing 0.40 carat VS natural clarity and F natural color" There is no way that there are 70 diamonds that each weigh 0.40 carat. So, that has to be a TOTAL diamond weight of 0.40 carat. Seventy diamonds weighing a total of less than one-half carat means that they are, essentially, diamond chips. Although the photo makes it appear that the diamonds are each fully cut, there is simply no way that the diamonds in the ring you'd receive would be fully cut diamonds. (And a ring that contains 70 diamonds that are each 0.40 carat in size would be one HUGE ring.) An "F" color diamond is considered colorless, which is good. The very best color rating for a diamond is "D." The clarity of the diamonds are rated as VS - meaning they are Very Slightly flawed. But, the write-up doesn't say if they are VS1 or VS2, so I'm guessing they may be VS2. The clarity ratings go (from best to worst) as follows: Flawless, Internally Flawless, VVS1, VVS2, VS1, VS2, SI1, SI2, I1, I2, and I3. The write-up doesn't say how many sapphires are in the ring. It just says, "set with beautiful princess natural blue sapphire of 1.00 carat." So, again, that's a total carat weight of 1 carat, but you can see 11 stones (and you know there are more than that), so they would each be very small, too. I think the ring would be a stunning wedding band, but I agree with everyone who has advised you to go to a reputable local jeweler to see about having one custom made for you.

Wishing I had pix - my mother's home is full of lamps made from antiques: a large coffee grinder, wooden planes (the carpenter's type) & several kerosene lamps like the 1 pictured above - a couple have dark green glass shades, which look very nice w/ the brass. My dad made them all back in the 50s & early 60s, when it was all the rage, apparently. My parents did a lot of antiquing back in the 50s - they lived in Long Island & would drive out into the country on the weekend to auctions. Here's a pic(not mine) of what the wood planes look like - the lamps have brass tubing & drum shades covered w/ natural burlap...

I don't know much about the psychology of advertising, but I'll offer a suggestion to consider...People like to imagine a product on them. And we don't have gray necks. I think that if you could find a "model" (friend, neighbor, kid) with a fabulous neck (fabulous to me means long and wrinkle free---so unlike my own!), perhaps photoshop onto a blurry meadow-y background...maybe add a piece of chiffon and have a fan off camera..you know the effect, I'm sure. Anyway, that would sell me because I would want to be that neck in that meadow :) A bit like this, but your fabulous necklaces instead of whatever she has...