Bead Hoarder's Blog Hop

Almost exactly two years ago (June 29, 2011) my daughter married her best friend. One of many things I did was make her jewelry.

Ewww, sorry, these are NOT very good pictures. But I will have to say, the necklace and earrings turned out very nicely.

Anyway, I had quite a bit of freshwater pearls and mother of pearls left over, and I have been putting them aside for a special occasion. I guess you could say, I've been hoarding them.

Last fall, my friend who had been making jewelry for awhile, was getting out of that, and decided to sell all her beads, findings, etc. She had A LOT!!!! and I bought it all! I started separating things out by color and type of beads, for example all the crystals together, etc. She had some beautiful Swarovski Crystal hearts, and I stashed those away. 

We have another wedding coming up soon. When the bride picked her colors of pink and peridot green, and also loves hearts, I knew exactly what I wanted to propose to her for her jewelry. I got all my beads I had stashed away and started showing them to her. She really liked them. I then went to work and this is what I came up with.

This is the bride's necklace.

I used pink and green crystals with freshwater pearls. I then finished it off with a pearl chain.

Here are the mom's necklaces. I used the same pearl chain.

Here's a little closer shot of the mom's necklaces.

The bride has a sister who will be her maid of honor. The groom has a sister too. She is going to be one of her bride's maids. I used the same pearl chain for their necklaces too. Figured to keep it all in the family.

Three of the bride's close friends will be the other bride's maids. Since they are not family (and I ran out of pearl chain and could not find any more), I decided to just use a plain silver chain.

Each necklace is different. The bride's necklace has a larger, deeper pink heart, and the other necklaces have clear or lighter pink hearts. I mixed the beads around so everyone's necklace is similar but not identical.

Well, that's all I've had time for. I will need to do earrings, but know some of the girls do not have pierced ears, so I will need to know how many and what kind of earring (if any) to do.

Fundraiser Anyone?

            http://womantowomanmagazine.com/profiles/blogs/thirty-one-gifts-fundraising

Hey all you team fans, are you looking for a fun easy way to earn some money for your school team or group? Well, do I have the answer for you! Yes! with Thirty One Gifts.

There are so many colors and things to choose from; and you can get it personalized too. If you are interested in earning some money for the team, let me know and I can help. Band, dance, cheer, baseball, soccer, softball, volleyball, etc., all would be good things to fundraise for.  

I am a independent consultant for Thirty One Gifts, and their products are very nice. If you are interested in fundraising, you can visit my facebook at Wonderful World of Bags, etc... You can also shop by hopping on over to my site at https://www.mythirtyone.com/TerryJeanetteCarter/

LAST TRIP BEFORE THE END OF SUMMER...

Can you believe how fast the summer has gone?! I guess being busy helps everything to go fast. I really don't like the summer to go by too fast though. I enjoy the lazy hot days. But, alas, it is about to wrap up. But not before I take my one last trip. This time it's just me. I am tagging along with my two sister in laws and two small children, brother in law, and possibly my mother in law.

It has been on again off again for me, but, unless something drastic happens, I'm going; and I am looking forward to it!  We are taking the 1600 + mile trip in a van. Yep, you read right, we are driving. For the most part, I don't  mind. You see our beautiful country that way.

Whenever we travel out west, I envision the pioneers and all they went through; especially the handcart pioneers. Wow!

http://www.mormonshare.com/lds-clipart/handcart-pioneers-approaching-salt-lake-valley
I can't even imagine the trials, discomfort and hardships these early settlers went through. I am surprised that our schools don't teach this part of our history; that families (young and old) actually walked, pulling a HAND cart thousands of miles to the west. If you haven't heard about this time in our nations' history, I think you would find it quite interesting...I challenge you to Google search it. :)

Anyway...I am headed to Utah in less than a week. I am going to miss Bill and Scott, but when I get back, our youngest son, Benjamin will be home from college in Idaho. That will be a happy reunion.

Well, tomorrow I will be doing my laundry and packing as I go!

Laundry's Done!

Ya know...you'd think I would be the skinniest women around. But I'm not.

(you didn't think I'd post a fat picture? NO! actually, I have very few pictures of me, and I had to post one of my better pics, lol)

Pilates twice a week, yoga three times a week, swimming a mile five days a week and treading water for an hour each Monday through Friday, plus all those stairs I run up and down each day.

Yes stairs....

We have a two story home. Seems like anything I want is upstairs if I am down, and vice versa. 

Laundry...not as bad as when we had four little ones at home, but it still seems to always be there. I have found that using the Large Utility Tote to put my clean laundry in works very well. So, instead of taking a gillion trips up and down the stairs to put clothes away, I just fold them up, put them in my totes and make ONE trip up those steps.

august is still a summer month!

Where has the summer gone!? It is already mid July, just over a month before school starts, yep school starts. Can you believe it? I remember, as a kid, not going back to school until AFTER Labor Day. This always gave us time to travel from Florida to Colorado (in an car; half the time with no air), to spend with extended family.

about 1972 with my mom, two little sister's and my grandparents between Pueblo and Colorado Springs; on Skyline Drive.

I was born August 17th, and I NEVER went to school on my birthday. Today, people look at August as a fall month and schools start on or around that day. 


surfing at Cocoa Beach, FL

August is a summer month. One that should be filled with the sound of children playing at the neighborhood pool or at the beach. The fragrance of suntan lotion and swimming pool chlorine should be in the air. Sunglasses and sunscreen should be adorning our bodies. Instead, the children are in their classrooms with the smell of new textbooks, paper and pencils. With their eyes glued to the teacher and the blackboard, and their little fingers copying notes to take home and study that evening.  No summer fun music to fill the air, instead, just the voice of a lecturing instructor. 


Cocoa Beach, FL

Seems like school starts earlier and earlier each year. This year the kids go back August 7 in our district. They say, they need to study more so the children can do better on the test scores. REALLY!?  Seems ever since they started testing the kids, they have been doing worse and worse in school. Do you really think having them in school more hours, more days, will improve test scores. I don't. 

Don't get me wrong, children DO need to be in school, we all need to get as much education as possible. But we also need breaks. We need family time. I can remember as a child, all the kids outside playing, riding their bikes around the block. Today, how many children do you see outside.  

Just the other day we had  beautiful weather, temperatures in the mid 80's sun shining, perfect to be outside (I would have been out there if it weren't for my 102 fever). Do you know how many people I saw outside yesterday...? ZERO, NADA. Yep, no one was outside (and I looked). Instead they were either in their homes playing video games or in daycare. Hmmm, daycare. I never knew anyone that went to daycare when I was growing up; and no we were not rich...by a loooong shot. Back then, moms stayed home, but I'm not going to step on any toes with that one. That is a whole other thought.  

Back to the subject at hand, school starting way too early, and August becoming a fall month. In my book August will always be that month that had the beach ball, sand pails and shovels, or toes in the sand and umbrellas and beach chairs on the calendar page. It was and will always be the month of the beach, the end of summer, not the beginning of fall...

Who's Your Favorite College?

http://www.thirtyonegifts.com/brigham-young-university/

Hey, all you BYU fans!!!!

What you think?

http://www.thirtyonegifts.com/louisiana-state-university/

There is one for you, LSU fans!!!

http://www.thirtyonegifts.com/university-of-kentucky/

Yep, you too, UK fans.

http://www.thirtyonegifts.com/collegiate-spirit/

In fact if you click on the above link, you can see all your favorite colleges and ideas as to what you can get with their logo on it.

I am an independent consultant and I hope you stop by my facebook (Wonderful World of Bags, etc...) or check out my website at https://www.mythirtyone.com/TerryJeanetteCarter/

Happy Birthday, Jadyn!!!

Yesterday, we had a really nice time at my great niece's birthday/pool party. I can't believe how cool this summer has been! We had very little sun and it was just a tad bit nippy. I was a little nervous about the water. But!!!! It was 86 degrees...the water that is. It felt soooo nice!

I was in the pool for quite awhile; long enough to get wrinkly fingers and toes. I was not looking forward to getting out, so my sister in law and I just treaded water for a loooong while.....

Finally, I got out and put on dry clothes. The kids were still in the pool and I just sat there watching and taking pictures. I really find it hard to believe that I have GREAT nieces and nephews. For a minute there I felt as if I was watching our kids, and my sister in law's kids. Unbelievable how the time has gone by!

We don't have grandchildren yet, but someday we will. We were late in starting our family, and will be late in getting grandkids; but that's ok, I think that is maybe why everyone think's I'm younger, because our kids are younger.

Something else I enjoyed while sitting there in my own little world was all the beautiful flowers and other plants in their garden. In all it was just a very nice day.....!

Welcome to Wonderful World of Bags, etc...

Well, got my Facebook group all set up. It's called Wonderful World of Bags, etc...

Hope ya'll come visit my site soon and "like" it. When you head over there, click the about button, and you will see why I've started this, and my website for shopping, ordering, and just getting to know the company.

I'm A Thirty-One Consultant!!!

mythirtyone.com

Well, I did it! I am now a Thirty-One consultant. My sister started selling these bags, and since they are such a good quality bag, I decided to try to go into the business too. Heck, I have kids (yes, that is plural) in college, so I decided to see about making a little extra money. All of us use bags...a lot. We use them when we go out of town, when we go shopping, or to put our lunch in or our scrapbooking stuff in, knitting and crochet and other crafts, etc. 

Sure you can buy bags most everywhere, and yes, they are cute, but the quality of many of the bags is just not there. You wind up spending less at first, but in the long run, when you have to replace that bag in just a few months, you wind up spending more.

A few months ago, I took a cruise with my husband and our mothers to the Bahamas. While we were there, I bought this bag. Cute, don't ya think? Well, of course I like it, it has pink flamingos on it...

I was carrying this bag back and forth to the gym and pool. Yes, that is yellow duct tape holding it together. I love this bag. It has been to the beach numerous times and was a great bag, but alas, I needed to get a new one.

In March, my sister started selling bags from Thirty-One. I had never heard of them, but decided to give it a try. My first purchase was this cool bag. I love the color and it has been a great bag for the pool and gym. Funny thing is, everyone at the pool has one like it.

I also bought this bag. I love all the pockets and it is great for my crochet crafts. I do believe I need another one. While this is big enough for several projects (unless you have a big blanket you are working on), it does get a bit confusing and messy if you have more than one project going on in the same bag. Right now I have my crochet stuffed birds and my crochet ladder necklace stuff in this bag.

Back in May, I decided to have an online party, and was able to get this bag thermal bag for half  price. It is great to take when we go to Sam's. My husband took it to work the other day with a bunch of fish and hushpuppies. It kept everything nice and warm til they were ready to eat. Yes, it had a fishy smell in it afterward, but I just sprinkled some baking soda in it and it went away.

As a hostess, I got this thermal bag too. It will be great to take when we go on trips. I also took this to Sam's the other day, and it sure came in handy.

Last month I had another party. Thirty-One was having this great deal; if you bought $35 worth of stuff, you got one of these totes for $10. I wound up getting two. They also came in handy when we went to Sam's. We only go to Sam's every couple months or so, so we tend to buy a lot when we go. It's nice to have these bags so our stuff doesn't go rolling over the back and when we get home, we don't have to take so many trips bringing our food in.

These things hold quite a bit too!

Well, if anyone is interested is these great bags or any other purses or bags Thirty-One sells, let me know, even if you don't live here in our town. Your order can be shipped right to your doorstep for an extra $4. Or, better yet, have a party...a virtual party. You can head on over to my web page, which should be set up in the next few days. Just leave me a message, and I'll make sure to get back to you with the details. I'm sure once I get everything started up, I will be blogging about this adventure. Hey! In a few days, I will be getting my start up kit, and I will be showing you some of the cool products. 

By the way, my web page is https://www.mythirtyone.com/379433/

WE HAVE THE CRAZIEST WEATHER!

As I have mentioned before, we have moved...A LOT! Every place we have lived, and a lot of places we have visited, we hear the same ole thing, "We have the craziest weather!" 

Since I've been pretty much all over the United States, I can say, every state has it's wild weather. Being from Florida, I have witnessed hurricanes, tornadoes, and very hot and humid weather. Believe it or not, it can get pretty cold too. I know, most of you from the north don't believe it, but I have talked to people who were from very cold states (Idaho, Utah, Colorado), who thought the same thing, until they actually lived in Florida during it's brief winter. I have been told by these people, that they could not believe how cold it was, and agreed that it felt MUCH colder than what the temperature said. "The cold goes right down to the bone!" I believe we can blame that on the humidity.

Awww, the humidity. That is another interesting topic. Most everyone who has been to Flordia knows humidity (unless they have not been there during the summer). The temperatures my say 90's in the summer, but factoring in the humidity, it feels much hotter. Ok, so what about this past January when I was in Idaho and it was 16 BELOW with relative humidity of 77%? What!? How is that? My hair was standing on end, every time I touched someone I would shock them, and my skin was shedding like a snake. How can that be? I mean 77% relative humidity?  Key word---RELATIVE.  Also you need to factor in the dew point.

There is a really good article that explains it here.

Basically, 77% relative humidity in higher, colder climates, are not the same as 77% humidity in the tropics.

Ok, back to wild weather. It is my opinion, that every state has it's wild weather. I've been in Colorado before when we woke up to frost and very cold temperatures, and by afternoon it was pushing 100. Now that is pretty wild! Now let's take Florida...in most parts, you can pretty much set your watch with the afternoon storms that roll in. I can remember going to the beach as a kid. You better get out there early, because by about 1:00, the storms start rolling in. You could see them coming in from the ocean. Everyone would pack up and head home. By the time I got home (which was less than 12 miles) it would be sunny again. Time to jump in the pool and enjoy some more sun! That was pretty much how our summer went while we were growing up.

I guess no matter where you live, you will always hear people say, that their weather is the craziest. In my opinion, every state has it's crazy weather.

By the way here is a good article about "America's Wildest Weather.