SOME TREASURES...

Well after SEVERAL hours, rivers of tears, and even some laughter, my sisters and I got a GOOD start on going through mom's things.  How I ever thought we could wrap up what was at my sisters house in a couple of hours (and yes I did) I honestly can't be sure, but we did get to the majority of it. (I think)

My mother really didn't have much in the way of worldly goods, but she did have a few nice things.  Most of her things though came with LARGE amounts of sentimental value, history and precious memories.   And considering my sisters and I are all pretty much alike when it comes to emotional attachments to things like this, we knew we were going to have to be careful no ones feelings got stepped on, and no one felt passed by.  Sooo needless to say this definitely added to the time it took to take care of all these things.  My mother had a DEFINITE jewelry thing going on.  Quite frankly she loved sparkly things, and spent most of her life collecting quite the assortment of rings, earrings, necklaces, watches, and bracelets.  SOME of the jewelry was real, MOST of it was costume, but ALL of it I can remember her wearing and enjoying well.   Even some of the older pieces she hasn't worn in years.  I can close my eyes and see her dressed to go out wearing some of her dangling fancy stuff, and some of it she wore just for everyday.  You remember the picture of my mom all dressed up with earrings etc. just to give my sister a bath, well that was a pretty good vision of my mom, haha.  Anyway, my sister had it all laid out and displayed on her dinning room table for our choosing, (she had to put the leaf in too, haha) and we all kind of gasped at the amount there was to see.  My mom kept just a little bit here (she couldn't be totally without now could she? haha) but she had a jewelry armoir she kept at my sisters to hold it all.  She had a few things that had belonged to my grandmother, my great grandmother, and to my aunt (mom's beloved sister) as well.  There was also things that had been given to her by my dad (who passed away almost 33 years ago) her original wedding ring from him, and his from her.  Anything that had belonged to my stepdad that mom was still holding onto, we of course gave to his daughters, and of course we sat things aside for our brothers and their daughters too.   45 minutes after arriving, we FINALLY decided on a plan on how we'd chose that we all considered fair to all, haha.  Yes, it was going to be a LONG day.

Now truthfully I am not much of a jewelry person.  Don't get me wrong, I like it as well as the next gal, and hubby has bought me some truly treasured pieces over our 38 years together.  But I don't put it on (with the exception of my wedding ring which pretty much never leaves my hand) unless I am going somewhere special or nice.  I might wear some earrings, but not even those very often.  I am also not much for costume jewelry.  Not sure why.  I love it on other women, and have seen some fun and pretty things, but it just isn't me.  So for me, I was choosing for sentimental reasons, and without much intention of ever wearing most of it.  I also chose with the purpose of passing some of it to Melody (who LOVES jewelry ~ seems to have some of Grandma in her in this area) and with my granddaughters in mind to be given to them by my sons when they are older.  But I can honestly say, I am just thrilled with the pieces I got.  One of them (which happens to have my birthstone in it ( a sapphire) along with some diamond chips, was one my mother wore CONSTANTLY it seemed in these last few years, and is just soo her.  Now it only fits my baby finger, (mom was soo tiny she always wore it on her middle finger) but I don't care.  I have put it on, and I may wear it always.  We will see.  But I want to show you some of things I got.

I HAVE ALREADY PLANNED TO HAVE ALL OF THIS JEWELRY PROFESSIONALLY CLEANED AND CHECKED, BUT AS I BLOW THIS UP I CAN REALLY SEE HOW BADLY THIS NEEDS TO BE DONE, BUT YOU GET THE IDEA, HAHA  I LOVE THIS!

HERE IS IT S ON MY FINGER.  I WILL WEAR IT ON MY RIGHT HAND, BUT I COULDN'T HOLD THE CAMERA AND SHOOT ETC WITH MY LEFT, HAHA, SO HERE IT IS ON MY LEFT

I GOT MY MOTHER'S CLASS RING

THIS IS PRETTY, BUT I HONESTLY DON'T REMEMBER HER WEARING IT

THESE WERE MY GRANDMOTHERS.  I REMEMBER HER WEARING THIS WATCH AS THOUGH IT WERE YESTERDAY, BUT DON'T THINK I EVER SAW THESE EARRRINGS.  THEY ARE THE OLD SCREW ON YOUR EARS KIND..

AND THIS BEAUTIFUL PIN BELONGED TO MY GREAT GRANDMOTHER.

Now there was LOTS more, some truly beautiful things, but I am not going to make you look at it all, haha.  I also got my mother's Kinkade.  How I loved this, how much it reminds me of her, and how I will treasure it is hard to describe, but I am really grateful this made it's way to me.  I have hung it over my fireplace, but it needs some adjusting in height etc., but I will show it to you so you can see it.

SEA OF TRANQUILITY...THIS PIC HAD MOM'S LOVE OF LIGHTHOUSES, AND THE OCEAN.  I LOVE IT TOO!

One of the most treasured items I also got was my mother recipe box full of favorite family recipes that are written out in her handwriting...simply priceless.  I can see her hands fingering through them, and remember the dishes, cookies, pies, and breads soo well.  I also got a couple of her mice from her vast collection of those, AND! she had a quilt that her grandmother made for her out of all of her baby dresses.  There was only one of these and we just couldn't decide who would get such a treasured item, so we decided we are actually going to divide it in fourths and we will all get a piece of it.  Which does "sound" weird, but I honestly think we can do it in such a way it will really be good.  I will finish my corner off hopefully this summer, and show you more on that later.   We still have everything here to go through, and some things still at my sisters as well.  Oh well, eventually we will get through it.  We were all soo emotional and spent by the end of the day we decided to take a break for a couple of weeks...,

I could tell you about the rest of our week-end which was soo good with our father's day celebrations and all, but it is already getting late and I am behind on my schedule for this day, so I am going to get off of here and get busy.   I have to show you a couple of pictures that Melody had taken of her new baby and little family though as I just can't resist.  I am REALLY missing them all today, good thing they are coming in August!  YAY!!

I LOVE THIS OF ALL OF THEM, BUT ESPECIALLY SWEET SAM!  HE IS GETTING TO BE SUCH A BIG BOY!

HOW DARLING IS HE?

MELODY SAID GETTING THE TWO OF THEM WAS LOTS HARDER THAN SHE THOUGHT, HAHA, SUCH A ROOKIE, SHE WILL LEARN THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING...HER PRECIOUS BABIES

KISSES

SOO SWEET!