Fresh Water Pearls

I love pearls!  There is something about their simple beauty and sophistication that I find so attractive.  Years ago my sweet husband gave me my first pair of pearl earrings and I fell in love.  They are one of my favorite things to wear!

When Jennifer At My Fresh Water Pearls asked me if I wanted to review a pair of their pearl earrings, I couldn't resist the offer.

I was quickly, and I mean super fast, shipped a pair of pink pearl earrings.  I love how pearls come in a huge array of colors including green, amber, blue, pink, bronze, peach, purple, red, rose, yellow and of course the classic white.  The pink pearls that I received are beyond beautiful!  I know that these will be something that I will wear for years! 

One great thing about My Fresh Water Pearls is that they are very inexpensive.  They are great quality but very friendly to the budget.  And something that truly made my heart happy while I browsed the website is that they offer children's jewelry.  Every little girl needs a set of pearls!

My Life Focuses

For several years now I have felt that if I have 3 minutes left in my day then it is plenty of time to do one more project or be involved in one more activity.  I love feeling productive and at the end of the day have a sense of accomplishment.  After a VERY difficult pregnancy and severe postpartum depression I knew that I needed to simplify.  My husband would tell me that there just isn't enough time in the day to do everything.  In the back of my mind I would think that soon enough I would be back to my old self and dabble in a little of everything.  Isn't that what it means to be a well-rounded person?

As things continued to fall apart in my life I knew that something had to change.  It quickly came to point of me doing nothing simply because I couldn't handle doing anything.  A year has passed from this point and things have changed for the good in my life.  I have finally been able to over come the postpartum (Lucy is now 2 1/2) and feel that I can do things again.

I don't want to do a little of everything again.  I realize now how thin I was stretched and how little time I gave the truly important things.  I decided to evaluate myself and decide what things truly bring me happiness and pleasure and make those my focus.  I want to be really good at a few things than experience a little of everything and never 'master' anything.

So My Life Focus:

1- Teach My Children
2- Gardening
3- Family History
4- Healthy Lifestyle (not something I really enjoy but something that I need to learn to do)
5- Organized and Maintained House.

I have set an ultimate goal for each one and then smaller goals on how I think I may accomplish this.  This is not something that I will achieve in one year but hopefully over a life time.  Naturally my love for somethings may change but hopefully I've been able to have a level of success that can be shared with others.

A Special Birthday Wish

A very special birthday wish to Olivia.  Happy 5th Birthday!!

Wearing a special dress that her bisabuela (great-grandma) in Venezuela made for her!

Beginning Writing

Olivia is starting to show a greater interest in writing.  It rather exciting to see my 4 1/2 year old try to sound out words and write them.  Here is an example from this morning.  Olivia was organizing some cutouts I made (to use with telling stories) into different bags.  I didn't ask her to do this task, but she took it upon herself to put them into various gallon sized bags and write what each was.  One bag says pelpl (people) and the other Indinins (Indians).

I just ordered All About Spelling and looking forward to trying it out.  I think Olivia is at a perfect spot to begin this!

How to Sharpen Loppers and Hand-Pruners

Today I took into practice something that I had learned at my Master Gardener Class.  How to sharpen my pruners.  This is actually a VERY easy thing to do on your own!  All you need is some WD-40 (if needed) and a fine file.

These are my favorite pair of bypass hand pruners.  They were left out this pass summer and rusted.  This is NOT something you want to do.  Because of the rust, the blades were sticking together making pruning very difficult to do.  And since it is pruning season (fruit trees and roses), it makes my job that much harder.

First thing you want to do is give it a good spray with WD-40.  This will lubricate them and you will not have any more sticking.

On bypass blades (the top sharp blade will pass the bottom blade) there is a sharp beveled edge on one side.

On the backside you can see that there is not the beveled edge.

Take a fine file and work in ONE DIRECTION-- from the base of the blade to the top in smooth strokes.  Keep the file parallel with the beveled edge.  Do this multiple times.

Then on the backside where there is not the beveled edge, run your file over it ONCE to give it a smooth surface, taking off any some filings.

Now you have sharp pruners!