Standing on Shaky Ground

I've been experiencing a  very uneasy feeling for the past few weeks.  It feels kind of like the floor is shaking and the foundation of my life is threatening to give out beneath my feet.  I've been waking up in the middle of the night worried about my marriage, my job, and my children. 

My marriage has always been a very good one, but lately it seems that it is being tested.  In December 2010, my husband's granddaughter Adeline came to live with us due to some rather unfortunate circumstances.  She was 2 years old at the time and then turned 3 in January.  She wasn't potty trained at the time and was under serious emotional duress.  Both my husband's children and mine are grown and it has been a major life change taking her into our custody.  It has changed our lives drastically and has taken somewhat of a toll on our relationship because we don't get to spend as much time together as we did before.

Since my husband and I met, I have been on a computer most of the time working on classes,  looking for good airline fares and trips, doing ancestral research and just being the information junkie that I am. Not long after Adeline came to live with us, I got onto Facebook to talk with family and some friends. I'm not on Facebook to look for hook-ups or anything like that!  I like Facebook for the fact that it enables me to keep up with my children, cousins, and people that I knew in school.  I've made a few friends there, but they are just friends.  My husband hates the fact that I'm on Facebook and we ended up having another huge argument over it last weekend.

This really makes me feel like I am a 15 year old girl again, living at home with my parents and my father is riding my ass because I'm doing something that he doesn't like!  I just can't stand it!  I guess he feels like he's not my 1st priority anymore, which is untrue.  I work all day long and then come home and help to take care of Adeline and the household.  I don't go anywhere else!  I've worked hard to get where I am now in life and I really don't want people telling me what I can and can't do, especially in my own home!

Another dark cloud on the horizon is my job.  I'm not sure how much longer the project that I'm on will have work for me.  I'm hoping to get onto another project, but it doesn't look like this will happen until later on in the year.  There's also what could be snag on this new project.  I just found out that a person that I had a run-in with back in 2006 has taken a position on this project and is working directly for the Project Manager.  I've interacted with this person since the run-in and things have been okay, but there's this nagging worry in the back of my mind that they might try to keep me from getting onto this project by telling the Project Manager their side of the "run-in" story.  It's not like the run-in was anything terrible, but people can be funny.  The economy is not good and there is not an abundance of work out there.  I don't want to have to take a job in another state and move everybody again, but it might come down to that if I don't get onto this new project.  I'm quite worried about this!

And last, but not least, I'm worried about my children.  They live in a different state far from us and I'm not there locally to see them on a frequent basis or help them first hand, if needed.  My daughter just got married last year and she and her husband moved into their own apartment.  They are really struggling to make ends meet.  This makes me feel very bad!  Although they do need to learn how to live on a tight budget, I feel that I could help them more if I lived closer.

Then there's my son, who I anguish about constantly.  He's been living off of monies for the past few years from a settlement he received due to a near fatal car accident that he was in back in 2007.  He's not a very motivated person and doesn't take the best care of himself.  He's on anti-seizure medications as a result of the car accident, and when he doesn't take his medicine or get enough rest and hydration, he ends up throwing Grand Mal seizures. Fortunately, he lives in the same townhouse complex as my daughter and her husband, who look in on him on a frequent basis.  Unfortunately, my daughter witnessed his last episode with seizures and was very unnerved by what she saw.  Again, I feel bad that I don't live closer so that I could help him some more.  I'm so afraid that I'm going to get a call one day with news that he is dead.  He's 21 years old, so all I can do right now is pray that he'll be okay.  This is not a good feeling!

The bottom line is, all I can do is my absolute best and keep praying that all will work out okay.  I hope that time will stabilize this shaky ground that I'm standing on right now.

So, my song for today's post is a cool, funky tune that I used to listen to back when I was a kid:

There ain't nothing like some funky music to make living on the edge more bearable!

Journey to the Panama Canal

We go on a trip for the Christmas holidays every year.  We spent last Christmas in Hawaii.  I just booked this year's holiday and we're going on a 10 day Panama Canal Cruise with Princess Cruiseline.  We'll be sailing on a ship named the Island Princess..  This is pretty exciting as we've been wanting to cruise to the Panama Canal for a while now.  Here is the itinerary:

Day	Port of Call	Arrival Time	Departure Time
1	Fort Lauderdale		4:00 PM
2	At Sea
3	At Sea
4	Aruba	7:00 AM	12:30 PM
5	Cartagena Colombia	9:00 AM	3:00 PM
6	Cruising Panama Canal	5:00 AM	3:30 PM
6	Colon	5:00 PM	8:00 PM
7	Limon	7:00 AM	6:00 PM
8	At Sea
9	Grand Cayman	7:00 AM	5:00 PM
10	At Sea
11	Fort Lauderdale	7:00 AM

Here are descriptions of the ports of call:

Fort Lauderdale
This vast array of wonderful beaches offers you opportunities to swim with the dolphins in a tropical lagoon and come face-to-face with alligators during an Everglades airboat tour. Or stroll through a tropical rainforest while hundreds of butterflies flutter above you.

Aruba
Balmy weather, silky sand, aquamarine waters and invigorating trade winds beckon over half a million tourists each year to this small, secluded paradise. Casinos, tennis clubs and resorts have their place here, but cactus jungles, wild parakeets and Carnival dancers are the main attractions.

Cartagena Colombia
A beautiful, quaint fishing town on the Atlantic coast of Colombia, Cartagena is full of pastel-painted buildings, Spanish colonial architecture and magnificent cathedrals. Walls and fortresses, once constructed to protect the city from British soldiers and pirates, still stand.

Cruising Panama Canal
This $387 million dollar, 51-mile-long canal connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Completed by the U.S. from 1904-1914 under teddy Roosevelt, it is considered one of the greatest engineering marvels of all time.

Colon
The world’s second-largest duty-free port is also the second largest city in Panama. The city was founded in 1850 by Americans working on the trans-Panama railroad and was named Aspinwall until 1890. It serves as the portal to the massive Gatun Locks.

Limon
Located on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica, Limon is noted as the landing spot for Christopher Columbus’ fourth and final voyage. Serving as a gateway to the capital city of San Jose, the city is known as the "Little Switzerland of Central America” for its kaleidoscope of scenery.

Grand Cayman
The largest of the three Cayman Islands features British infused charm and Caribbean mystique. Dive and snorkel in Stingray City, walk the breathtaking shores of Seven Mile Beach, and dance in Club Inferno - located in a small city called Hell.

We booked a Penthouse Suite, which will look somewhat like this:

Princess Cruises

Cabin Type	Group Name	Cabin Name
PS - Suite with Balcony	Suite	PS

The Suite with Balcony features two twin beds (that are convertible to a queen-size bed), a sofa bed, sitting area and private balcony.

Penthouse Suite with Balcony

The suite that we booked is actually named "Maldives" and is on the 10th Deck, called the Dolphin Deck.

We are really looking forward to going on this cruise!  It is so exciting going to exotic places!  December, here we come!

Don't Go Away!

I met a good friend (I'll call her "Angie" to protect her privacy) on Facebook a while back as a direct result of a nasty encounter that I had on one of another Facebook friend's threads. This other friend's posts are often very controversial and usually result in some big-time cat fighting in threads that go on for days! I usually find these threads more entertaining than anything on television. However, there are times when they have truly gotten out of hand. A good number of folks have actually run away from these threads cut and bleeding, never to be heard from again! I regret to say that my friend Angie may have joined the ranks of the cut and bleeding in exile.

It all started out one day shortly after I commented on a thread about Rush Limbaugh. I got attacked by a particularly nasty person for using the term "GG" to refer to women who need to use contraceptives in order to prevent pregnancy. The term "GG" means "Genetic Girl" and I quickly found out that day that there are some trans-women who do not like the term because it "differentiates" them from cisgendered women. However, I have seen many trans-women using this very same term all of the time on Facebook and elsewhere and never saw it as being derogatory.

I am very much an ally of the Transgender Community and it really bothered me that somebody was making me out to be a hater. Needless to say, this person was particularly horrible and tried to bring others into the fray behind my back because she couldn't handle fighting with me one-on-one. To make a long story short, the next day, I saw "Angie" mention the term on a post and I asked her about it. This question led to what has been a very nice Facebook friendship!

Since that day, Angie and I have talked virtually every day about all kinds of subjects. We were even going to meet to have some lunch one day since we both live somewhat close to each other in Texas. Unfortunately, something happened on one of those "threads" that I talked about above and it resulted in some "unfriending" and some subsequent nasty comments that were "liked" by people that "Angie" thought were her friends.

The last time that we talked, which was a few days ago, "Angie" said that she needed some time away from Facebook and then she deactivated her account.  She gave me her telephone number a while back and I sent her a text to tell her that I miss talking with her, but she hasn't responded. I feel very bad about not being able to talk with her anymore! We have had just a really easy friendship where we can talk about everything and it has been so nice!  I don't want to lose this friendship! 

I'm going to dedicate a special song to my friend and I hope that she'll come back soon because I miss her!

Here's to the nice, easy friendship that I've enjoyed with you, "Angie"!

Don't go away!  Say what you say!  Say that you'll stay, as my friend!

05/23/12  Update

I tried to call the number that "Angie" gave me a while back, but got a recording that the number "was not in working order".  I guess she really is doing a disappearing act.  I hope that she is okay!

08/30/12 Update

"Angie" did come back after a few days and we've continued our friendship.  She an I have met several times in person, along with Kim, another good FB friend.  I consider her and Kim to be dear friends!

Cool Shades

Until just recently, I had a really cool pair of Juicy Couture sunglasses that I bought for an excellent price on sale at my Eye Doctor's office last year.  I took special care not to lose them and always kept them in their pretty pink case in my purse when I wasn't using them.  Well, one weekend not too long ago, we went shopping at SAM's Club and Adeline announced that she had to go to the potty.  I was pretty tired and the weather outside was crappy, so I was dragging.  I brought Adeline into the bathroom and set my sunglasses on the toilet paper holder while I helped her use the bathroom.  Unfortunately, in my tired state, I forgot to pick up my sunglasses and we walked out of the bathroom.  I remembered them about ten minutes later and ran back into the bathroom, but somebody had already taken them.  I have called SAM's for the past few weeks asking if anybody turned them into the Lost and Found, but fat chance!  There is no way whoever found them is going to let go of my sunglasses that they put into their purse and are now wearing.

This makes me so mad!  How could somebody be so dishonest!  Whoever took them knew that their owner would be looking for them!  In all honesty, I'm not really into buying designer items.  It just so happened that those sunglasses were really pretty and I got them for a steal of a price at my doctor's office.

Today I had my yearly eye exam and my doctor had just received a shipment of some beautiful sunglasses at her office. It is getting pretty hot and sunny here in Dallas now and I truly needed to get some shades.  A pair of Vera Wang Black Evon Sunglasses really caught my eye.  I tried them on and liked them immediately, so I bought them.  They were a bit pricey, but I don't go out buying expensive items very often.

Here is a picture of the sunglasses:

Vera Wang Black Evon Sunglasses

Here is a picture of me playing around with my new sunglasses later today:

Mae with her new shades

They have some really cool bling on the temples that sparkles whenever light hits it.  I love my new shades and one thing's for sure, I won't be setting these babies down in any SAM's Club Ladies Room or anywhere else!

Mommy's Got a New Toy!

I've just acquired a brand new toy, and his name is Roomba!  The company that I work for has what is called "Pride Awards" for which an employee's peers or managers can nominate them.  There are points values assigned for each award, depending on how big or how good of a job the employee did to be nominated.  There is a "Pride" Store where the employee can go and select prize(s) within the points value that the employee has been awarded.

I just received two rather large awards recently for my work on some long, hard jobs that were successfully completed and delivered to the customer.  After I graciously accepted my awards, I went to the catalog to look at what I wanted to get for my points.  I saw a Cuisinart Digital Kitchen Scale that I really liked.  I like to weigh portions of  meat before cooking them to ensure that I get the right portion size for calorie control.  Then I saw Roomba!  I remember seeing him before, but at the time I didn't have enough points to get him.  This time I did have enough points, so I ordered both Roomba and the Kitchen Scale.

Here is a video of Roomba doing his thing in one of our bedrooms:

I love having a really clean house and as we all know, that takes a lot of work, especially when everybody works full time and has many responsibilities!  Well, this is where Roomba comes in!  Roomba is a robot vacuum cleaner.  He uses a spiral motion to efficiently clean the whole floor, under and around furniture and along walls. And the best part about Roomba is that all you have to do is hit a button and he vacuums the floors!  He can do 3 rooms at at time.  When he's finished, he goes back to his docking station.  Watching him dock is really cool as he looks like a flying saucer docking at home base! 

Here is a video of Roomba docking after he finished vacuuming the bedroom and bathroom:

The only thing that he doesn't vacuum is stairs, but that's okay, I'm so glad to have him!  I'll get Roomba to vacuum 3 times a week to get up the dust that falls so quickly here in Texas, especially under the couches and beds!  Folks that I've talked to that have a Roomba have said that he really helps to reduce their allergies at home, which is great!

Now, if I can only  find a robot that does dishes, laundry and the rest of the housecleaning . . .

Fireworks in Vegas

We own an RCI affiliated time share and I just booked this year's time share vacation at the Wyndham Grand Desert in Las Vegas, Nevada for a week starting on July 1st and ending on July 8th.  Yes, we'll be spending the 4th of July in Vegas!

We've never stayed at this resort before, but we had an excellent experience at the Wyndham Sedona last Thanksgiving and this one looks to be very similar.  This resort is a 5-minute walk from the Las Vegas Strip. It offers 3 outdoor pools and a free shuttle service to the Strip from 9:00 AM - 10:00 PM.  Here is what it looks like from the outside:

Wyndham Grand Desert Resort in Las Vegas

I've seen this resort before.  It's very close to the Embassy Suites on Swenson Street, which is where we've stayed in the past when visiting Vegas.  It's near the Hard Rock Cafe and a really cool restaurant called "Hofbrau Haus", where traditional German dishes like Sauerbrauten and Snitzel are on the menu, along with live Polka music and a plentiful supply of German beer that one can drink in a stein.  Ja, behalten Sie das Bier, das bitte kommt!

We will be staying in a "One Bedroom Deluxe", which is a spacious apartment with a private bedroom with a king bed; a living room with a pull-out sofa; a bathroom; an in-unit washer and dryer; and a jacuzzi in a separate room. There is also free Wi-Fi and a flat-screen cable TV with a DVD player.  It also has a full kitchen, offering a stove, oven, cookware, dishes, utensils, microwave, toaster, refrigerator and coffee and tea maker.

The resort has outdoor pools and 4 hot tubs and offers massage services, a gym and a game room.
The University of Nevada, Las Vegas and McCarran International Airport are each half a mile away. 

Here is a picture of the Floor Plan for the room where we'll be staying:

One Bedroom Deluxe Floor Plan

Here is a picture of what the room looks like:

One Bedroom Deluxe - Living Room View

Having a full kitchen will be great as we will be able to make our own meals.  Whenever we go to Vegas, we drive out to Nellis Air Force Base and buy food and drinks, including wine and beer.  This saves a lot of money!

Although we're not gamblers, there are plenty of other things to do there.  It's really fun to visit all of the hotels and The Venetian is really a great one as it has Venetian Gondola rides there! We always like to see a few shows.  The last time we were there we saw Ka and The Phantom of the Opera.  Both shows were magnificent!  Another cool thing to do there is to go down to old-time Vegas on Fremont Street and see the light show that they have there at night.  It is so cool!  The Grand Canyon isn't really far away and that is a beautiful place to see!

It will surely be hot there we go, but I don't mind as we won't be spending too much time outdoors.  There are several casinos that are going to have fireworks, so there's one thing for sure, and that is there will be plenty of fireworks in Vegas!

The Last Straw (I Hope!)

I had an appointment with my gynecologist this afternoon after work to get an Endometrial Biopsy.  This was necessary due to some female problems that I've been having as of late. This procedure enabled my doctor to take a small sample of the lining of  my uterus. This sample will be looked at under a microscope in a lab for abnormal cells.  It will also help my doctor to see if there are any problems in the endometrium and check to see if my hormone levels affecting it are in balance.  Here is a picture of a medical diagram showing where the endometrium is in the uterus:

Medical Diagram Showing the Endometrium

My doctor performed this biopsy just as a safeguard before another procedure that I'll be getting in about two weeks, which I'll talk about later in this post.

During this biopsy procedure, the doctor inserts a long, thin straw (pipette) into the uterus to suction small tissue samples of the endometrium.  The straw resembles the kind that come with box juices, only it is obviously a lot longer.  When the straw enters into the uterus, it can cause some pretty intense cramping, but for me it only lasted for a few minutes.  These tissue samples are then placed into a small container and then sent off to the lab for analysis. After the doctor took the tissue samples, she applied a mustard colored antibiotic solution to the affected areas to help prevent infection.  This solution caused a temporary itching sensation in those areas. The procedure itself only lasted about 20 minutes. I'm glad that it is over and hope that it will be the "last straw" for me, pun intended! 

Once the procedure was finished, the nurse gave me this giant sanitary pad that looked like a Sumo wrestler's mawashi (diaper)!  It's a good thing that I've recently lost a few pounds and that my pants are loose!  Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to pull them up the whole way!  

I have an appointment with the doctor next Wednesday to go over the biopsy results and have further discussion regarding the Endometrial Ablation that I'll be having in another few weeks.  My doctor will perform this procedure using a robotic device to destroy (ablate) the lining in my uterus in order to treat the abnormal uterine bleeding I have had lately.  I'm not worried about this right now and I'll cross that road when I come to it!  Although I very much enjoy being a woman, this is a part of it that I could do without!

After I left the doctor's office, I went to the Waikiki Nail Spa to get a hot stone pedicure and manicure, which felt heavenly!  It made up for the discomfort that I experienced earlier.  Here I am at the Spa getting my manicure and pedicure: 

Mae Getting Manicure and Pedicure at the Waikiki Nail Spa

After my manicure and pedicure, I stopped to pick Adeline up at school and then we went home.  It was "picture day" at school today and we dressed her up in her "pretty kitty" dress and did her hair in pigtails with pretty hair ties.  Here is a picture of her in her dress that I took after school today:

Adeline in her "Pretty Kitty" Dress

She looked adorable and I hope that she smiled for her picture today!

A Tight Squeeze

After work today, I went to get a mammogram at Solis Women's Health in Plano. Women are supposed to get one every year, but it has been a couple of years since I have had one. 

They have a really nice office and everybody there was very courteous and nice!  Once they check you in,  they have you take off your shirt and bra and put on a cape.  After a short wait, the technician calls you into a room with the mammogram machine.  The technician had the images from my previous mammogram up so that she could compare the new images with them.

The technician asks you to take one side of the cape off and then presses a foot pedal to adjust to the height of your left breast. The technician positions your breast sideways on a flat plate and then presses a pedal to bring another plate down to flatten it as much as possible. The technician then asks you to hold your breath while she runs over to flip a switch to take the image.  This takes an image of the breast as well as the muscle behind it. It really hurt on my left side, but fortunately, it was only for a few seconds.  After getting a sideways image, the technician positions the breast on top of the plate and presses a pedal to have another plate press  the top of the breast down as flat as possible the other way.  This position was somewhat uncomfortable, but wasn't as bad as the first.  The picture below shows what happens during the second "squeeze" session.  Please note that this is not me in the picture!

Woman (not me!) Getting a Mammogram

After the left breast is done, you get to do the same thing all over again on your right breast! For some reason, it wasn't bad at all on the right side for me.  The technician asked me to sit for a minute while she looked at the images. She said that they looked really "purdy" but that a radiologist would have to review them.  If the radiologist sees any problems, their office will contact me.  If not, I'll receive a letter in the mail indicating that my mammogram results were normal.  I hope that I receive the letter and not a phone call!

When the technician did the first "squeeze", I felt a moment of panic at how trapped I felt and how uncomfortable it was.  However, I can't even imagine how frightening it must be for women who have breast cancer and have to have a mastectomy and chemotherapy!  That must be a truly frightening and painful experience!

Update - June 20, 2012

I received a letter from Solis saying that my Mammogram result were normal.  I'm so glad!

Mother's Day 2012

The first thing that I'd like to do on this Mother's Day 2012 is remember my mother Nora West, who passed away in August 2008.  Happy Mother's Day, Mom!  I really miss you and wish that you were here to celebrate it with us!

We got up this morning and got Adeline dressed and ready to spend some time with her mother, grandparents and other relatives on her mother's side of the family. Once she and her mother left, we went to the gym and worked out for a while and then went to SAM's Club to stock up on some things that we needed.

We went home and took a nap and then went out for Mother's Day dinner at Carabba's.  It was a very nice time!  I had my usual Manicotti and we all had a glass of wine. The waitress brought Adeline some pizza dough to play with like play dough.  She enjoyed her pizza, colored and played with her dough. Hernan, Adeline and I sat on one side of the booth.    

Mae, Adeline and Hernan

Alex and Danni joined us for dinner and they sat on the other side of the booth.

Alex and Danni

Nicole, Justin and Anne all called to say Happy Mother's Day, which was very sweet!  I was very glad to hear from them all.

Now we are home getting everything ready to go back to work tomorrow.  The weekends are always way too short!

Happy Mother's Day 2012!

If You Don't Want Advice, Don't Ask for it!

I remember a story that my dear mother told me regarding an incident that she had with one of her "friends".  This friend's name was "Pat", and just to set the story right, I'm going to briefly describe "Pat" to anybody who cares to read this post.  Pat went to our church and used Mass on Sunday as her weekly fashion show.  For some reason, my parents asked her to be my sister's Godmother.  Now I will say, Pat and her mother were very good to my sister and always brought her little presents.  However, Pat gossiped terribly about everybody, including my mother.  She criticized my mother's homemaking skills, saying that we "had such a lovely home, and that it was such a shame that Nora (my mother) didn't keep it nice and neat".  This was really something coming from Pat, who had no children and lived with her mother in an apartment!  I could go into a lot more detail about things that Pat did to my mother, but this post really isn't about that.

Anyway, Mom called me up one day and told me that Pat had recently come and asked for her advice.  Mom gave the matter some serious thought and then gave Pat her honest, but diplomatic advice.  Pat then proceeded to get really upset and left in a huff.  She then proceeded to tell the whole town, church, Tobyhanna Army Depot, and anybody else who would listen that Mom "was mean to her".  After telling me about this "incident", my mother advised me "to be very careful about giving advice to people, because they usually just want you to tell them something that they want to hear instead of the truth".

Well, it turned out that Mom gave me some very solid advice!  Not too long ago, I met a Facebook "friend" through one of my other friends.  This "friend" is quite young and extremely troubled.  He messaged me yesterday and asked for my advice regarding something that he wanted to do that was very dangerous and could get him either into terrible trouble or dead.  I talked to him for a while, providing honest but caring advice about how this was not the right path to take and that it was likely that his current situation didn't warrant him to go this way.  Well, true to Mom's prediction, he got really nasty to me because this is not what he wanted to hear.  He wanted for me to approve of his taking the proverbial  "Highway to Hell"!  He then said that he "was done with me" and proceeded to unfriend and block me on Facebook.  Yes siree, no good deed goes unpunished!

Now, this is what I have to say about this incident and to anybody who ever wants to ask me for advice:

If you don't want my advice, don't ask for it!

I am very honest and will not lie to my friends and tell them what they want to hear!  Anybody who is a true friend will give their friends the best, honest advice possible, especially when they are headed for trouble!

So, to my dear "ex" FB friend:  Honey, you are about to merge onto the "Highway to Hell"!  Please take the next exit before you ruin your life or get killed before you even have one!  And to top off this "advice" that you obviously don't want to hear, here's a little AC/DC to put some music to the story:

Oh, and by the way, I still care about you, even though you were really nasty to me for being honest.  I will pray that you'll eventually get some sense, get on the right track and find happiness!

In closing, I would like to say "Rest in Peace" to both my dear mother Nora West and her friend Pat.  

My Mother's Treasures

My dear mother Nora Reilly West never had a lot of material possessions, but she always treasured her family and friends!  For as long as I can remember, she had boxes secreted in her lingerie drawer which contained pieces of jewelry that were given to her throughout the years. I always got so excited when she would go into her boxes on occasion to show me her jewelry!  Sadly, she left us all and her worldly possessions behind when she died on August 24, 2008.  Here is my mother in her high school senior portrait:

Nora Reilly West - St. Mary's Academy Senior Portrait

My sister Katie left a message for me on Friday, April 20th to say that I would be receiving a box on Saturday at my house.  She wouldn't tell me what was in the box, but asked me to read the letter that she had included first before opening it.  True to her word, the box arrived on Saturday afternoon and I read her letter first before opening it.  The box had several boxes within it containing most of my mother's jewelry collection!  I couldn't believe it!

Mom's jewelry collection doesn't contain hugely expensive pieces.  She did have a 1 carat diamond engagement ring that she wanted to leave to me, but towards the end of her days, somebody at the hospital helped themselves to it.  It was a shame that it was stolen!  We shouldn't have let her keep it on her finger in a place like that, but none of us would have had the heart to ask her to take her engagement ring off!  It would have broken her heart!

Mom's collection contains several pieces that have a great deal of sentimental value.  I'm going to include pictures here for anybody who would like to see and hear about these pieces.

So, ladies and gentlemen, the first item from the Nora Reilly West Collection on display is a gold necklace and earring set that my father gave to Mom when she was a teenager.  Each item in the set is shaped to resemble what looks like a sunflower.  The necklace is engraved with the name "Noreen", which was a nickname that my father had for Mom back when she was young.  The earrings are of the clip-on variety and engraved with "N. R."  which was her initials. I never saw her wear this jewelry.

The "Noreen" Set

The 2rd item is a vintage bracelet with shield charms representing what was once the 9 provinces of Canada back in the early 1900s. From left to right, the shields represent British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Alberta and Newfoundland.  I don't know who gave Mom this bracelet and I never saw her wear it.

Canadian Shield Charm Bracelet

Number 3 on the docket is a bracelet that Mom's best friend Joanie McDonald gave to her on May 23rd, 1953.  It has Mom's initials engraved on the heart in the front and the date 5-23-1953 and JMW engraved on the back.  Mom never said what was so special about May 23, 1953 or the reason why Joanie gave her this bracelet. I am surmising that Joanie got married on this date and I believe that Mom was her Maid of Honor at her wedding.  Therefore, this bracelet could have been Joanie's "Bride's Gift" to Mom as her Maid of Honor.

Heart Bracelet from Joanie McDonald

The next item on display is an engraved medal that my father gave to Mom on December 8, 1958, which was their 2nd Wedding Anniversary.  The front of the medal is engraved with "To the Angel  I  Married - Nora M. West - for 2 Years of Happiness". 

2nd Wedding Anniversary Medal from Dad (Front)

The back of the medal is engraved with their 2nd Wedding Anniversary date of 12-8-58.  I have to be honest, I really get a kick out of this piece!  I've never heard of anyone giving their wife a medal for being married for 2 years!  December 8th is also the day after Pearl Harbor Day and Jim Morrison's (the dearly departed lead singer of the Doors) birthday which makes it even more amusing!  I'm sure that Mom was happy to get it though, although I never saw her wear it.

2nd Wedding Anniversary Medal from Dad (Back)

Item number 5 on display is an oval stone bracelet with blue, gold, red and green stones and filigreed silver around each stone.  There were earrings to match and they had blue stones, but I don't know what happened to them. Whenever Mom got dressed up to go somewhere (which wasn't very often), she often wore this necklace and earrings.

The Oval Stone Filigreed Bracelet

The next item is a silver pin shaped like a bunch of flowers with varying shades of purple gem stones in the flower buds.  The pin had clip-on earrings to match, but there is only one left in the collection. Mom loved lavender and wore this pin often.  I remember the first time that she wore it.  She had attended Weight Watchers and lost a good bit of weight, so she bought a new lavender dress and got her hair frosted and styled to attend a church event.  Well, there was this old lady named Mrs. C.D. O'Connell that went to our church and was friends with Mom.  Us kids used to call her "The Critical Eye" because she never missed seeing anything, despite the fact that she wore spectacles with lenses that resembled a coke bottle.  Anyway, Mrs. O'Connell took one look at Mom's freshly frosted hair and said "What have you done to your beautiful hair?"  Poor Mom felt so bad that she cried!  Shame on Mrs. C.D. O'Connell for ruining Mom's fashionable evening at church!

The Purple Gemstone Flower Pin

I was always captivated with this next piece, which is a pearl "pop-it" necklace.  Each pearl on the necklace is a "pop-it" which pops apart from all of the others.  All of the pearls snap together to make the necklace.  It's such a cool necklace, but it will need some type of resurfacing as it has turned yellow with age.  I've never seen anything quite like it anywhere and don't know where Mom got it.

The Pearl "Pop-it" Necklace

"Pop-It" Section

The next item is Mom's gemstone flamingo pin.  I gave this to her for Christmas in 1988.  I paid $75 for it at Macy's, which was a fortune back then!  I was so excited to see her open it, and when she did, her whole face fell.  I felt so bad that she was disappointed with her Christmas present!  However, not all was lost!  She ended up falling for the flamingo's colorful charm and wore it all of the time!

The Flamingo Pin

For me, this next piece has a lot of sentimental value.  It's a gold pin shaped like a bow with a circular portrait of my son Justin Lee in a sailor suit hanging from it..  This portrait was taken at J.C. Penney's at the Security Mall in Woodlawn, MD and was from the first set of pictures that I ever had taken of him.  The poor girl taking the pictures nearly stood on her head to make him smile!  She really earned her pay that day! 

The "Justin Lee" Pin

The next item is an oval necklace containing my graduation photo from Basic Training at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas.  The covering on it has turned an amber color with age and it makes my blonde hair look red!  It's not one of my most favorite pictures of myself, but it really meant a lot to Mom.  She was always so  proud of all of her childrens' accomplishments!

Mae's Basic Training Graduation Photo Necklace

This is Mom's Angel Stone, which is very similar to the one that I carry with me all of the time.  My daughter Nicole gave me my stone during one of the hardest times of my life and it helped me to get through it.  I imagined angels surrounding me to protect me from harm. Not too long ago, I gave one of these stones to somebody who I thought was very special.  I hope that it helps her to get through life's tough times as well.

Mom's Angel Stone

And last, but not least is the most interesting piece in the whole collection!  It is a hexagon shaped gold locket with intricately engraved designs. The front of the locket is engraved with the cursive initials "ER".

Front of Locket

The locket opens and there is a picture of  my maternal grandmother Minnie Harte Reilly inside.  The Maker's Mark, C & QA in a triangle, is engraved inside as well.  I have scoured the internet looking for it, but have been unable to find out anything on the Maker.

Open Locket with Minnie Harte Reilly's Picture

The back of the locket is engraved with a six sided star (hexagram) with 3 small jewels at each of the six points, 6 jewels in a circle around the center and a jewel in the middle.

Back of Locket

We're not sure who gave this locket to my mother, but believe that it was a family member on her mother's side of the family.  I believe that the R in the initials "ER" stands for Reilly, but I'm not sure.  We don't know much about my maternal grandmother as she died when Mom was only 2 years old.  I'm hoping that maybe this locket will end up clearing up some of this mystery.

So for those of you who cared to read this post and look at the pictures of Mom's treasures, thank you very much for your interest and I hope that you enjoyed the post!