The story of The Ring

A boy fell deeply in love with a girl. It didn't matter too much that he'd never met her. He just knew within his heart that this was the girl for him. After talking to her for a few months, they arranged to meet. When she came to town, he visited her as often as his work schedule would permit and by the week's end, he was very very sure that this was the woman he wanted to marry; even if she was an emotional disaster zone. She had a couple of prior engagements because she was visiting family, but since she felt the same she made a promise to return to him within 3 weeks time. He in turn promised to shelter and protect her while she healed from her troubles.

Three weeks later, true to her promise, she arrived back to his waiting arms. He was so in love and she returned his love with everything she had. While out shopping a few weeks after her return, she spied a ring. It was very lovely even for costume jewelry. The boy never thought twice and bought her the little trinket.  She realized she wouldn't be able to wear it long because it was plated gold, but it was her first piece of jewelry from the boy who loved her so and she wore it proudly every single day.

A time came that they decided that this really was working out well for them and that maybe it was time to take the next big step. Oh no, not marriage. They'd decided that before she'd left him the first time. It didn't matter that there were ummm circumstances that needed clearing up first. He'd finally met The One and she felt the same. The next step? He bought her a house. She'd been looking for weeks and weeks for a place because their present accommodations were totally unsatisfactory. She swore the neighbors were from farther south than the Land Down Under, if you catch my drift. Everything she looked at was so very out of price range, or in absolutely deplorable condition. Again, she was getting discouraged. A friend of his at work told the boy that he had a lead if he wanted to grab the girl and check it out. It was perfect, or at least more perfect than all the others they'd seen. They bought it.

Sadly, there came a day after their move when she could no longer wear her little trinket because it was turning her finger green. She showed the boy what was happening and they agreed to at least keep it in a little shot glass on the window sill near the kitchen sink so she could still see it daily as she did her chores. There the ring stayed for months until it was decided that since the loved that ring so well, the boy would go and see how much it would cost to have it custom made. There was a jeweler that show up once to twice a week at his work so he brought it in for an estimate. Unfortunately, the timing always seemed to be off and he kept missing the jeweler for one reason or another and the ring ended up back in the shot glass. He tried a few weeks later and somehow the ring turned up missing. The girl was devastated.

Since the ring was no longer around for him to use for price checking, it was decided that the girl would look online and see if she found one she liked.... and she did... sorta.

Blue sapphire heart stone? Check. Three "diamond" round cut  stacked  two stones close to the heart and one more on the outside kinda like a flat pyramid? Check.

There was only one problem with it. It was shown in silver and the girl simply didn't look good in silver. The boy suggested to write the company and see if maybe they could make one to her specs. Surprisingly they would, but it would be $100 extra because gold is more expensive than silver. She was happy with this news and he was happy that she was happy. Although it wasn't a terribly expensive ring, he decided the purchase would have to wait a bit so he was sure they had money to put down on it (he was a firm believer in budgets and although he was prone to spending anyhow, was rather thrifty when he could be).

Time got away from him and several months passed before he realized he had enough to get his beloved the ring that would make her most happy. So he contacted the company. Disaster. The company no longer sold that particular ring and had no clue where to go to get one just like it. He scoured EBay, Amazon, and any other place he could think of. He even went back to talk to the jeweler that had been going to where the boy worked. That jeweler had stopped coming around a month or so prior. He was unhappy but not quite as much as the girl. She sighed and started scouring the internet again to see if there was something out there that she liked quite so well. After a few days, she gave up.

Their second or third Christmas together came around and she still had nothing on that all important finger to show that she was taken. So he racked his brain and decided to visit Kohl's and see if there was ~something~ that could be used and he found one he could live with. So when he got home that night, he knew he'd find her a little put out that he hadn't called saying he'd be late and she'd be worried... and he was right. Thing is, he wanted this to be a surprise and so hadn't called her. She came running out to the kitchen the minute she'd heard the door open and sure enough there were the beginnings of tears in her eyes. Another few minutes and she would have been in full melt-down mode. As she opened her mouth to reprimand him for making her worry, he pulled the ringbox out from his pocket.

A beautiful gold band with 10 diamonds embedded in it!

Her jaw just dropped and tears fell for another reason. She finally had a ring (albeit not the one she wanted and he knew it) on that finger. ~SQUEEE!~ By this point, she'd just been considering the house her engagement ring, but to have something a bit more portable made her very happy.

Come February, an ad arrived at the house for JC Penneys. Naturally, all sorts of heart rings were featured and the girl sighed. Considering it was the month of love, all the heart rings were either garnet or rubies (lab created) and not at all what she wanted. However, she found one that just might do and maybe later she could get the main stone replaced with a real one of the kind she wanted. So they packed up in the car and headed to Penneys. Unfortunately, the one in the ad that she kinda liked was no longer in stock. However, the boy saw one that was pretty and maybe could see how it looked on his girl's hand? The rings in any of these stores are always stocked in size 7, a bit too small for his girl, but it fit on her pinky so she could get a good idea how it looked and she acquiesced. Marriage was about compromise after all , and she got her way many more times than he did usually anyhow.

Not quite what it looked like but very close. The heart stones actually looked a bit more hot pink in the sun light.

The ring was sent out for re-sizing and when it came back, the girl and guy liked it. However, the idea was to use the band he'd gotten her for Christmas as the wedding band and  very obviously it wasn't going to stack nicely because of the points in the hearts. They were going to definitely want a chevron  shaped band so they would stack neatly. She didn't much care if it wasn't a matched set so long as it stacked as it should. Within weeks they found one that would suffice nicely.

Another close but not quite what was bought. A gold chevron ring with diamonds embedded in the band.

On their wedding day. Those two rings stacked so nicely.

For the first few years of their marriage, this was just fine. By the time their 5th year wedding anniversary rolled around, however, one of the heart stones got lost. Just popped right out of its setting and vanished. They looked high and low and couldn't find it. The boy even took apart the vacuum cleaner and dug through the catch bag. When that didn't work, he went through the 2 trash cans that it could have possibly fell into. Nothing. The girl cried. A week later, the boy found it glittering on the rug next to where the girl exercised daily. They were both relieved to find the stone and placed it in a Ziploc baggy with the ring for safe keeping. The girl looked up a shop that could repair the ring. They were happy that the shop was just in town. The decision was made to get it fixed in a couple weeks when his next paycheck came through.

The week came to get it fixed and damned if that baggy was missing. She was upset and they both went digging through everything again. This time, it couldn't be found. They looked for weeks. So it was decided that maybe the girl should find another ring to replace it and maybe see if there wasn't one out there that she really wanted in the first place. She found one really close at JC Penneys that was really close (sorry for the link but Penneys doesn't seem to carry the ring anymore.... thankfully someone had clicked the +1 for Google when they saw it). The ring was really close but still not quite right. However, that main stone could easily be replaced later with one of the correct color. Plans were made to get this ring until she found one even closer . She decided then and there that although the one was more expensive than the one from Penneys, that it would be the better deal because the one from the store would definitely need resizing (therefore costing more money in the long run) and this one wouldn't because it could be ordered in the proper size right off.

Sapphire heart stone? Check. Yellow gold band in her size? Check.  Three accent diamonds on each side? Not so much, but close enough. Stacks with wedding band? Check.

The only problem with it? It rides a bit higher out from the hand than she's used to. I think she'll get used to it !




^_~

Unique engagement ring

Blueviolet over at A Nut in a Nut Shell dropped an entry on the 24th of this month discussing her daughter's engagement ring and had asked her readers what their engagement rings looked like (or will look like). Try as I might, I really couldn't adequately describe mine. It's not the one I really wanted because as darling as my hubby is, he's a bit of a procrastinator, and by the time he was ready to purchase the one I wanted.... well it was no longer available. The only way I could hope to get one at this point is to have it custom made and that's rather expensive.

plastered Drama Queen wears plated gold cards

Heh. Now that I have your attention *gigglez*.



I so meant to have this and the next couple entries written on Sunday and scheduled like I'd done the week before. For the life of me I can't remember what side tracked me so badly. Maybe I need to bump the "sorta unplugged" day to Sunday and leave it as the day of rest that it's meant to be. I do know that the Comcast outage on Tuesday (nearly all. damned. day) didn't help matters in getting my blogging done.... nope not at all. Well that and last Friday's side trip which triggered a minor case of depression (where the HELL did all that time go??)....that didn't help matters either.

Monday was my day to purposefully and willfully ignore all things 'net for several hours. It's unbelieveable how long the day seems when one unplugs somewhat and just goes to find other things to do for the day. Below you'll see a pic of some of the pieces I've been working on. I know Jeannie was wanting to see them in their "rough", half-way done state. I took this picture sometime last week. I've since finished these pieces and started a new project. No, I won't be posting a picture of it in any stage until it's finished, shipped and maybe sometime after it's been received. As you can see, they don't exactly look anything like what the finished product will be like. I gotta touch up a couple of the pieces because something got on them when they were outside drying (I spray them with a matte finishing spray when I'm done. It's not enough to protect from the elements if the piece is outside, but it's enough to give the piece that "done" look ).

While we were out at WalMart this last week, I got another nail polish. I haven't decided if I like the color on me yet, but I do LOVE the name of it! Drama Queen, how very appropriate! I'll try it again in a week or so and if I'm still not sure, I can send it to my GaSis. She's living with her sister and mom and the sister LOVES pink. This week's shade that got picked up is Crimson Pearl by CQ. I definitely like it better than the pink. If I think of it, I'll post a picture of the color gracing my nails. It's much nicer than the block of color they have on their site.

While we were out on Saturday, we stopped in the local pawn shop and I saw this beautiful ring. I won't be able to wear it that often because it's not pure gold, but with a little coating of clear nail polish I should be able to get some decent wear out of it. It was sitting in the case with a $49.95 tag on it and I only had $20 with me so I was all set to put it back because I wasn't carrying my bank card that day. When my hubby says that if I want it, I can have it (waits as several of my readers say that I'm extremely spoiled) and he whips out his wallet (yes, I am, but I don't ask for jewelry that often so when I ask, I generally get what I want). So the clerk rings it up and the total with tax comes up as LESS than the display price. Seems that to make the sale, he knocked almost $10 off the price. WHOOT!

Oh! And I think it was Saturday that I got a couple pieces of "good mail". First was a package from Dorkys from over at Dry As Toast. YAY!! It was my goodies from that Pay it Forward type giveaway that she did awhile back (ya know, the same thingy that failed miserably over here with only 2 of my friends participating even though it's a really EASY contest to do...*sighs*). She sent me a hand painted postcard with a lovely note on the back, 3 handmade cards with blank interiors and envelopes to go with them as well as a nice book that I'd won from another give away she'd done. As suggested on her note, I handed the book to hubby and told him it was all for him. *giggles* Now I KNOW that the blank cards are meant to be used, however I think I have something else in mind for them.

The very same day, I had a small envelope show up from Jeannie. *gigglin* Sorry, I just thought of my poor hubby who gives a very valiant attempt at pronouncing her last name. He botches it everytime. Anyhow, the envelope had a lovely, handmade anniversary card in it. Thank you so very much. I do believe I have at least 3 Jeannie originals in my possession now.... no wait, I think there's 4 of them. Yeah, I'm spoiled. Go ahead and say it sweetheart. You know you wanna.