Another post on obsession and lack of self control.

I am a jewellery whore.

There, I said it.

I can't walk past a jewellery shop without picking out a few pieces I would like to own. I drool over the glossy catalogues that get crammed into our letterbox. I am constantly finding jewellery I'd like to own.

The only thing I would never want more than one of is my bridal set. Because the Guru did an amazing job of sorting that out all on his own - and on days when I think he has no bloody idea who I am (like when he's pointing out items he thinks I'd like for my birthday...like a new 8TBFGRT RAM fdhsjaofdhsajkldshjakglds thingy for a computer...uh - what??) I look at my left hand and realise that when he gets it right, he does a fabulous job.

But when it comes to watches, bracelets, earrings, necklaces and anything else that takes my facy - I am just a downright, dirty jewellery-a-holic.

At the moment my whoring is related to necklaces. More specifically, the type the allow me to have parts of my family embedded in them.

No, I'm not meaning an Angelia Jolie-blood-in-a-vile-type thing. I'm talking fingerprints, or perhaps even art done by the Toddler.

I discovered Tina Steinberg not long ago and I immediately fell in love. I was prepared to sell a kidney to get one of her creations. And technically I still am - but I'm discovering that money is easier to procure and send to another country.

The one from Tina I was drooling over is here:  Little Love Charmer Plus by Tina Steinberg.

And I was stunned to learn that the Guru was paying attention. And I don't mean just vaguely nodding his head and staring past me at the telly while I danced in front of him with print outs, a white board and diagrams of exchange rates, postal rates and the process involved while wiping the rabid, jewellery love foam from my face.

So I almost fell on the floor when he told me he'd found a company who does the same thing in Australia. And they have a consultant in Darwin.

Right about then I blacked out for a moment while my brain processed this joyus moment and filed it away for future reference when he tries to get me computer parts for our wedding anniversary.

Smallprint could potentially make my dreams come true this Christmas. And believe it or not they can do impressions of a drawing by your small one in a pendant. You can witness their awesomeness here: Smallprint: A Unique First Impression.

Okay, so it's not a Tina Steinberg...but it's the homegrown version and I'd reduce my carbon footprint by going local. Or something. Whatever.

So I was set with that - all excited and spending many, many hours on their website deciding what and when.

Then - I found The Vintage Pearl. And my addicitive personality kicked in and fingerprints were all but forgotten for a moment...

The Vintage Pearl - I'd be leaving a massive carbon footprint - but the US and Australian dollar are pretty much 1:1. What's a bit of carbon when fate has given me a sign that now is the best financial time to be making a great, big, muddy print on the world?? I'd be stupid to miss my chance!! (I'm also completely aware that I'm going to environment hell when I die...a place where nature will have it's revenge...)

So this is what I want...

I love you to the moon & back by The Vintage Pearl and with the whimsical font have the Guru and the Toddler's names on it. And when the time comes I can have the third and final name added to the pendant.

Then, down the track - I can get a Tina Steinberg original to add to the chain.

The other Vintage Pearl option that I love is this: Dainty Drops by The Vintage Pearl.

But my heart is set on the moon - so I am making a final choice and it's going to be my Christmas wish.

I would say that this will be the end of my jewellery whoring...but I know it probably won't. There will always be a bracelet, a watch or something to catch my eye and make me want to get a kidney ready for trade.

But maybe, just maybe - this will be the end of my necklace searching days...

My Plan for Jewellery and Cloth Nappy Happiness

So I've been trying to think of the best way to get everything...and by that I mean to be the proud owner of Tina Steinberg jewellery and modern cloth nappies.

And after some events this evening the following statements are what I've come up with.

1. When you've gone so long without a bikini wax that standing up from your desk means rogue hairs entwine themselves in the fabric of your knickers and tear themselves out - you know you should probably make an appointment.

Wait - who said that!?...................

.........!

The Factual Statements of Events This Evening that Lead Me to Believe that Christmas and Nappy Happiness Will All Work Out. (Or...'Sweet, I'm gonna get all that stuff!!)

1. Expecting your significant other to be excited about Christmas presents and ordering them online from a store in the US and having to use kits to get imprints of fingers etc is a completely unrealistic expectation and you will cancel Christmas and rent a room with the Grinch.

2. Tallying up the cost of point 1 and showing your significant other online how easy it is will mean that Christmas is back on and the Grinch needs to refund your bond.

3. Tallying up the cost of point 1 will mean you'll keep your cloth nappy costs to yourself. And suddenly edit the story to say 'Just going to get some nappies' and not correcting any assumptions that they are Huggies.

4. You will begin to receive packages in the mail...and your significant other will be joyous to be told that you've won a nappy contest and will be sent samples...to keep...

5. Claim ignorance about bank charges and credit card statements.

6. Tell the truth about the nappies AFTER your new fingerprint jewellery is safely around your neck...but standing far enough away to prevent any strangulation by said jewellery, facilitated by said significant other.

Providing I survive all of the above, it will be a lovely Christmas this year.


Ahhhhh - bring on December...

My Baby...Growing Up...Not Ready...(and Tina Steinberg)

So those who have been following Kelle Hampton's blog will know that she's discussed this awesome jewellery designer previously...Tina Steinberg.

Now, the Guru doesn't know it yet - but this is what I'm getting for Christmas from him and the Toddler. I want nothing else. It will fill me with so much love and awesome-ness to wear something so amazingly special that there could be nothing else.

Apparently there is a company opening up here in Darwin that will do hand and foot print jewellery - but for some reason fingerprints speak to me more. And we got a TwinkleToes done for the Toddler when she was 9 days old. I still look at her little hand and feet sculptures and think back to the tiny baby I held in my arms...it seems so long ago and yet at the same time it feels like yesterday.

Did I mention the Toddler is being moved up to the toddler's room at day care? As in, no longer in the babies room. It's official - she's growing up and there's zilch I can do about it. As much as I am excited for her to be with the 'big kids' it's a sign that the end of her babyhood has arrived well and truly. And I'm not sure I'm ready for it.

The sad thing is I've become attached to the Toddler's carers as much as she has - and I know it sounds completely dumb but I know I'll cry the first day she has to go with the toddlers. I'll miss catching up with Miss Kimmy and Miss Sherre (or as the Toddler calls her, 'Ree') at the end of the day. The bonus is Miss Clancy is moving to the Toddler's room with her and they are having a bonding week this week so it's not such a shock to the system.

Why is it so hard to accept that your baby just isn't a baby anymore? And I know full well that the pendant necklace I want for Christmas has everything to do with freezing a part of the Toddler in time so she's never completely grown up (at least, not in my mind). I'll always have a piece of her babyhood close to my heart.

Does it ever get easier? Or do you always have that small stabbing pain each time you realise they are just a little bit bigger then they were? That lump in your throat when you realise she's growing out of her clothes and you curse the day she started to wear 00's.

Does it get easier the second, third, fourth time around? You know what to expect...or does it simply mean when the last is toilet trained you start stalking new mothers in shopping centres and beg, beg, beg to hold, cuddle and breathe in that fresh, baby smell that is now gone from your growing youngsters. I don't reccommend the stalking thing...but if they're a friend then I'm sure it would be fine.

But my main point is - whether we have another baby or not, I want the Toddler to remain the same. Sometimes when she's fallen asleep on my lap in the big cushy armchair in her room I just watch her sleep, I wonder what she's dreaming about and if everyone speaks her baby (toddler) speak in her dreams. I just try to memorise every little thing about her at that moment because I know in a few days it won't be exactly the same as it was and she seems to change every second...

So to freeze frame a small part of my little baby Peanut I will ask for a pendant with her fingerprint. Her little fingerprint that will be a reminder for me that she always was and will be...my baby...