Don't judge & stuff

We went to North Georgia over the weekend for a couple days---something Hunter & I have been wanting to do. I'll admit, I just want to go to the North Georgia Premium Outlets whereas he's wanted to go panning for gold & to visit Helen, GA. Sunshine just wanted to stay in a hotel!

So off we we went. Friday afternoon was spent shopping. Many good deals were had & we did our part to stimulate the economy. Thank us later.

Saturday morning we woke up & headed to Gold n Gem in Cleveland, GA for some panning & grubbin'. North Georgia is very rural, but very pretty---the mountains remind both of us of home. Hunter settled into a routine panning though his 2 gallon bucket (he would find $300 worth of gold within 4 hours). Sunshine & I stated with a 1 gallon bucket & found lots of sodalite, adventurine, amethysts, & various quartz. We then moved onto a 2 1/2 gallon bucket & founds emeralds, more amethysts, obsidian & this rock. Which we dumped out. One of the men who works there walked by & examined our dumped out rocks on the ground. He picked this one up & handed it to me. It's a corundum. Sapphire AND ruby. It's about the the size of a jumbo chicken egg & is currently on it's way to being made into a 5 ct ruby ring for me. (Happy Mother's Day!)

Sunshine and I were using the gem chart behind us at the sluice yet didn't recognize this stone for what it was. I'm grateful for my stone savior who stopped to examine what we'd dumped out. Subsequent bucket dumps were examined more closely!

I have finally recovered from Book Fair & feel confident in saying that I'm mentally ready for the BOGO fair that is held in April. I know what needs to be done 2 weeks out, I know what goes on during the fair & how to close it out. Amazing what a little (very little!) experience will do for someone! And best of all, we have THE NOTEBOOK to help us!

My 365 project is coming along. Some days are easier than others---it depends on what inspires me. Or doesn't inspire me! Several people have suggested that I have it printed out at the end of the year as a reminder of the project. I just might do that.

Today we're enjoying a quiet President's Day at home---laundry from the weekend, helping Hunter with the back yard, organizing the massive amounts of Barbies in Sunshine's room. I'm toying with the idea of going to knit tonight, but also want to be in bed early tonight so maybe that'll wait until next week.