Touched by Charms... my granddaughter's new business venture

This post is an advertisement for my granddaughter, Kennedy's, business, but I'll bet you'll find it interesting.  You might even want to buy something.  If not, you'll at least be aware of one of the coolest jewelry creations I've ever seen.  And I love the prices, even my frugal budget can play! :)

Origami Owl Custom Jewelry is a social selling company that was founded by a 14-year-old girl.  This young entrepreneur features darling lockets and adorable charms that come together to make a distinctive piece of jewelery that is customizable to fit anyone's lifestyle, hobbies, family, etc.  There are also plates, dangles, and tags that can be added to the lockets or attached by themselves to a chain.

When I was visiting my family in San Diego in February, Kennedy had just started her new business, Touched by Charms, and I was able to experience her excitement and the beginning of  her new partnership with her mom.  Kennedy is too young legally to "own and run" a business, so mom, Trish, stepped up and they formed a Daughter and Mother Team, which is encouraged by Origami Owl.

I told Kennedy and Trish that I'd post information about their new company and put a link on my sidebar. I'm very proud of Kennedy and happy to share her story with you.

             Daughter:    Kennedy                                  Mom:    Trish

Here is what Kennedy and Trish have to say:

Hi, I'm Kennedy and I'm so happy you stopped by to visit! My mom, Trish, and I are a team, but I'm doing everything an 11-year-old can do to make our business a success. I'm in the 5th grade and a good student. I like swimming, and I'm taking lessons so I can join a swim team. I have lots of interests, but my favorite is creating things. Arts and crafts are super fun and I'm a pretty good artist for my age. I've started some small "kid" businesses selling the items I've created, like my hand-made bracelets, Rainbow Looms and multi-colored duct-tape purses. But I definitely think Origami Owl is the best! 

I've graduated from kid businesses and feel like Origami Owl is my first Professional Business - my first real step on the road to a business career. My Aunt Kristy gave me my first Origami Owl necklace. It was the first time I'd seen one, and I loved it! It created a HUGE BUZZ in our house, and I went to the Origami Owl web page to see what else there was for sale. When I saw that I could sell them, I was really excited and since then my mom and I have been working together to create Touched by Charms. Waaaaay better than duct-tape purses, for sure!

Hi - Trish here. I thought I'd write a quick note, too. When Kennedy approached her dad and me about being a part of "Origami Owl," we thought it would be a fantastic way to teach her the value of hard work, giving back by donating a portion of her proceeds to charities, and achieving her goals.  She's actually pretty good at those things already, but Origami Owl incorporated all three in a way that will enhance her current experiences. 

The added bonus is spending quality time together doing something we're really enjoying. For now Kennedy is doing everything she can to run Touched by Charms, and I'm helping out with the "grown-up" things she hasn't learned to do yet. Little by little, Kennedy will take on more tasks until she is able to run the business on her own. Her dad and I are thrilled she wanted to sell these beautiful pieces, and we couldn't be prouder of her!

Below is the link to their Origami Owl page - check it out and feel free to make any purchases for yourself or for gifts.  The prices aren't bad - I already have my locket and charms picked out!  :)

Touched by Charms Kennedy and Trish Daughter/Mother Team

I already have a gold chain with a small gold nugget on it.  The nugget is one that my mom and dad bought a long time ago when they were driving through Placerville, CA.  My mom had it made into a charm and on the gold piece that attaches it to the chain she added the tiny diamonds from her first engagement ring from my dad.  When I was living in Placerville, my mom offered it to me and I gladly accepted. It's a very small, simple piece, but I love it because it has a lot of meaning to me and I wear it every day. I'm going to add my Touched by Charms locket on the chain so I'll be wearing a piece of history from my mom and dad, and from my granddaughter and daughter-in-law, too.

I'm going to order a medium sized brushed gold locket and four charms to put inside.  I think I'll also get one of the dangle pieces so I can hook my nugget onto the chain with a dangler.

Here's how it works in five steps:

Here's what I want - Gold locket with crystals:

Palm Tree for obvious reasons:

Dog Paw for more obvious reasons:

The Infinity Charm just because I like it:

Crystal Cross, I'm not religious, but I have a deep faith (Trish actually gave me this one, it was one of my choices and she didn't know it):

It was in this little cloth bag:

 

Here's my cross:

And I'm thinking I need a little color, so I might get a heart with the red crystals if it will fit:

And maybe a couple of crystals with other colors - jeez, I can see why Kennedy and Trish have so many charms!

Here's how they can look when put together, most are necklaces, but two are bracelets - these are pretty simple, my kind of jewelry, but you can glam them up, too:

Here are more photos from their website:

Trish wears hers with a chunky chain and lots of charms and dangles and sometimes two or three chains and they look great on her.  Kennedy and Trish have a collection of charms, chains, lockets, etc, and they share them.  They can be changed easily by opening up the locket and changing charms and plates so you can have a different story to tell each time you wear them - very simple or super glam.  

I thought this was such an ingenious idea, and to think a 14-year-old girl started the whole thing.  Kennedy is giving a portion of her earnings to various charities.  Trish is doing the Susan G. Komen 3-Day Cancer Walk in San Diego this year, she's already training for it, and Kennedy's first donation/gift is pledged to that charity.  Kennedy has to save half of her income and can spend the rest, after her donations.  What a great working/learning experience this is for a kid.  :)

If you'd like any information about this jewelry, Trish's phone number and e-mail are on their Origami Owl site and I know she would love to talk with you.

Thanks for reading to the end - Kennedy is a very smart girl and I'd bet there are big things in her future.  I love you, Kennedy, and I'm so proud of you!

On a final note:  You might not be interested now, but I'll have a link on my right sidebar - soon to be added under my new page tab, "Shopping with Me and Katie."  In the future if you need a quick gift, the classic ball chain for $10 with a $12 tag would be perfect for anyone:  boy or girl, man or woman.  And if you want something fancier, the options are almost endless.

From me and Katie, have a great Sunday everyone!  :)

PS:  Trish said if you'd like to save on shipping she'll place the order for you.  You'd need to get the order information from the website and e-mail her, including your phone number.  She'll call you to get your billing info.  It'll be added to their next order and when she gets your items, she'll send it right out to you (or to any address you specify) Priority Mail.  (I would start to place the order (but don't complete it) and when the shopping cart comes up with everything on it, do a copy/paste and paste the shopping cart in the e-mail.  Then you don't have to type the info.)   If you want to order directly through Kennedy and Trish, the e-mail address is:  touchedbycharms@aol.com.

PSS:  If you are on Facebook, this is Kennedy's Touched by Charms Facebook Page link. Please "Like" her - they are trying to get 100 Likes.  :)

STUCK! ... HELP! ... (REALLY!)

So, into every life a little rain must fall.  And I guess into every dry camper's life a LOT of dusty sand must fall, too, and I drove right into it.

Yesterday late in the afternoon Katie and I took another walk and right near us someone had pulled out that day.   There was a perfect site for us.  Level, near the road, near the front of the Hot Springs area closer to the dumpster and vault toilets (for my family next week, if needed), and surrounded by large bushes, so a little privacy.

Excitedly, I went back to The Palms, took in the hummer feeder hanging in a bush nearby, and started the engine.  We drove around our neighbors and into the great site on the other side of their rig.  And into the sand trap.  Here's the front passenger tire:

But the real problem was with the rear passenger tires:

As you can see in the bunk window, we were having a beautiful sunset - yes, it was getting dark and we were stuck for the night.  This is the first time ever I couldn't have "escaped" if I needed to.  Thank fully we are camping among a very friendly group of RVers and had nothing to fear.

Front tire:

I noticed my neighbor outside bringing in his awning and I walked over to get his view on the situation.  He suggested digging out behind the rear tires, making a ramp, then pouring water on the area to damp it down and make the dust more solid.  At that point it was dark, and we both went home.

I immediately e-mailed Bea and Peter and asked if they had any suggestions.  I was going to try the neighbor's idea in the morning, but wanted a "spotter" to yell if I was digging myself in deeper so I'd stop.

Then I went on the Internet and searched for solutions.  I did a copy/paste from a few different websites to save as a Word document just in case this ever happens again.  The good stuff I got was that after digging out the trench/ramp, I could put a carpet piece down on the "ramp," or even the floor mats from the truck, material side down.  That sounded like a good idea, and I've heard of that solution before.

I got a couple of e-mails back from Bea, and she said they would be down around 8 am to assess the situation.

I set my two alarms for 7 am so I'd have time to dig before they got here.  After a surprisingly sound, though tilted, sleep full of good dreams, I woke up at 6:30 and got up right away. I had some digging to do.

This is what it looked like after I was done digging.  The tires on the other side were on solid ground, so they were okay.

A bit of a tilt - surprisingly, once I knew this was it for the night, the tilt inside The Palms didn't bother me at all.  I guess I subconsciously knew "it is what it is," and if I couldn't do anything about it, I might as well accept it.

This is my telescoping shovel - actually a small spade - but it collapses into a small tool and fits in my closet.  And it works great.  All metal, so no wood to dry out.

And Four Dollars???  If you don't have one, you've gotta get one.

In the morning, Peter arrived - and he had a big, solid chain that someone found out in the desert and loaned him.  He found a good spot to attach it to The Palms, then....

Attached the other end to their van.

I got in The Palms and started the engine, put it in neutral and sat there, waiting.  Peter started the van and slowly, slowly moved forward - in my imagination.  But in reality the van didn't move forward.  It started digging a hole with the rear passenger tire even though he seemed to be on solid ground.  The van just wasn't strong enough to pull The Palms out, I guess.

Next idea was the carpet.  So while Peter removed the chain, I got out my new $10 Costco carpet to lay under the rig, behind the rear tires in the ramp.  The photo below shows the rug, it's a "runner," so it's longer than a normal carpet piece and I thought it would be a longer area for the tires to grab and keep going.

This is the rug:

I went back into the cab, started the engine, and put it in reverse while Peter moved the van back out of the way in case I was able to reverse out and then he positioned himself so he could watch the tires and carpet and also be in my line of sight.  The articles I read said to move slowly, and if you started getting traction, keep going - don't stop!  I slowly pressed on the gas and we started moving - YEAAAA!  I kept moving and WE WERE OUT!   I kept backing up until we were on solid ground.

Thumbs up to Peter, and thumbs up right back at me.  :)   I got out of the truck and looked at the tire tracks. The rug was bunched up like an accordion in the rear tire hole, but it didn't wrap around the tires, thank goodness.

What a great feeling!  I was so stoked, and Peter had a huge smile on his face, too.

That's when I noticed my neighbors standing next to Peter. I hadn't met them yet, but they had come over for moral support and bearing a piece of lumber in case I needed it.  Thanks, Jim and Maryon!  Peter got back into the van and went home, where Bea was probably wondering what was going on.  Thank goodness he went home with a good report.  Maryon and Jim stayed for a while and had a really nice conversation. When they left to walk over to their rig, they said, "Well we haven't solved all the problems with the world," and I said, "Yeah, but we solved MY problem!"  :)   Very nice neighbors!

I got into the truck and backed up further to the hard packed area behind our site and moved The Palms over to the other side, where there's a nice, level, hard packed drive-through which is in the midst of large bushes and opens up on the motor home entry door side to a large "living room."   Perfect.  I filled the hummer feeders and my homemade dorky seed feeder and put them out and within hours I had some Costas hummers and some White-crowned Sparrows.

There is also a little critter here in our area - it's either a Prairie Dog or a light colored squirrel.  My camera battery was charging when I saw him, so I wasn't able to get a photo.  That's usually how I identify critters, snap a photo, blow it up big, and then look it up.  So, I'm waiting to see what he is, but I'm thinking a light squirrel, the color of the sand.

So - this is our new, and I hope last, campsite here at Hot Springs LTVA:

Around 1:00 after resting up and fooling around inside The Palms for a few hours, I went outside with my rake and leveled the area where we were stuck.  It's quite an eyesore in the middle of one's campsite.  With all the hard packed ground surrounding this area, though, I decided top put my American Flag in the middle of the soft sand area.  Just in case.  Maybe someone else driving over to visit, or just driving too close, might be saved from the indignity of getting stuck in the sand!

And now...  it looks as if it never happened.
 

Yeah, it never happened, you know what I mean, it never happened?  Yep, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.  :)

And here's the sunset on that fateful evening, very pastel:

From me and Katie - have a great Friday, everybody!  :)

The new dress - thank you, Donna!

The other day Donna had a post offering three doll dresses she made herself.  She was cleaning out a closet, and after going through the toys and clothes she had for her grand kids who are now grown, she gave them all away to a niece who has young kids.   As she wrote in her post, "But, in my closet, pushed into a corner and forgotten, I found three doll dresses that I had sewn for the girls' 18" dolls."  She went on to offer the dresses to any Grandma commenters with granddaughters who might enjoy having one of the dresses.  All we had to do was leave a comment that we were interested in one of the dresses - so I did.

And guess what?  I won one of the dresses for my little cutie-pie granddaughter, Lauren, in Northern California.  Donna sent the dress out the next day and Lauren received it the following day.  My daughter was surprised it arrived so quickly, and Lauren loves the dress. 

Here are two photos of Donna's handmade dress - first on a bigger doll, and then on a smaller one.  I don't know what this doll's name is, but I think Lauren has names for all her dolls.

Then Lauren decided the hat didn't fit that doll very well, so the next morning she dressed Morgan in the dress and hat - yes, much better!

Thank you, Donna!  As you can see, Lauren is super happy with her new doll dress, and the dolls look beautiful in their new outfit. 

From me and Katie, have a great Thursday, everybody!  :)

Wordless Wednesday - Dad colors in his kids' drawings

The dad goes by the name Tatsputin - he has a high powered job by day and flies to Las Vegas (where he owns a tattoo studio - hence the ability to color within the lines) for 10 days a month.  It's while he's on the airplane that he pulls out drawings his kids gave him and fills them in with his colored pencils. Then he brings back the completed drawings to his kids when he arrives back home.

For a while he was using an electronics device to color them in - you can see the difference in the tablet and colored pencil drawings.  He's back to colored pencils and I agree - I like them better, too.

Dad's real name is Fred Giovannitti.   There are so many interesting things going on around us that we'll never know about - but it's sure nice to see some of them.

From me and Katie, have a wonderful Wordless Wednesday, everyone!   :)

1,000 days on the road today! And a Half-Million Page Views!

Today marks our 1,000th day on the road as RVing Full-Timers.

Another landmark that we passed last week was having our Total Pageviews numbers roll over to show a half-million pageviews.

I remember when I hit the Publish button back in the very beginning of this blog. It made me kind of nervous, not knowing if anyone would read my post, or if I was being silly thinking anyone would be interested in me and my desire to buy a motor home and the steps I'd be taking to get ready to live in it full time with Katie.  I remember when I first saw I had a Follower, Karyn Lee - thank you Karyn Lee for noticing us way back then and hitting the Follow button -  I couldn't believe I had a Follower!  And she didn't even know me!  I was thrilled.

That first post was published Sunday, August 8, 2010.  Three and a half years ago. Wednesday, June 1, 2011 Katie and I moved into The Palms and starting our first full month as full-time RVers.  About 10 months after my first blog post.  That's not very long, but it sure seemed like forever at the time.  And here we are 1,000 days later.

Boy, has it been great!  I've learned so much, met so many people, lived in so many places, and killed so many mice.  That part wasn't great, but on the whole, there isn't much I would have changed, and I've never doubted that this is the life for me and Katie.  At least for now.  Each year I enjoy living in The Palms more, and I'm finding every year easier than the last because I've found places I like to be and will go back to my favorite campgrounds again this summer.

As I've said many times, I'm not living a full-timing lifestyle to travel or sight-see as many - probably most - full-timers are.  I want to just live in different places without having to buy and sell a house every year or two.

And I'm so happy to have my little sidekick, Katie with me.  She's such a trouper! I wouldn't have enjoyed this journey nearly as much without her, that's for sure.  She's a great companion, my protector and notifier of incoming people and dogs, and gets me out for walks at least three times a day.  She is such a little love.

Thanks to all our Followers, and also to our readers who are "lurkers."  You've all added to our pageviews - I really appreciate your interest in our journey, your patience with my frustrations and rants, your advice when I needed it, your kind corrections when I had something wrong, and your friendship through these years on the road - in person and in print.

I love landmarks - and I can't wait to write this post again after 2,000 days on the road - and One Million Pageviews.

From Me and Katie, have a great Tuesday, everybody!  :)