Don’t Throw Away Your Silica Gel Packets

You know those little silica gel packets that come with leather goods like shoes or handbags? Don’t throw them away. Reuse them!

I keep them with shoes that stay in plastic shoe boxes if I only wear the shoes occasionally. When I have extra silica gel packets from the shoe boxes I toss out, I repurpose them by placing the packets in the corners of my closets, kitchen cupboards, and inside drawers throughout my apartment including my nightstand and entertainment center.

Moisture if not controlled can destroy many types of dry goods. The silica gel packets absorb up to 40% of their weight in moisture, saving many types of dry goods from damage. They help maintain a dry environment, preventing mold and mildew from damaging leather goods and other articles that may surprise you!

Moreover, silica gel packets can also release moisture back into the air if the atmosphere gets too dry, helping to stabilize humidity to maintain product quality. 

Papers, photographs, jewelry, and electronics are several categories of items that can be preserved by tossing silica gel packets into the containers that store them. Razor blades will not rust or dull in a medicine cabinet, and car windshields will not fog up with silica packets placed on your dashboard. You can also toss silica gel packets into your gym bag, luggage, or clothes hamper to prevent mildew. A few packets stored in the corner of a food pantry keeps herbs, breadcrumbs and crackers fresh.

Silica gel packets are non-toxic unless cobalt is listed as an ingredient which is toxic. Most silica gel packets do not contain cobalt. If you place a few packets into a file cabinet or food pantry, you can always insert them into a paper envelope. The silica gel packets are fairly sturdy, so I don’t worry about them lying inside closets, pantries, or drawers.

Nevertheless, you should keep them away from children and pets since they aren’t editable.

Have you been throwing your silica gel packets away? Stop! They're very useful and you get them for free!

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Jeweler Ann Angeletti Is 101 Years Old

All photos courtesy of WABC News unless noted otherwise

Ann Angeletti, age 101, still works 6 days a week. Mondays are spend in Manhattan’s diamond district bargaining with vendors to bring in new inventory. Five days a week she works alongside her daughter and granddaughter at Curiosity Jewelers, her family owned business which she opened in 1964, located at 24 Union Avenue, Cresskill, New Jersey.

Customers rave about the customer care and welcoming atmosphere inside the shop, calling Ann Angeletti fair in her pricing and the most knowledgeable jeweler in the Tri-State area. They also say there is a great selection of beautiful jewelry.

Photo: Curiosity Jewelers

There’s much to be admired about this 

 

centenarian. Starting and sustaining a successful independent jewelry store for 62 years with the aim of putting customers first, and loving what she does with no plans to retire.

Although Curiosity Jewelers is known for its fine jewelry, it also sells antique and costume jewelry. Usually it's wiser to save up for one good classic piece of fine jewelry than to buy lots of costume jewelry. A lovely gold ring, bracelet or necklace can be wore over the years and passed down to offspring.

Curiosity Jewelers seems to have found the winning formula as a trustworthiness business: Combine expert knowledge, honest prices and treat customers right after they walk in the door.

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Admiring Rubies In The Raw

Today I want to feature high quality rubies in their natural state. I’d be trilled to find such a precious red crystal before it was cut and turned into jewelry. I’m not sure I’d want to cut or polish it. Previously I’ve written about rubies detailing their properties and value, which I’ll link below.👇The main purpose of this blog is to fawn over uncut rubies!

In the jewelry world, rubies are one of the rarest and most coveted gemstones. The red corundum derives its color from traces of chromium. All other colors of gem-quality corundum are classified as sapphires, including pink corundum. Gemologists and jewelers expect a medium to medium-dark red color tone for a gemstone to be considered a genuine ruby. Corundums of lighter coloration are pink sapphires. A ruby's exclusive red color can reach high levels of saturation. Due to their rarity, premium quality rubies are among the world's most expensive gemstones, selling for over $1 million per carat.

Historically, Myanmar (formerly called Burma) was the most renowned source for high-saturation with fluorescence, or "pigeon's blood," rubies. But in 2009 major deposits of high quality rubies were discovered in Mozambique to rival Myanmar rubies. Vietnam and Madagascar also grow similar high quality rubies.

Since there are few gemstone quality high saturation rubies in nature, rubies undergo more treatments than nearly all other gemstones before being turned into jewelry, greatly affecting their market value. Most commercial rubies are at least heat-treated, an accepted practice as long as it’s disclosed and reflected in its retail price. Without treatment there would be few rubies to sell.

A lovely affordable raw ruby bracelet here from an unfamiliar retailer.

Aren’t these blocks of uncut vibrant red gemstones beautiful? Especially when knowing that not all natural ruby crystals are gemstone quality. If you want to know more about gemstone quality rubies, you can click the links below.

If you found a raw ruby would you treasure it or have it cut and polished into a piece of jewelry? 

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What Is A Shacket?

Photo: ShortStoryBox

It’s a new word I recently heard uttered by Willie Geist, the NBC News anchor, and it’s trending. The word is shacket for shirt-jacket.

A shacket combines the lightweight, relaxed style of a button-up shirt with the heavier fabric and functionality of a jacket. Often featuring larger pockets and made from sturdy materials like wool, denim, or cotton twill, shackets work as a versatile, casual-smart layering piece that can be worn in 3 ways (1) solo or (2) as an outer layer or (3) under a heavier coat, ideal for transitional weather.

Here is a peek into my closet. 

As it turns out I have 8 shackets in my closet: 4 are wool, 2 are denim, 1 is cotton and 1 is cotton/modal, all bought years ago (Shhh!, I’m not telling how many:) before the word came into existence. Without knowing, I was trending before the trend! I wear mine in the fall or spring when you need warmth but a coat is too warm. Because I wear leggings in the fall, winter and spring, I like the longer length of a shacket to balance the skinny fit of leggings (or skinny jeans). 

A shacket can also bump up a comfortable relaxed look to casual-smart by pulling together all the pieces of an outfit and covering up your butt. A longer length complements long legs also.

Although a shacket can be worn alone, I always wear a color coordinated t-shirt under mine. That way all I need to wash frequently is the t-shirt, and if I get too hot, I can remove the shacket and not have to leave it on for decency. Outside of the home with leggings though, I tend to leave my shacket on so I don’t look like a turtle that popped out of its shell! :)

So a shacket is a smart layering piece, and proof that everything old is renamed and new again!

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Put The Laundry Book On Your Shelf

Do you know using too much laundry detergent gets your clothes less clean? Too much laundry detergent will also wear out your washing machine faster. So how much laundry detergent should you use to clean a normally soiled, medium load of laundry? According to 3rd and 4th generation, father and son laundry experts, Jerry and Zach Pozniak, the amount to add is only 2 tablespoons. It’s much less than most people use or what manufactures suggest. Moreover, if your clothes are not heavily soiled washing them in warm over hot water, not only gets them cleaner, but preserves the colors in your clothing.

Jerry and Zach Pozniak are the owners of a luxury dry cleaner located at 1318 Madison Avenue at 94th Street (the Carnegie Hill neighborhood) in New York City called Jeevers New York. It’s a small family run business which caters to celebrities and fashion types. 

Zach Pozniak has a YouTube channel where he doesn’t hold back on giving viewers free cleaning advise and reviewing best to worst laundry detergents and cleaning solvents. Kirkland and Purex liquid detergents top Zak’s list -- go to his channel for the complete details. Like a scientist he explains what ingredients make a detergent or solution most effective for different types of stains. Detergents containing OxiClean are recommended.

In addition to the above tips, I leaned to apply hydrogen peroxide to remove stains from a shirt after I wash but omit drying it. Let the hydrogen peroxide dry on the fabric. IMHO, The Laundry Book would make a great addition to a home. BTW: Know that my blogs are not sponsored. I give my honest opinions. The Laundry Book is a valuable reference book to help us keep our clothes in tip-top shape by squeaky cleaning them without damage. Jerry Pozniak recommends not buying clothes you can only spot clean since you can’t really clean them.

Father and son are committed to passing their 4 generations of cleaning hacks onto the public, and they run a prestige small family business customers can feel good about supporting.

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Anticipation + 6 Ways To Save For Big Ticket Items

In 2023 interviewer Bruce Bozzi on Table for Two asked actress Sarah Jessica Parker what she’d most like to give to her children. She responded she wants her children to have the ability to “pine for” or “want things,” believing it to be a positive trait. Sarah’s childhood of sometimes in want taught her the value of hard work and gave her the motivation to earn things through her own efforts.

Moreover, compared to instant gratification, sometimes the anticipation and sacrifice of saving up for a purchase, whether a necessity or a splurge gives us additional pleasure, endorphins, or satisfaction as we get closer and closer to reaching our goal. Often we appreciate a yearned for article all the more because we worked and saved to have enough moola to finally buy it.

6 Ways To Save Extra Cash may involve cutting back on other luxuries and impulse buys such as:

(1) [Never signing up or] cutting the cable. The average cost of cable tv bundles for an American family is $1,600 per year, and another increase is expected before 2025 ends.

(2) [Never signing up or] cancelling subscriptions. Watching the sum of not spending grow in a piggy or bank account gives you a buzz.

(3) Cooking at home and eating out less, plus looking at the supermarket flyers for sales.

(4) Walking to our destinations whenever possible to save transportation costs and the price of a gym membership!

(5) Washing, reusing and repurposing what we already own when an item is re-useable. 

(6) Researching and keeping an eye on the item we are pining for to catch it at a discount. Never buy anything without looking for deals!

In a similar vein, European parents with their young children along may shop in the morning at a pastry shop with the understanding that it won’t get eaten until after dinner. They are teaching their children to plan and wait for treats.

It’s been noted that instant gratification and over consumption don’t make people happier. When you never work or wait for anything, food and material things seem to lose their value -- their specialness.

In fact, waiting can double the pleasure: Often the anticipation brings us as much joy as the actual purchase. Then we can savor it all the more! Sarah Jessica Parker, you are one wise mama!

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The Cambridge Sapphire Parure

In 1934 when Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark, granddaughter of George I of Greece and great granddaughter of Tsar Alexander II of Russia married Prince George of Kent, the 4th son of George V and Queen Mary of the United Kingdom, her mother-in-law gave her the beautiful Cambridge Sapphire Parure, a family heirloom that was made for Queen Mary's grandmother, Princess Augusta, Duchess of Cambridge, who left the jewels to her daughter, Grand Duchess Augusta of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Queen Mary’s aunt. In 1916, the aunt willed her sapphire parsue to her favorite niece, Queen Mary, who presented the set to her new daughter-in-law.

The tiara could also be worn as a necklace.

A parure is a set of jewelry that is meant to be worn together. Princess Marina received a tiara, a necklace, 2 bracelets, 2 brooches, earrings, and a corsage jewel. I’ve combed the internet for photos to show the jewelry, most of the images were taken in black and white or later in life as Princess Marina wore her Cambridge Sapphire Parure for decades to carnations and state dinners.

When Princess Marina died in 1968 she left the Cambridge Sapphire Parure to her daughter-in-law, Katharine, the new Duchess of Kent, who in 1961 had married Prince Edward, Marina’s eldest son.

Unfortunately as time passed, the Kents couldn’t afford to keep the parure in tact. Some of its stones were sold and eventually all of its pieces disappeared from public view, presumed auctioned and bought by private collectors. It’s sad to see these historic pieces broken up and not end up in a museum. 

₊˚💎𖥔 ݁ ˖ ✦  ‧₊˚ 💠 𖥔 ݁ ˖ ✦ ₊˚ 💎𖥔 ݁ ˖ ✦ ₊˚

Ordinary people could never afford such magnificent pieces of jewelry consisting of a set of so many heirloom quality sapphires. Also, we never attend royal galas, so where could we wear them? A Trip to Walmart, down in the subway, or a TIME magazine pour?

Savvy Shoppers on a budget settle for commercial grade smaller stones but honestly can easily enjoy them just as much. Inspired by the Cambridge Sapphire Parsure, I picked a few lovely pieces sold by Macy’s, Belk, Saks and other department stores to illustrate how much we can love lesser pieces of jewelry! Each department store offers a wider selection to match every taste, and they run frequent sales making a jewelry splurge more affordable to an average Debra, um Jane!😛

Tips: If you do splurge on jewelry never pick pieces so fancy they stay in a box most of the year. Don’t be afraid of lab-grown stones either. Lab-grown gemstones are physically, chemically, and optically the same as natural gemstones, but cheaper. People will pay more for natural gemstones, yet jewelry is never an investment. You will rarely make a profit by selling your jewelry. Find classic pieces within your budget that you can pair with a little black dress, as well as, blue jeans. When jewelry stays in a box, it's a complete waste of money -- a splurge gone wrong!👑

Be sure to visit Tiffany, as well as, the gemstone wings of the Natural History Museum in New York and the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. to see the heirloom gemstones when you're in the towns, and Macy’s Herald Square for the commercial grade sparklers. Also, inexperienced buyers are more apt to get taken than to score a good deal in NYC's diamond district. The vibe is to sell and it's not much fun to browse there.

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Please Bring Back The Original COACH Cassie

As a value shopper I’ve lost out on buying a few items I’ve waited to go on sale. It’s the risk you take when trying to stick to your budget. THEN I had a suitable everyday COACH handbag and didn’t feel comfortable spending $350 for a new bag I wanted, but didn’t really need at that movement, even one to this day I fawn over. Not pulling the trigger if you’re not deprived is a sensible best practice in money management. Often buying too far into the future ends up being a waste of money. Your needs change, or a better version of an item you covet launches. 

Well here we are in the future. The time has come for me to buy a new everyday leather handbag, so the original COACH Cassie (a medium size bag) is the one that got away! Such a classic handbag, COUCH surprised me by discontinuing it! True COACH fans never saw it coming!

The original COACH Cassie is 10" (L) x 7 1/4" (H) x 1 3/4" (W) with a top handle, outside pocket, turnlock closure and crossbody strap -- every characteristic I need and love!

I refuse to pay the inflated prices of the Cassies listed on the pre-loved market, costing more or the same as what it sold for new in pristine condition at COACH retail stores. If not a bargain, we should pass on buying a seller's used purse!!!

Therefore, I’m appealing to (um imploring, begging) COACH to reissue this classic bag in its larger size. I don’t care if COACH makes it slightly bigger, but I can’t use smaller dimensions in an everyday bag. Also please keep the super cute top handle as is. The looser top handles in the smaller COACH Cassie 19 or 17 isn’t as stylish. (I don’t understand the small bag craze at all. Costing nearly as much as a full-sized bag, yet you can’t fit your essentials inside! Waste of money!! Heck, just go with your pants pocket.😂) Finally, I prefer either pebbled leather or glovetan leather! Glovetan leather would be a dream!!!

Readers, the Cassie was inspired by the Court, a vintage COACH messenger bag in glovetan leather. If reissued, I’d buy either, or, and be over the moon!🦖

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Demantoid Versus Tsavorite Garnets

Demantoid Garnets

Tsavorite Garnets

 Photos: jupitergem.com

Did you know that Mother Earth makes 2 types of green garnets? Demantoid garnets were originally found in Russia’s Ural Mountains in 1851 and Tsavorite garnets were later discovered in East Africa in 1967.  

Demantoid - Wikipedia

A demantoid Ca3Fe2(SiO4)3 is an andradite garnet while a tsavorite Ca3Al2Si3O12 is a grossular garnet.

Tsavorite is a rich, deep green like emeralds. Its color is derived from chromium and vanadium. A yellow tint from ferric iron is more characteristic of demantoid garnets.

A demantoid garnet has a higher dispersion and refractive index than a tsavorite garnet, giving it more fire*, brilliance* or sparkle.

A tsavorite garnet is harder, registering 7 - 7.5 on Mohs Hardness Scale compared to the softer demantoid garnet at 6.5 - 7.

While both are rare mineral gemstones, high-quality demantoids (from Russia) are often considered the standard for green garnets and are highly sought after for their intense sparkle and rare horsetail inclusions. These inclusions are feathery golden threads of chrysotile that curve to resemble the tail of a horse. 

Tsavorite

Tsavorites are valued for their vibrant green hues and durability. Tsavorites are brighter and cleaner (meaning they have fewer inclusions) than emeralds.

Here’s an informative link to compare the value and desirability of all 3 green gemstones. If you covet an emerald for less money, a green garnet is worth considering.

At Tiffany and Co, I remember seeing demantoid garnets in a showcase that were yellow tinted and sparkled like crazy. Tiffany is known for its top of the line colored gemstones. Once again, we have to marvel at the spectacular beauty and versatility of Mother Nature!

 

₊˚💎𖥔 ݁ ˖ ✦ 💚 ‧₊˚ 💠 𖥔 ݁ ˖ ✦  🟢 ₊˚ 💎𖥔 ݁ ˖ ✦ ₊˚

Lesson Time: *Gemstone brilliance is the overall white light reflection from a gemstone, contributing to its brightness and liveliness, while fire is the dispersion of white light into rainbow-colored flashes, created by the gemstone’s (especially a diamond’s) internal refraction. Both are key components of a gemstone's "sparkle," but brilliance is about the amount of white light returned, and fire is about the colorful light shows that occur. This is especially key when determining the value of diamonds. Colored gemstones sparkle far less than diamonds. Color is their most important factor.

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High Jewelry Drops From 3 Elite Jewelers

Let’s do another eye candy blog. IMHO high jewelry is beautiful to behold and also the safer category to browse compared to beautiful yet impractical material things at T.J. Maxx -- which ordinary wage earners could afford but shouldn’t buy mindlessly. So lets began our peruse of the more costly finer things in life, shall we?

The above Ocean Flora Necklace features diamonds and un-oiled, un-enhanced Zambian emeralds, celebrated for their bright green color. Five perfectly matched emeralds total 10 carats. It is part of Tiffany & Co’s Blue Book 2025 collection called Sea of Wonder. Created by Nathalie Verdeille, the design is a tribute to the ocean's lush seascape and inspired by the gentle sway of underwater botanicals. 

 🔷.𖥔 ݁ ˖ ✦ ‧₊˚ 💠 .𖥔 ݁ ˖ ✦ ‧₊˚🔷 .𖥔 ݁ ˖ ✦ ‧₊˚💠

Round and pear cut, light and dark sapphires finished with 174 sparkling diamonds

From Harry Winston's Majestic Escapes Collection inspired by wondrous travel locations, the diamond and Sri Lankan royal blue sapphire pieces are named the St. Moritz Necklace and Earrings. The collection, designed by Harry Winston’s artisans, captures the fluidity of the magical snow caped Swiss Alps and brilliant blue sky. If you keep in mind the sapphires are stand-ins representing the mountains, the diamonds are like glittering snowflakes showering the blue gemstones.

  🔷.𖥔 ݁ ˖ ✦ ‧₊˚ 💠 .𖥔 ݁ ˖ ✦ ‧₊˚🔷 .𖥔 ݁ ˖ ✦ ‧₊˚💠

Oscar Heyman crafted this platinum multi-colored and multi-shaped Gemstone and Damond Necklace and Bracelet.

The necklace features a vibrant mix of hues from amethyst, aquamarine, beryl, chrysoberyl, citrine, demantoid, green sapphire, mandarin garnet, periot, pink sapphire, blue sapphire, tourmaline, ruby, tsavorite and yellow sapphire. A complementary bracelet (one of several styles) has 12 carats of (390 round) diamonds and colored sapphires. You might as well select a royal blue sapphire ring to have a suite! 

With its reputation of master craftsmanship, Oscar Heyman was commissioned by other elite jewelers, namely Van Cleef & Arpels, Tiffany & Co. and Harry Winston to design several of their most iconic pieces of jewelry.

Which high jewelry set would you most like to borrow to wear to a gala?

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