Sparkle, sparkle

I'm suddenly interested in sparkly gemstone rings.

I don't know why. Is it a midlife thing? (Like wanting leather upholstery in my car, not being interesting in camping any more, and preferring bed by 11pm rather than going out on the town...) When I'm flipping channels on the TV, I've actually gotten mesmerzied by the Jewelry Television channel. Watching those sparkly jewels spin around on their cute little carousels is so hypnotic!

Maybe it's a disease.

Now, really, I don't want to own expensive jewels. If I had a ring worth $5,000, I'd be a nervous wreck wearing it. Heck, I'd be a nervous wreck just having it in the house.

Still, I have this new urge for sparkling gems. I figure the cubic zirconia stuff is about my speed. Sparkly but cheap.

With the thought that I could satisfy my urge for jewels with cheap, fake stuff... I mean, affordable quality fabricated gemstones, I set off to investigate. It's amazing the "faux jewels" you can find online. Some of that fake stuff is darned expensive, too.

But here's the discovery making me happy today: Ebay. Good old Ebay. (Dangerously addictive Ebay, I might add.)

I discovered that I can have a gen-u-ine pink sapphire in a 14-karat gold ring setting with real diamond accents for $3.99 or less. Well, with shipping and handling, $15.99. No, that's not a typo. All this pink sparkliness for Fifteen Dollars and Niney Nine Cents, people! Looky:



Don't believe me? Check this out. I'm sure it's of the highest quality.

But wait, there's more. Emeralds like this, $3.99 plus $12.99 shipping.



Rubies and garnets! This undoubtedly flawless ring is up to $1.26 already.



Ooh! Mystic Topaz! The bidding has soared from $.01 all the way up to $.26 ... so far.


Now, c'mon... isn't this FUN? Don't you want to go look?

I must confess that I have, indeed, bid on and won an auction (I spent an exorbitant $5.99 for a ring) and I can't wait to see what it turns out to be. At worst, it'll be great dress-up fodder for Caroline and the little girl next door. Or maybe I've discovered the secret to owning lots and lots of gorgeous jewels. I will keep you posted.

It's cheaper than pretty much anything else (who knew you could have a real -- cough cough -- gemstone ring for the price of a fat quarter or two of fabric?!) and it's not fattening.

So if you see me with jewels on my hands, let's just pretend you don't know where I got them, okay?