We have a very nice leather armchair in our living room; it’s a lovely place to sit and read or have a cocktail or just relax.

Unfortunately, you can’t do any of those things there right now because I have piled four loads of laundry on the chair. Clean laundry, sure, but unfolded.

Tonight, as I tossed load number four on the pile, I announced, “I’m giving up folding. You all can just pull your clean clothes out of the pile. Good luck.”

Wade laughed but the kids stared at me like I had lost my mind. Which I might have.

(Before I could take a picture of the Gigantic Pile of Clean Laundry, Wade folded it all. I think he was afraid it would fall over and bury one of the children. Permanently.)

Instead, I will show you my fabulous Statement Necklace. Ooh pretty!

At the very end of dinner, as we were negotiating about dessert, Charlie said, “Mama, your necklace is broken.” And he was right — I was missing one bead, over on on the left (your left, my right). Can you see it there? Charlie said, “I noticed it when we were doing homework, but I forgot to tell you.” Sigh.

The necklace is new; it’s J. Crew, via eBay, and I love it, both because it’s dramatic and cool and also because I paid a third of the original retail price for it. I’ve been wearing it everywhere, which meant that the odds of finding that one lost bead were slim to none. And really, I would have taken slim, but I assumed I was looking at none.

I was already grumpy — it’s been a long week, and the week isn’t over yet. I woke up worried about one thing and spent the day being alternately annoyed and frustrated by a whole series of other (unrelated) things. I put on my cool necklace this morning thinking that wearing something pretty might make up for being tired and stressed, and it sort of worked, a little bit. Until somewhere along the line, I lost a bead.

I tried to think back — where could I have lost that bead? If Charlie noticed it after school, maybe I lost it in the car on the way to get the boys, or in the house during the day. I hadn’t really gone anywhere else, and I was certain I had all the pieces when I got dressed this morning …Or was I?

I looked at the pictures I took this morning, for The Working Closet Flickr pool, and realized that I never had the bead at all. And I knew where it was.

I’ve been storing the necklace in a jewelry bag; when I dumped out the bag, the bead and the wee gold piece that goes with it were right there. I got out some pliers and fixed the necklace and all was well.

Aside from the fact that I’m still too frustrated and stressed to fold the laundry. Good thing I didn’t lose my necklace in that pile. I would never see it again.