MS3 is DONE!!!!!

It's DONE! It's DONE! It's DONE! Why would I be excited about it at all??? Who knows? but it's DONE!







I know my camera tends to take rotten pictures, to get a good view, the distance is enough you can't see details well (maybe it's the photographer's fault more than the camera's)








Anyway, it's getting blocked out on my bed, laid out on towels-- would have been better to had 2 solid colors behind it, I know. Oh, well. My beads don't show up well, but they are there!











Not bad for some acrylic yarn from my stash, huh? It's not your normal acrylic, I'll give you that, it's very soft, and doesn't feel like acrylic at all, anyway. It will be nice to wear for church and other activities.

EMS duties have been somewhat heavy, tho really non-existent, this week, that's a weird thing to deal with. I live far enough away that I can't stay home during my volunteer shifts, so I hang out in town. Studying for my EMT classes, exercising, shopping-- what little is available in my little town, and exercising at the fitness center, or walking in the park. My normal 12 hour shift is on Tuesdays, I substituted for 6 hours on Wednesday, and a whole shift Thursday. I get a lot of exercising done, and I've noticed some weight loss, finally. Maybe doing hours of crunches on the Bally Ball while watching TV is paying off? My muscle tone is much better, and my back doesn't hurt nearly as often as it used to, as well as my heel spurs don't act up-- that is mostly from changing work environments, I'm sure, getting off my feet at Wally World like I used to do.

Today is my "day off". Yeah, right. I'm doing home based stuff, for once, getting a few things caught up on with the kids-- even my teens were asking when I'd be home this week. Both dh and I were very busy all week, he's taking EMT classes along with me, so we aren't making it home Mondays and Wednesdays until nearly 11 pm!

Was playing phone tag with the college boy; he'd call, I'd be in a meeting, I'd call back, he'd be in class. Dad called, and I ignored him, also, as I was still in a meeting. Need to make phone calls today, don't I?

FINALLY!

I'm back to this blog! Figured out that I can't use Mozilla to log in properly, but Firefox will let me come in right away. DUH! OK, I finished clue 4 of my MS3, should get a pic up yet tonight to share what I've done. I already started clue 5, but haven't gotten too far with it. Ta da, here it is!

I completed several more baby hats to donate to charity, along with some "Cool Ties" to send to the troops overseas. It gets VERY hot in Iraq and the other countries we have soldiers in, so these help out. I have many in non-military colors that I sell for $5 each. Just let me know if anyone is interested in them. The profits help my volunteer fire dept. out.



This is the tied fleece blanket (from a kit, nothing fabulous) I made for my 7 yo son, he's thrilled. It was really easy, really not a sewing project, as there's NO SEWING involved. Oh, well, as long as he's happy, I'm happy, and one less quilt I have to make for my kids.

Here's goofy pics of my weird sleeping ferret. She has an outdoor cage-- AKA rabbit hutch, which is about the only cage we've found that will actually keep her inside of it. She likes to escape her inside cage, which isn't always bad, but a pain in the rear at times.















Some times she's not very lady like, is she?

Here are the "fruits" of my labors today-- well, the whole family's labors. In total, 17 jars of Mustang grape jelly, and 5 jars of pear preserves. Now the fun of cleaning up the kitchen. There's MORE grape juice ready for canning, and the kids want to go pick more grapes from the fence lines around our neighborhood.



My hot water bath for finishing the canning process had to be in my electric roaster, as all my stock pots were busy with various juice processes. It worked, so I'm happy with it. Nothing else holds 12 jars at once.

Only one week until my EMT classes start. I bought myself an EMT/firefighter window decal for my car-- won't put it on until I get certified, tho. Just to make sure I make it thru the whole academy training. Fire academy doesn't get going again until late September-- too hot to hang around all day in bunker gear right now, so hopefully, it will cool down a bit by then. We'll finish our basic certification in December, about the time we finish the EMT training.

MS3 progress

I finished Clue 3, and have started clue 4!!!! It's not a good view of the beads, but a pretty fair color representation. I hit a snag with it last night. Knitted too late, and made some mistakes. So I decided to go to bed and leave it for today. Maybe tonight, when it's cooler tonight, I'll get to it.

Other projects: Finished a baby hat for charity, started a new one, dh's fire fighter socks, and a feather and fan shawl. 2 crocheted lap robes are in progress, one of them needs another skein of yarn bought. I have some sewing to do, 2 Renn Faire dresses for a friend, some clothes for my 9 yo daughter, and some charity sewing to get done. Mostly lap robes to be taken to the military hospital for the soldiers there. 2 baby sweaters just need buttons sewn on and they will be complete! That feels good to have them that close to finishing.

I'm getting ready for my Premier Designs Jewelry renewal party! I'll be finishing up 2 years with the company! We just had some 200 or so new pieces released! Very pretty, so I'm ordering some of those, and I'm selling off my older pieces at discounted prices to make room! I bought myself 2 name badges, and a window decal for the back window of my car so I can advertise all over town with my name and phone number. I'd be putting together some pictures and prices soon. I'll be linking from here to my Flickr page for anyone who wants to see them. Most items will be 25-50% off of retail!

Also, we are having a fantastic hostess benefit special right now! Hold a show with me between now and the end of August and get 50% of the total sales in FREE JEWELRY! Normally, we give 30% as the hostess benefits in FREE JEWELRY, plus the four $25 bonuses. Those are still part of it and add alot to your stash. If you are out of town and still want to get some of this, we offer 20% of total sales for catalog parties-- just gathering orders for me. You still can get LOTS for free. As hostess, you also can buy 4-8 items at 1/2 price, depending on total sales, which do add in to what you can receive FREE! Just let me know and I'll be happy to help!

the latest crafting

OK, starting this off, I've never done a blog-- but gotta start somewhere, I guess. Today, after church, dh and I got to eat out ALONE!!! No kids, and then went to a Terrorism Awareness class at our EMS barn. Both of us have signed up to become EMTs, and classes don't start until mid August-- good thing, as we haven't finished our applications! The instructor never showed, so we chatted with the other members for a couple of hours, then came home.

I sewed 12 baby laundry bags for Blue_bonnet_babies, which is a yahoogroup I belong to. These were made from 2 fabrics that i picked up at work, and will work for both boys and girls. These turned out cute, I think.

Tomorrow, is Tae Kwon Do for my oldest 2 sons, I go work out at my fitness center while they are in class. Hope to see some more sewing and knitting while the day passes.

Another of my BIG projects is the MS3
or Mystery Stole (3rd year) knit a long. I'm getting into the 3rd clue of it, as the schedule is working along. This is my knitting after clue #1. It's a beautiful lacy work with matching beads. I'm sorry to say my camera doesn't do justice to the color I picked. My clue #2 pic does show it off better, tho. I wasn't sure of my expertise in knitting this lacy of a project, but I'm finding it relatively easy to follow the charts, and for the most part, keep the same number of stitches as the pattern says I need.





Here is clue 2 completed. It's a better view of the color, and you can see the beads I used. Had to use my ugly ironing board to pin it out so all can see it in it's glory. I'm about 15 rows into the next clue. Will take a pic of it when that is finished.

Tomorrow is my weekly weighing, and I'll get into how my exercise and dieting is going then.