Rose quartz

This is on elastic cord but when I get a magnetic clasp I'm going to restring it on regular beading wire. The rose quartz beads are not good quality so it pains me to have them strung with the purple amethyst because those are of good quality.  I got those for $18 for a string.  And when I first started beading I really didn't get the different between base metal vs sterling silver and a couple of the spacers beads had tarnished so I think the spacers are sterling silver.  The focal bead has hearts on it so I'm thinking about using craft wire to see if I can form some head pins with a heart to make earrings.

I fiddled with a variety of beads to get a good combination with the rose quartz, then I realized sometimes it's best to stick with simplicity.

I like the feel of these on my arm even though I don't care for the beads themselves.  I think I'm liking smooth, shiny semi-precious stones.

Etsy says do not use a flash when you photograph jewelry so I photographed it in natural light on the coffee table. 

Next I'm going to try making a seed bead bracelet.

Carnelian

Mayela came over today at about 1pm and we had a nice long visit.  We ate tamales for lunch then watched Passion of The Christ, then sat down for more tamales (I had chicken soup) and she, my husband, and I, talked over dinner for an hour.  Then we did a Bible study on the Parable of the Sower aka The Parable of the Four Soils.  Then at about 9pm she left.  Tomorrow we might go shopping.

So I took my bead box out a last week, or rather I had my husband get my bead box out of the shed.  I love going through all my old beads.  It's like seeing old friends.  All the plans I had that I never followed through on...hopes, dreams, desires.  Anyhoo, I decided not to go to bed until I made something.

I used 1 mm Stretch Magic elastic cord.  I prefer elastic bracelets and I thought I was making it for myself.  This one fit rather high on my arm but it felt good.  Or I could let it go to the bottom of my wrist and it wasn't too annoying. The stones are so big that they felt smooth and weighty on my wrist instead of light and flittery.

I love the look and feel of these stones.  The findings are all leftovers.  The stones are actually several of my least favorite of the string but still gorgeous to my eyes.

Carnelian is a quartz that has a waxy luster and is usually brownish red to orange but comes in a lot of shades and colors.  Geologists classify is as a chalcedony in the quartz family.  It has the same chemical makeup as agate so what one person calls carnelian could be another person's agate.  I suspect these have been heat treated to make the hues and lines stand out.  Some carnelian is naturally very red, but heat treatment enhances the color and beauty of carnelian.  It has a hardness on the Mohs scale of 7.

As I gazed at it while the glue was drying it did occur to me that it looked like a something Mayela might like.  She came over and I showed it to her and sure enough, she liked it.  I kind of wanted it for myself, but she'll wear it more than I ever would.  It looks real purty on her arm.  She wears bracelets every day.

So my first bracelet made in a long time went to a home where it will be loved.

My husband got me Rosetta Stone to learn Spanish!  I'm installing it now.  Merry Christmas!  One week of 2011 left.  We got our son a butler bag which is an all season sleeping bag good to minus -20 degrees.  He needs it for trail riding in the wilderness with Anthony.  We got him the book Killing Lincoln and a red patriot pen from the O'Reilly site.

I desire to go to Costa Rica with Mayela next year.  She's invited me.  I only worry some about my body.  The Zyrtec works very well but this morning it started at 6:00am and part of my hand is swollen a little.  I took a Zyrtec at 6:40am.  I should have done it as soon as I felt the slightest itch.

Whenever I leave my husband I go into entropy - inevitable degeneration.  I gotta find my man pants, but once I pull them up can I keep them on for a few days in Costa Rica far, far from home?

My back is killing me today.  I don't know exactly how I did it, but my lower back is aching like last year when I rode that mule for 45 minutes.  I'm just chilling with it today as if you can chill with pain.

Husband and son are gone to Cruces to get gifts.  I told my husband not to go get me a gift today because I want him to sit with me and watch football (this means I'm on my computer and he watches football) but he flat refused.  They went earlier this morning and came back after they did a 360 on the interstate.  It's snowy and icy here.  They got to Cruces okay on their second trip in the afternoon because the road is thawed out now.

I just don't know how I did this to my back.

Talked to my dear old Dad.  They're expecting company.  His voice was quiet.  I'll call my sis in a little while.  I hear she has a cold so they aren't going to Dad's today.

The new Zumba DVD has a routine with Celtic dance on it and I'm crazy about it.  Can't wait to learn it.  I have it half way learned already.  I think a sign of excellent choreography is when it's easy to learn.

Totally want to go see War Horse this coming week.  I want to take our son to see it too.  It's supposed to be excellent.  The horse is played partly by the same horse who played Sea Biscuit.  The story is based on a fictional novel written in 1982.  Set in WWI.  Directed by Steven Spielberg.  Supposed to be awesome.  Hundreds of extras and horses used for the acting.  I was surprised by how many horses were used to play Blackie in True Grit.  They are so super careful to treat the animals well nowadays.  I'm so glad.  In the small part where Blackie swims across the river five horses were used and one was a mechanical horse.  Amazing!  I'm always trying to figure out which shot is the mechanical one.  I think it's the shot were you see a close-up of Blackie's breathing and laboring through the water as he swims.  I think that three-second shot is the mechanical one.

Got infected by a computer virus this week.  Husband was able to get rid of it for me.  It's the second time in two weeks.  It was coming down via an automatic update from Adobe Reader.  It was a fake update.  I went to Adobe Reader in my Programs list and selected Edit, Preferences, Updater, and chose "Do not automatically update."  I had to check it a couple times too because once it unchecked itself.  Evil people have nothing better to do than design malevolent viruses to attack innocent people.  Some people need a life. 

November hair.  Uncombed.  I need to measure.  Will I ever reach 50"?  Will I ever reach knees?

Aw, I didn't get the job.  They said they'd call today and last time she called me for the clerical test she called at 10:00am.  Someone did better than I did on the interview and clerical test and that's not a far stretch to figure on.  Shoot.  So it was practice for the next job interview.

Right now I'm making some Christmas ornaments out of candy to keep my mind occupied.  They're super easy and kinda cute.

I used a hot glue gun instead of frosting for putting it together because no one will want to eat them after fingers have been all over it.  I used red pipe cleaners instead of string.

Tonight at 7:30pm we're going on a horse and carriage ride with Laura.  We saw her and Joe driving by to set up last night.  It was like a caravan going by!  It'll be cold out but should be a neat ride.  I wonder where she'll take us.

On my way home from Zumba Tuesday night I got stopped by the coppers!  I'm such a ditz.  I was driving my new car in the dark with the headlights off.  Seemed like I could see fine.  Surely I would have noticed they were off eventually.  Anyhoo, I don't know where he came from but suddenly, bam!, he's right behind me with enough lights pointed on me to light up a stadium.  I pulled over and sat in my car and waited.  He took a long time to come over.  I was waiting for him on my side of the car, but he knocked on the window on the passenger side and I jumped.  I suppose it's safer for him on that side.  I already had my wallet out and he told me my lights were off.  I was flustered and checked and sure enough someone, named "my husband", took the headlight control off of automatic.  Soooo.  That's why they were off.  The policeman never asked for my I.D.  He was very nice.  I got home and told my husband never, never take the lights off of auto again or I will get stopped by the police!

I love Tebow.

Zumba was fun tonight.  Eleven people.  We did a new routine that's humorous - a funny song called "Chocolate (Choco Choco)."  Next week I'm adding a bachata!  I'm excited about it.  It'll be a brand new style for our class.  I hadn't even heard of bachata before Zumba.  I sold one pair of sticks too.  I couldn't decide whether I should buy more to sell because I don't make all that much money by selling them, so I asked Mayela.  Ha!  I can't make decisions.  She said get some.  So I did.  Then I told her I have 12 more to sell and she asked why so many.  Because to get the best price I have to buy 12 at a time.  But she thought I'd get a few pair.  Oh well.  Now I have TWELVE more to sell. Praise the Lord.  I'm into saying "Praise the Lord."  It's my new saying.

I hope I get a call for that job on the 15th.  I hadn't thought of it till my sister reminded me of it on the phone tonight.  Actually, she didn't remind me but I told her about it and so I reminded myself.  Darn.  It was better when it wasn't on my mind.

I'm thinking of taking Zyrtec every couple days whether I need it or not because I do need it every two or three days.  This way, theoretically, or is it hypothetically, I don't have to freak out every night wondering what's going to be swelled up tomorrow.  I'm paranoid about getting a job then what do I do if my eye or lips swell up.  I'll have to call in sick.  I hate calling in sick.  I don't want to make a reputation for being sickly and missing work.  That's not me at all.  Who wants to be the new girl and call in sick the first month?  Serenity Now.

Church was sublime this morning.  I learned about typology.  I learned about Eljah and Elisha.  Elijah was a prophet.  Well, yeah, he has his own book in the Old Testament, so I kind of knew that. Elisha was his servant, as in, student.  Elijah was Elisha's mentor.  I was never sure if the two names were the same person or two different people.  It's two different people.

Our Zumba presentation at the Veterans' Home went swimmingly.  They liked us!  They smiled and the employees smiled.  We all wore the deer antler headbands I bought.  And we got sweaty.  I might need to pick some slower routines next time.  I wore a snowman headband to the market and it was the darnedest thing.  Everyone was smiling at me everywhere I went.  It put me in such a happy mood.  I guess the snowmen bouncing on my head caused people to smile.  And when they looked at me smiling, I smiled back.  And felt good!  I spread a bunch of Christmas cheer around the store and it didn't hurt at all!

Speaking of hurt.  My hand and one eye swelled yesterday.  I was severely bummed.  But I went to Zumba at the Vet's Home anyway because from far away I hoped no one would notice one eye was little.  But at church today three people hurt my hand.  They shake it too hard and the swelling in it is down, but not gone. One lady, bless her heart, she shook my hand then smacked the top of it a few times (she was being friendly) and yowser, that woke me up alright.  My husband is going to buy me a thingy of some kind that I can put on my hand and that way on Sunday people can't squeeze it and stuff.

Getting a cold sore on the inside of my nose and part of my nose is red.  Man, I am falling apart here.  Had a giant stomach ache after dinner last night.  Spaghetti sauce apparently didn't agree with me.  I took Maalox and it actually helped.  In an hour I felt fine.  Praise the Lord.  I feel pretty good at the moment.  I have some Zovirax for the cold sore and Abreva topical for it so it ought to pass quickly.

I would like to do a hot oil treatment on my hair, but I am also very sleepy.  My big job of the day is I need to thoroughly clean Bella's water trough.  I'll do it right after...my nap.

I feel kind of bad today.  Just generally.  Sort of.  All around.  Could be my friend's sadness.  Could be the Zyrtec I took which helped tremendously but kept me from sleeping.  Could be for some reason I keep thinking of abortion and can't get it off my mind.  Keeps coming back.  Could be I'm done with the interview process and have only to wait.  Could be I want to know what is God's ultimate plan for me and I don't know the answer.  How can I use my gift(s) best and what are my gift(s)? 

Pastor's wife asked if we could have any gift we wanted what would it be.  That's like asking what would you do if you knew you could not fail.

I wore a reindeer antlers headband to Zumba tonight to make sure it doesn't fall off.  I liked wearing it.  I got a pair for each of the Zumba ladies who are going to do Zumba on Saturday at the Veteran's Home.  It should be a lots of fun!  We're spreading some Zumba cheer for Christmas.

Well, I guess I'm still in the running.  I did well enough at the interview that they've asked me back for testing.  I hope there's nothing about ratios on the test.  I can do the basics.  I took a practice online clerical test tonight to sharpen up.  It'll be 30 to 40 minutes she said.  Didn't give me much notice to brush up.  Human Resources called this morning at 10am and the test is tomorrow at 3:30pm.  I will do my best!  Say a prayer for me.  Did I say I want this job?  I do. 

I had seven peeps in Zumba and man, it's cold outside.  It was in the 20s.  Last night they closed the 10 and the 25 and truckers were parked all over the place.  They opened the civic center for people to sleep there.  We had a power outage for several hours from about 7am to 10am.

Again, I missed my own blog anniversary.  It was seven years on November 10th.

Today I am teaching myself samba.  It's the hardest of the Zumba steps, but technically not difficult.  You gotta get that little bounce in there to look good.  I want to add samba to our class.