So many hobbies!

I've still got it!

Years ago, I used to write for a living.  I was a technical writer and I was good at it.  Sort of.  Turns out, it's really hard to write about something you don't actually understand.  When I understood, I wrote well.  When I didn't, which was far too often, I couldn't write worth a darn.  So I changed what I did for a living.  (Turns out that, despite the unending stress, the writing was more interesting but I digress.)

I've really gotten into the whole emergency preparedness thing.  Not only is it fun to gather things I'll need in case there's an emergency, but it's comforting, too.  Anyway, the website/store I frequent most often is Emergency Essentials.  Turns out Emergency Essentials has a blog and the blog has an open invitation for anyone to write a post about an emergency you've experienced, preparing for an emergency or writing a review of one of their products.  If they publish your guest post, they give you a $20 gift card to the store.  A couple weeks ago, I wrote a post and submitted it.  Last week, I received an email stating they were going to publish it and to where did I want the gift card mailed.  I was floored that they'd responded so quickly and even more pleased when I found out they didn't edit a word in the essay.  You can read the essay here.  It had been so long since I'd done any serious writing, I was afraid I'd lost the ability.  (Yes, I know I write for my blog but that's just me messing around and having fun.)  I guess I've still got it.

(Note:  I just reread my little essay and not only did they not change anything, they didn't fix my mistake in the last sentence.  Oops!)

I'm almost done

I've been furiously spindle spinning, trying to get the yarn done in time for Maryland.  The spindle on the far right is the one I'm working on at the moment.  Happily, I'm almost done spinning the 3 ounces.  Has anyone actually spun an entire 3 ounces onto one spindle?  I HAD to break it up because the spindles were just too heavy.  The Twisted Sister's Sock Workbook doesn't mention anything about the spinning part.  I'm not too sure how I'm going to get three cops into a 2-ply yarn but I'm sure I'll figure it out.  Well, I hope I'll figure it out.  I've worked too hard on this to mess it up and I plan on finishing with an award-winning yarn.

I was introduced to a website called Emergency Essentials at BePrepared.com.  It has everything you need to prepare for an emergency.  You know how the government tells us that we should have enough food, water and supplies for 3 days?  How many of us actually follow this advice?  This is the website that helps you do that.  I'm going to get yelled at for this but I bought a long-term, 5-gal. jug for storing water, 3 freeze-dried meals and a #10 can of 6-grain cereal.  So that's breakfast and dinner for three days and I figure I can get at least 3 lunches from what's around the house.  Between that and all my camping equipment, I should be set if something disastrous happens.  It feels good to know I'm prepared, or I will be as soon as my stuff arrives.  Have you made any plans in case of emergency?  I would love to hear about them.