Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Eric

Eric's room is closer to looking more like a hospital room than ever. Yesterday we got the new suction machine. It is not that I wanted a suction machine but in order to get nursing respite when Eric is really sick, I needed to have a suction machine in the house. I hope that Eric does not get sick any time soon, in his healthy state his needs are high enough. One a healthy day his care needs take 6 to 8 hours per day.

I know that I have a creative bent but I can not figure out how to decorate the suction machine with out destroying it or impeding its functionality. It is a rental so it has to go back when we are done with it. The same goes with the IV pole. I wish that manufactures would realize that these things go into homes to and we do not like institutional gray. Can't they come up with one covered in say Sesame Street friends? If you my dear readers have any ideas please let me know.

Today Eric is having a good day, so he is off to camp and I get to go to do errands and a Tucson Police Department training. This means that I talk about what it is like to be Eric's mom and what I would like the police to be aware of when they come into contact with Eric. I will also include my usual plea to ticket people who park in handicapped parking places without a permit. After all there are not many places I can deploy the ramp on my car.

I wish you a fantastic day and a short to-do list.

Friday, July 24, 2009

The Adventures of the Purple Skirt

Today is a typical Friday, except that I wore my purple skirt. I usually only wear this skirt on weekends. It is a very lovely skirt, with a big twirl and buttons down the front. I absolutely do not know why I wore today except it said wear me please. It was just so polite and leaped into my hands. So what could I do except to indulge the skirt.

Taking Eric to camp involves using a 4 point tie down system for his wheelchair, which involves crawling around the back of the van on hands and knees to make sure that everything is ratcheted down in place. Think of those straps that they use in moving van except on the floor of the car. Once we get to camp the process is reversed, crawling around to release the straps.

Today after I dropped Eric off at camp I was lucky enough to meet the Friday Fun Knitters at the Foothills Mall food court. It was drink refill time. As I was getting up to get my refill a friend noticed that there was a tear in my skirt, but it should be easy to fix because it was on a seam line.

After a lunch with Nancy and Natalie, it was time to get back to the reality of chores.

Unbeknown to me I picked the skirt eating cart at the supermarket. The wheels would leap out and grab my skirt, and being busy shopping without my list and trying to remember what we needed, I can honestly say that I did not notice till my skirt was being pulled off by the cart. I must of had to untangle my skirt from the cart at least a dozen times. I know that it was quite amusing to the other shoppers. You would think that they would have something on the wheels to prevent them from eating skirts. By the time I got home I could not face what new damage had been inflected on the purple skirt and promptly threw it in the laundry. My day of reckoning will come soon enough. This is the second skirt that has bit the dust do to be attacked by Eric's wheelchair this season.

So the moral of this story has to be that now, no matter how much a pretty skirt says wear me during the week instead of the weekend and you know you will be doing chores, you must be firm with the skirt and tell it no.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Another Bake Sale

The Young Adults at the JCC Camp Taglit will be holding another bake sale tomorrow from 9:30 am to 3:30 pm. For those of you who would like to help, please stop by the JCC and buy some lemonade or baked goods, or just make a donation. The Special Needs Young Adults are raising money for the Hope Animal Shelter in Tucson.

The campers will also be collecting the following items Trader Joe's Wet dog and cat food, Feline Pine Cat Litter, Flat sheets, Blankets, Bath Rugs, hard dog toys, mice for the cats, brushes, combs and love gloves, small kitten size litter boxes and of course cash.

You will also find and even larger basket of hand knit and crocheted items than last time, my husband John loves to get hand knit items out of the house. Everything in the basket will also go to help the Hope Animal Shelter. So If you are on a diet this is a good way to help these great kids raise money for a good cause. Did I mention that you can also start your holiday shopping early this way.

The JCC is located at the corner of River and Dodge. As long as you are stopping by for the fund raiser, take a tour and see what the center has to offer you and your family. It is a great place for family center activities we have been members for 15 years.

Have a wonderful day everyone.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

A New Book

Just in time for the summer drool-drums a new Sophie Kinsella book is hitting the market. It is called Twenties Girl, and if it is anything like her previous books it should leave me in stitches. As soon as I get the audio book in my hot little hands and listen to it I will write a review of it. For those of you who are already fans of Ms. Kinsella's books I have added a direct link to the book on Amazon, and the pre-order price is less expensive than the Target price. And more great news, for those of you who love your kindles you can also down load a copy Tuesday.

On a different note I will be frogging the purple shawl for about 5 rows, I started the ending boarder too soon. Rip-it, rip-it..No I did not use a life line and it is going to be a pain, but it is the process and the finished product that count.

I wish everyone a wonderful day.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Wednesday - The Most Wonderful Day

For a day that started of achy and grouchy it turned into the most wonderful day. I got a tweet very early in the morning from Melissa at http://www.NeoKnits@blogspot.com That through a random number generator,I had won a free copy of the Bliss Shawlette. What a wonderful pattern. I can not wait for the projects in my basket to get finished so I can start the new pattern. Please take a minute to stop by Melissa's blog and check out her wonderful patterns. These patterns are wonderful, they would make a great addition to your knitting line up or if you are a local yarn shop owner, these pattern will cause the yarn and patterns to fly out of your doors.

The next delight came in the mail from http://PhatFibres@Blogspot.com I had won one of her many contests featuring independent fiber artists. The yarn came from A shop on esty called my 8 kids It is a super wash yarn called Blue Monday. The coloring is simply wonderful. It was well over 100 degrees and humid due to the season, but the yarn is so soft and cuddly that it stayed on my shoulder all afternoon. I would like to know her secret to being a mom of 8, running an on-line studio and dyeing such beautiful yarn and fiber. I personally have trouble keeping up with 2 kids. By the way the yarn is back on my shoulder. I think it is going to have to be a shawl. I am in love with this yarn.

I was so happy with all this it almost did not matter that on day 1 of my 12 day sale of 10% off everything in the shop I did not have one sale. Everything in my shop will be 10% off till July 26 at 11:59 p.m. There is a link on the side of my blog to my Art Fire Studio.

I also did more deep cleaning yesterday, I hope that by next week that the dinning room will finally be cleared of all the junk that got moved in during construction. It would have been done by now, except that I am in a zenning mood and am de-cluttering the house. I have another Bookmans and Goodwill run for Teri to do. I will really miss her help when she goes off to law school.

Speaking of Teri going off to law school , she has bought the most wonderful sheet set for her dorm room. She has really learned about household things like sheets even if she did not let on.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

!2 days of X-Mas Sale

please visit my Art Fire Studio for the 12 day of X-Mas sale. Everything will be 10% off.You can find me at http://www.artfire.com/users/Handmade~by~Sheri

Monday, July 13, 2009

Friends

Everyone should have a friend like Justin. Justin is Eric's friend at camp. Justin has gone from a shy boy to a great advocate. Take today for instance, I made a big time mommy boo boo. When I packed Eric's lunch for today I forgot to check to see if there were any extensions and syringes in Eric's lunch pail. Just to clarify Eric has a mickey button( better know as a g-tube) which goes right to the tummy, we don't fool around with food, we send it straight to where it is suppose to go.

I got the panic call that there was no tube or syringes, so Teri gathered the supplies and I my purse,pod, knitting and headed off to camp with the supplies. Eric's camp councilor was happy for the supplies, Justin on the other hand told me to "be more careful next time and don't ever forget it again" He said I was not doing my job right. I needed to take better care of his friend.

There are other times that Justin will tell me about Eric's day or what supplies I need to bring to camp for the current fundraising effort. I am so glad that Justin is in Eric's life. Justin will go far. Some day I hope to see him on the Governor's Council for Developmental Disabilities as a Self Advocate. I can also see him answering questions and providing training to public servants on how to handle the disabled.

Thank You Justin for being a wonderful part of Eric's life. And for the rest of the world please look beyond the physical and learn to look at the person. I know that if you meet Justin you will know just what I mean.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Christmas In July

This Wednesday July 15, I will be having a special one day only promotion in my Art Fire Studio, http://www.artfire.com/users/Handmade~by~Sheri. Just mention Christmas in July in the promotions box and I will refund 10% of your total purchase, not including the shipping and handling charges. Since I have heard that Pay-Pal will not allow discounts with out manual intervention, I will credit your Pay-Pal account the discounted amount.

Don't worry if the shop gets empty during the day, I will add more items as space permits, but if you have been eyeing something I would suggest that you shop early. The sale starts on July 15th at 12:01 a.m. and runs to 11:59 p.m.

This is the perfect time to start your holiday shopping, you have 3 days to make your lists and go to my one day sale on the 15th.

Feel free to drop hints to your loved ones if you want something special that you think would make a nice gift.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Busy Days and Nights

It has been a busy time around here. I am trying to keep up, but i am sure that you know how that goes. Work in minus work done equals a lot of work left to do. I guess that goes along with my wonderful job title, Mom. What kind of a job title is that? Does it really pay anything? What are the hours like? What do I do?

Dinner Tuesday was one of those throw together affairs, frozen vegan ravioli with a sauce of canned mushrooms,olives, garbanzo beans and a jar of sauce dumped in a pan and warmed up, with frozen green beans. John and Teri graciously cleaned up the kitchen after I used all those pots and pans. I don't know how I used so many, they just seemed to land on the stove.

Being a mom is like being a handyman, you have to be able to do anything on a moments notice, and I do mean anything. Tuesday night Eric was having a bad night, he was uncomfortable, wanted to eat, did not want to eat, wanted his position changed, wanted hugs, wanted to be left alone. This went on till 3:30 am. John let me sleep in to 6:30 and then I had to get up and dressed in case the painters came.You would think that after a night like that he would want to stay home and sleep, but no it was the round trip drive to camp. He had the audacity to be happy and cheerful Wednesday morning. Not much got done on Wednesday, I swear that there was not enough caffeine in the world to keep me awake and productive. But laundry and cleaning got done anyway. When I went to pick up Eric at camp he was happy to see me and did not take a nap at all, I guess that comes from being 19.

I have to admit that on Wednesday I did go to the store and buy 1 skein of yarn for and order, I was going to get 2 skeins, but they got in the new Simply Knitting Magazine that I love. In my tired haze convinced myself that I could do the socks with 2 colors that is the extra pattern leaflet in the back of the magazine. I did go again on Thursday because I found another coupon on line, the yarn is for an order of 8 kitchen washcloths and it is in a color that I don't have. I really don't have every color know to man. I know that it is hard to believe. But I have managed to finish 2 and have the 3rd in progress. It is just the type of order that a muddled brain fogged mind can handle.

Teri is starting to request all her favorite dinners before she leaves for law school in about a month. I said this was fine as long as she did the shopping. Last night was Tamale pie with peach pie for desert, we forgot to put together the salads so I really can not call it a square meal, but there was lots of pie.

Eric had a fairly good night Wednesday, he was only up for 30 minutes about 3 am with leg cramps and positioning problems. His timing was great since that was about the time my body decided it had had enough and needed Tylenol and stretching.

Eric was happy to go to camp today, they are going to see Ice Age 3. I one the other hand have cleared my brain fog, run the dishwasher and did 2 out of 4 loads of laundry. In the summer I stop doing laundry when the temperature hits 100 degrees, it is now 102 at noon. The good thing about summer is that the clothes dry on the line very fast. I should be able to put these away by 3ish. Roomba was tired so I got Teri to vacuum the den. I will empty the dishwasher after lunch. I guess it is also time to figure out what is for dinner.

As you have probably guessed that this job lacks monetary payment and has extremely long hours, but the hugs make it all worth while. Do I wish I could have an 8 to 5 job-yes. Will I have one in the near future - no. After all there are bills to pay, laundry to do, meals to make, taking care of Eric, shopping to do, the house to clean and the odd appointment to get to. If I am having a really good week I just might get to have lunch with a friend or 2 or even go meet a friend to knit.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Help Teri

My daughter Teri has entered a photo contest to help earn some money for law school.

Teri needs as many votes as possible, please click on this link and vote for her picture. http://www.brickfish.com/Pages/PhotosAlbums/PhotoView.aspx?qsi=14790195. Please feel free to pass this link to your e-mail or twitter list, you can vote more than once a day.

Thanks for all your help.

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Yesterday was a recovery day for me since Eric spent most of the night awake. I will blog later today when I am more awake, in the meantime feel free to check out my Art Fire Studio. Let me know what you think should be included. Have a wonderful day.

Monday, July 6, 2009

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It has been a busy day, but I have managed to add more to my Art Fire Studio. Please stop by.

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Just Wondering....

After lunch out we dropped John off at the house and went to Bookman's. If you are ever in Arizona this is a place that you have to go to, they have 3 stores in Tucson, 1 in Flagstaff and some in Phoenix. They have everything the heart could desire and always have "new" things. Bookman's has used books and magazines, a great kids section in all the stores, odds and ends and even a rare book section. Bookman's is the largest used book seller in Arizona and we have store credit to burn so I let the kids go wild. Eric and Teri pick out some new to them music. and I found a cute little green jar with strawberries on top that I am going to clean up and stuff to the brim with scrbies for my Art Fire shop tomorrow. Time to make a lot of scrubies. Teri agreed with me that this will make a nice gift when it is finished.

When we went to Michael's to find more stuffing for Teri's mogo I just had to look at the price of the yarn. I did show great restraint and did not bring any more home. After surfing through various shops it leaves me a little perplexed as to how someone can offer items for sale in their shops for less than it would cost me to buy the yarn.

Teri and I had a discussion on economics on the way home. We debated if the average crafter values their time, yes I know that I will never make minimum wage selling handmade items, but is it necessary to sell at a loss to have sales? As a stay at home mom I know that I am worth a lot of money for the work that I do that is unpaid, it is just part of the job and making the world a better place. On the other hand as a small business owner I know that I can not stay in business if I sell things for less then they cost to make. I also have to include overhead expenses and I would like to make a little money to help Teri out with grad school expenses. There are plenty of places to buy cheap, but if you want locally handmade it is going to cost more, I can't compete with Walmart, Target, Kohl's or the local dollar store.

Please leave your comments on this, I want to know if I am the only one who feels this way.

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Thank You

I would just like to thank all the members of our military and their families past and present for the great gift of freedom that you have given to all of us. Just as people always tell me its a hard job to be a parent of a special needs child and not everyone could do it. I feel the same way about your jobs.

So as we celebrate this day of freedom in the United States, just remember that you really are appreciated by the great majority of us. Thank you very much for all that you do for us.

Happy 4th of July everyone. May freedom continue to ring here and around the world.

Friday, July 3, 2009

Yesterdays Adventure with Eric

We left for the out patient surgery appointment at 11:15 am for a 12 pm appointment. The doctors office told us to go to the northeast outpatient surgery entrance. So Teri and I went to the first door that had a sign that said NE Outpatient surgery entrance. When we found the registration desk Eric's name was not on the list and the receptionist told us that this was for unit 600 outpatient surgery. and that Eric's appointment was at the NE outpatient surgery entrance in the middle of the building. Our first thought was what the heck was unit 600 as if we were suppose to know. Our second thought was why would anyone give 2 different entrances the same name? I will ponder that at a latter time or maybe not.

Well there was the usual paper work and waiting. The as usual we were moved to another room for more paper work and waiting. They had to find another anaesthesiologist because the one that they had scheduled was stuck somewhere else. I have to say that I really like Mark the fill in, he had a great bedside manor and got the IV in in one shot on a kid with very small veins. Thank you very much Mark.

While I was with Eric getting the IV, I sent Teri and John to get lunch, they do an excellent job of getting meals, they can handle a hospital cafeteria with the best of them. We figured that Eric would be done soon after we were done eating a leisurely lunch, boy were we wrong. Mark finally came out and said that everything went well and that Eric was in recovery. Dr.LaCorte the dentist said that there were only a couple of fillings, Eric's teeth were clean and now had a nice shine and it looked like there was room for all the wisdom teeth to come in with no problems.

Eric seemed to be in recovery for a long time. I had not only had lunch but was ready to add another skein of yarn to the purple what ever it is going to be in progress. They finally said the we could come back at about 3 p.m. to see him. Eric was so mad at me, but he was recovering nicely. John got Eric dressed and we headed home about 3:30.

Eric was so mad at us that it cost us 2 country music Cd's and a brand new Elmo before he would talk with us. I would like to thank Kayla, Eric's afternoon aide for her help with Eric after a long day. John and Teri whom made a great dinner.

Eric had an uneventful night with no wild eyrps and woke up in a wonderful mood. Well it is time to start the laundry. Have a great day everyone.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Our Adventure

Today is the day for Eric's out patient dental surgery. There is a lot to get done before we leave today. If we get to come home I will blog about today,tonight. If we get to spend the night at the "Club" ie TMC peds ward I will tell you about our adventures in dentistry at a later date.

So I am going to pack for the contingency of staying and hope it is for not. After all there is yarn to pack,knitting mags, clothes and toiletries for me. Eric must have his special Project Linus blanket, the one he got when he was 5. I would like to thank that quilter from long ago, you have made a lasting positive impact on Eric's life. Then there is the current favorite Elmo and pods to find. Pod casts to down load.

It is time to get caffeinated and busy.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Hi My Name is Sheri and I...


Hi my name is Sheri and I am addicted to yarn. You are probably saying to yourselves that all knitters have yarn so what's the big deal. How can someone be addicted to yarn, after all you can't eat it or drink it. Yarn has no calories. Yarn is pretty and soft and comes in so many different colors. This addiction comes from not the yarn it self but the quantities that I have amassed over the past 5 years.

I have yarn stored in my closet, ok so 4 roll aways, a couple of bags and 1- 96 quart container of yarn and all my knitting needles aren't that bad. I have also over taken the entire shelve in the hall closet. There are a couple of baskets with works in progress and 8 - 96 quart boxes and a bag in the garage. This is all the yarn that I am willing to admitting to. There is some more in nooks and crannies that I have forgotten about.

I am sure that if I did not buy another skein of yarn for the next year or 3 I might be able to get it down to a reasonable level of yarn. It's not that I don't knit enough, I carry my knitting every where I go. Doctors appointment's with Eric, lunch with friends, to the mall, in the movies,at night in front of the tv, I think you are beginning to get the picture. I knit every where, all the time. I even keep an emergency stash of yarn in one of my glove compartments of my car.

I can't bare to part with all my yarn until after I have played with it. I find yarn relaxing. I have been known to fall asleep while knitting. John prefers that I knit while he drives, he says I am less of a back seat driver that way.

I do some charity knitting, but a lot of charities want everything made from acrylic yarn, which is not an option for me. Something in the acrylic causes my skin to peel off and I don't like that at all.

So My solution has been to open an on-line store at Art Fire to try to sell what I knit. So far my shop which I opened May 28, 2009 has not had a sale. I have taken the advice of other knitters and on-line shop owners and have re-photographed everything. I have added value sets and have a range of prices. So now it is up to you my dear readers to help me over come this addiction by shopping and letting your friends know about the site. http://www.artfire.com/users/Handmade~by~Sheri .