Sunday, September 30, 2012

Thread

I have been working on my long over looked sewing basket. Today I finished one quilt for Eric. I went to start the quilting on the next but with 15 different shades of green thread I did not have one with enough gray in it. So off to the store I went.. I found a Coats and Clark machine quilting thread in a color called Linen Green. I took the last three spools. I went to look in their other lines for the same color in case I ran out. I was very surprised that the thread with the same name was a different color depending what line it was in.

I also got a lot of laundry washed, folded and put away, call me a wimp but I gave up after 6 loads today. I will have have more to do tomorrow anyway. This brought up the thought that if I ever get to design my own laundry room it would have 2 washers and dryers. I would still have the same amount of laundry but maybe it would take half the time.

The craft room is just a few hours ( maybe 8 or 9) from being a total guest room for my mom's visit. My goal is to have most of that done tomorrow with Eric's help.  

Saturday, September 29, 2012

10,000 Steps

Today I walked over 10,000 steps, with about 8,000 steps before noon thanks in part to the Tucson Community Food Bank End Hunger Walk. After all that I did not have much energy so it was 4 loads of laundry, working on Eric's quilt and some knitting. I am calling it an early night, with the hope that my body does not resemble a 2 x 4 tomorrow.

Oh by the way I am planning on doing the Hunger walk again next year so now is the time to start training. I will be walking about 2 miles. They also do a warm up before the walk. I did what I could but I would have been able to do it all 20 years ago. Sigh.

Friday, September 28, 2012

Odds and Ends for Friday

My day started out with 2 hours of yoga like stretching before I could get up this morning. Yes I did get Eric to his program on time.  I just started out at 3:30am doing the stretching. I guess that the 2 hours I spent putting quilts together on the floor was not the best thing I could have done for my body.

I was too tired to knit this morning, but found spinning during knitting very relaxing. Not to mention that the fluff had enough natural moisturizers to offset me working with the poly fill yesterday. I now remember why I stopped spinning this fluff in the den. There was too much hay in it.  My hands are not to bad just a little bit of soreness around one of my thumbs. I did manage to finish one hat during lunch and cast on another one this afternoon. I am working my scrap basket down so there should be a lot of hats coming off the needles in the near future.

We I am leaving the guys to solo tomorrow morning so that I can do the Community Food Bank Walk to end hunger. I have to be there at 7 am. It will only involve me getting up 1 hour earlier. I have every thing laid out. A hat, a long sleeve shirt, long pants and tennis. Yes I will remember my sunscreen.  So I am going to call it an early night.

Thursday, September 27, 2012

An Open Letter to Frederick Smith of FedEx

Dear Mr. Smith,

A while ago I went to visit my mom. While there I picked out a few things of my dad's. Since I had to many things to carry on the plane with me I went to your FedEx Pack and Ship store in Northridge,  California.

I had contact with Elizabeth and Faith. One helped me to bring the items in and the other one packaged them up for shipping. The Transition number was 78055128786. I purchased 3 Large fragile boxes, paid for packing, shipping and insurance.

When I got home I unpacked the boxes and found that one of the items that I had shipped was missing. So my sons aide and I went through everything again and the plaque with a piece of the flooring from McKale Stadium from the University of Arizona, engraved with my dads  name Jay. G. _____ C.P.A  on it was missing.

I called your 800 number and talked to Anthony and was given a case number of 0703746545. He said that you would do your best to find the plaque or to send me a check to cover the loss. After that I left to be the support system for my daughter while she took the California Bar Exam. There was a call while I was gone and your employee told my husband she was closing the case. My husband did not have all the details and the case should have been left open until I could talk to your claims person.

When I called back to try to reopen the case I was told "We can not reopen the case until we receive a picture of the lost item as you received it." I tried to explain that it was not damaged, but did not show up with the rest of the shipment. She stood her ground saying that until I had sent a "picture of the lost item as I received it they would not reopen the case." Since I have neither access to a time machine or a Tardis I can not provide you a picture of the item.

I thought yours was a company that I could trust, but apparently when it comes to family heirlooms that happen to be sports memorabilia all bets are off and your employees feel it is there right to lighten the load and take what they want.

May I suggest that you remind all your employees that even though they receive a check from the company for their wages. That in reality it is we the customers that ultimately pay their salaries by using your services. If we hand something over for shipping it is because we want the item. Our shipments are not to be used for the personal gain of your employees.

If on the other hand you approve of your employees having the right to the items in your customers shipments I would like you to post a sign at all of your shipping locations and in all your ads that says the following.

"We give our employees the right to remove any item you have brought in for shipping for their personal gain. We consider the amount of money you pay for insuring the item a money maker for our bottom line. Our share holders don't care as long as the checks keep coming every quarter. We will not pay you for your loss."

I still have those dammed boxes in my storage room. If you would like someone to come to the house to inspect them, please call and set up an appointment. If you can not find and return the plaque, I feel the ethical thing to do would be to refund the insurance money or pay the claim.

Sincerely,
Sheri Karobonik

November 13,2012
 Addendum

I would like to say that this issue has been resolved. With the Help of Teri and a very nice gal at the Fed-Ex office. No they did not find the plaque but I did get a check for the replacement cost. Someday I hope to stumble upon the plaque and get it back, this is a very long,long shot. A girl can dream can't she?

Monday, September 24, 2012

Maybe it's a Good Day

I am still dealing with my recent flare of the Sjogrins Syndrome. I got Eric to his day program fully intending to work around the house this morning, but my body said no. It really did say no and I slept for 3 1/2 hours. I did manage to send a package off to Teri this afternoon. I tried to put a batting in a new quilt for Eric but will have to wait for help. Putting batting in a quilt is a two person job. I did manage to get into a purse that was 2/3 smaller than the last one I was using, but don't ask me for a knitty noddy, spindle or a nosprine, there was just no room. No, not even room for knitting.

Eric and I did some relaxing outside , but there were not many birds chirping today. There was however a butterfly that seemed to like Eric and spent about 10 minutes flying around him. This I think is not usual behavior for a butterfly. Animals tend to react differently around Eric.

I did manage to clean out the fridge today. At about 6 pm or so I decided that the pantry had to be cleaned out TODAY. I started from the top down after I found a step stool. I am feeling very short today, said the woman who had to find a pair of high heels to reach the packing tape. I kid you not.
The common them of today's cleaning was getting rid of expired food tucked into a back corner and a shelf way above my head. I did straighten the shelves as I went.

I also managed to get some laundry finished today. John did bring home some lovely salads for dinner. I am feeling very lucky to have Teri, Eric and John in my life. With that bit of rambling I think I will try to get some sleep.

Sunday, September 23, 2012

A Good Weekend

This was a lay low weekend for us. We had lots of rest time and a few journeys.  Eric and his friend went to the Tucson Ronald McDonald house to drop off tabs. They had over 8 pounds at 1,600 tabs per pound.  So we need more tabs please.  Then where else do you go when you have been to RMCH to McDonald's of course.

We got to Costco today and filled our bag for Project Issiah.  We also got a few things for the house. Another hat was finished and one more cast on.  A few chores were accomplished too. I managed to complete 2 pairs of  pants in the mending pile, with more sewing scheduled for this week.

The good news is that I am managing to get enough rest so that the flare up will be a short one.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Cascade Cleaning

After being up half the night with Eric I still did manage to get a lot of work done today. It was mostly roundabout but it got done. With any luck he will go to his day program tomorrow.

Today was my day for cascade cleaning. You know the type. You start in one area and say I am going to finish this area today, but....one thing leads to another and you have expanded your cleaning range. This afternoon for me it started in the craft room. The box I was working on moved to Eric's room because he wanted company. So there I sorted out a box of mostly makeup. I had the keep pile and the pass it on pile. Well this lead to the bathroom storage area. Where I threw out expired items. Put samples of products that were not quite right for me, along with a lot of eye shadow and lip sticks in the pass it on pile. I found at least a years worth of cotton pads for make up. The shelf's are now in some semblance of order. But the best part is I feel better about the whole process.

I do have a question that I can't seem to find the answer to. Just how long is nail polish good for. After how many years does it have to be tossed or is it considered hazardous waste and needs proper disposal. The first person to answer this question will get a treat sent to them.

Well it is time to go finish making dinner. Yes I did get this written before bed time. Are you amazed?

I am amazed that Lisa W. called me from the park with the answer not even 5 minutes after I posted my blog. Way to go Lisa.

Monday, September 17, 2012

I Need a Redo on Monday

Today did not go as planned. But the most important thing is that we are all home. All a little tired from wear. I am just to tired to write much tonight. Tomorrow I get another go at it.

Sunday, September 16, 2012

La Shana Tova

First off I would like to wish everyone a sweet New Year. May you have a year full of health, happiness and learning. With that out of the way I would like to say that I admire my friends that have spent the entire week cooking for their families for this occasion. I could not pull my self together enough to do any cooking this year. I would like to thank the cooking staff of my local Whole Foods for the wonderful grilled salmon and the side dishes that I served for dinner. Also to Beyond Bread for the bread and honey cake.

It just seems to me that the sicker that Eric becomes the less I am ready for the holidays. This is coming from the person who gets the most excited about birthdays and holidays in this house. So tonight instead of putting the last minute touches on a holiday dinner, I sat at my spinning wheel and plyed some yarn. I still had time so I started spinning another skein. For some reason this gave me more joy than cooking tonight.

I will probably not understand the reason for this for years to come. For right now I will chalk it up to being to tired. Also not having the energy to put into a truly fabulous meal or the shopping involved. With that said my sincere hope is that Eric sleeps tonight.

Friday, September 14, 2012

Procrastination

Eric was home sick again today. Since Eric was feeling better but not quite ready to go back to his day program, I decided to play catch up on deep cleaning.  Today was also my day to work on the filing. Now you might not know this about me but I hate to do filing. So it was a major procrastination day for me today. Instead of filing I did the following chores.

1. Roombaed Eric's room.
2. Unpacked the box from i-robot and put a new filter in Roomba.
3. I put a new battery in Scooba and then charged him.
4. Scoobaed Eric's room.
5. Roombaed our bedroom, twice because he ran out of power half way through the job.
6. Gathered and sorted laundry, but did not do any for lack of a full load.
7. Organized the dining room table. Now I just need to find someone who wants to dust and polish the table. Especially the under the table part. I wonder if the folks at i-robot can come up with something?
8. Loaded, ran and emptied the dishwasher.
9. Filled and emptied the recycling basket twice.
10. Found time to spin at the wheel.
11. Found time to do some knitting.

That brought me to 11 am and my list was done so I had to do the filing. So I sorted, shredded and recycled as I went along. Once everything was sorted the actual filing took 30 minutes. I guess it was just going through everything that I did not want to do.  By 4:30 I had gotten the job done.

By the way Eric slept the entire day. I sure hope he sleeps tonight.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Thursday Really!!

My only question tonight is how it got to be Thursday night. Eric came home from his day program Tuesday and spent the entire night eyrping. Wednesday was a tired blurry day of child care with some knitting thrown in for my sanity. Today Eric's temp made it under 100. This deserves a big yeah!! He also started back on food this afternoon. All of which means that if you were expecting to see me at all on Friday this is my regrets note. Yes I would love to hang out tomorrow, but I will be home with Eric.  Because of the Holidays the soonest he will be back at his day program is Wednesday.

I guess I will use the time at home to do some filling and a little more deep cleaning. The end is in sight and I don't want to do the last bit, but I will play the grown up me and do what needs to be done. I will be planing a low key holiday. No days of cooking for me. Since it is just the two of us and we don't eat like kids anymore it will be a light single course dinner.

Well its getting late and I have a full day with Eric tomorrow so I am calling it a night.

Monday, September 10, 2012

I Surived Monday

Eric decided at 2 am it was time to get up and ready for his day program. I tried for 2 hours to get him to go back to sleep. At 4 am I caved and turned on PBS kids, got a soda and did some knitting until it was time for me to get my day going. By the time I was ready to drive Eric to his day program it was blazing headache time.

Eric was all smiles when he got to his program. He was happy to see all of his friends. I on the other hand made an extra trip back to the car to get the umbrella that I forgot to grab. I decided to get some juice and a sweet roll for breakfast. That was a decision that I would regret later as I was really to tired to eat. My tummy let me know loud and clear that this was a bone head move.

After a few errands I caved in and took a 2 hour nap. I felt much better afterwards. It is a good thing the call to schedule round 3 of Eric's ISP came after the my nap. I think if it had woken me up or came before my nap I would not have been as nice. You all know just how much I love filling out the same paperwork 2 times and having it get lost in the system. I am trying to decide just how cordial I will be at meeting number 3 and whether to serve ice tea and a small cake to help things go smoothly. Did I mention I now have to clean the dinning room before Thursday because there will be to many people for the kitchen table. This time we get to have not one but 2 supervisors coming along to help fill out the paperwork. My personal feeling on this is, that if someone with a Masters in Social Work can not fill out the form properly maybe just maybe its time to dumb down the form and make the system a little easier for the staff to use. Also the people in Phoenix need to look a people like Eric as real person and not just some dumb number on a page. I am sure that they got all their information from books and real life has nothing to do with their jobs.

Now on to my next rant of the day. Stupid drivers that I encountered today. The first was weaving in and out of traffic with his left leg hanging out the window. Speeding to boot. I don't think I have ever before seen the "This is your speed sign" just flash red and blue like that before, it is usually blank or has the speed if you are going over the limit.   The second was driving an SUV with a dog sitting in her lap. She was paying more attention to the dog than her driving. She almost hit me :(  My personal feeling on this is that small dogs like small children need to be properly restrained in a car for their safety and the safety of others.

I do have one cooking tip for today. When the pizza crust package say preheat the oven they really do mean it. I did not today and landed up with a crunchy crust and barley melted cheese.

Well as you can tell from this blog I am really tired and need to get some shut eye.

Sunday, September 9, 2012

A Rainy Sunday

Would you believe that I walked 4.5 miles today, only leaving the house for dinner. I have just about finished organizing the only stash of yarn and weaving in the house. Just 1 more basket to be moved. This week I plan on giving my sewing machine a run for the money getting all my sewing UFOs finished. I have a feeling that by the time I finish my craft room will not look like a craft room at all. It will be already for my mom's visit in October.

I hope to have the bulk of my cleaning done by Friday so I can get back to knitting and spinning. After 6 to 8 hours of cleaning and organizing a day I am just to tired to move or knit at the end of the day.

Team Eric in the UCP World Challenge needs a few donors. We have fallen to Second Place in fund raising. Every little bit helps. The money raised will replace state and federal dollars for direct client care for people with special needs. Please check out the link on the side of my blog.

Well tomorrow is going to be a long day that will start very early.

Saturday, September 8, 2012

More Deep Cleaning

I am in the process of doing more deep cleaning.  In some ways I am moving forward. As in more junk out of the house. In other ways I feel I am moving backwards as in there will be yarn going into the storage room again.  No I did not go on a yarn shopping trip, quite the opposite.  I have cleaned out the guest room closet so it can be a real guest room.

The 1st thing I did was to organize Teri's closet. I felt that I could get all of the fluff and weaving supplies in there. No one but me seemed surprised that this did not happen.  So it was off to clear yarn and stuff that was taking up unnecessary space in my closet. I would like to highly recommend that everyone deep clean their closet every so often so you do not have the marathon cleaning secessions that I am encountering now.

So I now have 7 full storage bins of yarn to go to the storage room. I now have room for the looms in my closet. With a little more cleaning this week I will have all the weaving supplies in there too.

On another note I would like to add that the Keurig Diet is going very well. I am down a full dress size since my birthday. Which by the way lead to more decluttering of my closet getting rid of the clothes that are to large. Yeah me!!!

Eric is still looking for a few sponsors to help him meet his fund raising goal for the UCP World Challenge that will be going on this month.  We need a few more 5 to 10 dollars pledges so that Team Eric can meet its fund raising goal of $600.00 dollars. Just use the link on the top right corner of my blog.

Well it is getting very late and I am very tired after 5 hours of cleaning today. With a few rows of knitting in the evening to wind things down.

Monday, September 3, 2012

Labor Day

We had a very laid back day today.  Our big accomplishment was clearing out 3 boxes of shoes and clothes that did not fit from my closet. Teri was a great help in this endeavor. They will be going to the UCP fundraiser coming up.  Well I think its time to call it a day.

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Enjoying Teri Time

We are enjoying our time with Teri very much. Although I am not used to running all day long. This has lead to have about 10 knitting and spinning projects that I am currently working on at once and being to tired most of the time to realize  that if I only work on one or 2 at a time I might actually finish something.

Well I am officially rambling. So it's time to say goodnight.