Wednesday, April 30, 2014

A Day of Rest

Today I took it easy and just kind of went about life at a very,very slow pace today. I did make a quick trip to Target and Trader Joe's but mostly it was just relaxing.

I was too tired to spin today but I did get a lot of knitting done. I finished one scarf that used four skeins of yarn. I then started another hat and I almost finished it tonight. It's within a couple rows of being finished so I'll get that done in the morning.

Eric got to spend the day at Mount Lemon with his friends at a picnic and he came home very very tired from his day program. I hope he has a good and quiet night tonight because I can use another night of sleep.

Tomorrow I plan to do about the same things I did today although I am going to try to get some spinning done too. Of course I've already got four loads of laundry lined up in the laundry room so I'll probably have to get some of that done too tommrow.

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Time for a Change

It is time to slow down a little to get my body back in sync. Let my joints have a rest and maybe just hurt a little less. Maybe even get a full nights sleep. 

I will try to relax. On schedule will be knitting and spinning.  A few trips to Bookmans. 

Eric managed to have hiccups for over an hour tonight. That does not go with my new plan of slowing down.  I guess I forgot to run my plans past the boss. 

Monday Where Did You Go?

Monday was a very busy day around here. We had a couple of appointments followed by  errands. This left me pretty tired. So I can't figure out for the life of me why after I picked Eric up from his day program I decided to start cleaning the garage. I was dressed in a skirt and blouse for the earlier appointments, not dressed for cleaning. I also forgot to put an apron on.

Thirty minutes latter John and I had made a very small dent. We had filled 1/2 of empty recycling bin, you know the big on that rolls out to the street. Added more to the garbage can and the charity bin. We were even able to move 5 storage boxes from useless piles to easy access. This might not seem like a big deal, but it gave me a better idea of which yarn was going to be used up next in my yarn stash down challenge.

I am just thinking that it will only take a couple of dozen more hats and scarfs before I can refill the cotton basket with more one of a kind skeins of yarn to make more hats and scarfs. This will intern make more room inside for yarn to come from the garage to used. Looking around the house and garage it seems to me that I am about 50% of the way done in my goal of having yarn in only one area of the house with none in the garage.

The only thing that is really hindering my stash down process is my need to spin more yarn. To that end I will try to list a few skeins of yarn either on my Raverly stash down page or my etsy shop. Either way I will add links to my blog.

Sunday, April 27, 2014

El Cisne in Tucson Arizonia

John and I have found a lovely new locally owned Mexican restaurant here in Tucson.  It is called El Cisne. El Cisne is located at 4717 E Sunrise Drive on the North East corner of Sunrise and Swan in the Bel Air Plaza. Telephone number (520) 638-6160. We have eaten there several times.  I have tried something new almost every time we have gone. The prices are mid range. They are open for lunch and dinner. I have not tried their catering yet. This is an upscale casual restaurant with a very pleasant decor.

Tonight we both had the Enchiladas. John had the chicken and I had the beef. The beef enchilada had a nice smoky barbecue flavor, with very tender beef. It was served with rice and beans cooked to perfection along with some very fresh salad. The flavors worked very well together and I thought that I had hit the dinning jackpot of the evening until I tried John's chicken enchilada. Our original plan was to each order a different dish and share. Once I tasted the chicken enchilada, I knew John would not be sharing his. The chicken was tender with the seasoning just perfect. It seemed to melt in my mouth. I have not had an enchilada this good in over 20 years. Don't get me wrong the beef enchilada was fantastic, its just that the Chef managed to make the chicken enchilada even better.

We have also tried the Carne Con Chili/Beef Burrito both Red and Green with and with out beans. All versions were wonderful. The Topopo Salad which is a meal in itself.  In my experience you either get a great Topopo Salad or never order it again. El Cisne makes a wonderful Topopo Salad. The Carne Con Chili De Vaquero Sonora is a go to dish for John. The only desert that we have tried were the Sopaillas which were just perfect. They never seem to have a problem leaving the cheese off a dish or telling us that a dish can not be made dairy free.

Disclaimer: Since John and I don't eat dairy and I don't eat shellfish or pork you will not find those menu items covered here. That does not mean that I don't like them, I just don't eat them and can't review them. Also all the opinions here are my own. I was not asked to write this. We paid for all of our own meals, nothing was comped.

Saturday, April 26, 2014

A Two Two Day

This morning I was able to empty 2 more bags of stash yarn. Instead of being in bags the yarn now is in its new storage space. I am really making progress in my stash down. It must also be a day of  twos.  I got 2 hours of house work done. I also finished 2 more charity hats tonight. I got 2 loads of laundry done too. 

All of this happened inspite of the stupid headache that woke me up at 1:30 this morning.  The only thing that did not have to do with 2 today. 

I am hoping for a headache free day tomorrow. I am also planning on another two two day tommrow. 

Friday, April 25, 2014

A Good Day

Today was a good day. I even got out of the house to go to knit with friends. I finished two hats and cast on another one for the to go bag.

Eric made it to his day program. It was Friday so they went swimming and he even fell asleep in the pool. One of the advocates was holding Eric so he was okay in the pool even though he fell asleep. But he was glad to be back with his friends. The first thing Eric did when he got home today was go to his room to take a nap. He wanted company so I sat and did some knitting why he's slept.

I am making a dent in my yarn stash. I think sometime this week I'm going to have to reorganize the yarn in the house. I think I might even be able to take some out of the garage but that might be a push so I can't guarantee that quite yet but I'm getting a lot knitting done. Baskets that were full of yarn three months ago are now half-empty I think that's a good sign. I am averaging finishing two small projects a day. Most of them are hats so they leave the house as the weather gets cold and go to charity. I know it's spring so I know it's a few months till they get to leave the house but maybe I can persuade one of the charities to take the hats earlier if I have a full bag. 

This week we started training three new aids for Eric. So things are going to be kind of crazy around here. We might not have as much freedom as when we have  fully trained aids for Eric. So if I seem a bit distracted don't worry about it everything is going fine here and we're going to call it an early evening tonight. 








Thursday, April 24, 2014

Things are looking up

Eric is doing better today. After his bath he went back on formula and he's starting to look a little bit better. I'm on the tired side I fell asleep right after dinner , because it's been a long couple days around here.

I got to go to spinning this afternoon and hang out with some friends. I am working on a blend of gray alpaca and silk. It is really, really fun to spin up.  The roving seems to be spinning itself and just wants to be yarn. Its not completely smooth because there are places where the silk bumps but, I guess with handspun yarn that's okay. I can't wait to ply it with the blue yarn that I've already spun up and I can't wait to see how it turns out. 

We are hoping for a quiet night tonight. I hope Eric sleeps well tonight because I think we could all use some sleep. 

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Sick Again

I should have know that after a rough night with Eric, that he would be sick today.  So in between taking care of Eric and the eyrpy laundry I managed to get a lot done.  

I packed up a slew of packages for John to mail. Yeah, more stuff out of the house.  Tagged 11 hats for charity. Knit 2 more hats and started a third one. Almost got the washer fixed, Sears sent the wrong part, oh well next week. I only got through a third of my to do list, with only 4 hours of sleep last night all I can say is oh well there is always tomorrow.  

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Passover Round Up

There was a positive side of being totally unprepared for Passover this year. I only had time to buy 3 boxes of Matzo this year do to travel for my moms birthday and other things happening around here. So I only had time to get to one store and all they had was matzo and chicken. They had no other Kosher for Passover mixes.  They also had grape juice, apples, dried fruit and dates the things I needed for charoset and fruit compote.

So my Passover cooking was a big pot of chicken soup, making the fruit compote and charoset. One day of busy cooking for John and I. The charoset lasted until yesterday the very last day of Passover so breakfast was taken care of. We finished the matzo last night. So I don't have to make a trip to the food bank with the left over mixes.

No one missed the Passover coffee cakes for breakfast. No one missed the snack cakes or cookies in the afternoon and evening, we ate fruit instead. We did not eat a lot of junk food and no one missed it, even me. Yes, all holidays have their junk food of cookies, cakes and candy. We ate on the light and healthy side.

The best part of not being prepared for Passover this year was that instead of gaining 5 pounds, I lost a pound. A holiday that lasted a week and I lost a pound. We will have to try this again next year.

Whether you celebrated Passover or Easter I hope that you enjoyed the time with your families.


Monday, April 21, 2014

Family Time

We had a great weekend visiting with Teri. She had some talks for work in Tucson on Thursday and we got to keep her until Sunday afternoon.  We did the usual family thing of eating and shopping.

Today Eric had the day off from program and he did not want to go run errands or shop.  Can you believe  that a 20 something young man would want to spend his day off kicking back and watching tv?  So I spent the day cleaning. Waiting for parts to fix the washing machine and the service man.  Well 2 out of 3 things done is not bad.   
I also got to fill out piles of paper work for Eric. 

I started another hat tonight. The pile of finished hats is growing faster than the baskets of yarn are shrinking. I think it is time to tag the next batch to put away for next winter. 

Tomorrow I will start a sewing project in which I will be making 2 dozen mystery items.  I always seem to do projects in dozens lately.  I hope to have them finished by the end of the week. 

Well it is getting late and Eric has things to do and people to see tomorrow. Have a great day and enjoy your families.  

Friday, April 18, 2014

A Roller Coaster

Today was a roller coaster of a day.  It started off at 4:30 with a headache.  Followed by a call to pick up Eric from his day program at 10:15, before I had recovered from the headache. He was running a fever and is a little bit stuffy.  

The most wonderful part of the day was shopping with Teri at Savers. I also bumped into an old friend and we had time to catch up while Teri was trying on clothes.  Followed by dinner out with John and Teri.  

I even managed to finish 2 hats today. I am thinking about adding the one on the left to my etsy shop.  I will try to post it this weekend. Well it is getting late and we have a busy day planned for tomorrow. 

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Recouping

I am still exhausted from the trip to Los Angeles last week.  I went in for my mothers birthday. We had the party at a place called Dukes in Malibu. The view was spectacular so I guess it was wrong of me to expect great service too. They could not grasp the concept of sauce on the side or can we get a basket of bread. So I got my lunch as everyone else was finishing up with nothing to nibble on in the mean time. It is one place that I don't mind being so far away from.  If you like your sauces on the side I would recommend dinning in Tucson. Even the mom and pop places can get that one right.

I also saw a fantastic play at the Mark Tapper Forum. It was called the Tallest Tree in the Forest. There was quite a bit of history in it. I had never thought of the world from a black point of view before. It is very similar to the Jewish experience at the time with the exception that we were mostly white and could blend in better in some areas. Skin color was and still is a very decisive issue for many people. The issue of name calling is still here today. I guess we have not evolved as far as we like to think we have as a country. So anyway if you are in Los Angeles during its run please do try to see it. It would be well worth your time.

I have almost gotten caught up on laundry, paperwork and getting Teri's room ready for her visit. I de-fibered her room and put things away. John dusted and vacuumed twice. I washed all the linens and will make the bed tomorrow.

I think it will take a few more days to get my body back in sync. Big cities are nice for some things, but I love the pace of life in Tucson much better. Tucson does not tie my tummy up in knots. Although with my tummy tied in knots it was very hard to come close to over eating or for that matter eating at all.  So I came home a little lighter. We are not all packed in like sardines. Even out winter traffic is better.

Monday, April 14, 2014

Fruit Compote

It has been a while since I have shared a recipe. I have this cooking on the stove as we speak. This is a holiday favorite of mine. For those of you who indulge in a little too much matzo this time of year this recipe is the perfect cure.


Sheri's Fruit Compote

8 ounces of Dried White Peaches
8 ounces of Dried Apricots
8 ounces of Dried Pitted Prunes
2 Cinnamon Sticks
10 Whole Cloves
Water to cover

In a large pot, place all the dry ingredients. Cover with water. Bring to a boil on medium heat. Cover and simmer on a low heat until the fruit is soft and tender and the water becomes like syrup. The fruit should absorb most of the water. This will take about an hour. Be careful not to burn this. Check the water level every so often. You may add water as needed but don't drown the fruit, you will want this to have a heavy syrup.

What ever you do DO NOT ADD ANY SUGAR. The fruit will be sweet enough.

Cool in the pan and then transfer to a container and store in the refrigerator.

This should make enough to last a small family for all of Passover.

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

The Flight from He Double Toothpicks

I am on my way to visit my mom to help her celebrate her 75th birthday. It was a toss up wether to fly or drive.  About 10 minutes into the first leg, I was seriously regretting the decision not to drive. I do need to regress here for a minute.

I had the window seat which is usually not a bad seat.  A last minute boarder plopped her self in the middle seat. I am no skinny mini, but at least I fit in the airline seat with a little room to spare.  As the woman sat down not only did she fill her seat, but also half of each seat on either side. I was effectively pushed into the wall of the plane. This is not a comfortable way to spend over an hour of my life.  

If you think this was all, her companion in the seat right in front of me went into a diatribe of how he should high jack the plane before trying to get everyone around him to join in the speculation of where would this plane be lost.  This was followed by more trash talk. Thank goodness no one took his bait.  This leads me to the question of just where is an air Marshall when you need one?  

Then the PDA started. Yes over the airplane seat.  If I was a little bolder my comment would have been to get a room.  I got further smashed into the Planes wall. As I tried to regIn some of my seat space her companion then pushed his seat as far back as it would go. And started glaring at me. I am sure there are closets with more space than I had. Now I know how John feels on some flights. 

Every time I tried to knit or reclaim seat space I got rewarded with a swift jab to the ribs.  After we landed, I told her how rude she was, she became totally offended.  She could see nothing wrong with her behavior. 

Which leads to the question of manners. Do they need to be taught in school as their parents did not bother.  Rudeness does seem to be on the increase.  Can I put a sticker on the person as an award for extreme rudeness.  Maybe a likeness of a black lump of coal. After all we we reward  good behavior with gold stars. 

Then there is the question of what rights I have on an airplane in these post 9/11 days?  Do I have the right to the entire seat that I paid for. Can airlines require wide bodied passengers who easily fill 2 seats by their lonesome make them pay for 2 seats without being sued?  Where is the media on this issue?

Here is hoping that the rest of the trip goes better. 

Monday, April 7, 2014

90%

I am 90% ready to go visit my mom tomorrow.  I just have to find 1 more knitting project and get my glasses adjusted. Maybe even add a knitting and spinning magazine to the mix.  

I have made a stew for John and he packed up the left over spaghetti from this weekend.  I thought I had caught up on all the laundry until I walked into Eric's room tonight. I swear it was emptied this morning and it is half full again.  I asked him to take it easy on laundry while I was gone and he just laughed at me. 

I will be blogging from Los Angeles tomorrow night.  Well it is time to call it a night and to be very thankful that I did not blog about my thoughts from this morning. 

Sunday, April 6, 2014

A Very Good Sunday

Today was a very productive day around here. Before lunch I finished 4 loads of laundry, 1 hat, the bills and a news letter. 

Eric and I went grocery shopping after lunch.  He is such a good helper, he carried the basket for me while I pushed his chair. 

After we got home hat number 2 for the day was finished and a 3rd hat was cast on. Since I knit 2 of the same exact hats, I will only show one hat.  The color combination of the day is blue and yellow. 

I am hoping for another great day tomorrow. I hope everyone has a great week.  

Well there was 1 hiccup today. Eric's button popped out at 10 pm requiring a new button and change of clothes and some bedding.  I should have know something was going to happen when the kangaroo bag needed to be changed earlier in the night due to an air leak. 

I am going to try to call it a night again. 

Saturday, April 5, 2014

Saturday

Things are going pretty good around here now. Althought we all took naps at some point today.  We are all still recouping from Eric being sick earlier in the week.  I also got the finishing work done on some hats. They are also now tagged for charity. These are the hats I worked on while Eric was sick and I was too tired to knit any lace. I also finished 1 scarf.  I find it amazing on how many small projects that I can get done when I am not knitting a Bad Assed Knitter Pattern, that has already been tinkers twice. This is to read at least 2 months of knitting on the one shawl. 

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Busy

I have been very busy over the past few days with Eric being sick. I have put down the lace work until I am less tired. So I have done a bit of charity knitting over the past several days. I completed 6 hats and 1 scarf, with 1 additional hat cast on tonight. I am almost finished with the brim.  

Eric is feeling better and we hope to get him back to day program tomorrow. Then I can do some cleaning and laundry. Not that I have not been doing laundry.  You know it is a never ending chore around here. 

I hope that I can convince my body to sleep more than 4 hours at a te tonight.  Although if I wake up I will start the laundry then do some picking up.