Saturday

Today was a much better day. I did manage to do a lot of picking up before everyone woke up this morning. I did make considerable progress in the craft room. I did a lot of throwing which is always good. All totaled about four bags of trash/recycling made it out of the house today. Yeah Me!!

On the fun side I got a lot of knitting, spinning and napping done also. The pink shawl I started Thursday with pink hand spun is going to be too small for me so I will send it off to a charity fund raiser. I am falling in love with a scarf that was suppose to go to a charity fund raiser. So I think I just might switch the items that I am sending. I have until the end of the month to get the creations done. On the spinning front I found that if I treadle a little slower the yarn seems to come out better.

Every one is doing well today. I am looking forward to an even better day tomorrow. Since it is summer I will probably be up with the sun so I think I will call it a night.

Murphy's Law Rules the Day

I thought I would blog a little on the early side today. Eric did not have the best of nights last night and around 4 am his Kangaroo Joey decided to stop working. Not being totally awake it took me until about 6 am to figure out the problem and call the equipment company.  I managed to put together a temporary feeding "machine", yes that's right a syringe and a bolost tube powered by myself and his camp councilor. Yes we do have a new pump. The equipment company forgot to call me with a delivery time and left the new pump on the doorstep.

But wait the day gets better. We get to camp and I realized that I have the wrong backpack. I have the red one not the blue one. So I drive home behind the group of cars who will not go over 25 mph in a 40/45mph zone, both lanes mind you. I then drive back to camp. I changed out the back pack and decided to stop at Starbucks on the way home. I could not figure out why a once bustling Starbucks was so slow. That is until I got my drink order. I ordered a venti drink and received a grande, one size smaller. I asked why and was told that since I brought my own cup it was policy* to make the drink one size smaller than the cup.  I took my 3/4 full cup of tea a little miffed. Then it was back home to drop off the red backpack because I could not leave it in the hot car. I know it was only in the high 90's today but with the car closed up in a hot parking lot it was too hot for Eric's emergency kit.

Today must not have been my day to knit either. I spent as much time tinking** as knitting. I did take Jeans advice and call the Starbucks Corporate Offices and spoke to a nice young lady by the name of Lexi. I asked her about the "new policy*" that I was told about at the store. The Very good news is that is not the corporate policy and that they will send me a coupon for a replacement drink. I would like to give Starbucks a shout out for great customer service and the professionalism of Lexi.

This paragraph contains some politics so if you don't like politics please skip it and go to the next paragraph.

I should not have checked my e-mail either. Our wonderful, thoughtful Governor wants to cut our respit services by 50%. When Eric was born the state run institutions were closing down with state and federal  officials saying that they would continue to provide services that would enable us to keep our children at home and in the community. Over the last 2 decades there has been a gradual decline in services.  A mear 20 years later just as our children are reaching adulthood they are cutting the services to the bone and beyond. Yes I know that we are in a recession and money is tight. But it is time to stop cutting taxes. It is time for our elected officials to stop running around like life was a popularity contest and do their job. A sound bite slogan does not give me a good nights sleep. Raise our taxes if you need to but dont' throw our families under a bus.

The political statement is over.

I was to tired to fix much lunch so it was cheese and crackers and time for a  nap. A note to my self, Sheri please restock the cheese drawer. Do you think I will remember tomorrow? A 2 hour nap and it was time to pick Eric up from camp. Now if I could just stay awake long enough to get Eric to bed tonight it will great. If he sleeps though the night it will be even better.

Well it is time to find the energy to pick up and do a little cleaning before the weekend.

At least when I make chili, I usually make 4 servings so at least dinner is cooked for the night.

**Tinking - the polite way to say you have to rip out the @#*&% rows and knitting and redo them

Pictures



Camp Pillows

Eric's Quilt

Joe's pillows

Early spinning

Here are a few pictures of some recent work of mine.  The top 13 pillows were made yesterday and are going to camp today. The next 2 pillows were also made yesterday and are for Joe's dogs. They are stuffed with poly fill, yarn, spinning and sewing scraps. In case you don't know Joe is one of Eric's aides. And the next picture is of Eric's new quilt. Its hard to tell from the picture but there are 2 different quilting styles on the quilt. The first is the "correct way" in which I hurt my finger and the other half was my way which went so much smoother. As you can tell my sewing machine and I are on speaking terms again. The last picture is of some of my treadling practice on the spinning wheel. Before you get to excited I was practicing treadling and was using a bobbin.

I do apologize for the placement of the pictures I will really get better some day.

Hi Again

I know it has been a while since I last blogged. It was Eric's first day of summer break. I have been very busy with Eric and John, both guys were off together so I was a bit too busy with the boys to sit down and write. There was also the hand issue, but I am happy to say both my hands are feeling better after almost 2 weeks of very light use. This should be read as no knitting and very minimal spinning, but mostly doing nothing but ice packs and splints.

We did go to a movie this week. Eric and I saw Kung Fu Panda 2. We both liked it a lot. I am hoping that the last scene in the movie is alluding to a third movie in the series. I would recommend this as a family movie although most dads will want to go to a comic book action movie.

I do have a quick question for everyone. I have 5 skeins of yarn which is enough for 3 small projects. I was wondering if everyone was up to a contest with between 1 and 3 winners or if you think I should find a local knitter for the yarn. Your input would be nice.

Well it is getting late and we have another full day scheduled for tomorrow.

Eric's Vacation Day 1

Eric's vacation day one went pretty well. I stopped at Starbucks for my free drink and then on to the dealership to do routine maintenance's on my brick. I would personally like to thank all the other customers for letting me switch the TV to the Disney channel instead of the news. Eric was really happy about that. I did manage to get a small hank of spinning done. I am still not knitting but my hands are feeling much better and I am on less aspirin.

We then went on to the VA to drop of a case of Christmas cards. Someone gave them to me and said that if I sent them out Eric would be cured. Well I had Eric deliver them in person and guess what he still has ML4. I am quite sure that the person meant well.

Then it was off to World Care to drop of some supplies destine for Joplin or some other community in need. Eric does love helping other people and doing charity runs, so I guess there will be a Goodwill run next week.

We then decided that we were to tired to head to Target, so we headed home for a nap. Eric was out before I was. After nap time we had a new aide for Eric, I don't know if it was him or me not feeling well but it did not go well.

John was gracious enough to bring home dinner so I did the polite thing and cleaned up from dinner. I know it is just so difficult to put takeaway out in the trash. Well it is getting late so good night all.

Eric's Last Day of School

Today was Eric's last day of school for the 2010-2011 school year. It does not seem possible to me that the school year is already over. I mean Eric spent more time at home then at school this year. He will be my constant buddy for the next 2 1/2 weeks until summer camp starts. So expect to see us out and about in town.

On the hand front, the splints seem to be working. I can do a little light spinning, but I don't think my hands are quite ready for knitting yet.

I did manage to work for about an hour in the craft room, yes I know that one hour of cleaning is not going to go very far but it is a start. Well I am starting to fade and my "boss" for the next 2 1/2 weeks is a go go kind of guy so its time to turn in for the night.

Yuck

It has been a few days since I last blogged. My hands have been a total wreck with tendinitis and carpel tunnel.  I have splints for both hands and it seems to help. I am going through terrible withdrawal symptoms from knitting and spinning. I hate not doing anything but I must give my hands a break. In the mean time you will find me wearing a matching set of these. Its so fun doing laundry while wearing them.

Well its time to put the boy to bed so he can go to his last day of school tomorrow.