Sunday, March 19, 2017

It's Done

The big yarn sort was finished this afternoon. 100 gallons of yarn has left the house. No, I did not count the skeins of yarn leaving. I need you to use your imagination to think how many skins of yarn that is. Everything has been rearranged by weight. Some empty project bags will also be leaving tomorrow. The project shelf space is full of things that I will knit. My closet has a lot more space so I am very pleased with the results.

My next project is to knit up a pattern that a friend has had to tink several times now. I started the pattern tonight and am keeping copious notes as I go. I am pretty sure that there is a problem with the pattern and will make corrections to give to my friend and the pattern designer.

After that I might do a small project or 2 before I tackle the next big deep cleaning project. I might even try to come up with a better system for my circular knitting needles. Any suggestions for circular knitting needle storage would be welcome.

Saturday, March 18, 2017

Progress, Maybe?

I am hoping that it is a sign of progress that the items in the picture are no longer going to be needed for yarn storage. The cracked plastic items will be recycled tomorrow. I will offer the good roll away bin to one of Eric's aides, it is not a good container for yarn, if I can not see the yarn in the drawers with out opening them. I will also give some of the excess bags to the advocates in Eric's day program. I am sure that they will come in handy. I also filled another 13 gallon bag of yarn for Amber, it is leaving tomorrow.

I still ill have a few things to put away, but I am waiting for the glue to dry on 2 containers before I make my finial storage choices. I expect to be done by tomorrow night so that I can move on to my next project, which is hemming 5 skirts. The more inches I lose the longer the skirts have gotten.

John also got into the spirit of the de cluttering of the garage today by helping me get to the final yarn boxes. He also found a lot of boxes to cut down for recycling. Who knows by the end of the summer I might even have the garage finished. I am not as hopeful for the spare room, it I will give it a shot.

Friday, March 17, 2017

More Gone

I sent a 13 gallon bag of yarn home with a friend this afternoon. I also found a sweater that I want to knit that has been missing for a while. I am now a few sizes smaller than when I bought the kit, so it will be a little less knitting to do. A win win afternoon for both of us. So that I can do more de stashing today, John is bring home dinner. A win win for me. Deep cleaning has some great rewards.

I am also revising my storage system so that all the yarn and fiber will be in clear containers from now on. The better to see what I have. I am not quite ready to set up the inventory system that John has suggested. Maybe when I have the hard part done, if I am very, very brave I will let John set it up. Does anyone know of a good inventory control program?

Yarn Destash

Yesterday was my first day of yarn destash 2017. This is from the first round. This was mainly yarn that was given to me. By friends and a few miss buys. Yarn that I wanted to try, but was not talking to me telling me what it wanted to be. I have learned that if I don't have an idea in mind for the yarn not to buy it. This will be delivered to a new home today.


Tuesday, March 14, 2017

A New Rhythm

With Eric home more than he is at program my life has a new rhythm to it. This includes napping when he naps and making a few special Eric outings a week. Today was knitting for me and a haircut for Eric. This was followed by a very long nap for both of us. I am also trying to stay on top of things and not let them slide, wish me luck on this one. 

I am also trying to finish all my knitting UFOs. This I am afraid is a never ending project. I finished a poncho and a hot mitt today. They were in the UFO pile for finishing work. My knitting time is still not what it was up to pre-surgery, no more 6 to 8 hours of knitting a day. Most days I am very lucky if I can use my hands intensely for 2 hours. I am also trying to channel my energy to keeping very productive. I am trying to maintain spring cleaning clean, so far it is going well. Even though I am near the end of decluttering the house, I have 1 room and 1 closet to go. Then I will attack the garage. This by the way leaves me more time for knitting and such even though I can't do much knitting. My life gets strange sometimes. 

Late spring temperatures have hit Tucson this week. Today it was in the 90's. Does Mother Nature know it is only mid March? So I am getting ready to move my laundry times around. In the summer once the temperature reaches 100, the appliances go off for the afternoon. I wonder if my hand will be up to more once the temperature gets a little warmer. My body prefers summer to winter. 

Monday, March 13, 2017

Crazy Busy

Tonight is the first night in almost 2 weeks that I have not fallen asleep on the couch before it was time to put Eric to bed. I have been busy with spring cleaning. All but on room is clean. Each time I think there is nothing left to clean, I just find more to do. More to recycle or donate to charity, or more to trash, there must be an end in sight, I just can't see it yet.

Eric has settled into going to his program 2 1/2 days a week. Just enough time for Eric to connect with his friends and not enough time to get over tired. For me this is just enough time for a few quick errands or part of a day of cleaning and napping. Eric is just not as springy as he use to be. Recovery time is taking longer.

We we also had a surprise visit from Teri and Tej last weekend. I know that the five of us had a great time. Although I wish we lived closer to them, it is just not possible at this time. I am so lucky to have such a great family.

Monday, March 6, 2017

A Night Out

Yesterday did not get off to a great start. Eric's Kangaroo Joey ran out of formula at 2 am. This interrupted a dream I was having about an impossible headache. It turned out not to be a dream but the beginning of a rare migraine. So after I took care of Eric, I started off with a cuppa tea and aspirin. It was enough to allow me to sleep but not knock the headache out.

After breakfast that included more tea and aspirin it was time to finish our annual spring cleaning. I was hoping that by keeping myself busy that the headache would just go away. We managed to get the house finished before the headache went away, but the house is clean.

After a nap, I realized that this was not just an average garden variety headache, but a full blown migraine. So I spent the rest of the afternoon walking around in sunglasses doing more cleaning. Thank goodness the headache started to go away before John and I had a very rare date night.

We had dinner at a supposedly great Tucson dining spot near the venue. I won't embarrass them by naming them. To sum up the dining experience, the tea was burnt.  They ran out of crackers for one dish and used stale bread instead, stale bread and crackers are the same right? The waitress did not have much knowledge of the menu and if you had an allergy to something, they left it off your plate and did not substitute anything for it, but still charged full price. With the exception of dessert which had a metallic flavor the food that we did have was pretty good. I did have some Excedrin with dinner to try to get rid of the rest of the headache.

The best part of the date was the show we went to. John managed to get tickets to the sold out Bill Maher Show in Tucson. The show was great and very relevant. I don't think that I have laughed that much in years. I have been a fan of Bill Maher for years,  but this was the first live show that I have gone to. I can say without a doubt that it was well worth the price of the tickets. I would like to thank Mr. Maher for taking time out of his busy schedule to come to Tucson. Your show was wonderful.

Now I just need to figure out how to manage some sleep.The caffeine in the Excedrin has not worn off yet.