Le Creuset 4 1/4 quart Soup Pot

I first wrote about my Le Creuset 4 1/4 quart soup pot way back in January of 2010. That's almost 3 years ago. It has been my blog post with the most views. Since then It has been used a minimum of twice a week, sometimes more often for the entire time. But never more than 6 days a week. I have cooked stews, roasts, chilli's and of course soup in it. It has been used in the oven as a roaster. On the stove as a soup pot. Basically it is my go to pot.

I would still recommend the Le Creuset cast iron line to everyone. They are still made by hand in France. I should say that this was a gift from my husband. I suspect that he likes the easy clean up feature of the pot. For tough clean ups like cooked on BBQ sauce he just lets it sit over night in warm soapy water, then wipes it out followed by a quick rinse in the sink the next day. Most nights he just lets the pot cool down and gives it a quick wash down.

Well you have all seen the new pretty pictures of the Le Creuset line of pot and pans. This is what my pot looks like inside and out after 3 years. This is my most used and most versatile piece of Le Creuset that I currently own. I have 5 other pieces of Le Creuset cookware, all are used with love and some are almost 20 years old and still in use. If I happen to remember I will give you a glimpse of this pot in another few years.

I have not been paid by Le Creuset for this recommendation, As I said before the pot was a gift from my wonderful husband. All opinions are my own.

TGIF

After being up almost all last night with Eric, I am truly surprised that I got so much done today. Yes both guys are still sick, but chores must get done. I do have to admit that it was a rather late start in our house today. After finally getting to bed at 4:30 am I actually took the luxury of sleeping in until 8:30am. I ignored the to do list today and puttered getting a little done here and there.

Once I had help for Eric, it was time to do some running around town. The 1st stop was at Tucson Yarn Company. I needed some information off a yarn label to complete a pattern write up. With any luck I should be able to post it sometime this weekend. I also bought their last 2 bottles of Soak Wash and am very sad that they won't be carrying it anymore.

Then it was off to pick up both pairs of new glasses. They were not suppose to come in until January so I am very happy Pearl Vision got them in so quick. The lenses are a little larger than the last pair, at least for the indoor pair so I do still need to get use to the head tilt of the progressive lenses. With the stronger lens it did make it easier to see my knitting, but that does not mean that I am going to start looking at my hands while I knit. You will not be able to tell I got new sunglasses because they are my usual Ray-Bans.

I did a great job at the grocery store. I was organized to the hilt, I had most of my coupons pulled or loaded up on my Safeway card before I got to the store. I also had a very good list. I manage to irk the lady behind me with my large order and all my coupons, but let her be irked. I managed to knock off  $140.00 from my grocery bill which was about 40% off. I did not buy what we did not need, and none of the items were bought in hoarder quantity's, I don't shop that way.

Eric did do a con job on us tonight. He was very quiet so we let him watch the movie "We Bought a Zoo" based on a true story. I would recommend this movie to you if you have not seen it already. I also managed to finish a charity scarf and start a cotton scarf for my shop during the movie. Well it is not that late but I am very tired tonight. So I am calling it a night. I hope my boss agrees.

Hot Chocolate Chai Tea Recipe

After a long night with Eric, my most amazing accomplishment was a 2 hour nap and a walk around the block. So rather than bore you with the details I will share a new winter drink combo that I think you should try.

Hot Chocolate Chai Tea

1 to 2 tablespoons of chocolate chips
8 ounces of hot chai tea in a large mug
Vanilla soy milk to top it off (you can use other milks but I am not sure how it will taste)

Put the chocolate chips in the bottom of a large mug. Pour the hot chai tea over the chocolate chips. Stir until the chocolate is completely melted. Add the desired amount of say milk and enjoy.

If you would like to indulge in this with out going into the kitchen, Starbucks will make something very similar.

A Fibery Day

Today was a very lay back day around the house. Both they guys got up and then decided it was nap time. Thus it turned into a very fibery day for me. I just love play time, don't you? I got caught up on washing yarn, some fleeces and a delicate hand wash item. I also carded 4 new batts for Teri's shawl from the fiber I washed last week. Did I mention that I love how soft and squooshy the alpaca yarn is?

I also got to watch the Disney Christmas parade. I worked on a new scarf during the parade. I did get caught up and do chores during the commercials. It was knit 2 rows do a random chore, repeat. 3 loads of laundry, with a little tidying here and there. John did remind me after the parade was over that if I had TiVo'ed it I could have just skipped the commercials altogether. Well I would not have hustled as fast to do the chores.

I also found time to list 2 new hot of the knitting needles, items in my Etsy shop. A new hat and a neck warmer.  I will try to find time to list a few more items this week.

If you have not seen it yet the Dr. Who Christmas special is not to be missed. I really can't tell you more, but you really have to watch it. Well its getting late.

Knitting 1 Million Rows



A scarf

The Black Baby Alpaca for Teri's Shawl

This is the finished KAL



A Shawl and Winter Cap Set

As a regular reader you might have noticed that my rows knitted counter took a giant leap of 538 rows added today. So here are a few pictures of my latest creations. I am really bad about placing the pictures so lets just hope that they come out nicely. I hope to list them in my shop as soon as I can find the time.

I also included a picture of the Black baby alpaca yarn for Teri's new shawl. The first skein of yarn came off the spinning wheel today. I even started spinning the second skein of yarn today too.

New Glasses and More

Eric is still home sick. Eric now has a head cold and I honestly do not know how he caught it since he has been home for a full week. Last night was an every 2 hour night, but I did manage to grab a nap today.

I did not get through my whole to do list but I think with Eric home sick and me being up half the night I am really OK with that. 80% of the chores got done so that's not to bad. I choose not to do the finishing work I was planning to do because I was so tired I did not think I could see straight enough to weave in the ends. There is always tomorrow.

John and I managed to get out of the house for a couple hours tonight. The 1st stop was Pearl Vision for new glasses and sun glasses. My prescription took a jump and both had to be replaced. The surprise here was it took less than 1 hour to pick both frames and lens. This is a new record for me. It usually takes more than 1 hour just to pick the frames.  After trying on about a dozen pairs with some almost right I found one pair I really liked and stopped there. The sun glasses were easy Ray-Bans all the way. I just love the aviator frames.

This weekend I plan on doing some more zenning and make one or two more charity runs this week. I think I might have to move to the garage to get rid of more things. Maybe by the end of next year the garage will be as neat as the house. Well its time to go catch a Friday night program.

Semi Homemade Apple Pie

This recipe request is from my daughter Teri. This is a family favorite. It is great alone or served with vanilla ice cream


Semi Homemade Apple Pie

1 Package Pillsbury Pie Crust.

8 to 10 apples cored and sliced, leave the skin on. Use a tart & firm apple like Pippin or Granny Smith

1/2 cup of sugar

A Small Pinch of salt

1 Teaspoon of cinnamon

2 Tablespoons of flour

2 Tablespoons of sugar mixed with a few dashes of cinnamon (reserve)*

1 cookie sheet lined with foil

1 very deep pie pan 9 to 10 inches

For a glass or ceramic pie pan heat the oven to 325f for an aluminum pan heat the oven to 350f.

In a large bowl mix the apples, salt, cinnamon, flour and sugar until the apples are well coated. Use one pie crust to line the bottom of the pan, making sure that the crust is firmly in place. Fill the pie crust with the apple mixture. When you have reached the top of the pie crust, make a small mountain with the rest of the apples. Rinse your hands and get the pie crust edge wet, but not dripping. Carefully place the second pie crust on top and seal the edges by crimping the edges ( basically pressing the 2 pie crusts together.) Use any design you want for crimping, folding the excess dough into the crimping pattern. 

Make a small dime sized vent in the top of the pie along with 4 vent slits about 2 inches long. get the top of the pie crust damp and sprinkle with the reserved cinnamon sugar mix*.  Bake for 45 minutes. If the crust has not become golden cook a little longer until the crust has become golden.

Cool a minimum of 15 minutes before slicing. Serves between 4 and 10 people depending on the size of the slice.

* If you do not want that extra cinnamon flavor on the pie just use plain white or raw sugar for the dusting on top.

Good Friends

I find that good friends make life a whole lot easier when the going gets tough.  As you know Eric has been sick for a couple of days now. Which basically means that I am mostly home bound and sleep deprived. I have one friend, Lisa who has called in extra shifts this week so that I could get a little sleep and get to a couple of appointment's. Something I normally don't get to do when Eric is sick.

Another friend Nancy stop by today to pick up a few things that I needed to drop off at the Knitting Guild meeting tomorrow. Nancy has known me long enough to know that it will be at least 3 days before I get to leave the house for me. This also gave me a chance to give her a holiday present.

There are also a couple of friends in my social media circle who always give me encouragement when Eric is sick. Cindy of  Jacob's Reward Farm.  Could you send a few healing prayers her way this week. She had a pretty nasty fall and is now recouping at home.  Also there is Sandy of  Homestead Wool and Gift Farm. I just love her fiber and batts too. Hopefully Sandy and the sheep don't get hit to hard by the coming winter storm. Not to be forgotten is Joanna who used to work with Eric a long time ago and now has a family of her own.

Ladies you are all very wonderful and accomplished women in your own right. Thank you for being part of my life. It is truly a blessing to have you in my life. Thank you.

Day Gone Wild

Today turned into a Topsy turvey day with in 10 minutes of waking up this morning. Yes it was one of those wild eyrp days with 5 loads of eyrpy clothes to wash. I have since folded and put away 4 of those loads. Aren't you impressed.  UCP was able to get me coverage so I could go to my eye appointment. Yes new glasses are in order. I should have them by years end.

On the fiber arts side. I finished another hat and started another hat. I picked up a scarf that did not quite feel like a scarf while I was knitting it. The further I got into to it the more it said I want to be a small felted purse. With that decided the knitting went faster. I also pulled out all my black alpaca fiber and sorted it. The good news is that only 50% has to be washed. I am almost positive that I have enough to spin and knit an nice comfy shawl for Teri. Being the wonderful daughter she is it does not matter to her if I use a drop spindle or spinning wheel. I am pretty sure that Eric will not let me bring the wheel into his room so I might just use a drop spindle.

On the Eric front it seems like he now has a runny nose too, so I would not expect me anywhere this week. I just have to get an Eric sitter so I can make 1 other appointment this week. I will call a few people to pick up end of year drop offs for me too. Well the boss is calling so later all.

The Paradox

I have found a paradox in my quest for a cleaner house. The further along in the process I get, the less I have to do. All the same I want to continue moving more out of the house. Throwing more out or donating to charity, but I am running out of things that need to go. Conversely I find that I need to dust and vacuum more because there is no clutter to hide the dust. John and Teri agree that this is a good thing. Maybe some one can enlighten me of what to expect at this stage of zenning the house.

Doing laundry all day is good, but does not quite fill the need to toss. I also need to learn to carve out time to knit and spin while the guys are home.

Well I have to get ready for next week, not quiet as busy as last week, but I am still double booked on some days.

Hats and More Hats

I seem to be making a lot of hats lately. My goal is to get the scrap basket down to a reasonable size, i.e. almost empty. I have completed 2 hats in 2 days and started a 3rd hat tonight. My friend Lisa has not seen by scrap basket so low ever. I can actually tie down the top of the basket. I now know that the only way more will be added to the basket is when I complete other projects and throw the left over yarn in the basket. That is one benefit of the massive house cleaning that I have been doing this year.

This seems to be good knitting weather too. It was cold and rainy for the last 2 days with highs  in the mid to low 50's. I know all of you who read this blog in colder climates will think I am silly to complain about the weather with the current temperatures. The only thing good about the temperature now is that my wool hand knit socks actually feel good. I can also wear my cowls and woolly shawls out in public. My only solace is that spring will be here in about 5 months and I will have my wonderful weather back. Can you tell I am a summer person?

Well there will be another cold and deary day tomorrow so I foresee more knitting and gift making in my future. Although right now it is time to call it a day.

Driving

I am astounded at the amount of driving that I am doing this week.  I filled up Tuesday and am already down 1/2 of a tank. It normally takes me a week to go through that much gas.  I hope that things slow down soon.

I am also taking credit for the rain tonight.  I washed my car on Tuesday.  Well I am beyond tired. So good night all.

Catch Me if You Can

It was another busy day today. It started out by Eric's aide being late. Then Eric hiding my car keys in his wheelchair. I searched high and low for them. I finally took the spare set. By the way I did find them wedged into the side of Eric's chair when we got to his day program. Eric thought that was the funniest thing in the world. Sometimes I really don't get male humor.

I did manage to get to all corners of Tucson today. Yes, there is a story behind that. I went to register Teri's car. So after I dropped Eric off I went to the MVD at Shannon and Ina. They told me I had to go to 29th and South Palo Verde.  All they way across town. I had to get the California Smog certification translated into the Arizona Smog Certificate. I kid you not. They do this for an additional fee of course. Then down the street a little further to the Broadmont MVD to get the car registered. December must be a good month to do it because there was not a line.

Then it was off to FedEx at Broadway and something in the Williams Center to get it sent off to Teri. This close to the holidays I just wanted to make sure it would get to her in time. Then lunch at the 5th Street Deli. I really like their new potato latka recipe. As a bonus for my self I picked up dinner to reheat later. Thanks to Asher and his team I did not have to cook tonight. The food was dropped off at home.

Then on to the mall to get some just in time shopping done. Everything was on sale. I also meet some nice knitters who were knitting just outside the food court on Arizona Avenue in the Tucson Mall. I might just have to join them someday.

Off to get Eric and then a quick nap followed by Eric's quarterly review. Yes I brought my knitting out to calm my nerves. After 20 some odd years of doing them, I still hate the process. Well its getting late and believe it or not tomorrow is going to be just as jammed packed as the last 2 days.

Tuesday.

Today was not a typical day for me. I was moving non stop all day long. I drove to 3 of the 4 corners of Tucson.

 After dropping Eric off at his day program it was time to do some catch up at home and get some packages ready to be mailed. I ran out of time to get them sent  before I had to drive to South Tucson for a luncheon. The food was good. The company even better.

Then off to get the packages mailed. I landed up having to drive to the Foothills Mall to get them mailed at FedEx, with just enough time to go pick up Eric. Then off to do one of Eric's favorite chores. Getting gas for "his" car along with a trip through the car wash.

I was very brave today and did a pretty good job of trimming Eric's hair. He seems to be sick most weekends lately. I think I will finish up the left side with Lisa's help on Friday. Yes this was one of my crazier ideas. With 2/3 of the haircut near perfect, in my humble opinion. On the other hand Eric does not think I should give up knitting and spinning or my day/night job to become a hair stylist.

I only have a few more appointments to book before I can clear off my calendar. I did not finish the hat I am working on either. I only managed to get about 50 grams of wool knitted today.  Well it is beyond late so its time to say good night all.

Multi-Tasking

I would like to dedicated this blog post to  Emma S. from Canada. A fan and a regular reader of my blog. Is very much interested to know how I manage the household tasks and the knitting. This is a very good question.

The first thing I would have to say is that I take my knitting absolutely everywhere I go. If I am at the grocery store I have a small project such as a hat or scarf with a very simple pattern. The plus side of this is when the lines get especially long I am usually the first person they take to the new line. I think this is because good customer service mandates that your customers should not be in line long enough to actually be doing a "hobby" and making progress. The only place this has not worked is Walmart.

I also take my knitting to restaurants. We are not the 5 star dining kind of folks. So After I have decided what to order out comes the knitting until the food arrives. The plus side of this that I eat less of the nibbles that are placed on the table. This is a two for. 1 more knitting. 2 less calories are consumed. It also works when everyone is having the desert I so dearly want and choose not to eat most of the time.

When I have to do the carpooling for Eric, I always have my knitting with me. Sometimes they run late in his day program. So I just sit and knit while I wait for Eric. I seem to be one of the only parents that does not get upset with them running long. I also knit while John is driving so I will not be a back seat driver I never knit while I am driving, please don't knit and drive as I feel this is very dangerous.  I have also been know to knit while walking in the mall or at street fairs. My hint for knitting at the movies would be very light colored yarns and a very easy pattern.

I also get a lot of knitting done when Eric is sick. With the children's channels they tend to be on a 6 hour or less repeat cycle. I have to say there are only so many times I can watch the same episode of a show in a 24 hour period. I do keep a fully loaded basket of yarn for scarfs or ponchos in Eric's room by the rocking chair. I also doing a lot of knitting during his breathing treatments ( 45 minutes, 2 times a day), I consider this my down time.

With all this being said, in reality I have 5 hours a day to get all my chores done in between driving Eric. So not much knitting gets done during the day. I am not above running the washing machine, dishwasher and dryer at night while I sleep to free up some time during the day. My biggest chore of the week is still laundry with an average of 20+ loads a week. I also love my I-Robot Roomba and Scooba, this allows me to do other chores while the machines are mopping or vacuuming. Multi tasking is the key. This might sound just awful to most people but one of the advantages to have a child with a lot of health issues is that his aides are responsible for keeping his room and bathroom straight and the rest of the areas of the house he uses neat.

The main part of my knitting gets done when I have time to meet up with friends or while watching TV after dinner.

So yes, I do manage to squeeze in a lot of odd moments of knitting. Each row by it self is not much, but a stolen minute here and there really adds up to a lot of rows.

3RD KAL Clue

For the final KAL clue you will need your dpn's' and darning needle.

Cast on 3
make and I-cord 24 inches long.

Fold the Rectangle in half, leaving the eyelet at the top with out a seam. Sew up the bottom and side of the rectangle. Turn inside out. Weave the I cord through the eyelet and knot the ends of the I-cord together.

Add a bar of your favorite soap and hang in the shower or tub. This design is also ideal for small bits and pieces of soap.

As promised this will knit up fast and you still have time to make a few presents.

Happy knitting.

Happy Thanksgiving & KAL Clue #2

First of all I would like to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving. I have a lot to be grateful for this year.  We are all doing very well in our chosen endeavors. Eric is enjoying his day program very much. Teri graduated from Law school and passed the California Sate Bar exam on her first try. Teri will be sworn in to the California State Bar next month. Her chosen field is Intellectual Property Rights and Privacy Law. John has had a very good year at work. My spinning, knitting and designing are going very well. The house is almost totally zenned and just a few spots are left.

My wish is for everyone to have a happy, healthy and fun holiday season.


KAL Clue #2

Row 5. Slip 1 stitch purl wise, Knit 1,( knit 2 together, yarn over)* follow this pattern until the end of the row end with a knit 1.

Row 6 Slip one stitch purl wise, knit across.

Row 7 to 51 You have 2 options.

Option 1 Slip 1 purl wise and knit across for the entire pattern.

Option 2. Slip 1 purl wise and knit 1 purl 1 across. On subsequent rows purl the knit stitches and knit the purl stitches. Always start every row with a slip 1 purl wise.  This will give you a seed stitch.

My 1ST KAL

Hi everyone. I designed and knitted up this pattern last night. This is my early holiday gift to all of you. Happy Knitting. Sheri

Ingredient List.

1 skein Sugar and Creme
US size 8 straight and dpn's
scissors
darning needle

Pattern

Cast on 40 stitches using the long tail cast on.
Rows 1 - 4 slip the 1st stitch purl wise, knit across.

The next clue will be coming soon. Let me know how you like the pattern and if you have and questions.

Birthday Time

Well today was the 1st of Eric's planned birthday parties. A friend of Eric's planned it. I made the cake. His friend helped make the icing and frost the cake. The frosting is an easy
recipe.

Sheri's Quick Butter Creme Icing

1 stick of margarine
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 ounce of water
1 pinch of salt
1 pound of Powdered sugar sometimes called XXX Sugar

Place the first four ingredients in a mixing bowl. Using a low speed on your mixer or by hand, creme until smooth. Slowly add the powdered sugar with a low speed until incorporated. Now its time to add some air to that frosting. On my Kitchen Aide K5, I turn the speed to 4 which is a slow/medium speed. Beat for 10 minutes, this should leave your frosting light and fluffy.

This makes enough frosting for a small cake. If you double or triple this recipe increase beating time to 15 minutes because of the increased volume. If you would like a white butter creme frosting use a vanilla called Clear Vanilla Extract Available on Amazon. I have included the link.  Most brands are about the same. Link to clear vanilla extract on Amazon.*

Stay tuned to this blog for a KAL. I will tell you it is fast and easy. I designed and hand knit the proto type this evening while watching TV.

*If you decide to use this link to make your purchase on Amazon, Amazon will pay me a small commission.

On the Road to 1 Million

It has been hinted at by various people that my aspiration to knit a million rows and keep track of those rows might be a bit obsessive. That I might even need "to get a life". How can I not aspire to knit a million rows with all that lovely yarn around. Did you also notice that twice a year new yarn collections are released. That means that there is so much more yarn to fall in love with.

These are just some of the lovelies that I have been knitting in the last few weeks. I know some of you read this on your phones so I will not add all the pictures.

 So my answer is no. I am not be obsessive about knitting, just humour me and there maybe something in it for you too.

Moving Along

Well I would like to say if you have not been to my house in the last 6 months you will not recognize it. With the deep house cleaning almost done I have time for knitting and spinning. This is a very good thing. I am doing a benefit show for Eric's Day Program at the Tucson JCC on November 28.  I will post the details as I get them. This would be a good day to do your holiday shopping and get a snack at the bake sale. I will be donating 100% of my sales to the Taglit program. The young people in the program have also designed a line of greeting cards which will be sold. Stay tuned for further details.

Since dinner is cooked I am off to knit.

Just Keeping Up

I am just keeping up with things around the house.  Last night Eric's shower broke. Today I went to Home Depot to get a replacement and fixed it this afternoon. I can do simple plumbing jobs around the house. Which saves a service call. I am not sure if I am up to replacing 2 different sink facets as the appear harder to do. I think I will check out You Tube before I decide whether or not to call the plumber.

This morning the vacuum cleaner motor started to burn. So John went ahead and ordered a bag less model which are all the rage right now.  The kind of remind me of the really old ones my Grandma's both had.  I remember them going out side to dump the cups in the trash and in my child's eyes saw huge puffs of dirt come out of the metal trash cans. It just goes to show us that everything old is new again. I wonder if my grandma's knew that they were being environmentally conscious by using the bag less models?

I did get some knitting done today. The shawl I worked on, now takes about 15 minutes per row to knit. Thank heavens I am on the last skein of yarn for this shawl. House work and laundry took center stage with 5 loads making it from start to finish. If I ever move to a new house and have the chance to design the laundry room I would build it with 2 washers and dryers.

Well it sounds quiet at the back of the house so I hope that this means Eric is settling in for the night.

First Sunday in November

I am happy to report that Eric and I are feeling much better. Thing are getting done around the house. I know this because I told John that 5 hours was my maximum cleaning time and went on to do a full 8 hour day. I know it was to much because I feel sore right down to my bones. I also took the time to delegate some of my chores. I gave John the cooking and half of the filing today. That took some pressure off of me. I did manage to sneak in a little knitting after dinner.  Well it looks like a busy week ahead for me so I. Will call ot a day.

Still Here

It has been a bit crazy around here lately. If you have not been to the house in a while you will not recognize the interior of the house. The house no longer looks like a fiber artist has taken over the house completely. I am beginning to adjust to that, now I just have to remember where I put everything and I will be fine. I still find it a bit disconcerting to have to go to the garage to pull out stash yarn and fiber to work with. I know once my stash is a manageable size, it will all be in the house. Now don't you all hold your breath. It might take another year or 2 to get to that point.

Eric shared his cold with me and I spent all of yesterday sleeping while John was in charge of Eric. Except for a little post viral asthma for Eric all seems to be better today. I am also feeling better but still on the tired side.

Eric even let me spin in his room today. I finished 2 spinning projects today and both are off the spindles. I am still on a hat streak and knitting 3 to 4 hats a week. I will either get tired of knitting them or the scrap basket will get to low to make really awesome hats and I will have to move on to other things.

Well I think I will call it quits for tonight and tuck Eric in.

Dental Work

I have had more dental work done this week. I am dealing with the soreness by taking naps when I get to sore or tired.  I still am managing to get some cleaning and organazing done.

I am still In my hat phase and started on today.  I even got some spinning done while waiting for our slow stream of trick or treaters tonight. Well it seems like it has been a very long day, so I am calling it an early night and hope that Eric sleeps through the night tonight.

Not Really a Day Off

Today was my version of a day off   I did the laundry, errands, a dental appointment,paperwork, cleaning, knitting, a car wash and gas agter i picked eric up from day program   I also think I came up with a safe way to deal with road rage and tail haters. I simply let them pass and slow down as needed. Wave them in front of me and resume my trip with our tension.

Well it is going to be very busy again tomorrow so it's time to call it a night.  Those in Sandy's path please be safe and find some high ground.

Busy but Slow

This weekend seemed very busy. Yet at the same time went very slowly. Most of my chores got done. I still have a few carry overs until Monday. I have been averaging a finished knitted object every other day.  Now to just make the time to weave in the ends.

I have come to the sad conclusion that my kids are just not that into sports. After a Special Olympics event for Eric on Saturday, I had to promise him that there would be no more sporting competitions in his future in order to get him to go to sleep.

I am waiting to see when he goes to sleep so I can too. I hope you have a fun and busy week ahead.

Hats

I seem to be stuck on hats lately.  In the last 2 weeks I have finished 6 and put another one one The  needles today. I also took the unusual step of adding more yarn to the hat basket. Normally I get it as empty as possible and then tuck it in a corner waiting for odds and ends to be added.  This might just be the month of the hat.  So of you have been promised hand knits for charity events it will proably involve hats this year.

On the house cleaning side of things the pantry is 95% finished.  It was like an archeological dig. With 10-05 being the oldest date. How this item slipped through so many times I do not know. John was very gracious in bring the barrel out to The curb for trash night. Did I mention he also brought home dinner and did one of my errands for me too?

Well it has been a long day with a trip to the dentist thrown in for fun. I am very tired so I will keep this blog very short tonight.

Hump Day, Better Know as Wednesday

Today I got a lot of things done around the house.  I managed to rearrange 2 shelfs of the pantry. Clear a large chunk of the kitchen counter. I also took Eric grocery shopping with me after his day program.  We do make a very long train in the store.

I made it to the Arthritis expo at the JCC this morning and heard some great talks. Won a cool green t-shirt for Eric.  I also managed to knit 3/4 of a hat while I was there too.

On the long term todo list I found a grown up doctor for Eric.  Well I have a busy day lined up for tomorrow. So good night all.

More Cleaning

I spent the entire day cleaning. Good progress was made. The only thing I could not find was the pattern to my June yarn club called Baldersquash.

Well since I fell asleep during the debate, I think it's  time to call it a night.

Back to Normal

I took a break from blogging, knitting and spinning because I was busy getting ready for my mom's visit. I had a great visit with my mom but she has decided that even though Tucson has changed quite a bit since she left it is not where she wants to live.

I am continuing to organize the house, but I have started taking time to knit and get a few things out of the need to sew/repair basket. I got 4 items repaired today. I still need to find time for spinning. I really think my spinning wheel and drop spindles have forgotten who I am.

Well its getting late and I have a very busy week ahead of me.

From Not a Size 2

Dear Clothing Sales Person,

This is an open letter to help you understand me your customer a little better. I hate to be knit picky but...I am not a size 2 and deserve the same treatment that you gave the size 2 customer.

When I come in telling you I need new clothes because I have lost a lot of weight please don't do the following:

1. Look at me like I am the elephant in the room. I personally think that dropping a whole size on my own is a great big deal. Yes I am still heavy, but you should have seen me before.

2. Give me a pair of pants 3 full sizes bigger than I currently am. I know that they are much to large when I do not need to undo the zipper or button to get the pants on and off.  Then tell me just to get a belt to cinch it up a bit. That will keep them from falling down. Really? Wouldn't I be better off with a smaller pair of pants?

3. Give me a sweater at least a full size larger and tell me just to roll up the sleeves a couple of times. That is not the way they showed it in your stores catalog. By the way the knitting magazines have straight sleeves this season. Not rolled up in bunches at the wrist and pushed up the arm. Also I am not buying a tent, just a sweater.

4. Clear the sales racks of all the clothes that are a size or more too large and tell me that this is the style.  I just sent a bunch of my clothes that were too large to Goodwill for up cycling. It really is a bad reflection on you, that you think so little of your customers that you will tell them anything just to make a sale. Think about it, I did not buy the junky looking clothes that did not look good on me. You wasted both of our time.

5. I have been a customer longer than you have been an employee of the store. Who do you think will be around longer? Oh, just in case you were wondering where the money from your paycheck comes from, it is me the customer. With out a customer base your company would not have the money to hire you.

Considering all this are you sure you are in the right job. Do you need to do an attitude adjustment? Isn't my money just as good as anyone Else's? Didn't your parent ever teach you manners? In this economy is is really the right thing to tick a customer off?

Store managers please feel free to share this with you employees. Thanks for listening.

Eric's Day Off

Eric had a day off do to the holiday today. So we took the day to do a charity run to Goodwill, the whole back of my car was full. We then became a very long train at Target. I pushed Eric in his chair and pulled the shopping cart behind us. As I recall this used to be a much shorter train when Eric was 3 and using his Kirschall chair, back when he was much younger. I did manage to fill the cart and make it as heavy as Eric and his chair. The thing that did surprise me at Target was that they did not provide carry out help with the very full basket. Most other stores in Tucson provide carry out help when I am shopping alone with Eric. Even if I don't buy as much.

We made our way home and I put the grocery's away under Eric's careful "supervision". While Eric took his afternoon nap, I managed to finish his 2nd quilt. Talk to my mom, start another Charity box, clean the guest/craft room some more. I also got laundry done, cooked and cleaned up the mess for dinner.

While Eric was thumping I managed to get some of the boxes from the craft room out to the garage. I also decided to skip folding laundry tonight.And I almost finished another hat. I am at the decrease rows on the dpn's. Well it has been a very long day and I have a very busy day tomorrow.

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.  

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Tuesday in Tucson

I have found that if I walk 3 miles in the morning instead of just 2, I get to my 10.000 steps earlier in the day.

Now on to the fun stuff. Teri and I went out to breakfast after we voted in the primary. A little walking and shopping. Lunch with John and a trip to Bookman's. I did find a little time for spinning and knitting today too.

Well its going to be another busy day tomorrow.

Happy Times

I am enjoying my time with Teri very much.  Even though we walked 3 miles this morning and I wales another 3 miles during the rest of the day for a total of 12,000 steps, I am not quite able to keep up with Teri.

We had fun at Savers, lunch with John and found some time to catch up with TV.  Well it's late and time to call it a night.

Family Time

For a very short time we are all under one roof. John and I will enjoy this time immensely. I am really enjoying the very bright and nice young woman that Teri has turned in to. Eric is really enjoying his Teri time too. When Teri is in the room I am all but invisible, which I don't mind at all, more knitting time for me. Did I get to mention I always love watching them together, I am glad that my children get along so well. John and I are just so lucky to have these two wonderful children.

Too Busy

I have been too busy to blog lately. My excuse is that I have been deep cleaning the house. From the linen closet to the craft/guest room and everything in between. No drawer was left untouched. All the shelves were gone through too. Up to 8 hours a day, yes that's right up to 8 hours a day of cleaning. My hope is that when I am finished I will have more time to do what I want. Also to spend less time looking for things. Or even worse buying duplicates because I have lost something I need.

Even after I finish there will still be some fine tuning to do. I hope that will not be as involved. I really want to go back to spending more time spinning, knitting and enjoying my 5 hour break when Eric goes to his day program.

Well my ice cream cup is empty so I think its time to try some sleep. caffeinated tea with dinner was not my best idea of the day.

To Early to Count my Time Off

Just when I think Eric has turned a good corner, I find myself sitting in the rocking chair again. It's an hour past my bed time with no new bedtime in sight. Well I guess I should back track a little.

Eric had 4 very good days at his day program. He is enjoying his time with his friends and staff. Well the first thing he did when he came home today was eyrp.  So here I sit after 10 pm. I am slowly ramping up hi fluid intake.  We are at 12 and need to be at 30 before I can go to sleep.  I am to tired to knit , spin or play a game on my pod.  I am actually watching Sprout and following the story line. Wish me luck that I can get to bed before midnight.

I am very seriously contemplating some caffeine about now. It is either caffeine or a solid sleep. Just a little loner. I think I can last a few more hours. By the way I will be home tomorrow.

A No Fiber Day

I did not manage to spin or knit even 1 gram of fiber today. But what I accomplished today was awesome. Shopping for groceries, 3 baskets of recycling and 1 bag of trash out of the craft room.  I decided to not do any mending on a few thing and recycled the or put then in charity.  I finished filling up the 4th quart jar and 2 jam jars with buttons. I will be using a lot of buttons in my one of a kind pieces. Every box was gone through before I put them back on the shelves with the exception of my father-in-laws mending kit, someday,but not today.  I also started a second bag for Bookman's.

I managed to get Eric to sleep before 10. It is finally cool enough to run a load of laundry.  It is 16 degrees cooler right now than earlier today. Cues it was officially hot here today. It hit 11 at The house today.  Did I mention how much my joints enjoy he heat?  Just 5 minutes outside at mid-day was enough to make my muscles and joints feel better. I really do love summer in Tucson.

I think I am rambling so it is time to put a close on a very busy day and get some sleep. V

A Busy Day

I spent a very long day cleaning and throwing. Followed by bits and pieces of organizing. It really is slow going but I am cleaning every drawer and shelf in the craft room. Throwing out what I don't need. I have started a Bookman's bag and perhaps Teri will be kind enough to make a trip to Bookman's when she comes and visits us next.  A trash bag, recycling bag and a charity bag have also been started.  Sheer exhaustion has set in so this will be a very sort pot tonight.

Vacation?

Eric had a week of vacation from his day program. We did a lot of hanging around the house. So as a result I got a lot of knitting and deep cleaning done. I did manage to run away to the spinnings wheel a couple of times. Speaking of spinning, my fluff which does not have a permenant home yet is on a tour of the house right now. In this week aline it has travlwd to 3 different  rooms.   With a little more deep cleaning I am sure that a permenant home is not to far away.  well it is almost 11pm and I think it is time to wind down for the night.

Knitting Time

I seem to get a lot of knitting done when Eric is sick. This is very good for the 1 million row challenge.  Today was no exception.  Right now I have 2 UFO ponchos in Eric's room. I am 1/4 of the way through both.  One has quiet needles the other has noisey needles. Depending on his mood is what I knit.

I was lucky enough to get a few mInutes of spinning and a trip to the supermarket in today also.    It is going to be a busy day tomorrow, so I think it is time to turn in. Sp

A Day Off in Mommy Speak

Today I took a mommy version of a day off.  I went light on the laundry.  I did one load but did not fold it.  Brought the dry clothes off  the line and put them away. Re did the linen drawer in the kitchen and moved the towels that had seen their better day to the rag pile. Of course the drawer is all nice and neat now.  Got Scooba ready to run on the kitchen floor and started her. This was all before I dropped Eric off at his day program.

The it was waiting for the Century Link guy to fix the telephone yet again. This time it was 2 bare wires touching each other and doing random shorts in the system. So I caught up on e-mail and such. Then it was off to do a return, get some lunch and go to Trader Joe's. Since I went after lunch none of the food looked appealing at all, so we landed up with goat cheese sandwiches and salad for dinner. I put most of the grocery's away and did some light picking up before it was time to go get Eric.

Then it was Barney, followed by Dinosaur Train. When Eric's aide arrived I did some finishing work on 3 projects so I could take their pictures and post them to the 1 Million Row Challenge. If the mittens look like they are different sizes please remember that I knit each one on a different flight. I am 327 rows into the challenge, I only count rows on finished projects. I will get more knitting done tomorrow.

Eric was a bit fussy tonight and wanted more mommy time. It is all quiet at the back of the house so I think is is time to go to sleep.

A Busy Day

It has been a very busy non-stop day for me. It took me most of the day, all 5 hours of it with out Eric to get through the top 5 items on my to do list. So to save time tomorrow I wrote my to do list tonight. That should save a good 5 minutes, which might be useful tomorrow.

I did not have much time for knitting or spinning. I still did find the time to get 1/3 of the way through the first fingerless mitten. I really think the person who picked the yarn will be happy with them. All I can say is the merino/silk combo is just yummy. John says my new found fondness for small projects is that the row count for the 1 million row challenge will go fast.

Well it seems that my boss has settled in for the night and I have another very busy day tomorrow. it's time to say good night.

Back Home

I am back home after a week of helping Teri. Yes I did leave her with a freezer full of home cooking. We do have to wait until November for the bar results. Which is going to be hard because I want to know right now.

While I was gone John got the washer fixed, the leak in the roof fixed. Also had Eric home sick for the entire week, and still managed to get into work. Isn't he just awesome? No I am not going to share him.

  I spent the day recouping, doing laundry, unpacking,and redoing the linen cabinet. Tomorrow will be scouba, bills, pictures. I will see how much I can get crammed into 5 hours.

Teri Time

As I write this blog post, Teri is on day 3 of her bar exams. There are a couple of things that I found out about myself this week. The first being that I can not knit for more than 6 hours a day. I packed way too much fluff, Teri has been very calm and has not needed to zone out to the spindle just turning around endlessly. The new clothes I bought for Teri's graduation are all getting longer and the waists are getting looser.  I though I would be more nervous so I brought a lot of snack food. The good news for me is that most of it is staying with Teri and her roommate when I leave. Most of the packages have not even been opened, including the chocolate covered almonds.

Teri is doing well. I am so pleased how she has turned out as an adult. I have enjoyed spending time with her this week. I hate the fact that we have to wait until November to to get the results of this weeks test.

John has been doing very well considering that Eric is giving so a run for it. Well It is time for me to go pack up Teri's stuff as we have a 1pm check out.

1 Million Row Challenge

Well the washing machine is officially down for 2 more weeks and I will be making twice weekly trips to the Laundromat. I don't think I could stand doing it once a week and doing 20+ loads at once. As it was I used the jumbo machines that hold between 2 and 4 loads each today.  I still had 6 full wash loads today. I brought along a wool cowl to work on today and now understand why people in hot humid climates prefer cotton for summer knitting. Did I mention that the Laundromat has a swamp cooler.  It was at least 85 degrees and 50+%  humidity outside today, this is not what the cooler was designed for.  I still did manage to get 3 rows knit while doing the laundry.

We are up to 57 members in the 1 Million Row Challenge .Just use this link if you would like to join us. Remember we are there to have fun and use up our old and newly acquired stash yarn. Yes any yarn that crosses our thresholds is considered stash yarn. I wounder if any local yarn shops would like to get involved, by hosting knit ins or party's? After all having a bunch of fiberholics around is sure a good way to add to our stashes. Did you really think 1 Million Rows would reduce my stash by much?

We are crossing our fingers that the leaky roof is now fixed so that we can tear out the damaged wall board and replace it. Then repaint. I hope the carpet decides to dry out with out any mildew otherwise we will be replacing that too, but not with white. Beige or brown would be my first choice, after all it does not show the dirt. Which of course would leave me more time for knitting and spinning.

Next week will be my official spin/knit-a-thon week. I have heaps of projects lined up from wrist warmers to shawls. I also have my drop spindles and braids lined up.  My goal is to have as many projects done as possible by next Saturday. I will give my row/skein count and show pictures next Sunday.

I wonder if I have time for a quick nap?

One Million Row Challenge

Last night I decided to share the One million Row Challenge with my fellow knitters and crocheter's on Raverly.  We are using the hash tag 1 mil rows to identify the projects, I would like to thank Melissa for coming up with the hash tag. We have also found a counter thanks to Annette & Alexander and here is the link to The Ticker Factory .

If you would like to join us in this journey just follow this link to Raverly 1 Million Rows Challenge . As of this blog Post we have 32 people going at their own pace, trying to bust their stashes. We all plan on having a good time doing it.

Have a great evening of knitting and family time.

The Million Row Challenge

The guys are very creative in thinking up ways to get me to use up my stash yarn.  So tonight they came up with the million row challenge. Its suppose to be knit entirely from stash yarn. I am not sure if that includes new stash yarn that just happens to land in my stash. You know how those stash fairies can be. They did not say if I should count the newly spun yarn, after all once it is spun it is technically stash yarn. They said I could choose any patterns I wanted to do, with any stash yarn I had. The goal is to knit a 1,000,000,000 rows.

They also threw in a bonus that I could count the shawl I am working on now for the challenge. This is a good thing because I am already 100 rows in. Which leaves 999,999,900 rows left to knit.

What I am looking for is a good row counter for the blog. So any ideas would be wonderful. Also does anyone want to join me in this endeavor? I would love some company along the way. In that train of thought do you think I should start a Raverly group? Who would like to join the group, if I started it?

Well it is getting late and I have dragons to slay tomorrow. So Good night all.

Getting Organized

I spent the weekend zenning the house. I decided to put all the kits together (this should read that I lost some yarn and a pattern that I wanted to start knitting). I found projects that I would no longer be working on and recovered the knitting needles and project bags. The yarn has already been passed on. I found at least 18 pairs of needles and circulars. Which is very good, it means that I don't have to go buy knitting needles for the projects I have lined up for my week of knitting.  I have a week coming up where I will have 9 hours a day to knit and spin, so I want to see how many me projects I can get out of the way.

I did find that my spinning projects had less UFOs that were stored. Well one to be exact. Looking at the fleece I can see why I had stopped spinning it. So today it went through the carder twice and is now a fluffy mass without a lot of VM in it to spin. It may not match the first 2 skeins but I am OK with that.

I did manage to put all the raw fleece in separate bags by color, breed and animal. It is all piled under the carder for some play time. I think I should probably put the roving by breed and color too. The sewing machine is now recovered too so I see some sewing happening soon too.

The more I clean and organize the better that I feel. I am also finding more time to take part in my favorite creative endeavors. I am having an easier time letting go of things too. Well it is getting late and it has been a long day.

Content

Although Eric is still home sick, I feel very content. This might have to do with the fact that I got out of the house today and now have some good snacks in the house. Summer fruits and crunchy stuff. Nom, nom nom.  I did get some spinning and weaving done today too. Laundry was at a minimum of the obligatory 2 loads.

We put Eric to bed 3 hours ago, now if he would just fall asleep so I can get some shut eye too.

It is Tuesday All Day

I am having a very surprising good day today. Eric work up with a fever of 99.5 and a stuffy nose. So needless to say, we got off to a very slow start. I got my mojo realigned about 10:30am. After that things went quite well.

Three rooms got a visit from Roomba. The master bath mats got washed and dried in the sun, it only took 2 hours for that crispy dry. The master bathroom was mopped. One load of laundry was washed and hung to dry. Two loads of laundry were folded, no they were not put away yet. I did not have that much ambition today. All the odd socks were matched up and at least 6 pairs were reclaimed from the odd sock basket, yeah me!!!  I caught up on part of the back filing and found that I did not need everything so the shredder got a real work out, half a basket shredded!!!

I am way behind on my spinning for Tour de Fleece. My plan was to get mounds of spinning done. the reality is that some days only a 12 to 24 inches are getting spun. My goal was to have all my WIP off all the spindles, not so much now. So I will be happy with what I have and not stock up on fleece and roving before next years tour. To have a less lofty goal and go for pretty and artsy instead of volume.

I really have to say that today lacked a  lot of pre planning such as not having Scooba charged so that I could get Eric,s floor mopped after vacuuming with Rumba. I also need to fire the lady in charge of snacks, she really feel short of having the right crunchy food in the house today.

My goal for tomorrow is to get Mondays errands done. I will really get that package out to Teri. I have help for 4 hours tomorrow. Well it is time to go make dinner. I might not barbecue the steaks the rain just started.

Lazy Summer Days

It is well in to July and I am still searching for the lazy,hazy days of summer. I am still very busy and seeking some down time. If you happen to stumble across them please lets know where to find them. I seem to be stuck in the crazy part of summer.

5 Hours

I am trying to find the right balance in my life riht now. I have exactly 5 hours a day to call my own. The first thing I do most days is to walk for 30 to 60 minutes. That leaves exactly 4 hours to sechdule appointments, run errands, clean, do laundry. Those are the have to do things. I still need to find time for the want to dos like knitting,spinning, weaving,sewing and maybe even do the most unusual thing of turning on the tv and watching a show. If anyone has a secret workable plan please let me know how to do it all. In the mean Ike I will try not to get hit by drivers using cell phones while driving. I swear people should not be allowed to drive a chat on the phone at the same time. It just makes them careless and I attentive. Well it sounds like someone is asleep. So you guys know the drill by now. Night all.

A Long Day

My day started at 4 am with Eric. I spent the rest of the day knitting, cleaning, doing errands, baking and last but not least 2+ hours of phone time. Since I have now hit the 18+ hour work day I am hoping that Eric goes to sleep soon. Tomorrow will be filled with baking, cleaning,sewing and a party. With any luck I will find a few minutes to knit and spin. I would like to wish everyone a happy 4th. Please enjoy your family time.

Project Bags

The thought occurred to me today that I do not have to many projects. Ok I see you all laughing. Now get up off the floor and finish reading this post. I have to many project bags. Yes that's right to many project bags. I don't want my project bags to get lonely,so I pick a pattern and some yarn. Then I cast on. I work steadily on the project until Tje next project bag says it lonely. So being the social butterfly that I am I just have to find some suitable yarn, a pattern and some needles. This is just to make the bag feel better I cast on yet another project. The cycle repeats it self dozens of times a year. This is why I have so many ufo's. Today I did get some work on various projects done, but nothing was completed. I am going on another UFO hunt tommrow to find more unfinished projects. Now if I can just find a way to make all those empty bags less lonely.

Day 37 of 100+

Today Eric and I caught the movie Madagascar 3. The movie was very good. Eric enjoyed the music so much that we got him the cd of the music. The story line was very good. I would rate this as a good one to take the kids to. Please note that we did not see the 3D version, but you could clearly determine what was suppose to be in 3D. I have declared this week get the ufo's finished week Even if i am tired of the yarn or pattern I will finish as many as possible On the knitting front I finished 2 more ufo's today before I lost my knitting mojo. For Tour de Fleece I started and got a little over half way done with a colorway called Maple Leaf by Natlie of http://www.cloudlover.bigcartel.com. It is a very lovely blend of one of my favorites BFL combined with silk. The color is flowing very well. I am finding it a very delightful spin Eric is asleep and I am just waiting fi the dryer to stop so that I can get one more load in the washer and dryer befor I call it a night.

All Things Fiber

Yesterday was filled with friends and knitting. I finished a shawl and worked on a charity scarf. The shawlette does not look quite right on me. It really needs a size 12 or smaller person to wear it. The shawl was knit using the crazy sock yarn from Germany. It is just wide enough to keep your neck and shoulders warm. I will post a picture of it on my twitter and face book feed. If you are interested please let me know. The price will be $80.00 until I post it in my etsy shop and then the price will jump to cover the listing fees. Today was spent cleaning, napping( I got 2 naps in today), spinning and knitting. I skein of yarn was finished for the 1st day of The Tour de Fleece on raverly, all 102 yards out of 2.1 ounces of fiber. I can't wait to boil it up so I can knit with ot. Well it sounds like Eric is asleep so it's time for me to sleep too.

Normal

Today I got a taste of normal. After I dropped Eric off at his program I tanked up the car and got it washed. This was followed by 40 minutes of walking, the good news is that I covered 2 miles. Yes that was 2 20 minute miles today. Followed by knitting,lunch with friends. The service was bad so the eatting establishment shall remain nameless. I did manage to get a quick nap in. I have also made the decision to make a list of political robo calls, whom ever wakes me up from a nap will be put on the list and will not get my vote in the primary or general election coming up. We it is getting late and I have a very early morning tommrow.

Overwelmed

This has been a very over whelming week for me so far. I did training Monday morning followed by a lot of errands. You guessed it Eric got sick again this week, but thanks to Lisa I only had one 29.5 hour day this week. Yes I know that it is technically more than one day. My feeling on the subject is that the day is not officially over until I go to sleep, so that's how I get such strange days. I am project hopping right now. I will do a few rows of knitting on one project then hop to another project or some spinning. Exhaustion will do that for me. So this will be a very short post tonight.

Hot and Busy

Here in Tucson we are setting a record pace for days over 100. So today I tried to beat he heat by getting the laundry done very early on Saturday morning. I almost made it. By 9:30am we had hit slightly over 100, just as I was taking the last load out to hang on the line. I have no doubt that they were dry by bed time . A great summer family activity is going to the movies then taking a lap or 2 around the mall. So we did both.

We saw Men in Black 3, not a bad movie. It was well written with lots of twists that I did not see coming. You will be surprised by the cliff hanger. That is all I am going to tell you until you see it for yourself and want to talk plot line. I did knit about 1/4 of a new scarf while watching the movie. It is a simple broken rib pattern in light pink for the charity bag.

Later my friend Lisa and I went through my new Phat Fiber box together. I have been doing a pretty good job about teaching her about fiber. The good thing about sharing the box with Lisa is now I don't have to worry about any allergies, she can use the fiber I am allergic to. Then it was time for her first spinning lesson. Man I got to tell you her first time spinning was great. After about 15 minutes of fumble she had that spindle going  and going. He first spun yarn was at least 10 times better than my first spun yarn. Lisa had watched me enough to join fiber with out help. All I can say is wow!  Lisa is the second person I have taught to spin, and I think she was hooked before she even picked up the spindle.

Sunday we got off to a rather slow start. Then it was off to see Tucson's new Iron Chef. We had one of those roving lunches where we tried a little of this and that from the various restaurants in town.  Afterward it was nap time for all.

A little spinning but no knitting got done today. I had to wait until after dinner to start the laundry because I got off to such a slow start this morning. Since Tucson is on pace for a record year of over 100 degree days, I have a feeling I will be doing a lot of early morning or late night loads this summer. Anything over 100 and I give the appliances the afternoon off. It just messes with things when it hits 100 so early in the morning, then stays over 100 until after dinner.

Well I have a long day tomorrow. The final load is in the dryer so it is time to go to sleep for the night.

French Vanilla

Today went so smoothly that if it were an ice cream flavor it would have to be the rich creaminess of French Vanilla ice cream. The training went well. They liked the fact that Eric came with a cheat sheet on the basics of Eric. It did hit 108f in Tucson today. 3 degrees hotter than yesterday. This might be the reason why I am spending time thinking about ice cream. No I have not indulged yet, but just thinking about it is refreshing in an odd way. I have been hitting the ice tea and iced water with gusto though. Now if only tomorrow was Monday. It has been a very long and trying week so you can see why next week is looking good me right about now.

Rocky Road Better Known as Wednesday

If my day was classified as an ice cream, then today would be named Rocky Road instead of Wednesday. There were a lot of bumps along my path today. Lunch did not happen. But I did get some watermelon after I got Eric home. The day turned around when John came home and I choose the hot dogs and beans for my left over meal. Ah starchy comfort food. Followed by a little TV and knitting. With a large bowl of Rainer Cherries for dessert.

I know tomorrow will be a better day. I will be training a new advocate for Eric in his day program. In between teaching and answering a lot of questions there will be plenty of time to knit and spin. Well its time to get some sleep so I can get through a busy day.

Just the usual stuff.

Well Eric was home sick today. So I got all the laundry done last night. Today was filled with cleaning, taking care of Eric and a nice walk at the mall ( it was too hot to walk outside in the middle of the day, 105 I think.) when I got a little help with Eric.  I might have to either wear different shoes, or cut back a little on walking until my left heal and right knee feel better. Did I forget to mention lots and lots of knitting.

Well its late and time to call it a day.

Summer Time

Summer time in Tucson never fails to surprise me. There is always the really crazy driving and the tempers tend to flare as the heat goes up. But what surprised me the most today was that I boiled some yarn and had most of it hanging in the garage to dry by 1 pm. At 7 pm it was still damp even though it hit 107 at our house today.

I have been walking on a very regular basis since I got back from L.A., some days are better than others. Being sore and achy does not lend it self to me wanting to walk. I am hoping that it will help in the long run. My hope is that the walking will help lessen the pain. I will let you know how that goes.

My summer in Tucson tip of the day is to park in the shade when ever and where ever possible. Even if that means parking at the back of the parking lot and walking farther in the heat. Your car will be much cooler and you will be able to touch the steering wheel.