Back on Track

Today was the best day we have had in a long while. Everyone was up to doing their own thing. Yeah!!!

Eric and I went to the mall today. His idea of fun was to go to every store in the mall that had stuffed animals and check out each and everyone. He had us convinced this morning that he was going shopping for himself. Forget about my list. So first we looked at Hallmark. Do you really know how many stuffed animals that they have? Then it was off to the Build A Bear Workshop Store. Yes we went through every stuffed animal in there also. I was surprised that they had less stuffed animals than Hallmark store. But in their defense they had a half of a store full of bear clothes. Then it was off to the Disney store. After going through all the animals and toy friends we almost settled on Fozzie Bear. When I asked the all important question "Will you introduce Fozzie to your other friends?" Eric signed no. I asked if this was a ploy to stay out of the house longer and he signed yes.

After a few more stops it was off to Trader Joe's. Everyone was very nice, but I don't think the middle of the day on a Saturday is the time to do the Eric train in a small speciality store. In case you have not seen an Eric train before it goes like this. I push Eric in his chair ahead of me and drag the shopping cart behind me. I do spend a lot of time apologizing and saying excuse me. I find it surprising no one ever gets angry at the inconvenience that I am putting them through. How lucky is that?

I even managed to find time to spin on the wheel and 2 different spindles, then work on 2 different knitting projects. I am finding the purple shawls rows to very long. I can only do 2 rows now per hour show. I started out with 4 stitches and am increasing on both sides of the row. I hope I don't have to get longer knitting needles to finish the project.

Well if we have a good night tonight tomorrow might be even more fun.

Pay Back Time

We all knew it would happen. It was just a matter of time. My body has gone in to rest mode for a few days. Eric has made ot to school 4 days this week and all my body wants to do is nap and relax. I am so tired that The creative forces are not flowing. So in between resting I am working on UFO's. Which is ok. I am working on projects started several years ago. Everything has to get finished or tinked sometime. Well it's time to call it a night.

A Much Needed Day Off

Today I got a real mommy day off. After the guys left for work and school I went back to sleep until noon. After a salad for lunch it was off to CVS for a little retail therapy, well not really but with coupons in hand I did manage to save about $50.00. It was the trip to buy the expensive stuff so the coupons really did help. After a short break more laundry was done and beds were made. Bills were paid and plane tickets bought. I have help lined up for Eric so John and I can go to Teri's law school graduation. I can't believe 3 years have gone by so quickly. I am still amazed that my darling daughter will have her doctorate in a few short months. I really don't know how John and I got so lucky to be blessed with a daughter like Teri. Well Eric needs my attention now. So I guess its time to put the pod away.

The Weekend

Needless to say my weekend did not go as planned. Friday Eric was home sick. I thought he was feeling better Saturday sowe went fo a much needed haircut for Eric and picked up a drive new drive belt for my wheel. We you guessed right, Eric woke up with a fever and a runny nose. I did not make it to the 4th avenue street fair as planned. Instead I did most of tommrows laundry and cleaning. I managed to get a little spinning and knitting done too. I don't think that luck is running on my side so I will tackle paperwork and chores while I am home with Eric tommrow. Well it's not quite 10 and I am hoping for a quiet night because I am exhausted. Good night all.

Still out of Sync

I am feeling better but I am so out of sync its not funny. I am slowly recouping the house. On the knitting front I have finished the never ending socks well ahead of Teri's graduation in May. Yes I know it is the end of March, but at least they were finished before the plane flight. I have also finished the 3 rd shawl of the year. It is a keeper because it fits me to a T. I have been so distracted lately that I have UFO's all over the house. I have gotten in the very bad habit of just picking up something to knit as I walk by it. On the bright side a lot of projects are further along, but I really need to get more projects finished. The only new project that I have started this week is a pair of socks from Belinda Too's first sock book. I have found something harder than a sock gussett, it is a picot edging knit in the round. I also have 4 1/2 inches written on a new blanket pattern. Well it's getting late. So have a great night and enjoy your families.

Eric is Back in School

Eric started back to school yesterday. Insert the happy dance here. So I napped, ate lunch out, worked on the never ending socks ( yes there is an end in sight ), ran errands and made a chicken pot pi for Pi Day. The recipe I used is in a previous blog post. I also tried to make an Irish Soda bread to try something different too. For those of you that have made Irish Soda bread before can you tell me if it is a light biscuit type bread or a very dense bread as mine turned out to be.

Today was guild and lunch out with friends and more knitting. I picked out a light colored shawl as my UFO to work on a guild, yes I know I am working on 2 shawls right now so my goal is to have a total of 2 shawls and 1 pair of socks done by the end of the month. I will keep you posted.

Since I was wearing dressy clothes today, most of my cleaning involved going through piles that were created when Eric was in the hospital. So my cleaning involved 2 hours of putting things away and throwing things out. It was actually more of the later.

Right now I am waiting for the washer to finish so I can put 1 load in the dryer and start 1 more load before I go to sleep tonight. We had a major spill of formula tonight. Formula spills must be washed before they dry or they smell up the house and stain what ever it happened to land on. Just in case you were wondering a complete change out of Eric's bed involves 2 loads of laundry.

I am still out of sync on the whole calendar thing. Yes Eric was home sick for 2 months, so I feel like I should be at the end of January instead of the middle of March. Today I showed up at an event 1 week early. I really must read my email more carefully and AVO ( avoid verbal orders) in regards to events.

I have also enjoyed the freedom of having Eric in school for 2 days in a row. I hope that this trend continues. Well the hour is late. So have a great night.

Less is More

Since Eric's 2 trips to the hospital in February, I have not had any extra house keeping help. I have found the cleaning is therapeutic. On top of all the extra of  what I hope is exercise the surprising thing to me is the house is getting cleaner. The counters are starting to shine. The floors are cleaner. Things are getting less cluttered. I find that about 2 hours of cleaning a day makes me feel better too.

Today while I was cleaning I found almost empty shampoo containers shoved in cabinets. A basket of products with expiration dates back to '08 under empty  or half empty cleaning supplies. I guess the advantage of doing it myself is that I can make the executive decisions to combine containers or throw out empty containers.  For the life of me I can not figure out why someone would just toss empty containers in cabinets and close the door. After all isn't that what the recycling containers are for?

On the laundry front I  started doing laundry at 7 am  and took the last load of the day out of the dryer at 6:30 pm. The good news is that I am almost caught up on laundry. I did save 1 basket of folding for tomorrow in favor of sitting down to knit and watch a little TV. I am now about 1/4 of the way through a wool crape shawl, the skein was 1450 yards long and knit on size US - 4 knitting needles. In my defense I can say it will look simply fabulous when it is done.

I even managed to make dinner tonight. OK I cheated with Bertolli Chicken Minestrone Soup and Pillsbury Crescent Rolls. At times I can open packages with the best of them. Well it is getting late and the house now sounds quiet so I think its time to call it a night.

Trying to get on Track

The new dryer finally arrived today. All I can say is thank goodness. Right now I have the 4th load of the day in the dryer and I hope to have a 5th load in there before bed time. With 6 loads done all together, the first one of the day was a line dry load. The answer to the question is no this will not in any way shape or form mean that I am caught up on laundry. The reason being is that I took a 4 day vacation from laundry. The guys were getting tired of lined dried clothes. Even with the use of Downy, the jeans were like wooden boards. The clothes off the line reminded me of my clothes during the 1960's when we put the clothes on the line to dry. Every thing was stiff.

On the knitting front, I made more progress on my socks and purple shawl. No spinning took place today. Although I have bribed someone with hand spun yarn so she needs to come over and pick the fluff she wants me to spin for her.  I will have to spin it up very soon. By the way spinners, hand spun yarn makes a very good bribe for a knitter.

Eric is still home and I am really hoping to get him out the door sometime this week. I am so far behind on every thing. I will play more catch up tomorrow. As for the plans for today, they went out the window at about 2 am, when I finally got to bed this morning. Considering that I was running on 4 hours of sleep I feel that a lot of work got done today. I have yet to figure out why I can accomplish so much on so little sleep.

I think it is time to say good night because I am falling asleep while typing this post.

No More Wishful Thinking

After a long weekend with a few days off coursity of John, I feel recharged. A little shopping, a new haircut, a little fresh air can do a girl wonders. I even thought it might be possible to send Eric to school tomorrow earlier in the day. Tonight is a different story all together. a little fever and sore throat means another day home and another call to the doctor.

Eric's Smart Vest compressor died this morning. Talk about wonderful customer service. I called this morning, yes Sunday morning and a new unit will ship tomorrow. The on call person was nice and polite even when I cut into her weekend with family. I did not write down her name, but to the management she does need to be told what a wonderful job she did. Electromed is a wonderful company to work with.

Well it getting late and I am hoping for some sleep tonight. Please enjoy your families.

Progress and a Lost Scarf

Today was a very productive day. I filled the laundry drying line. No dryer until next Monday.  I did some cleaning, but still did not find the Chevron scarf. The scarf I finished right before I had to give up knitting for a few months last year. Worked on UFOs - 1 scarf finished and out of the house( it was just the right color for a friend that happened to be here), worked on 2 other UFOs, one is black so it can only be worked on in bright light and lined up more UFOs to finish.

My one complaint of the day is bullies. Why on earth do they think they can get their way by pushing people around. Even more annoying is making multiple phone calls on the same subject because I did not agree with them the first time. This should be a duh moment for them, maybe just maybe what they are offering is not right for me. No the third time is not the charm. Implying that because I am not jumping at what you say or your offer does not mean I lack intelligence, it just means that I think you are wrong or are offering the wrong item  for me.  Oh and I do have a second complaint for today. Cellular type phones can not be slammed down on the receiver for that satisfying moment of I won this round. I ended the call. Pushing a silly little button does not have the same feel.

Eric is still holding his own, but when he took a nap, I took full advantage and took one too. John was wonderful in that after a full day at work he brought home dinner. Well it is getting late and I am tired so its time to say good night.

Things are Looking Up

I have kicked the cold and spent the morning doing some much needed house work and laundry. Until I get the new dryer next week I am limited to 2 loads a day. As I have a limited amount of hanging space.

Eric still has no energy but at least he did not nap all day so I have some hope of sleep tonight. He is at the point of recovery that every time I do something for him he makes nice mommy. I always like to get my nice Mommy's.

On the knitting front I blindly dipped my hand into a a pile of UFOs and landed up with a green scarf. I almost finished it tonight. As I was knitting the scarf I thought of all the "extra" knitting needles I will have when I finish all these projects but also all the little knitting and project bags that I will have. Not to mention all the finished projects, some with missing yarn labels so I don't know what the yarn is but I am going to finish them anyway. Some of the fancier pieces with out yarn labels will go in to a gift pile. I also decided since I did not finish all my UFOs in February I will work into to March to finish them.  Also no spinning got done today.

I am 24 rows into a new pattern design. I am writing the pattern as I am knitting it so I hope it does go smoother when it is time to type it up. Considering that I started it on Saturday I think it is going at a good pace.

Well it is getting late and its time to call it a night.

Under the Weather

Eric's cold has morphed and he is home from school for another week. He was kind enough to share his cold with me and maybe John, only time will tell.  So if you are expecting me any where this week all I can say is sorry, but you know where I will be all week. With luck Eric will be out the door on Monday.

On a different note I wish everyone who is celebrating a Happy Purim and for those in the middle of Lent I hope it is easy for you this year.

Friday Already?

My question is how did it get to be Friday already?  Where has the week gone?

But enough about that. The Big news is today Eric left the house for the first time since he got out of the hospital. We went to the laundromat and as hard as I tried, I could not convince Eric that it was as much fun as Disneyland. He did seem to like the sound of the washers but hated the dryers. Then it was off to lunch at Loving Spoonfuls. He seemed to like it best when the music track stopped and there was a weird tonal hum.

I spent some time at the wheel and managed to get about 3/4 of an ounce spun. Maybe tomorrow I will be able to ply the yarn. I also worked on a scrappy hat and got it to the decrease rounds. I did not work on the infamous sock.

Well it was a long day and I am going to try for 2 full nights of sleep in a row. Wish me luck.

Tired and Cranky

Today was not one of the most stellar days in Eric's recovery. He still has day and night confused and I am not quite sure how to reset his internal clock. Most of us rely on sunlight to reset our clocks with a mechanism in the retina. Eric's retinas are far to damaged for this to be an option. I will humbly accept any suggestion that are put forth.

I think we might even be able to get Eric back to school at least part days in the next few weeks. Then I might just spend a day or two doing just what I want. Like knitting, spinning and hanging out with friends.

I can say that I am feeling a little worn out by this all. I feel that I am losing patients with people and expect them not to screw up. Like not having trained people on back up or people telling me it takes 1 1/4 hours to drive across town and expect me to buy that. Yes I know its winter but this is Tucson for goodness sake.

I did manage to work on the infamous sock today and realized that I am one stitch short in the gusset; however I have decided that I can make the sock look symmetrical and with one stitch missing I will just skip one decrease to make it even for the foot. At this point one stitch is not worth taking out 2 days of knitting. I am not looking for perfection, I am just looking to finish the sock. 

The highlight of my day was a short chat with Teri. I am happy to report that things are going well on the Teri front. I am really so very lucky to have a wonderful daughter like Teri in my life.

Well the house seems very quiet so I am hoping that everyone including you know who is asleep, so I can get some sleep. Good night all.