The Day Flew By

It was a very busy day. I taught a class in weaving and beading to a group of campers. I only have 4 left to finish weaving before Friday so that they can go home with the campers. Not bad for 2 - 2 hour classes with 12 campers. Lesson learned here is to use bulky weight yarn, not worsted weight. All the campers who used only bulky weight yarn finished. The ones I need to finish are all worsted weight yarns.

I went to my first yarn tasting at Grandma's Spinning Wheel tonight and had a great time. I am creating a one of a kind piece with all the samples. I will show it to you when I am finish. I also won a door prize, which was a skein of yarn with shawlette written all over it.

It is time to call it an early night. I am so tired all the words seem to be getting jumbled.

A Non Stop Day

Today was a busy day. I finally got to meet up with the girls for knitting. I only have 6 inches to go on the second half of the never ending poncho. I did not finish the laundry, but will throw a load on before bed. I listed 1 more skein of yarn in my etsy shop. Last but not least, I got the last spot for a yarn tasting tomorrow night at Grandma's Spinning Wheel. I have never been to one before.

The things I learned today is that unlike my Louet spinning wheel, the Ashford Traveler must be oiled before each use or it wont work. It wont spin worth a dam and makes wonky yarn.  It took me an hour to figure this out. Also when taking pictures there is a very sweet spot of natural light in the dining room in the late afternoon that lasts about 15 to 20 minutes. Pictures taken during this time frame come out perfect. I also found out that the word scrumming has many meanings and as it pertains to knitting is also called free form knitting. It is also some kind of computer platform, but that is way above my pay grade.

My advice for today is that if there is a question you really don't want to or should not answer, just return with a question along the same lines and the person usually answers back and then it dawns on them that they just answered their own question. Try it some time and let me know how it works for you.

Well its time to start some more laundry. Then call it a day.

An Uphill Climb

Today started out less than perfect for me. I did not sleep well. I also found a baby tarantula ( about the size of a silver dollar) in the bathroom at around 2am. I did manage to get him outside without waking the house. Although I think he was more happy in the house than outside. The question that still remains is how the heck did that little guy get all the way to the middle of the house? After that I found it hard to get back to sleep. So I woke up with a pre-migraine. I took my Tylenol and caffeine with breakfast. Around lunch time things started clicking for me.

After lunch I got the grocery shopping done. I also noticed something at the check out line today. When I save money with coupons the cashier usually says you saved x amount of money today. Today was different, I approached the $100 mark in savings with coupons. I did not even get to the 40% off mark. There were a lot of buy one get one free along with a few high value coupons. The cashier just looked at it and handed it to me. Then there was just enough time to put the frozen food away and pick up Eric from his program.

I added another 1 1/2 inches to the never ending poncho, I did make it to the second half of the second piece so that went well.  I also listed a few audio books on e-bay. Then went on to start stocking my Etsy shop Handmade~by~Sheri . John has mentioned that I have a little to much hand spun yarn hanging around and a lot of finished items. So it is time to zen the house a little. To that end I listed 13 items today with more to come in the next few days. To help things move I have added a coupon code for 50% off all items in the shop. Just use the code: "Husband" at check out. It will apply to your entire purchase through August 25, 2013. Please feel free to share the sale with all your friends. There is no limit on the amount of coupons that can be used. One coupon applies to the whole transaction.  The more that leaves the house the happier my guys will be, yes even Eric.

I almost forgot to mention that I have a new Face book page just for Handmade~by~Sheri where I will put all the shop updates. Just type in Handmade~by~Sheri in the search field. I would like to get to 50 followers of the shop by the end of the month, can you help me make that goal?

Well I think that it is time to call it a night.

A Busy Sunday

Today was a very busy day with laundry and cleaning.  I got tired of laundry after 2 loads so I get to start Monday with 3 loads.  The dishwasher was emptied before breakfast so we would not mix dirty dishes in with the clean one.  

I spent 45 minutes playing with the new to me Ashford Traveler. In that time I managed to spin 3 single ply bobbins. Work up a decent sweat, the double treadle is so much different than the single treadle in terms of a workout.  I also found with the Ashford the I must get my peddling up to speed before I tap the bobbins to start the spinning.  The bobbins ate so darn small that they fill up after just 15 minutes.  I wish that I had the 4th bobbin for this wheel, because I can spin a little longer  

I think the yarn spun from today will be woven into a purse that I will line and embellish.

I also discovered a new combo of alpaca and silk for a wonderful spin. The fiber is just so calming.  Since it is jet black I will need full sunlight to spin it. 

A great Day

All in all things went pretty well today.  Eric is feeling better. The laundry is caught up, but please don't tell Eric. It did not take long to do a quick pick up.  I even got out to do so shopping this afternoon.  

The best part of shopping was having a coupon for just about everything in my basket.  The guy behind was grumbling about the coupons, but his jaw dropped when the cashier said that I saved $11.00 in coupons.  That did not include the extra 5% off for using the stores credit card.  My Ganga of the shopping trip was 5 bottles of Tide on sale for $4.47 ( the regular price is $6.99) with coupons of $4.00 off the 5 bottles.  For a savings of over $16.00. It might seem like buying that much laundry  detergent is hoarding, but I do an avarage of 21 loads a week, more when Eric is sick, so each bottle lasts about a week and a half.   The savings did not end there. I needed to go to Joann's for some supplies for a class next week. I had a 40% off 1 item coupon and a very gracious lady ahead of me in line shared a 15% off the total purchase coupon.  So that brought my total cost to &20.00.  That brings the cost per student to a little more tha a $1.00 per student with some supplies left over.  

I thought I screw up dinner. I bought salami instead of pepperoni for the pizza. You really do have to try salami on pizza, it was great.  Well I have a few more things to do before bed tonight.  

Eric is Home Sick

Eric got sick just before bed time last night with he wild eyrps. So it was a long night and day today.  I did take time for myself to go on a short walk before John went about his day.  

I also made considerable progress on a poncho today, I managed to knit almost a full skein of yarn on to the 2 inches I already had.  I tried the old spinning wheel but I was just to tired to work on lace weight yarn. I also finished spinning and piling the 1st of 4 skeins I started a few days ago on the drop spindle.  Pictures to follow when I am awake. 

I would also like to thank the Library of Congress for the talking book program.  The books and magazines broke up the day nicely.       

As for now I will try some sleep as I am beyond tired. 

BBD

Today was a typical bbd for me so I took a mommies version of a day off. I slept in until 7:15am. I had a late breakfast and took time to read the paper.  I conquered  my some of my short to do list and did 6 loads of laundry.  I also managed to get a nap in.  

John figured out that I gave him the wrong manual for the Ashton Traveler Spinning wheel that I got at a thrift store.  Once he had the right manual it took less than 30 minutes to get it running.  This wheel has scotch tension on it.  I find the tension thing a little tricky after learning on a Louet wheel. I will play with it a while before I make up my mind on its fate.  

Just before bed Eric got a little eyrpy so I will be on Eric duty tomorrow.  Don't worry I have plenty of yarn, fluff and Caffeine.  Well here is hoping for a quiet night.  

Busy but Good

I had a busy day today that included teaching my 1 st weaving class to special needs high school students.  I would like to say that they did a great too.  Some responded to explaining that every stitch was either up or down and the next row was just the opposite.  A few got into a one two rhythm. Where the high stitch is always number one and goes down.  The low stitch is always number 2 and always  gets priced up.  I also descovered that thicked chunky yarn is the best for those hands.  They will Finish them next week. 

I also attempted to find cranberry sauce with no HFCs in the middle of July. No luck there, but I did manage to find frozen cranberry's in the freezer section and made my own.  I was so tired that I forgot to reduce the homemade simple syrup before I added the cranberries so we landed up with cranberry jam.  It still tasted good. 

To end the blog I will post today's spinning.  The roving is from cloud lover fiber. 

 

A new Chair

The exciting news of the day is that we took Eric in for the 1st of 2 wheelchair fittings. We have the chair and color pick out along with most of the components. We just have 1 more visit before they can get insurance approval and order the chair. Lets hope that this goes very fast.

I will show off some spinning tomorrow. It sounds like my boss has gone to sleep.

A Good Day

Today started out pain free. So I did a lot of housework and laundry this morning. I started my cleaning spree at 6:15am I was a total whirl wind until 11:30 when my body said enough.  

I really do hate that sudden drop of energy where I go from 60 to 0 in minutes. This is caused by the Sjorgrens.  I managed to keep my eyes open during the lunch John made.  Afterward I told John I need to rest before I went to pick up Eric.  I did not wake up until Eric was home and watching his afternoon shows.  

I managed to make dinner, but let John do the serving. I did not trust my hands to serve or carry full plates of food.  

Well tomorrow is a busy day. Eric is getting fitted for a new wheelchair.  He is excited and has already decided on green for the color. No suprise there   Every wheelcair he has had since he has been 3 has been green.  

Exhausted

Eric had a very bad night last night. I did not get him to sleep until Midnight. Eric was back up at 2am until 4:30am.  Yes he woke up again at about 6 am.  I did manage to get 8 hours of very broken sleep which left me exhausted. 

On a more positive note, the poncho I cast on last night now has the 1st 6 inches knit on the second piece.  Wearing the same shoes I wore yesterday I managed to walk 10,000 steps or about 5 miles today.  I had no knee pain, only the very usual stiffness that comes with exhaustion.  

I am trying bribery with Eric tonight.  If he sleeps tonight he gets to hang with his friends tomorrow and get extra hugs.  So I am going to take a chane and call it an early evening.  

New Shoes and More

Eric slept for 12 full hours last night. I can not remember the last time that had happened. Me on the other hand was up at around 4am from arthritis pain. Eric was in a really good mood today too. Although I can not figure out how he managed to get more sleep today as he dozed on and off. I really hope that he sleeps tonight. So far its almost 11pm and he is still up.

As for the arthritis pain in my knee, I recently did some research on causes of foot/knee pain. Report after report said that the slip on shoes that I like can be a cause of improper alignment of the foot, that leads to bad body alignment. They all recommended sandals with sturdy soles and the straps that go across the front of the foot, mid foot and a strap that goes behind the heal. Yesterday I went shoe shopping and today I wore the first pair. Gravity Defyer - Amelia in black. The stiffness has not gone totally away, but I have not had any Tylenol since 4am and I don't think that I needed any until bed time. I have not had any sharp or shooting pain. No muscle cramps in my calf's. So day 1 is a success. I did take one Tylenol right before I was going to sleep an hour ago. Also I would like everyone to know up front that I had never heard of this brand before shopping yesterday. I paid the going rate for the sandals at the time of purchase and was not asked by the company to review these shoes. I am also not giving any professional medical advice. Please go to your personal physician for any medical questions.

On the spinning front I am trying another artsy spin on a drop spindle in shades of purple with diffrent fibers. I will post a picture once it is plied. I also started the second half of a poncho. I am really tired and hope that Eric goes to sleep soon.

Friday

It has been a couple of days since I last blogged.  Eric did keep me up very late  for two nights in a row.  Tonight he was asleep by 7:30pm.  I did find out that caffeine only goes so far before my body gives me a manadatory nap.  

I only plied one skein of yarn today. I also found my knitting mojo today.  I finished the first half of a poncho that was started last year and cast on the second half.  I dipped into my bits and pieces basket to make it more interesting. 

I did find time to go shoe shopping today. I am hoping that sturdier shoes will help my knee and this everything around here. 

Before I ramble on to much more I will call it a night. 

Busy is Good

After sleeping in until 8:30 I managed to get everything done on my to do list. John was wonderful and did all of Eric's driving today.  On top of that he got new tires and an alignment for my car. Plus he tackled putting Eric's clothes away. Eric managed to make 6 out of the eight loads I did over the past 2 days, I should have taken a picture. The folded clothes over whelmed the couch.  Not to worry I will have one or two more chances this week to pile clean clothes that high again.  

I have been very busy spinning this week.    I also figured out if I dump all my samples and small bits of fluff that I can combine them to make some one of a kind yarns. 

Well the house is quite and I have a girl friends son in the morning. So it is time to call its day. 

Monday in the Blender

Today was my day off that wasn't.  My plan for the day was a little laundry, shopping and lots of spinning with no cleaning. My goal was to spin 2 full skeins and get them plied.  Well you can just see where this went. After shopping where I saved $77.00 with coupons and specials. That was my retail therapy for the day. I did 6 loads of laundry and caught up on folding from the weekend. I did cleaning that required me to change out of my nice outfit into grungy clothes and out of those when I finished cleaning. Yes it was that messy. No you don't get to find out what got that messy in the first place.

As for spinning I pulled out some 15.5 micron extra fine merino wool from Grandma's Spinning Wheel here in Tucson. Pictures will follow later. It was like butter in my hands. I wished that I had more then 45 minutes for spinning on my wheel today. By the way if you happen across some extra fine merino wool I would recommend that you try spinning it at least once. I know that it is pricey, but for a rare treat, it is worth it.

Well I have been up since 3 this morning and I am really hoping that Eric falls asleep before 11 or 12 tonight. So I am going to do something much quieter than typing.

Not As Planned

Today did not go as planned. I was up until after 3am with Eric.  Then the arthritis pain kicked in around 5:15am, I kid you not.  This lead to a day with a lot of naps which are good, but not as good as a full nights sleep.  Eric and John also took advantage of the day and got naps too. 

I had planned on finishing one braid on the drop spindle and one batt on the spinning wheel. Then start the next 2 spinning projects. Only the braid got finished.  I don't have the yardage. Considering it is lace weight I think there is a lot of yardage. The picture is below tell me what you think. This is going to be something for me.  This is the Cloudlover fiber from my previous blog. Well it's not to late but I am tired and need a good nights sleep. 

A Pretty Good Day

Eric is doing much better. I got my first smile from him since Sunday today. Since he is sleeping better for the most part I found some energy to do a little housework today. Although tonight he wanted my attention and after 2 1/2 hours of repositioning and cuddling I am hoping that he is finally on the road to sleep.

As for the rest of the day I did get to enjoy some time knitting and chatting with friends.I had lunch with Nancy. I also went on a short shopping trip for shoes but came up empty handed again today. After the house cleaning I did find some time to spin on both the wheel and a drop spindle. I am down to my last spindle full of "Lady Edith" by Cloudlover Yarn and Fiber , I know that I have been spinning this braid forever but it does take time to spin lace weight yarn on a drop spindle. This is the second to last spindle full before I plied it earlier this evening. I am using a Bosworth spindle , this is the this mini size.

I guess Eric might not be quite ready to settle down yet so I am going to check on him. Lets all hope that he sleeps tonight as it is already past 1 am on Saturday morning and I would have preferred to be asleep by 10pm on Friday night.

Spinning

Eric is still home sick. Last nights storm woke him up and it was several hours before I got him back to sleep. So after a little cleaning I spent most of the day spinning.  I managed to finish 2 on the wheel. I also did a little lace weight on a drop spindle. Well it is getting late so have a great night.  

Sick Child Again

It seems to me that we almost had Eric back on his "feet" and he got sick again last night.  He created 4 additional loads of laundry over night. I really wish that I could do a better job of keeping Eric healthy, but the sad reality of it all is the moment I send him out the door I have to trust the world. So to that end here is a letter to the world. 

Dear World,

I really need your help to makeup job easier.  At this time I very humbly ask you to Stay at Home if you are sick.  Please don't send your sick kids to school or their programs. Nothing is more important than the collective health of everyone.  

This one little request could make my life so much easier. I appreciate any help that you are willing to give.    I would also like to note that it might make your lives better too.  

Thank so much,

Sheri. 

A Very Busy Weekend

From Saturday morning until tonight has seemed to be a total busy blurr. Saturday I had the homemade brownies in the oven by 6 am to beat the heat of the day. It did not hurt that they were cool enough to cut by the time we left for the poker party at 11am. I finished one scarf on the way to the party while John drove. This was Eric's first poker party and he hung around with the ladies. I could tell that he was very busy trying to keep track of all that was going on,  even with the guys playing poker in the next room. I did get some spinning done on on spindles.

When the wives get together you never know what we will talk about. For some reason we got around to talking about copyright when talking about Karie's paintings. She managed to sell 2 last week. I also took a small spill off a chair when I bent down to pick something up. It kind of went like this. I leaned forward and the chair tipped out from under me. My fall was partially broken by the rear wheel of Eric's wheelchair. Luckily my head hit the wheel while my elbow and hip got the tile. This left me rethinking about putting tile in the kitchen. John took care of getting dinner for us. By bed time I was all right. All I have left is a few scrapes on my elbow and a couple of small bruises.

Sunday had a very slow start. After lunch we went to the Memorial Service for Rabbi Joesph Weizenbaum. All I can say is that as a family we thought Rabbi Joe was a great man. He even found time for Eric and made us feel so welcome at services. Eric used to roll his chair up to the bima to be closer to Rabbi Joe and Cantor Karla, smiling the entire time. Rabbi Joe was also one of the first people to give Teri encouragement when in 7th grade she decided to be a lawyer. I wish I had a book of Rabbi Joe's sermons because they were so on target, sometimes I felt he wrote them just for me, yes I know this was not the case but it really felt like it. Rabbi Joe was also big on ethics and passing them down to your children in the form of an ethical will attached to the monetary will. I have to say that I have not done that yet, but ethics were a big part of our dinner conversations when Teri was growing up. Rabbi Joe had a great and wise soul. He will be missed by many people.

Sunday night Eric had night terrors so I spent most of the night just holding him and telling him that everything would be OK. I was up until the wee hours with him and then started the day around 7 am. With the aid of plenty of caffeine I spent the day cleaning and doing laundry. The first load went in very early this morning and the last load will go into the dryer before I head to bed. My excuse being that I don't want to fold another load of laundry today. I lost count some where around load 8 or 9, all I ask is that you do not tell Eric that I am caught up on laundry. He does feel it is his job to make laundry to keep me busy.

I did manage to finish one more skein of yarn on the spinning wheel this evening. It will come off some time tomorrow and because it is Tour de fleece I will try to get another one started right away. No knitting got done today.

I think it is time to call it an early night and catch up on some sleep.

10,000 Steps

Today was the first time since my knee injury that I did 10,000 steps or 5 miles.  I am to tired to write more. 

Exploding Soda Cans Part 2

Today was devoted to cleaning up the last of the exploding soda cans. Everything came out out of the pantry. Scooba spent 45 minutes locked up in the pantry mopping the floor, yes an entire cleaning cycle. John washed everything that needed to be washed by hand.  This saved me about 30 minutes of cleaning. As usual with any cleaning project of this type around here it lead to cascade cleaning. Two shelf's in the kitchen got redone. More tea moved off the counter. All the paper goods, plastic ware and chop sticks are in a box. This box is now in the garage. I also got rid of all the old salt and pepper packages that come with the silverware. I cleaned out part of a shelf in the garage this afternoon, after 30 minutes I was dripping in dew.  I decided to do more when it was not 104 outside. John also organized a shelf for me so I would not have to get a ladder out. I just love having a taller half.

I went back on my promise to myself not to put anything on the floor of the pantry. While finding a place for the paper goods box I found a lot of boxes of Ziploc bags in 4 different sizes and 6 unopened boxes of trash bags. I moved them into the floor of the pantry so that they would be easier to find. In about 6 months I expect that there will be a lot less and hopefully confined to one box on the pantry floor.

One thing that I always find amazing is how much get recycled and thrown out when I get into these deep cleaning jags. I also find it amazing that the house gets easier to keep clean. John does not seem surprised by this at all. I also love how John is always there at the right time and has figured out what I really don't want to clean. He just does it, with no questions asked.

I have 2 major areas left to clean, the garage and the craft/sewing/guest room. These will be done a little bit at a time. For right now I think I pushed my body a little to far and will need to let it have time to recover.

Only a few minutes of spinning got done today. I used one of my drop spindles.

For my readers in the USA please have a save and happy 4th of July. Please remember to party safely. Leave the fireworks to the professionals and above all don't drink and drive. Please take time to also give a small prayer for the safety of all our Troops over seas. Remember that they make our freedoms possible.

Exploding Soda Cans and More

Well I was going to write about spinning and the Tour de Fleece tonight after all I did have a very good day of spinning. After some cleaning this morning I managed to spin for most of the day. No, I was very good and did not spin or knit while I was in Eric's ISP. I spun and plied new yarn until my hands were to tired to spin.  I was going to post a few pictures. Maybe even comment about how yarn drys faster when the outside temperature is 110f with a humidity level of 7 percent verses 102f with a humidity level of 24 percent.

That all changed when I was about to rotate the soda in the pantry tonight. Lets just start out by saying I did take the soda out of the pantry but none went in. I had 1 case of Serria Mist that had managed to leak. One can even had no visible signs of leakage or holes but was empty anyway. By the way when the soda gets to that point it smells yucky.  The mess on the floor was like someone had poured simple syrup on the floor and walked away. With 409 I did manage to clean up some of the mess. I check the other  case in the pantry and it seemed to be going bad too. So I drained all 24 cans, yes I did save the tabs for Eric to take to the Ronald McDonald house.  Then I went about dragging everything out of the dining room, kitchen and most of the laundry room floor. I then locked Scooba in the pantry for a few minutes and he is now busy cleaning the freshly mopped floor again today.

So my game plan for tomorrow is to completely empty the pantry floor. I was not about to start that project at 10pm after a busy day. I will clean or toss everything that is removed.  I will again lock Scooba in the pantry and let him do his thing. After all that is done I plan on finding a different place for everything on the pantry floor. If I can move after all of that then and only then will I spin some yarn tomorrow.

The lesson that I am taking away from this is not to store soda on the pantry floor if the pantry is too hot to put things like chocolate in it in the summer. Also don't buy so much soda at once even if it is on sale. And for goodness sake keep track of the expiration dates. Don't assume that just because you did not open the case yet that every thing is good.

I am now inclined to let Scooba go about his business and call it a night. I will deal with the mess in the morning.