Mother Daughter Time

I recovered enough from that awful cold that Eric shared to make it to my mother daughter weekend with Teri.  The guys are still dealing with the tail end of the cold at home.  

It was a nice drive on from Tucson.  Along the way I spotted  1 Road Runner, and a lot of Butterfly's migrating.  There was very little traffic along the way. I had a book on tape and a free radio promo.  

After Teri finished work we went shopping and out to dinner at Project Pie.  We choose our own toppings and the pizza was great. Then it was a night of girl talk. 

Today we had breakfast at Starbucks with more girl talk.  Then it was off to explore the local park. Teri was spot on when she picked an art festival to go to.  We meet some very lovely artists today. We did quite a bit of walking today with over 13,000 steps walked about 6.5 miles.

Dinner was at a local dinning spot. The food was great. A little shopping for breakfast.  Followed by an evening of girl talk.  

I keep coming back to the same conclusion about Teri. First that I am so lucky to be her mom.  Second that she takes me to pretty amazing places. I think that you my reader will have to add the rest of the platitudes to Teri, as at this moment I  starting to fall asleep.  

Almost Better

The cold Eric brought home from his day program has worked it way around the house.  I was the last to catch it. My sincere hope is that none of you get it because it is just that nasty.  John and I took turns suctioning Eric.  By the end of the cold Eric no longer hated the suction machine.  In fact he started to ask for it in his own way.  

Even though I was the last person to get the cold, I am the path to being done with this thing.  

I spent my time keeping Eric company, I also worked on some ufo's. I got 1 premie blanket finished, added 3 inches to the premie blanket I am working on.  I hope to make a dent in the rest of the ufo's. This  will go on for a couple of months.  

We it is time to call it a night. I am so tired tit is hard to think in cohesive sentences. 

M

Oh No

I am going to leave the guys on their own for a few days. I am a little nervous about this. Eric had a cold this weekend and John just caught it. Everyone is saying go, but I am a little nervous about this trip. So today in the midst of taking care of Eric, I started gathering my knitting and spinning. I pulled as many UFOs that I could put together that were small and not fussy. So I have 2 bags of knitting, 1 bag of spinning and a small bag of snacks. What, you did not really expect me to pull and pack my clothes first did you?

I also manage to get over 1,000 rows of knitting added to the 1 million row challenge on Raverly. I wonder if I can finish that many rows while I am gone next week. I also figured out that the stash down does not go as fast if I keep spinning more yarn to relax. Oh well you can't have everything.

Things got a little wonkier as the day went on. So as I was going to record my exercise for the day I could not get my ipod touch to start. The apple store connection on my computer does not even recognize this ipod right now. I tried everything that the page suggested. So it is off to the Apple store tomorrow to see if they can fix it. I am really hoping that I did something really dumb and they wave their magic wand and presto it is fixed. So is this an omen that I should not ignore? Anyway you put it I have a lot of things stored in this little piece of magic. You can not believe how much of my life is stored on those 32 gigs of memory.

So tomorrow it is gathering clothes to pack. Possibly doing all the car pooling to give John time to recoup, pack, go to the apple store and hope for the best. I am a little bit tired so the blog is a little bit choppy, sorry about that.

This Weeks Word is Busy

It has been a very busy week around here.  There was a lot of cleaning in the craft room. About a dozen projects got tinked to remake into other things, most were my failures that I just put aside. Out of the "ashes" will come a lot of new energy and a slew of premie blankets.  I am also 1/3 of the way through a poncho. I finished 4 very small projects on Friday. Tomorrow I hope to take some photos of my finished work, then add to my one million rows challenge counter.  

I have also found a younger artist to take some of the items that I have no more use for and am hoping to see some great art from this young woman. This in it self is very freeing to me. It also keeps things out of the landfill.  I also don't feel as if I am throwing things with perfectly good uses away.  I also gave a full carrier bag of yarn to 2 knitters that I know.  This all came from going through each bag of yarn in the craft room. 

I was sick earlier in the week. I am feeling better now.  I think I caught the ear infection before I needed antibiotics.  I was also up with Eric most of last night.  He has caught an awful cold.  I spent a lot of time suctioning him along with just the usual mommy cuddles.  We are all hoping for a quite night tonight.  

I was also very effecent last night.  I had all 4 loads of laundry finished by 7 am his morning.  It seems that Eric is asleep so I will call it a night. V 

Bone Tired

I now know what bone tired actually feels like. After a busy week of cleaning and a full day of play yesterday I was very tired today. I had decided to attack the last bastion of clutter in the house any way. The craft room. My plan was to work for 10 minutes and quit for the day. 2 hours later I called it quits.

This was after I filled 2 1/2 boxes of tabs for the Ronald McDonald House Charity project that Eric is working on. They will be delivered in October and I felt that they did not have to hang out in the craft room when there were shelf's free in the garage. I also pulled out 2 blanket designs that were going no where very slowly. So John and I tinked them. Both bags of yarn will be used for preemie blankets for a local hospital. I have the 1st preemie blanket that I started today about 25% finished. They do go really fast. Every bag and box is being gone through. Projects that I want to finish will go into 1 pile. Finishing work will go into another pile. I will also continue to tink projects that I really don't went to knit any more. I will also fill a bag with yarn, patterns and books that I don't want anymore and share it with my fellow knitters. I think a month of at least 10 minutes a day should get this done by the end of September.

This brings me back to what bone tired feels like. After lunch I went to sit with Eric and do a little knitting. Very gradually my legs just started to hurt, which gradually built up to the bones in my lower legs hurting. I told Eric that mommy was to tired to sit and watch T.V. with him and went to lay down. I think I would have slept until morning if I had not been called to help in the house. 3 hours of sleep seemed to make my legs feel a lot better.

Then what am I doing up after 10pm, when my body is so tired. Well even though I did 5 loads of laundry this morning and being caught up on laundry. We had a formula spill tonight. Which means that Eric's bed needed to be changed for the 2nd time tonight. So I have 2 more loads to at least start before bed time. I am sure you are not aware that formula smells really rank if left to sit over night on the sheets. Plus it is also harder to get out and stains. Once the second load is in the machine I can call it a night. The second load is now in the washer so it is time to call it a night.

Shoe Follow-up

It has been at least a few weeks since I changed shoe styles. I changed to shoes with more support on the sole and straps across my heels and in some cases feet.  I was very skeptical at first. Even though I did my research on the web.  

The first few weeks all I noticed was a little less pain. Something remarkable has happened in the last week.  All of a sudden my step count went from the 4,000 step per day range to the 10,000 step per day range with a peak of 19,000 steps in one day earlier this week. 

I am not actively trying to add work out time it is just happening on it own. So my very unscientific results suggest that for at least me it is good to have a very supportive and secure shoe. 

Yes I know that most of the shoes are not very stylish. Some look down right clunky.  Most do not look good with skirts or dresses, but I for one am going to go for comfort i.e. my knee not hurting or throbbing.  

My disclaimer is as follows.  No one paid me to do this research.  I paid for the shoes out of my monthly budget. No company is paying for this blog. All opinions are my own.  For specific medical advice please contact your own doctors.  

A Stark Contrast

Yesterday at this time I was as sick as Eric has been in the last couple of weeks. The cold came out of no where in the middle of the night. I spent yesterday drinking all the fluids I could stand and sleeping for most of the day.  

This morning at around 2:30am I woke feeling wonderful and refreshed. This was just 25 hours after the cold had hit. I felt as if I had not eaten in days so I had a light snack and went back to sleep.  

If my body was a motor I would have to say that I started off in over drive this morning.  I got an hours worth of cleaning done before I took Eric to program today. I also got to hear what our Congressman Ron Barber had to say about his first trip to Israel.  We are very lucky in our district that Congressman Barber puts the needs of the people of our district before his own personal agenda. 

I came home and did more cleaning. Instead of just dumping all my loose knitting patterns in a box to deal with later, I went through them all and decided to give half of them to my friends to see if anyone wants them.  The rest I will file in an organized manner. I got Eric's bathroom floor  scrubbed   and John put everything back together.  I hope it stays clean until the party. 

On my way to pick up Eric, ok I went a few miles out of my way I ordered the gluten free apple pie and corn bread muffins for this weekends party. I even paid for them so I could send someone else if I was busy.

John was wonderful and made dinner tonight. So I helped clean up.  

Today I also walked 19,000 steps which is just shy of 10 miles for me.  I have not walked that much in a single day since Italy. I hope this is a sign of things to come.  

Well it will be another busy day tomorrow so it is time to call it a night. 

A Catch up Day

Eric went to program today.  So I took a couple of hours off this morning. I spent the rest of the day doing laundry ( not folded yet ) paying bills, painting ( finished for now) cleaning, driving afternoon carpool. I also took Eric grocery shopping at Trader Joes.  I had Eric carry the basket do I could not buy out the store. The clerk was very nice and took us in the 15 items or less even though we had at least twice that.  They also loaded the car while I got Eric in.  All the snack jars are now filled.   I also made turkey chilli  with homemade corn bread tonight for dinner.  The first home cooked meal in a few days. 

John and I found time to relax and I got some spinning do too.  

The 3rd baby lizard in 2 weeks has been relocated.  This one almost got squashed  because being half asleep I thought it looked like a baby scorpion.  

Eric is asleep now so I will call it an early night. 

Catch Up

My body played catch up today.  I am in total flare up, with all the soreness that goes along with it.  I did manage to grab a 4 hour nap this afternoon.  It was wonderful. I woke up feeling so much better.

This evening was spent between my drop spindle and knitting.  My second demo piece for guild is done. 

Well it sounds like Eric is just about asleep. So it's time to call it a night. 

Painting and More

Today we started out by painting the areas that I had re plastered earlier in the week. We found a few more spots to plaster, and I will do that tomorrow.  After we got the necessary spots done we just went a little crazy with the paint. We hit scrapes along the walls. John did a few spots on the ceiling, including food spots that would not wash off, just think burping a 60ml syringe and the food going a little further than intended. Of course John did this while standing on the floor.  

I on the other hand learned that I am not the agile teenager anymore. I was able to climb up, but thought it better not to jump down and got stuck.  John to the rescue again.  Did I mention how clumsy flare ups make me feel. 

After  lunch and a short rest it was time to do a little cleaning.  I did not get too far but I have until Friday to make the house company ready.  

Eric is still having a rough time of it.  I am hoping he will feel better soon   Eric is asleep now so it is time for me to call it a night.  That was at 10:30 pm. Now it is 2:20am and I am in too much pain to sleep. So what else is there to do but laundry and some very quiet cleaning. .

The Knife Ran Away with the Fork and Other Odds and Ends

It never ceases to amaze me what things just tend to sprout legs and walk away. This month it seems to be my steak knifes and dinner forks. Really!!! I bought most of these while in high school with Betty Crocker points. For those of you not old enough to remember the Betty Crocker Catalog you missed a wonderful way to furnish your houses through a brand loyalty program.  Almost all Betty Crocker items had little point coupons that were saved and later exchanged for things like silverware (My Oneida Patrick Henry pattern) or dishes (the white Correlle Plates that I still use) and a few higher end things like some of my Le Creuset Pans, almost all of my cookie sheets and cupcake pans, furniture like the bar stool in Eric's room. You could even get toys for the kids. Some were free with enough points, some had big discounts with points. Well you get the idea that I just loved this program. Over the past month or so 8 dinner forks and steak knifes walked away. I am pretty sure that the dish washer did not eat them. Since the Patrick Henry pattern was exclusive to the Betty Crocker catalog (yes it was a big enough program to have exclusive items) I doubt that I will be able to find the pattern on line. So I will hunt local thrift stores and see if I can replace what walked away. If I can't find anymore pieces and more walk away I will be forced to replace the silverware that I have had all my adult life.

Yes I know this is one of the cost of having help for Eric in the house. Odd things have disappeared over time such as a make up set of Teri's, a prayer shawl of John's, a one of a kind scarf with some of my first hand spun yarn and even a kitchen knife (I found this one kinda of scarry). Some providers have even said in the past that most of our stuff is so old it is not worth stealing.  So my question is why would anyone one want to steal 40 year old silverware? John did notice that they seemed to go away in pairs of a steak knife and dinner fork so some one would have a set. They have gone away one at a time until I noticed that instead of having 18 forks and steak knifes I have 10.  Really, if you go to a place like Goodwill or garage sales you can pick up silverware really cheaply. Also at Goodwill you will be helping people with your purchase.

I guess if enough disappears I will box up the rest and give it to Teri since we have the same pattern. Then I will have to go through the process of picking out the right silverware that fits just right in my hand. If I am really lucky I will find some made in the USA. As I said before this was bought in the 1970's so I don't know if it is still made here.

As for  the odds and ends, we went to have the new back to Eric's new wheelchair molded today. since Eric got his first wheelchair at age 3, I thought the insurance companies question of weather our house was wheelchair accessible was a bit odd. They did not ask that question 20 years ago.

This is the mold they used, which is filled with bean bags.

This is the chair after it was molded to Eric, with all the air sucked out.

This is the final mold covered with plaster that will be sent to the company to make the back of Eric's new wheelchair.

 

What boggles my mind is the estimated cost of the back alone is $1,800.  All I can say is wow.

Eric is still home sick although I am not doing a much suctioning as in the past week, I am still getting up a lot. I have personally hit the point of tired and exhausted. I will try my very best not to be as cranky as I feel.

 

Well I hear some knitting calling my name so I will go and listen to my knitting. 

A Mixed Day

Today was a very bad body day for me.  I lost sleep to arthritis pain. I tried to make the time productive by doing some light cleaning while I was waiting for the meds to kick in.  As luck would have it it was the first night since last Thursday that Eric slept.

I spent the day with Eric and with the suction machine close by. I lost count of the times that John cleaned it out today.  The good thing about this is by the end of the day there was less coughing and junk coming up from Eric's lungs.  By bed time his color looked great and he was looking and sounding much better.  

Today was one of those what was I thinking days.  I wore solid black. On my agenda today was spackleing the wheelchair dents in the walls plus any spots we noticed.  Here is a picture of one of the bigger areas. I did a pretty good job blending and texturing.  Tomorrow is sanding and painting.  

Tonight I worked on a free form kitting project with the yarn from the yarn tasting yarn from Grandma's Spinning Wheel and some small samples of other yarn that I have spun and gotten from other people.  I will post a picture tomorrow.  

I think it's time to take some Tylenol to help me sleep.

Life on Hold

It is very early on Sunday morning, Eric has been sick since Thursday. It started off as a cold and morphed into hell if I know.  I just opened the last bottle of pedialyte, I almost ordered it on Amazon earlier but it would not get here before Tuesday.  So I guess I will be making a run later this morning. 

Eric has been hanging on to the baby Elmo that Candy knit up for him a few years ago. Out of the more than 90 quarts of Elmo's Eric, has this is the go to one when he is not feeling well. It's the little things in life that make the difference.  

I am tired enough to say the heck with laundry, except for the eyrpy stuff. I know it will come back to bite me later but I really don't care at this point. 

Breakfast consists of Belvita breakfast cookies and Raspberry Riot tea from Tevana.  This tea is suppose to have more caffeine than coffee. I know I got 5 1/2 hours of sleep last night, but I am still tired after be being up the better part of the 2 previous nights. John took Eric for most of last night.  I am really tired so I am having trouble being upbeat right now.  So to try to be more positive I will say that I have completed 3 rectangles for the knitting guild presidents challenge.  It takes 2 rectangles to make a poncho so I should have the second poncho done later today.  Right now my goal is to make as many rectangles as possible and use as much yarn up as possible in doing this.  I am wishful thinking that I can make a dent in my yarn stash by making lots of ponchos.  

Well I think it is time to start burning through some yarn now.  I wish everyone a very happy and productive day.  Please take time to enjoy your families this week.