Slowly Healing

My hand is slowly healing. The swelling is almost all gone.  Over the last 3 days I have been able to add 120 rows to the new design. I can now knit for about an hour a day. I am not up to my usual speed, but I hope that it will get better. 

Tonight I managed to cook dinner almost solo. John had to open the chicken package.  I managed the green beans and squash on my own.  

It's time to call it a day. 

Hop, Skip and Jump

The tendonitis has moved to my left wrist.  I feel like I am up a creek without a paddle. I will try the Dragon software to dictate the first pattern. I will also adjust the second pattern to larger knitting needles and a less intricate pattern if possible.  

I suspect that 4 hours a day for a week was just a tad too much knitting during a flare up.  I have my hand in a brace and I want an instant cure. I don't really have time for this. 

I think that this will also delay painting the new loom.  Hopefully I can get that done soon.  I am hoping that weaving will lessen the strain on my joints or at least change things up a bit. 

Out and About on Sunday

Today was a very productive day. I got the first pattern finished, now I just need to type it up and photograph it. Out of consideration for my model I will wait until I get the next pattern finished.  I have already started looking at stitch patterns and might have narrowed it down. The sketching will start tomorrow. 

We also got to Phoenix to go shoe shopping.  John got 2 pairs at a great price.  We were ahead even after we filled the van.  The Mills mall seemed empty compared to past trips. Although we could hardly walk without bumping into the kiosks.  I also like the fact that there are 3 lanes most of the way from Tucson. This took about 30 minutes off our drive. It also seemed to me that a lot of people got flat tires at the place where I blew 2 out last time. The shoulder was just littered with parts of shredded tires.  This was the only place that look that way on the whole drive. 

Busy is Good

Today has been a very busy day around here. I did three loads of laundry. Picked up my new loom,but I can't use it yet, we have to put a coat up or three of varnish on it. I got to Costco and they finally have mushrooms back in stock I know it doesn't sound like a big deal but it's a big deal to me. 

Eric borrowed a copy of the movie Frost and he is totally in love with it. It is the third time that he watched it today and he does not want me to turn it off so he can go to sleep. I guess I'm going to have to be the mean mom go turn off the movie so he can watch it again tomorrow. Now you know who has to go buy a copy of it. 

I stopped at row 87 of the new design tonight. I guess I will try to finish it tommrow even if I have to leave the house.  

B & B Salad

This is a favorite summer salad for John and I. 

B & B Salad

4 medium size Golden Beets

1 pound English Flat Green Beans

1 cup yellow tomatoes

3/4 cup of lightly chopped Pecans

Optional

4 ounces of Cheese diced

Vingerette Salad Dressing

Wash the beets and trim the ends.  Bring to a boil.  Turn down the heat and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes until tender. Drain and rinse in cold water.  Peel and dice.  Be careful the beets will still be hot.  

Rinse the English Flat Green Beans. Trim the ends.  Slice into thirds. Steam for 7 minutes.  Cool. 

Rinse the tomatoes. Dice the cheese if desired. Chop the pecans. 

Place all the ingredients in a large bowl. Toss and serve.  We usually eat this without the dressing.  

If you would like to keep this vegan do not add the cheese.  

Small Feet

The sad part about the kids getting older is that I got shorter.  I have only lost 1/2 of an inch since Teri has been born, but they both take after John. Now it appears that I also have the smallest feet in the house. If you sort the socks mine are the smallest. Oh well life goes on small feet and all. 

Guess Who is Sick Again?

7 loads of laundry later Eric is starting to feel better. No the last 2 loads of laundry are not folded yet, would you expect anything more from me.  On the bright side I also managed to write and knit 16 rows of one of the 2 patterns that need to be ready to go by mid June. 

I am 62 rows in and only 9.5 inches deep. I am still hoping that I can make this a one skein quick project. Only more knitting will tell.  It still might need a second skein.  

I am really hoping that Eric sleeps tonight. It feels like it has been a very long day already.  I also hope that everyone has a good and productive week.  

My First Hand Woven Scarf

This is what I have been busy doing this week. I have been having too much fun to blog or much else. This picture was taken before I washed it. By the way if you are in Tucson and have a chance to take a class with Donna  at Grandma's Spinning Wheel you just have to. I did not get to come home with a loom today. So sad. So I caught up on the house work which I have be ignoring all week. I am sure that John knew if I came home with a rigid heddle loom nothing would have gotten done today.

And that pattern I am designing. I have to tink back 6 rows not because of a design flaw, but because I dropped 1 stitch.

A Lack of Foresight

Last year I showed a tremendous lack of foresight when I made the doctors appointment for today. I had no idea the practice would be installing a new computer system on Mothers Day weekend.  It's like who does that sort of thing?

I should have know we were in trouble when we checked in at the front desk. More than the normal amount of information needed to be verified.  The clerk said there were a few glitches with the new computer system. So I thought a little GIGO went on with the data transfer. 

We were called back fairly quickly. It was about 10 minutes.  So I thought Eric might get to the program in time to swim. Wrong.  We corrected more information on the back computer.   The assistant said the doctor would be right in.  The problem is he forgot to tell the doctor that we were In the room. 

I started knitting. Did a little pt with Eric. Then started a new color in the self striping yarn. After 45 minutes Eric randomly started saying hello to attract attention.  Fifteen minutes later the doctor came in. He said it was the new computer system. There is no way to tell the doctor which patient is in which room. Also his assistant told him we had left 15 minutes before without seeing him, so the assistant checked us out and made next years appointment.  It did not sound right to him.  He was going to see a different patient whom he thought was in our room. 

So long story made short. Eric is doing ok. The doctors office computer needs some work. I got Eric to his program 3 1/2 hours late and he missed swimming. 

I am going to work on a new knitting design and hope that my day goes smoother.  TTFN

A Wonderful Day

My Family gave me a wonderful present for Mothers Day. I got to take a weaving Class with Donna at Grandma's Spinning Wheel here in Tucson. I have wanted to learn how to weave on a Rigid Heddle Loom for the longest time. I think I caught weaving bug when I took an equally awesome class on free form weaving with Kathy Withers when she was still in Tucson. I was just learning to spin my own yarn at the time. My time was very limited. So weaving on a Rigid Heddle Loom took a back seat. 

Today's class came with a loan of a loom for 1 week. What you are looking at is the first several inches of the scarf. Hopefully it will not be too long before I can get my own loom. I can see this as a real stash burning craft. Besides that it is fun and relaxing, with a rhythm of its own.

Look what else my wonderful husband got for me, and he said that he was going to the hardware store. Ladies we have to figure out which hardware store carries such beautiful roses.  If we do, I am sure that we could find everything we need there. They are so pretty. I feel totally relaxed and pampered.

The only questions that remains is whether I can get Eric to get a hair cut tomorrow as part of my Mothers Day present. 

This and That

I know it is going to be a bad body day when I find my self doing stretching in the middle of the night. I try to stretch things out so that I can go back to sleep. I also find that the more I hurt on any given day the less creative that I am. I think that maybe creativity and pain share some of the same gray matter. Normally this is not an issue, but I have 2 patterns to design, knit and write the pattern in about 2 months. I will try after dinner and hope that I can get an inch or two knit and written at the same time. Long gone are the days when I sit and knit something up and then try to go back and figure out what I had knit to write the pattern. I have a very big back log of those to write up.

I did get to go to the staff appreciation party for Eric's day program today. I got to cook the hot dogs. The lesson I learned from this is not to barbecue with a hot grill right next to where the young adults are. Next year I will pick a grill away from where everyone is eating and playing. I spent 2 hours trying to keep people away from the hot grill. After everyone had, had their share of hot dogs, I got people to squirt the hot coals with the water guns instead of me. After 45 minutes I could relax and the fire was out.

It might seem funny to most people, but the highlight of my day was when 3 cases of diapers, 7 cases of formula and 2 other boxes of Eric's supplies showed up this afternoon. Just knowing that I won't run out of the basics is so nice. I don't think it much matters when they get moved. As long as we have room to park the chair and stack the supplies all is good until the cleaning bug hits.

I am really excited about tomorrow. I get to take a weaving class with Donna at Grandma's Spinning Wheel here in Tucson. A big thank you goes out to John, Teri and Eric for such a great Mothers Day present. I am going to learn how to warp and weave on a rigid heddle loom. If any one has any thoughts on which brand is better please let me know. Also are plastic or metal gears better? What size is good for a knitter/spinner as an all around loom? It should also fold for easy storage.

Well it is time to go cook dinner.

No Rhythm

Today was one of those days with out rhythm. Nothing was in sync. Although we did manage to get to Eric's therapy appointment on time. After that it was all rocky.

I got the newsletter I was suppose to have mailed out on Monday out today. It took me over 3 hours to figure out the the e-mail addresses I used last time were locked out of the system. Someone had put it in a mode of no data retrieval allowed. So I could not just copy and paste the addresses in the e-mail. Once that was resolved the e-mail went out in under 30 minutes. As a plus, I only had to print 3 copies to mail the old fashion way. Yes I screwed that up too. I picked the wrong printer setting. I am so glad that I have in house tech support. John fixed the whole mess up in less than 5 minutes including printing.

I also have to design 2 unique patterns by mid June with specific yarn requirements. This is something I have never done before. So On the 1st one I have been mulling over the shape since yesterday. Today was spent doodling and making newspaper cut outs of the approximate size and shape. Yes I did try on the newspaper mock ups. Then I wrote the beginnings of what I though would work. 2 inches in it was not looking good. So it got tinked. I got a new sheet of paper and tried again. Yes 2 inches in and it got tinked too. With the help of 4 stitch markers I think I finally have something that will work as summer wear in Tucson.

Something I can't figure out is why when some of Eric's aides do not like a particular body wash they feel the need to pour the contents of the bottle into the trash. There is nothing like finding a half of a bottle of Lush body wash poured into the trash can. I really like the smell of that one too.  That is just so wasteful. If they don't like the one I have out would it not be easier for them and cheaper for us if they just asked for a different bottle? After all we do have a few different body washes under Eric's sink. I am still shaking my head at that one.

Then Eric had an asthma attack followed by a headache tonight. So I was with Eric a little over an hour. 30 minutes to make sure his breathing got better and to do some percussion. My hands were not to fond of the percussion. Just a I began to unwind from the asthma attack Eric's headache kicked in. I took me about 15 minutes to figure out what was wrong. He held my hand tightly until the Tylenol kicked in.

I finished the day by going head to head with a white spider about the size of a quarter. Lets just leave that as Sheri 1 - Spider 0. It is time to throw the last load of laundry for the day in the dryer and see if I can get to bed before tomorrow.

Knee High

The washer got fixed yet again.  This time they sent a supervisor out and did not leave a paper trail.  I find it amazing that he had the parts on his truck to fix the washer including a new motor. Apparently it was the motor that was burning.

I thought I had 12 loads of laundry to play catch-up with but I think I counted wrong. Load number four for the day is in the washing machine and the laundry room is still knee-high. I think it will take me almost a week to catch up being this many loads behind. I don't think I can get Eric to stop making laundry in order for me to play catch-up.

I am hoping that Eric sleeps tonight because he did not go to sleep until the wee hours of the morning. But I made my list and work through it is diligently as I could today. Most of the list is done with the exception of odds and ends, and projects that are half done. I think it's time to call it a night. I have a full day planned for tomorrow which surprisingly enough includes more laundry.

A New Summer Drink

My question to you is what do these things have in common? The answer might just surprise you. Combined with ice these items make a wonderful and refreshing summer drink that is very easy to make.

Recipe:

Brew 1 tablespoon of the Teavana Blueberry Bliss and Pineapple Kona Pop* for 5 to 6 minutes in 12 ounces of water heated to 208f.   

      

*If you do not pre- blend the Teavana Blueberry Bliss and Pineapple Kona Pop like I do use 1 1/2 teaspoons of each tea.

In a very large tumbler or small pitcher combine 11 ounces of the freshly brewed tea with 4 ounces (1/2 cup) of the Trader Joe's Cranberry Raspberry Juice. Add 1 cup of ice cubes. Stir well and enjoy. I did not add any sugar to this since the Trader Joe's Cranberry Raspberry juice is already sweetened. 

Living in the desert I have a lot of very large tumblers and this just fills one 24 ounce tumbler to the brim. I am sure that this can be doubled or tripled for parties, although I tend to brew my tea 1 cup at a time. 

Disclaimer: I was Not given samples of the Teavana tea or the Trader Joe's Juice to develop this recipe. I was Not paid by either company for featuring them. I paid for the products with my own money. All opinions expressed here are my own and in no way reflect the policies of either company.