A New Spot

The new couches were delivered today . They look very similar to the old couches that left the house yesterday. The new ones have power recliners, so that John will not have to rescue me when I am having a bad body day. I just have to remember that the power is there when I get up. Oh, did I mention that they are perfect for napping too?

Because of the way we set up the couches, I now have a dedicated place to put one of my spinning wheels again. The Lendrum DT is tucked in a corner so that I can leave everything set up. I am trying to decide weather I have room to add the Louet wheel too. I am worried that there might be too much sun in the second spot which could damage the wheel. So I will have to pay attention to the sun that hits the area. 

Down 2

I really enjoyed having a full house. Having Teri and Tej here was beyond wonderful, but the full house had to end sometime. As working adults Teri and Tej have limited time off.  John, Eric and I are really grateful that they choose to spend a whole week of their precious time off with us. Now it is time to go back to our everyday routine.

I have decided to work off the pound I gained while the kids were here doing more deep cleaning of the house. This is what I call productive exercise. Who knows, someday I might just finish with the house and move on to the garage. Only G'd knows when that will happen, real soon I hope, before it's summer again.

I always like to end on a very bright note. To that end I am getting my knitting mojo back. I even have enough in the finishing bowl to tag and bag some hand knits to night.

A Full House

I have everyone home for the holidays and aside from the roving cold we are having a great time. I love having a full house. We even got out to see the new Star Wars film Rogue One which was pretty good. We also saw Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, I can't wait for the sequel for this one. Yes I know that there is no sequel that they have announced, but there are just too many story lines that were left open for there not to be one. 

Tonight I finally finished knitting the hat I was working on before my hands went wonky earlier in the year. I also surprised myself by doing all the finishing work in the finishing bowl. I switched from a finishing basket to a finishing bowl, because the bowl holds less. That means that I get things sorted and tagged sooner. 

While everyone is home I took a break from deep cleaning to spend more time with Teri and Tej. I just feel so lucky to have them in my life. 

Mock Cheese Cake

I love to make this very simple snack as a late night dessert or a decadent breakfast. This has also gone to more than a few potlucks and got the thumbs up from most people. It takes more time to go to Trader Joe's to get the fixings than to make.

Ingredient's

1 box Trader Joe's Honey Graham Crackers, 1 sheet per serving.
1 tube Trader Joe's Blueberry and Vanilla Chèvre or any other flavor that you like. 2 thin slices per serving. 

On a nice plate, place 1 Trader Joe's graham cracker broken in half. Slice 2 thin slices of the chèvre and place 1 slice on each graham cracker half. Your mock cheesecake is now ready to eat. 

Deep Cleaning

I have found out something surprising to me. If you have been reading this blog, you know that I have been on a multi-year deep cleaning of the house. Every time that I think I have finished purging the house of things that we don't need and take a break for a week or two, I find more stuff to re-purpose, recycle or toss.

The end result is that the house is getting less cluttered and more organized. I have more time to do the things that I want, because I don't spend hours looking for things. A lot of things now have their own places. I know that I am not perfect and have a long way to go. I can promise Teri that there are no unpacked boxes from our 1994 move, unlike my parents that still had boxes sealed from a 1965 move when mom moved out of the house that I grew up in.

So if you do come from a multi generational pack rat family like mine, I can tell you there is hope. Start with a timer set to 5 minutes. Clean for 5 minutes, if you want to do more fine, but remember that you only promised yourself to work for 5 minutes. Also when you are looking for other things, if you find something that you don't need just toss it or put it in a bag for charity. I find that I get rid of a lot of appointment  and expired discount cards this way. Well, I am off to do more purging.

I Need Help with This

Please call the Governor Ducey's Office at Phoenix: 602.542.4331 or

Tucson: 520.628.6580 or

write to:

Governor Ducey

1700 West Washington Street

Phoenix, Arizona 85007

Arizona is on the verge of losing respite services for the disabled because of the increase in minimum wage. This was a November ballot issue that passed. 

Please ask our governor to increase funding or come up with a plan so families do not lose all their respite hours. Currently families receive a maximum of 600 hours of respite per year. Not all families receive the maximum number of hours. There is already one possible plan on his desk.

As a parent of a disabled child I can tell you that this is a vital help to all families. 25 years ago when all states cut back or eliminated the institutions for the disabled they promised the families that support services would always be available. If the funding issue is not resolved my greatest fear is that more parents will opt out of keeping their special needs children and adults at home because they will be just too burnt out to provide optimal care for their loved ones.

There are currently not enough beds to meet the states current needs. This care is also more costly than respite care. Agencies currently receive enough funding to cover about $9.00 per hour plus overhead. Without a change in funding for a $10.00 per hour wage, most would lose at least 25 cents per hour of respite care provided. Since most non-profits and for profit agencies cannot afford to lose money, they will eliminate respite services. This works out to a maximum $6,000, plus overhead, per special needs child or adult. Also being realistic it will cost at least $3,000 per month for residential care or at least $36,000 per year per special needs person not at home with family.

So it comes down to how much the governor wants to spend or save. Is it worth saving $30,000 per special needs person by increasing funding to $10.00 per hour plus overhead? Let the governor know how you feel. 

I can Not Unwind

Eric is feeling better and sleeping, he will go to program tomorrow. I on the other hand can not unwind enough to go to sleep. This is following the usual pattern. So I will listen to some music and hope that it will be enough to to go to sleep.

For almost 24 hours my soul focus has been Eric and I am having trouble shifting back to me. In the past 24 hours I have missed a going away party for Scott Z. who got a great promotion. I missed sitting around with friends just sitting, chatting and knitting. I seem to miss so much when Eric is not feeling well. There just seems to be no balance in my life.

I never wanted to be a nurse when I was growing up. Yet I seem to have spent a large part of the last 3 decades doing just that. Life can be so strange sometimes. My kids have taken me places that I would have never thought of going or doing and for that I thank them.

The Roller Coaster of Life

Eric's MTBF really sucks now. We are back to 7 days. I don't even think a failure review board could help with this. The only thing that made Eric happy tonight was that he made a full load of laundry for me tonight

This is why I run as many errands as possible when Eric is feeling well. I even got to the grocery store today. My plans for tomorrow went into the the blender tonight. I guess it really does not matter when I give friends their holiday gifts, it's he thought that matters. Right?

To end on the bright side tonight Eric got to deliver a chemo cap this morning to a friend for her brother and got all the hugs and kisses for it. Yes, he did go to program today and even got the second highest score in bowling.

Just Another Saturday

Under things never to do in December. First I would pick never to try to traverse a Target parking lot at 1 pm on a Saturday. There were loads of people. Almost no parking spaces so people parked where ever they could find a curb even in the fire lanes. So I had to leave the parking lot to get to the Michaels on the other side of the lot. Even then people were parked in the Peter Piper Pizza parking for Target.

I did manage to make a few more gifts but I was short a few pieces. So I decided not to battle the parking lots again, so the extra pieces I needed will be delivered. I love on line shopping. I also found some time to reorganize some things. On the knitting front, I am almost done with the second of 3 chemo caps.

Crafting

Today I finished up the last of my holiday gifts. I have made about 200 pieces this week. Now the next project will be to repair about a dozen of Eric's bibs and make 2 more hand knit chemo caps for a friends brother. He loves the first one that I made.

I have a lot lot more energy now that my hand feels better. I also get about 10 hours back each week. That gives me more time to do everything.

Eric Was Sick Again

Eric got sick Monday morning on the way to his day program. This has meant 2 to 3 loads of laundry a day of just Eric's clothes and bedding. That laundry does not include John's and my clothes either.  A lot of very long days taking care of him, which has lead to a lot of anxiety on my part. I should be use to this by now.

Eric is finely feeling better and is back on formula. He may even go back to his program today.  I have gotten so tired and stressed this time, that my skin actually hurts. Worse yet for me is that it makes it very hard to catch up on sleep. So in the wee hours of Thursday morning here I sit trying to convince my body that the stress is gone and I should be sleeping. It is not working out very well.

Well I am going to try to go and get some sleep. 6 am comes very fast around here.

Pop Ups

Today I went to my first pop up market. I went to check it out to see if it would be a good venue for my high end creations. The answer is that my high end creations were a perfect fit in style and quality. The bad news is that the I don't have the right artistic pedigree that the hipsters are looking for.

The hipsters seem to value where the artist went to school, more than anything else. I just don't understand how a high debtload makes a person a better artist. I did not go to the right art school, so I guess that I don't have what it takes for a pop up market.

So so at this point I will consider looking for a local gallery that would be a good fit for my weaving and high end pieces. Suggestion are welcome because I don't know this area well.

Something New

Tonight I tried the convection mode on the oven. Yes, I know that I have had the new stove for over a year. I was making corn bread for dinner and then thought why not try it. The reusults were wonderful. Perfectly browned and the texture was superb. I think I will use it again.

Busy

It was a very busy day. It had some very exciting news too. The official physical therapy will end this week and I will continue to work on getting my hand more functional every day at home. This will add about 6 usable hours back to my week. I also got the OK to move to size 7 knitting needles and started a chemo for a friends brother. It will take me a little longer to knit than I am use to, but I am knitting again.

Eric had a bit of a rough night, but I am hoping the 1 1/2 hours spent tonight will make a positive spot in my day tomorrow. Well I said this morning that I wanted to be asleep by 10 pm and I am running a little late. So everyone have a very happy and healthy week.

Things That I Am Grateful For

In no particular order here are some of the things that I am grateful for.

1. My Family
2. My friends
3. Team Eric
4. Being ambidextrous, it comes in handy when one hand won't work right. Yes, I am sometimes that annoying person who changes hands in the middle of a meal. It is taking a whole lot longer for my hand to heal than I thought it would.
5. Being 4 inches slimmer since I gave up all high fructose corn syrup and aspertame. The inches come off more slowly than they went on. Bah humbug.

My challenge to you you is to find at least 5 things that you are grateful for and share with everyone.

Dilemmas

I woke up early with a headache. So I made a cuppa chai and tried to relax as I sipped it. Just as the headache was beginning to fade Eric woke up needing a complete change out and breathing treatment. After settling Eric back to sleep, I then realized that it was 3 am.

This being Black Friday in the United States, where the stores have historically turned the books from red to black. There are always sales. Most start really early. I was awake so why not go shopping and get some great deals.

Then I thought about what I needed. The answer was nothing. What was left on my holiday shopping list. The answer was nothing. What did I want that was on sale? The answer was nothing. So after an hour of deliberation I was finally sleepy.

Later in the day I was going to go shopping for yarn for a project, but decided to go stash diving instead. I found enough cotton yarn to make 2 to 3 chemo caps for a friends brother. Now I just need my hands to be less stiff so that I can knit them.

I then found time for a walk and some weaving. I took my loom outside and enjoyed the unusually warm late November day.

Candied Yams

For that quick last minute new family tradition. One of our favorite holiday dishes.

Candied Yams

1 large can of yams in light syrup - drained
1 20 ounce can of crushed pineapple in its own juice - drained (the cook gets to drink the pineapple juice)
1 bag of marshmallows
1/2 cup of margarine
1 teaspoon of Cinnamon
1/4 cup of brown sugar
1 greased casserole dish with a lid or foil pan with extra foil to cover.

Put the yams, crushed pineapple, 1/2 a bag of the marshmallows and margarine in your large mixing bowl. I use my Kitchen-Aide K5 (TM) with the paddle. Mix until slightly lumpy. Pour into the greased casserole dish or foil pan. Cover with the remaining marshmallows.

Since I always have used a covered Corning ware (TM) glass casserole I always cook mine at 325f for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. If using a foil pan cooking time may be less and you will need to uncover it for the last 10 to 15 minutes for a golden crust of marshmallow's.

This dish may be doubled. If doubling only use 1-20 ounce can of pineapple and one bag of marshmallows. If tripling add another 20 ounce can of pineapple and an extra bag of marshmallows. If quadrupling only use 2 -20 ounce cans of crushed pineapple and 2 bags of marshmallows.

*Updated to reflect the addition of Cinnamon and Brown Sugar on 11/24/2016.  Teri figured out that I forgot the last 2 ingredients. Thank you Teri.

Weaving

I finally got the loom warped today, it has been on my to do list since the summer. This is got to be a sign that I am finally ready to weave again. I might even have more than a few minutes here or there, or just maybe I stopped procrastinating.

Here is what I have done so far.

Another Milestone

Today we reached another milestone with Eric, he turned 27 today. Eric has taken us on quite a roller coaster ride since he was born. He has taken the entire family on the road less traveled and I have very few regrets. We have gone places we would have never gone. We have meet loads of incredible people along the way, some who thought that we were an extraordinary family for living and exploring as a family. In my very humble opinion they could have done the same thing as it surprisingly requires no experience to become a parent.

Eric has all that he needs in life. If however you would like to honor Eric on his special day please consider giving a donation to your local food bank or pantry, because Eric has always been a great fan of food. Perhaps collect tabs for your local Ronald McDonald house, one of Eric's favorite activities is collecting tabs and bring them to the Tucson House.  The last place that would make a huge difference in Eric's life is a donation to the Tucson JCC , go to the pull down menu select the "Taglit Program". As many of you know this is where Eric likes to spend time with his friends.

I do not know where our life with Eric is going, but the journey continues.

What do I do when Physical Therapy is canceled? Clean house of course. I have just about finished unpacking from our Trip to Prescott, Arizona. I have also just about finished putting away the things for the fundraiser for Eric's day program. I also spent part of the day sorting an estate donation to the knitting guild. Thursday would be an excellent day to attend if you are in desperate need of massive amounts of yarn on cones.

When will I know if this has made a difference in our lives? Right now I want to say in  about a decade, but it will probably be on Thursday when I over fill the Accord with boxes of yarn,books and magazines to take to guild. So if you know any machine knitters or weavers this will be their chance to stock up at a great price and make my husband extremely happy by giving him back his workshop.

I did not forget Eric's new washer either. I have the second load ready to go into the dryer, but I must get to the shower and changed before I pick him up or put the laundry in the dryer or the dust will surely make his breathing worse than Eric normal.

Not Blue

I have officially ran out of the powder blue envelopes that we bought for Teri's Bat Mitzvah over a decade ago. So I guess it is time to start going through the birthday party invitation envelopes.  So it might be a few more years before I run out of fun envelopes. It might be a while before we move on to plain white ones.

I do believe that we are using less envelopes because of the advent of e-mail. It is so quick and easy to use. Which would also explain why the postal systems worldwide are having so much trouble financially . So less snail mail less envelopes and stamps.

I wonder if these are the transitions that are freaking people out. Causing people to retreat to the past. I personally like change and learning new things. I think it keeps my mind young and active. So lets see where this change takes us.

Weaving While Driving

To answer the obvious question, no I was not drinking and driving, rather John was driving while I was weaving on my on my Purl and Loop loom. I even figured out how to get the mudd rug off the loom without the weaving unraveling. This is hard enough to do at the kitchen table let alone while driving at 65 miles per hour on the freeway. It was very simple, I just cut the mudd rug like I always do,but instead of taking the weaving off the loom, I just flipped the Ioom right back over and started tying the ends.

Its funny too, I had a heck of a time spinning this yarn. I hated the finished yarn. It was so awful that I would not even consider selling the skein. Yet it turned into this wonderfully soft and pretty mudd rug.

Sorry for the very very fuzzy picture. It's hard to take a good picture while driving down the freeway at 65 mph.

A Little Progress

Today for the first time since my hand surgery I was able to make a few pairs of earrings.

Different Cleaning

I spent over an hour tonight trying to get rid of junk email. It has been a while since I have done this. They make it very painful sometimes. Some require 2 or 3 different screens and then say it could take up to 4 weeks to get rid of it. Just to annoy them I will send an un-subscribe with each email until they stop. Hopefully it will mean less emails in my in box. I know it is cheaper for the companies to spam my email box, bit I would rather that they fill my snail mail box and keep the USPS working.

A Busy Day

Today besides a doctor's appointment and a physical therapy visit,  I started organizing my handmade items for the November 10th fundraiser at the Tucson JCC For Eric's day program. At best I have 3 tubs of items with very few items left in the pipeline to finish. Well maybe John's dreams will come true and I will come home with 4 empty tubs.

We we also had less than 10 trick or treater's tonight. I blame it on being a school night. I bought as much candy as I did last year but had so few kids and we have so much leftover candy. John and I did not even touch the candy this year.  Yeah for us. Our leftover candy will be sent to Operation Gratitude so that they can include candy in the holiday care packages for our troops. 

The neighbor who picked up our unwanted Halloween decorations yesterday, thanked me for them tonight. They are in her front yard and her kids love the "new" decorations. I will have to drive around and see where they landed. This is recycling at its best. 

I just need to wait 1 1/2 hours so I can take some more Excedrin for my hand. I have noticed that about 10 to 12 hours after physical therapy my hand just starts to throb. So I guess that I will find a quiet activity to do and try not to wake the guys up. 

Slow Progress

This weekend while putting up the Halloween decorations we decided to clean out the Halloween storage box. Some was trashed, but the best part was that some was passed on to someone else. I got very creative. I made a FREE sign and taped it to the box. Then I left it by the mail box. When we got back from dinner all of it was gone. Somewhere our unwanted decorations will be decorating someone else's house. How cool is that?

I am also cleaning out my closet very slowly. I put a bag by the closet and every time I go to pick out my days outfit, if I find something that I do want or need I just put it in the bag. This weeks total is 10 empty hangers. It's a slow start, it it is a manageable pace for me. And then it will go on to charity for its next life.

I have also also decided not to try create anything else for the November 10th fundraiser at the Tucson JCC. I will just be finishing what has already been started. I will suggest getting there early for the best selection. Now it's time to finish the next project.

Sharing is Caring or Is It?

We have always been told sharing is caring. Share your cookies with a friend. Popsicle's used to be made to break in half so that you could share with a friend. We give to charity to share with those in need. We break bread together as a sign of friendship. These and countless other ways are great ways to share.

Now here is where I get on my bandwagon. There are times when sharing is not caring. Sharing tubes of toothpaste, not cool, everyone should have their own tube of toothpaste. The plus side of this is colds will not spread as fast through the house. When you send your child to school sick or conversely go to work sick and share the illness, not cool. When you hug someone who is medically fragile, just because it makes you feel better and then tell the caretaker or person that you are sick, really not cool. What part of medically fragile is so hard to understand? When you go out shopping when you are sick, really!!! The person making close to minimum wage can not afford to get sick, they might not even be able to afford a doctor's office visit.

Lets face it we are living in an age where superbugs are a reality. The miracle drugs of my parents generations are losing their effectiveness do to overuse and bugs being able to evolve faster than scientists can come up with new versions of old drugs. So lets go very old school on this. When you are sick, stay home until you feel better. When your child is sick, keep them  home from school, day programs and afterschool activities. If you need to go shopping, Then go online, they delivery everything from groceries to ready made meals. Heck, you can even do your holiday shopping and they will even wrap and deliver your presents for you.  So let's care for each other by not sharing colds.

If you are wondering why this post now, Eric has been erypy for the last 4 hours. Eric has been exposed to any of those ways of sharing colds this week. I don't have the time to deal with this this week, I have too much on my plate. Most of all I don't want to stay up until the wee hours of the morning, it is not good for my hands recovery form surgery. I can expect a set back tomorrow.

So my request is PLEASE Don't Share Your Colds.

One Step Back

My hand has taken one step back. I need to slow down a bit on physical therapy among other things. So I gave my hand a day of rest.

Thus the short post.

This and That

The day started out with a BBD, but I did my best anyway. Now that my hand range is increasing, the exercises at physical therapy are getting harder. I don't know how they mange to get my hand so tired in 1 hour, that I need a 2 hour nap after therapy just to recoup.

I did get a lot of finishing work done today. I also started tagging some of the items. I am caught up to the point where I need to take inventory and see what I need to make to round off my fundraising table on November 10, 2016 at the Tucson JCC. Remember that 100% of the sale price will go to Taglit, which is Eric's day program and other special needs expenses not covered by program fees.  So it would be a great time to get your holiday gifts. 

I also decided to reduce the number of craft bags that I have. To that extent, John helped me empty out the hall closet of all the bags. I then started to sort through them. I have a bag and a half of craft bags ready to leave the house, this is from the quick first sort through. I will go through the rest of the bags again at a more leisurely pace and make the final cut on what I am keeping.  I would estimate not more than 50% of what is left. This of course does not count the bags that already have projects in them, they do not count in this process. 

Well it is almost tomorrow so it is time to call it a day. 

Projects Can Be Finished

Eric and I spent the day finishing projects. Eric and one of his Elmo's sat next to me as I worked. I managed to weight, label and tag all my Spinzilla 2016 yarn. Sorry friends have dibs on all the yarn. The good news is that it all leaves the house on Tuesday.

I managed to do the trimming on a dozen hand woven mudd rugs and trim the fringe. Next the failed attempt at twisting fringe was given up after 30 minutes. It did not help that the sound would not come up on you tube. The visual did not complete the necessary information to complete the task. So I did the fringe the way that I had learned.

Even without the sound I did learn that placing a heavy book on the woven scarf while tying the fringe did help a lot and made things go more smoothly. The scarfs were then washed and beat up. Yes, I slam freshly washed scarfs against a table. Then they get hung up to dry.

As as I was running out of energy, I decided to to set things up for tomorrow. I also emptied a knitting bag that tore and put the yarn away. I also decided not to repair the bag since it was not well made in the first place.

Zenning in 5 Minutes

Today after spending most of the day on fiber related activities I felt the need to do a bit of deep cleaning. Since it was 11 pm, I gave my self a limit of 5 minutes. In that time I cleaned out Eric's medicine cabinet and put a fresh bottle of shampoo out. Then I took the empty shampoo bottle to the recycling bag.

Most of the morning was spent setting the twist twist on freshly washed yarn and blocking hand knit and Chrochet items. Alas my blocking mat was not big enough so I will have to finish that later in the week as it is suppose to rain tomorrow.

A New Routine

Well it seems that I am starting a new routine with physical therapy. It goes like this, one hour of physical therapy followed by lunch and a two hour nap. Grrr. This does not help with my to do list. It also leaves me scrambling to keep Eric entertained while I try to catch up on my chores.

Today this lead to white and beige silk drying on one end of the clothes line and ten skeins of yarn from Spinzilla drying on the other with about four feet of empty line between the yarn and silk. I want a good distance between them so the dye from the yarn won't transfer to the silk. I would have finished setting the twist on the rest of the yarn, but I ran out of daylight. Since my left hand is still wonky, they will take longer to dry because I could not squeeze enough water out of them. I am really hoping that the lower humidity of fall will help the yarn dry faster.

I would also like to thank Prayag Verma for his very thoughtful suggestion for a new application for blogspot on my iPad. My post should be more regular now.

Night Time Pain

There is nothing quite like being up in the middle of the night with arthritis pain. Then having to take care of Eric before the aspirin kicks in. Eric was half asleep and still tried to give me hugs to make my hands feel better. It almost makes up for not being able to sleep.

Spinzilla 2016

For Spinzilla 2016 I spun 1,959 yards of yarn. mostly lace weight. Lace weight what was I thinking. The picture shows it all dumped on the kitchen floor. Now I have to wash it and set the twist.

Facts

1. It takes longer than a presidential town hall to fill a four ounce bobbin with lace weight yarn..just ask me how I know.. spinning

2. It is possible to fill the recycling bin to over full 3 weeks running..deep cleaning is the answer.

3. I really hate it when my screen goes blank and I lose an entire post.  Thank you iOS 10. Apple please fix the glitch. 

4. The universe has plans for all of us, it's just not talking.  

5.  I can't fix the whole world alone, but together if we all do a bunch of small things we can make the world a better place.  

6.  Children take you on fantastic adventures. Be prepared to follow.

7. I have spun over a pound of yarn this last week. Pictures and yardage tomorrow. 

It's time to end this post.. the screen has gone blank 10 times now.. John says at least iOS 10 has a mission..new tech hates me. 

Delving Deeper - Less is Really More

Today I hit another level of deep cleaning. I started going through the note books that I started making 12 years ago as a new knitter. I tore out and saved everything the new knitter in me thought was important. Things like how to do certain stitch patterns. Patterns that I was going to knit. Patterns that other people thought that I should knit. To the very old knitting magazines that I just could not let go of. Things that were just plain neat to a brand new knitter.

Fast forward 12 years and the notebooks are a bit dusty. Some of the stitch patterns that I thought were so difficult that I knew I would need written instructions for if I was ever going to knit them. Now most of what got tossed I can do without thinking. They are also in knitting stitch dictionaries or on the web. Patterns for triangular shawls that were and still are so pretty, that do not look good on my body type, my shoulders are just too broad. Yes the boring rectangular shawls look much better on me.  To the very lacy patterns that 12 years later I can now knit, but do not fit into my knitting life style. To the hat and scarf patterns that I can knit while I am half asleep or busy talking, yes they got tossed too.

I still have piles of old knitting magazines to go through and decide which ones I want to keep. If there is an old or vintage knitting magazine you are looking for just let me know very soon. I might just have a copy.

I am keeping it very simple. I go through one notebook at a time or one pile of papers 6 to 12 inches in height. If I finish that and still have energy I go onto the next pile or notebook. Depending on the age of the notebook or pile of knitting magazines I toss between 30 to 70% of what I have. Now everything else can be condensed in an orderly fashion without having to buy or find more storage. This will be the third week in a row for an over full recycle bin too. I am going at my own pace, but I feel that some people want me to go faster and just toss without looking at everything. I am not quite able to do that yet. I know that in the end that I will have more room for fluff and yarn. That's not what my minions really want to hear, but I still have bins full of yarn and fluff in the garage that I would like to someday soon move back into the house.

So the short term plan is more tossing, gifting, knitting, weaving and spinning things in the house. The long term plan is to go through the things in the garage. So that in forty years or so whom ever is going to do the last cleaning of the house will not have to call yarn hoarder's anonymous to haul everything off to sell to other fiber people.

Resting

After I over did yesterday, I had a very bad night. So I spent the day letting my body decide what to do and it wanted lots of rest. So I seem to be back into the cycle of do everything I can one day and rest the next. I really need to find balance again.

More Deep Cleaning

OK, so today I actually hired someone help me with the deep cleaning and organizing. At times it really helps to have another craft person to help organize a craft room instead of an engineer. While we were deep cleaning we also managed to get a few quick projects finished and out the door including a 4 foot by 3 foot dog pillow. It is bigger than Eric and very hard to finish. It took 2 of us to get the last seam sewn. I did the sewing and Amber held up the pillow. I also found 2 sets of old soft cloth diapers that needed to be surged in half so that the cleaning rags don't land back in Eric's room as face wipes.

Amber and I also divided the yarn into kits and projects in progress and just yarn. I have officially turned 1 closet into a Fibber McGee closet with fluff.  Sadly all the fluff did not fit in the closet, so I will have to look for more homes. We also separated the weaving supplies out so I know what I have to weave.

Amber and I decided that I was going to be the go to person during the Zombie Apocalypse. I will have all the fiber you could want for a price. We figured that I would have about a year's worth of knitting in my kits and at least 2 years worth of spinning. We did not even take a guess at the weaving supplies.  I also am passing on a sock pattern and using the yarn for something else. A few more balls of yarn were added to the destash bag too.

Still to go through tonight are a pile of patterns. Some from 12 years ago when I started knitting. I also found more knitting books not already on the shelf, so I think a book purge might be in order, but not today. My mind says keep cleaning, but my body says nap. So I will rest until its time to cook dinner. When John called after work, being the great husband that he is,"said that I sounded tired and is bring home dinner." 

Dibs

Well it started again yesterday. The dibs game. I usually get my my skirts long to start with, usually about ankle length.  As I lose weight and inches they get longer.  So I have a whole process that I go through to avoid hemming the skirts.  First I hike the skirt up my waist about 1/2 of an inch. 

Next comes putting the skirt back to my natural waste line and adding 1 inch heels.  Staying with the 1 inch heels, I hike up the skirt up about 1/2 of an inch again. When that stops working I add the 2 inch heels. Then I hike up my skirt in 1/2 inch increments until I am 1/2 way up my rib cage. About that time, I am ready to buy the next size down. 

I know that at this size that I could add straps and turn the skirts into a sun dress and wear them, but I try to avoid the sun at all costs and would not wear the sundress.  So at this point I go to the 4th Avenue Street Faire and get some new tie dye skirts. Then I pass on the skirts that people called dips on.  

This is the slow road to weight loss and it goes 1/2 inch at a time.  To the next 1/2 inch down and beyond.  

More Progresss

My left hand has made a little more progress. As soon as I finish my silk shawl project on the size 13 knitting needles, I get to move down to size 11 needles.  After physical therapy today, I worked on my to do list. Only a few errands got done.  I just hate the way stores decide at the flip of a coin to change what they carry.This means that I will have to pick up some of the things tomorrow.  I seem to be moving at a snail's pace like my hand recovery.  Some days it seems like it's 1 step forward and 2 steps back.  I know my hand is a lot better, but it is not at 100% yet.

Today while shopping, I heard one of the all time stupidest sales pitches ever.  If you think some of the sales pitches you here for over the counter vitamins are bad, you will have to rethink everything.
When her supervisor told the demo person that she was not selling enough coconut oil, this is what the demo person came up with.
"Coconut oil is a cure for dementia. You can even use it on your toast. You will see results within days. "
After that is was flying of the display. So if your snow birds call or come home saying that they have found the miracle cure for dementia know that they have been scammed. I wonder who is responsible for this snake oil saleswoman and her comments?

Coconut oil is very good in cooking. Coconut adds a lot of flavor to food. I love coconut, but it is not a cure for anything but hunger or rough skin. 

Empty

Today I emptied 1 - 60 quart bin of craft supplies. No they did not get tossed, but rather relocated to a cabinet that I had used to store odds and ends.  I should have cleaned it out much sooner. I found a bunch of very old tech in there.  Not 1 but 3 old portable cassette players with headphones.  I was really good at breaking them so 2 of them were spares, that were never opened.  The iPod's were made much better and only had to be replaced when I ran out of capacity. 

So the deep cleaning and purging continues.  I seem to feel a bit lighter with each batch of things that leave the house.  

Huge Boxes

I am beginning to think that 60 to 80 quart storage boxes might not be the best for art supplies.  So I am in the process of moving my jewelry making supplies to a more usable space. I am hoping that this will help with the avoidance of duplicate purchases. Also the 2 hour set up every time I want to make something.  Wish me luck in the process.  

More

Yesterday I started the next round of really deep cleaning.  I bought storage containers which turned out to be the wrong size for what I needed.  So they were returned today.  I bought a better solution today.  I started filling it with jewelry supplies and even with de stashing some things already, I appear to have  a space shortage.  My only current solution is to destash more and make a bunch of jewelry for the November Taglit fundraiser.  

So far today I have recovered half a shelf and a magazine rack.  I filled a bag so full of recycling that John will have to move it to the recycle bin for me.  I have also emptied out another magazine rack and taken that to the recycle bin already. 

 I wish I was not so tired from that really stupid cold that I got last week.  My mind is quite willing. My body is very tired.  I would throw some caffeine in, if I did not already know that is the wrong solution for me now.  So a quick nap before I go to pick Eric up is in order..

Better

Eric and I are feeling better, we are over the cold. My physical therapist is very happy with the progress that my hand is making. I on the other hand want a totally functional hand by now. On most days I can knit for about an hour. I even managed to fold a set of Eric's sheets without any pain. Although I am going to hold off folding Eric's jumbo loads of laundry for now.

While driving Eric home from his day program, yes he did go. We were almost sideswiped by a red truck. Yes, I was driving my van that does resemble a big white brick.  It also has the aerodynamics of a brick too, not that that has anything to do with the incident today. The driver was too busy talking on the phone, while weaving in and out of traffic. I would like to point out that in the 3 miles that he was weaving in and out of traffic, he only moved up 1 car space. In my very humble opinion it was not worth the risk he was taking with everyone else's life and livelihood for a stupid phone call.

I learned to drive in the mid 70's and nobody spoke on the phone while driving. If we needed to make an urgent call, we pulled off the road and found a pay phone. Now, I am not saying that we need to go back to pay phones. After all I like my games and apps like Metropia to get me around traffic jams. I just want people to pull into a parking lot, make their call and go on their way. Right now Metropia is only available in Austin, Texas and Tucson, Arizona. Hopefully your city will be added soon so you can enjoy the app as much as I do.

Tomorrow I will tackle the house. So it is time to call it a night.

A Rough Week

Eric was sick all last week. He even shared the cold and aftermath with me. Poor John has been trying to keep up with 2 very cranky people. Even with the larger washer, Eric has managed to make 2 pretty full loads of laundry a day. Thank goodness for Eric's aides, they have been doing all the folding. I don't know if my hand is up to that much work yet.

I am really hoping that Eric will be back at program sometime this week. When he is at home sick this much, my world feels a lot smaller. I swear that my world can not get that much smaller or I might just fade into oblivion.

My left hand is a little better. I have been able to use it between 30 minutes and 2 hours on most days. I can say for certain that the arthritis flare up post cold is not helping the recovery process in the least. At least 2 out of the 3 fingers are almost, well at least 50% healed. The ring finger is another story. I am really working to get my left hand fully functional again. It will make my life so much easier and neater. I would really like to know, say before a meal, if my hand will work all the way through the meal.

I am hoping that Eric is not real clingy today. Yes I just noticed that it is 12:40 and it is time for a nap before I start my day with Eric in a few hours. By the way, it is getting easier to type too. Not a lot of mistakes. I can even reach for some of the keys.

My goal for the coming week is to have a better week and get a lot of crafting and cleaning done.

When Sharing Is Not Good

Eric has shared his cold. It's not my favorite thing to be sick. At least I have been able to do limited knitting and crochet projects. I am on a cup cozy binge right now. I have 7 finished with 4 waiting to be seamed. I have also sketched two other versions of cup cozies too. I plan on making 24 of each design by the  November 10 fundraiser.

I have also started to piece together the shabby chic quilt. Hopefully it will be finished soon so that I can make a few more sewing projects. They have the added bonus of not hurting my hands and being faster to make.

The more I use my hand the better it seems to be within limits. My ring finger is still not up to par, but I am working on that every day. I have not tried to fold laundry yet, but hanging up wet clothes for the clothes line is getting better. Each day is a little better.

The Right Project

This one color way of yarn has been the bane of my knitting for 12 years. It was one of the yarns in a kit I bought. I never finished he project, but used the pattern with other yarns.  Fellow knitters seemed to give it away in spades.  No matter what pattern I used, I was not happy with the results.

Fast forward 12 years and a new skill, Tunisian Crochet. At last a way to make to make this yarn look really, really good. Below is a cup cozy.  So after 12 years I can absolutely say it was not the yarn, it was the project and technique. So I might just have to see how much of this yarn I have and what to make with it.

A New Design

Tonight I designed my first piece of Tunasian Chrochet. It has 12 rows including the cast on and cast off. It can be used, to use up partial skeins of yarn. It is a very simple but sturdy cup cozy. The best part is that it can be made in only a few hours.  Let me know if you want me to write up the pattern for your holiday crafting or if you want to order some in a certain color.  I will have some at the November 11, Taglit fundraiser. The color is actually lavender but my lighting is bad tonight. 

Quilt Layout

I have gotten to the quilt lay out stage of the Taglit Memory Quilt. This is being made from 4 Taglit sweatshirts.  This will be the  center piece of the Annual Taglit Fundraiser on November 11, 2016. I will have the measurements after I finish the sewing.  This will be my first Shabby Chic Quilt. I will get together with my team to figure out the pricing.  

True or False

Mothers just look forward to middle of the night breathing treatments.

Mothers just love doing load upon load of laundry..

Mothers like to sleep at night.

Mothers like play time too.  

Mothers like to play in the middle of the night. 

Mothers just love getting up to put the covers back on the cold child who just kicked them off. 

Most days Mothers would not trade in their jobs for any other.  

Car pooling is always fun. 

I am writing this while I wait to give Eric his next round of breathing treatments. 

Mothers need more hugs.  

Mothers can do more than one thing at a time.  

We love saying "just breath"

Is the stuffed Elmo qualified to fill in for mothers every once in a while?

I do not write the best blog posts at 1 am.  

I am ready to party. 

Games are always fun at medicine time. 

We would like our kids to levitate into the right spot with out lifting them. 

Is it really 1:20 am. 

Take the quiz and send me your answers.  May a good nights sleep be in your future. 

Clothes Issues

My clothes have decided that it is time for them to grow again.  My skirts now require high heels or I trip on them. The pants that I just found a few months ago, the ones that fit perfect are now riding around my rib cage.  My question is why the scale is not moving.  Don't get me wrong, I will take the smaller sizes, but I just hate shopping for clothes lately.  I also really want to see the scale move down.  

I seem to lose inches in cycles. Just 4 years ago on this very day, I was doing my second closet clean out.  This has been a long slow journey about 5 years in the making.  I have been going down just 1 size a year.   I stopped counting the inches a few years ago. I found that inches can go up and down in a matter of days. So I am going for the long term out come. 

So my slow diet secrets are very simple and easy to follow.  I have elimated all high fructose corn syrup and similar things like agave syrup. I have also eliminated all  aspertame and all artificial sweeteners.  This year I started working on my regular soda consumption and have cut back by over 80%.  I still have the very occasional soda, but not several a day. I also try to move more.  I also seem to have more stamina.  Although, I can say with out any doubt that I still can not keep up with my 30 year old self.  Just ask John or Lisa how cranky I get after being up all night with Eric. No I don't think I can  go 3 days without sleep any more.  

A Slow Recovery and More

My left hand and I are barely on speaking terms. I am doing my physical therapy as prescribed. Progress is much to slow for me. My hand just seems a lot stiffer than I every remember it being.  It seems that no matter what I want to work on in, 30 minutes my hand is done, with a recovery time of about 2 hours.  Even when I am on a roll.  This means that is going to take forever and a day to finish anything I want to create. It is taking about a week to finish a scarf on U.S. size 17 knitting needles.

Right now I am in the middle of deconstruction 4 sweat shirts that will be paired with denim squares and turned into blankets. Yes I will have a number of upcycled things. If I have any left over denim, I will use some flannel to make a few more blankets. The big question seems to be to add binding for a more city look or skip the binding for a more country, shabby chic look. Any thoughts on this? The other odds and ends will be turned into various things for my November 11, 2016 Taglit fund raiser at the Tucson JCC. Since I can not knit as much as I have in the past, there will be a whole lot of things that I have not made before. So come do some holiday shopping and help Eric and his friends have fun. As usual 100% of the sale price will go to Eric's day program.

Now if Eric will just go to sleep before the day starts in a few hours things will be a lot better later today. It is a little after midnight as I write this.

My First Spin

Today I did my first spin post hand surgery. I will generously call it an art yarn. This is a blend of wool, silk, add ins and buffalo. This is also a thick and thin yarn. I  think this will remain a single ply. I think it will be most suitable for weaving.  It might be a few months before my spinning will get beyond the art yarn stage.   So it is now time to start stash diving to find the arty type of fluff.  

Not a UFO Anymore

It took a long time to finish the 75 rows of this cowl that I knit for my self.  I finished knitting it while Teri was in law school.  I just finished sewing on 3 buttons today.  Yes, sewing on buttons is not a fun activity for me. The most important thing though, is that I have one less UFO* in the house.

*UFO stands for unfinished object.  

Some Progress

This is my first finished knitting project since my hand surgery.  It took 2 weeks. I feel like a beginning knitter. 150 rows on size 19 knitting needles. This will go to the Flowing Wells Clothing Bank. 

The next scarf I will see if my hand is ready for size 17 knitting needle.  The knitting needles are all the U.S. sizes.  

Why Mom's Run Away from Home.

I really think prestigious online  news outlets like The Onion, have really missed the mark on this one.  The real reason that we are seeing an increase of all mommies running away from home.  

First and foremost are the long work hours. After working most of the day and then staying up most of the night we really want some time off. Trying to stay awake the next day to take care of and entertain a sick or cranky child is no piece of cake. Speaking of cake, I will take some vegan or parve cup cakes.  I really think that the cats have made decisive strides here. By finding a warm, quite and out of the way place to curl up and sleep. A nice sunny and quite place sounds good right now. Do you think anyone  will find me curled up behind the couch?

Which brings up the issue of pay. Have you ever tried to buy a new dress with sticky, peanut butter and jelly hugs. Our kids really have to come up with a more universally accepted payroll system.  We want wardrobes comparable to what other women in the work place get to wear on a daily basis. Have you ever noticed that really tired mommies wear pj's well after noon? Now if we can make rules about little sticky hands not being allowed to muck up the new wardrobe. 

This also brings up all the activities that the kids just have to do.  I am not feeling really positive about 7 year olds padding their college applications by making us drive them from one activity to the next.  Do they think we are also chauffeurs? Take soccer for instance.  The sport has become so popular that practices are ending after my bed time.  Can't I just give you a ball to kick around the back yard?  After all just how many of you will actually break even on this sport by getting actual money for college?  You can't expect to make me sit with some of those parents that yell at everyone.  Who knows,  they might think that they are the Knitting Police too.  And the music lesson.  Instead of practicing in the house take your practice outside and let the entire neighborhood enjoy the strides that you are making, so that they can see their tax dollars at work. 

Yes, I know that I am using a lot of run on sentences. For the Spelling and Grammer Police out there you are grounded until further notice.  xoxo Your Mommie on the run.  

Healing

I find it amazing that something as simple as putting away groceries is enough to send shooting pain through my hand.  So a portion of today's shopping is still sitting on the kitchen table waiting to be put away. Tomorrow will be soon enough. 

I am also really grateful for being ambidextrous especially at meal times. I normally eat and do a lot of things with my left hand.  When the pain gets to bad I just change hands to my right hand.  I just have to keep a mindful eye on my left hand and give it the time it needs to heal.  I am having trouble with this because I really hate going in slow speed.  I just need to find more patience right now.  

When Yarn is Knotty

Today I decided to finish winding yarn to set up kits for weaving.  This is what I have to wind on the first skein after 90 minutes.  So I put it aside and started winding a second skein. Yes, there were also to many knots to use the ball winder. Forty five minutes into that skein I am finally out of the knots. I am hoping it gets better from here. 

Tonight I will tag hats so I can get 3 bags of hats to the Flowing Wells Clothing bank next week.  Hopefully I can soon start knitting hats again. I am still working on getting my hand working at optimal effency or at least not hurt so much when I use it.  

The Snail is Winning

My hand has good days and bad days. Sometimes like tonight, it just wants to stop working in the middle of a task, like making dinner. I have to say that John had perfect timing tonight. He drove up just as my hand gave out when I was 3/4 of the way through cutting up the chicken. He not only finished cutting up the chicken and getting it in the oven, but did the whole preparation on the green beans too. Then cleaned up after dinner.

I am still a bit frustrated at the rate I can work on projects too. Take the Tunisian scarf that I have been working on for one and a half weeks, really a week and a half and I am still not done. I also have one scarf on US size 19 knitting needles, that is going even slower, I am lucky to get between 50 and 100 individual stitches done about every third day. This translates into no more then 10 rows every few days. I am really glad that I have no commissions right now or I would be up the creek without a paddle. My plan for tomorrow is to finish packing projects to get them ready to go and then try the sewing machine, I may have more luck there.

My hand really hates it when Eric is sick. The longer hours seem to make my hand stiffer and more sore.  Talk about 50 steps back in a single day. What I find really odd though is that the more I use my hand the more stiff and sore that it becomes. What about the old adage use it or lose it? Does this lose meaning with hand surgery? I know it has only been a few weeks, but last time I had hand surgery, I did not need physical therapy and I was knitting the same night. Yes, I know I sound like an impatient 10 year old right now.

I know it is late, but as soon as I can put Eric's swim stuff into the dryer and hand his swim suit I will call it a day.

More Hand Stuff

Ok, I know that in some things that I am the most impatient person in the world. I could give any 10 year old kid a run for their money. Take my hand for instance. The stitches have completely healed and my hand should be 100% in my humble opinion. I am so wrong about this. Everything below the surface takes longer to heal than the stitches. So these are my new temporary rules to live by.

1. No folding laundry, seriously my hand throbbed for 8 hours after folding one load. The therapist took that off my plate for now.

2. If it hurts stop, do not continue. Whatever it is.

3. No putting my hand in odd positions to accomplish anything.

4. Do my therapy 3 times a day.  I now have 3 exercises, one involves knitting           needles....Really....

5. Reintroduce my hands to textures, it's part of the healing processes. Sounds           odd to me, but I will try it.

6. Take things slowly, things should get better in time. This is the hard one for          me.

7. Make time for rest breaks, although it is just my left hand that has to heal.             Apparently the whole body goes through the healing transition. I really don't         get this concept. But I will do my best to follow the rules.

So it is time to rest before Eric gets home.

Happy

Eric's day program finally had enough staff so that he could go to program today.  I skipped my to do list and took a nap.  July left me exhausted between the guys getting sick, surgery and Eric home for 3 weeks, all I can really say is that I could not keep up.  I fell behind and will take some time to play catch up on everything from paperwork, chores and sleep. 

Eric had a great time with his friends today.  So all is well.  I even get to start therapy on my hand this week. I think that I will call it a night.  

Fun

Today John was gracious enough to take care of Eric while I took 2 classes. The first was Tunisian  crochet which I can do almost all right handed. It is very fun to do. I think it is geared towards someone with a large yarn stash like mine. The second was triangular weaving, a bit more challenging for me. My hand gave up 3 rows before the end of the piece and the instructor had to finish my piece for me so that some one else could use the loom. I think I like the ridge heddle loom and the coaster loom better for me. It is time to give my hand a rest. Besides that my one fingered typing is just awful, just ask my spell check. 

A First Post Surgery

Today I knit for the first time post surgery.  I wanted to finish the scarf but stopped before my hand got tired. Yes,I am using size 19 knitting needles. That's the smallest knitting needle that I can hold. This will be a charity scarf. 

More Progress

This afternoon I finished 1 more coaster and started another coaster. I was able to spin about a half of an ounce of wool tonight. I am really happy with that progress.  So tomorrow I plan on plying a little bit of yarn to get a 2 ply yarn. I am very happy with my slow progress.  

Eric had a bit of a tough start to the night. I just have to wait until the washer is done before I can go to bed. I have a full load for the dryer. 

The Search is On

I am not always as organized as I would like to be. Sometimes that leads to cleaning sprees like today. I misplaced my copy of Mollie Makes Magazine Issue 58, 2015. So I started out looking in the most obvious places. No luck. Then I went through all my knitting bags that I could find. No luck there either. Then it was off to the craft room. I tore everything apart. As I was putting things back I did some organizing and tossing. I also decided that it was not worth repairing some items so they got tossed too. 

The end result is that I still can not find my copy of Mollie Makes. There is less clutter in the house. My crafts are more organized. I put some of my yarn into the Old Pueblo Knitters yarn stash. Which means more things out of the house. The recycle bin is over halfway filled, I also filled one bag for the trash bin. I found some weaving warp in the wrong place. So the warp yarn went with the other warp yarn and more yarn was put into the drawer and out of bags. I also found the Valentine gifts that I got for the kids while Teri was still in college. I hid the gifts so well it took me a long time to find them. Ooops! I did not even remember that I misplaced them. Luckily it was not chocolate. 

I know that I will find the copy of the magazine when I have given up looking for it. Just like the Valentine gifts. In the meantime I will keep looking, organizing, cleaning and tossing. Also I am not sure why the majority of the post is not like the first line. Sorry. 

A Bump in the Road

Today started out well. I got a lot done. This built my confidence in my hand. That disappeared when I was almost finished making the corn bread for dinner. I had to get John to help me get the batter into the pan. Then get the pan in and out of the oven.  

I was going to warp the loom after dinner but decided that it was better to let my hand rest. Boredom is the worst part of recovery.  I am just so use to knitting after dinner.  I can only play so many games.  Well tomorrow is another day.  

Slow Going

I was hoping that my hand would be fully functional by now. Not quite. If I over use it, I take backward steps. So I am slowing things down and not rushing things.  I am still at baby steps. 

Baby Steps

I am making very slow but steady progress with my hand post surgery.  Tonight at dinner I managed to use a fork in my left hand for the first time since surgery. It was so nice not to have to worry about the food going every which way. I also used less napkins too. My hand was sore for a couple of hours, but no pain no gain.  

Eric also let me bring weaving into his room this afternoon. I made it 3/4 of the way through a mud rug before my hand needed a rest.  The mud rugs seem to serve two purposes right now.  The first is that it is keeping my hands and mind occupied. The second, that it is using up some hand spun yarn that is not soft enough to go next to the skin, but that I do not have enough to weave a full sized rug or a full set of placemats with. This is a very portable weaving project.  Did I mention that I also get to show off one off my cool handmade baskets too. I did not weave the basket, but it was made by another artist. 

I know that I should be sleeping now, but I woke up at 2:30 am with the headache from he double toothpicks.  As I am writing this I am waiting for the aspirin to kick.  I am also enjoying the rain and lighting show.  We are approaching the 3/4 of an inch mark since the rain started around dinner time last night.  

The Bumpy Road

This has not been the month that summer dreams blossom around here. The road to recovery has been very slow. My hand is still not healed enough for therapy to start. It seems to me that I just finished therapy for the car accident in December a few weeks ago, and here it is the end of July and I am waiting to begin again. Patients is not my virtue this month, I want my hand to be all better and to start knitting and spinning again. I find that I can do about 30 minutes of weaving a day. Hardly enough time to get my 35 grams of fiber per day. Heck, I would even settle for being able to fold laundry again.

Between Eric being sick and staffing shortages at Eric's day program, Eric has been home all but a few days this month. He will also be home the rest of this week and into next week. If you know anyone who would like to work with Eric and his friends please give them the information in this link. Taglit Day Program, Eric and his friends like to have a good time as they explore the world around them. I am also not sure who has the most fun, the staff or the young adults. You would also be doing this mom a great favor.

Well tomorrow is going to be a very long day. I need to unwind before bedtime.

Breaking the Rules

Today I tried a different way to finish warping my loom.  I have always struggled to get the warp tight and even. I have been taught to warp from the outside to the middle and keep adjusting the warp.  It is very hard on the hands.  So I tried wrapping from the center out. It was easier on my hands. I also did not have to do one adjustment to the warp. I am also getting a better weave. I think it will be a good way to continue to break the rules.  

No More Stitches

The good news is that the stitches came out today. The so-so news is that my hand needs more healing time.  The not so good news is that my hand needs therapy to get my hand in better shape. Knitting and spinning are still on hold until my hand feels better.  Although I can do as much weaving as I want.  John and Eric are happy with the weaving because I will use yarn faster.

So my plan is to take the small loom when I go hang out with friends and use the new bigger loom at home. I don't want to put extra strain on my hands right now. I am a little sad because this is my peak hat knitting time for the Flowing Wells School District Clothing Bank and I can not knit the hats I so love to knit for the kids. If you knit or crochet I ask that you consider making 1 or 2 hats for the kids.. They need sizes from preschool through high school. A lot of the kids come from very low income homes.  You can drop the hats off or mail them to the Superintendent of the school district at the main office.  Other new clothing items and school supplies will also be accepted. 

My Wall

Today I hit my wall.  There is not a break in sight until August 5th.  Eric is home the rest of the week. I am hoping that with the stitches coming out tomorrow that things might ease up a bit.  I am not sure how long it will take for my left hand to be the new best it can be.  To cope I did a lot of weaving and 1 handed cleaning, I am not sure why this helps but it does. I will make it through this 5 minutes at a time.  

Teri Got a Book Published

The first thing that I would like to say in this blog tonight, is that if you don't want to read about a very proud mom bragging about her child come back tomorrow.

Now that that is out of the way, let me get on with being a proud mom. This is Teri's first published book. Teri and her former boss Art Neill have finally had their book published. Don't Panic; A Legal Guide (in plain English) for Small Business and Creative Professionals. You can get it in paperback and on Kindle. A link is on the side of the blog post. I am not awake enough to embed the link in the text. It is written for creative types like me. Because I could not say it better, I am using Amazon's description of the book.

"Don’t Panic! will prepare you for potential legal issues you'll encounter as a creator or entrepreneur. Whether you are a small start-up, a musician, an author, or publisher, this handy, how-to manual will be a useful resource. The book covers a range of legal situations that may arise, from the inception of your business, or the creation of your work, to that dreaded moment (that hopefully doesn’t happen) you get a nasty lawyer letter for the first time. While this book is not a substitute for legal advice, it can serve as a valuable guide to preventing and resolving legal issues. The book is organized to help you quickly jump to specific information that will help you through that stage of your work. There are short, straight to the point summaries throughout called “The Bottom Line” providing the essentials you need to know. You’ll learn how to form your business, protect your intellectual property, understand E&O insurance, and avoid problems when launching an App or internet-based service. Often, you can take a few simple steps upfront that will protect your business or creative works, and ultimately save time and money down the road."
It would also make a great gift for the artist or new business owner in your life.

I do apologize for my readers outside of the United States. Teri and Art are licensed to practice law in California; therefore all of the information in this book is based on the laws of the United States and California. There should be similar resources in your own country.

Helping Hands

Teri has been my helping hands since Tuesday. Today Teri headed home. I will miss her very much. The big bandage is gone, but my fingers are still a little bit swollen. Every day is a little bit better.  

Hitting the Brakes

I need to slow down. I am trying to go too fast back to normal post surgery. It's just that I feel better and want to do more than my hand is ready for. I tried to use a knife to cut my dinner tonight, that was a complete disaster. so I did not do any weaving tonight. Just rest time.

Recovering

The big bandage came off my hand today.  The big bandaide went on. Since the stitches go across the palm of my hand, I have decided to hold off on knitting until the stitches come out.  I decided against spinning until I get the feel of my hand post surgery, it feels a little different. Maybe it is the functionality that I lost and have regain. So I unfolded the loom an spent some time weaving. I really like the calmness that fiber puts in my life. The rythem is soothing, there is nothing like it. 

Picture credit goes to Teri Karobonik

Tour de Fleece

Tour de Fleece is a no go again today. The picture was taken by Matthew, he is just practicing. 

Recovery Day 2

Today Teri and I did some deep cleaning. Teri did all the heavy lifting, so we have one clean closet. Maybe a few more closets will be done before Teri leaves. As a reward I took Teri out for a pedicure.   I have been busy icing my hand and keeping it elevated.  I still feel very tired and out of it.  I am hoping as my hand heals I will get more energy back. 

I am taking an injury day for today's Tour de Fleece. I am not sure if I can manage to keep my hand down for more than a few minutes at a time.  I am also not sure if my hand is up to weaving or knitting yet.  So I am taking things one day at a time.  

Part One

Today was part 1 of fixing my hands. I got the 3 fingers on my left hand done today. It is my go to hand for everything.  So I feel a bit lost with not being able to use it for 8 days. It was not like the 2012 surgery where I could use my hand right away. So I think I will take a little me time and let things heal. Tonight all you can see are the bandages and puffy fingers. 

By the way Eric made it to his day program today. Every one was happy to see him. 

A Big Day

Tomorrow is a big day for me.  I am having surgery to resolve the 3 trigger fingers on my left hand. I would like to thank my team of John, Teri and Lisa for stepping up to help with everything Eric. They will also be filling in for me and helping for a few days while my hand starts to heal. 

I don't  know if I will be able to knit yet, because I have 2 trigger fingers on the right hand that need a resolution too.  After the stitches are out on my left hand we can then schedule my right hand.  Until then I will be busy spinning and weaving.  The weaving of course will use my hand spun yarn. 

Still Busy

Eric is feeling better and John is still fighting a bug. I spent the day cleaning and decluttering until exhaustion hit. Then it was nap time for me. I did not get all I wanted to do done, but 4 hours of cleaning and organizing did me in. A good nap followed. It is now time to call it a day.

Day 14

I would like to start out by quashing the rumors that Eric is in the hospital.  No, he has been home the entire 2 weeks with the exception of Tuesday's doctors appointment.  This has been very difficult cold for both John and Eric.  The medicine seems to be working with Eric, and his numbers are slowly getting better. 

I did not got a lot of spinning done today. I mostly finished plying yesterday's yarn. I washed and thwacked about a pound of hand spun yarn today.  I also got a set of coasters off the very mini loom today and had more leftover hand spun wool so I started another set. All I have to do is the finishing work tomorrow.  It's getting late so I will call it a night.  

Day 13

Today is day 13 of Eric being home sick.  The good news is that he is starting to feel better.  John still needs to kick this cold. So I spent the day spinning. I managed to spin 8 ounces of wool today.  I am in the middle of plying the yarn now.  

With all that spinning I am surprised that I did not kick the headache that woke me up at 4 am. Usually I find spinning very relaxing. I hope that this headache is gone by tomorrow.  I think it might be do to both guys being sick and me not getting enough sleep. I need to get everything back in control in the house.  

Sleep is Good

Eric and I had a laid back day. Lisa sent extra help so I got a nice long nap.  I even had enough energy after the nap to tackle a few chores and do some spinning tonight for the Tour de Fleece. I will wash and thwack it tomorrow. 

An Unwelcome Guest

Today makes the arrival of a very unwelcome guest in our home.  Eric's cold of 10 days has turned into a secondary infection and all that goes along with it. Right now I am waiting to run the first load of eyrpy laundry to finish so that I can start the second load before bed tonight.  I am hoping that Eric sleeps tonight. 

I have not had much energy for spinning in the Tour de Fleece today, I only spun 2/3's of a 4 ounce braid. I did manage to get 2 of the 3 skeins I spun yesterday soaked and thwacked.  They are drying in the garage tonight. The birds living on the patio don't like the sound of thwacking and fly away as soon as they hear me coming outside.  I am trying to keep up with the soaking and thwacking of the newly spun yarn so that at the end of the month I am not left with an overflowing sink of yarn that needs finishing.  

To tell you how tired I am. John asked what I wanted for dinner tonight and I asked for a half of a roast beef sandwich. He came in the door and announced that instead of mayo on my sandwich, he had them put on soy sauce. My reaction was, oh well I will just try something new, heck I might even like it. I was too tired to noticed that he pick up my 2 favorite dishes from my favorite Chinese restaurant, China Phoenix. I have got a very wonderful husband.  

I plan on spending the day resting with Eric tomorrow. This run of days with an average of 4 hours of sleep a night is beginning to get to me.  I really don't know if that has to do with giving up cola or not being 30 any more.  All I know is that my body has decided that it needs more sleep.  

A Little Miscaculation

Today is day 2 of the 2016 Tour de Fleece and I have spun half of the 900 grams of I had picked out to last the entire month. I spun 4 batts and 1 batch of roving that I turned into 3 singles today.  So, I went into the craft room to get more batts and roving.  Here is a picture of today's spinning.  

Tour de Fleece 2016

Today I was going to go through my fluff stash to pick out fiber to spin for this years Tour de Fleece. Instead I just took batts and rovings from the top of the pile. I pulled 900.5 grams of fiber to spin this month. That is a little shy of 2 pounds.  It is a lofty goal considering the state of my hands.  Wish me luck. Here is a first look at the fiber.  The spinning starts tomorrow.  I will even preempt Eric's programming to watch the Tour de France while I am spinning. 

Both guys are still sick. I am hoping that I don't get this crud too.  I am trying to tell myself that I don't have an itchy throat or cough. The talley just keeps going up on who is getting this bug from Eric. A lot of his aides are getting it too. This being a holiday weekend in the states it is hard to find someone that I don't have to train from scratch, so John and I are taking up the slack.  I really hope that everyone is ready to get out the door on Tuesday.  I really need a quite day.