My Name is Toast

I picked up the bug du jour last week, which started with a 4 day headache and then moved down. I have spent the last 2 days sleeping hoping that it will help me get over this bug. I was hoping for another solid day of sleeping tomorrow. Eric had other plans, he just started throwing up. I gently suggested to him that tomorrow would be a day of sleep and he just glared at me. Lisa suggested that he take care of himself and he shoot that dagger glare. I have decided that I will be over this by Thursday, I sure hope that my body listens to me.

If you want to join the party here tomorrow just bring Pedilyte and Lemonade. Also I declare tomorrow will be another laundry is like fine wine day. No laundry shall be folded before its time. Even though it's after 8 pm I expect to get 2 loads of laundry washed tonight.

Wish me luck for tomorrow.

Catching Up

Eric has been keeping us very busy with tummie troubles. He has missed almost a week of program.  The hours have been long and the stress hit my back with vengence.  I have been to stressed out to eat at times, which lead to odd meal times when I was relaxed enough to eat.   Eric is feeling better and we will try a half day at program tomorrow.  Lisa has been a godsend coming over to sit with Eric while I went to PT. 

I am behind on all things crafty.  I just cast off my new shawl pattern now I just have to do the finishing work and polish the pattern.  I am wondering how Amber is doing on her test shawl. I am also behind on finishing the belt made with the new weaving sticks at Grandma's Spinning Wheel. I just started it tonight and am already 25% of the way through the project after just 1 hour.  I am having fun with this project.  I hope to have it done tomorrow.  Now it's time to go back to weaving. 

New Pattern

I am almost finished knitting my new pattern.  This is all the yarn I have left. I have given it to my test knitter. Since it was designed with new knitters in mind I showed Amber how to do the knitting combanation and gave her the lace weight yarn she will need to knit the pattern.  I can't wait to see how Amber does with this pattern.  

Now it's time to finish knitting and clean up the pattern.  

Salsa Chicken

Salsa Chicken is a recipie that is fast, easy and gluten free. I will have some more gluten free dishes on the blog as I create them for my wonderful sister in law Marla.  They will all be fast and easy to put together. Many will be semi homemade with pre-made ingredients. Perfect for the cook with active children or newer cooks.  This is an easy recipie to bring the younger cooks into the kitchen to help with. 

For those of you who do not live in the United States the following conversions will be helpful. These are exact conversions,  C= F-32.00/1.8) Since I do not cook in celius just get them as close as possible to your own oven.  

350f is equal to 176.67c

325f is equal to 162.78c

185f is equal to 85c

 16 ounces or 1 pound is equal to 0.45 kilograms

Ingredients

1 pound of chicken ( more or less depending on your needs. )

Salt and white pepper

1 cup of salsa, pre made is fine. 

Spray your favorite casserole dish with non stick cooking spray. The clean up crew likes this.   Add the chicken.  Lightly salt and pepper. I use white pepper because it has a milder taste.  Evenly cover the chicken with the salsa. Bake at 350f for 50 minutes or until the chicken reaches an internal tempature of 185f. If you are using a glass casserole dish set the oven to 325f and bake for 1 hour or until the chicken reaches 185f.   

I will be serving this with gluten free corn  tortillas, refrained beans and vegetables. You can also add olives for good luck, this is a south of the boarder tradition.

In The Blender

My life has been in the blender, which is like dancing as fast as you can on the edge of a sword, but with an I interminted vortex being controlled by a higher power than me.  I am sitting with Eric who is having a bad tummy week.  We know what the problem is and tried the quick fix solution.  Since it is almost 12:30 on Thursday morning we know that is not the solution.  Weather we go down path B , C D, or E will be up to team Eric medical professionals.  

I am just wondering how early I can hand off my meeting notes for tomorrow, so that I can take care of Eric and someone else can run the Old Pueblo Knitting Guild Meeting.  I am positive that this is the wrong hour of the morning to call someone.  

I would also like to thank PBS Kids for running good programming for kids at a time when we should all be sleeping. If you don't already support public television, a small donation will keep early morning programming going for Eric and other kids..I also want to know why Sprout has changed their programming to run excercize programming at midnight for kids?

Well I think it is time to go adjust the air conditioning.  I usually don't run the air conditioning in February. Then I will do some charity knitting.  

A Plague of a Day

It would have been enough if I had only woken up with the room spinning and my ears hurting, without  the right medicine in the house.  Then finding out that you can't get it at the drive up window was a bit much this morning. 

It would have been enough to get to Eric's doctors appointment on time, but not being at the wrong office was too much this morning.  

It would have been enough to leave after Eric's doctors appointment and bring him to his day program. , instead of enjoying the fine dinning of the hospital cafeteria.  

It would have been quite helpful to know that there are really bad colors that need immediate attention.  We learned the hard way, don't ask.  

On the bright side it was a nice sunny day so Eric and I enjoyed some time outside listening to music. 

On the bright side we check into the lab test early and the hospital transport system was behind so we got in early to the test.  

On the bright side we are home tonight.  I am exhausted beyond belief.  It takes a lot of energy to get in to high gear when I don't feel good, let alone keeping it up all day.  

On the very bright side John brought home dinner.  For that I am very grateful. 

Today's Progress

Today I tackled 7 boxes in Teri's room.  I did the daughting task of separating her tea cup collection that she inherited from her Grandama Audrey from my own tea cups and precious memories.  My collection is now neatly arranged and Teri had 3 boxes to deal with.  I also found a lovely Spode serving dish that we got as a wedding present and never used waiting for a fancy enough dinner. I made the decision to unbox it and make it an everyday dish, because everyday is special.  

For those of you who remember what the shelf used to look like here is the new view.  I still might rearrange things so all the Woodland Flowers tea cups are together.  John on he other hand has 4 boxes to break down and recycle.  I also did not need all the newspaper that I thought that I would.  This means that the recycle can will be extra full this week.  

The Last Room

Today I started the deep cleaning of the last room that has not been zenned. I am hoping that it will only take about a week.  Although I have my doubts, I put in 4 hours of solid cleaning and only made a small dent.  Tomorrow I hope to sort the tea cups, Teri's and mine got blended together in her jounior year of high school.  At least most of mine are in a different style.  My tea cups will go on display and Teri's will be repacked so she can take them when she is ready for them.  I probably should not have recycled last weeks newspaper.  

I did not realize just how much hand spun yarn I had in Teri's dresser and in her bookcases.  That was all moved today.  I will have to do more knitting and weaving to start using it up.  2016 will be my year of creating as much as possible. I am off to a good start in knitting more projects. I would like to finish Teri's room and start on the zenning of the garage before it hits the 100's. 

More Progress

Today I made a lot of progress on the new shawl design.  I am just about 880 yards in to a a 1320 yard design.  All I can say is that the Dream in Color Yarn, Jilly with Cashmere is really dreamy. It is soft and cushy.  I would like to say that I bought the yarn and am creating the original design on my own. It is not a commissioned design.  I will publish it as soon as I have it test knit.  Yes with this yarn I flunked my yarn diet. It's time to go knit some more. 

Is Today Over Yet?

It's been one of  those days around here.  I could not figure out if the new lunch spot we tried yesterday is to blame or I have a he crud du jour that is going around Eric's day program.  It really does  not matter.  I spent most of the day sleeping.  I am still tired.  

Eric is not feeling good either. He is on he eyrpy side tonight.  Sitting with Eric sometimes has its own harzards.  Tonight diaper mountain fell on me or rather a dozen packages of diapers.  It did not help my lack of Caffine fueled headache.  Tomorrow diaper mountain will be restacked.  

Meanwhile I set aside working on the new pattern while I am sitting with Eric.  Instead I am trying to finish the second half of a charity knitting poncho.  There is nothing like doing mindless garter stitch when I am sitting with Eric.  Something that I can stop in mid row and not lose my place in the pattern.  

Eric's Closet Part 2

All it took was 30 minutes. Nothing will fall on me for a while. Now after physical therapy I can spend the day doing a rare laundry day. I will also work on the new shawl.  Thanks to the good folks  at LG.  

The Leaning Closet of Eric

Sometimes Eric's closet gets out of hand. After all it is easier to just dump everything on top no matter how many things are already out of place.  I don't claim to have Martha Stewart tendencies, but when I pull something out of Eric's closet and I get hit with a pile of linens something has to happen. So tomorrow I will pull everything out and reorganize it.  Nothing will be tied with ribbions or folded perfectlly. That is not the point. The point is not to have things fall on me and to be able to find things in a hurry.  

Knitting and More

Eric is still sick and tommrow is up in the air.  He is currently running a fever. I am hoping that Eric's fever breaks tonight and that he feels better tomorrow. I on the other hand feel much better.  My back is finally starting  to feel better after the December accident. I guess everything gets better In its own time.

On the knitting front my new design is coming out much better than I hoped.  It has a lot of body and swish. I am really loving the Dream in Color Marino Cashmere blend. I also got 8 more inches knit today. This might just be the pattern that will be given at the March Old Pueblo Knitters luncheon and fashion show. I will include a link when the web site is updated.  My plan is to add the second skein of yarn tomorrow. Don't worry this pattern will be suitable for a beginning knitting project.  

The Plague Du Jour

It has been a crazy few days around here. Just when I thought I had enough energy to get the creative juices flowing. The plague du jour has been going around the house. After being up all night with Eric on Tuesday I spent most of Wednesday sleeping and achy.

The new washer is great, I have only done 3 loads of laundry since Tuesday night. With the old washer that would have been closer to 10. So yes I am still in love with my new washing machine.

I think it is time for another nap.