The Tally

The tally for the week is very mixed with both good and bad.

The Bad. So far both guys have the cold. I might have figured out this morning who brought it into the house. Eric will be home until at least Tuesday, because of the holiday Monday. No knitting until after the surgery on my left hand. No fiber retreat, hand surgery comes first.

The Good. I have a date for surgery on my left hand, apparently you can't do both hands at the same time. So I picked the most troublesome one. Because it is summer, it was easier to schedule the surgery. I have been napping at every possible moment. I am almost caught up on sleep. The summer Monsoon Rains have started. I got almost 2 ounces of fiber spun today.  I have birthday shopping to do, to be read as retail therapy. Thank you Birthday Person for helping me out.

The only thing that got fully resolved this week was the leak in the bathroom. I figured out where the water was entering the house. Through the bathroom window,  John sealed the leak. Very good team work on our part. If there is ever another remodel, we will go with the upgraded windows, in the long run it has not been worth the $20.00 we saved. We have spent more on paint and repairs than the amount we saved.

Crazy Times

It has been so crazy around here the last couple of days with Eric being sick, that when a bird flew into to the house and got trapped in the living room on Saturday morning it was just one of those oh well moments. Thanks to Eric's aide Nicki we got the bird to walk out the front door. That is just about the least crazy thing happening around here. Eric has been making laundry like crazy, 3 full loads today which would have been 12 in the old washer, and I did not even get to my clothes.

I went to my local Tevana store to pick up some of their new Bellini flavored tea that has been available on line for about a week only to be told that I can't buy any locally until tomorrow. I asked if they had it and they said yes but we can't sell it until June 27th. A really bad marketing move on their part. They have sent an email every day this week touting this new tea, yet they won't sell it to me 1/2 mile from my house.

I bought a smaller loom with a narrower profile so that I could weave in Eric's room when he wants company. That means that I need to sell my Gilmarka 19 inch ridged heddle loom. This has lead to funny things like someone actually telling me that looms were used to design knitting patterns, so since it was a business item, I could not sell it on a particular page. I really can't make this stuff up. I then had to explain looms were for weaving fabric like for blue jeans and knitting needles were used for designing knitting patterns.  I think selling the loom might be a little harder than I thought. Do you know anyone that wants to buy a loom?

I actually ran out of Tylenol for Eric on Saturday, which lead to my Ganga for the week. With 1- 25% off coupon and 3- $5.00 coupons from the store for prior purchases. I was able to pick up 2 bottles of Tylenol for Eric for 32 cents. Ganga is Tucson speak for a really great deal.  I have not gotten a deal like that in a long time.

It has also been a little over a week that I have not been able to knit. My hands should have fixed themselves by now.I am really going crazy.

Redundant Post

You might have already guessed.  I am writing this post from Eric's room. He is sick again. We did not even make 7 days between yucks this time.  He has an awful cough and a tempature of slightly over 100.  I am waiting for him to settle in for the night so I can get some sleep.  

It seems really weird to sit here in Eric's room and not to be able to knit. I even passengered across town today without knitting.   I am following my doctors orders, no mater how hard it is.  So instead of knitting I am deep cleaning closets deciding what I don't really need to keep.  The craft de stash has begun.  I am slowly piling things to go on the dining room table.  Check with me if you have been coveting some of my craft supplies to see if the item has or will make it to the destash table.  The larger items I will try to sell local first.  Smaller items that can be shipped will go up for sale once I figure out the prices.  My talley for the week is one loom gone, one loom listed and one tapestry loom pending pricing. 

There is a silver lining to my very sore hands. I found a spare feeding pump bag for the kangaroo Joey, so I do not have to take time to repair the one that is falling apart.   More space.  Less repair work. Yeah!!!

Help

Eric has come up with a new word over the past couple of weeks. He also uses it at the right time so far.  It is a plea but effective word. I am so glad that he has finally found the word help.  I never know what he is going to need, but it is always urgent.

Last nights call for help was because of a wet chuck and t-shirt.  Which turned into a complete change out, a new button, and new sheets. This included his blanket too.  Here is  a look at how full he managed to fill the washing machine. For complete disclosure John and I each contributed a pool towel. The rest was all Eric.  As John says nobody does a better job of making laundry than Eric.  

On the fiber equipment de stash I am selling my 19" Gilmarka ridged heddle loom.   About a year old.  All worn parts have been replaced.  Used for less than 20 projects. It is still in great shape. Some parts were not even used and are still in the factory wrappers.  Carry all bag included. I am looking at the $475 range plus postage.  If the buyer is local I will throw in some of my hand spun yarn for the first project.  

A Shopping Spree

Eric went to program and I got out of the house and did retail therapy. I went crazy. Almost everything was on sale or had a rebate or coupon. So what did I buy, well the list is long, but here goes.

Bread, watermelon, bananas, mayo, apples, celery, hot dogs for the 4th of July, a new cover for my ipad, lemonade, sliced olives and pizza crust. I threw some Tide and pedalite in for good measure. For the big splurge I bought some dairy free Chunky Monkey along with slice and bake cookies.  That was all at Target. Then I went to Penzey's to buy some white peppercorns for the pepper grinder. I might have slipped a few extra spices in too. Like vanilla sugar for the top of the sugar cookies.

I would like to thank the guys in the North Oracle Target electronics section for helping me pick a new cover and then putting my ipad in the new case. My hands thank you.

I made homemade pizza for dinner and toasted my hands. The pizza tasted so good, it was worth the pain. Plus we get pizza for tomorrow's dinner too.

An Open Letter to The March of Dimes

Dear Non Profit Fundraiser for the March of Dimes,

You may think you have come up with a brilliant new way to do fundraising for your organization. By calling all the parents of sick children and young adults you can find; then asking the family members to send out fundraising letters for you. This is to save your organization the expense of postage. You also failed to mention that your donor list is drying up and that you do not want to pay for more names that may not pay off. After all who is going to say no to a parent of a sick kid raising funds to help other sick kids and fund research into birth defects and how to prevent them?

Let me start debunking your brilliant idea. First you say it is to save you postage. We are among the lucky few who are not figuring out how to pay Peter without robbing Paul. Most families I know with very sick kids live on a very tight budget. So just sending out 30 postcards at 34 cents a postcard is $10.20 that has to come from somewhere in a budget that does not allow for extras.  Also if your budget does not allow for fundraising postage costs, you really need to rework your budget or consider shutting down for lack of relevance. 

We will give you a month to send them out. It's only Tuesday and I have already had one 20 hour work day this week. You see unlike your job in which you are limited to 8 hours a day without overtime pay, parents can work with a sick child for up to 24 hours straight in one day. You have not stepped up to take care of my son so that I can sleep. So If I have a choice, I choose sleep over just a few hours of volunteer time. I am also quite sure that doing the mounds of laundry the average sick child makes, buying groceries or cleaning house would also come before your project. You might check with my other family members to see if they agree on this one. 

You have never offered my son any services or help to my family; yet you ask me to raise funds for you, to use my name as an endorsement of your non-profit. What's up with that? Do you think I owe your organization my time and money just because I have a sick kid? I am more inclined to raise money for groups that help my son. 

Once we have a diagnosis most families I know raise funds to find a cure for the disease that affects their child. What disease research are you currently funding? Does it include the variation of ML4 that my son has?

You really need to go back to the drawing board on this one. I like most parents are too tired for your guilt trip. You might want to go after the 98% who have healthy kids. I assume that they get sleep and have a bit more free time to fill out a bunch of silly postcards. 

If you currently are a donor to the March of Dimes and believe in their work by all means continue to do so. After all they helped fund a cure for Polio and have taken care of people who got Polio. They have also made other breakthroughs to help children. If you believe in their cause volunteer to send out some postcards to your friends. Do a fundraiser for them.  I just am over extended and did not like fundraising call I received this morning. I do not owe any non-profit my time or money. It is not my responsibility to keep The March of Dimes afloat. 

116

Yes the tempature reached a record high of 116 at our house on Sunday. So I spent the day washing yarn, spinning yarn and hanging out with Eric. What I did not do at least before midnight wash laundry or run the dishwasher.  I gave my appliances the afternoon off.  I figured with a record breaking heat wave, I should not add any extra power draw to an already at capacity power system. Surprisingly the yarn that I washed this morning was not dry by dinner time.

John and I got to go to dinner and the James Taylor concert.  We had a great time. The music was wonderful, both the classics and the new songs. We made it home by 11:00 pm, which was our curfew.  When in 15 minutes of getting home Eric started eyrping.  He made 2 loads with in minutes, thank goodness it was finally under 100f so I went ahead and washed laundry all night.  By 3:30am I was exhausted and took a 4 hour nap. 

I was able to get Eric on pedilyte this morning. 

110

Today it reached ,you guessed it 110f tomorrow should be warmer.  So I got the laundry finished before 9:00 am. The grocery store was empty. It is nice shopping in summer. We just had a kick back day.  It is suppose to be warmer tomorrow.  So my plan is to wash a sink full of freshly spun yarn. Then hang it in the garage to dry. It will also keep the garage a little cooler and dry the yarn faster.  I might even warp the loom.  I ran out of energy today. 

Once Eric figured out that I was serious about not being able to knit, he let me bring in a spinning wheel to his room. I spun 2 single ply art yarns.  It was just about right for my hands today. I will wash them tomorrow too. 

The No Knitting Diet

It's official, I can not do any knitting until after I see the hand specialist.  So I have put all my knitting projects away. All my knitting needles are in my knitting closet. Anything that is time critical, I will get someone else to do the knitting for me.  Hopefully this is only temporary. Did I mention how much I hate my arthritis right now. If I am a little grumpy, please be patient with me, knitting is how I have found a way to relax in this hectic world of mine for over a decade.

If it does not hurt my hands I can do a little spinning and weaving. Not quite as portable. I will also be doing a few hand exercises for my hands. I will do my best to hang in without any extra eating. Wish me luck.

Another Long Day

Eric had a very rough night last night, which resulted in 4 loads of laundry today.  It's been a very long time since I did 4 loads of laundry in one day. The good news is that Eric is back on formula tonight. I on the other hand feel very tired. Not much got done today, but that's ok.

I am still managing to go without cola even when Eric is sick. My drink creation today was Moroccan Mint Tea with 1/2 tablespoon of peach syrup per cup. Over ice of course. Not quite the sugar and caffeine rush of cola. Not the same crash either.  I also resisted my early morning urge to bake a coffee cake, just because I did not want to do the clean up. If I am too tired to clean up, then I must be to tired to bake.

I still can not do a lot of creating because of my hands. The less I use them the less they hurt. I am still waiting for the swelling to go all the way down.  I did not touch any knitting needles today. This is bad because I am in a very creative period and feel as if I am sitting on my hands. I also use the summer to do a lot of my charity knitting, to read lots of small projects like hats and scarfs for kids. I also have a few new designs that I am in the middle of knitting. As a result, I am bored and playing too many video games.

I think I am also going to try a different haircut that is not as fussy as the one I currently have. With my current hair cut I either have to blow dry it or fall asleep for a few hours then brush it out to make it look good. I want to go back to comb, fluff and go. 

I Have A Plan

After a very busy day, I was looking forward to a nice quite night.  Well Eric had other plans.  His MTBF is holding steady, yes he is feeling yucky tonight.  Which brings up the next subject. Eric does not like he acronym MTBF, which is mean time between failures, an engineering term.  Hence forth it will be called MTBY, mean time between yuckies, an Eric term.  

Since we will be home tomorrow, I plan on getting as much spinning as I can done. There is a reason behind all this spinning. First it really hurts my hands when I knit right now, the arthritis has settled in them for a while.  Second it is suppose to be 113f here in Tucson on Sunday.  I figure since we will be home all day, it would be a perfect day to wash and dry yarn.  Hopefully this will keep the garage a little cooler and the yarn will dry a little faster.  

Needless to say if you were expecting me anywhere tomorrow, sorry.  Someone we all know and love will be keeping me busy.  

The Loom

I fixed the loom today.  Then I went to warp it.  Oops, we reconfigured the house and they way I used to warp the loom won't work.  I will have to get the tape measurer out and figure out a new place to warp the loom.  

I am still resting my hands. Not one stitch got knit today.  I really want to knit, but hate sore hands more than I want to knit.  Even with rest I don't like the sounds my joints are making.  On the bright side I do seem to be able to do a little bit of spinning. 

A Bad Hand Day

I am frustrated. I really want to knit, but my hands and not in the mood.  I don't know what I will do to keep myself busy.  Today I cleaned and napped. I can't do that everyday, the napping part that is. I guess I will fix and warp the loom tomorrow.  That should be a sore hands friendly activity. 

I Cheated

I am not usually the one to really break into any kind of present early. I really enjoy the aniticapation, wondering what is in the box. That said, I knew what John had gotten me for my birthday this year and the box was taunting me to open it. The box won, I could not wait any longer to play with my new WooLee Winder for the Lendrum spinning wheel.  

Well I have to say this, I do not feel guilty about it.  I actually played 2 skeins of yarn and spun another 2 skeins of yarn yesterday.  I have not measured ounce for ounce but to the naked eye it seems to get twice the amount of yarn on the bobbin. I think this may be due to the way the yarn is wound onto the bobbin. I have to say that John really knows how to pick out birthday presents.  Thank you John.  

On A Roll

Today I finished 1 crochet project, a child's purse that has been on the hook for over 4 years and 1 hat before noon today.  John will be very happy that the purse was no sooner off the hook then it found its way to a new home that was not ours. Since I did not want the circular knitting needles to be lonely, I cast on the next hat. In reality I find it harder to lose stitch markers and knitting needles when they are in the middle of a project. Even though it is too heavy to carry around, I was reminded that it was past time to finish Teri's 1st year of law school blanket. Miss Teri, how many years is it overdue?

I certainly don't have the energy for it but now that it is under 100f, it is time to wash Eric's swim stuff from today. while I am at it a little picking up would not hurt either. After all no matter how much I want to play all day with fiber, the house work should come first. Maybe I will have dinner with John first.

A New Pattern

Today I added a new pattern to my Ravelry Shop. I have found that when I use 3 different cameras to take pictures, the pictures go to 3 different places in the computer memory. John says he has an easy fix for this. It took me 3 days to transfer the pattern from my iPad to the main computer and add the picture, I could have knit this pattern at least 3 times in the time it took to transfer the pattern. I know that this is a winter hat, made with bulky yarn. When the high is 111 for the day, I find that releasing a winter hat pattern adds a bit of fun to the day. It's a Tucson thing, where else do you go to celebrate the first day of 100 degree weather of the season?

The hat is called Grandma's Winter Hat and my friend Jimmy was gracious enough to be my model. This is the link to Grandma's Winter Hat . Even though it is listed on Ravelry you will be able to view and purchase this pattern with this link. It will fit teenages through adults. If you are in a country outside the United States, use this link to  Loveknitting.com , you can find this pattern and 5 of my other patterns. At Love Knitting you will also be able to buy the yarn and supplies to knit this pattern.

Squirrel

Today did not go as planned, but it was very productive anyway.  My closet floor got cleaned and a few more things were purged from my closet. My purses were organized, with the larger ones going up on the closet shelf and the smaller ones hanging.  I did not get any spinning or the new pattern posted to Raverly. I did manage to do a bit of knitting though.  

I did manage to get over 13,00 steps on my fit bit today.  That is a little over 5 miles of walking with most of it done doing house work. I also managed to gift 2 project bags and a couple of skeins of yarn.   Eric thinks that I should have given more yarn away.  

I think that I will call it a night so that I can get more things besides sleeping done tomorrow.  

Busier Than Usual

It was a catch me if you can type of day.  I started off making a sorting box for a friend of Eric's.  He was very excited when Eric gave it to him.  Then it was a quick breakfast and off to buy out one store.  Then it was time to print some coupons for the next store. The first Wednesday of the month I get an extra 10% off grocreys. So I get the things like laundry detergent and other things that happen to be on sale.  

Before I knew it, it was 2:20pm and I had not had lunch or put the groceries away. So after a few pita chips and a slice of cheese it was time to get Eric.  Then it was time to start the laundry and put things away. I even managed to make a home cooked dinner tonight.  

Would anyone be surprised that I have over 10,000 steps and have not done any knitting today?