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.