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.