Grief and Loss

 This week is going to be hard.  It’s been a year and 1 day since we lost Eric.  Today is the one year anniversary of his funeral.  In five days it would have been his 31st birthday.  Although we tended to celebrate Eric’s birthday all month long and when ever we went somewhere special.  I am not sure how the week will go, but my goal is to try to stay in the now and not eat my way through my grief.  I also plan on a lot of walking. So far so good on the eating and walking front.  

Since stress makes my arthritis worse and I still have 6 weeks before I can try knitting again.  I know that I can spin and weave but I might not have any creative mojo this week. I just might go on a cleaning and de stashing spree.  So a few people might just get some calls to pick up some crafting supplies.  I am sure that you won’t mind. I just don’t know about you’re families will like it  

If you are so inclined to remember Eric a donation in his memory would be most appreciated.  The first that I would like to suggest is www.ML4.org as they are continuing to do research on this disease that turned my family upside down.  ML4 was Eric’s primary diagnosis. The second  is your local community food bank, like all kids with ML4 Eric loved to eat.  Eric also loved making donation runs around Thanksgiving every year.  We would fill up the van with a donation that Eric would hand off while I slipped in a check.  He was delighted when the volunteers remembered his name and that he like to hand them the food. 

I will miss his smile this week and his delight in having the birthday guy sing happy birthday. Eric might be gone physically, but he is not forgotten. I love him to the moon and back. 

Happy Fathers Day and More

I would like to start out by saying Happy Fathers Day to John. The day did not quite go as planned but I hope it was a good day. I also really missed my call to my dad today. It still does not seem right that both our fathers are no longer with us. I hope my dad is having a day that is "a little bit better than perfect".

This was also a birthday weekend around here too. I have a new Fit Bit to try as soon as John sets it up for me. My friend Lisa made a cake for me. Teri Called us. We also did something completely out of charter for us. Last night John and I actually went to dinner and a movie. Yes, we really did stay out past 7:00pm.. It has been more than a decade since we have done that. We really had a great time. We saw "Now You See It", I would like to recommend this movie if you have not seen it. It was good enough to make me put my knitting back into the my knitting bag. The only thing that would have made the experience even better is if the nameless movie theater would have bothered to pick up the trash between showings or the people would have taken their trash out with them. It was kinda of yucky tripping over other peoples trash in a darkened theater. We never have that on the 1st or 2nd showing of the day, our usual time to see a movie.

Today Eric was not feeling well and slept most of the day. I spent a good 3 hours in his room trying to make him comfortable tonight. I think I finally succeeded. I also managed to get another 2 inches done on a charity scarf. Maybe I spoke too soon. I really hope he sleeps tonight.

Birthday Time

Well today was the 1st of Eric's planned birthday parties. A friend of Eric's planned it. I made the cake. His friend helped make the icing and frost the cake. The frosting is an easy
recipe.

Sheri's Quick Butter Creme Icing

1 stick of margarine
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 ounce of water
1 pinch of salt
1 pound of Powdered sugar sometimes called XXX Sugar

Place the first four ingredients in a mixing bowl. Using a low speed on your mixer or by hand, creme until smooth. Slowly add the powdered sugar with a low speed until incorporated. Now its time to add some air to that frosting. On my Kitchen Aide K5, I turn the speed to 4 which is a slow/medium speed. Beat for 10 minutes, this should leave your frosting light and fluffy.

This makes enough frosting for a small cake. If you double or triple this recipe increase beating time to 15 minutes because of the increased volume. If you would like a white butter creme frosting use a vanilla called Clear Vanilla Extract Available on Amazon. I have included the link.  Most brands are about the same. Link to clear vanilla extract on Amazon.*

Stay tuned to this blog for a KAL. I will tell you it is fast and easy. I designed and hand knit the proto type this evening while watching TV.

*If you decide to use this link to make your purchase on Amazon, Amazon will pay me a small commission.

Party Day

We had a small party for Eric today. We had 1 friend for Eric and just did a little hanging out and relaxing. A lot of the Elmo's made it off the shelf. At one point we had a Sesame Street video going plus a few Elmos' sing and one even telling stories. Eric reached for every Elmo that made it to the bed. Matthew even managed to find and get John to open 2 more Elmo's that were still in the boxes. Eric and Matthew had a great time even though I fell asleep this morning instead of making a cake. I don't think it made a difference to either of them.

The party favor was a new dog pillow for Matthews dog. I had enough scraps to stuff a dog pillow for Frank. I made the mistake of putting my hand in the stuffing mix and have a nice blister on my hand. Polyfil is great to stuff dog pillows with along with yarn and spinning scraps, but my skin does not like it. When will I ever learn. sigh.

I did manage to score a Phat Fiber sampler box on the second drop today and it should be here before Thanksgiving. I did not find time to spin but I did get a few rows done on a hat and 1 1/2 squares done on Teri's blanket. I think the month is catching up with me so it is time to call it a night.

Just a Short Post

Our holiday company is all safely back at home. They even manage to get through last Sunday’s earthquake on the drive home with only a few bumps along the way. The house is back to clean. Knitting has commenced again. Sewing is soon to follow. I think the washing machine and dryer are talking to me again after running them for almost 24 hours straight after company left.


I would like to wish my Mom a Happy Anniversary of her 39th Birthday; she is ageless just like the great Jack Benny who never got older than 39; himself. Just like when I was a kid I sent her a handmade gift this year. I really hope that she likes it.

This post won’t be long today, Eric had his 4th bad night in a row and my hands took the brunt of his not feeling good last night.

Have a great day and enjoy your families.