This and That

 I have started pre spring cleaning.  The more weight I lose, the more energy I have.  Except when pain wakes me up at night.  So I am trying to do tons of small little things that seem to be adding up to bigger things.  I am also trying to walk more. Today I got over 7,000 steps. 

It was interesting shopping at Target today. They are remodeling the whole store. Moving everything around.  They have extra staff on hand to help.  I can compare it to a home remodel except it is super sized.  Almost everything is going to be in different places, even the freezer and cold Food sections.  It looks like they are adding more energy efficient freezer and chiller cases.

My hand was even feeling well enough to knit a few rows on the doodle shawl.  I am taking baby steps with my hand.  

We Are Super Busy

If you recall I had a problem with a ChaioGoo knitting needle.  My local yarn store owner let me know that  ChaioGoo guarantees their product. All you need to do is bring it in to where you bought it and they will replace it. On a very busy local yarn shop day Vicky exchange the needle for me. This is the first time that that has ever happened with a knitting needle in 22 years of knitting. I do tend to wear out knitting needles with high usage. I was very surprised and grateful. A special thank you goes out to Vicky of Grandma’s Spinning Wheel here in Tucson.  

This week we decided to clean out under each sink in the house. 5 cabinets in all. So Tuesday I emptied all of them into laundry baskets.  2 baskets for the kitchen and one for each of the other cabinets.  I think this should be done more often than I currently do it.  I found empty containers, half filled bottles and boxes, and more than a few cleaning rags. This afternoon we put everything back. John volunteered to do the kitchen,By the way he is great at organizing things.  We each did 2 cabinets.  That leaves the 5th cabinet.  While emptying the cabinet out I discovered that the towels felt crunchy, like they were put away wet.  Not in this house.  Then the towels started sticking to the wood. Not a good sign. Then I got to the bottom of the cabinet and they were hard to pull out. Underneath all the towels was discolored wood.  Apparently the sink had been leaking and we did not notice because of the almost 2 foot layer of towels.  Being one to divide up chores I took washing the 3 loads of towels with bleach and hot water. Then I got to fold them. I know that I could probably pin point the leak and try to fix it myself, but not this week. So John it going to tackle the leak and clean off the wood. Then I can put everything back together. 

As of Monday afternoon I am on a temporary knitting hiatus again. My right elbow is giving me trouble. Next week will involve a test to see where we go from here.  Because of all the cleaning of the past 2 days I have not gone through knitting withdrawal yet. I have been too busy.  I did however ask John if he was really sure if he wanted me to passenger without my knitting.  He was very brave to let me in the car without my knitting.  

I am trying coloring in a coloring book to keep me distracted when I want to knit.  I am doing really well with my left hand.  I am staying in the lines.  Playing with colors. Dropping a few colored pencils under the couch.  I will pick them up when I have dropped a few more so I have plenty of colors to play with.  I am going for abstract in the picture I an currently working on.  

Well it has been a long week and it’s only Wednesday. So I am calling it an early night. 

Maybe?

  Am hoping that the swelling going down in my cheeks means that this round of Sjogren’s flare up will  Soon be history.  I am slowly starting to feel better, but am still very tired.  

In other news, my new shawl had to be switched to longer knitting needles.  I think that I might even go beyond the 100 rows of the pattern if yarn permits.  I am tackling spring cleaning in 5 minute increments.  So far so good.  I am busy pricing everything for my fiber de stash  / yard sale.  Once it is all priced I will hunt down more stuff to sell.  Almost everything is new or used just a couple of times.  Some was purchased or projects that I am no longer planning to do.  So it should be good.  Everything is being priced to sell.  

I also got to the loom today and wove for about15 inches.  Hopefully the project will be finished think.   I think I am going to call it an early night.  

Spring Cleaning and more...

 I spent part of the last 2 days doing spring cleaning. I decided to tackle the storage room.  I started by emptying the big storage shelf. Then I had John help me move it to a different place. That involved unscrewing one bookcase from the wall and moving it 1 inch to the left. Thank goodness I did not have to empty the bookcase too.  

Today I started out cleaning and organizing the kitchen pantry. I do this every spring. I toss the expired food.  Put the still good but what was I thinking to a box to rehome when I am finally finished.  Then I started loading the shelf in the soon to be partially recovered craft room.  

This afternoon I listened to Hillybilly Eldgy by J.D. Vance while I finished the 3 rd charity blanket of the year.  I will photograph the blanket after it is washed tomorrow.  I got the center square done on the next blanket.  I am on a slow roll here.  

One Blanket Down

 I finally finished knitting one blanket. It will get washed and blocked tomorrow.  I am a third of the way through the next blanket in the basket. I have 2 inches to finish knitting on the first strip. Then I will start the next strip. This is the first of two blankets with 3 different size 8 inch blocks.  Yes, I have another one of those too. We as knitters either have to standardize what an 8 inch block actually is or all use the same rulers. My take on an 8 inch block is 8 inches wide by 8 inches in length. On the next 2 blankets I have six different sized  8 inch blocks.  So I will be knitting a lot of strips. Sewing them together.  Then adding Crocheted boarders.  

I also started spring cleaning today.  I started in the kitchen.  I cleaned for 1 1/2 hours and napped for 3 hours.  I am sincerely hoping that this is still the surgery recovery process. If it’s not I might have to admit that I am not 30 anymore.  

I need to get a good nights sleep.  Tomorrow we will be hunting down tree killing mistletoe and removing it.  Since we have a dumpster bag we will also get some junk out of the garage. The word of the day tomorrow is Zenning.  

Busier Than Usual

I spent my day recovering from a whirlwind day yesterday. I had one meeting all about Eric, which left me exhausted.  Eric’s aide had an early appointment so he had to leave early.  I missed seeing my Friday friends.

So today was spent spring cleaning. Guess what I found out today? John loves getting rind of bags of junk and will even carry it to the recycle bin.  John also volunteered to drive to Goodwill when I fill up my boxes. I also managed a 2 1/2 hour nap. Did some spot decluttering in Eric’s room. I just have 3 major areas to finish tomorrow.  As long as I sleep tonight that should be possible.

I also finished a visit from my older sister today.  Maybe a little less very rich food will help me feel better. Some how with my family it’s always over sized meals and not enough walking.

At this point it’s hard to call it an early night.  But if Eric let’s me I get to sleep in tomorrow.

Spring Cleaning

Now that everyone is feeling better and 2 rooms of carpets are clean, spring cleaning shall go forward in earnest tomorrow. My goal is to have the craft room finished by Saturday afternoon.  I will also be  decluttering counters and polishing cabinets. The floor boards are also over due for polishing.  My expectation is that I want to be finished by Wednesday.  I, of course will leave the windows to John.  Wish me luck.

Eric is back on formula tonight.  So this makes me very happy. I have a busy day tomorrow so it’s time to call it a night.

A Night Out

Yesterday did not get off to a great start. Eric's Kangaroo Joey ran out of formula at 2 am. This interrupted a dream I was having about an impossible headache. It turned out not to be a dream but the beginning of a rare migraine. So after I took care of Eric, I started off with a cuppa tea and aspirin. It was enough to allow me to sleep but not knock the headache out.

After breakfast that included more tea and aspirin it was time to finish our annual spring cleaning. I was hoping that by keeping myself busy that the headache would just go away. We managed to get the house finished before the headache went away, but the house is clean.

After a nap, I realized that this was not just an average garden variety headache, but a full blown migraine. So I spent the rest of the afternoon walking around in sunglasses doing more cleaning. Thank goodness the headache started to go away before John and I had a very rare date night.

We had dinner at a supposedly great Tucson dining spot near the venue. I won't embarrass them by naming them. To sum up the dining experience, the tea was burnt.  They ran out of crackers for one dish and used stale bread instead, stale bread and crackers are the same right? The waitress did not have much knowledge of the menu and if you had an allergy to something, they left it off your plate and did not substitute anything for it, but still charged full price. With the exception of dessert which had a metallic flavor the food that we did have was pretty good. I did have some Excedrin with dinner to try to get rid of the rest of the headache.

The best part of the date was the show we went to. John managed to get tickets to the sold out Bill Maher Show in Tucson. The show was great and very relevant. I don't think that I have laughed that much in years. I have been a fan of Bill Maher for years,  but this was the first live show that I have gone to. I can say without a doubt that it was well worth the price of the tickets. I would like to thank Mr. Maher for taking time out of his busy schedule to come to Tucson. Your show was wonderful.

Now I just need to figure out how to manage some sleep.The caffeine in the Excedrin has not worn off yet.

Spring Cleaning

I started spring cleaning today. 4 hours of cleaning left me exhausted, but visable progress was made. One thing that I can say for certain is that the more sweeps I have made though the house over the past couple of years has made the process much easier. I have much less clutter to deal with each time.   

On top of the spring cleaning I got 6 loads of laundry done. 2 hats knit and a hand knit scarf started.  I am sore and tired to the bone but it was a good day around here.  

Can You do too Much Cleaning?

I am at the point of spring cleaning of throwing up my hands and running straight to my spinning wheel. This does not mean that I will stop, it just means that we are almost finished. Or so I think so. With each round of deep cleaning a little more leaves the house. I take time to reorganize things like my fiber stash. I can say that I am making progress there. I no longer have it scattered around the house hiding. It is now in one of 3 places being spun, in a box in the garage and in Teri's closet. Teri's closet has less fiber than last November when we had to stuff things in. I now have about 2 inches of clearance at the top of the clothing rack. No more has been added to the garage and I have space under my desk for my feet.

I am also down on works in works in progress in knitting. I am down to about 8 UFO's from way to many to count. Some are even new projects since the last count. I am enjoying working on things for me. The yarn stash is not down as much as the fiber, because of all the spinning. Less fluff more yarn, who would have thunk.

I have gotten the first box of things for Goodwill boxed and John will drop it off tomorrow. I am hoping to be done with spring cleaning tomorrow. Then maybe I won't dream I am cleaning the house at night.  The worst nightmare ever.

Well dinner is ready so it is time to go. Please enjoy your families.

Catching Up

Spring cleaning is well under way. There might be hope that the house will be ready for Passover.  It is nice sharing the work with John. We work well together.  I also took time to organized fluff. Instead of being scattered around the house it is all in Teri's closet or the garage. My stash is getting realitivty smaller. At least it is not growing.  

I also got caught up on some sleep. Which helps with the arthritis pain.  Last night it got so bad that I got up to clean house on the theory that moving would help loosen things up.  After an hour it was aspirin time.  So I took a 3 hour nap today which helped a lot.  

I also figured out why 2 rows of the shawl is enough for one night. At 398 stitches per row will do that.  It was also easier to work the lace pattern tonight with a stitch marker every 14 stitches.  So as it stands now 4 rows of lace are done and only 16 more rows of lace to go.  I should have it done in a week or so.  Then I will block it.

Tomorrow I conquer the craft room.  Teri's never ending blanket will go on the table that has the beads on it. I will also need to find a pattern for my next sewing project.  So the sewing table will need to be done too. 

I have a busy day tomorrow so I am calling it a night. 

Well at Least I am up to Something

It has been a while since I last blogged. After Eric being sick and at home for over 6 weeks this time I am a little tired. But the good news is that since giving up diet soda and hfcs my body is not stuck in bed. So my un-scientific real live test subject research shows that the combo of hfcs and diet soda is not good for me.

I have spent the week doing errands and running around getting out of the house. It seems to be a good plan in hindsight because they sent Eric home with a fever of over 100 today, but they sent him home alone on the bus, even so I did not have to finish emptying the car in a hurry to run to school and pick him up.

There has not been much cleaning this week. Hey I can either run errands or clean there are just not enough hours in a 24 hour day and I really don't think I want a long day anyway. I also broke the second tape gun this week. They just don't seem to last as long as I would like, we got them in the late 70's and early 80's. I thought they would last forever. What is this with the poor workmanship.  So I made John an apple pie to ease the news to him. It's in the oven now. Well it is time to go make turkey and avocado sandwiches for dinner.

I will write more tomorrow about my adventures in spinning. I think I am getting fairly good but I will let Kathy Withers be the judge of that.

Well since I did not finish yesterdays blog I will add that today I made up for the rest of the week in getting some cleaning done. I have gotten 5 baskets and 2 full loads of shredded paper out to the what was the nearly empty recycle bin in the back yard. I am hoping that I have enough room for the rest of the week. 

Eric's temperature went back to normal a few hours after he got home, but I had to keep him home anyway because they sent him home with a fever. He was very content to kick back most of the day, after all what young adult would pass up a day to kick back and watch TV?

Well I have decided to make pizza for dinner so it is time to go make the dough and get things going for home made pizza and salad for dinner. I am seriously thinking a wedge cut salad for dinner tonight not that I am tired after a full day of Eric care and cleaning.

Have a Great evening and enjoy your families.

Busy as a Bee

It's been a while since I last blogged. Eric has been sick and I have been busy getting rid of junk and clutter. I did manage to get John too join in the effort yesterday. It was such a good week that we could not get all the recycling in the bin and had to hold over a little bit to add once the bin was emptied today. Yes the bin was so full we could not pack it down any further and John had to drag it to the street.

My spinning is progressing nicely and I found a way to keep the yarn from sliding around the spindle and I now have smoother yarn which is also thinner. My plying is getting better although I still have trouble when I get to the end, but with practice I am sure it Will get better.

A lot of knitting is also getting done. It is also a good thing that I have plenty of yarn and some fibre for spinning as Eric will be home another week. I think is is entirely possible to get cabin fever in the middle of the Sonoran Desert. Yes I reached that point last week and still have a week to go, but at least we are home and not at the hospital like everyone was thinking this morning. So at least there is something positive about today.

I did a very foolish thing today too. I scheduled 2 IEP meetings for Eric for today 1 in the morning and 1 in the afternoon with a doctors appointment sandwiched in between. Definitely too much for one day when I am so tired.  Just one more week will be my mantra for the week. So yes I will be off the grid for another week. Enjoy your families and have a good week.

It Really Needed to be done

Well I did do some really deep cleaning today. I went through a box of old school papers from the kids. A very teary victory was mine. There were 2 full baskets of paper for recycling and less than 1/2 a box of journals, pictures, and year books for Eric.

I also started organizing all those patterns that I am going to knit someday. OK not really organized but put in order, stapled, put in protective covers, and placed in a note book. It really is the first step. Once they are all in protective covers I will organize them by projects, socks, shawls, sweaters, etc...

I also got 40 stitches done on my kcal with they Raverly group The Counting Sheep farm. I know it does not sound like much but row 5 of the chart is very challenging for me.

Well it is time to say goodnight and enjoy your families.