Thanksgiving

 We are back home after a brief visit with our daughter and son-in-law for Thanksgiving.  We had a delicious and delightful dinner with my son-in-laws extended family.  Many did not recognize me after a 50 pound weight loss and a few years between seeing them again.  

Speaking of weight loss. I am now in another smaller size. Right now my body is going through a let’s lose inches phase before the next round of weight loss.  I just can’t seem to lose inches and weight at the same time.  

I started unpacking and had had an early breakfast.  Right now I can’t decide whether to take a nap or finish unpacking and start the laundry. I also have to go shopping to restock fruits and vegetables.  Now that my tummy is full a nap seems more prudent right now.  

TTFN

In A Rut

I have to admit that I am still having a rough patch right now. Although going away for the Thanksgiving weekend to hang out with Teri and Tej helped a lot. I loved their new couch.  As soon as I sat down I was sleeping. I am sure I needed the sleep as the general comments were that family members have not seen me sleep so much in years.

I am still trying to deep clean the house 5 minutes at a time. I need to do another Bookman’s run. I have a whole lot of errands and all the time in the world, but none of the energy. People tell me that this will take time.

I did get the loom warped tonight..my only plan for the design is to use up the yarn currently on the shuttle’s. I got a little over 3 inches woven tonight. I also got the bead out to make some earrings.

A Great Thanksgiving Week

I had the pleasure of spending part of Thanksgiving week with my lovely daughter and her husband and his family. I had a wonderful time. Thank you Teri,Tej and family. I also got a great picture of Teri too.

Today I spent the day catching up. My to do list is not done, but there is always tomorrow.

Thanksgiving Dinner

After more than a few years, I actually have Thanksgiving Dinner for 2 down pat. The secret is to make fewer side dishes. Today I made 1/2 of a turkey breast, stuffing, cranberry sauce and green beans. We skipped the candied sweet potatoes , rolls and the second vegetable. We used luncheon plates instead of dinner plates and dinner was perfect. We were comfortable after dinner and not in a food coma. I think that this is my new game plan.

Did I mention that I was the one to spill cranberry sauce on the pale green damask table cloth. I sprayed it with Tide stain remover to pre treat and washed it as soon as the table was cleared. I would like to say thank you to the people at Procter and Gamble for making Tide. The cranberry sauce stain came out in the wash. The paper napkin that I forgot to take off the tablecloth did not fare as well.

I have got to make a list of fiber and art projects that need to be finished before the end of the year. It occurred to me today that the holidays are really here. I have enough projects to keep me busy until mid December. So if I am not on Facebook or Twitter I will be sewing, knitting, quilting and making jewelry for presents. I think I might just try to wrap things as I go. At least my sewing machine just had a tune up.

Well it's time to get back to some knitting. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

About 70%

I am starting to feel a little better today. I am not as tired or sore as I have been. I managed to get through 80% of my very, very short to do list today. This might be a good thing. I have a half sheet cake for Eric's day program in my fridge right now, not to mention the fruit and vegetable platters. It use to be so much easier to throw an impromptu party so last century. I did not have to worry about covering every one's food preferences or special diets. In fact I have 1/6 of my fridge is  filled with food for this party for Eric, his friends and the programs advocates, that Eric can not eat. This just seems a little weird to me. I am doing this for Eric, because Eric likes a good party even though he can't eat the food. He just likes being with his friends and partying. Although for a good party you must have food.  So I am bringing the food.

Now that I went totally off track the remaining 20% of my to do list was shopping for Thanksgiving dinner.  I will have room in the fridge once the cake has made it's way to the party. That will get done tomorrow, the day before Thanksgiving. The day I really hate to be in the grocery store. Such has been my life this year.

My energy ran out around 5 pm. I was even too tired to knit tonight. So I just sat back and relaxed. I also found a little energy for round 2 of Eric's birthday week. He loved the dinosaur sheet set that Teri and Tej bought for him. I need to wash them so that they can go on his bed this weekend. I also managed to find 2 DVDs that Eric does not have, plus they are birthday themed, Eric just loves them. Now if I could just get Eric to go to sleep.

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving today. We had a laid back day. I got to use the oven for the first time since we bought it. The good news is that it was easy to turn on and the tempature  was  spot on. No more guess work and an separate oven thermometer.  The only problem was when dinner was finished, I could not find the off button.. Maybe I should have read the directions that came with the oven.  John was great and came to the rescue, he found the off button.   I might have to read he book before I use the other features. 

I forgot to cook the green beans, so we used the stuffing as our vegetable.  Before you say stuffing is not a vegetable, mine is made with a ratio of 80% vegetables and 20% bread. We had freshly baked sweet potatoes instead of whipped sweet potatoes. Since we used luncheon plates we did not over stuff ourselves. We saved some room for a slice of apple pie with ice cream. 

John added another shelf to the craft room. We will work on filling it this weekend. We are busy doing the little projects around the house. The kitchen is still in flux as we decide what goes where and then change things up yet again.  

Bits and Pieces

We had a great Thanksgiving visit with Teri and Tej, they are both safely back at home. We are so incredibly lucky to have them in our lives. Eric is feeling better and is back at his day program after 5 days off. I am playing catch up and should have everything back to pre-holiday madness in a week or so. The laundry room was higher than knee high yesterday.

 My body hit the proverbial brick wall after going full speed ahead for more then 3 weeks running. I really hate when I get so tired that I can not move and just have to fall asleep on the spot. Thankfully John was able to pick up Eric today and make a wonderful dinner. I really need this flare up to go away so I can sleep at the normal time. I really can not say it is a positive getting the cleaning and laundry done in the middle of the night when I need to sleep.

We had a second scorpion in the house today. Thankfully it was a baby one that John scooped up with tissue and disposed of it. All without smashing it on the bedspread, saving me another load of laundry. Yeah John. I would have smashed first and scooped second. I guess it is time to get the foundation sealed and the house painted.

Busy as Usual

Eric is sick again. I did the usual of being up late and waking up early with him.  After a trade off with John I took a nap. 

I managed to get 2 1/2 hours of more deep cleaning in. With 3 more baskets of recycling going out. No matter how much I toss I still seem to find more to toss.  John also started the repair job on the sewing table. 

Tomorrow I will get the the counters done  and the last bastion of clutter will be taken care of.  Although I am not quite sure that I know how to turn a dead computer that is in parts into a center piece for the Thanksgiving table. I am thinking pleanty of candles.  I will also try to get the last of the shopping done. 

Busy As Usual

I has been a busy few days around here. This morning was laundry/cleaning followed by tinking about 8 wash cloths. The yarn will go into some cotton hats. I have a better chance of finding homes for hats than wash cloths. A few more hats got done between yesterday and today. They are getting more creative as I get into the the smaller bits of yarn. Did I mention that I found more yarn as I was cleaning on Friday? I thought I was just about done with cotton hats and ready to move on to wool and other fibers.

Even though I still have a little more than a week to get everything done by Thanksgiving  I am still feeling a bit rushed. Tomorrow I hope to wrap up the work in the craft room by finishing some bibs and making a few project bags for people who have asked for some. The most surprising thing about the craft room was that I did not just throw it all into bags and into the garage. I went through everything piece by piece and found a home for it or recycled it. I still find this level of organization a bit unnerving, but it is much easier to be creative. Who would have thought that a cleaner space lead to more creativity.

Then it will be time to take care of the fiber creep and maybe put some in the garage. I am really trying to get the fiber stash under control, but I can't seem to knit and spin as much as I would like too. This is a case where my mind is working faster than my hands.

Since I have another busy day planned for tomorrow, I know this because the to do list has already been written. I think I will call it a night.

Were Still Here

We have not fallen off the face of the earth. I got Eric to school on Monday and Tuesday. Needless to say I got in as many errands done on those 2 days as possible. I meet with the girls to knit.

Tuesday I even went to 2 different stores to get my holiday shopping done. Not everything I needed was at Trader Joe's. Although I did score my turkey breast at the 1st stop. So a trip to Basha's after my eye doctors appointment seemed like a strategic move. They are right across the street from the eye doctors.

Wednesday with both Eric and John home I did some of the prep for Thursday. I made homemade cranberry sauce from scratch if you want the recipe let me know.  And kept very busy. Thursday was spent with the guys, watching the parade on TIVO after my nap. Then there was more cooking while John and Eric napped.This was the first Thanksgiving in I don't remember how long that I was able to do all the chopping and cooking all by my self. It was one small victory over my arthritis.

Friday I left the guys at home and meet the girls for knitting. I had lunch with Nancy and then went home. We hung out and watched a little bit of TV.

Today Nancy and I went to the Reid Park Arts Festival. I came to the conclusion that art shows in the park were not going to be my thing. First of all a lot of the scarfs were made from polyester most were $15.00 or under. They were not my kind of knitting. I left wondering how they were going to break even let alone make any money. Yes they priced their items to sell, but the fiber artist should not have to sell handmade quality at discount store prices. We need to educated the public about the value of handmade and the need for the fiber artist to do more then break even or sell at a loss.

We stopped by Kiwi ( one of our local yarn shops ) to support a local business today. We stayed and did some knitting and chatting too. By the time I got home I took care of Eric's immediate needs then took a nap. John and I made it to Cafe Ole for dinner. Another one of our favorite locally owned restaurants. Dessert was curiosity of Frost another local Tucson favorites.

Well it is time to get Eric to bed for the night .

A Very Busy Week

It has been a very busy week since I last blogged. John had the week off so we got a lot done around the house. The craft room was semi cleaned and the 2 old machines, manuals and parts went to our Local Goodwill for their program. They will be cleaned and refurbished for someone else to use. So 2 more boxes out the door.

I also picked up my new sewing machine. I practice on some pillows for some small dogs. They are filled with scrap yarn, old clean rags, sewing scraps and poly fill picked up from the thrift store. The fabric is left over from other projects.  They are a real up-cycle project. I still need to fiddle and play with the machine before I start making some new bibs for Eric. But so far so good.

Eric finished one of his favorite holiday projects. He gets to choose some toys that he thinks that other kids will like. He then gets to deliver them to a Toy for Tots drop off location. I really think that he enjoys this more than the people collecting the gifts for the kids.

We landed up with an extra turkey for Thanksgiving. Don't ask. So John made a mad dash to the Tucson Community Food Bank with a frozen turkey in the back of his car. It was all the way across town in the middle of rush hour and dropped it off 2 minutes before the food bank closed. We really hope that this will make someones X-mas meal a little better.

John and I cooked Thanksgiving dinner together. John sliced and diced.  I mixed everything together. Since it was just the two of us we skipped making a pie and sweet potatoes. The rest of the day was a just hang around the house day. We did get to talk to Teri who spent Thanksgiving with a classmates family. It was just to much for us to ask her to fly home in the middle of finals for a few days.

After a very slow start to today we did manage to do some clothes shopping and sneak out to our last dinner out for this vacation. Well it has been a long busy week and I think my closet is next on the cleaning agenda.

 I almost forgot. I am thankful for all my family and friends. So have a good weekend and enjoy your friends and families.

Happy Thanksgiving

First I would like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. I would like to make a short (maybe not) list of what I am thankful for today.

1. My Husband
2. My Children
3. My Family
4. My Friends near and far.
5. The wonderful world that G'd created for us.
6. My Yarn, I know it sounds cheesy but yarn really does have a calming influence on me. This also includes independent spinners and dyers and my local yarn shops.
7. The wonderful desert that surrounds my city.
8. All the people that help me get Eric through the day.
9. All the people who make Eric feel needed and part of the community.
10. The quiet times in my life, after all we all need down time.
11. All the people who are willing to share their wisdom with me.
12. All the people who make beautiful music.
13. Everyone who strives to make this a better world for everyone. My hope is that someday I will have time to join you in your endeavors.
14. The members of the military past and present who have and continue to make this day possible.
15. The people such as Police, Firemen and other public safety providers.
16. Everyone who has a smile or happy thought for me.
17. All of Eric's doctors throughout the years for being there when you were needed.

For this and all that I have forgotten to mention, Thank you so much for being part of my life.

Enjoy your families and have a wonderful day.