Stress Management

If you read my blog on a regular basis you might have noticed that I am doing a lot of cleaning and Zenning lately.  My inner circle knows what all the stress is about.  For right now that is what I am comfortable with.  I am stressed to the point that my creativity has dried up, so new patterns will be on hold for a while. I still need to keep busy.

So I have been turning the house upside down. Digging into the back of closets. Trying to be realistic with my cleaning.  I am never going to get back into my pre kids clothing, so to Goodwill the clothing went.  The Tupperware that was being stored in the garage went to a friends daughter. I have been dropping of delivery’s to Goodwill at least once a week.  If a magazine is a few weeks old it will go to Eric’s day program for the young adults.  Today’s results are 3 empty boxes of paper that at one point I had no time to look through.  I filled the recycling bin to the top this week.

I have also been doing a lot of walking.  My daily goal is 8,080 steps a day.  Most days I leave that number in the dust.  It seems to be helpful.  The only hiccup has been my Knitter’s elbow.  Right now it is one week without knitting, my elbow is better but not good enough to start knitting again.
I hope that it is better soon as I have a hard time finding  the right time to warp the loom.

More Deep Cleaning

I got my Zenning done before breakfast. I now have another rag tag group of bags to go to Goodwill. Teri and I will never be able to fit into them again.  Teri, because she has almost 6 inches on me. Me because I will never be my high school size ever again.  The 1970 and 80’s are long gone. If by chance I do get back to that size they are not classics that stand up to the test of time. Although I am sure some  rebellious teenager will buy them just to drive their parents crazy.

The best part of this is that I have freed up enough hangers so I will not have to ask the sales clerks for hangers for quite a while. I wonder if I will be able to part with more before my next Goodwill run?

Extreme Zenning

For the last two days I have been in the extreme zenning mode. Yesterday it was a closet. I have filled three bags of clothes that will be going to Goodwill. There is actually room in my closet now, not much but a little more. Unless I find the time to ride about 100 miles a week on my now nonexistent bike.  Swim laps for 90 minutes a day, six days a week and rock climbing a few days a week these cloths will never ever fit again. I am sure that some very skinny person will love these retro clothes.  As mom to Eric that level of fitness is never going to happen.  I am lucky on most days to walk 8,000 to 10,000 steps, just a small fraction of the steps my younger self took. As a grownup, I do not have as much time as my teenage self to get all that movement in every day.  

The Zenning continued today with old paper work that no longer needs to occupy space in my closet. Eight bags of shredded papers from the 2010’s  made their way into the recycling bin.  I managed to fill it up half way.  We have a 90 gallon bin.  I need to save the rest of the bin for every day recycling. As a bonus I found enough none expired coupons for a free case of diapers.  This has inspired John to find more old papers for me to shred.  

Even though I took most of the day off from knitting to let my knitting elbow rest, the rest of the world knows this as tennis elbow. Let it be known that I no longer play tennis so , therefore I can not possibly have tennis elbow.  I have decided that I must start finishing projects other than hats, which seem to fly of my knitting needles. I am really great at starting projects. Not so much with finishing.   Speaking of knitting needles, I might give some more away to a young mother who home schools her kids and teaches knitting to the next generation.  More space. I need more empty space in my closet. 

Well it is getting late and I need to try to rest, ahem I mean sleep.  

Crazy Busy

It has been crazy busy around here lately. Today was the first day in almost a week that I could knit. I have been spending my knitting down time plying very thin yarn into a heavyweight yarn to knit with. I tend to get a lot of bits and pieces of lace and sock weight yarn that I am given for hats. I generally prefer to knit charity hats on larger sized knitting needles.  So I ply the yarn on bad hand days. 

I have also been Zenning more and Teri helped for a few hours last weekend. Sadly the space she made is almost filled. It has been a long day. So night all. 

More Spring Cleaning

I spent the day spring cleaning with an emphasis on going through everything and getting rid of what I don’t need.  This included going through the fridge and freezer and having one of Eric’s aides taking home all the high carbohydrate foods that would get me in trouble.

The craft room is now clean , dusted and vacuumed. Although at times like this I am jealous of the author Stephen King, because he has a dedicated work space and can close the door when company comes over.

I found something interesting about my new Fitbit Inspire HR model.   When I am cleaning and madly dashing around the house it thinks that I am running.  I did not know that I walked that fast.  It also did something totally unexpected.  It buzzed me and told me to take a rest. I took this to mean that my Fitbit wanted me to knit.  Why it just did not say it’s time to knit, oh well.  I also found that the larger band fit my wrist better.  I do have to admit that about 10,000 of the 12,000 steps taken today were with out leaving the house.  I did manage to get out for a walk around the block after dinner.

It’s time to call it a night.

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.

Zenning and gifting

I was able to zen the house and gift all at the same time, awesome right!  I gave a younger mother of 4 my electric carder.  I gave her daughter a Spinning Wheel that mother and daughter can work on together. I know the Wheel is going to a good home and will be loved.  I also gave a few bags a fiber to go along with the carder and spinning wheel.  My daughter would not be surprised at my request as part of the young spinners commitment to the Spinning Wheel was to learn about the new to her Wheel and do a few minor repairs. This should help keep her busy over summer.

I got the benefit of 3/4 of an empty shelf in my craft room and more room in the garage.  The guys seem very happy too.   I got all this done despite my flare up and sleeping for 3 hours after dropping Eric and staff appreciation treats dropped off.  My gifts from Mothers Day. Well it is time to call it a night.

What It’s Not Sunday?

I spent most of the day going around as if it were Sunday. I spent the day cleaning and organizing the house.  I went through piles of paper. Found projects that were never going to be done and sent the fiber to the dog pillow bin. I now have 3 dog pillows to do the final seams on. I got the kitchen towels down that I can’t remember who gave them to me for bibs down. They are not Eric colors so the will go to The Flowing Wells SD Clothing Bank.  If you need the pattern for the bibs I.believe that I published it in October of 2009 or 2010 under the key word bibs.  I also got by with only doing 4 loads of laundry.

I finished another hat and cast the next one on. I am on the final rows of 2 of 3 A Shawl Study pattern.  Sadly this one is more fussy and will require blocking. Hopefully it will be done tomorrow.

Well tomorrow is going to be just as busy so it is time to call it a day.

Today

laundry, 3 loads
Nap, a long one
Knitting, not as much as I wanted
Cleaning, just the right amount
Bookman’s, sadly no

Life Does Not Always Bring Joy. Get Over It

The next round of Zenning has begun.  Those around me want me to move faster like the latest television guru. Wildly throwing thing away without thought.  I however will continue to move at my own speed deciding what goes or stays and when.  I am tired of the mindlessly chants if it does not bring you joy it must go.  I think this chant is very pathetic and irritating.  It is worse than the “build the wall” chant of the racist.

Things like laundry don’t bring me joy, but it must be done on an almost daily basis.  I don’t mind the car rides with Eric, but the traffic drives me nuts, but  the almost daily commute must be done. I hate the noise of the percussion machine, but it must be done twice daily. I hate People who don’t pay attention to the road when they are on their cell phone, this does not bring me joy. Yet, I fear that they are here to stay.  The list goes on. All life is not meant to bring joy.  Some days you just have to slog through it.

I think it’s time for this cranky and over tired mom to call it a night.

Zenning

Nothing but Zenning got done today.  All my knitting books fit on the allotted shelf space.  Now I just have to sort them by knitting,spinning ,weaving,crochet and quilting. I found another foot of knitting books that are ready to go to Bookman’s.  If they take most them I should be able to trade them for socks for my pet charity project.  They liked the last dozen pairs that I brought in.  Who knew that you could trade knitting booksthat are no longer needed for socks and make it a win for everyone. I also went through the rest of my Molly magazines. I decided that I did not need most of them.  So I will be sharing them.  I also managed to get my to read books all lined up.  No wonder I was too tired and too sore to knit today.

Zenning and More

I am currently zenning my craft room / guest room for company later this month. I am tired of moving things from room to room when company comes and then moving the same things back. So I have gone to Costco twice for storage boxes. It is my hope that once all the extra fiber and fabric is in one place I will be more productive. Just think I can add about a month more creative time to my year.

I am also gathering knitting things that I don't need anymore and hope to sell them to other knitting guild members. My idea is to recoup some space and money. Wish me luck. They will be priced to sell.

Speaking of being productive, I managed to drop off 6 hand knit hats, 12 hand woven scarves, 1 hand knit scarf and other new clothing items to the Flowing Wells Clothing Bank. My part of today's delivery is pictured below. My friend Rita also knit 14 hats for the kids.

Still Zenning

I spent almost 2 hours in heavy deep cleaning....the kind of cleaning you need to change clothes afterward. Then I moved on to zenning all kinds of projects. I dumped so many projects that the dog pillow box is full again, I just made 4 pillows 2 weeks ago. Now I just need to find homes for more dog pillows. The recycle bin is full to the top with days to go before it will be picked up..sigh, I hate not be able to get everything out, but I may run out of room soon.

I threw a party for Eric today at his day program. We went through almost an entire 1/2 sheet cake from Nadine's. Instead of gifts for the young man who has everything he needs we are asking for donations to the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona or a food bank closer to your home,in Eric's name. Just let me know if you made a donation, I don't need to know how much, so that I can let Eric know and thank you.

11,482

As of 9:00p.m. tonight I have taken 11,482 steps.  That is 4.79 miles for me.  I did not go hiking or shopping. All I was doing was trying to zen the house.  My closet looks a lot better.  I found that I had room to move 36 quarts of yarn into more accessible drawers.  Yes, I knit and wove through 36 quarts of yarn since the last reorganization of the yarn. That made over70 hats and a a little more than a dozen scarves for kids in need.

Now if I could only have the G.E. 1960’s self cleaning house of the future. I could use more yarn up faster.  Just imagine if the laundry washed, dried and folded itself. If the dishes washed themselves and magically made their way to the cabinets. Self mopping floors and self vacuuming carpets.  On second thought just give me Rosie from the Jettison’s. Then I could spend my days playing with yarn.

I just have a few more chores to do before bed so I will cut this short.

More Zenning

today I recycled four years worth of old Arthritis Today Magazines.  It is much easier to google what I want then trying to remember which year and issue the information I need is in.  This cleared off eight inches of bookcase space.  All totaled eight bags of recycling, eight inches of magazines and one bag of trash left the house today.

After being up most of the night with Eric and a broken kangaroo Joey pump, I had no energy for anything but getting Eric's pump replaced after the cleaning spree.  On the other hand Eric was feeling better and wanted some quality mommy time.  So needless to say I am really exhausted at this point in time.  I hope that everyone sleeps tonight.

This out of sync post is why I should not blog when exhausted.

Surprise!!!!

Today Eric has me up at 5:30am. What else was there to do but clean the craft room. So I finished winding so yarn and the went on to try to organize some craft bags. I put all the weaving projects together in on bag. Then it was time to organize the UFO’s of knitting projects. I found a lot of lace and sock weight yarn projects which were put in to a project bag together. I also found 2 more hats in progress, in separate knitting bags, which explains the shortage of 16 inch circular knitting needles earlier this year. The yarn has the equivalent of at least 5 more hats. So instead of sixty hats it looks like it’s going to be more like seventy hats or 6 dozen hats with the yarn currently in my hat knitting bags.

I really think that I need to trim that down to just one bag with hat knitting supplies instead of 3. In some cases I think 1 is better than 3. So the Zenning of the craft room continues.

Random Acts of Cleaning

I find it simply amazing that such a random act like packing can lead to a random act of deep cleaning. Tonight while refreshing my kit, I noticed that my toothpaste had expired. So in my search for a good tube of toothpaste I inadvertently cleaned out a drawer.

What lead to this, is that I am leaving the guys home to go to a fiber retreat this weekend. I will be at Sheep Thrills in Prescott Arizona. Hopefully doing a lot of knitting,Spinning and relaxing.

45

Hat number 45 for the year was finished tonight. With any luck and a little time I just might be able to knit a decent number of hats this year. I currently have 3 more hats in progress. I even managed to make the ugliest shade of blue look pretty by combining it with other yarn.  There is no use trying to get rid of this cone of yarn either. Every time I try some one hands it back to me.  I think I have about 6 hats left on this cone of yarn.  Then I am done with it.

Zenning went well today, I managed to get 5 bags of recycling and 2 bags of trash out of the house.  I have also divided books to go to some of my knitting friends which should leave the house this week.

Physical therapy left my foot stiff and sore.   Hopefully I will be done with this soon.  Although there is one exercise that I can not figure out and neither can the therapist.  Three different therapists have said this one exercise is done differently.  Oh well.

Day Fail?

Things did not go as planned today. I was up with Eric for 2 1/2 hours because of a bad thunderstorm. There was an awful lot of thunder and lightning, but not much rain. So this is my excuse for only knitting 1 hat today.

Although I did manage 15 minuets of Zenning and a little house cleaning.  I am heading to bed early.

Zenning for Health?

Today was a BBD for me.  So what else should I do besides sitting on the couch and resting?  Well zenning the house of course.  I started of with my Wool yarn stash, I have a full bag of tapestry and needlepoint yarn that makes  great hats if anyone is interested in the yarn, as a bonus I will throw in a tote bag.

I did what I call circular cleaning today.  I zip all over the house. As I find something that goes to another room, I head there to put it away.  Then I find something in that room to put away sometimes I stay in one place for a while, sometimes not.  The end result is a lot of things are now in new homes or recycled.

I did find time to knit, spin, wash some newly spun skeins of yarn and laundry too.  I skipped Eric’s planed haircut today. By the time he was ready it was raining.  I decided a haircut was not worth dealing with the rain and chair in the rain. So I opted to reschedule it.  There is always tomorrow.