The Good, the Bad and the Eyrpy

It is one of those oh bugger nights. After 2 weeks at home sick, Eric finally made it to his program today.  I got a weeks worth of errands done in a few hours running at full speed.  

I spent the late afternoon dealing with a change in suppliers for Eric. The good news is that everything is 90% done. We just need the paperwork to go through.  

Just as we were getting Eric ready for bed the eyrping started.  I am on the second load of laundry for tonight.  As soon as Eric settles in for the night I will try to get a nap in.  

To end on a positive note, I did hit 10,000+ steps 2 days in a row.  

A Great Day

Today was a busy day. It started out with therapy for Eric. Followed by errands. Followed by a luncheon where my 2 new patterns were released. Followed by knitting. Followed by more errands. Followed by finishing one hat. I am a little tired. 

Tomorrow I will post the pictures and how to get a hold of each of the patterns. 

Monday Where Did You Go?

Monday was a very busy day around here. We had a couple of appointments followed by  errands. This left me pretty tired. So I can't figure out for the life of me why after I picked Eric up from his day program I decided to start cleaning the garage. I was dressed in a skirt and blouse for the earlier appointments, not dressed for cleaning. I also forgot to put an apron on.

Thirty minutes latter John and I had made a very small dent. We had filled 1/2 of empty recycling bin, you know the big on that rolls out to the street. Added more to the garbage can and the charity bin. We were even able to move 5 storage boxes from useless piles to easy access. This might not seem like a big deal, but it gave me a better idea of which yarn was going to be used up next in my yarn stash down challenge.

I am just thinking that it will only take a couple of dozen more hats and scarfs before I can refill the cotton basket with more one of a kind skeins of yarn to make more hats and scarfs. This will intern make more room inside for yarn to come from the garage to used. Looking around the house and garage it seems to me that I am about 50% of the way done in my goal of having yarn in only one area of the house with none in the garage.

The only thing that is really hindering my stash down process is my need to spin more yarn. To that end I will try to list a few skeins of yarn either on my Raverly stash down page or my etsy shop. Either way I will add links to my blog.

Falling Tuna Cans and Other Harzards

I spent the morning cleaning and filling up the recycle bin, Finishing up the laundry from yesterday and making phone calls. Followed by some errands. I picked up Eric early from his program to get his afo's fixed and trimmed for his tennis shoes for winter. The best part was they were able to fit Eric's feet and the old tennis shoes so I have 1 less errand for this weekend. No shoe shopping. Happy dance time.

Today was going surprising well until about 4 pm. Then there were a slew of phone calls. I was trying to make dinner. We were out of meatballs for the spaghetti. When I went to look for the spaghetti a stack of tuna cans fell on me, they hit me smack in the glasses. If I look at you funny tomorrow it will not be because it Pirates Day according to Jo-Ann's Fabrics, it is because I am tiring to line up the old tri-focals. Did I mention that all the spaghetti in the house had expired too. I was ready for a melt down but held it all together.

So I made a stew out of the chicken, spaghetti sauce, mushrooms and olives. I served it with Pillsbury Crescent Rolls and mixed vegetables which turned out to be mostly carrots. It was pretty good, but I do think I will get some pasta for the last of the sauce tomorrow.

I should cut it short tonight, as I have a busy day tomorrow. If anyone knows where I can find a time turner like Hermonies please let me know, I will need to borrow it for tomorrow.

Summer is Here

It was a very busy and productive day for me. Everyone is doing well, that helped me a great deal. A lot of knitting got done. One small project was finished. As soon as it was off the needles another one was started.  I did manage to walk 4 miles today. It is the first time since I hurt my knee that I have done more than 2.5 miles. I don't think I am up to five miles yet, but in a month or two that is my goal.

At knitting today I was able to pass on 2 bags of raw yarn for other knitters. That is 2 more bags out of the house. Well technically 1, since 1 has been in the car a few months waiting to meet up with Liz.

I did manage to get a lot of errands done today. Yes it was in the 106-107 range while I was running them. The most important thing to remember is that I was having fun and drinking iced tea and lime flavored water* while I was running around. I did manage to cash in a few birthday coupons while I was at it. If you have to ask there is a very nice set of summer ice teas at Tevanna, but I know it is a little pricey and I do have a lot of tea to drink. Then there is always yarn and fluff.

I have just started to do the laundry for the day. The car said it hit a high of 111, yes that is one hundred eleven degrees, as I was driving Eric home. It is finally into the 90's so my plan is to get a load or two done tonight. No, I will not be folding it tonight, that can wait for later.

Tomorrow I planing on writing the mystery pattern for the Knitting Guild Luncheon. Lets see if I can come up with a pattern that will challenge the new knitters along with those that have been knitting since so last century. I also plan on finishing up what I have to bring, i.e. the goodies.

After that is done some more knitting and finishing work, then tag, photograph and bag of at least a dozen objects. I suspect that the guys will want to lay low and not doing anything this weekend, because of the heat. Me on the other hand would love to get out of the house for a bit. I find the heat easier to deal with than the cold.

Now to the recipe you have all been waiting for.

Lime Flavored Water

1 very large glass filled with ice
the juice of 1/2 of a lime with the peels
water

Add ice to the glass. Squeeze the lime juice in along with the peels. Add water. Keep adding ice and water through the day. You should taste the lime flavor most of the day.

Does it have to be Monday?

I am happy to report that Teri is now a member of the working class. She has left her school days behind her. I hope that you will join John and myself in wishing her the best of luck in her new endeavor. From my point of view, the little girl who started in pre-school at age three and has never left the school environment in now working. Please join us in trying to figure out where all those years went. Also the modular blanket that I started for her in her 1L year of law school only has about 60 blocks to go before the boarder goes on. Did I mention that there were 42 rows per block?

On the home front it was one of those in pain most of the day, days. I find myself cranky and blue when I can't get the pain to go away no matter what I do. So it was a put on a smile day and carry on with my day. I did not get through my entire to do list, but a small dent is all I can hope for on days like today.

At a snails pace I did some laundry, errands and knitting. Eric and John also had a good day. Well the hiccups and hot flash are over so it is time to add 1 more load to the washer and go to bed. I am hoping for less pain tomorrow.

Poor Eric

Poor Eric had a very bad night last night. The high pollen counts have flared his asthma. We were up until 2:30 am today before he could breath well enough to sleep. As soon as Eric was asleep I went to bed for a few hours before it was time to get the day started again.

Eric was doing well enough to go to his day program. So John dropped Eric off at his program then went to work out. I would have love to go back to sleep, but I had an appointment across town. The appointment went well. Since I was so far across town I stopped by Whole Foods to pick up a few things on my way home. After an early lunch, it was time for a nap.

John volunteered to pick up Eric from his day program so I could pick up a few things at the mall. I also decided to walk around a bit to see if that would help me feel better. I did not realize how pale I can look during a flare up. The nice sales woman at the Clarine's counter gave me a quick makeover. It was amazing what a little blush and some lipstick can do. She was also trying to sell me the latest miracle serum at $85.00 a bottle. She said that now that I was in my 40's it was time to step up the amount and type of face creams that I use. I think I will keep to my current routine of sun screen with moisturizer and continue to wear wide brim hats outside. After 2 miles of walking I was beginning to feel better so I headed home.

Eric just seems to know when my flare up is a bad one. That compounded with me not picking him up to day left him sad and anxious. When I walked in the door he had on the saddest face you can imagine. He was afraid that I was upset with him about his asthma flare last night. I told him that I would never be mad at him for keeping me up when he was sick. You should have seen the huge smile that he gave me. Followed by Eric's version of a hug. Then it was time to watch some PBS with Eric.

Well it is time to get the red pot out of the fridge and warm up dinner.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Wii Fit can be a funny game at times. It has been 3 months since I lasted played. Well first it called me dad. Second it said I had lost 3 pounds and needed to set a new goal. So I figured 1 pound a month down was not a bad goal. Then it was off for 30 minutes of exercise with warning signs flashing saying that this move or that was an advanced move. I did not break myself and plan on trying again tomorrow.

Then it was off to knitting followed by  lots of errands. It was one of those busy days when I did not get lunch until 4pm. As per John I was my own fault. Don't tell him, but he was 100% right. A glass of tea does not constitute lunch. I also managed to work on a lot of charity projects, getting things ready to leave the house.

I worked on a lot of different knitting and spinning projects today. A little bit of progress on a lot of projects as I see it. As usual not a lot got finished, that usually goes in spurts.

Oh, a quick reminder please leave a can or two of food by your mail box tomorrow for the Mother's Day Food Drive sponsored by the great people at the USPS. Going into summer is the worst time for the food bank. Demand increases do to children not getting their meals at school. We are also a seasonal town with lots of layoffs in the summer months as tourism declines. If you don't live in Tucson and don't mind a little heat ( its a dry heat, we promise not to tell you when the humidity dips below 10%), this is the perfect time of year to come. The rates go down and there are still a lot of things to do in and around Tucson.

Well I have a very busy day tomorrow. So enjoy your day, I know I will.

Letting Go and Moving On

Today was a very productive day. After the guys left, I started cleaning the house. This was serious cleaning. The TV was off. My goal to get as much done as humanly possible. I can say the house is almost back to where it was before I got sick.

As an added bonus for cleaning I took apart the silverware drawer. Put all of Eric's special forks and spoons away in a bag. I guess I have come to the conclusion that no matter what I want. That is for Eric to sit down at the table and eat with us in a conventional way. It is never going to happen again. He is perfectly happy with the tube feedings. His tummy is always full and he has the energy to do other things. We are not sitting at the table 3 or more hours a day feeding him. Which gives him and us time to do other things.

I might have over done a little on the cleaning this morning because I took a 3 1/2 hour nap after lunch. I still have to work on balance in my life. After the nap I did one errand when I should have done 2. I did find time to work on Teri's blanket today. I got 2 squares finished and another one started. Followed by spinning after dinner. All in all I would say that it has been a very good day.

I Have my Mojo Back..At least for now....

Today was a very productive day all around. I got all my errands done. I did a lot of general picking up. I almost caught up on laundry. You are right of course, I should not have told Eric that I was almost caught up. He went through bibs are a near record rate of 4 bibs in 2 hours. One did not even make it around his neck before he creamed it. Such as life in this house.

I went to go spin today and found all the music gone from my pod. So I played with the settings until I got the music back. It took about 2 hours to load all the music. So no spinning got done. I did however get my knitting mojo back. I am also back in the bad habit of getting the item knit and leaving the finishing work until later. I am sure that the pile will bite me by this weekend. I have 4 soap sacks ready for finishing now and one more on the needles that is almost done.

Did I also mention the 3 scarfs that I know of. Teri's shawl. A couple of hats. Plus project bags all around the house. So the theme of Wednesday through Friday will be knitting to get things finished. I will also tell you that I will not count newly cast on items as UFOs until they are at least a week old.

My goal this week is to knit through as much yarn as possible. To that end I hope to finish all the UFOs that I can. So it is time to catch some shut eye so I will be awake enough to knit tomorrow.

A Long Day

My day started at 4 am with Eric. I spent the rest of the day knitting, cleaning, doing errands, baking and last but not least 2+ hours of phone time. Since I have now hit the 18+ hour work day I am hoping that Eric goes to sleep soon. Tomorrow will be filled with baking, cleaning,sewing and a party. With any luck I will find a few minutes to knit and spin. I would like to wish everyone a happy 4th. Please enjoy your family time.

The Weekend

Needless to say my weekend did not go as planned. Friday Eric was home sick. I thought he was feeling better Saturday sowe went fo a much needed haircut for Eric and picked up a drive new drive belt for my wheel. We you guessed right, Eric woke up with a fever and a runny nose. I did not make it to the 4th avenue street fair as planned. Instead I did most of tommrows laundry and cleaning. I managed to get a little spinning and knitting done too. I don't think that luck is running on my side so I will tackle paperwork and chores while I am home with Eric tommrow. Well it's not quite 10 and I am hoping for a quiet night because I am exhausted. Good night all.

TGIF

It was a busy and wonderful day all at the same time. I got to spend a couple of hours with my knitting friends and even had time to go to lunch. A great big thank you goes out to John for this treat. He took care of Eric for a bit. Liz had made some very adorable hand knit critters, I personally think the bear was the cutest. I felt like a social butterfly at knitting, I got more talking done than knitting. Karen had knit a very large pile of wash cloths and was doing the finishing work. There were sweaters and scarfs in various stages. It is always so fun to hang out with a great group of knitters. I also like to see what every one is doing. Next week I expect to see a lot of the Uncle Harry Scarf Pattern going on. Everyone just had to know what the very complicated pattern I was working on. This is my favorite pattern for Operation Gratitude. So here is the pattern and please consider knitting one or two for Operation Gratitude.

Uncle Harry's Scarf Pattern

This pattern is named after my dear Uncle Harry. When he was in the Tucson VA hospital I would spend hours visiting him. I would usually bring my knitting and no matter what I was working on he would start chanting knit 1 purl 2, over and over to the point I had to rip out what ever I was working on. So I started making scarfs in this pattern. My only request was that he slow down to the speed I was knitting at.  It works with any weight yarn and any size needles. My personal preference is wool or cotton.

Cast on in multiples of 3. A typical scarf in Cascade 220 or Patton's wool is 30 cast on stitches. On US size 8 knitting needles.

the pattern is knit 1 purl 2* repeat this sequence all the way through.  Until you get to the last row and then cast off in the pattern sequence.

For Operation Gratitude they like the scarfs between 5 to 7 inches wide and 45 to 50 inches long. I usually use Patton's or Cascade wool in black, brown, dark or olive green and blue. One skein makes 1 scarf.

I also took advantage of John being home to run a weeks worth of errands this afternoon.  I did manage to get one commissioned scarf off the needles so now I just have to do the finishing work.

I manage to boil one batch of yarn and am just about finished with the spinning on another.

Well it is getting very late so it is time to say goodnight.


Uncle Harry's Scarf Pattern by Sheri Karobonik is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

A Little Catch Up

Well it has been a little over a week since I last blogged. A week ago Monday I got Eric out the door to school and spent the next 3 days running around town like a mad lady trying to get everything under the sun done.

I found a new home for the 2 knitting machines that were in need of a lot of work. They went home with a nice couple from the Midwest. They joined us a knitting and had breakfast with us. Afterward they moved their car by mine and we whooshed the machines to their new home.

I did get my 2 rather large boxes off to Vermont. The final count that I sent was 30 back packs, 25 scarfs and 23 hats. This should actually read that I got about 50 to 60 skeins of yarn plus some backpacks out of the house. Some of the scarfs took multiple skeins. The sad part of this is that other than reclaiming a shopping bag I personally don't think I made much of a dent in my yarn stash. I will keep knitting up a storm because winter is coming and I know that the need will be great this year. I think I will make my motto "Have yarn will knit"

When it gets a little cooler, to read in the mid to low 80's. I will get some help to move yarn around the garage and see if the stash has gone down. This is when I plan on doing some more decluttering. I have found that the garage is like Fiber McGee's closet only larger and less prone to fall on me.

Not one bit of spinning has gotten done since last Friday.  Although John has discovered where the newly spun yarn takes a short rest after being boiled and thwacked. His only comment was "more yarn".

John and I did manage to get out of the house for a bit of "us" time this weekend. I would also like to add that at the party we went to the hostess graciously accepted one of my hand knit hats hot off the needles so I did not have to take the finished object home with me.  Can I count that as 1 more skein out the door? Yes I do take my knitting every where.

Well it is time to end this post so good night all. Please enjoy your families.

Life on the Mommy Track

Well it has been a couple of pretty busy days around here, with spinning, knitting, cleaning child care and finally getting Eric back to school today. I took full advantage and got a lot of errands done, the usual and not so usual errands included shoe laces, light bulbs, tall shoes with a 3 inch heel. Guess what!  I am still short when I wear them. I also got a great deal on a new fry pan originally $39.99 I got it for $13.99 and I don't care that it was lasts years model, I really don't think the function of a fry pan changes from year to year. Shopping for dinner. Poor John I really don't feel like cooking so he is getting roasted turkey breast, steamed green and wax beans with rosemary bread. Tomorrow it will be turkey and avocado sandwiches on hopefully rosemary bread ( or I will be back at the store again.),  vegi sticks and pineapple wedges.

I have one room left to do. The craft, guest and exercise room left to do. Yes the ultimate multi purpose room. I know it will be the hardest room yet as I find it hard to part with craft/sewing supplies. But I should really get in there at a few minutes a day until it is done. I am hoping that I get it done before it hits the 100's because I would like to tackle the garage next but will not do that on days over 100f just because I say so.

Well I am headed to the craft room to start. since I have to finish dinner I will not be there long by design. Have a great evening and enjoy your families.

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.

IPod Blog

This is going to be a very short blog. The computer crashed or something this
morning,well it's all funny in a bad sort of way. I am typing this with one finger on my pod at a Tucson favorite called Bookman's.

Now on to the good stuff. I found the lost stone from my mothers ring and it is at Abbott Taylor's the jeweler. Errands are getting done at a fast pace. I even got to my class this morning. Talk about the forward thinking of our ancestors,there were concepts about intellectual property way back at Mount Sinai. All I can say is wow.

Sorry for any misspellings they will be fixed when the computer is. Have a great day and enjoy your families.

As promised all the spelling mistakes have been taken care of.

A Busy Weekend

It has been a very busy weekend around here. On Saturday Eric was under the weather so it was UFO day and I did manage to finish 2, and there are more where they came from. They will have to wait though because I got a repeat order for 3 more knitted caps. The first cap is halfway through and I still have 12 days to get them finished.

Today was laundry and a trip to the hardware store. I decided to put off more deep cleaning until they pick up the recycle bin tomorrow, after all you can only put so much stuff in before they say it is too full and they refuse to take it. We talked to Teri today and she got an award for having the highest grade in one of her classes. I did forget the name of the award but it is really something and I call the bragging rights even though I did none of the work.

It is now very early on Monday morning and I am really hoping that Eric is asleep. His room has been quiet for 20 minutes. He has been very fussy for the last 2 1/2 hours and I was ready to go to sleep hours ago.

Well here is to a few hours of sleep and a very peaceful week. Enjoy your families.

Addemium- I did not get Eric to sleep until 3:30 this morning. Ugh I can't believe that I am awake.

Why I Should Never Plan

Why do I even try to plan my life? Sometimes it just get thrown into a blender. Take yesterday for instance. I was suppose to get the men out of the house and then go through my long end of the year to do list and a little bit of shopping for my self, a trip to the post office. A little knitting thrown in for just the heck of it. It sounded perfectly reasonable to me.

Well here is how my day actually went. Sunday night Eric started eyrping and continued to do so until 3 am Monday morning. I got Eric settled by 3:30 am. To tired to change and not wanting to wake John up I fell asleep in the guest room. Yes I was even too tired to bother to turn out the lights too.

The day started at 5:30 am with a quick shower and it did not even remotely wake me up. Eric's morning aide agreed to skip the gym and watch Eric for me while I took a much needed nap. I did get to nap until 1 pm.. I woke up to eat a very late breakfast and just in time for Eric to spike a fever. Which meant that Eric earned another day at home for Tuesday. Did I mention that going to sleep with very wet hair meant a bad hair day to boot. We had a great time watching TV and I did some knitting. Then made a very fast dinner with the end of the leftover turkey.

I am thankful that Eric slept most of Monday night and only woke up at 4 am with his fever. I settled him down by 5 am in time for a short nap before the day started again at you guessed it 5:30 am. I managed to get Eric's aide to stay until 2pm today and got my errands done. The trip to the post office which turned into a teaching experience. The Postal workers had never heard of stitch markers so this being post the latest scare the box was opened and inspected. I then explained what the markers were used for, which was very easy as when I have to wait in line I always have a small knitting project with me. Before it was repacked they told me it would be shipped the same way to New Zealand but putting it in a priority mail box would be more expensive. So into a readdressed padded envelope they went, I did not even have to fill out a new customs declaration. By the way our post office employees are great that way.

It was 42 degrees Fahrenheit when I pulled into Starbucks to get my iced tea, in deference to the cold I had them go light on the ice. I was still to tired to try a hot beverage. Then off to Goodwill with the latest overflowing box. Then it was time to drive across town to pick up some clothes that I had put on hold. I can not believe that the store put the order under my first name instead of my last which meant it took 20 minutes to find the order.

I don't know about you but when I am cold and over tired I crave yeasty sweet things. I managed to drive past my favorite bakery not just once but twice with out stopping. Being just a few pounds lighter than last year I found it easier to find clothes and want to keep the trend going and maybe loose another dress size by the end of next year. I did a quick stop at Trader Joe's to pick up things for dinner. I also managed to skip the goodies there too.

I had time for a quick lunch and then it was time for the aide to leave. So Eric and I watched a little TV and I did some knitting. I do feel a small flare up coming so I did manage to take a short nap before I made dinner. The chicken casserole will be tomorrows blog just in case you want the recipe.

I think I also managed to break a few fences that need to be mended before the week is out. I do hate broken fences. So now it is time to put the finishing touches on tonight's dinner. So have a good evening and enjoy your families.

Driving Around Town

Today I spent part of the day driving around town doing errands. About half way through my errands I realized how easy having a car makes all this possible. I also started to wonder weather all this would be possible without the use of modern transportation.

When I stopped by the Post Office I could not find a parking place, not a good sign. So I went and made my next stop at Goodwill, 2 large bags and 1 box to charity. Yes a little less clutter in the house. Then I was passing another Post Office, yes there was room to park my car so the Halloween candy went off to Operation Gratitude, 1 more box out of the house. Things are getting better, less clutter. I found a unique way to lighten my purse. I dropped off the change in my wallet at the bank, $5.00 in change gone did make my purse lighter. I did not realize how heavy $5.00 of change is.

Then it was off to World Care to drop off new and used medical supplies. Now this is truly an organization that would be hard pressed to operate without modern transportation. These wonderful people keep used medical equipment out of the landfill. When equipment is used in this country we generally do not reuse it, crutches, braces, wheel chairs can all be refurbished and sent to disaster zones and third world countries where these items are very scarce and are always needed. 1 more box out of the house and hopefully a new home for some ankle foot orthoics.

Then I made a little time to test drive a new sewing machine, 2 more brands to test drive. I was way out on the east side of town and had just under an hour before Eric arrives at home. So off to Trader Joe's to get things for dinner and then to Sunflower to get the things I needed that Trader Joe's does not carry. 

Hulling 2 large bags and 3 boxes would be very hard with out a car. So would my 20 plus miles of driving be hard to do without a car. I do love our modern age and my car.

I just got the frozen food put away when the school bus came.  Eric and I, with Joe's(Eric's afternoon aide) help filled another box for Operation Gratitude with a lot of small beanie baby toys. This means 1 more box will be gone tomorrow. I hope I can get into the parking lot of the Post Office tomorrow.

With dinner cooking it is time to work on tomorrow's to do list. Yes I know that this will make me look like an over achiever today, but I never know what tonight or tomorrow will bring. Have a good evening and enjoy your families.