Holiday Presents

Since all my holiday shopping is done, I am busy making hand woven scarfs for those who otherwise would not have a holiday present. I am managing to weave 3 to 4 a week. Here is part of the latest. A gray warp with purple and red weft.

This is a great stash buster, because each scarf uses at least 2 skeins of stash yarn. Especially good for using up some of the non super wash yarn. The finial processing of the scarfs involves hot soapy water and roughing the scarf up. This results to a 10 to 15% total shrinkage of the scarf so it will not felt later.

A Busy Day

Eric spent half of the night needing attention of one kind or another.  This left me very tired with a full day of chores and holiday planning.  

I finally got to the grocery store today. Between coupons and rebates I did fairly well and saved close to 50%. Then after I got most of the groceries put away, I drove down to World Cate and dropped off Eric's old wheelchair. If you happen to have a wheelchair laying around the house not being used World Care is in need of about 35 to 40 wheelchairs to for people on their wait list. 

 I finished making most of my holiday presents today. Now I just have to tie them up in pairs with ribbion from the never ending roll of ribbion that I bought in the 1990's when the kids were small.  And wrap the rest of the holiday gifts. It looks like it's going to be a very very busy week this week..

My hope is that Eric sleeps tonight.  

A Great Weekend

It was a good weekend around here. I can truly say it was very relaxing.  I was overwhelmed by flowers from the guys this weekend. John gave me some very pretty roses. Eric made a vase of lovely construction paper flowers in a vase filled with buttons. He also had help at his day program making and painting a clay rose, which was also fired. He also made me a small knitting bag.  I also got a call from Teri.

Lunch was the traditional Mother's Day Dim Sum ( Dim sum (/ˈdɪmˈsʌm/) refers to a style of Cantonese food prepared as small bite-sized or individual portions of food traditionally served in small steamer baskets or on small plates.*1 ) If you are in Tucson you must try the Dim Sum at China Phoenix at the corner of Ina and Oracle in the Safeway shopping center. We have been going there since the mid 1990's and the food is still wonderful. They server it on weekends only from 10am to 3 pm. We like to get there on the earlier side.

Dinner was a very light affair of Sushi at Shogun's at the corner of River and Oracle in the Denny's parking lot. Yes it was a weekend full of eating.

I also found some time for knitting and spinning. No projects finished though.

The current load of laundry is almost finished washing. As soon as it goes into the dryer it will be time to start the next load and go to bed. We had a formula spill tonight and it has to be washed before it drys, otherwise it leaves a stain and the laundry room smelling like formula,


*1 Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dim_sum

A Father's Day Suprise

Yesterday the secret plan for John's Father's Day present came to fruition. Yes we did manage to pull it off. John is so hard to shop for because he is a man of just the basics. So what do you get a man who has everything he wants? So last month Teri and I hatched a plan for her to be John's fathers day present. Teri would fly in to Tucson and call her dad with car problems. Since John had the day off I had Teri call him from her layover. When we got the call we were eating lunch.  I answered the phone and it went something like this.

Me. Hi Teri. (I could hear the sounds of the airport in the back round) What, you have car trouble, let me give the phone to dad. John then put the phone on speaker mode. Not much chit chat but a very worried look on Johns face ( I could see the wheel running do we call AAA, how much is this repair going to cost us.) Well you get the picture.

Teri. Hi dad I drove into the city( San Fransisco) and somehow landed up at LAX and I am going to need a ride home from the airport in about an hour.  John was a little confused and then everything clicked when Teri said that I had her flight itinerary. By the very surprised look on John's face I knew that we had pulled off the perfect surprise.

The next little bit of time was spent getting Teri's room ready. Washing the sheets vacuuming  and getting the clutter creep out of her room. I sent John to the airport to pick up his present. He was just so excited that he was going to see his little girl. They came home with a Tucson favorite, Eegee's drinks.

After a little catching up and some nap time. I sent Teri and John out to Bookmans and dinner. They both had a great time. We then spent some time watching TV and playing around with our ipods. Yes geekdom does rule in this house.

All in all a very good day and a terffice fathers day present.

The Day that Could Not Get Any Better

Today has just been a very wonderful day. I got the last of the holiday presents finished and mailed. This made John happy that there were 4 fewer hand knit items in the house. I really hope that Malie and her kids like what I made. I am always nervous when I send out hand knit items as gifts. I know that I do a great job but not everyone feels the same about handcrafted items.


Teri and I went shopping at Savers today and we got some great gangas*. Teri managed to get 2 pair of Seventh Generation Jeans that were lightly used and fit her like they were custom made for her. The best part was the tab was under $30.00. I don’t think I would ever have the spare money to buy them at full price.

We then headed to the dentist and got there 1 ½ hours early, but we were lucky to be able to get in early. All I had to do was to help the hygienist with her bobbles on a new pattern. By the way she had them done perfectly and did not need the help. They were even able to get Teri in for a filling before she goes back to school.

Then it was off to lunch at the 5th Street Deli. Teri has not had good deli food since she has been away. I am almost positive that they should have a good Kosher Deli in Santa Clara, but being busy with school she did not find one her 1st semester there. She enjoyed her corned beef sandwich and fries. I was nice to see her so happy and enjoying a meal so much.

We made a stop at Nadine’s Bakery for a sweet treat to take home. I still have not had the energy to do as much baking as I had planned.

While we were out shopping, John over saw the instillation of the new garbage disposal. The original one that was installed when the house was built was worn out. So now with the addition of the new kitchen faucet and garbage disposal I think I can put off the remodel of the kitchen till after Teri finishes law school.

Now it’s time to get back to work and organize under the sink, as you know this is never my favorite job and I have delayed as long as I could. Have a wonderful day and enjoy your families.

*Gangas- an extremely good deal.