Not 30

I am not 30 anymore.  I can feel it after 4 very bad nights with Eric. Besides being tired my hands feel numb and my skin hurts.  It has some very big downsides not being 30. So tonight I hope Eric sleeps.  Goodnight all.

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.

Unintended Consequence

There were unintended consequences for staying up until 3:15 am with Eric this morning.  I just realized that the pjs I had bought in November were now so big that they were falling down.  This lead to a trip to get new pjs in you guessed it, one size smaller.  January is not the ideal time to shop for pjs since the holiday stock is almost gone and the spring items were not ordered until after year end inventory was done.  Also the valentines stock has not arrived yet.

I did manage to stay up until the Super Blood Moon Lunar eclipse hit its full peak.  Eric is still not running at his 100% yet, but I am so tired that I am going to bed. I am leaving Elmo in charge.

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.

A Rough Week or 2

I feel that I have lost the battle with my body.  Eric has been sick twice in the past 2 weeks.  There have been too many long days and nights that I would have handled with ease a few decades ago.  I am really trying to take care of myself.  I have been tempted to get some soda, but instead on the long nights I try to have a very small snack every few hours. This seems to be working.

This does not mean that my body does not ache all over.  I can tell you with precise detail which are my weakest tendons and joints. I am still trying to keep up my various therapy for the joints.  This just leaves me exhausted.

I am almost finished with a new knitting pattern. The pattern is written and the sample is knit but not yet felted. I have knit it 6 times to make sure it is correct technically.  I was just too tired to finish up the felting and taking the pictures.  This is a beginning pattern and will make a great holiday gift. I will let you know when it is released and where to get it.

Life in the Blender Again

I am sitting with Eric while we do a trial run on pedilyte.  The kangaroo Joey is set to 5 ml per hour. For those you who do not live in the ml universe, that is 1 teaspoon per hour.  Yes, Eric is sick again. I swear that if I had a nickel for every time some said that their kids had allergies and Eric got sick, I could make a hefty donation to fight hunger here in Tucson.  With any luck I might just make it to bed by midnight.  I also feel that it falls on deaf ears when I ask people to stay home when they or their kids are sick.

In other news, Teri’s Blanket is on the last round of the boarder. Then I get to weave in two ends per block.  Then I will wash it.  I don’t think that I will block it since it is 100% organic cotton.  The final picture and row count should be some time this week.  It will have over 12,000 rows for the one million row challenge on Ravelry.

Last Square

I started knitting the last square of Teri’s blanket today. You know the one I started when she was a L1. You have all probably heard the story of how she picked 10 skeins of yarn and we both thought that it would be enough for a queen sized blanket.  Boy were we ever off in our calculations.   It turned out that 1 skein made 3 blocks. So I had enough yarn for 2 rows of blocks.

Then there was a frantic search for enough yarn to finish the blanket.  I think I will have enough yarn leftover to knit a sweater for me.  But I am digressing.  At Thursday’s knitting group at Grandmas Spinning Wheel we have an aggregate knowledge base approaching 200 years.  It’s a great place to discuss the merits of various finishing techniques.  So the plan is to chrochet the boarder. Yes, I will be bracing my left hand for this.  Not to weave in all the ends in one sitting.  Do the final trimming after the first wash.  Try to figure out how to fit it in my carry on luggage.

This evening I was doing the mommy multi task thing.  Finishing cleaning of the craft room.  Washing more eyrpy laundry.   Taking care of the eyrpy boy. Getting my final 5k step for the day. Giving Eric his medicine.  Plus near constant suctioning of Eric to keep the gunk out of his lungs.  Now I am just waiting for Eric to fall asleep.  I think I will leave the tv on all night so that I can sleep.

Tradition

It would not be a holiday around here without a certain someone getting sick.  At least he has a day off tomorrow. This means that he can help supervise laundry, knitting and cleaning.  I am not quite sure when it became a family tradition, I personally think that it was so last century.

At any rate, Eric is starting a trial of formula and I will knit.  All this happens while Eric’s tummy is determining weather he will be totally sick or not.

Teri’s Blanket.  In other news, there are only 4 more squares to knit before the next measurement.  Hopefully I will be weaving in ends and adding the broader soon.

Bits and Pieces

I surprise myself today. At knitting Inge brought her sister who is visiting from Germany.  I took German in the 7th grade and have not practiced much since then.  I did remember how to say guttentag and ein bitta  with the correct pronunciation at the right time.  By the way my spellcheck does not like to check my spelling in German.  So I am truly sorry if I misspelled anything.

I was too tired to shop for clothes so I went grocery shopping instead.   I managed to save about 30% of the total bill with coupons.  The bad news is that I ran out of time to get everything out of the van and still eat lunch before I had to pick up Eric. So I put the perishables up front and everything else in the rear hatch area. Yes, the Popsicle's made it into the freezer before they melted.  Eric was picked up on time..  Eric then supervised the unloading of the van.  John got home just in time to help.  As of now not everything is put away yet.

Eric had a bit of a rough day.  We managed to catch everything before he went full eyrpy.  He is ow on pedilyte and I will go to sleep when he gets to about 30 mls per hour.  He will be home with me tomorrow.  Hopefully he will be up to a car ride and my physical therapy secession. I know they say no kids allowed, but he is older than some of the staff so I am going to bring him along.

Home Today

With Eric sick, I was home today. My day consisted of finishing the eyrpy laundry, taking care of Eric. Finishing the scarf on the small loom,. All I have left to do on the scarf is tie the ends and wash it.  Starting a direct warp, that is 7 feet long and 22 inches wide on the big loom. The next time I do a warp so big, I think it would be prudent to have some help. It is a very hard solo project. Yes, it is on a rigid heddle loom. You can see part of the small loom in the back round. Here is where I am leaving off for tonight.

Ethics

I am wondering if it is ethical to bribe a child that was up until 4 am to take a nap at 7:30 am? My breakfast of oatmeal , tea and chocolate only made me more tired and I need a nap fairly soon. Maybe I should just turn on HBO kids for Eric and just pull his wheelchair up to the couch so that he is in reach and have a nap.

Early December

Eric is just getting over the cold that he has had since last Thursday. John and I are very tired and trying to get too many things done at once. Can someone invent a 48 hour day for me please?

Holiday presents are going slower than I would like. I wanted to be done with a few more than none by this point. It did not help that my body needed rest today. Hopefully I will make progress tomorrow.

Deep cleaning has kicked up to high gear again. It's not like I have the time, but with itemized deductions disappearing next year it has to be done by December 31st. We filled the recycle bin to the point that it needed to be stuffed down yesterday. So that is some slow progress.  All the quilting batts have left the house and freed up some much needed room. Fifty percent of that is filled already. I also need to clean up a desk to turn it into an electronic work station for John. You did not think that I was going to play with the electronics did you? The electronic equipment has started to arrive. So I guess that I am way behind on that too.. I wonder how many drawers will need to be emptied?

Well tomorrow is almost here so it is time to call it a day.

Zenning Again

This week with the encouragement of my friend Vicky, I am taking zenning to a whole new level. I have started going through my craft bags looking for unfinished objects. Henceforth to be called UFO's. So far I have emptied one bag completely. Finished three scarfs. Did I mention create more small balls of yarn for hats? Found a lot of knitting needles. In my defense in the past when I had too many empty knitting needles I just cast on a few more projects. Stash them away in a craft bag until I was bored and needed a new challenge. This is why I have so many bags filled with UFO's.

I am going to try to eliminate the extra craft bags.  There are no guarantees here though. I have so many beautiful project bags. I now have a lifetime supply of large tote bags and project bags. Some I will pass on to new knitters that I teach. Some will be used for shopping, although since the zenning project began a few years ago, I am less likely just to go shopping if I am bored. I am more aware of what I bring into the house. I just don't buy more stuff. The exception here seems to be yarn, roving and tissue paper. After all I have spinning wheels, looms and knitting needles to keep busy, not to mention my idle hands.

Eric is having less bad nights since we discover that his vitamin D was contaminated. Last night was an exception. I was up with him until 4 am. Got a little sleep when he settled in. We both took naps this morning. I am still at the point where my energy reserves are completely gone. So I need to slow down a bit until they are back. A perfect time to sit and knit.

Now what to make for dinner.

Blender to Tuesday

Monday evening as I wrote my blog I had such great plans for Tuesday. Well long story short, Eric shared his cold with me. I am not quite sure how Eric and I made it through Tuesday. Did I mention that this cold hit me like a brick wall, hard and fast? Wednesday was a little better, I even had the energy to watch Sesame Street with Eric after napping all morning. Eric was nice enough to nap all morning too.

Today Eric made it back to program and I slept for most of the day. On the sweater that  I am now knitting is about 1 inch below the arm holes in the mid 50's by row count. Now I know why some friends prefer to knit sweaters in the round, no purling every other row. I am also way behind on chores. I know that I will catch up 5 minutes at a time. I need to leave plenty of recovery time.

My sleep cycle is really messed up from Eric being sick and this silly cold. So the first thing I need to do is reset it. I figure with about 5 minutes of zenning the craft room tonight that I will be tired enough to sleep. Wish me luck.

I Have A Plan

After a very busy day, I was looking forward to a nice quite night.  Well Eric had other plans.  His MTBF is holding steady, yes he is feeling yucky tonight.  Which brings up the next subject. Eric does not like he acronym MTBF, which is mean time between failures, an engineering term.  Hence forth it will be called MTBY, mean time between yuckies, an Eric term.  

Since we will be home tomorrow, I plan on getting as much spinning as I can done. There is a reason behind all this spinning. First it really hurts my hands when I knit right now, the arthritis has settled in them for a while.  Second it is suppose to be 113f here in Tucson on Sunday.  I figure since we will be home all day, it would be a perfect day to wash and dry yarn.  Hopefully this will keep the garage a little cooler and the yarn will dry a little faster.  

Needless to say if you were expecting me anywhere tomorrow, sorry.  Someone we all know and love will be keeping me busy.  

We survived

Eric and I are both feeling better. Just maybe he will go to program on Thursday.  I also picked out one of my knitting projects for the weekend.  Just maybe I can get a few things for me done.  Well it's time to call it a night.  Eric will still be home tomorrow.  

In The Blender

My life has been in the blender, which is like dancing as fast as you can on the edge of a sword, but with an I interminted vortex being controlled by a higher power than me.  I am sitting with Eric who is having a bad tummy week.  We know what the problem is and tried the quick fix solution.  Since it is almost 12:30 on Thursday morning we know that is not the solution.  Weather we go down path B , C D, or E will be up to team Eric medical professionals.  

I am just wondering how early I can hand off my meeting notes for tomorrow, so that I can take care of Eric and someone else can run the Old Pueblo Knitting Guild Meeting.  I am positive that this is the wrong hour of the morning to call someone.  

I would also like to thank PBS Kids for running good programming for kids at a time when we should all be sleeping. If you don't already support public television, a small donation will keep early morning programming going for Eric and other kids..I also want to know why Sprout has changed their programming to run excercize programming at midnight for kids?

Well I think it is time to go adjust the air conditioning.  I usually don't run the air conditioning in February. Then I will do some charity knitting.  

Is Today Over Yet?

It's been one of  those days around here.  I could not figure out if the new lunch spot we tried yesterday is to blame or I have a he crud du jour that is going around Eric's day program.  It really does  not matter.  I spent most of the day sleeping.  I am still tired.  

Eric is not feeling good either. He is on he eyrpy side tonight.  Sitting with Eric sometimes has its own harzards.  Tonight diaper mountain fell on me or rather a dozen packages of diapers.  It did not help my lack of Caffine fueled headache.  Tomorrow diaper mountain will be restacked.  

Meanwhile I set aside working on the new pattern while I am sitting with Eric.  Instead I am trying to finish the second half of a charity knitting poncho.  There is nothing like doing mindless garter stitch when I am sitting with Eric.  Something that I can stop in mid row and not lose my place in the pattern.  

Knitting and More

Eric is still sick and tommrow is up in the air.  He is currently running a fever. I am hoping that Eric's fever breaks tonight and that he feels better tomorrow. I on the other hand feel much better.  My back is finally starting  to feel better after the December accident. I guess everything gets better In its own time.

On the knitting front my new design is coming out much better than I hoped.  It has a lot of body and swish. I am really loving the Dream in Color Marino Cashmere blend. I also got 8 more inches knit today. This might just be the pattern that will be given at the March Old Pueblo Knitters luncheon and fashion show. I will include a link when the web site is updated.  My plan is to add the second skein of yarn tomorrow. Don't worry this pattern will be suitable for a beginning knitting project.  

A Bump in the Road

Today was a very busy Monday. I had started the laundry, dropped Eric off at his day program and just finished my errand. Then I got the call that Eric was eyrpy and wanted to go home. Just as I was making my left turn into his day program my car got bumped by an inattentive driver. Aside from a headache that lasted a few hours, I am fine. The van however is my worst nightmare.

John drove the car across town to check out the ramp which at this point seems ok, but then again it has not be on a lift yet. So then John headed to the body shop. The original plan was for them to make a list of parts that they needed to order and call us when all the parts arrived. So much for plan A. The rear was so mangled that they will need to tear down the back of the van down to find out what parts we need and the van will be in the shop about a week.

So we are without transportation for Eric for a week. The "maybe good" news is that Eric is home sick today and tomorrow. Which means we should not need the van. The bad news is that I have never signed Eric up for transportation services so we don't know how we are getting Eric to program when he is feeling better. It is a little too far to walk and the big hill on 1st avenue would be awful going both up and down.  Not to mention the lack of sidewalks for most of the way.

Since I always like to end on a good note, and this is a hard one today. As of the time of this post there are less then 8 hours left for December 7. Tomorrow will be a whole lot better.