Frustrated

I am feeling so overwhelmed lately. It seems to me that Eric has been having a lot of sick days and down days with no program. Before I can even recoup from the last time, it seems that he is sick or off from program yet again. I have fallen asleep 5 days in a row on the couch before Eric. Thank goodness John is there to pick up my slack and getting Eric ready for sleep.

The holidays start tomorrow night. The house is not cleaned nor is a holiday dinner in the planning stages, although I did remember to order the challah. I did manage to do something for the holidays. To tell you the truth and I know this sounds so bad, but I would be happy cooking frozen fish and chips for dinner tomorrow. This has left me feeling angry at myself for being such a wimp. I get angry at myself for not setting the perfect holiday table and spending days cooking just the right things. This is not how to run a proper household. I am just tired and worn out.  I know that today or tomorrow I will find the energy to make my way to the market. I think I can get away with making a small roast, golden carrots and a kugel for 2. This is all the cooking I can muster myself to do.

Did I also mention that the deconstruction on the kitchen starts in 12 days and I have the 3/4's of the kitchen left to pack. Eric does not go back to program until Wednesday. Did I mention that I am not 30 anymore, I seemed to handle things so much better with little or no sleep back then. I know that this is my very tired self talking, but right now I do not see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I am hoping for a happier and healthier New Year, with more sleep. In case I don't blog tomorrow, I am going to wish everyone and Happy and Healthy New Year. La Shana Tova.

Expect the Unexpected

I am so lucky that John is bring home dinner. I has been a whirlwind around here for the past 2 days. A lot of unexpected has popped up. Not the least of which with in moments of me walking in the door last night Eric wild eyrped all over the place. I am talking about needing to change the bed and the boy. I finally finished that laundry at 5 pm today. I hope most of his sleepy time friends are dry, I have not check the clothes line yet. They wash well in the laundry but can not be put in the dryer. I am hoping the 105 degree day in Tucson helped.

I had hoped to finishing warping the loom today, then trying to finish the last charity project rug.  I am just too tired and achy to do that by myself. I just wish that I could figure out what is causing the current streak of not feeling well days with Eric. I have so many projects lined up that I want to/ have to get done. I also have to get ready for a visit from a very special person in our lives in about a week.

There is just so much to do and every time Eric gets sick, I fall further behind. Although I did manage to sneaked out of Eric's room when he started feeling better and got some cleaning done 5 minutes at a time. I just need more than 5 minutes at a time to get the crafting projects done.

Well I have about 20 minutes to get a little more done around the house. So off I go.

25

Today is only Wednesday and I hit the 25 loads of laundry mark. I know part of this was do to Eric being sick, yes he made 4 loads in under an hour on Monday night. So I asked Eric if he could possibly slow down his laundry production for the rest of the week and all he did was laugh at me. I think that he is taking his job of being the chief laundry maker a bit too seriously this week.

You would think by the amount of laundry that I am doing this week that I either had a larger family of a small washtub. Sadly neither is the case. There are only 3 of us at home and I have the largest washtub in my machine that Whirlpool made 20 years ago.

On a lighter note Eric is feeling better and is back on formula. His fever is also down below the 100 mark, the 1st time since Monday night. With Eric feeling better I also took the time to clean the stove and the kitchen like I should have done before Passover. Better late than never.

Well I think that I am finally unwinding form my busy day and week. So I think I will try to get some sleep.  It will be time to get my day going again in a little over 5 hours.

It's Just Another Manic Monday

Wait a minute it can't be Monday. Its Wednesday. Let me backtrack a moment. Our dear sweet Eric after being back at his day program for all of one day on Tuesday after 2 weeks of being home sick, spent from 9:30 pm to until 3:30 puking his guts out and needing to be held. I managed to get all the laundry he made last night washed and in the dryer by 3:30 am and then took a short nap until 6:10 am. A good solid nights sleep by any mothers standards.

This morning Eric had decided that his room needed to be cleaned and organized before I finished Teri's room. No sibling rivalry there. So the second bookcase was emptied and polished this morning. I went through everything. The net result is that 2 bags of junk left his room for the trash and 1 bag will be going to Bookman's here in Tucson. This afternoon I spent another 2 hours organizing and putting everything away. There were an awful lot of Elmo's, some for nearly every shelve. There is only one thing left to put away and the top of the bookcase needs to be polished and dusted, I will leave that to my over 6 foot tall volunteer, not that I don't enjoy perching precariously from step stools.

Because I am sick of take out food, I made a pot of chili while I was putting together my lunch. I let it simmer all afternoon on low. I made a pan of cornbread when John called and as soon as it is done we will have dinner. Just so it does not seem that I am perfect and can do everything, I will admit that I left all the things I used today, but the cutting board in the sink for John. Afterall I just can't do it all in one day.

Well, John just got home so it is time to set the table for dinner. I hope I don't go go to sleep face first into the chili.

For those keeping track of step counts, I made it to over 10,000 steps walked 3 days in a row. Lets hear from everyone else.

Scorpions and more

Today was just one of those odd days all around. Eric picked up the tummy bug going around. So it was a long night. Thank goodness I had caught up on laundry yesterday, so that I only had 2 loads to do last night. So I was very tired going into the the day. As I was gathering all the stuff and medicine to hook Eric up to his pedilyte this morning, I ran into a scorpion. I was not moving very fast, but it was moving slower than I was.  I was able to walk to the kitchen and get a long handled fry pan. This is my favorite tool for killing scorpions. By the time I got back it had not moved much.  This one was a tough one though, it took 3 smacks to kill it. After it was disposed of, I went back to getting Eric his medicine and pedilyte. Eric's aide was so happy that he did not have to go after the scorpion he even cleaned the bottom of the fry pan for me.

After I had slowly given Eric his medicine, I took advantage of having an aide in the house for Eric and took a nap. The rest of the day was spent knitting and sitting with Eric. I think the most odd part of the knitting today is that the hat I started last night is now 2/3 done, is exactly where I picked up the one I was working on and finished yesterday. So I essentially got 1 hat for charity finished today. I also stumbled upon a bag set up for hat knitting that had gone missing in the UFO pile. I figure I have 5 to 6 hats worth of wool before I need to restock the bag.

 Eric is now feeling better and is handling pedilyte well. He is not back on formula so he will be home again tomorrow. Maybe I can get another hat  or 2 finished tomorrow.

Laundry Overload

I know I have hit laundry overload when I start dreaming about laundry. Last night I hit overload. I was up with the eyrpy boy until 3:30 a.m.. I was trying to keep up with the eyrpy laundry, but I had to finish the laundry I put in the washer and dryer before bed. The dryer was my sore spot last night, it took forever in my very humble and tired opinion to dry anything.

Well I finally got to get a nap around 3:30 a.m. I dreamt that I was pulling an old fashion 2 wheel shopping cart, the kind women of my grandmothers generation used to use when they went shopping and had to walk or take the bus home with their groceries. The cart was pretty empty when I started out. As the dream progressed it kept getting fuller and fuller. The more I walked the fuller it got.  I could not find any place to wash the pile of laundry no matter how much it grew and was stuffed down in the basket.

When I woke up at 5:30 a.m. I went right back to doing laundry. With great hope on my part, I have what I think is the last load of laundry for the day in the dryer as I write this. Wish me luck. Eric is still a little eyrpy.  Now of course this does not include the yarn that I am plying right now on the spinning wheel.

Busy

I have been very busy over the past few days with Eric being sick. I have put down the lace work until I am less tired. So I have done a bit of charity knitting over the past several days. I completed 6 hats and 1 scarf, with 1 additional hat cast on tonight. I am almost finished with the brim.  

Eric is feeling better and we hope to get him back to day program tomorrow. Then I can do some cleaning and laundry. Not that I have not been doing laundry.  You know it is a never ending chore around here. 

I hope that I can convince my body to sleep more than 4 hours at a te tonight.  Although if I wake up I will start the laundry then do some picking up. 

Feeling Yucky

The crud has invaded. Both Eric and I are sick. We will try to get into the doctors or urgent care this morning. Now to keep John from getting it, because I have so little energy even knitting seems to be a lot of work. I am drinking my hot tea with lemon and honey while I write this. It might be old school but it tastes better than cough syrup.

I do have to end this on the bright side thought. Just remember that the family that gets sick together stays together.

Update:

Both Eric and I are on antibiotics and will lay low for a few days and hope that John does not get this. 

Monday

Last night was a long night with Eric. I managed to get to bed by 2:30 and John let me sleep in until after 7am so it was not the caffeine rich day I was anticipating. 

I did manage to spend time with Nancy and get some knitting and talking in.  Do you believe that I ran into someone who did not remember my name but rather my shawl.  I will add the link tomorrow. 

At home I got some cleaning in and finished 2 more hats tonight. Now that I refilled the yarn bag it seems that I have a long way to go again. 

A Mixed Monday

I had an odd feeling today. I swept it to the back of my mind when I went out to knit with the girls today.  As usual for our small group the food, talk and knitting were great. We had a visitor to the group today, it turns out that her husband works with Lisa's mom. I wish I could remember her name. It's such a small world.  She was also knitting the most increadable dress, I wish that I had the patients to knit swirls upon swirls, then sew them together. 

After knitting I did some errands and took a longer than intended nap.  In hind site that was a wonderful thing.  During Eric's shower the wild eyrps started.  I think I have decided if one is going to get sick the shower is the perfect place.  As gross as it sounds, it was a really easy clean up.  First rinse everything down the drain.  Then hit the barh chair, floors and walls with Scrubbing Bubbles. Let it sit for a few minutes then use the scrub brush on the broom handle.  Then rinse the entire floor and squeegee the rest of the water down the drain.  Only 15 minutes to clean up a very messy mess.  I am not sure the makers of Scrubbing Bubbles had this in mind when they went to project development, but it worked very well.

I did get hats 20 & 21 finished and am on the decrease rows for hat 22 on the 30 hats in 30 days challenge.  Thanks to Eric being home for a few days I might get them finished by this weekend. I only have 8 1/3 hats to go. 

I think Eric has settled down for the night. Since he is going to be home for the next two days it's time to get some rest while I can.  

A Long Night and A Busy Day

I find it a toss up when Eric has a bad night whether to stay up all night or pop up and down all night getting badly interrupted sleep. Last night was one of those nights and I decided to pop up and down. The longest stretch of sleep I got was 2 hours and sometimes I would just close my eyes and be right back up.

Despite the hectic night I managed to get in a very good work out by doing the house work and laundry this morning. I was way too tired. I also knew that the house work would wait for me and pile up on Mondays chores. Which would cascade further into the week.

After lunch I did make it to Michael's Craft store with a friend for the Lion Brand yarn 135 year anniversary celebration. I came home with a nice bracelet. When I got home I was exhausted so I made 2 cups a vanilla chai tea. I find 4 pm a little late for that much caffeine but today I know I would have fallen asleep on my dinner plate if I had not.

I also got some spinning done while Eric was doing his breathing treatment this afternoon. I am hoping that I can finishing spinning this yarn tomorrow so that I can ply it. John also brought home dinner tonight and was nice enough to clean up too. I almost finished the cowl on my knitting needles tonight. That too should be finished by tomorrow.

I am going to try to call it a very early night tonight. I hope that Eric agrees too.

Maybe Busy, Maybe Not

Friday

I am not sure I should be this tired and achy tonight.  Yes I was active today.  I walked 6 miles, pushed Eric around the mall for 1 hour and 20 minutes, cleaned for 2 hours and went to knitting. John procured dinner tonight.  So it can't be the cooking.  I will have to think about this.  

Eric had a really good day until bed time. We hung out together today. He was full of smiles for everyone except for the one knitter who forgot to engage her brain before talking. So my request for the coming year is that we all think before we talk.  Please don't just blurt out the first thing that comes to mind.  What comes to mind here is an old proverb that my dad liked.  "Speak softly, for you never know which words you will have to eat tomorrow."

I am going to try sleep now and hope that Eric sleeps through the night.  I hope that the eyrps have stopped for the night.

Saturday

Well I got an hours sleep before I was up with Eric for the rest of the night. I woke John up at 6 am so I could take a nap. I then went to Target to get a few more organizers for my latest deep cleaning project. I also took time to walk around the mall to get the kinks out.  Those new organizers got filled relativity fast. I landed up buying one Target out and having John drive to another Target to buy more boxes.

 

Sunday

 

I spent 4 hours cleaning house, doing laundry and deep cleaning before my body said enough for today. I did manage to organize another shelf and empty a laundry basket of things that needed to be put away that were hiding in a closet.

 

 

Getting dressed was another challenge today. The 1st pair of pants fit, but felt a bit snug. The next 3 were way too big and will go to Goodwill. Pair 5 was my lucky number today. They have been in my closet so long that I can not remember when I bought them. I have a lot of clothes in my new size so maybe I can shop my closet for most everything I will need in my new smaller size.

 

I have been losing the weight by eliminating aspartame and high fructose corn syrup. This in itself eliminates a lot of junk food. I have been deep cleaning the house and walking instead of going to the gym. This has been a multi year effort so there are no quick fixes that I can offer. Yes I have gotten discouraged at times, but every time I go down a size I am amazed. I have no set amount of weight I want to lose, I only want to feel better.

 

Well it is time to call it a night.







Happy New Year

The day started off with a very early morning headache from he double tooth picks for me. My head was still throbbing when Eric needed suctioning at 5:40 am. That went on and off for most of the day. There was no way I was going to get out of the house for services today. However; I feel that since I was under the weather along with Eric, that taking care of the sick was one step higher on the list of to do's than communal prayer. For everyone I wish a La Shana Tova - A good year with the best of health.

I wonder if the migraine that I started off the day with and John got later in the day is one of those quirky viruses that go around sometimes.

The UCP World Challenge has started. I am on Team Eric. I have put a link to the donation site on the right hand side of my blog. Any donation over $2.00 will get a tax receipt. Our team goal to to climb every virtual mountain and to raise $500. We have made a good start on the mountain and have raised $110.00 so far. As you might have guessed UCP is the non profit that helps Eric stay home with us. With out their help I would not be able to keep Eric home where he belongs. Please help if you can. Thanks from all of us on Team Eric.

How Not to Write a Pattern

I am still working out the best ways for me to put my knitting patterns to paper. I am currently working on a pattern that I started writing a few days ago. So I went through a dictionary of knitting stitch patterns. This is good because I know what direction I want to go. I know I am working on a wash cloth so I know that I need to cast on 40 stitches. This is very good so far. This gives me a boarder of 5 stitches on each side and enough for 2 pattern repeats in the center of the washcloth with the stitch I picked out.

Things are still going great I have knit the first 8 rows for the bottom of the wash cloth. I like to knit the pattern as I am designing it. I need feed back from the yarn and the pattern. So I get the next 16 rows done and it looks wonderful. Now this is where things start getting wonky.

Eric had an asthma attack so I gave him his first dose of medicine and went to grab the note book that I was writing in plus the knitting pattern under way. Yes I moved everything into Eric's room. I figure once he had the meds he would settle down. I started knitting like I had done hundreds of time in his room. Of course I was not writing a knitting pattern but rather doing mindless knitting on ponchos, scarfs or caps. Some where along the way in the next 2 hours of popping up and down from the rocking chair aka the knitting chair and Eric's bed to get him in a better position to breath I screwed up on my row count.

My first reaction was that the knitting dictionary was wrong. I could not possibly make a mistake like that. My row count and the books row count for the second half of the pattern did not match. Just to prove that I was right and the book was wrong. I sent out a call on Facebook and Twitter for a couple of test knitters. This is where I have to give a really huge thank you to Jen. In less than 24 hours she managed to not only knit up the pattern but find all the mistakes. So I started a second one following the corrections so far so good.

So to sum this up don't expect to write of coherent or cohesive pattern while taking care of a sick child. Calm and quite are necessary. As to the question can you see the wonky pattern the answer is no. I am still some what of a perfectionist at heart on somethings. If you want to take the pattern and make it wonky go right ahead. It will be out sometime around the 20th of this month.