Things Are Looking Up.

Well Eric has been sick long enough for me to lose track of the days. Thank goodness for the calendars, clocks with dates and the newspaper so if some one does ask at least I know where to look. That being said Eric gave me the first smile in it seems like weeks but in actuality only since last Thursday. He is not at 100% for Eric; but he is getting better. I am hoping that I will have him well enough to go to school a week from Monday.

On the knitting front I finished another shawl today and it fits me to a T. It is perfect in every way. I have added more UFOs to my knitting bag today. Most of them are scarfs which should go pretty fast. That should help my totals go up faster for the month.  Tomorrow I will take pictures of the finished items for the week. I now have freed up 2 long circular needles. Yes I have finished 3 items but I immediately cast on a hat for John with the small circular needles.

I also spent a few minutes and I do me a few minutes playing with the new carder. I will add some pictures of the batts too. I really need to try to get some rest now before I have a total revolt from my body. So here is hoping Eric goes to sleep early.

It is Already Wednesday

Eric is feeling better. Today we had our first smiles in over a week. I am still spending most of my time in his room. I am getting a lot of knitting done. I should have the second shawl of the week done tommrow. Not to worry though, I have 2 more shawls in a semi finished state. This is just in one bag of ufo's. I have decided that if I can't remember or find the patterns I will tink the project.

I managed to get a 2 mile walk in today. I also plyed 2 skeins of yarn. My carder was busy today too. I carded 3 batts that I will try to spin tommrow. Talking of carding, I found it to be pretty good excersise, after 1 hour of carding I wash drenched and tired. I wonder how many kcal's a hour ot burns. I will also have to figure out how to get it to attach to the table a little better.

It is fast approaching tommrow and I am so hoping that Eric will go to sleep soon. Night All.

First Full Day home from the Hospital

Today was Eric's first full day home from the hospital. We both got some much needed rest. In addition I managed to get a little cleaning and a lot of laundry done. I have gone through most of the mail and newspapers that were waiting for me since Saturday. I am very sure that the recycling bin in the back yard was very happy to be feed quite a bit today.

On the finishing of my UFOs I was very scattered today and worked on 3 different projects. Including a hat for John,  another Uncle Harry Scarf in an olive gray for my on line studio and I am nearing the ending of a very large wool shawl. I am in the lace section so it takes almost an hour to do 2 rows. If I had sat down and worked on just the shawl it might have been finished today.

I hear the spindles and spinning wheel calling my name but I just did not find the time today.

I did make a pot of chili tonight for dinner. I was very happy that I managed to get a home cooked meal made today. Since neither of us was very hungry I strongly suspect that I will have enough for at least one more dinner. There is also almost a full pan of homemade corn bread left over too. Maybe even enough for breakfast.

Well it is getting quite late so I think its time to call it a night.

Happy Dance Time.

We are home from the hospital. Eric will be home the rest of the week. I see a lot of knitting getting done. The count so far 1 shawl and 1 hat complete. Pictures when I am less tired.  Night all.

Not the Blog I Planned

I am sitting in Eric's room writing this blog post on my pod. This is not the post I had planned on for tonight. I was going to write about the birthday cake and show a picture. I can't down load pictures from the computer to my pod with any scence of ease. So as I watch the Good Night Show with Nina and Star I will write this blog post.

Today was not the most productive day in the history of mankind, but I got enough done. I seem to be less productive when I am tired and spend long hours on the phone. I can say with certainty that half the bills were paid. The ones that require hand written checks will ne done tommrow. I arranged a fiber swap and got it packaged to go to the post office. 2 more squares were finished on Teri's never ending blanket. I also worked on the dreaded end of year paperwork.

As we were getting Eric ready for bed John and I decieded that he did not look well. Eric has done a lot of startling tonight, but his stats look good. I think I will decided in about an hour on how long I will stay up with him tonight. I wonder what effect a late night will have on my earlier migraine. On the bright side if it does come back I can have more aspirin.

Saturday

Well it was a second almost all nighter with Eric last night. A good indication that I needed a nap was that I fell asleep while getting my hair cut, yes I trust Mary Lou that much. Let me know if you need her number.  So after a quick trip to the framers market, which did provide the laugh line for the day. "I did not think that milk was dairy." By the baker of all people. I could have not made that one up if I tried. Followed by a quick lunch.

It was nap time. I did manage a nap that was a little less than 2 hours but more than I slept last night. Did I mention that Eric shared his tummy bug. Well this blog is so dis jointed that I think I should call it a night.

Planning, Why Bother?

We are now into our usual pattern. I get an incredible amount of work done, let's use Wednesday for example. I got all the bills paid, caught up on some errands and even found time for myself(this should read was so tired that I could not move). Eric had a nurse visit and his numbers could not have been better.

Now we fast forward to Thursday morning. I had an early morning appointment I could be on time to if the bus was on time. By 6:00am Eric's fever was just shy of 100. I was scrambling for extra help for the day. Emailing the usual list and dealing with the post migraine headache. I was actually thankful that I could skip the morning appointment and will have to reschedule it. Eric's fever broke by early evening. So silly me was planning on going to hang out with friends. Eric seemed to settle in very easy this evening. Then the eyrping started. Did I mention I successfully kept my stitches dry. Yeah me!

I am now 5 loads of laundry behind. Eric is on pedilyte. I am blogging on my pod. By the way one of the new engines on Thomas the tank has glasses now, that was just a random thought. To my friends hang in there, I hope to resurface soon.

Recovering

We spent the day recovering after a long night of sick kids. I am kind of surprised that I got all the non fussy laundry in the middle of the night, but failed to get the fussy laundry done today. Well like the song says "there's always tomorrow, tomorrow is only a day away".

We all spent they day relaxing. This afternoon Eric and I stumbled upon the PBS Holiday Parade from the Bay Area.  I would highly recommend adding it to your TIVO list for next year. No commercials and all the PBS kids favorite charters. There were also a lot of bands. A real old fashion parade.

Well It is time to get Eric ready for bed. so good night everyone.

Sunday and Monday

I enjoyed my time Sunday at the Fourth Avenue Street Fair. I got to spend some time with Kathy Withers and do some spinning. I found a few nice things that I will blog about when I have time to take the pictures. Monday was spent waiting for another service call in which the contractor did not show up leading me to miss coffee with some friends who are even busier than I am, so it is  very hard to meet up. So I would like to give the service man the lack of courtesy award. He did not even call to say he was not going to make the appointment.

While I was home I spent part of the day organizing my yarn stash I found the equivalent space of 3 empty drawers in the official yarn storage area so I took yarn from the sewing room and put it away. I also started my scarf for guild on Thursday, but unless Eric is better I will not be going. If I do manage to get out the door you will see a one of a kind scarf with hand spun yarn and samples of yarn from all over the world. Oh and did I mention some of my own hand spun yarn too.

They broke Eric yet again at school. He started eyrping right before bed and it lasted most of the night. So I guess I will cut it short here and go take care of the boy.

Smooth Sailing

It has been a quiet weekend so far. Friday, John was home so I got to join the girls for knitting and lunch. These ladies are the best. They can take me from up tight mom with sick kid at home to relaxation in under 2 hours. All I can say is that I am grateful for such fantastic friends. After going out to lunch with them it was back home to give John a break from child care.

I also figured why I had not finished a doll blanket. I had taken it out of the UFO box where it has been for the last 3 years. After working on it for 2 hours at knitting and some additional time at home I found that I did not have enough yarn to finish it. I know that 3/4 of the way through and all I can say is darn and time to tink it. For those that read this blog who don't knit, tink is a different way to say I am ripping it out. Maybe I will make some bean bags or something that uses a light weight cotton yarn

We did manage to get out of the house today. John saw something with a lot of booms in it. Eric and I saw the Muppet Movie. It is very different from the past Muppet movies with a lack of forks in the road and other skits. It was more like the Muppet Show, which Eric and I still watch on occasion. Eric and I liked the movie very much.

We managed to get home just as the rain was starting. Timing is everything right. I frogged the project I started in the movie, I just did not get it right. I don't know if it was the 3 women in front of us texting through out the movie or that I just did not know what I had in mind. It is now recast on and going well. I did wind up some more yarn and made pumpkin bread for dinner. Cold rainy days are great for baking.

Well it is almost time to get dinner on the table. so have a great night.

How I am Keeping Busy

It has been almost a week since I last blogged. Since then Eric has gotten sick yet again this time a tummy bug that entailed wild eyrping for 24 hours straight, the poor guy. Just when I thought I might get him out the door this week he started showing symptoms of a head cold. I swear the little dude has not been out of the house since the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. I do have one suggestion for PBS and Sprout, for the sake of parents of sick kids please don't put your shows on a 6 hour loop. There are only so many times I can watch the same show on the same day before I go nuts.

I am happy to report that Teri has made it through her first final with only  3 more to go.  That achievement should not be taken lightly. I can't begin to tell the whole world just how proud I am of her. It is truly a blessing that she is in my life. Teri is a wonderful part of our family.

I have been spending my days knitting and cleaning, aside for hanging around with Eric.  I think we are in week 5 or 6 of Eric being home and I am trying not to go stir crazy. I am taking every opportunity to get out of the house for a few minutes when I can. There has been plenty of laundry, which I am happy to say that up until this point I have been keeping up with. I have not had much time for spinning, weaving or sewing. I am beginning to think I will not have a new quilt for John with no time to go into the sewing room or have Teri's new blanket finished as it is to big to take to Eric's room. I am publicly rethinking my holiday presents. Yes, Teri I know I just announced it to the world.

I have added some new items to my etsy studio and have a small pile of things that need photos before listing. I hope to get that done tomorrow. Well it is getting late so its time to say goodnight.

I Will be a Willow Tree

Sometimes I wonder why I bother to make plans at all. About 50% of my plans land in the blender. Take today for instance. I had planed to go to the knitting guild meeting today and hang out with some friends and maybe have lunch. So to that end I called and scheduled a nurse for today last Friday, because Eric is still home. I figured 6 days in advance was enough. Well 8:00 am came and went. We are suppose to wait a reasonable amount of time in case the nurse gets lost. By 8:30  still no nurse and they have 2 hours to find a replacement. So much for the guild meeting and lunch with friends.

So instead I went to the pantry and filled a bag of food for the annual stuff the Mayflower for the Tucson Community Food Bank that our local radio station 94.9MIXfm puts on. Let Eric watch some TV while I got ready. Negotiated with Eric what shows he wanted to watch before we dropped the food and check off. Yes we had to wait until Sesame Street was over.

Then it was getting Eric ready to go and all that that entails. Load Eric in the car and drive down to the drop off site. Then I had to explain that Eric wanted to make the donation of the food so I put it in his lap so the volunteer could take the bag of food from him and then they said thank you to Eric. I also took a moment to drop the check in the collection bucket.

Back home again and it was time for my lunch and then to put Eric down for a nap. Eric wanted company so I did some knitting. When he dozed off I did some pretty awesome tossing of junk into recycle. Then Eric would squeak and I would go back to his room,  knit some more until he dozed  and then it was back to cleaning.This went on for 4 hours this afternoon. But the net result is a cleaner section of the house. And enough magazines tossed to compress the recycle bin a little.

I also figured out what was causing Eric's bed to act all funny. Yes I fixed that too. I just love duck tape, I just need to get more of it. An darn if I was not at the hardware store just last night and walked right past it thinking that I had enough of it.

Eric's afternoon aide was late too. He showed up 25 minutes after the start of the shift and then tried to play the we need to fill out the time card in pencil routine, yes like I have never seen that done before and did not know he was going to erase the time he was here with the time he was suppose to be here. Pencil really who was he trying to kid? I wrote over his pencil in black ink.

I can truly say that I am very tired and that it was a long day. Other than the disappointment of not being able to go out or have the energy to take pictures for my on line shop the day did turn out all right.

Now if Eric would only sleep through the night tonight.

Hump Day

After a long night with Eric, I decided to take it slow today. Actually my body did not give me much of a choice. Even fully caffeinated Eric and I managed to take a couple of naps today. To clarify I had the caffeine and not Eric, I am not that brave to try and give him caffeine.

More napping than knitting got done. On Eric's 3rd nap of the day I did manage to do some finishing work. If the nurse does not show tomorrow I will spend the morning taking pictures with Eric. I have incorporated some of my own hand spun in 2 of the hats.

When the mail came today Eric decided that he wanted the t-shirt that I had won as a prize from Pepsi. So I told him if he really wanted it he would have to take it out of my hands. He  really surprised me by reaching over with both hands and really giving it a tug. So now I would like to thank Pepsi for the new t-shirt for Eric from the Pepsi Refresh Project. As a reminder for everyone. Eric is still collecting tabs for the Ronald McDonald House here in Tucson for his charity work. He Just loves it when you send tabs his way.

I know the blog is rambling tonight so I guess this means it is time to go to sleep. Night all.

A Pretty Good Day

I had a pretty good day for being in the middle of week 3 home with Eric. Eric is starting to feel better and is not quiet as grumpy as yesterday.  This left me with some time to do a little pick up around the house and make a home cooked dinner.

I managed to finish some UFOs. One was an order due next Monday and the other was a hat for the online shop. I plan on doing the finishing work tomorrow. One of my circular needles got lonely so I cast on another hat to work on when I am sitting with Eric. Yes I know I just created another UFO but what can I say. The needles were lonely and the yarn was there. If the boss is in a good enough mood I may even be able to take some pictures and list some items tomorrow.

I did manage to get some spinning done today. I am working with one of Kathy Withers batts in apricot. It is just so lovely to spin. I find that spinning can take me to a nice place of relaxation. It is just me and the fiber. Nothing else happens when the fiber is being spun. I have come to the conclusion that spinning is as good as chocolate but less fattening.

Even with such a good day, I think I am slowly creeping into a snarky mood which will have to be sent packing tomorrow. It might have been do to the fact that I woke with a raging margarine at 5:15 this morning.  Yes it is very easy to be snarky, but I still strive to be the nice gentle optimistic person I usually am and want to be.

It is getting late so I will try to get some sleep so I have the energy to deal with Eric tomorrow.

On and On

We are now at the beginning of week 3 of Eric being home sick this time. Yes really this is week 3.  We are on our second round of medicine. His sleep is still very erratic.  I have continued to master sit down and take a nap at the drop of a hat. Which means not much is getting done around here but the essentials. By the way are clean laundry and home cooked meals really essential?

There are plenty of things on hold such as working out and test knitting new patterns, listing the few finished things I have in my on line shop, cleaning, spinning, sewing. The one thing I have been able to do in bits and pieces is knit. I have been going through yarn at a good clip. The hats are getting very creative. I have started mixing commercially and hand spun yarn in the same hat for some really neat texture and color combinations. I also have finished a few cowls.

I hope to have Eric out the door to school by next Monday which will give me exactly 2 days off before he is home for the holiday weekend.  Before I ramble any more I hear laundry calling my name.

Rainy Days and Monday

Today did not start off in a stellar fashion. By 8 am I wanted a do over. Yes, really seriously. As I got out of the shower I thought I heard the low battery on a smoke alarm. Since John did not change them Halloween weekend as is our custom. So out came the step ladder and the 9 volt batteries. I changed all the batteries. On the new models we got they are a lot easier to change the batteries than the ones we bought in 1994. Did you know the life span of the average smoke detector is 10 years. Have you replaced your units if the are over 10 years old.

Back from the random tangent. I still heard the beeping after changing all of the batteries. Upon further investigation I found John's pager going off like mad. I wish I knew how to turn it off. Just for a point of reference it went off so many times this morning it bounced it's way off the shelf.

Eric spiked a temperature this morning. So my anticipated day of freedom will be put off at least another day or two. To add to the morning jumble the wrong trash can was out this morning, so we have to wait another week for recycling to go out.

The best part of the day was that we got 1/2 inch of a nice gentle rain this morning. Oh how I love the rain. Yes it does not rain much here. It was also the second day this week that we got snow on the Santa Catalina's. Not a whole lot just enough to make me want more so I could take a picture.

I seem to be in a knitting funk. I am busy starting new projects without finishing old ones. I have at least 10 small projects going and I really need to finish Teri's blanket. The spinning front is not going much better. I have wip's on my wheel and on all but one of my spindles. I am hoping to finish some of the smaller projects tomorrow and Wednesday. When I finally get Eric out of the house I am going to be in desperate need of girl/knit and chat time.  So please be prepared for a random phone call, you know who you are.

Well it is almost time to get Eric ready for bed. Yes I know he has been in bed for most of the day but it is now really bed time.

The Day that Went On and On

After my post yesterday, the day seemed to go on and on. I was up until 3:30 am with Eric. It was one heck of a night. We had it all fever, chills, icky tummy, tears, almost eyrping, sinus infection and almost anything thing else you could think of.

My day started at 7:00 am this morning. Eric's aide left at 8:00 and was suppose to be followed by a nurse. I tried calling the nursing agency several times but could not get through until about 10. I asked where Eric's nurse was and they told me she was here. You just gotta love the system. NOT. It took them until after 1pm to figure out where she was and offer to to get someone out in a few hours. Yeah right his afternoon aide comes in at 4:45p and there is a 2 hours minimum. So much for the extra help today.

The phone also was ringing non stop today. One place even called 3 times to confirm the same appointment for John. By the third call I was really annoyed. I think tired was setting in. The very bright phone call was from Teri. Eric and I had a good time chatting with her. Eric was really animated and did a lot of signing and sending hugs through the phone. I really have to add skype to my ipod.

On the bright side I got a small pile of bills paid and 4 boxes labeled and out to the car. That includes 6 pounds of left over Halloween candy and 10 scarfs to Operation Gratitude. A special box for Teri. Since she reads my blog I will not divulge the contents. The last box was filled with some items from Handmade~by~Sheri for on on line auction to help a mom pay for some cancer treatments. I will include a blurb around the time of the auction so you can check it out.

I also got some knitting done. Although I can say with certainty that I don't knit as fast when I am running on a sleep deprived cycle. I also do a lousy job of matching colors in the middle of the night so I have 2 hats on the needles at the same time. Something that I really don't like to do with scrappy hats.  My hope is that Eric sleeps tonight and that we get him out the door by Monday.

John will bring home dinner tonight. You just got to love a guy who works all day but still brings home dinner.  I would like to spin but I am so tired my eyes and hands are not working together. Things can only get better from here. A few good nights worth of sleep for all of us will fix everything.

I hope my blog is not to incoherent tonight, but I plead exhaustion. Enjoy your families.

Wild Eyrps and Other Things

Day umpteenth and 1 of Eric being sick. He has also shared his latest cold with me. He gave me one of his huge smiles when I thanked him for the cold.

It was a very busy but productive day. Eric had not 1 but 2 doctors office visits. One in the morning and one in the afternoon. Yes he did manage to eyrp at both offices. I have to say Dr. Williams and his staff handled the eyrping better than UPH. Luckily for me he did not eyrp at my doctors appointment. Other than a sinus infection Eric seems to be doing OK for Eric. My Arthritis seems to be OK and the meds seem to be working. By the way did you know your whole hand can act like a trigger finger? Its just something I thought I would pass along to you. Just in case you needed a random oddity to discuss.

I did bring a drop spindle and knitting with me today. I finished knitting one cap and started knitting another one. I also got a little spinning done. My to do list is a mess having only accomplished the doctors appointments and nothing else.

Well I think I will go get Eric's medicine and leave him with the nurse for a few minutes.  Then either collapse or work on Mondays to do list. That is yet to be decided. I always have to end a a bright note and today that note is dinner is cooked for tonight already. So have a good evening and enjoy your families.

Happy November

I hope every ones November is off to a great start. Mine has not started off well but will get better. I am home with a sick kiddo for it seems like the umpteenth day in a row. Yes I know it has not been that long.  It just seems like it. I hope to have time to post some new things in my etsy shop soon. I also need to go to the post office, do paper work, make phone calls and some serious straighting of the house.  Yes I will even try to get a nurse for tomorrow.

After I get Eric better, I will post a new contest. So be on the look out for it.

Well I am off to knit and hang with Eric. 

Another Day in the Life of...

Well more of the same old same old going on around here today. Eric is home sick. Piles of laundry and yes some will be left for tomorrow. Although I did manage to fold or hang every load of laundry done today. No applause necessary just throw fluff my way.  13 more inches done on an Operation Gratitude scarf.

I don't feel like cooking so John is stuck with a roast, sweet potatoes and steamed vegetables. You can commiserate with him when you see him next time. Yes there is enough for roast beef sandwiches tomorrow.

Well since I have some help here right now I am going to try to finish one of Kathy Withers wonderful batts. If you would like to see some of Kathy's batts here is a link to her etsy store Unique Designs by Kathy . Right now she has a lot of art yarn. One skein will make a fabulous one of a kind scarf. Also check out her pattern and one of a kind creations.

Enjoy your families .