A Long Day

I have been up since 6a.m.  It is almost 11 p.m. and I am still waiting for Eric to go to sleep.  I am not sure that is going to happen anytime soon since he did get a booster shot at his doctors visit today.   Right now he seem to be talking to Elmo about his day.  I am falling asleep while I am writing this.  So it will be short.

Just a reminder, that if you are over 40 talk with your doctor about booster shots.  This is especially true for the Whooping Cough vaccination since the one we got as kids has worn off by now.  Whooping cough is very hard on the young and disabled.  Also with measles cases on the rise make sure you and your kids are up to.  You are protecting kids like Eric who can not have some or all of the shots.  

It finally quiet so I am going to call it a knight.  

Wow

Who would have guessed that the solution to Tendinitis of the Achilles Heel was 2 inch heels. Yes, that is right 2 inch heels. After I went to the orthopedic foot surgeon, John and I went shoe shopping. I left the store in one of the pairs of shoes.  I walked to the car without any pain.  The first time in about 9 months. I was pain free until I put on my 1 inch heel house slippers. I guess that I need new house slippers too.

My question is why don't any of the medical advice sites have this information?Also if you live in the Tucson area and are in need of a bright, well mannered orthopedic surgeon, with good patient side manners, who likes to try therapy first to avoid surgery give me a call.  I don't think it is my place to publicly recommend a doctor since I am not a medical professional.

Being pain free had a lot of plusses. Even though I am still at the tail end of the cold that Eric gave me, I had a lot of energy to get things done. I hope that this helps me play catch up this week as I am so far behind.

I did manage to weave almost 2 feet of a scarf tonight. I knit 3/4's of a hat today. Well it is time to make sure Eric is ready for bed so that I can call it a night,

Around the House

I am feeling better. I just have this nasty cough left. So I am slowly getting things done around the house. John has really done a great job picking up my slack while I had the cold.  My major accomplishment of the week was filling the recycle bin to the top. There was no more space so I have started a recycling bag for next week's recycling pick up already. I found another area to zen. So far most is being recycled or or sent to Goodwill. Very few items are finding a new home.

As usual when I miss a day of laundry, the laundry room was knee deep.  I stopped after four loads and left the rest for later. Since I got all of Eric's laundry done this should not come back to get me. The other four plus whatever Eric makes tomorrow can wait for tomorrow.

I also gave up trying to figure out where a can be added to my blog. I guess I will have to ask my techie about that or do a whole lot of reading. I really need to learn some basic coding. 

Hat number 31 was finished today. I have 1 hat that I need to weave the ends in. I also have 2 hats on the knitting needles. I am adding some rolled brim hats to the mix to shake things up a bit.  I think that I will get my bedtime snack and do a little more knitting tonight.

Eric’s Cold Part 2

I am still home sick with that awful cold Eric brought home.  I spent most of the day resting.  I am hoping to sleep tonight.   Last night was a wash for sleep.  Naps were a no go unless I was sitting up. So tonight I will spend the night trying to sleep sitting up.

Sharing

Eric shared his cold with me. Do I spent the day napping and knitting.  I did not have the patience to weave in the ends so technically no hats were finished today.  I was too tired to do anything else today.

Charity Knitting and Weaving

My friends and I have made a wonderful accomplishment. Considering it is only June 21st. We have collectively filled a Ziplock Big Bag Grands Sac with hats, sweaters, gloves and scarfs for The Flowing Wells School District Clothing Bank. I only need to store them at the house until school starts in August, so that they can be delivered. I think this is the most we have had this early in the summer. By the way happy first day of summer.

Now it is time to start knitting again so that I can start the next bag of hand knit and crocheted items. If you would like to help fill bad number two just get the items to me. I am looking for sizes from preschool to high school. They need hats, scarfs, sweaters and gloves. Use any pattern or colors you would like.

Hats

I am ready to bag 26 hats for The Flowing Wells School District Clothing Bank. This equals 1,225 rows for the one million rows challenge on Ravelry.

A First

I have experienced a first time event.  Since Eric was born, I have relied very heavily on caffeinated  soda with hfcs, artificial sugar and real sugar every time Eric gets sick.  You might think this is a lot of sugar and soda, it was. As you might recall from a blog earlier this month, I have give up soda and sugar.  This was a very big test for me. I passed it with almost flying colors.  I did not not have any soda and my extra sugar food was limited to a very small amount of dark chocolate.

The good news is I that Eric is feeling better.  I got tired but not like in the past.  Believe it or not, I seemed to have more energy.  I even managed to clean house while Eric was sick.  I did eat more fruit  and cheese or peanut butter.  Let’s face it, a long day with a sick boy is a long day any way you slice it.  So having a healthy snack as replacement for soda was a good move.

I tried to order a new bath seat cover for Eric’s bath chair today. I tried to pay cash to get it faster. Would you believe that they would not take a cash payment and instead I will have to go through the insurance company and bother the doctor for a script. It seems that my life is getting wonkier every day.  Well I am off to tag and bag hats.  Pictures to follow.

The Ugly Side of Life

Anti-Semitism has reared it’s ugly head in my life. It feels like the 1960’s to me again.  After two days of crying I have decided what needs to be done to make it better for my fellow human beings and myself.   Because I need to be sensitive to my environment where this is happening I have come up with a gentle solution to the problem.   I will no longer stop what I am doing to provide technical support for electronic equipment or provide any assistance of any kind to those who act in a hateful or mean manner to anyone.  If they choose to act in a hateful way the niceties in life will no longer be provided by me.  

I really try to live by the golden rule, Do unto others as they do in to you.  I always took this to mean leave the world a better place than I found it.  Such as clothing and feeding those who can’t. Thus my obsession with knitting hats for kids.   Taking care of the environment.  Taking care of the sick.  It has taken me 59 years to figure out that there is a dark side to the golden rule too.  I however choose not to be mean to the nasty people, but rather just let them flounder in loneliness.

With that said I am off to warped a loom.

Progress Maybe

My body is still having a hard time with this adjustment of 80% less sugar and no soda’s.  I am finding it hard to believe that I am sleeping better most nights, with the exception of the nights that Eric wakes e up.  The nausea is slowly abating.  I have a bit more energy. I also need to eat more since fruits and vegetables have less calories.

I have to admit that I am a little disappointed that the scale is only down 2.5 pounds.  I know I did not put it all on in one week, but damm it I want it gone in one week.  John says that I just need a little more patience.  This is not my strong suit.  But this is not a diet, it is a lifestyle change.

After observing another spinner I finally have the short draw down in spinning.  Although I have modified it do to the arthritis in my left hand.  My technique might not be by the book, but I can finally do a short draw after years of spinning.  I am doing the happy dance.  Now to learn to do bouchée before I need to teach it in a few months.

And finally, I have found another area to Zen.  I was looking for something for John and I stumbled upon some more clutter.  More craft supplies to share, Goodwill, trash or recycling only time will tell.

The Next Step

The next step to a healthier me is cutting my sugar compsution by 80%.  I know that there are natural sugars in fruits and vegetables.  So this is why I say cut my sugar compsution by 80%.. This also means no soda for an afternoon pick me up.  No second cuppa of chai in the mornings.

Cutting sugar and caffeine way back at the same time.   I must be crazy.  Right now my body is starting a revolution. It is not happy with this change yet.  This should take six to eight weeks, hopefully.  I am hoping that with this change like the others I have made in the past will have a positive impact on my body.  I will let you know.

Tagging and Bagging

I am trying to get caught up on tagging and bagging my charity knitting and weaving.  This involves making a fiber content tag, which includes fiber, washing instructions and a positive note for each item.  I also count the rows for the one million row challenge on Raverly at this time.  So today I tagged and bagged 3 scarfs that we’re hand woven and 3 hat for 243 rows.  

I still have this bag to tag and bag plus whatever is on my knitting needles when the items are finished.

My Hands

Here I sit in the middle of the night with my hands aching and too swollen for the night splints.  Waiting for the aspirin to kick in.  Trying to think of anything I can do around the house without waking the guys.  Knitting and spinning are out my hands are too sore and it would only make them worse.  Weaving is out I do not have either loom warped. I guess that I could do some light cleaning and start the dishwasher and washing machine. Maybe by then the swelling and pain will go away enough to sleep.  I can only hope.

Why does pain always seem worse in the middle of the night?

If You Give Eric A Purse

Eric came home early from his day program for an appointment. In the mists of being given a pile of paperwork, I gave Eric my purse to hold.  Before we went in to see his doctor, I  also gave Eric a choice to go to knitting with my friends or go home and watch television. I gave him time to think about it. In retrospect that was a mistake.

After his doctor's appointment, I asked for my purse back. Eric made his grip tighter. We went back and forth for 10 minutes before Eric finally won. When we got to the car and Eric was sure that we were heading home, he let go of my purse.  His daddy will be proud of him for holding his ground.

No knitting friends for me today. Eric is wondering where I am at the moment.. So it's time to go.

Hacked

My Blogger account got hacked by someone in Los Angeles. Sorry hacker the password has been changed. I guess I will go around and change all my passwords now.

So needless to say if you get anything odd from me do not reply. I will never ask for your credit card information or any personal information.

This is my brag and vent space. You may also find the very occasional pattern or recipe.

I am sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you.

Sheri

Washing Fleeces and Other Things

I spent this weekend washing some very dirty fleeces and tons of Eric’s laundry. Tons is a relative term but in his 5 days off of his day program, I managed to wash 9 loads of Eric’s laundry. As for the fleeces I washed a little over 2 pounds with more to wash next week. I am debating going to Goodwill to get more fleece washing bags.

Depending on how much fleece that I get washed this week, I might consider bring the carderout. Then again it might be in 2 weeks.

No looms got warped or spinning done.

‘‘Tis the season

It’s hat knittting season in Tucson of course. With the spring tempatures looming in the high 90’s to low 100’s it is the pefrect time to knit hats. They are small. They are fast to knit. They can use a lot of bits and pieces of yarn to make very colorful hats. They are a great stash buster. Next winter when the tempature dips below the low 70’s the kids will love them.

So the current yearly count stands at 25 hats with 2 more hats on the knitting needles. I will let you know when the count hits 36. All the hats are going to the Flowing Well clothing bank here in Tucson. I am also weaving a few scarfs too.

Have a safe holiday weekend and remember our Gold Star Famlies.

A Surreal Day

I spent the day trying to fix things in my realm. My success rate was about 50%.

On the easy things like John's ink stained shirts I was told that "he needs to stain one more shirt, because the price break is at three shirts." Does this mean that I was suppose to go home and stain one more dress shirt and come back for the better price? I am taking this as a win, the shirts will be ready at 5pm tomorrow.

I got gas for the van before it ran out. Breakfast out at 10:30 am and a lunch of a slice of cheese and some crackers eaten at stop lights at 2:30 pm, I did not mind hitting every red light, at least I got some lunch before I picked up Eric. To make it even better John brought home dinner. So on food I will call it a win.

I thought I had a win on laundry getting three loads finished today. Eric had other plans. He filled his personal laundry basket twice today. So I added a fourth load of laundry tonight. A break even.

On the problem with Eric's formula. The people at Nestle's Ethereal Nutrition were wonderful. At least I found out that there was no recall or plant issues. I even got a case file number to give to the people at Corman.  Corman is an interesting company to say the least. The first person I spoke to swore that Eric had not had a delivery since 2014 and of course the formula went bad after that amount of time. The second person I talked to at least found Eric's file. She would not replace the 8 cases of formula that were mishandled in transit. This resulted in the formula curdling like cheese. Rendering the formula useless for Eric or anyone else. That they would instead send a refund to United Health Care. Insert whatever swear words you want here.  She sent one expedited case so that Eric could eat tonight and the rest of the week. The  rest will be here by Friday. They would also not pick up the bad cases of bad formula, so they sit in the living room. Net loss 8 cases of formula  and no reserves for when things go south with the paperwork snafu's that always happen. This is not even close to break even.

I thought that I had a break even with the issues at Eric's day program. I thought that everything was fairly settled. My personal feeling is that we will never see the program fees that walked away.  So I wrote a check for the missing money and this months fees. Handed the missing paperwork that has been filled out countless times to a reliable person. So I will only write check from now on and have everyone sign for the paperwork they receive for Eric. So I thought that I was good until I opened My email at 5:00 pm only to find a demand for the the money owed,almost like a collection letter. I am sincerely hoping that this was just a lack of communication on their part, I hope that the check I wrote at 9:45am is not lost already. I also doubt that I will see a full accounting of where Eric's fees landed, because he was either sick or stayed back on most of the field trips.  You decide.

No time to make three pairs of earrings for tomorrow. That makes me sad, but I will try to get them made tomorrow for Friday.

Tomorrow will be better.

Catching Up

Today was spent catching up on badly needed sleep. House work was limited to two five minute blocks of time. You would be surprised how much I can get done in 5 minutes without interruption. I managed to fill the recycling bag twice and then take it out to the big bin. I have a pile of boxes for John to break down too.

Surprisingly I had no laundry, so tomorrow I expect knee deep piles in the laundry room. I also finished one charity hat and cast on the next hat. I am not sure where the hat count for the year is yet, but I think I have at least one and possibly 2 dozen knit so far this year. I am off to a slow start this year.

It is time to call it a day.

50 Percent

I am 50% through my new pattern design. This means that I can start doing all that fun math stuff to figure out the rest of the pattern. Then do the math for the larger size. The magic number was 25.5 inches.

The Winner Is....

Of course the laundry wonwith 4 loads. Eric is feeling better. I was to tired to do design work so I started on the UFO basket. I choose mindless knitting.