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.

A Little Catch Up

Teri and I also made it to the beach in Carlsbad. A 4 mile walk on the beach in the wet sand left our feet very smooth, maybe even a little better than a pedicure.

I of course was in long pants as not to get burned which resulted in very soggy and sandy pants legs. Teri on the other hand got to romp around in the water. This is when I also happened to notice that my pants had gotten way to big. Yes, another size bit the dust as they went up my rib cage. So it is official I am down another size. To celebrate I bought 2 pairs of pants in the smaller size. I am still losing more inches than weight, but anyway I look at it skinnier is always better.

Monday was a rather laid back days as we were exhausted and slept in. Of course we did more shopping and eating out. With what seemed the whole of the city off for the holiday we found the stores very crowded. We spent the evening packing for Monday. Teri for work and me for the drive home.

I had one last breakfast out with Teri before I headed home. The drive was very uneventful until just east of Casa Grande. There was a pick-up truck in front of me who lost part of his load, which included a piece of sheet metal. Going at freeway speed there was no way to miss it. The metal tore to shreds both tires on the drivers side. If you look at the front tire closely you can see where the sheet metal tore into the front tire.

I did manage to pull into the center divider. I would like to state that I am 100% OK. I managed to control the car and even with 2 instant flat tires the Honda handled very well. Thank goodness for cell phones. I was able to call John and tell him I had been delayed and that I thought I had 4 flat tires. It turned out only to be 2.  I also called AAA. That in itself was a tale that should not have to be told. I was with in 200 yards of a Freeway exit and closer to Casa Grande than Pacho Peak. You, I and the very nice Arizona Department of Public Safety Officer would think that given that they knew the exit and I was reading off the names of the gas stations and the tire store that they would get one of those tow trucks to tow my car. But no they had to pull a tow truck from another city further away from Casa Grande and the tow trucks just a few hundred yards from me. I would also like to thank the Arizona DPS officer for staying with me until the tow truck came.

 

This gave John time to find the closest Jack Furriers Tire Center and order the tires that I needed for the car. Did I mention that this was just about the time that he had to pick up Eric from his day program? He handled everything so well. He even researched the best tires available.

 

After waiting for what seemed like an hour the tow truck finally came.  With the car on the flat bed the tow truck driver then went a few miles down the road and attached a second car to his tow truck further delaying my getting home at a decent hour. I am not even sure if it is OK to tow 2 cars at once.

 

The tires arrived at the Jack Furrier Tire center in Marana a few minutes after I did. I would like to thank the crew at Jack Furriers for staying past closing to get the new tires on and the car aligned so that I did not have to figure out a ride home and how to retrieve the car the next day.

 

I stopped on the way home to pick up take out. Only after I had ordered dinner and I was sipping my green tea did it dawn on me how bad it could have been. Then I really just needed hugs which John and Eric were happy to help with.

 

Today was spent cleaning and doing laundry. Well that should catch everyone up on the basics.

Mother Daughter Time

I recovered enough from that awful cold that Eric shared to make it to my mother daughter weekend with Teri.  The guys are still dealing with the tail end of the cold at home.  

It was a nice drive on from Tucson.  Along the way I spotted  1 Road Runner, and a lot of Butterfly's migrating.  There was very little traffic along the way. I had a book on tape and a free radio promo.  

After Teri finished work we went shopping and out to dinner at Project Pie.  We choose our own toppings and the pizza was great. Then it was a night of girl talk. 

Today we had breakfast at Starbucks with more girl talk.  Then it was off to explore the local park. Teri was spot on when she picked an art festival to go to.  We meet some very lovely artists today. We did quite a bit of walking today with over 13,000 steps walked about 6.5 miles.

Dinner was at a local dinning spot. The food was great. A little shopping for breakfast.  Followed by an evening of girl talk.  

I keep coming back to the same conclusion about Teri. First that I am so lucky to be her mom.  Second that she takes me to pretty amazing places. I think that you my reader will have to add the rest of the platitudes to Teri, as at this moment I  starting to fall asleep.  

Almost Better

The cold Eric brought home from his day program has worked it way around the house.  I was the last to catch it. My sincere hope is that none of you get it because it is just that nasty.  John and I took turns suctioning Eric.  By the end of the cold Eric no longer hated the suction machine.  In fact he started to ask for it in his own way.  

Even though I was the last person to get the cold, I am the path to being done with this thing.  

I spent my time keeping Eric company, I also worked on some ufo's. I got 1 premie blanket finished, added 3 inches to the premie blanket I am working on.  I hope to make a dent in the rest of the ufo's. This  will go on for a couple of months.  

We it is time to call it a night. I am so tired tit is hard to think in cohesive sentences. 

M

Oh No

I am going to leave the guys on their own for a few days. I am a little nervous about this. Eric had a cold this weekend and John just caught it. Everyone is saying go, but I am a little nervous about this trip. So today in the midst of taking care of Eric, I started gathering my knitting and spinning. I pulled as many UFOs that I could put together that were small and not fussy. So I have 2 bags of knitting, 1 bag of spinning and a small bag of snacks. What, you did not really expect me to pull and pack my clothes first did you?

I also manage to get over 1,000 rows of knitting added to the 1 million row challenge on Raverly. I wonder if I can finish that many rows while I am gone next week. I also figured out that the stash down does not go as fast if I keep spinning more yarn to relax. Oh well you can't have everything.

Things got a little wonkier as the day went on. So as I was going to record my exercise for the day I could not get my ipod touch to start. The apple store connection on my computer does not even recognize this ipod right now. I tried everything that the page suggested. So it is off to the Apple store tomorrow to see if they can fix it. I am really hoping that I did something really dumb and they wave their magic wand and presto it is fixed. So is this an omen that I should not ignore? Anyway you put it I have a lot of things stored in this little piece of magic. You can not believe how much of my life is stored on those 32 gigs of memory.

So tomorrow it is gathering clothes to pack. Possibly doing all the car pooling to give John time to recoup, pack, go to the apple store and hope for the best. I am a little bit tired so the blog is a little bit choppy, sorry about that.

This Weeks Word is Busy

It has been a very busy week around here.  There was a lot of cleaning in the craft room. About a dozen projects got tinked to remake into other things, most were my failures that I just put aside. Out of the "ashes" will come a lot of new energy and a slew of premie blankets.  I am also 1/3 of the way through a poncho. I finished 4 very small projects on Friday. Tomorrow I hope to take some photos of my finished work, then add to my one million rows challenge counter.  

I have also found a younger artist to take some of the items that I have no more use for and am hoping to see some great art from this young woman. This in it self is very freeing to me. It also keeps things out of the landfill.  I also don't feel as if I am throwing things with perfectly good uses away.  I also gave a full carrier bag of yarn to 2 knitters that I know.  This all came from going through each bag of yarn in the craft room. 

I was sick earlier in the week. I am feeling better now.  I think I caught the ear infection before I needed antibiotics.  I was also up with Eric most of last night.  He has caught an awful cold.  I spent a lot of time suctioning him along with just the usual mommy cuddles.  We are all hoping for a quite night tonight.  

I was also very effecent last night.  I had all 4 loads of laundry finished by 7 am his morning.  It seems that Eric is asleep so I will call it a night. V 

Bone Tired

I now know what bone tired actually feels like. After a busy week of cleaning and a full day of play yesterday I was very tired today. I had decided to attack the last bastion of clutter in the house any way. The craft room. My plan was to work for 10 minutes and quit for the day. 2 hours later I called it quits.

This was after I filled 2 1/2 boxes of tabs for the Ronald McDonald House Charity project that Eric is working on. They will be delivered in October and I felt that they did not have to hang out in the craft room when there were shelf's free in the garage. I also pulled out 2 blanket designs that were going no where very slowly. So John and I tinked them. Both bags of yarn will be used for preemie blankets for a local hospital. I have the 1st preemie blanket that I started today about 25% finished. They do go really fast. Every bag and box is being gone through. Projects that I want to finish will go into 1 pile. Finishing work will go into another pile. I will also continue to tink projects that I really don't went to knit any more. I will also fill a bag with yarn, patterns and books that I don't want anymore and share it with my fellow knitters. I think a month of at least 10 minutes a day should get this done by the end of September.

This brings me back to what bone tired feels like. After lunch I went to sit with Eric and do a little knitting. Very gradually my legs just started to hurt, which gradually built up to the bones in my lower legs hurting. I told Eric that mommy was to tired to sit and watch T.V. with him and went to lay down. I think I would have slept until morning if I had not been called to help in the house. 3 hours of sleep seemed to make my legs feel a lot better.

Then what am I doing up after 10pm, when my body is so tired. Well even though I did 5 loads of laundry this morning and being caught up on laundry. We had a formula spill tonight. Which means that Eric's bed needed to be changed for the 2nd time tonight. So I have 2 more loads to at least start before bed time. I am sure you are not aware that formula smells really rank if left to sit over night on the sheets. Plus it is also harder to get out and stains. Once the second load is in the machine I can call it a night. The second load is now in the washer so it is time to call it a night.

Shoe Follow-up

It has been at least a few weeks since I changed shoe styles. I changed to shoes with more support on the sole and straps across my heels and in some cases feet.  I was very skeptical at first. Even though I did my research on the web.  

The first few weeks all I noticed was a little less pain. Something remarkable has happened in the last week.  All of a sudden my step count went from the 4,000 step per day range to the 10,000 step per day range with a peak of 19,000 steps in one day earlier this week. 

I am not actively trying to add work out time it is just happening on it own. So my very unscientific results suggest that for at least me it is good to have a very supportive and secure shoe. 

Yes I know that most of the shoes are not very stylish. Some look down right clunky.  Most do not look good with skirts or dresses, but I for one am going to go for comfort i.e. my knee not hurting or throbbing.  

My disclaimer is as follows.  No one paid me to do this research.  I paid for the shoes out of my monthly budget. No company is paying for this blog. All opinions are my own.  For specific medical advice please contact your own doctors.  

A Stark Contrast

Yesterday at this time I was as sick as Eric has been in the last couple of weeks. The cold came out of no where in the middle of the night. I spent yesterday drinking all the fluids I could stand and sleeping for most of the day.  

This morning at around 2:30am I woke feeling wonderful and refreshed. This was just 25 hours after the cold had hit. I felt as if I had not eaten in days so I had a light snack and went back to sleep.  

If my body was a motor I would have to say that I started off in over drive this morning.  I got an hours worth of cleaning done before I took Eric to program today. I also got to hear what our Congressman Ron Barber had to say about his first trip to Israel.  We are very lucky in our district that Congressman Barber puts the needs of the people of our district before his own personal agenda. 

I came home and did more cleaning. Instead of just dumping all my loose knitting patterns in a box to deal with later, I went through them all and decided to give half of them to my friends to see if anyone wants them.  The rest I will file in an organized manner. I got Eric's bathroom floor  scrubbed   and John put everything back together.  I hope it stays clean until the party. 

On my way to pick up Eric, ok I went a few miles out of my way I ordered the gluten free apple pie and corn bread muffins for this weekends party. I even paid for them so I could send someone else if I was busy.

John was wonderful and made dinner tonight. So I helped clean up.  

Today I also walked 19,000 steps which is just shy of 10 miles for me.  I have not walked that much in a single day since Italy. I hope this is a sign of things to come.  

Well it will be another busy day tomorrow so it is time to call it a night. 

A Catch up Day

Eric went to program today.  So I took a couple of hours off this morning. I spent the rest of the day doing laundry ( not folded yet ) paying bills, painting ( finished for now) cleaning, driving afternoon carpool. I also took Eric grocery shopping at Trader Joes.  I had Eric carry the basket do I could not buy out the store. The clerk was very nice and took us in the 15 items or less even though we had at least twice that.  They also loaded the car while I got Eric in.  All the snack jars are now filled.   I also made turkey chilli  with homemade corn bread tonight for dinner.  The first home cooked meal in a few days. 

John and I found time to relax and I got some spinning do too.  

The 3rd baby lizard in 2 weeks has been relocated.  This one almost got squashed  because being half asleep I thought it looked like a baby scorpion.  

Eric is asleep now so I will call it an early night. 

Catch Up

My body played catch up today.  I am in total flare up, with all the soreness that goes along with it.  I did manage to grab a 4 hour nap this afternoon.  It was wonderful. I woke up feeling so much better.

This evening was spent between my drop spindle and knitting.  My second demo piece for guild is done. 

Well it sounds like Eric is just about asleep. So it's time to call it a night. 

Painting and More

Today we started out by painting the areas that I had re plastered earlier in the week. We found a few more spots to plaster, and I will do that tomorrow.  After we got the necessary spots done we just went a little crazy with the paint. We hit scrapes along the walls. John did a few spots on the ceiling, including food spots that would not wash off, just think burping a 60ml syringe and the food going a little further than intended. Of course John did this while standing on the floor.  

I on the other hand learned that I am not the agile teenager anymore. I was able to climb up, but thought it better not to jump down and got stuck.  John to the rescue again.  Did I mention how clumsy flare ups make me feel. 

After  lunch and a short rest it was time to do a little cleaning.  I did not get too far but I have until Friday to make the house company ready.  

Eric is still having a rough time of it.  I am hoping he will feel better soon   Eric is asleep now so it is time for me to call it a night.  That was at 10:30 pm. Now it is 2:20am and I am in too much pain to sleep. So what else is there to do but laundry and some very quiet cleaning. .

The Knife Ran Away with the Fork and Other Odds and Ends

It never ceases to amaze me what things just tend to sprout legs and walk away. This month it seems to be my steak knifes and dinner forks. Really!!! I bought most of these while in high school with Betty Crocker points. For those of you not old enough to remember the Betty Crocker Catalog you missed a wonderful way to furnish your houses through a brand loyalty program.  Almost all Betty Crocker items had little point coupons that were saved and later exchanged for things like silverware (My Oneida Patrick Henry pattern) or dishes (the white Correlle Plates that I still use) and a few higher end things like some of my Le Creuset Pans, almost all of my cookie sheets and cupcake pans, furniture like the bar stool in Eric's room. You could even get toys for the kids. Some were free with enough points, some had big discounts with points. Well you get the idea that I just loved this program. Over the past month or so 8 dinner forks and steak knifes walked away. I am pretty sure that the dish washer did not eat them. Since the Patrick Henry pattern was exclusive to the Betty Crocker catalog (yes it was a big enough program to have exclusive items) I doubt that I will be able to find the pattern on line. So I will hunt local thrift stores and see if I can replace what walked away. If I can't find anymore pieces and more walk away I will be forced to replace the silverware that I have had all my adult life.

Yes I know this is one of the cost of having help for Eric in the house. Odd things have disappeared over time such as a make up set of Teri's, a prayer shawl of John's, a one of a kind scarf with some of my first hand spun yarn and even a kitchen knife (I found this one kinda of scarry). Some providers have even said in the past that most of our stuff is so old it is not worth stealing.  So my question is why would anyone one want to steal 40 year old silverware? John did notice that they seemed to go away in pairs of a steak knife and dinner fork so some one would have a set. They have gone away one at a time until I noticed that instead of having 18 forks and steak knifes I have 10.  Really, if you go to a place like Goodwill or garage sales you can pick up silverware really cheaply. Also at Goodwill you will be helping people with your purchase.

I guess if enough disappears I will box up the rest and give it to Teri since we have the same pattern. Then I will have to go through the process of picking out the right silverware that fits just right in my hand. If I am really lucky I will find some made in the USA. As I said before this was bought in the 1970's so I don't know if it is still made here.

As for  the odds and ends, we went to have the new back to Eric's new wheelchair molded today. since Eric got his first wheelchair at age 3, I thought the insurance companies question of weather our house was wheelchair accessible was a bit odd. They did not ask that question 20 years ago.

This is the mold they used, which is filled with bean bags.

This is the chair after it was molded to Eric, with all the air sucked out.

This is the final mold covered with plaster that will be sent to the company to make the back of Eric's new wheelchair.

 

What boggles my mind is the estimated cost of the back alone is $1,800.  All I can say is wow.

Eric is still home sick although I am not doing a much suctioning as in the past week, I am still getting up a lot. I have personally hit the point of tired and exhausted. I will try my very best not to be as cranky as I feel.

 

Well I hear some knitting calling my name so I will go and listen to my knitting. 

A Mixed Day

Today was a very bad body day for me.  I lost sleep to arthritis pain. I tried to make the time productive by doing some light cleaning while I was waiting for the meds to kick in.  As luck would have it it was the first night since last Thursday that Eric slept.

I spent the day with Eric and with the suction machine close by. I lost count of the times that John cleaned it out today.  The good thing about this is by the end of the day there was less coughing and junk coming up from Eric's lungs.  By bed time his color looked great and he was looking and sounding much better.  

Today was one of those what was I thinking days.  I wore solid black. On my agenda today was spackleing the wheelchair dents in the walls plus any spots we noticed.  Here is a picture of one of the bigger areas. I did a pretty good job blending and texturing.  Tomorrow is sanding and painting.  

Tonight I worked on a free form kitting project with the yarn from the yarn tasting yarn from Grandma's Spinning Wheel and some small samples of other yarn that I have spun and gotten from other people.  I will post a picture tomorrow.  

I think it's time to take some Tylenol to help me sleep.

Life on Hold

It is very early on Sunday morning, Eric has been sick since Thursday. It started off as a cold and morphed into hell if I know.  I just opened the last bottle of pedialyte, I almost ordered it on Amazon earlier but it would not get here before Tuesday.  So I guess I will be making a run later this morning. 

Eric has been hanging on to the baby Elmo that Candy knit up for him a few years ago. Out of the more than 90 quarts of Elmo's Eric, has this is the go to one when he is not feeling well. It's the little things in life that make the difference.  

I am tired enough to say the heck with laundry, except for the eyrpy stuff. I know it will come back to bite me later but I really don't care at this point. 

Breakfast consists of Belvita breakfast cookies and Raspberry Riot tea from Tevana.  This tea is suppose to have more caffeine than coffee. I know I got 5 1/2 hours of sleep last night, but I am still tired after be being up the better part of the 2 previous nights. John took Eric for most of last night.  I am really tired so I am having trouble being upbeat right now.  So to try to be more positive I will say that I have completed 3 rectangles for the knitting guild presidents challenge.  It takes 2 rectangles to make a poncho so I should have the second poncho done later today.  Right now my goal is to make as many rectangles as possible and use as much yarn up as possible in doing this.  I am wishful thinking that I can make a dent in my yarn stash by making lots of ponchos.  

Well I think it is time to start burning through some yarn now.  I wish everyone a very happy and productive day.  Please take time to enjoy your families this week. 

The Day Flew By

It was a very busy day. I taught a class in weaving and beading to a group of campers. I only have 4 left to finish weaving before Friday so that they can go home with the campers. Not bad for 2 - 2 hour classes with 12 campers. Lesson learned here is to use bulky weight yarn, not worsted weight. All the campers who used only bulky weight yarn finished. The ones I need to finish are all worsted weight yarns.

I went to my first yarn tasting at Grandma's Spinning Wheel tonight and had a great time. I am creating a one of a kind piece with all the samples. I will show it to you when I am finish. I also won a door prize, which was a skein of yarn with shawlette written all over it.

It is time to call it an early night. I am so tired all the words seem to be getting jumbled.

A Non Stop Day

Today was a busy day. I finally got to meet up with the girls for knitting. I only have 6 inches to go on the second half of the never ending poncho. I did not finish the laundry, but will throw a load on before bed. I listed 1 more skein of yarn in my etsy shop. Last but not least, I got the last spot for a yarn tasting tomorrow night at Grandma's Spinning Wheel. I have never been to one before.

The things I learned today is that unlike my Louet spinning wheel, the Ashford Traveler must be oiled before each use or it wont work. It wont spin worth a dam and makes wonky yarn.  It took me an hour to figure this out. Also when taking pictures there is a very sweet spot of natural light in the dining room in the late afternoon that lasts about 15 to 20 minutes. Pictures taken during this time frame come out perfect. I also found out that the word scrumming has many meanings and as it pertains to knitting is also called free form knitting. It is also some kind of computer platform, but that is way above my pay grade.

My advice for today is that if there is a question you really don't want to or should not answer, just return with a question along the same lines and the person usually answers back and then it dawns on them that they just answered their own question. Try it some time and let me know how it works for you.

Well its time to start some more laundry. Then call it a day.

An Uphill Climb

Today started out less than perfect for me. I did not sleep well. I also found a baby tarantula ( about the size of a silver dollar) in the bathroom at around 2am. I did manage to get him outside without waking the house. Although I think he was more happy in the house than outside. The question that still remains is how the heck did that little guy get all the way to the middle of the house? After that I found it hard to get back to sleep. So I woke up with a pre-migraine. I took my Tylenol and caffeine with breakfast. Around lunch time things started clicking for me.

After lunch I got the grocery shopping done. I also noticed something at the check out line today. When I save money with coupons the cashier usually says you saved x amount of money today. Today was different, I approached the $100 mark in savings with coupons. I did not even get to the 40% off mark. There were a lot of buy one get one free along with a few high value coupons. The cashier just looked at it and handed it to me. Then there was just enough time to put the frozen food away and pick up Eric from his program.

I added another 1 1/2 inches to the never ending poncho, I did make it to the second half of the second piece so that went well.  I also listed a few audio books on e-bay. Then went on to start stocking my Etsy shop Handmade~by~Sheri . John has mentioned that I have a little to much hand spun yarn hanging around and a lot of finished items. So it is time to zen the house a little. To that end I listed 13 items today with more to come in the next few days. To help things move I have added a coupon code for 50% off all items in the shop. Just use the code: "Husband" at check out. It will apply to your entire purchase through August 25, 2013. Please feel free to share the sale with all your friends. There is no limit on the amount of coupons that can be used. One coupon applies to the whole transaction.  The more that leaves the house the happier my guys will be, yes even Eric.

I almost forgot to mention that I have a new Face book page just for Handmade~by~Sheri where I will put all the shop updates. Just type in Handmade~by~Sheri in the search field. I would like to get to 50 followers of the shop by the end of the month, can you help me make that goal?

Well I think that it is time to call it a night.

A Busy Sunday

Today was a very busy day with laundry and cleaning.  I got tired of laundry after 2 loads so I get to start Monday with 3 loads.  The dishwasher was emptied before breakfast so we would not mix dirty dishes in with the clean one.  

I spent 45 minutes playing with the new to me Ashford Traveler. In that time I managed to spin 3 single ply bobbins. Work up a decent sweat, the double treadle is so much different than the single treadle in terms of a workout.  I also found with the Ashford the I must get my peddling up to speed before I tap the bobbins to start the spinning.  The bobbins ate so darn small that they fill up after just 15 minutes.  I wish that I had the 4th bobbin for this wheel, because I can spin a little longer  

I think the yarn spun from today will be woven into a purse that I will line and embellish.

I also discovered a new combo of alpaca and silk for a wonderful spin. The fiber is just so calming.  Since it is jet black I will need full sunlight to spin it. 

A great Day

All in all things went pretty well today.  Eric is feeling better. The laundry is caught up, but please don't tell Eric. It did not take long to do a quick pick up.  I even got out to do so shopping this afternoon.  

The best part of shopping was having a coupon for just about everything in my basket.  The guy behind was grumbling about the coupons, but his jaw dropped when the cashier said that I saved $11.00 in coupons.  That did not include the extra 5% off for using the stores credit card.  My Ganga of the shopping trip was 5 bottles of Tide on sale for $4.47 ( the regular price is $6.99) with coupons of $4.00 off the 5 bottles.  For a savings of over $16.00. It might seem like buying that much laundry  detergent is hoarding, but I do an avarage of 21 loads a week, more when Eric is sick, so each bottle lasts about a week and a half.   The savings did not end there. I needed to go to Joann's for some supplies for a class next week. I had a 40% off 1 item coupon and a very gracious lady ahead of me in line shared a 15% off the total purchase coupon.  So that brought my total cost to &20.00.  That brings the cost per student to a little more tha a $1.00 per student with some supplies left over.  

I thought I screw up dinner. I bought salami instead of pepperoni for the pizza. You really do have to try salami on pizza, it was great.  Well I have a few more things to do before bed tonight.  

Eric is Home Sick

Eric got sick just before bed time last night with he wild eyrps. So it was a long night and day today.  I did take time for myself to go on a short walk before John went about his day.  

I also made considerable progress on a poncho today, I managed to knit almost a full skein of yarn on to the 2 inches I already had.  I tried the old spinning wheel but I was just to tired to work on lace weight yarn. I also finished spinning and piling the 1st of 4 skeins I started a few days ago on the drop spindle.  Pictures to follow when I am awake. 

I would also like to thank the Library of Congress for the talking book program.  The books and magazines broke up the day nicely.       

As for now I will try some sleep as I am beyond tired. 

BBD

Today was a typical bbd for me so I took a mommies version of a day off. I slept in until 7:15am. I had a late breakfast and took time to read the paper.  I conquered  my some of my short to do list and did 6 loads of laundry.  I also managed to get a nap in.  

John figured out that I gave him the wrong manual for the Ashton Traveler Spinning wheel that I got at a thrift store.  Once he had the right manual it took less than 30 minutes to get it running.  This wheel has scotch tension on it.  I find the tension thing a little tricky after learning on a Louet wheel. I will play with it a while before I make up my mind on its fate.  

Just before bed Eric got a little eyrpy so I will be on Eric duty tomorrow.  Don't worry I have plenty of yarn, fluff and Caffeine.  Well here is hoping for a quiet night.  

Busy but Good

I had a busy day today that included teaching my 1 st weaving class to special needs high school students.  I would like to say that they did a great too.  Some responded to explaining that every stitch was either up or down and the next row was just the opposite.  A few got into a one two rhythm. Where the high stitch is always number one and goes down.  The low stitch is always number 2 and always  gets priced up.  I also descovered that thicked chunky yarn is the best for those hands.  They will Finish them next week. 

I also attempted to find cranberry sauce with no HFCs in the middle of July. No luck there, but I did manage to find frozen cranberry's in the freezer section and made my own.  I was so tired that I forgot to reduce the homemade simple syrup before I added the cranberries so we landed up with cranberry jam.  It still tasted good. 

To end the blog I will post today's spinning.  The roving is from cloud lover fiber. 

 

A new Chair

The exciting news of the day is that we took Eric in for the 1st of 2 wheelchair fittings. We have the chair and color pick out along with most of the components. We just have 1 more visit before they can get insurance approval and order the chair. Lets hope that this goes very fast.

I will show off some spinning tomorrow. It sounds like my boss has gone to sleep.

A Good Day

Today started out pain free. So I did a lot of housework and laundry this morning. I started my cleaning spree at 6:15am I was a total whirl wind until 11:30 when my body said enough.  

I really do hate that sudden drop of energy where I go from 60 to 0 in minutes. This is caused by the Sjorgrens.  I managed to keep my eyes open during the lunch John made.  Afterward I told John I need to rest before I went to pick up Eric.  I did not wake up until Eric was home and watching his afternoon shows.  

I managed to make dinner, but let John do the serving. I did not trust my hands to serve or carry full plates of food.  

Well tomorrow is a busy day. Eric is getting fitted for a new wheelchair.  He is excited and has already decided on green for the color. No suprise there   Every wheelcair he has had since he has been 3 has been green.  

Exhausted

Eric had a very bad night last night. I did not get him to sleep until Midnight. Eric was back up at 2am until 4:30am.  Yes he woke up again at about 6 am.  I did manage to get 8 hours of very broken sleep which left me exhausted. 

On a more positive note, the poncho I cast on last night now has the 1st 6 inches knit on the second piece.  Wearing the same shoes I wore yesterday I managed to walk 10,000 steps or about 5 miles today.  I had no knee pain, only the very usual stiffness that comes with exhaustion.  

I am trying bribery with Eric tonight.  If he sleeps tonight he gets to hang with his friends tomorrow and get extra hugs.  So I am going to take a chane and call it an early evening.  

New Shoes and More

Eric slept for 12 full hours last night. I can not remember the last time that had happened. Me on the other hand was up at around 4am from arthritis pain. Eric was in a really good mood today too. Although I can not figure out how he managed to get more sleep today as he dozed on and off. I really hope that he sleeps tonight. So far its almost 11pm and he is still up.

As for the arthritis pain in my knee, I recently did some research on causes of foot/knee pain. Report after report said that the slip on shoes that I like can be a cause of improper alignment of the foot, that leads to bad body alignment. They all recommended sandals with sturdy soles and the straps that go across the front of the foot, mid foot and a strap that goes behind the heal. Yesterday I went shoe shopping and today I wore the first pair. Gravity Defyer - Amelia in black. The stiffness has not gone totally away, but I have not had any Tylenol since 4am and I don't think that I needed any until bed time. I have not had any sharp or shooting pain. No muscle cramps in my calf's. So day 1 is a success. I did take one Tylenol right before I was going to sleep an hour ago. Also I would like everyone to know up front that I had never heard of this brand before shopping yesterday. I paid the going rate for the sandals at the time of purchase and was not asked by the company to review these shoes. I am also not giving any professional medical advice. Please go to your personal physician for any medical questions.

On the spinning front I am trying another artsy spin on a drop spindle in shades of purple with diffrent fibers. I will post a picture once it is plied. I also started the second half of a poncho. I am really tired and hope that Eric goes to sleep soon.

Friday

It has been a couple of days since I last blogged.  Eric did keep me up very late  for two nights in a row.  Tonight he was asleep by 7:30pm.  I did find out that caffeine only goes so far before my body gives me a manadatory nap.  

I only plied one skein of yarn today. I also found my knitting mojo today.  I finished the first half of a poncho that was started last year and cast on the second half.  I dipped into my bits and pieces basket to make it more interesting. 

I did find time to go shoe shopping today. I am hoping that sturdier shoes will help my knee and this everything around here. 

Before I ramble on to much more I will call it a night. 

Busy is Good

After sleeping in until 8:30 I managed to get everything done on my to do list. John was wonderful and did all of Eric's driving today.  On top of that he got new tires and an alignment for my car. Plus he tackled putting Eric's clothes away. Eric managed to make 6 out of the eight loads I did over the past 2 days, I should have taken a picture. The folded clothes over whelmed the couch.  Not to worry I will have one or two more chances this week to pile clean clothes that high again.  

I have been very busy spinning this week.    I also figured out if I dump all my samples and small bits of fluff that I can combine them to make some one of a kind yarns. 

Well the house is quite and I have a girl friends son in the morning. So it is time to call its day. 

Monday in the Blender

Today was my day off that wasn't.  My plan for the day was a little laundry, shopping and lots of spinning with no cleaning. My goal was to spin 2 full skeins and get them plied.  Well you can just see where this went. After shopping where I saved $77.00 with coupons and specials. That was my retail therapy for the day. I did 6 loads of laundry and caught up on folding from the weekend. I did cleaning that required me to change out of my nice outfit into grungy clothes and out of those when I finished cleaning. Yes it was that messy. No you don't get to find out what got that messy in the first place.

As for spinning I pulled out some 15.5 micron extra fine merino wool from Grandma's Spinning Wheel here in Tucson. Pictures will follow later. It was like butter in my hands. I wished that I had more then 45 minutes for spinning on my wheel today. By the way if you happen across some extra fine merino wool I would recommend that you try spinning it at least once. I know that it is pricey, but for a rare treat, it is worth it.

Well I have been up since 3 this morning and I am really hoping that Eric falls asleep before 11 or 12 tonight. So I am going to do something much quieter than typing.

Not As Planned

Today did not go as planned. I was up until after 3am with Eric.  Then the arthritis pain kicked in around 5:15am, I kid you not.  This lead to a day with a lot of naps which are good, but not as good as a full nights sleep.  Eric and John also took advantage of the day and got naps too. 

I had planned on finishing one braid on the drop spindle and one batt on the spinning wheel. Then start the next 2 spinning projects. Only the braid got finished.  I don't have the yardage. Considering it is lace weight I think there is a lot of yardage. The picture is below tell me what you think. This is going to be something for me.  This is the Cloudlover fiber from my previous blog. Well it's not to late but I am tired and need a good nights sleep. 

A Pretty Good Day

Eric is doing much better. I got my first smile from him since Sunday today. Since he is sleeping better for the most part I found some energy to do a little housework today. Although tonight he wanted my attention and after 2 1/2 hours of repositioning and cuddling I am hoping that he is finally on the road to sleep.

As for the rest of the day I did get to enjoy some time knitting and chatting with friends.I had lunch with Nancy. I also went on a short shopping trip for shoes but came up empty handed again today. After the house cleaning I did find some time to spin on both the wheel and a drop spindle. I am down to my last spindle full of "Lady Edith" by Cloudlover Yarn and Fiber , I know that I have been spinning this braid forever but it does take time to spin lace weight yarn on a drop spindle. This is the second to last spindle full before I plied it earlier this evening. I am using a Bosworth spindle , this is the this mini size.

I guess Eric might not be quite ready to settle down yet so I am going to check on him. Lets all hope that he sleeps tonight as it is already past 1 am on Saturday morning and I would have preferred to be asleep by 10pm on Friday night.

Spinning

Eric is still home sick. Last nights storm woke him up and it was several hours before I got him back to sleep. So after a little cleaning I spent most of the day spinning.  I managed to finish 2 on the wheel. I also did a little lace weight on a drop spindle. Well it is getting late so have a great night.  

Sick Child Again

It seems to me that we almost had Eric back on his "feet" and he got sick again last night.  He created 4 additional loads of laundry over night. I really wish that I could do a better job of keeping Eric healthy, but the sad reality of it all is the moment I send him out the door I have to trust the world. So to that end here is a letter to the world. 

Dear World,

I really need your help to makeup job easier.  At this time I very humbly ask you to Stay at Home if you are sick.  Please don't send your sick kids to school or their programs. Nothing is more important than the collective health of everyone.  

This one little request could make my life so much easier. I appreciate any help that you are willing to give.    I would also like to note that it might make your lives better too.  

Thank so much,

Sheri. 

A Very Busy Weekend

From Saturday morning until tonight has seemed to be a total busy blurr. Saturday I had the homemade brownies in the oven by 6 am to beat the heat of the day. It did not hurt that they were cool enough to cut by the time we left for the poker party at 11am. I finished one scarf on the way to the party while John drove. This was Eric's first poker party and he hung around with the ladies. I could tell that he was very busy trying to keep track of all that was going on,  even with the guys playing poker in the next room. I did get some spinning done on on spindles.

When the wives get together you never know what we will talk about. For some reason we got around to talking about copyright when talking about Karie's paintings. She managed to sell 2 last week. I also took a small spill off a chair when I bent down to pick something up. It kind of went like this. I leaned forward and the chair tipped out from under me. My fall was partially broken by the rear wheel of Eric's wheelchair. Luckily my head hit the wheel while my elbow and hip got the tile. This left me rethinking about putting tile in the kitchen. John took care of getting dinner for us. By bed time I was all right. All I have left is a few scrapes on my elbow and a couple of small bruises.

Sunday had a very slow start. After lunch we went to the Memorial Service for Rabbi Joesph Weizenbaum. All I can say is that as a family we thought Rabbi Joe was a great man. He even found time for Eric and made us feel so welcome at services. Eric used to roll his chair up to the bima to be closer to Rabbi Joe and Cantor Karla, smiling the entire time. Rabbi Joe was also one of the first people to give Teri encouragement when in 7th grade she decided to be a lawyer. I wish I had a book of Rabbi Joe's sermons because they were so on target, sometimes I felt he wrote them just for me, yes I know this was not the case but it really felt like it. Rabbi Joe was also big on ethics and passing them down to your children in the form of an ethical will attached to the monetary will. I have to say that I have not done that yet, but ethics were a big part of our dinner conversations when Teri was growing up. Rabbi Joe had a great and wise soul. He will be missed by many people.

Sunday night Eric had night terrors so I spent most of the night just holding him and telling him that everything would be OK. I was up until the wee hours with him and then started the day around 7 am. With the aid of plenty of caffeine I spent the day cleaning and doing laundry. The first load went in very early this morning and the last load will go into the dryer before I head to bed. My excuse being that I don't want to fold another load of laundry today. I lost count some where around load 8 or 9, all I ask is that you do not tell Eric that I am caught up on laundry. He does feel it is his job to make laundry to keep me busy.

I did manage to finish one more skein of yarn on the spinning wheel this evening. It will come off some time tomorrow and because it is Tour de fleece I will try to get another one started right away. No knitting got done today.

I think it is time to call it an early night and catch up on some sleep.

10,000 Steps

Today was the first time since my knee injury that I did 10,000 steps or 5 miles.  I am to tired to write more. 

Exploding Soda Cans Part 2

Today was devoted to cleaning up the last of the exploding soda cans. Everything came out out of the pantry. Scooba spent 45 minutes locked up in the pantry mopping the floor, yes an entire cleaning cycle. John washed everything that needed to be washed by hand.  This saved me about 30 minutes of cleaning. As usual with any cleaning project of this type around here it lead to cascade cleaning. Two shelf's in the kitchen got redone. More tea moved off the counter. All the paper goods, plastic ware and chop sticks are in a box. This box is now in the garage. I also got rid of all the old salt and pepper packages that come with the silverware. I cleaned out part of a shelf in the garage this afternoon, after 30 minutes I was dripping in dew.  I decided to do more when it was not 104 outside. John also organized a shelf for me so I would not have to get a ladder out. I just love having a taller half.

I went back on my promise to myself not to put anything on the floor of the pantry. While finding a place for the paper goods box I found a lot of boxes of Ziploc bags in 4 different sizes and 6 unopened boxes of trash bags. I moved them into the floor of the pantry so that they would be easier to find. In about 6 months I expect that there will be a lot less and hopefully confined to one box on the pantry floor.

One thing that I always find amazing is how much get recycled and thrown out when I get into these deep cleaning jags. I also find it amazing that the house gets easier to keep clean. John does not seem surprised by this at all. I also love how John is always there at the right time and has figured out what I really don't want to clean. He just does it, with no questions asked.

I have 2 major areas left to clean, the garage and the craft/sewing/guest room. These will be done a little bit at a time. For right now I think I pushed my body a little to far and will need to let it have time to recover.

Only a few minutes of spinning got done today. I used one of my drop spindles.

For my readers in the USA please have a save and happy 4th of July. Please remember to party safely. Leave the fireworks to the professionals and above all don't drink and drive. Please take time to also give a small prayer for the safety of all our Troops over seas. Remember that they make our freedoms possible.

Exploding Soda Cans and More

Well I was going to write about spinning and the Tour de Fleece tonight after all I did have a very good day of spinning. After some cleaning this morning I managed to spin for most of the day. No, I was very good and did not spin or knit while I was in Eric's ISP. I spun and plied new yarn until my hands were to tired to spin.  I was going to post a few pictures. Maybe even comment about how yarn drys faster when the outside temperature is 110f with a humidity level of 7 percent verses 102f with a humidity level of 24 percent.

That all changed when I was about to rotate the soda in the pantry tonight. Lets just start out by saying I did take the soda out of the pantry but none went in. I had 1 case of Serria Mist that had managed to leak. One can even had no visible signs of leakage or holes but was empty anyway. By the way when the soda gets to that point it smells yucky.  The mess on the floor was like someone had poured simple syrup on the floor and walked away. With 409 I did manage to clean up some of the mess. I check the other  case in the pantry and it seemed to be going bad too. So I drained all 24 cans, yes I did save the tabs for Eric to take to the Ronald McDonald house.  Then I went about dragging everything out of the dining room, kitchen and most of the laundry room floor. I then locked Scooba in the pantry for a few minutes and he is now busy cleaning the freshly mopped floor again today.

So my game plan for tomorrow is to completely empty the pantry floor. I was not about to start that project at 10pm after a busy day. I will clean or toss everything that is removed.  I will again lock Scooba in the pantry and let him do his thing. After all that is done I plan on finding a different place for everything on the pantry floor. If I can move after all of that then and only then will I spin some yarn tomorrow.

The lesson that I am taking away from this is not to store soda on the pantry floor if the pantry is too hot to put things like chocolate in it in the summer. Also don't buy so much soda at once even if it is on sale. And for goodness sake keep track of the expiration dates. Don't assume that just because you did not open the case yet that every thing is good.

I am now inclined to let Scooba go about his business and call it a night. I will deal with the mess in the morning.

Tour De Fleece Day 2

Well it is that time of year again. Time for the annual Tour De Fleece. I think I signed up for a couple of teams. Yesterday got off to a rocky start. However today was fantastic. I spun, plied and washed over 200 yards in mini skeins. A mini skein is when I start out with any amount less than 1 ounce. Usually in the 1/4 to 1/2 ounce range. I have 9 mini skeins in the garage drying, I am sure they will all be dry by morning since the high was over 110f today. 

After everything got plied and washed I started spinning again. I am using my Louet spinning wheel for some larger skeins and every one of my spindles. If I can't play with all my spindles during the Tour De Fleece when can I get away with having so many spindles out at once?

My goal is a lofty one this year. I want to spin enough yarn to bring in at least 1 of my overflow bins of roving and fiber in from the garage. I am thinking of putting all the Tour De Fleece yarn in a basket to see just how much I can spin in the next couple of weeks.

This does bring up the conundrum of the Tour De Fleece. I am still on a yarn diet and for the most part doing very well, but the Whole idea of Tour De fleece is to set a goal to learn something new, this is not going to happen with Eric on the road to recovery. Perhaps spin a very special skein of yarn with some wonderful fiber that I don't spin often, I don't have the skills or have planned for that one. So this basically leaves volumes of yarn spun. I guess I will have lots of yarn for very creative projects in the coming months.

Well I hear the washer and dryer calling my name so it is time to call it tonight.

Customer Service Tongue and Cheek

I would like to send out a huge thank you to a national company that manages a slew of shopping malls across the country. The one that if you give you them your e-mail address they promise to send you out an e-mail you can exchange for a mall gift card for your birthday along with a weekly email of sales and coupons. This year they did something very different than in the past. They put a limited number of days after your birthday to exchange your email for the card. That happened to land when Eric was very sick. I tried to explain that I was home taking care of a very sick child and missed the days.

What happened next was to say the least very unexpected. I was treated very rudely and harshly. More like a criminal than a customer. There were no exceptions for sick kids. I really left that office hoping and praying that she was not a mother of any child. Her tone of voice, body language and words were very harsh. This left me very upset. I have done a lot of shopping in that mall. I usually get the gift card and spend more than they give me along with shopping through out the year. I left their office very upset about being treated so poorly.

So I walked around the mall and thought about this while I racked up steps and did no shopping. I also thought about how with the growth of e-commence, that this was a very stupid move by the mall. Why go out when the outside temperature is over 100f?  I can just order everything I need on line and for the most part save money and not pay for delivery. I can also save money on gas. I wondered about what their merchants would say and do if they knew that the mall that takes a nice chunk off their bottom line in rent would say. I think I now know why small local businesses are no longer populating that mall.

I would like to think that in this age of a stagnate economy with a very slow recovery that a  national corporation who owns and rents retail space across the country would go out of their way to be nice to the locals. With each location costing millions to buy, renovate and manage, that they would be the first people to make sure that their customer service was the best in the industry. I might just be one customer going out to pamper myself. I would have spent under $100.00, but think of the domino effect of ticking off customers. How this will effect the merchants bottom line which in turn will effect your bottom line. What will Wall Street think about your shrinking bottom line.This current crop of analysts needs instant gratification. They want to see the money now, not 6 months from now. They don't care what you did for them 6 months or a year ago, they want the money and profits today. Not to mention that a shrinking bottom line will negatively effect the price you pay for interest on your loans and bonds. Which might in turn effect your salary and bonuses.

I have to say that the only person who was truly happy about the events at the mall office today was John. There is only one reason for that. I only bought a drink which I had a half price coupon for. I spent less than $2.25. I still came home relaxed after the walk and racked up over 8,000 steps today so far.

I have decided not to publicly name the corporation in my blog today, I really, really wanted to. My reasoning is that I would really be embarrassed to have my company called out for such horrendous customer service. If you happen to be upper management at the national office of a large company that buys and rents out mall space I will only give out the answer to the unmentioned company's upper management and no one else. After all everyone has a bad day now and then. It is also my sincere hope that the rest of your company is run much better.

On a different note. Eric is still home sick and spent much of the day sleeping. The stomach bug took a lot out of him, but the post viral asthma is worse. He is almost up to his normal feeding rate via the g-tube. It is my sincere hope that he can go back to his day program on Monday. Please send positive thoughts his way.  I think I have enough yarn and fluff to get me through. I have also figured out I can walk around the house for 20 minutes per hour 5 times a day to get close to my 10,000 steps.

Well it is time to go cook dinner.

Slow Progress

The good news of the day is that as of this evening Eric is back on his formula. We did go for a slow start but he is all smiles. It is my hope that his post viral asthma does not keep him up tonight.

I had a pretty good day today. I started on my pile of finishing work. The pair of slippers, 2 kerchiefs and mini wash cloth will be available at the Next Taglit Fundraiser for Eric's day program. Because of the I-cord on the scarfs you will notice my counter is up over 1000 more stitches on the million row challenge. I am also blocking 2 wash cloths (not counted yet) that will go in my Etsy store when they are dry.

Besides the finishing work I did get another square finished on Teri's blanket, that makes 193 squares done and some where around 50 to go plus the border. I am almost finished with another kerchief. I spent the night spinning small bits of fluff, mostly 1/4 ounces samples from my last Phat Fiber box. I even spent a few minutes cleaning in the craft room. We are having company in November and I am not sure they want to sleep in a bed of yarn and fluff. I need an early start. I can give them some closet space, but the drawers a full of yarn.

Tomorrow I will do some more finishing work with the goal of listing a few new items in my on line store. What would you like to see first hand spun yarn or hand knit items? I only have a small backpack full of things to be finished for tomorrow with most destined to be sold on line or at the next fundraiser.

While cleaning I found the pattern that I was looking for, so tomorrow I will pair it with the yarn. Well I think since Eric will be home again tomorrow I should get a little extra sleep tonight.

MTBF

Well I am glad that nights like last night with Eric being eyrpy and sick all night are getting less frequent then when he was in school. When Eric was in school we counted the actual days he made it to school. In his last year of High School he missed 6 out of the 9 months. Eric's MTBF* is now running between 30 and 45 days at a time. This makes it a little easier to stay up for 20 or 22 hours straight. I did manage to grab a nap today around 4:30 am for a couple of hours. I also grabbed a second one after lunch.

Eric is feeling better and his temperature is finally under 100f and the eyrping has stopped. He will still be home tomorrow. I am hoping that he will be well enough to get out of bed for a while. I would really like to start Eric back on formula tomorrow.

Last night I did manage to get 5 loads washed plus 4 more this morning. I am happy to say that Eric made only 6 out of the 9 total loads. I still have 2 loads to fold but I am positive that they will wait for me to fold  until tomorrow. Not that being up with a sick child most of the night is ever a good thing, but to put a positive spin on it, I got all 9 loads of laundry run through the washer and dryer before it hit 95f at about 10 am this morning. I am not quite sure what the high was today but at noon it was around 102f and that is not the peak temperature of the day.

I do admit that I did do a lot of knitting, enough to make me regret not taking any time to spin, just ask my elbow.   Although nothing got finished. I am quite positive that I will get my PhD* in knitting quite soon. I worked on at least 4 projects during the last 24 hours adding a few inches on this project or that. I really think I was much to tired to really think about serious knitting, in other words getting something off the needles or a project done that involved counting. I did not even have the energy to do any finishing work. This is very bad because the pile is getting very large.

Well it does sound like Eric has fallen asleep so I will take advantage of the moment and get some sleep.

*MTBF - Mean Time Between Failures
*PhD - Projects half done

It's Going Around

Last night I woke up with the cold de jour. So I spent the day on light mommy duty, just the usual laundry and a little picking up.  In deference to feeling yucky I only did 2 loads of laundry. I did get lots of rest and fluids in. I think I managed to get enough sleep in today because by dinner time most of the swelling went down and I was actually feeling well enough to make a light supper for John and I.  

That turned out to be a very good thing.  Just as I was topping Eric off for the night the wild eyrping started.  Which left John wondering why he changed the beds today. I also have 3 more loads of laundry to do to night.  This in turn lead to the decision not to fold any laundry tonight but wait for tomorrow instead.  My goal is just to get it all washed. 

What amazes me is that Eric and I got different bugs.  Did I mention how much I hate summer bugs? Oh well, it must have been my to do lists that started it all.  

I am waiting a bit before I hook up the pedialyte.  Well I guess it is time to start knitting and see if I can get anything done.  

Not an Idle Summer Day

It has been a very busy day. It started off shopping at the Friends of the Pima County Library sale. I found a slew of good knitting books in excellent condition for a very reasonable price. Most of these will be raffle prizes at future guild meetings. The hard part for me will be letting most of them leave the house. They are all that good. I also found a lot of books for Eric, so if you like to read aloud to a very willing audience please feel free to give me a call. Then it was off to Starbucks for a much needed caffeine break. I also found a replacement for one of my favorite coffee/tea mugs that found it way to the trash can in pieces. I just wish that people would let me know when they break something.  Darn if we did not go a little out of our way to Savers. I did find a Lego set for $1.00 for my friends son. The funny thing was I promised that we would try to find a set of Lego's if he agreed to go with us. I just love good karma. That was not the best deal of the day. I can't say much more about it, although the person I have this in mind for will just love it.

Then it was lunch with John followed by a short nap. I did manage to get one project off the knitting needles, however so the needles would not feel useless I cast on the next project. I did also find the time to do a little spinning this afternoon.

Since I am handing Eric over early tonight to John, I think I will call it an early night. My to do list is a mile long for tomorrow.

A Quiet Day

Today was a very quiet day around here. Only 2 loads of laundry got done. I was going to take Eric to a movie today but he slept through it.  So I played a few computer games, made a shopping list, got to the grocery store. I also found time to hang around with a friend. A new project hit the needles too. 

I am just waiting for Eric to fall asleep so I can call it a night.  

A Wavy Cable Pattern

As promised I have just listed a new pattern on my Raverly Designer page . It is a Wavy Cable Washcloth. The key learning component of this washcloth is the 9 stitch cable. At first it did seem a bit daunting, but after doing 3 of the cables in the pattern, the fourth one was much easier. This would make a good gift for someone paired with a nice bar of soap for a birthday or the holidays. I will try to list it in my etsy shop soon, but until then this link will work well.

Please feel free to share this pattern link with friends who like to knit wash cloths and other small 1 skein projects. I have a picture of the finished washcloth below. I used Sugar and Creme in a solid color, any worsted weight yarn in cotton will do.

Well it has been a very long day and the house is quiet so it is time to call it a night.





A New Begining

Birthdays always bring out a spark in me. This year is no different.  After some input from some very good knitters, it has been decided that this year I will study, peruse and learn new knitting stitches.  To this end I will try to create at least 12 one skein wonders that will be useful.  Using one or more new to me stitches.  I will share them with my fellow guild members. After that they will go on my Raverly designer page and in my Esty shop. The first one will be released  Thursday afternoon.  I hope you will join me in this journey.  

Off to a Great Week

Well today was a very busy one here. I started the house work at 7:30. Then I went on to do other things that needed to be done around the house today.  I took pictures of Thursdays guild project and for the very first time decided something would really look a whole lot better blocked. I am really pleased how the pattern turned out. I will release the new pattern on Raverly and Etsy after the OPK luncheon on Thursday. I am thinking a price point in the $2.00 price range.

I tried my hand at Moroccan food tonight. The verdict is in, yes we will add it to our rotation. I think it will be a good meal for easy swallow nights. I want to make it again before I share the recipe. Tonight I was just hoping that it would turn out good. I know I had a hit when John went back for seconds. I also have enough coccus left over for breakfast.

John and I actually got to enjoy some TV time together tonight. We caught up on a few shows while I did the set up rows for a couple of extra projects for Thursday just in case I did not reach everyone. I will also do some partials tomorrow night so I can show off the design  in stages. In all probability the extra projects will be available for purchase when the next Taglit fundraiser occurs. By the way Taglit is the name of Eric's day program which he just loves.

Speaking of fundraisers, it has come to my attention that a small non-profit called Halos of Hope has run in to some funding issues. They distribute chemo hats of all kinds around the country.  They make their money through the sale of patterns which of course are copy righted. The problem came about when some unidentified LYS's bought a single copy of a pattern and then photo copied and distributed the pattern for free with yarn purchases. On the surface it may not seem wrong, after all the people did buy yarn from the store. But if a pattern has a copy right that says you may not distribute it with out the express permission of the copy right holder it is wrong in so many ways. This has left Halos of Hope short on funds to send hats out to where they are needed most.  I am including a link to there donation page of Halos of Hope where a $6.00 donation will send out 15 chemo hats to those going through a bad time. Would you be willing to give up just 2 cups of coffee to help 15 people? Just skip going out Saturday night and your dinner money could send out over 60 hats. Any amount will help. If you would like to make some hats that would be wonderful too, just be sure to follow the guide lines posted on the site.

Now it is time to count my blessings before bed and settle Eric down, hopefully before midnight tonight.

Happy Fathers Day and More

I would like to start out by saying Happy Fathers Day to John. The day did not quite go as planned but I hope it was a good day. I also really missed my call to my dad today. It still does not seem right that both our fathers are no longer with us. I hope my dad is having a day that is "a little bit better than perfect".

This was also a birthday weekend around here too. I have a new Fit Bit to try as soon as John sets it up for me. My friend Lisa made a cake for me. Teri Called us. We also did something completely out of charter for us. Last night John and I actually went to dinner and a movie. Yes, we really did stay out past 7:00pm.. It has been more than a decade since we have done that. We really had a great time. We saw "Now You See It", I would like to recommend this movie if you have not seen it. It was good enough to make me put my knitting back into the my knitting bag. The only thing that would have made the experience even better is if the nameless movie theater would have bothered to pick up the trash between showings or the people would have taken their trash out with them. It was kinda of yucky tripping over other peoples trash in a darkened theater. We never have that on the 1st or 2nd showing of the day, our usual time to see a movie.

Today Eric was not feeling well and slept most of the day. I spent a good 3 hours in his room trying to make him comfortable tonight. I think I finally succeeded. I also managed to get another 2 inches done on a charity scarf. Maybe I spoke too soon. I really hope he sleeps tonight.

A Pretty Good Day

I had a pretty good day despite the flare up. There was knitting with friends. Followed by a surprise birthday lunch. Followed by shopping. Eric had a great day at his day program with the exception of not swimming. John picked up dinner so I did not have to cook. Followed by more shopping. Even with the flare up I managed to walk 4 miles today. Now for the aspirin to kick in so I can try to get some sleep.