My Spinning Chair

I have found only one downside to losing weight. You have to promise not to laugh though. It involves spinning more specifically my spinning chair. As the weight has come off I have lost a lot of my padding and this makes it hard to sit for more than an hour or two.  The spinning chair will need a pad to make it more comfortable. Time to get out the sewing machine.

It's Done

The big yarn sort was finished this afternoon. 100 gallons of yarn has left the house. No, I did not count the skeins of yarn leaving. I need you to use your imagination to think how many skins of yarn that is. Everything has been rearranged by weight. Some empty project bags will also be leaving tomorrow. The project shelf space is full of things that I will knit. My closet has a lot more space so I am very pleased with the results.

My next project is to knit up a pattern that a friend has had to tink several times now. I started the pattern tonight and am keeping copious notes as I go. I am pretty sure that there is a problem with the pattern and will make corrections to give to my friend and the pattern designer.

After that I might do a small project or 2 before I tackle the next big deep cleaning project. I might even try to come up with a better system for my circular knitting needles. Any suggestions for circular knitting needle storage would be welcome.

Progress, Maybe?

I am hoping that it is a sign of progress that the items in the picture are no longer going to be needed for yarn storage. The cracked plastic items will be recycled tomorrow. I will offer the good roll away bin to one of Eric's aides, it is not a good container for yarn, if I can not see the yarn in the drawers with out opening them. I will also give some of the excess bags to the advocates in Eric's day program. I am sure that they will come in handy. I also filled another 13 gallon bag of yarn for Amber, it is leaving tomorrow.

I still ill have a few things to put away, but I am waiting for the glue to dry on 2 containers before I make my finial storage choices. I expect to be done by tomorrow night so that I can move on to my next project, which is hemming 5 skirts. The more inches I lose the longer the skirts have gotten.

John also got into the spirit of the de cluttering of the garage today by helping me get to the final yarn boxes. He also found a lot of boxes to cut down for recycling. Who knows by the end of the summer I might even have the garage finished. I am not as hopeful for the spare room, it I will give it a shot.

More Gone

I sent a 13 gallon bag of yarn home with a friend this afternoon. I also found a sweater that I want to knit that has been missing for a while. I am now a few sizes smaller than when I bought the kit, so it will be a little less knitting to do. A win win afternoon for both of us. So that I can do more de stashing today, John is bring home dinner. A win win for me. Deep cleaning has some great rewards.

I am also revising my storage system so that all the yarn and fiber will be in clear containers from now on. The better to see what I have. I am not quite ready to set up the inventory system that John has suggested. Maybe when I have the hard part done, if I am very, very brave I will let John set it up. Does anyone know of a good inventory control program?

Yarn Destash

Yesterday was my first day of yarn destash 2017. This is from the first round. This was mainly yarn that was given to me. By friends and a few miss buys. Yarn that I wanted to try, but was not talking to me telling me what it wanted to be. I have learned that if I don't have an idea in mind for the yarn not to buy it. This will be delivered to a new home today.

A New Rhythm

With Eric home more than he is at program my life has a new rhythm to it. This includes napping when he naps and making a few special Eric outings a week. Today was knitting for me and a haircut for Eric. This was followed by a very long nap for both of us. I am also trying to stay on top of things and not let them slide, wish me luck on this one. 

I am also trying to finish all my knitting UFOs. This I am afraid is a never ending project. I finished a poncho and a hot mitt today. They were in the UFO pile for finishing work. My knitting time is still not what it was up to pre-surgery, no more 6 to 8 hours of knitting a day. Most days I am very lucky if I can use my hands intensely for 2 hours. I am also trying to channel my energy to keeping very productive. I am trying to maintain spring cleaning clean, so far it is going well. Even though I am near the end of decluttering the house, I have 1 room and 1 closet to go. Then I will attack the garage. This by the way leaves me more time for knitting and such even though I can't do much knitting. My life gets strange sometimes. 

Late spring temperatures have hit Tucson this week. Today it was in the 90's. Does Mother Nature know it is only mid March? So I am getting ready to move my laundry times around. In the summer once the temperature reaches 100, the appliances go off for the afternoon. I wonder if my hand will be up to more once the temperature gets a little warmer. My body prefers summer to winter. 

Crazy Busy

Tonight is the first night in almost 2 weeks that I have not fallen asleep on the couch before it was time to put Eric to bed. I have been busy with spring cleaning. All but on room is clean. Each time I think there is nothing left to clean, I just find more to do. More to recycle or donate to charity, or more to trash, there must be an end in sight, I just can't see it yet.

Eric has settled into going to his program 2 1/2 days a week. Just enough time for Eric to connect with his friends and not enough time to get over tired. For me this is just enough time for a few quick errands or part of a day of cleaning and napping. Eric is just not as springy as he use to be. Recovery time is taking longer.

We we also had a surprise visit from Teri and Tej last weekend. I know that the five of us had a great time. Although I wish we lived closer to them, it is just not possible at this time. I am so lucky to have such a great family.

A Night Out

Yesterday did not get off to a great start. Eric's Kangaroo Joey ran out of formula at 2 am. This interrupted a dream I was having about an impossible headache. It turned out not to be a dream but the beginning of a rare migraine. So after I took care of Eric, I started off with a cuppa tea and aspirin. It was enough to allow me to sleep but not knock the headache out.

After breakfast that included more tea and aspirin it was time to finish our annual spring cleaning. I was hoping that by keeping myself busy that the headache would just go away. We managed to get the house finished before the headache went away, but the house is clean.

After a nap, I realized that this was not just an average garden variety headache, but a full blown migraine. So I spent the rest of the afternoon walking around in sunglasses doing more cleaning. Thank goodness the headache started to go away before John and I had a very rare date night.

We had dinner at a supposedly great Tucson dining spot near the venue. I won't embarrass them by naming them. To sum up the dining experience, the tea was burnt.  They ran out of crackers for one dish and used stale bread instead, stale bread and crackers are the same right? The waitress did not have much knowledge of the menu and if you had an allergy to something, they left it off your plate and did not substitute anything for it, but still charged full price. With the exception of dessert which had a metallic flavor the food that we did have was pretty good. I did have some Excedrin with dinner to try to get rid of the rest of the headache.

The best part of the date was the show we went to. John managed to get tickets to the sold out Bill Maher Show in Tucson. The show was great and very relevant. I don't think that I have laughed that much in years. I have been a fan of Bill Maher for years,  but this was the first live show that I have gone to. I can say without a doubt that it was well worth the price of the tickets. I would like to thank Mr. Maher for taking time out of his busy schedule to come to Tucson. Your show was wonderful.

Now I just need to figure out how to manage some sleep.The caffeine in the Excedrin has not worn off yet.

Hopefully Optimistic

Right now I am hopefully optimistic about Eric. He went to his day program in what seems like forever, but I know it has only been a month. He had a great day and was all smiles when I picked him up. He has not fallen asleep yet. I am hoping that this is a good sign. I don't think he will ever be a five day a week kid ever again, but just to be able to get Eric with his friends 2 or 3 days a week will be a great relief to me.

I used my time off to knit 1 row of lace. I now have just 1 more lace pattern row and 2 purl rows before the last 3 rows of garter stitch. It should be done in time for the Old Pueblo Knitters Fashion show next month. If you are in Tucson and want to come just follow this link, Old Pueblo Knitters. Even if you don't knit it is fun seeing all the hand knit creations. Then I will work on an art piece for a local knitting competition.

Now its is time to get some sewing done.

A Lucky Break

This week while doing laundry, I accidentally put one of my favorite shirts in the dryer that was suppose to be line dried. You have guessed by now that it shrunk a bit. This is one of those rare moments when it was a very good thing. I bought this shirt last time I went down a size and it was getting to the point of needing to leave my closet. It was getting to be a bit to big. The good news is that it shrunk to exactly my current size, so this means that I can wear it a bit longer. I am not sure that I will try this little "accident" on any other shirt at the moment though.

While Eric is resting this afternoon I think that I will put a little more time into house work. I have already finished the laundry for the day and put 2 bags of recycling to the big bin. Then it will be time to knit and weave. I need the loom for another project that has a deadline and the shawl has a looming deadline also.

Eric is feeling a little better each day. Have a great weekend everyone.

Everything

I did it all today. Knitting was 336 purl stitches and 4 knitting stitches which equals another row of lace work.. Only 6 more rows of lace and 3 of the boarder before I cast this project off.  Spinning was 3 ounces of merino wool, before my hand gave up. Weaving was 8 inches on a 6 foot table runner. Walking was a little over 10,000 steps which is just over 4 miles. As usual most of the walking was done by doing laps in the house.

John had Eric today.

Trying to Keep Up

I think that I might be wearing ruts in the tile. I am keeping up with my walking at least 11,000 steps a day this week. Today will top 13,000 or just over 5 miles, and the farthest I got from the house was the mail box. The walking keeps me from craving junk food.

Eric's recovery is going slower than we would like, but he is still making progress. I am starting to get into a rhythm with Eric at home. I still did not finish my to do list today, but I got more finished.

Today I started playing around with a quiche recipe made with duck eggs and goat cheese. When I get the recipe perfect, I will post it on the blog. All I can say now is that the taste was perfect, but the texture needs a little work.

I am going to see if I have any energy to knit now.

Baby Steps

Eric and I had our first outing today. We went to Einsteins for knitting and breakfast. After 2 hours we went home and both took a 3 hour nap. I am glad that I did not have any errands planned for after knitting. I have forgotten how tired I get when Eric is home for an extended time. I only got a third of my to do list done today. I am ok with this right now. This seems to be my new pattern.

My plan of attack for cleaning has switched from deep cleaning, to just getting rid of clutter. Just getting the basics done. This can be done in smaller time frames. Deep cleaning will resume once Eric is well enough to go to his day program again. I am trying to get better at pacing myself.

Knitting

My big knitting accomplishment was knitting a 440 stitch row of lace. I still have to look at the pattern for every repeat and I count aloud while I am knitting the lace. John must have the pattern memorized by now, sadly I don't. I think I have 9 more rows of the pattern left and 5 of those are straight purling. Some how knitting 440 purl stitches is a lot easier for me than the pattern row.

I also got some what caught up on up on my shopping. Eric is doing better. So all in all a pretty good day.

Still Crazy

Everything is still topsy tervey around here. Eric is tired of being at home. That means he is doing better. I am trying to get a lot of things done at home,but seem to be in a rut. I am only getting at best 50% of my to do list done. One would think that after so many years of doing this I would have things worked out by now.

I need to get a lot of knitting done this week. So wish me luck.

Life Goes On.

Eric and I went to the doctors on Monday for a post hospital check up. The last round of AP took a lot out of him. So here is all the information that I have at this point. Eric will be home for 2 solid weeks. We will then do a 2 day a week trail run to see if he still has the stamina to hang out with his friends at his day program. I am really hoping that this trail goes well. Our Fingers are crossed.

If he flunks the 2 day a week trail we will either go to a 2 hours a day 2 days a week or have a DTA set up at home with an activity specialist coming to the house to do activities with Eric. This will hopefully give me some me time to create or even go to the store to shop for groceries during the day. To quote a song which I can not remember the title or singer, "The times, they are changing".

In the meantime, I am using this time wisely by doing some cleaning and tossing. Yesterday I managed to fill the trash barrel before Waste Management had time to pick it up. I got a few things out of the garage. Also even though I am house bound, I will still try to get my 10K steps in a day even if it means walking around in circles for a couple of hours a day. I will let you know if I walk ruts in the tile.

Better

I spent the weekend playing catch up. I am now to the point that I can finish last weeks to do list. Wish me luck

Home at Last

It has been a rough week here at Casa Karobonik. Apparently when I stopped to catch my breath from the very busy time around here, pneumonia snuck into Eric's lungs. Eric has been sick all week and Wednesday we landed up at Tucson Medical Center for 3 days. They were at overflow capacity so they took 1 unit from pediatrics and made it into an adult over flow unit. The staff was very nice and we worked well together. The end result is that Eric is now at home in his bed sleeping with his 2 favorite friends.

This trip did leave John and I with a little hospital bed envy. Tucson Medical Center now has the Stryker S3 MedSurg Beds that fit Eric to a T. He was so comfortable in it despite being so sick. It was so much easier to use than his current bed which we bought used ( 20 years old ) 15 years ago. We were talking about how nice it would be to have one of the new Stryker S3's for Eric at home. We then looked at the hefty price tag for the new ones and realized that this was out of budget and that the insurance would probably not cover it. So we will try to see if we can get Eric's current bed serviced.

This weekend we plan to lay low so everyone can get back to center after this week. Surprisingly I do not have that much laundry to do, mostly John's and mine. Eric will be home with me next week. We will have a few short excursions out, but they will be very limited.

My left hand is still not up to par and I did not even get a fraction of the knitting done that I usually do when Eric is in the hospital.  My hand is more sore than it has been in quite a while. I hope that with less tension in my life that it will start to feel better, until then I will do some weaving.

A Long Day

Today was a very long day. The good news is that Eric is on the mend for at least the current moment. I spent the day taking care of Eric and cleaning. I am so tired that I can not see the progress, but John says that he can see it. So I must have gotten something done.

No craft or art projects were finished today. I am on day 5 of a hand knit hat. I have not taken so long to finish a hat in almost a decade. I hope to finish it tomorrow night. Meanwhile I have lost enough weight that at least 4 skirts need to be hemmed, but I need someone to do the pinning. I can drop another size because of the construction of the skirts, but 2 inch heels are not cutting it right now. I am tripping on the length and wearing holes in the hems from walking around the house without shoes on. I know that this is a good thing. I just wish more of my friends sewed so that I could trade a favor for them pinning the skirts.

I think that that I am ready to call it a night.

Busy

It has been crazy busy around here lately. Eric had about a week and a half where he went to program everyday. I did get to relax and get a lot of cleaning done. I also found that with adequate sleep I got my creative mojo back. So a lot of projects were finished too.

That at all went sideways this morning at about 3:30 this morning. I managed to get a total of 1 hour of work done before Eric care took over my day. The good news is that he is now feeling better.

Even though I am trying to move and do more my arthritis seems to be getting the better of me now. Not even hitting the 50 pound weight loss point seems to be helping. Although I can now claim a smaller dress size. So since December of 2009 the totals are down 50 pounds, 4 dress sizes, 2 shoe sizes and 6 inches off my rib cage. The way this was accomplished was by giving up anything with high fructose corn syrup, aspertame and any other artificial sweeteners. I am also moving more.

Weaving vs Knitting

I like both knitting and weaving a lot. The only problem with weaving is that I have to finish a project before I can start another. It's not like knitting at all. With knitting I can start as many projects that I want to as long as I have empty knitting needles.

Dread

I have this odd feeling like I am waiting for the second shoe to drop. It has been hanging around all day. I am not sure what to make of this.

Recovering

I spent part of last night and all of today with Eric. He is on pedilyte, which is a good thing. We will hopefully try formula tomorrow.  This is an awful cycle that Eric is in, we just don't know how to break.   I did get some knitting done while I was sitting with Eric. I added a couple of inches to a poncho. Tonight I finished 1 kids hat and cast on another. I am almost finished with the brim.  I just need to unwind so that I can get a little sleep. My sleep cycle will be messed up for a few days. 

He is Sick Again

All good things must come to an end. It was totally awesome that Eric made it to his day program for 7 days before getting eyrpy tonight. I had a bad feeling that things were amiss when I picked him up today. It was the little things that I picked up on. Eric was way to happy to see me and his tummy was rumbling.

I can rule out asthma at this point, his oxygen saturation numbers are too good. I am really hoping that we just pushed a little too much and that is it. Needless to say we will be home tomorrow, which in a very odd way is good. Tomorrow is going to be the coldest day of the year so far in Tucson. In the low 30's at drive time. Burr.

I have plenty of knitting to keep me busy. Oh, by the way, I am sorry for the second post today.

Best Intentions

My plan for dinner tonight was a hardy vegetable mushroom beef barley soup. It would go nice with our cold weather here. Yes, it is well below 70 degrees Fahrenheit here. By the time I finished getting all the vegetables in there was no room for the barley. Oops, I guess we are having a vegetable stew with a little meat.

More Derp Cleaning

Today I spent an hour doing some deep cleaning. I found fluff that I did not know that I had. This should probably read I stashed it for later and forgot about it. I now have my spinning projects lined up for the next few months, with just the fluff I found today. I think my problem might be that I used too many project bags to store things. I can't see through them and they are easy to pile into a corner.

I even threw away some wrapping threadthathad an awful smell. Now I just have to figure out where I am putting all my weaving supplies. Well that is a problem for another day.

I seem to be on on a roll today. I walked over 10,000 steps and 4.25 miles for the second day in a row. If I can keep eric healthy maybe I can stretch that into a little longer stretch.

Passages

I was brought to tears at the knitting guild meeting on Thursday. I was given a beautiful hand knit quilt and thanked for my 4 1/2 years as the guild president. I could not fit the entire picture of the quilt on the blog, but it is stunning. I stepped aside when I accomplished all the he goals that I had set for myself and the guild. It was time for some new leadership and direction in the guild.

I will I'll still keep the job as webmaster and try to handle all the technical issues. This will give me more time to be creative. Which is a good thing because I have got a lot of fiber to spin,weave,quilt and knit. Somehow it snuck into the house will I was busy. I will also have more time to design new patterns,although I don't know if they will go beyond being posted on Raverly.

Me Time

I have had 3 days of a temporary reprieve with Eric going to his day program. I have been able to relax and get a few things done. I was even able to get through most of my to do list today.

My my best work today was being able to get service for the washer and dryer on Friday even though I called today. I do admit to get the appointment on Friday, I did use the sick kid who makes lots of laundry card. I really hate to use it, but 2 weeks without a dryer would have broken me. I figure by Friday the laundry room will be hip deep in laundry, even with pulling out the things that can be washed and hung up to dry.

Maybe after my day off tomorrow, I can do some de cluttering on Friday while I wait for the service appointment. Where to start, so many little things which add up to big things if they are ingnored.

Spinning

Today I got out of the house and left they guys at home. I went to Grandma's Spinning Wheel and did a marathon for me spinning secession about 2 1/2 hours. I finished one bobbin and wound the yarn on my knitty noddy. Then I started some white merino that I am going to barber pole onto some red. I just have to finish filling up this bobbin which should be done soon.  I shall see how sore that I am tomorrow.

My wheel has a slight warble that needs to be fixed. If I can figure out how to get to the screw I will be just fine. The problem is that it requires a special 4 side head and my Philips that I can maneuver in to the slot are 6 sided. I will solve this, but not tonight.

Better Today

My body is so fond of reminding me if it's not 30 anymore. Take yesterday for instance, my workday started off at 3:30 AM and did not finish till 10 PM. Because Eric was sick it was a very physically intense day for me. Today my body is reminding me of that. Around lunchtime today my body said it's naptime.

At least Eric is feeling better today. So I spent some time playing catchup around the house. I also started a new wool charity hat while I was sitting with Eric. The down side of stash busting is the little odds and ends of yarn accumulate so quickly. The good news is that they make perfect colorful hats for kids. The wool bag is overflowing right now so 2 or 3 hats should solve that problem.

And Repeat

Eric's post viral asthma kick in with vengeance. I feel very tired after being up since 3:30am and spending most of the day helping him sit up to keep his airway clear.  I have not even gotten through the mountain of laundry that he made since last night. I feel so tired and discouraged because I could not make him feel better today.

If tomorrow starts off like today we will be heading to the doctors. I  am hoping for a much better night tonight and a better day tomorrow. I hope everyone else had a much better day.

Oh, Joy

One of the things that I don't enjoy about being a special needs mom is dealing with the insurance company. Yes, there are a lot of intelligent  people who work for the medical insurance company, but why do I seem to get all the dunderheads?

The annual denial letter for formula and supplies came today. Some of the more redundant things that I have had put in the notes at the top of Eric's chart include when the g-tube was placed 15 years ago and why it is necessary. So it annoys me to no end to be asked for "Documentation" that Eric has a feeding tube. Is this the sole source of his nutrition, they want to know why we have not gotten him off the feeding tube yet. What is his diagnosis that makes the feeding tube necessary He has had the same diagnosis since he was 3 1/2 they just don't change like magic. The name of the formula... duh the same one he has been on for the last 15 years. An evaluation of his nutritional needs, really!!!

To boot UnitedHealthcare will not pay for supplies until we provide this information again.  They have also decided to make us do this every 6 months, really!!! I can not think of a worse harassment of parents of sick children.

Sadly there are only a few relevant things in the letter, Eric's height and weight and a new prescription. The rest is just laziness on the part of the reviewer. After 15 years of this crap, I am beginning to think they do this to us because a certain number of families and doctors will just give up and pay for these medically necessary supplies out of pocket. Aren't the profits and bonuses high enough for the insurance companies yet?

A heads up to everyone. I will be dealing with this crap on Monday, so its not you it's United Healthcare.

A Lot of Sleep

I find it amazing what 10 hours of sleep twice in one week can do for me. I run on an entirely different level than when I get 4 hours of sleep a night. To that end I have a lot of housework and laundry to catch up on tomorrow, yes the laundry room hit hip high. Thank goodness I am not any taller. So I started the whites tonight because they take 2 1/2 hours to wash with the energy efficient washing machine.

If I say good night now I can still get 7 1/2 hours of sleep tonight.

Happy New Year

From our family to you and your families we wish you all a very happy, healthy, peaceful and prosperous New Year.  May 2017 be a good year for all.

Best wishes,

Sheri, John, Teri, Tej and Eric

A New Spot

The new couches were delivered today . They look very similar to the old couches that left the house yesterday. The new ones have power recliners, so that John will not have to rescue me when I am having a bad body day. I just have to remember that the power is there when I get up. Oh, did I mention that they are perfect for napping too?

Because of the way we set up the couches, I now have a dedicated place to put one of my spinning wheels again. The Lendrum DT is tucked in a corner so that I can leave everything set up. I am trying to decide weather I have room to add the Louet wheel too. I am worried that there might be too much sun in the second spot which could damage the wheel. So I will have to pay attention to the sun that hits the area. 

Down 2

I really enjoyed having a full house. Having Teri and Tej here was beyond wonderful, but the full house had to end sometime. As working adults Teri and Tej have limited time off.  John, Eric and I are really grateful that they choose to spend a whole week of their precious time off with us. Now it is time to go back to our everyday routine.

I have decided to work off the pound I gained while the kids were here doing more deep cleaning of the house. This is what I call productive exercise. Who knows, someday I might just finish with the house and move on to the garage. Only G'd knows when that will happen, real soon I hope, before it's summer again.

I always like to end on a very bright note. To that end I am getting my knitting mojo back. I even have enough in the finishing bowl to tag and bag some hand knits to night.

A Full House

I have everyone home for the holidays and aside from the roving cold we are having a great time. I love having a full house. We even got out to see the new Star Wars film Rogue One which was pretty good. We also saw Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, I can't wait for the sequel for this one. Yes I know that there is no sequel that they have announced, but there are just too many story lines that were left open for there not to be one. 

Tonight I finally finished knitting the hat I was working on before my hands went wonky earlier in the year. I also surprised myself by doing all the finishing work in the finishing bowl. I switched from a finishing basket to a finishing bowl, because the bowl holds less. That means that I get things sorted and tagged sooner. 

While everyone is home I took a break from deep cleaning to spend more time with Teri and Tej. I just feel so lucky to have them in my life. 

Mock Cheese Cake

I love to make this very simple snack as a late night dessert or a decadent breakfast. This has also gone to more than a few potlucks and got the thumbs up from most people. It takes more time to go to Trader Joe's to get the fixings than to make.

Ingredient's

1 box Trader Joe's Honey Graham Crackers, 1 sheet per serving.
1 tube Trader Joe's Blueberry and Vanilla Chèvre or any other flavor that you like. 2 thin slices per serving. 

On a nice plate, place 1 Trader Joe's graham cracker broken in half. Slice 2 thin slices of the chèvre and place 1 slice on each graham cracker half. Your mock cheesecake is now ready to eat. 

Deep Cleaning

I have found out something surprising to me. If you have been reading this blog, you know that I have been on a multi-year deep cleaning of the house. Every time that I think I have finished purging the house of things that we don't need and take a break for a week or two, I find more stuff to re-purpose, recycle or toss.

The end result is that the house is getting less cluttered and more organized. I have more time to do the things that I want, because I don't spend hours looking for things. A lot of things now have their own places. I know that I am not perfect and have a long way to go. I can promise Teri that there are no unpacked boxes from our 1994 move, unlike my parents that still had boxes sealed from a 1965 move when mom moved out of the house that I grew up in.

So if you do come from a multi generational pack rat family like mine, I can tell you there is hope. Start with a timer set to 5 minutes. Clean for 5 minutes, if you want to do more fine, but remember that you only promised yourself to work for 5 minutes. Also when you are looking for other things, if you find something that you don't need just toss it or put it in a bag for charity. I find that I get rid of a lot of appointment  and expired discount cards this way. Well, I am off to do more purging.

I Need Help with This

Please call the Governor Ducey's Office at Phoenix: 602.542.4331 or

Tucson: 520.628.6580 or

write to:

Governor Ducey

1700 West Washington Street

Phoenix, Arizona 85007

Arizona is on the verge of losing respite services for the disabled because of the increase in minimum wage. This was a November ballot issue that passed. 

Please ask our governor to increase funding or come up with a plan so families do not lose all their respite hours. Currently families receive a maximum of 600 hours of respite per year. Not all families receive the maximum number of hours. There is already one possible plan on his desk.

As a parent of a disabled child I can tell you that this is a vital help to all families. 25 years ago when all states cut back or eliminated the institutions for the disabled they promised the families that support services would always be available. If the funding issue is not resolved my greatest fear is that more parents will opt out of keeping their special needs children and adults at home because they will be just too burnt out to provide optimal care for their loved ones.

There are currently not enough beds to meet the states current needs. This care is also more costly than respite care. Agencies currently receive enough funding to cover about $9.00 per hour plus overhead. Without a change in funding for a $10.00 per hour wage, most would lose at least 25 cents per hour of respite care provided. Since most non-profits and for profit agencies cannot afford to lose money, they will eliminate respite services. This works out to a maximum $6,000, plus overhead, per special needs child or adult. Also being realistic it will cost at least $3,000 per month for residential care or at least $36,000 per year per special needs person not at home with family.

So it comes down to how much the governor wants to spend or save. Is it worth saving $30,000 per special needs person by increasing funding to $10.00 per hour plus overhead? Let the governor know how you feel. 

I can Not Unwind

Eric is feeling better and sleeping, he will go to program tomorrow. I on the other hand can not unwind enough to go to sleep. This is following the usual pattern. So I will listen to some music and hope that it will be enough to to go to sleep.

For almost 24 hours my soul focus has been Eric and I am having trouble shifting back to me. In the past 24 hours I have missed a going away party for Scott Z. who got a great promotion. I missed sitting around with friends just sitting, chatting and knitting. I seem to miss so much when Eric is not feeling well. There just seems to be no balance in my life.

I never wanted to be a nurse when I was growing up. Yet I seem to have spent a large part of the last 3 decades doing just that. Life can be so strange sometimes. My kids have taken me places that I would have never thought of going or doing and for that I thank them.

The Roller Coaster of Life

Eric's MTBF really sucks now. We are back to 7 days. I don't even think a failure review board could help with this. The only thing that made Eric happy tonight was that he made a full load of laundry for me tonight

This is why I run as many errands as possible when Eric is feeling well. I even got to the grocery store today. My plans for tomorrow went into the the blender tonight. I guess it really does not matter when I give friends their holiday gifts, it's he thought that matters. Right?

To end on the bright side tonight Eric got to deliver a chemo cap this morning to a friend for her brother and got all the hugs and kisses for it. Yes, he did go to program today and even got the second highest score in bowling.

Just Another Saturday

Under things never to do in December. First I would pick never to try to traverse a Target parking lot at 1 pm on a Saturday. There were loads of people. Almost no parking spaces so people parked where ever they could find a curb even in the fire lanes. So I had to leave the parking lot to get to the Michaels on the other side of the lot. Even then people were parked in the Peter Piper Pizza parking for Target.

I did manage to make a few more gifts but I was short a few pieces. So I decided not to battle the parking lots again, so the extra pieces I needed will be delivered. I love on line shopping. I also found some time to reorganize some things. On the knitting front, I am almost done with the second of 3 chemo caps.

Crafting

Today I finished up the last of my holiday gifts. I have made about 200 pieces this week. Now the next project will be to repair about a dozen of Eric's bibs and make 2 more hand knit chemo caps for a friends brother. He loves the first one that I made.

I have a lot lot more energy now that my hand feels better. I also get about 10 hours back each week. That gives me more time to do everything.

Eric Was Sick Again

Eric got sick Monday morning on the way to his day program. This has meant 2 to 3 loads of laundry a day of just Eric's clothes and bedding. That laundry does not include John's and my clothes either.  A lot of very long days taking care of him, which has lead to a lot of anxiety on my part. I should be use to this by now.

Eric is finely feeling better and is back on formula. He may even go back to his program today.  I have gotten so tired and stressed this time, that my skin actually hurts. Worse yet for me is that it makes it very hard to catch up on sleep. So in the wee hours of Thursday morning here I sit trying to convince my body that the stress is gone and I should be sleeping. It is not working out very well.

Well I am going to try to go and get some sleep. 6 am comes very fast around here.

Pop Ups

Today I went to my first pop up market. I went to check it out to see if it would be a good venue for my high end creations. The answer is that my high end creations were a perfect fit in style and quality. The bad news is that the I don't have the right artistic pedigree that the hipsters are looking for.

The hipsters seem to value where the artist went to school, more than anything else. I just don't understand how a high debtload makes a person a better artist. I did not go to the right art school, so I guess that I don't have what it takes for a pop up market.

So so at this point I will consider looking for a local gallery that would be a good fit for my weaving and high end pieces. Suggestion are welcome because I don't know this area well.

Something New

Tonight I tried the convection mode on the oven. Yes, I know that I have had the new stove for over a year. I was making corn bread for dinner and then thought why not try it. The reusults were wonderful. Perfectly browned and the texture was superb. I think I will use it again.

Busy

It was a very busy day. It had some very exciting news too. The official physical therapy will end this week and I will continue to work on getting my hand more functional every day at home. This will add about 6 usable hours back to my week. I also got the OK to move to size 7 knitting needles and started a chemo for a friends brother. It will take me a little longer to knit than I am use to, but I am knitting again.

Eric had a bit of a rough night, but I am hoping the 1 1/2 hours spent tonight will make a positive spot in my day tomorrow. Well I said this morning that I wanted to be asleep by 10 pm and I am running a little late. So everyone have a very happy and healthy week.

Things That I Am Grateful For

In no particular order here are some of the things that I am grateful for.

1. My Family
2. My friends
3. Team Eric
4. Being ambidextrous, it comes in handy when one hand won't work right. Yes, I am sometimes that annoying person who changes hands in the middle of a meal. It is taking a whole lot longer for my hand to heal than I thought it would.
5. Being 4 inches slimmer since I gave up all high fructose corn syrup and aspertame. The inches come off more slowly than they went on. Bah humbug.

My challenge to you you is to find at least 5 things that you are grateful for and share with everyone.

Dilemmas

I woke up early with a headache. So I made a cuppa chai and tried to relax as I sipped it. Just as the headache was beginning to fade Eric woke up needing a complete change out and breathing treatment. After settling Eric back to sleep, I then realized that it was 3 am.

This being Black Friday in the United States, where the stores have historically turned the books from red to black. There are always sales. Most start really early. I was awake so why not go shopping and get some great deals.

Then I thought about what I needed. The answer was nothing. What was left on my holiday shopping list. The answer was nothing. What did I want that was on sale? The answer was nothing. So after an hour of deliberation I was finally sleepy.

Later in the day I was going to go shopping for yarn for a project, but decided to go stash diving instead. I found enough cotton yarn to make 2 to 3 chemo caps for a friends brother. Now I just need my hands to be less stiff so that I can knit them.

I then found time for a walk and some weaving. I took my loom outside and enjoyed the unusually warm late November day.