Family

Well Teri has been home for a few days now. We have done the girl day of shopping and freebies on Saturday. It is nice to see how much she has grown over these last few months she was away, it is nice to have her back, if only for a few weeks.

Eric on the other hand is still giving us a run for the money. Last night he kept his father up till after 3, I could not manage to stay awake. I have had a hard time staying up late without my diet soda I find it hard to drink tea a midnight, where I had no problem downing a couple of diet sodas that late. On the other hand I have also noticed that my jaw is no longer in a state of permanent clenching. The weight loss has slowed down a little, but I am not eating all day either.

When thing settle down a bit I will try to write a review of the latest book that I finished The English American , Alison Larkin. I have included a link on my Amazon page and it is now in paperback. If you can't wait for the full review I will make this a must read book.

I am behind on my finishing work and when it is don I will get the last gifts out the door and add some new things to my Art Fire store.

Holiday Shopping

I know I prefer handmade gifts for the special occasions for those special people in my life. But lets face it some people are just plain hard to make things for. Either they don't like handmade, have everything you already know how to knit or have more than enough quilts for a small army.

Yes I do use gift cards for the special people in my life, like the nieces and nephews that I see once a year do to distance, I find it hard to shop for a growing child that I only see once a year.

Time is running out for shopping this week. Avoid the crowded malls and with just a few clicks. If all else fails get a gift card for that hard to buy for person.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00067L6TQ/?tag=hnadbysher-20

I have included a link to Amazon.com to solve that problem, that way they can get what ever their hearts desire is or you might just stumble on that perfect gift.

Happy shopping and enjoy your families

It has been a while

I know it has been too long since I last blogged. We have had the usual ups and downs with Eric. I have finished 1 major and a number of smaller knitting projects, just 2 more x-mas gifts left to knit and I know that they will be late since I have to mail them.

The big news today is we now have a larger water heater 75 gallons and we can finally fill the new tub more than 1/4 the way up, yes the tub is big enough for a short person to swim in, well not really but it was made for a person much taller than myself. The plumber was gracious enough to install my new kitchen faucet, so now I only have water coming out of the spout instead of the spout and the base. I did not book an appoitment with him for the faucet but he installed it anyway, a very nice guy. We are still waiting for the new disposal to arrive, it was suppose to be here 2 days ago, I sure hope that the plumber has time to install it when it arrives, it looks like a nasty job.

Teri has finished here L1 first semester exams and will be here for the holidays. I hope that she has not over scheduled herself and has some time to spend with us. The house has been so quiet without her. I have spent the last week cleaning and have not finished, but at least Teri will have a freshly made bed.

I think I have come up with the worst combination for mood squashing in the history of motherhood. Tomorrow it will be 14 days with out any Diet Coke, or Aspartame, combine that with a week of house cleaning and I am ready to chop any one's head off. Although my Rhumatologist is happy I am off the Diet Coke and Aspartame, I wish I was not so tired. I may actually have to sleep when I am tired and not run around like a 20 year old all the time day and night.

I will do more cleaning tomorrow and also take pictures of 2 of my newly completed projects and blog about those. Well it is time to go back to work, so have a good evening and enjoy your families.

Playing Catch Up or As We Know it My Life.

OK so it has been quite a while since I blogged. So what has been going on in my life? Well here goes.

Since I blogged last Eric has been sick twice with two near all nighters, He is doing better today and I really slept last night. I have been playing catchup with the laundry. Did I mention that Eric can make 2 loads over night when he is sick. I want to thank all my laundry folders. In weeks like this I abide by my motto:
"Laundry is like fine wine, no laundry shall be folded before it's time."

I have agreed to teach knitting to Eric's friends at school, they will be making a wash cloth and a scarf. My inclination is to go for a square wash cloth and a thin rectangular scarf. I want the things to be useful for them. So today I went through my stash and picked out 10 skeins of cotton for wash cloths and 10 skeins of wool and rayon for the scarfs. I have 7 of the 10 set of needles that I will need, the knitting guild has not come through for me so I will take my coupons and buy the last 3 pairs. I will be using size 7 and 8 straight needles and am using metal needles so we don't have breakage to deal with.

I have gone to 2 white elephant holiday parties and have manage to get the white elephants I received out of the house. For the 1st white elephant I gave away 10 skeins of yarn and a knitting bag that I did not like, but the recipient was very happy with them. For the second one I gave away red mobius scarf that John did not like on me and I could not sell. For the Guild holiday party I might just do the same thing and fill another bag with yarn ( but don't tell anyone).

I gave up Diet Coke and aspartame cold turkey last Saturday and have had a few headaches and feel really weird, but so far this has been the only change in my diet and I have lost 3 pounds since Saturday. This is all due to my friend Kay sending me an article on the effects of aspartame/diet coke on auto immune diseases. It too soon to tell if it is making a difference, but I will keep you updated.

I finished the shawl pattern and got it to the beta testers and I still need John to take a picture of it on me, it does not look good flat, but on it's wonderful.

We have a new 96 Gallon recycling bin on wheels and it is very easy to fill so the house is a little less cluttered. Monday night we put out twice as much recycling than we did for trash. Yeah us!!!

So I think even thought it has been hectic I have made headway in de-stashing yarn(30 skeins by my count), and getting rid of clutter. Not much knitting has been done, oh, well there is always later.

Have a great evening and enjoy your families.

A Busy Weekend

Sorry I have not blogged for a few days its been a busy weekend. I hope to find more time to write on Monday.

Last Night

I should have known something was going to go wacky. I had the urge just to get out of the house yesterday. I had no real errands to do so I went to Starbucks for 2 hours of knitting and relaxing.

While at Starbucks I did figure out the shoulder repeats for the shawl pattern I promised to give as Christmas gifts on Friday. So that was good. I have less than a skein to knit and then I will type the pattern for my beta testers. Did I mention that the Beta testers are from my Friday Fun Knitters group and have wanted me to write this pattern down for at least a couple of years..

After Eric's dinner he started feeling yucky and pulling my hand to his tummy. Well the eyrping started at about 10 pm and that did not seem to ease the pain. Then there was the 3:30 am total change, I am so glad that I put the extra chucks down around midnight otherwise I would have had a full bed change instead of just PJ's,blanket and chucks*. Basically what that means is 1 load of laundry instead of 3 loads.

I feel very proud of myself that I did not start the caffeine till about 4 am, but I am beginning to wonder if I should have started earlier. By the way that's when I started the laundry too. I was up so why not start a load or two and warm up the house a little.

So Eric and I are home today. He had 5 days off for Thanksgiving and only made it to school for 2 days this week. I wish I could figure out how to keep him well. I also hope that he naps today, I know that is a totally selfish thought, but it's not quite 8 am and a nap sounds good already. I think it's going to be a very long day.

I hope that you have a wonderful day and enjoy your families.

*Chucks are those pads they use in the hospital under patients so that they do not have to change the bed as often. I consider them a resource saving device. They are less work to put on the bed then a total bed change. They require less water to clean than a complete bed change. Can you tell that I love them.

Happy Thanksgiving

First I would like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. I would like to make a short (maybe not) list of what I am thankful for today.

1. My Husband
2. My Children
3. My Family
4. My Friends near and far.
5. The wonderful world that G'd created for us.
6. My Yarn, I know it sounds cheesy but yarn really does have a calming influence on me. This also includes independent spinners and dyers and my local yarn shops.
7. The wonderful desert that surrounds my city.
8. All the people that help me get Eric through the day.
9. All the people who make Eric feel needed and part of the community.
10. The quiet times in my life, after all we all need down time.
11. All the people who are willing to share their wisdom with me.
12. All the people who make beautiful music.
13. Everyone who strives to make this a better world for everyone. My hope is that someday I will have time to join you in your endeavors.
14. The members of the military past and present who have and continue to make this day possible.
15. The people such as Police, Firemen and other public safety providers.
16. Everyone who has a smile or happy thought for me.
17. All of Eric's doctors throughout the years for being there when you were needed.

For this and all that I have forgotten to mention, Thank you so much for being part of my life.

Enjoy your families and have a wonderful day.