I had one of those humours moments yesterday. We are planning a surprise for Eric. No I can not divulge much to you except to say it involves a lot of planning. I was talking to the reservation clerk telling her what we needed to make the surprise happen for Eric.
To me it is normal to travel with an IV Pole, feeding pump, percussion vest/machine, nebulizer and assorted medical supplies. After all aren't we know for packing the entire house for any excursion. Clothes are usually an after thought and packed in over night bags no matter how long we are gone. Well I think I heard her jaw drop as she tried to regain her composer after we started discussing beds and bed rails. I tend to forget not everyone has a real hospital bed in their child's room. No, the surprise place has no hospital beds available for guests. Really!
But that lead to a very funny dinner conversation with John about what we consider normal living with Eric and what the rest of the world must think of us. After all doesn't every one take a car full of medical equipment and extension cords on vacation?
It has also occurred to me this morning that Teri and I had a very similar conversation this summer. Doesn't everyone plan their trips around where there are children's hospitals? And that I might actually inadvertently be scaring people with young and healthy children.
I find it amazing how we can get caught up in our own lives and forget that the rest of the world does not live just like us. Well it is time to get my day started. Have a great day and enjoy your families.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Monday, October 25, 2010
Tucson Wool Festival 2010
The great news is that another Tucson Wool Festival is coming up on November 6. From 9 am to 3 pm.
The Withers Ranch will once again be open to the public for shearing and all sorts of fiber related demonstrations. Vendors from the southwest will be showing their craft and hopefully developing new fiber addicts.
Raffle Shawl 2010
A Freeform Shawl spun, woven, knitted, and crocheted with a more scientific slant will be raffled off with the proceeds going to the Casa Maria Kitchen.
The Withers’ Ranch
4010 W Palo Seco
(520) 572-3758/401-6117
Make sure you fill out an entry form to get in the drawing for great prizes. There will be one for knitters & crocheters, one for spinners, and one finished item to give away.
ONGOING EVENTS
TOURS of the animals will be given at 9 A.M. and 12:00 P.M.
Shearer: Danny Smith will be coming from Missouri to shear. If you are a breeder in the southwestern part of Arizona, he is willing to add you and your animals to his list to do around the November 6, 2010
PARTICIPATING ARTISTS AND SHEPHERDS
Rae's Wood, harryrae@vtc.net
Inkle looms, regular size and mini's, stick and inkle shuttles, pick up sticks, niddy noddys, loom benches, inkled items like hatbands and shoelaces, and bowls.
Campe Verde Llamas: Chris and Nancy Wilson, spinllama@msn.com, will have llama, alpaca, and Shetland sheep rovings from their animals. They will also have blends of llama and soy silk, alpaca and soy silk, llama blended with Shetland wool and mohair, and alpaca blended with Shetland wool and Firestar. Other items include books, knitting and crocheting patterns, Eucalan wool wash, Gaywool dyes, and the new bamboo carbon top from Southwest Trading Company.
Sara Sacks: Woolies - hats, kids sweaters and toys, and shawls. www.woolies.etsy.com
Alpacazona Farm: Claudia and Brian Klaus, www.alpacazonafarm.com. Fiber from start to finish. Alpaca fleece, roving, and yarn. Exotic fibers including cashmere, yak, camel, silk, and silk blends. Both commercial and hand spun yarns. A wide variety of finished products: commercial and hand woven.
Canyon Wren Ranch: Cathy Gorman will be selling fleeces, rovings and yarns from her Natural Churro Sheep. cgorman@wildblue.net
Acres of Blessings: The Smiths from Missouri will have raw fiber, rovings and yarns from their Merino and Romney and sheep crosses. Danny will be shearing. He also makes and sells drop spindles.
Karen Herhold designs - Artistic Fibers and Felting
kherholdtucson@aol.com
Chamomile Connection - Lynnae Mcconaha, specializing in organic cotton and silk, spinning fibers, handpainted sliver and yarns, http://www.chamomileconnection.com/
Handmade~by~Sheri - Me - I will have a large selection of stitch markers in all price ranges.
Rita Blocksom - wet and needle felting artist. Demonstrations throughout the day and mini classes. www.ritablocksom.com
9:30 Making Cosmic Spirals
11:00 Creating Silk Paper for Embellishment
12:30 Beads, Baubles and Bling
2:00 Crazy Felt
Karen Samson: Feltings Karensamondesigns.com
Celestial Designs Fiber Art from Minnesota: custom carded batts, original patterns, needle felting kits, hand spun yarns, and handmade knitting bags. Books, looms, and other fiber accessories. celestialdesigns@charter.net
Dove Mountain Alpacas: Donna Smith with Suri and Huacaya alpaca products.
WORKSHOPS
Drop spindling: Amy Shimel of Electric Sheep Fiber Arts will be giving mini lessons throughout the day.
Nuno felting with Karen Herhold - make a small scarf that can be used as a
hair bow or belt. $25 includes the cost of all supplies. Class will begin at
approximately 10 a.m.
DEMOS
Rectangle Loom Weaving: Judith Segel will demonstrate the continuous strand weaving technique to make a woven rectangle. The continuous strand weaving method means you do not have to "dress a loom."
Please stop by and show support for Kathy and the other fiber artists.
The Withers Ranch will once again be open to the public for shearing and all sorts of fiber related demonstrations. Vendors from the southwest will be showing their craft and hopefully developing new fiber addicts.
Raffle Shawl 2010
A Freeform Shawl spun, woven, knitted, and crocheted with a more scientific slant will be raffled off with the proceeds going to the Casa Maria Kitchen.
The Withers’ Ranch
4010 W Palo Seco
(520) 572-3758/401-6117
Make sure you fill out an entry form to get in the drawing for great prizes. There will be one for knitters & crocheters, one for spinners, and one finished item to give away.
ONGOING EVENTS
TOURS of the animals will be given at 9 A.M. and 12:00 P.M.
Shearer: Danny Smith will be coming from Missouri to shear. If you are a breeder in the southwestern part of Arizona, he is willing to add you and your animals to his list to do around the November 6, 2010
PARTICIPATING ARTISTS AND SHEPHERDS
Rae's Wood, harryrae@vtc.net
Inkle looms, regular size and mini's, stick and inkle shuttles, pick up sticks, niddy noddys, loom benches, inkled items like hatbands and shoelaces, and bowls.
Campe Verde Llamas: Chris and Nancy Wilson, spinllama@msn.com, will have llama, alpaca, and Shetland sheep rovings from their animals. They will also have blends of llama and soy silk, alpaca and soy silk, llama blended with Shetland wool and mohair, and alpaca blended with Shetland wool and Firestar. Other items include books, knitting and crocheting patterns, Eucalan wool wash, Gaywool dyes, and the new bamboo carbon top from Southwest Trading Company.
Sara Sacks: Woolies - hats, kids sweaters and toys, and shawls. www.woolies.etsy.com
Alpacazona Farm: Claudia and Brian Klaus, www.alpacazonafarm.com. Fiber from start to finish. Alpaca fleece, roving, and yarn. Exotic fibers including cashmere, yak, camel, silk, and silk blends. Both commercial and hand spun yarns. A wide variety of finished products: commercial and hand woven.
Canyon Wren Ranch: Cathy Gorman will be selling fleeces, rovings and yarns from her Natural Churro Sheep. cgorman@wildblue.net
Acres of Blessings: The Smiths from Missouri will have raw fiber, rovings and yarns from their Merino and Romney and sheep crosses. Danny will be shearing. He also makes and sells drop spindles.
Karen Herhold designs - Artistic Fibers and Felting
kherholdtucson@aol.com
Chamomile Connection - Lynnae Mcconaha, specializing in organic cotton and silk, spinning fibers, handpainted sliver and yarns, http://www.chamomileconnection.com/
Handmade~by~Sheri - Me - I will have a large selection of stitch markers in all price ranges.
Rita Blocksom - wet and needle felting artist. Demonstrations throughout the day and mini classes. www.ritablocksom.com
9:30 Making Cosmic Spirals
11:00 Creating Silk Paper for Embellishment
12:30 Beads, Baubles and Bling
2:00 Crazy Felt
Karen Samson: Feltings Karensamondesigns.com
Celestial Designs Fiber Art from Minnesota: custom carded batts, original patterns, needle felting kits, hand spun yarns, and handmade knitting bags. Books, looms, and other fiber accessories. celestialdesigns@charter.net
Dove Mountain Alpacas: Donna Smith with Suri and Huacaya alpaca products.
WORKSHOPS
Drop spindling: Amy Shimel of Electric Sheep Fiber Arts will be giving mini lessons throughout the day.
Nuno felting with Karen Herhold - make a small scarf that can be used as a
hair bow or belt. $25 includes the cost of all supplies. Class will begin at
approximately 10 a.m.
DEMOS
Rectangle Loom Weaving: Judith Segel will demonstrate the continuous strand weaving technique to make a woven rectangle. The continuous strand weaving method means you do not have to "dress a loom."
Please stop by and show support for Kathy and the other fiber artists.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
This Weekend
This weekend was fun but busy filled with cleaning. Laundry - when is there not laundry? Knitting. Shopping for new glasses for me they should be in sometime in the next 10 to 14 days. I also made time to work on stitch markers for the special packages of stitch markers that I will have at the Tucson Wool Festival on November 6 from 9 am to 3:00 pm at the Withers Ranch.
Well its getting late so I will write more tomorrow.
Well its getting late so I will write more tomorrow.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Yesterday
I had a great day yesterday. After bagels and coffee with some good friends I ran my errands and then came home to have lunch and take a nap. I have a valid excuse for the nap, Eric was up until 12:30 am and I was tired.
The new blanket pattern is taking on a life of its own. I am 27 rows into the new design and the yarn did something very unexpected. I had envisioned the pattern going in more of a tumbling block pattern, but the yarn is taking me in a totally new direction. In about 120 more rows the 1st half of the blanket should be done and the other half will be a mirror image of the 1st half.
The creative juices did not stop there yesterday. I hit the beads and came up with over a dozen one of a kind stitch markers that will be unveiled on November 6th at the Tucson Wool Festival. I will be there from 9 am to 3 pm at Wither's Ranch located at 4010 W Palo Seco in Tucson. The Withers Ranch will once again be open to the public for shearing and all sorts of fiber related demonstrations. Vendors from the southwest will be showing their craft. I will add a post later to give a map and all the details of the day.
I am happy to say that Eric got to sleep at a decent hour last night so today should be more productive. Have a great day and enjoy your families.
The new blanket pattern is taking on a life of its own. I am 27 rows into the new design and the yarn did something very unexpected. I had envisioned the pattern going in more of a tumbling block pattern, but the yarn is taking me in a totally new direction. In about 120 more rows the 1st half of the blanket should be done and the other half will be a mirror image of the 1st half.
The creative juices did not stop there yesterday. I hit the beads and came up with over a dozen one of a kind stitch markers that will be unveiled on November 6th at the Tucson Wool Festival. I will be there from 9 am to 3 pm at Wither's Ranch located at 4010 W Palo Seco in Tucson. The Withers Ranch will once again be open to the public for shearing and all sorts of fiber related demonstrations. Vendors from the southwest will be showing their craft. I will add a post later to give a map and all the details of the day.
I am happy to say that Eric got to sleep at a decent hour last night so today should be more productive. Have a great day and enjoy your families.
Monday, October 18, 2010
A Breif Catch Up
I did not think that John paid much attention to my knitting or yarn in general, but I was wrong. Over the weekend when I started winding some yarn for hats his comment was that he hoped that the yarn was for charity hats and not for my Art Fire Studio. Yes the next batch will be charity hats. I still have a lot of hats in my studio.
I also found 4 sets of knitting needles on Friday as I was digging out a knitting bag for a new knitter. I wonder how many sets of knitting needles I would have if I had finished all my work in progress projects. When I went into the tub to pull out the empty bag I also pulled out 4 projects that were still on the needles that I had not worked on since before the remodel. Everything was gathered and put in 96 quart containers to get them out of the way and out of the construction dust.
I have also started writing out the baby blanket with mixed blocks that is knit in one piece. This also includes the boarder being knit as you go so the little ones can't rip apart the squares. The pattern will be in my studio after I finish writing it up. The blanket has been spoken for already but the pattern should be here soon. So you have something to look forward to.
Well I have to get back to my to do list. Have a great evening and enjoy your families.
I also found 4 sets of knitting needles on Friday as I was digging out a knitting bag for a new knitter. I wonder how many sets of knitting needles I would have if I had finished all my work in progress projects. When I went into the tub to pull out the empty bag I also pulled out 4 projects that were still on the needles that I had not worked on since before the remodel. Everything was gathered and put in 96 quart containers to get them out of the way and out of the construction dust.
I have also started writing out the baby blanket with mixed blocks that is knit in one piece. This also includes the boarder being knit as you go so the little ones can't rip apart the squares. The pattern will be in my studio after I finish writing it up. The blanket has been spoken for already but the pattern should be here soon. So you have something to look forward to.
Well I have to get back to my to do list. Have a great evening and enjoy your families.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Buddy's Grill
Today we had lunch at an old favorite that we have not been to in awhile. Buddy's Grill at 4821 E Grant just east of Swan. Lunch was just amazing. I can't not believe that there was not a line out the door, it must be the economy because the food and service were outstanding.
The server offer drinks as soon as we sat down. The flavored tea was excellent. While we were waiting for our order the waiter brought out fresh, hot bread and muffins. More bread was served when the salad came and that was a nice complement to the salad.
I had the Grilled Chicken Salad for $10.50. The salad came covered with freshly grilled chicken that was juicy, moist and thinly sliced. One half of a sliced avocado which was soft creamy and delicious, tomatoes, olives and artichoke hearts. The salad was fresh and crisp with romaine lettuce. The toppings were plentiful. It came with a choice of salad dressing and I went with my old stand-by a side of mayo and ketchup which I mix at the table. The salad was so flavorful that it would be a push if a whole tablespoon of dressing made it on to the salad.
John had the Turkey Breast and Canadian Bacon Sandwich for $9.50. The sandwich was served on marble rye bread and filled to the brim with Turkey, Canadian bacon, avocado, lettuce, tomatoes and tarragon mayonnaise. The sandwich came on a dinner plate with the sandwich taking up half of the plate. The other half was covered with fresh from the fryer french fries with just the right amount of salt. John said his sandwich was very good and not a bite remained on his plate by the end of the meal.
I have to admit that I trade most of my artichoke hearts with John for 3 or 4 french fries. It was well worth the trade. They were cooked just right crisp on the outside and soft and moist on the inside. With just the right amount of salt. It was a push as to who got the better deal in the swap with each of us declaring victory.
As for the restaurant, the parking was plentiful. The atmosphere was calm and relaxing. Eric enjoyed there music selection very much and the volume was just right. This is a perfect place to take out of town guest. It also has the right atmosphere for family dinners. John and I plan on going back soon. After all there is a full menu to try out that includes sandwiches, gourmet Angus burgers, pasta, fresh seafood and more.
In case you want to call ahead for reservations the Grant at Swan location telephone number is (520)795-2226. You can also check out their web site at http://www.buddysgrill.com for menu selection, specials, events and other locations.
Well it has been a very good and long day so have a great evening and enjoy your families.
*Buddy's Grill did not provide any compensation for this blog. John and I paid for our own meal. The opinions express here are my own. Menu pricing is subject to fluctuation's so the prices are apt to change.
The server offer drinks as soon as we sat down. The flavored tea was excellent. While we were waiting for our order the waiter brought out fresh, hot bread and muffins. More bread was served when the salad came and that was a nice complement to the salad.
I had the Grilled Chicken Salad for $10.50. The salad came covered with freshly grilled chicken that was juicy, moist and thinly sliced. One half of a sliced avocado which was soft creamy and delicious, tomatoes, olives and artichoke hearts. The salad was fresh and crisp with romaine lettuce. The toppings were plentiful. It came with a choice of salad dressing and I went with my old stand-by a side of mayo and ketchup which I mix at the table. The salad was so flavorful that it would be a push if a whole tablespoon of dressing made it on to the salad.
John had the Turkey Breast and Canadian Bacon Sandwich for $9.50. The sandwich was served on marble rye bread and filled to the brim with Turkey, Canadian bacon, avocado, lettuce, tomatoes and tarragon mayonnaise. The sandwich came on a dinner plate with the sandwich taking up half of the plate. The other half was covered with fresh from the fryer french fries with just the right amount of salt. John said his sandwich was very good and not a bite remained on his plate by the end of the meal.
I have to admit that I trade most of my artichoke hearts with John for 3 or 4 french fries. It was well worth the trade. They were cooked just right crisp on the outside and soft and moist on the inside. With just the right amount of salt. It was a push as to who got the better deal in the swap with each of us declaring victory.
As for the restaurant, the parking was plentiful. The atmosphere was calm and relaxing. Eric enjoyed there music selection very much and the volume was just right. This is a perfect place to take out of town guest. It also has the right atmosphere for family dinners. John and I plan on going back soon. After all there is a full menu to try out that includes sandwiches, gourmet Angus burgers, pasta, fresh seafood and more.
In case you want to call ahead for reservations the Grant at Swan location telephone number is (520)795-2226. You can also check out their web site at http://www.buddysgrill.com for menu selection, specials, events and other locations.
Well it has been a very good and long day so have a great evening and enjoy your families.
*Buddy's Grill did not provide any compensation for this blog. John and I paid for our own meal. The opinions express here are my own. Menu pricing is subject to fluctuation's so the prices are apt to change.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Yarn and Things
Well I have done it. I finally wound the last 18 skeins of wool boucle yarn that Nancy gave me for charity knitting 3 years ago. Just in case you were not in on that yarning Nancy gave me a 33 gallon trash bag, yes one of those big black ones filled to the brim with it. To make warmer winter outer wear I blended it with worsted weight white yarn. Which I have rededicated, the white yarn was meant for 2 white wool blankets to donate to sick children; well being a mother of a sick child I know a white wool blanket is the very last thing that Eric would need or that I would want to do the upkeep on. So I mixed 9 skeins of white yarn with 18 skeins of boucle to come up with a warm colorful warm blends of 100% wool yarn that can be knit on US size 13 knitting needles. Yes it does make the projects go faster. The good news is that the bright orange yarn that the kids love is almost gone 1 or 2 ponchos at the most ( can you tell I am tired of bright orange yarn), then on to the red and yellow.
From that white wool yarn I am also rededicating 2 strips that were meant for a very complicated crochet pattern which was not included with the blanket but I was suppose to figure out on my own. I figure that once they are finished thay will make great scarfs , gifts for the shelter ladies that Nancy works with.
Today I also got some more organizing done. Since Eric had the day off from school we finally found the time to bring in the tabs that he and his friends from Taglit collected over the summer. He proudly carried in over 9 pounds of tabs to help the kids at the Tucson Ronald McDonald house. So If you have any tabs send them our way, this is a year round charity project for Eric.
Well John just got home so it is time to think about dinner. So have a great evening and enjoy your families.
From that white wool yarn I am also rededicating 2 strips that were meant for a very complicated crochet pattern which was not included with the blanket but I was suppose to figure out on my own. I figure that once they are finished thay will make great scarfs , gifts for the shelter ladies that Nancy works with.
Today I also got some more organizing done. Since Eric had the day off from school we finally found the time to bring in the tabs that he and his friends from Taglit collected over the summer. He proudly carried in over 9 pounds of tabs to help the kids at the Tucson Ronald McDonald house. So If you have any tabs send them our way, this is a year round charity project for Eric.
Well John just got home so it is time to think about dinner. So have a great evening and enjoy your families.
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