Happy Holidays

I would like to start by wishing everyone a Happy Holiday no matter which holiday you celebrate this week. May you enjoy your families and enjoy the fact that we have all made it to this season.

That being said, I am a little melancholy this year. As you know Eric has had a lot of tough health issues this year, which have left me exhausted. I can report on the good side that Eric has slept 5 yes count em 5 nights in a row. Yes miracles still do happen. With just the 2 of us eating tonight I will not be preparing the huge festival meal. First I don't have the energy and second we can not eat that much. I have instead spent the last few days really cleaning and there is a large visible difference. Today I even let roomba have the run of most of the house, he did a good job but did not have enough juice to make it back to his docking station. I would also like to say that roomba still does not like Eric's hoyer lift. I also gave scooba a work out and plan to do so again tomorrow in another part of the house.

With all that being said I still prefer huge holiday gatherings and the formality of the the order of the holidays. It is my hope that when our daughter finishes grad school we will again be able to have nice family holiday dinners. It really does not matter the location as long as we are together. Well I have to go put the finishing touches on dinner.

Happy Holidays to All and to all a very festive meal.

It has Been a Week

It has been a week since I last blogged. In the interim Eric made it to school 5 days in a row. I got a whole lot of cleaning and knitting done. And yes it being Saturday I made another charity run of hand knit items.

This was more than my knitting this time. I had a full box and a bag from my Friday knitting group the Friday Fun Knitters and a full box of items I had hand knit. These were all destined for Japan. They were delivered to Yumiko Alexander of DanDoh who was doing a trunk show at Grandma's Spinning Wheel on Tanque Verde. I was also able to have a nice chat with Yumiko, she is always so delightful to talk to. I can't wait for Yumiko's next book to be published.

If you would like to help in this effort here is a link to Yumiko's blog: http://dandoh.blogspot.com/2011/03/on-march-11-2011-japan-suffered.html
The pattern is quite easy. I made 6 of these scarfs last week. I also included some hats. Please tag your hand knit items with the yarn content and write a short note of encouragement.  They survivors have a long road ahead of them and they need all the help and love we can send. You may also send hand crocheted items. The address of where to send your finished pieces is on the scarf pattern sheet.

I think it is time to start working on Teri's blanket again. so I will be rearranging things to get that endeavor underway tomorrow. I only have about 15 square feet left to knit, so I hope to get it done before I loose my blanket mojo again. I have only manage to get 10 square feet done so far. It is by far the largest project I have undertaken since I started knitting. And NO you may not have a queen size blanket as this will be the last large blanket for a while.

I did manage to get some spinning done tonight, but I am saving plying for when I am a bit more awake and have a little more patience. As we are going into a holiday week may you all enjoy your holiday celebrations with your families.

Saturday in Tucson

Need less to say my day did not go as planed. But I did manage to drop off a bag of hand knit items at a charity event before I came home. I have lots of skeins of freshly spun yarn hanging in the garage waiting to dry. Think back on my, plan a cold rainy day was not the best day to do the final processing of the yarn, so it will take a bit longer to dry.

A lot of random knitting went on but nothing was finished. A lot of progress was made on a lot of projects. I kinda of envy those who can work a project from start to finish without picking up another project. I am not that type of person so I have random knitting projects placed where ever I tend to spend time in the house. I even have my emergency knitting kit in my car. After all I never know when knitting will come in handy.

Some plying and spinning also went on. I definitely need to practice my plying to get a better technique down but since plying is a relatively new activity I suspect it will take some time to learn.

It was a very cold and rainy day here I think the high was around 48 and it rained all day. Don't get me wrong I enjoy the rain and we are at a rain deficient but some things just cant be done in the rain. Such as taking pictures of some of my newer projects.

Well it is getting late here and tomorrow is going to be a very long and busy day. So enjoy your families and have a great weekend.

Learning is Good

I learned something new today. It has to do with my spinning. I found that it is easier to spin lace and fragile fibres on a lighter drop spindle. 4/16 of an ounce can really make a big difference. Well you seasoned pros already knew that but for this newbie it was a huge break through.

Well here is hoping it is going to be an early night. Enjoy your families.

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

No good deed goes unpunished. For me it was letting Eric rest part of yesterday. I can't tell you what a big mistake that was in so many ways. Eric was up until 3:30am and therefore we did nothing I had planed for today.

I think John got the worst of it though when he went to try to fix Eric's bed railing that broke. He has it held together with ducked tape but I have an e-mail in to Hill-Rom to see if they can help. When he was trying to fix Eric's bed John's i-pod touch the 4th generation that he just got fell out of his pocket hit the floor and the screen broke. Yes something else to add to my to do list for tomorrow. So If you know who repairs the screens for the i pod touch 4th gen please let me know.

Things are very hectic around here now and when things get really hectic I tend to knit scrappy hats. and other charity projects. The good or bad news is that I have found 2 large project bags filled with scrap yarn so I can knit to my hearts content. I should get about 20 hats out of all of this..

Well I am hoping that Eric is asleep so I can get some much needed rest tonight. tomorrow looks to be a very busy day.

Eric is on Spring Vacation

It hardly seems possible that Eric is on spring vacation from school. I really don't think he has earned it this year since he has spent most of 2010/2011 school year home sick. This is life as we know it so I am trying to keep him active with field trips to the likes of Target yesterday and Costco today. If the weather is nice I do plan on an outing to the U of A to get Eric Sweet 16 gear to wear to school and camp. He has got to support the home town team and family Alma Mater after all.

We have such broken up shifts for aides this week that things like a trip to the movies are out. The weather is finally decent this week in the 80 to 90's range. So a lot of knitting has gotten done and some spinning has also gotten done. I want to thank Chris for his help with plying and how to judge if my spinning is to tight. I really did not know that you could spin too tight only to loosely..

As you can tell I am finally getting back on my feet with the energy to blog. So Hopefully I will get a few more out this week. By the way how did the change hunt challenge go for everyone?

Well it is time to go make salmon salads with fresh avocado and papaya for dinner.

A New Saving Challenge

Well the year has finally caught up to me. I have hit total exhaustion and caught the crud that is going around. So Not much has been getting done this week. I feel that I have lost ground on the house. My big accomplishment of the week was getting the change jar to the bank to deposit all the loose change hanging around the house.

This is where the challenge comes in. Most people do not realize how much spare change is laying around the house with a penny here, a nickle there and a few dollars of change in the couch. So here is the goal for everyone this week. gather up all the change you can find just laying around the house. Next bring it to your bank or credit union and deposit all the money you found in your savings account. Now leave this money in the bank or credit union and don't spend it. After all you were just letting it do nothing anyway.  Do this every few months and in a few decades all your found money will give you a nice treat. This is a great plan for getting rich very slowly. Maybe a little faster if the interest rates ever pick up again.

The only prize you will get is knowing that you house is a little less cluttered  and a small boost to your savings account. If you do not have a savings account check with your local credit union. They usually have lower minimum deposits and pay slightly more than most banks.

Well I have run out of energy so it is time to go be a couch potato for the rest of the weekend so I can have the energy to keep up with Eric next week while he is on spring break. Have a great weekend and enjoy your families.