Sunday

It was a typical day around here today. I had 3 loads of just Eric's laundry. The usual house work got done. Both spinning and knitting were accomplished. Newly spun yarn was washed and is hanging in the garage to dry.

There were 2 note worthy things that happened today. The first is that I went to a fundraiser to benefit Eric's day program. I have decided that I am not coordinated enough to do Zumba. Zumba is also hard on the knees. The music however was great. I think Eric has some of the songs played today on his pod. I also tried Hip-Hop. I wasp not fond of the music although the moves as shown today some what resembled techno.

I also found a use for Teri's childhood step stool. It makes a perfect foot rest for knitting. This is very appropriate because it makes it easier to work on Teri's blanket.

Well it has been a long and busy day. I am really hoping that Eric sleeps tonight, not only because it is my night, but I really need Eric to sleep at night.

All About Eric

It seems that Eric is good at keeping John up too. So it is just not just me that Eric messes around with. Eric can also have his humorous moments too. Take this morning for example. We were watching CNET's top 5 for Father's Day. When the Belkin key board for the iPad came on. Eric got all excited. I asked if that's what he wanted to get dad for Father's Day, he signed yes. I told him there was only one problem with that. We do not have an iPad. He turn to John and glared at him. Like everyone is suppose to have one. So back to the drawing board on that one.

I later took Eric to Tucson Mall to look for some summer shorts in 16 slim. We hit every store in the mall. Every store had regular and husky in his size. One sales clerk even said kids don't come in that size, so we don't carry shorts in that size. Isn't it ironic that a thin young man can't find shorts in his size because he is not over weight. I guess they forgot to tell Eric. So I guess it's time to go surfing to find a couple of pairs of shorts.

I am hoping for a quiet night. To night is my night to get up with Eric.

Sleep was No Where to be Found.

It was a very long night with Eric. I was up at least every 2 hours with him. More often if the wind picked up enough to rattle the windows and shake the house.

I did change his position every 2 hours. Each time I put his tv on a 2 hour timer. It seemed as soon as the tv turned itself off I was back in his room.

I had to be up at 6 am this morning to figure out what Eric's day would be like. I am happy to say that he went to his day program today, but with the understanding that he would not swim because of the wind. It turned out that it was to windy for anyone else to go swimming too.

I then started with one of many glasses of caffeine for the day. If I was not so tired that amount off caffeine would have resulted in something being very clean. As the day played out I knew I was on caffeine overload. That did not stop my body from taking a 2 1/2 hour nap after I picked up Eric from his program. John is on Eric duty tonight. I wish him lots of sleep.

Well now it is time to call it a night. I have a busy day planned for tomorrow.

Let the Heat In

Ah, spring and summer are my favorite times of the year. My body tends to feel better with the heat. I just love to see all the cactus in bloom. My creativity usually goes up. I can't wait to ply the yarn I am currently spinning, I plan to add beads and a contrasting thread. I can already see how it is going to turn out in my mind.  Eric tends to be healthier. We made it in to the pool for the first time this season. I can say that my knee does not like treading water, but swimming and water aerobics seemed to be OK. I hope the pool is a little warmer next time we go in. It does not hurt as much to be active when I am warm.

Since I cant be totally enthusiastic about every thing about spring and summer here are a few things I hate. Swimsuit shopping. Who is with me here? It is also so nice that I don't like to slow down for anything. This leads to me being over tired and chocking on food. That is a whole lot less fun than it sounds. Dinner tonight was a nightmare. I made a turkey breast and stuffing. I would have been better off with soup. Oh well, there is always tomorrow.

Well I think I have Eric settled in for the night. So I am calling it a day.

Why

It has been one of those why days. For instance take the app I got for my pod. It is a row counter for my knitting. I just needed some motivation on Teri's blanket. Yes the one I started in her 1L year. I am some where around row 7670, The row counter only goes to 999 rows, why? Didn't they ever knit a queen size blanket on size seven needles? 999 rows just seams so arbitrary to me. Is it just an easier algorithm to write in code?

Yes,  I made a major mistake by volunteering for  401c3. Today it came back to bite me in more ways than one. People are being very petty and have started with the name calling. People are going behind my back on my projects thinking because I don't have an advanced degree or that I have a sick kid that I am automatically incompetent. I just want to scream out that this is not middle school. Not everyone needs a PhD to be competent in what they do. I am also sure that I have had more practice juggling than they have.

I might not have an advanced college degree, but I am one of the best moms around. Being a stay at home mom does not make me stupid. It just means that I made some choices in the last century that I do not regret. I can stretch a buck pretty far. I have raised 2 beautiful children, each perfect in their own way. I have a wonderful marriage to a wonderful man. I am content in my life and have learned that it is not the amount of stuff but the people I allow into my life that matter most to me.

I am an artist at heart. Whether  it is presenting food nicely arranged of the plate, playing with cake and frosting, beads or fiber. That is me. I love to create. I never know where the day will take me. What bumps in the road that I have to iron out. I manage to make it all work. That is what I do. Whether I can tolerate the distraction from this particular charity I really don't know. What I do know is that I have a wonderful life with wonderful people in it. I am personally thinking that most of the people in the 401c3 will not make it into my inner circle.

Thanks for listening tonight. Aren't you glad that I waited several hours to write this? Well the caffeine I had at dinner is starting to wear off. I just might have to rethink this idea of caffeine with dinner.

Back Home

My last blog post got lost somewhere in the digital world. I hit save and publish through the hotel wi-fi connection. So here is a summary plus a quick update.

Teri and I finally found an apartment to move into. It is 20 minutes to her new job. We went a little higher in price than Teri thought she would, but it is a nice and safe building that she will live in for the next few years. At Teri's request I will not give the city she is moving to.

This means we will not have to go through the process next week. Can we hear a nice and loud hip hip hooray from every one. To give you a brief over view of what we went through here are some of the very low lights. Such as the apartments under the flight path with a plane landing every 5 minutes. Then there was the one that used half the kitchen and bathroom space for the Murphy bed with appliances from at least the 1950's, but they might have been Pre Korean war. Even better the basement studio that you had to use a step ladder to get into, I am not sure that is up to any code. Some of the neighborhoods were on the very gritty side to be polite. We did not even get out of the car for some. The really cute one in a slightly less gritty area that we may have taken if the owner had not changed their mind and decided that parking was not included.

This was a very hard process to go through. I am very proud that Teri and I were able to accomplish it in only 4 days.

I meet her new boss and his wife, they seem like very nice people.

I got home just in time to shop and make dinner yesterday. I was to tired to do anything. Yes even too tired to knit.

John was wonderful and let me sleep in today. I did laundry for most of the day. This was mainly sheets, towels and dress clothes. John did a great job with keeping up with the laundry, and all things Eric while I was gone.

Eric seems to be having trouble with mommy permanence. He seemed genuinely surprised that I did not disappear over night. By mid afternoon he was in total con man mode. Coughing every time I said I was go to work on Teri's blanket.

He was an angel at night while I was gone. That seems to have gone by the way side now that I am home. So now it is time to try to settle him down for the night.

Getting Ready

It is almost time for my trip to meet up with Teri for a couple of days. I am looking forward to this trip. I already have my clothes picked out, I would have had them packed but I don't want to have wrinkled clothes. We are leaving the guys at home. This means that I don't have to share Teri with anyone. This is really exciting!!!

So to get ready I am cleaning the house and catching up on laundry. I told John that since it will only be a few days he did not have to worry about the laundry. It should not be more than knee high by Saturday. The fridge and freezer have been stocked. I just have a few more errands to go, a counter to clean off and put my knitting away. I also have to pick a pattern and yarn for the trip. I could not find the hand spun alpaca so I guess I will look for it when I get home. I already have my spinning project ready. I am bring some roving to spin into lace weight yarn. It might take me a few more years of trips before I finish. I only manage to get one small skein per trip and can't really work on it at home, to many distractions.

So since tomorrow will be a busy day its time for me to call it a night.