The Knife Ran Away with the Fork and Other Odds and Ends

It never ceases to amaze me what things just tend to sprout legs and walk away. This month it seems to be my steak knifes and dinner forks. Really!!! I bought most of these while in high school with Betty Crocker points. For those of you not old enough to remember the Betty Crocker Catalog you missed a wonderful way to furnish your houses through a brand loyalty program.  Almost all Betty Crocker items had little point coupons that were saved and later exchanged for things like silverware (My Oneida Patrick Henry pattern) or dishes (the white Correlle Plates that I still use) and a few higher end things like some of my Le Creuset Pans, almost all of my cookie sheets and cupcake pans, furniture like the bar stool in Eric's room. You could even get toys for the kids. Some were free with enough points, some had big discounts with points. Well you get the idea that I just loved this program. Over the past month or so 8 dinner forks and steak knifes walked away. I am pretty sure that the dish washer did not eat them. Since the Patrick Henry pattern was exclusive to the Betty Crocker catalog (yes it was a big enough program to have exclusive items) I doubt that I will be able to find the pattern on line. So I will hunt local thrift stores and see if I can replace what walked away. If I can't find anymore pieces and more walk away I will be forced to replace the silverware that I have had all my adult life.

Yes I know this is one of the cost of having help for Eric in the house. Odd things have disappeared over time such as a make up set of Teri's, a prayer shawl of John's, a one of a kind scarf with some of my first hand spun yarn and even a kitchen knife (I found this one kinda of scarry). Some providers have even said in the past that most of our stuff is so old it is not worth stealing.  So my question is why would anyone one want to steal 40 year old silverware? John did notice that they seemed to go away in pairs of a steak knife and dinner fork so some one would have a set. They have gone away one at a time until I noticed that instead of having 18 forks and steak knifes I have 10.  Really, if you go to a place like Goodwill or garage sales you can pick up silverware really cheaply. Also at Goodwill you will be helping people with your purchase.

I guess if enough disappears I will box up the rest and give it to Teri since we have the same pattern. Then I will have to go through the process of picking out the right silverware that fits just right in my hand. If I am really lucky I will find some made in the USA. As I said before this was bought in the 1970's so I don't know if it is still made here.

As for  the odds and ends, we went to have the new back to Eric's new wheelchair molded today. since Eric got his first wheelchair at age 3, I thought the insurance companies question of weather our house was wheelchair accessible was a bit odd. They did not ask that question 20 years ago.

This is the mold they used, which is filled with bean bags.

This is the chair after it was molded to Eric, with all the air sucked out.

This is the final mold covered with plaster that will be sent to the company to make the back of Eric's new wheelchair.

 

What boggles my mind is the estimated cost of the back alone is $1,800.  All I can say is wow.

Eric is still home sick although I am not doing a much suctioning as in the past week, I am still getting up a lot. I have personally hit the point of tired and exhausted. I will try my very best not to be as cranky as I feel.

 

Well I hear some knitting calling my name so I will go and listen to my knitting. 

A Mixed Day

Today was a very bad body day for me.  I lost sleep to arthritis pain. I tried to make the time productive by doing some light cleaning while I was waiting for the meds to kick in.  As luck would have it it was the first night since last Thursday that Eric slept.

I spent the day with Eric and with the suction machine close by. I lost count of the times that John cleaned it out today.  The good thing about this is by the end of the day there was less coughing and junk coming up from Eric's lungs.  By bed time his color looked great and he was looking and sounding much better.  

Today was one of those what was I thinking days.  I wore solid black. On my agenda today was spackleing the wheelchair dents in the walls plus any spots we noticed.  Here is a picture of one of the bigger areas. I did a pretty good job blending and texturing.  Tomorrow is sanding and painting.  

Tonight I worked on a free form kitting project with the yarn from the yarn tasting yarn from Grandma's Spinning Wheel and some small samples of other yarn that I have spun and gotten from other people.  I will post a picture tomorrow.  

I think it's time to take some Tylenol to help me sleep.

Life on Hold

It is very early on Sunday morning, Eric has been sick since Thursday. It started off as a cold and morphed into hell if I know.  I just opened the last bottle of pedialyte, I almost ordered it on Amazon earlier but it would not get here before Tuesday.  So I guess I will be making a run later this morning. 

Eric has been hanging on to the baby Elmo that Candy knit up for him a few years ago. Out of the more than 90 quarts of Elmo's Eric, has this is the go to one when he is not feeling well. It's the little things in life that make the difference.  

I am tired enough to say the heck with laundry, except for the eyrpy stuff. I know it will come back to bite me later but I really don't care at this point. 

Breakfast consists of Belvita breakfast cookies and Raspberry Riot tea from Tevana.  This tea is suppose to have more caffeine than coffee. I know I got 5 1/2 hours of sleep last night, but I am still tired after be being up the better part of the 2 previous nights. John took Eric for most of last night.  I am really tired so I am having trouble being upbeat right now.  So to try to be more positive I will say that I have completed 3 rectangles for the knitting guild presidents challenge.  It takes 2 rectangles to make a poncho so I should have the second poncho done later today.  Right now my goal is to make as many rectangles as possible and use as much yarn up as possible in doing this.  I am wishful thinking that I can make a dent in my yarn stash by making lots of ponchos.  

Well I think it is time to start burning through some yarn now.  I wish everyone a very happy and productive day.  Please take time to enjoy your families this week. 

The Day Flew By

It was a very busy day. I taught a class in weaving and beading to a group of campers. I only have 4 left to finish weaving before Friday so that they can go home with the campers. Not bad for 2 - 2 hour classes with 12 campers. Lesson learned here is to use bulky weight yarn, not worsted weight. All the campers who used only bulky weight yarn finished. The ones I need to finish are all worsted weight yarns.

I went to my first yarn tasting at Grandma's Spinning Wheel tonight and had a great time. I am creating a one of a kind piece with all the samples. I will show it to you when I am finish. I also won a door prize, which was a skein of yarn with shawlette written all over it.

It is time to call it an early night. I am so tired all the words seem to be getting jumbled.

A Non Stop Day

Today was a busy day. I finally got to meet up with the girls for knitting. I only have 6 inches to go on the second half of the never ending poncho. I did not finish the laundry, but will throw a load on before bed. I listed 1 more skein of yarn in my etsy shop. Last but not least, I got the last spot for a yarn tasting tomorrow night at Grandma's Spinning Wheel. I have never been to one before.

The things I learned today is that unlike my Louet spinning wheel, the Ashford Traveler must be oiled before each use or it wont work. It wont spin worth a dam and makes wonky yarn.  It took me an hour to figure this out. Also when taking pictures there is a very sweet spot of natural light in the dining room in the late afternoon that lasts about 15 to 20 minutes. Pictures taken during this time frame come out perfect. I also found out that the word scrumming has many meanings and as it pertains to knitting is also called free form knitting. It is also some kind of computer platform, but that is way above my pay grade.

My advice for today is that if there is a question you really don't want to or should not answer, just return with a question along the same lines and the person usually answers back and then it dawns on them that they just answered their own question. Try it some time and let me know how it works for you.

Well its time to start some more laundry. Then call it a day.

An Uphill Climb

Today started out less than perfect for me. I did not sleep well. I also found a baby tarantula ( about the size of a silver dollar) in the bathroom at around 2am. I did manage to get him outside without waking the house. Although I think he was more happy in the house than outside. The question that still remains is how the heck did that little guy get all the way to the middle of the house? After that I found it hard to get back to sleep. So I woke up with a pre-migraine. I took my Tylenol and caffeine with breakfast. Around lunch time things started clicking for me.

After lunch I got the grocery shopping done. I also noticed something at the check out line today. When I save money with coupons the cashier usually says you saved x amount of money today. Today was different, I approached the $100 mark in savings with coupons. I did not even get to the 40% off mark. There were a lot of buy one get one free along with a few high value coupons. The cashier just looked at it and handed it to me. Then there was just enough time to put the frozen food away and pick up Eric from his program.

I added another 1 1/2 inches to the never ending poncho, I did make it to the second half of the second piece so that went well.  I also listed a few audio books on e-bay. Then went on to start stocking my Etsy shop Handmade~by~Sheri . John has mentioned that I have a little to much hand spun yarn hanging around and a lot of finished items. So it is time to zen the house a little. To that end I listed 13 items today with more to come in the next few days. To help things move I have added a coupon code for 50% off all items in the shop. Just use the code: "Husband" at check out. It will apply to your entire purchase through August 25, 2013. Please feel free to share the sale with all your friends. There is no limit on the amount of coupons that can be used. One coupon applies to the whole transaction.  The more that leaves the house the happier my guys will be, yes even Eric.

I almost forgot to mention that I have a new Face book page just for Handmade~by~Sheri where I will put all the shop updates. Just type in Handmade~by~Sheri in the search field. I would like to get to 50 followers of the shop by the end of the month, can you help me make that goal?

Well I think that it is time to call it a night.

A Busy Sunday

Today was a very busy day with laundry and cleaning.  I got tired of laundry after 2 loads so I get to start Monday with 3 loads.  The dishwasher was emptied before breakfast so we would not mix dirty dishes in with the clean one.  

I spent 45 minutes playing with the new to me Ashford Traveler. In that time I managed to spin 3 single ply bobbins. Work up a decent sweat, the double treadle is so much different than the single treadle in terms of a workout.  I also found with the Ashford the I must get my peddling up to speed before I tap the bobbins to start the spinning.  The bobbins ate so darn small that they fill up after just 15 minutes.  I wish that I had the 4th bobbin for this wheel, because I can spin a little longer  

I think the yarn spun from today will be woven into a purse that I will line and embellish.

I also discovered a new combo of alpaca and silk for a wonderful spin. The fiber is just so calming.  Since it is jet black I will need full sunlight to spin it.