Progress is Good

I have been very busy with cleaning around here. The master bathroom is 99.9% done. It is just a few very small things that I have to figure out where they go. I have made enough progress in the craft room to set up the sewing machine. I got 1 repair  and a blanket modification done for some one, that makes 2 things out the door of the craft room today.

For some unknown reason I had a very productive day around here. The bills were paid before anyone one else was awake. I brought at least 2 baskets of recycling out to the bin today and got it hauled to the street tonight. By the way I managed to fill it 3/4's of the way full, not bad. I also started working on my Mondays to do list. I know, what was I thinking? I will never get ahead of the curve ball on this one, but at least I have a plan for tomorrow. The laundry is 3/5 done for today, but then again I know there will be more than 2 loads tomorrow...

John and I stole an hour together and went out for dinner. While we were eating a a cricket ( I think, I am not an bug expert ) hopped on the hood of our car. It must have found a sweet spot on the hood because it made it from the restaurant all the way home with out flying off the hood. I did have to shoo it off the hood before we drove in to the garage.

I also had time for a lot of knitting and a little spinning. I would like to write more but I think I will call it a night.

Busy is Good

It has been a very busy day around here. I am almost caught up on sleep. The master bath reorganization is 99.8% finished, with only a few things left to be put away. 4 loads of laundry done. 

My goal was 5 minutes of cleaning in the sewing room, I landed spending 30 minutes. I find that when I limit my time on a tiresome chore I work a lot faster and manage to not notice the clock.  I almost have things ready to set up the sewing machine.  That act in itself will clear a lot of things out of the sewing baskets. Yes, you heard it right. I have almost got to the bottom of the sewing table.  

In the course of 3 hours, I managed to do 2 full hours of spinning on the Ashford Traveler.  I have also decided that the Ashford Spinning chair is going to be on my holiday list.  I have also found that I can spin pretty slim yarn on the Ashford. 

I got a lot of knitting done today.  I should be able to finish another prime blanket 

I am having trouble keeping my peeper open.  

I Need Shorter Work Days

Eric had a rough night last night. So I was up with him for about 2 hours. This left me totaly out of sync for today. I even managed to sew a poncho the wrong way, but was way to tired to rip it out.  Well there is always tomorrow. 

My biggest accomplishment today was taking all Eric's old cloth diapers and turning them into rags with the help of my serger.   I think that I will use them as packing material for Teri's next box.  I am quite sure she won't mind.  Here is the pile before John cut them apart. I did a daisy chain to save on thread, and John had volunteered to cut them apart before he knew that I was going to use the serger.  So the cutting was not as bad as he thought.  

Eric is having another rough night so I think I will get some charity knitting done while I count my blessings.  

Cartwheel by Target

I very rarely write about apps. This is one that is fairly new and the wonderful folks at Target got this app right. You start off with space for 10 special coupons. All areas of the store have coupons.  You can  earn more coupon slots by getting your friends to join and earning badges. I currently have earned the following badges: Shopping Buddy because a friend started using Cartwheel. Star Collector, I added an offer to the card. Super Scanner, I used my Cartwheel for the first time. Smart Saver, I have saved over $10.00  (actually $14.73 of of this writing) using the Cartwheel app. I can now use 15 special coupons at a time.

It is very easy to down load to your wifi enabled iPod, iPad or iPhone. The Target stores near me have free wifi so I can use this app on my iPod to add more offers while in the store. You can get extra savings from 5 to 30% for things you already buy. You can combine one manufacturer coupon, one Target coupon and one Cartwheel offer can be combined on 1 item. You will not get cash back if the total of the coupons exceed the sale price, but an occasional free item is a good thing in my book. This app does not work in Canada as of this writing.

I have used this app for savings on housewares and grocery's so far, but I still have all the other departments to explore. Maybe clothes shopping is next.

This is the app description from the app store:
  

Welcome to the early release of Cartwheel by Target – a whole new spin on saving! It’s the first of its kind, and it’s super-simple. Just sign-up using your Facebook profile and instantly save on things you already buy in Target stores by adding offers to your Cartwheel. Select from hundreds of exclusive discounts (starting at 5% and up to 30%), all available on your iOS device. Best part? These aren’t one-and-done discounts. Use them as many times as you want before they expire. You can even use Cartwheel on top of the 5% you save everyday with Target REDcard.

The app keeps your discounts neatly organized, all ready for your next Target run. Your discounts are all attached to one barcode that you can pull up on your iPhone or iPad, or print from cartwheel.com on your desktop. Just scan your barcode at any U.S. Target store and see your savings add up! Here’s another cool part – invite friends to join, or share deals with them, and you save even more.

• First-of-its-kind savings app
• Discounts from 5%-30% on hundreds of products
• Save on top of other coupons and offers, like Target REDcard
• Share discounts with your friends on Facebook for inspiration
• Fully-customizable privacy settings, including Facebook posting
• Personalized offers, tailored to help save more on what you buy most
• Average discounts are valid for 60 days – longer than our Weekly Ad
• Check out cartwheelsupport.target.com for feedback or questions
• For Facebook app users, requires Facebook version 6.0 and above

What's New in Version 1.2

- Updated tutorial
- Improved experience for adding an offer when your Cartwheel is full
- Added the Cartwheel barcode number to offline barcode screen for easier redemption with no connectivity
- Allowed for deep-linking from Facebook for smoother navigation between the apps
- Added the menu icon for easier access to the nav menu in iPad portrait
- Fixed bugs for "offer list full" and miscellaneous crash issues

Just to be perfectly clear. I found out about this app on facebook ( which you must have to use this app) The app can be downloaded for free. Here is the link to the Cartwheel by Target App. Target has not paid for this review and ALL the views are my own. I did not make any purchases that I was not going to make in the first place, the app savings were just the icing on the cake.

Maybe Busy, Maybe Not

Friday

I am not sure I should be this tired and achy tonight.  Yes I was active today.  I walked 6 miles, pushed Eric around the mall for 1 hour and 20 minutes, cleaned for 2 hours and went to knitting. John procured dinner tonight.  So it can't be the cooking.  I will have to think about this.  

Eric had a really good day until bed time. We hung out together today. He was full of smiles for everyone except for the one knitter who forgot to engage her brain before talking. So my request for the coming year is that we all think before we talk.  Please don't just blurt out the first thing that comes to mind.  What comes to mind here is an old proverb that my dad liked.  "Speak softly, for you never know which words you will have to eat tomorrow."

I am going to try sleep now and hope that Eric sleeps through the night.  I hope that the eyrps have stopped for the night.

Saturday

Well I got an hours sleep before I was up with Eric for the rest of the night. I woke John up at 6 am so I could take a nap. I then went to Target to get a few more organizers for my latest deep cleaning project. I also took time to walk around the mall to get the kinks out.  Those new organizers got filled relativity fast. I landed up buying one Target out and having John drive to another Target to buy more boxes.

 

Sunday

 

I spent 4 hours cleaning house, doing laundry and deep cleaning before my body said enough for today. I did manage to organize another shelf and empty a laundry basket of things that needed to be put away that were hiding in a closet.

 

 

Getting dressed was another challenge today. The 1st pair of pants fit, but felt a bit snug. The next 3 were way too big and will go to Goodwill. Pair 5 was my lucky number today. They have been in my closet so long that I can not remember when I bought them. I have a lot of clothes in my new size so maybe I can shop my closet for most everything I will need in my new smaller size.

 

I have been losing the weight by eliminating aspartame and high fructose corn syrup. This in itself eliminates a lot of junk food. I have been deep cleaning the house and walking instead of going to the gym. This has been a multi year effort so there are no quick fixes that I can offer. Yes I have gotten discouraged at times, but every time I go down a size I am amazed. I have no set amount of weight I want to lose, I only want to feel better.

 

Well it is time to call it a night.







Happy New Year

The day started off with a very early morning headache from he double tooth picks for me. My head was still throbbing when Eric needed suctioning at 5:40 am. That went on and off for most of the day. There was no way I was going to get out of the house for services today. However; I feel that since I was under the weather along with Eric, that taking care of the sick was one step higher on the list of to do's than communal prayer. For everyone I wish a La Shana Tova - A good year with the best of health.

I wonder if the migraine that I started off the day with and John got later in the day is one of those quirky viruses that go around sometimes.

The UCP World Challenge has started. I am on Team Eric. I have put a link to the donation site on the right hand side of my blog. Any donation over $2.00 will get a tax receipt. Our team goal to to climb every virtual mountain and to raise $500. We have made a good start on the mountain and have raised $110.00 so far. As you might have guessed UCP is the non profit that helps Eric stay home with us. With out their help I would not be able to keep Eric home where he belongs. Please help if you can. Thanks from all of us on Team Eric.

A Little Catch Up

Teri and I also made it to the beach in Carlsbad. A 4 mile walk on the beach in the wet sand left our feet very smooth, maybe even a little better than a pedicure.

I of course was in long pants as not to get burned which resulted in very soggy and sandy pants legs. Teri on the other hand got to romp around in the water. This is when I also happened to notice that my pants had gotten way to big. Yes, another size bit the dust as they went up my rib cage. So it is official I am down another size. To celebrate I bought 2 pairs of pants in the smaller size. I am still losing more inches than weight, but anyway I look at it skinnier is always better.

Monday was a rather laid back days as we were exhausted and slept in. Of course we did more shopping and eating out. With what seemed the whole of the city off for the holiday we found the stores very crowded. We spent the evening packing for Monday. Teri for work and me for the drive home.

I had one last breakfast out with Teri before I headed home. The drive was very uneventful until just east of Casa Grande. There was a pick-up truck in front of me who lost part of his load, which included a piece of sheet metal. Going at freeway speed there was no way to miss it. The metal tore to shreds both tires on the drivers side. If you look at the front tire closely you can see where the sheet metal tore into the front tire.

I did manage to pull into the center divider. I would like to state that I am 100% OK. I managed to control the car and even with 2 instant flat tires the Honda handled very well. Thank goodness for cell phones. I was able to call John and tell him I had been delayed and that I thought I had 4 flat tires. It turned out only to be 2.  I also called AAA. That in itself was a tale that should not have to be told. I was with in 200 yards of a Freeway exit and closer to Casa Grande than Pacho Peak. You, I and the very nice Arizona Department of Public Safety Officer would think that given that they knew the exit and I was reading off the names of the gas stations and the tire store that they would get one of those tow trucks to tow my car. But no they had to pull a tow truck from another city further away from Casa Grande and the tow trucks just a few hundred yards from me. I would also like to thank the Arizona DPS officer for staying with me until the tow truck came.

 

This gave John time to find the closest Jack Furriers Tire Center and order the tires that I needed for the car. Did I mention that this was just about the time that he had to pick up Eric from his day program? He handled everything so well. He even researched the best tires available.

 

After waiting for what seemed like an hour the tow truck finally came.  With the car on the flat bed the tow truck driver then went a few miles down the road and attached a second car to his tow truck further delaying my getting home at a decent hour. I am not even sure if it is OK to tow 2 cars at once.

 

The tires arrived at the Jack Furrier Tire center in Marana a few minutes after I did. I would like to thank the crew at Jack Furriers for staying past closing to get the new tires on and the car aligned so that I did not have to figure out a ride home and how to retrieve the car the next day.

 

I stopped on the way home to pick up take out. Only after I had ordered dinner and I was sipping my green tea did it dawn on me how bad it could have been. Then I really just needed hugs which John and Eric were happy to help with.

 

Today was spent cleaning and doing laundry. Well that should catch everyone up on the basics.