Help

Eric has come up with a new word over the past couple of weeks. He also uses it at the right time so far.  It is a plea but effective word. I am so glad that he has finally found the word help.  I never know what he is going to need, but it is always urgent.

Last nights call for help was because of a wet chuck and t-shirt.  Which turned into a complete change out, a new button, and new sheets. This included his blanket too.  Here is  a look at how full he managed to fill the washing machine. For complete disclosure John and I each contributed a pool towel. The rest was all Eric.  As John says nobody does a better job of making laundry than Eric.  

On the fiber equipment de stash I am selling my 19" Gilmarka ridged heddle loom.   About a year old.  All worn parts have been replaced.  Used for less than 20 projects. It is still in great shape. Some parts were not even used and are still in the factory wrappers.  Carry all bag included. I am looking at the $475 range plus postage.  If the buyer is local I will throw in some of my hand spun yarn for the first project.  

A Shopping Spree

Eric went to program and I got out of the house and did retail therapy. I went crazy. Almost everything was on sale or had a rebate or coupon. So what did I buy, well the list is long, but here goes.

Bread, watermelon, bananas, mayo, apples, celery, hot dogs for the 4th of July, a new cover for my ipad, lemonade, sliced olives and pizza crust. I threw some Tide and pedalite in for good measure. For the big splurge I bought some dairy free Chunky Monkey along with slice and bake cookies.  That was all at Target. Then I went to Penzey's to buy some white peppercorns for the pepper grinder. I might have slipped a few extra spices in too. Like vanilla sugar for the top of the sugar cookies.

I would like to thank the guys in the North Oracle Target electronics section for helping me pick a new cover and then putting my ipad in the new case. My hands thank you.

I made homemade pizza for dinner and toasted my hands. The pizza tasted so good, it was worth the pain. Plus we get pizza for tomorrow's dinner too.

An Open Letter to The March of Dimes

Dear Non Profit Fundraiser for the March of Dimes,

You may think you have come up with a brilliant new way to do fundraising for your organization. By calling all the parents of sick children and young adults you can find; then asking the family members to send out fundraising letters for you. This is to save your organization the expense of postage. You also failed to mention that your donor list is drying up and that you do not want to pay for more names that may not pay off. After all who is going to say no to a parent of a sick kid raising funds to help other sick kids and fund research into birth defects and how to prevent them?

Let me start debunking your brilliant idea. First you say it is to save you postage. We are among the lucky few who are not figuring out how to pay Peter without robbing Paul. Most families I know with very sick kids live on a very tight budget. So just sending out 30 postcards at 34 cents a postcard is $10.20 that has to come from somewhere in a budget that does not allow for extras.  Also if your budget does not allow for fundraising postage costs, you really need to rework your budget or consider shutting down for lack of relevance. 

We will give you a month to send them out. It's only Tuesday and I have already had one 20 hour work day this week. You see unlike your job in which you are limited to 8 hours a day without overtime pay, parents can work with a sick child for up to 24 hours straight in one day. You have not stepped up to take care of my son so that I can sleep. So If I have a choice, I choose sleep over just a few hours of volunteer time. I am also quite sure that doing the mounds of laundry the average sick child makes, buying groceries or cleaning house would also come before your project. You might check with my other family members to see if they agree on this one. 

You have never offered my son any services or help to my family; yet you ask me to raise funds for you, to use my name as an endorsement of your non-profit. What's up with that? Do you think I owe your organization my time and money just because I have a sick kid? I am more inclined to raise money for groups that help my son. 

Once we have a diagnosis most families I know raise funds to find a cure for the disease that affects their child. What disease research are you currently funding? Does it include the variation of ML4 that my son has?

You really need to go back to the drawing board on this one. I like most parents are too tired for your guilt trip. You might want to go after the 98% who have healthy kids. I assume that they get sleep and have a bit more free time to fill out a bunch of silly postcards. 

If you currently are a donor to the March of Dimes and believe in their work by all means continue to do so. After all they helped fund a cure for Polio and have taken care of people who got Polio. They have also made other breakthroughs to help children. If you believe in their cause volunteer to send out some postcards to your friends. Do a fundraiser for them.  I just am over extended and did not like fundraising call I received this morning. I do not owe any non-profit my time or money. It is not my responsibility to keep The March of Dimes afloat. 

116

Yes the tempature reached a record high of 116 at our house on Sunday. So I spent the day washing yarn, spinning yarn and hanging out with Eric. What I did not do at least before midnight wash laundry or run the dishwasher.  I gave my appliances the afternoon off.  I figured with a record breaking heat wave, I should not add any extra power draw to an already at capacity power system. Surprisingly the yarn that I washed this morning was not dry by dinner time.

John and I got to go to dinner and the James Taylor concert.  We had a great time. The music was wonderful, both the classics and the new songs. We made it home by 11:00 pm, which was our curfew.  When in 15 minutes of getting home Eric started eyrping.  He made 2 loads with in minutes, thank goodness it was finally under 100f so I went ahead and washed laundry all night.  By 3:30am I was exhausted and took a 4 hour nap. 

I was able to get Eric on pedilyte this morning. 

110

Today it reached ,you guessed it 110f tomorrow should be warmer.  So I got the laundry finished before 9:00 am. The grocery store was empty. It is nice shopping in summer. We just had a kick back day.  It is suppose to be warmer tomorrow.  So my plan is to wash a sink full of freshly spun yarn. Then hang it in the garage to dry. It will also keep the garage a little cooler and dry the yarn faster.  I might even warp the loom.  I ran out of energy today. 

Once Eric figured out that I was serious about not being able to knit, he let me bring in a spinning wheel to his room. I spun 2 single ply art yarns.  It was just about right for my hands today. I will wash them tomorrow too. 

The No Knitting Diet

It's official, I can not do any knitting until after I see the hand specialist.  So I have put all my knitting projects away. All my knitting needles are in my knitting closet. Anything that is time critical, I will get someone else to do the knitting for me.  Hopefully this is only temporary. Did I mention how much I hate my arthritis right now. If I am a little grumpy, please be patient with me, knitting is how I have found a way to relax in this hectic world of mine for over a decade.

If it does not hurt my hands I can do a little spinning and weaving. Not quite as portable. I will also be doing a few hand exercises for my hands. I will do my best to hang in without any extra eating. Wish me luck.

Another Long Day

Eric had a very rough night last night, which resulted in 4 loads of laundry today.  It's been a very long time since I did 4 loads of laundry in one day. The good news is that Eric is back on formula tonight. I on the other hand feel very tired. Not much got done today, but that's ok.

I am still managing to go without cola even when Eric is sick. My drink creation today was Moroccan Mint Tea with 1/2 tablespoon of peach syrup per cup. Over ice of course. Not quite the sugar and caffeine rush of cola. Not the same crash either.  I also resisted my early morning urge to bake a coffee cake, just because I did not want to do the clean up. If I am too tired to clean up, then I must be to tired to bake.

I still can not do a lot of creating because of my hands. The less I use them the less they hurt. I am still waiting for the swelling to go all the way down.  I did not touch any knitting needles today. This is bad because I am in a very creative period and feel as if I am sitting on my hands. I also use the summer to do a lot of my charity knitting, to read lots of small projects like hats and scarfs for kids. I also have a few new designs that I am in the middle of knitting. As a result, I am bored and playing too many video games.

I think I am also going to try a different haircut that is not as fussy as the one I currently have. With my current hair cut I either have to blow dry it or fall asleep for a few hours then brush it out to make it look good. I want to go back to comb, fluff and go.