Tour de Fleece 2016

Today I was going to go through my fluff stash to pick out fiber to spin for this years Tour de Fleece. Instead I just took batts and rovings from the top of the pile. I pulled 900.5 grams of fiber to spin this month. That is a little shy of 2 pounds.  It is a lofty goal considering the state of my hands.  Wish me luck. Here is a first look at the fiber.  The spinning starts tomorrow.  I will even preempt Eric's programming to watch the Tour de France while I am spinning. 

Both guys are still sick. I am hoping that I don't get this crud too.  I am trying to tell myself that I don't have an itchy throat or cough. The talley just keeps going up on who is getting this bug from Eric. A lot of his aides are getting it too. This being a holiday weekend in the states it is hard to find someone that I don't have to train from scratch, so John and I are taking up the slack.  I really hope that everyone is ready to get out the door on Tuesday.  I really need a quite day.  

The Tally

The tally for the week is very mixed with both good and bad.

The Bad. So far both guys have the cold. I might have figured out this morning who brought it into the house. Eric will be home until at least Tuesday, because of the holiday Monday. No knitting until after the surgery on my left hand. No fiber retreat, hand surgery comes first.

The Good. I have a date for surgery on my left hand, apparently you can't do both hands at the same time. So I picked the most troublesome one. Because it is summer, it was easier to schedule the surgery. I have been napping at every possible moment. I am almost caught up on sleep. The summer Monsoon Rains have started. I got almost 2 ounces of fiber spun today.  I have birthday shopping to do, to be read as retail therapy. Thank you Birthday Person for helping me out.

The only thing that got fully resolved this week was the leak in the bathroom. I figured out where the water was entering the house. Through the bathroom window,  John sealed the leak. Very good team work on our part. If there is ever another remodel, we will go with the upgraded windows, in the long run it has not been worth the $20.00 we saved. We have spent more on paint and repairs than the amount we saved.

Crazy Times

It has been so crazy around here the last couple of days with Eric being sick, that when a bird flew into to the house and got trapped in the living room on Saturday morning it was just one of those oh well moments. Thanks to Eric's aide Nicki we got the bird to walk out the front door. That is just about the least crazy thing happening around here. Eric has been making laundry like crazy, 3 full loads today which would have been 12 in the old washer, and I did not even get to my clothes.

I went to my local Tevana store to pick up some of their new Bellini flavored tea that has been available on line for about a week only to be told that I can't buy any locally until tomorrow. I asked if they had it and they said yes but we can't sell it until June 27th. A really bad marketing move on their part. They have sent an email every day this week touting this new tea, yet they won't sell it to me 1/2 mile from my house.

I bought a smaller loom with a narrower profile so that I could weave in Eric's room when he wants company. That means that I need to sell my Gilmarka 19 inch ridged heddle loom. This has lead to funny things like someone actually telling me that looms were used to design knitting patterns, so since it was a business item, I could not sell it on a particular page. I really can't make this stuff up. I then had to explain looms were for weaving fabric like for blue jeans and knitting needles were used for designing knitting patterns.  I think selling the loom might be a little harder than I thought. Do you know anyone that wants to buy a loom?

I actually ran out of Tylenol for Eric on Saturday, which lead to my Ganga for the week. With 1- 25% off coupon and 3- $5.00 coupons from the store for prior purchases. I was able to pick up 2 bottles of Tylenol for Eric for 32 cents. Ganga is Tucson speak for a really great deal.  I have not gotten a deal like that in a long time.

It has also been a little over a week that I have not been able to knit. My hands should have fixed themselves by now.I am really going crazy.

Redundant Post

You might have already guessed.  I am writing this post from Eric's room. He is sick again. We did not even make 7 days between yucks this time.  He has an awful cough and a tempature of slightly over 100.  I am waiting for him to settle in for the night so I can get some sleep.  

It seems really weird to sit here in Eric's room and not to be able to knit. I even passengered across town today without knitting.   I am following my doctors orders, no mater how hard it is.  So instead of knitting I am deep cleaning closets deciding what I don't really need to keep.  The craft de stash has begun.  I am slowly piling things to go on the dining room table.  Check with me if you have been coveting some of my craft supplies to see if the item has or will make it to the destash table.  The larger items I will try to sell local first.  Smaller items that can be shipped will go up for sale once I figure out the prices.  My talley for the week is one loom gone, one loom listed and one tapestry loom pending pricing. 

There is a silver lining to my very sore hands. I found a spare feeding pump bag for the kangaroo Joey, so I do not have to take time to repair the one that is falling apart.   More space.  Less repair work. Yeah!!!

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.