Mothers Day

 I had an early Mother’s Day.  It was nice sharing brunch with the adult kids over face time.  Happy Mother’s Day to all he mothers out there.  I had a great day. 

In Shipping News

 Package B that was supposed to arrive on Monday arrived tonight. Package A that was supposed to be delivered today will arrive tomorrow.  So my Mothers Day present from John will arrive on time.  

In other news my body and I are not on speaking terms today.  Hopefully tomorrow will be better.  

We Are Super Busy

If you recall I had a problem with a ChaioGoo knitting needle.  My local yarn store owner let me know that  ChaioGoo guarantees their product. All you need to do is bring it in to where you bought it and they will replace it. On a very busy local yarn shop day Vicky exchange the needle for me. This is the first time that that has ever happened with a knitting needle in 22 years of knitting. I do tend to wear out knitting needles with high usage. I was very surprised and grateful. A special thank you goes out to Vicky of Grandma’s Spinning Wheel here in Tucson.  

This week we decided to clean out under each sink in the house. 5 cabinets in all. So Tuesday I emptied all of them into laundry baskets.  2 baskets for the kitchen and one for each of the other cabinets.  I think this should be done more often than I currently do it.  I found empty containers, half filled bottles and boxes, and more than a few cleaning rags. This afternoon we put everything back. John volunteered to do the kitchen,By the way he is great at organizing things.  We each did 2 cabinets.  That leaves the 5th cabinet.  While emptying the cabinet out I discovered that the towels felt crunchy, like they were put away wet.  Not in this house.  Then the towels started sticking to the wood. Not a good sign. Then I got to the bottom of the cabinet and they were hard to pull out. Underneath all the towels was discolored wood.  Apparently the sink had been leaking and we did not notice because of the almost 2 foot layer of towels.  Being one to divide up chores I took washing the 3 loads of towels with bleach and hot water. Then I got to fold them. I know that I could probably pin point the leak and try to fix it myself, but not this week. So John it going to tackle the leak and clean off the wood. Then I can put everything back together. 

As of Monday afternoon I am on a temporary knitting hiatus again. My right elbow is giving me trouble. Next week will involve a test to see where we go from here.  Because of all the cleaning of the past 2 days I have not gone through knitting withdrawal yet. I have been too busy.  I did however ask John if he was really sure if he wanted me to passenger without my knitting.  He was very brave to let me in the car without my knitting.  

I am trying coloring in a coloring book to keep me distracted when I want to knit.  I am doing really well with my left hand.  I am staying in the lines.  Playing with colors. Dropping a few colored pencils under the couch.  I will pick them up when I have dropped a few more so I have plenty of colors to play with.  I am going for abstract in the picture I an currently working on.  

Well it has been a long week and it’s only Wednesday. So I am calling it an early night. 

Binge Cleaning

 After a bad morning dealing with getting older and still feeling very trapped by COVID19. I resorted to binge cleaning after lunch.  I did a pretty good job.  I filled the green rollout recycling bin 1/2 way full and added one trash bag to the garbage rollout. That made me feel a little better. 

After dinner I finished the same gloves I made a few months ago in pink. The picture is below. This time I kept copious notes and they were 1/2 inch too short.  So doing my thing, I will rewrite the pattern to suit my needs.  If they turn out good, I will type the pattern up. Wish me luck.  

Tennis Shoes

 Yesterday afternoon John and I went on a nearly impossible quest.  To find tennis shoes that I could put on by myself without help. It involved going to 3 different shoe stores and buying something I was not expecting to get.  I was expecting to buy another pair of Finn Comfort shoes.  Or something similar.  

The first 2 stores were a total wash out.  I was ready to go home and take a nap.  Thank goodness John was driving because the next shoe store was on the east side of Tucson.  We went to a locally owned shoe store called Alan’s Shoes on Speedway.  I first tried on the Finn Comfort shoes and found out for closed toed shoes you have to go up one size which they did not have.  Apparently in Tucson these shoes are considered fall / winter shoes only.  

So I explained to the very knowledgeable sales woman that the arthritis was getting worse in my hands and I really wanted a pair of tennis shoes that I could put on by myself.  She asked if I had any objections to New Balance Shoes and I said no. So she went to the back and found a pair of shoes she thought would work. 

She came out with the New Balance shoes pictured below.  They are model WW813HWT Walking Shoes.   As you can see they have a long strap made with Velcro.  Don’t cut the strap as it will make it easier to put the shoes on. The secret to putting them on is to open them as wide as possible. Slip my foot in  then tilt my foot towards the heel of the shoes to make sure I am are all the way back.  Then just pull the straps starting with the toe strap first.  

I can put them on by myself  I wore them shopping today. They did not exactly go with my dress . They were comfortable although a higher arch support would be nice. That however is a tiny problem   

If you can’t get them at your local store Alan’s shoes has a website.  I used it during the pandemic and they were fast and efficient.  Alan’s Shoes is a link to their website.  

This is not a paid endorsement.  I bought the shoes myself.  If you use the link to Alan’s Shoes website I will not get paid.  I have been shopping at Alan’s Shoes for years.  The opinions are my own.  

Sunday

 The day was spent doing a little cleaning, laundry,and knitting.  A lot of time was spent Zenning.  We also went to a store that claimed that they just got a shipment of Tilly hats and had one in John’s size.  A knock of is not a Tilly hat with proper ventilation.  A tiring but productive day.  

The Next Project

 I am about to start my next project. I had to steal a pro owl from my weaving supplies because the skein of yarn is so big.  Updates to follow.