Why

It has been one of those why days. For instance take the app I got for my pod. It is a row counter for my knitting. I just needed some motivation on Teri's blanket. Yes the one I started in her 1L year. I am some where around row 7670, The row counter only goes to 999 rows, why? Didn't they ever knit a queen size blanket on size seven needles? 999 rows just seams so arbitrary to me. Is it just an easier algorithm to write in code?

Yes,  I made a major mistake by volunteering for  401c3. Today it came back to bite me in more ways than one. People are being very petty and have started with the name calling. People are going behind my back on my projects thinking because I don't have an advanced degree or that I have a sick kid that I am automatically incompetent. I just want to scream out that this is not middle school. Not everyone needs a PhD to be competent in what they do. I am also sure that I have had more practice juggling than they have.

I might not have an advanced college degree, but I am one of the best moms around. Being a stay at home mom does not make me stupid. It just means that I made some choices in the last century that I do not regret. I can stretch a buck pretty far. I have raised 2 beautiful children, each perfect in their own way. I have a wonderful marriage to a wonderful man. I am content in my life and have learned that it is not the amount of stuff but the people I allow into my life that matter most to me.

I am an artist at heart. Whether  it is presenting food nicely arranged of the plate, playing with cake and frosting, beads or fiber. That is me. I love to create. I never know where the day will take me. What bumps in the road that I have to iron out. I manage to make it all work. That is what I do. Whether I can tolerate the distraction from this particular charity I really don't know. What I do know is that I have a wonderful life with wonderful people in it. I am personally thinking that most of the people in the 401c3 will not make it into my inner circle.

Thanks for listening tonight. Aren't you glad that I waited several hours to write this? Well the caffeine I had at dinner is starting to wear off. I just might have to rethink this idea of caffeine with dinner.

Back Home

My last blog post got lost somewhere in the digital world. I hit save and publish through the hotel wi-fi connection. So here is a summary plus a quick update.

Teri and I finally found an apartment to move into. It is 20 minutes to her new job. We went a little higher in price than Teri thought she would, but it is a nice and safe building that she will live in for the next few years. At Teri's request I will not give the city she is moving to.

This means we will not have to go through the process next week. Can we hear a nice and loud hip hip hooray from every one. To give you a brief over view of what we went through here are some of the very low lights. Such as the apartments under the flight path with a plane landing every 5 minutes. Then there was the one that used half the kitchen and bathroom space for the Murphy bed with appliances from at least the 1950's, but they might have been Pre Korean war. Even better the basement studio that you had to use a step ladder to get into, I am not sure that is up to any code. Some of the neighborhoods were on the very gritty side to be polite. We did not even get out of the car for some. The really cute one in a slightly less gritty area that we may have taken if the owner had not changed their mind and decided that parking was not included.

This was a very hard process to go through. I am very proud that Teri and I were able to accomplish it in only 4 days.

I meet her new boss and his wife, they seem like very nice people.

I got home just in time to shop and make dinner yesterday. I was to tired to do anything. Yes even too tired to knit.

John was wonderful and let me sleep in today. I did laundry for most of the day. This was mainly sheets, towels and dress clothes. John did a great job with keeping up with the laundry, and all things Eric while I was gone.

Eric seems to be having trouble with mommy permanence. He seemed genuinely surprised that I did not disappear over night. By mid afternoon he was in total con man mode. Coughing every time I said I was go to work on Teri's blanket.

He was an angel at night while I was gone. That seems to have gone by the way side now that I am home. So now it is time to try to settle him down for the night.

Getting Ready

It is almost time for my trip to meet up with Teri for a couple of days. I am looking forward to this trip. I already have my clothes picked out, I would have had them packed but I don't want to have wrinkled clothes. We are leaving the guys at home. This means that I don't have to share Teri with anyone. This is really exciting!!!

So to get ready I am cleaning the house and catching up on laundry. I told John that since it will only be a few days he did not have to worry about the laundry. It should not be more than knee high by Saturday. The fridge and freezer have been stocked. I just have a few more errands to go, a counter to clean off and put my knitting away. I also have to pick a pattern and yarn for the trip. I could not find the hand spun alpaca so I guess I will look for it when I get home. I already have my spinning project ready. I am bring some roving to spin into lace weight yarn. It might take me a few more years of trips before I finish. I only manage to get one small skein per trip and can't really work on it at home, to many distractions.

So since tomorrow will be a busy day its time for me to call it a night.

The Guys Shared and Other Things

I was going to write about how the guys shared their tummy bug with me. That I spent almost the entire day resting and playing with my drop spindles. I have spun up all but 2 samples of the Phat box I got Wednesday. The colors are just so lovely this month. John served up a really nice lunch and dinner. He can slice bagels with the best of them.  I also manage to finish the laundry or so I had thought.

Just as I was going to settle Eric in for the night, I noticed that Elmo was a bit damp. For just the smallest amount of time I thought that Elmo was just a little damp. Then I noticed that there was some white sticky stuff on Elmo. The first thing I did was turn off the pump and call the Calvary, in this case John with Eric's wheel chair. After the second complete change of the bed and Eric( that should read another 3 loads of laundry), it was time to get Eric settled in for the night. It was then I noticed how much my joints swelled over just a little tummy bug. At least I should be over most of it by Wednesday. 

I should soon find out if the surface wash only pillows I bought will stand up to the washer. I will not put it in the dryer. It will get lined dried along with Elmo. Tomorrow will be washing and folding central around here.

Well I am just about ready to call it a night. Now if I could just remember where I left the hand spun alpaca so I can knit my self some more fingerless gloves. If I was hand spun alpaca where would I be hiding?

Catching Up

It has been a day of catch up. Needless to say it is neater around here, but Eric did manage to make 2 loads after I finished the laundry for today. Three loads of recycling went out.

I spent the day doing errands and knitting with friends. The evening was spent spinning on drop spindles. Yes I was to tired to to empty the spindles and ply. Since I am working with samples. I think I will have a lot if spindles filled before I go ply it all.

Today was the first day since my knee started acting up that I got close to 10,000 steps. Eric made it 5 days to program this week. Things are getting better around here.

Well I think I am a bit scattered tonight so I should say goodnight.

A Lesson Learned

I learned a lesson today. It does not matter the price of the roving so much as the quality of the roving or the dyer. Yes the last 4 skeins of yarn were turned into art yarn not out of choice but out of necessity.

The last batch of roving looked very pretty but was felted in spots. This lead to thick and thin yarn, like a brand new spinner. The experts said my spinning would never look like my first wheel spins. Wrong. Kathy said that I would run across roving like this. She was so right. Another thing I found out was spinning semi felted roving hurts my hands with all the tugging necessary to come up with some semblance of yarn. Thus I have spun my first art yarn. All 4 skeins look different. A a valuable lesson learned.

Now it is time to get to bed. Night all.

Another Kick Bad Day

We had the second lay low day in a row. John managed to get the pool cover on. We might even be able to swim this summer.

John and I did some deep cleaning this morning. I worked on the garage for about 15 minutes. Then it was the cabinets over the washer and dryer. We got rid of all the paper phone books. We now have a shelf for pool stuff, sponges, and mop heads. I have a wide selection of mops because some of Eric's aides have a strong preference for particular mop. Roomba and Scooba share a shelf. I was really glad that John was there to help. Having a tall person really helped. I have trouble reaching anything but the bottom shelf unless I am wearing heals or climbing a ladder.

I spent the rest day spinning and doing laundry. I got to spin Shetland wool for the first time today. I really liked the long staple of the fiber. It seemed like about 6 inches long. I learned that I could not let the twist get to close to the wheel or I would have a messy twisty mess on my hands. It was an easy spun, but much too course for anything close to the skin. I am thinking either rug yarn, weaving or felting. So it is going to be a single ply.

Not much knitting got done. But I think I might have lots of time tomorrow. Eric is making that funny face. So I think I will call it an early night so as not to repeat the headache of this morning.