Playing Catch Up

Eric has been in school for 2 days so far this week and I am playing catch up. I have been to the grocery store with out the time limit of just grab what I need and find the shortest line. I got to the post office today and all packages have been mailed. I found time to spin. I am also going to be looking for information on how ratios work. I am working my way through a big bag of Joann's Sensations Liquorice yarn that was given to me for charity projects while Eric was sick. I have completed 3 plus one project Gratitude scarf, are as I like to call it tagged and bagged meaning that they are ready to go out the door. 2 are awaiting finishing work and 1 more is on the needles. My plan is to get 50 hats, 50 scarfs and 10 Project Gratitude scarfs finished before October. Which means I only have 106 to go. Now does anyone know of a good project counter?

I got to the gas station today, I have not been in a while. It was over $65.00 to fill the tank. The last time I went it was at least $10.00 less. I also went to get new foam for Eric's bed but found that the store I got it at last time had doubled in price. Which is much more than the rate of inflation. So I guess I will measure it and go shopping on the Internet. If you know of a place where I should look let me know.

Well it is getting late and I am exhausted so good night all.

Got Yarn?

When all else fails knit. Eric landed up with the tummy bug going around town. Yesterday I had put away all the mindless knitting project because silly me I thought with the weather getting warmer we would no have many sic days left. So I dipped in the charity yarn and pulled out some US size 17 needles. I finished 2 kids scarfs and got the 3rd past the halfway point. We are on day 2 of pedilyte but hopefully tomorrow all that will change. On a diffent note, if you see my mom this week be sure to wish her a very happy birthday.

Finding my Mojo

Eric seems to be on a spring up swing. He is finally feeling better. He has been in the sick kid mode so long that I have seemed to have lost my daily rhythm. I know its only a matter of time before I find my well child mojo. Until then I will be floundering for a couple of weeks. After all I have been in crisis mode since at least October and it will take more than 3 days for me to change mode. So please be patient with me if I seem to be absent minded for a few weeks.  I really do feel lost and out of sync.

So tomorrow I plan on organizing my art projects, all of them.  I tend to knit and craft a little differently when Eric is sick. If you want to see a room strewn with yarn and other crafts ,tomorrow would be the perfect day to stop by and help. Some projects will go into bags and some will come out of bags. There will be a whole lot of color going on. I will also have time to do other things too.

So its time to call it a night before I change my mind and Google Caravel Ice Cream Stores. I have not had one in years but tonight for some reason I wanted one. So do you think they make a non dairy version now?

A Real Day Off

So this is what a real day off must be. Today was the second day in a row that Eric made it to school. Around 9:30 I realized that I did not have to do a bunch of chores. That I could deep six the to do list.  That I could do exactly what I wanted to do. So unlike yesterday when I ran as many errands as I could squeeze in to the day just in case, today not so much.

There was some shopping, the leisurely kind. A bowl of soup at Rigo's for lunch and they did not seem to mind that I played a game of Scrabble while I was eating. Then home to do a lot of spinning. I finished the Hardy Lake colorway by Rachael of The Counting Sheep Farm . I even had time to boil it and it is now drying in the garage.

I even figured out why some batts are called Art Batts..No its not yours Kathy or Rachael...The creator of the batt shall remain nameless...There is so much junk in the batt that the only thing it will be suitable for after it is spun is an artsy weaving project. There are a lot of very short trims, the kind that should be thrown to the birds and a lot of nibs. It is not very well carded either. I know I should throw it in a dog pillow but I am halfway done and I am at an irky spot with it. I just need to finish it and get it off the spindle. By the way who says you can never go back to the look of a beginner once you get spinning down has not seen this batt and the wonky yarn on my spindle.

I dug through my stash and picked out the next spinning wheel project and got a good start on it.  But the laundry was calling me, so I did 4 loads of laundry and left 2 for tomorrow. Well I have an early wake up call tomorrow. So Good Night all and enjoy your families.

A Very Good Day

Today was a very good day. With lots of knitting with friends and spinning. With a good dose of John and Eric. The only thing missing from today was Teri who is very busy with school. I would like to wish everyone a happy holiday weekend.

Thank You

I just need to thank everyone for helping Eric collect tabs for the Tucson Ronald McDonald's House. Today I drove Eric to the Ronald McDonald House so that he could drop off his latest collection of tabs. I am so proud of him. He managed to collect over 7 pounds of tabs.

The tabs are recycled to pay for the utility bills and any left over money goes to help the families that stay at the Ronald McDonald House. So If you would not mind, Eric would like some help in collecting more tabs. We have a brand new box that needs to be filled.  He really likes helping the kids and their families.

Thank You for helping Eric make a positive impact in this world.

Tired Days and Mondays

After only 4 hours of sleep, yes Eric was up until 2 am this morning and the day started at 6 am. with a migraine, I can say I had a relatively good day. The day consisted of laundry and sporadic house work ( when I had the energy to move and my head was not throbbing). I am getting very good at cleaning while tired.  Eric slept through half of his first day home from school and then wanted constant attention. Just the usual stuff.

I pick out a partial skein of yarn from the scrap yarn basket and decided to make a hot pad. Then a small bag of a lighter shade of green just screamed out to me use me, use me. I don't know if it was do to the headache or being over tired but it morphed into an art work piece. Tomorrow I will weave in the ends and do a light felting. Pictures will follow when it is finished.

John was wonderful and brought home dinner tonight. Well I want to call it a early night. Sorry for the tired ramblings.

Back on Track

Today was the best day we have had in a long while. Everyone was up to doing their own thing. Yeah!!!

Eric and I went to the mall today. His idea of fun was to go to every store in the mall that had stuffed animals and check out each and everyone. He had us convinced this morning that he was going shopping for himself. Forget about my list. So first we looked at Hallmark. Do you really know how many stuffed animals that they have? Then it was off to the Build A Bear Workshop Store. Yes we went through every stuffed animal in there also. I was surprised that they had less stuffed animals than Hallmark store. But in their defense they had a half of a store full of bear clothes. Then it was off to the Disney store. After going through all the animals and toy friends we almost settled on Fozzie Bear. When I asked the all important question "Will you introduce Fozzie to your other friends?" Eric signed no. I asked if this was a ploy to stay out of the house longer and he signed yes.

After a few more stops it was off to Trader Joe's. Everyone was very nice, but I don't think the middle of the day on a Saturday is the time to do the Eric train in a small speciality store. In case you have not seen an Eric train before it goes like this. I push Eric in his chair ahead of me and drag the shopping cart behind me. I do spend a lot of time apologizing and saying excuse me. I find it surprising no one ever gets angry at the inconvenience that I am putting them through. How lucky is that?

I even managed to find time to spin on the wheel and 2 different spindles, then work on 2 different knitting projects. I am finding the purple shawls rows to very long. I can only do 2 rows now per hour show. I started out with 4 stitches and am increasing on both sides of the row. I hope I don't have to get longer knitting needles to finish the project.

Well if we have a good night tonight tomorrow might be even more fun.

Pay Back Time

We all knew it would happen. It was just a matter of time. My body has gone in to rest mode for a few days. Eric has made ot to school 4 days this week and all my body wants to do is nap and relax. I am so tired that The creative forces are not flowing. So in between resting I am working on UFO's. Which is ok. I am working on projects started several years ago. Everything has to get finished or tinked sometime. Well it's time to call it a night.

A Much Needed Day Off

Today I got a real mommy day off. After the guys left for work and school I went back to sleep until noon. After a salad for lunch it was off to CVS for a little retail therapy, well not really but with coupons in hand I did manage to save about $50.00. It was the trip to buy the expensive stuff so the coupons really did help. After a short break more laundry was done and beds were made. Bills were paid and plane tickets bought. I have help lined up for Eric so John and I can go to Teri's law school graduation. I can't believe 3 years have gone by so quickly. I am still amazed that my darling daughter will have her doctorate in a few short months. I really don't know how John and I got so lucky to be blessed with a daughter like Teri. Well Eric needs my attention now. So I guess its time to put the pod away.

The Weekend

Needless to say my weekend did not go as planned. Friday Eric was home sick. I thought he was feeling better Saturday sowe went fo a much needed haircut for Eric and picked up a drive new drive belt for my wheel. We you guessed right, Eric woke up with a fever and a runny nose. I did not make it to the 4th avenue street fair as planned. Instead I did most of tommrows laundry and cleaning. I managed to get a little spinning and knitting done too. I don't think that luck is running on my side so I will tackle paperwork and chores while I am home with Eric tommrow. Well it's not quite 10 and I am hoping for a quiet night because I am exhausted. Good night all.

Still out of Sync

I am feeling better but I am so out of sync its not funny. I am slowly recouping the house. On the knitting front I have finished the never ending socks well ahead of Teri's graduation in May. Yes I know it is the end of March, but at least they were finished before the plane flight. I have also finished the 3 rd shawl of the year. It is a keeper because it fits me to a T. I have been so distracted lately that I have UFO's all over the house. I have gotten in the very bad habit of just picking up something to knit as I walk by it. On the bright side a lot of projects are further along, but I really need to get more projects finished. The only new project that I have started this week is a pair of socks from Belinda Too's first sock book. I have found something harder than a sock gussett, it is a picot edging knit in the round. I also have 4 1/2 inches written on a new blanket pattern. Well it's getting late. So have a great night and enjoy your families.

Eric is Back in School

Eric started back to school yesterday. Insert the happy dance here. So I napped, ate lunch out, worked on the never ending socks ( yes there is an end in sight ), ran errands and made a chicken pot pi for Pi Day. The recipe I used is in a previous blog post. I also tried to make an Irish Soda bread to try something different too. For those of you that have made Irish Soda bread before can you tell me if it is a light biscuit type bread or a very dense bread as mine turned out to be.

Today was guild and lunch out with friends and more knitting. I picked out a light colored shawl as my UFO to work on a guild, yes I know I am working on 2 shawls right now so my goal is to have a total of 2 shawls and 1 pair of socks done by the end of the month. I will keep you posted.

Since I was wearing dressy clothes today, most of my cleaning involved going through piles that were created when Eric was in the hospital. So my cleaning involved 2 hours of putting things away and throwing things out. It was actually more of the later.

Right now I am waiting for the washer to finish so I can put 1 load in the dryer and start 1 more load before I go to sleep tonight. We had a major spill of formula tonight. Formula spills must be washed before they dry or they smell up the house and stain what ever it happened to land on. Just in case you were wondering a complete change out of Eric's bed involves 2 loads of laundry.

I am still out of sync on the whole calendar thing. Yes Eric was home sick for 2 months, so I feel like I should be at the end of January instead of the middle of March. Today I showed up at an event 1 week early. I really must read my email more carefully and AVO ( avoid verbal orders) in regards to events.

I have also enjoyed the freedom of having Eric in school for 2 days in a row. I hope that this trend continues. Well the hour is late. So have a great night.

Less is More

Since Eric's 2 trips to the hospital in February, I have not had any extra house keeping help. I have found the cleaning is therapeutic. On top of all the extra of  what I hope is exercise the surprising thing to me is the house is getting cleaner. The counters are starting to shine. The floors are cleaner. Things are getting less cluttered. I find that about 2 hours of cleaning a day makes me feel better too.

Today while I was cleaning I found almost empty shampoo containers shoved in cabinets. A basket of products with expiration dates back to '08 under empty  or half empty cleaning supplies. I guess the advantage of doing it myself is that I can make the executive decisions to combine containers or throw out empty containers.  For the life of me I can not figure out why someone would just toss empty containers in cabinets and close the door. After all isn't that what the recycling containers are for?

On the laundry front I  started doing laundry at 7 am  and took the last load of the day out of the dryer at 6:30 pm. The good news is that I am almost caught up on laundry. I did save 1 basket of folding for tomorrow in favor of sitting down to knit and watch a little TV. I am now about 1/4 of the way through a wool crape shawl, the skein was 1450 yards long and knit on size US - 4 knitting needles. In my defense I can say it will look simply fabulous when it is done.

I even managed to make dinner tonight. OK I cheated with Bertolli Chicken Minestrone Soup and Pillsbury Crescent Rolls. At times I can open packages with the best of them. Well it is getting late and the house now sounds quiet so I think its time to call it a night.

Trying to get on Track

The new dryer finally arrived today. All I can say is thank goodness. Right now I have the 4th load of the day in the dryer and I hope to have a 5th load in there before bed time. With 6 loads done all together, the first one of the day was a line dry load. The answer to the question is no this will not in any way shape or form mean that I am caught up on laundry. The reason being is that I took a 4 day vacation from laundry. The guys were getting tired of lined dried clothes. Even with the use of Downy, the jeans were like wooden boards. The clothes off the line reminded me of my clothes during the 1960's when we put the clothes on the line to dry. Every thing was stiff.

On the knitting front, I made more progress on my socks and purple shawl. No spinning took place today. Although I have bribed someone with hand spun yarn so she needs to come over and pick the fluff she wants me to spin for her.  I will have to spin it up very soon. By the way spinners, hand spun yarn makes a very good bribe for a knitter.

Eric is still home and I am really hoping to get him out the door sometime this week. I am so far behind on every thing. I will play more catch up tomorrow. As for the plans for today, they went out the window at about 2 am, when I finally got to bed this morning. Considering that I was running on 4 hours of sleep I feel that a lot of work got done today. I have yet to figure out why I can accomplish so much on so little sleep.

I think it is time to say good night because I am falling asleep while typing this post.

No More Wishful Thinking

After a long weekend with a few days off coursity of John, I feel recharged. A little shopping, a new haircut, a little fresh air can do a girl wonders. I even thought it might be possible to send Eric to school tomorrow earlier in the day. Tonight is a different story all together. a little fever and sore throat means another day home and another call to the doctor.

Eric's Smart Vest compressor died this morning. Talk about wonderful customer service. I called this morning, yes Sunday morning and a new unit will ship tomorrow. The on call person was nice and polite even when I cut into her weekend with family. I did not write down her name, but to the management she does need to be told what a wonderful job she did. Electromed is a wonderful company to work with.

Well it getting late and I am hoping for some sleep tonight. Please enjoy your families.

Progress and a Lost Scarf

Today was a very productive day. I filled the laundry drying line. No dryer until next Monday.  I did some cleaning, but still did not find the Chevron scarf. The scarf I finished right before I had to give up knitting for a few months last year. Worked on UFOs - 1 scarf finished and out of the house( it was just the right color for a friend that happened to be here), worked on 2 other UFOs, one is black so it can only be worked on in bright light and lined up more UFOs to finish.

My one complaint of the day is bullies. Why on earth do they think they can get their way by pushing people around. Even more annoying is making multiple phone calls on the same subject because I did not agree with them the first time. This should be a duh moment for them, maybe just maybe what they are offering is not right for me. No the third time is not the charm. Implying that because I am not jumping at what you say or your offer does not mean I lack intelligence, it just means that I think you are wrong or are offering the wrong item  for me.  Oh and I do have a second complaint for today. Cellular type phones can not be slammed down on the receiver for that satisfying moment of I won this round. I ended the call. Pushing a silly little button does not have the same feel.

Eric is still holding his own, but when he took a nap, I took full advantage and took one too. John was wonderful in that after a full day at work he brought home dinner. Well it is getting late and I am tired so its time to say good night.

Things are Looking Up

I have kicked the cold and spent the morning doing some much needed house work and laundry. Until I get the new dryer next week I am limited to 2 loads a day. As I have a limited amount of hanging space.

Eric still has no energy but at least he did not nap all day so I have some hope of sleep tonight. He is at the point of recovery that every time I do something for him he makes nice mommy. I always like to get my nice Mommy's.

On the knitting front I blindly dipped my hand into a a pile of UFOs and landed up with a green scarf. I almost finished it tonight. As I was knitting the scarf I thought of all the "extra" knitting needles I will have when I finish all these projects but also all the little knitting and project bags that I will have. Not to mention all the finished projects, some with missing yarn labels so I don't know what the yarn is but I am going to finish them anyway. Some of the fancier pieces with out yarn labels will go in to a gift pile. I also decided since I did not finish all my UFOs in February I will work into to March to finish them.  Also no spinning got done today.

I am 24 rows into a new pattern design. I am writing the pattern as I am knitting it so I hope it does go smoother when it is time to type it up. Considering that I started it on Saturday I think it is going at a good pace.

Well it is getting late and its time to call it a night.

Under the Weather

Eric's cold has morphed and he is home from school for another week. He was kind enough to share his cold with me and maybe John, only time will tell.  So if you are expecting me any where this week all I can say is sorry, but you know where I will be all week. With luck Eric will be out the door on Monday.

On a different note I wish everyone who is celebrating a Happy Purim and for those in the middle of Lent I hope it is easy for you this year.

Friday Already?

My question is how did it get to be Friday already?  Where has the week gone?

But enough about that. The Big news is today Eric left the house for the first time since he got out of the hospital. We went to the laundromat and as hard as I tried, I could not convince Eric that it was as much fun as Disneyland. He did seem to like the sound of the washers but hated the dryers. Then it was off to lunch at Loving Spoonfuls. He seemed to like it best when the music track stopped and there was a weird tonal hum.

I spent some time at the wheel and managed to get about 3/4 of an ounce spun. Maybe tomorrow I will be able to ply the yarn. I also worked on a scrappy hat and got it to the decrease rounds. I did not work on the infamous sock.

Well it was a long day and I am going to try for 2 full nights of sleep in a row. Wish me luck.

Tired and Cranky

Today was not one of the most stellar days in Eric's recovery. He still has day and night confused and I am not quite sure how to reset his internal clock. Most of us rely on sunlight to reset our clocks with a mechanism in the retina. Eric's retinas are far to damaged for this to be an option. I will humbly accept any suggestion that are put forth.

I think we might even be able to get Eric back to school at least part days in the next few weeks. Then I might just spend a day or two doing just what I want. Like knitting, spinning and hanging out with friends.

I can say that I am feeling a little worn out by this all. I feel that I am losing patients with people and expect them not to screw up. Like not having trained people on back up or people telling me it takes 1 1/4 hours to drive across town and expect me to buy that. Yes I know its winter but this is Tucson for goodness sake.

I did manage to work on the infamous sock today and realized that I am one stitch short in the gusset; however I have decided that I can make the sock look symmetrical and with one stitch missing I will just skip one decrease to make it even for the foot. At this point one stitch is not worth taking out 2 days of knitting. I am not looking for perfection, I am just looking to finish the sock. 

The highlight of my day was a short chat with Teri. I am happy to report that things are going well on the Teri front. I am really so very lucky to have a wonderful daughter like Teri in my life.

Well the house seems very quiet so I am hoping that everyone including you know who is asleep, so I can get some sleep. Good night all.

The Infamous Sock

I am currently working on the second sock of the pair of socks I started when Teri and I went to look at law schools. I am half way through the gusset of the second sock. My friend Lisa and John feel that Teri will get her law degree before I finish this pair of socks. Did I mention that it is a 3 year law school program and Teri is due to graduate this spring? I have frogged the second sock 2 or 3 times already and I hope that this time is the charm.

Ever the optimist I feel I will finish it before Teri graduates and have pick out one of Belinda Too's patterns for my second pair of socks.  The pattern is called Summer Sporty Ankle Sock. Here is the Raverly link to this wonderful sock.  If you would like to see more of Belinda's work check out this link Blendy Knits . In Lisa's humble opinion Teri will make partner before I finish the second pair of socks. I feel I will have them done before Teri gets her California Bar results. Only time will tell of course and I do have to finish the first pair of socks before I can start these. I have to use the same knitting needles on both pair of socks.

Well I had a very long night with Eric last night and I am hoping that he will go to sleep so as I really need a good nights sleep. He is still not back up to speed but we will see if we can get in to school any days in March.

Just a Small Rant

Dear Home Health Care Professional,

Welcome to my home, yes I said it MY HOME. I know this is where your agency sent you to work today so you may think of it as a place of business; but it is really my home. I live here and don't get to leave at the end of my shifts.

The following might just make both our days go smoother.

1. At this work site I am the boss and what I say goes. This being said I prefer my home to be a tranquil envoirment. Follow my lead and we will not have problems. I have been doing the sick kid thing for over 2 decades and have a tinsey bit of experience with my son.

2. Don't tell me what to do or what I may or may not do in my own home. I do not need your permission to leave a room or to take a break from my sons care. In fact if you are here you are suppose to be giving me a break so I am not working 24/7.

3. Do not rearrange my furniture. My husband and I have placed it where it is good for us. If you feel the need to rearrange furniture become an interior designer or a furniture mover. Please do not move the chair away from my spinning wheel. You many not understand why it is there but I put it there for a reason. Also the yarn and knitting needles are off limits. I really hate when people sit on my knitting needles and break them.

4. I would like you to follow the rules of the house like everyone else does. Rule number 1: Mom is always right. Rule number 2 : If mom is wrong please see rule number 1. If you can't abide by rule number 1 or 2 at least try to be diplomatic about it.

5. If I give you things to do then ignore you it is because I need some time to unwind. You can always check my current to do list and see if there is anything on there that you can do. If all else fails pay attention to my son or dust. Feel free to vacuum or sweep to your hearts content. If there is laundry you can fold that too.

6. If I am overly cranky ask me what time I got my son to sleep last night or in the wee hours of the morning and what time I had to get up this morning. Just to be on the safe side if I have had 4 hours of sleep or less I really need time to be alone.

7. Yes my house does not look like the rooms in Town and Country. We have some clutter and I really try to keep up with it. If you have a problem with that call my mother I will give you the number. Also remember that the less sleep I have in any given week the messier the house will be. I find it easier to clean house when I am awake and my son is not sick.

8. This is a house and not a barn. We strongly prefer that the doors be kept closed. I prefer to do other things with my time besides chasing small desert dwellers out of the house.

9. All bets are off when my son is sick and I have been awake for more than 48 hours straight.

10. If this is to much to ask of you please let your agency know you cant work with us. We wont be offended.

Saturday Not in the Park

Eric has had constant night terrors since we got home from the hospital. If anyone has suggestions to try I would be willing to listen.

We have tried the following:

Using "Eric's" roomba to vacuum up the monsters and dust bunnies.

Had Scooba wash away the icky.

We have been reassuring him that he is home and everything is OK.

For those of you that have been following the appliance saga. The dryer has been condemned, the inside wiring is burnt to a crisp. Yes the service man thinks that there was a nice little fire in there. We must have a Guardian Angle looking out for us because the damage was limited to the inside motor area of the dryer. We will start a hunt for a new dryer tomorrow.

The washer is working well, I just do to many loads of laundry in it. Hey there are three of us in the house and one of us is Eric, so 20ish loads of laundry a week seems reasonable to me. So I am going to do all the wash and hang laundry at home. I will take John's shirts to the cleaners to get washed and pressed.  That leaves that leaves a dozen or so loads that I will take to the Laundromat to wash or see if the cleaners has a wash and fold service.

Well here is to a good nights sleep for all.

TGIF

It was a busy and wonderful day all at the same time. I got to spend a couple of hours with my knitting friends and even had time to go to lunch. A great big thank you goes out to John for this treat. He took care of Eric for a bit. Liz had made some very adorable hand knit critters, I personally think the bear was the cutest. I felt like a social butterfly at knitting, I got more talking done than knitting. Karen had knit a very large pile of wash cloths and was doing the finishing work. There were sweaters and scarfs in various stages. It is always so fun to hang out with a great group of knitters. I also like to see what every one is doing. Next week I expect to see a lot of the Uncle Harry Scarf Pattern going on. Everyone just had to know what the very complicated pattern I was working on. This is my favorite pattern for Operation Gratitude. So here is the pattern and please consider knitting one or two for Operation Gratitude.

Uncle Harry's Scarf Pattern

This pattern is named after my dear Uncle Harry. When he was in the Tucson VA hospital I would spend hours visiting him. I would usually bring my knitting and no matter what I was working on he would start chanting knit 1 purl 2, over and over to the point I had to rip out what ever I was working on. So I started making scarfs in this pattern. My only request was that he slow down to the speed I was knitting at.  It works with any weight yarn and any size needles. My personal preference is wool or cotton.

Cast on in multiples of 3. A typical scarf in Cascade 220 or Patton's wool is 30 cast on stitches. On US size 8 knitting needles.

the pattern is knit 1 purl 2* repeat this sequence all the way through.  Until you get to the last row and then cast off in the pattern sequence.

For Operation Gratitude they like the scarfs between 5 to 7 inches wide and 45 to 50 inches long. I usually use Patton's or Cascade wool in black, brown, dark or olive green and blue. One skein makes 1 scarf.

I also took advantage of John being home to run a weeks worth of errands this afternoon.  I did manage to get one commissioned scarf off the needles so now I just have to do the finishing work.

I manage to boil one batch of yarn and am just about finished with the spinning on another.

Well it is getting very late so it is time to say goodnight.


Uncle Harry's Scarf Pattern by Sheri Karobonik is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Hump Day Plus One

Eric actually slept last night, and between John and Eric's aide I got to sleep in until 8:00 am this morning. There was a little cleaning that went on this morning. Only scooba was on duty today. Today Eric and I were in the post hospital funk of being very tired. I don't think either of us got out of first gear. I might have made it out of first gear if I had consumed more caffeine, but I quickly vetoed that idea and went for a lower caffeine tea.  down time is sometimes necessary.

I also broke another pedometer today. I finally figured it out when after running around this morning it was only counting at best every 2 or 3rd step.

I did manage to make it to the spinning wheel today. I carded up some wool and mohair before Eric got sick. The fluff was full of VM and I ran it through the carder 3 times.  It has the constancy of Cotton Candy and spins up very nicely, although I am still pulling VM out of the yarn as I spin. I am hoping that the rest of the VM will come out when I boil the yarn.

If you have any suggestions for getting VM out of fluff please let me know. I am always looking for ways to improve the way I do things.

I am almost finished spinning the super wash merino on the spindle. The last little bit will be done tomorrow and that will be a hat or scarf.  I hope to boil some yarn tomorrow as I have a bunch that needs to be done and the clothes line will be empty tomorrow.

John is giving me a break tomorrow so that I can go to knitting. He and Eric will hang out tomorrow. I want to know if the Syfy channel or PBS will prevail. Well its getting late so I am going to call it a night.

Hump Day

Eric is still out of sync and having trouble remembering that he is home from the hospital. Last night he dozed off and would wake up in terror or be in the middle of a night terror when I got to him. I finally had him settled down at 3:30 this morning. I took the cowardly approach to this morning and let John and his aide handle him. I decided to sleep in until 7:30.

Since Eric has day and night confused I am trying to sleep when he does. Which has lead to a pretty strange schedule today. We had naps scattered through out the day.

I did manage to get to the grocery store today. I was trying to be a little on the practicle side by picking up some heat and serve dinners. I am not one to pick up ready made dinners from the freezer section on a regular basis. John and I prefer homemade from scratch or semi home made when ever possible. We had a Bertolli chicken minestrone soup tonight. It was easy to cook and had a pretty good taste and texture, but not quite home made. But just the right amount of soup for 2 people.

I have to admit that with Eric being in the hospital twice this month for a total of 12 days I am pretty much worn out. So far this month he has been in the hospital more than out. I am hoping to change that track. I am finding a very little time to knit and have not done any spinning since we have been home. I am still finding cleaning very therapeutic. Roomba and Scooba have been working out daily. The recycle bin is 1/3 of the way full. I am very behind on laundry, but wont be able to do any until the machines get fixed or if we start to run out of things by going to the laundromat.

I have not had any time to prepare for the Tucson Wool Festival on March 10, so even if I do not have a booth I will stop by to say goodbye to Kathy.

I am deffently tired and need some sleep so I will take the time to say good night all.

We are Home

This is our first full day home from the hospital - Round 2 this month. This time we were in for 8 days. I finished 2 hats and 2 scarfs. I also broke with my trying to finish UFOs by starting another hat and scarf. But in my defense it was stash yarn and I did not go out and buy any new yarn. I also worked on spinning some super wash Merino on my Kundert spindle and some silk on my new Bosworth Koa spindle. Both spinning projects will require more work to get the spinning finished. .

I came home to a washer and dryer in desperate need of service so no laundry will get done until they are repaired or I find someone to watch Eric long enough during the day to go to the laundromat. It has been so long since I have been in one, I don't even know how much a load cost now a days. My guess is that it has gone up quite a bit since the early 1980's.

Yesterday afternoon and today have been devoted to getting the house back in order. With the exception of the laundry visible progress is being made. The only thing I would have wished for today was a longer life on the scooba battery charge. I wanted to finish the whole house in one day, scooba had other ideas.

The house is pretty well stocked with the exception of fresh eggs, bread, Tide Free and Rasian Bran cereal for John. I hope to be able to sneak out when one of our more long term aides are here. But then again there is always delivery.

Eric will be home until he finishes his medicine, which is another 9 days. Please feel free to call and stop by. I will need some adult conversation. I have had too many days of PBS kids and the Disney Channel this month. Did you know that on avargae PBS replays its shows 4 times a day. Disney has a slightly diffrent cycle of once a day with the movies being played a diffrent times over several days. Now if I could only convince Eric to watch some chick lit type stuff it would not be so bad.

My hope is for the hospital nightmares to be over with so that Eric sleeps tonight. I would so love a good nights sleep after such a busy month. I would really like a full nights sleep in a real bed. Not that I did not figure out how to sleep in that darn guest chair at the hospital, but it did a number on my knee.

We May Be on the Right Path

There might be an end insight. We are trying some new meds for Eric. We are still waiting for Eric to hold food down. I am beginning to get tired and flary. Dry mouth and eyes are the rule of the day. I am thinking about redoing my spring sechdule. It will all be dependent on Eric's recovery and my stamina.

I am getting a lot of knitting and spinning done in the down time. I knit when Eric is awake and spin when he sleeps. I would like a more comfortable chair to sleep in.

I personally think the hospital food was designed to increase their patient load in the near future. Where is Mrs. Obama when we need her?

Well Eric is asleep and it is time for some shut eye.

We are Holding

We are back in a holding pattern. Eric is hooked up to an IV. Don't expect to see me for the rest of the week. I have plenty of spinning and knitting with me. The only harrzards I see until we get home is the hospital cafeteria. Moldy bread today and enough greasy food to insure a long term patient load. Lunch was a half pound of carrot and celery sticks,1 tablespoon of peanut butter and crackers. I don't think I have seen hospital food this dismal since 1989, I kid you not.

Well Eric needs my attention. So good night.

Things Are Looking Up.

Well Eric has been sick long enough for me to lose track of the days. Thank goodness for the calendars, clocks with dates and the newspaper so if some one does ask at least I know where to look. That being said Eric gave me the first smile in it seems like weeks but in actuality only since last Thursday. He is not at 100% for Eric; but he is getting better. I am hoping that I will have him well enough to go to school a week from Monday.

On the knitting front I finished another shawl today and it fits me to a T. It is perfect in every way. I have added more UFOs to my knitting bag today. Most of them are scarfs which should go pretty fast. That should help my totals go up faster for the month.  Tomorrow I will take pictures of the finished items for the week. I now have freed up 2 long circular needles. Yes I have finished 3 items but I immediately cast on a hat for John with the small circular needles.

I also spent a few minutes and I do me a few minutes playing with the new carder. I will add some pictures of the batts too. I really need to try to get some rest now before I have a total revolt from my body. So here is hoping Eric goes to sleep early.

It is Already Wednesday

Eric is feeling better. Today we had our first smiles in over a week. I am still spending most of my time in his room. I am getting a lot of knitting done. I should have the second shawl of the week done tommrow. Not to worry though, I have 2 more shawls in a semi finished state. This is just in one bag of ufo's. I have decided that if I can't remember or find the patterns I will tink the project.

I managed to get a 2 mile walk in today. I also plyed 2 skeins of yarn. My carder was busy today too. I carded 3 batts that I will try to spin tommrow. Talking of carding, I found it to be pretty good excersise, after 1 hour of carding I wash drenched and tired. I wonder how many kcal's a hour ot burns. I will also have to figure out how to get it to attach to the table a little better.

It is fast approaching tommrow and I am so hoping that Eric will go to sleep soon. Night All.

First Full Day home from the Hospital

Today was Eric's first full day home from the hospital. We both got some much needed rest. In addition I managed to get a little cleaning and a lot of laundry done. I have gone through most of the mail and newspapers that were waiting for me since Saturday. I am very sure that the recycling bin in the back yard was very happy to be feed quite a bit today.

On the finishing of my UFOs I was very scattered today and worked on 3 different projects. Including a hat for John,  another Uncle Harry Scarf in an olive gray for my on line studio and I am nearing the ending of a very large wool shawl. I am in the lace section so it takes almost an hour to do 2 rows. If I had sat down and worked on just the shawl it might have been finished today.

I hear the spindles and spinning wheel calling my name but I just did not find the time today.

I did make a pot of chili tonight for dinner. I was very happy that I managed to get a home cooked meal made today. Since neither of us was very hungry I strongly suspect that I will have enough for at least one more dinner. There is also almost a full pan of homemade corn bread left over too. Maybe even enough for breakfast.

Well it is getting quite late so I think its time to call it a night.

Happy Dance Time.

We are home from the hospital. Eric will be home the rest of the week. I see a lot of knitting getting done. The count so far 1 shawl and 1 hat complete. Pictures when I am less tired.  Night all.

Knitting Needles

The thought occurred to me tonight that I have a lot and I do mean a lot of different knitting needles in different shapes and sizes. Then why is it that I never have the size I need when I want it. Which of course leads to buying more knitting needles.

Am I just like all the knitters with a lot of UFOs. I see something that I just have to make and if I have the yarn in the house it is on the needles very quickly. Not that it will necessarily get finished very quickly. Hence the plethora of UFOs.

I have started carrying a big bag with a lot of my UFOs in it to knitting with the hopes that someday they will get finished before they: A: Go out of style. B: I have forgotten or lost the pattern. C: I run out of yarn and it is no longer available so I have to tink it.  I think I need to make a giant effort this year to finish UFOs including Teri's never ending blanket, hey I have gotten a few more squares done so far this week and any progress is good progress. Right?

So join me in the month of February in finishing as many UFOs as we can. Lets try to really see how many knitting needles we all have. Then just maybe we can get some more yarn. I know the yarn diet thing right, well in my case maybe I can get all the yarn into the house if I just knit enough.

My Idea of Heaven

Today was a simply awesome day filled with knitting, spinning ( on the wheel no less ), fun,exercise, friends and food. Who could really ask for anything more.

Today started off with knitting with friends. I am almost finished with the top down shawl in Blond Chicken's (aka Tara) hand spun yarn. Every one was working on awesome project ranging from doll clothes to cowls and even some sweaters and blankets. We even managed to get a new knitter started today, Carolyn supplied the know how while Liz provided the yarn and needles. That was a great job on stash busting Liz, very creative too.

Then it was off to lunch. Which was kinda of funny most of us could not remember what we ordered and the servers did not know what some of the dishes were. Well you just had to be there to enjoy the moment.

Then it was off to home and a bit of exercise with John. Followed by my best spinning on the wheel since my hand surgery. I had my pod cranked up and was singing in the key of off while I spun. This made me extremely happy, because I had vision's of having to find a new home for the wheel and I really like her.

After I got Eric off the bus we had some time together. Eric even managed to get John to watch Barney. I spent some time working on a commission. Then it was off to Cafe Ole for Talipia taco's for dinner. You know your are eating healthy in a Mexican restaurant when the wait staff says you did a good job of picking the healthy food off the menu. By the way if you have never had grilled Talipia taco's, you must try them with out the cheese and sauce for the best taste experience ever.

Before I forget, I have finished and started another square on Teri's blanket. Well its getting late and I want to try to get to the opening at 505 Miracle Mile tomorrow to see what they have done with Tucson's newest artist venue.

A Day Off

Eric went to school today. So I got a day off. The only problem was that I was so tired I could hardly move or keep my eyes open. So I decided to put my eye drops in count to 500 and get moving. Well I don't think I made it to 500 , but I did manage to wake up before noon. I think my body plead exhaustion. Then made the nap time decision.

After a light lunch of figs and goat cheese. I poured a cup of Roobios tea and headed ot the door to the Withers Ranch. Kathy was kind enough to teach me how to use my carder. With a lot of Kathy's help we made a 1 ounce batt. I am going to miss my time with Kathy. She is such a bright and artistic woman. All I have to say is that you folks in Maryland are getting a treasure. So please learn from her and support her artistic endivers.

I still had time to run to the Pharmacy. And Trader Joes. I even had enough energy to make a red pot soup for dinner. This is the first cooked from scratch dinners since my hand surgery. The good news is that we have enough for at least another meal.

Well I think that it is time to call it a night.

Nap Time

Today was an official nap time at the house today. Eric and I got some much needed rest. I also got a surprising amount of cleaning done today. 4 bags of trash out and 1 bin of recycling went out the door. It does not seem possible to me the confirmed pack rat, but the more I throw the more I find to throw. Also it takes less time to find things and to clean.

I also found some time to work on 2 different blankets.

Well even though it's only 9:30pm. I am really tired and am calling it a night.

The Never Ending Day

Since I have be up since 6:30A.m. yesterday morning. Yes Eric is sick yet again. I will blog when I am not so gosh darn tired.

Not the Blog I Planned

I am sitting in Eric's room writing this blog post on my pod. This is not the post I had planned on for tonight. I was going to write about the birthday cake and show a picture. I can't down load pictures from the computer to my pod with any scence of ease. So as I watch the Good Night Show with Nina and Star I will write this blog post.

Today was not the most productive day in the history of mankind, but I got enough done. I seem to be less productive when I am tired and spend long hours on the phone. I can say with certainty that half the bills were paid. The ones that require hand written checks will ne done tommrow. I arranged a fiber swap and got it packaged to go to the post office. 2 more squares were finished on Teri's never ending blanket. I also worked on the dreaded end of year paperwork.

As we were getting Eric ready for bed John and I decieded that he did not look well. Eric has done a lot of startling tonight, but his stats look good. I think I will decided in about an hour on how long I will stay up with him tonight. I wonder what effect a late night will have on my earlier migraine. On the bright side if it does come back I can have more aspirin.

This and That

My day started off very slowly, if it went any slower I would have had to crawl back into bed. There was a great upside of running so late today thought. I got to talk to Teri. She was driving in San Fransisco when her GPS died. So she called me in Tucson for directions. With the help of Google Maps we managed to get her directions to where she was going. Thank you so much to the great people at Google Maps. I hope she was able to find a place to charge her GPS for the way home.

I managed to get to knitting very late but I still got to do some catching up with everyone. I guess I did not say much about my hand to anyone before the surgery and everyone assumed incorrectly that Eric was sick. They were surprised when I told them that I had hand surgery. They were also surprised that I was knitting again.

My hand is recovering slower than I like. I am just impatient in that way. It still gets painful when I knit for more than a few rows. This will make tomorrow all the more interesting. I have a birthday cake to make for a party that we are going to. I think with help baking the cake and making the icing will be fairly easy. What I am worried about is the decorating part. I usually do it left handed. I know I can manage a decent frosting job with my right hand. But I don't have the very fine motor skills necessary in my right hand to an adequate job of controlling the pastry bag.

My plan of action will be to take some pain reliever about an hour before I start the decorating and not do any knitting or spinning until after the cake is decorated. I think this will be very hard for me.  The cake is for a man so I don't have to worry about doing any lace or lattice work on the cake which should make it easier. I am planning to do a reverse C shell boarder to hide any boo-boos. Other than Happy Birthday I don't have a plan for the cake design yet. I am making peanut butter frosting and I am not quite sure what color it will come out, so I am playing it by ear. I will take a picture of it when I am done.

Well I think it is time to call it a night.

A New to Me Finish

Today was a very good day. It got off to a very slow start, but got better as the day went on. I managed to do more knitting and spinning than yesterday, yes I stopped when it hurt. I had a nice 2 mile walk after lunch today. I did also manage to get some cleaning and filing done. Now to straighten out the file before I hand it over. That I will start on tomorrow.

At Guild I learned a new edging called the Latvian Braid. Please forgive me if you know about it, but it was so easy and fun that I just had to share it with you.

Latvian Braid

1. Round 1:     *K1 with color A, K 1 with color C repeat from*
2. Round 2:     Round 2: *P1 with color A, P1 with color C, Always bringing the new yarn over the one just used; repeat from*
3. Round 3:     *P1 with color A, P1 with color C, always bringing the new yarn under the one just used; repeat from*
4. Bind off with a regular knitting bind off.

From what I can tell this would make an excellent finishing for a pair of slippers, bottom of a sweater, or any place a decorative stitch would be nice.

Now I need to go off and ponder the bigger question of the day. I have a birthday cake to make for Saturday and I need to figure out who will be my extra set of hands for baking it and making the frosting. Also if I do not knit or spin will I be able to use my left hand to do the decorating of the cake? I also have to remember to go buy the cake board and box.

As you can see my life has no possibility of getting boring anytime in the near future

Hump Day

By default today became my day off. My body just needed a day of rest. This is the real first day off since my hand surgery. I know I should have rested before but there was just so much to do. I got a little knitting and spinning done, but not anything on my list.

 My hand is feeling better, so I tried to make dinner tonight. Who knew I could screw up fish sticks. I ate the mangled ones. I think I will wait a few more days until I try all but the most basic of culinary skills. Such as buying everything pre-cooked and letting John put it together.

With any luck by the time I finish this post Eric will be asleep.

Rainy Day's and Mondays Make Me Happy

The stitches came out today but I still have a bit of recovery time left. I think it will be a while before I can knit and spin to my hearts content. I think I might take out the weaving to vent some of my creative energy. In the mean time I will knit and spin until my hand gets tired. Speaking of knitting, I have lost one of my size 11 wooden Peace knitting needles with the cute lady bugs painted on one end. If you find it please let me know. An  appropriate treat will be given to the finder and returner of the needle.

Now that I am knitting again, albeit slowly. I have 2 commissions that I am working on. The first is a gray scarf in the Uncle Harry pattern in grey. I have a half a skein left on this one. The other is a custom made hat. The customer choose some of my hand spun yarn and gave me a picture of what she wants the hat to look like. The brim is almost done on that one.

I like to make the in person delivery's in very busy places like Starbucks. Today while I was sitting there trying to read my summer 2011 edition of Spin Off, while waiting for the person to show up, I had at least 5 people come and join me at the table and another stop by to tell me how much he liked my knitting. I felt like my knitting was an opener that allowed people to feel comfortable.

The shawl I was piecing together for someone in Tucson was delivered today. I must of done a pretty good job on it. Even though she knit the panels, she could not find the seam lines. This made me very happy By the way after 1 1/2 hours I am only 4 paragraphs into the article.

Well it is time to consider sleep and I hope that Eric is on the same wave length that I am on this one.

Spinning Post Hand Surgery

Ok, so sometimes I am a little slow to figure things out. Take spinning after hand surgery. I went straight for the soft and very fluffy alpaca. This was a big mistake in so many ways. I struggled with it all week, all I can say is the post surgery alpaca looks a lot different from the pre-surgery spinning of the same fiber. I really felt the need to spin so I pick up a different spindle with a Phat sample of merino on it. I could not believe the difference. It was so much easier to spin and ply. So my recommendation on spinning post hand surgery is to go to something like merino. Also expect to look a lot like new spinning.

I am on the second skein of my first post surgery scarf and that is going slow too. I am into the second week and only a little past the half way mark. I feel like a new and very slow knitter. For the first time on a long time I have to think about what my hands are doing. I have had to start following the needles visually too. I guess I have lost some muscle memory or at the very least my hand is moving differently.

Tomorrow I get the stitches out. I think to celebrate I will make some kind of homemade dinner. Well it is now 10 and I have a busy day planed for tomorrow so it's time to say good night.

Saturday

Well it was a second almost all nighter with Eric last night. A good indication that I needed a nap was that I fell asleep while getting my hair cut, yes I trust Mary Lou that much. Let me know if you need her number.  So after a quick trip to the framers market, which did provide the laugh line for the day. "I did not think that milk was dairy." By the baker of all people. I could have not made that one up if I tried. Followed by a quick lunch.

It was nap time. I did manage a nap that was a little less than 2 hours but more than I slept last night. Did I mention that Eric shared his tummy bug. Well this blog is so dis jointed that I think I should call it a night.

Planning, Why Bother?

We are now into our usual pattern. I get an incredible amount of work done, let's use Wednesday for example. I got all the bills paid, caught up on some errands and even found time for myself(this should read was so tired that I could not move). Eric had a nurse visit and his numbers could not have been better.

Now we fast forward to Thursday morning. I had an early morning appointment I could be on time to if the bus was on time. By 6:00am Eric's fever was just shy of 100. I was scrambling for extra help for the day. Emailing the usual list and dealing with the post migraine headache. I was actually thankful that I could skip the morning appointment and will have to reschedule it. Eric's fever broke by early evening. So silly me was planning on going to hang out with friends. Eric seemed to settle in very easy this evening. Then the eyrping started. Did I mention I successfully kept my stitches dry. Yeah me!

I am now 5 loads of laundry behind. Eric is on pedilyte. I am blogging on my pod. By the way one of the new engines on Thomas the tank has glasses now, that was just a random thought. To my friends hang in there, I hope to resurface soon.

More Progress

Each day my hand is feeling better, although there is still a bruise covering almost the whole back of my hand. I still can not do much. I can't get my hand wet yet so no cooking, cleaning or general housework. I have been able to sort through a lot of paperwork and even though its only Tuesday I have made some large deposits to the recycling bin. I wonder if I can fill it up again this week.

I did manage to get to class today for the first time this year. The stars must have been aligned. I even shopped for dinner. Just in case you were wondering a loaf of bread, corned beef, potato salad and coleslaw. Remember I still can not cook so John made the sandwiches. We are in kiss mode right now.

I have started knitting again and have managed to knit about 5 inches in length on a 6 inch wide scarf. I stop when my hand gets tired usually after a row or two.

I have started walking again and today I doubled what I did yesterday. Don't get to excited though it still is not much but it is a start. Well it is time to say good night because I am really tired.

Join Team Sjogren's

Did you make a New Year's resolution to become more physically fit, be more supportive of your family, or to make a difference? Well you can meet all of your goals for the New Year by joining Team Sjögren's is a marathon training program designed to help you prepare to walk or run in a marathon, (26.2 miles) or half-marathon (13.1 miles). While in the program you are provided with support and training mechanisms all while helping to raise awareness and crucial funds towards research into a cure for Sjögren's. This year, we will be returning to Nashville to participate in the Country Music Marathon & 1/2 Martahon on April 28th, 2012. Reasons why people join Team Sjögren's: TO RUN IN HONOR OF SJÖGREN'S PATIENTS OR THEMSELVES TO RAISE AWARENESS FOR SJÖGREN'S TO HAVE THE CHANCE TO SHARE YOUR STORY TO GET PHYSICALLY FIT & LOSE WEIGHT TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE TO MEET YOUR GOALS FOR THE NEW YEAR Just imagine how it will feel to cross that finish line knowing that you helped raise awareness and funds for Sjögren's research . For more information on Team Sjögren's and this amazing experience, contact Cynthia Williamson at 800-475-6473 ext 205 or cwilliamson@sjogrens.org We Run in Honor of the 4 Million Americans with Sjögren's... We Are Team Sjögren's!!!

Please help me and other people with Sjogrens. You can make a diffrence.

A Breif Update

We have been busy enjoying family time. We still have Teri for a few more days, yeah happy dance. Eric starts back to school tomorrow. We will see if the doctor can fix my thumb on Thursday. This not knitting thing is driving me nuts. I did not realize how much I depend on my yarn to keep my life in balance. Spinning is going very slow too, I can do it a maximum of 30 minutes a day before the thumb acts up.  John will go back to work on Monday. Well I have a busy day planed for tomorrow. Please enjoy your families.