Ouch!!!

I had a very busy day planned. I had filled the laundry room knee high after having very little laundry for the past couple of days. Then I decided to take part in the very difficult sport of walking while carrying my knitting in one hand and the rest of my juice in the other. I was less than 1 foot away from my goal. So close to putting my feet up for 15 minutes and knitting before doing more laundry.

Then it happened. There was a very loud pop and my left leg gave out from under me. I fell forward straight on to the couch. The pain was at 10+ on a scale of 1 to 10. I could not scream because Eric was just feet away doing his morning percussion treatment. I only spilled a few drops of cranberry juice on the brown carpet, thank goodness it does not show. My yarn on the other hand unraveled all over the place.

I managed to pull myself into a some what composed position on the couch. With no pod in hand, a fairly new aide for Eric and John at the back of the house there was nothing to do but wait for John and try to will the pain away.

Willing the pain away was not working very well. This being Easter Sunday, my big decision was to choose between urgent care and the emergency room. We decided on urgent care.

My next big decision was how are we going to manage with Eric in his chair and me not able to walk. I knew that I did not want to call my friend Lisa, because it was Easter Sunday. Teri was a whole day away. I was in the middle of going through my list when Lisa called and said that she would be here in 20 minutes.

Then it was off to urgent care. The good news was that there were no broken bones. The bad news is that I may have torn a ligament or tendon. So my leg was immobilized and we came home. We as in John will get me into an orthopedic doctor as soon as we can get an appointment.

In the mean time John will be doing double duty with Eric and I. Plus he will have to run the house and do all the driving. Did I mention I can't drive for a few weeks? So if you can do anything to help John through this I would be very grateful.

I will keep you posted on how things are going. If you would like me at any activity please call me and arrange to pick me up. Thanks in advance for your patience during this very difficult time for us.

A Little Too Busy

I know it has been awhile since my last blog post. We have been very busy since then. The antibiotic that Eric is taking for his LRI gave him a thrush infection. The good news is that I now know what to look for and we got him on an anti fungal before we landed up at the hospital. Score one for me.  I have had a lot of long nights in the past week so I am very glad that everyone slept through the night.

While I have been sitting with Eric, I have been getting a lot of knitting done. With the exception of the finishing work I have gotten 3 projects finished in 3 days. I have my knitting mojo back which has come at a perfect time. There is another fundraiser for Eric's Taglit Program coming up. I am using this as an opportunity to use up a lot of cotton, rayon and sock yarn from the what was I thinking drawers. If I can keep up this pace I will be able to reorganize my primary stash and possibly bring one box of yarn out of the garage in the coming week.

It has been firmed up that I will be teaching 2 classes at Eric's summer program. One will be a weaving class. This means that all my little scraps of yarn will go towards that project. The other is making a beaded bracelet. I think I will be working with the younger group of high school students.

I have also decided that it is time for a new lounge chair by the pool. The one we bought in 1995 is getting too hard to sleep on. We have only had it for 18 years and I was not ready to part with it. So we will keep that one and buy 1 new one for the purpose of napping. It's time to start looking for the sales. I was so close to buying one at the end of last summer but held off, darn I really missed that call.

Eric's aide is almost done, so it is time to end this blog and get back to work. Have a great day everyone.

Happy Passover

I would like to wish everyone a Happy Passover. If you happen to celebrate Easter, please enjoy your holiday too. I think. With that out of the way. Eric has a LRI and with no day program tomorrow the best we can hope for is a Wednesday back to everything day. I am mostly over the cold that Eric shared with me. Although the flare up has started.

I did manifest destiny shopping for the holidays today. Yes just 6 hours before the start of Passover I was at Safeway looking for the things I needed for Passover. The result is that I bought a lot less, do to the fact most of my favorites were gone. Along with 2 of the 4 special tables. So no Passover coffee cake for breakfast this year. John said that it was probably healthier that way. My favorite macaroons and egg kichel cookies were gone too. I guess we will eat a fairly normal diet this week sans the leavened items.

I will be modifying our holiday dinner this year. With Eric sick and just the 2 of us eating we will not be doing a Seder. However I will still take time to read the Hagadah. Yes I think that was where we were at last year at this time too. I did however make charossets with John's help. Although he said that he would deny that he took Teri's job from her. I have also made a roast with potatoes, carrots onion and celery. John is getting so good in the kitchen, he now knows what size to cut the vegetables for a particular dish. I love spending time in the kitchen with John, he has brought the fun back to cooking. He on the other hand thinks I just like to make more messes.

In the I can't believe that it actually happened category. Teri's shawl is now in the hands of the post office. I also mailed another package today, I could not believe that the postage cost more then the yarn costs to knit my portion of a memorial quilt. This has got to be one for the books.

Well it is time to go take some yarn off the spinning wheel before dinner.

Teri's Shawl is Done.

It has been 3 days since I last blogged and guess what? Eric got a head cold that morphed into a sinus thing. So tonight I tried a little sinus massage to see if that works. We have just been trying to keep up with laundry and Eric's needs. Yes, this week it was a losing battle. We are hoping for a projected day of Monday for Eric to get back to his schedule.

The Big News of the week is that Teri's shawlette of hand spun natural black baby alpaca is packed and ready to ship. The above picture is the full shawl. This was taken on the patio table. I tried to capture some of the pattern in the second picture. Even in full day light I find solid black hard to photograph.

Well it is getting late and I am really hoping that Eric will sleep tonight. If not I will try to finish the laundry tonight. Wish me luck.

Day 3 of Very Little Sleep

I would like to let everyone know that Eric had another bad night last night. That being said he has seemed to turn the corner late this morning. He is now back on formula, currently at 20 mils per hour. When I get him up to 30 I hope to call it a night. Heaven knows we all need a little sleep, caffeine only goes so far.

John sent me out shoe shopping today. I think I needed a little break from the very long days. So I am down 1 shoe size and 1 width since November. I did manage to find 1 tall pair of shoes. 1 medium heel pair and 1 kitten heel pair. The only thing I did not find were some Ariat sandals, may be later in the spring or at the western store.  It was a lot harder to find shoes that I did not slip through.

I would like to thank the large cosmetic company's for pairing down their product lines. Because I could not find what I usually buy and like at gift time, I saved a heap of money on product that I would have bought to get the "free" gift sets. I really do understand the need to get back to the basics or the bread and butter for the lines to save money and increase profits in this down economy. I do personally think that it will cost them customers in the present and future.

I did cast off Teri's little black baby alpaca shawl tonight. I had 24 inches of yarn left over that I will save for repairs. I think I cut it pretty darn close. I have a few ends to weave in before I take some pictures. Of course I am showing it off at guild tomorrow then letting Lisa take a look before I mail it off. I am almost ready to check that off my long term to do list. Yeah!!!

Well it is time to go check in on Eric. Also there is a slim possibility that I can go to bed tonight.

I Could Use a Slower Pace

I was all set to blog last night when the wild eyrping started. So let me back up a few hours.
Most of Monday was spent resting and napping because Eric had a really bad night Sunday too.
 I started the final skein on Teri's shawl, silk-moon-crescent-shawlette. I currently stand at 130 rows knit, with 6 of those rows knit last night. Please remember that the patterns first few rows are 3 stitches each, which morph to 9 before the real adding starts. the increases are 2 stitches every other row. Plus a mega increase every 10th row. So I am well beyond 300 stitches per row right now. It is so soft and squishy that I might just have to spin some baby alpaca and knit my own.

Most of last night and today was spent with Eric. I got caught up on laundry when Eric dozed for a few minutes at a time. I am running on caffeine and chocolate plus the healthy meals that John is cooking. I am knitting a charity scarf in Eric's room, I love the yarn, but hate the color so I want to get it off my needles asap so I can start something new.

I managed to get to Trader Joe's to pick up the ingredients for dinner. John and I put it together and we will eat as soon as Eric is through with thump.

The things I need to accomplish before Thursday are getting a new pair of summer heels. Its really awful when I shrink out of everything in one clothing category at once. This time it was shoes. Also make a few more stitch markers and earrings. If Eric sleeps tonight maybe he can help with making the jewelry and stitch markers tomorrow. Wish me luck.

Keeping Out of Trouble

The longer that John is retired the more we seem to be doing. We worked together on Thursday and Friday to clean house for a party and get the jump on passover cleaning. About all we have to do is clean the stove and polish the cabinets. John and I make a great team. I also got some spinning done and a few more rows of Teri's shawl done.

Today I walked with a friend at the walk for the cure. It was no very well organized, but we had a great time anyway and plan to do it next year. I had 9,000 of my 10,000 daily steps done before lunch today. I am also over 10,500 steps for the day so I am I a roll. I thought I would have some energy after the walk to buy some new summer shoes, since I have shrunk out of all of mine. Can you believe that I lost weight in my feet? There is a little bit of a need to rush this, because all my pants are getting longer again. Even the new ones. YEAH!!!

You will notice a very big jump in my counter as I have finally logged over 1000 more rows to my One Million Row Challenge. Most of it went to fundraising for Eric's day program so they could plant a garden. If I have not mentioned it before, we did make our goal.

I am still a little to tired to tackle the chores. John and I will get them out of the way early tomorrow. Well Eric's aide is here so it is time to get things moving.

A Short Catch Up

It has been a busy couple of days around here. The days have been long and the results are amazing despite Eric not sleeping well.

Tuesday was a day full of appointments. Followed by an afternoon of making jewelry and packing up for Wednesday.

Yesterday was a big day for Eric's Day program, the Taglit group. The fund raiser was to try to earn enough money to fund the garden and nutrition program. The very good news is that the goal was achieved. There are still a few plants and hand knit cotton soap bags available. So Just drop by the JCC between 8 am and 3 pm. Monday through Friday.  Stop by the front desk and say that you would like to buy a plant or a soap bag to support the Taglit program.  Sixty three items left my stash of handmade items to help the cause. Just think about how much yarn was used from my stash.

This means I have a chance to create more items and will have a lot of room for them. My to do list will  go as follows:

1. Teri's shawl ( a home project ). 1 1/2 skeins to go.
2. Project Gratitude scarfs ( my on the go project )
3. Teri's queen size blanket that I started her 1L year. This project has gone a little slower than I would have liked. Yes Teri has finished 3 years of law school and passed the California Bar. But in my defense I did finish the pair of socks that I started when Teri and I were looking at law schools. Yes a very poor defense. ( a dining room table project ) 2/3 left to knit.
4. Some things for me that I have wanted to knit for me.
5. Adding some more shawls to my inventory. ( knitting with girls friends)
6. Knitting a few different style hats.
7. Make some more pretty jewelry and possibly make some shawl pins.
8. To card some of my own batts.
9. Type up and take photo's of new pattern designs.
10. Finish a few new designs.
11.  Last but not least to find some time to spin.

Since I spent the entire day at the Tucson JCC yesterday house cleaning started at 6 am today. I am so lucky that John did the windows and all of the polishing. This let me do the laundry and other work that I needed to do. I got the last skein of Yarn for Teri's shawl wound, but I was much to tired to knit today. Tomorrow will be full of cooking and cleaning. Since Eric is asleep I think I will end the blog post here tonight.

Busy

It was another busy day around here, with no stop action. The only time I had to sit was in class, making earrings and blogging. Everyting is just about ready to go to the JCC tommrow from 10 to  2. . I just have a few things to tag so back to work I go. TTFN.

A Very Busy Day

Well after another long night with Eric, it was nap time this morning when he went to his day program. After a few hours of really deep slumber it was caffeine with sugar time. After that kicked in, I spent the next 2 1/2 hours cleaning and throwing.  Finding a few things I needed but a lot that I did not. At least 4 loads went out to the recycling barrel today. Thank goodness the trash company emptied it this morning or it would have over flowed and they just don't like that. I even inspired John to add to his to do list getting rid of papers we don't need. He now has to keep up with me in the cleaning.

 After being married for so long I never thought it would happen. John has always been the neat organized one. I come from generations of pack rats. Keeping everything because you never know when you will need this gizmo or that empty jar. I am now finding that the neater and less cluttered the house is the more time I have to craft. Plus it takes me a lot less time to find things. I have more free time too.  I have not told John this yet but he is right and has been right all along.

I also had time for some finishing work today. I wove in and trimmed all the loose yarn. When I manage to get everything tagged and photographed I can add over 1,000 rows to my 1 Million Row Challenge.

I did find time this afternoon to start making the earrings for Wednesday. So far 4 pairs are finished. Since I will not have time to make all the earrings that I had hoped to, I will be adding a new component to Wednesdays fundraiser for Taglit. For a donation of $25.00 to the Taglit Day program, I will make you a custom pair of earrings on the spot. You will get to choose the components and no one else will have anything like it. So be sure to stop by the Tucson JCC on Wednesday from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. There will also be plants for sale, along with Mothers Day Soap Bags, greeting cards and various hand made items. The majority of the money will help pay for the gardening and nutrition project. Any left over money will be used to cover things that the state does not cover. There is also a wish list of things that the program needs. For cash donations use this link. You can choose other and write Taglit in the box below.

Well there have been a couple of long days in a row. So hopefully Eric will sleep tonight or I will start the day with caffeine.

A Pain in the Arm

I have been having trouble with a sore shoulder for the past week or so. I have had pain to the point of tears. I have tried ice, massage and anything I could think of or find on line. I have been doing a lot of crocheting for the past 2 weeks. I mean massive amounts by my standards. Well really about a gallon of yarn. I have been making useful objects for a fundraiser. I do crochet faster than I knit so, I thought I would get more done. Until tonight I did not realize the cost was the unbearable pain in my right arm that would not go away.

So you might be wondering how I came up with this answer? That was not found on the web. I had originally thought it was moving wrong one night,when Eric was having a rough night. Wrong. After crocheting various coasters and wash cloths today. I decided to pick up my knitting needles which have not been in use for 2 weeks. Yes about when the problem started. After just 2 hours of knitting the pain in my shoulder and upper arm was reduced by 50%, which is huge.

I just managed to do a solo change of Eric for the first time in a week and a half. So those of you who know me well. You have a new job. If I complain of upper arm pain ask me If I have been using a crochet hook? If the answer is yes just remind me how silly I am being.

Thanks for listening. Most of you have probably figured this out already and don't need the post. It’s just a reminder to me that I do have limitations. Did I mention how much I hate limitations? Well that is a blog post in itself.

Can You Donate Your Spare Change?

Eric uses the services of United Cerebral Palsy of Southern Arizona, UCPSA for short.  Since before I hurt my back oh so last century they provided rehab services for Eric. Since I have hurt my back and can no longer lift, they provide attendant care to help Eric with the things that I can no longer do for him, such as dressing, transfers and personal care. We also rely on them for respite services so John and I can have some couple time. With out the help of the wonderful people at UCPSA, Eric probably would not be living at home now.

Since we have been with them a very long time let me tell you what they have done for us recently. When Teri graduated Law School and got sworn into the California Bar, they provided round the clock care so we could both see Teri accomplish these wonderful things. We usually just do the parent thing with Teri one at a time. Eric's case Manager Lisa thought we should both be there for those 2 special occasions. Lisa moved heaven and Earth to make that happen. When Teri need help back in July and I was gone for a week they helped John get through the week.

For the the past several years the state of Arizona has cut back on the money they pay to providers such as UCPSA. Here is where the simply wonderful people at Circle K come in. On their counters they have canisters for spare change. I know we all have spare change laying around the house and in car. What I am asking you to do is gather the spare change from your car and drop it in the canister when you drive by Circle K. Go through the couch cushions and old purses. We all know that we are all guilty of this, and since you were not using the money anyway why not drop it off at Circle K.  That jar of pennies, nickles and dimes that you pull out of your pocket or wallet would make a good donation too. That spare change laying around in your desk would work too. The canister is right on the counter. You can say hi and say that I told you about the canisters or you can sneak in and just drop it off.

Please don't worry that it is only a few coins. A few coins from a few hundred people really add up.  With Washington at odds with one another right now we don't know if this vital service will be trimmed further.  So please do you part and drop that spare change off a Circle K.  There are over a million people who live in Southern Arizona, just think what we could do if we all dropped off our spare change at Circle K.

If you live outside of the Southern Arizona area and would still like to help here is the link to Support UCPSA.

Please feel free to pass this on to friends and family. If you can post this blog at work please do so, but ask first. Feel free to tweet,  face book or use any social media the link to this blog too. We as a family would like to thank you in advance for all your support.

Full disclosure time. I am not employee of UCPSA or Circle K or receiving any compensation for this blog post. All money raised by Circle K  will go to UCPSA.  For the foreseeable future Eric will continue to receive services from UCPSA.

Stash Down

Yes, the title is right. About 30 skeins of yarn left the house today. No not bare naked yarn, that would be just silly. I modified the knit along of a few months back to make it more efficient to knit. This is a very good thing, because 30 finished Soap Bags with I-cord ties left the house today.  I tried to get them all in the picture. They went to the Tucson JCC Taglit Program for a Mother's Day fundraiser this coming Wednesday. We will be right outside the front door. There will also be plants, greeting cards, and earrings for sale. This will fund the Taglit garden project.

In case you were not aware of the Taglit program, I will tell you a little about it and what it means to our family. The Taglit program that Eric goes to is Monday through Friday during the Day. The young adults range in age from 18 up to the low 30's.  Eric gets to hang out with his friends, some of them from as far back as pre-school when they were 4. He also has friends that he went to school and new friends too. They hang out, go on field trips, do community service, work on life skills and have a great time doing it. Eric is learning to ride a tricycle, which is a big wow to us. He also get to go swimming once a week. We on the other hand get a break from the non-stop care and attention Eric requires daily.

Even before the sequester hit money was tight for the extras the young adults like to do. This is where the fund raisers come in. The sale gives the young adults life skills, raises much needed cash and gives them a chance to show off the greeting cards they have designed. With the soap bags they will be doing the finishing work by weaving in the I-cord and putting in the soap. Lastly they will be tagging the bags for sale. Eric hopes to see you there on Wednesday.

Inches Away

My body has decided to shed a few more inches this week. Some in the usual places, 3 shirts are now to big and headed for the charity pile this week. I am trying to shrink a few pairs of pants by putting them in the dryer on low until they are mostly dry. I hope that this works.

The one area that got me though is my feet. I was not expecting them to slim down too. The general conscience is that our feet get wider as we age. Not mine. The summer shoes I bought in November at the sales were a perfect fit when I bought them. Now they are just too wide and I slide right through them. I want to scream no fair. I was really enjoying wearing a B width shoe. The reason is simple; everything comes in a B width. It is the industry standard. I will go along with my feet, but my only hope is that I do not go down to a AAA width again. With my high arch and narrow feet, let’s just say shoe shopping is not quite as fun. You can add as many funny symbols as you would like to here.

Just to remind everyone, I am not dieting. I am making life style changes. My lunch and dinner plates are now 7 to 9 inches across with a useable area of 5 to 7 inches. As opposed to the usual dinner plate size of 12 to 14 inches across with a usable area of 10 to 12 inches. Even if I pile my plate high there is much less food at meal times. I am not an angle when it comes to sweets and bread my 2 down falls, but I try to hold it in moderation. I no longer use anything with High Fructose Corn Syrup, Aspartame or other artificial sweeteners.

We are also trying to eat more real and whole foods. We are using less prepared and ready to cook or made items. This works out well with John being retired. We do not have to rely on my hands to decide what we are going to eat on any given day. John is always there to peel the carrots at lunch and chop the celery too. He is great at opening cans too. John is becoming quite an accomplished souse chef, he is learning quite fast on how the vegetables need to be cut and chopped for each dish. This results in less eating out which not only saves calories, but we think we are eating better too.

I also try to get 10,000 to 12,000 steps per day. Although on days like today when I did not get Eric down until 11:00 pm last night and was up again at 4:00 with him this does not happen. My sad total today was 3,300 steps or about 1.5 miles verses yesterdays 7,500 or about 3.75 miles. I also try to thrown in an hour or so of house cleaning a day. I have no regular schedule, but instead look around to find the area that needs to be cleaned most. Yes, house cleaning is enough exercise for me right now to avoid the gym.

Well it is time to call it a night. Please enjoy your families.

The Lessor Evil

I am not sure which I dislike more. A. When Eric is sick. B. When I am flared up. or C. Taxes. All the items are on my plate right now. Since Eric is asleep right Now, I will try to catch a few hours.

What Not To Do

Today was a hard lesson on what not to do. Last week while Eric was sick, I strained some muscles in my right shoulder. Yes, the shoulder has been sore and I have been trying to give it a break. I have cut back on knitting and using my right arm. I have been doing  my range of motion to loosen up the muscles. I even tried a massage on Saturday. So I do not know what ever possessed me at 8:00 am to do over 2 hours of cleaning, polishing furniture, doing 7 loads of laundry, and changing all the beds. Did I mention that I cleaned and polished my spinning wheel too. I also got Roomba to do odd jobs around the house.

By the time lunchtime rolled around it was starting to hurt. By 1:00pm I was in tears and giving myself a stern lecture of the value of slowing down a bit. I must be a very slow learner because by 2:30 I was back cleaning. My arm did not let me do much, I could not even fold the laundry.  So I went through old mail and recycled most of it. I also did some picking up and putting things away.

Thanks goodness John was home to help me make dinner. He opened all the cans, and jars. He also sliced the chicken sausage. The only thing I could do on my own was cook the sausage, skim the broth and add the frozen vegetables. My wonderful husband also served and cleaned up after dinner.

So tomorrow I will try to take it easy on my arm, but still make headway in the house. If you see John please tell him you heard it through the grape vine that he did a wonderful job today. Thanks.

Catch US if You Can

Eric and I had a very busy weekend. We started out Saturday morning with a friend and her son. We went to the Mix Fm Women's Fair just up the street. There was just everything there. A great time was had by all. We were in such a good mood that we decided to have Frost for lunch. As an occasional treat we decided that it was a very good lunch. Frost has an incredible new sorbet flavor called Green Apple. It is the flavor of the month so please go in before the end of March to try the green apple sorbet you will not be disappointed.

That wore Eric and I out so while Eric napped I did some house work until I could not keep my eyes open. I landed up taking a 2 hour nap. Followed by dinner out with John at Beyond Bread. I had just enough sun to get an extra mile of walking in before sunset. By the way the sunset was very beautiful yesterday too.

Today Eric and I pulled a fast one on John. We got him to go to Phoenix, to shop at the Mills Mall off of I-10 at the Baseline exit. Our main mission was getting John to buy a new pair of shoes. We had that done and then some before lunch. The and some was that he actually bought 2 pair of shoes. We then added steps to our step count for the day by walking around the mall. The mall was not as robust as it was last time we went several years ago. There were at least 12 empty shops. They added an aquarium to the mall with took up what would be an empty row of shops.

After a quick lunch it was off to IKEA, because John had never gone. All I can say is that it was very crowded today. John drove home while I caught up on my knitting. I am down to the last 2 of the 30 special order on soap sacks.

Well I am starting to fall asleep at the key board so it is time to call it a night.

Random Life Events

There are just some activities that are much better to do with Teri. Yesterday I went to the new Lush store in Tucson. The store seemed to be about a third of the size of the one in San Jose, where I shop with Teri. I think I really needed Teri there.  If you ever want to have a great time just try shopping with Teri.

Some times it is very hard to have a child leave home. I miss her at odd moments. That being said, she has blossomed into a very wonderful young woman. She is working very hard to get her legal career off the ground. This leaves me proud and in awe of her at the same time. In my heart I know that she will soon have the job of her dreams, its just those darn speed bumps called the economy that get in the way.

Me on the other hand have a bad case of what I like to call Eric Shoulder, a repetitive injury from moving Eric very fast when he is coughing, chocking or in need of urgent intervention. My knitters elbow is acting up a bit from knitting an average of 120 rows a day for a few days. I must get this latest charity project out of the way so I can give my poor right arm a break.  The break will consist of crocheting some what nots and making earrings.

Well it is going to be a busy day tomorrow, so I am calling it a night.

A Wonderful Day

Today was a good day all around. This morning the stitches came out. I can not tell you how wonderful that feels. To celebrate I tried to stop by a yarn store for a treat ,but mercifully they were closed. I have knit through enough yarn that I can take some out of the garage and put it away in the house.

 Eric is well enough to go to his program tomorrow. I am still knitting at a good clip. I only have 6 more soap bags to knit for the fund raiser. Then I will use the scrap bag to make What Nots.

Whole foods had some oranges that I like in stock today. They also had some beets for tomorrows beet salad. I also picked up some of the chicken we liked.

So I am ending this short update on a very good note.

Getting Better

Well Eric is back to eating, so one more day home and he will make it to program 2 days this week. YEAH!!!! He is feeling much better and has not spent the whole day sleeping. He has a little more energy today.

Eric's Day program will be having a plant and craft sale on March 13, 2013. More details to come. They will be selling some plants they have grown. Also arts and crafts. I need to find out if they will be selling their greeting card packs also.  I am making soap bags, which the Taglit group will do the final assembly on. Since it is spring I will be making a lot of cotton things. There will also be some new earrings too. Since I still have 8 more soap bags to knit, it is time to go back to knitting. As usual 100% of the sale price will go to the Taglit Day Program at the Tucson JCC.  I will not be taking any money away from the program for supplies.

Please take the time to enjoy your families.

Eric is still sick.

We did manage to get Eric back on food today. It was a long slow process and took all day to get in a little over 200 calories into him. He still has the fever. So Eric will still be home tomorrow.  So you know where to find me most of the day.

I also had a very productive day and did a lot of knitting. Not much else got done today. Well its getting late and its time to call it a day.

On The Mend

Eric and I are on the mend. Neither of us is at 100% yet. I am about 80% so I did some catch up around the house. I was going to limit myself to 1 hour of cleaning but that slid out to 1 1/2 of cleaning. Then I was to tired to do anything but knit. I worked on What Knots, which are made of larger scraps of cotton yarn. I make odd sized and shaped wash cloths, coasters, and small facial scrubs to name a few. The whole idea is just to have fun making different shapes in lots of different colors and patterns. They are knit and crocheted.  I am finding it a nice interlude before I finish the last 10 soap bags for a fund raiser. So far I have finished 20 soap bags so I am 2/3's of the way through. Another Operation Gratitude scarf got finished tonight too.

Since Eric is going to be home again tomorrow I think I will call it a night. Also if you happen to bump into John please feel free to tell him that you heard it through the grape vine that he did a wonderful job taking care of both of us and the house.

Sort of a Slow Week

After our whirl wind weekend things took a little turn that I was was only half expecting. I managed to acquire Eric's cold and get over it in time for the first dental appointment of the week.  That one went fairly smoothly. Wednesday I had more dental surgery, which was not as bad as last time. It still knocked me for a loop.

I was still fairly out of it when we got snow at the house on Wednesday. I really enjoyed looking at our snow. I know those of you in snow country will be shaking your heads at this silly desert southwest girl. I my defence we have not gotten 1 inch of snow at the house since our newly minted lawyer was in elementary school. Yes, it has been a couple of years. When I have time I will down load my camera and i-pod and post some pictures including that of my little snowman.

I would like to thank Nancy G. for picking me up so I could go to the guild meeting. I was not quite up to driving yesterday. I would also like to thank Lisa and John for keeping things running smoothly on the Eric front. I was not up to dealing with anything on the Eric front for most of the week. John also did a great job running the house and getting meals on the table.

Needless to say not much work got done around the house this week. I am planning short catch up bursts through out the weekend and into next week. Speaking of cleaning I hear the washer calling my name so it is time to get back to work. Have a wonderful weekend and enjoy your families.

A Wirlwind Weekend

It has been a very busy weekend around here. Eric is feeling better and there was non-stop action that included Eric and a friend going to a mad science demo at Bookman's, a party for John and I. And that was just yesterday. Today was house work and laundry, followed by shopping at Trader Joe's with Eric. I had only planned to get a few things so I got a basket for Eric's lap, lets just say that it took a regular basket to get to the car. Eric also thought it was funny not to let me have the basket when it came time to hand it to the cashier.

It was such a nice day that I took Eric to La Encantia to walk. I pushed Eric around the mall for 1 1/2 hours. Did you know that most exercise programs give you bonus points for pushing a wheelchair. Even though it has wheels it can be cumbersome to push. It is just the sheer size of the chair plus the weight ( 90 pounds for the chair, 95 pounds for Eric, 20 pounds for the backpack for emergencies, 5 pounds for the pump and formula bag which is a whooping 210 pounds before any shopping) no wonder they give bonus points. Just in case it happens to you, if the elevator at La Encantia breaks down you don't have to do what Eric and I did. We left the upstairs section of the mall went to the parking lot, found the sidewalk and did a very controlled walk down a very steep hill ( no it was not a 2 to 3 % grade of ADA compliance but the usual steep foothill incline. The FYI is that if the elevator is broken you are allowed to use the freight elevator at the mid point in the mall. It is down the same hallway as the bathrooms on the upper level. It is accessed through the mall concierge desk on the bottom level. After 6 pm security is suppose to get you through.

I did manage to lose the same knitting needle for the 2nd time in two weeks. I think it is tired of knitting soap holder bags for Mother's Day. I am at the half way mark in the knitting project. I hope to find it soon. in the meantime I have to remember to put a new set of needles in my emergency knitting bag.

Well the day appears to be catching up with me so it is time to end this post.

A Solution Has Been Found

I have found a solution to my i-cord problem. The i-cord was taking me longer to knit than the soap bags. So I am using this Spool Knitter by Clover. I like the way it turns so there is not as much fumbling that goes on with this. It has been taking me 5 to 6 hours to make the i-cord using 2 dpn's. With the spool knitter I got 2 i-cords finished while watching TV tonight. This is a very good thing because I have at least 24 soap bags to make and I only have 8 completely finished. Yes I know that they look different but will function the same in the end.

In other news I did finish spinning and washing the last of the alpaca for Teri's shawl. When it is dry I thing I will go off somewhere to knit for a few hours to get it finished. All that is left to do after that is give the spinning wheel a good cleaning and a bit of polish.

Eric is on the mend and should be out of the house by Monday. We only have post viral asthma to deal with. By far this is the easiest part of the cold to deal with. Since he should sleep for the next 5 or 6 hours I think I will call it a night.

Same Old, Same Old

Eric has gotten the crud's again. This time a mid range fever and a very sore throat. So needless to say it was a long night. I have found out that this bug lasts 3 to 4 days. So Monday is the soonest I will get Eric out of the house.  Needless to say we are going to reschedule our romantic lunch.

John watched Eric while I checked out the new Joann's store at Oracle and Wetmore. I have to say that it is much better than the store at Roger and Oracle, but still not as nice as the one on the east side of town. For a grand opening I found their shelf's to be a little on the bare side with only one of some items. There was also too much candy lining the only way to the registers. Also is Valentines Day the ideal day to start selling Easter candy?

A whole lot of knitting got done; therefore I must buckle down and get some finishing work done.  Well it's getting late and I am sure that Eric will keep me busy tomorrow.

Another Busy Day

It has come to my attention that newly cleaned floors are more of a magnet for spills than a dirty one. I am also most likely to make a good portion of those spills myself.

I finished spinning and washing the "black baby alpaca" that did not feel quite right and left my hands black. After 4 or 5 washes with clarifying shampoo the dye stopped bleeding out. What I have left is a skein of dark gray alpaca from and older alpaca. It is not going into Teri's shawl because it is the wrong color. I will spin up the last bit of black baby alpaca tomorrow and try to get it washed too. Yarn takes forever to dry in cool damp weather. Yes I will get Teri's shawl done soon.

My knitting mojo was only interrupted by house work today. I have 5 more soap sacks knit up and in various stages of being finished. I will be making i-cord forever on this project. This should give me my first dozen and then only 12 to 18 more to knit. I am burning through yarn at a decent pace.

I also made a decision tonight that will surprise everyone. I have decided to forgo one of my yarn clubs this year in order to work on projects I already have. I will decide next February if I am going to rejoin. This did not take prodding by family members either.

Eric came home from his program today with the cold De jour, this time a sore throat and a fever. I will keep everyone updated. The good news is that I still have a lot of yarn to knit and fibers to spin. So no worries on that front. Since I predict it will be a long day tomorrow, I think I will call it a night.

I Have my Mojo Back..At least for now....

Today was a very productive day all around. I got all my errands done. I did a lot of general picking up. I almost caught up on laundry. You are right of course, I should not have told Eric that I was almost caught up. He went through bibs are a near record rate of 4 bibs in 2 hours. One did not even make it around his neck before he creamed it. Such as life in this house.

I went to go spin today and found all the music gone from my pod. So I played with the settings until I got the music back. It took about 2 hours to load all the music. So no spinning got done. I did however get my knitting mojo back. I am also back in the bad habit of getting the item knit and leaving the finishing work until later. I am sure that the pile will bite me by this weekend. I have 4 soap sacks ready for finishing now and one more on the needles that is almost done.

Did I also mention the 3 scarfs that I know of. Teri's shawl. A couple of hats. Plus project bags all around the house. So the theme of Wednesday through Friday will be knitting to get things finished. I will also tell you that I will not count newly cast on items as UFOs until they are at least a week old.

My goal this week is to knit through as much yarn as possible. To that end I hope to finish all the UFOs that I can. So it is time to catch some shut eye so I will be awake enough to knit tomorrow.

No Snow

Not much got done today. It was one of those unusual days when it was warmer and sunnier in the morning when I dropped Eric off then when I picked him up. The temperature also dropped 5 degrees from the time I left home until the the time I returned home with Eric this afternoon. We drove home through pouring rain. We also had rain and snow on the lower levels of the Catalina's. With all this we did not get any snow. I was so looking forward to making a Tucson style snowman. Think of a snowman between 3 and 6 inches tall. The last time we had enough snow for that Teri was still in elementary school. It was on Easter Sunday and just about every Minister and Priest in Tucson had determined that hell had frozen over.

Don't laugh at the next line if you are from a climate that has a real winter. I was hoping for 1 to 2 inches of snow to shut things down for a while tomorrow. But the weatherman did not come through. They said snow down to 2000 feet and we are just above that at about 2250 feet. Maybe we should have asked his wife.

Well I maybe on car pool duty tomorrow so it's time to call it a night.

10,000 and More

I would like to start off by saying that I got my 10,000 steps in today. Just in case you were interested, that is 5 miles of walking today. Which at my pace takes 1 hour and 40 minutes.

The more was, that I am now caught up on I-cord knitting for the moment. Today I knit 4 different I-cords.  Also, 8 out of 24 soap bags are finished. I am almost caught up on laundry, but pretty please don't let Eric know or he will go out of his way to make more.

I will try to get an earlier start on the blog tomorrow as I have come up with a quick and easy beet salad. I am just to tired to type up the recipe tonight.

Amazaing Math

Since knitting revolves around math, I thought I would take a minute to congratulate mathematician Curtis Cooper from The University of Central Missouri for finding the largest prime number currently know. The number — 2 raised to the 57,885,161 power minus 1 , which results in a prime number 17,425,170 digits long. No I don't think I will take this on as a knitting challenge. the 1 million row challenge is enough for me.

Today was a very slow day for me. I caught up with some friends. Yes I skipped doing laundry today and it will come back to me knee high by morning. I worked on the next fund raiser for Eric's day program. All I can say is that I am way behind in making I-cords. For some reason I would rather knit 40 rows of pattern then a 3 stitch I-cord that is 18 to 24" long. For some reason they seem to take me the same time to knit.

My major accomplishment of the day was 32 minutes of Wii. I told you it was a slow day. Since I might be doing morning car pool tommrow I think I will call it a night.

Laundry Rules

After I blogged last night I ran the dishwasher and started today's laundry. All totaled I did 6 loads of laundry.  All but the one currently in the dryer are all properly dispatched.  Did I mention I have at least 2 full loads for tomorrow already? Can someone suggest to Eric a different occupation then making laundry for me to wash? I also spent an hour organizing things. Does anyone else have a messy monster that creeps out and just leaves random bits in odd piles. If you don't would you like to borrow mine for a while?  I could really use a break from him.  I did also manage to sweep and mop, well actually scooba the kitchen floor today. Less than 8 hours later I spilled yucky stuff on the floor and will set scooba on its rounds again tomorrow.

As for knitting I got a total of 16 rows done or or to sound more impressive 640 stitches. I also got 10 minutes of spinning in. During that time my hands turned black from the so called natural black fiber. I can't wait to finish the skein and hit it will clarifying shampoo to strip out the "natural color" and see what color was actually sent to me. My bet is not black alpaca. And we have already determined that it was not from the first couple of shearings, the fiber is just to course. At this point I see a place mat in its future.

After the 3 hour cleaning spree this morning I was to tired to do much else today. No knitting got done tonight. I need to get more work done tomorrow, but it will be in moderation so I am not so tired at the end of the day.

Sick Boy Day?

It was a very long night with Eric last night. The end result was that he stayed home today and we both napped this morning. Not much got done around the house today no laundry got done which I know I will regret tomorrow.  I was to tired to tackle the serger threading so no sewing got done. No cleaning got done. Yes this is beginning to look like a to do list for tomorrow. So my goal will be to get as much done as fast as possible tomorrow.  I will have an empty house for about 1 1/2 hours tomorrow so the plan is to put on some fast paced music and clean, clean, clean. To that end I will put on a load of laundry and call it a night.

In Catch-up Mode

Everyone is on the mend. Eric and I got a full night’s sleep. Eric is at about 65%, we are hoping one more lay low day and out the door on Monday to his program. So needless to say a whole lot of work got done around the house today, including laundry, shopping, cleaning. Little things like emptying the dishwasher and filling the recycling bin also got done. These are the things I tend to ignore when Eric is sick.

 It looks like I will need to spin the 5th skein of yarn for Teri's shawl. Some how when the rows hit in the 350+ stitches per row the skeins just do not go as far. Since I will be spinning the last of my black alpaca, the shawl might be a little smaller than expected. I am at row 120 and hope to get to the 140 to 150 range so it will be a nice big and cozy shawl for Teri. So on tomorrows list of things to do is to card and spin the last skein. Clean and polish the spinning wheel. Do a through vacuum around the wheel, black alpaca just does not blend well with crème carpet.

 I also plan on trying to re-thread the serger. I made a mistake in thread 3 or 4 and it is just not hooking right. Then it will be off to alter 2 sweat shirts for Eric. The serger will then be put away and the sewing machine will come out to finish the sweat shirts and make a few more pillows for Eric's bed. I will of course hold them until Valentine’s Day so please do not let him in on my little secret.

 
Well I have about 15 minutes of cleaning left to do tonight and I hope to get another full night of sleep under my belt.

Life in Retirement

John retired at the beginning of the month. My assumption is that life would get a little slower. After all we started sharing the chores including car pooling for Eric. Wrong. I am now busier than ever. As a team we are getting more done. We now have to keep track of each others calendars. We still have to time everything around Eric's schedule, but we knew that from the start. We still keep up with our friends and have individual friend time. We are also starting to go out with other couples, although this still revolves around Eric's schedule and respite care. There is a nice balance in life.

What I enjoy most about Johns retirement is that we have more time to spend together. To me its like being back at the beginning of our marriage, but with a few years of experience under our belts.  We will not be doing a lot of traveling like a lot of new retires, the boss aka Eric would have none of that.

Life was good before Johns retirement and now I can say with certainty, that it is even better. To steal a little line from the Robert Browing poem "'Grow old along with me!  The best is yet to be." Each day is a new adventure. With a little more sleep for the both of us, which means for me That I am more alert and getting more detailed things done. Look for more patterns soon.

Well I am off to start another busy day.

Silk Moon Cresecent Shawlette in Black Alpaca

I was working on Teri's shawl tonight. The first row I worked on was an increase row..I added 36 stitches in that particular row. Plus and additional 2 stitches on the 3rd row I knit tonight. It is now taking me 2 hour long shows to knit 3 rows. The 4th skein will be added in tomorrows knitting.  We will see how many rows the next skein of baby alpaca will take me. I hope this will finish the shawl. If not I will spin the 5th and final skein and just go with how ever far it takes me. Yes I only had a pound of alpaca to start with and will not order more of this color for this shawl..Then I will declare the shawl done.

Well it sounds like Eric needs my attention so good night all.

Busy but Good

Well I finally got my new glasses adjusted to perfection thanks to Lloyd Talbot at Lens Crafters at 4545 N. Oracle Road in Tucson. It is just amazing how well I can see in well adjusted glasses. On the drive home I looked at the Catalina's.  The lines and the details were very crisp even below Orange Grove. I can now read the fine print on the coupons in the Sunday paper too.

I was a very busy day with laundry. Today was the day to change all the beds and wash all the towels. The last load will go into the dryer before I go to bed tonight. Not that I will have time to fold it in the morning. Yes, tomorrow is another training day for a new advocate in Eric's day program. Eric and I also had a date, so we went to get his hair cut. There was a little difference of opinion of what constituted long hair on top. All I can say right now is that Eric has a lot of caps to keep his head warm.

I finally got into the kitchen to cook a beef stew. This was my first venture into the kitchen since the tummy bug hit. Other accomplishments today included winding the 4th skein of yarn for Teri's shawl. The next row is my second to last increase row. I only have about 25 rows to go.  Hopefully I will not have to spin the fifth skein as it will involve carding the fiber first.

Well it is time to call it a night.

Spinning Baby Alpaca

I am beginning to think that spinning 4 ounces of baby alpaca in on secession just might have been a bit too much for on sitting. My shoulder is sore, and after a few minutes of range of motion I think I have release most of the tension in my shoulder tonight. That does not mean that it is no longer sore. Quite the opposite, sore with more movement and less funny noises when I move it. Even better news is that the yarn is off the wheel, skeined, washed and has been moved from outside to Eric's bathroom to dry a lot faster. I am hoping that it will be dry enough to wind up by tomorrow. I know it usually takes 2 days to dry on cold damp days, but I can at least hope. By the way this is skein number 4 for Teri's shawl.

Just in case you wanted some of this super soft and squashy alpaca for your self here is a link to NorthStarAlpacas . Did I mention that it spins up like a dream. Just in case you don't spin Maple has some hand spun baby alpaca ready to buy. Also a selection of hand knit items.  Please consider supporting our small family farms.

All this spinning was my treat to myself for taking one dental appointment instead of 4 to do the same amount of work. The good news here is that I don't have to go back for 2 weeks. Even better news, I can still eat and need no pain meds.

Since Eric stayed up until the wee hours of this morning and is now almost asleep having an asthma attack. I think the prudent thing for me to do is to follow suit. So much for my early night.

Goodbye Old Friend

Over the weekend my Kitchen Aide K-5A mixer died. There was that awful noise of gears slipping while I was making some frosting. Today I got confirmation that Kitchen Aide does not make or stock parts for K-5A's anymore. This made me very sad.

I bought K-5A about 35 years ago. I got K-5 before I got married almost right out of high school.  I spent an entire paycheck on K-5A. I would have to say that it was one of the best ways I have ever spent an entire paycheck. It has been a big part of my kitchen since then. K-5A has made birthday cakes, other cakes, numerous wedding cakes and part of every holiday dinner since the late 1970's. I have made bread and cookies too. K-5A did what ever I asked of her.

I guess I will take my knitting money that I had been squirreling away for a new loom and put it towards a new mixer. I can live with out a loom. Yes, I can also live without a replacement mixer but I don't want to. That would mean I would have to go back to mixing, slicing, shredding and what every else I asked K-5A to do by hand. Please believe me that it is much easier to use a mixer to make frosting then it is by hand. Yes it can be done and I would burn more calories, but it would be harder on my joints.

Yes, I forgot to budget for it. After 35 years of faithful service I never thought that she would die. Lesson learned add a small appliance replacement line to my budget in the future. In the mean time with the code K5AFREESHIP I will give free shipping for any item sold in my shop to up my mixer budget. The link for my etsy shop is at the side of my blog. Thanks for listening to me tonight.

I am Still Recovering

I am not quite back to full speed. This bug has really knocked me for a loop. I slept a good part of the day. If you know me well this will tell you where I am on the road to recovery. I have a homemade spice cake with butter creme frosting just sitting on the counter and I really don't want a slice. My joints are still swollen and my rib cage still hurts, so please don't try to make me laugh.

I have been listening to books on tape and knitting when I am awake. I am finishing little odds and ends. I am also writing a pattern out. I figured if I am still liking the pattern on the 6th one, it is time to write it up.

John is doing a wonderful job taking care of Eric and I. This is a very good thing because I am still very low on energy. 2 loads of laundry with help equaled a 2 hour nap for me this afternoon. Well its time to call it a night.

Eric Shared

Eric has shared the tummy bug that he had.  It hit hard and fast last night.  I spent the day in bed trying to recoup. I finished both books on my pod. I will probably spend the day in bed tomorrow too. I started feeling the on set of a flare today  so if I am grumpy for the next few days, all I ask for is a little slack until I am 100%.  

Husbands Beware

Here are my top 6 reasons why your husband should not let you borrow his car. Please remember that this post should not be taken to seriously. So with out further delay.

1. I along with most wife's will adjust your seat. I see no reason why the seat should be all the way back. Now we all know how hard it is to get the seat just right in the first place. I think it should be left in a more forward position, even if I drive your car only on an occasional basis. That explains why I don't always move the seat back.

2. I will adjust your mirrors.  They seem to be adjusted for someone about a foot taller.

3. I will take the dirty car to the car wash. Yes, I know you feel the dirt and grime hold the car together, but I just want to see out the windows. I also know that you feel a dirty car is less prone to have problems.  I also know deep down that you will like the cleaner car.

4. I will return the car with a full tank. As a good friend put it, "now you can't get out of running to the store for that last minute thing." Me I just thought I would be nice.

5. Fear of breakage. Now that I have driven your car I am pretty sure it won't break. Just don't hold it against me that I once drove home from the airport on a flat tire. I really was sure that it sounded like a fan belt was going out. Beside have you driven the roads in this town lately, driving on railroad tracks would be a smoother ride.

6. I will change the radio station. I go by the theory of drivers choice and since you weren't driving, oh well.

If you have any reasons that I left out, please let me know. I know all couples have their quirks.

How did It get to be Wednesday?

We are still in recovery mode from Eric being sick. Not a lot got done around the house today. I was caught up on laundry so I only had 2 loads to do today. I also think the worst of the cold snap is behind us. Although I do find it very curious that Eric was home sick during the cold snaps of the last 2 years.

I have hit row 101 on Teri's shawl and really think that I will have to spin a fourth skein to get the project finished. I should start spinning that tomorrow. I am almost finished with my current hat on the knitting needles. After that one get done the monochromatic one is next.

I also got out to the new Whole Foods store at River and Craycroft. I have never seen that parking lot so full. I do like the way that they transformed the interior of the store. If you have seen the other stores that this replaced you will know instantly what I mean. It is very up-scale with a bakery, the small snacks did seem a bit pricey to me, but then again I am very competent in the kitchen and think nothing of throwing a quick something together. If You are Gluten Free they have a whole lot of little areas although the store for you. The produce section was nice, I really liked the golden beets that they had. The beets made a nice addition to dinner. The wine section appeared to be quite large, but then again someone else will have to drink our share. I could not get very close to the meat or deli counters but they seemed worth another trip back in a week or two when things slow down a bit. I like that they still carry dairy free because a lot of stores are dropping dairy free to go gluten free. Now if we could just reclaim some of the ice cream section and get rid of everything coconut. Yes, I know it is for the Paleo Diet but do you really think cave men ate ice cream?

Well I have to go break apart the ginger and cashew chocolate bark I made for tomorrows guild meeting. I will be there even if Eric is home. John said he will stay with Eric so I can go.

What to do on a Cold Day

We are in the middle of a cold snap. It was in the mid 20's when I woke up this morning and it it a low of -3.5 degrees Centigrade, it just sounds colder that way. I decided it was not the day to take Eric out of the house even for a movie.

I did manage to keep busy and work up a sweat today. I managed to get in 3 1/2 hours of house cleaning. All but 2 loads of laundry done and put away. I was even debating hanging the hang drys out side to see if they would freeze dry tonight, and take less time to dry.  I guess I am not that brave. So it will take a couple of days to dry on the line in the garage.

This afternoon I kept equally busy. I used a drop spindle to spin 3 mini skeins in gray for a custom order. I am looking forward to knitting a monochromatic hat, but fear that I do not have enough shades of gray wool. I check most of my stash, not much gray, but lots of black and white wool. I even got 3 more rows done on Teri's shawl ( this should read that I knit for 1 1/2 hours tonight ), yes the rows take about 30 minutes a row to knit now so it will be slow going from here. I also got the knitting done on a cotton cowl, now I just have to sew up the seam.

I failed to get the serger threaded properly so modifying Eric's sweat shirts will take place tomorrow. Let me know if you want me to write up directions to modify an over the head sweat shirt to fit easier for someone in a wheel chair. I think it might make a nice change up in the blog.

Well its time to go get Eric settled for the night.

2013 the Year of Change

A lot of things are changing in my life right now. Our life is being lived at a different pace from the past. I still need to wrap my head and arms around this year. When I figure out where I am going I will let you know. So far the changes seem positive.

The things I still need to do are:

1. Look at my calendar more often.
2. Become a better communicator.
3. Work out a new routine. Yes my old routine was set aside with the new year. With no new action plan in place.
4. Organize the garage.
5. Organize the sewing room.
6. Get more organized in getting my patterns out of my head, pod and word processing program.
7. Make more to do lists and learn to go through them without getting distracted.
8. Get more projects finished.

There is probably more but it is time to get dinner going.

Queit is Good

It was a very quiet weekend around here. Little odds and ends got done such as the third skein of yarn for Teri's shawl got spun. I will take it off the wheel tomorrow to wash and dry it. I think it might just go straight to the bathroom to dry, we are expecting cold wet weather tomorrow.  Speaking of Teri's shawl the rows are now almost 200 stitches long and 66 rows have been completed. I think it is almost half way done. She wants hers the same size as mine so I will have to lay one on top of the other to be sure.

The Big Event

Our big event of the day was the purchase and insulation of a new printer. This replaced the 7 1/2 year old printer that died earlier this week.  Yes I am very surprised that it took less than a week to purchase a replacement and install it the same day.  John is totally wonderful and full of surprises.

Another Needle Worn Out

I got a lot of knitting done today. Another hat got finished along with a dpn that bit the dust. This is the second dpn that I have worn out in the last 2 months. I guess that I have been doing so many hats that the dpn's are actually wearing out.  Yes I also started another hat. They are my current small project addiction.

I also got another 10 rows done on Teri's shawl. I am up to 130'ish stitches per row. The shawl started out with 9 stitches so good progress is being made. I will have to wind the next skein before I can go on. Which reminds me I need to spin the next skein of yarn for the shawl.

Where Did It Go?

Even though I managed to sleep in until 6:20 this morning, I have no idea where the day went. Although I do have a very long list of things that got done today.

That list includes:
1. Mixed up a bowl of Matzo Balls to cook later in the day.
2.  Driving Eric both ways to his program. Yeah he got out of the house.
3. A quick breakfast followed by a trip to Trader Joe's.
4. Making a 7 1/4 quart pot of chicken soup from scratch. I would like to thank Lisa and Mark for helping consume some of the soup. I did clean up as I went.
5. Lunch with John
6. I hit a few sales and got a few needed items. I also learned that each store has it's own sizing scheme and that no 2 are alike. So hence forth I will go by fit not size. I am finally able to fit into the clothes at Lucy's. Did you know that Lucy's size XL is has the same fit as J.Jill size medium in t-shirts on me? I bet Lucy's is closer to the sizing of way back last century.
7. Scrubbed the metal screen for the exhaust fan over the stove.
8. Got rid of expired coupons. Cut new coupons out.
9. Did one load of laundry and got everything put away. A side note. I did rescue 3 pairs of socks from the odd sock basket.
10. Got in 19 minutes of yesterdays Rose Parade. I also did a little knitting during that time.
11. Ran and emptied the dish washer.
12. Had dinner with John
13. Watched a few old episodes of The Big Bang. Yes more knitting got done.
14. Did some random cleaning.
15. Got a short walk in.

I am sure that I have left a few things off the list. If you want a copy of today's recipes please let me know and I will type them up. Yet I have no idea how it became 10:00 pm and time to call it a night.

Welcome to 2013

My only News Years resolution is to remember to write 2013 on every thing I have to sign and date. I decided not to go after a long list that I will review later in the year to feel bad about. I think daily or weekly to do list are better for me. That being said I was asleep by the time the New Year arrived.

We had a very slow day today.  Only 3 loads of laundry and a little picking up got done. I did start spinning the 3rd skein of yarn for Teri's shawl. One skein of yarn is still drying. With the 1st skein I am 40 rows into the 130 or so rows of the pattern. Did I mention how soft the alpaca is? If it were not promised to my wonderful daughter, I would keep it myself.  I am making it a little larger than the pattern calls for. If you would like to knit along with me I am using the silk-moon-crescent-shawlette by Jaala Spiro Designs. I know the Pattern calls for Noro Silk Garden, but the hand spun alpaca, spun to the same weight is working out well. By the way the shawl does look fantastic in Noro Silk Garden.

When I got tired of working on the solid black shawl for Teri, I started a new scarf in a lighter color. Well sort of, dark purple with a purple and pink carry along. Well I need to go mix up the Matzo Balls for tomorrow night dinner. I will give you the recipe tomorrow.