Tilting

The pile of hats and scarfs is now 2 feet tall and starting to tilt. It's almost time to tag and bag them.

More Changes

More deep cleaning in the garage and Teri's old room. More of my the past left the house too. The bicycle that I bought when I was 13 made its way to Goodwill today along with a few other things. All my fiber is off the floor in Teri's old room. I am closer to getting a workbench into the room. The garage looks a whole lot better.

I have also moved some summer shirts that were too small last summer into my daily shirt rotation. My diet is simple, elimated all artificial sweeteners and high fructose corn syrup. My excersice plan is just as simple. I do more cleaning house,including deep cleaning and more walking. Just keep moving. This works for me,but please check with your personal physician before starting any diet or excersice routine.

Little Things

Today was a day of getting a lot of small things done. Days like this are necessary for the overall project, but are not as satisfying as getting lots accomplished. I think slower days are sometimes good for my body too.

3+3

Three boxes plus a pair of roller skates left for Goodwill today. Thee bags of recycling let the house too. Eric and I spent most of the day recouping from yesterday.

I have also come to the conclusion that engineers and artists look at mass in different ways. This is especially true when it come to de-cluttering and reorganization of the household.

90 Percent

Much to my own surprise the deep cleaning of the garage hit the 90% completion mark today. I lost count at seven boxes today, but kept going. Although we did not make our usual Sunday run to Goodwill because of Easter Sunday, I am sure I can fill the center of the van one more time for two good causes on Monday. The first being a cleaner garage for me and a new space to store my overflowing yarn for weaving and the second being good for the environment by help keep my local Goodwill shop stocked. We also topped of the recycling bin today too as an added bonus.

It's Finished

Last month I said I would make a dog pillow for my hairdressers
Great Pyrenees Puppy. Today I finished it. Since it was to big for the sewing table I had to use the kitchen table, it was even a bit big for it too. So the things I used, 1 yard by 66 inches wide heavy canvas cloth along with over 10.75 pounds of stuffing. Yes it weighs 11 pounds, but I understand it still weighs less than the puppy. This was a great community effort, I want to thank all the knitters, weavers and spinners for their scraps of fiber. Eric also contributed his worn out shorts and socks. John even threw in a few pairs of old socks to get the pillow done sooner.

Sorry for the sideways picture. As you can see the pillow is almost the size of the kitchen table.

Happy Holidays

Nothing says it's holiday time around our house like someone being sick. Tonight it's Eric's turn. I just wanted to check on Eric because he looked a bit rough around the edges at breathing treatment time. He still looked a bit under the weather so I checked his stats, they were exceptionally good tonight. Next was the awful look and the eyrping started. Two loads of laundry later he is calm and sleeping again. Happy Passover everyone.

What I was really going to write about tonight was our fantastic cleaning spree this weekend. We filled the middle of the van again with stuff for Goodwill. This time almost 2 layers full. I even sent my wedding dress so another bride can use it to start her happy life. The recycle bin and trash can were also filled to overflowing. I even got John in on the cleaning project. His work room is looking great. The end is maybe in sight all that is left to go through is in the corner. Now this might not seem like a lot, but imagine a 2 car garage with bins two deep and a little over5 feet tall, that is where I bagan. Most of it has left the house. My plan for the future is no more than 3 bins high and only one row. Wish me luck.

A Blast From The Past.

This is your lol* for the day. I just found this in the garage while cleaning. It is a fully loaded earthquake kit that moved with us from California in 1994, complete with Sesame Street cups for the kids. It was replenished after the Northridge earthquake and John got transferred shortly afterward. 

We have not needed it in Arizona, but I think I will still replace the batteries and dried food. This goes along with being prepared. I think even dried food has a life span and I am sure it is less than 20+ years.

*lol is laugh out loud. 

Buttons

I love buttons. I have lots of buttons. I have been just throwing them in quart size jars without regard of size, shape, style or materials for years. This meant that every time I needed buttons for a project I had to sort through at least a gallon of buttons to find the ones I needed.

That ended today today when I was looking for four buttons to finish a scarf that I finished knitting yesterday. Because of a few decades of looking for the right button set, the buttons were spread over six different jars. So today I decided to sort all most all the buttons. Now I only sorted the loose buttons in the jars, not the ones in the boxes. I think I might just have a lifetime supply of men's dress shirt buttons. I have less children's buttons than I thought I had. I really should have done this years ago. I still have a few more buttons to sort. I am hoping that this will speed up the button find process for me.

An Open Letter to Realtors

Dear Realtor,

You might have read in this blog that I have been doing a really good job of purging our house of items that we no longer need. Please don't assume that I am doing this because we are moving. It is quite the opposite, we are zenning the house to make more room to do the things we love to do. We are getting rid of items that we no longer use and passing them on to people who need them. This is good for the environment and our well being. We do not need to keep everything we ever bought, really. We are also supporting the works of our local Goodwill.

So my one request to you is stop calling. The answer is NO we ARE NOT SELLING OUR HOUSE.

Sincerely,

I Love my Cleaner Home

High School Reunions

It seems hard to imagine that my 40th High School Reunion is right around the corner. I have been going back and forth on whether to go to it. On one hand I would be seeing people that I have not seen since graduating high school. Then there would be that room full of old people, yes I know that we are all within a couple of years chronologicaly. Some have been posting pictures of kids and grandkids and a few who started families at a younger age are posting pictures of great grandchildren. That's not me, I am not even there yet. I am in no rush. Most are still working full time, I am still in the stay at home mom mode, still driving my car pool of 1 child. What would we talk about. I am sure that it is not important to many of my fellow classmates to know the PBS, Sprout and HBO kids tv schedules. Fiber arts may bore them to death.

Then there are other considerations. I was not a popular person in high school. I was always on the outside. That much has not changed in my life. If I was Important enough in their lives they would not only contact me on a 10 year cycle. If they really wanted to contact me, I am not that hard to find.

Then there is the fact that the event is not in Tucson. That would involve either 2 days flying, car rental and a hotel room or 4 days driving and hotel rooms. Is it worth the time and money? I would rather stay at home with my guys. Go out for a quick dinner with John then spend it with a roomful of strangers.

I think I will will follow the path of a few of my classmates who had extraordinary lives after high school and skip the event. Sheri CHS Class of 1977.

Trying to Find Balance

I told myself to take a day off from cleaning out the garage, instead I only worked 2 hours in the zenning project. I am sure the good folks at my local Goodwill store will think that I am a silly mom. This batch will be mostly Hot Wheel Cars that Eric can no longer safely play with and even more McDonald's Happy Meal Toys. I think they lost some of their appeal to Eric when he could no longer see them. I also think that Teri will agree with John, "it's time to pass the toys on to other kids, so that they can have toys to play with". John already has plans for the space in the garage.

The hard part for me in letting go of some of Eric's old favorite toys is that he has lost so much ground over the years that he can no longer make the toys "work right". "Play time" is mostly hugging his favorite stuffed animals with John and I making up stories about what the friends are doing. Or even watching Sesame Street with Elmo.

I am finding it hard to make a balance between getting the garage finished before it hits the 100's in Tucson and spending enough time resting. As much as I would like to get the whole garage cleaned by this weekend, I know that much of a push will not be good for my arthritis. My body has not yet fully recovered from the yarn reorganization when I pushed it too hard this weekend to get the next project done. I have been fighting with a body that just wants to sit and sleep today.

The funny thing about this whole cleaning process, is that when I started zenning the house after reading "Zenning Your House in 5 Minutes a Day" I had a hard time just working for 5 minutes to throw things out. Now I only stop when exhaustion hits. This varies from day to day depending on my body. For the most part I can part with stuff without anxiety. I have learned which stuff to keep and which I just don't need anymore. I also learned that it is too time consuming to have a garage sale. Goodwill is the lazy woman's garage sale with a lot less work and no clean up afterward. With the added bonus of the people that Goodwill helps.

I wish I could say that it is bedtime at 11:00 pm, but I started Eric's meds late so I still have a while to stay awake. I am sure that this will not help my arthritis flare up either.

The Garage

Today I managed to empty and sort 3 more boxes from the garage. I ran out of steam for box number 4 filled with knitting magazines. Considering that they have been in the garage since we remodeled the bathroom I might not have a use for them. I have a lot for Goodwill that I am hoping will leave the house this week. Instead of looking at the pile going of my goodness, I am instead think of just one box at a time. My goal this weekend was 2 boxes so getting 3 boxes done is fantastic in my humble opinion.

I found a whole whole lot of sewing projects and a sweater pattern that I have been looking for. So my plan going forward, is to get a few boxes done each day in the morning at the peak of my energy level for the day. In the afternoon body permitting I will get some sewing or craft projects done. I am trying to do this without an afternoon caffeine boost so there might just be more napping than crafting in the afternoons.

My my hope is to turn Teri's old bedroom into an electric workshop for John for the holidays. Although I think I will leave building the work bench to John. I really need to save my hand time for knitting, weaving, spinning and sewing.

A Ganga*

Well if you have been following my blog for awhile, you know that I have been going through a long term lifestyle change. These changes have resulted in a healthier me. This has also resulted in my clothes mysteriously growing in my closet. It can't be me though because the scale has been steady for a few months. Today I did Teri style shopping when I found a pair of pants that I liked, I bought all four pairs that they had. Even better they were a full size smaller than the same pants I bought last year. As if it could not get any better than 4 new pairs of pants and a smaller size, they were 70% off. So that was 4 pair of everyday pants for less than $60.00 plus local tax. Thats right 4 pair of pants for less than $60.00 total dollars. Just $14.83 for each pair of pants. They also asked if I needed any hangers and threw in 10 at no additional cost. I do love a good clearance sale.

I might have to start tagging and bagging my charity hats and scarfs because the pile is getting a bit unsteady. So look for the million row challenge row counter to jump in the near future.

I also plan on sending John on a Goodwill run sometime this weekend. De cluttering has hit the garage. With any luck I should have inside the house and garage done by December even with the hiccups life has been throwing us this year.

*A Ganga is Tucson speak for a fantastic deal

A Replacement

I did the unthinkable a few weeks back and destroyed my favorite Le Creuset pan I know I voided the life time warranty when I burnt dinner so badly that a small fire started in the bottom of my favorite pan. I managed to burn off some of the enamel. So this week I bought a replacement pan, it arrived today. The old pan will probably be turned into a very expensive dye pot because I can't use it for cooking anymore.

The new new pan has a slightly different shape and different style of lid. I am sure that it will become a new standard pan for my kitchen and cooking dinner.

A Contest

I was out grocery shopping today and ran across a new product. It claimed to be "Homemade" yet the second ingredient was high fructose corn syrup. Because this is such a bad labeling offense, I really should share the name of the company, but I also don't have deep pockets. I will tell you that it is a new summertime treat in the frozen food aisle. Read the labels before you buy. This leads me to the question of who really buys and stocks high fructose corn syrup for your kitchen at home? If this is something that you keep in your kitchen at home, I really want to know why and what you use I for.

Food labeling and mass marketing are so full of hyperbole, it is just as bad as it was in the 1960's. When sun tans were healthy. If you were pale like me, you were considered sickly. We now know that fabulous tan came with a high price, skin cancer and premature aging. When smoking was cool, yet ever spokesman for the product died of lung cancer. When sweet treats replaced fruit in school lunches. Is it even a wonder why, my generation and our kids and grand kids have weight issues. Even the European sewing machine company who's salespeople and management claim that everything they make is made in Europe, but has a label on the bottom of my sewing machine that says it is made in Thailand. I was under the impression that Thailand was an independent nation in southeast Asia and not a European city. Do the marketing firms believe that we are so under educated that all of this is fine?

What are some of the bad labeling offenses that you have seen? There will be a prize of my choice for the funniest one or two. Please feel free to comment.

A Slow Saturday

The reorganization of the yarn last weekend has has a positive effect. I have found a lot of UFO's that are now back in progress. Some of the projects are so old that I no longer have the outfit that I was making the hand knit item for. For these I will finish them and put them in the box to be sold for the Taglit fundraiser later this year.

I also finished 2 more hand knit hats today and cast on 2 more hats. One hat is in cotton and the other is wool. Below is a picture of the pile of hats, 19 hats and still standing. The hemming of the 5 skirts also got started today. No deep cleaning was done, I took a nap instead.

My Spinning Chair

I have found only one downside to losing weight. You have to promise not to laugh though. It involves spinning more specifically my spinning chair. As the weight has come off I have lost a lot of my padding and this makes it hard to sit for more than an hour or two.  The spinning chair will need a pad to make it more comfortable. Time to get out the sewing machine.

It's Done

The big yarn sort was finished this afternoon. 100 gallons of yarn has left the house. No, I did not count the skeins of yarn leaving. I need you to use your imagination to think how many skins of yarn that is. Everything has been rearranged by weight. Some empty project bags will also be leaving tomorrow. The project shelf space is full of things that I will knit. My closet has a lot more space so I am very pleased with the results.

My next project is to knit up a pattern that a friend has had to tink several times now. I started the pattern tonight and am keeping copious notes as I go. I am pretty sure that there is a problem with the pattern and will make corrections to give to my friend and the pattern designer.

After that I might do a small project or 2 before I tackle the next big deep cleaning project. I might even try to come up with a better system for my circular knitting needles. Any suggestions for circular knitting needle storage would be welcome.

Progress, Maybe?

I am hoping that it is a sign of progress that the items in the picture are no longer going to be needed for yarn storage. The cracked plastic items will be recycled tomorrow. I will offer the good roll away bin to one of Eric's aides, it is not a good container for yarn, if I can not see the yarn in the drawers with out opening them. I will also give some of the excess bags to the advocates in Eric's day program. I am sure that they will come in handy. I also filled another 13 gallon bag of yarn for Amber, it is leaving tomorrow.

I still ill have a few things to put away, but I am waiting for the glue to dry on 2 containers before I make my finial storage choices. I expect to be done by tomorrow night so that I can move on to my next project, which is hemming 5 skirts. The more inches I lose the longer the skirts have gotten.

John also got into the spirit of the de cluttering of the garage today by helping me get to the final yarn boxes. He also found a lot of boxes to cut down for recycling. Who knows by the end of the summer I might even have the garage finished. I am not as hopeful for the spare room, it I will give it a shot.

More Gone

I sent a 13 gallon bag of yarn home with a friend this afternoon. I also found a sweater that I want to knit that has been missing for a while. I am now a few sizes smaller than when I bought the kit, so it will be a little less knitting to do. A win win afternoon for both of us. So that I can do more de stashing today, John is bring home dinner. A win win for me. Deep cleaning has some great rewards.

I am also revising my storage system so that all the yarn and fiber will be in clear containers from now on. The better to see what I have. I am not quite ready to set up the inventory system that John has suggested. Maybe when I have the hard part done, if I am very, very brave I will let John set it up. Does anyone know of a good inventory control program?

Yarn Destash

Yesterday was my first day of yarn destash 2017. This is from the first round. This was mainly yarn that was given to me. By friends and a few miss buys. Yarn that I wanted to try, but was not talking to me telling me what it wanted to be. I have learned that if I don't have an idea in mind for the yarn not to buy it. This will be delivered to a new home today.

A New Rhythm

With Eric home more than he is at program my life has a new rhythm to it. This includes napping when he naps and making a few special Eric outings a week. Today was knitting for me and a haircut for Eric. This was followed by a very long nap for both of us. I am also trying to stay on top of things and not let them slide, wish me luck on this one. 

I am also trying to finish all my knitting UFOs. This I am afraid is a never ending project. I finished a poncho and a hot mitt today. They were in the UFO pile for finishing work. My knitting time is still not what it was up to pre-surgery, no more 6 to 8 hours of knitting a day. Most days I am very lucky if I can use my hands intensely for 2 hours. I am also trying to channel my energy to keeping very productive. I am trying to maintain spring cleaning clean, so far it is going well. Even though I am near the end of decluttering the house, I have 1 room and 1 closet to go. Then I will attack the garage. This by the way leaves me more time for knitting and such even though I can't do much knitting. My life gets strange sometimes. 

Late spring temperatures have hit Tucson this week. Today it was in the 90's. Does Mother Nature know it is only mid March? So I am getting ready to move my laundry times around. In the summer once the temperature reaches 100, the appliances go off for the afternoon. I wonder if my hand will be up to more once the temperature gets a little warmer. My body prefers summer to winter. 

Crazy Busy

Tonight is the first night in almost 2 weeks that I have not fallen asleep on the couch before it was time to put Eric to bed. I have been busy with spring cleaning. All but on room is clean. Each time I think there is nothing left to clean, I just find more to do. More to recycle or donate to charity, or more to trash, there must be an end in sight, I just can't see it yet.

Eric has settled into going to his program 2 1/2 days a week. Just enough time for Eric to connect with his friends and not enough time to get over tired. For me this is just enough time for a few quick errands or part of a day of cleaning and napping. Eric is just not as springy as he use to be. Recovery time is taking longer.

We we also had a surprise visit from Teri and Tej last weekend. I know that the five of us had a great time. Although I wish we lived closer to them, it is just not possible at this time. I am so lucky to have such a great family.

A Night Out

Yesterday did not get off to a great start. Eric's Kangaroo Joey ran out of formula at 2 am. This interrupted a dream I was having about an impossible headache. It turned out not to be a dream but the beginning of a rare migraine. So after I took care of Eric, I started off with a cuppa tea and aspirin. It was enough to allow me to sleep but not knock the headache out.

After breakfast that included more tea and aspirin it was time to finish our annual spring cleaning. I was hoping that by keeping myself busy that the headache would just go away. We managed to get the house finished before the headache went away, but the house is clean.

After a nap, I realized that this was not just an average garden variety headache, but a full blown migraine. So I spent the rest of the afternoon walking around in sunglasses doing more cleaning. Thank goodness the headache started to go away before John and I had a very rare date night.

We had dinner at a supposedly great Tucson dining spot near the venue. I won't embarrass them by naming them. To sum up the dining experience, the tea was burnt.  They ran out of crackers for one dish and used stale bread instead, stale bread and crackers are the same right? The waitress did not have much knowledge of the menu and if you had an allergy to something, they left it off your plate and did not substitute anything for it, but still charged full price. With the exception of dessert which had a metallic flavor the food that we did have was pretty good. I did have some Excedrin with dinner to try to get rid of the rest of the headache.

The best part of the date was the show we went to. John managed to get tickets to the sold out Bill Maher Show in Tucson. The show was great and very relevant. I don't think that I have laughed that much in years. I have been a fan of Bill Maher for years,  but this was the first live show that I have gone to. I can say without a doubt that it was well worth the price of the tickets. I would like to thank Mr. Maher for taking time out of his busy schedule to come to Tucson. Your show was wonderful.

Now I just need to figure out how to manage some sleep.The caffeine in the Excedrin has not worn off yet.

Hopefully Optimistic

Right now I am hopefully optimistic about Eric. He went to his day program in what seems like forever, but I know it has only been a month. He had a great day and was all smiles when I picked him up. He has not fallen asleep yet. I am hoping that this is a good sign. I don't think he will ever be a five day a week kid ever again, but just to be able to get Eric with his friends 2 or 3 days a week will be a great relief to me.

I used my time off to knit 1 row of lace. I now have just 1 more lace pattern row and 2 purl rows before the last 3 rows of garter stitch. It should be done in time for the Old Pueblo Knitters Fashion show next month. If you are in Tucson and want to come just follow this link, Old Pueblo Knitters. Even if you don't knit it is fun seeing all the hand knit creations. Then I will work on an art piece for a local knitting competition.

Now its is time to get some sewing done.

A Lucky Break

This week while doing laundry, I accidentally put one of my favorite shirts in the dryer that was suppose to be line dried. You have guessed by now that it shrunk a bit. This is one of those rare moments when it was a very good thing. I bought this shirt last time I went down a size and it was getting to the point of needing to leave my closet. It was getting to be a bit to big. The good news is that it shrunk to exactly my current size, so this means that I can wear it a bit longer. I am not sure that I will try this little "accident" on any other shirt at the moment though.

While Eric is resting this afternoon I think that I will put a little more time into house work. I have already finished the laundry for the day and put 2 bags of recycling to the big bin. Then it will be time to knit and weave. I need the loom for another project that has a deadline and the shawl has a looming deadline also.

Eric is feeling a little better each day. Have a great weekend everyone.

Everything

I did it all today. Knitting was 336 purl stitches and 4 knitting stitches which equals another row of lace work.. Only 6 more rows of lace and 3 of the boarder before I cast this project off.  Spinning was 3 ounces of merino wool, before my hand gave up. Weaving was 8 inches on a 6 foot table runner. Walking was a little over 10,000 steps which is just over 4 miles. As usual most of the walking was done by doing laps in the house.

John had Eric today.

Trying to Keep Up

I think that I might be wearing ruts in the tile. I am keeping up with my walking at least 11,000 steps a day this week. Today will top 13,000 or just over 5 miles, and the farthest I got from the house was the mail box. The walking keeps me from craving junk food.

Eric's recovery is going slower than we would like, but he is still making progress. I am starting to get into a rhythm with Eric at home. I still did not finish my to do list today, but I got more finished.

Today I started playing around with a quiche recipe made with duck eggs and goat cheese. When I get the recipe perfect, I will post it on the blog. All I can say now is that the taste was perfect, but the texture needs a little work.

I am going to see if I have any energy to knit now.

Baby Steps

Eric and I had our first outing today. We went to Einsteins for knitting and breakfast. After 2 hours we went home and both took a 3 hour nap. I am glad that I did not have any errands planned for after knitting. I have forgotten how tired I get when Eric is home for an extended time. I only got a third of my to do list done today. I am ok with this right now. This seems to be my new pattern.

My plan of attack for cleaning has switched from deep cleaning, to just getting rid of clutter. Just getting the basics done. This can be done in smaller time frames. Deep cleaning will resume once Eric is well enough to go to his day program again. I am trying to get better at pacing myself.

Knitting

My big knitting accomplishment was knitting a 440 stitch row of lace. I still have to look at the pattern for every repeat and I count aloud while I am knitting the lace. John must have the pattern memorized by now, sadly I don't. I think I have 9 more rows of the pattern left and 5 of those are straight purling. Some how knitting 440 purl stitches is a lot easier for me than the pattern row.

I also got some what caught up on up on my shopping. Eric is doing better. So all in all a pretty good day.

Still Crazy

Everything is still topsy tervey around here. Eric is tired of being at home. That means he is doing better. I am trying to get a lot of things done at home,but seem to be in a rut. I am only getting at best 50% of my to do list done. One would think that after so many years of doing this I would have things worked out by now.

I need to get a lot of knitting done this week. So wish me luck.

Life Goes On.

Eric and I went to the doctors on Monday for a post hospital check up. The last round of AP took a lot out of him. So here is all the information that I have at this point. Eric will be home for 2 solid weeks. We will then do a 2 day a week trail run to see if he still has the stamina to hang out with his friends at his day program. I am really hoping that this trail goes well. Our Fingers are crossed.

If he flunks the 2 day a week trail we will either go to a 2 hours a day 2 days a week or have a DTA set up at home with an activity specialist coming to the house to do activities with Eric. This will hopefully give me some me time to create or even go to the store to shop for groceries during the day. To quote a song which I can not remember the title or singer, "The times, they are changing".

In the meantime, I am using this time wisely by doing some cleaning and tossing. Yesterday I managed to fill the trash barrel before Waste Management had time to pick it up. I got a few things out of the garage. Also even though I am house bound, I will still try to get my 10K steps in a day even if it means walking around in circles for a couple of hours a day. I will let you know if I walk ruts in the tile.

Better

I spent the weekend playing catch up. I am now to the point that I can finish last weeks to do list. Wish me luck

Home at Last

It has been a rough week here at Casa Karobonik. Apparently when I stopped to catch my breath from the very busy time around here, pneumonia snuck into Eric's lungs. Eric has been sick all week and Wednesday we landed up at Tucson Medical Center for 3 days. They were at overflow capacity so they took 1 unit from pediatrics and made it into an adult over flow unit. The staff was very nice and we worked well together. The end result is that Eric is now at home in his bed sleeping with his 2 favorite friends.

This trip did leave John and I with a little hospital bed envy. Tucson Medical Center now has the Stryker S3 MedSurg Beds that fit Eric to a T. He was so comfortable in it despite being so sick. It was so much easier to use than his current bed which we bought used ( 20 years old ) 15 years ago. We were talking about how nice it would be to have one of the new Stryker S3's for Eric at home. We then looked at the hefty price tag for the new ones and realized that this was out of budget and that the insurance would probably not cover it. So we will try to see if we can get Eric's current bed serviced.

This weekend we plan to lay low so everyone can get back to center after this week. Surprisingly I do not have that much laundry to do, mostly John's and mine. Eric will be home with me next week. We will have a few short excursions out, but they will be very limited.

My left hand is still not up to par and I did not even get a fraction of the knitting done that I usually do when Eric is in the hospital.  My hand is more sore than it has been in quite a while. I hope that with less tension in my life that it will start to feel better, until then I will do some weaving.

A Long Day

Today was a very long day. The good news is that Eric is on the mend for at least the current moment. I spent the day taking care of Eric and cleaning. I am so tired that I can not see the progress, but John says that he can see it. So I must have gotten something done.

No craft or art projects were finished today. I am on day 5 of a hand knit hat. I have not taken so long to finish a hat in almost a decade. I hope to finish it tomorrow night. Meanwhile I have lost enough weight that at least 4 skirts need to be hemmed, but I need someone to do the pinning. I can drop another size because of the construction of the skirts, but 2 inch heels are not cutting it right now. I am tripping on the length and wearing holes in the hems from walking around the house without shoes on. I know that this is a good thing. I just wish more of my friends sewed so that I could trade a favor for them pinning the skirts.

I think that that I am ready to call it a night.

Busy

It has been crazy busy around here lately. Eric had about a week and a half where he went to program everyday. I did get to relax and get a lot of cleaning done. I also found that with adequate sleep I got my creative mojo back. So a lot of projects were finished too.

That at all went sideways this morning at about 3:30 this morning. I managed to get a total of 1 hour of work done before Eric care took over my day. The good news is that he is now feeling better.

Even though I am trying to move and do more my arthritis seems to be getting the better of me now. Not even hitting the 50 pound weight loss point seems to be helping. Although I can now claim a smaller dress size. So since December of 2009 the totals are down 50 pounds, 4 dress sizes, 2 shoe sizes and 6 inches off my rib cage. The way this was accomplished was by giving up anything with high fructose corn syrup, aspertame and any other artificial sweeteners. I am also moving more.

Weaving vs Knitting

I like both knitting and weaving a lot. The only problem with weaving is that I have to finish a project before I can start another. It's not like knitting at all. With knitting I can start as many projects that I want to as long as I have empty knitting needles.

Dread

I have this odd feeling like I am waiting for the second shoe to drop. It has been hanging around all day. I am not sure what to make of this.

Recovering

I spent part of last night and all of today with Eric. He is on pedilyte, which is a good thing. We will hopefully try formula tomorrow.  This is an awful cycle that Eric is in, we just don't know how to break.   I did get some knitting done while I was sitting with Eric. I added a couple of inches to a poncho. Tonight I finished 1 kids hat and cast on another. I am almost finished with the brim.  I just need to unwind so that I can get a little sleep. My sleep cycle will be messed up for a few days. 

He is Sick Again

All good things must come to an end. It was totally awesome that Eric made it to his day program for 7 days before getting eyrpy tonight. I had a bad feeling that things were amiss when I picked him up today. It was the little things that I picked up on. Eric was way to happy to see me and his tummy was rumbling.

I can rule out asthma at this point, his oxygen saturation numbers are too good. I am really hoping that we just pushed a little too much and that is it. Needless to say we will be home tomorrow, which in a very odd way is good. Tomorrow is going to be the coldest day of the year so far in Tucson. In the low 30's at drive time. Burr.

I have plenty of knitting to keep me busy. Oh, by the way, I am sorry for the second post today.

Best Intentions

My plan for dinner tonight was a hardy vegetable mushroom beef barley soup. It would go nice with our cold weather here. Yes, it is well below 70 degrees Fahrenheit here. By the time I finished getting all the vegetables in there was no room for the barley. Oops, I guess we are having a vegetable stew with a little meat.

More Derp Cleaning

Today I spent an hour doing some deep cleaning. I found fluff that I did not know that I had. This should probably read I stashed it for later and forgot about it. I now have my spinning projects lined up for the next few months, with just the fluff I found today. I think my problem might be that I used too many project bags to store things. I can't see through them and they are easy to pile into a corner.

I even threw away some wrapping threadthathad an awful smell. Now I just have to figure out where I am putting all my weaving supplies. Well that is a problem for another day.

I seem to be on on a roll today. I walked over 10,000 steps and 4.25 miles for the second day in a row. If I can keep eric healthy maybe I can stretch that into a little longer stretch.

Passages

I was brought to tears at the knitting guild meeting on Thursday. I was given a beautiful hand knit quilt and thanked for my 4 1/2 years as the guild president. I could not fit the entire picture of the quilt on the blog, but it is stunning. I stepped aside when I accomplished all the he goals that I had set for myself and the guild. It was time for some new leadership and direction in the guild.

I will I'll still keep the job as webmaster and try to handle all the technical issues. This will give me more time to be creative. Which is a good thing because I have got a lot of fiber to spin,weave,quilt and knit. Somehow it snuck into the house will I was busy. I will also have more time to design new patterns,although I don't know if they will go beyond being posted on Raverly.

Me Time

I have had 3 days of a temporary reprieve with Eric going to his day program. I have been able to relax and get a few things done. I was even able to get through most of my to do list today.

My my best work today was being able to get service for the washer and dryer on Friday even though I called today. I do admit to get the appointment on Friday, I did use the sick kid who makes lots of laundry card. I really hate to use it, but 2 weeks without a dryer would have broken me. I figure by Friday the laundry room will be hip deep in laundry, even with pulling out the things that can be washed and hung up to dry.

Maybe after my day off tomorrow, I can do some de cluttering on Friday while I wait for the service appointment. Where to start, so many little things which add up to big things if they are ingnored.

Spinning

Today I got out of the house and left they guys at home. I went to Grandma's Spinning Wheel and did a marathon for me spinning secession about 2 1/2 hours. I finished one bobbin and wound the yarn on my knitty noddy. Then I started some white merino that I am going to barber pole onto some red. I just have to finish filling up this bobbin which should be done soon.  I shall see how sore that I am tomorrow.

My wheel has a slight warble that needs to be fixed. If I can figure out how to get to the screw I will be just fine. The problem is that it requires a special 4 side head and my Philips that I can maneuver in to the slot are 6 sided. I will solve this, but not tonight.

Better Today

My body is so fond of reminding me if it's not 30 anymore. Take yesterday for instance, my workday started off at 3:30 AM and did not finish till 10 PM. Because Eric was sick it was a very physically intense day for me. Today my body is reminding me of that. Around lunchtime today my body said it's naptime.

At least Eric is feeling better today. So I spent some time playing catchup around the house. I also started a new wool charity hat while I was sitting with Eric. The down side of stash busting is the little odds and ends of yarn accumulate so quickly. The good news is that they make perfect colorful hats for kids. The wool bag is overflowing right now so 2 or 3 hats should solve that problem.

And Repeat

Eric's post viral asthma kick in with vengeance. I feel very tired after being up since 3:30am and spending most of the day helping him sit up to keep his airway clear.  I have not even gotten through the mountain of laundry that he made since last night. I feel so tired and discouraged because I could not make him feel better today.

If tomorrow starts off like today we will be heading to the doctors. I  am hoping for a much better night tonight and a better day tomorrow. I hope everyone else had a much better day.

Oh, Joy

One of the things that I don't enjoy about being a special needs mom is dealing with the insurance company. Yes, there are a lot of intelligent  people who work for the medical insurance company, but why do I seem to get all the dunderheads?

The annual denial letter for formula and supplies came today. Some of the more redundant things that I have had put in the notes at the top of Eric's chart include when the g-tube was placed 15 years ago and why it is necessary. So it annoys me to no end to be asked for "Documentation" that Eric has a feeding tube. Is this the sole source of his nutrition, they want to know why we have not gotten him off the feeding tube yet. What is his diagnosis that makes the feeding tube necessary He has had the same diagnosis since he was 3 1/2 they just don't change like magic. The name of the formula... duh the same one he has been on for the last 15 years. An evaluation of his nutritional needs, really!!!

To boot UnitedHealthcare will not pay for supplies until we provide this information again.  They have also decided to make us do this every 6 months, really!!! I can not think of a worse harassment of parents of sick children.

Sadly there are only a few relevant things in the letter, Eric's height and weight and a new prescription. The rest is just laziness on the part of the reviewer. After 15 years of this crap, I am beginning to think they do this to us because a certain number of families and doctors will just give up and pay for these medically necessary supplies out of pocket. Aren't the profits and bonuses high enough for the insurance companies yet?

A heads up to everyone. I will be dealing with this crap on Monday, so its not you it's United Healthcare.

A Lot of Sleep

I find it amazing what 10 hours of sleep twice in one week can do for me. I run on an entirely different level than when I get 4 hours of sleep a night. To that end I have a lot of housework and laundry to catch up on tomorrow, yes the laundry room hit hip high. Thank goodness I am not any taller. So I started the whites tonight because they take 2 1/2 hours to wash with the energy efficient washing machine.

If I say good night now I can still get 7 1/2 hours of sleep tonight.