Oh, What a Day!

Yesterday's mini snowstorm was almost a welcome relief.  I didn't do much...just didn't feel like it ...or... up to it.  Having fallen 3 times in 2 weeks has left me sore, stiff and bruised.  The first fall was that trip via the dog's treat ball. My fault but still....  My right hand is stiff and sore...especially the ring finger and although the x-rays showed nothing abnormal, the finger is still swollen and painful.  Then fall #2 occurred Sunday night.  I stood up and fell down, bouncing off Jeff's chair again and hitting my forehead on the copper wood kettle. (Stone cold sober, too.)   My left shoulder works when it wants and hurts when it does.  Heat helps and if I move slowly I can do it all.  I was sure I'd have a black and blue mark across my forehead but no, just a spot that is painful to touch. And a good scrape on my right knee. (Denim can really burn!)  The greatest fall was Tuesday morning.  It was sunny and bitter cold and everything was frozen.  I had a bag of clean laundry for mom in one hand and a crate of empty water jugs in the other.  I gingerly stepped off the ramp telling my self to be careful and not....  My feet didn't listen and I was suddenly on all fours on the ice.  There was no way to get any traction so I turned over and scooted across the ice on my butt to the snow ...making sure it was not a spot that Fanny had 'used'...and was able to get back on my feet.  I had scrapped both knees that time and now they are scabbed and sore,   reminding me of a summer on Dewey Ave when I was determined to roller skate eventho I couldn't keep those old key-tightened skates on my feet. Tylenol at bedtime has helped me sleep and I can still knit... just not for very long...slowing down my production line.  I did get Jeff's birthday present done.  

The grippie cloth soles were a real pain to sew on until I started using a fine paper punch to outline the edge.  They sew on easily now! Cutting them out with pinking scissors is still hard for me especially with these sore fingers. I keep saying I'm going to do a pair for me and when I cleaned the stash I found that I had started them.  In fact, one is finished!  Now I just have to do the other and sew on the soles. I've also made good progress on the baby sweater my cousin asked to make for him,too. I'm using Bernat Baby Coordinates in a color called Sherbet.  The silvery thread makes it look very nice but is easy to catch, splice and drop. 

Today I had a 9 am appointment to have my taxes done.  The last couple of years I've been having them done by AARP volunteers and have been quite pleased with my returns. I was the 1st client my volunteer had seen this morning and 2 hours and 3 volunteers later I had my taxes done...ready to be mailed in coz there was a problem none of them could figure out that was stopping them from e-filing the return.  I stopped at the post office on the way home and instead of getting my refund in 3 days it will probably be 3 weeks if I'm lucky.  I had a list of errands to do today after my tax appointment and still managed to do all but 1 of them.  Oh well, there's always tomorrow.

I rewarded my self with a pizza for supper which Fanny shared and now I'm going to go stoke up the fire and get comfortable.  There must be something good on tonight...if not, I'll knit.

Winter's Grip

We're still in the grips of winter with a couple of inches of fresh snow, near zero temperatures and the possibility of a weekend nor'easter. The woodpiles are shrinking and fuel oil has been delivered again.  (That makes 3 deliveries  totaling 300 gals for $1073.00)  Hopefully, that will be enough to make it to spring...which according to the groundhog is suppose to be early.)  Jeff was thinking about picking up pallets Friday...the weatherman was right and the temperature was near 30...but his back has been bothering him and an exam at the Pain Control Clinic earlier this week didn't make things any better.  He's got more tests to endure before a decision is made whether to operate on his back again (which would be operation #3) or try something new.  And I think I've got it bad sometimes with the plate & screws in my right leg...I swear it's a barometer!...but his back pain is pretty constant. I got the results of the x-ray of my hand...after tripping over a dog toy and falling last week.  Nothing 'abnormal'...then why does it hurt so much??  Oh well, just another spot to baby.

I've been knitting thru the hand pain and my 'new merchandise' bag is quite full.  I've about had it with sheep on sweaters that are either hot pink or mallard green so I switched to baseballs.  I did a size 6 mos hoodie, finishing it in a day and a half...size 6 mo sweaters don't take very long to do!  The hood and body are navy and the sleeves white. (Go Yankees!)  It's got a back zipper and a false Henley front with 3 baseball buttons. It's not recommended to put pull-strings in hoods on baby sweaters anymore so I had to get creative with the baseballs.  I think I'll force myself to do one in red (Boston?? Cincinnati?? ) before I do a pin-stripe sweater...which is rather boring to do but is a good seller. Jeff's 60th birthday is March 1st and I've started a project for him,too.  He actually likes the hand-knits I do for him...even wearing them out!

Finally got the paperwork finished for the nursing home for mom.  Had to get copies of some things...my father's death certificate, deed to the cemetery plot and Josie's SS card. Talked to the social worker at the facility yesterday and she said now we have to wait for Medicaid to kick in and a bed to become available.  I've said it before but I'll say it again:  make sure all your important papers are in order and up-to-date.  Nothing was where Mom said it would be!

Oh, this week Fanny 'ate' my cellphone and a cardboard kleenix box...by passing most of the tissues!  The cell case was punctured on both sides and she bite into the battery.  And I had over 80 minutes available on it!!

The Day After Valentine's Day

What do you mean...I'm not a lapdog?

The day after Valentine's Day has started out bright and sunny.  Jeff and Fanny are still asleep in the other bedroom. A queen size bed may be big, but for 2 large people and a dog it's sometimes a tight fit. They were playing tug of war so hard last night neither of us noticed Fanny had changed tactics and the next thing I saw was the dog peeing under the kitchen table.  Now, that did not make me happy.  But as I got up yelling, Jeff, who's usually the 1st one to discipline the dog, took the blame for not noticing what she was up to.  We had a very confused doggie for awhile there and I still had to clean it up. 

Fanny got a treat ball from a swap buddy of mine a month or so ago and has been having a good time with it.  Shaped like an egg, it's got perforations on both ends and screws together in the middle.  You fill it with the dog's favorite small treats and they roll it around leaving a trail of goodies.  Fanny has learned that if you hold one end in your month and bat the either with a paw, the ball will eventually unscrew and you'll be showered with treats for the effort.  Tuesday I was home alone and moved the ball with my foot as I walked across the tv room. I saw out of the corner of my eye that it had moved...well, half of it had moved but I didn't realize that until I stepped into the other half and was falling.  I bounced off a chair and ended up on the floor on my back.  Fanny came running to offer comfort...licking my face...as I checked myself for injuries.  My shoulder and hip were sore...where I fit the chair...and my hand hurt like hell. A quick range of motion test and gentle massage showed that nothing was broken that I could tell but the ring finger on the right hand had already started to swell.  Ice and heat were called for...and some self pity.  The comfort those 3 offered was short-lived and I eventually just went back to knitting.  Since my style of knitting uses only the thumb and forefinger on both hands to move the work along the needles, I figured out how to hold the sore finger and was back to work.  I figured if I couldn't hold the finger still I'd just stabilize it with some tape.  Back in college I broke toes on both feet coz I was always...barefoot...in the wrong place when the bathroom door was pushed open.  The first time it happened I wrapped the foot with an ace bandage and just hobbled around for awhile. When I broke a toe on the other foot I used masking tape to hold the bones together. Years later when I had a full body x-ray for something and the tech was identifying abnormalities,  it was pointed out that one toe had been set much better than the other.  Guess which one?..the one I had used masking tape on! I didn't have any idea where the masking tape was Tuesday but I could see a roll of duck tape on the hutch in the kitchen if I needed it. I had a regular doctor's appointment scheduled for yesterday morning so I decided to have the hand checked out then.  The bruises and swelling were noted and the hand and shoulder were x-rayed.  Results still pending but I didn't get any urgent phone calls from the health center so I don't think anything was badly injured. 

In the meantime I'm knitting my way thru the acrylic yarn I found in the stash.  I've got 3 sheep sweater sets in my 'new merchandise' bag (not normal for this time of year since I usually do not knit in January but since I retired I'm knitting and reading more) and another about half finished.  Baseball sweaters will be next but today will probably be spent stacking wood.  OH...Sounds like my sleeping beauties are getting up, time to put the coffee on!

Ground Hog's Day

Saturday was Ground Hog's Day and he did not see his shadow.  That means an early spring, right?  Well, someone forgot to tell Mother Nature coz it's snowing today...bands of lake effect that are quite heavy at times...like right now.  The good part is that it's been doing this all night and we've accumulated only an inch or 2 so far.  I don't think we'll be snowed in today but visibility is non-existent at times so I think today will be spent in our respective hidey holes...Jeff in town and the dog and me out here in the little woods.  He's probably taking it easy, sleeping, reading, online, while I've got yarn all over the TV room floor. I moved a chair and found that The Stash is out of control so it's time to do something.  The dog is willing to help by stealing taking balls of yarn and hiding them under the bed or kitchen table. (She's not too good with 'hide and seek'.) I've even found empty yarn boxes so it shouldn't be too difficult to stash The Stash and clean up a little.  It's a good thing in a way...lately I've been knitting a lot of socks on small gauge short circular needles and the fingers on my left hand are a little swollen and painful so I think I'll start a baby sweater on a US 8 when I finish this...much easier on the fingers.  But the bottom of the bag of new merchandise for the shop is covered with baby socks!  Got the notice the other day that clean-up in the shop starts April 1st, with the annual meeting April 10th and we'll be opening for our 39th season April 11th.

Mitchell, Zare, Rayjon, Sara & Zakiya

Jeff's daughter, Sara, and her 4 kids are visiting family in Utica this week so we went up to visit Saturday.  Meeting the family for the 1st time is always awkward but meeting the ex-family is stranger.  But we were welcomed warmly and had a nice visit.  Jeff's invited them for lunch this week...another reason to stash The Stash.  He wants to show the boys his gutter garden set-up.  They live in Texas and he thinks a gutter garden might be easier for them than a traditional one.  Their father is in the Army and currently deployed in Afghanistan.  And yes, the girls are twins.

While Fanny's been 'helping' sort the yarn she hasn't neglected her favorite job... shedding kindling wood.  Here I had just followed her thru the house with both her favorite bone and current piece of wood in her mouth!  I can sweep the floor 3 times a day but there is always dog hair and wood shavings around.