Finally!

Okay, it's been a while but it's been a little crazy around here. But I finished my flame socks. I love, love, love, them. I don't care that they are acrylic. They are soft. Probably not nearly as insulating as wool but I love them. I haven't cast on for another pair of socks yet but I'll be using up some scrap yarn and the black sparkly acrylic. It's difficult to see the sparkles in the photo but both the red and black are sparkling. I'm still working with the paper yarn on the market bag. I think I'll have at least one ball left over and will crochet it up into one of those small baskets. So I may do that before I cast on for a Christmas present.

This is a picture of tape. Knitters or anyone who follows a pattern, I'm thinking this would be nice for cross stitchers and crocheters. If you find this tape grab it! I always copy my pattern and put it in a protective sleeve. Then I can make notes on it but the paper will hold up until I'm done with the pattern. Darryl snagged this tape at By Hand Yarn in Sonora. It's like a post it. A little bit stickier though. So there's my pattern in it's plastic sleeve, when I'm following a pattern or chart I can just lift the tape and reposition it on the row I'm working. The flame pattern I just finished was something like 60 rows and I repositioned the tape twice (once for each sock) on each row. It's still plenty sticky to use again on another pattern. This stuff isn't cheap but worth every dime. It works much better than the Post It notes we all use. It comes in several colors. This just happens to be the one Darryl chose. Next time I see a roll of this I'm going to snag it for myself so I don't have to bother Darryl for it. But I suspect this piece will last me a while.

Kelly, I didn't cut off the light blue chaps. I thought I'd see how I liked them and since I had a small weight loss they went right on. I taped up the hem six inches with packing tape. That's actually a little bit short but I didn't want them to drag on the ground when I walked and rub a nasty spot in them. But they are plenty long for now. They also are plenty light. I haven't made up my mind if I will keep them. The matching coat has a zip out liner in it. It's more versitile than I remembered it.

And of course here is a picture of Charlotte. Not a good one but what I wanted you to notice is her back feet are not on the ground. She backs up to the sofa and plops her rear down then watches out the front window. It's the funniest thing to see. Maybe I posted that already but it's been busy and I forget where I left off.

And yesterday I saw a sheriff's car zoom down the street then appear to stop near our house. I went outside to see what was going on because it seemed like he stopped in the driveway. I went out the front door and ran into the garage because he was out there behind his car door with a gun pointed at a pickup that was stopped in the street at the end of our driveway. Three other cars joined him shortly. Anyway, a gang banger stole some gravel from somewhere nearby and someone saw him and reported it. Since he was a known gang member the lone cop wasn't taking any chances until he got backup. There were four passengers in the truck. I think one was a woman and one a kid. I don't know about the other two. I had barking dogs to deal with. They hauled people off to jail and I saw the truck drive off so I'm guessing at least one person didn't go to jail. I did see a woman and a man put in two different police cars. But as I said I didn't see the whole thing. The picture is fuzzy because I took it from the sewing room window and there is a screen there.

Okay, the reason I haven't posted is I've been dealing with Mom. She's in the hospital. She's having trouble breathing and is retaining about 15 pounds of fluid. She doesn't always know what's going on either. Her oxygen levels are somewhat low and I think it's affecting her brain. Kaiser says her heart isn't any worse, according to her tests. They also said she shows no sign of having had a stroke. Of course they said the same about my Dad and my sister Patricia and I actually witnessed him having a stroke. And three of us us have seen signs that Mom has had at least one stroke recently. So I asked, if her heart is no worse why is all this stuff happening to her. The doctor said her heart is worn out. He compared it to a leg muscle in a marathon runner at the end of a race. So I'm not sure what his definition of worse is. If less activity makes her breathe harder and there is no chance of the heart muscle getting stronger, doesn't that make the heart muscle worse? Apparently if the clogging in her veins isn't worse or there at all, she's not worse.

In any case she can not live independently any longer. She hasn't been taking care of her personal business either. So I've had to run around with my legal papers and take over dealing with her finances and figure out where to put her for care. She can't live with any of us because she requires so much care much of it physical for the care giver. Right now I am the only one not working full time. So there's that. I cannot have her here with the dogs, it's too dangerous for her. A couple weeks ago she was here for me to nurse back to health and I had to keep Charlotte outside or in a crate much of the time. Not to mention I couldn't get groceries or do anything until Darryl got home.

Kaiser keeps saying rehab for a couple weeks then find a place for her. Then they say no rehab because shes walking more than 75 feet with a walker. Last night they are saying a week or two of rehab again, maybe. And by the way she might be released today. So I was on the phone with Kaiser about 10 times yesterday. They are not very helpful most of the time. But it looks like I can get her from independent living to assisted living in the place where she is now. I don't see that I have any choice for now.

So today I'm off to Merrill Gardens to see what a studio apartment on the first floor is like, whether or not I can apply February's rent to the new place if we get her moved Saturday. Get her hearing aids and glasses, go to the hospital and tell her she's not moving in with any of us. Figure out what the hell Kaiser is doing with her. And probably scare up some bodies to move her furniture on Saturday. Then I can attack her paperwork again when I get home. For now I'm just having all her mail forwarded to me but she's going to want her magazines and catalogs to thumb through.

One more day my poor dogs get ignored. And I stress eat. I'm trying to make that fruit or whole wheat products. Not too hard because who has time to go to the grocery store for junk food! Hopefully all will be settled by Monday and I can finish up cleaning out my file drawers that are on my kitchen table and get my house back in some kind of order. CRAZY!