New & Old Stuff

So I finished up the projects I had going and it was time to start new ones. So I cast on for a lace shawl. That project isn't going so well but it doesn't need to be finished until Christmas so I have plenty of time to fiddle with it or rip it out. Then I picked out a sock kit I had never done. It is very fiddly and a little bit strange to me in the beginning. I've gotten past the toe and am now into the patterning of the foot but it will be slow going. So I looked around for a simple carry along sock to do. Some time ago Kelly gave me replica kit for WWII servicemen socks. I never knit it up because it came in a nice tin and had old time style print. It was just too cool to actually do. It comes with yarn, needles, yarn needle, and instructions for a pair of socks. Anyway, I opened the kit and cast on for the socks. I did make a couple changes to the pattern, which is a simple basic sock pattern, I added elastic to the ribbing and the leg of the sock will be slightly shorter. Since they are men's socks I'm giving them to my man. The pattern calls for 3" of ribbing and 8" of leg for a total of 11" of sock before you begin the heel. D decided that was fine if you are in the army and wearing tall boots but a mite tall for him. So I did 3" of ribbing and 6" of leg and am ready to start the heel flap next time I'm out and about.

I am posting pictures of the kit so you can see just how cool it is. I'm not sure how much you can actually read but the pattern is dated 1942. It's a simple, basic, sock pattern, the same kind I use when making any basic sock.

Darryl has been teaching the horses to lay down and doing trail training with them. Even though Stormy isn't broke to ride yet it's a good idea to be able to get her into the trailer so we can take her to the vet or transport her if necessary. You can see that Sarah is already in the trailer. Sarah is getting so good that Darryl can point at the trailer, with Sarah 20' away, and tell her to "get in the trailer" and she just goes. Niiiiice. It's a real pain when your horse won't go in the trailer if you need them too. Trailers are dark caves to horses and they don't like them. So the idea is to work them outside the trailer and they only rest inside the trailer. Pretty soon the inside of that trailer looks pretty good to them because they can just stand there and do nothing. The idea is to get the trailer so desirable to them that if your horse gets loose all you have to do is look in all the trailers to find your horse. I'll believe that when I see it.

So when all this latest round of stuff with Mom's health started I had all my file drawers on the table in the dining room with file folders and labels and all kinds of junk around. I was cleaning out my files. Then Mom's stuff came up and that mess sat there for two weeks. I finished it all up on Sunday and all the files are clean and current. So when we were moving Mom we piled up all her paperwork in one spot and I brought it all home. She is no longer capable of doing her own finances. So now I have all her stuff to go through and organize. She hasn't been keeping good records or paying her bills so now that job falls to me. So now I have all this stuff, which I put in the guest room, to go through. We found papers everywhere. Magazine racks, drawers, just all over. So I need to get this sorted so I can do her taxes. I will tackle this next week.

Here is her finished room. She asked me to find her a bookcase headboard but I was unable to do so in the time we had to move her. I would like to thank Tommy and Marley for the bed. We didn't know when she was coming back to her apartment and needed to be ready. At the conference for her yesterday we were told she is going home on the 21st. Sue and I will go get her and take her to her new apartment. Although she now has a studio apartment, she has the same kitchen but no living room and she has a small patio. Darryl and I added a couple chairs from our place and a table so she can go out there and sit if she likes. These chairs are light weight and roomy and do not tip easily so should work well for her.

So we had our meeting yesterday and were told she's good to go. She's still not right in her head but that doesn't seem to concern them. And since she'll be in assisted living now she'll be safe. The criteria for Kaiser to release her to go home seems to be how far she can walk. We has a discussion about whether or not she'd need oxygen at home and they said no. But when Colleen got to the rehab place Mom couldn't breathe and Colleen had to get help and they put the oxygen back on her. So that part is supposed to be re-evaluated. At the meeting yesterday afternoon they hadn't got the results of her latest x-ray. At 10pm last night they called and told me she still has pneumonia. So I asked if she was still scheduled to be released on Monday. My question was met with silence. They are supposed to get back to me today. Also, I requested a test to determine if her urinary tract infection was gone. They couldn't tell us if it was or wasn't. So I'm supposed to have those results today. But as far as I know they are planning for us to take her home on Monday. After all she can walk 100 feet.