Maryland Sheep and Wool

There was a rousing chorus of voices to show my Sheep and Wool purchases!!

So the truth about the "rousing chorus" is that it was one voice, DebD,. For me, it doesn't take more than one voice. I visited her blog, Deb On The Run. You should too. Very nice. Thanks Deb. I am thrilled you asked.

So here is the story and pictures.

I plan all year for the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. I make sure I keep the day free, I save my money (my birthday is in April so that works out well), and I have a list of what I am looking for. I usually attend with my cousins and my sister. This year I was going with my one cousin. I am happy to go by myself, but it is extra special to share it with others who love this event as much as I do.

Of course, all my plans changed quickly when my Mom got sick in April, was admitted to the hospital, and then a rehab stay. Mom was discharged from rehab the morning of the Fair. But luckily everything fell into place easily. I scheduled mom's discharge for 8:30 am. The ambulance arrived early (that was a surprise), and mom was home in her new living room chair by 9:15 am. It went like clock work.

My daughter was there to keep mom company while we went to the Fair. We still had to make a trip to the pharmacy on her behalf, but we were on the road by about 10:30 am. There were no backups on the roads - usually typical on Fair morning. We pulled into the large grassy field filled with cars as far as you could see. I took a quick turn to the right hoping for an early departer - and I was gifted exactly that. Someone pulled out and I pulled in. We were not far from the entrance. As we walked towards the gate, I was thankful that everything fell into place, including the beautiful weather, on this one day of the year I look forward to all year long.

I didn't have my camera with me (as I originally planned to do) nor a shopping list, but here are the snap shots of the things I got.

The first thing I purchased was one of the Fair's bags. It is a nice roomy canvas bag with their logo. In the back it had a nice outside pocket. I also purchased 2 Fair T shirts with the same logo.

Turns out this bag is pretty handy for my second purchase - my Rigid Hettle loom (that you can see peeking out of it).

I settled on a Kromski Harp Weaving loom. Here is a picture of it folded up. And sitting on its side, it fits pretty well in my new bag.

I love Kromski products. I also have a Kromski spinning wheel. This loom has nice features that make it pretty to look at compared to other looms. This is pretty typical of Kromski products. They take time to build some style into their products.

Here is the loom opened up and ready to weave. In fact you can see my first efforts.

My cousin spent time putting the loom together, getting it warped up and then instructing me on weaving. Everyone should have a cousin like her. Without her guiding hand, this would have taken me forever to put together and warp. The weaving was easier than I thought.

I have been using my free time to finish mom's shawl from my hand loom, and to complete my own scarf and matching hat from the left over yarns. Soon I will be working on my Kromski loom again.

I thought it might make sense to purchase some sort of instructional material for the loom. My cousin doesn't live close enough to "pop over" to help me when I get stuck.

I haven't had a chance to watch it, but I will. I did the same thing with my spinning wheel - got a DVD.

I find that I can absorb only so much in one sitting. I am sure I will re-discover a number of helpful hints when I watch this DVD ... probably stuff my cousin told me and it went right over my head.

Another fun purchase was a Yarn Bowl.

I am not actually sure that is what they call it. But it functions alot like a basket, but it is ceramic. It holds a ball of yarn and the yarn is fed through a slot as you need it. The advantage is that the yarn ball doesn't roll away as you are working with it. I have seen these bowls before, but never one so beautiful.

This maker not only put effort into surface decorations, she added another feature to the back.

She included a small place where you can hold knitting notions.

It took us quite a while to pick out one from all the many beautiful choices provided.

I also got 8 ounces of BFL and Silk for spinning. This picture doesn't do this justice. It is just beautiful. And, it is very soft to the touch.

I think I will hold on to this for awhile until I am a better spinner.

I also visited my favorite yarn vendor: Brooks Farm out of Lancaster, Texas. I purchase something from them every year.

This year they had a new product called Willow. It is composed of 70% Super Wash wool and 30% Bamboo in a worsted weight. I picked a brick red color that is variegated to a brownish dark red. Very nice. It isn't at all scratchy and has a very light feel to it. I had a picture, but my computer filed it away and I can't find it. I also purchase a few patterns from them.

Finally I purchased 2 hand crafted mugs from different vendors. I will show off these mugs in a different postings. And I got some bees wax skin cream for my daughter. It had a citrusy scent.

I think that pretty much sums up my purchases this year.

I want to thank my daughter again for staying with her grandmother while I attended the fair. I knew mom was in good hands with her. And it made my day pretty care free.

All in all, the day was perfect. The weather was just beautiful, my cousin was with me, I had mom home - in time for Mother's Day the next day, my mom was in my daughter's capable hands, and I got some really fun stuff at my favorite fair. It doesn't get much better than that.

Mom and her shawl (Hazel Rose Looms)

The pictures of my mom and her shawl turned out so well, that I had to share. The shawl was made from a hand loom by Hazel Rose. It is a 12" loom. I have several others and they are beautifully made, fun to work with, and make a beautiful fabric. Be sure to check out their web site.

Mom is especially pleased with her shawl. She watched me make it and frequently commented on how pretty the fabric was that I was creating. She never asked who it was for. I think you will agree that the colors are perfect for her. She also looks happy - happy to be home and getting better.

The sweater underneath the shawl I knitted for her several years ago. Turns out it is a pretty good match for the shawl.

A Growth Moment ...

You will be witness to a

HUGE personal growth moment

in this posting!!

I mean really really BIG!!

You see, May 2, after the dust began to settle on my mother's hospitalization and rehab, I discovered I had 682 backlog postings to catch up on.

I was aghast!

But I firmly believed that I could catch up on my reading over a few days. I know a few of you posted "words of blogging wisdom" advising me to just start with the current day and go forward, skipping the older blog postings.

Of course, being a type A personality, I felt differently, had committed to visiting at my blog friends' sites and seeing what I had missed. Using Google I ordered by backlog to show the oldest posting first so I could work forward in order as I caught up.

(You may roll your eyes now!)

Over the last week ... between medications, weight checks, blood pressure and oxygen checks, exercise sessions, visiting nurses, physical and occupational therapies ... and between vacuuming 'cause with that many people in the house, I wanted them to know I was a good housekeeper (go figure!) ... between all that stuff, I probably visited about 100 postings. Yes, most were quick visits, a few rare comments left, some were skipped if the topic didn't appeal, but I touched down about 100 times.

And then today I decided to check and see how many were still outstanding. Maybe 500-ish, or if I was real lucky 400 something. Not even close!

912

And so, with great flourish and renewed blog wisdom, I am going to stop counting the back log and reorder my blog list to show the current postings first. I will do my best to ignore the old stuff.

You will notice that there is no promise to ignore the old stuff, just that I will do my best.

*sigh*

Life returning ... new normal

Life is returning to a new normal.

Being back at home has been such a blessing for both mom and I. I know deep in my heart that we will need to step outside of these 4 walls and into an emergency room once again, but I am hoping for a few months of grace to recharge my batteries and give mom a few months of peace while getting better.

Meanwhile, "back at the ranch", our lives are back to a new normal, just like mom's health status. We sleep in our own beds, eat meals at our dinner table, watch Dancing With the Stars every Monday and Tuesday night.

But our new normal has a few layers on it. Our house has frequent home care visitors. I vacuum the house alot now :-). The medication schedule is different. No missing even one pill - I have missed a few of my own but she gets all of hers. Every morning mom has her weight and blood pressure electronically transmitted to Johns Hopkins Home Care. Think about that one - having your weight taken every single day and then announced! Yikes! And she has to exercise. Of course, right now her exercise routine is minimal, but it must be done. My exercise routine? A total bust.

And other normal things are beginning to filter back into our lives. I started walking on Monday. It felt like total freedom to step outside the house and just walk anywhere I want. And even just 2 walks makes a difference in how I feel. Next hurtle is to return to Curves. I'll be starting over on the simple circuit, but that is OK.

The grand-dogs are starting to make appearances in my life again. Saturday my son brought Meathead and Grimace over for a day-long visit. I took them out for a walk - and Meathead - a couch potato dog - decided that we needed to check out ALL our walking paths. I guess three weeks of missed dog walks with grandma had taken its toll on him. Even Grimace - who usually is the walker - was ready to come back in before Meathead. It was too funny!

I finished mom's woven shawl. It was supposed to be finished for Mother's Day, but my days were filled with other stuff. :-) Other more important mom stuff was happening. She was so excited and pleased to find out the shawl I had been working on for months (and she admired regularly) was for her. I had enough woven yarn left over for a scarf for me and a hat. We will be twins!! The yarn is beautiful and I want to use it all up.

I am also clawing my way back to fiber pursuits and reading. I attended the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival (thank you my dear dear daughter for grandma-sitting that day). I purchased a loom that my very special cousin helped me set up. I purchased other stuff as well, but I will spare my non-fiber obsessed readers the list of what I got. Working on fiber projects takes focus and when I am stressed - like the last month - I can't focus on them.

And finally I am back to blogging. It helps me to write my thoughts out, to focus on the good things in my life, to visit other blogs (I am way behind on that - but I'll get there.), and to "hear" the voices of my distant blog friends through comments on my blog. I am not sure why this works so well, but it does. Thank you for sticking with me during this absence.

So I am grabbing back the pieces of my life one day at a time.

It is a new normal for mom's health, and a new normal for my life - but it is normal. And I am grateful for it.

My glass is half-full!!

Still Standing

Are you a reflective person?

Do you look back at the course your life, and more specifically, a difficult time, and ponder how you got to this point? And do you reflect on how well things are going, how happy or sad you are, how things will play out in the future? I've done a little of that kind of reflection this week.

It has been a tough 6 months.

• My mom had 4 separate hospitalizations - all sudden events, and all by way of ambulance and ER. (I really hate the ER.)
• She had 2 sub acute rehabilitation experiences totaling 3 weeks.
• She had 4 home care experiences - the last of which we are doing now.
• I lost a close life long relationship - a relationship that on the surface looks the same unless it is examined closely. Trust has disappeared.

What I have learned:

• I am tired often, discouraged sometimes and disappointed frequently. But I am not broken.
• Trusting my gut - based on experience - has been the correct move time and time again.
• I am strong enough to demand action and accountability when it is lacking - especially in regards to my mother's care.
• I love being home. Spend 3 weeks away in medical facilities, sleeping in your street clothes, on couches or on rubber recliners, eating food from hospital cafeterias, and you too, will develop a love of your home. I am happy to be here - to just be!
• Those who say something can't be done, should get out of the way of those who are doing it.
• Despite everything, I am still a happy and optimist person. My life is successful because of that attitude. I choose optimism!

What I am grateful for:

• The right people have been in the right place when I needed them most.
• All but one voice has confirmed my actions and supported my choices with regards to my mother. Those voices run the gamete of family, friends and medical professionals. Those folks know who they are.
• My mother is still alive and living with me. So many times in the last weeks, I have heard folks say how lucky I am to still have my mother and to be able to support her during this time. I, too, have felt that way, but it is nice to know that this value is shared by others.
• I am grateful for my 13 years in the medical field. It gave me the knowledge and judgement as well as the understanding of reasonable expectations for medical care. It also gave me many personal connections in my local community to high quality physicians and services. I have benefited greatly from that experience. So has my mother.

What I accept:

• No matter what you do, the slow decline of elderly marches towards its inevitable conclusion.
• My mother's needs will continue to grow due to rapidly declining health.
• Only one person in her family can handle this daily responsibility - that falls to me.
• My choices are not the choices of others. It doesn't make me wrong ...
• One day I may be forced to move my mom to another more appropriate place. It will be hard - gut wrenching, actually. But when her care requires such a move, I will do it.

And in the end ... I will still be standing!

Behind, behind, behind.

So I started to read the posts I am behind on today. And before I did that, I decided to see just how many I am behind.

I figured 200 or maybe 300.

Official post count on May 2nd?

682!!!

*gulp*

Maybe getting the exact number wasn't a good idea! LOL

Pant! Pant! ... A to Z Epilogue

I may have finished this challenge one day short of the goal, but I finished!

Today I was focused on catching up - posting the last 5 days and completing the challenge.

Tomorrow I will be focused on reading, and reading, and reading - 5 days worth of 58 blogs ... I am actually looking forward to that.

And then in a few days I will post my 5 or 6 postings that I thought were just outstanding. Really, there were probably 20 or 30 that were sensational, but I need to put a reality check on my enthusiasms.

My sincere thanks to all of you for tagging along with me this last 30 days. I am thrilled to have made so many new blog friends. I received so many notes of encouragement, concern, and caring especially during the last week. It is remarkable and most appreciated.

Now to read and read and read ... and catch up.

You guys are the best!!