End of July

I can hardly believe it. I guess that is one of the advantages of having no sense of time and being busy all the time. We are through what is usually the hottest part of the summer already, though of course, now that I've said that we'll probably have the hottest August, September and October on record.
DH doesn't seem to be getting much better, though he mostly isn't getting worse, either. He'd tried to turn down his oxygen (3l is the magic number that will allow him a portable battery unit instead of the monster unit and portable, though limited, tanks) but he was feeling pretty rotten so he cranked it back up and is doing better. The tanks are enough to get him around town for appointments, but no way are they sufficient to visit with family out of town, go to his job in Show Low about four hours away, or travel beyond the immediate vicinity, so we either need to find a bigger portable unit or he's just going to have to get better. We've all been struggling with depression and all that, and unfortunately for DH, I am not the kind, nurturing type. (no kidding, eh?) I'm more likely to tell him it's time to get off his lazy ass and get working at getting better. Alas, while I'm sure that approach has a time and place, I'm not always sure when that time and place is. (I'm also trying like hell to remember that the doc said we won't see the full effects of his meds for a few more months yet, so it's possible that he'll make further progress. I tend to think however he is now is how he'll be forever. I don't think this is the "in the moment" thing they talk about when describing the whole feeling of zen.)
Anyway, we are trying to go about with our lives as we can. Yesterday that meant shopping. Baseball glove shopping, to be exact. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to find a lefty-glove to fit a four year old? Anyway, as my brother pointed out, it's not like he has the strength and coordination to really catch with the mitt anyway, so I got a larger one that he'll grow into. In the meantime, he shoves his hand into it and I toss the ball, aiming for the glove. So far I'm accurate about 50% of the time. Then I chuck it across the yard and he chases after it, and after half an hour he's ready to crash. Tired children are (mostly) good children.



I did a brief bit of spinning for the Tour de Fleece, too. It was the cheater plan, because I'd spun most of a bobbin already long ago. The TdF gave me a little kick to get it moving again, though. I have roughly sport weight, 2ply, roughly 230yds of some rough stuff I dyed with one pink and one orange easter egg dye pellet.



I think I'll knit some stranded mittens with it.

Effing ohs and late with the mail.

So, DH has been home for a few days now. That is my sole excuse for not posting since (checking) Wednesday. Huh, I thought it had been longer than that. Anyway, the first day or so he was home, I kept waiting for him to keel, and I think he did too. But he didn't, and each day he can do a little more, and breath just a little better. He's still very weak and sickly and on 5l of oxygen which limits his ability to travel (the tanks we have only last an hour at that rate of use, so we gotta hope the doctors are on time, for sure) but he's making steady progress. Even working on the computer a little bit and getting up for his own drinks and breakfast. (I still have to caulk the bedsore in his ass, though. I told him if he ever doubts my commitment, I will simply say, "ass caulk" and he will remember. Thank FSM it is almost healed.) (ETA to reply to kat's "shame on them": they treated it as soon as they knew about it, but he didn't tell them, he told ME. I found it while helping him shower, then reported it to the nurse over his objections. Then they got a sticky pad for him to sit on (he couldn't lay down at all or he'd drown in his own lungs) and I drew a face on it before they pasted it on. You might have an inkling why he didn't want anything said...)
In the meantime, as things are evening out and the boy is acting out much less now that daddy's home, I have had more knitting time. I effed an oh, people! I present my June PSC offering, Snow on Cedars mitts from a kit by Woolly Wonka fibers and Anne Hanson (details at the rav link):


(No, I didn't let my scissors disappear into the couch, and yes, I was indeed wearing shorts.)

Bad pics, but that's what happens when your backup photographer is sree(3).



(This is also why there are no modeled shots of the Mary Jane sweater or the Cookie lace. Those two deserve good photography.)

I got some bad news about the sock club, though. My July installment was lost in the mail. They have promised to send me another package in January of next year to make up for it. In the meantime, I am working on Madli and on the May PSC socks for the husband. It's nice to work on lace again, though I'm glad I warmed up on the mitts - the beginnings of that first mitt saw me tinking half a row for every two or three I knit. Now I have my lacy mojo back.
Not my concentration mojo, though - apparently I wrote this post, then wandered away before clicking Publish. Sigh.

I can't brain today, I has the dumb.

Many thanks to Lene for that phrase. And for reminding me how cool vampires are. But NOT for not telling me about my newest obsession until just yesterday (after I'd emailed her about it!). Sheesh, woman.
We are hanging in. DH was getting worse and worse, and being threatened with the ventilator, the docs finally decided the lung problem from the autoimmune stuff was worse than the valley fever and brought out the big guns. He felt better almost immediately, and has been making progress in the right direction ever since. He thinks he'll be home by Friday.
Last weekend, though, both stepdaughters showed up, and one brought friends, and visited with their dad. (He can say it was the drugs that helped, but I know it was seeing his girls.) Not only that, but they babysat for me and allowed me some alone time, AND alone time with DH, which I hadn't had in ages. They cleaned my house. They shopped for groceries. They cooked for me (which is good because I'd finished the lovely roast from Lynn in Tucson). They brought me beer and drank with me. Then they left, which was the only crappy thing they did.
Knitting has taken a back seat to family life, and I'm okay with that. I'm pretending the mail was late for the July PSC club and haven't pulled it yet (though I am one thumb away from finishing the first of the Snow on Cedars mitts, which was my PSC pull for June.) I haven't even touched my spindle for Tour de Fleece, but also, don't care. I had a great time, I'll be forever grateful to the girls, and I know DH is on the mend because he wants to spend hours on the phone annoying me about dumb stuff. Annoying DH = healthy DH (or nearly). We're not out of the woods yet, but I can see the light, and more importantly, so can DH. Don't stop with the good thoughts yet, but I thank you most heartily for them all.

Oh yeah, and a quick, unscientific poll. I have an application in for a job at the dept of revenue in Montana. I WANT that job. I have no contacts in the dept of rev, but I have searched LinkedIn and found the account of the Deputy Director. I can't contact him directly without upgrading to a paying account. Lemmee ask you: if you got mail through this program from some woman you'd never heard of, asking you to please check out her references online and maybe put in a good word to the hiring committee, would you be impressed with her resourcefulness, annoyed at her presumptiousness, or have no feelings at all and ignore it?

For Cookie

Who wanted happy food.