Update and RETURN to Blogging

It has been a year since I blogged, whew! And I guess I thought it was over for good, but there seems to be a reason to come back and I will explain.

I have been busy caring for Dave and watching him disappear. 

He now has dementia big time, is wheelchair bound, and is incontinent. I had a night nurse for a while and a daytime one for three days a week but that all fizzled and I was caring for Dave on my own. Finally I bit the bullet and went with an agency, rather than finding replacement carers by word of mouth, and this new person will be here five days a week for five hours a day. This plan makes it easier on me and allows me to get back into being creative again.  

So in the meantime I have made lots of incremental changes in the way we live, adjusting to the needs that develop. But other things that have nothing to do with caregiving have happened too. One thing that really brought me peace, happiness and satisfaction was starting a knitting group at my church. I was able to do that when I had a consistent care person, and now I have three fabulous participants who bring me so much joy.

Ashleigh, Charlotte, Pamela and Joan who is not in the group but is modeling a vest I made.

I am the 'teacher' and have actually taught a crocheter to knit! We laugh and talk and sometimes eat, and make stuff. I am unloading lots of yarn ( and garments) in their direction which is so good for my overloaded yarn room. 

Which brings me to downsizing things...for a while I fantasized about building a Tiny House on my double lot here in Chattanooga, but eventually, having told everyone I was thinking of doing it, I realized that I already live in a tiny house and I just need to use it to work out my simplified living ideas. One thing I did was purchase a big super duper does everything toaster oven. Wha? It turns out that this jim dandy thing has really been a game changer. You know I love to bake but heating up the big gas oven for a couple of bisquits just seemed wasteful. With this puppy, I can do that as well as make a huge pizza without heating up the whole kitchen.  I use this every day and never use my regular oven at all.

I have also stopped using my dishwasher. Again, wha? One day I realized that I kept loading multiple cups and bowls into the dishwasher and then running a load which took forever to finish. Why not just wash and rinse the bowl and cup and reuse them an hour later. Duh. The offshoot of this is that I now habitually wipe down the counter and stove whenever I wash a few items. My kitchen is a lot cleaner than it was when I used to run the dishwasher. Who knew?

And then I looked at my yarn room and thought, could I use that space for a studio? It has a door, which I need, so I can close off the goings on in the rest of the house while I work, so I got right to it. 

I reorganized all that hanging yarn into the bins on the shelf above and voila! I have room for my fused fabric again. (some yarn got given away to my knitters, heehee). What had been in Rubbermaid bins is now up and accessible without having to rifle though those bins. Ten bins were emptied and donated to Goodwill. Phew! The space they took up! I moved my sewing stuff into this room and ordered a new work table which raises and lowers itself for specific tasks. I am ready to make stuff. 

Which brings me back to the blog. I keep seeing my old work on Pinterest and wishing I was still doing this fun stuff. Now I think and hope I can. Watch this space!