Now for the rest of my life

I dropped off the face of the earth earlier this month. My husband died October 13.

He had been in poor health for years with heart and lung problems. He got pneumonia and we thought we had that beat when he came home the end of September. We were wrong! He went back to the hospital 3 days later. All of our out of town children were able to get here in time and stayed through the funeral. We are now picking up the pieces.

I have a wonderful family for support. They all are doing things, sometimes with a speed that surprises me. Home remodeling continues and rooms are actually being finished.

I will be working on the cooking for one problem. I don't mind leftovers, especially on the days that I work. I'm glad I still have my dressmaking shop. I can't imagine sitting home alone every day. So far, my days off have been filled with things to do. Today I went to the gym, saw a doctor for a problem thumb, installed a new cd player at the shop with DD Jan's help, and picked up my husband's ashes. He is sitting on my dining room table, waiting for the thank you note party Friday night. We'll be eating Chinese, writing thank yous, and moving things into newly painted rooms. I'm not sure what else will happen when the people gather.

Knitting
I finished the purple socks, The yarn is from Crystal Palace. Blue beads bought locally. Pattern from Knitty.com, it's Rolling Thunder by Sivia Harding.

Bad and good

Well, I finished the chartreuse socks. A large portion was knit while sitting in the hospital with DH.
He went into the hospital on September 21 with pneumonia and a broken wrist suffered a few days before. We thought that the wrist was only sprained. He got out Sept. 30 and came home wiith oxygen tank in tow. That was Friday. He was slowly getting better.

On Monday, I got a call at work, that his breathing was worse and to come home immediately to watch the dog. He'd called 911. TheEMTs arrived shortly after I got home and did not get attacked by the dog defending her master.

Back at the hospital, he ended up on a breathing machine. That helped take the stress off his heart.

He was sedated, so he was not in pain and was asleep all the time. By Friday, they reduced the sedation and he began to wake up. He's now awake and frustrated that he can't talk due to the tubes down his throat. They're trying to wean him from the machine, but it's a slow process.

Luckily, our son works at a different hospital complex in the heart department, so is a little more knowledgeable about heart/lung issues. Also, his MIL died of heart problems a year or so ago. He sometimes asks better questions and he is the one to track down doctors to get answers.

Back to knitting
The green socks are a mystery pattern for SKA last month, called Watercress. The yarn is Dream in Color Smooshy in Spring Tickle color. This pattern had to be knit in chartreuse to count for prizes this month.


I'm on to the October challenge. I'm doing beads and texture other than knit purl rib. The pattern is called Rolling Thunder by Sivia Harding, published in Knitty.com. The beads don't show well in this photo, they're light blue clear. The cuff has rows of thunderbirds and the rest of the sock is a garter rib. Yarn is Crystal Palace Panda Soyin Positive Purple color.

I'm still working on the feed only one person problem. Two of my daughters are alone much of the time, so I've asked them for advice. Today we have one solution to the problem of how to make one slice of french toast. DD is coming to paint bedrooms today. (One might actually be finished) She wants to eat french toast for lunch. I use raisin bread and top it with cinnamon. She lives alone and hasn't had french toast in a long time. I'll make 3-4 slices.

Last night when I got home, I made hamburger helper. The meat had been defrosted when DH was home, so needed to be used. I'll get 4 more meals from that, so won't have to think about cooking for a while. I don't mind leftovers and often freeze portions of large recipes, but most of that is winter food, and the weather is not winter like here right now. By the time I get it worked out, DH will be home.