Tired, but . . .

If you wait until you are rested to get things done, nothing will ever get done!

As my 94-year-old Mom's only caregiver, life is even busier these days. But with a first-time ever home health aid things should get easier--once I have refined schedules, tasks, and timeframes for what needs to be done. Mom gets 20 hours a week, I get 9 hours but what is done for one can not overlap what is done for the other! Now I will have some one to do some of the housework, run errands, do laundry, etc.

Though it doesn't seem like it, I have had some time freed up to spend on line with my favorite knitting community. I have had time to get some knitting done.

This is Super-Natural Stripes, a cute little top-down baby cardi that I am working on for a friend's 1st Grandchild who is a boy.  http://fpea.blogspot.com/2007/07/free-pattern-fridays-super-natural.html

I plan to make a pink one but I won't be using the eyelash yarn in the garment.

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So, as I said, I am tired, but . . . finding some me time. It's imperative!

What's really free?

It is said The Best Things in Life Are Free (you know how the rest of the song goes but I'm ignoring that part). The best things in life are free, I truly believe this. As a Facebook post going around says, they are:

• hugs
• smiles
• friends
• kisses
• family
• sleep
• love
• laughter
• good memories

From occurrences this morning I will add:

• Watching my youngest grandson show me the fingernails he's painted blue . . . when I asked him to show me his toenails when prompted by his mother.
• Watching Mom, who is in recuperation mode, eat ALL of her breakfast that I prepared for her (Jimmy Dean sausage, raisin toast w/margarine, buttery & sugary oats with hot milk added, orange juice, and eggs--and she's finicky about her eggs)!
• Kibitzing with the guys behind the counter at the corner gas station where I go get my morning cup of coffee when I don't have any at home.

What are the "free" things in your life that bring you simple pleasures? Sometimes you have to just notice a little harder. They are there!

Start where you are...the present

Trying not to fall back into neglecting my blog this early in my new start! I don't know what my posting goals are or will become, yet. I think part of what gets me bogged down when I come back to my blog is wanting to fill in the missing. That can be a lot when it's been months since I've blogged. Then it hit me, start where you are. Of course the past is important and there are memories to learn from as well as cherish. I can weave things that have happened in the past in with future blog posts to highlight, accentuate, and underscore them!

Don't let yesterday take up too much of today.

Our eyes are placed in front because it is more important to look ahead than to look back.

Remember the past, plan for the future, but live for today, because yesterday is gone and tomorrow may never come.

Soooooo, not going to worry about the past or setting specific blogging goals. I know I don't want to let months go by, and they won't. Life is so interesting and spontaneous (whether our choice or not; whether to a larger audience or just to oneself) until you can not encapsulate it in a schedule as you can/would the daily news.

Finding my way back to my blog . . .

So, because of my care giving duties to my dear Mother which have me more or less home bound until resources and homemakers kick in, I have more time to knit and focus on things that had gotten placed on the back burner....like my blog! I actually became excited about jump starting my blog again. So I knew immediately I wanted to merge my blogs into one. I managed that. Even generated some excitement among friends/fellow knitters one of whom said I must post. Uh oh, I started slacking already I realized as I just jumped up to compose this post. I'd jotted down a preliminary note or two. I'll get to that in a moment. I've renamed my blog, merged the older one (Look Gran'ma) with what was TheKnit HitsTheFan, and can't wait to make my blog as pretty and creative as those of the ones I follow. I think in my months of inactivity adding bells and whistles have gotten easier. I'd wanted to name my blog Life, simply . . . as well as change my URL address to the same but unfortunately all configurations of that name were just not available. Soooooooooo, I've settled for A Grandma's Hand . . . Simply my life! Grandma's Hand is the name of the Ravelry (you knitters know what I'm talking about) group I started for us Grandmothers and I used it at the urging of my friend Sue S. (thank you). I have so much to catch up on. I can't wait!

Now, for that preliminary note...my enlightening epiphany!

The thought hit me that life can not be nutshelled. As long as someone has an opinion or question, life can not be nutshelled . . . in a few sentences, paragraphs, photos, or posts. Blogs are just the crack in that nutshell. This nut welcomes you to peep into that crack.

Catching up, once again . . .

Spring break is up for my two grandsons. Yaaaaaayyyyyyy!!!! Back to more me time. Decided to clean up my list of blogs I follow--some rhyme and reason to that. Some were eliminated because even after I looked at them there was no memory who it belonged to and/or whatever interested me to start with was no longer there. Some were eliminated because there'd been no entries for 2+ years. But some I kept, inspite of the lack of entries, just because of the person!

I'm still trying to figure out how to merge all that I want to focus on in one blog. There are several that I follow that have done that so well. I only have two, but knowing myself I could easily have 5 or 6 or more. When and if I can figure out how to merge (if that's possible) the two I have, I will.

Since I'm on this one, let me talk knitting a bit and bring things up to speed. I was so excited about the opportunity to teach knitting (and crochet--bad idea) at Michaels as a CYCA instructor. Foolishly I thought I could do that at more than one store. Not wise since I had to ferry between stores using public transportation. Not wise if I wanted to offer day and evening classes. Not wise since many of the in-store promotions and demos, held at the same time on the same day, required me to be there. There were no other instructors available to cover those events. I could never build up a class above two students. Michaels is devoted to many crafts so no one craft got more attention than the other. And often knitting was like the bald-headed step child of crafts. I'm sure some stores are more supportive than others. Good experience though.

I finally have my copy of the revised book, The Principles of Knitting by June Hemmons Hiatt. I ordered it online from Barnes and Noble at half the cost of the price I would have paid walking into the actual bookstore. I got a free offer of business cards and a tool to print out whatever I wanted printed out--I chose my name and address! If you are not careful you will add more stuff. I didn't. So only paid for the cost of shipping, at a standard delivery! I ordered really cute cards to hand out if anyone ever considers wanting a handknit item. In addition to my contact info, I borrowed a line from June Hemmons Hiatt  -  Even the simplest hand-knit garment is a luxury to include on my card. I treated myself to a new digital camera, a Canon PowerShot ELPH 100 HS. So when I get some more time I will take photos of that card and some WIPs and post them.