Seeking Calm

This is the sunlit hall I walk through every day on the way to my department at work.  These windows are painted every holiday season by the different units within the hospital.  They are now painted in hopeful and cheerful rally-for-the-pandemic themes.  I think it is so pretty when the sun shines through and reproduces the designs on the floor in shadows.  There are signs, cards and posters from the public hung all over in the hallways and elevators.  I appreciate the well wishes but it doesn't ease my anxiety.  We are expected to peak towards the end of June and I have my first re-orientation shift in the ICU tomorrow in preparation for my eventual deployment.  I was notified last week and had a good cry or two about it.  I am nervous all the time.

Pictured here is my Mother's Day gift.  I needed a new kettle and this one lights up and is almost twice as big as the old one.  I needed another coffee cup like I need a hole in the head but it is cabled knitting!  We've had the last of our cool weather when tea tastes best.

Marek enjoys playing with bubbles on the deck.  In these photos, spring had barely sprung and it was almost too cool to be outside. 

It was a bright but overcast day and the bubbles were so vibrant and colorful.  I'd never tried taking pictures of bubbles before and I'm sure the neighbors thought I was crazy.

Last month we started a bunch of seeds indoors and got them in the ground after Mother's Day.  This year we're trying pole beans instead of bush beans because I'm tired of bending down to pick them and I hate how sandy and yucky they get on the ground.  I got these wire frames at Menard's and we'll see how this goes.  Dave's dad gave us cauliflower and broccoli seedlings he started.  Marek loves broccoli so I'm excited to try growing it ourselves.

We're going to try those wire frames with our cucumbers too.  I wanted to do the straw bale gardening we saw at the State Fair but because of the pandemic, we couldn't go and get the equipment/supplies for it and I'm hoping the wire frames will make a difference this year.

This little boy loves to draw and instantly took to the sidewalk chalk I got him.  He's wearing his new "Crocs" I found at Aldi.  I can handle the quarantine and closed businesses, but I really miss Saver's.

We had a fawn born in our neighborhood.  He slept in our rhubarb next to the air conditioner for a couple afternoons.  When he'd bleat for his mother, it sounded like a child.

Here is Mom coming to feed him but not before she stopped for a snack of hostas.  She is practically on our front porch.  We were all very quiet inside the house so as not to spook her because we wanted her to go to the fawn.

I love our front apple tree when it blooms every spring.  It is a visual feast of color and texture.

As much as I love looking at the blooms, I love when the petals drip from the branches and carpet the sidewalk and lawn.  Our next flowers will be the peony bush any day now.

It has been warm and humid all week and perfect for this little nerd to play with water.  We also have his kiddie pool set up in the yard.  I found him a large paint brush so he can paint the sidewalk with water.  We used to do that for hours as kids.

It is official summer pajamas weather.  Gone are the zip up one piece footy pajama suits and we're now in the cotton knit short sleeve and sometimes short pants pajamas.  Here he is on the video baby monitor we got for $22 after sale price, coupon, and rat holed $5 Target gift cards.  My sister's kids call this, "The Marek Show."

This little goof is the light of my life.  He is so funny with the little things he does or the way he sees the world.  He is worth every ounce of energy.

He has discovered how light switches work.

I'm still sewing surgical caps every chance I get but last week I spent my evenings knitting on the couch.  I know I get worked up about things and I have been nothing short of terrified of my orientation shift tomorrow so I wanted to sit and lose myself in the TV and some mindless knitting.  These are some baby socks knit from yarn leftover from M's Sweet William sweater. 

They've officially cancelled the county fairs we go to and the State Fair.  I'm so disappointed but it was the right thing to do.  The fiber festival was also canceled this month.  Damn you Covid-19!  It was the right thing to do.  Basically we all got a year's extension to get more projects done for next year's fair.

Find comfort and peace where you can.  Stay home, wash your hands and be safe.  This too shall pass.

Tales From Quarantine

It's been a while, hasn't it?  Things have sure changed around here since the last time we spoke.  If you'd told me two months ago about all the changes we'd be living with, I don't know that I'd have believed you.  I had to share a picture of some frosted sugar cookies spotted in our local HyVee.  They are always so topical in the bakery.

This was our local Target on March (Friday) 13th.  I couldn't believe it.  I'd been watching this Covid business unfold online and in the news in the weeks leading up to this.  By then we'd seen people panic buying of toilet paper in Australia and in different parts of our country but I never thought we'd see it here.  The following week we cancelled all elective surgeries at my hospital but we didn't enter our state stay home orders until almost two weeks later. 

Ever since the strike, I've kept the house very well stocked and supplied with our pantry and freezer, even down to UHP boxed milk.  I also blame my rural upbringing for my attitude.  We lived 40 miles away from the nearest super store and I can't stand to run out of things.  I'm the kind of person that if there is a 1/2 empty bottle of ketchup in the fridge, I can't sleep unless I know there is a full unopened bottle in my downstairs pantry.  I'm also a coupon lady and if I have a good deal for a non perishable item, I buy it whether we need it or not.  I get a lot of grief from my own family and my in laws over this but I am not sad I run my household like this because we were well prepared.

I was instantly worried when I saw this.  I had two packages of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter in our fridge that I'd gotten with coupons, Ibotta reimbursements and Shopkicks points.  All I could think about was WWII rationing and I told Dave we have to use that to butter our bread and save the stick butter for cooking and baking.  It was hard to not get anxious seeing empty grocery shelves for those first few weeks.  Again, we were well stocked and needed only produce and dairy but my mom couldn't find flour or yeast in her area to bake bread.  I sent a 5 lbs bag of flour and packets of yeast in the mail to rural Iowa.

We've kept Marek home from daycare because I am potentially being exposed at work and we don't want to turn around and expose the daycare.  Dave has been Daddy Daycare since school has been cancelled for the remainder of the year.   I am very careful when I go out to the stores or to work.  I leave my shoes in the garage and strip down to my underwear in the mud room.  My clothes go into a fabric laundry bag and I wash up to my elbows and wipe down my phone before going upstairs.

We were well stocked with disinfecting products because of Marek.  We have large pump bottles of sanitizer upstairs and down to make hand hygiene easier for Dave.  I'd already drilled into Dave about clean hands around a newborn as we approached our due date and thankfully it sunk in.  I always had canisters of disinfecting wipes to use on the counters when we made bottles.  I'm glad we had them because you just can't find them in stores and I read we won't be back to a "normal" supply of those products until June or July because the chemicals and materials are sourced in China.  This week I was able to find limited amounts of both and mailed them to my parents who were unable to find them.  I also had several packages of Scrubbing Bubbles Bathroom antibacterial cleaning wipes (purchased with coupons) I'd used for cleaning light switches and doorknobs to save on the Lysol wipes and included those in the package to my parents.

I drive past the 3M campus on my way to work and they have it lit up like this at night.  I totally broke the law taking this picture but it makes me smile every time I see it.  3M is working nonstop to make our PPE.  I also can't believe the armies of sewers making cloth masks.  There is now a shortage of elastic because people are sewing masks for the cause.  I read on a neighborhood forum that people were getting creative and salvaging elastic from old fitted sheets and splitting open bungee cords.  During WWII it was "knit for the troops" and during this pandemic we are sewing PPE for the front line workers.

My Peri-Op department has not had enough work for us in our area so there have been days we've been kept home with pay and also 3 mandatory shifts kept home without pay but we can use vacation time.  I've also been "on vacation" for the last week because Dave was supposed to go to Reno for his bowling tournament which was of course cancelled.  Thankfully I kept our tax refund this year because I've been watching this loom on the horizon so financially we're OK.  We're slowly ramping up our surgery schedule so there will soon be more work in our department.  I worked in the ICU before my current job and my biggest fear is being sent back if/when our surge hits.  They've asked for volunteers to cross train back to the ICU's and I'm not ashamed to say I did not raise my hand.  Of course if it becomes an "All Hands On Deck" situation, of course I will do my duty and answer the call.  I just worry every day of bringing it home to my family.  It is a weird time because I'm scared of going to work but at the same time, I'm thankful that I have work to go to.

I love our governor and think he's done a fabulous job handling this whole thing.  I can't say the same for the President and the Iowa governor who are responsible for my vulnerable parents.  Dave, Marek and I are home together as a family eating home cooking at the table and we pray fervently for our parents and the nation before each meal. 

Enough of the pandemic doom and gloom.  Here is a picture of my darling boy with his shaggy quarantine hair.  I watched a few youtube videos before giving him a trim and it came out kind of halfway decent.

I can see areas where it is uneven but he's a wiggly toddler so it's bound to be crooked in places.

We celebrated M's 2nd birthday in quarantine starting with a German pancake for breakfast.  We couldn't have any family come celebrate with us but we still made cupcakes for him and sloppy joes for supper.

I'd slowly been purchasing decorations, paper plates/cups, gifts and ingredients for his cake in the weeks leading up to his day.  He really likes Cookie Monster and this cupcake decoration idea was on Pinterest.  I love this picture of him trying to get those pickles!

We had him open his gifts the following day after his haircut.  I think I was still pregnant when I bought that little wooden train toy.  I also had a play food toy I'd spotted a few weeks earlier on clearance.  Good lord I can't believe what a big boy he's become!

We pledge to Public Television every year and this year instead of pledging during Eastenders, we pledged for Sesame Street.  I'll admit the thank you gift was the deciding factor because I already had the Eastender pint glasses and coffee mugs.  The Sesame Street gift was this plush Cookie Monster which was perfect for us.  Here is Lopi snuggling with him.

I have been working rearranging the house during my time off.  I've been meaning to move the sewing room downstairs and then turn the old sewing room into a play room and bigger bedroom for Marek.  I bought the paint months ago but this pandemic has motivated me to get moving.  M has not climbed out of his crib yet but that day is coming and we're going to need somewhere to confine him safely at night.  He's also a busy toddler who needs room to play and run and roam.  I worry that if/when the surge hits, I may be asked to work more shifts and I wanted to make things easier for Dave who will be home with him.

The large room the sewing room moved into was a large guest room that slept four with a queen bed and a futon.  There is also a smaller bedroom downstairs that held a twin bed.  The twin bed was moved out of the small bedroom and will be stored until Marek can sleep in a big boy bed.  The queen bed was moved into that smaller bedroom and will be my isolation bedroom if conditions at work become such that I need to stay away from my family.  The futon was moved upstairs to the play room.  My goal is always to make life easier and now we can close the play room door and sit on the futon while Marek plays and runs around and we don't have to chase him.  The play room is also away from the TV which is something that always bothered me about him playing in the living room.

This is one of my favorite pictures but it's also embarrassing.  Look at that cluttered room!  And look at that easy baby!  He couldn't run away from you or get into things!  You could just park him somewhere (he's in his bathtub in this picture) and give him something to play with and he was content.  I must have needed to serge something really badly if we were all in there like that.

I hauled all that crap downstairs one clothes basket at a time.  Every time he went to bed for a nap or for the night, I was making trips up and down the stairs.  I didn't realize how much bigger the downstairs room was until moving.  I could have a hoe down in the new room!

Painting and decorating is a great way to keep your mind distracted.  I passed time during the strike painting the entire upstairs.  It's amazing how much you don't worry about things when you're busy doing a hateful job.  The one thing I can't stand about this whole pandemic is the waiting.  We're waiting to get hit and I just want to get busy and work and get it over with but this kept my brain busy for a while.

 I've been making small improvements while I was at it.  These are bed risers under my cutting table and holy cow does it make a difference!  I can cut without straining my back and store way more stuff under the table.  I've been folding laundry in here too.  Where have these been all my life?

 I still have boxes of stuff to sort out and organize but it will have to wait for a little while.  I've been taking advantage of the extra time off sewing scrub caps for my coworkers.  They've been recommending covering our hair if caring for Covid patients.  I read months back that nurses in China were shaving their heads because the virus could come into contact with their hair and then if it brushed their faces or they touched their hair and then their faces, etc.  Is there anything else we can worry about?  I'm not willing to shave my head yet, but I'll cover my hair with a cap.

I should be giving these away but I've been asking for a $5 donation because they take 1/2 yard of fabric.  I used this pattern and I'm not sure how many I've made.  I've been digging deeper and deeper into my fabric stash for these.  April is "Use What You Have Month" and this is the first year I haven't bought anything in the fabric store all month.  I tried on Sunday but was turned away at Joann Fabrics because they are closed to the public and only doing curbside pick up for now.  Wow.  Marek loves Daniel Tiger so I made the one on the far right for myself!

Here he is in the newly painted play room sitting at his little table.  I love play food and had a big stash of it that my nieces would play with when they'd visit but now he is old enough to enjoy it.

He also loves to draw and color at the table.  You can see the futon behind him in this picture.  We can still use this room as a guest room if needed--but we won't be having company for a while.

We set the card table up in the play room and threw a blanket over it for an instant fort.  That is a battery powered candle from the play food box. 

We celebrated Easter in quarantine and again I'd been slowly gathering treats and gifts leading up to all this.  This year he still wasn't too excited about searching for the eggs but he did enjoy playing with them.

We finally hung up his baby swing I bought last year and boy does he love it!  I can't wait to get out the kiddie pool and sprinkler!

I've done a little knitting here and there and finally finished this monster.  I've wanted to knit these forever but now I have to knit the second one!  Instead of second-sock-syndrome, it is second-mitten-syndrome.  You don't know how bad I have Start-itis for a new project.

I miss my parents so much but I can regularly video chat with them.  Dave's parents are only a couple miles away but we've kept our distance to keep them safe.  They can't use technology so I print photos of the boy and deliver them with their groceries when I shop for them.  They stopped by last week for a social distance visit and stayed in their car.  Marianne made us a container of chicken salad and then they were going for a drive and to pick up some KFC.  I miss being close to other people and can't wait for this to all be over. 

This is a photo I took a couple months ago when I caught Marek licking the window.  At the time I thought it was hilarious because he's now officially a window licker.  Thank goodness it was our window!  Clean your surfaces and wash your hands and stay safe everyone!  Take care of each other!  This too shall pass.

Sweet William

Here is my latest finished sweater and I love it!  I love making sweaters for the boy because small versions knit up so quickly!

The pattern is called Sweet William and was purchased on Ravelry.

Here is the finished yoke before I blocked it.  I was a little worried because the colorwork areas were a little puckered before blocking.

The side of the neck opening is closed with two buttons.  I chose these pewter colored metal buttons from my stash because they had an art nouveau vine look to them which went well with the stylized rabbits.

Most of the sweaters I've knit for Marek were with fingering weight yarn and this one was no exception.  This was hand dyed local yarn from Sin City Knits in Las Vegas that I purchased last year on Dave's bowling trip.  Adult sweaters knit from fingering weight take forEVER but I didn't mind this at all.  Also, most fingering skeins have 400+ yards in them so it doesn't take much.  I used a skein and a bit to complete this.  Now what to do with the remainder...

Taking a decent photo of the boy was a bit of a challenge.  The sun is out today and I'm not complaining about that, but I wanted some overcast for a nice photo.  We tried to confine him to the shaded portion of the deck which wasn't easy because he moves so fast!

He is wearing the second hand dressy pants I picked up at Saver's.  The pocket linings match the sweater perfectly.  I was trying to keep him busy with a foil wrapped chocolate bunny.

We still have snow in the middle of the deck and he was very interested in it.  I am so pleased with the fit of this sweater.  The sizing on this pattern goes up to age 10 if memory serves me.  I might have to make a few more of these!

Here is a quick photo of the sweater after I took it off him.  I was really pleased with how the yoke smoothed out once blocked.  The garment was knit from the collar down first back and forth to create the buttonband/neck opening and then joined in the round for the yoke.  Sleeve stitches are held and later picked up while the knitting continues down the body.  This was an absolute pleasure to knit!  It is almost as pretty as my son's eyes!

Child Life

Marek and I watch Sesame Street almost every day.  I loved it as a kid and it is PBS so it is good for you.  It's hard to believe this show is 50 years old and still wonderful.  On this particular episode, I immediately noticed Alan's shirt.

Does it look familiar?  I HAVE THIS FABRIC!!!!  Familiar fabric sightings always excite me.  Clearly the Children's Television Workshop shops at Joann Fabrics!

Speaking of fabric, I made a new pillowcase for the boy.  I am a sucker and get a new travel size MyPillow pillow every year at the State Fair because there is a deal in the coupon book year after year.  It is just the right size for a little boy in a crib.  I made a Miffy pillowcase with an open end based on the Magic Pillow Tutorial.  It was really cute but he pulled it off the pillow every time he was in the crib.  For Christmas, Mom had asked for some fold over style pillowcases for her State Fair MyPillow pillows so I made a few.  My measurements were a 15" x 20" piece for the front panel and two 15" x 15" panels for the back flaps. 

I realized Marek could use a fold over case and found the perfect little boy fabrics.  I picked up the rick rack style piece at Walmart of all places in their pre-cut fabric area.  The colors are so versatile and would look great as lining or backing or whatever.  The dinosaur fabric was a fat quarter found by accident at Hobby Lobby.  My fabric stash is all stuff I've collected over the years that I like and find appealing.  None of it is really frou-frou or girly, but it is decidedly lacking in "boy prints" so I was happy to put this together for M.

I have gotten out my copy of The Felt Book for some projects.  I've made several of these patterns for other peoples' kids over the years and now it is time to make some for my son!  His baptism booties were from this book and there is a hat I'm thinking about.  I want to make the one pictured in the book and of course I'm thinking of making another but as a Minnesota Gophers version!

Here is the monster puppet I finished for M this weekend.  There is nothing more satisfying than using up scraps and I am a sentimental fool.  I can't help but notice the red, orange and gold and think they are the leftovers of the felt campfire I made years ago.  The mottled pink is leftover from the Valentine candle mat.  I do the same thing with cotton prints.  As a kid, I remember mom showing me a scrap quilt her mother had made and describing the pajamas her brother had from a certain print, and play clothes they wore from another, etc.  We have several blankets I've made from scraps and I enjoy looking at the project remnants embedded in the quilt top.  I guess it is a way for me to have my fabric cake and eat it too!

This puppet is so cute and simple that I decided to make another one for my dear friend's granddaughter.  I made one of these for my 18 year old niece when she was a toddler.  I can't remember doing it on the machine though. 

Yesterday was relatively warm and overcast in the morning.  We were heading over to Dave's parents' to take his dad to Menards for potting soil.  I thought it would finally be a great opportunity for a 3 generation photo of the boys in their Gopher knitwear.  By the time we all got out on the stoop, the sun decided to come out so this is the best we could do.  That little boy loves his grandparents!