Sunday I spent a lot of time knitting. I finally finished the trim work on the yellow sweater. I faced the fact that I may never make it to a store to find some contrasting ribbon and acknowledged that I had the perfect color yarn on hand.  I made a crochet chain with a size I needle and wove the chain in and out of the eyelet on the sweater. Then I used the contrast yarn to make ties and even a little embellishment for the front.

I think it came out nicely.

I have ordered a board book from Amazon (because all babies need books!) and once it arrives, I will be able to pack the gift up and give it to my coworker.

I have to say, I am quite pleased with how it came out. The trim really livens the sweater up a lot. I had never done a sewn on embellishment before and it wasn’t too tricky, so I might be apt to try it again in the future.

BTW, did I mention I have another pregnant coworker?  I see more baby knitting in my future!

Hot air balloons! I was surprised to go outside and find there were two!!!

Musta been an interesting trip for the folks in the basket, the fog cleared, the sun came out and then….The fog came back fiercely.  The balloons had little wind and an hour after taking off landed only a few buildings over in another field, they sort of did a big foggy circle!!!

My day yesterday was pretty low key. It was a nice change from the work week!

My friend, Berry, came over first thing. I was going to teach her how to knit…She had learned to knit a few years ago, but then had let it go. However, she really remembered a lot and I didn’t have to do very much knitting support at all. Right now she is making a basic two needle hat for her daughter. 

As you can see, it is already coming along nicely.

And since it was girl bonding time…Berry was even kind enough to French braid my hair for me.  Mind you, I have the worst hair for French braiding as it is very, very fine and silky soft and as she was braiding it, my hair was already falling out of the braid…..But she got braids in on the sides and I was very happy with how it looked.

Usually, when I want to style my hair, I start with wet hair, use lots of gel (which I refer to as Hair Glue) and then follow it up with some hair spray.  Though it sometimes is crispy to touch, it will hold my hair up for most of the day.  Berry was at a total disadvantage as my hair was dry and had no products in it.  I am impressed she got my hair to cooperate at all! Now, if only I could French braid my hair so nicely, it would be a nice style to wear to work! I ought to practice at it!

A while after Berry left, another friend called me on the phone and I chatted with her for a bit.  It was a good and friendful morning!

In the afternoon, I was super, super sleepy.  I laid down just before one and slept until three!  I guess I was tired!!! I still felt a bit drowsy all afternoon, even after the nap, but the nap was just decadent and warm and snuggy and relaxing.

Let’s see…what else……In the late afternoon dh and I ran a quick couple of errands.  We went to the health food store to get some shampoo and some Kombucha.  Then we went to Sears and I got a new bra. Believe it or not, the second bra I tried on fit me perfectly! What are the odds of that?! Mind you, they only had one of that style in stock, but I am quite pleased with it and will check back for another or maybe pop into JC Penney’s for another.  It is a Playtex bra, so shouldn’t be too hard to find.

Then we went to the grocery store.  It only took me a week, but I finally remembered my toothpaste!  And then we came home and had quiet time in the evening watching some Big Bang Theory, knitting, reading…..Just quiet time with the family.

Today will be another quiet day.  There is no Religious Education at UU today so we are skipping UU and staying home.  We have been running ourselves so ragged the past few weeks, we really need a good bit of down time to recharge. (Plus, dh is sick and was a good sport to go on errands with me yesterday, but he really could use the recuperative time today.)

Edit: Oh squee! A bunch of cars just pulled into the road next to the field by my house.  They are going to launch a hot air balloon! I love watching them fill up and float away.  It’ll be an interesting morning for it too as it is a bit chilly and very foggy…..

Yay for the weekend!

I’ve had a hard couple of weeks and I have been looking forward to this weekend since about Tuesday.

On the agenda:

A friend is coming over this morning for some girl time and I am going to teach her how to knit!

Then lots of quiet home time!

Okay…and maybe a quick errand as I am out of toothpaste and conditioner.

A day in the life……

Of a brand spanking new Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant just one month into the job.

7:00 Arrive at work.  Get PDA.

 Sign on to timecard.  Sync for new patient data. Then add/remove patients from the client list and upload to Services directory.

7:10  Be in first patient’s room for morning ADLs (activities of daily living, i.e. washing, dressing).  Support and teach patient ways to wash and clean up independently.  This means spending about 50 minutes in a 7 foot square bathroom while the patient uses the toilet, disrobes night clothes, washes whole body, performs oral hygiene and then dresses for the day. This is all done while teaching the patient safe techniques and pacing/energy conservation so they can complete the tasks safely.

8:10 Second patient’s room for ADLs.

9:00 Bring two patients to the gym for overlapping time slot. Do different activities with each person.  Work with one on upper body strengthening so she/he can be stronger for using her walker and pushing herself out of chair and off bed for functional transfers.  Work with the second on standing tolerance teaching pacing and awareness of fatigue.

10:00 Go to another patient’s room to discuss his prior level of home management before coming to the nursing home.  Engage patient in home management activities (take all of laundry out of drawers and closet and have patient fold items or put them on hangers and then carry to drawers or closet to put away) in room paying attention to post-surgical precautions, helping patient with precaution compliance, and teaching patient safe techniques for performing tasks.

11:00 Lead therapy group for four patients. (Once a week.)  Focus group on common goal that all patients are working on. (Upper body strengthening, Standing tolerance, etc)

11:30 Go to another patient’s room to work on upper extremity range of motion, ADLs, training with adaptive equipment (how to use a dressing stick to don underwear and pants, a sock aid to don socks)

12:00 Lunch.  Sync morning data from PDA. Try to eat lunch, touch base with other therapists, catch up on notes.

12:30 Tues/Thurs Rounds and Staff Meeting. MWF more patient care.

1:15 Get a last few minutes in with a patient and/or make schedule for next day and mark on schedule board on rehab wing.

1:30 (or 1:40 or on a bad day closer to 2) Check out on PDA time card, sync data, log off, plug PDA into dongle and place on charging rack. Go home.

Now…in the in between times, I also have to write weekly progress notes for each patient, do discharge paperwork if patient is leaving, do paperwork and manage patient goals for patient in “Transition Room”, review evaluations, attend care conferences, check for notes in chart, and touch base with nurses, LNAs, dietician, Activities Director (not all the same day, but depending on patient needs of the day).

Of course, I don’t even have a full caseload yet…..So, my schedule is actually “light” as compared to my colleagues!

Who comes up with these forecasts?

Tonight Cloudy with a chance of rain showers until midnight… then a chance of rain or snow showers after midnight. Lows in the mid 30s. West winds around 10 mph. Chance of precipitation 50 percent.

It can’t snow today..It’s still September. I suppose technically if it snows tonight it will be October…..

I guess now dh will decide it is time to turn on the heat.  He doesn’t like to sit around and freeze….I don’t know what’s wrong with him!

Sometimes I wish we had a nice little woodstove for these short-term cool spells.  (How do you like that for winter denial? This short-term cold spell likely won’t really break until May!)

In knitting news….There’s some seaming going on around here! Squee!

I love the way raindrops pool on leaves….Making magnifying orbs….

Cool.

NB has karate tonight so I will get in a good 45 minutes of knitting on the yellow sweater. I might even finish the knitting while I am waiting…I’d best pack my yarn needle so I can start on the seams if I have the time!!!!

Making sweater progress….

You can see my long dangly pieces for sewing up the side seams.

The woman at work for whom I am knitting this sweater is due in a bit more than 5 weeks. About once a week, there is a new gift bag with baby gifts sitting on her chair at work.  It is pretty fun!

And like I said, I can’t wait to find just the right ribbon to accessorize the sweater.

As to the stripy raglan sweater…I am contemplating some other patterns too….I have not yet committed to the Knitpicks one….I just might find a different pattern I like better.  

Yesterday was as lovely as a fall day could be in terms of weather.

Today….the total opposite. Rainy, cold.  I guess not totally a lost day, the afternoon was not so rainy or quite so cold and we got outside and went walking around town.  But it started wet and it appears to be ending wet.

I was very busy this weekend doing prep for the UU preschool class.  I spent some time making some decorations and posters for the room.  I made a great big banner that says, Welcome, Friends! as well as some posters talking about appropriate classroom behavior.

(The text is out of the UU preschool curriculum book)

I also found a sweet little picture that I though supported the preschool theme of: We are many, we are one.

Also, since the room was pretty spartan (I mean totally bare!) I made up a little pennant with some patterned paper we had laying around the house.

The dining room table was a mess as I made it through all these project.  However, despite the mess, it was actually pretty organized.

The preschool class went well.  I find the curriculum in the book to be a bit….ummm…..I want to say academic, but that’s not quite the right word.  It is very “scripted” and what they offer for a week’s lesson is really more than one can fit into an hour with wee kiddos and still have some fun too.  I think I will pick and choose out of the book….following the idea of the week, but perhaps in some more open-ended ways. We’ll see how it goes.

I am making my way through the Mason Dixon kimono. I have half of the second sleeve and then the front on the same side to finish and the sweater will be done.  I expect to have it done by the end of the week.  I am happy with the way it is coming out!  I can’t wait to find just the right ribbon to trim it with.

Also….I happened into Michael’s yesterday (I say that like it was an accident, LOL! But actually, we needed to go to Staples, which is in the same plaza as Michael’s so…..Well, you can see how it happened!) and found some new cotton. I usually have bought the Peaches and Cream skeins at Walmart, but Michael’s sells the Sugar and Cream yarn.  I found some pretty colored self-striping Sugar and Cream.  I have an idea…

I have been poring over the Knit Picks catalog and website to select yarns for holiday knitting.  I saw this sweet baby sweater pattern.

I was thinking that maybe the Sugar and Cream self-striping yarn for the body and then a solid for contrast on the sleeves.

What do you think? It’ll be pretty, don’t you think?

Huckle the cat, cozy on my blanket.

It was cold, cold, cold here this morning. There was a good and hard frost on the cars, on the ground, on the roof of the chicken coop…..The grass was even so frozen that it crunched a bit under my feet as I went down to let out the chickens.

Lots of things on the agenda for this weekend.  Since we were all sick and homebound last weekend, it seems like we have extra stuff to accomplish.  I am hoping to do some power errands and then be home this evening for some quiet time and to work on some prep work for preschool class tomorrow.

Did I mention that before?  I signed up to be a teacher for the UU’s preschool religious education class. Maybe I did mention it before….Anyway, I have the kiddos tomorrow and will need to be prepared! 

K….That’s all for now, I gotta get erranding!