I am still here!

Hi to all that may read my blog.

I apologize for no recent updates to my blog. But.... I have really been having a rough time with the severe asthma and then my husband brought home a bad cold from when he was away on business travel. This hit me directly in the lungs.... causing bronchial problems, fluid build up and more asthma difficulties. It was bad.... very, very bad. My doctor finally put me on some very potent antibiotics to try to knock this right out of me and more steroids.... in addition to the daily asthma meds I have to take. Finally..... within the past couple of days.... I am regaining my strength and I am beginning to have some relief. This is far from being under control... but with each day it is better.

In the midst of all of this.... my step daughter contacted us suddenly.... while my husband was still away on business. She needed a place to go to... she was leaving her husband and filed for divorce. She "needed" to come here (they live in Michigan and we are in Ohio) for a week or so.... until her Mom could fly up to help her drive back to Texas. Anyways.... with being sick for so long... the house was not in the shape I would have preferred for family visiting. And with my husband away.... no help to get it into shape. He was due to arrive home the very same time she was to arrive here. So... I did the best that I could.... but not exactly how I want things to look. The house was clean.... just a bit disorganized due to not being able to do much since early January. My step daughter told me not to worry.... she really did not care about a little disorganization... she just wanted to spend time with us.

So.... she arrives.... and no help with even the daily things that need done.... this is a grown woman that should know to help out when visiting. Even helping with meals, clean up of dishes after meals, etc. would have been helpful. But no.... that did not happen. It was nice to have her here.... but the timing was not good to have someone extra to care for. I did enjoy having her here. She asked before she arrived I knew how to sew with a sewing machine... now she knows I do..... I have several machines and have sewn all my life. I also do machine embroidery. So... she asked if I could teach her how to use her machine that her Mom had given her. I told her yes.... and we could come up with a simple project for her to learn on. So while she was here.... we chose to make a purse. Turned out to be a very good project for her to learn on. She really is excited about sewing now and plans to continue with more projects once she is back home and settled in. The day she was leaving.... she presented me with the sweetest card and such a precious note inside. It brought me to tears. Here I was.... sick... not able to do much with her while she was here.... and she gave me such a wonderful and loving gesture of how much she appreciates me. Wish she lived closer to us so we could enjoy more things. I would love to share what I have learned to teach her. More for other visits in the future.

Since I have felt a little easing of asthma symptoms this week I decided to get back to the reorganizing I had started in early January. I figure with each day.... do a few things... then work on my preparations for the farmers market. I am very behind on making more soaps. I have plenty to start off the season and more in reserve for someone I am waiting to trade fleece for soaps. Aside from that.... I really need to get more inventory prepared for when things sell out that I will have more in my reserve stock again.

So... yesterday I made several batches of soap. More to be made within the next week or so. I will have more than enough now to be prepared for the market which begins in 7 weeks.

I also washed raw fleeces this week. And dyed some wools on Tuesday. These all turned out lovely. I tried Wilton icing dyes this time for dyeing. Works wonderfully! Love all the colors and also some colors will split... which I was aware of and wanted. Gorgeous colors. I have a nice selection of wool roving all dyed and ready to sell now. Also some dyed wool locks that I will blend on my drum carder into colorful batts which I will also offer for sale. Some of the dyed roving I will spin to make more handspun yarns to offer for sale. Some for gifts also.

My secret pal enjoyed her handspun that I created.... I have plans to create a few more for her.... since I know she will enjoy more and it is something she can't find in a local yarn store. I love one of a kind type of things to send out as gifts. And I love receiving that same. In fact..... raw wools, dyed wools, mohair locks or raw mohair, tussah silk roving, dyes are all things I would love to have. Unique handspun yarns and unique novelty yarns are also favorites of mine. I love the unique novelties for making scarves and adding accents to my purses. Anything spinning or knitting related is fun to give and receive. I really am enjoying coming up with ideas for the gift package for my secret pal. I need to get another one out into the mail soon. May be a bit delayed though due to being sick.

Well.... can you believe it is SPRING? It still feels like winter here. Last week was nice.... almost in the 60's and the sun was shining. But now... cooler temperatures again, grey and dreary. Had some rain the past few days.... off and on. Today we should have a little sunshine later on today. It could be alot worse..... look at what some of the other states up north of us are getting.... SNOW! And lots of it! So... I am not complaining much about the cooler weather and rain. I am really ready for spring weather, sunshine and flowers blooming. Hope we don't skip over Spring and the weather become unbearably HOT all of a sudden. It has happened before.... not very pleasant at all. And it ruined all my flowers that were newly planted that year.

It is time for me to get a few things accomplished today. I plan to work on washing more fleece today and possibly may get more dyeing done and finish spinning yarn for another skein.

Wishing everyone a great day! And if for some reason I can't get back online by the weekend.... Have a Happy Easter!