Tips to stay sane

I wrote this on Monday,  the CBC ran it today. (Wednesday)
Things are changing fast,  I hope this will help if you are home, have kids, and are considering hitting the booze early! (Joke!)
Top tips for families to stay sane

The piece went online fast. Here are a few additional ideas, off the top of my head, that may help.

-If you have stairs in your home, and are healthy, consider stair climbing as exercise.  No, it is not Stairmaster!  It is running up and down your stairs to get our heart pumping and do aerobic exercise.  It will burn off some energy! (use caution, do not do this if you aren’t up to it!)

-If you’ve got a multi vitamin right now at home, it is not a bad time to take it.  Our diets may change during this time and this may be a helpful boost to your immunity.  I say “may” because doctors disagree on this one, but a single multivitamin is not generally harmful. (Again, practice moderation!) On a personal note, I know that Vitamin D really does help me get through Winnipeg’s winters...

-Step away from the news!  If it is stressing you out, take breaks from media.  24/7 newsfeed is bad for our mental health.

-This is a stressful time.  Make sure you talk about it with your family, especially your kids.  We have had a lot of meltdowns in my house, we are all worried.  It is only natural.

Take care!  Stay healthy!
Joanne

The ups and the downs

Right after I posted last time, I had an article come out online--for a Vancouver publication:
Generations struggle together
I also had a series of experiences which, all told, have left me sort of exhausted. On Friday morning, early, I was out walking my dogs and I fell on the ice.  There was no one on the entire block and it hurt like crazy.  I am very lucky, I was able to get up again and get home.  I have really severe bruising on my right shin and knee...

And of course my muscles are sore from the move, but the dogs stood by patiently and waited while I gasped on the ice and got up.  They were so good.

However, I had a big day planned so I put some ice on my bruises (oh, the irony). I drove downtown to do a three hour spinning/fibre arts demo for the Manitoba Crafts Museum’s “Made in the Middle” curated craft show at the Manitoba Hydro building.  Keeping moving ended up being a good thing and it was lucky I was wearing dark wool tights.  (It looks like a changing purple, navy, red and pink silk screen,  it is gross.)  This, by the way, was definitely the very best part of the day!

I get myself home and have a coffee and pull myself together... as my kids are just about to get off the school bus and come home.  So one twin, who had been acting weird, tells me he had felt bad all day and nobody let him call home.  And then, he walks into our front hall and starts vomiting like crazy.  So, you know, I am cleaning up vomit and trying to calm the other kid down (He starts screaming over the whole thing, it was a scene) and oh, my goodness. Poor kids.  Throw-up everywhere.

And then I threw up my hands, let both kids eat the banana and other snack I had out for them, and we watch the prerecorded Macy’s parade while I try to pull things together again.   Shabbat dinner for four was oatmeal. And some challah and grape juice.

 Then I was already in my pjs, ready for bed, when the vomiting started again, all over the bed, at 9:30.  He got better, but obviously we were not able to go to services on Saturday, either.

We had dog training Sunday AM and managed it, but even the dog was not doing too well at regular stuff and got into a tussle with another dog at the end of the class.  (All my fault, I let go of her leash while putting on my coat.) 

When we got back, my stomach decided to rebel ...so that was most of the day today!  (stress? Something I ate?  Some version of the virus? Who knows.) And the other twin started having stomach pain and gas tonight so who knows what that may mean...maybe round two of the stomach bug.

It has been a crazy weekend.  Lots of sitting around interspersed by crazy health issues.  And my leg looks horrendous.  Thank goodness I can move around normally though...

I did get out to support our local yarn store and may have purchased some stuff.  Cause, sometimes you need to find something distracting and positive... (now, what to make for dinner for a household with this many sensitive tummies....)  Here are two hole-less buttons from Purl and Hank, some locally made toffee for people who wanted to eat it, and...some yarn.  Cause who doesn't need some purple/cranberry alpaca and wool? 

A little story about health care

As a dual citizen, (and my husband and I have each lived abroad in a third country--so, experience with 4 countries' health care systems between the 2 of us) I am often asked to compare our health care system in Manitoba with US health care.  This is an impossibility; it's like comparing anchovies with oranges.  If someone asked you to do this, you'd say, HUH?  Why?

In the US, health care is different in every state. Even more complicated, it varies enormously from one city or region to another.  (Health care in Northern Virginia, near DC, as compared to, say, the stats from Appalachian Virginia)  Health care in upstate New York or Durham, North Carolina was vastly different than when I lived in Kentucky...it varies so much in the US from one place to another and is so uneven that if you've lived in a variety of places, you know these generalizations are useless.

The same can be said about Canada--although health care is "free" here, it's actually paid for by our taxes, and there are fees on top of "free" that vary from province to province.  It's also different in each province, and again different, when comparing regions: a city, for instance, as compared to a rural area.

Just a couple days after I got diagnosed with pneumonia, one of my kids woke up in the middle of the night with something that looked a lot like mumps.  (and yes, we are fully vaccinated at our house.)

Here's my most recent CBC-Manitoba opinion piece about our experience, which ran on Saturday:
How would Manitoba handle an epidemic?

from afar

I have been celebrating from afar.

Back in 2014, I wrote about Hillary Clinton's visit to Winnipeg.  At the time, it seemed amazing to me how quick the reporting and the name-calling became inappropriate.  Somehow, if a well-respected, well-known man visits and his speech demands a high speaking fee, it is not always news.

Unfortunately, in the last couple of years, the rhetorical race to the bottom has been speedy, with lots of horrible, inappropriate, undignified things being said... but now, I think it is safe and ok to say that I am thrilled that a woman has gotten the Democratic party's nomination for president.

It's been a quiet month around here, lots of medical appointments and things to take care of, but I woke up this morning and I still wanted a little something.  A celebration.

Yesterday, we celebrated at home because the Professor helped host the twins' summer camp for the day.  They had a visit to the biology department, the greenhouse, the museum, and to sit in a real life university auditorium and hear their daddy talk about his work with bugs.  The boys were thrilled.   Their dad was pleased.  We ate dessert on a weeknight--ice cream and sorbet--and celebrated.  (And yes, my boys play with their Bug Finger Puppets...and your kids can, too!  Download a pattern on sale and get knitting your own dragonfly!)

So, I wore Gigadistal with a dress I'd made and new leggings with flowers on them!  I went out to lunch with a friend who is an amazingly capable person (and mom of five kids...).  I wrote like crazy and I am hopeful that at least one and maybe two new articles will come out soon.  I am trying to make the most of my work time, because camp ends on Friday!  Full-court press twin summer activities begin right afterwards....and we'll be playing soccer, going to the wading pool, trying out our bike training wheels and generally having fun outside, I hope.  Have I mixed my sports metaphors enough for now?  (klutzy writer here, SO not a sports-fan...)

So I am ending July with a celebratory flash sale on Ravelry.  Get 20% off all my Ravelry designs until the end of July with this coupon code:
Julyflash


I hope your meadows are full of Doug the Dragonfly and not Manny the Mosquito.  Maybe at night you will see Luna the moth?

And all the time, we can celebrate that the first woman has earned the US presidential nomination.  No matter your politics, it is a super first for equality and equal representation under law.  It's about time.

Gigadistal is live! and on sale!

Gigadistal is now live!  A new pattern!  Hurray!

And...it's on sale for 50% off. It's $2.50 US until June 28th at midnight.  There's no coupon needed--please take advantage of the sale.

This is a great stashbuster.  I used two yarns: a silk boucle and a dk weight Merino...and knit myself a great transitional piece for all that Manitoba weather we have here. :)  Here are some details about my project...but yours will likely look different, and that is great.

In June, we celebrate three family birthdays and our anniversary.  We've also had one abbreviated trip to the Rockies, one mom at home alone with twins and 2 dogs, 3 medical appointments and one ambulance/emergency room visit so far this month.

 (Everyone is ok now.  We're good...just medically active.  I promise.  It's a story for another time.)

So, I needed a little pick-me-up.  We had a photo shoot.  I had helpers.

Please come check it out! 

"glad it wasn't me?"

Thanks for the kind thoughts about my health.  I am working on it!

Recently, several people have commented how nice it is that I am laughing about things.  Honestly, I feel like the other option is crying, and well, that is the less societally acceptable option.

Yesterday, it was grandparents day at preschool.  Since all our folks live in the US, I had to wrangle the iPad, Face Time with two sets of grandparents, twins, an art project and fruit salad snack on my own.  It went ok, with the help of the great teachers.  Then I rushed out to grab lunch at a supermarket, and sat in the lobby for a few moments to knit before picking the boys up for naptime.  In that small window of time, I was asked if I could "demonstrate" or teach knitting to an older girls' class.  Before I could say something appropriate, someone jumped in to say that I was the mom of twins and then I said, uhh, there wasn't time for me to go home and do something--this is my only time off, I had only a few moments to knit.  That was all true!

After grandparents day at school, One twin would not go to sleep until 2.  The other woke up at 2:20. The mother's helper was still sick (with the same cough/sniffles that both boys have) so not here.  The professor came home a little early, which was good--the boys have been waking up a lot at night because they have a virus so I was super tired. We went off to get our flu shots, but the line was long, so we opted for dinner first. It was flurrying out. We went to the local felafel joint but the professor spilled an entire glass of water all over me by accident. My pants were soaked right through!  Luckily it was not below freezing outside, but it was nippy...

 

Then we got our flu shots and everyone was super well behaved. We rushed home for bath time and bed.  By the time I had a chance to change my pants?  They'd dried on my body.

 

I kept returning to two episodes at the free flu clinic.  One was an older woman complaining about the 20 minute wait and swearing this would be easier if they just paid for the flu shot while in Palm Springs.  I turned and said, well, maybe the flu shot is available there, but in many areas of the US, it can be hard to get and even then, you need money to get it.  (In Kentucky, I often had to work very hard to get a flu shot!)  It is still amazing to me how Canadians don't realize how lucky they are to have a functional and essentially free (tax payer funded) health-care system.  Americans have misconceptions about it too--and in the end, the grass is always greener on the other side of the (border) fence. 

 

Then, I recognized another knitter.  She wore a gorgeous shawl of natural colors of something that looked like Lopi.  She showed off her knit socks.  She admired one of the twin's sweaters, which was knit by a friend.  I never got to mention my handknit sweater (Thermal, from an old Knitty) before I caught her 3rd child, a 2 year old, kicking one of my boys, who was playing quietly with a matchbox car on the floor.  I said politely --3 times--, "Please don't kick us with your foot" until the kid stopped.  The mom defended her kid, saying he only meant to kick the car.  Then she took her kid and backed away from us.

 

What??!  If either of my boys were kicking somebody, intentionally or inadvertently, I would appreciate and welcome a polite reminder from another parent.  I believes it takes a village--and everybody has to say NO! sometimes.

 

Maybe I offended a neighborhood knitter, but if the only thing we have in common are two year olds and knitting?  Maybe it isn't enough. 

I am already very sore and achey and tired! Could it be because someone soaked me with water? A long walk? No sleep? Digestive troubles? Oh, no, it is the flu shot!  Right?!

:) in case you needed a "glad it wasn't me story..."  This might catch you up on life here and make you feel slightly less wet in the trouser region...

stained glass colored glasses

Thought you'd enjoy seeing our newest acquisition...we got this stained glass panel Sunday at an old house warehouse/antique mall place. (Old House Revival, if you live in Winnipeg.)

We hung it immediately in our dining room. Check out the photos! We're hoping that this will:
A) Block out some views of the ugly new condo across the street, which is growing uglier by the day. The latest is the landscaping, which appears to be all rocks....no greenery at all so far.

B) Screen views from the street so people can't look in and see the babies all the time.

C) Beautify our lives a bit.

So far, option C is working. I think it looks great and that makes me happy! I have a call into the store to find out if they know anything more about the history behind this piece. I am so sleep deprived that I am surprised by how nice it looks every time I enter the dining room. I just can't remember that we bought it. :)

It doesn't entirely screen out the condo (very little would) and now it appears that some of the lighting they've installed on the staircase directly facing our house is purple. GROSS.

We acquired this really quickly--went looking at stained glass with the babies in tow on Saturday. We asked for the Old House Revival folks to get a price quote on this piece for us. They called us on Sunday, and the professor went and bought it, brought it home and hung it.

It was a great way to make a decision about decorating! Quickly!

I am posting this colorful set of images to offset the not-so-wonderful other complications we're encountering. This summer I had some big postpartum health complications which I'm not going to go into here. The major stuff is mostly resolved now, but I won't lie, it hasn't been an easy haul. Meanwhile, my professor has been juggling his busy laboratory, teaching a course with 50 some students, life with new twins, taking care of me and two dogs...and a lot of bureaucracy.

You see, we're American citizens living in Canada. The twins are eligible for both U.S. and Canadian citizenship. There's a lot of paperwork involved in all of this passport, Social Security Number and Social Insurance Number acquisition, of course, and the bureaucracy around it is boggling. If, for instance, we want to visit our families in the US, we must straighten all this out before we leave home so the babies' papers are in order to cross the border.

Anyway, as you might imagine, life with two infants is very busy. The babies eat every 2-3 hours, and at night, they stretch that out sometimes to 4 hours. So, we don't get much sleep. A rare and great night is more than 6 hours of sleep with only a single interruption. Usual is 4-5 hours, with perhaps two feeding or diaper changing interruptions.

When patience is stretched to the breaking point by crying, barking, and passports potentially lost in the mail (no kidding) and the new parents in question are seriously tired, sometimes maybe one needs a bit of colored glass (rose colored glasses?) to try to see the world in a more cheerful light.

Sometimes one needs bread as nourishment. Sometimes too, I need art nourishment. This stained glass is helping make the bread feel more like a meal these days. I think it belongs in our dining room.

knowing smart people

Last year, the professor wandered across the university campus to meet with a Biomedical Engineering professor to talk about a collaborative grant proposal. They hit it off and became friends. This friend invited us to his house for a Sunday night discussion group. Originally, we based our discussions on college courses on DVD. We'd watch a lecture and then we'd discuss it. Invariably, one of us knew more than the introductory lecture. Others learned the material for the first time. This was all pretty interesting.

As time passed, we found we didn't need to start with someone else's lecture. Someone would come in with a short video clip or an idea, and we'd be off to the races, thick in discussion. Since then, things have blossomed. We make world-cuisine potluck meals (bring whatever you feel like, while respecting people's dietary issues) and we enjoy hanging out. In the summer time, we rotated houses and went to outdoor concerts. In the fall, a few folks went off to watch the bird migrations together.

Although most of us have some academic affiliation, we try not to get bogged down in "shop" talk. We are so different in some ways that conversation is inevitable. Our ages range from the mid-30s to mid-60s. The people in the group were born all over the world: Iran, Australia, Egypt, Canada, US, etc. Our religious backgrounds are really different, too. This all makes for rich conversation.

The tendency, as we get older, is to get comfortable in our peer groups. Maybe people hang out with family, friends with common interests, or people from their religious community. These habits tend to keep us from meeting amazing people who might not be just like us. For some, it's just hard to get up off the couch to try something new. The chance for intellectual growth is so great when we push ourselves to reach beyond those usual circles.

Today I was proud to know some of these people. This article about their important Alzheimer's research came out in the local paper. The researchers (my friends) were interviewed on TV news as well. In big ways, some of our friends are making a difference in the world. In small ways, we're helping each other move furniture, cope with job issues, or sharing recipes.

I don't think I could underestimate how it feels to know such clever, intellectually curious people. It's amazing...and, although I often bring my knitting on Sunday nights, sometimes I am just too immersed in stimulating conversation to knit as well. Now, that's saying something.

So, did you know that intellectual growth and activities (like knitting) help prevent Alzheimer's? What are you doing to keep mentally active?

hibernation

Every year, about this time, I begin what the professor calls my "hibernation." This comprises of a great deal of sleeping, knitting, nesting, and coping with the urge to eat large quantities of homemade, warming foods. (think roasts, stews, baked goods, and uhh, more homemade baked goods.)

Anyway, as the hibernation came on this year, I thought-gee, I feel out of whack. Even though that was entirely legitimate (busy work schedule, sick nephew, overall doom and gloom in the world) I did something relatively clever. I got myself to the doctor to get my thyroid levels checked. "Ah hah!" Guess what? The hibernation is probably caused by my increasingly underactive thyroid. No big deal. Just take a little more medicine in the morning and --hopefully, I'll be better and more active in no time. In the meanwhile, I've been feeling just like Sally looks in this photo. Plum tuckered out!

There is big news this week to report.
#1) It appears that my social history idea, preferably to do with knitting, is a popular hit! I already have an idea for post number 2, and I'll try to keep that up, off and on, over the next few weeks.

#2) Yesterday, my kind editors for book #2 said, "It's time! Start sending your knitted samples to us for tech editing and photography!" I gulped. I said ok. Before I knew it, I'd packaged up roughly 11 designs (but in multiple sizes, variations, etc...so a lot more knitting than that) and Fed Ex'ed them off to the right folk. Now, counting some earlier designs that I'd sent off, I've got roughly 15 of my designs away from home, all worked up since this spring. I got home. I felt completely wiped out. Emotionally exhausted. That's when I realized something.

For Fiber Gathering, my husband, the professor, was the photographer. I didn't have to mail any of my designs (or any of the other designers' projects--they all came to me) away for photography, and my tech editor consulted the photos, for the most part, and only referred to the actual garments when absolutely necessary. Sure, I've sent away finished designs to magazines, yarn companies, and books before. Sure. One or two at a time. This was like sending away 6-9 months of my life! I hope they get to the editors safely.

#3) My nephew is making good progress. He's still in intensive care, with no date to come home in sight, but things are looking much more hopeful. There might even be a bris, which is heartening news. (This is always delayed when a baby boy is too sick to have one.)

#4) You'll note in these funny photos I caught in my office that Harry-the furry dog- is edging ever closer to Sally on the couch. Apparently true togetherness only takes place in the dog world after roughly 3 years of living together....or, in human years, when dogs are in their late 20's to early 30's?! (Harry and Sally were both 6 months to a year old when we adopted them from animal shelters in 2004 and 2005.) Or, as my biology professor says...maybe they're just huddling up because they're cold. Yeah, probably, but I like my theory better!

Are you hibernating? Feel bereft when you send off your knitting? How about your dogs? Do they cuddle up just for warmth or affection, too?