Getting the new Wheelchair... NOT!

Yesterday was supposed to be the big day... and we were ready!!!  But it wasn't to be... 

This is what R rolled in when we went to get Princess Junior's new chair. 

 I thought it was a bad practical joke. I told R "No, that isn't what I ordered." but the tag has her name on it! Anyone who knows me knows that I do NOT like orange. And this was pretty close to UT orange so that made it worse. R checked the paperwork and... sure enough, it was supposed to be Pearl Pink. He called the supplier and they were all apologies and expedited arrangements have been made to replace the colored parts of the frame. Now R will have to take this one apart and rebuild it when the other parts get here. We are looking at about 2 weeks. So we canceled her seating clinic appointment on Monday and that is now rescheduled to AUGUST!

On a happier note... R was able to find another loaner that works better than the stroller we were given so we returned the wheelchair they loaned us and gave them the stroller to use as a loaner for other kids in need.

Short and sweet - shhhhhh... it's a surprise!

Princess Junior has a birthday coming up. This is for her, so don't tell!

It's a Vicki Howell pattern (you can find it HERE) that I adapted to make bigger. I used a larger hook and 5 squares for the sizing. And I really, REALLY don't like doing the picot stitch because I have a hard time making them look good so I did a shell stitch around the edge. I think it turned out pretty nice. I'll post a picture of her in it after her birthday.

And talk about weird inspiration... I ordered a key fob (or two) on ETSY (From Sweet Irie, check them out!) It arrived a couple days ago. Anyway, they are very good about wrapping their merchandise for travel. When I opened the package it was tied in three strands of yarn that really hit me color-wise!

Ironically I had just seen a pattern that needed three colors. Hmmm... I see a trip to buy yarn coming soon in my future!

I forgot!

A few days ago I helped Princess Junior post some news about her wheelchair on her blog and I should have posted something about it as well. Rather than repeat the whole thing you can go HERE and read it. 

I've been working on some things... Here are a couple scarves I ran across this week. Made them a while back but not sure I showed them here.

This is actually a scarf so it's much longer than the picture shows. But you can see the detail here.

Then there is this...

Again, another scarf. As you can see, it looks really different when smoothed out and after you have worn it. Wearing it seems to make it curl up onto itself.


And yesterday I got some more of the new Stitch Nation Bamboo Ewe (a 55% bamboo/45% wool blend) yarn to finish up a rectangular granny blanket/afghan. This is the center, stray ends and all...

 I'm so glad more Bamboo yarns  and colors are coming out. I LOVE BAMBOO!!!! It's so soft to work with. We have Bamboo blend sheets on our bed and I wouldn't go back to the Egyptian Cotton we had before for anything. The bamboo is sooooo comfortable. You have to look carefully before you buy though. The prices can vary greatly! I saw them online for as much as $400 a set! No, thank you. We got ours at Target. They are about $75 a set (king) and then have them on sale every once in a while. I just wish that they had a greater variety of colors there. 

Last is something I've just started last night. I only have one square done so far. It's out of Crochet Today's "All-time Best Blankets" and is called Sunny Spread. I've done it in a tweedy yarn I have. This is what a square looks like.

 In the picture you can barely see the Front Post Stitches that form spokes, but they are there! It works up fairly quickly but I will probably just make enough for a small throw.

Let me lend you an arm, and an arm, and an arm, and an arm, and an arm...

I made a new friend for Princess Junior. Her name is Olivia.

She was fun to make. I found the pattern online. The person who make it hadn't realized that the original pattern she had used those old darn pointy sticks for the arms. She adapted and did crocheted arms. I liked what she did but she didn't give instructions for that so since I couldn't reproduce her look (although I really tried!) I adapted as well and made these stuffed arms. Twelve stitch single crochet tubes. I made four arms just a bit longer than the others and then alternated them when sewing them on. And, yes, there ARE eight legs.

No news on the wheelchair. We hope that no news is good news. One of Princess Junior's nurses took some fabric I picked up and made an extension for the back of the stroller we were given. It will help greatly in making sure her head doesn't drop backwards over the top edge. Maybe we will hear something soon. :)


Oh... something we thought was hilarious. GamerBoy just got his license the first week of December. Now the state uses the list of who has a valid driver's license for lots of things. One of those things is to pull jurors for trials. Guess who just got done serving one week of jury duty! LOL... Yup... GamerBoy got summoned. I have never had to serve and have been driving for 33 years! I don't think Dak has either. GamerBoy just hit the jackpot right off the bat! 


Don't get me wrong, I would have no problem serving. I have an aunt that used to work for a big city in Florida and I would go sit in on trials. Fun. Just have never been asked to serve. GamerBoy called on Sunday to verify and learned that he didn't have to go in Monday or Tuesday but had to call Tuesday evening to see about Wednesday. We did but after the questions and everything he was one of the ones excused, being told to call back Thursday evening to see about today. He did and had to go back again today for a different trial. But he was excused from that one as well and today he was sent home after questioning too, so his week is up. (Ironically, today was a theft case and he was asked if he had been the victim of a theft. He told them about Princess Junior's wheelchair being stolen so they didn't want him on that jury!) He should be getting a check in the mail soon. We hit the jackpot too... He brought home breakfast from McDonald's both mornings. :)

Thank you all!

It is gratifying to see how one life can touch another. It is humbling to see how a tiny girl who can't speak or walk can touch perfect strangers. Thank you to all of the people we have heard from in the support groups we are a part of and because of the article in The Daily Times this past Saturday. We have received letters of encouragement and suggestions on looking for the missing chair. Thank you! There have been offers of wheelchairs to use for Princess Junior while we wait to see what will happen on getting her a new chair - some from out-of-state. Thank you! We have heard from a several people who may be able to help a new wheelchair happen if the insurance won't replace the stolen one. Thank you! And we have been gifted with a pediatric special needs stroller by a local family who's daughter no longer needed it. It will serve her better than the loaner we have that was made for a self-propelling child. Thank you! There have even been donations made to the Room Addition Room Addition/Wheelchair Fund. Thank you!

What else can we say??? Thank you just doesn't seem to really cover it but it's all I can come up with. Please know that you have made a difference to many people by your caring. 


If someone missed the article drop me an e-mail.

Princess Junior in the paper!

Princess Junior's day nurse stopped and picked up a copy of the local paper for us this morning. There was Princess Junior - sitting in a skybox on the front page. The actual article is over 3/4 of a page in the A section of the paper and there is a HUGE picture! WOW! If you want to read/see it, e-mail me.

Because of the wheelchair theft we have been forced to expand the fund-raising scope to cover whatever her need is. Right now, it's the wheelchair, if the insurance company won't cover it. If they do cover it then we will again focus on the room enlargement.

And we didn't get the projected amount of snow. BOO... HISS..... As a matter of fact we are heading out to run an errand in a bit as the roads seem to be doing ok.

LET IT SNOW!!!!!

Ok. I'm a happy camper! It's SNOWING!!! And, depending on who you listen too, they are calling for anywhere from 2-4 to 6-12 inches. I'm sure you can tell what I'm rooting for. :) Right now I can hear the sleet hitting the windows. Gamer Boy came in here a few minutes ago with a 3-4 inch patch of snow in his hand to show me what it was looking like. Fluffy snow on the bottom and pebbles of sleet on the top.

Snow checklist:
Supplies and meds for Princess Junior? Check!
Milk, bread and all the other staples that people clean the store out of when the flakes start to fly? Check!
Movies to watch? Check!
Junk food including popcorn to got with above movies? Check!
Yarn and hooks? CHECK!!!

We may have jumped the gun on the junk food. Yesterday I sold some blood to buy a half a dozen cuppy cakes from a nearby cuppy cake emporium. (Kidding about the blood, but they definitely weren't cheap.) Since it was just Dak and Gamer Boy and I at home I cut each cuppy cake in three so we each got a taste of them all. I had gotten six different flavors so there was a variety. There was one that was a banana cuppy cake with peanut butter frosting... a chocolate cuppy cake with chocolate frosting... a yellow cuppy cake with raspberry filling and raspberry frosting.... ditto, but with lemon... a chocolate cuppy cake with peanut butter frosting ... and yellow cuppy cake with a creme filling and chocolate frosting. I'm still not real sure which was my fav, probably the lemon, but I'm not overly concerned about it because I don't think that place will become a regular stop on any of my travels. Now there are two other similar establishments in the area that I want to check out but again, I probably wont become a regular at any of them. Too rich for my blood in too many ways. What blood I have left, that is. {wink}

One thing the weather has already been impeding for a while is the delivery of our new shed. We started the delivery "process" about 3 weeks ago but the weather just won't cooperate and has forced rescheduling either here or at the builder's location at least thee times! They need to move it (taking up a lot of space) and we want, no, we need it here, but unfortunately the snow is going to delay it a while.

I have been woring on several WIPs, trying to get them finished. I did make Princess Junior and I somewhat matching hats for the cold. I'll try and post a picture tomorrow. I'm sure I'll be around the house. :)

No news on the wheelchair but the local news paper was out today and there is supposed to be a story in tomorrow's paper about Princess Junior.

Wheelchair update

To compensate for the jerks there are some really good people out there. Several people we know through support groups offered us the use of wheelchairs to get Princess Junior through until we can straighten this out. I think at last count it was 5 chairs offered - Even from out-of-state! THANK YOU ALL!!!

But the original supplier has also offered a loaner. They are going to meet us at Princess Junior's Botox appointment tomorrow and bring it there. They will be working with the doctor to see what we need to put her in now. They are also going to file the police report and a letter from our car insurance company (saying that this isn't covered on the policy) with the order for a new chair. They say that sometimes insurance companies will pay for a new chair in these circumstances.

Dak talked to a colleague who teaches security issues on Tuesday... In turn he mentioned the scenario at his class that evening and got an interesting reaction...

"I relayed a little about the theft of a little girl's wheelchair, in the context of what it would take to secure a neighborhood, and the class was ready to form a "vigilance committee"to detect, detain, and perhaps dismember, the perpetrators who stole said chair.Their enthusiasm for the task was interesting to watch because they connected at such an emotional level with this case."

LOL!!! I wonder if we could convert part of the shed into a guard shack and have them take shifts. :)

Have you seen this wheelchair?????

It's gone and I'm MAD!

Princess Junior's wheels disappeared out of our van sometime during the night. Without the chair we can't do therapies, doctor's appointments become a real ordeal and life in general for her becomes more limited. And at a cost of $7,011.13 (plus the cost of the oxygen tank holder) with several weeks of waiting after ordering we can't just go out a buy a new one. Did I mention I'm MAD?

What lowlife would steal a WHEELCHAIR? Especially a CHILD'S wheelchair!?! I was asking myself that question when we were talking to the sheriff's deputy that came out and he gave us an answer that had never occurred to me. He said that people steal things like that and they turn up on CraigsList or they scrap them for the metal.

I was up way too late last night so slept in this morning. It was about 11 am when I finally got to check in with Princess Junior's day nurse. She told me that the night nurse had called her about 10 minutes after she left this morning telling her to make sure her car doors were locked (they park in our yard but along the edge next to the street). She had been driving home and noticed that the back end of her van was open. She pulled over and went to look and found that some lowlife had been in her van! She had money in the center console that was now gone (a substantial amount to pay car payment and other bills from what I understand). She also had some things in the back that she had recently bought but hadn't been able to go through them yet to see what, if anything, was missing at the time she was talking to Princess Junior's day nurse. But she did call the police to report it.

Dak went out to the van to check and when he came back I was heartbroken. He told me that Princess Junior's WHEELCHAIR is gone. The lowlife(s) took her chair plus every single electronic charger in the glove box (for phones), the power inverter/converter installed under the passenger seat (and wired into the van!) and even a plug in flashlight! Yes, we hadn't locked the van (Please don't beat me up about that. I can do it very well on my own. Dak is usually very good about locking it and it just didn't get done last night.)

I'm agonizing over this because, like I mentioned, I was up way too late last night. I just got a pair of winter Crocs (lined) and was crocheting myself a pair of ankle warmers since I can't wear socks with the Crocs or they are too tight. I should have gone to bed but I kept pushing and pushing, determined to get them done. After all... What good is just one? I have two ankles! :) Sometime between 2:30 and 3 am (when I finally turned out the light and went to bed) I actually heard probably two cars outside, doors closing and the cars driving quickly down the street. We have neighbors with teenagers so I thought it was just that. So what I chalked up to neighbor's friends leaving was actually some jerk(s) taking our stuff. Have I told you that I'm MAD?!?

And since it's a holiday the police report won't be ready until Wednesday at the earliest, plus I can't reach the doc who prescribed the wheelchair or the car insurance folks. They took the day off too.

If you see the chair call the police. Oh, and keep me away from the jerk that has it because, in case I hadn't mentioned it, I'm MAD!