Day 271 of 365

As I was sitting at a training at work today all I could think was, "I can't do this."

I can't sit here any longer. I can't stand how bad my back hurts. I can't stand how much my hands are aching. I can't stand how stiff and painful my knees are. I can't concentrate on what the speaker is saying. I can't pay close attention to what others are saying. I can't form my words to get out anything intelligent to add to the conversation. My mind is numb. I can't will myself out of this. 

Something has pushed me over the edge. I'm not sure if it is the combination of working and holiday stuff or the weather or what, but something is off. Something has hit me like a ton of bricks. My pain is worse than usual, bordering on severe.  I usually can will myself out of the pain slump, but it didn't work today. Usually I can put on an act so no one knows what is going on, but I couldn't today.

I have pain pills at the ready, but still have avoided taking them. Days like these make me want to go back to them. Days like these make me wish I hadn't gone back to work. Make me wish I didn't hurt so much. Make me wish things weren't like this.

As much as I want to focus on others, right now I can't. I have some new pictures from Operation Kid Comfort to make into some quilts and pillows for some kiddos with parents in the Navy, but I can't get my mind into it right now. I have quilts to make for my husband and daughter for Christmas, but I can't get there, either.

A feeble attempt at keeping my mind off the pain happened this evening when I thought I might decorate our Christmas tree. Our daughter put it up last week when she was home for Thanksgiving so I could decorate sometime this week. I desperately needed a mental distraction. Unfortunately, a pre-lit tree and a determined deep-into-the-pain person with non-cooperative joints did not equate to a decorated tree tonight.

What I did manage to accomplish was to sort through our new ornaments for the season. Every year we pick up new ornaments, mostly at the after Christmas sales. I always forget what I had purchased, so every time the next Christmas rolls around, I get excited about the new ornaments I bought the year before.

New this year we have a Charlie Brown and Luci ornament that plays lines from their "sessions". A See and Say that tells us what the animals say and a View Master that works. A Playschool Jet. Clark Griswold from Christmas Vacation on an ornament that plays music and lights up. A kitty cat that looks like ours.

The tree may not have gotten decorated, but my ornaments are ready when my body is ready.

Day 270 of 365

It's FlyLady time.

After Mommarock posting a comment about FlyLady and me thinking about FlyLady as I was piling up trash yesterday, I decided it was time.

FlyLady is about housecleaning and management of housecleaning. It's about cleaning in zones. About shining your sink before you go to bed. About always getting dressed - including shoes - every day. It's about a household notebook/control journal and the use of the 27 fling boogie for decluttering.

I've done FlyLady for years. Because of her, our sink is always shining before we go to bed. We've had a household notebook sitting on our kitchen counter for the last several years. Most days, even when I'm home by myself, I make sure I have shoes on.

But the 27 fling boogie she writes about has long disappeared. The zone cleaning has stopped, even though I have lists typed up in my household notebook, a notebook that is rarely opened. I even have a monthly menu plan that was used years ago (but hasn't been looked at since).

So today I'm back to reading the book that has been sitting on my bookshelf for years.

My first few items I tackled today? One of the printers, one of the staplers, and one of our bath scales are headed to the donation bag. And a start on revamping our household notebook. Today we have new zone cleaning lists specific to our house, all on different colors of paper, ready to slip into sheet protectors for checking off.

The cleaning lists might not seem picture-worthy, but I know having them hanging out here on the blog will give me an additional reminder to keep on top of them. (As well as an additional layer of guilt if I don't.)

Baby steps.

If you haven't heard of FlyLady but are interested, under today's picture I've posted where you can find the book on Amazon. She also has a website http://flylady.net/

Day 269 of 365

I have too much junk around the house. Not really junk, just too many things. Boxes, envelopes, computer cords, plastic containers.

I tried downsizing several months ago but lost the itch to get it finished. Now is the time to try again. After yesterday's (and today's) den cleaning, I realized there is an abundance of things that I really don't need. Like our four staplers. One in the desk drawer, one still in the package in the desk drawer, one that resides in the pen holder, and one in my sewing room. The only stapler we ever use is the one in the pen holder. Printers? Just as bad. We have three even though only one is used.

Pens and markers? In the pen holder. Plus in the desk drawer in two different places - in a big drawer and in a little drawer marked pens. My husband's plastic container on the bookshelf has some more of his, and my plastic container on the shelf has some more of mine. That's just in the den. (Let's not talk about how many other rooms where we have dozens stashed.) Scissors, paper clips, blank envelopes, glue sticks, and post it notes can all be found in multiple places around the house. We've accumulated stuff I didn't even know we had accumulated.

We're even accumulating pies. In addition to the pies my daughter and I cooked up, my husband bought one from a student (another pumpkin). Then just tonight he collaborated with Marie Callender to make a chocolate raspberry pie.

Day 268 of 365

It almost happened today. For the first time in 268 days, I almost forgot.

Maybe my daughter calling this morning set things in motion for it to happen. Usually she calls every evening when she's on dinner break or after she gets home from work. Today she called this morning when she got off work.

She works at one of those department stores that opened at midnight last night. So at 11:30 PM on Thanksgiving Day she had to be at work. And she worked all night long until 9:30 this morning. I hadn't even had breakfast yet and she had already put in a 10 hour shift at the mall.

I spent the rest of the morning on school work and some computer clean-up on our home computer. In the afternoon, I gathered all the kitty pictures I've taken over the last year and made a calendar for my daughter for Christmas. In fact, the reason I started this picture-a-day thing was because of the cat calendar I made for my kiddo last year. (The full story was back on Day 9.) You'd think that would be enough for me to remember it, but no.

The rest of the afternoon was spent going through old software, desk drawers, pen holders, file folders - all those things in the den taking up space on bookshelves and tables and desks. I'm working on getting rid of things that we no longer need. The den has been a mess all afternoon as I've sorted it all into a million piles. 

At one point this evening I was doing some shredding and looked out the window. I spied birds sitting on the power lines, silhouetted nicely against the evening sky. I thought to myself, That would be a nice picture.

And that's when it hit me. I forgot about the blog.

I forgot to write. I forgot to find a picture. I forgot to even think about it. Never, in all these months and months, has a day gone by where I even came close to forgetting about it. But I did today.

Thank goodness for those birds. If it weren't for them, I might have skipped one of the most important things I do.

Thank you, birds, for saving me today.

Day 267 of 365

Thanksgiving is simple around our house every year.  You'll find no card games, no people cheering loudly as they watch a football game. Every year it's just us. My husband, my daughter, and I. If it's a year my mom is around (like this year), she'll join us too. No people bringing food, no extra dishes to wash up.

Despite all the pies and prep work my daughter and I did earlier this week, today was a party of four. Packed up enough leftovers for my daughter to have meals at work for the next four days. Plenty of turkey for sandwiches and soups and enchiladas and anything else turkey we can come up with. Slices of pie sent with my daughter for her and her boyfriend and my mom.

Turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, corn, green bean casserole, homemade cranberry relish, homemade rolls. Our standard, simple fare.

Whether your day was a quiet one, a loud, boisterous one, or somewhere in between, I hope it was shared with family and friends.

Speaking of sharing, my husband shared his plate for today's picture.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Day 266 of 365

This notice is to inform you that the request for benefits has been denied based upon our review of the information provided. Infusions and all associated charges-benefits are not provided for the proposed service, supply, drug or other charge that is not medically necessary.

According to my insurance company, there will be no infusion-type treatments for my rheumatoid arthritis. I guess they'll have me keep taking what I'm taking - a combination of two weekly injections that have not improved my condition. I can't blame the insurance company for not wanting to pay. Thousands of dollars a month for one medication?

I'm a big believer in things happening for a reason, so I'm going to take this as a sign that at this point I don't need to be pursuing this particular treatment.

I have an appointment with the rheumatologist next week and will find out if his office is planning an appeal. I'm certainly not. In fact, I'm getting close to pulling the plug on the whole darn thing. I'm tired of having bald patches, I'm tired of intense headaches, I'm tired of being sick, I'm tired of being tired from medication. Having all the side effects from the medicines without seeing any benefits is getting old.

Working with my daughter in the kitchen keeps my mind off things. Yesterday, in preparation for Thanksgiving Day we made:

• Berry and cherry pies (from a frozen state).
• Lemonade pie. (From Day 202.)
• More pumpkin puree. Cooked up the pumpkins and froze the puree for later.
• Homemade rolls.
• Homemade pumpkin pies from our pumpkins from the garden.
• Pumpkin seeds. Again, from the pumpkins from the garden.

Everyone kept their hands off everything. Almost. The pumpkin seeds have been dwindling quickly. My husband loves them, my daughter loves them. And I figured I better take a picture of the seeds before they disappear completely.

Make Easy Homemade Fabric Bookmarks - Day 265 of 365, Tutorial Tuesday

I'm an avid reader. Or should I say, I used to be.

As a kid and as a teenager I read a lot. Not just for school work, but because of my interest in knowing more things. I used to keep a list of all the things I wanted to know more about and would get books and magazines on the topics. I'd read after homework time and would read all summer long. I also kept a list of all the books I'd read after I read them. (I'm not sure why I did, but maybe it was so I could impress myself with my knowledge.)

As an adult my reading waned. Although we have many bookshelves with many books, I've tended not to read as much. I think it's because of the type of books I always buy. While I may have a couple fiction books, the bulk of the collection is self help books, inspirational books, how-to books. Reading isn't nearly as relaxing when every two pages I'm given an "assignment" of something to write down or do or whatever.

The only other type of books I read are mostly non-fiction biographies. Those are more relaxing to me, less work, and I can get into them. Knowing Christmas is coming and our Christmas Eve tradition of giving books is coming, I'm on the lookout for another one of interest.

I need another book anyway. I just made some super, super easy bookmarks with some scraps of fabric. Don't want them to go to waste!

In addition to the standard sewing supplies, for this project you will need:

• fabric 
• two-sided fusible stiff interfacing
• Pinking shears or scissors
• Iron
• Sewing machine
• Matching thread

Disclosure: Deb's Days is a participant in affiliate advertising programs designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to affiliated sites. This means that, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase. Your purchase helps support my work in bringing you new sewing and crafting content.

Now available in my Etsy store as a digital download with the written directions, step-by-step photos, printable templates, and link to the tutorial video. Click to find out more!

Looking for a different bookmark? 

Check out my other bookmark projects!

Otherwise, find the step-by-step how to tutorial for making your own homemade quick and easy fabric bookmarks right here:

Day 264 of 365

I'm tired of being cold.

The weird thing is that I didn't really realize I was tired of it until yesterday. I always have goosebumps. My toes are always cold. My arms are always cold. My nose is always cold. And I just figured out why.

It's cold in my house.

At night the heat doesn't ever kick on since it's set for 55 degrees and during the day the setting is the same. The days I'm home I override it and set it anywhere between 64 and 67, but never, ever, have we ever, no matter how cold it is, had the heat over 69 degrees.

But here's where the bigger problem lies. I spend most of my days at home wearing either jeans or sweats. And a t-shirt. No sweatshirt, no fleece. A t-shirt. No wonder my arms are always so cold!

My husband owns probably a dozen or more sweatshirts and fleece. I own one sweatshirt, and I keep that one downstairs for when I'm in the basement. So each and every day when that heat is setting at 64 or 65 or even 67 I'm in my t-shirt. And I'm cold.

Since turning up the heat isn't an option because of our power-conservation attempts, today I am going shopping. Shopping for something to wear with my jeans and sweats. Something that won't pick up all the extra thread I accumulate as I'm sewing. Or, if it's warm and snuggly enough, something that can pick up as many extra threads as it wants.

I'm on a mission to be warm.

I'm also on a mission to start hubby's baseball quilt. Have lots of big squares cut, but haven't figured out what I'm doing with them yet.

Day 263 of 365

Who could have predicted that something that happened in 2007 in Indianapolis combined with something that happened in February of this year would come full circle today.

Back in the summer of 2007 we took our cross-country tent camping trip across the United States. From Idaho to Maine and all the way back. Lots of miles, lots of campgrounds, some hotels thrown in, restaurants shown on the Food Network and Travel Channel, and touristy-stops along the way. And in particular, lots of sports-themed stops.

Turner Field for an Atlanta Braves baseball game. Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers. National Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. The Field of Dreams (from the Kevin Costner movie) in Iowa. Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway was of particular note. Being a non-race car fan I've watched the Indy 500 a couple times but haven't been too interested. But when we stopped at the raceway and a Richard Petty Driving Experience was happening, my husband made me take lots (and lots) of pictures of cars. He especially wanted Tony Stewart's car. I had not a clue who Tony Stewart was.

Fast forward to February of this year. Recovering from shoulder surgery, in a sling, unable to drive, sitting at my daughter's apartment while she was at work, and no cable TV. Flipping through the channels and finding the Daytona 500 about the only thing on. I sat there and watched that race. And enjoyed it. (Granted I was on pain pills at the time.)

Right before I started this blog in March I was able to move back home. Told my hubby about enjoying the race. He suggested we start watching those NASCAR races. So we did. Every weekend they've raced since March, I've settled myself into my recliner to watch the races. For the first few weeks, I always picked who I thought would win the day's race - based on who had the prettiest car. Wouldn't you know it, for several weeks in a row I was always right.

After a couple months, I started liking one driver over the others - Carl Edwards. He won quite a bit and had great poise off camera. So I started rooting for Carl every week. My husband kept rooting for Tony Stewart, even though he didn't win a race all season - until these last few weeks.

Tony and Carl have been close in points through these few weeks. Today was the last of the Sprint Cup Series Championship races. Who could have predicted that the two drivers - my husband's longtime favorite racer and my driver who had lots of pretty cars throughout the season - would wind up in a tie in points. Except...

A tie in the series goes to the driver with the most wins in the Championship Series that was held these last few weeks. That would be the driver who won today. Tony Stewart.

So congrats to my husband who has been cheering his driver on for years. Now I know why I took all those darn pictures years ago.

I don't know why I took today's picture out my den window, though. Sun rising in the east shining on the dusting of snow on the mountains to the west.

Day 262 of 365

At the end of every gardening season we take stock of what occurred during the year. Since we hadn't grown a vegetable garden for a while, the past several years have focused on the lawn. This year is different.

As we looked back on this year's vegetable-growing season, we knew some things needed to change for next year. And some things needed to continue.

Our keepers:

• Using the high school greenhouse to get a jump start on our vegetables. We would never have had big, beautiful beefsteak tomatoes so early - on July 18 (Day 138) - this year.
• Keep the kale. My husband loves it and is still picking it now. It sure looked pretty all picked and washed back on Day 218. His favorite way of eating it - in a peanut butter and kale sandwich - isn't nearly as pretty.
• Plant jalapenos again, but we'll also add in another variety of hot peppers.
• With the red potatoes we might consider doing a couple different plantings so we have them throughout the summer instead of a bunch all at once like we had on Day 145. Same with radishes, arugula, and spinach - several plantings throughout the season will keep us in the salad-making business for the entire summer.
• Having our daughter help with the planting. If it wasn't for her we wouldn't have had a garden. And if it wasn't for the garden, she wouldn't have gotten fresh produce to take back to her place, either.

Things to change:

• No more russet potatoes. This is Idaho after all, and potatoes are easy and cheap to find around here. Might as well save that garden space for something else.
• Probably no corn on the cob. It took up a lot of space, and there were people all along the roads selling it out of the back of pickups during corn season.
• No more watermelon. Although the greenhouse jump start was beneficial, we had late frosts here and had to replant them. They came on, but much too late. My daughter and I wound up doing watermelon bowling with the smallest ones on October 27 (Day 239), but even the biggest ones weren't edible.
• I want garden beds. This year we planted in rows and sections, but the organized part of me would like actual beds laid out. We have some old landscape timbers that line our rose garden that we've considered replacing so we may move those old ones into the veggie garden to give us true "beds". Although raised beds would be my preference, the old landscape timber idea would certainly be much cheaper.
• No more pumpkins. Between them, the attempt at cantaloupe, and the late watermelon, the vines were just too much. Neither of us is great with our balance and we were always tripping over the vines in the garden. Yet...

After yesterday and today, I think I've changed my mind on one of those items we were planning on changing. Pumpkins. As much as the vines were a pain in the you-know-what, the beauty of the pumpkin puree compensates. I'm sure my husband isn't complaining about the pumpkin seeds we did up, either.

I still have several pumpkins to work up, but some of  yesterday's puree became very tasty, gorgeous (in my opinion) pumpkin bread. You can even see the pumpkin in there.

Day 261 of 365

It's all her fault. I take no responsibility for this one.

Today I've been cutting up our pumpkins we grew in the garden to get ready for pumpkin pie. I baked one and I cooked the other in the microwave to experiment with which method I wanted to use for the rest of them. The pumpkin smelled delicious cooking, the house was warm, and I was wearing my sweats.

I usually have the TV on when I'm working in the kitchen, but Idaho executed someone this morning and that's all they were talking about so I skipped the TV noise. That's where the radio came in.

Now there's this gal I work next door to. She's the one that I went to lunch with and the movies with during the summer (and the one whose birthday I forgot). Well, she's been listening to Christmas music this week and singing Christmas songs around me. Three days in a row I've heard it. And so I just had to give her a bad time about it being too early for Christmas songs, about how I don't want to hear them. Those kinds of things.

But today when I was baking up those pumpkins and wasn't wanting to listen to the television, I turned on the radio. To the station she told me about. The one playing Christmas songs already. Yep, I caved in.

So it's her fault that I'm listening to Christmas songs. Yet it doesn't end there.

It's also her fault because of what happened when I was listening to Christmas songs. Not too long after the Let it Snow song finished as I was washing up some pumpkins seeds at the sink, I look up to see this out my kitchen window.

Day 260 of 365

We live near a sugar beet dump.

Lots of farmers around the state of Idaho grow sugar beets. (Sugar beets are a root vegetable that look a bit like a turnip but are closer to the size of a bowling ball.) When they are harvested in the fall they are loaded in farm trucks and sent to sugar beet dumps. Morning 'til night, week after week after week, those trucks arrive and deposit those sugar beets on the ground.

When the beets have been all collected at the dumps and the sugar beet factory is ready to accept them, larger trucks come back during early winter to load them up for their trip to the processing plant where they'll become sugar. Those bigger trucks work days and nights and Thanksgiving and Christmas, with the dump finally being emptied and shut down around New Year's.

We've had a couple solid weeks of beets being hauled in and now it's quiet.

A pile of beets as tall as a two story house and as long as I-don't-know-what are sitting, waiting to be picked up.

Day 259 of 365

Well, Snake River Mart is no more.

I was so excited that the gas pumps there were converted to Shell pumps, I didn't realize there might be more changes coming. After almost 25 years of us shopping at Snake River Mart, our only little store in town, a name change has happened. I don't know if there is person named Logan who owns it, or if it's part of a bigger chain of grocery stores, but the building has been painted and a new name has appeared.

Logan's Market.

My husband reminded me about the good ole' days at Snake River Mart. Years ago when we first moved here we had a charge account there. No credit check, no credit card. Nothing like that. If you wanted to buy groceries, you just signed for them. And at the end of the month or the beginning of the month or the middle of the month or whenever you wanted to, you paid your bill.

We charged our groceries for years until that day when the building caught fire and burned down. It took a long time for them to rebuild a newer, bigger, nicer store just a block away. When that store opened, we just never started charging again.

Since then the store has had another owner (maybe two) and they've allowed grocery charging. But I heard today that the new owners have stopped the practice. And folks aren't happy about it.

I'm sure it was the same way when the local burger joint stopped letting people charge. (We used to do that when we first moved to town, too.) Go and get some burgers and fries, just sign for it, and pay it off later. Even as a teenager my daughter (responsibly) used to tap into our account occasionally. But we stopped going as often so we didn't charge. After a while we heard they had stopped allowing charge accounts.

Change is hard, particularly for people in a small town. We're used to doing things our own way - and by golly, we've been doing things the same way forever. I'm just fine to keep things the way they are, but I guess at some point we have to move into the modern age.

Another change? The weather.

While yesterday was a gorgeous sunny day, today has become a cold, blustery, cloudy day. When I left work this afternoon the temperature on one of the businesses read 33 degrees. It sounds like snow is on the way tonight. I imagine the only tree in the yard with any leaves left on it - the one outside my window - will be changing with this upcoming stormy weather.

But that tree against the backdrop of last night's sunset needs no changing.

Make Easy Drawstring Gift Bags - Day 258 of 365, Tutorial Tuesday

Looking for a homemade drawstring gift sewing project? Check out this quick and easy one!

I started this blog back eight months ago with a sewing project. Pincushions. In that first month of writing and picture taking I made a:

• flag quilt top 
• baby quilt 
• camera case 
• pillow cases 
• grocery bags out of t-shirts
• clothespin bag 
• fabric memory game with a carrying bag. 

In the food department, I made:

• M&M cookies 
• St. Patrick's day decorated sugar cookies 
• Coney-Island chili dogs 
• blueberry muffins 
• chocolate-caramel apples 
• chocolate covered strawberries.

Looking for more sewing and crafting projects? 

Click here to see all my tutorials!

Since then, I've done tutorials on a couple of those things and this week's tutorial adds another. On Day 8, I made the fabric memory game with a drawstring carrying bag.

A drawstring bag is a good way to wrap Christmas gifts, too, so today is all about the bag.

Disclosure: Deb's Days is a participant in affiliate advertising programs designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to affiliated sites. This means that, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase. Your purchase helps support my work in bringing you new sewing and crafting content.

You can find the step-by-step how to tutorial for the homemade quick and easy fabric drawstring gift bags sewing project right here:

Day 257 of 365

I'm into before and after pictures. I've taken them of kitchen cabinets, the downstairs TV room, and look at them on home improvement websites. Slow and steady changes don't impress me nearly as much as the radical changes that show up in those kinds of pictures.

When I got up this morning, I planned on taking another set of before and after pictures. It's time for us to clip our roses down low for winter, and what better way to document what I accomplish in the garden but with pictures.

So I took that "before" picture, knowing the "after" picture wasn't going to be coming until I was finished with the roses - and that might be a week or more from now. Took that picture, then got to work for a while. Filled up almost a garbage can full of dead canes.

On the way out of the garden, I found something I'd never noticed before. In 10 years. Never knew it.

Usually in the fall, I'm not working in the garden much. School is in full swing and I've always been someone to put my all into it. Which leaves nothing for the garden. Or the family. (Yep, my priorities were out of whack.) Then two years ago, I hurt my back in the fall. Definitely no working then. Last year I was in the sling because of the shoulder surgery and no working in the garden.

So this is really the first time in a very long while I've done any type of work outside in November. And wouldn't you know it, I learned something new.

We have these burning bushes. One is out by the fence (that's the one on Day 224) and then we have a couple right at the entrance of the rose garden. They're a good bush in the summer, and I love their bright red leaves in the fall. But as I found out today, there are more to them than just their leaves.

As I was exiting the garden I noticed these bushes also have gorgeous orange berries with purple coverings.

In all the years we've had these burning bushes, I never knew it. And if I hadn't forced myself to work outside today for a bit, I would have missed such a colorful sight.

Day 256 of 365

While lots of things happen in the movie Thelma and Louise, there's a line that has resonated with me. My idea of happiness, contentment, bliss.

We'll be drinking margaritas by the sea, mamacita.

I always thought if I had no worries, no responsibilities, and could drink margaritas by the sea, things would be okay with the world.

One Thanksgiving I had the chance. My husband had a Social Studies conference in Florida the week before Thanksgiving. We traveled along and spent our days at DisneyWorld while he was in meetings. When the conference was over we went to Clearwater Beach for the Thanksgiving holiday. Stayed in a hotel right on the beach. And on Thanksgiving Day as we sat there by the pool, I drank margaritas. No worries, no problems, no responsibilities.

And yet, no bliss.

That thing I held up as the representation of what happiness would be, didn't turn out to be. I went all the way to Florida and had a great trip, but happiness in that very moment eluded me.

I think about happiness a lot. Or maybe it's contentment or bliss. I do know, now more than ever, that I'm more happy at home than anywhere else. It's not about the dollars in the bank, the stuff in my house, or the travels I've taken.

It's right here, right now. It's when I write, when I read, when I take pictures, when I sew. I'm just as happy sitting on the couch reading a magazine as I am sitting on a beach drinking margaritas.

Traveling through the town of Bliss with my mom, this sign (and the surrounding view) got me thinking about that happiness factor again. Dilapidated, run-down buildings and unkempt empty lots welcome us to Bliss, Idaho.

Not quite what I would define as bliss.

Day 255 of 365

Remember all those Stockings for Soldiers I finished up Day 222? The ones I did a tutorial for on Day 237? The ones that high school kids were collecting items for? Well, the challenge to gather items was given to the kids last week. On Day 252 we had a few items - if you call 415 items a few!

But those aren't the only boxes and packages going to the post office. The rest of the kids' quilts for Operation Kid Comfort from Day 233, Day 245, Day 246, Day 253, and Day 254. And Quilts for Kids from Day 236, Day 238, and Day 243. And more Stockings for Soldiers.

Boxes are headed to Delaware, California, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Washington state. You'd think I was sending off Christmas presents.

But what was I thinking? I obviously wasn't thinking about the trouble it was going to be getting this packed, wrapped, and out of the house. I wasn't thinking about how hard it would be to get them all into the post office on the same day. (But thank goodness I was able to talk my daughter and her boyfriend to help me get them delivered.)

And I certainly wasn't thinking ahead about the cost of postage. I probably should have prepared myself for the hit.

And not one is a Christmas present for anyone I know. I don't know if that's a good thing or bad thing.

What do I know? I can breathe a sigh of relief for just a bit.

Day 254 of 365

They're done. Done, like finished. Like no backlog anymore.

The Quilts for Kids project - four quilts. The Operation Kid Comfort - four quilts and a pillow.

I don't know how I got myself in over my head so much, but it's time to crawl out from under the quilting for others craze. Yet, I still have a couple quilts to work on.

My husband has requested a quilt for Christmas. He's a huge baseball fan. He's a basketball and football fan, too, but baseball wins out.

When he was a kid he was a bat boy for the day for the California Angels. He still has the black and white picture hanging up from so many years back. For someone who was handicapped with cerebral palsy, he felt pretty special.

Now he wants to feel special with some fabric I used for one of the kids quilts. One of them had baseball fabric and when my husband saw that, he knew exactly what he wanted. A baseball quilt.

So a baseball quilt it will be. A Christmas gift for my hubby. I've made quilts for dozens of kids, so might as well add him to the list!

Now that the last one for Operation Kid Comfort is done, he'll be up to bat next.

Day 253 of 365

I started wearing gloves last weekend. Not winter gloves, not mittens, not driving gloves.

Arthritis gloves.

I remember after surgeries having to wear compression stockings. I figure these arthritis gloves are similar to those. The look like tight gloves with the fingertips cut out. They press on my knuckles and joints. I use them for sewing, for typing at home and at work.

But I can't tell if they're working or not. My hands hurt just as bad as before. I still can't tie anything or grab anything in the morning. My hands still feel like they're cramped up.

Like everything else, I probably need to give it some time. More time with the gloves on, less time with the gloves off. Although I do look pretty dorky wearing them, I'm gonna keep on doing it until it works. I hope.

While I wish it didn't hurt so much to finish this next quilt for Operation Kid Comfort, I still got it done.

Day 252 of 365

In Ferris Bueller's Day Off there is a scene where a waiter tells Ferris and his crew, "I weep for the future."

I think at some point lots of adults feel that way about kids - particularly teenagers. Some folks even feel that way about them all the time. Even for me, as an elementary teacher, teenagers haven't been my favorite age to be around. My husband, on the other hand, as a high school teacher? Loves teenagers.

Something happened this week that could sway anyone who might have lukewarm feelings about the goodness of teenagers.

On Day 237 I wrote about my husband sharing the list of items needed for Stockings for Soldiers. The deadline to have items in is fast approaching. I stopped by the high school this week and picked up items the kids had collected.

Thanks to the National Honor Society members and the Future Hispanic Leaders of America (FHLA) at Marsing High School, I'm just not sending more stockings to Stocking for Soldiers.

Just check out the haul!

• 45 canned goods
• 56 packs of Ramen noodles
• 21 meal items
• 56 drink mixes
• 13 CDs
• 28 toiletries
• 182 snacks
• 14 Christmas cards

That's 415 items!

Add in my previous 80 stockings, my mom's eight stockings, and quite a hefty amount of postage I'll be paying at the post office, deployed servicemen and women in the remote areas of Afghanistan will have Christmas stockings full of goodies.

No weeping for the future here.