Day 589

I think today's picture is the most amazing one I've ever taken. Amazing, jaw-dropping, unbelievable, awe-inspiring, spectacular, sensational. (I better stop before I work myself into a frenzy.)

One hundred ninety five (that's 195!) Christmas stockings sewn and ready to go to Stockings for Soldiers. Once they receive them, the stockings will be personalized with the recipient's name, stuffed with goodies, then boxed and shipped to troops in the remotest regions of Afghanistan.

Okay, one more superlative. WOW!

Day 588

Hours and hours (and hours) of sewing, cutting, pinning, and clipping. An additional trip to the fabric store to buy more felt. Help from a daughter who is terrified of sewing anything.

All those things have resulted in this mess of stockings in all stages of completion. I will get them done this week and will have a much nicer, neater picture ready to post. Not today though.

Day 587

Today's picture is a true mystery. Hubby found what looks to be a cocoon of sorts on the back of one of our decorative metal sunflowers. Now that we've cleaned out the veggie garden the sunflower has been put away for winter with the gross looking thing still stuck on it.

Does anyone have any idea of what it is, and should we scrape it off before it hatches in our shed?

Day 586

I grew up watching the Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman. The superhuman strength and speed and the amazing sight and hearing of Steve Austin or Jaime Sommers was always intriguing to watch. I still remember some of the words from the intro - we can rebuild him...we have the technology...

Better...Stronger...Faster...

Now the next part I'm about to admit will probably sound pretty stupid, but here goes.

When I had my knee replaced a couple years back, my mantra was Better...Stronger...Faster... I honestly believed that (here's where it gets stupid) getting a new knee - a titanium one at that - was going to make my leg better...stronger...faster... 

Only after having the replacement did I find out that wasn't really going to happen. Less pain, yes. More flexibility, movement, and strength? Nope. Not even close. I guess the whole we can rebuild him her...we have the technology... is a bunch of malarkey.

While better...stronger...faster... doesn't apply to my body (and never will), it does apply these quilts. In the past week I've finished them all up and they're ready to head out to Quilts for Kids. Better (designs)...stronger (stitches)... faster (quilting).

Bet Jaime Sommers would be proud.

Day 585

When hubby was turning 50 a couple years back I gave him a choice of birthday presents to celebrate the milestone. A trip to Italy or an automatic sprinkler system. Being he was the one in charge of the lawn and all the watering and moving of hoses and sprinklers, he chose the automatic sprinkler system.

I'm glad he made that choice. Because if it weren't for that choice I wouldn't have today's pictures.

Two more things to know:
*We are on our last week of irrigation water and we've been keeping the sprinkler system going since we won't be able to water again until next spring.
*It was very cold last night.

How cold? Well, one of our sprinklers that hits a low-hanging branch in the backyard resulted in this. I couldn't decide which view I liked best so I'm posting all three.