Day 554

Whether it has to do with Christmas stockings or hubby's kidney issues, everything is a numbers game.

Hubby still has a full time babysitter. Our daughter covers Tuesdays so I can go to work and I cover the rest of the days. 24/7. Nonstop. Where he goes, I go. Where I go, he goes. If I need to go to the store he comes along and sits in the chairs by the deli, or the bench by the bathrooms, or in the car, or sometimes he walks part of the way with me. 22 days of it.

But today's number game for him was a little more promising. He had a visit to the nephrologist (kidney specialist). On Day 506 his kidneys were operating at 20% of normal. Thanks to his extensive hospital stay and the right course of medications his kidneys are up to 50%. Only when they begin pulling back on some of his medications (which won't happen for at least a couple months) will they know more about the outlook, but the doctor is quite optimistic about his progress so far.

As for the Christmas stockings for Stockings for Soldiers:
99 made. Six more out of scraps. Six more out of even smaller scraps. Discovery of leftover Elvis scraps netted four more stockings.

115 total. Mom sewed up 10 for me, leaving me 105 to sew. Last year I did 80 (I think). I was hoping to double that number (that would make 160) but unless I find more Christmas fabric hiding somewhere or I make hubby go with me to the fabric store with me it won't happen.

Day 553

I love it when my family helps me find my picture of the day. I love it even more when they bring it right to me while I'm working inside. And since I love my daughter lots anyway, I especially love today's picture.

When you deadhead flowers at my house you never know what is going to crawl up your arm!

Day 552

It wasn't only yesterday's quail that reproduced like crazy. My Christmas scraps have done the same thing.

Those 99 stockings I cut out produced scraps. Those scraps were put together to make six patchwork stockings. The creation of those patchwork stockings created even more scraps. Those scraps were then put together to make six more stockings.

I thought I was done until I turned around and looked behind me. I still have scraps from the Elvis-themed Christmas stockings. Guess more patchwork (and scrap) stockings are in my future.

Day 551

It seems like forever I've been waiting to take this picture. In reality it has just been since Day 405. Back then I snapped this shot of a pair of quail:

It seemed like all spring not a couple days would go by without me spying a pair roaming around the yard. I just knew there would be lots of babies this year.

I was right. I've seen lots of babies these last few weeks and just haven't been able to get them all in the same frame. I tried my best today and got quite a few of them, but I still didn't get them all.

Day 550

My attempt to be perfect almost kept me from today's picture.

On Day 518 I cut out 99 Christmas stockings for Stockings for Soldiers. On Day 544 I took all the scraps left over from cutting those stockings and sewed them into strips with the intent of making patchwork stockings. And today, after looking at the finished product, I almost didn't turn them into stockings.

But I looked beyond my need to impress others and looked at the needs of others. Those scraps allowed me to make six more stockings, stockings that six soldiers wouldn't have received otherwise.

With these six new stockings I have even more - even smaller - scraps. More stockings perhaps?

Day 549

Some days I'm impressed by the picture I take. Some days the picture is just so-so.

This one here started out as one of my so-so ones. Just another picture of another flower.

Only when I put it as the background on my computer did it become a wow picture. What a gorgeous site every time I get on the computer! I need to start using my pictures more often.

Day 548

Because of my husband's love of barns, every time I sit on my couch I appreciate what I have. If he didn't like me snapping pictures of barns I wouldn't have this sitting over my couch:

This poster-sized picture was taken by me while we were driving in upstate New York. Every time I look at it I know how lucky we are. We have done so many things and seen so many spectacular sights all over this country. Not everyone can say they've seen all fifty states, or even traveled to Canada. This barn picture is always a great reminder of our blessed life.

But hubby has been complaining about the barn picture. It has been on the wall a few years now and he's been asking for a new one. Only when I was putting together the photo book of the Alaska trip did I get motivated to get a new one ordered. My plan was to use a glacier picture but hubby opted for one taken earlier this year in Sisters, Oregon on Day 410.

Even though I didn't get to choose the picture, it too will be a reminder of our wonderful lives. I am so lucky, thankful, and appreciative of the opportunities we've been given.

Who gets to take a cruise ship through a glacial field to see glaciers up close, stand in the middle of a suspension bridge, hand deliver quilts to Alaska, and have gorgeous roses in their garden? And if that wasn't enough, I stumbled across another picture to have enlarged that I took on our trip a few years back to Lake Louise, Canada. How many people get to stay at Chateau Lake Louise and experience a view like the one on the bottom left?

I have a great life.