Day 203 of 365

Someone asked me the other day if I know the family I'm making these latest kids quilts for, the ones with the pictures in them.

Nope. Though, after making these quilts, I kind of feel like I do. The pictures in the quilts tell the story.

The family has a black and white dog. The oldest girl has a nice, new bicycle. She and her dad have been to a butterfly garden. The little boy plays with a set of jumbo Legos. Dad is in the Army, like Folgers coffee, and once got his red truck stuck in the mud.

But right now dad won't be helping with the bike riding, won't be playing Legos, and won't be getting his truck stuck in the mud. Dad is deployed and the kids are missing him.

So quilts are on the way. Quilts with sewn-in pictures of the kids and their daddy. Quilts that will, hopefully, help them remember their dad until he gets back home.

I feel blessed to be part of such an important project. I've decided this will be my go-to quilt charity and am requesting to "adopt" another family.

If you have any interest in joining me, visit Operation Kid Comfort to let them know you'd like to help. You can use your own fabrics to make the quilt or you can request one of their free fabric kits. The quilts are quick and easy to put together and are a great opportunity for us to support the children of deployed servicemen and women.

Frozen Lemonade Pie - Day 202 of 365, Tutorial Tuesday

I often wonder how family traditions get started.

We have the Christmas Eve book opening tradition, the Mexican-feast-during-tree-trimming-time tradition. The muffin and juice breakfast on Christmas morning tradition. And for Thanksgiving, we always have the same foods. Sometimes we might add an extra side dish or an extra dessert, but the core menu always stays the same. Always.

Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, rolls. Pumpkin pie, cherry pie, lemonade pie.

I'm not sure how the lemonade pie tradition started. I do know it started when I was young, probably still in high school or junior high. Since it's made from lemonade and it's a frozen pie, it seems quite odd that it has wound up on our Thanksgiving table - when the weather is cool - every year since.

We rarely have it any other time. But it might fit well as a cool, tart, refreshing treat on a hot summer day. Although summer is waning we still have warm temperatures hanging around here, so I decided to make one.

Decided to make one and film it. Tutorial Tuesday is one of the easiest pies out there. Lemonade pie. (Unfortunately, after taking the picture I also found out it makes a nice substitute for my morning Cheerios. Gotta make sure I don't do that again!)

Half a can of frozen lemonade (thawed), a can of sweetened condensed milk, and a container of whipped topping. Mix it all together, put into a prepared graham cracker crust and freeze overnight.

Click the video below for the directions:

Day 201 of 365

You'd think after 200 days of trying to get myself back together I would have figured it out by now. I would have figured out how much I can push myself, when to take a break, when to try and do more and when to not.

Nope.

I had four long, late, exhausting days at work last week. Saturday was spent out and about with hubby. Then came Sunday and I crashed.

Getting up in the morning was even more difficult than usual. My body moved much more slowly during the day. Everything hurt. My energy level had disappeared. I struggled with every task. Usually when I have a bad day, I tell myself things will be better after a good night's sleep.

Nope. It's Monday and I'm still not up to par. (Thank goodness I don't have to go into work today.)

I'm slow. I hurt. I'm still exhausted.

So I did something I usually never do during the day. I decided to sit down and watch TV on the big screen downstairs. Sitting in my recliner, relaxing, watching TV. And I was asleep in my chair by 11:30 (in the morning). But even that bit of a nap didn't resuscitate my energy level.

Some days I'm moving forward, some days I'm moving backwards. I'm mad that I wasn't able to pace myself this last week and wound up overdoing it and I'm sad that my body isn't what it used to be. But I know someday I will get this figured out.

Today, though, I'd just rather hang out with the kitty in the sun.

Day 200 of 365

Happy 200th Day!

200 days of writing. Writing about good things and bad things. Doctors appointments, procedures and tests, medications and injections. About struggles and frustrations. Crazy dreams. Exercising, not exercising, exercising. No job to new job. Of exciting days, calm days, long days.

200 days of picture taking. Pictures of fabric, kids quilts, turtle pillows, decorated sugar cookies. Butterflies, squirrels, spiders, and the kitty cat. Sunrises, lightning in the night sky, cloud formations, snow on the ground. Roses and vegetables. Windmills, bulk bins at the grocery store, and a casino swimming pool. How-to videos.

200 days of support from folks around the country, around the world. Encouragement to keep going. Ideas to make life smoother. Thoughts that made me laugh.

On the 200th day of the stories and pictures of my life, I celebrate you. Those who have stuck with me since the beginning, those who just now have come on board. If you weren't here I would have probably given up long ago.

To thank you I'm doing a 200th day giveaway. The things in the picture might look familiar. We have:

• One of the potholders I made on Day 34.
• Fabric covered buttons from the tutorial on Day 153.
• Pocket tissue holders from Day 167's tutorial.
• The owl pincushion from the tutorial on Day 195.
• Two "fat quarter" pieces of fabric so you can make your own Breadbasket Liner pictured on Day 38 (and from the tutorial on Day 188).

To enter, leave a comment on this post. Since I don't collect e-mails on my comment page, you will have to come back to see if you won. The winner will be announced in Friday's (Day 205) post. They'll have until Sunday at noon to claim their prize.

Again, thank you for your support. And good luck!

Day 199 of 365

I had a long, tiring week at work. Mentally draining. Exhausting, late nights, four days of work. Most nights after work schedule was dinner, a bit of TV in bed, then sleep.

But I need to stop watching TV shows like Storm Stories, Twist of Fate, and Full Force Nature on the Weather Channel. Events from those shows are now creeping into my dreams...

Last night I looked out the balcony and saw it had hailed/snowed and white was covering everything. I got dressed and grabbed my camera to snap a picture. By the time I got outside, the snow/hail had melted. But the waves were still washing up on the beach. There had been a lot of rain, so huge puddles sat in the sand. Puddles full of hundreds of ladybugs and centipedes. I got my camera out and tried to take pictures again, but the bugs got washed away by a wave. I then noticed several cars stuck in the beach among the dunes and started taking pictures. I walked up the hill to the car lot and found all the windshields busted out from hail. More pictures. I was on scene as the press arrived and the insurance company assessed the damage. I realized I had a report due and had to get back to work.

Balcony? Don't have one.
Hail/snow? Weather Channel show.
Taking lots of pictures? Always looking for that picture of the day.
Waves washing up on the beach and huge puddles? Weather Channel show.
Ladybugs and centipedes? No clue.
Cars stuck in the beach? Weather Channel show.
Windshields busted out on a car lot? Weather Channel show.
Press arrived? TV reporters at work this week regarding one of the schools.
Insurance company? A different issue at work regarding a gym roof.
A report due? Every week.

Now I better not dream about the picture I really did take today out on my walk. A picture of Lizard Butte - deemed such because of the similarity to a lizard basking in the sun.

Please, with the way I feel about lizards, no lizards tonight.

Day 198 of 365

Because of what happened on March 5th this year, I feel good today.

195 days ago on  Day 3 I had just started this blog. Didn't know where I was heading, what I was doing. But I had a picture. A picture of a quilt top that was getting ready to go out the door.

I had made a flag quilt top and hadn't done anything with it. Hadn't quilted it, hadn't even picked out a backing. But when I was visiting quiltingboard.com, I came across a lady whose daughter, along with several others, was returning from Afghanistan in September . The mom was wanting patriotic quilt blocks so she could present a quilt to each returning soldier. I wanted to help out so instead of a quilt block, I sent my entire quilt top. That day made me feel good about being of service to others. 

Those soldiers are to be home within 3 weeks from now. That gal, along with her quilting bee, have finished quilting all the donation blocks she received. The work they did on my quilt top is just spectacular. I feel even better today about donating it than back then!

Because of what happened on March 5th this year, I feel good today. And because of what happened today, I feel good. Another quilt full of pictures finished for Operation Kid Comfort.

Two quilts, two good causes.

Day 197 of 365

A typical night.

A friend from high school I haven't seen in forever picked me up in his needing-to-be-washed car. We drove into town and stopped to buy apricots. One place had them for 62 cents a pound, but we pulled into the place that had them for 50 cents a pound. Right next to the store were two sets of tall, steep stairs leading to a couple of shops. I went up the stairs to one shop while he went into the other shop to get the wedding gown he brought with him altered. When I got to the top of my set of stairs and looked back down, it was a dry cleaners with clothes hanging in plastic all the way back down. Near the bottom of the stairs was a ladder full of things they were selling. Not clothes, but fabric and such. I looked at some cute fabric, but when I picked it up it was really a baby block, covered in fabric, filled with polyester stuffing.

Then I woke up.

What the heck? I tried to trace back the details.

• Car needing washing? My car's clean. But there is supposed to be some rain coming in, so maybe I was thinking about that.
• High school friend? He was in the Air Force Academy over 20 years ago and I haven't heard from him since he graduated.  But yesterday the quilt I finished was for a child of someone in the Army. And my daughter had a friend who left for the Navy this week.
• Apricots? When my mom was here a couple weeks back we made fried peach pies. Since then, she's been working on perfecting a recipe for fried apricot pies using a variety of doughs. Apricots could have creeped in from that, but 50 cents versus 62 cents a pound? Guess because I like to save money.
• Steep stairs? I do need to go up the steeps stairs at work to find a report, but have been putting it off. I just don't like those steep stairs. (Although in the dream I had no problems with the stairs.)
• Wedding gown to be altered? Earlier this week I was thinking about getting rid of my wedding gown. It's taking up space in my closet and my daughter already made it clear she wouldn't wear that style. And goodness knows I'll never wear it again.
• Dry cleaners? Working at a dry cleaners was my first job ever. 
• Looking at fabric? Well, I am kind of obsessed. But picking up a baby block filled with polyester stuffing? My tutorial this week used polyester stuffing.

But how does that all fit together? I wondered that on my morning before-sunrise walk.

I came up with nothing. Not really nothing - I did come away with a picture from my early morning visit to our rose garden.