Day 448: Win It Wednesday

Can't believe we're back to another Win It Wednesday again. A good thing for me as I still have tons of stuff to send your way!

Today's prize is part of something I picked up months ago on Day 273. Old, hand stitched 8 1/2 inch star quilt blocks. The stars are red, black, and blue. (I didn't count how many of each.) 48 blocks total. It looks like the white portions of the blocks were made from old men's shirts and that part of the material is starting to fall apart (as seen on the corner of the blue block).

I don't know if anyone would have any use for them, but if you're interested just leave a post here. If more than one person wants them, I'll choose someone on Friday.

Day 447

This going out to eat has to stop. Juice for breakfast, juice for lunch, mexican food for dinner. Again and again and again.

I think hubby is planning on going down the menu at Alejandra's and eating every single item there is on it. Today he had #39. I don't remember the name (Arracheras), but it was beef with onions and peppers served in a huge, piping hot bowl. Super spicy and super good.

Day 446

I took hubby for a celebration margarita tonight. His official last day of school. For the next 84 days he will not be thinking about school and not taking any classes. His mind will be on summer.

Although after tonight's margarita his mind isn't on much of anything. One margarita and he fell asleep as I was driving us home. Poor guy, must have been a long day/year!

(The margarita really isn't as big as it looks - it's just the camera angle.)

Day 445

This sums it all up:

Peonies are blooming.

Vegetable garden is finally all planted.

Mama hummingbird is ready for babies.

I'm ready for a rest. My back is shot.

Now

May 2

Day 444

Through a series of one thing leading to another...an open July schedule for us and needing to gear up for a year of unknowns (we have major changes happening in both our school systems), a special fare sale, some expiring cruise credits, and just plum spontaneity, we decided last night after a two minute conversation that came out of the blue...we're going to Alaska.

Not just for a few days. Two back-to-back cruises on the same ship. 14 total days. Over my birthday. Just me and hubby. And the juicer.

Drive to Seattle, take in a Mariners game. Drive to Vancouver, British Columbia, leave our car at the hotel. Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, Glacier Bay, College Fjord, Whittier and then the same stops on the way back. And a suspension foot bridge thrown in near Yukon Territory to help me overcome my fear of heights. (See it here.)

Another fear was how to break it to my daughter and my mom. We took our daughter on a cruise to Alaska to get her the 50th state and I took my mom one year for her birthday. I already broke it to my daughter (she wasn't happy about it). Breaking it to my mom is happening right now as she's reading this. Sorry to both of them.

Maybe roses from the garden will help?

Day 443

Today was the last day of school at my husband's school and, as usual, the seniors pranked the school last night. In the past they have put an outhouse on top of the school, welded pieces of a car around the flagpole, and covered the grounds with realtor for sale signs. Last night they did their pranks inside the school building. My husband's room was one of those that received some attention. If my husband had a camera with him this morning I would be posting a picture of the sight he saw.

As a high school teacher, something he hears from kids year after year is
That sucks.
The assignment sucks.
That test sucks.
to which hubby always replies
Then get a straw.

When he opened his classroom door this morning, he found straws all over his room. Lots of straws. Thousands of straws. (Hubby actually was quite excited - now he'll never again have to take a straw to school for his juice!)

Since he didn't have a camera, today's picture winds up being another end of the school year related picture - the wall quilt I finished for the fellow retiring. A second bonus picture happened today when we came the back way home from the store and stopped at the lake to drink some juice we had bought. I thought the dead tree in the water looked interesting.

Fish, water, dead trees, and straws. An interesting day for us both. And I can't forget the Win it Wednesday prize winner. Congrats to...Kristin!

Day 442

Nothing like waiting until the last minute.

My husband has his end-of-the-year celebration tomorrow and I had promised a while back that I'd make a wall quilt for one of the retirees. But I haven't even started yet.

It's not like I haven't been busy. More 14+ hours days at work this week has left me little time to do much else. But guess how I'll be spending my day off today? Scrambling to get that wall quilt done. Fabrics need to be chosen and cut, pieces assembled, and the whole thing quilted. All in one single day.

Thank goodness I got myself up early to get started. Otherwise I would have missed a spectacular sunrise.

Day 441: Win It Wednesday

It's another Win It Wednesday and another shot at a homemade item.

Remember that memory game where you have all the cards face down and you turn over two at a time to make a match? My version is made of fabric with some batting between layers to make it much easier for those itty bitty fingers to grasp. I made an ocean-themed one back on Day 8. I also have a kitty cat one. They even come with their own drawstring carrying bag.

If you'd like a shot at them for your kids, grandkids, or even your classroom, just leave a comment on the post. If more than one person is interested, I'll randomly pick a winner on Friday.

Day 440

Yesterday morning I woke up from a dream where the mama hummingbird had returned. Since my bedroom window was open, I thought maybe I had heard her buzzing around outside and in my dream. (Like when I dream the phone is ringing and wake up to the phone actually ringing.) When I went outside yesterday to take my pictures for the day I looked around and couldn't find her.

But as I was sitting at the computer working on schoolwork here at home early this morning, guess who kept buzzing around my den window? Yup, mama hummingbird. I tried to get a picture of her but she was just too darn fast for me. I had to head to work so I couldn't be as patient as I would have liked, but boy, was I excited she was back!

Guess I wasn't the only one. When I called hubby saying I was leaving work and on my way home he said to me, "Guess who is back?" Except he didn't just see hummingbird today but also saw that yellow bird from last year, too.

Now here I sit, typing away, thinking about how I can tie my thoughts on mama hummingbird into a non-hummingbird picture. Someone just appeared at the window and made things easier.

Darn, still just a bit too fast for me!

Day 439

Despite being inside most of the day either napping or watching TV or bleaching the juicer or answering all the robocalls from the candidates running in tomorrow's primary, I did get myself a couple of pictures from outside.

One is from the rose garden - our first rose of this year is ready to pop.

The other is from the front bed. Gross, slimy, slug. I know some people smash them, but it was gross enough having to touch him (with gloves on) and toss him in the trash can.  Yuck.

Day 438: Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day everyone!

Whether your family surprises you...

with food...

or flowers...

I hope you're able to spend it with those you love.

Hope you're having a great day.

Day 437

We (my mom and I) got back from Jackpot today. We took the back way home and I snapped some pictures along the way.

In the Snake River Canyon between the tiny towns of Buhl and Hagerman you'll find Thousand Springs. The Snake River Plains Aquifer runs for thousands of miles underground and the water eventually emerges and spills out from the canyon walls. I'm not sure it exactly springs from one thousands spots, but I'm guessing close to it.

I couldn't forget hubby, so I also snapped a picture for him. He's a fan of barns and I found a pretty good one.

Day 436

I hope yesterday it didn't seem like I was complaining about work. I love my job, I'm good at my job, and I'm respected at my job. And I'm ever-so-thankful that I have a job.

Remember, it was just a year ago I wasn't sure I'd ever work again. Didn't think it was in me. Didn't think I could get well enough, didn't think I had the stamina, didn't think I could regain my confidence. But I did in all those departments.

But things are changing at work and it'll be interesting how it all plays out. The only thing I know for sure about next year is that I'll have a job somewhere, doing something, and working more days than I did this year (which then translates into extra dollars).

Other things are changing at home, too. My father-in-law picked up the lift chair yesterday. That piece of furniture was where I slept after one of my shoulder surgeries and where I, even just a few months ago, spent my mornings to help get my back ready for the day. And now I don't need it anymore and it gets to go away. I have new routines in place for making my back make it through the day.

Like taking a shower in the mornings. Just a short couple months ago, I wasn't able to do that. On Day 364 I took a shower in the morning for the first time in years. Now those morning showers have become commonplace. Again, ever-so-thankful.

I even notice a difference with the gambling. Just barely a year ago when I went to the casino with my hubby my body really had a tough time. Not so much now. Granted, I did spend all day in the room catching up on my magazine reading.

Reading and looking out the window ever so often and making sure I chose my "Win-It Wednesday" winner. My magazines are all read up and are being passed along to my mom for her perusing, Paula O. gets a sunflower wall quilt, and I got to snap a picture of a tree loaded with pine cones. I just wish I could say I was loaded with money from the casino, but I can't.

But I can say... Congrats, Paula!

Day 435

I needed to escape. Flee, run away, hide, decompress, de-stress. I needed to clear my head and get my mind off of work. Knowing I had today and tomorrow off probably spurred my interest in escaping.

These last few weeks have been a marathon. Early mornings, late nights. 12-14 hour days. Even my weekends were not immune. My life has been juicing, work, juicing, work. My exercise bike has sat dormant for most of those couple weeks. I haven't even been able to carve out an hour between 5 AM and 11 PM to get on the bike. It's not like I haven't tried, but once I sit down to work after dinner I look up and it's dark and hubby is already snoring away.

When I used to work full time, our place of escape was always Jackpot. Gambling, whether we won or lost, always took our minds off work. And today I was oh-so-tempted to drive down. Distract myself with the pile of magazine reading I have to catch up on, distract myself with the book I started and haven't finished, and distract myself with the slot machines.

And unfortunately I gave into temptation. I figured driving a couple hundred miles from home would give me the distance I needed. Except on the drive down a work phone call happened. Then when I got checked in the room and was digging in my purse, a message that I needed to call school. Again.

It's my own fault. Next year I need to set some guidelines about contacting me on my days off.

I really don't want to feel so desperate that I have to spend my time here instead of my garden.

Day 434

I've got yard sales on my mind. Not going to them, but having one.

It has been probably close to 15 years since we've had a yard sale. Since that time we have accumulated a lot of stuff. A lot. A houseful.

When we bought this house it made sense to fill it up. We were moving from a place of less than 1000 square feet to a place of over 2000 square feet that also had a storage room off the carport plus an additional shed in the backyard. We had empty rooms here that needed furnishings and storage areas that needed to be filled up.

But now it's just the two of us (three if you count the cat) and we both (he's finally on board) are tired of the stuff. With no kids around, no grandkids yet, and hubby's retirement looming in the next few years we need to be thinking ahead.

My dream would be to sell everything (including the house) and move into a tiny little place. While that complete sell-off won't happen for a long time now, we can start working towards it. Maybe a yard sale is looming in our future. But before we even get to that yard sale, there are things I have others who are reading this right now might be interested in.

First up, a small sunflower wall quilt measuring 21.5" by 23". Made by me.

So let's make this a "Win it Wednesday". If you're interested in this being yours, just post here. (If more than one person is interested, I'll randomly pick a winner on Friday.)

Day 433

I can't wait until the May primary gets here. Actually, it's my mailbox that can't wait. Every day we get a couple of campaign fliers in the mail. We've gotten the same ones again and again and again. We've never had this many coming in before and I couldn't figure out why. Until I talked to hubby, Mr. American Government Teacher.

This year Idaho went through reapportionment. So all those folks who have kept their seats over the years and didn't need to campaign because their positions were uncontested in primary elections are trying hard to hold on.

And the stack of fliers we get every day is a testament to their persistence-determination-campaign contributions.

Just today the mailbox today held seven of those fliers, the highest one-day total so far.

Day 432

I had a feeling I might be off on the weight loss. See, hubs only weighs himself once a week and I've followed his lead. So the weight loss numbers I reported yesterday were a few days old. I should have waited and reported the new numbers we both earned today. Better numbers.

Hubs has lost four pounds this week for a total of 21 pounds. I lost three pounds this week for a total of 22 pounds. (And to think what we would have lost if we weren't going out to dinner so much.) But we're more than okay with the numbers. Losing weight and still going out to eat is a great thing - that's a lifestyle change we both can live with. (But don't tell too many people that today was Teacher Appreciation at my school and I had a piece of strawberry cheesecake.)

I also have another feeling. Remember the picture of the squirrel I took last year on Day 89? And the story I told about the squirrel ready to attack on Day 101? Well, I think he still has it out for me. Guess he thinks he needs to keep his eye on me when I'm on the computer. Thank goodness for the window between us.

Day 431

25 pounds.

Unfortunately I can't report that I've lost 25 pounds. Can't even report that hubby has lost 25 pounds. But I can report I've lost 19 pounds and hubs has lost 17 pounds in the six weeks since we started juicing. Not too shabby considering...

• We've eaten a bunch of times at Alejandra's.
• I went to Chinese with my mom and daughter.
• Hubby ate at a bbq at school.
• We had hamburgers one night.
• We went to Sisters and enjoyed marionberry pie and steak and hamburgers and pizza at dinner (along with the juice at breakfast and lunch, of course).
• My daughter kept me supplied with Peeps.
• The granola bars that have been sitting in our cabinet for months have mysteriously disappeared. (I only know this because I was hunting for one the other day myself.)

But we have been consistent in our juicing. Every breakfast, every lunch, and sometimes at dinner. Lots of veggies and fruits have permeated our systems. Kale, red and white chard, bok choy, spinach, cabbage, beets and beet greens, celery, carrots, zucchini, cucumbers, kiwi, apples, pears, lemons, grapes, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and red, orange, and green bell peppers. Pounds and pounds of them every week.

But where did the 25 pounds come from? That's the amount of just carrots we go through each week. The apple in the picture shows just how big of a bag that is.

Day 430

Let me tell you about Brenda.

Brenda works at Joann's fabric store. (Can you imagine working at a fabric store? It'd be like living at a buffet!) Sometimes people bring in pieces of fabric or some sewing they've done to match colors. Sometimes people leave those pieces of fabric behind. If the person doesn't return in a couple weeks, the fabric gets tossed.

But Brenda decided not to toss some fabric strips that were left behind. She decided to send them my way instead. Send them to me so I could use them in a quilt.

But here's the thing...Brenda lives in Alaska. And I've never met her. She's a reader of the blog, a viewer of my pictures. She doesn't know me from Jane Doe, but she was generous enough to send them my way. (Actually, she and everyone else who reads my musings probably do know me from Jane Doe. It's not like I hide much on here.)

So thank you, Brenda. Thanks for thinking of me, but more importantly, thank you for thinking of the child who will receive these strips in one of their quilts. Maybe in a border?

Day 429

I thought I'd already taken the last one. But I didn't.

When I headed to the grocery store this morning it was 62 degrees. When I arrived back home a couple hours later it was 45 degrees and windy. It's what happened in between that made me take it.

As I left the house I saw a wall of black clouds moving in. As I drove down the highway I considered stopping and taking a picture. I told myself a real photographer would stop. But I'm not a real photographer so I didn't.

When I got out of the store the wind had kicked up and clouds were swirling. I saw I had a message from my husband about the weather. He advised me to not to drive home yet, but also let me know I missed capturing a great picture of all the pea sized hail covering everything.

When I finally got home I figured the weather would have passed and there would be no record of the strong storm that rolled through the area. I didn't even get out of the car before I realized there was proof of the storm.

My poor tulips. They were so tall and proud just three days ago when I thought I was done taking pictures of them. (And just to think these tulips are under a tree. I'm sure if they were out in the open they would have been totally obliterated.) At least now they look like irises.

Day 428

Bless her heart, my little gal. After we cleaned up some vegetable beds and planted some seeds yesterday I had to head to school. Little missy took it upon herself to keep working on the weeds. When I came home I was shocked/surprised/excited at the work she had done. We now have only one bed left to clean up and then we can plant our tomatoes and peppers from the high school's greenhouse.

Except...

We picked up our plants we had growing there. Whereas last year we had a few dozen plants to put into the ground, this year isn't looking the same. The plants we planted this year were, uhmm... lost and/or moved and/or misplaced and/or sold and/or who knows what. And, uhmm...the plants we received aren't even the varieties we planted.

We have three big beds set aside for all those dozens of plants from the greenhouse. But now we have a change of plans. We can either let those plants have lots and lots of extra growing room or we can go buy some plants. With as many veggies we use each day I'm going for the latter.

Couple weeks ago

After kiddo's work

Plants. Just not ours.

Day 427

Daughter was home for the day. Being that it's May, that means only one thing. Time to plant the garden.

Hubby and I got the red potatoes in last weekend and we had someone spray down the weeds (or try to - some of those things are sturdy). Today kiddo and I worked at getting almost everything else planted. Our tomatoes and peppers have been growing in the high school greenhouse and should be ready for us by the end of the week. In the meantime we planted kale, chard, beets, kohlrabi, carrots, radishes, slicing cucumbers and pickling cucumbers, peas, and onions.

Even though the timbers are the old ones from the roses, I like the look. Sure looks better than just a couple weeks ago.

Before

After

Day 426

The quail have become like the bison in Yellowstone. Let me explain...

I used to be a consultant at a small school outside Yellowstone National Park. Over the course of a couple years I went into Yellowstone Park five times. The first time I was excited about the bison everywhere and took tons of pictures. The second and third times I only took bison pictures that were interesting (like bison with snow-covered backs). By the fourth time it became, "Oh, it's just a bison." No more pictures. By the fifth time, I didn't even take the time to go into the park. How many bison pictures does a person need?

The quail are the same way. Last year on Day 96 I took a picture of a pair of quail. This year on Day 414 I snapped a shot of a chubby looking quail. But now the quail have become so abundant and frequent I'm not even picking up my camera anymore. It has become, "Oh, it's just quail." (Now if babies come along, you can bet I'll pick up the camera again!)

Tulips are becoming another, "Oh, more pretty tulips". This will be the last picture of the year for tulips. (Please ignore the grass in the tulip bed. I am working on it.)

Day 425

It's working. The call I got from the rheumatologist's office confirmed it.

My inflammation numbers are down. Both tests, both numbers. The results are still way too high, but they are down. All without any arthritis medications.

Woo hoo! is all I can say. Might as well celebrate with a big glass of juice. And some sewing.

Day 424

Last year on Day 60 my husband forced me to go outside and I took a picture of our bleeding hearts. Here, today, almost a year exactly to that day I didn't have to be forced to go outside. I went willingly.

We planted potatoes and cleaned up some weeds. After working outside I sat in the shade of our patio and looked over at our bleeding hearts, thinking about last year. About how much has changed. About how I couldn't have predicted where I am now.

And even about how I look at things so much differently now than I did then. It seems to be more about the details nowadays, details I would have missed in the past.

Like with the bleeding hearts. Guess I never noticed that the same plant can have a different look depending on how much the bloom has opened. And that they really do look like a heart.

Day 423

I was planning on thanking my husband on today's blog. Thanking him for washing up and cutting the veggies for the week. (It's a long process when we use as many vegetables a day as we do.) He washed and cut so I could sew and sew. I was able to almost finish the second kids' quilt top in as many days.

But I also need to thank the kitty today, too. She kept me company, sitting in the window of the sewing room as I did all that sewing.

So when it came to the picture for the day the choice was easy. The cat makes for a much cuter picture than hubby and/or vegetables.

Day 422

I don't know why it took me all day, but it did.  It has been a while since I did a kids' quilt and I am SOO very out of practice, I guess.

After a full day of sewing, I finally have a top done for the Alaska group of Operation Kid Comfort. (I blurred out the faces for obvious reasons.)

Let's just hope the next one doesn't take the entire day!

Day 421

I thought today's word would be scolded. The doctor scolded me for going off all my arthritis medications.

But that's not my word. Cautiously optimistic are my words. The rhematologist is cautiously optimistic that my juicing and plant strong diet may reduce my arthritis symptoms.

According to the doctor there are some people - just a few - who respond to a balanced diet that limits salt, sugar, and fat. While joint inflammation might not decrease (and bloodwork numbers could remain unchanged), the pain and stiffness associated with rheumatoid arthritis might diminish.

I'm right on the border of having all the methotrexate (the chemotherapy drug) out of my system. According to him it takes several weeks for the system to rid itself of it. So now I'll need to be watching symptoms even more closely. If I notice an exacerbation in the pain, swelling, and stiffness I have to get back in and get on some meds. If things remain the same or get better, I won't need to go back and see him for another four months.

Four months is the longest I will ever have gone without needing to go to the rheumatologist. I'm quite pleased that he's allowing me the chance to make things better for myself without introducing drugs back into my system.

Who knows, maybe someday my body will be flexible enough to squeeze into a car I saw on a car lot today.

Day 420

Yesterday's word was jealously. Today's word is confess. As in I confess our sensible dinners are pushing the limit on what could be considered healthy.

We've been going out to dinner a lot this last week. To the same place every time - our local Mexican restaurant, Alejandra's. Best Mexican food ever.

We've had somewhat (maybe) healthier dinners. One night we had a couple chicken tacos with lettuce, tomatoes, and cilantro on a soft corn shell. We shared a chicken fajita burrito one night, a carne asada burrito another night, and tonight we shared what I think was the tastiest thing of all. Chile verde, tonight's special. The blend of the pork and tomatillo sauce was absolutely delicious! Probably the best $7.99 I ever spent.

So I confess - juice in the morning, juice at lunch, and Mexican food at dinner. Probably not the best way to eat, but other than having some cheese on top of the refried beans it can't be that bad for us, right?

Day 419

I've been feeling a tinge of jealousy here and there lately.

Jealousy over the power bill. Over the past seven years, our average has gone down. (I'm still obsessively tracking it.) While we had a lower March month this year compared to last, our daughter had a lower one than we've ever had since my tracking began.

Jealousy over the weight. Hubby is catching up to me in the weight loss department. While he and I don't differ in the juice we're drinking, he does eat more of the "sensible" dinner. And he's still losing weight at a faster rate. It's probably my own fault - he's more active with his teaching and I've backed off the obsessive bike mileage.

Jealousy over the energy level. Hubby is also feeling great and I'm trudging along. Not good, not bad. Just okay. I thought by juicing and hitting the plant strong diet my rheumatoid arthritis would be cured (or at least getting lots better). I'm not sure it's made that big of a difference.

Jealousy over the flowers that were dropped off at my house. Our vegetables are being grown in the greenhouse at the high school, but it was hanging baskets of flowers that arrived yesterday. The cooling system in the greenhouse is on the fritz and they needed somewhere to store the plants for the end of the year celebration for those teachers who are retiring/leaving. Sure are pretty.

Jealousy over the neighbor's tree. I don't know why I didn't notice how pretty the tree was last year, but it sure is nice against the blue sky.

Guess I better get more obsessive about my power bill and about biking, hope for the best at the rheumatologist's appointment this week, plant some hanging baskets for my house, and stop looking over into other peoples' yards.

Day 418

When I can't figure something out or have a question I seem to come here. Just last week when I couldn't figure out what tree was in the park, I posted the picture on Day 413 and you came through. The tree on that day - the one with all the pods - is a sycamore tree.

Here's another one for this week. Last year on Day 72 I took a picture of a tulip. Now this year I've gone crazy taking pictures of about every kind of tulip I have. All my tulips are multi-colored inside - I have none that are one solid color. So for those who have tulips or know anything about tulips, are all tulips multi-colored or are there tulips that are all one color inside? I usually just buy grab bags without paying much attention.

Guess I got lucky on those cheap grab bags.