Day 594

Stepping out the door this morning didn't give many clues to the weather ahead. While the clouds were a bit dark, the sun was shining behind them and the birds were still flying around so it couldn't be that bad.

But as I drove to work the clouds looked more menacing.

Even before my meeting finished, it hit. Heavy, pouring rain. More rain than we had all summer long.

But those pictures aren't the coolest thing about the day. Thanks to the elementary school secretary, this picture is. She stitched up some stockings for soldiers! And today I sent a package containing 202 Christmas stockings to the Stockings for Soldiers organization. Thanks, P-- for your help!

Day 593

The snowman quilt continues. Today's picture is of the other blocks that'll be going into the quilt.

But might I just add a thought?

I wish I had some directions for this thing. I wouldn't shell out the $30 they were asking for the pattern so I'm working off a picture I took last year. Man, it takes some brains to figure these things out!

Day 592

My daughter gets perturbed at me for spending so much time in the sewing room. She thinks I go overboard on making items for charity and spend too much time and money on fabric and postage just to send things to other people. She also thinks I need to sell the things I make as a way to help out with the household income.

So I wasn't surprised when she called the other night and asked what I was doing. I, of course, was in the sewing room. And it bothered her. But when I told her I was making something for me, she was okay with it. Even tonight when she called and I was again in the sewing room making something for me, it was just fine.

What am I making? Well, here's the start of it.

Day 591

The best part of the day came this morning when I found out about this cocoon from Day 587.

According to my mom's friend in California it's a praying mantis cocoon. Only makes sense being that we've seen several around this summer. We'll take that metal sunflower back out of the shed and keep it in the garden for the winter. (Hopefully that's the right decision.)

Worst part of the day was this morning, too. My sewing machine has been acting up these last couple days and when I took the bobbin case out, I saw why. The green and red colors are a giveaway as to the cause. Green and red felt from all those Christmas stockings, perhaps? What a mess.

Day 590

Veggie garden frozen out and done for the year.
All charity quilts quilted.
195 Christmas stockings for Stockings for Soldiers sewn together.
Kidney specialist appointment.
Neurologist appointment.

It's been a busy week. Time for an update.

Hubby's kidneys are continuing to improve. They're having him cut back a bit on the steroids now to see if the improvements are going to "stick". If the kidneys continue to improve on a lower dose the doctor expects he may fully recover. If his kidneys don't improve on the lower dose there may permanent damage. The next few weeks of tests will tell.

The next few weeks will also hold answers to the tremors he has been having. The neurologist almost ruled out Parkinson's - another wait and see game. Same with his numb feet. It may be permanent nerve damage from the kidney failure.

To sum it all up...it is too soon to tell what the future holds, but kidney function is heading in the right  direction.

Today's picture has nothing to do with anything but my scrap basket that is now empty. Empty of scraps, but not of you-know-who.

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.

Day 584

I never suspected going to the grocery store would cause me to dig out a tennis ball. (Although a softball would have been a better model.)

Softball-sized peaches, the biggest I've ever seen in my life for 78 cents a pound. After eating just one hubby has decided we need to make a cobbler because they are just too big and unwieldy to eat.

Day 583

A few things occurred to me today.

A. My husband is a much nicer person now than before he got sick. Don't know how or why it happened, but he certainly has changed for the better.

B. When it comes to quilts my time management sucks. I've had some quilt tops I made for Quilts for Kids that I never got around to finishing, some from as long ago as March. They've been sitting, and sitting, and sitting. I'm now working on getting them sandwiched and quilted, but have absolutely no good reason as to why I didn't finish them up earlier.

C. I keep forgetting to stop and smell the roses. This evening when six o'clock rolled around and I didn't yet have a picture of the day I headed outside to find some type of fall scene. I cruised the rose garden and saw several roses that had been nipped by the frost but many roses still in full bloom. Knowing I've taken plenty of pictures of roses over the past couple summers I automatically passed them by. In my head I kept thinking, there isn't anything spectacular out here. Only as I started to leave the rose garden did I realize everything around me was spectacular.

How could someone look at this and not think spectacular?

Day 582

Something sad - yet inevitable - happened in the vegetable garden in the wee hours of the morning.

The chard wilted. The cucumber and zucchini leaves turned brown. The pepper leaves curled. The tops of the tomato plants became black.

It frosted last night. The days of picking my juice from the veggie garden look to be about over. (Thank goodness the kale and carrots are hearty.)

But also thank goodness for fall, a season of pretty colors. Today's example is the neighbor's vine that creeps over, and sometimes through, our fence.

Day 581

Over the last few days I've been hitting the bottle hard. The juice bottle, that is.

Each day I have:

• 2 bunches kale
• 1 bunch celery
• 1 pound carrots
• 1 cucumber
• 1 zucchini
• 4 leaves chard
• 3 peppers
• 1 portion lemon
• 1/2 bunch parsley
• 1 beet
• 2 apples
• 1 pear

All in a liquid format, all made in my juicer fresh each day. That's a lot of juice!

I am avoiding processed foods, sugar, salt, and fats, all with the hope that my pain and fatigue will abate. It hasn't happened yet, but I'm expecting it will soon.

I did have something at dinner tonight that is on my not-to-eat list but I couldn't resist. One of the grocery stores we shop at has this garlic bread that has whole cloves of garlic baked right into it. When you add some butter and Parmesan cheese and pop it in the oven for a few minutes to crisp up the edges it's about the tastiest thing you'd ever eat. Just look at those garlic cloves!

Day 580

Darn the Jackson 5.

You know how you get a song stuck in your head and it sticks with you the whole day? I have one of those songs that pops up a lot.

A B C
It's easy as, 1 2 3
As simple as, do re mi
A B C, 1 2 3

It popped up when I was taking today's pictures. I should never have said one, two, three. Done. That set off the lyrics and they have been stuck with me since.

1. Flowery quilt for a six year old girl.

2. A Thomas the Tank Engine quilt for a two year old boy who dressed as Thomas last Halloween.

3. A baseball quilt for a seven year old Boston Red Soxs fan.

It's easy as 1 2 3...

Now the only way to get that song out of my head is to replace it with another. How about the fact that these quilts are heading North to Alaska to three siblings who has a dad stationed far away.

In case you're not familiar with that song...

Way up north, (North To Alaska.)
Way up north, (North To Alaska.)
North to Alaska,
They're goin' North, the rush is on.

Day 579

I almost took a picture of the reader board at the coffee shop by the gas station. Today it read: Having kids is like being pecked to death by a duck. In my case it should read, Having a husband who is sick is like being pecked to death by a duck. 

I passed on that picture, but opted for a better one. If I hadn't driven the back road to the gas station I wouldn't have been able to capture the morning sun reflecting off of Lake Lowell. What a spectacular view.

Day 578

As I was harvesting things from the garden today I realized I'm going to miss it. Not miss the weeds, not miss the mud and the bugs. Certainly not miss the bending over. I'm going to miss the convenience of having veggies right close. I'm going to miss having the peace of mind in knowing who and what has touched my produce and what pesticides are on it. (None.) The money aspect of the garden has been a relief, too.

Juicing has been expensive, but being able to go to the garden and grab some kale, chard, carrots, cucumbers, zucchini, peppers, and beets when I need them has helped ease the pain when I have to buy the rest of the fruits and veggies at the store.

Except October is almost here and the garden will soon be winding down. Not yet, though. My Swiss chard is still going strong. Just look at the gorgeous green leaves! For some reason I thought it important to show how big the leaves are, hence the ruler in the picture.

Day 577

The way I see it, I saved $75 today.

Today was the quilt show in Boise, the same one I went to with my daughter back on Day 115. Daughter couldn't go this time around, but I talked hubby into it since he's getting along pretty good with the cane. Except I changed my mind at four o'clock this morning. There in bed, not able to get back to sleep, I started thinking.

$13 for gas.
$12 for admission.
$25 in fabric and/or patterns and/or whatever. (Who can go to a quilt show and not buy something?)
$25 for lunch. (Hubby is limited on what he can eat so when we go out he has to be picky. Which sometimes means expensive, but since he doesn't get to do it too often I let it slide.)

Right now with hubby on sick leave and not knowing what the future holds, me working part time when I can, and the medical bills we just paid off, I figured I had better ways to spend $75. And a quilt show wasn't it.

So no pictures of quilts or fabric or purchases. Thank goodness I spied a butterfly out the window, glowing in the afternoon sun.

Day 576

A full day of sewing. Of being tucked away in a room as the sewing machine hummed and hummed and hummed. The quilt top I did on Day 570 for one of the Alaska kids is now an official quilt. And again, I practiced my stitching before turning myself loose on the real thing. I just love how the stitching looks on the bright backing.

Day 575

One thing I've learned over the last couple years is that I have several choices, but the choices are so extreme.

a. addictive pain pills

b. anti-malaria medication

c. injectable medication that can cause TB and lymphoma

d. injectable chemotherapy drugs

e. anti-inflammatory medication that caused my husband's kidneys to shut down

f. a diet that consists primarily of fresh kale/celery/chard/carrot/beet/pepper/cucumber/zucchini/apple juice

g. all of the above

h. none of the above

At times I've tried all of the above and other times have tried none of the above. But now I'm at a crossroads. Based on the symptoms - on the severity of the rebelliousness of my body - I must make a decision. I must take power of my situation, over my pain and stiffness and fatigue and everything else that represents a body out of control. 

Even kitty notices something is off. When I got home and headed to the bedroom she crawled up just about as close to my face as she could and dozed off.

Day 574

A single brown leaf amidst all the neighboring healthy green leaves. Slowing being eaten away, possibly by some disease.

The best representation of how I feel on Day 574.

Day 573

Today's picture may be boring but it shows something I'm proud of. After this weekend's trip to the quilter's house I realized I needed to do a better job with my quilting stitches. So when I quilted the top from Day 571 I paid particular attention to my work. Today's picture is a close up of my fine work. (Or at least work that is getting closer to fine.)

Day 572

Where do you think a view like this can be seen? A park? Someone's yard? Nope.

Looking out the window while sitting in the chair at the dentist's office. Hubby was in the chair (whew, not me!) but I took the picture. No matter what time of year it is, it's such a pretty sight.

Day 571

More coughing, phone calls, and NASCAR watching. A rainstorm, a long nap, and another quilt top for the Alaska kids.

 No thanks to the kitty who plopped herself on the ironing board just when I needed it.

Day 570

I set out to make today a sewing day and I did it.

Luckily I had some motivation after I visited a quilter today, and it was another quilter who took me over there to visit. Having never seen another quilter's space it was quite the exciting morning for me. I got to see all her beautiful work - beautiful fabrics, beautiful stitching, beautiful patterns - and ask lots of questions of both of them. It made me think about maybe making a quilt (or two) for myself.

But not today. I picked out the fabric on Day 561 for those Alaska kids' quilts and they've just been waiting for me. So today between the trip to the quilter's house, a variety of phone calls, a coughing attack that lasted hours, a little bit of NASCAR TV watching, an even little bittier nap, and a power outage, I managed to get two tops together.

I may still add some borders, but otherwise I'll be ready to sandwich them together and get them headed out the door. (Faces have been blurred for obvious reasons.)

Day 569

She found the praying mantis on Day 553 and just the other day when we were cleaning the front flower bed we found him again.

But today's picture is of the dragonfly she found in the backyard. Such lacy looking wings! But I regret to say the dragonfly in the picture has expired. I don't know what it was that took its life before we got to it, but one possible explanation is the horrible air quality. Too many forest fires for too long have created terrible breathing conditions.

They have created a colorful daytime sun, though.

Day 568

She complained about having too many fabric pictures and she complained about too many food pictures on the blog. But guess who wanted me to take a picture of the chocolate chip cookies she made?

Here ya go kiddo, here are your cookies. They were so delicious! But no more complaining about my pictures, okay?

Day 567

My daughter helped get today's picture.

My back and body have been bugging me so I've been having trouble getting anything done around the yard. I've needed to tackle the front bed for quite some time but knowing the additional aches it would produce I've been putting it off.

No more. Today we deadheaded, cut back out of control plants, and pulled up wayward grasses. Now all we see is what we need at this time of year. Thanks to my daughter's help, mums, Lady's Mantle, and some foliage from fall bulbs as they make their way through the soil are all that are left.

Day 566

We gave our daughter our old car when we bought the new one a few months back. We knew then that it wouldn't be long before the car hit 100,000 miles. Not that 100,000 is bad, but it was what kind of service came with that 100,000 miles that hit her pocketbook hard.

She has a boyfriend who is a car guy so he makes sure she takes care of her vehicle properly. They took it in for a tune up, which turned into a replacement of a timing belt, which turned into replacing other belts, which turned into flushing coolants, which turned into replacing filters, which turned into two days of service, which turned into a huge bill.

$1,525. Poor kiddo.

Thank goodness the holiday season is coming soon and she can get lots of hours to help replenish her savings account.

She'll probably have to work as hard as these two spiders hanging out at our house.

Day 565

I sure like it when I find a picture first thing in the morning. Even better, I didn't have to even get dressed or step outside to get this view out my dining room window.

What appears to be the sun touching the ground is actually the sun's reflection in the Snake River. The actual sun is higher up in the tree.