Day 987

Yeah, the leaves are out of control.

Day 986

The day is coming. The day I can no longer make it out and about. It became quite clear after a series of events today. Between phone calls and home and work and the doctor's office and the pharmacy and back home again things were rough every moment of the day. So when I got home I forced, absolutely forced, myself to the rose garden to take another picture of a bloomer. Because I know I may never, ever, for the rest of my life, be able to see a rose up close at this time of year.

Day 985

I sure wish this picture of ice crystals on my tail light was a bit clearer because they were so interesting. At least to me.

Day 984

On Day 939 I posed this fill-in-the-blank question:

When my daughter and I walked out of the ______ ______ she said, "A mom should never have more ______ than her 25 year old daughter."

The answer was :
When my daughter and I walked out of the tattoo parlor she said, "A mom should never have more tattoos than her 25 year old daughter."

I held off on the picture because I was waiting for the bruising to go away. I got the tattoo just a few days after infusion and my body's defenses were down.

But it still hasn't gone away. I've found out it's not bruising, it's from ink leaking into a layer of my skin. Now it's time to cover up the "bruises". At a different tattoo parlor.

I'm not exactly someone who knows where to look when it comes to a tattoo place. But the gal who draws my blood every time I go to the rheumatologist's office does. Go figure.

It was a good recommendation. Just look at the before and after. Amazing what color can do. And it looks so much more joyful!

Day 983

When I looked through my bedroom out to my rose garden it sure looked like things had finally been killed off by the frost. Only when I went into the garden itself did I find I was wrong.

How can I be so lucky to find even more roses still in the bud stage?

Day 982

I do it at home, but not at work.
I do it in my recliner, but not in my sewing room.
I do it in the doctor's office, but not the waiting room.
I do it when the car is being serviced, but not when I drive.
I do it in the bedroom, but not the bathroom.
I do it in a hotel room, but not a cruise line cabin.

I play Words with Friends. And occasionally, ever so often, I get a score I can be proud of. 111 this time.

Day 981

What makes this next kids' quilt project so special? Why is it that I need to spend more time thinking and planning than sewing?

Is it because I'm doing two quilts, one for each sibling?
Or because they're for another military family in Alaska?
Or because the kids' pictures are in them?

Maybe.
But mostly because these were special request quilts. If you remember, recently I made one for a niece who was super-close to an uncle who was killed on Christmas Day.

These two new ones will be different. The Operation Kid Comfort gal contacted me and wondered if it was even possible. Knowing how much it would mean to the family I couldn't help but say yes.

The request?

Use dad's Air Force fatigues in the quilt. The project is still in the thinking stage.

Day 980

There could be any number of numbers of significance in October. It would be impossible to choose one that is most important.

625 Christmas stockings for Stockings for Soldiers.
4 days I couldn't breathe in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
3 shots in my knee.
4,438 dollars won on a penny machine at the casino.
1 new sewing machine.
13 doctor appointments.

Even though November is just beginning there is one number of great significance. (And it isn't the 10 doctor appointments already scheduled.)

It's the number 1000. I imagine you know why that's important.

But I'm surprised I didn't list the number of nights going out to dinner for the two months. I haven't kept track but the number would be high. Really high. Hit the pizza place tonight. How many local pizza joints serve corn chowder? Don't know but ours does.

Day 979

When you're walking out of the house
at 7:30 in the morning
on the way to the doctor
who is going to shoot your knee up again
you aren't thinking about using a camera.

Sometimes your energy
is so drained
the best you can do
is grab the phone.

And take a picture
of sunrise.

Day 978

It took every bit of breath I had in me to make it into the rose garden today to take pictures. Only through that oxygen-depleting activity did I realize how lucky I am. 

Who else, in Idaho, with these cold temperatures, in the month of November, could still manage to have roses that are putting on a show? 

Lucky me. 

Day 977

I'm embarrassed to say I'm still opening boxes of fabric I picked up on eBay. It's like Christmas but without 625 stockings filling my house.

I'm not sure which cat or dog fabric I like best.

Day 976

Just because I've been crazy with Christmas fabric it hasn't stopped me from buying non-Christmas fabric. (Thank goodness it came in the door after the stockings were gone.)

Beautiful.

Day 975

625 Christmas stockings will be heading out my door on their way to Afghanistan. I don't have words for today. Do you?

Day 974

Sure doesn't look like Halloween around my house, does it?

Day 973

The gals from work were right. They knew after my long day at work I'd come home to my recliner and not be able to get up. So I sat in my chair, turned down stocking cuffs, and had hubby put them on the couch so I could organize and count the last batch. But as you can see by the picture I was too tired to organize and count. Even too tired to get up to take the picture. It is what it is. A picture taken after dark, with a phone, from the recliner. The counting will have to wait. Unless you're talking about sheep.

Day 972

Why would anyone have three shots in their knee joint before heading to work? (It originally started like this, but then the doctor also brought in an even bigger shot to add to the bunch.)

Just look at the length of those needles. And guess what? I have to go back next week and the week after to have the same thing.

So again, the question...why would anyone go through that? The story is in the pictures.

What you are looking at is an X-ray underneath a knee cap. See the large, even, curved spacing under the kneecap?

And take a look at mine. Notice anything missing? So until I can have a knee replacement we're adding synthetic synovial fluid, cortisone, and another drug in the mix to try and provide some lubrication/ relief. So fun.

Day 971

What do Christmas stockings for 205 soldiers in Afghanistan look like?

And the sewing continues.

Day 970

I know my elf is expecting to see a picture here tonight of the 100 stockings she sewed over my way. But I had more pressing issues at hand. Issues like trying to determine what could cause a sewing machine to get a bit of a hitch in its giddy up.

After some finagling it became pretty apparent what the problem was. When you have this much stuff clogging up a machine - and that's just around the bobbin area - it's no wonder the machine wasn't operating as well on stocking number 400 as it was on stocking number one. Looks pretty tinted with that red felt I've been using.

Day 969

I enlisted the help of an elf today. Two sewing machines operating at the same time from opposite sides of the table created this. Depending on the time of the day it was either a great project or a big ole mess. Come back tomorrow and find out our total. (It's 11:00 PM and we're still working so no number yet.)

Day 968

The best reason for sitting through a day-long meeting in Boise? I get to see kiddo. And her kitty.

And the pumpkins kiddo and fiancé carved.

Day 967

1. Cut fabric.

2. Sew from top, down around toe, up to heel. 

3. Open stocking and sew felt cuff across top. 

4. Pull felt up out of the way and sew from heel to top. 

5. Turn stocking inside out. 

6. Sew felt edges together. 

6 steps take a very long time when you're talking about hundreds of stockings so I use the assembly line method. At first it was in groups of 25 at a time. Then it was 50 at a time. And now it has become a few hundred at a time. 

At least for steps one and two, that is...

Day 966

Straight from the doctor's report on the ultrasound I had the other day:
"worsening disease activity as compared to prior scan despite infusions."

That'll start your day off well. Add to that another trip to the eye doctors, a follow up from a couple weeks ago. Did you know you can have arthritis of the eye? That's enough to keep your day rolling smoothly. I so wanted to try and go shopping by myself but between a meeting this morning, those two wonderful pieces of news, three separate conversations with three other doctor's offices...and I was defeated. Defeated and tired.

So here we go again. Another night of collapsing in the chair unable to move. I'm not sure any stockings will get sewn together tonight. If I get a burst of energy I'll get there. Otherwise it's time to keep admiring things in my Joann's box. Pretty fabric and thread snips. I love thread snips!

Day 965

These days sure are becoming take-the-good-with-the-bad kinds of days.

Bad: According to blood work, my liver function. Big time. No wonder I'm always so very tired.

Good: Arrival of the 50% off items I ordered online from Joann's.

Bad: Being so exhausted after work I headed right to my chair when I walked in the door. Dinner in my chair. Pain medicine in my chair. Opened Joann's box in my chair. Took picture from my chair, wrote blog from my chair. Still dressed for school. No stocking sewing tonight.

Really good: A little basket that was ordered from Joann's. Looks perfect for the front of my scooter. Now maybe I can finally do a little shopping all by myself without having to depend on hubby to push a cart. Ok, not really good. More like great.

Day 964

50 more finished up today.

Day 963

75 is today's magic number.

Day 962

You'd think someone who:

sews hundreds of Christmas stockings a year
is still using the same pattern since the 1st stocking made
made the how-to video for the Stockings for Soldiers organization, the video on their website and YouTube that is used every season when teaching others to make stockings

would have no problem whipping up those Christmas stockings.

You'd think. Thinking is something I obviously need to do more of when I'm sewing. Out of these 25 stockings I had to redo half of them. Why? Because I put them together incorrectly. Even had to watch my own video to see where I messed up. Let's hope I can speed things up for next few hundred!

Day 961

A thumbs up and thumbs down day.

A rheumatologist appointment, the 7th doctor's appointment in the last two weeks. Thumbs down.

The Dr. canceling my infusion today. Thumbs up.

Because they aren't working. Thumbs down.

Working at getting pre-approval from insurance for another infusion. Thumbs up.

This one lasting 4-5 hours. Thumbs down.

Start on pain pills. Thumbs down. (But if they help it'll turn into a thumbs up.)

Go on temporary disability until things get turned around. Thumbs down.

Ultrasound on hands to judge progression of disease. Shot in the rump to combat pain and inflammation. (You can decide which category that falls in.)

Some money from sales of my book + a gift card from my birthday + some cash back from hubby's credit card + an extremely small portion of my winnings from a couple weeks back = a box containing this, sitting on the doorstep when we got home from the half-day long doctor's office visit. A huge thumbs up.

Christmas stockings in various stages of completion cluttering up a sewing table so much that it'll be a while before I have room for a new machine. Thumbs down.

Day 960

I was having a Sesame Street moment at the doctor's office today.

My knee has been continuing to worse over the last few months and I knew something had to be wrong. When I saw the x-ray of my knee cap, I thought about this song.

What would make me have that certain tune in my head?
A normal knee: See how rounded everything is and how the kneecap just seems to float above the knee?

And then check out my kneecap. Or what appears to be a kneecap. Certainly not floating, and certainly everything else in that joint isn't rounded. Anything that doesn't look like the normal knee -all those misshapen surfaces and growths in the joint - aren't supposed to be there. And by the way, did you notice that big piece of they-don't-know-what but probably bone or calcification sitting up above my knee?

So did you figure out the answer before the end of the song?

Day 959

If you were to ask me how today was different from yesterday I wouldn't have much to say. Probably just copying and pasting, with a few word substitutions, will do the trick.

When I got home from work after four tonight I went right to my bedroom, put on my nightgown, then right to the recliner, put my feet up, covered up, took off my glasses and just sat there. Too exhausted to do anything. Sat there as the sun went down, too exhausted to turn on any lights. I sat there, covered up, feet up, glasses off. No lights no sound. Until hubby came home from his parent teacher conferences at 7:30.

As he turned on a light he saw me sitting there. A box I had kicked from the doorway through the dining room to the chair sat beside me. A box of fabric that had arrived in the mail, an eBay purchase.

I sorted through the box next to the chair. I found lots of fabrics in the box and found one that might just work for another bag/purse. If I had the energy to do that.

Day 958

When I got home from work after six tonight I went right to my recliner, put my feet up, covered up, took off my glasses and just sat there. Too exhausted to take off my sweater, too exhausted to take off my shoes. Sat there as the sun went down, too exhausted to turn on any lights. I sat there, covered up, feet up, glasses off. No lights no sound. Until hubby came home from his meeting at 8:30. 

As he turned on a light he saw me sitting there, still dressed for school. Bless his heart he took off my shoes, took off my socks, and recovered my feet with the blanket. Even brought me over a box I had plopped on the dining room table on my way from the door to the chair. A box of fabric that had arrived in the mail, an eBay purchase.

I sorted through the box from the chair. I found lots of pretty fabric but couldn't decide on my absolute favorite. Is it the baby fabric? Or the fabric of me riding on my scooter? (If I could only be so hip!)

Day 957

I took a break from stocking sewing tonight and whipped up a bag for school. Good thing I was considering it a "practice" bag. It came out to small for my scooter needs. Oh, yeah, and I put the loop for the button on the wrong side, too.

Back to the drawing board. Next one up will be with some fabric I've been wanting to use since Day 10. Geez, that was in 2011!

Day 956

Three down and only 622 to go!

Day 955

I've been saying this to myself all afternoon. (Click on the link to hear it.) It's a line from Chevy Chase on the Vacation movie. While I'm not about to jump into a cold swimming pool like he does, I am swimming. Swimming in felt cuffs for the stockings. I cut the exact number I needed. What kind of crazy number would that be?

625.

Yep, passed that 400 goal. Thanks to EVERYONE for making that happen. Guess I better get sewing now!

Day 954

The generosity of people who read this blog continues. Look what Deb from Illinois sent my way. Christmas fabric that will very soon be made into Christmas stockings for the Stockings for Soldiers project.

Thanks, Deb!

Day 953

Between doctor visits today I stopped for my bargain lunch, two tacos for 99 cents. While there I noticed a sign for something happening at night. If that grilled cheese hamburger thing is part of their party I think I'll pass.

Day 952

When I won the money the other day I probably should have been more excited. In the back of my mind I knew I wouldn't be able to spend it - I figured it would go into savings and never be touched again. But hubby had a different idea.

Medical expenses.

Unfortunately he's right for several reasons.
*If our little trip to Jackson Hole taught me anything it was that I'm so doggone far from healthy. And that things are only going to be going downhill from here. (It appears denial isn't working so well anymore.)
*Just this week I have six medical appointments and next week I have yet another two. (That's way too many if you ask me.)
*Next week is infusion time for me again. (The money I won will only cover HALF of one infusion. Ugh.)
*Hubby's still in physical therapy - been there over a year now. (And we're still paying the bill.)

So while I would love to celebrate and do something fun, it is time to be responsible and thankful for the opportunity to have medical care that keeps me alive and breathing (albeit with one lung) and moving forward (as long as I don't have to actually move), and the ability to work on Christmas stockings for folks who have things a lot worse than me. But no Christmas stockings pictures today.

How a couple pictures of roses still left blooming in the garden instead?

Day 951

Not a katydid, not a praying mantis. An albino grasshopper?

Day 950

25 more scrap stockings made and a heck of a bunch of scraps still left. It'll be quite some time before Santa's workshop closes.