Day 464

First up...
jirons42 you are the Win It Wednesday winner. Congrats! Use the "Contact Me" button on the lower right side to send me your address.

Second up...
Something happened today for the first time in more than 51 years. For the first time ever, actually.

If you remember, my husband has been going to physical therapy. Being he wants to go salmon fishing in Alaska next month and not make a fool of himself, he has been working hard in therapy on his right arm/hand/wrist/elbow/shoulder. Both he and I are shocked at what is happening to the side affected by cerebral palsy.

For his entire life, that side has been non-functioning. Looking at the arm now it's obvious he's building muscles. As unbelievable as is seems to both of us, thanks to the combination of strength building exercises and some athletic tape to support his wrist, he is gaining function in that hand and arm. Reeling in his own salmon is closer to reality than he ever thought possible.

And something else he never thought possible? That for the first time in his entire life he would open a door with his right hand. A heavy outside door, even. Amazing!

Day 463

You'd never know I've been up to 1 am or so night after night, working on school stuff. I knew things would be busy, but not like this.

Thank goodness I can pull into my driveway in daylight hours and see hedge roses like this.

Day 462: Win It Wednesday

It's a double-down Win It Wednesday. Last week's winner didn't claim her prize so a new winner has been chosen - ytsmom, the crazy chicken wall quilt is yours if you want it! (Use the "Contact Me" button on the lower right of this page.)

Then there's number two, today's new prize. In our downsizing I've decided to get rid of all my scrapbooking things. With as many digital pictures I now take it makes more sense to do photobooks so the scrapbooking must go.

So today we have lots of letters, some punch out kind and some sticker kind, in all different colors, designs, shapes and sizes.

Anyone interested? If more than one person wants to get their hands on these, I'll choose a winner on Friday.

Day 461

The other day Karen commented: who would have thought that you'd be researching last year's photos for info - roses, birds, cakes... wonder what's next

Well, here's what next...


Last year we had just planted 50 bareroot strawberry plants.

This year that pile of dirt has become full of strawberries just ready for the eating.

Or should I say ready for the juicing?

Day 460

Last year we had yellow birds in our trees.

2011

This year, an entirely new different kind of yellow bird. Two years, two types of yellow birds. Thank goodness I take pictures or I would have thought they were the same birds. They are obviously not.

2012

And Lea, still waiting for you to use the "Contact Me" button on the right side of the page so I can get the chicken quilt to you!

Day 459

Kiddo and I stopped by Dairy Queen last night to get her favorite kind of cake - an ice cream cake.  The last time we had an ice cream cake from there was hubby's birthday. Last August, daughter had stopped by DQ on her way home and picked out one she thought dad would like. And now last night she picked out one she liked for herself. When she chose it I thought it looked familiar. I was so sure I had seen that cake somewhere before. It only took some blog searching to find out where.

Happy Birthday, dear daughter. Now I know what kind of cake to get you for next year!

Hubby's birthday cake (chosen by daughter) August 2011

Daughter's birthday cake (chosen by daughter) June 2012

And the delicious inside:

Day 458

Three people, three levels of excitement.

First up, me. I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel at work. Granted, it's just a sliver of brightness but come June 29, I'll be out of the work tunnel and back into the nice bright sunshine. Can't wait!

Second up, hubby. Tonight he is going with our daughter's boyfriend to the races at Meridian Speedway. Hubby hasn't been since he was a kid and is anxious to get back. So boys night out, doing guy things.

Third up and most important, tomorrow is kiddo's birthday. When we talk about her birthday, I figure at some point she's going to want to do something different. But that hasn't happened yet. She'll be 24 this year and we'll be doing yet another barbeque here at the house. It's amazing that someone at her age is still excited to come to her parents' house for her birthday.

Three excited people but one uninterested, non-excited cat.

Day 457

After 457 days I sometimes forget what pictures I've posted. I know last year I did lots of rose pictures, but without going back through every single day I don't know if they've all wound up here or not.

Either way, I'm going with today's pictures of my miniature roses. Yesterday I posted a picture of one of my minis next to the bench but today I've taken a close up of that particular bush. I've also taken pictures of the other miniature - some close up, one not. I wish I knew the name of both types of miniatures, but I don't. Doesn't matter as I think they are pretty anyway.

I also hope the winner of this week's Win It Wednesday thinks the prize is pretty when it arrives at her house.

Lea - you are the winner of the crazy chicken quilt. Use the "Contact Me" button on the right side of my page to send your address my way. Congrats!

Day 456

Not much in the way of words today on this last day of May, just a look at some of my flowers in bloom. Guess I'm kind of into the pinks.

Enjoy!

 

Day 455: Win It Wednesday

He gets salmon and you get chicken.

If you've been a reader of my blog for a while you know my husband has cerebral palsy. He's not wheelchair bound, but he does have physical limitations. If you were to watch him walk and interact you might think he was someone who had a stroke, with the right side of his body pretty much immobile.

His limitations have impacted our lives. He doesn't drive and so every time he wants/needs to go somewhere - to work, the doctor's office, the store - he has to be driven. He can't tie his own shoes or the ties he wears to work every day. He has trouble using a can opener, putting on a belt, and can't cut his own steak.

But bless his little heart, he has decided to go to physical therapy to try and build some strength on his affected side. For years I've tried to get him there and now he's doing it. All because of the salmon. He wants to go salmon fishing when we go to Alaska this summer, wants to hold the pole with two hands and try and reel the fish in himself. What a great reason to be motivated, huh?

So he'll have the salmon. And I'll give you the chicken.

Today's Win It Wednesday is an applique wall quilt I made some time ago with some crazy chickens. It measures 40" x 48". I love it, but because of my downsizing initiative I have to rid myself of it. Believe me, it's a hard one to give up.

If you're interested in these crazy chickens, post a comment here. If more than one person is interested, I'll randomly pick a winner on Friday.

Day 454

I am fessing up today. Occasionally I might take a couple pictures in the same day and use one for the following day. It's rare that it happens, but it does every once in a while. I thought I was going to get away with it today, but I can't.

The picture I'm posting today is raindrops in one of my poppies. Being there was no rain today (darn!) I can't say it was from today. But I like it and it's going here anyway.

Day 453

I almost went into work today but I talked myself out of it. It's a bad time of year at work, a time that takes all my time. I knew going into this job it would be this way, but it probably doesn't help that I'm trying to get ready for a yard sale, too.

So while I didn't go into work today, I did work from home on not fun work stuff. But I also did home stuff. I went through books for the yard sale and put some more fabric up on ebay. I picked out the Win It Wednesday prize for this week (if you like chickens you might like this one) and got working on another kids' quilt.

And I'm cleaning up my dinner diet and am planning on having juice for dinner instead of having it for lunch. At lunch I had tuna fish on double fiber bread with some veggie chips on the side. Interesting-looking veggie chips. Who knew a taro root chip would look like this?

Day 452

Who, on their way home from the grocery store, stops in a Kmart parking lot at 7:30 in the morning to get a picture for the day? That would be me. Something about a car carrier with a mixture of old and new vehicles was interesting.

I'm just waffling on how to best tie it in to today. Is it because today is a "car" day? We'll be watching both the Indy 500 and the Coca Cola 600 on TV - that's over 1,000 miles of cars going 'round and 'round.

But today's picture probably better represents how I'm feeling. Although we still juice twice a day, going out to dinner almost every night is getting the best of me. I'm starting to feel like the vehicle on the left. It's time to clean up my dinner diet so I can start feeling nice and shiny like the vehicle on the right.

Tinted windows, here I come! (I don't really know what that means but it sounded cool.)

Day 451

Knowing we're wanting to downsize - and knowing hubby is on board - is making it easier.

Easier to get rid of all my old accumulated teaching materials. Easier to get rid of clothes that don't fit, decorative knick knacks I'll never use, Christmas decorations I don't absolutely love. It has also made it easier to get rid of fabric scraps.

Every time I made a quilt in the past year, I wound up with a stack of scraps. I even used those scraps to make crumb quilts (like this one on Day 107), but I'm tired of the scraps. I'm making some new quilts and will wind up with even more scraps, so I figured it was time for the old ones to go. I wound up with a large flat rate boxed stuffed full. Go figure.

Yard sale them? Nope. I am jumping (back) into the ebay realm as a seller. Hopefully someone can find a good use for them.

If you're interested, you can find the auction here.

Day 450

After I wrote yesterday's blog about it being Mother's Day around our house, I got a present.

Since I'm a salt and pepper shaker collector, my daughter presented me with two new pair. Snoopy on the doghouse and Lucy doing her thing. Love them!

Speaking of presents, a Win It Wednesday gift is going to amyrdh. Amy, use the "Contact Me" button on the right side of the page to send me your address and I'll send those blocks your way!

Day 449

We got around to celebrating Mother's Day today. Kiddo came home and we've been hanging out, planting flowers and getting all the long grass out of the strawberry bed. Except we found out it wasn't long grass that was growing in there. Last fall we used straw to mulch the bed and I guess there were some seeds left in that straw.

If we hadn't caught it now, I think we would have wound up grinding our own wheat into flour soon.

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