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.

Day 196 of 365

I'm a dreamer. Not a daydreamer, but a night time dreamer. I wake up in the middle of the night or in the morning with vivid memories of my dreams. Some of the things in my dreams - being late for work, forgetting to finish something - can be explained because it might be something I'm subconsciously worried might happen. But sometimes I can't figure out how particular details wind up in there and how one dream can twist and turn so much.

It's probably not much different than when I lie awake at night. I might start thinking about one thing, which leads to another, and another, and another. My mind moves a mile a minute and I forget what I originally started thinking about. I guess it's like that Bing commercial about search overload syndrome.

It even happens to me during the day. I was going to start today's blog by saying, "It's back!".

Which then made me think of Back to the Future.
Michael J. Fox.
Fox and the Hound.
You ain't nothin' but a hound dog.
Elvis.
Graceland.
Will and Grace.
Last will and testament.
The Ten Commandments.
Tablets.
Ipads.
Ipods.
Pea pods.
Pea fence.
Vines.
Ivy.
Poison Ivy.
Calamine Lotion.
Baby Lotion.
Baby Blanket.

Hmm..Actually without any forethought, that example worked out just right. I guess my mind knows where it's going after all.

The "It's back!" was referring to my exercise streak. I'm finally again three days (in a row) into an exercise routine. And how are baby blankets connected to today?

Finished my first quilt for Operation Kid Comfort. (Since kids' pictures are on the blanket, I took the picture from afar.)