Day 204 of 365

This isn't a cooking show, mom.

Words uttered from my daughter more than once. When she's home we work on building her repertoire of recipes. And the details, information, and expressive language I use when teaching her how to cook and bake sound like a cooking show to her, I guess. When she says, This isn't a cooking show, mom, it's a signal to me that I'm giving her too much information. But now she's even getting it when she's not home - by watching my tutorials. Just yesterday she let me know I use my "teacher voice" in them. Whatever.

Yet...

I was flipping through channels yesterday and came across Guy Fieri's Big Bite on the Food Network. I have watched his other show, Diners Drive-Ins and Dives where he travels around the country, focusing on small restaurants and the foods they cook. But this show, Big Bite, is a show where he's cooking different things in his kitchen. My husband has watched the show many times but I always skip it.  But this time I left the channel on it. (And it wasn't because of his hair - oh, I do love his hair. For many years I had short spiky hair, dyed with blonde highlights, but never dyed like his. I wish I would have been bold enough to go as blonde and spiky as he does, but I never got there.)

As I sat there watching Guy grab things from the fridge and cabinet, talking about techniques and why he uses what he uses and what could be substituted, I thought, Oh my gosh, that's me. When I do tutorials, I add all that extra chit-chat into the video. But since I'm trying to keep my videos just a few minutes in length I wind up editing all that extra conversation out. Leaving it all in would probably make for an entertaining cooking show or sewing show, but I'm not sure the world needs another one of either.

According to my daughter, one thing that doesn't get edited out is that "teacher voice". As I thought more about what my she said, was she implying the "teacher voice" was a good thing or a bad thing? (You can bet I'll be asking her on that one.)

One thing that is a good thing is my picture of the day. The Canadian Geese were flying around on my early morning walk this morning. I was patient, hoping to catch them flying over the river. They weren't cooperative, so an orange morning sky background will have to do.

Day 203 of 365

Someone asked me the other day if I know the family I'm making these latest kids quilts for, the ones with the pictures in them.

Nope. Though, after making these quilts, I kind of feel like I do. The pictures in the quilts tell the story.

The family has a black and white dog. The oldest girl has a nice, new bicycle. She and her dad have been to a butterfly garden. The little boy plays with a set of jumbo Legos. Dad is in the Army, like Folgers coffee, and once got his red truck stuck in the mud.

But right now dad won't be helping with the bike riding, won't be playing Legos, and won't be getting his truck stuck in the mud. Dad is deployed and the kids are missing him.

So quilts are on the way. Quilts with sewn-in pictures of the kids and their daddy. Quilts that will, hopefully, help them remember their dad until he gets back home.

I feel blessed to be part of such an important project. I've decided this will be my go-to quilt charity and am requesting to "adopt" another family.

If you have any interest in joining me, visit Operation Kid Comfort to let them know you'd like to help. You can use your own fabrics to make the quilt or you can request one of their free fabric kits. The quilts are quick and easy to put together and are a great opportunity for us to support the children of deployed servicemen and women.

Frozen Lemonade Pie - Day 202 of 365, Tutorial Tuesday

I often wonder how family traditions get started.

We have the Christmas Eve book opening tradition, the Mexican-feast-during-tree-trimming-time tradition. The muffin and juice breakfast on Christmas morning tradition. And for Thanksgiving, we always have the same foods. Sometimes we might add an extra side dish or an extra dessert, but the core menu always stays the same. Always.

Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, rolls. Pumpkin pie, cherry pie, lemonade pie.

I'm not sure how the lemonade pie tradition started. I do know it started when I was young, probably still in high school or junior high. Since it's made from lemonade and it's a frozen pie, it seems quite odd that it has wound up on our Thanksgiving table - when the weather is cool - every year since.

We rarely have it any other time. But it might fit well as a cool, tart, refreshing treat on a hot summer day. Although summer is waning we still have warm temperatures hanging around here, so I decided to make one.

Decided to make one and film it. Tutorial Tuesday is one of the easiest pies out there. Lemonade pie. (Unfortunately, after taking the picture I also found out it makes a nice substitute for my morning Cheerios. Gotta make sure I don't do that again!)

Half a can of frozen lemonade (thawed), a can of sweetened condensed milk, and a container of whipped topping. Mix it all together, put into a prepared graham cracker crust and freeze overnight.

Click the video below for the directions:

Day 201 of 365

You'd think after 200 days of trying to get myself back together I would have figured it out by now. I would have figured out how much I can push myself, when to take a break, when to try and do more and when to not.

Nope.

I had four long, late, exhausting days at work last week. Saturday was spent out and about with hubby. Then came Sunday and I crashed.

Getting up in the morning was even more difficult than usual. My body moved much more slowly during the day. Everything hurt. My energy level had disappeared. I struggled with every task. Usually when I have a bad day, I tell myself things will be better after a good night's sleep.

Nope. It's Monday and I'm still not up to par. (Thank goodness I don't have to go into work today.)

I'm slow. I hurt. I'm still exhausted.

So I did something I usually never do during the day. I decided to sit down and watch TV on the big screen downstairs. Sitting in my recliner, relaxing, watching TV. And I was asleep in my chair by 11:30 (in the morning). But even that bit of a nap didn't resuscitate my energy level.

Some days I'm moving forward, some days I'm moving backwards. I'm mad that I wasn't able to pace myself this last week and wound up overdoing it and I'm sad that my body isn't what it used to be. But I know someday I will get this figured out.

Today, though, I'd just rather hang out with the kitty in the sun.

Day 200 of 365

Happy 200th Day!

200 days of writing. Writing about good things and bad things. Doctors appointments, procedures and tests, medications and injections. About struggles and frustrations. Crazy dreams. Exercising, not exercising, exercising. No job to new job. Of exciting days, calm days, long days.

200 days of picture taking. Pictures of fabric, kids quilts, turtle pillows, decorated sugar cookies. Butterflies, squirrels, spiders, and the kitty cat. Sunrises, lightning in the night sky, cloud formations, snow on the ground. Roses and vegetables. Windmills, bulk bins at the grocery store, and a casino swimming pool. How-to videos.

200 days of support from folks around the country, around the world. Encouragement to keep going. Ideas to make life smoother. Thoughts that made me laugh.

On the 200th day of the stories and pictures of my life, I celebrate you. Those who have stuck with me since the beginning, those who just now have come on board. If you weren't here I would have probably given up long ago.

To thank you I'm doing a 200th day giveaway. The things in the picture might look familiar. We have:

• One of the potholders I made on Day 34.
• Fabric covered buttons from the tutorial on Day 153.
• Pocket tissue holders from Day 167's tutorial.
• The owl pincushion from the tutorial on Day 195.
• Two "fat quarter" pieces of fabric so you can make your own Breadbasket Liner pictured on Day 38 (and from the tutorial on Day 188).

To enter, leave a comment on this post. Since I don't collect e-mails on my comment page, you will have to come back to see if you won. The winner will be announced in Friday's (Day 205) post. They'll have until Sunday at noon to claim their prize.

Again, thank you for your support. And good luck!