February 9 & 10, 2024
I woke up at 5:25 a.m. I had every intention of sleeping in since I had been up until almost midnight but I was wide awake. I meditated for a while and made lime tea. Then I drifted back to sleep until 7:30 a.m. Christopher had left for work and the kids were playing outside. My friend Sarah was awake and we talked some. Then I received a phone call from another friend. I talked to her while Sarah rested in bed. I did laundry and got some chores done. When I got off the phone, Sarah and I started juicing grapes. A lot of the grapes were starting to go bad and I decided we needed to use up all that was left and they were too far gone to give any to the last couple of friends I had planned to bring some to. While we were juicing Sarah reminded me that I had started a bath for her earlier in our outdoor bathtub. I ran out to the bath and it was overflowing and had been for a while. I was glad it was an outdoor bathtub and the overflow only watered the plants rather than made a mess. I turned off the water and Sarah got in while I continued juicing. When she came in from the bath, I was almost finished. She helped me finish up and packed up the 2 1/2 gallons of juice we had made to take home with her.
After cleaning up the kitchen, we took a ride with the kids and dogs in the side-X-side a few miles up the dirt road to see the dinosaurs, which are big dinosaur statues someone has on their property. It was a fun ride with beautiful scenery. Everything is starting to turn green and soon the leaves will start budding on the trees. When we arrived back home, Sarah and I ate a big taco salad. We made a patè to put on top of the salad. The ingredients were soaked walnuts, red pepper, hot pepper, celery, tomato and oyster mushrooms. The salad had romaine lettuce, avocado, red onion, mushrooms, celery, broccoli, cauliflower, tofu, pumpkin seeds and a tiny bit of feta cheese. It was really yummy and satisfying.
With full happy tummies, we sat outside and talked while we watched the duck, chicken and goat show. I planted a plum tree that Christopher had bought me for my birthday and I showed Sarah my greenhouse. One of my lemon trees in there was blooming.
In the early evening, Sarah headed home and I went to town to do skit practice. I have until Wednesday to memorize my lines. The practice went good. We started acting it out and recorded our lines so we can listen to them while doing other things. When I arrived home, Christopher and the kids were eating dinner. I took a shower, did the dishes and made 2 smoothies for the next day. It was going to be a long day, so I made an extra smoothie so I wouldn’t get too hungry during the day. Finn’s dad came and got him and we gathered in the banana hut for family story time. I read the first 2 chapters from Hank the Cowdog book 9. Christopher went in his house and Angel slept with me on the trundle bed. We fell asleep around 9 p.m. listening to The Boxcar Children.
I woke up at 3 a.m. and fell back asleep at 4:30 a.m. I woke again at 5:08 a.m. I really wanted to sleep longer but I had places to clean and needed to get going. I made my bed and went over to Christopher’s. I made lime tea, got dressed, grabbed my smoothies and headed to town at 5:30 a.m.. I cleaned one office building and started on the next office building. This was a big office building and Christopher comes to help with it. I listened to The Art of Communicating by Thich Nhat Hahn while I cleaned. I did an extra thorough job on the bathrooms, getting the tile walls wiped down, especially under the paper towel and soap dispensers and around the sinks and toilets. Christopher arrived with Angel and started emptying the garbages. Angel helped with the garbages and played with her toys. At 9:00 a.m. I left to clean a residential house and Christopher finished up the floors.
I enjoyed chatting with my clients at my residential house. They are fellow master naturalists and have a beautiful house that they had custom built. I got their house looking great and headed to my next residential house. On the drive there, I drank one of my smoothies.
While I cleaned my next house, I had fun conversations with my clients. They are great people and are new to the area. I invited them to come out to our place in the near future since they are nature lovers and love being in the woods. They originally were looking to buy wooded property in the country around Rockdale but couldn’t find anything they wanted and ended up buying a house in town. They were excited about the invite and I look forward to getting to know them better. Their house was my last cleaning opportunity for the day and I sat chatting with them for a half hour after I finished.
On the drive home, I drank my other smoothie. When I arrived, I felt so tired, I sat in the truck for a while dozing off until I convinced myself to get moving. I started my cleaning cloths washing and unpacked my smoothie containers. Christopher came in and we talked while I made a big salad. Angel wasn’t there, her adopted grandma had picked her up earlier to have until Monday. I was so tired and cold, I don’t even know what Christopher and I talked about. I ate some salad and went to bed really early. I laid in bed getting warm and resting for an hour or so and fell asleep around 7 p.m.
Thank you for reading my blog and being a part of my life. I dearly appreciate you.
Love,
Victoria