Wednesday February 21, 2024
I woke up at 5:30 a.m. I did 100 jumps on the rebounder and went in the house to get ready for the day. I greeted Christopher, made tea and my smoothies. Angel was up and got ready to go with me. We left a little early so I could stop at the store where I bought both of us new shoes. Tennis shoes for me and water shoes for Angel.
At my first house to clean, Angel did phonics for her schoolwork. She only had 11 pages left of her phonics book and she went right to work in order to finish it and earn another movie. Even though she normally does not like phonics, she didn’t fight it today and persevered through the lessons she found difficult. She was determined to finish that workbook and she did. She was excited that she had earned another movie and decided this movie she would save to watch with my grandson Finn. We were having him over tomorrow and he was staying overnight.
I picked up Ms. M after I finished cleaning and we went to the library for Story Time. After it was over we checked out the next Hank the Cowdog book. We are now on book 10. I love those books, they are great fun. We had extra time before we delivered the newspapers since they were coming in later than usual, so I took the opportunity to clean the Episcopal church. It had been a while since I cleaned it, Christopher has been doing it to earn money when he doesn’t have other work. This week he had work, so I went ahead and cleaned the church. It was great to be there cleaning. Angel and Ms. M watched a movie while I cleaned. I love cleaning churches, they have great energy. I got the church sparkling clean and finished right on time to pick up the papers.
I enjoyed delivering the papers. I’m not sure why I like it so much but my very first job that I had in 3rd grade was delivering newspapers on my bicycle. Then in my 20’s as a single mom I delivered newspapers while going to college. It was the last job I had before starting my own business. I’ve been self employed since then. No more working for the “man”, except now…I’m working for K.C. at the Rockdale Reporter a couple hours a week but I’m employed there as an independent contractor. But, I am officially employed by a company in order to care for Ms. M. Which means I’ll get a w-4 for my taxes for the first time in over 20 years. Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, in the middle of my paper route I dropped Ms. M off at home so her husband could take her to an appointment. I chatted with people as I delivered the papers and was grateful I didn’t have another house to clean afterward so I could take my time. I no longer clean houses on Wednesday afternoons except one house I do once a month. Wednesday’s work best for them so I kept them there. I like not cleaning after the paper route so don’t have to rush and I have time to get settled in for my life coaching clients that I schedule on Wednesdays at 4 p.m. I didn’t have anything scheduled today though except Yoga at 5:30 p.m. and Bible Study at 7 p.m. So I took my time and chatted with people.
When my route was over, I headed home. I sat outside in the sun with Christopher and Angel doing a suduko puzzle. I called my son Shawn to see how his doctors appointment went and he said that his ankle surgery is scheduled for Friday. I was glad they were getting him in within a week of breaking it so it would heal correctly. Christopher left to go hang out with his friends in the woods and I took a bath with Angel. Then we headed back to town for yoga.
Angel finished watching her movie on my phone while I did yoga. The yoga class was fantastic. I enjoy yoga so much and I’m glad there is a class in Rockdale now that fits in with my schedule. My body feels so good when I stretch it properly and I get in a zone doing yoga where I am fully in tune with my body. It’s a very spiritual thing and a form of meditation. I feel deeply connected to God when I’m doing yoga, full of joy and thanksgiving for giving me such a wonderful body to take care of. When class was over I talked with the instructor and she was telling me how people have accused her of worshiping the devil by teaching yoga. I’ve never heard of such a thing and it surprised me that people would think that. The things people come up with! Yoga is stretching and it’s beautiful and peaceful. Practicing yoga fills me with love for God, myself and all people. It’s a form of prayer. It is definitely not satanic in any way and I highly recommend it.
Angel and I arrived at Bible Study right on time. I was helping with the kids this week for the first time and that went well. After the lesson we let the kids play outside on the playground. The older teenage kids were out there too and 2 teenage boys got in a fist fight. It had been years since I’d seen a fist fight. The adults in charge of the teenagers got things under control but the energy was charged for a while. I was glad I had done yoga before coming to church because it was easy for me to remain peaceful despite the charged energy around me. I kept the younger kids focused on playing and they didn’t notice anything was amiss. Maybe those teenage boys need to do some yoga 😂
We arrived home from Bible study and I read outloud one chapter of the National Park Mystery Seriesbook 2. Then we went straight to bed and fell asleep around 9 p.m. listening to a BobbseyTwins audiobook.
Thursday February 22, 2024
I woke up at 5:30 a.m. I had slept really good, other than letting the puppy out a few times. I jumped 100 jumps on the rebounder and woke Angel up. We went in the house, greeted Christopher and got ready to go to horse riding lessons. On the way there I stopped to do a drop in pet sitting job. I fed the dogs and goats and played with them awhile. The mean goat seems to be warming up to me but I still carry a stick with me in case he decides to charge at me again.
At riding lessons, they put me on a horse I hadn’t rode before. His name is Mac. Angel rode Bubba who is the horse she usually rides. I was enjoying riding Mac. He was stubborn at times but I made sure he knew that I was in charge and after warming him up I had him trot around the corral while I practiced posting. I was feeling confident with posting and got him up to a lope. I was having trouble keeping my balance and feeling secure with his lope so I kept practicing. Mac started to get really stubborn and not slow down when I pulled back in the reigns and told him whoa. So I kept him at a walk more and would slowly bring him up to a lope. On my last time of walking him down the corral, I turned him around to bring him up to a trot and then a lope. He decided to do his own thing and took off into a lope. My left foot slipped out of the stirrup and I was pulling back in the reigns to get him to slow down. He completely ignored me and continued at a full lope. He ran to the front of the corral and right into the back of Bubba who was standing there with Angel on him. Bubba jumped forward and I saw Angel fly off. Mac stopped, I got off of him as fast as I could and ran to Angel. One of the trainers was holding her and she was crying. We checked her over and she wasn’t hurt bad, it had scared her more than hurt her. She had a few bumps and bruises and I was relieved she was ok. After she calmed down they had her get back up on Bubba for a few minutes. Another trainer got on Mac and made him run circles which he did not like at all but he had to have his behavior to be corrected right away. I was going to get back on him also but we ran out of time and we had to leave to pick up my grandson Finn.
We picked up Finn on our way to homeschool co-op. Ms. M had more appointments today that her husband needed to take her to, so I didn’t need pick her as well. Angel was excited to tell Finn about what happened at riding lessons. It was her first time falling off of a horse and she wanted to tell him all about it.
Homeschool co-op was fun. The kids sang and we did experiments with a balance scale on guessing which things would weigh more or less. The kids had a lot of fun with it and I did as well. Then the kids played on the playground while us moms sat at the picnic table and talked. It was good to connect and chat. I had nothing going on the rest of the day and felt relaxed and at ease.
When the co-op was over, I stopped at the store and the library. The kids picked out a movie to watch on DVD, after much debate they decided in Spirit. Then we headed home. As soon as we arrived, the kids played outside and I got busy juicing. I made a half gallon of almond milk, a half gallon of strawberry juice and a gallon of pineapple juice. That should hold me over for a few days. I also started some homemade dog food in the crock pot. The puppy eats a lot and I’m having to make dog food more often but I don’t mind and I like making them healthy food rather than feeding them pellets.
When I finished i went outside for sun time. It was a beautiful 80 degree day out, I was glad I had time to sit in the sun and enjoy it. The kids asked if they could have the sprinkler set up under the trampoline and Christopher set it up for them. I wrote my blog that I was way behind on while I soaked in the sun, watched the kids and chatted with Christopher. We were going boating tomorrow at Granger Lake and were told by Christopher’s cousin that we needed to buy a day pass on-line. My state park pass wouldn’t work because it wasn’t a state park, it was managed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers. I figured out how to buy a pass on-line and we were all set for tomorrow. Later in the day the kids wanted to watch their movie but it was getting too late and dinner was going to be ready soon. So they took a bath and I sat on the couch and continued to write my blog. I was determined to get caught up on at least 2 days. I write down highlights for each day so I can remember what happened if I get behind and I was way behind.
Finally right before dinner I finished writing my blog. I still needed to edit it and post it but at least it was written. I ate a big salad for dinner and then took a long hot shower. I could feel the difference in my body since doing yoga yesterday and it felt good. After Christopher showered we all gathered in the banana hut. I read one chapter from the National Park Mystery Series book 2. Finn fell asleep while I was reading. Then I read one chapter from Hank the Cowdog book 10 and Christopher almost fell asleep while I was reading that. The kids went in the house with Christopher and I fell asleep shortly after they left at around 9 p.m.
Thank you for reading my blog and being a part of my life. I dearly appreciate you.
Love,
Victoria