Thursday, March 21, 2024
Dear diary,
I woke up at 7:00 AM. When I heard my son Scott yell up the stairs that he was leaving for work. I told him to have a good day and got up. Angel woke up too and was hungry. We got up and got dressed and went downstairs. My daughter-in-law Delany was getting ready for work. I told her good morning, let Bits out to use the bathroom and put some water in a pan to boil on the stove. Delany told us goodbye and headed out to work. I went upstairs and packed up our luggage. I brought it downstairs and put it in the back of my son’s big red van named Ruby that he was letting me use while I was here visiting. He had done some work on it and got it aligned before I arrived, which was very thoughtful of him and I appreciated it.
After making my tea, I locked up the house and we headed to my son Shawn‘s house, which was about 40 minutes away. Angel was still super excited about being on this trip and talked nonstop the whole drive about wanting to play in the snow. I told her it didn’t look like it was going to snow while we were here. She asked if we could go up in the mountains and see the snow. I told her we would see how things went. She wanted to pull the van over and climb the mountain next to us up to the snow line. I assured her that the snow line was a lot farther up than it looked and that we would not be climbing any mountains today.
When we arrived in the town where Shawn lives, I stopped at a smoothie bar and we got some food. For myself, I ordered two large smoothies. There was a thrift store right around the corner and we went there to see if they had a juicer and some nice blankets. It was a very clean thrift store, and we found everything we were looking for. The juicer was so clean that it looked like it had never been used. It was missing the container that the pulp went into but I figured I could just put a large bowl underneath it. The blankets were also very clean and I bought six blankets and a flannel sheet set. Angel and I would be sleeping in my son’s pop-up camper and I wanted to make sure we would be plenty warm. The last three or four days we would be there, it was going to be in the low 30s at night. Shawn and his wife Bri said they had plenty of blankets that we could use but it felt good having my own blankets. I’m picky about blankets and like to sleep under cotton.
The last stop we made before going to my son’s house was the grocery store. By that time Angel was getting tired, she had run out of energy. She had been really hyper and excited since yesterday, and it had finally caught up to her. It took a while at the grocery store to find everything we needed because I was not familiar with the store where things were located. Angel dragged along beside me and I told her she could rest when we got to Shawn’s house. After getting everything we needed, we arrived at Shawn‘s house around noon.
We went inside and I greeted Shawn and my four year old grandson Sam. Shawn had been working from home ever since he broke his ankle. Since he was home all day, they had taken Sam out of daycare in order to save money. Angel and Sam started playing together and I got started doing what I came there to do which was helping out around the house. Shawn could not do any of the household chores until his ankle was healed enough that he could put weight on it and my daughter-in-law Bri had been doing everything herself along with working full-time. She was overwhelmed, and that is why they asked me to come.
I got started doing laundry (washing towels, clothes and the blankets I bought) and cleaning up the kitchen. In between all of that, I made Bits homemade dog food, made homemade bread and straightened up the dresser and closet in Sam’s bedroom. I chatted with Shawn while I did chores and both of the kids did schoolwork together in the early afternoon. They were having fun together and got along really well. At 4 PM I drove and picked up my 12 year old granddaughter Alex from school. I was really enjoying being able to help out and spend time with my grandkids. When I got back from picking up Alex, she did her chores and went downstairs to hang out in her room. I took Angel and Sam to a nearby park, it was a beautiful sunny 68 degree day. It was a really neat park and the kids had a lot of fun playing. I played with the kids for a while and took pictures. Then I sat and watched them, enjoying the beautiful view of the mountains. I love the mountains so much.
Bri got home from work late because she had stopped to do their taxes on the way home. She was not happy when she arrived because she found out they owe money. I gave her a hug in hopes it would give her some comfort and got started making dinner. It had been quite a while since I’ve actually cooked food other than bread and homemade dog food. At home Christopher does all of the cooking and even makes my salads for me. I’ve been eating fresh produce in the form of salads and smoothies since February 1, and I have no intention of eating otherwise. I feel so much better eating raw food. I don’t feel just a little bit better, I feel a lot better eating this way. I have an incredible amount of energy and I feel young and vibrant again. I am done experimenting with what works for me and what doesn’t work for me. God gave me the message years ago to eat a diet of fresh fruits and vegetables. I ate that way for a year and went from being bedridden and sick all the time to being healthy and riding my bicycle everywhere. I lost 120 pounds and felt better than I ever remembered feeling in my entire life. After that year, I started experimenting with other foods and never felt as good as I felt when I ate all raw foods. So I would go back to eating all raw, but would get tired of it after a while and start eating other things again. This pattern went on for 17 years. I’m now at the point in my life where I no longer need to keep repeating that pattern. I know what works and that’s what I’m doing.
Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, I made dinner for everyone. A stirfry with rice and a big salad. I had no idea if the stir fry tasted good or not because I did not taste it, but everyone seemed to enjoy it. I ate salad and when everyone was done eating, I cleaned up the kitchen.
It was getting late in the day, and I still had not set up the pop-up camper for Angel and I to sleep in. One of my sons pickups was parked in front of it with the battery charger on it. I went out to see if it would start. It turned over and had a good charge, but wouldn’t start. I went in and told Shawn that I couldn’t get the truck started. He came out on his crutches and turn the key and it started right away. I guess it didn’t like me. I got in and moved it to a different spot. Then I went in the house and got Bri to help me pull the pop-up camper down the driveway and get it set up. By the time we got it leveled and set up, it was dark out and almost 9 PM. Angel and I took a quick shower together and set up our beds. I got into bed at around 10 PM. We listened to a Bobbsey Twins audiobook and fell asleep around 11 PM.
Thank you for reading my blog, and being a part of my life. I dearly appreciate you.
Love,
Victoria
P. S. This blog post was inspired by the Holy Spirit.