Monday August 26, 2024
Dear Diary,
Tracey and I woke up at 4:30 AM. I wrote my blog for a while. Angel woke up and crawled in bed with us. I tried to go back to sleep but wasn’t able to. When it started to get light out, Tracey got up and made tea. I let out of the chickens and sat on the front porch. Tracey sent me his morning gratitudes and brought me tea. His gratitudes were: Good morning dearest one🥰🌞🌻
I am grateful. I am grateful for holding hands on walks. I am grateful for hugs. I am grateful for kisses. I am grateful for wild apples and plums (no stickers😁) I am grateful for walking to the store. I am grateful for the dinner Trish made and her patience. I am grateful for morning moonlight. I am grateful for warm beds. I am grateful for blankets. I am grateful for jackets. I am grateful for walking the rails to trails with you. I am grateful for mountains. I am grateful for crisp air. I am grateful for tea. I am grateful for juice. I am grateful for this day and everything that will exist in it. I am grateful for you Victoria I love and appreciate you immensely. Thank you🥰🦋🦨♾️💛💚🙏.
We sat together on the porch and watched the sunrise over the mountains. We did sun gazing for a few minutes until the sun was fully up. Sun gazing during the sunrise and sunset is great for the eyes and mind. Here is a good write up about proper sun gazing: https://www.blockbluelight.com/blogs/news/what-is-sun-gazing?srsltid=AfmBOor6Mc2q5A5geXPwpaXi3keP5dxvkE_TEe_zaBStzuOtO_ov2qDK
Tracey told me his future plans. He is going to get his RV running good, then drive it up and live in it at the RV park in Council through the winter. I was glad. The RV park is not very far from Trish’s. We will have a fun winter together.
Tracey got up and cleared out the area my sister Missy said I could park the motorhome. We moved a trailer out of the way with my truck. Then Tracey backed the motorhome into its place. It fit perfectly. Tracey put the trailer back in its spot and we sat on the porch some more. I wrote more of my blog and posted it. Then I sent Tracey my morning gratitudes: Good morning my sparkly eyed man, I am grateful to watch the sunrise on the porch with you. I am grateful for the yummy tea you make me. I am grateful for bits and Cassie. I am grateful for my sisters. I am grateful for comfortable beds and grateful for walks on the Weezer River Trail. I’m grateful for help unloading all of my massive amount of stuff. I am grateful for our love. I am grateful for you. ❤️ 💛 💚 ☀️ 🌙 🙌.
Angel woke up and she had bread with honey for breakfast. Then she played on her phone, she likes having Wi-Fi so she can watch YouTube Kids. She will be starting to do school again on Wednesday and won’t have as much phone time. She’s had a couple of weeks off of school with all the packing to move and traveling. I do her school year round with short breaks when we have other things going on.
I went out to motorhome to clean it. There were still a few things in there that I had missed unloading yesterday. Tracey helped me get the last of the stuff out. I vacuumed and organized things. When we come back from Texas again at the end of October, I’ll move the motorhome to my sister Trish’s. Angel and I will partly live in the motorhome and partly live in her house through the winter. Then in the spring we will reassess things.
I made a smoothie and we got ready to go to Trish’s. I wanted to show Tracey the thrift store and the herb store in Council as well as go to the Mennonite store to buy bread for Angel. We drove the back road to Council. Along the way we stopped to take pictures of a blue flower. Tracey got out to take the picture but couldn’t find his phone. I tried calling it but I didn’t have phone service out there. We continued driving into town and I stopped at the auto parts store to buy oil to do an oil change on my truck. When we pulled up, I called Tracey’s phone but it wasn’t in the truck. I told him we would drive back to Missy’s in Cambridge and find it. On the way, I stopped at the coffee shop to see if they had matcha tea. They didn’t so I got a chai tea instead. The lady working there was named Skyler and she was very friendly and accommodating.
As soon as we pulled into Missy’s driveway we could see Tracey’s phone lying on the ground. Tracey got it and we drove back to Council. At the edge of town, I stopped to buy gas and went inside to pay cash. There was a rack of ripe spotty bananas right inside the door. I had used the last of my ripe bananas for my smoothie that morning and I only had unripe bananas left. I only use spotty bananas in my smoothies because they are easier to digest and they are sweeter. I was glad I had found more ripe bananas. I bought 4 bunches of them at a discounted price since they were “overripe” or as I call them “perfectly ripe”. Yay!
Trish was at work when we got there. I let her dog Huckleberry out to use the bathroom. I unloaded the dishwasher and put away some of her canning jars. Just as I was finishing up, she came home for lunch. I talked to her a few minutes, then Tracey and I walked the couple of blocks to the thrift store. We brought our dogs on their leashes and Angel rode her bicycle. The thrift store was closed on Mondays, so we went to the herb store next door. We left the dogs tied up outside and went in. Tracey and I had fun looking around and we bought some herbs for teas. They have a play area for kids that Angel played in. The lady working there, whose name is Danielle, let us know that they are a dog friendly store and we are welcome to bring our dogs inside next time. That’s great!
A few blocks down the road was the Mennonite store. Council is a tiny mountain town with only 950 people. Everything is within walking distance. Tracey stayed outside with the dogs while I went into the store. It was packed full of people when I walked in the door. Angel came in with me but didn’t want to wait in line and went back outside with Tracey. I had fun people watching while I waited in line. I bought some homemade bread and dark chocolate almonds from a nice Mennonite lady named Becky.
With our shopping done, we walked back to Trish’s. I made Angel a cheese quesadilla and took a nap. While I slept, Angel played on her phone and Tracey went for a walk with Cassie on the Weiser River Trail. I fell asleep right away and slept hard for an hour. Tracey came in shortly after I woke up. We cuddled and talked for an hour until it was time to leave to go to Donnelly to meet the lady we will be pet sitting for August 31-September 11.
It was a beautiful drive there through the pine forest. Tracey saw an eagles nest and an eagle. We drove through a couple of cute mountain towns, New Meadows and McCall. McCall is a fancy resort town and I have a feeling I will be getting a lot of pet sitting opportunities there. There is a big lake in McCall called Payette lake and there is an ice skating ring. McCall has a winter festival every year where people create amazing ice sculptures. It will be fun to go to that this coming winter. McCall Area Chamber of Commercehttps://visitmccall.orgMcCall Winter Carnival Ice Sculptures 2023
We arrived at our pet sitting house in Donnelly. It is a really nice house with 2 stories of picture windows in the front. We met the dogs. An adorable labradoodle and a black lab mix. The cat was in hiding and didn’t want to say hi. The lady showed us around and she was very friendly. Angel was acting out and not listening. She was running around the house and talking back. I realized that she was hungry and needed food. Thankfully the lady we were pet sitting for didn’t mind Angel running around.
When we left we headed straight to a restaurant in McCall to eat. I chose pizza place that I remembered had a salad bar. When we went inside, there wasn’t a salad bar. I asked about it and was informed that they no longer had one. We were seated outside and I looked at the menu. All the salads they offered had meat and without the meat there wasn’t much to the salads. I wasn’t sure what to order. I finally decided on a vegetarian pizza with a cauliflower crust. When the food arrived, I blessed my pizza and asked that it digest easily and nourish my body. Then we all shared what we were grateful for, except Angel who didn’t want to participate. Angel ate all of her spaghetti and then wanted more. I knew she had been hungry and once she got food in her she calmed down and wasn’t acting out anymore. Tracey treated us to dinner which was very generous since most everything in McCall is expensive. I thanked him and was grateful.
Tracey drove on the way back and I became car sick from the curvy mountain road. I took it as an opportunity to practice getting over the motion sickness thing. I’ve gotten motion sickness since I was a young child and it’s time to move on and get over it. I know it’s all a mental thing and I want to overcome it. By the time we got to Trish’s, not only was I dealing with the motion sickness but my stomach was cramping up from eating the pizza. I was feeling tired and miserable. It’s rare that I feel like that and I just wanted to go to bed.
I quickly grabbed some things from Trish’s and told her good night. Then Tracey drove us to Missy’s. I put the chickens away and told Angel to get ready for bed. Then I laid down. My mind was cloudy and the pain in my stomach was intense. Tracey did healing touch on me and made me some tea. That’s all I remember until I woke up to use the bathroom at 2 AM.
Thank you for reading my blog and being a part of my life. I appreciate you.
Love, Victoria
P.S. this blog post was inspired by the Holy Spirit.