Tuesday, September 17, 2024
I woke up at 6:30 AM. It took me a few minutes to get fully awake. I edited my really long blog post, added pictures and videos and posted it. I finished it a little after 8 AM. I got up and let out the chickens, ducks and geese. Then I went in the house and made my tea and prayed my gratitudes: Good morning God, I am grateful for Matinee Musical Club. I am grateful to be fully loved. I am grateful for laughter. I am grateful for a comfortable bed to sleep in. I am grateful for faith. I am grateful for the fruits of the spirit. I am grateful for a wonderful, adventurous life. I am grateful for walks in the woods. I am grateful for sunshine and rain. Thank you. I love you.
Christopher had left for work and I had the place to myself. I fed the ducks, chickens and geese as well as the goats. I put fresh water in the bird pools and gave the goats fresh water. Then I hung clothes on the line and left to go pick up Angel from her older sister. I brought 2 of my adult daughter’s plants with me. I had been taking care of the plants for a couple of years. I happily gave them back to her. I had kept the plants healthy and they looked great. Angel got ready to go and we made plans for her to come back over to her sisters on Thursday.
Angel got in the car and we went to Moon Brew in Rockdale to meet my friend Kim. I said hi to my friend Rita who was working today. She is also a co-owner of Moon Brew. It was good to see her. I ordered Angel a hot chocolate and croissant and she watched YouTube kids on her phone. For myself, I ordered a matcha latte with almond milk. I chatted with a couple of friends until Kim arrived. It was so good to see everyone! Kim arrived and we enjoyed each other’s company for an hour or so. We made plans for me to come to her house to help her organize on Thursday which I am really looking forward to. I love organizing.
After leaving Moon Brew, I got gas and hearted (headed) back to Christopher’s. Angel swam in her pool and I sat outside by the fountain. I chatted with Christopher while I wrote my blog. I started feeling tired and laid down in the banana hut. I took a nap for an hour and woke up to a text from my friend who lives across the highway. She had invited me to come over. Angel came in the banana hut as I was responding to the text. She told me that Christopher had left to go to the shack. I told Angel we were going to visit my friend across the highway, then we were going to Rita and Val’s to be shown how to take care of their farm animals while they are gone.
We got ready to go and I drove the side-x-side across the highway. Angel watched Netflix on my friends tablet while we visited. We enjoyed each others company and had fun conversations. Angel and I stayed a couple of hours, then we went to Rita and Val’s. It was a fun ride there on the side-x-side. I don’t know why riding the side-x-side down the backroads seems so much more fun than riding in my truck but it is a whole different experience. It’s like being on an adventure.
We arrived at Rita and Val’s right before it was getting dark. We sat in the house and talked for a while. Then they showed us how to put the animals away for the night and we enjoyed each others company. I feel blessed to have so many great friends. My heart aches knowing I will be leaving them all when I move to Idaho. I know I will make new friends and I am looking forward to that but I feel sad about leaving my friends here in Texas.
The ride back to Christopher’s on the side-x-side was blissful. The beautiful full harvest moon was shining on us and Angel happily sang the whole way. When we arrived, we took a quick shower together and I had Angel pick out stories for me to read to her. I closed up the birds for the night and counted them. There were 20 chickens and 3 ducks. We used to have 30 chickens. Something must have gotten some of them without Christopher noticing.
Angel and I went in the banana hut and read stories. Angel had picked out seventeen stories. I read thirteen of them to her and she read four. Her reading is improving all the time. I enjoyed reading her children’s story books. When they were all read, I turned out the light and we fell asleep at around 11 pm listening to a children’s sleep meditation.
Wednesday, September 18, 2024
Dear Diary,
I woke up at 2:30 AM, I wrote my blog until 5 AM. I turned on an audiobook and went back to sleep. I woke up again at 8:30 AM. It felt great to sleep in. Angel was awake on the trundle bed next to me. I told her good morning and we got up. I let out the chickens, ducks and geese and gave them freshwater in their pools. Angel wanted a bean and cheese burrito. I warmed up some beans that Christopher had cooked up yesterday while Angel did one page of her schoolwork. When her food was ready, she ate her breakfast and did the dishes. She had a lot of fun doing the dishes. It’s one of her favorite chores and I’m happy about that too. For myself, I made tea and a banana, cacao, turmeric, wild apple/pear, juice and fresh made almond milk smoothie.
I prayed my gratitudes. Good morning God, I am grateful for good sleep. I am grateful for wonderful friends. I am grateful for clean water. I am grateful for gentle thoughts. I am grateful for my children. I am grateful for mornings. I am grateful for a beautiful harvest moon. I am grateful for fresh air. I am grateful for the Holy Spirits guidance. Thank you. I love you.
We got ready to go to story-time at the library. By the time we left we were going to arrive a few minutes after it started. Shortly after getting on the highway we got in a long line of cars that were following behind a big columbine. The whole 18 miles to Rockdale were drove 20 mph in the line following the farm machine. I didn’t mind going slow, I actually prefer it. By the time we got to Rockdale story-time was almost over so we skipped going to the library and went straight to Moon Brew. Angel ordered a hot chocolate and watched YouTube kids on her phone. She was happy to get to hook up to the wi-fi. I ordered a matcha latte with almond milk and chatted with a friend who was there. Moon Brew is having an open mic tonight and I plan on going and singing. My friend said that he might sing at open mic next month. I suggested we do a duet since I will still be in town then. He was open to the idea and is going to think of a song he can play a duet to on his guitar. I think that will be great fun.
When it was time to deliver the newspapers, we went over to the Rockdale Reporter. The newspapers had just arrived. I chatted with my friends Kyle Cooke and MaryLou for a few minutes to find out about changes that happened on the paper route while I was gone. Then I loading up the papers and was off to do my route. Angel stayed at The Reporter with Suzy up in the front so that she could play on her phone.
The paper route went great. It was nice to be back doing my routine again. I had fun conversations with people and it was wonderful to see everyone. I want to get involved in something similar when I move to Idaho. I love delivering the paper to all the businesses and touching base with people on a weekly basis. When I finished the route, I stopped at the store to grab a few groceries before returning to get Angel.
Back at the Reporter, I got Angel and talked to Kyle Cooke about getting together sometime before I move. Then I stopped at the two churches that I clean to pick up checks. Christopher had cleaned them while I was gone and I had prepaid him for it. At the Lutheran church, there were people there that I knew. It was great to see them and I talked to them for a few minutes. Then Angel and I hearted (headed) to Christopher’s.
When we arrived, Christopher was sitting out by the fountain drinking beer. I greeted him, then Angel and I went in the house and did school. Angel didn’t want to do school and fought it. She did three pages and got a break. She went outside and sat in Christopher’s lap. When her break was over, I brought her schoolbook outside and she sat on my lap and finished her last 6 pages without incident.
I took pictures of more stuff I found to sell and posted it online. Then it was time to do a coaching phone call. I went in the banana hut and the coaching session went great. When it was finished, I took a bath and got ready to go to open mic at Moon Brew. Angel wanted to go too and got ready to go with me. We left and on the way, I stopped to drop off some things I had sold.
Open mic was great fun. I sat with my friends Debbie and Carla and visited with people. I sang first and chose to sing You Where Always on My Mind again. This time I didn’t cry. Everyone who performed did wonderfully. People sang, played guitar, read poetry and tap danced. It was wonderful experiencing so many people sharing their talents.
Angel and I got back to Christopher’s at around 9:30 pm, he was already in bed. We went to the banana hut and went straight to sleep listening to a children’s sleep meditation.
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.