Friday October 11, 2024
Dear Diary,
Good morning God,
I am grateful for morning swims in the pond.
I am grateful for opportunities.
I am grateful for laughter.
I am grateful for deep sleep.
I am grateful for hammocks.
I am grateful for joy.
I am grateful for children.
I am grateful for Texas.
I am grateful for connection.
Thank you.
I love you.
I got up at 7:15 am. I made tea and topped off the animals food. Then I made a pineapple/fresh OJ smoothie. I walked down to the pond and practiced singing the song I am performing at church on Sunday. Then I got in the water and surprisingly the water felt warm since it was warmer than the air. I stretched and floated on my back, fully relaxing my body.
It was a great way to start the day and I was grateful for the experience.
I got out of the pond and walked up to the house. I got ready to go do a cleaning opportunity and left Bits in the house with the other dogs when I hearted (headed) out. I drove to my clients and arrived right on time. My clients are in my master naturalist group. I visited with them a few minutes and started cleaning. I noticed the outside of their windows were really dirty and offered to clean them. My clients were happy to have me clean them. I got started cleaning the windows right away, I was excited to do it. I decided to do the windows first before it got hot out. It took me 3 hours to get all the windows cleaned inside and out. I even wiped down the tracks and cleaned the screens. They looked great when I was finished and I was proud of my work. I really like cleaning windows for some reason. I think it’s great fun.
With the windows clean, I got started cleaning the house. While I was cleaning the toilet in the guest bathroom, I found a frog in there. I showed it to my clients and we couldn’t figure out how it the world it got there. I relocated it outside and continued cleaning. When I was finished, I told them my price on doing the windows and cleaning and they gave me a $100 bonus. That was a nice surprise and was very generous of them. I thanked them and we wished each other well until I see them again.
I drove to Rockdale and stopped at
Maricela’s. I sat on the patio and ordered an avocado salad. Shortly after I arrived Kyle Cooke joined me and we talked while we ate. The couple talking over the paper route had called Kyle earlier that day and said that they had something going on this coming Wednesday and couldn’t do the paper route. Kyle had messaged me asking if I could do it one last time and I said yes. I was very happy about doing the paper route one more time.
We didn’t stay very long at Maricela’s, when we left I drove to Rita and Val’s. As soon as I went inside, my mom called. We talked for over an hour. She told me about all the quilts she was making for all of her kids and grandkids. Then she shared with me a recipe for a salad dressing that she has been enjoying. It was a great talk and I felt very grateful to have had such a wonderful conversation with my mom.
When I got off the phone. I fed the animals their wet food, then I sat outside on the bench swing and watched the chickens, ducks, guineas, dogs and goats. I wrote my blog and got fully caught up. Then I practiced singing the song I’m performing at church some more and after a couple of times of practicing, I was able to sing it without looking at the lyrics. Yay!
When it got dark out, I came inside and went to bed. I edited my blog and posted it. Then I went to sleep at around 8:30 pm listening to Master Your Mindset.
Saturday, October 12, 2024
Dear Diary,
Good morning God,
I am grateful for good rest.
I am grateful for opportunities to help others.
I am grateful for Love.
I am grateful for windows.
I am grateful for bench swings.
I am grateful for songs.
I am grateful for hugs.
I am grateful For lovely weather.
Thank you.
I love you.
I woke up at 1 am and fell back asleep at 2 am. I had to be up at 5 am and I set an alarm to wake me up to gentle music. I was glad I set the alarm because the gentle music woke me up out of a dead sleep. I laid their dozing for 15 minutes. Then I got up, made tea, topped off the animals food and left to go pick up my friend Rachele’s husband and youngest son to take them to Round Rock.
They were ready to go when I got there and it was a pleasant drive to Round Rock. We had good conversations and because it was early on Saturday morning, there wasn’t any traffic issues. I dropped them off and went to HEB to get some fresh squeezed OJ. When I walked up to where the fresh squeezed OJ is, there wasn’t any. The shelves were empty. I stood there a minute and hoped they would magically appear but that didn’t happen. I bought some nice big pineapples instead. Those would make some yummy juice.
I drove back to Rockdale and did a cleaning job for my friend/client. We had some fun conversations while I cleaned and I got their house looking great. When I finished, I looked at pictures of their grandkids and great grandkids. They are so cute.
I left and went through the car wash on my way to Rita and Val’s. When I arrived, I took a short nap in the hammock. After waking up, I wrote my blog for a while. Then I went to Christopher’s to see Angel and my grandson Finn. Finn’s dad has dropped him off at Christopher’s last night and I wanted to spend some time with him. When I arrived, i greeted Christopher who was sitting outside in his usual spot, the kids were inside watching a movie. I went inside and said hi to them and gave Finn a hug. Then I went outside and sat by Christopher. We talked for a bit, then the kids came outside and played around us.
After a couple of hours, I went to Rita and Val’s to feed the animals their wet food. My friend Sarah was coming over this evening and I read a book called Olive Kitteridge for a while. I messaged Sarah to see if she was on her way because it was getting late in the evening and I began feeling tired. She messaged back that she was leaving soon. I read some more and an hour later Sarah messaged that she was on her way. I kept reading and then went outside and sat in the bench swing. At close to 8:30 pm Sarah arrived. We talked for an hour and by then I was too tired to function. She went to bed in the guest room and I slept in the living room in my hammock. I fell asleep at around 10 pm listening to an audiobook called The Dunning Kruger Effect.
Sunday October 13, 2024
Dear Diary,
Good morning God,
I am grateful for sunrises.
I am grateful for another day.
I am grateful for friends visiting.
I am grateful for church.
I am grateful for produce.
I am grateful for morning swims.
Thank you.
I love you!
I wrote up at 5 am. I laid in bed watching videos in my phone until 6 pm. I dozed off until 7 am when I got up. My friend Sarah was still asleep. I topped off the animals food and made tea. Then I walked out to the pond with Little Bit. We played fetch on the walk and I practiced the song I am singing at church. I swam in the pond and did stretching and floated on my back fully relaxing my body.
When I got out, I walked up to the house playing fetch with Little Bit. I got dressed and left with Bits to go to the grocery store and then church. It was a beautiful drive on the backroads to the grocery store. At one point a little buck ran out in the road in front of me. He took off running down the road and I followed at a distance behind him. He was running at 45 mph. That’s fast!
At the grocery store I bought a bunch of produce to make a big salad for Sarah and I to eat for lunch. I bought green leaf lettuce, romaine lettuce, bell peppers, mushrooms, celery, broccoli, cauliflower, ginger, garlic and tomatoes. Yummy!! Next I drove to Christopher’s to pick up Angel. I greeted Christopher and Angel. (Finn’s parents had taken him home last night). Angel was dressed in a princess Halloween costume. I suggested that she wear something more appropriate for church. She said that was what she wanted to wear. I was going to tell her that she had to change into a nice church dress but decided to just let her be. I said ok and went out to the shed to get a couple of fans I’m selling and I put them in the truck. When I went into the house again, Angel had changed into a more appropriate dress and she looked very pretty. I talked to Christopher a few minutes about Angel’s schedule for the week. Then Angel and I left to go to church.
We arrived at church a few minutes early. I chatted with people until the service started. When it was time to sing my song, I did good and remembered all the lyrics which was my main goal. Here is a video of it:
The message I got from sermon was that I can’t hear God when I fill my life with noise. Be still and know that I am God. After church, I dropped Angel off at Christopher’s and drove to Rita and Val’s. Sarah was up and about. She said she had gotten up right after I left and had been enjoying the dogs and cats all morning. We talked while I made a big salad for us to eat. It had green leaf lettuce, tomato, mushrooms, broccoli, cauliflower, red onion, celery and bell peppers. I made a dressing of tahini and fresh lime juice to go on it. That’s pretty much the only dressing I ever make but my mom gave me a salad dressing recipe the other day that I will try out sometime soon.
After we ate, Sarah and I sat in the couch and talked for a couple of hours. Then she left and I went to Christopher’s to get Angel. While I was there, I took apart the trundle bed because there will be a lady coming to buy it tomorrow evening. Yay! Then I straightened up the banana hut. There’s not much left in it anymore and I pray that it sells.
Angel and I went to Rita and Val’s. Angel wanted waffles first thing when we got there. I made up some batter and she ate 2 waffles. Then we sat on the couch and watched part of Mulan. She didn’t like it and went upstairs and got on her phone. I switched to another movie called The Perks of Being a Wallflower. It was ok and I’d watched half of it when Angel came downstairs and wanted to go to the pond.
We walked down to the pond and played fetch with Bits on the way. Angel swam while I watched. I didn’t want to get in, I was feeling tired. She swam for 45 minutes and we walked up to the house. Angel are 3 waffles and took a warm bath while I finished watching the movie. Then my friend Margie called and we had a great talk. When I got off the phone Angel and I went to bed. Angel slept on the couch and I slept in the hammock. We fell asleep at around 9 pm.
Thank you for reading my blog and being a part of my life. I appreciate you.
Love, Victoria
P.S. this blog post is inspired by the Holy Spirit.