Fridays November 1, 2024
Dear Diary,
Good morning God,
- Thank you for cold weather.
- Thank you for rain.
- Thank you for family.
- Thank you for faith.
- Thank you for love.
- Thank you for this day.
I love you!
I woke up from 12 am to 2 am. I fell back asleep and woke up again at 6 am to the sound of my phone. One of my friends that I say good morning to daily sent me a good morning message. I replied to her message and went downstairs. My sister was awake and getting ready for work. I said good morning to her and we talked for a few minutes, then I gave Little Bit a bath. When I went back upstairs, Angel was awake and playing with her toys. She wanted a bean taco for breakfast. I told her it would be an hour since I had to cook the beans. I started beans cooking in the instapot. It’s amazing to me to be able to cook beans in the instapot in one hour. I’m used to them taking all day.
While waiting for the beans to cook, I made myself tea and a banana/cherry juice/fresh tangerine juice/turmeric and spirulina smoothie. I started a load of laundry and put my studded snow tires in the back of the truck. Then I sat in the living room and wrote my blog until the beans were ready. I made Angel her taco and called her downstairs to eat. While she was eating, I hung laundry on the clothes line in my room.
When Angel finished eating, we left to go to Weiser to get my current tires taken of their rims and my studded snow tires put on. It’s an hour drive to Weiser and we listened to a Bobbsey Twins audiobook on the drive. I dropped off the truck and the tire shop said it would be ready in a half hour to forty five minutes. My second cousin that lives in Weiser came and picked us up. We went to lunch at a pizza place with a really nice salad bar. Angel was acting out at the pizza place and was really hyper, I think she got into some of her Halloween candy earlier in the day. We stayed at the pizza place for an hour, then I called to check on my tires. I was told it would be a half hour to 45 minutes more. My cousin took us to her house to wait. Angel seemed to calm down some after we got there. My cousin showed me her sewing room that she would like to have me help her organize after Christmas. I would love to help her get it organized. We sat in the front room and talked for an hour. I called the tire shop again to check on my tires and they said it would be a half hour to 45 minutes more 😂. I think that is their standard answer. My cousin was meeting with some of her friends and said that she could let them know she would be late. I told her to go ahead and take us to the tire shop and we would finish waiting there, that way she could meet her friends on time. She dropped us off and I thanked her for spending the afternoon with us. It is so nice having family close by.
We waited another hour at the tire shop. Angel played on her phone and I people watched. Finally the tires were swapped! It only took 3 hours. I was really happy to have my studded snow tires on, especially since I would be driving to McCall at least a couple days a month and there is already snow there. McCall is 50 minutes away from Council and is 2,000 feet higher in elevation. McCall sits at 5,000 feet and gets a lot of snow in the winter.
We stopped at the grocery store and I stocked up on produce. Then we stopped at a fruit stand but there wasn’t much there this time of year. We listened to the Bobbsey Twins on our way back to Council and it was a beautiful drive. I’m really enjoying the beautiful fall colors with snow on the tops of the mountains. The beauty here in Idaho is majestic. Texas is beautiful in a different way. I longed for the awe inspiring mountain views while living there. I also longed for miles and miles of wilderness and wild rivers and hot springs. Only 3% of Texas is public land and that is in the form of state parks. The rest of Texas is privately owned. 63% of Idaho is public land and very little of that is state parks. It’s pure wilderness where you can hike and walk wherever you want. You can camp wherever you want for free for 14 days at a time. There is a certain amount of trust that people will respect the land and most people do. If the forest service catches you doing otherwise, there are harsh penalties. Littering in a National Forest has a maximum fine up to $5,000 and 6 months in prison. Idaho overall is way cleaner than Texas. In Texas there is garbage all along the highways and county roads. There is some garbage along the roads in Idaho but very little compared to Texas. One of the first things I noticed when I moved to Texas was all the garbage everywhere. Taking care of the land is so ingrained in me that I can’t comprehend doing otherwise. I will pick up garbage if I see it and I have spent many hours of my life picking up garbage.
When we got into town, we stopped at the post office and I put in my change of address. At home, I unloaded the groceries and put them away. My sister came home from work and we talked briefly. Then, Angel rode her bicycle and I walked to the recycling center. I had Angel read all of the signs that told people what to put in each bin. I am having her practice reading every chance we get. Outside of the recycling center we saw a bunch of quail walking around. They are so cute and I took a video of them.
When we arrived back home, the guy that was putting rocks in the front and back parking areas had completed the project. My sister and I put our trailers back and unloaded the tires and rims out of the back of my truck. When we went inside the house, Angel wanted cantaloupe and I cut up half of one for her. She ate it and played video games with my sister. I finished my smoothie and sat in the couch writing down blog notes. Then I took a bath and Angel got in after me. I put clean clothes away and read Angel stories. I put on a sleep meditation for Angel to listen to and went to sleep at 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 was inspired by the Holy Spirit.
Saturday November 2, 2024,
Dear Diary,
Good morning God,
- Thank you for this day.
- Thank you for rain.
- Thank you for snow tires.
- Thank you for laughter.
- Thank you for family.
- Thank you for walks.
I love you!
I woke up from 3 am to 5 am. I wrote my blog and posted it. I awoke again at 8 am. I heard Angel downstairs playing video games with my sister. I decided to let playing video games first thing in the morning slide by since it was a Saturday. My sister is determined to get Angel hooked on video games, sheesh. I hugged my sister and Angel good morning. My sister had made Angel oatmeal for breakfast. For myself, I made tea and a smoothie. Then I drove 20 minutes to my younger sisters house to feed her cat and check on her chickens while she is out of town. She will be home next Saturday. I spent quite a while petting the cat named Halloween. I fed her, gave her treats and turned on her heat pad that automatically turns off. Before I left, I checked the chickens food and water and it looked good.
On my way home, I stopped at a craft fair in Indian Valley that was being held at the community center. I hadn’t been to Indian Valley before and was glad to explore a new place. A couple of months ago there was a wildfire that got really close to the Indian Valley community and everyone had to be evacuated. On the hill I could see where the fire had been. Idaho had a huge amount of wildfires this year, over 620,000 acres burned.
There were a lot of cars in the parking lot at the community center. I found a parking spot and went inside. The place was packed full of people and I didn’t know any of them. I felt a deep longing for all the wonderful people I know back in Texas. Any event in Rockdale that I went to, I knew most of the people there. I longed to hear the Texas southern drawl and be with my friends. I felt alone and sad. I reminded myself that it took me years to build up the relationships I had with people in Rockdale. When I first moved there, I didn’t know anyone.
I walked through the crowd and looked at the craft booths. Then I sat at the back of the room and people watched. Suddenly I saw someone I knew. It was the lady that I was going to house sit for through the winter that I had changed my mind about doing. I walked over and said hello to her. She introduced me to a couple of her friends that were with her and we chatted for a couple of minutes. Then she went off to do more shopping. I was left on my own again and the sadness I was feeling came back even stronger. I realized I was grieving my life in Texas. “ Well, in that case, let’s make the most of it”, I thought to myself. I walked around some more looking at things and enjoyed the feeling of sadness. I bought some small items that I thought would make good Christmas gifts and introduced myself to a few people.
When I left, the feeling of sadness was still with me and I allowed it to be there. I was supposed to meet a lady in Donnelly about cleaning her vacation rental in between guests but she canceled. It was all for the best. It was an hour and ten minute drive away and that was more of a commute than I wanted to do, plus the pay was low. I began feeling frustrated about not getting any good income opportunities close by but reminded myself that I am living on faith and everything will be just fine.
I arrived home and got Angel. She had spent the morning with my sister. We were going swimming at Zims Hot Springs which is about 40 minutes away. It’s a developed pool owned by the Nez Perce tribe. The canyon that we drove through to get there had snow and Angel was really excited about the snow. I told her that she will be seeing plenty of that this winter. I pulled over so she could get out and touch the snow but she didn’t want to get out. My friend Brett met us at Zim’s. It was busy there since it was a Saturday. We swam for a couple of hours. I floated on my back and stretched. The water felt great. Zim’s has 2 pools, a big one that is 98 degrees Fahrenheit and a smaller shallow sitting pool in that is 105 degrees Fahrenheit. I like to go back and forth between the two. When I start to feel cold in the big pool, I sit in the small hot pool until I’m so hot I can hardly stand it. Then I get back in the big pool.
When we got back home, I was feeling tired and I was still feeling really sad. I wanted to crawl in bed and feel sorry for myself. Instead I forced myself to go on a walk with Little Bit while Angel stayed and played more video games with my sister. I walked the Weiser River Trail which is an 88 mile old railroad track that has been converted to a walking and bicycling only path. No motor vehicles are allowed, not even electric bicycles. We walked and walked and walked for 2 hours. It felt good to walk. The views were amazing and I found some wild apple trees that I harvested. Here’s a video that I took:
We got home just as it was getting dark. I took a bath and Angel got in after me. We brushed our teeth and I made myself chamomile tea, which I have every night at bedtime. I read Angel stories and we went to bed. I turned on a sleep meditation for Angel to listen to and fell asleep at around 9:30 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.