Tuesday November 5, 2024
Dear Diary,
Good morning God
- Thank you for this day.
- Thank you for snow.
- Thank you for mountains.
- Thank you for love.
- Thank you for fellowship.
I love you!
I woke up from 3:30 am to 4:30 am. Later in the morning I wrote up again at 6:45 am. My sister was getting ready to leave and I talked to her a few minutes before she left. I am taking care of her dog Huckleberry today since she has a long work day and won’t get to come home for lunch. I made tea and went upstairs. I laid in bed and texted with friends until Angel woke up. I didn’t like being on Facebook dating anymore. Way too many different people were messaging me on there and it was taking up a lot of my energy, so I deleted my profile. That felt better. I only lasted a day on there before I was over it 😂.
When Angel woke up, she wanted bean tacos for breakfast. I made them for her and started laundry while she ate. Then I drove to my younger sisters to feed her cat and chickens. I spent extra time petting the cat and looked for the chickens to make sure they were all alive. I found one chicken in the coop and I found the rest in the empty irrigation ditch next to the house.
Back at home, Angel worked on her math workbook for school while I hung up laundry on the clothesline I put in my room. Angel seemed to be more productive with her schoolwork without me hovering over the top of her. Good to know! After Angel finished her math, she drew a picture for art and colored it. Then she read a book and practiced writing.
When school was finished, we did our daily walk to the thrift store with Bits. I was still looking for another winter coat for Angel and I found one. Angel approved of it, so I bought it. We took it home and I realized there was a small tear near the pocket. “Do you want to sew it later?”, I asked Angel. She likes to sew and replied with a definite, “YES”. I started another load of laundry and we walked to the library. Well, Bits and I walked and Angel rode her bicycle.
At the library, Angel picked out a few stories for me to read to her. Then she played with the toys while I sat in the adult section and wrote my blog. After a while I went back to the kids section and reminded Angel that she had wanted to ask the librarian if they had any books about how to draw animals. The librarian had overheard our conversation and said that they did have some. She showed us where the books were located and Angel picked out the ones she liked.
A lady came into the library with her 3 kids. A boy who was older, a girl that was Angels age and a baby girl. Angel started talking to the girl and asked her if she was homeschooled. The girl said that she was. I told the girls mom that we homeschooled too and she told me that there was a homeschool meet up tomorrow at the pond to do a scavenger hunt. I told her I was in the Facebook group and planned on being there. She said that they were going to try to make it and we chatted for a few minutes. Angel and her new friend started working on a partially done puzzle that was set up on one of the tables in the kids section. I sat with them and helped with the puzzle. We almost had it done by the time we had to leave to take Bits to the vet for his appointment.
Angel said goodbye to her friend and we walked/rode to the vets office. The vet looked at the spot on Bits that I thought could possibly be ringworm and had been treating them as such. The black light he used showed that it was ringworm but only a trace of it was left. The vet told me to keep doing what I was doing because it was working and I had the ringworm on the run. The vet checked Bits over and he got a clean bill of health. The vet gave Bits his shots and he was so casual and quick about it that Bits didn’t even notice. I liked the vet a lot and the best part is, his office is 2 blocks away from where I live.
As soon as we got home, Angel and I gave Bits and my sisters dog Huckleberry a bath and washed them with anti-fungal shampoo. I started the towels in the wash and dusted the house. Angel played upstairs with her legos. I sat on the couch and got on Facebook to see if I had any comments to reply to. I got a notification to try out Facebook dating. I decided to get on there to see how it would go. It took up the rest of my afternoon and I didn’t get anything accomplished that I had wanted to do.
Angel came downstairs to eat 2 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for dinner. Then she went back upstairs to play some more. My sister came home a little after 8 pm. We watched the election results and talked. Angel came downstairs to see what we were doing. I reminded her that her new coat needed sewed. She went back upstairs to do that. I followed her up shortly after and she had done a great job sewing up the hole in her coat. We got ready for bed and I read her stories and put on a sleep meditation got her to listen to. I went to bed and fell asleep at around at 11 pm.
Wednesday November 6, 2024
Dear Diary,
Good morning God,
- Thank you for this day.
- Thank you for beautiful morning drives.
- Thank you for acceptance.
- Thank you faith.
- Thank you for guidance.
I love you!
I woke up at 5 am and wrote my blog. My sister was awake and moving around downstairs so I went down and talked to her while I made tea. Then I went upstairs and wrote my blog until Angel woke up. I could hear her playing in the other room and I asked her what she wanted for breakfast. She said, “peanut butter and jelly sandwich”. I told her to come downstairs with me and I would teach her how to make them herself. Angel scoffed at that but followed me downstairs. She got the bread while I got the jelly and peanut butter. As I was showing her how to spread the jelly, she decided that this was a fun thing to learn to do after all and took over. Yay!
After she ate breakfast, she stayed with my older sister and started working on her math book while I drove to my younger sisters to feed her cat and chickens. I petting her cat Halloween for a while and fed her. The chickens had plenty of food and water but I couldn’t find them anywhere. They have an automatic door on their chicken coop that opens in the morning and closes at night. So they are already out when I get there in the mornings but I like to find them and count them to make sure they are all there. I walked all around calling for them but they were nowhere to be found. There was no sign of a struggle so I didn’t think anything got to them. They were probably in the neighbors pasture but I didn’t like not being able to find them. On the drive home, I basked in the views of the mountains while tears flowed down my face. I was feeling sad and hopeless. I allowed the feelings to be and didn’t resist them in any way, I fully felt them without feeding them thoughts or reacting to them in anyway. The feelings had completed their cycle by the time I got home and I was back to being centered and peaceful.
Angel was upstairs doing her schoolwork and my sister was in her room. I talked to my sister for a few minutes before going upstairs. Angel and I played a game that taught different facts about animals and it was a lot of fun. When we finished with school, Angel ate a couple of bean tacos and we walked to the thrift store. Angel wanted to find some thick craft paper and I wanted to find a bigger harness for Bits. His harness was getting tight. He had gained some weight from not being on a farm and running around all day with the big dogs. We found thick craft paper and a harness but I figured it later that the harness was too big. There was a hover board at the thrift store. Angel had been wanting a hover board. It didn’t have a charger but since it was only $1, I bought it. If I couldn’t find a charger or if it didn’t work, I would just re-donate it.
We dropped our thrift store purchases off at home and left again right away to go to our first homeschool co-op meet up. We were meeting at the community pond to do a scavenger hunt. Angel and I were excited. Angel rode her bicycle there while I walked with Bits. There was one lady there with her 4 year old daughter. She had printed out nature scavenger hunt sheets for the kids. We walked around the pond and the girls found things on their lists while the other mom and I talked. The lady I had met at the library yesterday showed up with her 10 year old daughter and baby. Her daughter joined the girls in the scavenger hunt. It was a nice time watching the girls and chatting with the other moms. After awhile, the kids wanted to go to the park. We all walked over there and the girls had fun playing while the adults sat and talked some more. One of the moms told me about a jujitsu class that her daughter goes to at the recreation center. I thought that might be something Angel would be interested in doing.
When the co-op was over, we went home. I started laundry and called to get a quote on car insurance. Then I had a life coaching phone call with a client. The session went really good. When I got off the phone, Angel and I went to the grocery store. I had Angel pay for our purchases and figure out how much change she would get back. When we got home, Angel had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for dinner. Then we left again right away to go watch a jujitsu class to see if that would be something Angel was interested in. Angel rode her bicycle there and I walked. I love having everything so close that I can walk to it.
The lady that had told me about the class was there with her kids. At first Angel didn’t want to be there and didn’t want to watch. I told her we could leave and she decided she wanted to stay after all. The adult class was first and all the kids that were there played together in the hallway. Then the kids class started. Angel sat with me and watched. She said she liked it and wanted to start doing it. I thought that was great. It would be a good way for her to meet other kids and learn disciplined skills.
When we got home, Angel played a video game on TV with my sister for a half hour. Then we got ready for bed. I read Angel a story and put on a sleep meditation for her to listen to. I read some of my Louis Lamour book and went to sleep at around 9 pm.
Thursday November 7, 2024
Dear Diary,
Good morning God,
- Thank you for this day.
- Thank you for friends.
- Thank you new beginnings.
- Thank you for breath
I love you!
Dear Diary,
I woke up from 1 am to 4 am. During that time I wrote my blog. It took me a really long time to write it. I was feeling really discouraged and the words weren’t flowing through me like they usually do. Finally I got one day written and went back to sleep. At 7 am, I woke up again. I heard my sister getting ready for work downstairs. I talked to her for a few minutes while I made my tea. She left for work and when I went upstairs, Angel was just waking up. She wanted 2 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for breakfast. “Come downstairs and we can make them together”, I told her. She followed me downstairs and got the bread while I got the peanut butter and jelly. She wanted me to show her again how to spread the peanut butter onto the bread and I did. “You make it look so easy”, she said. I remembered how difficult it had been for her to spread the peanut butter evenly yesterday. “It takes practice”, I told her, “whatever you practice, you get better at”. While Angel ate her sandwiches, I made a smoothie with 9 bananas, cherry juice, spirulina, turmeric and water.
We got dressed and I drove to my younger sisters house to feed her cat and check on her chickens. I hadn’t been able to find the chickens yesterday but when I called for them today they came over from the neighbors pasture and they were all there. That was a relief. I fed Halloween the cat and spent time giving her lots of love. My motorhome is parked at my younger sisters house and I hadn’t been in it to check on things for a while. When I went inside, everything looked good in there. I grabbed a few things to take to home to my older sisters.
When I got home, I did school with Angel. We played a game, while I started making a loaf of sourdough bread. Angel would read to me clues about an animal off of flash cards and I would have to guess what animal it was. It was a great way to get her to read challenging words and we both had a lot fun doing it. Sometimes I would guess wrong and Angel would laugh and laugh as she told me the correct answer. Halfway through our game, Angel said that she was hungry again and wanted bean tacos. She must be going through a growth spurt because she had just eaten breakfast 2 hours ago and it wasn’t even close to lunch time. I made her the tacos and after she ate them we continued our game until I received a call about pet sitting. It was on Wednesday through Friday over Thanksgiving. Yay! I was thrilled to be getting another opportunity to create income. I set up a time to meet them and their 2 dogs tomorrow afternoon.
Just as I got off the phone, my friend Brett came over. We had plans to hike into a hot springs but first we went to the thrift store. Brett was looking for hiking shoes and I was looking for another harness for Bits. Brett didn’t find shoes but I found a harness and Angel found some wooden decorations that she can paint to give people for Christmas. When we got back to the house, I stretched and folded the sourdough bread I had started and set it in a warm oven to rise for a few hours. Then I packed up everything we needed for the hike to the hot springs and we hearted (headed) out.
It was a half hour drive to the trailhead that led to the hot springs and we rode in Brett’s car. We grabbed our supplies and started up the mountain. The trail was muddy and slippery. I hadn’t thought about that being a possibility. Angel was in the front, then me, followed my Brett. It was slow going with the mud and most of the hike was uphill. I would walk through the grass on the edge of the trail if the mud was really deep. The edge of the trail had its issues as well because it wasn’t a flat surface and I had to walk at an angle, plus it was still muddy just not as slippery. Despite all of that, we were having fun, laughing and enjoying the views. I grew so hot in my jacket from hiking that I had to stop and take it off even though it was only 44 degrees out. I tied it around my waist and pulled up the sleeves off my long sleeved shirt and that felt better. About halfway there we stopped to take a break and I took a video:
It took us an hour and a half to hike the 2 miles to the hot springs. When we arrived, we changed into our bathing suits. Brett and Angel got in one of the pools right away while I took a video:
I walked over to where Brett and Angel were but the water wasn’t quite warm enough for me so I walked a little farther downstream and found the perfect pool with the perfect temperature. Here’s a couple of videos:
I soaked in the water for a while and I stacked up rocks to make it deeper. That made the pool even better. I floated on my back and fully relaxed my body. Hot springs are so amazing. The hot mineral water that comes from deep within the earth is incredibly healing. I feel so peaceful and full of gratitude after spending time in a natural hot springs. I moved underneath a waterfall and let it give me a back massage. Angel joined me and we sat under the waterfall together. Suddenly the sun went over the side of the mountain. I hadn’t been expecting that to happen already since it was only 3:30 pm. We had been at the hot springs for an hour and a half and I wasn’t ready to leave. I looked over to where Brett was and he was getting out. I walked over to him and told him that I wasn’t ready to go. He said we didn’t have to leave but if we waited longer it would be a cold walk back without the sunlight on us. I knew he was right and I got Angel. We got dressed in our warm clothes and started hiking back.
It was much faster going back because it was downhill. We soon passed by the edge of the mountain and had sunlight on us the rest of the way down. We splashed through the mud and were covered in it from our ankles down. It only took us 40 minutes to reach the car going downhill. Less than half of the time it took us going uphill.
When we got to the house, Brett went home and Angel was hungry again. She wanted raspberries and 2 bean tacos. I made Angel the bean tacos and walked to the store to get raspberries. When I got back, Angel had finished her tacos and ate a pack of raspberries. She had eaten a lot today. She had eaten 2 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at the hot springs so that totaled: 4 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and 4 bean tacos plus a pack of raspberries. That is a lot of food, especially because the bean tacos are not really tacos… they are big burritos but Angel calls them tacos.
I got my bread out of the oven and it had risen nicely. I punched it down and stretched it. Then I put it in a plastic bag to sit in the refrigerator overnight. Angel sat at the table and made some phone calls. She called her sister, then Christopher and then her grandma (my mom). It was cute watching her sit at the table with her legs crossed talking on the phone, looking all grown up.
When Angel got off the phone, she sat on the couch and played video games with my sister. I sat and watched them while I wrote down blog notes. When they were done with their video game, Angel and I got ready for bed. I read her stories and put on a sleep meditation. I got into bed and read a few chapters of a Louis Lamour book 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.