Saturday November 9, 2024
Dear Diary,
Good morning God,
- Thank you for this day.
- Thank you for mountains.
- Thank you for beautiful views.
- Thank you for friends.
- Thank you for cleaning and pet sitting opportunities.
- Thank you for providing everything we need.
I love you!
I woke up at 12:30 pm and since my blog was already written, I played wordle and connections and went back to sleep. I woke up again at 7:30 am. I laid in bed dozing off for 20 minutes before getting up. My sister was up and about when I went downstairs and I told her good morning. I made tea and a smoothie and started laundry. Angel was asleep on the couch since she had stayed up late playing video games with my sister. She woke up with all the noise going on and ate some oatmeal for breakfast.
I drove to my younger sisters to feed her cat and chickens. I spent time petting the cat and found the chickens in the empty irrigation ditch out by the corrals. I checked on my motorhome parked there and started it up. It fired right up which I was really happy about and I let it run for a few minutes while I looked for my cast iron skillets. I couldn’t find them and I’m thinking I might have left them in Texas. Oh well.
There was a craft fair going on in Cambridge near where my younger sister lives. I stopped in and bought a few small Christmas presents and talked to people. I handed out a few of my business cards and received a good response. Going home, I drove the backroads. I like driving slower so I can enjoy the scenery more.
At home, I hung up laundry in my room and left again to do a cleaning and cat sitting opportunity in McCall. Angel and Bits stayed home with my sister. Angel was excited about that because she knew she would get to play video games. Bits wasn’t excited about it and gave me “the look”. I told him, he would have fun playing with my sisters dog Huckleberry and that I would be back.
I basked in the beautiful mountain scenery on the drive. It was a good sized house at 2,800 square feet and I knew it would take me most of the day to get it clean. When I arrived, I was greeted by their cat Nemo. They have another cat named Simba who immediately ran off and hid. Nemo on the other hand was very social and followed me around while I cleaned. He wanted to be let out and back in several times which I was told would probably be the case and he was allowed to go out.
I did a thorough job of cleaning. I had been asked to strip the 4 beds, wash the sheets and put them back on, which I did. Then I went above and beyond by washing and folding all the used towels and washcloths that were in the bathrooms. I didn’t turn on an audiobook or music while I cleaned. Instead I cleaned in silence and I really enjoyed it. I like listening to my thoughts. They are usually pleasant thoughts full of gratitude and joy. Years of practicing daily gratitude and learning to be in acceptance of what is has paid off. Sometimes I get side tracked when I watch yucky movies or get caught up in other peoples fears and my thoughts turn into feared based “what if’s”. It doesn’t take me long though to step back into faith and to feel peaceful once again. I simply allow the fear to be felt fully while knowing it is an illusion and I pray for guidance and clarity. Then I receive the guidance and clarity i asked for and the illusion is revealed to me, “ask and it is given”. Then I clearly see that all is well in my present moment and what is happening now in this moment is all that is real.
The house I was cleaning, was a beautiful house in the pine forest with a beautiful view of the mountains. I noticed the picture windows that showed the beautiful view needed cleaned and I cleaned them on the inside. I could reach the top of them by standing in a chair. The outside of the windows needed cleaned as well but that would have to be a whole different project. I would need a ladder and my squeegee. If I would have had my squeegee, I probably would have found a ladder and cleaned them just because I was on a roll and having fun. I will offer to come back and clean the outside windows for them another time.
As I was cleaning, I noticed that cleaning houses in Idaho is much different than cleaning houses in Texas. In Idaho, there are a lot less bugs and spiderwebs to clean up. Secondly, there isn’t any mold to get rid of because Idaho is a dry climate. The bathrooms are much easier to clean when you don’t have to scrub away mold. Thirdly, Idaho houses tend to have a lot more carpet in them because it’s warmer to walk on in the winter. Hard floors are more sanitary in my opinion but they take longer to clean because they get cleaned twice, swept and then mopped. Carpets get thoroughly vacuumed once.
The house took me 6 hours to clean. I cleaned straight through without taking a break and it looked fantastic when I was finished. My clients were out of town and I knew they would be very pleased to come home to their sparkling clean house. I made sure the cats were inside before I left and that they had plenty of food and water. I cleaned out the litter box and double checked everything. After 6 hours of cleaning, my body was stiff and sore. It felt good to sit down in my truck for the drive home. It was dark out when I left and my night vision isn’t the best so I wasn’t sure how things would go driving home through the canyons but I was able to see just fine and arrived home without any issues.
Bits and Huckleberry greeted me at the door. Angel and my sister were playing video games on the TV. I greeted them and started my cleaning rags washing. Then I sat on the couch eating pumpkin soup my sister had made and called my boys to see how they were doing. Then I made myself some tea, put away my clean laundry from off of the line and hung up my cleaning rags. Angel and I got ready for bed and I read her stories. Then I put on a sleep meditation for her to listen to and I read some of my Louis L’Amour book. I write down some blog notes and fell asleep at around 9:30 pm.
Sunday November 10, 2024
Dear Diary,
Good morning God,
- Thank you for this day.
- Thank you for cleaning opportunities.
- Thank you for peace of mind.
- Thank you for church.
- Thank you for love.
- Thank you for family.
I love you!
I woke up from 12:30 to 2:30. During that time, I wrote my blog and played wordle and connections. When I woke up again it was 7:30 am. I heard my sister moving around downstairs and I went down to say good morning to her. We talked for a few minutes while I made tea. She said she was going to make homemade sourdough bread today and started looking up recipes on her phone. Angel woke up and came downstairs. “Good morning my Angel, what would you like for breakfast”, I asked. “Waffles”, was her reply. I got out the wheat berries and ground them up in the vitamix to make them into flour. Fresh ground flour tastes so much better than store bought flour that’s been sitting on the shelf for who knows how long. I made Angel her waffles and looked at the time. I had planned to go to my younger sisters before church to feed her cat and check on her chickens but time had flown by and I didn’t have time to get there and back before church. I would have to go right after church.
Angel and I got ready and walked to church. It is not far, only 4 blocks away. The service was fantastic. It was about different types of worship mentioned in the Bible.
- YADAH: to worship with lifted hands.
- TEHILLAH: to worship with song.
- BARAK: to worship by kneeling down.
- HALAL: to worship by proclaiming the goodness of God.
- TOWDAH: to worship by giving thanks. (my personal favorite)
- ZAMAR: to worship by using instruments.
- SHABACH: to worship by shouting and giving praise.
I really enjoyed the service and the people. Angel said that she’d had a great time in children’s church.
As soon as we got home from church. Angel stayed home with my sister and I went to my younger sisters to feed her cat and chickens. I spent time petting Halloween the cat and gave her some treats. The chickens were hanging out in the backyard and looked good. When I got home, I immediately left again to go on a walk. Even though it was raining a little, I was craving a walk. I invited Angel to come with me but she wanted to stay home and play with her toys. So it was just Little Bit and myself. It was a wonderful walk on the Weiser river trail. I took pictures of all the beautiful things I saw along the trail and I felt blissful. The Holy Spirit came over me and I received an idea about painting rocks and putting special messages on them. I’m sure they would sell for the holidays. I will call them “Rocks of Joy”. One of my dear coaching clients sent painted rocks one year to Angel and myself with a special message on them. I still cherish those rocks.
When I arrived home, I sat on my sisters bed with her and told her about the rock painting idea while I ate some pumpkin soup. Then a friend called and I went upstairs to talk to them. When I got off the phone. Angel and I got ready for bed. I read her stories and put on a sleep meditation for her to listen to. I read some of my Louis L’Amour book and fell asleep at 9:30 pm.
Monday November 11, 2024
Dear Diary,
Good morning God,
- Thank you for this day.
- Thank you for mornings.
- Thank you for my blog.
- Thank you for creative ideas.
- Thank you for joy.
I love you!
I woke up from 3:30 am to 6:30 am. During that time, I wrote my blog and played wordle and connections. I fell asleep until 8:30 am. Angel was still asleep when I got up. I went downstairs and made tea, then I left right away to go feed my younger sisters cat and chickens. I spent time petting her cat Halloween and checked on her chickens. Then I drove over to the Weiser river and collected a bunch of river rocks.
When I arrived home, Angel still hadn’t came downstairs. I didn’t hear her moving around and was surprised she was sleeping so long. My sister was awake in her room and I sat on her bed chatting with her for a while. I began to wonder what was going on with Angel since it was after 11 am and she doesn’t sleep that late, ever. I went upstairs to check on her and she was sitting in her bed watching YouTube kids on her phone. I told her to turn it off and come downstairs to eat breakfast and then we were going to do school.
Angel grumbled her way downstairs and ate some waffles for breakfast. Then we went upstairs and did her schoolwork together. We did math, then I helped her write a letter to Finn, my grandson in Texas. Lastly, she read a very challenging book, 101 Dalmatians. When school was finished, we walked to Dollar General to get paint supplies for painting rocks. They didn’t have everything we needed so I ordered the rest on Amazon. Next, Angel and I walked to the post office and she put her letter in the mail slot. Then we went to the grocery store. The raspberries were on sale for 2 packs for $5 and I bought 4 packs. Angel loves raspberries. They also had ripe bananas marked half off and I bought a bunch of those.
When we got home, Angel played upstairs while I sat and watched TV with my sister in her room. We watched a series called Bad Sisters, I had told my sister I wanted to watch something nice and then somehow I got caught up watching this. We watched a couple of episodes, then even though I was feeling run down and tired. I got up and walked to women’s Bible study. I was glad I went. We had a great time of sharing and I received some more clarity on why I’d had the experience earlier in the year of witnessing an accident and having no choice but to stand helplessly by while a man was burned alive in his semi truck after it wrecked. I realized that God is going to use that experience so that I can help others in some way. I’m not sure how or when but I know it will happen and maybe it already has happened.
When I got home from Bible study, I watched the Bad Sisters show some more with my sister. It was addictive! It was 10:30 pm but the time we stopped watching it. Angel was sitting in the front room watching a movie and I told her it was time for bed. She turned off the TV and we went upstairs. I read her a Magic Treehouse book and turned on a sleep meditation for her to listen to. Then I got into bed and fell asleep at 11:30 pm.
Thank you for reading my blog and being a part of my life. I appreciate you.
Love, Victoria
P.S. this blog post was inspired by the Holy Spirit.