Saturday December 7, 2024
Dear Diary,
Good morning God,
- Thank you for this day.
- Thank you for community.
- Thank you for sleep.
- Thank you for my body.
- Thank you for winter.
- Thank you for a wonderful support system.
I love you!
I woke up at 5:30 AM and went downstairs to start making lentil soup to be served at the craft fair. The craft fair is today and the church I attend is where the craft fair is being held. I volunteered to make one of the soups for the church to sale during the fair. I cut up vegetables and started the soup cooking in the crockpot. Then I went back upstairs and sat in bed. I edited and posted my blog. I had written all of my blog last night before I went to sleep which was nice.
I was feeling tired, my body was still in full detox. I laid down and attempted to fall asleep but my mind was racing thinking about all I needed to do to finish getting ready for the craft fair. Finally at around 7 am, I drifted off to sleep for a half hour. When I woke up again, I felt much better. I jumped out of bed and woke Angel up. The craft fair starts at 9am and we had to be there on time. I told her to pack up her stuff she needed to sell. I went downstairs and started laundry washing. Then I made Angel the grilled cheese sandwiches she wanted for breakfast. I made my tea and wrote out price signs to put on my booth. I finished painted the rest of my rocks and packed them in the truck. The last thing I put in the truck was the lentil soup so it would stay hot. It would have to finish cooking at the church. I hung up laundry in my room and headed out the door.
Angel rode her bicycle to the fair and I followed her in the truck. We arrived 5 minutes before 9 AM. I brought the soup in first and told the kitchen volunteers that it needed to be plugged in to keep cooking. Hopefully it would be ready by lunch time and hopefully it tasted good. I set up the rest of the craft items and moved my truck to a side parking lot so that people visiting the fair could park out front. Then I got settled in my booth. Little Bit was with me to model the dog coats. The lady running the craft fair saw him and told me that people weren’t usually allowed to bring their dogs. I had noticed that the person selling mead had her dog with her but before I could even mention that, the lady said that the only reason the mead person was allowed her dog was because it was a service dog. I politely responded saying that Little Bit was the model for my dog coats and that he wouldn’t cause any problems. She relented and said that we could try it out but if there was any issues, he would have to leave. I thanked her and finished getting settled in.
There was a steady flow of people at the craft fair all day long. Angel was quite the salesperson. She would ask people if they wanted to buy any of the crafts she had made, while looking at them with her big brown eyes. She sold more than I did. She also went around the fair visiting other vendors and traded painted rocks for their stuff. Most of the rocks she traded were the ones I had painted and had for sale 😂. The craft fair was really big and took up the entire building. A few times, I left Angel in charge of my booth while I walked around visiting with people and looking at all the booths.
I sold a few dog coats and a few rocks. Mostly though, I promoted my pet sitting, organizing and cleaning businesses and met a lot of people. Little Bit slept on my coat in the corner next the me most of the day and there were no issues with him. Halfway through the day, I started to feel hungry and realized that with all the hustle and bustle that morning, I had forgotten to make myself a smoothie. I went in the kitchen and looked at the soups being served. The only soup that didn’t have meat in it was the one I had made. That was all for the best because I knew exactly what was in it. It wasn’t raw of course but it was my most favorable option. Angel and I shared 2 bowls of my lentil soup and it had turned out good. After we ate, Angel left and rode her bicycle home to spend the rest of the day with her aunt.
The last half of the fair went by quickly. I enjoyed talking to the people in the booths around me and put bids on all the items in the silent auction that didn’t have any bids on them. When the fair was over I won $55 dollars worth of items which I happily paid since all the money was going to support the girls club and the Royal rangers.
At 4 PM, the craft fair ended. I packed everything in the truck and drove home. Doing the craft fair had been a really great experience. I got to meet and see so many wonderful people but I was glad it was over. Now I could go on walks in my free time rather than make crafts. I prefer being outside rather than inside, even when it’s cold out. I like to watch the big screen TV which is what I call the outside world. The craft fair had definitely given me a feeling of being a part of the local community and that felt amazing to me. I love people and I love having a connection with them. In Rockdale Texas I knew most of the people at any event I went to and I enjoyed walking around asking how they were doing and keeping up on what was going on in their lives. I passionately love love love people.
At home, I unloaded the truck and put everything away. Angel was playing video games and my sister was making Christmas candy. I went upstairs and sorted the silent auction items I had won, figuring out who to gift each item to. When it was almost 6 PM, I got Angel off of the video games and we walked downtown to see the annual Christmas tree lighting. The city had fires going in fire pits to keep people warm and Santa Claus was there. Angel sat on Santa’s lap and told him what she wanted for Christmas. She wants a certain toy horse and a real puppy that’s a terrier with a nutty brown color and a white tip on its tail (like her dog Remy that had died a couple of years ago). Santa looked at me and winked. I smiled at him. I would like to get Angel a puppy. She has been wanting a dog since we moved here and I think it’s good for a kid to have a dog. But my sister says no, so until we get our own place or get moved into our RV, Angel is going to have to wait. A toy horse will have to do, even though Angel already has a lot of toy horses.
We watched the tree light up and I took a video. I talked to a few people I already knew or had met earlier at the craft fair. It was great seeing faces I recognized now. Yay! I talked with a man who works for the forest service and is a fire jumper and he told me about how crazy the fire season was last year. He shared some concerns he had about the government doing budget cuts for the forest service and instead hiring outside contractors and paying them $65 per hour. He himself makes $18 per hour and that gets raised to $25 an hour when he’s actively fighting a fire. He apologized for “dumping” all of this on me and I assured him that I was happy to listen. I find the things people tell me about their lives fascinating. I love listening to peoples stories about their concerns and struggles as well as their joys and successes. Have I mentioned how much I love people 😂?
Angel came up to me while I was talking to the fire jumper and asked if she could go home. I suggested she play with the kids. There were a lot of the homeschool kids there. She said she was cold and wanted to go home. I knew she really wanted to get back to playing video games. I told her she could go home and I followed her shortly after.
When I came inside, my sister said that she had told Angel she couldn’t play video games anymore today but she was still playing them. I got Angel off of them and she started decorating the Christmas tree. My sister had brought her tree and decorations down from the attic earlier that day. I looked for the Christmas box that I thought I had brought with me from Texas but I couldn’t find it. I must have accidentally donated it. There had been Christmas decorations in it that my adult kids had made when they were little but oh well, it was gone.
I needed to sit down and rest after all the activities from the day. So I sat on the couch eating pumpkin seeds while I watched Angel decorate the tree. I practiced the song I was singing at church tomorrow. I’m singing It Is Well With My Soul. I still didn’t have the words memorized and I was determined to have them memorized by morning. My friend Brett called and we talked for a while. He’s applying for a job that is full time from 2 PM to 9 PM Monday through Friday. I told him that would interfere in our swimming time. Zim’s hot springs is open Wednesday through Sunday from 12 PM to 8 PM. I told him about another job available in McCall working for the senior center. The lady I had organized for in New Meadows had told me about it and I thought it would be a good fit for him. I gave him her number and he said he would call her tomorrow. When I got off the phone, I practiced my song some more. My sister had joined Angel in decorating the tree and when they got it done it looked really nice.
I hugged my sister goodnight and we all went to bed. Angel didn’t want a story so I put on a sleep meditation for her. I practiced my song some more and wrote down my blog notes. I fell asleep at around 9:30 PM with the lyrics of the song going through my mind.
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.