Tuesday December 24, 2024
Dear Diary,
Good morning God,
- Thank you for this day.
- Thank you for pet sitting opportunities.
- Thank you for smoothies.
- Thank you for Angel.
I love you!
I awoke at 4 am. I wrote some of my blog and played wordle and connections. Then I slept again from 5 am to 6:15 am. Angel was still sleeping when I got up. I made tea and a smoothie. My sister got up and said that she was still sick. I told her to feel better and left to do a drop-in pet sitting opportunity. I fed the dogs and cats and spent time petting them. Then I drove to my sister Missy’s to stack wood. I stacked wood for an hour and a half until there wasn’t anymore pallets left to stack wood on.
I drove back to Council and stopped at the post office. Angel’s Christmas presents from her sister and Christopher in Texas had arrived. I dropped the presents off at home and checked on Angel. She was awake and watching TV while eating blueberries and raspberries. I checked on my sister and she was asleep in her room.
I left and drove a block away to do a cleaning opportunity. My client hired me to work for an hour vacuuming her house, she is older and vacuuming is difficult for her to do. It was a beautiful older home. She showed me around and I got started vacuuming. When I finished, we sat and talked for an hour. We rescheduled for me to come back in a week and I left to drive to McCall to do a cat sitting opportunity.
On the drive I listed to an audiobook called Craven Manor. When I arrived, I checked in the cats, washed more of the bedding and made up a couple of the beds. I’m cleaning a little each day so that when I do the official house cleaning, it won’t take me as long. It’s a big house and i need to have it all done before my clients arrive home the 30th.
After cat sitting, I stopped at Ridley’s grocery store. I bought a salad at the salad bar. My sister messaged me and wanted me to get some cheese and fruit for her to take to our family Christmas gathering that will be at my younger sister Missy’s house in Cambridge. She also wanted me to get her some NyQuil, ibuprofen and lemon/ginger tea. It has been years since I’ve been in the medicine section of a store and I had to call my sister to get clarity on which NyQuil to get. There were a crazy amount of choices. It baffles me that people think putting toxins in their body will help them get well but I also thought taking “medicine” was a good thing when I used to be sick all the time. I used to take ibuprofen and Prilosec daily and took NyQuil often, I also took the highest dose of Effexor allowed. When I stopped taking “medicine” and started eating a whole food mostly raw diet, then I stopped being sick all the time. That was 20 years ago. I still get sick every once in a while but when I do, I fast on water only and I recover quickly. The cleaner I eat, the healthier I am and the less often I get sick.
When I got to Council, I did my drop-in pet sitting opportunity and drove home. I unloaded my cleaning and swimming supplies from the back of the truck and loaded up pallets to take to Missy’s tomorrow. The pallets were wet and muddy and I got really dirty loading them up. I went inside, washed up and quickly packed. Angel got in the truck and I drove us to my farm sitting opportunity. When we went inside, I got a fire going in the wood stove. Angel played with her toys she had brought while I fed the horses and quail and dogs and cats. Then we went to bed. I called my boys and adult daughter and we wished them each a Merry Christmas Eve. I put on a sleep meditation and we fell asleep at 8 pm.
Wednesday December 25, 2024
Dear Diary,
Good morning God,
- Thank you for this day.
- Thank you for mornings.
- Thank you for farm sitting opportunities.
- Thank you for fruit.
- Thank you for horses.
I love you!
I awoke at 2:30 am. I wrote my blog and played wordle and connections. At 5:30 am, I got up and fed the horses. I woke Angel up and got her ready to go. We drove to my drop-in pet sitting opportunity and then went home. Angel was excited about Christmas and there were a few gifts sitting out for her from “Santa”. Last night, before we left to go to the farm sitting opportunity, I had sent Angel to the truck ahead of me and had quickly set her gifts from Santa under the tree. Angel played with her new toys while I made tea and a smoothie and waited for my sister to get up. When my sister got up, she was still feeling really sick. She sat on the couch and I handed out gifts for everyone to open. Angel had the most gifts of course. My sister got me a plug in back massager, wool socks and a stocking hat that lights up.
After the frenzy of gift opening, I cleaned up while Angel sat in the bedroom with my sister and played a new Minecraft game that her sister had gotten her. My sister Missy messaged and said that she was sick and canceled the Christmas family gathering at her house. I drove to McCall do my cat sitting opportunity and spent 2 hours cleaning while I was there. When I left I went to my friend Brett’s house. We played scrabble and Yahtzee. On the drive home I started feeling really tired and could barely keep my eyes open. I found a spot to pull over and took a 15 minute nap. I felt refreshed when I woke up and continued the drive.
When I got home, my sister left to spend the rest of the week with her boyfriend down in the valley. Angel and I left and dropped off pallets at my sister Missy’s. Since she was sick, we didn’t go inside. After that, we went to my farm sitting opportunity. Angel helped me feed the quail and the horses. I fed the cats and dogs while she played with her toys. When I finished, I got a fire going in the wood stove and we snuggled up on the couch and watched a Christmas movie. After the movie I drove across town and did my drop-in pet sitting opportunity for the last time. Then Angel and I played a game of Sorrybefore going to bed. We listened to On the Banks of Plum Creek on audio and fell asleep at 8:30 pm.
Thursday December 26, 2024
Dear Diary,
Good morning God,
- Thank you for this day.
- Thank you for snow.
- Thank you for farm sitting opportunities.
- Thank you for Christmas.
- Thank you for family.
- Thank you for giving and receiving.
I love you!
I awoke at 3 am to the sound of two of the dogs I am watching fighting in the living room. I started yelling for them to stop as I jumped up and ran in there. As soon as they saw me, they stopped fighting and went and laid down. They had knocked over a shelf during their fight. I picked everything up and put more logs on the fire in the wood stove.
I went in the bedroom to get in bed and one of the dogs was laying in my spot. He’s a really big dog. I asked him to move but he refused. I got him by the collar and then he decided he would move on his own and went to the bottom of the bed. I got back in bed and fell asleep again right away.
At 6:45 am, I awoke again. I got up and put more logs on the fire and got dressed. It was snowing out and had been snowing all night. Bits and I went out to feed the horses and mules. Bits likes being a miniature farm dog. While the horses and mules were eating, I stood watching them and enjoyed the peacefulness of the morning. I’m really enjoying winter now that I’ve adjusted. I love the snow and the crisp cold air. I love the mountains with the pine trees. The pine trees look blue in the winter in contrast to the white snow.
When the horses and mules finished eating, I went back to the house and fed the cats and dogs. Angel was still asleep. I woke her up and wrote my blog while she got dressed. She was moving slowly and it took her 30 minutes to get her clothes on. She still had some slight congestion but is mostly recovered from being sick. This is the longest she’s ever been sick and I think it’s her body adjusting to winter up north.
We drove home, the snow was pretty deep going down the dirt road to the highway and it was still snowing. At home, I made tea and a smoothie. My smoothie had 8 bananas, cacao and filtered water. For Angel, I made oatmeal. Then we left to drive to McCall listening to a Nancy Drew audiobook. I wasn’t sure how the highway would be going through the canyon. The snow plows were out and it is a big ski week, so I figured the roads would be maintained. As soon as we started going up into the canyon the road became completely covered in snow. I took it slow and all was going well, then I came upon a semi truck that had slid off the road going around a corner. The truck was half on the road and half off. The driver was out putting chains on his tires. That decided it for me. I pulled over in front of the truck and got out to put chains on. A Subaru that had been tailgating me pulled to a stop behind me. When they saw me get out. The Subaru tried to take off really fast to go post me and ended up sliding backwards towards the edge of the road. I walked over to the Subaru and a teenage boy rolled down the drivers side window. I asked if he wanted me to help push him out. He said his friends could do it and 3 teenage boys got out and pushed the car back onto the road. I heard one of the boys say that he wanted to turn around and go back. The driver responded saying that they were going to be fine and the car took off down the highway.
I got out the chains that I had bought at the thrift store. I read the instructions and fought to put them on but I could not get them to fit. My hands ached from the cold and my pants were soaking wet from the knees down from kneeling in the snow.
(Warning: this next paragraph is TMI)
I got in the truck to warm up my hands when all of a sudden I had to urgently go to the bathroom, #2. “Of course I have to go now when I’m no where near a bathroom”, I thought to myself. I knew I couldn’t hold it, it was too urgent. There was no way to run off into the woods because steep embankments were on both sides of the road. I ran around to the passenger side of the truck and opened both doors. I prayed no one would drive by and see me as I stood between the doors and squatted. Angel was sitting in the passenger seat and looked at me in disbelief. I told her that I had to go to the bathroom and to look away, which she immediately did as she made a disgusted look. It was over with quickly and I asked Angel to hand me some Kleenex. I wiped and quickly pulled my pants up. I kicked a whole bunch of snow over the …. waste. Not satisfied that everything was sufficiently covered up, I kicked a bunch more snow over it until it was a big pile of white snow. I made a mental note to not step in that spot and to remember to put a shovel in my truck. It’s a good idea carry a shovel in case I get stuck but it would have been useful in this case as well 😂.
I got back in the truck to warm up again. I suddenly wondered if the thrift store chains I had bought were not the size that the container said they were. I had another set of chains that I had bought brand new from Les Schwab. When I had tried to return them, I was told that unused chains can’t be returned until April when the season is over. I got out of the truck and pulled out the new chains. They were bigger than the ones from the thrift store. The thrift store chains were indeed a different size than their case said they were. I’m so glad that I wasn’t able to return the new chains. I didn’t even get upset when I wasn’t able to return them because at the time I remembered that everything happens for a reason. The reason was that I needed them for this here occasion.
I started to put one of the new chains on and things were going much better. I had the chain halfway on when a big dodge pickup pulled over. A young couple got out and asked if I needed help. My fingers were hurting so bad from the cold and I said, “yes please”. The young man finished putting the chain on the first tire and then did the second tire. I thanked them profusely and we introduced ourselves before they headed out. I followed them until we were almost to New Meadows when I heard one of the chains hitting the wheel well. I found a safe spot to pull over and looked at the chain. A link had broke off. So much for being good quality $130 chains. I tightened the chains and secured the broken link so that it wouldn’t flop around, then I continued the drive to McCall.
When I arrived at my cat sitting opportunity, the driveway hadn’t been plowed but since I had chains on, I wasn’t concerned about getting stuck. I went inside to check on the cats and fed them. While I was there I played with the cats, vacuumed and dusted some of the house and drank some of my smoothie. I almost got stuck in the driveway on the way out, even with the chains on, but I was able to back up and get up enough momentum going to get back on the road.
I drove to my friend Brett’s. We were all going to Zim’s hot springs and he was taking his own car. He thought he might need the chains that are too small for my truck to get out of his driveway so I brought them to him. By the time I got there, his neighbor had plowed out his driveway and he said didn’t need the chains after all.
He followed us to Zim’s and on the way I stopped at the Ridley’s grocery store. From the salad bar, I got broccoli and cheese hot soup and a salad. Then I stopped to fill up on gas and took off the chains. The roads were clear enough now that I didn’t need them anymore.
On the drive to Zim’s, Angel and I drank soup. There were a lot of people there, so we hung out in the deep end where there were only a few other people. I floated on my back and instantly fell asleep for about 10 minutes. I felt refreshed when I woke up. We stayed for an hour and then Angel wanted to get out. She still is not back to 100% and had low energy.
On our way back to Council, I stopped at the hardware store in New Meadows and bought replacement links to fix my tire chains. We listened to Nancy Drew on the drive and when we arrived in Council Angel asked if she could get some pizza. I was glad her appetite was back and stopped at the pizza place. I ate a salad and Angel had a personal pizza. The salad was really good. I hadn’t eaten there before and wasn’t sure how good the salad would be, so it was a pleasant surprise. Angel ate her whole pizza. She is making up for hardly eating at all for a week.
Next we stopped at home and got the last of our Christmas presents wrapped that we are taking to my moms on Saturday. Then we went to my farm sitting house. Angel helped me feed the quail and the horses and mules. Then she played inside while I built a fire in the wood stove and fed the cats and dogs. I organized the cab of my truck, fixed my tires chains and started a load of laundry washing. Angel said she wanted to go to bed early. That was fine with me. I read her two stories and we went to bed. Angel fell asleep immediately and I wrote my blog. I have been so busy that I’ve gotten way behind. I took a break from writing and put the clothes in the dryer. Then I listened to an audiobook called Craven Manor and fell asleep at around 8:30 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.