Friday July 4, 2025
Morning prayer:
Good morning God,
- Thank you for this day.
- Thank you for rain.
- Thank you for exhaustion.
- Thank you for connection.
- Thank you for love.
I love you!
Dear Diary.
I awoke at 4 AM, I wrote some of my blog and went back to sleep at 6 AM. I awoke again at 7:45 AM. I really really wanted to get more sleep but I got up and made my tea. I made Angel breakfast and got everything together for the farmers market. I walked over to my older sisters to switch laundry. My sister was awake and said she needed to use the washer and dryer the rest of the day. I walked home with some clean clothes and some dirty clothes. My neighbor was outside and saw me. We talked for a few minutes and she offered to let me wash my load of dirty clothes in her washing machine. I felt very grateful for her offer and started the clothes washing.
Aaron was in front of my apartment when I finished walking over there. He helped me load up all my farmers market supplies and drove them over to my booth and helped me unload them. Aaron left and I started setting up while Angel ran around playing with the kids. It was sprinkling rain but I wasn’t that concerned because it normally doesn’t rain that hard in Idaho. My friend that I share the booth with arrived and she started setting her stuff up. The rain was coming down harder and the temperature dropped, I was feeling cold in my shorts and t-shirt. I walked home to get a coat just as the 4th of July parade was starting. It was really raining now.
I got my coat and found both my sisters and my daughter Savana in front of the bank watching the parade. Last I had heard from Angel, she was going to find them to watch the parade with them. They hadn’t seen Angel. I looked around through the crowd of people and didn’t see her. An incredible amount of people showed up for the parade despite the rain. I figured she had found a friend or two and was watching the parade with them.
I walked back to my booth and sat with my friend under the canopy attempting to keep my stuff along the edges dry. Angel showed up and said that she had been with her friend because she couldn’t find her aunts or sisters. I told her where they had been and she left to go over to her aunts house. Business was really slow because of the rain and I kept playing with the idea of just packing up and calling it quits. The final straw was when a flood of water gushed around the side of a building that we were next to and got all my dry boxes of supplies that were under the tables soaking wet. My friend and I put the boxes on top of the tables and started to pack up. Evening was really wet and I carried it box-by-box, through the parking lot, across street and down the block to my upstairs apartment. I probably made 8 to 10 trips walking from the farmers market to my apartment and back. Then my friends husband helped me take down the canopy and we put it in his truck along with my tables and chairs and he brought them to my apartment. I thanked him for his help and went upstairs.
I took off all my wet clothing and crawled into bed to take a nap. I was cold to the bone and exhausted. I slept deeply for an hour and when I woke up I was shivering from feeling cold on the inside. I took a long hot shower and felt warmed up after that. I cleaned up all my farmers market stuff that was thrown everywhere. I set the wet stuff around to dry and salvaged what I could. Then I walked over to my older sisters.
When I arrived at my sisters, everyone was sitting around playing video games. I wasn’t interested in sitting watching video games, they give me motion sickness. The rain had stopped so I sat outside enjoying the fresh smell of the air. Savana came outside and asked me if I wanted to go to Wilson’s (a local bar) to play darts. I’ve only been in the bar once since I moved to Council and that was to interview the owner about cleaning. They wanted to pay $15 an hour for cleaning and expected it to be done well. I declined the job. I had plenty of work at that time and cleaning a bar is dirty work. I want to be paid more than high school wages to do that kind of work.
I told Savana I would come even though I do not enjoy being around drunk people. A couple of family members joined us and we walked over to Wilson’s and played a few games of darts. Then a few of us walked downtown and briefly listened a bluegrass band playing there. I walked back to Wilson’s and played one more game of darts. My handyman was there and he joined in the dart game. We talked and joked around some. The bar scene was starting to get old already and I was over it as people were starting to get drunk and I don’t like being around drunk people, they are moody and loud and unconscious.
I walked back to my older sisters and everyone was still sitting around watching TV. This time it wasn’t video games but a show about a farm. I joined in and watched some of the show for a while but I couldn’t take it for very long. TV watching is not my thing. I’m particular about what I program my mind with. My younger sister offered to take Angel and my nephews 10-year-old son to see the fireworks. I thought that was a great idea and appreciated her offer. She left with the kids and I walked home. I went to bed early at 9:30 PM because I had to get up at 3 AM to take Savana part of the way to the airport.
Saturday July 5, 2025
Morning prayer:
Good morning God,
- Thank you for this day.
- Thank you for strength.
- Thank you for laughter.
- Thank you for sadness.
- Thank you for love.
I love you!
Dear Diary,
After sleeping for an hour. I woke up at 11 PM when Angel came in from watching the fireworks with my younger sister. I could not go back to sleep, so I wrote my blog until 1 AM. I attempted to sleep again but it wasn’t happening, so I read my book until 3 AM when it was time to get Savana from my older sisters and take her to the airport. Her dad was meeting us in Fruitland so I wouldn’t have to drive all the way to the airport which I was grateful for since it would cut my drive time to 1.5 hours each way rather than 2 hours each way.
I woke up Angel and we drove over to my sisters. The lights were on in the living room and Savana was sleeping on the couch on one end and a man I didn’t know was sleeping on the other end. Savana’s alarm was going off on her phone and she was half awake trying to turn it off. I told her it was time to get up to go to the airport. She was half asleep and talking about a bunch of things that didn’t make sense. I turned her phone alarm off and kept telling her that she needed to get up and get ready. The man sleeping had woken up and we introduced ourselves. He stood waiting and I continued to attempt to get Savana up. Finally she was awake enough to be conscious and said that she needed a half hour to wake up and get ready. I told her that we needed to go now to make sure she didn’t miss her plane. She got upset and started arguing with me. I was too tired to argue and told her I would be waiting in the truck. I loaded up her suitcase and sat waiting. I started to drift off to sleep until Savana came out with her guy friend. He left and Savana got in the truck. She was crying and upset saying that I she had to get ready too fast and that I had been yelling at her. I knew I hadn’t been yelling because I wasn’t mad and I had been purposely talking quietly in order to not wake up my sister or nephew.
I started driving down the road and when we got to Indian valley, Savana couldn’t find her wallet. I pulled over and we searched her backpack and suitcase. Savana called my sister and woke her up asking her to look around her house for the wallet. My sister didn’t see it anywhere. We searched the truck and suddenly I was filled with a “knowing” that the wallet was at my sisters and it was in her couch.
We drove back to Council to my sisters house. As we were getting out to go inside, Savana asked me what to do if we couldn’t find her wallet because she couldn’t fly home without her ID. I had no idea what to do, I hadn’t thought that far ahead. We went into the house and I walked straight to the couch and started feeling around the edges. In the back behind the built in cushion I felt the wallet and pulled it out. Yay! I handed it to Savana and we started off again.
The drive to Fruitland was intense. Savana was still mad at me the whole trip for waking her up but thanked me for taking her to meet her dad and for finding her wallet. I told her you’re welcome. I was so tired while driving that I could barely stay awake. Angel was chatty though and that helped me keep my eyes open. At one point, I saw a deer standing in the road and hit my brakes and stopped before hitting the huge buck. He ran off and we continued on our drive. I was shaking all over from the adrenaline rush for a few minutes but it passed and tiredness settled in again.
Finally we made it to Fruitland and Savana went off with her dad. I started back home when my truck told me that the one of my tires was low on air. I pulled into a gas station in Fruitland and put air in the tire. The air pump wasn’t working very well and it took a long time to get the tire filled all the way up. When I was almost to Weiser, the low air pressure warning went off again. I pulled into another gas station and put more air in the tire. This air pump also wasn’t working very well and turned off before I could get all the air I needed. It was enough to not set off the air pressure warning though and I continued driving towards home. Once again the tire pressure warning went off a few miles down the road. I kept an eye on the pressure and by the time I got to Cambridge it was down to 22 psi. I pulled into another gas station. I felt very grateful when it was a free air pump and it worked well. This time I could see the issue. It looked like a screw was stuck in the tire and I could hear air slowly leaking out. I filled the tire to 38 psi and by the time we made it to Coucil it was down to 25 psi. I was grateful the issue with my tire had kept me fully awake on the drive home.
I drove by the tire shop to see if they were open. It was 7:30 AM and they opened at 8:30 AM. I drove home and decided to get some sleep and deal with the tire later. Angel played in her room and laid down on the daybed. I laid there for 45 minutes wide awake. My circadian rhythm was all messed up. I got up to make Angel breakfast and noticed that my block of cheese was missing. I messaged my sister to see if it was still over there. I remembered the Savana had taken it there the other day. My sister said it was and later sent her grandson over with it.
I decided if I wasn’t going to sleep then I would go get my tire fixed. When I started up my truck, the sensor said there was still 17 psi in the tire and I drove straight to the tire shop. They fixed my tire and it hadn’t been a screw in it, it had been an air pressure valve. How strange. I drove home and laid down again. Once again I couldn’t sleep. Aaron called and we had a really good conversation. Somehow he knew I was having a hard time before he called and I felt much better after we talked.
I decided to give up on sleeping and get on with my day. I walked to the bank to clean it and when I was almost there, I saw Aaron go into the thrift store across the street. I went over and talked to Aaron and a few other people. My sister and nephew showed up and I talked to them briefly. Then I went to the bank and cleaned it.
Next I went to the Assembly of God church and cleaned it. When I got home, Angel and I walked half a block to the Soapbox Derby. It was about to start and Angel wanted to ride in one of the cars. I signed her up and we watched the kids race. It was great fun. When it was her turn she chose to ride in a blue car. She didn’t win but she had a good time. Angel wanted to ride down again but I was feeling too tired to stay out in the hot sun watching the race. I told her that I was feeling tired and was going to lie down and to come get me if she needed anything.
I laid down and was instantly asleep. Aww..sweet sleep. I heard Angel come in at some point and she went to her room to watch movies on her DVD player. I had bought the full Little House on the PrairieDVD series and Angel loves watching it. I slept for 4 hours and I felt much better when I woke up. I made Angel dinner and cleaned up around the house. A friend brought over a big bag of kale that she harvested from her garden. Yay! I put the kale in the fridge so it would keep for future kale chips. Then I walked over to Aaron’s to go through my camping gear in his storage shed so we could get ready to go camping. We were leaving tomorrow after I got out of church. I got all my stuff together and chatted with Aaron for a while. Then I walked home. I passed through downtown where another band was playing and I chatted with people I knew.
When I arrived home, Angel and I got rest for bed. I read to Angel a couple chapters from a Nancy Drewbook and went to sleep at 10:30 PM.
Sunday July 6, 2025
Morning prayer:
- Thank you for the day.
- Thank you for my daughters and sons and daughter-in-loves and grandkids.
- Thank you for camping trips.
- Thank you for mountains.
- Thank you for love.
I love you!
Dear Diary,
I awoke at 2:30 AM. I played wordle and connections and wrote my blog. At 5 AM, I slept more until 8 AM. It felt great to get good sleep and I felt well rested. I got up and made tea. Angel woke up and I made her breakfast. Then I took a shower and started packing our suitcase and food to take camping. I brought my neighbors drying rack to her and thanked her for letting me borrow it.
Angel and I walked to the store and set out the gratitude sign and bought groceries for camping. It felt good to have my gratitude sign out again. I’d been so busy coming and going when Savana was here that I didn’t get it set out for a couple of weeks. Angel and I put our groceries away and walked to the Nazarene church to practice singing a duet with pastor Amy that we will be singing during the service.
We practiced the song, then we waiting in the sanctuary for adult Sunday school to end. Church started and I enjoyed the service. When it was time to sing, it took me a couple of lines to get on key but after that it went well. Afterward there was a potluck. I brought homemade lemonade to the potluck since I didn’t sell hardly any at the rained-out farmers market. There were a lot of salads there that didn’t have meat in them and I was grateful to have lots of yummy food to eat.
When we got home from church, Aaron came over and we packed up to go camping. Aaron took us up a road I hadn’t been before and we looped around to find a camping spot on the way to Lost Valley reservoir. He had a certain spot in mind but somehow we both got turned around and we weren’t able to find the spot. After backtracking a couple of times, we settled on a new spot and it was really nice.
We got settled into our camping spot and I set up Angel and my tent. Then I went exploring and walked up the creek.
The rest of the evening, we hung out by the campfire that Aaron had made. Angel ate s’mores and I read some of her Nancy Drew book aloud. Then I sat quietly reading my book until it was too dark to read. Aaron put out the fire and we all went to bed.
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
P. S. S. This was Friday, Saturday and Sunday. A lot has happened since then. Stay tuned.