Saturday June 7, 2025
Morning prayer:
Good morning God,
- Thank you for this day.
- Thank you for adventures.
- Thank you for family.
- Thank you for face painting.
- Thank you for love.
I love you!
Dear Diary,
I awoke at 3 AM. I wrote my blog and walked down to M&W to refresh my gratitude sign. Then I went back to sleep at around 5 AM. I awoke again at 8:30 AM when Angel and her friend woke up. I fed them breakfast and made myself tea and a smoothie. The girls went to play in Angels room and I did some stretching. Then I laid on the daybed fully relaxing my body and meditating until 10:30 AM.
I got up and played What’s the Point with the girls and made them chocolate milkshakes by blending frozen bananas, almonds milk and cacao together in the vitamix. Then they painted their faces, Angel painted her face like a Native American Indian and got dressed in her Indian dress. Angel’s friend painted her face like a cat.
We got ready to go on an adventure to Hell’s Canyon with my sister and nephew. The girls packed up a picnic basket to have a picnic and I packed the rest of the chocolate milkshake and a smoothie for myself. Before going to my sisters we stopped by Angels friends moms work to ask if Angels friend could come to Hell’s canyon with us. Her mom said that she could, which was great because the girls were counting on it.
We went to my sisters and all sat outside together discussing plans. We debated going tomorrow instead but the girls were excited to go today so we decided to go. My sister and nephew got ready and we hearted (headed) out.
My nephew rode with my sister and the girls rode with me. My sister led the way down the mountain and I followed. The route we were taking was down the Kleinschmidt grade. My sister stopped at a rest area before we got to Cuprum and we let Bits and her dogs Huckleberry run around. When we all got back on the road, I could smell poop. I told the girls to check their shoes and Angel’s friend found that she had stepped in poop. I flashed my headlights at my sister and turned on my blinker to get her attention so we could pull over. There was no cell service to call her and I wasn’t going to drive the whole way down the grade smelling poop. My sister caught my hint and pulled over. I scraped the poop off the shoe on a metal post and rubbed the sole of the shoe in the dirt to get rid of the smell.
Glad to get that smell out of truck, we continued on. We went from 2,900 feet in Council to 5,000 feet before Cuprum. When we reached the bottom of the Kleinschmidt grade we were at 1,700 feet. Three totally different climates within 40 miles. Right before we reached the bottom of the canyon, I saw a bunch of mulberry trees with ripe fruit hanging on them. I pulled over and figured my sister would wait for us at the bottom. The girls and I harvested and ate a bunch of mulberries. They were really juicy and delicious.
When we got to where the road connects to the highway, my sister and nephew were waiting for us. I told them about the mulberries but they didn’t seem as excited about them as we were. We drove into a nearby established campground to use their nice bathrooms with flush toilets. Then we drove down by the water of the Snake River and walked out onto a dock. The girls set up their picnic and my nephew and I found another mulberry tree next to the dock. We harvested and ate as many as we could and there were still a bunch more.
I changed into my swimsuit so that I could jump into the river off the end of the dock. My nephew had already jumped in and he said the water was slightly cold. It took a while to convince myself to do the jump but I finally did it. The water was definitely cold. I swam to the dock and attempted to pull myself up onto it but I wasn’t able to get myself up on there. I tried several times before I decided that swimming to the shore was a better option. After getting up on the shore, I jumped off the dock end of the dock again and swam to the shore.
We took the highway back to Council and passed a bunch of Mulberry trees that I wanted to stop at but since we were following my sister, I kept going. We stopped at the Gateway store and cafe and got something to eat. My sister was in a hurry to get home but I wasn’t in a hurry. My sister and nephew took their food to go and I sat outside on the patio with Angel and her friend and we had a relaxing time.
Before getting back to Council, I stopped in Indian Valley to do a drop-in pet sitting opportunity. I fed the dogs and let them out. I walked down a dirt trail with them and they ran and played. When they were tired out and had smiles on their face, I brought them back inside for the night. I checked the cats and finished driving the Council.
I took Angels friend home and chatted with her mom for a while. Next, I went to my sisters and Aaron called just as I pulled up. We talked on the phone for a few minutes while I went inside. I got off the phone and Angel asked if she could stay the night at my sisters. I told her to ask her Aunt and my sister said that she could.
When I got home, I stretched and mediated for a while. Then I got into bed and fully relaxed my body. I turned my phone off and went to sleep at around 10 PM.
Sunday June 8, 2025
Morning Prayer:
Good morning God,
- Thank you for this day.
- Thank you for pet sitting opportunities.
- Thank you for mulberries.
- Thank you for a reliable vehicle.
- Thank you for love.
I love you!
Dear Diary,
I awoke at 5:30 AM. I wrote my blog until 7 AM, then I drove to a drop-in pet sitting opportunity. On the way, I stopped at M&W and refreshed my gratitude sign, then I stopped by my friend Camille’s and gave their chickens our compost. When I arrived at the pet sitting house. I let the dogs out and fed them. I checked on the cats and gave all the outside plants water. Then I sat watching the dogs run around and wrote my blog some more. After an hour or so, I finished writing but didn’t get it posted. I put the dogs inside and drove back to Council to get ready for church.
At home, I changed shirts, then I walked to my older sisters to get Angel for church. I had a few minutes available before it was time to go, so I sat on the couch chatting with my sister and nephew.
I’d been debating on whether to quit cleaning for the client that doesn’t seem happy with my work and talks down to me and Angel. I make almost $500 a month cleaning for her and her daughter but I know that income will easily be replaced, especially because I know that following my intuition produces good results. For days I’d written out a text to send to her letting her know I wouldn’t be cleaning for her anymore but then I would delete it. This morning, inbetween talking to my sister and nephew, I wrote out another text letting my client know I wouldn’t be cleaning for. I hit send before I could change my mind. Instantly I was flooded with a sense of relief. That felt so good and her response showed that she was relieved also, which confirmed that I had done what both of us had been wanting. Yay!
Angel and I walked to church and I was still basking in the relief I was feeling. Church service was great, especially the singing. The Nazarene church is so beautiful, bright and cheery inside. I would love to clean that church. I love cleaning churches, they have such good energy. When I clean the Assembly of God church, my favorite part is lining up the chairs in perfectly straight rows in the sanctuary. My other favorite part is staging the bathrooms by folding the toilet paper and lifting the seats so that when people go in there, they can tell that the bathrooms have been freshly cleaned.
After church, Angel went back to my sisters to spend the day there. I went home and got ready to go on an adventure to Steck park with Aaron. We haven’t hung out or seen each other for quite a while since my scheduled has been so full lately. I got my truck cleaned out and drove over to Aaron’s. He finished getting ready to go and we hearted (headed) out with the dogs.
I drove a few back roads on our way down the mountain. Before going to Steck Park, we went to Ontario, Oregon and did a little shopping. I stocked up on produce since it cost way less in the valley than it does up on the mountain. Plus Oregon has no sales tax. In Texas there wasn’t sales tax on fresh food but everything else was taxed. In Idaho everything you buy has a 6% sales tax.
We took longer in Ontario than expected at it was after 5 PM by the time we got to Steck Park. It was almost 100°F out there in the high desert and everything was crispy dry. I walked out on a dock and jumped into the Snake River to cool myself off. The water felt so good. I swam to shore and as soon as I got out of the water, I regretted not wearing my sandals in the water. The ground was full of stickers…goat-heads and cocklebur’s and other unknown stickers. I gimped my way back to the dock and pulled all the stickers out of my feet. Then I walked to the end of the dock again and put on my sandals. I jumped in the water on the other side of the dock and swam to where Aaron was looking at rocks. I laid in the water along the shore and found quite a few neat rocks myself. I’m excited to see what they will look like after I run them through the rock tumbler.
I got out of the water and looked at rocks as we moseyed back to the truck. When we were almost to the truck, Aaron pointed out a waterfall on the hillside. We walked over and followed a trail up the hill to the waterfall. Once you got under the canopy of the trees surrounding the waterfall, the temperature dropped significantly and everything was lush and green. It was a peaceful little oasis. I put my head under the waterfall and the ice cold water felt so good. We hung out there for a little while, enjoying the contrast of the high desert and paradise combined.
When we got back to the truck, I felt refreshed. Aaron drove back and I enjoyed being able to look at the scenery. When we got to Cambridge, I stopped at my younger sisters house and turned off the water for her. She’d had to leave right away for an emergency and asked me to turn the water off. Then when we got to Indian Valley, we stopped at my drop-in pet sitting opportunity. I let the dogs out and fed them. I let the dogs run around while I checked on the cats. Then I put everyone back inside and we continued driving to Council.
Aaron went home and I got Angel from my older sisters. When we got home, we went to bed right away. Angel didn’t want stories, so I did some stretching and caught up on all my messages. I turned off my phone and went to sleep at around 10:30 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.
P. S. S. This was Saturday and Sunday. A lot has happened since then. Stay tuned.