2026 healing

 Another new year. How lucky are we that we get to see another one? We still have so much left to do in the world as a whole, but also in individual worlds of the people around us. I purposely didn't make resolutions, commitments, set goals. Nothing. No pressure. No looking so far ahead that I can't enjoy the right now. 

As you figured, we spent New Years Eve and Day working. The walls are painted around the shower now, and it is time to move to the next step.

That is right, friends. Caulk. The dreaded task of caulking. Woodchuck is not allowed to caulk, though he did pick this one out. I was nervous about this, I didn't really want to be the one to potentially mess up all of this new stuff! But then I got hyper-focused. It was like being a surgeon, but I was asking for damp and dry paper towels instead of surgery tools, lol. This was one of the nicest caulks I've ever used! I can't take all of the credit, I was asking for guidance from every spirit of every person that has ever worked on this house and knew what they were doing, lol.

Then we got the water handle on, and that took a bit of work since you can't see through the wall to where the screws are supposed go into. So one of us would be on the screw head side in the shower while the other was in the closet with the plumping trying to guide where the screws would go. It worked out!

Then the shower head! The ring around it caused much confusion. Why is it this color and not silver? Is this a covering to protect the metal from getting scratched, and if so, why was nothing else coated in it? The box clearly shows silver. I don't know, and if Woodchuck knew, he was too distracted by other things. So it went on as is.

                                                        Then it was time for the drain cover! 

                                                                    And done!!! Or?????

We have running water!

We turned the water back on, and there was a small leak. My eye is twitching just typing that. It wasn't a big one, but we weren't going to leave it. So, back to Menards and this time Woodchuck decided on using flex line. Which I actually like how it looks better than the PVC we used.

But then the shower head fitting on the plumbing side of the wall also had a leak. So Woodchuck stopped the next day after work and picked up flex line for that and changed it out. As far as I know now, the shower is done, and the boy is using it. HOWEVER, it wasn't until he started using it that we realized the water lines were installed in reverse by the original owners. Woodchuck left it as is. I bowed out of the last couple of trips because our son wasn't feeling well, and I had a lot to get done to prepare for surgery...including not getting sick. I am honestly amazed at the amount of people who don't care they are sick and passing it around! It's me and some of the little old ladies who are wearing masks when we go out in public because everyone is coughing and sneezing without covering them up, running out to get medicine even though they say they have the flu "and my wife and kids had it first". But I digress. I can only control myself, I can only control myself.....

I spent a couple of days getting the Yule decors down and cleaning the house back up from that. I also had to think about being able to move around fairly easily while on crutches, and picked things up and moved things out of the way. We also tried to organize the fridge to have all of my things on the top shelves and at the front, since I can't bend over at the waist. 

I had to go and get fitted for the hip brace I was going to need to wear after surgery. Sizing is approximate, and based off of weight. That put me in a large one, but I'm short, and there was a lot of adjusting that needed to be done to it before it was fitting me even remotely correctly. They also have to set it for the degree of movement the doctor wants you to have after surgery. Mine is set for 30 degrees. It felt so good when we she put it on! Just enough pressure and support to stop my hips from hurting, but I don't get to wear it until they put me in it after surgery. After my appointment, I went grocery shopping, paid bills, and wrapped up as many loose ends as I could.

I am continuing with my smoothies most days, and loving everything about them except that they make me cold at this time of year, lol.

The day before surgery, I went to get a massage and hair cut. This was my first time at this massage place and I loved it! I loved the vibe, music, decor, and the massage therapist herself! I am looking forward to going back after I've healed a bit.

We went to the land after Woodchuck got home from work. I pulled SD cards so that I could look at them while recovering, and we just took in the peace and healing.

I found 6 more oothecas on the watershed.

The water table is SUPER high, and the watershed pond has never come up this high before. If we had not had the South bank of the pond built up, the ponds would have likely merged in this overflow and that would not have been good.

I step foot on this land and all of my pain, physical and otherwise, disappears.

That is the watershed pond in the distance, upper right corner of this photo. While the ground closer to me is always wet, the removal of the phragmite and silky dogwood likely is contributing to more water. I have researched plants that we will plant to replace them all, but we have to make sure this area won't be disturbed again with pond work, and we have to have soil brought in too. 👇

This would have normally stressed me out, but water does what water does, and the addition of soil and lots of native plants will help minimize the flooding.

We found an odd fungi on the watershed path, covered in water droplets.

It was hard to leave, not knowing when I would be back in the same capacity, but the land needs its time to rest as well. It should be thawing out and waking up around the same time that I am healed enough to start moving around, carefully but unhindered by crutches and braces. The stars saw us home.

I didn't get everything done that I wanted to before surgery, but I stack my to-do list unrealistically, never intending to get it all done, but would celebrate nonetheless if it did happen! The morning of surgery was beautiful! I was SO ready, SO peaceful, and SO grateful. It was a full moon week and it saw us off. 

We are rarely in my car at night, and I do nearly all of the driving and have the instrument panel creating light, so we never noticed that my car has internal panel lights, lol.

I feel like my new glasses are too big, lol. Waiting for Woodchuck to come in and sit with me until surgery time! They had me walk into the surgery room, which was WOW. There was so much equipment everywhere! 

Everything went well though, and after throwing up on our way to the pharmacy to pick up the most important medicine that, for some reason, wasn't filled the day prior when we stopped to get my surgery meds, we headed home. I had seen a recipe for a homemade electrolyte beverage and had that made for me to enjoy. I honestly didn't feel much different from it, but it tasted fine.

I started physical therapy the day after surgery, and have my post-op tomorrow. I am hoping they get the stitches out! My skin heals very fast, and they are itching and catching and tight and pulling and burning. But we will see! Form what I told, the surgeon found what he expected, an impingement, but other than that, I don't know much yet. I'm on crutches for 4 weeks, 20% weight bearing on that leg, and also the hip brace. I'm doing therapy twice a week, and also doing those exercises at home twice a day (except for the exercise bike since Woodchuck said it's old and really doesn't have a way to adjust tension). 

I'm working on some gifts for my cousin and they are Christmas themed, so I'm working on them now while I am still in the Winter/Yule mind set. Back to old-school, plastic canvas. This is a sneak peek.

The temps have plunged, and there has been hit or miss precipitation. The perfect time to go within and heal and rest. I am grateful for those days with Father Sun to break up some of the monotone and on the days we have snow, my world is sparkling like glitter. On this day, the sun hit a mirror I have temporarily stored behind the console stereo and you just had to receive the message! There was no turning away. 

With less movement, and being on an Aspirin protocol for 6 weeks, I get chilly faster. It doesn't help that I can only get one sock on by myself, so when Woodchuck is at work, the left leg/foot are always cold. I broke out the chunky wool sweater. Reserved for times such as these, it is the ultimate snuggler.

For the first 2 or 3 days after surgery, I was energized but as time is going on, I'm getting more tired. Most nights I sleep well, but on the nights I don't, it's much harder to push through the next day than usual. The upside is that I'm reading a lot! I'm on my third book since the beginning of the new year, and don't be jealous about that! I had fallen WAY behind and have stacks and stacks (and even a bag full) of books in the closet. It feels good to finally slow down and catch up on the things that I enjoy. Some days are a bit lonely and frustrating at the lack of independence, but all in due time. I have to rest now to make sure I'm ready for what the year is bringing! (and BTW, the book was FANTASTIC! One of the best I've read). I hope you are well, resting when you can, seeing the messages and the gifts of each day. )O( 

Ho, Ho, Argh!

 Everyone was saying the same thing...how can it be Christmas already?! Where did the year go?! 2025 was a beast! And yet, gratefully, Christmas came again. I say gratefully, because honestly, I am seeing each day with new eyes, and feeling it with an open heart. I am grateful for each day, milestone, and holiday. Had I hoped that we wouldn't be doing any work on the holiday? Yes. And did we work on the holiday? Also yes. 

The looming work, and with the kids grown, it makes it harder for me to find the magick that Christmas once held. That magick of children at the holidays (not just Christmas) is just something that can't be replaced with, or by, anything else. So, I think I've gotten to the point where I place those memories on the shelf, view them when I feel emotionally strong enough to, and continue with all of the other things that I enjoy. Of course, this is no way to live, to live without the magick; so I've got ideas to create magick for us in this new stage of life and once we move to the land. It will be Olde World Magick for sure.

I find cranberries magickal, I can't be the only one? Little orbs of luxurious color that, when cooked long enough, pop open and become jammy. There is something about the color of them that mesmerizes me, links me to life. Woodchuck really, really wanted me to make my annual horseradish cranberry spread for Christmas. And it sits now in the fridge, a couple of weeks into the new year, partially eaten because he keeps forgetting about it. Most likely we were just going through the movements, but in 2026 and beyond, I want to do everything with intention, make each movement a ritual.

Christmas Eve dinner was downsized this year to be our homemade Pierogi and some lemon pepper salmon. It was small and yummy!

We walked dinner over to our oldest sons house, and got to see the lanterns left out so that Santa could find his way! See what I mean about the magick of children and the holiday? 

Once we got home, it was time to wrap gifts. My heart just wasn't in it this year, but I pushed through to keep things consistent for everyone. Even Pierogi the cat got a gift of a submarine (and a very large bag of organic catnip!)😂

Christmas morning pagach and tea in a mug a friend got me!

I picked out all of my own gifts again. Makes for getting what you really need/want, but takes even more magick out of the day. I picked a metal rolling pin, metal measuring cups, a long hand-made metal spoon, and a long and thin spatula. Not shown is the hand cream I ask for every year.

I also decided on seat covers from Weather-Tech! After cleaning the upholstery myself, and seeing how dirty the water was, and how stained the seats still were (not to mention, stinky), we had been relying on sheets to cover them up. That was cumbersome to adjust each time you got in and out of the car. These covers are fantastic so far! I'm glad I got them, though I probably won't enjoy the back color in the Summer sun 😂🫠

I got a bar of this chocolate for each of the boys. If it doesn't work for anxiety, hey, it's chocolate and that's yummy.

I can't say that she loves it, but once I am able to move better, I will make this into some play-time fun!

We had no white Christmas again. We headed to the land shortly after the holiday on a wet, drizzly day. I don't mind those, it makes things seem so much more ethereal, and you can feel the life that the water gives to everything. Sometimes we humans need a shower to feel more human and wake up, why wouldn't other things?

We took down some trees that will be too close to the house. We didn't get to finish, and I did utilize as many of the branches as I could in the time we had allotted.

We went for a walk and marveled at the flooding. It is on my list to research ways to remedy this with water loving plants/foliage.

I added the branches to my wildlife shelter, while Woodchuck used the tractor to take the larger pieces over the edge of the prairie, which will also be utilized as shelter by wildlife.

I hate to take trees down, but man the smell is amazing! We actually came out here today to meet the contractor that will be doing the septic. They need to shoot elevations in the ditch from the plotted septic field to make sure we could do a perimeter drain. They forgot about the appointment, but we had to stuff to do anyway, so no hard feelings.

My hand-made wreath blends in with the scenery. As it should. The wreath is grapevine, but it matches the oak leaves behind it 😍

While going for walks, we are always dodging things that wants to poke us. These are the thorns on an Autumn Olive (non-native/invasive)

In my efforts to reduce refined sugar intake, I am doing a smoothie a day, or close to it. I find that if I have one mid-day, I crave less sugar in the evenings. It also helps me to get in some vitamins and supplements in liquid and powders forms that I wouldn't normally take, because I can add them right in with all other ingredients.

A cute pair of hedgehog ad mushie socks a friend got me

And finally, towards the end of Woodchucks vacation, we got in a day date. We stopped at the health food store first since they recently opened and I missed the grand opening event. Not far away from their door was the largest squirrel we have ever seen! Happily munching away on some nuts left out for it by residents, this friend was the size of a large chihuahua. 

Leery enough of humans to take a couple of side steps, but not scared enough to run away.

After stopping in the health food store, which didn't really have anything I needed, we stopped to warm up with a cup of coffee at a place we hadn't been to before. It was a very cold day! Won't go back to this place, but it was nice to try.

Then we walked to get lunch as Mucho Mas, which is one of my favorite places to get Nachos! We passed by a public space that had gingko trees! Woodchuck has a hard in time in the restaurant because it's dark and with his eyesight, he needs lots of lighting.

This is a half order of Nacho's, which is still the size of a large dinner plate! I had enough to left to take home for two more meals.

Then we stopped in a new store that opened called The Witchy Cauldron. I also missed the grand opening for this shoppe as well, and was on pins and needles with excitement to get in there! So many wonderful things, fairly priced, and she had it all set up so beautifully! I have a small list of things to get the next time I go back in!

I loved this hat, but didn't get it. I did get a glycerite cleanse and some incense. Had it been warmer, we would have gone for a walk at a county park, but the wind was just too much for us.

That was the end of our fun, and it was back to work again at the boys house! Nothing like a torrential downpour/thunderstorm/flood during the Winter!

Spring, is that you?

For the first time ever, I got to FaceTime! I've accidently butt-dialed people on FaceTime, but this was on  purpose and we got to open Christmas gifts with my sister and her family! It was so nice to see them, but it also made me want to see them in person even more 😂 My sister is a very intuitive gift-giver. She didn't know that the cookbook was one I had checked out from the library and loved, even took some copies of recipes. I love everything!

The "My Book House" notebook? That nearly brought me to tears. I have the whole collection of books from when I was little, and would spend HOURS reading them, looking at the pictures, and taking in the smell. She found someone who makes notebooks from heavily damaged books, and the lady had one from that collection! Some of the story pages survived and were put into the notebook as well. It is one of the most personal and significant gifts I've ever received! 😍

Back at the sons house, and moving on to mud and primer! It is going very close to the time that he can finally shower in his own home again!

Then it is back to the land on an absolutely freezing day! The plan was to be out there to meet the septic company so they could get those elevation numbers, and then we would work on the truck. The turn signals don't shut off automatically because something is broken inside, so we (Woodchuck) were going to take care of that.

It was so cold though, that I couldn't handle it. I had on my thickest socks, work boots, one-piece coverall (we call them Monkey Suits), hat, etc. But my finger tips and toes were frozen and hurting, so I bailed and went and sat in my car with the heat on, lol. Once the septic guy was done, we decided to leave (Woodchuck didn't have the part he needed to fix the truck anyway) and head over to the auction house not too far away from where we currently live. They had a coffee and two end table set listed that we wanted to bid on, but we like to look at things first. This car caught our eye when we were parking! I'm not a Ford girl, but I like the looks of the car!

This auction was FULL of antiques and I thoroughly enjoyed walking through the whole thing just so I could see everything until we got to the one item I wanted to bid on, lol. Which we didn't win, BTW.

Back to the sons house for the second time in one day to get the second coat of primer on

I took a little time to work on fixing a bag/backpack for a friend. The magnetic closure ripped off, but the rest of the bag was like new. I've gotten a little farther along than this, in fact, it's almost done now. I need to get updated pictures. I also wanted to have it delivered before my surgery, but she ended up with the flu and I don't want that, so I told her it will have to be once I am more mobile and can drive myself, and some of the crud has cleared out of society.

Back to the sons to start painting. The paint was decided on on a trip with just the guys. The story changes, but I guess the boy picked a darker blue, Woodchuck voiced concern about the space being too small for that dark of color (I wish people would stop saying that), and another color was picked. Myself? I don't like the color at all, but the son seems to be okay with it and that's all that matters. Once the whole bathroom is done in the color, it might be a bit too much, but it's too late now. 

I also made some fantastic muffins! Some were going to go to a friend as a house-warming gift, but she ended up needing to cancel that morning because she got sick. These are chocolate zucchini muffins from the Kneaders cookbook. There is a crumble on top, but also walnuts and mini chocolate chips.

Back to the sons house for the final coat of paint!

And done! Yes, there is still the header to build, and still the rest of the bathroom to demo and remodel, but at least he can shower now. Or can he? Another snafu to come.

And that, my friends, ends 2025. With Woodchuck being on vacation during New Years for the first time since the boys were little (that I can remember), we debated on attending a new years eve bash and found a couple of things to decide between. But, we don't drink anymore, the food wasn't something either of us would eat, we didn't want to catch any illnesses so close to my surgery, and we didn't want to pay that much money. So we decided to stay in, where he fell asleep in his recliner for most of the evening while Pierogi and I watched the things that he didn't want to. It was cozy and peaceful, while the weather outside was icy and cold (and of course was the year the oldest decided that he want to go out for the holiday and then we were worried about him traveling, lol). But we made it to the new year, and not everyone was that fortunate! Yes, we had some major bumps in the road, but things worked out, and life went back to our normal the second half of the year. Now to prepare for surgery in about a weeks time from New Years, and start getting a plan together for every other big thing waiting for us! Thank you for being here with us!