Creating enjoyment of every day

I feel like I've crammed so much STUFF into 2026 already. Mostly not fun stuff. Work, work, work...at home, in the business, on the land, on the sons bathroom, physical therapy, work out, work out, work out. I guess I could look at it through the lens of I was getting some things wrapped up during the Winter, so that it opens up my availability in the Spring to more fun, but I haven't seen a lot of fun yet. Don't get me wrong, I am grateful for each thing I can do, staying busy, and for life itself. But you have to do some things along the way that feed the soul, replenish what is taken by every day situations, and just feel freedom and joy to pursue what makes you smile. Have you forgotten about that? Are you looking around you and wondering where time has gone and when was the last time you allowed yourself to have fun? I did that too.

The work does still continue in between my quests for soul food, and speaking of food....I am trying to eat more Spring foods instead of fat-layering Winter ones. Avo toast: organic avocado on lightly toasted sourdough, turkey bacon, and lemon pepper. (I actually just walked away from typing this post so that I could make this again. This time I added some Everything Bagel garlic sauce that I got on clearance at the grocery store and am obsessed with! I am putting it on everything!)

I haven't been as much a part of the bathroom remodel at our sons house now that the shower is done. Partly because of the hip surgery, partly because there are things that Woodchuck doesn't need my help with and I would just be in the way in that tiny space. He needed help with some larger sheets of drywall though and so we tromped over there together. I had forgotten to share (I think) about the new exhaust fan (his bathroom never had one) and the switch (all professionally wired!)

He had to take the toilet out so we could also start laying the new floor. I spent some time cleaning this up. EESH. 😵

The guys did a nice job of picking out new flooring, though I don't know how much input the boy had compared to Woodchuck! 

During the times that Woodchuck didn't need my help, I started cleaning the house. Our son is working 60 hours a week, and with Aspergers and ADD, cleanliness/cleaning is never at the top of the list. I checked the fridge to see if there was anything moldy, and honestly, I am surprised that this kid goes grocery shopping once a week. He's not eating much that's cold and healthy, that's for sure!

I also spent a little time researching garden tools in the moments that Woodchuck didn't need my help, but resigned myself to the fact that there isn't going to be one to help me pull the garlic mustard. For other weeds though, tools like this one got highly recommended.

Time to start the flooring! I was actually very surprised at the ease of this stuff! I was surprised that this one was picked, since Woodchuck keeps talking about how he wants everything in the bathroom to be more modern now. This reminds me of old barn wood. But hey! A floor is a floor and it's better than what he had! 

We left it like this for the night, and warned the boy to be careful not to trip over the edge.

It was a beautiful evening to walk home! Just look at the moon, and that bright star to the left of it. Venus, maybe? The bright star in the Southeast always seems to be Venus 😂

Woodchuck did the next trips by himself.

I did have to go back briefly to help change out the lighting. Our son LOVED the old lighting (he's an old soul), but the globes over the lightbulbs (not pictured here) were too difficult for him to get on and off to change the bulbs (reminder that he has Aspergers and fine motor issues).

This is the new lighting that they picked out. Unfortunately, it wasn't thought about at the time about how the lights come down from the ceiling, and that prevents the vintage medicine cabinet mirror from being opened. He was REALLY sad about that, but luckily, I had a mirror that was nearly identical to his that I will spray paint the frame of it silver to match his new stuff.

Spring is getting closer, and there have been days that we can open the windows. Now that doesn't mean that they will get to stay open all day. We might have them open in the morning and by lunch time it's freezing cold again and we have to close up. 😂 Pierogi absolutely loves the fresh air and sunshine, and I am looking forward to giving her wider window sills to sit on at the next house!

I don't know about you, but I am ready to have some fun! Every moment of every day seems to be about figuring things out and I am ready for ONE day without that. So, I went to a nature seminar. I wasn't sure if I was already going to know everything discussed, but I figure if I learn ONE new thing, it was worth the time! And I am so glad that I went because I learned A LOT! Plus, there were organizations set up that had a lot of pamphlets and such that I grabbed. 

I thought the name of the speaker sounded familiar and it turns out that I had one of his books! I haven't read it yet though, and my reading time has tanked now that there are Spring projects to get done. I ran into an old acquaintance, met someone from the same town I live in, got lots of brochures, and settled in for the program. Enter Doug Tallamy!

There was a book signing at the end, but I bowed out towards the end of the question and answer portion that happened before that because I was meeting a friend for lunch. I had chicken lemon rice soup, and a chicken salad croissant sandwich. YUM! I had enough time to get home, change, feed Woodchuck, and we went to a friends house who invited us over to watch a prescribed burn on her prairie. It's not my place to share her photos here, but I am SO glad that we went! It was both beautiful and terrifying, and it did convince Woodchuck that we should check into having one done on the watershed.

In between it all, I finally finished the beaded pumpkin earrings that I started in 2025! I love how they turned out, and it was my first time beading the outside AND inside of the ring!

A couple of Mondays ago, we headed for the land to finish cutting the trees by where the new house will go. We were on a time crunch because we had an appointment in the afternoon in a different town to meet with a bank about a construction loan. I couldn't really do all that much yet to help out, though I did pick up limbs/trunks that weren't too heavy. So my parking spot view for this day was a bit different than usual!

It was such a warm, sunny day and perfect for being outside and getting work done! I miss when we could be out here all day and not have to cut our time short to get somewhere.

Once we got everything cleaned up from that, we headed to town. You gotta keep in mind that when we've been working on the land, we are wearing land work clothes, we are disheveled, muddy, etc. Man, did we get the looks going into the bank. It was like a nice hotel lobby. 😒I was told this loan before going there that was a done deal, that they approved us. What was not taken into consideration by the loan officer was that the type of house had changed. And somehow this loan officer did not know until talking with a co-worker before we got there that they don't give loans out on the type of house we decided to go with. She said she could check with her boss, and blah, blah, blah, but when I told her that the house has to be paid for before it leaves the facility, she explained their 5 draw policy. I stopped her, and said, "Then this isn't going to work and we should just cut our ties now." What I WISH I could have said was, "Why are we just now being told this? Why couldn't you call us before we made a 45 minute drive to let us know what you found out and we could have just said right then that we are cancelling the appointment and moving on?!" I was really irritated by that part of it, not as much about the part of them not giving us the loan. But I feel SO bad for Woodchuck. I know he feels SO BAD that we couldn't go through with the original custom designs. Again, I don't feel bad. A home is what we make it. An RV, a tent, a trailer.....they can all be a comfortable home. So we went and grabbed some thing to eat, and he pouted in his food and I'm all like, "It's gonna be ok!" Then we went back to the land to walk around since we didn't have time before we needed to get to the appointment.

I don't know why I expect the flooding to look any different on each trip out there! 😂

I finally saw a REAL ladybug, and I have to say she was much feistier than the Asian ones I've handled! I didn't want her getting stepped on, and moved her off to the side.

I'm thinking this spider might be expecting!

I guess we have more than one kind of willow at the land! This one is a native American Willow on the watershed.

I don't know how I see the things that I do! A flash of color....a movement....even the tiniest of creatures like this Red Velvet Mite.

                                      And this spider, something in the Wolf family, I assume. 

I have to start thinking now about mosquito dunks(update: I checked into them and decided not to use them), and we've given up for now on the pond meal situation. 

Eventually, Woodchuck would like to have some fruit trees, and I am finding some dotted here and there. I believe that this might be an apple tree. It's on the watershed and I am assuming that it's ok to leave it there.

It's funny some times to see plants in all stages of their life. What comes up looking just like everything else in its infant and juvenile stage will look completely different in its adult stage. This is bergamot/bee balm. Supposedly, this one will be white, but I've only ever had purple on the land so far. Time will tell! In the meantime, I need to figure out how to protect this from the mower, since it is right on the edge of the fire break path. 

We are putting the truck to use now! We cleaned out our little greenhouse and shed here at home and took the items over to the land to store. Woodchuck was finally able to fix the turn signal (they stayed on and had to manually be shut off). Now he needs to fix one of the locks on the doors, but that won't get done before the indoor rummage sale we are traveling to this Saturday. We have to go pick up the truck tonight, and he's going to do an oil change on it since he doesn't know when the last one was done. He's not great about getting little projects done, so I'll have to keep reminding him of the door lock. He calls those kinds of projects his "retirement projects". I don't see how he's going to get everything done that he's saving for retirement, lol.

This seems to be the year for strong storms here in Indiana! We've already had several confirmed tornadoes from those storms. This was as I parked at my Urologists office, I drove right into it. We aren't talking about rainstorms, we are talking about absolute torrential downpours, non-stop lightening, and heavy winds with most of the storms we are getting. 

Woodchuck hasn't been back to the sons house to work on the bathroom for nearly a week now. Busy, tired, and now sick again. Him working at the steel mill is like having our kids in school. He is ALWAYS bringing home illnesses, and this is the second time this year. I woke up this morning coming down with it too. The bathroom also does have the first coat of primer now, but I don't have a picture of that....and he had to walk over a hand-held mirror so our son could shave at his kitchen sink. Thank GAWD this is the last project he is doing over there. His intentions are good, but it's time to let others do this kind of work, and get it done in a more timely fashion. 

Speaking of sick. I was doing my physical therapy exercises on the bedroom floor and kept seeing a bird flying back and forth from the gutters gathering nesting material. I got up to see what kind of bird it was, and was near Woodchucks CPAP that sits right in front of that window. I happened to glance down, and did a doubletake....what was that in his water reservoir? Black mold, peeps. All over inside and all over the gasket seal. I told him about it and he looked at it when he got home, tried cleaning it, cut the gasket off (I told him not to), and went to use it, and without that gasket it couldn't get the vacuum seal that it needed. So he had to break out his back up CPAP and I had to order a new water reservoir and remind him to open it up every morning after he empties out the water. I'm sure that black mold didn't help his asthma, COPD, or sinuses as they heal from his surgery. Within a couple of days of stopping usage of the black mold CPAP, he got sick. (but everyone he works with is sick too). He did go to the doctor on Monday and had a chest x-ray because when he inhaled it felt like someone was stabbing him and his oxygen concentration levels were low. They also ran lab, where they found his WBC and kidney function was off. He waited two days and didn't hear from the doctor, so he got a hold of them yesterday and was told he was fine and to take Mucinex. He argued with him and told him that his co-workers all went to their doctors and were given medication. So they started him on a steroid this morning. I think that was a good idea and hope he starts to feel better, because he is absolutely miserable. I woke up this morning not feeling well, so it's usually 3 days after he comes down with something that I get it. Hopefully we will stay healthier once he retires!

I've also finished another project. I made this one YEARS ago for my youngest son, who doesn't want things like this. So I spruced it up with some glass beads. This is a medicine wheel, and most people don't know what those are. What is a medicine wheel? It represents many things!!! The circle of life, the six directions (North, South, East, West, Above (sky), and Below (Earth/ground), the four races of humans (white, red, black, yellow and the traditional colors of a medicine wheel), being centered and all of those things in balance around the center. The medicine pouch in the center, although not closed up on the sides, is for you to put something in it, if you wish. A small rock, photos, charm, piece of paper with something written on it, etc. This one has a sage twig. I am working on updating two smaller ones now as well. It feels good to be creating, even when it's a couple of minutes a day.

We are hoping to get word next week from the second bank about the construction loan we applied for, so stay tuned!

5 years

 We are nearly to the 5 year mark of owning the land, and just after that anniversary, we *should* be moving to it. We are coming right along in moving forward, damn all that fear and anxiety of the unknowns of that while also dealing with all of the regular Spring stuff like flooding in the low areas and invasive plants waking up. I have an appointment next week with my surgeon and I will be picking his brain at just how much physically I am allowed to do right now, and what kind of movements are okay.

Things are becoming a whirlwind, so Woodchuck and I again are dividing and conquering. There are some things that he is taking the lead on, some that I am, and then we meet in the middle. My friends must have all known that I needed a little cheer section recently and gave me some adorable gifts! A crocheted cotton hair bandana and a little moth stuffy for my car dashboard from one friend.

And this lovely card, infused with flower seeds, from another! You plant the whole card as one piece, or you can tear it apart into pieces and bury the pieces around! 

I was finally able to get back over to our sons house with Woodchuck to help him. Of course it was to help carry drywall, a large sheet where I had to lift that, limp from the garage to the house, walk backwards up a few stairs, and into the bathroom. But it was just that one sheet, and we did it! Woodchuck got the hole for the outlet slightly off and had to cut it larger. No biggie.

On one of the trips when I wasn't with him, Woodchuck found an old bottle in the wall, with some old razor blades. I plan on putting the bottle back in (the blades were not removed), along with a note of when the bathroom remodel was done! 

He also found a very worrisome bundle of wires! Was my grandfather the one that wired these lights up, because this looks like his work! Flashback story time: when I was growing up, we spent A LOT of time at our grandparents house. In the kitchen, the microwave was on a cabinet just to the left of the fridge. If you grabbed both handles at the same time, you got shocked. My brother told me to grab them one time and I said no and he told me that the wiring had been fixed. I was young, very young, early Elementary school young, and I believed him and got shocked. 😂 All of the wiring that Grandpa did inside and outside looked like this.

On our next trip out the land, we started to see with different eyes. Getting closer to living out there, now bumped up in the timeline, makes it to where we can REALLY start envisioning it done. I believe in manifestation, whether it be intentional or unknowingly done. So we always look at the spot where the house will go and talk about where the porches and doors will line up to.

I am on my own on this trip out! Woodchuck needs to finish fixing the turn signal situation on the truck, and then he wants to change the oil in my car since I've overdue. So I came prepared with my phone for picture taking, and a couple of books. With how crazy the previous several days have been, I could use a bit of rest and nature! The day was warm-ish, but at this time of day (later afternoon), I am a bit chilled. 

On my way by, I checked the slumping edge of the pond and found more holes starting. I'm tired of fixating on this stuff, and am giving myself permission to walk away in this moment and get some peace.

This tends to be the bench we use most. It gives us views of the watershed, the second forest at our back. Especially at this time of day, it is one of my favorite spots to feel closer to the sinking sun. I was hoping we would get great views of the sunset here, but the trees block it...and I'll take that. 😍 I brought two books because I was starting a new one, and in case I didn't like it, I brought a back up. 😂

The sun is starting to set and I haven't heard from Woodchuck yet, so I started to head back. I decided to see how bad the garlic mustard situation was going to be, and kind of wish that I hadn't! The seed bank can last for 10 years, and I am only half way there into eradicating it. I tried bending over, and picked enough to fill the gallon ziploc bag I had with me, but my hips were screaming the whole time. I will need to find another way to do my work this Spring!

I have been looking into this kind of tool, which seems like every company and their Grandpa has a version of it available!  I inquired in an invasive plant group about a tool that maybe some body else has found? They are well-meaning, but I am getting a lot of comments to ask the boys scouts, schools, neighbors, friends, grandkids (I don't have any), spouse, etc. Folks, there is a reason that I have been doing this alone for the last five years! I found those repeated suggestions stressful, actually, but I do understand they are well meaning, and don't have the time to read through all of the other comments to see that others brought it up and I already responded about it. There is a different brand that I think I am going to go with, but this is the kind of design.

While Woodchuck and the electrician properly wired up the boys bathroom, my friend (the electricians wife) and I went for a walk in a county park that I used to work at. The challenge of wearing my Smart Watch every day, and closing all of the rings every day, is working out well. But. I'm wondering if I am doing too much? My hips ache all of the time now, but seemed to have started after having an incident with the right hip that was fixed a few years ago. It's been a couple of weeks now since that incident and it still hurts. I have an appointment to see my surgeon next week and am hoping he can shed some light on the situation. I am averaging 4-5 miles every day, and at least 10,000 steps. Again, I wonder if I am overdoing it so close to surgery. I can become obsessed with things like weight and how my body looks, so I am trying to be really careful about this. I decided to weigh myself only once a week, and if I am still too hard on myself, or too obsessed, I go down to once a month. I actually forget to weigh myself this week, it's been so crazy busy!

That is one mighty big burl! There were smaller ones farther down the tree too. Look at all of that beautiful tree resin!

Some times I'll see animals in the water, but not today. I sure wish they would do something about the invasive plants! I have been walking past the same honeysuckles for nearly 9 years now! When I inquired about removing them myself, I was brushed off and told that someone else does it. But, um, actually they don't. I found out by working at the county parks that it's all a numbers game. It's about 

how many visitors come to the nature center every day that it's open, how many attend the programs offered, how the outside amenities are utilized. But I digress.

So we went from a beautiful, warmer day to right around freezing the next. Woodchuck wanted to walk on the land since he was busy working in the barn last time. It was windy, freezing, cloudy and, of course, as soon as we got the land, it started sprinkling. I absolutely don't care. I played out in it as a child, and I will play out in it as an adult!

The flood water continues to rise. It is up into the grass, heading to the shooting range area for my bow and arrow, and will only continue to wear away at the new bank created on the actual pond. This needs to be fixed ASAP.

The watershed is only a couple of inches from overflowing on this side too.

Maybe I knew it before and forgot, but this is goat willow. And it is not native. Adding that to the list to research. Sigh. I seem to remember asking about it once in a native/invasive group and someone said that they'd rather have the goat willow than no willow at all. 

We also found the spice berry bush, since I finally remembered last year to mark its location on the map we use while out there. This one, on the watershed, always has cocoons on it, but the one in the forest doesn't. I checked with a native plant group and if the bush in the forest had been smaller, I could have transplanted it. So it's just going to stay where it's at and nature can work her magick. I hope one day to see something emerge, but I need to research more when that happens.

I found this tiny nest that was probably dislodged in the high winds we keep having. I tucked it into a nook of a pink oak tree that was nearby.

Woodchuck found these galls!

Pretty much the only green thing out here is the path of clover and most invasives, lol.

                                        I did find one stinging nettle plant, which is native! 

I also found several more Oothecas.

So beautiful, and yet such a pain in the ass, lol. I get that it's not the fault of the pond! It wasn't done correctly by the previous owner (and we found out no permits were applied for the pond, or the ditches.) We took on someone else's lazy project and now we have to fix it, simple as that. Whomever gets the land after us will have a wonderful place that is, hopefully, fairly worry-free and fixed, lol.

We've started all processes of getting the new house situation rolling. We've signed all of the initial documents with the facility building the house, we've started the process of getting the construction loan, but Woodchuck is struggling with that and I need to step in tomorrow to help, and we went this past Monday to get the building permit. They changed the address, so that creates more footwork for us to get it changed with all of the agencies that had the first one. They deny ever issuing us the first address. Story of my life that I have to interact with people who make mistakes and not take ownership of that. I also thought we had 30 days from the time they send us the invoice to pay for the permit (I read that on their website, but maybe it was outdated information), but they sent the invoice last night, minus two porches that need to be on it (that will change what we pay), and said it was due the next day. I am not paying it until they have it with the two other porches. We had a whole conversation about that while at their office, and maybe I misunderstood her, or maybe she misunderstood me, but I want it resolved from the beginning so that I don't find out along the way that it wasn't done right and we get blamed for it and fined.

It's been that kind of stuff NON-STOP this year. Nearly every agency, organization, situation, has had us (mostly me, since I don't work outside of the home anymore), making calls, sending emails, providing document proof because someone didn't do their job right. The insurance company for my surgery because they denied coverage. I am due a refund from the hip brace company and have the proof that an extra payment was made and they keep telling me I paid what I owed. I was able to get on a payment plan for my surgery, but we had to pay for Woodchucks the morning of the surgery when he checked in. The IRS says we never filed taxes in 2020, and is charging us $5,000, but our tax preparer provided the proof that we did file. We always file! So on and so forth. It is exhausting and maddening. All while trying to do everything else in a day that we need to.

I am grateful that we can still keep up with all of this, but admit that it's getting harder. I am loving the process of purging the house of STUFF, because STUFF takes up too much time, energy, and is a distraction. I've always been a clutter person. My house is cleaning and picked up in the center, with clutter around the edges and on flat surfaces such as the kitchen table (which Woodchuck also clutters) and my desk. I have my hands in A LOT of pots. It is something I hope to get better at keeping under control in the new house, especially with less stuff. 

Today is all about working with the banking lender to get documents to her, get more housework done, continue to purge/pack/clean, and wait for the big storms to come in later this afternoon/evening.  Thanks for being on this journey with us!