Jim is in Stillwater until Monday. The house feels big and empty tonight with him gone. It will be a very quiet weekend on the prairie for me.
I took recycling to Cottonwood Falls this afternoon. I timed it perfectly as the trailer I dump the stuff in had just returned from being emptied so it was easy to dump things in to. I dropped a sack of books off at the little free library box in Strong City. There was room in the box to put the whole sack of books in it. I was glad to get rid of the sack of books that had been sitting around for a bit.
Then I went into Emporia and dropped off Peanut Butter Balls at Jason’s house and then at Michelle’s house. Jason got a dozen eggs too. I thought Cody might enjoy eating eggs from the chickens he loves to visit. I got to visit with Michelle for a hot minute. It was good to see her. It is so hard to live so close but not get to see my kids. I saw both Tagen and Ellexia for a second. Tagen was still doing school on-line. He looked like he was feeling better.
Came home from town and took a long afternoon’s nap. I didn’t sleep very much last night and was tired.
Took four calls on the hot line last night. Two of them were heart breakers. One I felt like I was able to help a bit and offer some hope to the texter, but the other one was in a situation where they didn’t have a lot of options. I did what I could to make them feel better about themselves but not sure I was able to offer much in the way of a solution out of their issues. Sometimes you want to be able to give them your number and have them come live with you. I have another shift tonight.
Project Clean This House didn’t get very far yesterday or today. I have big plans for the weekend with Jim gone though. I got a bit done today but not enough. Sleep was more important this afternoon.
I forgot to lay some meat out for dinner so had breakfast for dinner. It works in a pinch. I’ll remember to lay something out for me for tomorrow. Since I knew Jim was leaving I didn’t think to lay something out to feed myself.
I need to bake Jim some cookies this weekend. I sent the last bag of Snickerdoodles that were in the freezer to OK with him. When I need to take a break from cleaning I will bake his cookies. I love baking – just don’t eat the stuff I bake. The grandkids are set for a bit with all the Christmas goodies I gave them plus the extra peanut butter balls they got today.
Still hard for me to believe that Christmas is a week from tomorrow. I haven’t found the Christmas spirit yet. Not at all unusual for me – some years I never find it and sometimes I catch a bit of it. Too bad we all can’t celebrate and party hardy for the New Year’s this year. 2020 has been one for the record books in many ways and it will be good to see a New Year start. Trusting 2021 will be a bit less chaotic on many levels for all.
It won’t be long before I will start having extra eggs to sell. I am getting 6 – 8 eggs a day right now. They are mainly small eggs though – it takes 4 eggs to make 3 when I bake. The Rhode Island Reds are starting to lay and the Americanas shouldn’t be too far away from laying now. The eggs will gradually get to large size over the next three to four weeks. Let me know if you are interested in getting eggs and I’ll let you know when I have extras. I’m still getting double yolk eggs occasionally.
Trying to think of something fun I could do by myself this weekend. I don’t want to spend the entire weekend cleaning although I have enough cleaning to do that I could do that. I have my shopping done so no need to go to a store. I’m having trouble thinking of things to do when I choose to stay home and not go out much in public. Wish my yarn would get here so I could get the blanket started. Shipping is taking extra long right now.
It’s almost time to start gathering information so I can have the accountant do our taxes. I’m anxious to see what the impact of getting married will have on my taxes this year. It was an unusual year as I didn’t do any Airbnb business but got unemployment instead. Wonder if I will be able to get my Airbnb back up and running in 2021? Not looking like it so far but maybe with the vaccine I will get to the point where it feels OK to open again. I may decide not to go there again. Some doors aren’t meant to be opened again after they close.
Having strangers come stay in my house feels icky to me right now. I have made so many dear friends from having the Airbnb and know my life has been enriched because of them, yet opening back up feels icky. I won’t reopen unless I can embrace it as I did before. Not sure that is going to happen. I have gotten used to my privacy now and I don’t want to disturb it. Sharing the house with Jim makes the house feel different too. He has taken over part of the basement for his camera collection and it feels good that the basement is finally getting used.
Grateful for a long afternoon nap, grateful Jim had a safe trip to Stillwater, and grateful for breakfast for dinner.