I can't find my camera cord so you're going to just have to use your imagination to picture the things I've seen in the past few days...
Like the big black bear that we saw wandering through Helen at about 7am yesterday morning. We wanted to go to Hofer's for breakfast because they have corned beef hash, which Austin loves, but they don't open until 8am. This bear.... he was huge... biggest bear I've ever seen in the wild... if you can call the parking lot behind Hofer's "wild". Oddly, even though I squeal at the sight of spiders or lizards or any creepy crawly thing and I imagine I would lose my mind at the sight of a snake but... this bear was just minding his business looking like he was a tourist checking out the sights. He went on his way and we went on ours... and I wasn't the least bit scared of him. I was more amazed at him than anything.
I wish you could see the view from my nest. I finally got enough boxes moved that I could open the blinds on both windows and when it's daylight I have a gorgeous view of a lush, green forest and nothing else. I can't wait until fall... it's gonna be incredible. I've decided to go very simple with the window treatments... I'm going to just buy some lightweight fabric in the colors that match my bedding and drape it loosely around the curtain rod... and then buy a complimentary color to drape over my mirror on my dressing table since they're both on the same wall.
I wish you could have seen what a fool I made of myself yesterday while pumping gas. I was wearing these capris that I bought the day after the fire when I had nothing to wear that didn't reek of smoke... and I didn't pay close attention to the size... they're a little loose... and I kept feeling something sort of slipping but figured it was my ill-fitting underwear (because I had two weeks worth of underwear in the washer at Jim and Angie's at the time and was down to the ones that don't fit right) and then I glanced down at my feet and noticed that my capris were longer than I thought and then... I realized that my pants had slipped down and my ill-fitting underwear was showing... right there at the gas station in front of Ingles with half of Clarkesville watching me. Good thing I can laugh at myself. And I'm sure I wasn't alone.
I wish I could show you a picture of my new washing machine sitting on my front porch... how southern and country is that? I bought it from a classified ad on www.accessnorthga.com. The guy had told me it was about 1 year old and I was paying him $200 for it, which I thought was reasonable. I was apprehensive about the transaction... being a girl and not knowing anything about washers and how they should look... and having a strange man in my house and all that. Sometimes I really feel vulnerable. SO I prayed that God would help me to make a wise decision about the washer and NOT buy it if it was a lemon. Fortunately, our handy man and upstairs neighbor, Morrie, was here to help me haggle. Or rather, to haggle for me. He took a look at the washer and said, "did you tell her it was a year old?" and the guy said, "I think it's actually about 3 years old..." and Morrie said, "then I think you should give it to her for a hundred and a half" and the guy said, "well, we delivered it too..." and Morrie paused... and looked it over really well and said, "I don't know. I know she needs it but it sounds like you misled her..." and the guy said, "$175... " and Morrie looked at me and said, "what do you think?" and I said, "I think that's fair" and so they moved it to my porch. It's in my lease that Morrie has to hook up the washer because they've had a lot of trouble with washers being hooked up incorrectly and causing water damage. Which is fine with me... because I couldn't do it myself. After the guy left Morrie said, "you got a good deal... it's a good washer"...
That part was funny and Morrie was a Haggling Rock Star... and I was once again convinced that there is a God and He does hear my prayers and He does show favor to me. You can think it was a coincidence but... not for me. I feel like God heard my cry for help and sent it. But the part I would love for you all to see was the group of people that gathered to watch the delivery of my washer... James and Maribel next door and their kids, Morrie and his wife Ellen... Joe and his son... it's like the whole neighborhood gathered to see what I was getting. It was hilarious to me... I love this neighborhood.
And our youth Pastor, Jamie, has a dryer that is fairly certain he can bring to me on Monday that his in laws have sitting out not being used. He came by yesterday to haul another load of empty boxes away for us. What a blessing... we have so many people in our community and church family who look after us. It gives me courage and comfort to know that we are not alone because that's my greatest fear, you know, being alone and not being able to do the things I need to do... because physically, I'm not getting better.
I believe that the pain in my hands and feet is related to the osteoarthritis that is in my spine. I'll see the pain doctor in August and get him to check things out. Every joint in my hands and feet hurts but there are joints that hurt worse and it's making it hard for me to grasp things (which is how I broke the coffee pot)... very painful to walk... and it's making the pain in my back seem less significant in comparison. And it hurts to type... which is the worst part of it. It's worrisome because the pain in my back has never gotten better over these long six months since the pain started... and has really, if anything, gotten worse, I just talk about it less, I think, because I know people are sick to death of hearing about it. To think that I have this new pain that is making the most basic things difficult... opening a bottle of water... pouring a cup of coffee... holding a cup of coffee... even petting the kitties hurts... I pray that this is just a temporary thing and not a permanent "learn to live with it" ailment like the back. My elbows hurt too... but not my knees, so that it good. There's no mental picture to go along with that... just pray with me and for me that this is not my future.
I wish I had a picture to show you of the water filling my light fixture over my dining room table. There's a leak from somewhere. It would be tragic if we hadn't just gone through the tragedy of the fire. At this point, having boldly determined and declared that God has a plan for me... and seeing everything through the optimistic eyes of faith... we told Morrie, he has had the same thing happen in other downstairs units and knows how to fix it and in the meantime offered us a goldfish to go in the light fixture. Totally cracked me up! It's really low on my worry list at the moment.
So my plan for today is to get the rest of the stuff out of the living room, we're so close to getting it looking like normal. Then I want to relocate the rubbermaid containers in the dining room to somewhere out of the way so that Morrie can work without impediment. I would dearly love to finish sorting through the clothes in my closet but I'm not going to be overly optimistic. We're getting there.
I have to rest up for the week ahead too because we're losing Holly this week... she has a teaching job, finally. It took her a year after graduation, bless her heart... and she's finally able to be what she wanted to be when she grew up. I'm so happy for her but so sad to lose her. She's so good at what she does and so fun to hang out with. I'm really going to miss her... and that's going to leave us with just four people in the office... D and the three of us... which means that I'm going to have to hang tougher and not let the pain keep me out of work.
Austin is up and he's asked if we can try Hofer's again this morning... and pick up some food that he likes at the grocery store. I said, "of course"... so we'll be heading out at first light. I'm not keen on going out in the dark here... which is funny... in the trailer I was afraid to go out after dark because of the crime... here I'm afraid to go out in the dark because of bears.
I've been watching Mamma Mia this morning. I love that movie/show. I didn't know how much I loved ABBA's music until I saw the show while I was in Vegas. The movie came out a year later and the music just makes me happy. Dancing Queen always makes me think of Purple Michael.
So that's the picture i would take to close this entry out... me... in my big pink recliner with a kitty cat perched on the back of the chair... half awake/half asleep... looking out toward my view of the world to see when it's safe to head out.
Hope you have a beautiful Sunday. If you're around here, my brother is preaching today and it's sure to be a great message because it's something God impressed strongly on his heart. I may try to go but I'm not making any promises. Love and hugs, y'all...
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