A Tea Party for Two

Rebekah and I had a lovely outing at a local tea house. It was kind of a celebration of the beginning of new adventures. As I write this post, she has completed the first week of the professional training program in ballet and is mostly pleased with her progress. The program really is wonderful and so different from the way she has been taught in the past. She has great hopes that they will really be able to help her hone her skills.

We each selected a different tea. Rebekah had Silver Needle white tea, and I had Imperial Yellow black tea. Our waiter showed us the entire process of steeping our tea. There was more steps to Rebekah's tea, because white tea can be damaged in the process, since it is so delicate and can have a distasteful flavor if it gets too hot.  The tea was very good and didn't even need sugar. 

It was just really nice to go out and have a lovely mother/daughter hour. There are so many neat places to try in our city. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 numbers are really climbing, and that was probably it for us for a long time. 

We were not terribly affected by Tropical Storm Fred. Our nearest shopping area to our home looked like this for a few hours and we had lots of road closures for a few days. However, the county next to us had terrible flash flooding that caused several deaths. 

We are praying that the year goes well and that this pandemic comes to an end. 

Blessings, Dawn
 

The Pattern of Our Days

I know I have been quiet over here for a few weeks. All is going well. I have been very busy selling all of the stuff I have been decluttering from our home for the last year or so. I am kept busy between eBay, Craigslist, Depop and Facebook online yard sales. I am happy to report that I have accomplished my first two goals of earning enough money to set aside for six pairs of pointe shoes for Rebekah (which I hope will take her into January) and money to hire an electrician to straighten out the wonky lighting in the laundry/storage room of the basement. I am very excited about having lighting in the stairwell again and a real light switch in the storage area. 

Elijah is doing very well with his job at Target. It is not his favorite job. He finds it a bit boring or at least lacking creativity. I think he might find it a bit lonely, too. He hasn't said so, but his face lights up when he tells about any interaction he has had with a customer. Otherwise, he basically works alone. He stocks the shelves in the toy and sports departments, helps unload trucks and runs the cardboard Monster crushing machine. He is generally working 25 hours a week, which seems to be his current limit. I am so pleased how nice Target has been so far and so willing to adjust his schedule to meet his needs. His first paycheck was very exciting and bigger than he expected. He was able to pay his modest rent to us (30% of his monthly pay up to $350) put 10% into savings, buy his brother a just because gift, set aside money for his cat's upcoming vet checkup and still have Starbucks coffee money for several outings. He is already plotting his next paycheck and will be putting much more into savings this time. I am so proud of him and all the growth I am seeing in him!

I am not sure if I said it in an earlier post, but Elijah also passed the written test of his Learner's Permit for driving. He hasn't gotten behind the wheel yet. That is way too anxiety producing, but I am hoping to get him into empty parking lot driving in the next few weeks. 

In Elijah and Tim's spare time, they are very busy playing Warhammer. Their mini figurine armies are getting big and they can play much longer games (like 3 hour games). I am surprised how much math and rules are involved with this game. They are always referencing their stacks of Warhammer books. 

Rebekah has been working full time for a few weeks and taking adult dance classes at night to stay conditioned. She loves her new studio. Monday starts the new school year here, so she will be going down to 17.5 hours of work and starting the professional ballet training program. Her co-workers were sad to see her work her last Saturday for the foreseeable future. She has become very useful to them and is now trained in almost every area of this consignment shop. She will still work every morning, Monday through Friday.

Animals keep our hearts extra full around here. Our three cats are so much fun. The picture below is of Eve (the small cat that walked into our lives last New Year's Eve). She is the funniest/clumsiest cat in the house and fits in nicely. She is now a whopping 13 pounds and the biggest cat in the house. 

We have a wild turkey mama with her six poults that visit every day. They are eating lots of bugs.

Well, that is all for now. I am excited and also anxious to see how the next few weeks go. I am a bit concerned about the emotional toll the professional training program will have on Rebekah. She is a perfectionist through and through. 

Blessings, Dawn

A Look at Our 2021 Goals

I thought this might be a good week to review where we are on my 21 goals for 2021. It is going fairly well, I think. Even though everyone is done with school, the year still seems to be ramping up like it does every fall. I know it is only August, but kids are starting back to school all around us. Between the kids' jobs and Rebekah's professional ballet training program about to start, our year is in full swing. I don't think we will get many more family goals accomplished, and I am not sure about more goals for our house. We shall see. 

 Daily Goals ~ 

• Drink more water ~ I hope to drink a minimum of 40 ounces a day. So far, I have accomplished that most days. ~ So far, so good.
• Walk 800 miles by the end of the year ~ I have walked 10 miles so far this year. That is a slow start for me. Winter is hard. The best time for me to walk is when my daughter is in dance classes downtown at night. My city is not very safe to walk around at night. There are many desperate homeless people as well as strange people exhibiting mental problems, and there are very few stores open to pop into if I get nervous. I will start making more progress when it gets lighter in the evenings. We are also trying to take more family walks on the weekends. ~ This goal was very ambitious and I am finding that I will most likely not make it to 800 miles...but every mile counts toward a healthy lifestyle. As of today, I have walked 373 miles.
• Take care of my skin ~ This should be an easy goal. I am mostly in the habit already of putting on sunscreen and lotion daily. ~ Check!
• Read 12 Books ~ I enjoy books but never seem to prioritize them. I hope to accomplish that this year. I am currently reading The Empathy Exams by Leslie Jamison. It is okay. I am not a huge fan, but it is an easy enough read and I am halfway through. ~ Done! I am currently on book thirteen, and I plan to keep going. 
• Convert the rest of my blog into book form ~ This goal will really depend on availability of money. Each book costs a bit over $100 and I am four years behind right now. We will see how far I get. ~ Haven't made any progress on this yet.
• Take photos for a Billion Graves ~ This combines my love of photography, doing service and graveyards. ~ I am dropping this goal. There isn't time for it this year.
• Learn to use my Dad's last professional camera that I received after his death ~ I need to buy the charger and I will be on my way. ~ I am not sure I am going to get to this goal, either.

Broad Long-Term Goals ~ I say broad goals because they are open ended. Each one has an ideal or dream plan versus a realistic plan.

• Travel to a different city at Christmastime ~ I love visiting different cities at Christmastime. We have visited Washington, D.C.; Knoxville, Tennessee; and Greenville, South Carolina at Christmastime in the last few years. We didn't visit anywhere in 2020 for obvious reasons. ~ We have big hopes, but that COVID variant isn't letting up so far.
• No Buying Month ~ I do this most years in January or February. I am not sure when I will do this in 2021. I do buy the essentials, such as groceries and gas. I just don't buy any extras. ~ I decided to do two or three low spend months. We have done two so far and it does help.
• Visit a new-to-us state park ~ When my husband and I were thinking about travel this year, we just started to nervously giggle. Who knows what is to come? It isn't looking like a fantastic year to travel at the moment. However, outdoor places are possibilities. There are state parks far and near that we have never seen. I am sure we can manage to visit one of them. ~ We visited Natural Tunnel State park in Virginia. We loved it. We may get in one more.
• Visit a new-to-us national park or site ~ We have a dream one in mind, but I suspect that a more reasonable one will be our destination. ~ The dream one didn't happen, but we did do two already. We visited Congaree National Park and Fort Pulaski National Monument.
• Take an overnight or weekend trip with the family or a week long trip ~ Ha! There are some destinations that are a short distance away that we have never seen. We shall see if they can happen. ~ Done! We went to Savannah and Atlanta, Georgia.
• Do something new every month with the family ~ This could be as simple as a new game, new hike or takeout from a new-to-us restaurant. It also could be a totally new experience such as going on a horseback ride together (most of us know how to ride a tiny bit). ~ Outside of our trips, we have done small experiences. We played Operation Shrek one night, which I picked up from a thrift store. We tried two new take out places and ice cream at a new place.

Goals for the House ~ 

• Paint the laundry room ~ This one is a huge undertaking and makes me want to faint just to think about it. However, I know it would vastly improve the place. It is very old and dirty cinderblock that has never been painted in some areas or in other areas was painted in a sickening green. ~ Not yet and not likely.
• Replace two or three doors in the house ~ We really could use to replace six doors so I have lots of options. ~ Two doors are ordered and should be installed this month.
• Declutter 365 items from our home ~ This will be an easy goal. I have already gotten rid of 31 items this year. ~ We have currently removed 258 things from our home. That does not include the "one thing in one thing out rule," which we always follow.
• Replace our bedroom curtains with shades, because our curtains are getting pretty worn. ~  Done! I found gorgeous floor length black out and insulated curtains at the thrift store for $16 dollars! They were a steal, and I decided to go with them instead of buying shades.
• Paint the kitchen ceiling. ~ Done! My Mom paid for it to be professionally painted for my birthday.
• Paint the dining room ceiling. ~ Done! My Mom paid for it to be professionally painted for my birthday.
• Make rec room into a useful and comfortable space ~ We are actively working on this project now. It is an underused space and an overflow area in our home where lost items get dumped. It is also where we enter the home, and it is not the nicest space to see when you first arrive home. We are turning it into a multi-purpose room with a sewing area, the model building area for my young men, a closet area and a cat corner with comfortable seating. The cats love to chase their toys around in the big empty space, and we find ourselves sitting on the cold floor while we watch them. ~ Done! We turned it into a family room and now our library is almost empty since we moved most of the furniture downstairs, and the library is now awaiting a plan as to what it will become. 
• Paint the breakfast bar ~ Accomplished this week! ~ Done!

Wow! We have gotten through so much! I look forward to seeing what else can be accomplished by the end of the year. 

Blessings, Dawn