Another 1,000 piece puzzle completed. This is the fourth one in the last month. We found this one at a garage sale a few blocks away for $5 a couple weekends ago.

In between football Willie hung a shelf made by my paternal grandpa. It is now in the entrance to the guest room/Willie’s office and he hung his hats and is displaying several signed baseballs and a few cards. The Christian Yellich bobblehead came from a game we went to in Milwaukee quite a few years ago with some of my family.

This is one of my Alaska pieces we had framed awhile back. I finally got it on the wall of our guest room yesterday afternoon. I love how the color of the wall is also in the painting. Picking the paint for the room was not based on the print, but it was fun to see how the two of them work together.

I also hung the peacock in our bedroom. It had been on an existing nail in our main living area, but the nail was way too high. Whoever hung things up in this house before us hung them all way too high. This print hung above our toilet in the last house. If you look closely it has colors that match the bed and wall. Another unplanned art/room color pairing.

C and her friend took out the boxes of games on Friday and they remained sitting in the family room. I tried to make it through most of them on Sunday and their contents are now in our entry closet. The plan is that they eventually move to a console/cabinet that Willie is going to build, but for now, they have a home. This isn’t all of them. I have two braided bins that contain the smaller games sitting at the top of the stairs. There is at least one box worth of games left, though I think there is another one or two because after having them all laid out we are definitely missing a few. I did leave some in AK with our camper trailer, but those were duplicates.

The fall leaves on the maples are pretty.

I find it interesting what we each get out of a church service. We had a guest speaker yesterday and Willie heard about contentment and I heard about being created as his helpmate and to show Christ’s love in our constellation of relationships.

The kitten, or baby as we call him, was in a very interesting position earlier this evening.

Willie reached out to his care team today because he found a sore nodule in his armpit. Searching the internet gives one all sorts of possibilities and levels of concern. Because he has his bone marrow biopsy and various other appointments on Friday the doctor will look at him then and determine if we need to dig deeper. In the meantime, we will try to trust and not worry.

C did not have any cross country races this week. I think she was glad for the mental break.

Thursday evening we went to our friend’s house to watch the Minnesota Wild NHL Hockey team play. They had an extremely large projector screen in their very large garage/shed and everyone brought lawn chairs to sit in. Turned out most people just stood around and visited or sat outside by the bonfire. There was a knee hockey game going on in the corner and that held the attention of all the teenagers and youngsters. Knee hockey involved a “rink” built of cardboard walls, soft squishy floor tiles, two tiny goals, and players on their knees hitting a ball around. Of course we stayed up way too late, but it was a good time.

Friday ended up being a dud of a day for me. The weather was gorgeous with the sun shining in a blue sky and pleasant temperatures. Willie was feeling a tad under the weather and I was exhausted. I ended up sleeping away most of the day. C had a friend come over after practice to hang out. After dinner we played numerous rounds of “Spicy” Uno. I had never played that version before – it isn’t its own unique set of cards, but has additional rules. If a 7 is played you have to be silent until the next 7 is played. Slap 6’s and if you are the last one you have to draw a card. If someone plays a card that you have in your hand you can play it immediately without waiting for your turn. It was actually quite fun.

In order for us to find a game to play, C had to go into the closet under the stairs and pull out all the game boxes. We now have several game boxes hanging out in the middle of the floor and they need to be dealt with tomorrow. I did put some of the puzzles in the closet today, but I need a way to organize the smaller game that don’t stack nicely. Back in Fairbanks I had nice little cabinets and drawers for all our games. Unfortunately those were all the pieces of furniture that didn’t get to come here with us.

Today Willie and I went on our morning walk and then after breakfast we started assembling Blackstone grills that Willie hopes to sell. We spent all day working on them. I enjoy the methodical following the instructions and putting something together. We have more to do another day.

I hung curtains up a few weeks ago in front of our kitchen bay window. It looks out on the street and while I didn’t mind it overly much, I do prefer having a little something more between people walking by and my kitchen. They are not full length so that the kittens can still enjoy the window sill.

Yesterday was Taco Tuesday. We still haven’t had friends join us.

C came home from strength class and was explaining some of her exercises to Willie. Mango thought it was the perfect time to lay on her foot. Silly kitten. He likes Willie’s feet too.

It was oddly warm out this morning when I got up to move the trash and recycling out to the curb. I was in shorts and a tank top and the air simply gently kissed my skin with muggy warmth. I fully expected it to be cool out as it is the end of September, but nope, it most definitely was not. Quite an odd sensation to anticipate one thing but experience another.

C was messaging a friend back in Alaska. Temperatures were in the 20s and it was calling for snow. We are most definitely not missing that weather.

Did I already tell you that this coming weekend is cross country state championships back in Alaska? C has over a month left of racing here.

Before work Willie and I took a half hour brisk walk around the neighborhood. It was very nice. We picked up several horse chestnuts along the way – I like how they look and feel. My plan is to collect them on our walks though I don’t know what I will do with them later. They are poisonous to people and animals if ingested. I don’t think the kittens will show any interest in eating them.

That’s all for now. I know I’m not writing about deep God things these days – doesn’t meant I don’t think about it, but I just haven’t had anything to write about. Things with Willie’s job are in limbo, but we are trusting in God’s plan and that things will work accordingly.

Photo by the team photographer on Saturday. I love watching C run.

Sunday was filled with house cleaning, church, garage organizing, and of course, football. It was misty out for part of the day and the sun stayed hidden. Fall is definitely in the air.

Today we worked. Someone came out to look at our windows that need to be replaced. The plan is to start with just a couple and gradually replace the remaining.

They titled this photo “The Blue Wave”. This is the team runners 3-7. Runners 1 and 2 are farther along the course. C ended up finishing in the fifth spot this last race.

There is a company that will take my CaringBridge content and create a book for me. It is over 700 pages long. This includes my posts, photos, and all the comments anyone ever left. They recommended turning it into two volumes due to its size. We may consider having it printed.

I guess I am writing in days of threes lately.

C had two races over the past three days – one on Thursday in Red Wing and today in Winona at St. Mary’s University. She had two really good runs. The weather on Thursday was a little wet leading up to the race, but during the running it didn’t rain. The team stuck together for most of the run and with 400 yards left C kicked it in. She said when she heard someone on the sidelines yell out the distance it registered that it was the length of a track and with track season not too long ago she could easily mentally see how far she had to go. She knew she could sprint the rest of the way and she ran hard. It was nice to see her glowing and the confidence that reappeared. It was also a highlight that my mama was there to watch.

Friday I went out with some girlfriends for part of the evening – that was fun. While I was away C went for a walk and did some yoga with her friend. Apparently they were giggling discussing their guy teammates and how well they would be balancing in some of the poses. Later on she went for a run and Willie walked. We needed to get to bed early but we still stayed up a little later than we should have.

Winona is an hour away and the team needed to be there at 8. Willie set his alarm for 5:45 as we wanted to be out of the house between 6:50 and 7. I woke up at one point and thought to myself, well it must be early yet because I haven’t heard the alarm go off, but then I turned and looked at the window and there was a little too much light coming in. So I hurried out of bed and to the kitchen to check the time on the stove – it was 6:45! I quickly went and woke Willie up and we started to get ready. C was already up and prepared to go. I tried calling my friend nearby but her phone went to voicemail, so I tried another friend and was able to get her. They had not left yet but were close so I asked if they would mind grabbing C. Willie and I continued to hurry and get ready. Thankfully he and C had already packed the team tent in the car last night and I had already made Cs breakfast and laid out snacks the night before as well. C was picked up and Willie and I left about 15 minutes later.

C arrived on time. The team was having their pictures taken when Willie and I showed up, so instead of the runners putting up the team tent, a group of us parents did it.

The day was great. Cross country races are fun because you rarely watch from just one spot. You hurry between areas trying to get as many glimpses of your runner as possible. We were remembering when C ran the junior high version of this race back in ‘24 and how Willie could really only watch from one spot and he had to stay out of the sun. This time it was overcast, but not cold, and he was able to move quickly between multiple spots on the course to see C. We loved it.

We were all pretty tired by the time we got home – despite not waking up as early as we were supposed to – so naps were in order. Well, Willie and I took a nap. C had a small one on the car ride home.

None of my photos from today have loaded.

We put the new license plates on the vehicles today and I applied for our homestead tax. It should have been done a bit ago, but I needed to wait until we became residents. Two less things hanging over my head to complete.

Willie still has some post nasal drip going on, but it didn’t seem to get any worse.

The sky was blue and the weather lovely. I had hoped to get out for a walk, but the day got away from me.

We went to church on Sunday, had football on, and putzed around the house. C went to one of her youth groups.

Monday we worked and had school. My sister came to visit on her way home from a work meeting and stayed the night. It was nice to have her over. It was also our 19th wedding anniversary, but we didn’t do anything particular for it. C is a romantic and does not understand why we are so not-romantic.

Today M, C, and I all worked in the office/classroom together. She took off after lunch. While C was at cross country practice Willie and I went and got our Minnesota licenses and registered the vehicles. $1,800 later and we are official. I’m not thrilled about it. I don’t mind living here, but I really don’t like giving up my Alaska residency and I most definitely don’t like the taxes here. I reckon’ I will get over it, but I would have preferred staying an Alaskan living in Minnesota.

No major events on the calendar for tomorrow. Willie does feel like he is coming down with a cold, though who knows where he would have gotten it from – church perhaps, but we didn’t stay after. Praying it doesn’t last long.

Yesterday’s storm lasted well into the night. We briefly lamented not having the view our apartment did because it had an amazing view of the sky. Our home now is nestled in the neighborhood amongst trees and is not quite facing the right direction for prime storm viewing. Of course that didn’t keep us from hearing the thunder or having flashes of light come in through the curtains.

We did all get to bed quite late and as a result did not get out of bed until way later than I expected. Thankfully today was a Saturday and we had nothing solid scheduled on the calendar except for a youth dance.

Our day consisted of chores – including delivering a very trashy used couch to the trash site, returning the insulation we didn’t end up using for the attic, and having house keys made, finally. C went to town with her friend for a Latin event to get extra credit for Spanish class. The girls hung out into the evening as their planned dance was cancelled due to the weather.

I finished a book – The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place by Julie Berry. It was a cute little mystery that C had picked as one of her potential books to read this school year.

I’m glad tomorrow is Sunday and we have one more day to do our own things.

It is late on this Friday night, but we are still up. A storm is coming through and we can hear the rain and thunder through the open windows.

It was a fairly normal Friday, with our usual activities. C was also able to go watch a homeschool volleyball match with some of her friends.

Yesterday C had a cross country meet in town at a local hilly golf course. The weather was overcast with a little humidity but not too hot. Willie and I had to arrive at the same time as the team because we are the haulers of the team tent. Once the tent was up we wandered around to find where we wanted to put our chairs. Most people didn’t bring chairs because at cross country meets people usually run from spot to spot on the course to cheer on their runners. We had two hours until the first race though, so we sat and people watched and I read some of my book.

The spot we chose had a good view of several sections of the race. For all but Cs race we stayed in or near our chairs. During the Varsity girls race we met up with two other parents and ran to different sections of the course. C had a good run – her experience helped her, not to mention she is partial to the longer distances (as long as they are not on a track). Her team placed third amongst 27 – team 1 and 2 were both in bigger divisions – and they were quite pleased with their effort. The coach seemed excited with their performance.

Wednesday was a typical Wednesday with work, school, practice, and youth group. C had a massage, but she said it was not relaxing (she has a lot of knots I think). We worked on her Spanish homework. The goal was to have it completed today and not be doing it right up until having to leave for class on Thursday. She completed most of it, which definitely helped with the stress level leading up to lunch on Thursday.

I’m popping back and forth between days. My friend/neighbor came over this evening asking if I had any soy sauce. It is fun to have neighbor’s like that. I also got to talk on the phone with a friend from AK this evening. That was really nice.

Ready for the weekend and getting more done on the house and unpacking.

On days when I skip a day and then come back to write I have to sit and really think about what was significant from the day before. Sometimes it worries me a little at how much it seems I forget and how quickly it happens. I mean, I just need to write about yesterday and yet it seems so long ago. I wonder if it is a coping mechanism of some sort. Dunno.

Yesterday it felt like Fall was here. The temps were cool and we tested out our heating system. It worked well and got the house a little too toasty. We had major rain in the afternoon into the night. I got news that the kittens have an intestinal bug, though they aren’t acting sick at all, so I had to go pick up their medicine in the afternoon. I should have watched a video on how to administer it because I think more made it on Mango’s face than it did his mouth. I was much more successful with Blueberry and today it went smoothly.

C was starting her dance classes and I went along with her to check out the studios and the parking situation. Unfortunately her first two classes were a major disappointment. She will not be continuing. We knew her studio and teacher back home were special, but we didn’t realize how great she was until C experienced something here. Quite “sad”, but C seems okay to have one less thing on her schedule. Her third class was at a different studio and it was a much better experience – still not Ms. Jamie, but it looked and sounded like it would be a good time.

Today Willie had physical therapy for his shoulders. The therapist is pretty convinced that some of his complaints are due to his medication. It will be nice when he finally gets off all his meds and his body is able to clean itself of all the extra chemicals. He doesn’t have a blood draw until next month so we won’t know if his immune system numbers are in the right place until then.

How is it the middle of September already?