Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

As some of you know, when I was in El Paso last September, a part broke behind the refrigerator and water gushed out of the pipe flooding almost half of the bottom floor. Water had poured from the kitchen to the living room and under the walls to the other side of the house where my craft room and laundry room floors were soaked. The baseboards were sopping wet and it was a huge mess! Workers came to help clean up and to dry the walls out. A contractor came out to assess the damage, but nothing could be done about the cleanup because El Paso had another surge of the virus. Stuff from the pantry, laundry room, and craft room floors were packed into the guest room for the time being. Since there was nothing else I could do, I returned to Waco to be with John. The house stayed a mess until December when the crew could come to fix the walls and the carpet. I went back to El Paso in December to visit my dad, Jonathan, and my niece, Breanna, (who was going to spend Christmas with us). All that stuff in the guest room needed to be moved out to make room for Breanna. John stayed in Waco working and came for Christmas. There was so much cleaning up to do and putting things back where they belonged. I had a running to-do list every day of things that I wanted to accomplish while there. Jonathan and Breanna were a HUGE help in getting the house back to normal. At the end of every day, I had to be satisfied with what we could do and know that the tasks would be finished in due-time. It felt good to leave the house all put together this time before I left for Waco again. Even through all the crazy busy days of cleaning and organizing, I still was able to spot a few stray gifts! Here are a few I noticed while in El Paso (to be continued in the next blog post). A photo collage is at the bottom of the page.

Left photos- top and bottom: This is the guest room. And it did NOT look like this right before Breanna showed up. The bed was covered with boxes, kitchen items, and craft supplies due to the flooding. I was so glad some of the damage had been repaired right before she arrived so I could make the room ready for her.

While Breanna was with us, she made her family’s recipe for salted caramel popcorn. The hole in the middle of the pan is where we couldn’t keep our hands out of this delicious snack when it came out of the oven. It was so good!

Middle photos- top to bottom: During the post-flood cleanup, I dusted all the blinds, and while were at it, we cleaned the downstairs windows. One day, Breanna and I just stood at the clear living room window and watched the birds for quite some time. We were fascinated to watch them eat, play, fight, and rest. If you feed the birds, they will come.

There were a few really nice days outside, so Jonathan, Breanna, and I took our dog for a walk around the neighborhood. I sure do love the blue skies of Texas.

The photo of the pinecones was taken on another walk. Pinecones always make me think of my friend Carolyn who loves them.

Right photos- top to bottom: You don’t have to go searching for gold to find treasure. Sometimes riches are there in your own backyard. I saw this view out the back window that had been newly cleaned as well. The windows were like picture frames that day. The gold leaves on the tree were stunning as the sun shone right through them.

Ahhh….flowers from Jonathan. We had always prayed that our son would be, above all, humble and kind. His heart is big and his generosity is a blessing. These are flowers he bought me when I was visiting in December.

You wouldn’t know that this living room was a mess a few weeks ago. The carpet had been torn out and this area was not organized at all after the flooding. When the new carpet was being installed, we all agreed the room felt light and airy. We liked not having so many things in there to clutter up the space. We used to have a nice coffee table in the middle of the room, but we all saw the area looked better without it. You can see a bit of my dad in the photo relaxing and enjoying the peaceful surroundings. As the sun sets, we like to finish the day with the bright lights off, lamps turned on, and candles lit.

(P.S. I see the upside down horse shoe on the wall in the living room. Yes, I know right-side-up is the proper way to display it. I will put it on my to-do list. 🙂 )