I forgot I had changed the old blog (Keeping it Going in Alabama) a couple of years ago, which says a lot about my memory. I've worried about changing and losing all the old posts, but I think I'll take a chance on that. Here is a link to the old blog just in case I lose it - and I probably will.
https://keepingitgoinginalabama.blogspot.com/
Those years cover some of the saddest days and some of the happiest days of my life, and I don't want the girls to miss these moments of their childhood.
There's something interesting that happens every day, but I just got out of the habit of recording it, so it seems like my life just kind of disappeared for 10 years. I might not get it done, but my hopes are to change the appearance and try to post more pictures and memories as I go along instead of having to play catch-up and get discouraged.
Changes have happened but nothing earth-shattering. Believe it or not, I'm still living in the same place Mike and I moved into in January of 2016 when we packed up all the possessions we could and moved across the country. It gives me so much pleasure to go back and read the way our life was from 2009 to 2016 - pleasure mixed with sadness and some regrets but overall a good decision.
I still live here, but one change is that Elise now lives with me. It's not ideal and not exactly what either one of us wants, but we are plodding on and making it work somehow and hoping we'll we able to find a larger place we can afford. We're locked into a 1-year lease right now but with hopes of a 3-bedroom apartment opening at the end of that lease. Or something else.
The girls are still the most important things in my life, but they are quite different now. One teenager and one preteen! After living near and having them off at Cascade View Elementary - one block away - this is the last month of either of them going to that school. So sad to me, but I think there's some excitement from them about once again being in the same school - Snoqualmie Middle School - for a year. Then Graysen will move on to Mount Si High School in 2027 while Kate has 2 more years at SMS. Luckily, both schools are fairly close but not in walking distance any more. If they have after after-school sports, the activity bus will bring them to the old school - right between my house and theirs, so they can come here whenever they want to. And they will ride the bus on regular days to within a block of their house.
It's going to take a lot of time to make this space like I want it, but for now, I'll just try to remember to post my thoughts every few days and try to keep up, since that's been my theme for 17 years.
I'm lucky enough to have good friends here in Snoqualmie, in addition to my family, who keep my spirits up when life gets real.
Learning Mah Jong and being dedicated to playing with a group of fun people has been one of the nicest things I've done for myself. On good weeks, we play twice and usually at least once a week with some combination of people. We're serious about the National Mah Jong League Rules but not so serious that we argue or fail to laugh at ourselves. We want to KNOW the rules even if we sometimes let our mistakes go.
The good thing about a group like that is that there are so many different ages and interests. I love hearing about their lives and families and I'm sure I bore them with mine. One of the conversations about quilting just MIGHT turn into my getting back to sewing a little bit. Here's keeping my fingers crossed that Sharon doesn't lose patience with me. Some of them play bridge, which I retried and remembered that I'm no good at that and dropped it again, but I could play a non-stressful game if I had to! Mary and I play Scrabble and MJ sometimes, and a couple more play an interesting-sounding game called Hand, Foot, Toe that I also might explore one day. I do love my alone time though and can't get too involved and neglect to waste my usual amount of time.
I have friends in the neighborhood that I'm so thankful for. Noreen and I catch up every other day or so and have some marathon sessions over her dining table where we try to solve everything wrong that we know of and laugh a LOT. We're counting the days until it gets warm enough to head over to the pool to sit and watch our kiddos swim - or just take our coffee over there in the mornings to get some fresh air and quiet time.
I took this picture of her beautiful Japanese maple on the way to have breakfast with her one day this week. Such an inviting view, and the eggs and sausage were just what I needed.
If I find some pictures to go with this post, I will include them, but I don't have much time today. I'm not sure whether the girls will come here after school or not and what will happen for the rest of the weekend.
Below are the last pictures of Graysen and Katherine. I just don't take hundreds of photos like I used to. They'd rather take pictures themselves than be captured in my computer, but I catch them sometimes.
Graysen comes in reading and keeps right on going for a while. She laughs at herself for not being interested in the Harry Potter books when everyone else was but is totally immersed in them now. I think she finds his world a little more exciting than hers right now!
This is how my online MJ game looks when I open it to play a game. It took me a while to learn how to move the cat off the tiles, but it always comes back and sometimes chases my cursor.
So that's my Friday. We had higher hopes for May being warmer, but then we always do and have to remember how beautiful it's about to be. Maybe I'll get out and walk around with my camera this afternoon and capture some of the rhodies starting to bloom.
Here's hoping I don't lose both blogs in this endeavor. 😕
