Hello again! Good grief I don’t know how long it has been but I know it has been a while. So much has happened since I was at the bed and breakfast. Some highlights for you, I closed the B&B and moved back to my parents. I helped them renovate a house and then moved into that house with my youngest brother. I got a puppy and housed my best friend’s puppy at the same time.
Chaos, lots of mistakes made by me, and really bad depression all led to my friend deciding that I was not a good person to be around and my brother ended up saying her dog was no longer welcomed in our house because of various reasons I may get into later. Then I had even more issues with my next-door neighbor. The specific issue, he threatened to shoot my dog and call the police on us. Why? My dog ran from my truck to the edge of the fence and barked at him. Where my dog happened to be in a completely fenced-in area but my neighbor was insane, stood right by the fence (which was our property), and recorded this horror on his phone. Still, I don’t understand this man.
Thankfully my parents were out of town when the first incident happened and didn’t approach the neighbor after I called them quite upset and hiding at their house (a mile down the road). In the second incident, he made similar threats to the first and my parents ended up going over there and talking with them in their house. I was terrified of them doing this without police there, turns out I had reason to be though I will not go into specifics here. After the second incident, a full property-length solid wood fence was installed at 6′ high. I still can not go to this house without having anxiety although thankfully, the attacks are much much less.
I adopted a kitty because we were having mouse issues. I do not do mice in the house unwelcomed. They may stay outside or may be pets in enclosed homes but no unwelcomed critters in the house. So I adopted a kitty cat from one of the local humane societies. His name is Finley, he is a brown cat with black stripes. He has a distinctive bullseye on both of his sides. He is small, sassy, naughty, playful, and a cuddler. He is sassy and naughty for a couple of main reasons, he has orange cat energy and loves pushing things off the counter. He spends about half his day on the kitchen counters. Aluminum foil doesn’t work, tape doesn’t work, water spray doesn’t, yelling doesn’t work, loud noises don’t work. He also will eat any bread through the package that I left on the counter…or any food, for that matter. including a bag of flour which still baffles me.
I then had the opportunity to adopt a friend for my little kitty. My aunt’s friend had a cat who needed to be rehomed. Her name is Milly. She is a black tuxedo cat with white mittens on her paw. She is a chatty cuddly sweetheart. She is a picky eater while her brother eats anything and everything. One of my favorite quirks about her: is when she gets to go in the garage or sneaks out onto the driveway and she dives straight for the concrete and rolls around in the leaves, dead bugs, dirt, and whatever else may be there.
With my brother, myself, my medium-sized dog, and 2 cats living in one house with lots of corners and levels was insane. We were all very cramped, I was having bad mental health issues and it was time to move. After spending another year and a half touring houses, writing offers, and being looked over and over my mom found a listing. It had a dream-sized kitchen. She sent it to me just for the kitchen and did not intend for me to look at it…or, as it turns out, fall in love with it. We toured it while another group was there and absolutely knew it was my new home when I stepped inside. It is the most gorgeous house, way more than I deserve or should have. But it was home. I put in my first over-asking, over-budget offer and I won the bidding war! I finally had a safe home for my cats, my dog, and myself. I was so relieved. It has two big things that were on my no list, surrounded by trees close to the house and a hilly yard. However, I couldn’t walk away from this house. I do love the privacy the trees give and the natural fence line, no neighbors live right next door and the views are amazing.
We moved in and everyone was settling in so amazing. I had a date set to put in the fence for the front of the yard. I let my dog out for the morning and I didn’t see the deer. Unfortunately, Marshal (my dog) did and the deer took off with Marshal close behind. The red truck with silver trim had no way of seeing the running animals as he came over the hill. As soon as I heard that knowing knock I knew immediately it was Marsh and not the deer. That’s enough of that tragedy sharing. Safe to say it is still very painful to think about months later.
Since then the cats have come out of their shells more. I miss my little pup but I am thankful my kitties are so fun and wonderful. Even when they are causing trouble and causing pain I love them dearly and couldn’t imagine not having them around.
This past summer one of the most amazing things happened. I have a sister-in-law! My brother married the sweetest young woman. Our moms grew up going to school together. From elementary through college. Our families grew up visiting each other off and on throughout the years. Since we lived a couple hours away our time together was short and sweet. After my sis’ sister had her wedding reception my brother reconnected with their family and found his forever partner. Our families are so happy and to be quite honest, their middle child and I always knew one of the siblings from both families would end up together at some point. We are all so excited to have the families officially brought together again!
Last year I started to join a group of evangelists at my church. That is a scary and sometimes creepy word in this day. It is part of my church’s culture yet I still think about door knockers or pushy people shoving their religion and thoughts down your throat. Does anyone else agree? Well, this group was started to build a new church in the WELS Synod for the Chippewa Valley. We are doing that by evangelizing in a certain area. By evangelizing, we don’t mean walking up to your house with our Bibles, stopping you on the corner with signs asking if you know Jesus, or standing outside a sinful event with a microphone to ask you questions about your faith. Though those are good ideas those are not in the strengths of our group. Instead, our members are going to retirement homes singing Christmas carols, playing Bingo, teaming up with the local high school, and bringing the students to perform for them. We rent a room at a local community center and host a morning where families can bring their little ones to hear Jesus’ story and play with textures and make crafts, for the adults to meet new friends. We host music in the park with a couple of bands playing music, food trucks, snow cones, games, crafts, and fellowship. We are going to start renting a place at the same community center to have Bible studies together. Where we can learn and ask questions we have in a safe and wonderful place. Our goal for this group and building this new church is to bring Jesus’ love, hope, and truth to the Chippewa Valley in a new and active way. We want to reach the lost, forgotten, and looked over.
That is my quick update for the last 4 years since I left the bed and breakfast, and since I moved back home.
