Something Strange is Afoot

... but we're not at the Circle-K.

So much has changed over this past year.  I threw myself into school and I'm proud to say that I'm finally a Registered Nurse.  I find myself exhausted at the end of most days, and I'm working on getting a new routine down.

My Mom and Eldest Daughter

I lost my amazing, wonderful mother at the end of July this year.  She was my constant cheerleader, believing that I can do anything I set my mind to.   She encouraged me to start writing.  She showed me that DIY is so much more satisfying than just simply shopping for something.  She treated beautiful objects with reverence for their history.  She shaped me into the person that I am today.  I miss her so very much, but over the past year, we've had so many conversations about life and love; about strength and acceptance; about focus and determination... the big stuff and the little stuff.  I know that she loved me with her whole heart.  I'll always be awestruck and grateful that I am her daughter.

I'm looking out onto the horizon.  My too-big house on Pleasant has quickly spiraled out of control into a behemoth that I can no longer afford to repair and remodel.  The old lady has given it her best, but after decades of patch-and-fix jobs, she needs to be completely gutted and redone.

March was a significantly difficult month here.  A week of temperatures that hovered around the -40*F mark split a massive water main in town and we were without water for a week (no water = no heat in Pleasantville).  In that time, the pipes here burst.  The boiler failed and had to be replaced, and when the water was finally turned back on, the bottom of my water heater gave out.  About a month later, the ceiling in the upstairs bath collapsed, and an ice dam on the roof above the dining room threatened to do the same.  It feels like I'm running as fast as I can to keep up, while other major issues surface in the meantime.

This coming week, I'm on a mission to find a new home.