I had a nice visit with my mom today. She likes to stay up on current events as well as the weather and for the first time in a long time she did not ask me what has trump done today to upset the world. She watched the inauguration and shared with me her views on the presidents who have been in office since she was born. She has settled nicely into assisted living. She is taking part in different activities and loves to read her books.

Michael and my phone call with the VA took three hours and ten minutes not the two hours they had said it would take. I have to be honest I was exhausted after the call. We are waiting for the next step. I have been chasing down some tests for Michael since August and after seven phones calls and getting the patient advocate involved I finally have the tests on the way. I try to be patient as I know the VA is overwhelmed with work and vets from World War Two to the present day. I am not used to waiting on the phone for fifty minutes waiting for a human to answer the phone. I relay a message then I have to wait 24-48 hours to get a reply if I get one at all. It is frustrating but it is teaching me patience.

I put out some birdseed for the birds and squirrels today. I enjoy doing that and find it soul satisfying. We have three feeders on our front porch as well as a stump feeder for the squirrels. The squirrels leave the feeders alone when they have seed in the stump. We have nuthatches, hermit thrushes, chickadees, cardinals, titmice, blue jays and juncos visit regularly. We have the occasional rose breasted grosbeak stop by.

I have not gotten back on the downsizing kick but I am to do so when I feel inspired again which I hope will be next week. I have discovered I cannot do the get everything done in a weekend. I am doing better with fifteen to one hour increments a day. Sometimes daily sometimes once a week but I am plugging away at it just slowly.

I am trying hard to write more. I have oddly found not having my iphone camera operational liberating. I have been going through older photos and posting them. I love taking photos but am finding the break is doing me some good.

I hope you are all doing well. I have really enjoyed everyone’s likes and comments on my posts. I don’t take it for granted and am humble that my blog gets read. 😃