Day 71: 5-23-20 (Saturday)
It was so great to get up this morning and have Kirk and Meki here. I love them so much! It was so nice to sit around the table in the morning and talk and be supported. But today was also an exhausting day on SO MANY levels. First, it was a complete work day. We were dividing up more of my mom's belongings. It is such a thankless job. Meki and I were sorting and making groupings of items. We had Ailey and Kaiya draw names for things. We were having to send videos of the drawings to my sisters and then they requested live Facetime drawings. They didn't agree with the groupings or the items. It was ridiculous. Come what may... the lake house needs to be emptied and my mom's things need to be divided up. There was so much drama and pettiness. There is no compromise on anything...even on the small trivial things. Some people argue just to argue and it slows down getting things done.
Kirk and Tyler drove to Spokane so that Kirk could pick up a UHAUL trailer to take the things that he inherited back to Utah with him. We also had the tree service out to stump grind 5 large tree stumps. A ton of yard work got done. Kirk and Tyler also did several painting projects in the house that needed to be done. We worked all day long with family drama the ENTIRE time. There is such a lack of appreciation for our time and effort to get work done.
Tyler and Kirk cutting up the leftover wood into firewood.
Reilly and Hunter came over to help that afternoon and by the evening we were all absolutely exhausted. We ordered pizza and sat talking in the living room until we all fell asleep. I am grateful for thoughtful conversations with people I love and respect.
Day 72: 5-24-20 (Sunday)
We had an early start to our day. Reilly and Hunter were out at the lake by 8 am. Most of us headed to Sandpoint to my mom's house there to clear out her shop. Jordin and Ramon are renting the house and needed some help. It was a big job. We are hoping to get this house on the market by next week. Tyler and Bryn (and Beverly) drove back to Spokane to pick up our cargo trailer to load up the things that I inherited.
We all wore masks and gloves to be extra careful.
My mom's giant cargo trailer was completely filled with junk to take to the dump. There was also a huge load for goodwill and there will be several more dump loads needed in the future. We worked hard and got the majority of it done.
We had a good visit with Jordin and Ramon. I am glad that things are better with them. It was good for me and Kirk to be able to talk to Jordin face-to-face about a lot of things. I feel like our relationship with her is starting to heal. So that is good.
Tyler and Bryn met us back at the lake and then Tyler, Kirk, and Hunter all headed to the dump to unload the trailer. Then it was back to the lake to load both Kirk's UHAUL and our trailer. It is very surreal to move my mom's furnishings out of her house.
It was another long and exhausting work day with intermittent drama with my other two sisters. They finally stopped texting and we were able to enjoy our night. Meki and I made my mom's Spinach Pesto Pasta with chicken. Kirk bought all the stuff for green punch so we made that too.
Kirk and Bryn decided to be the first ones to jump in the lake this season. I barely took any pictures this entire weekend. There just wasn't any down time. We had such high hopes that we would finally get to have a family game night but it just didn't happen. We ate chips and queso and watched a bunch of family videos instead. We laughed and cried. They are a treasure and bittersweet. I miss my mom so much. It was a gift to see her face, hear her voice, and hear her laugh again. My advice...take family videos!! A lot of them!! I need to be much better about this. I will occasionally take Instastories which my family constantly complains about... but that is about it. My kids all said that we need to take more family videos. So true.
Did we have any weird happenings or ghostly incidences at the lake house this time? Of course we did! Tonight I ran upstairs to grab something from my mom's bedroom. I went past the guest bedroom that we call the white room. As I was going past I saw Bryn sitting on the end of the bed with her head bent down looking at her phone. I got what I needed from my mom's room and walked back to the open door of the white room and jumped in front of it to scare Bryn. But to my surprise the room was totally empty. I had walked past it just seconds before and saw her there clearly enough that I planned to scare her. Well...the joke was on me. That was unnerving!! There is no way that Bryn could have left that room, walked down the long hall, and down the stairs without me seeing her. Later that night...maybe two hours after that happened... Ailey and Kaiya were talking about being freaked out to go upstairs. I told them that I had had a weird experience up there tonight. Before I even told them what had happened Kaiya's face got totally white and her eyes got huge and her hands started shaking. I told them what happened and Ailey said, "Kaiya just told me that she went upstairs to Grandma's room (that is the room Ailey and Kaiya were sleeping in) and saw a girl with long hair sitting on the end of the bed in the white room. She was looking down at her hands and it looked like she was crying. She thought it was Bryn and went in to talk to her and no one was there." Bryn had been downstairs the entire night playing with Kirin. Quite the odd coincidence huh? A long haired girl sitting on the end of the bed with her head bent down (I thought she was looking at a phone and Kaiya thought she was crying) seen by both of us about two hours apart. SUPER WEIRD. Another odd ghostly happening at the lake house. Add it to the list.
In other news...with WA moving into phase 2 our Stake President said that the sacrament can now be taken to member's homes that don't have a priesthood holder. That is great news for so many families.
Day 73: 5-25-20 (Monday)
We spent the morning with Kirk and Meki and kids. We enjoyed and soaked up every minute. We hated to see them go! The day was rainy and dreary. We spent most of the day at the lake. We deep cleaned the lake house... we may have a realtor walk through this upcoming week...so we wanted it extra sparkling clean. We ordered Chinese takeout as an early dinner and then loaded up and headed home. Kirk and Meki made it back to Utah safe and sound. We chatted on the phone with them, on and off, on their way home. Man we miss them!
Day 74: 5-26-20 (Tuesday)
The holiday weekend is definitely over and we are back to the daily grind...work, school, organizing, Sisters Creed business, and estate stuff. Tyler and Kameron took our trailer load of inherited items to the storage unit and unloaded it. Goodwill in WA finally opened back up and was accepting donations. Thank goodness! Kameron took a giant load of bags and boxes of things that I have been wanting to get rid of for months.
That evening when Tyler was done with work we also had to drive back out to the lake to get the load of garbage from the weekend and take that to the dump which was closed on Memorial Day. With all the driving back and forth I missed a video conference church meeting for our ward's activities committee. I also missed book club on Zoom. I was super sad to miss book club! We read The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah.
Today more businesses have opened up. We are officially in phase 2. You must wear a mask and social distance. No crowds. More temples are opening up around the US. Still none in the Pacific Northwest. Malls are supposed to open up next week. It will feel weird going back into a mall.
Day 75: 5-27-20 (Wednesday)
Today we walked early. We had a lot going on. It was a major yard work day for everyone after work and school were over. The kids mowed and weed-wacked. I weeded and planted flowers. Tyler and I drove to the northside to drop off the boat battery at the shop where it is being serviced. Bryn had her last piano lesson until fall.
My AWESOME friend Valynn gave me the scoop on where/how/what to start buying for Kameron's mission clothing. We have got to get a move on that and nothing is open here yet...at least not places to buy suits and mission attire. I am feeling slightly panicked that Kam only has about a month at home before he leaves for his mission. We still have so much to prepare!
Sibling issues persisted today. Attorneys are definitely necessary at this point as is mediation but that seems pretty futile at this point. It's so annoying that I have to deal with so much unpleasantness every.single.day rather than having the time, energy, and mind space for MY OWN FAMILY. I would love for us to be able to enjoy one another and actually have some fun before Kameron leaves for two years. I look forward to turning over communication with two of my sisters to our attorney.
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