Very Voluble

I decided a long weekend at the cabin may have to be it for me this year. Thursday afternoon I drove to my aunt and uncle's house in Wisconsin and then Friday my cousin Bailey and I drove to our cabin in northern Minnesota. Bailey and I had a great time on the drive just talking about stuff. She's practically my other little sister. Before the rest of her fam arrived at the cabin I taught her how to make brownies from scratch, introduced her to hummus, taught her to crochet and we made cinnamon chip scones. I had shown my aunt the blanket I was working on and offered her one of the extra squares as a pot holder so I doubled it's thickness and added a simple white border. She was thrilled with it and said she had never been so excited by a pot holder. I hated to tell her how simple it was to make. My uncle and cousin Jordan made a beautiful oak pub table to sit on our cabin's enclosed front porch so I am going to make some placemats for it. Maybe some matching coasters too.

The weather wasn't the greatest. It was cool, windy and rainy so I didn't get to spend much time on the dock reading, playing in the water or sailing with my uncle. At least I was able to go to the cabin. I am thinking I may try to head up there sometime in September or October, so if anyone wants to see northern Minnesota in the fall let me know.

I also talked with my aunt, uncle and cousins about my mom. Since the divorce she has been living alone in a rather large Victorian house in need of a lot of work. She loves the house and really wants to fix it up so she can sell it, but I don't see how she could ever possibly do anything like that. It needs so much work and she doesn't have the resources to do any of it. The woman is too sentimental. She has a hard time letting go of anything. She can find value in almost anything no matter how little she uses or remembers it. Even a house that costs her over $500 a month just to heat to 60 degrees in the winter.

I don't know what to say to her or how to help her see what she is doing to herself. The house is a burden for her, but she isn't willing to let it go. I know she would be a lot happier in a house that "fits" her, but I don't think she sees it. She is more worried about not losing money on that house, but since we only paid $25,000 for it about 18 years ago, I don't think losing money should really be the issue. She is already will probably lose more money trying to maintain it than she would if she just tried to sell the house or somehow get rid of it. It has the potential to be a beautiful house, but the amount of work needed to make it a beautiful house is more than she can handle.