One of the worst things in life is the loss of a loved one. Two years ago, I lost my maternal grandpa, two great-uncles and my dad. Last year, I lost my mother-in-law and my cousin Tammy. I had hoped and expected (foolishly, I know) that I could make it through this year without losing someone else.
A couple days ago, my cousin Chance passed away. He was only 26 years old and had a small son named Jaylon. I hadn't actually seen Chance since my own son (who's now 11) was a baby. Still, this has been a sad time.
I remember when Chance was a baby. I was about 10 or 11 years old. I would hold him, play with him, change his diapers and hold both of his hands while walking him up and down my maternal grandparents' house. That was so long ago, it seems.
Chance was diagnosed with epilepsy when he was in his mid to late teens. He had been told by the doctors not to play video games as it can trigger seizures. The other day, he was playing a video game (for a couple hours), as he enjoyed doing, when he had a pretty bad seizure. It caused him to fall out of bed, hit his face on a wall and it knocked him out. Actually, it more than knocked him out as it caused his brain not to receive the oxygen it needs. He was put on life support and then had a heart attack. The heart attack is what ultimately killed him, though they may have taken him off life support anyway due to no brain activity.
It's all just so shocking and tragic and sad. I can't believe he's gone. Chance's parents (his dad is my mom's brother), obviously, are beside themselves with grief.
Chance leaves behind a son, two siblings (a brother named Justin and a sister named Kasey, both younger than him; Kasey being the youngest), an older half-brother named Ray (not sure they ever met), his parents, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends. He was loved and will be missed.
Haven't done a whole lot this past week. Not even as much cleaning as in previous weeks, though I have been doing the basics. Mainly keeping things picked up (or trying to), some laundry and keeping the kitchen clean. For some reason I just haven't had as much energy lately.
Went to church Wednesday night. Our pastor and his wife and daughter were out of town (not sure why), so someone else taught that night. It was a good message, but he's not the best speaker. Great guy, sweet, kind of shy. His nerves get the best of him though and he stammers a bit. Poor guy. Still, his message that we shouldn't forget the cross and the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus was true.
My mom's birthday was yesterday. She turned 57. She wanted a Dale Earnhardt Junior t-shirt, but I couldn't find one anywhere. I was really surprised since NC is supposed to be NASCAR country. :-\ I searched high and low and found not one NASCAR item. Insanity, I tell ya. I reckon I'll have to order something online.
After searching in vain for a Dale Jr. shirt for Mom and getting groceries, I came home and waited for Charlie so that we could get something to eat. I had read at a NC online forum that there's a pizza place downtown that has really good pizza. Well, I love a good pizza and since they're hard to find (though Brixx is good), I had to try it.
I hadn't been downtown in years (I never had a reason to go there) and was surprised by all the activity. The place was really hoppin'. It didn't use to be such a popular place, but I had heard they'd been working on that. Apparently it's working. There were a lot of people downtown.
Anyway, we found the pizza place (Pizzaria L'Italiano). It's a small place and the guy who helped us sounded like he was from up north somewhere. The pizza was very good. We all couldn't stop talking about how much we liked it. We'll more than likely go there again.
We went to Border's after that. I got four books - The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Illiad, The Odyssey and The Kite Runner. And now my pile of books is even bigger. lol I can't help it. I love books. :-) Sean and Kelly each got a book also. (They had also each gotten a book - Prince Caspian - at the mall while we were shopping for my mom.) Sean got an instruction book on how to draw cars and Kelly got one of those Tinker Bell fairy books. I forget which fairy it is. They also each got a bookmark.
No plans for today or Sunday, other than church. Hopefully our realtor and I (Kelly wants to come too) can go look at houses next week.
Charlie was in Maryland for a few days last week. He came home Friday evening. Kelly and I had gotten groceries that day (Sean was at Mom's) and went to Best Buy to exchange a game and get two movies (Penelope and Fool's Gold).
I got very annoyed with Best Buy, but tried to remain calm and kind. The few times in the past that we've had to return a game that didn't work, we could get whatever we wanted instead. This time I was told that I had to get the same game even though the two copies we'd gotten before didn't work. Chances were pretty good that a third copy wouldn't work either. The girl behind the counter said that as long as there are copies left, we have to get it. I asked her, "So what if there are no copies left? Are we just stuck with a game that doesn't work?". I don't remember what she said, but as Kelly and I were walking away to get another copy I said to Kelly, "This is so stupid. Why should we have to get another copy of a game that doesn't work?" As I said earlier, I've never had to do that before. We haven't bothered trying the third copy yet. (It's actually my son's.) Maybe we can call or email the company that made the game.
Anyway, some time after Charlie got home, we went to Monterrey's for supper. It was good.
On Saturday, Charlie wanted to go on a date. I wanted to leave at 3:00 and told him that (wait times at restaurants here can be long on weekends, so I like to beat the crowds), but he didn't get home until almost 4:00. I brought Kelly to Mom's before Charlie got home and then when he finally came home and got ready, we went to Olive Garden for supper. We barely beat the supper crowd. People were packed in the waiting area and some were outside. Had we been an hour later, forget it. lol As it was, we ended up waiting about 10-15 minutes for a table. The food was very good. We both got Garlic-Herb Chicken con Broccoli (without the broccoli), only I added the juice of several lemon slices to mine.
After leaving Olive Garden, we went to The Grande movie theater to see The Dark Knight. It was a good movie, but too long and I got bored a few times. Heath Ledger did a great job as the Joker. I wish there had been more of the Joker in the movie. It was always more interesting when he was in a scene. Overall, I think I liked the first one better.
We went to Wal-Mart after the movie. I got a couple bags of pecan halves and Charlie got a few things. It's funny, I hate Wal-Mart but have been going there nearly every week for about the last three weeks. lol
Today has been a lazy day for me. I've just felt so tired for some reason and have been yawning a lot. I have work I need to do, but I have no energy today. I will cook supper though and clean the kitchen. I won't make my family go hungry. lol
Oh, we lowered the price of our house again. This time to $121,900. We're practically giving it away now. Makes me sick. It's now priced over $10,000 less than what it appraised for and what we originally had it listed at. Ugh. I hate it. Hopefully people will quit just looking at it on the internet (our realtor said we get a lot of that) and adding it to their favorites on listingbook.com and actually come look at it and make an offer. I'm beyond ready for this house to sell and to get into a bigger place with better schools. Not that the ones here are horrible, they're just not good enough.
i carry your heart with me
i carry your heart with me (i carry it in
my heart)
i am never without it (anywhere
i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing, my darling)
i fear no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet)
i want no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you
here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart
i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)
-- e.e. cummings
Jabberwocky
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"
He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought--
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.
And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
One two! One two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
"And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"
He chortled in his joy.
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
-- Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson)
There is a pleasure in the pathless woods
There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more,
From these our interviews, in which I steal
From all I may be, or have been before,
To mingle with the Universe, and feel
What I can ne'er express, yet cannot all conceal.
-- Lord Byron, (George Gordon)
Sonnet 116
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
-- William Shakespeare
Southern Song
I want my body bathed again by southern suns, my soul
reclaimed again from southern land. I want to rest
again in southern fields, in grass and hay and clover
bloom; to lay my hand again upon the clay baked by a
southern sun, to touch the rain-soaked earth and smell
the smell of soil.
I want my rest unbroken in the fields of southern earth;
freedom to watch the corn wave silver in the sun and
mark the splashing of a brook, a pond with ducks and
frogs and count the clouds.
I want no mobs to wrench me from my southern rest; no
forms to take me in the night and burn my shack and
make for me a nightmare full of oil and flame.
I want my careless song to strike no minor key; no fiend to
stand between my body's southern song--the fusion of
the South, my body's song and me.
-- Margaret Walker
We went to church Sunday night. The message our pastor preached was great. He titled it "A Plan of Action". I liked when he said that many times we pray for God to do something and then (after a day or week or month) we give up and say, "Well, I guess it's not God's will" or something of the sort. We can't just sit there and expect God to cater to us and do everything for us. God uses us to do His will and get things done. He often uses people to answer prayers. We are His instruments. His feet and His hands in this world. Yes, there are things only God can do. But God doesn't work independently of His people. He wants us involved with Him, His work and His will. Very good and so true.
It was nice talking to people after church. Good conversation, warm hugs and smiles. :-)
After church, we went to Olive Garden for supper. Mom had to work that day (she gets off at 7:00) and met us at the restaurant after church. I got something different this time. Garlic Chicken con Broccoli (without the broccoli). I added the juice of several lemon slices to it (as I did with the Tuscan Garlic Chicken, which they took off the menu last week) and it was sooo good! Maybe even better than the Chicken Giardino they used to have and that, for years, I ordered everytime I went there. I'm hoping I can go to Olive Garden again this week and order that dish again.
Yesterday was a lazy day for me. My first one in probably three weeks. I did manage to get a few things done (put a couple things away, cook supper - fried rice, clean the kitchen), but I was pretty tired all day.
I had a few things to take care of today outside the house. Once Kelly and I finally got out of here, we went by the video store and rented two movies (Fool's Gold and Penelope) and a game for Kelly. We then went to Target to get a condo for the cats, but they didn't have any. Petsmart had two-holed condos (I wanted three holes), so we got nothing there. We did visit the cats that are up for adoption as we always do when we go there. They're so sweet and cute.
Next we went to Best Buy to exchange the game Sean got for something that actually works. After turning off my car, I looked in the bag and there was no receipt. *rolling my eyes* So I restarted the car and we went to Petco. They didn't have a three-holed condo either, but they did have a two-holed condo that is taller than other two-holed condos I've seen. I went ahead and bought that one and then we went to Food Lion for a couple things (milk and pecan halves - so expensive!) before coming back home.
Charlie is at James' again this evening and is supposed to be home in about 20 minutes. I need to go ahead and get supper started. We're having spaghetti.
Sean's yearly check-up was this past Wednesday. The doctor says he looks really good and healthy. Good heart, good pulse, good weight (71.5 lbs.), good eyesight (20/20), good hearing, etc. Sean had to get two shots, which he wasn't happy about at all. Hepatitis A and Tetanus.
After leaving the doctor's office, we went by JC Penney's (got nothing), Rack Room shoes (got a pair of shoes on sale for $10), Food Lion (got apples) and the video store (the kids got a couple games). We then came home and Sean changed into a pair of jeans (he had been wearing shorts) before I brought him to Mom's.
Mom wanted me to watch a movie she bought (Meet the Browns). I watched it that night. It was okay. I like Tyler Perry's other movies better.
I got groceries on Friday, as I always do, and after getting back home with everything, I called Charlie to see if he was going to go to James' house again (as he's been doing almost every night to work on his hobby car - a '70 Nova) or come straight home. I wanted to go out to Monterrey's. He said he was coming home.
When Charlie got home, showered and got ready, we went to Best Buy first. I got the movie Miss Potter (what's called a "blind buy", b/c I had never seen it before buying it), Kelly got the second Pocahontas movie and Sean got a game.
We then went to Monterrey's for supper. We had to wait for about 10 minutes for a table. The food was so good. I think because I was craving it it tasted better than usual. lol One of the things we always order is their cheese nachos. We like to dip them in salsa. (Mild salsa for me and Kelly. Regular for Charlie. Sean doesn't eat it.) We've been ordering it for years. They used to put little pieces of jalapenos in the cheese, but stopped about 2-3 years ago, I guess. This last time, I noticed after a few bites that the nachos were kind of spicy. I looked at the cheese and saw that the jalapenos were back. I don't like spicy food, but the mild salsa (and cold water) helps.
Sean tried to play his new game when we got home Friday night, but it didn't work. The car in the game wouldn't let Sean control it and just did all kinds of flips and things on a black screen. lol We brought it back last night. I knew that another copy of the same game would have problems also and I was right. We have to bring the second copy back and get something else. Not sure what. The game was on sale for $19.99, so something close to that price.
Yesterday, Charlie went to James' again to mess around with his car some more. I called him and told him I wanted to go a few places and wanted him with me. He told me to call him about an hour before I was ready to go. I wasted some time on the internet and let him have time with his car before calling him at 5:00 to let him know I'd be ready at about 7:00. Kelly was in the shower at that time and then I'd have to get ready after that.
When we were almost ready to go, someone Charlie works with called him to let him know that he was on his way to pick up our old TV. (Charlie sold it to him for $200.) So we had to wait for Justin to get here. It was about 7:30 when we left the house. We went to Brixx Pizza first for supper. We hadn't been there in a few months. They have good pizza. Charlie loves the thin crust and my favorite part is their sauce. It has a nice tomato flavor. Some sauces have more of a seasoned taste. My favorite tomato sauces are the ones where the tomato flavor is stronger than the seasoning flavor.
Anyway, after leaving Brixx we went to Best Buy to exchange Sean's first copy for his second copy. (Another dud, as I mentioned earlier.) We then went to Food Lion for a few things (fried rice seasoning, a couple snacks - impulse buys lol, and drinks for Charlie to bring to work) and Wal-Mart for a few pet supplies. Pippin needed a new bed and we also got him a couple toys. The cats need a new condo, but the only ones they had weren't padded on top (why?) and were only two-holes high. lol I want to get them a taller one with three holes. I'll try to get to Target for one this week. If they don't have any, I'll check Petsmart.
When we got home from Wal-Mart (after a brief stop at Lowe's so that Charlie could run in and get A/C filters that we had forgotten to get at Wal-Mart) we watched the last of the race. Too bad Junior's car wasn't working well enough. And even worse that Kyle Busch won. I really do not like him.
Oh, Miss Potter. I watched it Friday night and really liked it. A blind buy that turned out well.
Friday, July 4th, I got groceries and did some cleaning before our cook-out. Mom, Del and his girlfriend Jennifer came over. We had hamburgers, hot dogs, potato salad and chips and watched Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. After the movie, Charlie shot off fireworks in the light rain we were having. I never got rain directly in my eyes before that I can recall until looking up to see the fireworks. It was an odd and interesting sensation.
The next day, Mom watched the kids for Charlie and I so that we could go on a date. We left the house some time after 3:30 and after dropping off Kelly (Sean had spent the night), we went to Olive Garden for an early supper. (You have to around here on the weekends if you want to beat the crowd.) We then went to The Grande theater to get our tickets early (for an 8:00 showing) for Hancock. From there, we went to Macy's at Friendly Center. They didn't have what I was after, so we went to the Macy's at Bridford Parkway/Guilford College Rd. There I bought a Baby Phat purse I wanted (white tote with yellow & aqua/turqoise on it) and a brown skirt.
After leaving Macy's, we went to H.H. Gregg (they didn't have what we needed) and Best Buy. Best Buy had one of the things we needed (Blue-ray player), but we left there without buying it and went to Circuit City. They had the other thing we needed (surround sound receiver - our old one didn't work with our new TV), but not the Blue-ray player. We went ahead and bought the receiver (it was on sale for less than $400) and then went back to Best Buy where we bought the Blue-ray player ($500) and an HDMI cable.
By the time we left Best Buy for the second time, it was time to go back to the theater. We got our drinks, went to the bathroom and then took our seat (top center). We always get there early, so we had to wait for about 20-30 minutes before the previews started. Hancock was a very good movie. We're definitely going to get the DVD when it comes out.
When we got out of the theater, it was almost 10:00. It had been quite awhile since we had eaten, so we went to Cold Stone Creamery for ice cream. I've had it once or twice before. It's very sweet and rich and I can never finish. Charlie couldn't either. We actually prefer Baskin-Robbins, but the only one around that we're aware of is at the mall and they were closed.
It was raining pretty good (though not a gulley-washer) when we got out of the theater and was still raining when we went to Mom's to get Kelly. (She hardly ever wants to spend the night. She's too much of a Mama's girl.) We all stayed up kind of late that night.
I spent most of Sunday doing laundry and cleaning. Trying to get the house ready for possible showings this week. (Please, God.) I stopped cleaning long enough to get Kelly ready for church (Mom picked her up), then did some more cleaning and cooked supper.
I finished reading The Other Boleyn Girl a couple days ago and then started reading The Count of Monte Cristo last night. I'm on about chapter three.
Today (Monday - technically yesterday), the kids and I did a little shopping. They had allowance money they wanted to spend. Kelly bought a dark-haired princess Barbie wearing a blue and green dress. Sean bought a Peter (from Prince Caspian) action figure and a '69 Chevelle Hot Wheels car at Target.
We then went to Friendly Center. I looked around Ann Taylor Loft, Macy's and Belk, but didn't find anything I really wanted. I need a red top, but I can't find one I like. From there we went to Stein Mart where I bought two trivets and a spoon rest. They all have the same Italian scene with sunflowers on them. I got a really good deal on them. Altogether, I saved almost $38.
After leaving Stein Mart, we went to Dillard's (found nothing I really wanted) and then came home to cook supper.
We watched a little TV and then I fell asleep on the couch. Not unusual for me, but I haven't done it in awhile.
No plans for tomorrow. I may start my exercises. I need to.
Sean's yearly check-up is on Wednesday. I need to talk to his doctor about Sean possibly having ADD.
We were going to pick up our new TV from H.H. Gregg this past Sunday, but when we called to make sure the shipment had arrived (it had) we found out that our TV wasn't there. Since it wasn't, they delivered it for free on Monday. They arrived around 9:00 AM and set it up for us. I called the cable company that day to order HD service and they sent a guy out the next day.
So we have our new 65" Sharp HDTV and HDTV service from the cable company. It'll all look better though when we get our new house. (Whenever that will be.) Such a big screen looks better at more of a distance than our present living room will allow. But it's not too bad for now.
Tomorrow is Independence Day. We don't have any big plans. We're having a cook-out (burgers and hot dogs) and Charlie will probably shoot off fireworks.
I got an encouraging email from our realtor today. She said that in the last 48 hours she's gotten several phone calls from people interested in our house. She told me to be prepared for possible showings in the near future. Lord, I hope so. Waiting for our house to sell got old long ago. :-\
