Our New Bed

Our new bed was delivered Wednesday morning. It's been so nice not having Charlie's elbow or hand on my pillow (or in my face) and not having Charlie's dog Milo (a Jack Russell terrier/terror) squeezed between us. He can sleep next to Charlie all he wants without also sleeping against me or on my side of the bed, which often left me with little room to sleep comfortably. Very annoying.

Did I want to have a $2,003 bill to pay off? (We used our Bassett card. We will pay if off in less than a year - no interest.) No, not at all. But I cannot tell you how glad I am that we got a king sized bed. I can sleep comfortably without being crowded and without having a dog in my back or hip or neck. Ahhhh.

We gave our queen bed to our son Sean, who is very much enjoying his big, wonderfully comfortable bed.

This picture came out dark, but maybe you can see the details better (it's paneled) if you enlarge it. As you can see, our king-sized quilts are too short on the sides for our king-sized bed. I had bought king-sized quilts for our queen bed because queen quilts were too short on the sides. And now our king-sized quilts are too short on the sides for our king bed. They still have this quilt (and another that we have) at Target and I was able to check the measurements. I'll have to look for quilts that are wider than these.

Old Salem, Fall Pictures and a Death

Saturday was a busy, but fun day. I was up at 9:00 and gone by about 10:30 to go to a wedding at my church. One of the young ladies, who is from Haiti but has lived here and been a part of our church for several years, married a man who is also from Haiti. Most of the ceremony was in English. A song (by Celine Dion) and a portion of scripture were in French. When they exchanged rings, the groom got down on one knee. Aww. The recessional song was "I Win" by Clint Brown. (Pause the music player at the bottom of this page before clicking on the link for "I Win".) One of the groomsmen danced down the aisle "Holy Ghost" style. Ha! I loved it. :-)

I would've liked to have gone to the reception, but I'd already made plans to go to Old Salem (a Moravian village that dates back to the 1700s) with Kelly and my mom for Harvest Day: Pigs and Pippins. I got home at a little after 12:00, changed clothes and fixed Kelly's hair. My mom wanted to drive, so we had to wait for her. She finally got here around 12:30 or so.

We had a good time in Old Salem. It was a beautiful day, with highs in the upper 60s. If we hadn't had other plans for the afternoon, we would've toured every building. Charlie, the kids and I went last year for Harvest Day and were able to tour all the buildings. We really enjoyed it. I wish Kelly, my mom and I could've done it this year. I know my mom would've really liked it. As it was, we only had time to tour a couple buildings, walk the main street, go to Winkler's Bakery (I bought a piece of vanilla pound cake and a piece of almond pound cake; Kelly got a lovefeast roll and a couple pieces of vanilla pound cake) and browse a few gift shops. Still, we had fun.

African-American church in Old Salem.
.

Making apple cider the really old-fashioned way.
.

 Making sausage. The lady on the left seemed pleased, and a little surprised, when she pointed at three herbs and asked what they were and I was able to correctly identify them: sage, rosemary and thyme. :-)
.

 A side street in Old Salem. Many houses in Old Salem are private residences. A few are for sale. What a lovely place to live.
.

We left Old Salem around 3:40 and made it to Sean's football game at Oka T. Hester Park, here in Greensboro, about two minutes after it started at 4:15. (The warm-up had started at 3:15. That's why Charlie and Sean didn't go with us to Old Salem.) It was a great game. Sean's team won - 21 to 12.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After the kids were done with their schoolwork yesterday, we went to Hagan-Stone so that I could take pictures of them. There wasn't as much color as I'd expected there to be, so we might go back and take more pictures another day.

 Sean, 15.

Kelly, 12.

After leaving Hagan-Stone, I dropped Sean off at my mom's and then Kelly I went to Wal-Mart (a few toiletries and grocery items), Lowe's (paint for Kelly's room - Surf Spray by Valspar, paint supplies, air filters for the house) and then Belk where I got two pairs of shoes, which I really needed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My aunt Nancy, one of my mom's younger sisters, passed away yesterday. Their brother Tony just passed away a month ago. Just like that, my mom and her remaining siblings (Wanda, James and Sherry) have lost a brother and a sister. I can't imagine what that must be like.

Books and New Bookshelves

Charlie made me a couple bookcases, with a little help from Sean, (I can't remember if they were for my birthday or Mother's Day) and I think they look pretty great. He just needs to cut, stain and attach some decorative trim pieces to them.

Please excuse the mess on the right. I'm in the middle of rearranging things. And that thing to the left of the bookcases is a scratching pad for the cats.

And in case anyone's interested, here are some pictures of my books:

The black one is my husband's Bible. It's in a leather case.

Two books aren't pictured - The Best Poems of the English Language: From Chaucer Through Frost, by Harold Bloom and Les Miserables, which I'm currently reading. These two books are on my nightstand.

I haven't read many of the books on my shelves yet (I buy them faster than I can read them), but I look forward to it. :-)

I Could Use a Day of Rest

I'm tired and my feet hurt. It's been a busy couple of days.

Yesterday, after the kids were done with their schoolwork, I had some things I needed to take care of.

First stop, the Verizon store to get the address where I could send my defective phone. (The replacement had arrived on Wednesday.) Only the guy I spoke to didn't know the address. Oookay. Why wouldn't they have that kind of information (important Verizon addresses) listed somewhere?

We left the Verizon store and went to the post office so I could get the phone in the mail. I called Verizon to get the address for returns and was on hold for quite a while. I had other things to take care of and didn't have time to wait, so I hung up and hoped that the address on the label (not the one they sent for me to use; that had gotten thrown away) was correct. Sometimes the address an item is sent to you from isn't the same address to send items back.

While I was peeling the label off (which didn't come off neatly, much as I tried), Verizon texted me the address (with an invalid zip code, but the street address was the same on the label, so of course the zip code was too) and I was able to get the box correctly labeled and put into the mail.

After leaving the post office, we came back home so that Sean could get his church clothes and then I brought him to my mom's house. (There was a youth service at our church that night and I didn't have time to bring him.) From there, Kelly and I went to the Christian bookstore in Winston-Salem where we get homeschool materials so that I could get a couple things for the kids. We had an early supper at Chick-fil-A after that, stopped by a nearby Petsmart for dog food for Pippin and then came back to Greensboro.

Our next stop was the gas station and then Target to get a bridal shower gift and wrapping paper (black with "Mr and Mrs" in glittery silver writing - so pretty and elegant), along with a big, glittery silver bow. The bride is registered there (as well as JC Penney). I chose a red stoneware bakeware set.

Next was Wal-Mart and Food Lion for groceries and then we were finally able to come home. For a little while anyway. Kelly and I left the house again around 10:30 to get Sean from church. Then Kelly and I left the house one more time about an hour later to get some food from Taco Bell.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today was another busy day, though not as busy as yesterday. I was up by 7:30 and sometime after 10:00 (later than I wanted to leave) the family and I went to Bur-Mil Park for the Fall Festival. They didn't have the archery they said they were going to have, which disappointed Sean and Kelly, but we did enjoy the hayride and Sean liked the target shooting. (BB guns.)

After about an hour and a half, we left the festival and went to Olive Garden for a late lunch. We then briefly came home so that Sean could get ready for football and so that I could wrap the gift I'd bought for the bridal shower.

Charlie brought Sean to football and Kelly came with me to the bridal shower. The shower was at our church. Kelly read in another room for awhile and then joined us at the bridal shower later.

Kelly and I were home at about ten till 6:00. Charlie and Sean came home about 2 minutes after that.

So, yeah, after two busy days, I'm quite tired and looking forward to going to bed tonight.

Church in the morning. Looking forward to it. :-)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Can't get enough of this song lately.
(Pause the music player at the bottom of the page first before listening to this.)

This and That

Sunday, September 30th: Charlie's sister Sheila and her 12-year-old daughter Samantha came to stay with us temporarily. Financial circumstances and an unpleasant situation with her ex-husband (who they were living with) forced them to leave where they were. Naturally, we took them in. Sheila left Wednesday morning and then when we went to Raleigh for Sean's football game, we brought Samantha with us. She then went with her mom to Sheila's daughter Jessica's (from her first marriage) house. Sheila has applied for an apartment where the rent is based on income. Hopefully that works out for them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Monday, October 1st: Sean had an orthodontist appointment (to adjust braces and chain) that became three visits to their office. After leaving the first time, we (me, Sean, Kelly, Sheila, Samantha) went to Olive Garden for lunch. Just as we sat down, Sean said that one of the "doors" on his braces was open. So we had to immediately get up and go back to the orthodontist. They closed the door, checked the others and we returned to Olive Garden where we enjoyed a delicious lunch/supper.

After we were done eating, Sean said it felt like another door had opened or moved a little when he was eating. So we went back to the orthodontist again and there was a door in the back that was opened just enough to cause the wire to move a little. They closed that one and rechecked the others.

Finally, we came home, but then I remembered that I had to pick up a few things from the store. So Kelly and I went to Wal-mart and got some grocery items as well as hoodies for her and for Samantha.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wednesday, October 3rd: The carpet installers arrived around 9:00 AM. Since I knew they would be coming in and out a lot, meaning the door would be open a lot, I had the kids put Sam and Evie (2 of our cats) in Milo's (Charlie's Jack Russell) large crate (they didn't like that much; especially Evie), we hooked Pippin (our toy poodle) up with a leash to one of the dining room chair legs, I put Sadie (our other cat) in the master bathroom (she doesn't get along with the other cats in such close quarters as the crate) and Milo was hooked up to a long leash outside for a while before hooking him up in the dining room. I didn't want them getting in the way or the cats getting outside.

The carpet installers were done around 3:30. The carpet looks really nice and is so plush under our feet. Our old carpet needed replacing badly. It was 14 years old and past time to be replaced. We moved out everything in the carpeted rooms and have gotten the vast majority of it back into our house. There are a couple bookcases and a few boxes that still need to be moved back into our house.

We're still working on getting our house back in order. The kids are going through their stuff and getting rid of a lot of it. Especially Kelly. She's doing a great job. I told her (and Sean) I would paint her room any color she wants (within reason) if she gets rid of most of her toys (since she doesn't play with them) and other stuff she can't or doesn't use. She's gotten rid of most of her stuff now. Her room, which is kind of small (about 10x10), looks much better now - less crowded. When we went to Lowe's a couple days ago, she picked out a few paint sample cards (all in the light blue/aqua range) and has narrowed her choice down to three colors for her room - Beach Sparkle, a pretty aqua color, Surf Spray, a light blue, and Cincinnatian Hotel Abbey, a light blue with a hint of aqua; all by Valspar. We'll get little sample cans so she can see the colors on her wall and make her final decision.

Sean wants Carolina blue.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Saturday, October 6th: After returning to Greensboro from Raleigh, where Sean's football game was played (his team lost), we ate dinner at my mom's and then Charlie, Kelly and I went to Bassett to choose a new bed and mattress set. Mine and Charlie's current bed is a queen and while I love the bed, it's just not working for us anymore. Well, mostly me, I guess.

Not only do I have to deal with Charlie's dog sleeping with us (many times between us), which I hate, but many times when I come to bed, Charlie's hand or elbow is on my pillow and I have to move it so I can get in the bed. There have been times when I've been asleep and suddenly there's a hand on my pillow or an elbow in my face (once it was in my eye) or I get smacked in the head. So yeah, time for a king bed.

I don't so much want  to get a new bed as I need  to get a new bed. Sean, whose room is about 10x12 or 10x13, will be getting our queen bed. The frame and box spring are already in there (with the twin mattress on top) and Charlie and I are sleeping on the mattress on the floor.  Kelly will be getting Sean's twin mattress, which is in better shape than her twin mattress. The thing I'll miss most are my white sheets. They are so wonderfully comfortable and I never have been able to find them again when I tried to get them in another color. Neither have I been able to find any other sheets (a different, affordable brand) as comfortable. *sigh*

Anyway, we looked at several beds before making our decision. I had really wanted a storage bed, but they cost a lot more (around $1000 more) than a regular panel bed. So we got a panel bed - Redkin Park. Both the bed and the mattress set were on sale. The bed was $839 (original price $1209) and the mattress set was $899 (original price $1299). They should be here between the end of the month and the beginning of next month.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sunday: Went to church, cooked my usual after-Church meal - made-from-scratch pancakes (so good!) and bacon. Then Kelly and I did a little shopping. I got a SpotBot to clean the carpets, some spray carpet cleaner one of the carpet installers recommended (Folex), and a couple other things at Lowe's. Then got Kelly a jean skirt at Dillard's (Ralph Lauren, marked down from $80 to $30), a couple belts at Belk and some low ankle socks at Target.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yesterday: My new phone, which I got in early September, refused to charge and finally died completely. :-/ A new one should come tomorrow. Hopefully this one won't give me any problems.

Today: I really need to get these boxes of toys and movies to Goodwill, but it's not looking like I'm going to make it. :-/