My mom's surgery date has been changed to the 25th. The doctor wants to use the robot and that's the earliest it will be available.
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My son Sean just turned 16 on Tuesday, April 9th. I was too sick to celebrate, so Charlie took Sean to play golf
(he loves golf) and then took him to Olive Garden for his birthday dinner. That's something we normally would do as a family, but I was feeling miserable and couldn't go. :-/ We did the cake on Friday, April 12th
(I was feeling mostly better) and went out to eat again.
(La Hacienda.)
Sean's gifts: a new fishing pole, tackle box, and tool box with tools. My mom got him an ipod.
Yesterday, Charlie and Sean played golf again. After dropping off a fruit tray and vegetable tray at the church
(for a party), Kelly and I went shopping. I got a beautiful light pink lace dress, off-white shrug, and a cute skirt
(all at Stein Mart) and Kelly got a shirt at Belk. She also needs/wants new skirts, but nothing interested her enough to even try on. :-/
We met up with the guys at Bravo for a late lunch/early supper and then went our separate ways again. Kelly and I did a little more shopping
(didn't get anything) and got some ice cream at Baskin-Robbins before coming home. :-)
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I've read a couple great books so far this year that I highly recommend. The first, Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein, was moving and gut-wrenching. A story that takes place during WWII-England and France.
"Oct. 11th, 1943-A
British spy plane crashes in Nazi-occupied France. Its pilot and
passenger are best friends. One of the girls has a chance at survival.
The other has lost the game before it's barely begun.
"When
"Verity" is arrested by the Gestapo, she's sure she doesn't stand a
chance. As a secret agent captured in enemy territory, she's living a
spy's worst nightmare. Her Nazi interrogators give her a simple choice:
reveal her mission or face a grisly execution.
"As she intricately
weaves her confession, Verity uncovers her past, how she became friends
with the pilot Maddie, and why she left Maddie in the wrecked fuselage
of their plane. On each new scrap of paper, Verity battles for her life,
confronting her views on courage, failure and her desperate hope to
make it home. But will trading her secrets be enough to save her from
the enemy?
"A Michael L. Printz Award Honor book that was called "a fiendishly-plotted mind game of a novel" in The New York Times, Code Name Verity is a visceral read of danger, resolve, and survival that shows just how far true friends will go to save each other."
It's considered a young adult book, but I wouldn't agree with that. Especially with the use of the F word twice (ugh). It's a fantastic book though that I highly recommend for anyone who enjoys WWII stories or stories about friendship and sacrifice. I couldn't put it down.
The second book I've loved so far this year is The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons. The story takes place in Leningrad during WWII. I didn't know what the people of Leningrad experienced during the war before reading this. It was horrible and heartbreaking. But the main story of the book is about Tatiana and Alexander.
"The golden skies, the
translucent twilight, the white nights, all hold the promise of youth,
of love, of eternal renewal. The war has not yet touched this city of
fallen grandeur, or the lives of two sisters, Tatiana and Dasha
Metanova, who share a single room in a cramped apartment with their
brother and parents. Their world is turned upside down when Hitler's
armies attack Russia and begin their unstoppable blitz to Leningrad.
"Yet
there is light in the darkness. Tatiana meets Alexander, a brave young
officer in the Red Army. Strong and self-confident, yet guarding a
mysterious and troubled past, he is drawn to Tatiana--and she to him.
Starvation, desperation, and fear soon grip their city during the
terrible winter of the merciless German siege. Tatiana and Alexander's
impossible love threatens to tear the Metanova family apart and expose
the dangerous secret Alexander so carefully protects--a secret as
devastating as the war itself--as the lovers are swept up in the brutal
tides that will change the world and their lives forever."
Many nights I stayed up very late reading this book. It was so hard to put down. A couple days after finishing it, I went to Barnes and Noble and bought the other two books of the trilogy - Tatiana and Alexander (which I'm currently reading and enjoying) and The Summer Garden.
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And now a movie recommendation: Lincoln, directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Daniel Day Lewis, Sally Field and Tommy Lee Jones. If you don't like movies with almost no action (the only action takes place in the very first scene of the movie - a battle between Confederate soldiers and black Union soldiers) and lots of talking and discussion, then you probably won't like this. I don't mind it as long as the talk is interesting, which this certainly is, in my opinion. There's also quite a bit of humor in the movie, which was a pleasant surprise.
I liked the movie more than I thought I would and have read more about the Lincolns because of this movie.
One other thing I liked about the movie was the focus for part of the movie on the battle of Fort Fisher (near my hometown of Southport). It's only discussed and maps are shown and telegraphs are sent back and forth during the battle, but it still made me feel kind of proud that it was in the movie. :-)
