Room Done! (Mostly), Covid-free, Corona Update, Books, and Music

The library/office is mostly done now. I'm thinking about getting curtains and maybe another floor pillow or floor chair, but that's pretty much it.

Since my last entry, the painting Leaves and Vessels was delivered (July 6), I got more lights (July 6), I ordered two more rugs (July 7) and they were delivered on July 13th, the painting Late September Birch was delivered (July 15), I ordered a tapestry/wall hanging for a corner of the room I felt like needed something (July 18) and it was delivered on the 19th, and I bought a floor pillow from World Market on the 20th.

The rug on the right side of the room used to be in front of the bookcases. I put it to the side to put down the other two rugs and just left it there.

Rug by nuloom.

I asked Charlie to build me another, smaller bookcase (he built the two bookcases in this picture) for the books I have on the table and the floor.

Rug by Surya.

Rug by Safavieh.

Some may think the lights are tacky, but I love them. lol I had originally planned on doing a world theme (things representing different countries), but I couldn't decide on a paint color. Then I remembered a beautiful library I had seen pictures of that had dark blue walls and shiny gold stars and other celestial things, so I chose a dark blue paint (blue midnight). Then when I went online rug shopping, I kept being drawn to orange rugs. That surprised me since I've never liked orange that much. When I bought the orange rug that's now on the right side of the room, I then began looking for other orange things, like the poppy painting, the ceiling fan pulls, and the throw. So, the starry/celestial theme was gone, too. lol

These are the paint colors I was trying to decide between when I decided to go with blue walls (all from Lowe's; some Valspar and some Sherwin Williams):

I decided these were too blue (1 & 3) or had too much purple in them (2 & 4).

1 is Bluer Than Blue, 2 is Mountain Lake, 3 is Delft Pottery, 4 is Vital Blue.

6 is the color I chose: Blue Midnight. 5 is Salty Dog.

This one was a little too dark. It's called Naval.

I really liked 8 (Anchors Aweigh), but thought it was probably too dark. I loved 9 (Dark Night), it had a bit of green in it (my favorite color), and had a hard time choosing between it and 6.

I looked at probably hundreds of rugs when shopping for rugs for this room. After getting the ones I wanted for this room, I decided to get one for my bedroom. I had a hard time choosing between two rugs and ended up ordering the second one a week after ordering the first. The second one should be delivered today.

Loki has immediately laid down on each rug as soon as I've put them on the floor. lol This one (by Jonathan Y) and the one in front of the rocking chair in the library seem to be his favorites. The one in front of the rocking chair gets lots of sun when the blinds are up. This rug in my room is not my normal style, but I like the colors for my coastal/beachy bedroom.

And I decided that I don't like one of the paintings in my dining room all that much anymore (I bought it over 10 years ago) and have ordered a new one to replace it. It's called View to the Amalfi Coast. It should be here later this week or early next week.

I think I may have said it in a previous entry, but everything I've bought for the library/office has either been cheap, on sale, or I found a coupon for it. So while I've probably spent quite a bit of money (I haven't done the math yet lol), I haven't spent nearly as much as I could have if I had more money or were rich. lol

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Sometime around June 27 or 28, Charlie's sister Gail and her husband moved to Playa del Carmen, Mexico. Gail had lived in Oklahoma for years and raised her daughters there. I think her husband Jim was born and raised in Oklahoma. I can't imagine moving to another country away from my kids and grandkids. (She has grandkids. I don't.) I know people do (I'm a fan of House Hunters International and see it quite a bit), but I couldn't do it. No matter how much a part of me would love to try living in New Zealand or Europe.

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Sean and Ashley have completely recovered from covid. Ashley has gone back to work and Sean will be going back soon.

Speaking of Ashley, she just celebrated her 24th birthday yesterday. I bought her two books (Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine and Where the Crawdads Sing; she loves reading like I do) and ordered her something from Amazon that should be here at the end of the week. I also got her a card and a balloon.

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On the subject of the corona virus, here are North Carolina's and my county's numbers as of last night:

Completed tests: 1,458,997

Positive cases: 102,861

Currently hospitalized: 1,179

Deaths: 1,668

Recovered: 78,707

Active cases: 24,154

My county has 4,314 (don't know how many have recovered) and 134 deaths. My zip code was in the top three worst for our county on July 10th. We now have 511 cases (again, don't know how many have recovered) and 33 deaths.

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Since my last entry, I finished reading Cilka's Journey by Heather Morris and read The Queen of Nothing (3rd book in a trilogy) by Holly Black. I gave the former 3 stars at GoodReads and gave the latter 4 - 4½ stars.

I started reading The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri yesterday. I've only read the first chapter so far.

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I last posted about buying new music for my iPod on May 5th. Here are the songs I've bought since then:

Psalm 23 is by People and Songs. Speak Those Things: POL Chapter 3 is a Fred Hammond album.

 

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~*~Nocturnal Queen~*~

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Library/Office, Positive Test Results, Corona Update

Sunday, June 21st was Father's Day, but because I hadn't been able to go grocery shopping due to a migraine I'd had for four or five days, I didn't have the stuff to make the goulash Charlie wanted or a cake. I went grocery shopping that Monday, June 22nd and made goulash for supper and yellow cake with chocolate frosting for dessert. He loved both.

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Tuesday, June 23rd, the painting I ordered was delivered - Poppies Melody I. This is a picture I took of it after Charlie hung it up for me.

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I ordered a new mouse and a calendar for the library/office on June 28th. (The rubber grip on the sides of my old mouse were starting to peel. I'd had it for years.) They were delivered on June 30th. The mouse is by Logitech and is bright pink. The calendar is of Provence.

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June 29th, I ordered another painting for the library/office. It's called Leaves and Vessels. It's supposed to be delivered between July 16th and July 24th, but it shipped yesterday so I'm hoping it gets here sooner than that.

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Friday, June 26th or Saturday, June 27th, Sean and Ashley were tested for corona virus. Someone Ashley works with went to work sick. They got their results back on June 30th - positive for covid19. :-(

Sean has had a cough (he says he's not coughing anymore), sore throat, headache, shortness of breath (not often; this too has stopped, I think), fatigue, and loss of smell and taste. Ashley has had nausea, fever (not for a couple days now though, I think), body aches, and fatigue.

I was scared for a day or two after finding out and I've prayed a lot. Their symptoms seem to be easing off some (Sean's headache doesn't seem to want to go away yet and neither does Ashley's nausea) and Sean has sounded upbeat when I've talked to him on the phone. He's called me three or four nights in a row just wanting to "chit chat", as he says.

When he first told me they tested positive, I practically flooded his phone with instructions on how to take care of themselves and told him to go to the CDC's website to see what they say. I had Charlie pick up a few things for them (broth, Gatorade, soup, Tylenol) and drop it off for them.

Of course, they have to quarantine for a couple weeks. Ashley needs me or Charlie to pick up a prescription for her and I'm wanting to get them some vitamins and tonic water or mineral water.

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I have one more wall in the library/office that needs a painting, so after hours of searching (it's always hours of searching when trying to choose something for this room), I finally chose one called Late September Birch. I ordered it a few hours ago. Expected delivery is between July 21st and July 29th. I hope it comes sooner.

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I'm thinking of ordering one more rug for the room. Something small (and inexpensive) to put in front of the rocking chair. I've narrowed it down to about four. I don't know how many times I'll look at them before I decide. lol

Speaking of rugs, I don't think I posted a picture of the one I bought to put in front of my bookshelves.

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I still only leave the house once a week to get groceries. I wear a mask and always sanitize my hands after getting in the car. I also still wipe down everything that comes into our house.

Kelly and I went grocery shopping this past Monday. We went to Food Lion and Lowe's Foods for the groceries and Walmart for things like squirrel food, a light for our sidewalk that got broken, colorful globe string lights for the library/office, vitamins for Charlie, etc.

We also went to Target for skin toner that for some reason I wasn't finding anywhere else and a few other things I can't remember. We then went to At Home (used to be Garden Ridge) trying to find a painting. There were very few people there, so we were never very close to anyone. We saw a lot of paintings we thought were pretty, but nothing I would want for the library/office.

Altogether, we were out of the house for about 5 hours. Normally we're only out for 1½-2 hours. After a few hours, my jaws and cheeks started hurting from the mask I was wearing (though it wasn't tight) and that turned into a bad headache. :-/

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I haven't done an update of the corona virus numbers in North Carolina since May 22nd. Here's what they are as of noon yesterday:

Completed tests: 971,120
Positive cases: 68,142
Currently hospitalized: 912
Deaths: 1,391
Recovered: almost 46,000 as of this past Monday.
New cases yesterday: 1,629

My county has had 2,909 positive cases, 117 deaths, 366 hospitalizations, and 1,711 recoveries. There have been 314 positive cases in my zip code and 30 deaths.

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I finished reading Still Me by Jojo Moyes on June 21st. It's the third book in a trilogy. The first (Me Before You) was really good. I wasn't crazy about the second one. (After You.) I liked this third one a lot. It took me much longer than it should have to read it because I kept falling asleep. :-/

I started reading Cilka's Journey by Heather Morris that same day. It's okay so far, but I haven't read much of it yet.

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~*~Nocturnal Queen~*~
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