New A/C, DNA, Dresses

The a/c quit working again on Tuesday, September 23rd. I turned it off for awhile and had fans running throughout the house. Ceiling fans in the living room, dining room, kitchen, our bedroom, and the office. Smaller fans in Kelly's room, the living room, and our bedroom. A tall fan at the end of the hall blowing down the hall. I turned the a/c back on that evening and it kept the house cool during the night.

 

Our a/c would work for about 10-12 hours a day, so I'd turn it on around 2:00 PM and turn it off around 1:00 or 2:00 AM. Thankfully, it wasn't too warm outside and the fans kept the house comfortable.

 

A repair guy/HVAC guy came on September 29th and Charlie and I decided to get a new system. On that day, our a/c was only cooling the house for about 6-8 hours a day.

 

On Wednesday, October 1st, our new a/c system was put in. 

 

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Last month, Ancestry DNA had an update. 

 

My results:

 

• Central Scotland and Northern Ireland -- 24%
• Northern Wales and North West England -- 14%
• Southern Wales -- 5%
• Leinster, Ireland -- 4%
• Munster Ireland -- 2%

• North East England -- 15%
• Southeastern England and Northwestern Europe -- 14%
• East Midlands -- 2%
• West Midlands -- 2%

• Northwestern Germany -- 6%
• The Netherlands -- 6%
• Southern Germanic Europe -- 2%

• Denmark -- 3%
• Finland -- 1%

 

As I've said in the past, we have African ancestry on my mom's side (I've found records for them in eastern NC), but it only shows up in my mom's oldest sister Wanda's DNA. So I check her results every time there's an update so that I can know where they were from. The last update said 1% Nigeria. That hasn't changed.

 Charlie's results:

• Northern Wales & North West England -- 26%
• Central Scotland & Northern Ireland -- 10%
• Southern Wales -- 4%
• North East Scotland -- 3%

• Southeastern England & Northwestern Europe -- 29%
• West Midlands -- 5%
• North East England -- 2%

• Northwestern Germany -- 6%
• The Netherlands -- 4%

• Denmark -- 3%
• Norway -- 3%
• Sweden -- 1%

• Benin & Togo -- 2%

• Eastern European Roma -- 1%

• Sardinia -- 1%

My mom's results:

 

• Southeastern England & Northwestern Europe -- 21%
• North East England -- 15%
• West Midlands -- 7%
• Devon & Somerset -- 3%

• Central Scotland & Northern Ireland -- 23%
• Southern Wales -- 11%
• Northern Wales & North West England -- 9%
• Leinster, Ireland -- 1%
• Munster, Ireland -- 1%

• Northwestern Germany -- 7%

• Portugal -- 1%

• Finland -- 1% 

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Purchases since my last blog entry. Not including clothes I've bought for Lydia.

 

 

Tahari sparkly blue dress. (I removed the necklace.) Purchased from someone on Poshmark. (This is their photo.) Originally $100. I paid $41.58 after shipping and tax.

 

 

Talbots shirt dress. Purchased from someone on Poshmark. (This is their photo.) Originally $129. I paid $32.55 after shipping and tax.

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Songs purchased since my last entry:

 

Jesus Saves by Rev. Gerald Thompson & The Hi-Prayz Crusade Choir

I Believe by Charity Gayle

Name Above All Names by Charity Gayle

 

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We took two trips to the mountains last month. (We were going to go a third time, but that didn't work out.) I'll write about that in a separate entry. 

 

 

 

Brief Update

I don't think I've ever taken this long to post a new blog entry. (Except maybe for the time when my computer quit working.) I just haven't felt like writing. I don't really feel like writing now either, so I'm going to keep this brief. I'll try to write in more detail at a later date. Hopefully in the next week or two.

 

My car: Charlie is still working on it. Slowly. :-/ The major stuff is done, but he keeps re-sanding and repainting parts of it. And he still needs to add some trim pieces.

 

I've bought some clothes since my last entry. I'll probably write about that later. I'm currently trying to find something for Easter.

I got a jury summons, I think for some time in October. I told them that I couldn't because I watch my granddaughter Lydia, but instead of getting out of it, they postponed it to December. (19th, I think.) I didn't know if they'd give me a hard time about it if I told them I still had to watch Lydia, so I didn't try to get out of it again. Thankfully, when I called the night before, they said I wasn't needed. Yay! I despise jury duty.

 

Hurricane Helene hit the NC mountains (as well as SC, TN, VA) in late September after slamming into Florida. The devastation is unbelievable. All these months later and there's still so much destruction up there. :-(

A few weeks before Helene, there was a lot of flooding in and around Southport. 

Ancestry had a DNA update in October. 

 

My results:

 

England & Northwestern Europe 58%

Wales 12%

Cornwall 6%

Denmark 6%

Scotland 6%

Germanic Europe 5%

Ireland 2%

Finland 1%

Charlie:

England & Northwestern Europe 68%

Scotland 13%

Germanic Europe 11%

Cornwall 2%

Wales 2%

Benin & Togo 1%

Norway 1%

Eastern European Roma 1%

Sardinia 1%

Mom:

Scotland, Scottish Highlands & Northern Isles 44%

England & Northwestern Europe 36%

Wales, northern & western 11%

France 3%

Germanic Europe 3%

Ireland 2%

Finland 1%

An update on my aunt Wanda's DNA results. When I'd checked her results last March (because her DNA is the only one that shows where our African ancestors came from), it said 2% Cameroon, Congo, and Western Bantu Peoples. Now it says 1% Nigeria. The rest of her DNA is England & Northwestern Europe 61%, Wales 15%, Scotland 14%, Ireland 5%, Cornwall 3%, and Iceland 1%.

Milo had a vet appointment on January 9th. We had to have Milo put to sleep on January 16th. That was very hard. I'll post more about that in a post just for him.

We had a few snow days this winter. More than we'd had in awhile.

Friday, December 13th, my car died on my way home. I had just been to the DMV/license plate agency to pay my vehicle tax and my car was sounding awful on the way home, so I pulled into a gas station on the corner of Holden and Vandalia. It was then I noticed it smoking from the front. I turned it off and called Charlie. It wouldn't start anymore after that. It was big ordeal that ended up with Charlie having to run jumper cables from my car battery to another battery in the back floorboard of my car. I think Charlie said it was the alternator or something, which he ordered a new one of and replaced.

Charlie got a raise in December, plus extra money (each month?) to keep his truck maintained since he drives it for work.

Lydia started crawling on December 26th. She started standing some time after that. She's not walking yet.

January 5th was communion at church and Lydia's dedication.

 

 

My aunt Kathy died suddenly Sunday morning, March 2nd. She was one of my dad's sisters. Her funeral was this past Saturday, but I was too sick to go.

And, of course, our 30th anniversary on December 17th, Christmas, New Year's, my birthday, Kelly's birthday, and Charlie's birthday. Lydia's first birthday was yesterday.

 

Again, I'll try to give more details later.

DNA, Church Flooring, Car Update

For some reason, I can't upload photos at the moment. Hopefully that gets fixed soon. I will describe what I can and upload photos if and when I can.

 

There was a new DNA update at Ancestry last July, but I wasn't able to blog about it at the time because my computer was messed up. (And still is.) And then I forgot about it when Charlie got me this laptop. So, here are the updated results from a year ago:

 

My DNA:

England & Northwestern Europe 49%

Wales 15%

Scotland 15%

Sweden & Denmark 8%

Ireland 7%

Germanic Europe 5%

Finland 1%

Charlie's DNA:

England & Northwestern Europe 71%

Scotland 10%

Wales 5%

Ireland 4%

Sweden & Denmark 3%

Benin & Togo 2%

Germanic Europe 2%

Norway 1%

Eastern European Roma 1%

Sardinia 1%

My mom's DNA:

England & Northwestern Europe 57%

Scotland 24%

Wales 11%

Norway 3%

Sweden & Denmark 2%

Ireland 2%

Finland 1%

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Over the past few months, our church has been updating the flooring in a couple halls, the nursery, and maybe the daycare. Someone said they'd be doing the ladies bathroom next. 

 

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Pictures of the progress of my car getting repainted. These were taken a couple weeks ago. I'm really hoping Charlie finishes this week. I'm tired of not being able to drive my car.

 

 

***Photos aren't working (though I keep trying; for some reason they keep disappearing), so I'm not going to try with the car update photos again at the moment.***

 

 

The pictures are of my car with a red primer. Last night, he did the sealer (?) and hopefully he can do the final color painting (I don't know what it's actually called) and the top coat tonight. Hopefully it won't need more sanding. He's had to re-sand it a couple times and re-apply base coat. :-\

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Clothing purchase since my last blog entry:

 

 

 Talbots dress. Purchased from someone on Poshmark. Originally $158, I paid $30.93 after shipping and tax. This is their photo.

 

I was able to copy and paste this photo here. I haven't been able to upload from my computer, which is what I normally do.

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Songs purchased for my iPod since getting this laptop:

Endless Praise by Charity Gayle

Worthy by Urshan College

Jesus by Indiana Bible College, feature Draylin Young and Jessica Di Giovanni

He's in the Room by David Jennings

Praise by Elevation Worship

It is Well by UPCI Music

Covenant Keeping God by POA Worship

More Than Able by Elevation Worship

If He Did it Before...Same God by Tye Tribbett

Anything Can Happen by Mark Crowder

Holy Ghost by Taylor Fish

Too Good to Not Believe by Indiana Bible College

I Won't Complain by Rev. Paul Jones

Not Afraid by Jesus Culture

Jesus That's my King by First Pentecostal Church of North Little Rock

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I finished Anglesey by Frank Tayell on July 11th (I gave it 3 stars at GoodReads) and started reading Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber on the same day. I'm on about page 150 or 151 in that book.

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I started feeling sick yesterday. I woke up coughing a few times and by the time I got up, I had a sore throat, my left ear was hurting, I was starting to get a little stuffy, and I had a low fever. I slept for a couple hours in the evening while Charlie worked on my car. Charlie and Kelly had leftovers for supper (roast chicken with Cavender's Greek seasoning and lemon), stuffing, and vegetables. I had chicken noodle soup. For some reason, I wasn't enjoying the flavor much, but the warm broth felt good on my throat.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to watch Lydia today. I don't feel up to it and I don't want to get her sick.

Baby Shower, Milo, Welcome Baby!, African Ancestry

Wednesday, March 6th, we found out that Ashley had a condition called cholestasis. This is uncomfortable for the mother (itching), but can be dangerous for the baby. Cholestasis can cause up to 60% of preterm deliveries, up to 33% of fetal distress, and up to 2% of babies die in the womb. So her doctor decided they would induce her at 37 weeks on March 22nd. They put her on medication to help with the cholestasis. They were also going to do ultrasounds once or twice a week and monitor the baby. Cholestasis usually goes away on its own after the baby is born.

 

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Friday, March 8th was a busy day. Milo had an ultrasound done of his liver, I ordered the cake for the baby shower (strawberry buttercream from Maxie B's), got groceries, bought gifts for Sean/Ashley/Lydia for the baby shower, and made chocolate chip cookies for the shower.

 

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Saturday, March 9th, was the baby shower. I picked up the cake from the bakery about an hour before the shower, brought it to the church, and waited for the shower to start. I had a few people helping me with decorating and food. (Rene, Kaley, Jennifer, and Kristin.) I couldn't have done it all myself. Plus, I'm not a party person, so it's not my area of expertise. They did a great job.

The shower started at 2:00. It was a lovely time of conversation, food (cake was delicious!), and gifts.

 

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Monday, March 11th, Ashley's water broke before dawn. Sean called me after 5:00 AM to tell me. Ashley called her doctor and he or she told her to go to the hospital. Ashley was 1 centimeter dilated. I told Sean it would take all day for the baby to be born. I waited for Charlie to get home from work and then we went to the hospital. We got there shortly before 6:00 PM.

They gave Ashley an epidural when she was about 3-4 centimeters dilated (I think around 4 or 5 PM). By about 6:45 PM, she was 6 centimeters dilated. She was fully dilated around 7:35-7:40 and began pushing shortly after that.

Lydia Jane was born close to 9:30 PM. 6 lbs. 5.9 oz., 20 inches long. She came out sideways and was very blue, but breathing and was crying soon after that.

Because Ashley was 35 weeks pregnant, Lydia had to go to the NICU and is still there. She had a breathing tube until the morning or afternoon after she was born. She also had a feeding tube for the first couple days and then they removed it, but they had to put it back in (through her nose this time; it was in her mouth before) the next day because she wasn't getting enough food from the bottle. She still isn't eating enough (though she has finally started gaining weight), so she still has the feeding tube.

I've been to the hospital a few times to see her and hold her. (I would go every day, if I could.) She is so sweet and so cute! She's so much smaller in person than she looks in pictures. Such a sweet, tiny face. She makes such cute noises, sometimes sticks out her tongue when she stretches (so freaking cute!), and loves to hold Sean's thumb. Right now, it looks like she has Sean's eyes, Ashley's nose, and mostly Sean's face shape, but I think she may have Ashley's jaw.

I love that little girl so much! People have asked me what I want to be called and I told them "grandma" is fine (I don't think I'm the Gigi/Nana/Meme/Nona/whatever type), but whatever she chooses to call me is also fine.

So weird being a grandma. I don't feel old enough to be a grandma. But, at 51, obviously I am. lol

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We got Milo's ultrasound results back this past Monday. Pretty much what they told us when we had an ultrasound done a few years ago. Liver is shrunken and nodular. Probably fibrosis. (I think that's what she said.) He's 13 years old, so we're not going to have a biopsy done. He's still not wanting to eat his hepatic food, but the vet said that the most important thing now is his comfort and quality of life - whatever he wants to eat and continue medications. He acts like his normal self still - loud, playful, happy, crazy, annoying. lol

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A few years ago when my aunt Wanda (my mom's oldest sister; passed away last January) had her DNA done, it showed a small amount of African - south central hunter gatherers (Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, Angola, Zambia, and Tanzania). Last night, I was doing some things at Ancestry and went to the DNA section and then "matches". Aunt Wanda is my second closest match and I decided to click on her and check her ethnicity. (I had never thought to check hers each time there was an update.) It now says 2% Cameroon, Congo, and Western Bantu Peoples for her African ancestry.

So that area of Africa is where the African ancestors that are in my family tree came from. This is on my mom's mom's side of the family. To be more specific, my maternal grandma's mother's mother's mother's side of the family. (My great-grandma Lessie, great-great-grandma Nelie Britt, 3x-grandma Penelope Ivey's ancestors.) It's cool to know a little more specifically where they were from.

Accident, Sore Ankle, Sickness, DNA Update

The last week of July, Ashley started feeling bad. She had pain in the right side of her abdomen. Thankfully, it wasn't appendicitis. The doctor said it was a pulled muscle. After a few days on medication, she started feeling better.

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When I went to vacuum the church on Saturday, July 30th, the flooring in the foyer was mostly complete. I took a couple pictures of it.

 

 

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Tuesday, August 2nd, Charlie was rear-ended on his way home from work. The person in front of him had suddenly decided to turn, so Charlie hit his brakes. The person behind Charlie hit Charlie and caused the work truck he was driving to hit the person in front of him. The person Charlie hit drove off. There is some damage to the back of the truck. They're still waiting for insurance to make a decision about damage, cost, etc. Charlie had some pain in his neck and maybe back, so he went to the doctor for that the next day. He's on medication for the pain.

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Tuesday, August 9th, my right ankle started hurting badly. By that evening and the next day, I was having to slide/drag my right leg along and I was moving in what felt like slow motion. Taking a shower took a little longer than usual (I didn't realize how often I turn in the shower lol) and getting up after sitting for a little while was almost agony. I'd say an 8 on a scale of 1-10. Barely touching the area above the inside/left side of my right ankle was and is unbearable.

I went to the doctor on Thursday, August 11th. They did x-rays (no injury) and then the doctor felt/rubbed/squeezed my leg, achilles, and ankle (gently). He believes it's tarsal tunnel syndrome and prescribed naproxen. It has helped with the pain and I can walk normal again, but just because it doesn't hurt to walk doesn't mean it's better. (It still hurts so bad to touch above the inside of my ankle.) I do an exercise I read about online (rotate ankle/foot clockwise and counterclockwise 5 times each) and I sometimes wear an ankle brace. It can take 2 weeks to 6 months to heal. If things don't improve, the doctor said I could go to an orthopedic doctor for steroid shots in my ankle. I really don't want to do that. Just the thought of a needle in my ankle - no.

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Charlie started feeling sick with a sore throat this past Wednesday morning. (Or maybe it started the previous evening.) When he came home from work, he was feeling worse - fever (100.5), sore throat, headache, chills, tired. I told him he shouldn't go to work the next morning. He was still feeling bad when he woke up and so he stayed home. (Though thankfully his temperature was only 99.2.) A home covid test was positive. He went to CVS before 1:00 PM to be tested there, but hasn't gotten the results yet. They said they'd text him. 

 

Yesterday evening, he said his chest was starting to hurt. I told him that if it got worse or if he started coughing or had trouble breathing that he would need to go to the ER. He used the oximeter we have and his blood oxygen was about 94 or 95.

 

Kelly and I are avoiding him. She stays in her room. I usually come to my office, which is on the opposite end of our house, or the kitchen if I'm cooking. I told Charlie to wear a mask if Kelly and I are in the same room or area of the house that he's in. Usually we just sort of pass through the room he's in (the living room) and try not to linger. I'm using hand sanitizer and spraying the house with disinfectant spray. I'm going to wipe everything down with wipes tonight. I sprayed the remotes with disinfectant spray and wiped them with hand sanitizer when he went to bed for a nap yesterday afternoon.

A woman who works at his job (I forget what she does) came to his office on Monday or Tuesday and then ended up testing positive for covid. So he thinks he probably got it from her. 

 

There are only about a half dozen or so people who work where Charlie works. It's a place where cranes are fixed and maintained. The two women who work there are in HR or mail/delivery/orders/secretary positions. Charlie worked on cranes for years, but he's been a manager there since 2016. He still helps out with the cranes when they need an extra helping hand.

Anyway, I hate that he's sick and I hate that I'm having to avoid him. I like eating supper with him each night, watching TV with him, looking at our phones together (lol), sharing funny or interesting videos or articles we see on our phones, talking. We're still in the same house and it's only been a couple days, but I miss him.

I'm praying Kelly and I don't get it. If Kelly's ever had it, she had no symptoms or light symptoms. I've been sick once or twice where I thought afterwards that I might have had it, but it wasn't horrible (bad, but not horrible; kind of like a bad cold/sinus infection) and I didn't get tested. To be safe though, I did stay home those one or two times I might have had it.

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Ancestry has a new DNA update. These are our new ethnicity estimates:

 

My results. Finland hasn't been a part of my ethnicity estimate since the first results I got. (Current estimate is my 7th.) I was like, "Hey, Finland's back!"

 

Charlie's results.

 

My mom's results.

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I finally finished reading Go Tell the Bees That I am Gone by Diana Gabaldon on August 9th. I started reading it on November 24th! This is the first Outlander series book that was mostly boring. I really struggled to finish it. I stopped reading it in April or May and read the 5th book in the Surviving the Evacuation series. Then picked Bees back up in June. If I didn't love the characters so much and if it weren't the 9th book in what will be a 10-book series, I probably wouldn't have read past the halfway mark. I gave it 2.5 stars out of 5 at GoodReads.

After Bees, I started reading Under the Gray Skies by Jacqueline Druga. It was so bad that I couldn't finish it. The plot might be good, but the writing was awful and the spelling errors were too much. She misspelled "lightning" twice just a couple paragraphs apart as "lightening". The last straw (after many previous straws) was when she wrote something like, "I thought I was going to throw up. I really did. But I didn't." I rolled my eyes, groaned, thought "Oh, my God" so many times because of the bad writing. I DNF'd it at page 25.

I'm now reading Turbulent (Days of Want #1) by T.L. Payne. It started off a little rocky, but it's gotten better. I'm not far enough along to decide if I'll continue the series, but I'm liking it better than Bees and Under the Gray Skies.

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Clothes purchased since my last entry:

 

 

I bought this to go with the plain green Talbots dress I bought a couple months ago. This sweater is also by Talbots. I ordered it from ThredUp through eBay. I paid less than $29 after tax. Shipping was free. (This is ThredUp's photo.) The flowers are also on the back of the sweater.

 

 

 

I bought this from someone on Poshmark. (This is their photo.) This skirt is Lauren Ralph Lauren. I paid $23.48 after shipping and tax.

I bought this from someone on Poshmark. (This is their photo.) Sweater by Tahari. I paid less than $16 after shipping and tax.

I bought this from someone on eBay. (This is their photo.) Sweater by Max Studio. I paid $34 and change after shipping and tax.

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*~*Nocturnal Queen*~*

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Taxes Done, Ancestry Stuff, Easter, Etc.

I had an appointment to get our taxes done on Wednesday, April 13th, at an older woman's home in Asheboro. (Almost 20 minutes from my house.) My mom somehow knew her or found out about her, had her do her taxes, and recommended her to me and Charlie. When I got to her place and she started going through our papers she told me that Charlie's W2 was not in the folder. *sigh* So I had to go back the next day. Everything she needed was in the folder this time and she was able to do our taxes.

Charlie did our taxes last year and we owed federal. We were supposed to get a refund from state and we were going to use that towards what we owe federal (it would cover most of it), but we never got the refund. When Charlie contacted whoever, they told him to re-file. So hopefully now we'll get our refund from state so that we can pay federal. I think we'll end up with a little bit of money after all that. (From this year's taxes.) I expect Charlie will put it in savings - he's trying to save up for a truck.

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The 1950 census was released a couple weeks ago. So far I've only been able to find my mom's dad's parents and a few of his siblings. I haven't spent a whole lot of time searching because the number of pages is overwhelming. Hopefully I'll find some more relatives soon. In 1950 my grandparents and great-grandparents lived in North Carolina, Massachusetts, and California.

 

Charlie's parents and grandparents lived in North Carolina, Tennessee, and California.

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Sean's birthday was Saturday, April 9th. He's 25 now. Hard to believe. Charlie took him to a drag race in Dunn for his birthday (a couple friends went with them) and bought him a racing (NHRA?) jacket. I got him a card. Ashley made him a cake. I don't know what she got him.

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Ancestry DNA recently had another update. I lost Norway again. Dang it! lol Here are our (me, Charlie, my mom) new results:

Mine.

 

Sardinia was a surprise. We haven't seen that one in Charlie's DNA before.

Mom's.

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Easter was Sunday, April 17th. It was a beautiful day - sunshine, about 71°. I would've preferred a couple degrees warmer, but it's better than the low to mid 60s they had been predicting about a week earlier. I kept praying for it to get into the 70s and I would cheer every time I checked my phone app and saw that the forecasted temperature had gone up.

I wore the green floral dress that I posted a picture of a couple blog entries ago. I was going to wear the pink floral Jessica Howard, but since everyone wears pink (or white, purple, light blue) on Easter, I decided to wear the green one. Plus, green is my favorite color. 

 

I wore my blush (so light they're almost a nude color) patent sandals/heels (Dream Pairs; I bought them on Amazon), a white Talbot's shrug with lace trim down the front (along the part where it's open), wore my hair up (as I always do on Sundays), and carried my Etienne Aigner straw purse. All but the shoes were bought from either eBay (the dress) or Poshmark (shrug, purse).

 

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Church was awesome! It was basically just a worship service. Celebrating the Resurrection! Pastor did speak for about 10-15 minutes after we had sung several songs. And then we sang a few of them again after he was done.

I can't remember what all we sang, but some of them were Awakening by Eddie James, Take This City by The Pentecostals of Katy, This Means War by Charles Jenkins, Name Above All Names by Eddie James, Something Happens by James Wilson and Cortt Chavis. I think we may have also sung a couple others, including I Won't Let The Rocks Cry Out for Me. Each song flowed into the next with little to no break between songs. They did a pretty good job of keeping it moving. Most in the congregation were really into the worship.

I don't think we've ever had an Easter service like that (there's usually skits and/or songs that are all about Jesus' sacrifice and resurrection), but man did I love it! lol

After service, there were some give aways, a cook out (it was a nice day for eating outside), and candy for the kids. (Kelly had filled a lot of the plastic Easter eggs when we'd gone to clean the church on Saturday afternoon/evening.) We didn't stay for any of that though. We went on home and I made French toast and bacon.

I don't know how many people we had at church, but it looked nearly full to me. The most people we've had at church since covid.

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The last time I posted about new songs on my iPod was in November. Here are the songs I've purchased since then.

Click on the picture so you can see it better.

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I think it was this past Monday that Kelly's TV cut off and wouldn't come back on. So Charlie took her to Walmart yesterday after he got off work and bought her a new one. I don't know how much he spent. (Probably not much.) I forgot to ask. Using her PS4, she uses her TV for YouTube, Netflix, and Disney+, as well as video games.

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Sean was sick with a stomach virus Thursday, April 14th until this past Tuesday. He was also running a fever. I don't remember how high he said it got. I think the fever part was done by Sunday. He felt pretty awful and weak. I'm glad he's doing better now.

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Speaking of Sean, I haven't been to his and Ashley's place at all yet. They moved into their place this past December, but I've yet to make it over there. They work during the day and by the time they get home, I'm cooking supper (or about to) and then we eat and by then it's kind of late to be hanging out at someone's house. They're hardly home on the weekends during the day. I reckon I'll make it over there someday. lol

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Since my last blog entry, I've bought a couple skirts.

Ralph Lauren (Polo Jeans Company). I bought this from someone on eBay. Less than $30 after shipping and tax. (This is their picture. I take no credit for it.) I bought this because it's 100% cotton. The vast majority of modern jean skirts have stretch in them and it can be unflattering if you're not skinny. They hug you in places you don't want hugged. lol

 

 

Banana Republic leopard print skirt. I bought this from someone on eBay. I paid less than $22 after shipping and tax. (This is their picture. I take no credit for it.) Green is my favorite color and it can sometimes be difficult to find cute green clothes.

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Well, I reckon that's it for now. :-)

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*~*Nocturnal Queen*~*

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This and That

I'm going to try to keep this as brief as possible. I've gotten behind and to post all the details would make this entry way too long.

Milo had a vet appointment on October 6th. I don't remember what all they did, but they decided to give him a shot once a week for the pain in one of his front legs. He had been limping (no injury) and would sometimes hold his leg out in front of him in the air, as if he couldn't move it. I can't remember if they gave him the first shot on the 6th or not. He had appointments on the 14th and 22nd to get the shot.

On November 3rd, he had another appointment for blood work (to check his liver) and another shot. They didn't like how his liver is looking (it was quite a bit higher than the last time they did blood work; more than would normally be expected) and in case it's because of the shots, they decided not to give him a shot that day. They said they'll give him the shot once a month instead of once a week and hope that doesn't hurt his liver. I had also been giving him pain medication every day and they said to stop giving him that in case it's the medication in addition to or instead of the shots.

I have to make an appointment with a vet specialist to have an ultrasound done. They want to look at this liver and his gall bladder (they think there may be sediment built up) and then decide what to do from there. The vet has to send a referral to the specialist before I can make an appointment, but they haven't done that yet. I'm going to call today and hopefully that will be taken care of.

 

We've known for a couple years that his liver values aren't what they should be, but the vet only recently called it liver disease. That was kind of a shock to us. Liver disease is what killed Sam. I'm hoping and praying they don't find anything too bad on the ultrasound and that medication will be enough to keep him with us and healthy for a few more years.

 

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Charlie had a doctor's appointment on October 8th. His lungs are almost completely clear now, but the doctor could still hear a little bit of raspiness. Charlie has an appointment this Friday for some kind of therapy. He doesn't know what that will be.

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Sean and Ashley took a trip to the Outer Banks October 2-9. They sent me pictures nearly every day. I'm glad they had a good time and came home safely.

 

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Ancestry.com had a DNA update about a month or so ago. Here are my results now:

Charlie's:

Mom's:

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On October 21st, my aunt Melonie (my mom's brother Dusty's ex-wife) had surgery for a brain aneurysm. Thankfully, surgery went well. She's been home for a couple weeks now. (She lives in Arkansas.) They removed her staples yesterday. She said it was extremely painful.

The day before her surgery, her daughter Kasey was shot twice in the head by her drug dealer and left by the road. Someone happened to see her lying there and called 911. I haven't seen any updates in about a week or so, but the last one I saw, she was awake and sitting up in bed. We're praying she fully recovers and gets off of drugs.

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In my last entry, I mentioned a few pairs of boots I had recently gotten. (For pretty good prices.) Here are pictures of two of those pairs of boots. I haven't taken pictures of the black Bare Traps boots for some reason.

 

L.L. Bean Park Ridge, olive green.

 

 

The  North Face Bridgeton.

 

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On Thursday, October 21st, Kelly, Rene, and I went to the mountains. We had thought about going the previous Friday, but I can't remember why that didn't work out. Then we were going to go on Monday the 18th, but I didn't sleep well at all the night before. On Tuesday, Rene had a class. I didn't sleep well that night (or Monday night), so we couldn't go on Wednesday. Finally, on Wednesday night, I slept enough for us to be able to go on that Thursday. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed our trip. I'll post some of the pictures I took in another entry.

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I haven't posted about songs purchased for my iPod since July 22, 2020. Here are the songs I've bought since then.

Obviously, I love Fred Hammond's music. Especially his older stuff.

Well, that's it for now. Unless something comes up, my next entry should be about our trip to the mountains.

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*~*Nocturnal Queen*~*

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