This and That, November Through March

Sean, Ashley, and Lydia went to the Outer Banks in early October. I always worry when they take a trip, but they had a great time.

 

I think this was at Bodie Island Lighthouse.

 

At the Roanoke Island Aquarium.

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

 

I'm not going to go into a lot of detail because of how much time has passed and because I don't remember most of the details lol, but we had a great Thanksgiving (desserts were pumpkin pie and apple pie), Anniversary (31 years), and Christmas (desserts were pumpkin pie again, key lime pie for Charlie, and homemade chocolate chip cookies). I don't remember what gifts were given. Lydia had a great time though. She loved the talking, singing tea set we got her.

 

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

 

December 27th, Sean called me so that I could hear what Lydia calls me. (She hadn't called me anything prior to that.) He and Ashley were showing Lydia pictures of me and saying, "Who's that?" Lydia said, "Mema". It melted my heart to hear her say that with her sweet voice. She gets excited when she sees me and says, "Mema!" And when Sean's talking to me on speaker phone and she hears me she says, "Is that Mema?" Charlie is "Papa."

 

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

 

On January 9th, I had to bring Loki to the vet because of blood in his poop. Thankfully it wasn't anything serious. He had a full anal gland, which the vet took care of. 

 

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

 

Saturday, January 24th, it was forecasted that we would get a bunch of ice with very cold temperatures, and probably have power outages. We didn't get as much ice as was expected and we didn't lose power, but it was very cold (single digits and teens at night and in the mornings; 20s during the day). 

 

Sean, Ashley, and Lydia came to stay with us (they live about a mile or so from us) in case they lost power. I had bought a lot of food for all six of us (I had to go to five different stores to get everything we needed because people were buying up everything; I went to Walmart, Food Lion, Dollar General, Lowes Foods, and Harris Teeter) and ended up spending over $600! But at least I didn't have to worry about us going hungry.

 

We have a generator, so I cooked up a few meals ahead of time that we could heat up and have a hot meal each night for supper.

 

We got ice and sleet that Saturday evening and Sunday morning, which meant the roads were iced over. Sean, Ashley, and Lydia left sooner than we felt like they should have (Sunday afternoon) because Sean was going to try to go to work that Monday. They made it home safely, but Sean wasn't able to go to work.

 

This was taken on January 27th.

 

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Saturday, January 31st (and I think into Sunday, February 1st), we got 13 inches of snow. The biggest snow we've had in awhile. Again, I had go to three or four different stores to get what we needed because of people clearing the shelves, but I didn't spend nearly as much that time.

 

 

 

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Some time in January, Sean and Ashley told us that they're expecting another baby. On February 28th, we found out that it's a girl! She's due in September.

 

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

 

My 53rd birthday was February 7th, Kelly's 26th birthday was February 8th, Charlie's 57th birthday was February 21st, and Lydia's 2nd birthday was March 11th.

 

Lydia is such a sweet, smart, funny, sassy, adorable little girl! She is a joy to our family and friends. She loves cats, dogs, horses, buses (yes, buses), dinosaurs, and frogs. She knows her ABCs, colors, can count to 10, knows some words in sign language, and is learning to count to 10 in Spanish. 

 

She's at that adorable age where she can't say many words correctly and has such a cute voice. Fish is feesh, car is caw, bus almost ends with a lisp, she can't say the R in horse (well, she can't pronounce the R in any words; Ls are also difficult), Kelly is Keggy or Keh-yee, dragon is gaggon, frog almost sounds like the F word. She says our cat Effie's name really well, but can't quite get Loki.

 

Anyway, I could go on, but I'll stop now. :-)

 

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

 

Tomorrow (technically today), March 21st, is Sean and Ashley's 6th wedding anniversary! 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

 

Lydia is supposed to get tubes for her ears this Monday. She gets an ear infection nearly every month (except for the summer) and had two in one month last year. They've had to reschedule the surgery several times because if she gets sick (like a cold or anything that causes congestion), they can't do the surgery. As of today, she's not sick. Here's hoping and praying she stays well. 

 

* 

Ring Cameras, Birthdays, Lydia, Church Cleaning

We ordered a Ring doorbell camera from Amazon and it arrived on June 10th. A few weeks later, we ordered a Ring camera with motion detector lights (are those called something else? can't think of it right now) and it arrived on June 28th. That second camera is on the corner of our house by our garage facing our driveway, yard, and the street. So far, nothing nefarious has been detected. Just deliveries, joggers, walkers, dog walkers, sales people, neighbors coming and going, etc.

 

 

Speaking of June 28th, that would've been my dad's 74th birthday. Hard to imagine him that old. He died a little over a month before his 55th birthday.

 

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

 

July 21st was Ashley's 29th birthday. We gave her money and a card. I forgot to ask her what she got, but she loves dresses and books. So maybe that.

 

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

 

July 24th, I bought some new perfume for every day. Well, not every day. Just for days I leave the house that aren't for church on Sunday. I had been wearing Daisy Dream by Marc Jacobs for several years and was getting tired of it. (I still have about a half a bottle of that left.) So I went to Macy's looking for something new (or new to me anyway) that was kind of light and floral. I chose Miss Dior Blooming Bouquet.

 

My Sunday church perfume is I Want Choo by Jimmy Choo.

 

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

 

July 25th was my mom's 74th birthday. She didn't want anything, so we just got her a card. I may grab something for her (non-cluttery) if I see something she might like. Especially if it's purple. She loves purple.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

 

Lydia has been getting ear infections nearly every month this year. Why the doctors haven't done anything about it, I don't know. At her last appointment a couple weeks ago, they said she had fluid in her inner ear. She was supposed to have tubes put in her ears on the 11th, but that didn't happen for some reason.

 

By the way, she gets more and more freakin' adorable every day! Yes, I know I'm biased, but it's true. lol

 

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

 

I've had to take on more cleaning duties at church. The couple who used to do it had to quit doing it a few years ago. So another lady and her sister started doing it. But then she started having health problems. When she had to quit, I thought someone must have been doing it (bathrooms - there are 2 big bathrooms, men's and women's - the main bathrooms, and two single toilet bathrooms that only people who work at the church or are in the choir know about; hallways, foyer, windows) because it didn't look bad at first. But then I started noticing that things weren't as clean as they usually are, so I started just doing quick checks of the bathrooms - mainly the toilets and checking the toilet paper and paper towels. But as time went on, the worse things looked.

 

The daycare ladies actually normally do a good enough job with the two main bathrooms and the most I usually have to do there is vacuum the floors, and sometimes they mop the hall that the daycare is on. But, as I said, things just weren't as clean as they should be in other areas. (Including the two smaller bathrooms.) So I started doing a little more, sometimes with Kelly's help - vacuuming and mopping the halls, vacuuming the foyer, cleaning windows. Then I noticed that the floor in the foyer was looking dingy. Something most people probably wouldn't notice if they didn't really look. So, now I also mop the foyer.

 

Since cleaning the sanctuary (which I've been doing for over 10 years), halls, bathrooms, foyer, and windows is a lot to do in one day, I now clean the sanctuary on Thursdays and then the rest on Saturday nights. It takes me 2-3 hours to do the sanctuary (vacuuming, straightening rows, cleaning spots on chairs, etc.) and about 3-5 hours to do everything else. Oh, I also check/set thermostats throughout the building, make sure all lights are off (except the outside lights), and make sure all doors to the outside and office doors are locked on Saturday nights. 

 

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

There's a bar stool in the church foyer, off to the side, that one of the men in our church always sits on after service on Sundays. He's a tall man and one of his feet has been amputated because of diabetes. Anyway, that bar stool is looking rough (there's a tear in the cushion, for one), so I'm hoping I can buy a new one somewhere today. Things should look as nice as possible in the church. Plus, I don't want that gentleman having to sit on that ugly, old bar stool anymore.

 

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

It's been two years yesterday since a tree fell on my car during a bad storm. I sometimes still can't believe that happened.

 

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

 

Songs purchased since my last entry:

 

Lift the Savior Up by Chicago Mass Choir

Better by Calvary Tabernacle

Friend of a Wounded Heart by Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir

It's Revival Time by UPCI Music

Been So Good by UPCI Music

 

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

 

Dress purchases since my last entry:

 

Boden Selina dress. Purchased from someone on Poshmark. (This is their photo.) Originally $198. I paid $49.05 after shipping and tax.

 

 

Boden Mischa dress. Purchased from someone on eBay. Originally $180. I paid $32.99 after shipping and tax.

 

 

Tommy Hilfiger pink, eyelet shirt dress. Purchased from someone on eBay. Originally $129. I paid $31.75 after tax. Shipping was free.

 

 

Lydia, Easter, Aurora Borealis, Mother's Day, Etc.

I've been a little neglectful of my blog lately. I usually like to post once a month, but I just didn't feel like writing last month. There's quite a bit to catch up on. I'll try not to be too wordy though.

 

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

 

Tuesday, March 26th, Lydia came home from the hospital. She had finally got the hang of eating (something the nurses said takes preemies a little longer to learn) and was putting weight back on after losing a little.

They had detected a heart murmur when she was still in the hospital and they could still hear it in the weeks after she went home. On April 29th, she had to go to the cardiologist to have that checked and they said there's nothing to worry about. At that doctor visit, she weighed 10 lbs. 11 oz.

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

Easter was March 31st. I wore the yellow Talbots dress I had bought from someone on Poshmark back in February. I wore nude heels with it, a white shrug, and carried a light blue straw Talbots tote that I had bought from someone on Poshmark in May 2021. I really liked the outfit and got compliments.

I don't remember much from that day as far as what church was like because I waited too long to post about it. lol We had a good crowd though and the weather was beautiful. Sunny and in the 70s.

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

Sean's birthday was April 9th. He's 27 years old now. Seems crazy to have an almost 30-year-old. I had remembered that he had said something a few weeks before his birthday about needing new church shirts, so I met him, Ashley, and Lydia at Belk on Saturday the 13th and bought him a couple dress shirts.

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

Saturday, April 13th, Charlie bought a flamethrower redbud tree for our front yard. He couldn't find an eastern redbud at Lowe's or the nursery that's near our house, but the nursery had a few other kinds of redbuds. He texted me about it while I was getting groceries at Walmart asking me which one I wanted. I looked them up and chose the flamethrower. The other two were called hearts of gold and ruby falls.

I'd like to get a dogwood in the fall. Our yard has looked so sad since we lost our trees in a storm on August 15th. But I don't want anything big enough to crush our car again.

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

Monday, April 15th, I got our taxes done. I went to the same lady I've been going to for the past few years. We're not getting a big refund, but enough to get a new mattress (it's time).

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

Our pastor announced at church on April 21st that his daughter Savannah and her husband Jonathan are expecting their third child! Exciting news! Their oldest (Vincent) is almost 3 years old and their youngest (Valentina, soon to be middle child) is several months old. A friend of mine told me that Savannah wants five children. I wonder if they'll all have V names.

 

Our youth leaders (Jerry and Jessalyn) announced a month or so ago that they're expecting a baby girl. I didn't even know she was pregnant. Also exciting news! They have a boy (not even a year old, I don't think) named Ronin.

 

Jessalyn is Savannah's husband Jonathan's sister. She has a twin sister named Joelle. Joelle is married to a man named Ross. They have a baby boy named Abram.

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

Friday, April 26th, I went to urgent care because my right arm, which I hurt on October 18th, was hurting really badly and the arm braces didn't seem to be helping. The pain was getting worse. The doctor told me that it seems like I hurt it in multiple places (wrist to shoulder) and gave me the number of an orthopedic doctor to see. I need to call them this week. I had to put off calling because I didn't know exactly when AF would start and didn't want to schedule an appointment only to have to reschedule. And then I got sick and have been sick all this past week. :-\

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

This past Friday night, the aurora borealis was visible for much of the US. Including North Carolina. Well, not that visible to the naked eye, though I could see it a little bit, but if you put your phone camera on night mode, the colors show up. It was beautiful! And at times, we could see this white pulsating - like streaks or streams of pulsating white light - with our naked eye! It was so cool! I was bouncing with excitement every time that happened. lol

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

Yesterday, Sunday, May 12th, was Mother's Day. I slept maybe 15 minutes Saturday night and couldn't make it to church. I hate missing church! :-( I was so sad about that. I finally fell asleep around 8:30 in the morning and slept off and on until about 2:20 in the afternoon. I also wasn't feeling well still. But it was such a beautiful day - Carolina blue skies, a few clouds, and temperatures in the 70s.

Sean, Ashley, and Lydia came over this past Saturday and brought me flowers and a card. I wish I could've held Lydia (I love that sweet baby so much!), but I don't know if what I have is contagious (I'm thinking sinus cold), so I didn't.

I also got flowers and a card from Charlie, a card and money from my mom (we gave her a card and a purple orchid - her favorite color is purple), and I bought a couple dresses. We gave Ashley a card and money to buy a new dress. (Charlie transferred the money to her account.) She had said to me a few weeks back that she needs new dresses.

 

Flowers from Sean and Ashley.

Flowers from Charlie.

 

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

Purchases since my last blog entry:

Boden dress. Purchased from someone on Poshmark. (This is their picture.) Originally $198. I paid $71.52 after shipping and tax. More than I normally pay for dresses these days, but I had been looking for this dress in my size for at least a year.

 

Modcloth dress. Purchased from someone on Poshmark. Originally $150. I paid $36.24 after shipping and tax.

 

 

Modcloth dress. Purchased from someone on Poshmark. (This is their picture.) Probably also originally $150. I paid $46.94 after shipping and tax.

 

 

Calvin Klein shirt dress. One of the dresses I bought for Mother's Day. Purchased from someone on Poshmark. Originally over $100. (Could be between $120 and $135.) I paid $40.54 after shipping and tax.

 

Tommy Hilfiger dress. The other dress I bought for Mother's Day. Purchased from someone on Poshmark. I don't know the original price. I paid $35.20 after shipping and tax.

Loss, Birthdays, Park, and Sick Milo

On January 21st, my aunt Nelie passed away. She was 90 years old. She was my maternal grandma's youngest sibling and the last surviving of her siblings. My grandma passed away in 2003 at the age of 78. The other siblings were James (1915-1968), Horace (1917-1972), Lester (1919-1994), Pauline (1923-2004), and Ruth (1928-1997).

 

 

Aunt Nelie is the one with the doll. Behind her is her mother Lessie. Beside her is her sister Ruth. Behind Ruth is my grandma/Nelie and Ruth's sister Doris.

Aunt Nelie and her husband Richard.

 

Left to right: James, Nelie, Lester, Grandma (in the back), Pauline, Horace, and Ruth.

I hadn't seen my aunt Nelie in many years, but it was sad to lose the last of my grandma's siblings. That generation of our family is gone and now we can't talk to them about times past and things they lived through and experienced. 

--------------------

On February 1st, the baby wasn't moving as much as she normally does, so Ashley went to her doctor. He or she then told Ashley to go to the hospital. Charlie and I arrived at the hospital awhile after they did. We were there for an hour or two while they monitored the baby. Thankfully, all was fine. They said she was probably sitting on/leaning against the umbilical cord and/or playing with it.

After leaving the hospital, we went to Texas Roadhouse for supper. I got the herb crusted chicken. It was delicious.

--------------------

My birthday was February 7th. I'm 51 years old now. I was 35 when I started writing in this blog. Hard to believe. For my birthday, I made a chocolate blueberry cake. It didn't turn out exactly how I wanted (not enough of a sweet blueberry flavor in it), but it was still good.

Charlie gave me money to shop with. I mostly ordered skirts. A few black denim skirts (two Lauren Ralph Lauren, one Land's End), a brown pencil skirt (Lauren Ralph Lauren), a green, flowy silk skirt (Calvin Klein), a green corduroy skirt (St. John's Bay), white denim skirt (Lauren Ralph Lauren), and a green Tahari cardigan. (My favorite color is green. :-) Red is a close second.) All for low prices off of eBay and Poshmark.

 

Kelly's birthday was February 8th. She's 24 years old now. She wanted strawberry pie instead of her usual cookies and cream ice cream cake this year. She doesn't like actual cake, except cheesecake.

 

Charlie's birthday was February 21st. He's now 55 years old. I made him one of his favorite meals - fried pork chops, macaroni and tomatoes, corn, and great northern beans. The cake he wanted this year was lemon cake (instead of yellow with chocolate frosting) - I put buttercream frosting on top.

--------------------

I had to renew my license by my birthday this year. Last time I got it renewed, I was able to do it online. This year I had to go to the DMV to renew it. I had to read the top line of some letters and get my picture taken (probably the worst picture that's ever been taken of me in my entire life). I went a day or two before my birthday and was there for about an hour or maybe a little longer. It felt even longer than that. :-/

--------------------

On my birthday, Kelly and I went to the dam at Company Mill Preserve and to Hagan-Stone Park. The temperature wasn't bad (about 51 or 52 degrees), but for some reason I was about to freeze. I wished that I had gloves with me, a thicker coat, and had worn boots instead of tennis shoes. I did finally warm up, but it took longer than I thought it would.

 

The gap in the dam wall is to the left of this picture.

Dam wall gap. Kelly took this picture for me while I stood in agony after falling. lol

 

Anyway, we went to the dam at Company Mill first. I took some pictures and short videos and then noticed a small open area in the wall to the left of the dam. I told Kelly I wanted to get up there. We found a stone wall about 3-4 feet tall and decided to climb up. There were gaps that made good footholds. Kelly got up quickly and then I tried to get up. Actually, the getting to the top wasn't hard. But I asked for Kelly's hand and when I got to the top (pretty quickly), I somehow fell and came down hard on a big, sharp, white rock that was stuck in the ground - right below my right knee. It hurt so bad I thought I was going to throw up. It took a couple minutes for the nausea to pass. The place where I hurt my leg quickly bruised and swelled up. It stuck out as far as my knee. I joked that it looked like I had two knees on my right leg.

When we decided that we were ready to move on, I said that I probably couldn't jump back down those 3-4 feet with my leg hurting like it was. So I found a very narrow, overgrown path that lead away from the lake and dam and back to the path. If only I'd seen that path before trying to climb the wall, but it was pretty well hidden.

We then got back in the car (because the walk to the next area we wanted to go to was about 2.5 miles away) and drove over to Hagan-Stone Park a few miles away and made the walk over to that side of Company Mill where the creek is. Such a pretty, peaceful spot. We saw a couple deer take off in the woods when we got to the creek. I didn't try to take a picture since I knew that with all the trees and them moving you probably wouldn't be able to see the deer in the picture.

 

 

 

It's been almost a month and my leg is still bruised and I can't put pressure on it without it hurting.

--------------------

About 2-3 weeks ago, we started having a hard time getting Milo to eat. If I added something new to his food (he's supposed to be eating prescription food for his liver - hepatic), like rice or corn, he would get excited about his food and eat most of it. But after 2 or 3 days, he would stop eating it and I'd have to find something else to add to his food. Eventually he was eating almost nothing. He had a regular appointment (yearly check up) on February 21st and I told them about him not eating. He had lost nearly a pound in those couple weeks. Nearly every test (blood, urine, feces) came back normal and his heart sounded good. The only thing that came back not so good was his liver values are elevated more than last year (he has liver disease), but not so much that he's in liver failure or so bad that he would stop eating. So we don't know why he wasn't eating.

Charlie started giving him boiled chicken tenders about a week ago and he's loved that, but I really wish he'd start eating his dog food again. Protein isn't good for his liver.

Last Saturday, he seemed kind of lethargic most of the day and hadn't had much energy in the weeks that he wasn't eating much (naturally), but he's back to full energy now - barking, running, playing.

He's supposed to have an ultrasound done this Friday so they can see his liver.

Milo turned 13 this past September. I think Jack Russell's typically live 12-15 years, so we know he probably doesn't have much time left. I'm praying he'll be with us for at least another year though. I saw my husband's eyes fill with tears a couple times when things were looking really bad for Milo. Not only am I not ready to lose Milo (not that you're ever ready to lose a pet), but I don't want Charlie to lose him. He loves Milo so much. That's his buddy.

--------------------

Other than the clothing items I bought with my birthday money, here are purchases I've made since my last blog entry.

Talbot's dress. Bought from someone on Poshmark. (This is her picture.) Originally $149. I paid $45.87 after shipping and tax.

L.L. Bean dress. Bought from someone on Poshmark. (This is her picture.) Originally around $100, I think. I paid $35.20 after shipping and tax.

DH Birthday, Sickness, Clothes, and Music

Charlie's 54th birthday was February 21st. I made him one of his favorite meals (chili) and made him a cake - he wanted chocolate with vanilla frosting this year. His gifts from me were a dress shirt for church (Alfani brand from Macy's) and a Levi's black denim jacket with dark gray sherpa lining. My mom gave him money.

 

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

 

I've had one thing or another making me feel bad since the 22nd or 23rd of February. Starting around that time, I had a sinus cold with a low fever. On the 26th, AF showed up. And on the 2nd or 3rd, allergies started bothering me. For about 3 days this week, I've barely been able to talk. Whispering was a struggle. My voice came back today, but now I can't hardly breathe. *sigh* I hope I feel better soon.

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

Purchases since my last entry:

Eliza J. dress. Purchased from someone on eBay. (This isn't their picture or mine.) I paid $41.52 after shipping and tax. A belt didn't come with it, so I'll try to find one that's similar to the one in the picture.

 

Talbot's dress. Purchased from someone on Poshmark. I paid $34.11 after shipping and tax.

L.L. Bean dress. Purchased from someone on Poshmark. I paid $16.01 after shipping and tax.

Universal Thread rope belt. Purchased from someone on Poshmark. (This is their picture.) I paid $19.19 after shipping and tax. I bought it to go with the L. L. Bean dress.

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

Songs purchased since my last entry:

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

*~*Nocturnal Queen*~*

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Food Search, Birthdays, and Music

January 3rd - Charlie tested positive for covid. He had been sick for a few days or so before taking an at-home test. His oxygen got lower than I would've liked (stayed between 90 and 92 for a few days after testing positive), but of course he wouldn't go to the doctor even though I told him he should. But he wasn't sick very long.

 

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

 

About the third week of January, the prescription food that Milo eats (for his liver) was out of stock almost everywhere. He was getting very low and I looked at every store website I could think of (Royal Canin's, Chewy, Petco, Petsmart, Amazon, etc.) before finding a few bags at the Petsmart in Burlington. (We normally buy his food from the vet, but when I'd called to order his food, they couldn't get it because it was out of stock/on back order.) I ordered it and had to wait for them to get authorization from the vet. They didn't hear back from the vet in time and cancelled the order. So I reordered it the same morning it was cancelled. 

 

I got an email the next day (I think) telling me it was approved/confirmed by the vet. I went to the Petsmart in Burlington the next day (January 25th), but they hadn't heard from Petsmart headquarters about it. Thankfully, I had gone to the vet that day to get a written prescription in case I needed it and had brought it with me. They printed out a Banfield (the vet at Petsmart) prescription card and I was able to buy a bag since they had a few on their shelves. Whew!

So Milo didn't have to miss a day of eating his prescription food. On the 28th, Petsmart contacted me about his prescription being ready for pick-up that I had ordered from them online and Charlie picked it up that day. So Milo had/has two bags.

 

By the way, the people who helped me at the Petsmart in Burlington were helpful. I don't want to come across like they were being difficult. The store manager (James, I think) was very nice. 

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

Clothing purchases since early January:

Lauren Ralph Lauren skirt. Bought from someone on eBay. (This is their picture.) I paid $30.95 after shipping and tax.

 

J. Crew shirt dress. Bought from someone on eBay. I paid $44.18 after shipping and tax. (This is someone else's picture.)

 

Lauren Ralph Lauren shirt dress. (I do love a shirt dress.) I bought this from someone on Poshmark. I paid $45.90 after shipping and tax.

 

Blowfish Malibu shoes. Color: cherry smoked. Purchased from Amazon. I paid $38.59 after shipping and tax.

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

 

February 7th was my 50th birthday. Gah, that seems so crazy to me. 5-0! I feel like I should still be 25 or 30.

 

Anyway, Charlie made me a chocolate cake with no frosting. (One of my favorites.) He bought me/I bought myself a couple dresses and a pair of boots.

J. Crew dress. Purchased from someone on Poshmark. (Some of the smaller photos are theirs.) I paid $26.33 after shipping and tax.

 

Banana Republic dress. Blue leopard print. Purchased from someone on Poshmark. (This is their photo.) I paid $49.05 after shipping and tax.

 

Black Remonte boots. Purchased from someone on Poshmark. (These are their photos.) I paid $102.43. They're brand new, still in the box.

My mom gave me money. Sean and Ashley got me a box of cherry cordials from Loco for Coco. I love their cherry cordials.

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

Kelly's birthday was February 8th. She's 23 now. She didn't want cake, so I told her I'd get her whatever kind of dessert she wanted. She considered cheesecake from Cheesecakes by Alex and then she remembered the strawberry cream pie she'd had on Christmas, but we couldn't find it. So she got cookies and cream pie.

 

Charlie and I got her a Squishmallow black bat (Emily), a Squishmallow black cat, a Squishmallow green dragon (Desmund) with two small hearts on its belly, a mushroom tapestry/wall hanging, and the God of War:Ragnarok video game. And maybe something else, but I can't remember.

I don't remember what Sean and Ashley got her. My mom gave her money.

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

 

Music purchased for my iPod since my January 4th blog entry:

I didn't put all of the songs from the "Jesus at the Center" album on my iPod. I put these songs on it -  Rez Power, No Turning Back, Te Amo, More Than Enough, Speechless, It's Not Over, Your Presence is Heaven, and More and More. I had to buy the whole album in order to get some of the songs I wanted since they were only available as "album only" purchases.

 

One of my current favorite songs is Lion. We sang it at church a couple times last month (our singers did an awesome job!) and then I had to have it for my iPod. I listen to it a lot on YouTube as well. It's one of those songs that has to be played loud! :-D

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

*~*Nocturnal Queen*~*

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*