Valentine's Date

Charlie and I went on our Valentine's date this past Saturday. We went to the mall first so I could get a dress (my birthday present), but I didn't see anything that would work for me. I saw a few at Dillard's that I thought were really nice, but they were too long. I didn't leave empty handed though. I found a jacket at JC Penney that I really liked.

Originally $70, I got it for $31 and change.

They also had it in black, but they didn't have my size. So, I ordered it from their website. It only took a few days to get it. Apparently it was shipped from Winston-Salem.

After we left the mall, we went to Salvino Cucina Italiana. I got what I always get - chicken piccata (pollo alla piccata). So delicious! Charlie got chicken parmesan (petto di pollo parmigiano).

Then we went to the church to vacuum. (I vacuum the church every Saturday.) Charlie has never gone with me before to vacuum. It was nice to have him with me. Though he jokingly said that he wasn't going to take me out on dates if I was going to make him work. lol

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~*~Nocturnal Queen~*~
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Our Weekend, Date Night, Getting Ready for Christmas

 Friday evening, Charlie and the kids went with me to do the grocery shopping. (It's usually just Kelly with me.) Of course, having Charlie with me meant that much more than what I had on the grocery list got put into the buggy. Instead of the usual $150 (give or take), groceries ended up costing about $240. Goodness. lol

After bringing the groceries home and putting the refrigerated and frozen foods away (I put the rest away later), we went to Red Robin for supper and then saw The Hobbit. This was the third viewing for me and my kids, the first for Charlie.

Saturday afternoon, I went shopping for stocking stuffers (found several at Party City), as well as a gift for our mail carrier (mug that came with a spoon, hot chocolate mix and marshmallows), and after coming home, Kelly and I went to see Breaking Dawn part 2 again (fifth viewing for me, fourth for Kelly) and then we went to Olive Garden for a late supper.

Sunday was church. There was mostly singing (Christmas songs, of course). Even my pastor sang a song, which is rare. When he stepped up to the mic, I thought the singing was done and that he was going to speak for awhile, but then the music started and everyone cheered and applauded. We cheered and applauded a couple times during the song and again at the end of it. Many of us got out our cameras, cell phones, and iPads and took pictures and video of him singing. Pastor did speak about love for a few minutes after he was done singing and then he asked us all to come to the altar and pray with our family members who were there with us before dismissing us.

Sunday evening, Charlie and I went on a date for our anniversary (which was on the 17th). When we went out to the car, Charlie opened the door for me. :-) He hadn't done that in years. He opened the door for me most of the night. Aww. :-) We went to the movies first and saw Playing for Keeps. Cute movie. We then went to Red Lobster for dinner.

We went to my mom's after eating and hung out at her place with her and the kids for a little bit before coming home. Once it got to be after midnight, I let the kids open their stockings since it was technically Christmas Eve. They loved what they got.

Sean - UNC Tar Heels golf balls (we already gave him his new set of golf clubs since he went with Charlie to pick them out and was really excited to have them), UNC "tattoos", UNC decal (overlapping NC w/ #1 Fan below that), 2 packs of Kit Kats, a small thing of M&Ms, a green silly whistle (I don't know what they're actually called lol), a $10 Target gift card and a Tar Heels toothbrush.

Kelly - a Jackie Evancho Christmas CD (she's been wanting a Jackie Evancho CD for a long time), Hunger Games book light, Lindt chocolate bear, 2 packs of gold coins (she really wanted those in her stocking lol), a silly whistle (blue), a dolphin key chain, gummie bears and gum.

I started getting a headache Sunday evening and by late that night, my head was killing me. Even after taking 3 or 4 ibuprofen. I slept about 11½ hours that night/yesterday morning and woke up with my head still pounding. I took four more pills and still my headache didn't go away. My head hurt all day and I didn't feel up to doing much of anything, despite having a lot that I needed to do. I did get a load of clothes washed, cooked supper and cleaned the kitchen.

By late last night, I couldn't put things off any longer and decorated the tree and wrapped presents, with Charlie's help. Charlie and the kids helped me out some by clearing off the dining room and coffee tables and Charlie swept the kitchen and dining room.

I still need to do some more cleaning (vacuum the floors and clean the bathrooms mainly) and of course cook Christmas dinner. I'm baking a whole chicken (seasoned with Sylvia's chicken rub seasoning - so good!) with red potatoes. My mom is making the stuffing, cooking the vegetables and I think the black eyed peas. If not, I've got some I can cook. I'm also cooking the yeast rolls and a pumpkin pie. Mom's already made Christmas cookies and we've been enjoying those since Sunday night.

Looking forward to the kids opening their gifts and having family (my mom, my brother and his wife and baby son) over for Christmas dinner.

Merry Christmas!!!

Best Buy, Date Night, House Update

Charlie was in Maryland for a few days last week. He came home Friday evening. Kelly and I had gotten groceries that day (Sean was at Mom's) and went to Best Buy to exchange a game and get two movies (Penelope and Fool's Gold).

I got very annoyed with Best Buy, but tried to remain calm and kind. The few times in the past that we've had to return a game that didn't work, we could get whatever we wanted instead. This time I was told that I had to get the same game even though the two copies we'd gotten before didn't work. Chances were pretty good that a third copy wouldn't work either. The girl behind the counter said that as long as there are copies left, we have to get it. I asked her, "So what if there are no copies left? Are we just stuck with a game that doesn't work?". I don't remember what she said, but as Kelly and I were walking away to get another copy I said to Kelly, "This is so stupid. Why should we have to get another copy of a game that doesn't work?" As I said earlier, I've never had to do that before. We haven't bothered trying the third copy yet. (It's actually my son's.) Maybe we can call or email the company that made the game.

Anyway, some time after Charlie got home, we went to Monterrey's for supper. It was good.

On Saturday, Charlie wanted to go on a date. I wanted to leave at 3:00 and told him that (wait times at restaurants here can be long on weekends, so I like to beat the crowds), but he didn't get home until almost 4:00. I brought Kelly to Mom's before Charlie got home and then when he finally came home and got ready, we went to Olive Garden for supper. We barely beat the supper crowd. People were packed in the waiting area and some were outside. Had we been an hour later, forget it. lol As it was, we ended up waiting about 10-15 minutes for a table. The food was very good. We both got Garlic-Herb Chicken con Broccoli (without the broccoli), only I added the juice of several lemon slices to mine.

After leaving Olive Garden, we went to The Grande movie theater to see The Dark Knight. It was a good movie, but too long and I got bored a few times. Heath Ledger did a great job as the Joker. I wish there had been more of the Joker in the movie. It was always more interesting when he was in a scene. Overall, I think I liked the first one better.

We went to Wal-Mart after the movie. I got a couple bags of pecan halves and Charlie got a few things. It's funny, I hate Wal-Mart but have been going there nearly every week for about the last three weeks. lol

Today has been a lazy day for me. I've just felt so tired for some reason and have been yawning a lot. I have work I need to do, but I have no energy today. I will cook supper though and clean the kitchen. I won't make my family go hungry. lol

Oh, we lowered the price of our house again. This time to $121,900. We're practically giving it away now. Makes me sick. It's now priced over $10,000 less than what it appraised for and what we originally had it listed at. Ugh. I hate it. Hopefully people will quit just looking at it on the internet (our realtor said we get a lot of that) and adding it to their favorites on listingbook.com and actually come look at it and make an offer. I'm beyond ready for this house to sell and to get into a bigger place with better schools. Not that the ones here are horrible, they're just not good enough.

Our Weekend, Shopping, Plans

Friday, July 4th, I got groceries and did some cleaning before our cook-out. Mom, Del and his girlfriend Jennifer came over. We had hamburgers, hot dogs, potato salad and chips and watched Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. After the movie, Charlie shot off fireworks in the light rain we were having. I never got rain directly in my eyes before that I can recall until looking up to see the fireworks. It was an odd and interesting sensation.

The next day, Mom watched the kids for Charlie and I so that we could go on a date. We left the house some time after 3:30 and after dropping off Kelly (Sean had spent the night), we went to Olive Garden for an early supper. (You have to around here on the weekends if you want to beat the crowd.) We then went to The Grande theater to get our tickets early (for an 8:00 showing) for Hancock. From there, we went to Macy's at Friendly Center. They didn't have what I was after, so we went to the Macy's at Bridford Parkway/Guilford College Rd. There I bought a Baby Phat purse I wanted (white tote with yellow & aqua/turqoise on it) and a brown skirt.

After leaving Macy's, we went to H.H. Gregg (they didn't have what we needed) and Best Buy. Best Buy had one of the things we needed (Blue-ray player), but we left there without buying it and went to Circuit City. They had the other thing we needed (surround sound receiver - our old one didn't work with our new TV), but not the Blue-ray player. We went ahead and bought the receiver (it was on sale for less than $400) and then went back to Best Buy where we bought the Blue-ray player ($500) and an HDMI cable.

By the time we left Best Buy for the second time, it was time to go back to the theater. We got our drinks, went to the bathroom and then took our seat (top center). We always get there early, so we had to wait for about 20-30 minutes before the previews started. Hancock was a very good movie. We're definitely going to get the DVD when it comes out.

When we got out of the theater, it was almost 10:00. It had been quite awhile since we had eaten, so we went to Cold Stone Creamery for ice cream. I've had it once or twice before. It's very sweet and rich and I can never finish. Charlie couldn't either. We actually prefer Baskin-Robbins, but the only one around that we're aware of is at the mall and they were closed.

It was raining pretty good (though not a gulley-washer) when we got out of the theater and was still raining when we went to Mom's to get Kelly. (She hardly ever wants to spend the night. She's too much of a Mama's girl.) We all stayed up kind of late that night.

I spent most of Sunday doing laundry and cleaning. Trying to get the house ready for possible showings this week. (Please, God.) I stopped cleaning long enough to get Kelly ready for church (Mom picked her up), then did some more cleaning and cooked supper.

I finished reading The Other Boleyn Girl a couple days ago and then started reading The Count of Monte Cristo last night. I'm on about chapter three.

Today (Monday - technically yesterday), the kids and I did a little shopping. They had allowance money they wanted to spend. Kelly bought a dark-haired princess Barbie wearing a blue and green dress. Sean bought a Peter (from Prince Caspian) action figure and a '69 Chevelle Hot Wheels car at Target.

We then went to Friendly Center. I looked around Ann Taylor Loft, Macy's and Belk, but didn't find anything I really wanted. I need a red top, but I can't find one I like. From there we went to Stein Mart where I bought two trivets and a spoon rest. They all have the same Italian scene with sunflowers on them. I got a really good deal on them. Altogether, I saved almost $38.

After leaving Stein Mart, we went to Dillard's (found nothing I really wanted) and then came home to cook supper.

We watched a little TV and then I fell asleep on the couch. Not unusual for me, but I haven't done it in awhile.

No plans for tomorrow. I may start my exercises. I need to.

Sean's yearly check-up is on Wednesday. I need to talk to his doctor about Sean possibly having ADD.