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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Library/Office, New Furniture, Car for Sean, Corona Update

I've been meaning to post a new entry for a few weeks, but haven't been in the mood. It's late and I need to go to bed soon, so I'm going to try to make this quick.

I'm still working on getting the library/office set up. Internet has been moved back here, the rug and storage baskets I ordered came on the 3rd, and the chair mat (because the wheels of my computer chair can mess up the carpet) and new keyboard came on the 5th (keyboard is Corsair K55; it lights up). We finally got the old desk out of the dining room and to the road on May 31st. One of our across-the-street neighbors saw it and wanted it shortly after we got it out there. Charlie helped her husband get it into their house.

I'm still waiting for the armillary sphere I ordered. It should be here today. The new monitor I ordered came yesterday. Actually, it came last week, but was damaged so I had to order a new one. My old monitor was 19", this one is 24". Most monitors I saw were over $200 (I saw some for $3000-6000; couldn't believe it!), but I only paid about $130. It's a Samsung like my old one.

I got a couple sets of string lights in the room. The one set is actually more like little, colorful lanterns/globes. The other set is just white lights. Charlie says I should get all of the colorful ones and give Kelly the white ones for her room. He really likes the colorful ones. :-)

I ordered a painting for the room yesterday. It was only $42.21 before tax and shipping. The painting is called Poppies Melody I. That should come next week.

It's funny because my original idea was dark blue with gold decor/accents, but when I was trying to choose a rug I kept being drawn to orange and rust colored rugs. That really surprised me because I've never been a fan of orange. lol I ended up choosing the first rug I liked and ordered it from Lowe's. It's small (2x4) and I only paid about $24 for it. Pretty much everything I've gotten for this room was either cheap or on sale or I found a coupon for it.

So, other than the painting and the sphere, all I really have left to do is get a few things put away that I still have sitting out. Some photos, notebooks, a file box, etc.

I plan on taking pictures once I'm done with the room.

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For a few years now, I've been wanting to get Kelly a new dresser or chest of drawers. (Her old one has seen better days.) Nothing big because she doesn't have the room for it. I brought it up to her again Saturday evening and she said she'd like that. Her old one is white and she wanted to stay with white. (Her old one was built in 1969, if I remember correctly, and was bought for me by my mom in 1986, along with a big dresser with mirror and a nightstand.) So I looked at different furniture stores' websites that night and bookmarked about 7 chests of drawers and large nightstands.

Then while she and I were looking at them on Sunday, Charlie came into the room and I told him we were looking at dressers/chests for Kelly. Nothing too expensive. The one she liked best was at Bassett for $599 (originally a little over $1400). Charlie immediately grabbed his phone and got on Craigslist. lol

The three of us looked for a little bit until Kelly saw one she really liked. It's cherry, not white, but was only $200 and she said she really wanted it. The older couple selling it live outside of Statesville, but we would spend far less on gas than we would on the $600 large nightstand at Bassett.

So Charlie, Sean, and Kelly went to Statesville on Sunday evening and got Kelly a new chest of drawers/dresser. It's an older piece of furniture by Bassett, but in like new condition.

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On June 11th, after a few weeks or more of searching, Sean bought a car. He and Ashley had saved up enough to be able to buy a used car and not have payments. It's a blue 2007 Honda Civic. It's a cute car. Seems to be in pretty good shape. Sean just needs to do a couple things to it (not sure what) and get plates for it and insurance. I know he can't wait till he can drive it.

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My mom texted me tonight and said that someone who goes to our church has tested positive for the corona virus. We don't know who. I pray they don't have any of the risk factors that will make it harder for them.

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Things have gotten worse here in North Carolina with the corona virus. Positive cases and hospitalizations have increased.

The number of positive cases as of 12:30 PM yesterday was 46,855.

There have been 667,422 completed tests.

1,168 deaths.

846 are in the hospital.

I don't know how many have recovered. I think I saw somewhere that it's around 26,000 or more.

My county has had 2,167 cases and 98 deaths. There have been 210 cases in my zip code and 22 deaths.

Kelly had been going with me to get groceries for the past two or three weeks, but I told her I want her staying home again until things get better.

I still wipe everything down that comes into our house, along with light switches, doorknobs, etc. And Kelly and I always wear masks when we go grocery shopping and I bring hand sanitizer with us.

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Milo has a vet appointment today at 4:00. Like when I brought Pippin, they'll come out to the car to get Milo and then bring him back to the car when they're done.

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~*~Nocturnal Queen~*~

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Library/Office, Aquarium Critters, Pippin, Etc.

This Tuesday will be a month since I went grocery shopping. (Good thing I had been buying a couple weeks' worth of meals at a time. Plus, Charlie has been picking up things here and there when we need them.) I plan on going grocery shopping today though. And, thanks to Charlie, I don't have to try to find toilet paper or paper towels. He came home Wednesday with three packs of toilet paper (Charmin, no less!), one 12 roll and two 6 rolls, and a big pack of Sparkle paper towels. I was so surprised and happy. "You found Charmin?!" I normally buy Angel Soft, but after about a month of using generic single-ply, I was thrilled to see Charmin. lol

I still wipe down everything that comes into our house - groceries, packages, mail, etc. And we've been getting packages 2-3 days a week for the past couple weeks. We finally got our stimulus check a few weeks ago and it's helped us to get some things we want or need. Charlie's been working all this time, so we didn't need the extra money for bills. Well, except for vet bills. I've taken Pippin to the vet (more on that later) and still need to take Milo and Loki. (Though I used our Care Credit card for Pippin's vet bill.) But other than that, we've mostly spent the money on stuff for the aquarium and for the room we're turning into the library/office. We've spent less than half of it.

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On the subject of the library/office (Sean's old bedroom), the new desk came about a week ago. It took a few hours for Charlie to put it together, but it looks nice. I still need to call Spectrum and have internet hooked up back there. When Sean lived here he said the WiFi wasn't good in his room, so I'll need it installed in that room.

I have moved most things out of my old/current desk. It's much bigger than the new one, so the new one doesn't have as much storage. I've thrown out a lot of things that were in this desk and will bring some things to Goodwill, but I still need more storage. I have my eye on a few options that I hope will look good in the room.

I finally decided on a ceiling fan for the room and ordered it on Tuesday (I think) from a local Home Depot. (It was only about $70 before taxes.) Charlie picked it up that same day and put it up the next day. I think it looks pretty good. I ordered pretty pull chains/charms for it yesterday. (Also from Home Depot. Amber alabaster, by Westinghouse.) They should be here this Tuesday.

 Sinclair tarnished bronze, by Hampton Bay.

I ordered a new mouse pad from Office Depot on Tuesday and it came the next day. My old one was firm and scratched up my desk badly from being slid in and out of the mouse cubby. I don't want my new desk scratched up, so I ordered a soft one. The picture on it is a close up of a green leaf with rain drops on it. Green is my favorite color, so it really caught my eye and should be pretty on my new desk.

Yesterday, I ordered a new desk chair. (Staples Sorina Bonded Leather, Black.) My old/current chair has been broken for awhile and the outer layer has peeled off all over it. I thought maybe I was going to have to spend more than $200 for a chair (this one was over $200), but I didn't want to. I found one at Staple's website that has over 1000 reviews with an average rating of 4½ stars out of 5, so it better be a good one. lol It was $174.99 before a $25-off coupon and then added tax - the total came out to be $159.05. It's supposed to be delivered today.

A couple weeks ago, I ordered a galaxy light (by Hyodream on Amazon) for the room for about $25 (before tax and shipping). It has 16 different colors you can change it to. It looks kind of cheap when it's not turned on, but is really pretty when it is turned on.

And I ordered a decorative lantern for the room. You can put a regular candle in it or a battery operated candle. It should be here next week. It's being sent to Home Depot (so I don't have to pay shipping lol) and either me or Charlie will go pick it up. It's by kieragrace and was about $40.

There are a few other decorative items I want for the room (armillary sphere, area rug, wall art), but I'm going to hold off on those for a bit. And I'll probably need one of those clear mats for the desk chair since it has wheels and will be on carpet. I don't want to get one (not sure it'll look good in the room), but if I can't move the chair I'll have to get one.

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Charlie bought four fish a  couple weeks ago. (Our first fish in this tank.) All four are Chromis fish, which are a type of Beta fish. I named two of them - Beren and Luthien - and Kelly named the other two - Mushu and Kili. Unfortunately, Luthien died a couple days ago. (They aren't adults yet and are different sizes. Luthien and Mushu are/were the same size, but Mushu has a couple extra markings. Kili is the smallest and Beren is the biggest. So it's easy to tell them apart for now.) She had stopped eating a few days ago and we were concerned. I really wanted her to make it, so I was kind of sad when she died. Well, I say "she", but we don't actually know their genders.

Anyway, we want to get a few more fish eventually. I told Charlie I want a clown fish and there's some kind of yellow angel fish (not sure of its actual name) that he showed me a picture of that I think is pretty. And the gold dot maroon clown fish.

Oh, we also have two peppermint shrimp. We had dozens of tiny jelly fish that came from who knows where. They're called hydroid jelly fish and they can sting (though I don't think damage) fish. I read somewhere that peppermint shrimp will eat hydroid jelly fish. We don't have many jelly fish now. Mostly because Charlie was able to scoop out a bunch of them.

Anyway, Sean named the shrimp Rhaegar and Daenerys. (Ray-gar and duh-nair-us. Game of Thrones characters.) The guy at the fish store told Charlie that one of the shrimp is pregnant, so we might have some baby shrimp eventually.

And we have some snails. Charlie actually bought several of them, but most of them have died. That left us with four. A couple of those snails must have mated because we had a baby snail born one week and then another one the next week. I told Kelly after we noticed the first baby snail that if we could tell the sex we'd know what to name it. We could call it Shelly, short for Michelle if it's a girl or Sheldon if it's a boy. So Kelly named it Misheldon. lol I named the second one Lavender. The snails are lavender with purple spots/stripes. I can tell the two babies apart for now. Lavender is younger/smaller and has more lavender/less purple than Misheldon.

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I brought Pippin to the vet on Friday for a regular check up and a couple shots. The vet called on Tuesday with his lab results. She said he's teetering on kidney failure. She asked how his eating is and I told her he loves eating. He's still playful and runs around. She said if he stops eating and starts acting like he doesn't feel good to give them a call.

Other than having heart issues, being on three medications (heart, lasix, blood pressure), and being close to kidney failure, he's doing pretty good. Don't know how much longer he'll be around, but for now he seems to be enjoying life.

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Back in 1986, when I was 13 years old and we were living in Virginia, my dad bought my mom a white 1984 Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS. She had it for years. I don't remember when she got rid of it, but I think it went to an acquaintance somewhere in or near Greensboro. And I don't remember how or when or where, but somehow Charlie ended up with it. It was in rough shape, but he and Sean were going to fix it up for Sean to drive.

Well, a few years later and not much had been done with it. So Sean decided to sell it. He listed it online somewhere and in less than an hour, he had multiple inquiries. A guy who lives in SC, near Charlotte, came up a couple days ago, with his girlfriend and a friend of hers, and bought it for $1000. I wasn't there for it, but my mom said the guy was thrilled to be getting this car. He called it his baby. lol He and Sean are supposed to keep in touch through Facebook so Sean can see what the car looks like as the guy fixes it up.

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I ordered two books from Amazon - Days of Terror by Jack Hunt and The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (a Hunger Games prequel) by Suzanne Collins. They both came in the mail yesterday - one of them a week earlier than expected and the other a couple days earlier than expected.

I'm still reading Still Me by Jojo Moyes. I'm liking it and should've finished it weeks ago, but I've been too tired to read lately. :-/

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Corona Update:

These are the numbers in North Carolina (population over 10,000,000), as of 9:14 last night.

21,108 have tested positive out of over 291,000 tested.
11,600 have recovered.
743 have died.
580 are in the hospital.

In Guilford County, as of yesterday morning:

944 have tested positive.
50 have died.


I think our county is fourth in NC for highest number of positive cases, but it's a big county in terms of population and Greensboro is the third largest city in the state. So, while I don't like the numbers at all, I'm not surprised considering our size.


What else? As I mentioned earlier in this entry, I still wipe down everything that comes into our house. And I wipe down door knobs, toilet flushers and lids/seats, faucets, light switches, etc. regularly. I used to do that every day, but now I usually do it every other day.

Also as I said earlier, I haven't been grocery shopping in almost a month. Other than bringing Sean to work twice and picking him up, and bringing Pippin to the vet (they come out to the car to get him and then bring him back when they're done), I haven't been anywhere. I would put off getting groceries until Monday or Tuesday because I know the stores will be busy, but we're running out of stuff. I would've gone yesterday, but a tropical depression (Arthur) has been over us since Monday or Tuesday and it's been raining almost non-stop.


Well, this is way too long, so I need to end this entry.

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~*~Nocturnal Queen~*~
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Books, Sickly Sam, DH, School, Update

When we get our new house, I want one of the rooms set up as a library. Built-in bookcases, desk, globe, artwork, oriental rug, and lots of beautiful books. The Biltmore library is my inspiration. To that end, I've been buying hardcover books to replace my paperbacks. They're classy, more attractive and just last longer. The covers of some of my paperbacks are showing signs of wear.

I recently bought hardcover editions of the LOTR trilogy (1 big book), The Hobbit, the complete works of Jane Austen (two volumes), The Count of Monte Cristo, Wuthering Heights, five novels of Charles Dickens (in one book; I didn't have these at all before), and Little Women. (I already had The Iliad, The Odyssey, Jane Eyre, Anna Karenina, Vanity Fair, Madame Bovary, the Twilight saga [though the first is paperback], Cold Mountain and the complete works of Shakespeare in hardcover.)

I next plan to buy a hardcover edition of Gone With the Wind and eventually get hardcovers of Les Miserables, Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Ivanhoe, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Scarlett, The Silmarillion and The Scarlett Letter. Books I already have in paperback. There are many more that I don't have that I want to get, of course in hardcover.

The International Collectors Library has beautiful leather-bound books that I've added to my wish list at Amazon. I already have a few leather-bound books that I bought at an antique store in Southport while on vacation in June. Madame Bovary, Vanity Fair and Anna Karenina. As well as a faux leather-bound book of the complete works of Shakespeare.

The books I have on my wish list at Amazon by the ICL are Aesop's Fables, Tess of the D'Urbervilles, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Scarlett Letter, War and Peace, Poems of Byron, Keats and Shelley, and Ivanhoe.

Once I get all my paperbacks replaced by hardcovers, there are many more books I want to get and they will be in hardcover. Hemingway, Steinbeck, maybe Dostoyevsky, McCullough (mainly John Adams), Wharton, Joyce, Wilde, James, Cather, etc.

I saw a beautiful leather-bound (probably faux) book of the complete works of Edgar Allen Poe and thought about buying it, but his stories are so creepy and morbid. I'm not really a fan of those kinds of stories.

Anyway, that was probably boring to anyone who sees this. lol Moving on.

Sam (one of my cats) has been kind of sick lately. He hasn't had a BM in about 3 or 4 days and I was really worried. He's been in and out of his litter box a lot and hasn't done anything. Giving him milk, as the vet's office suggested, didn't help. So I had to bring him to the vet today. Turns out he has a bladder infection and the reason he hasn't had any BMs is because it hurts to strain. Of all the things that could've been wrong, this is about the best thing. Urinary tract disease could kill him in less than a week and constipation or an obstruction could probably kill him if left untreated. The treatment for both would be more involved and would cost more. As it is, I just have to give him medicine (in a dropper) twice a day for about a week.

Thank God it isn't more serious. I couldn't take losing Sam. (Or any of my babies.) He's my baby. The sweetest, most affectionate cat I've ever known.

Charlie's been in Houston (his hotel is actually in Humble) since Sunday. He has school all week. He's supposed to be home on Saturday. I miss him.

The kids started school today. They were very excited. Kelly said she felt like her heart was going to jump out of her chest. lol My mom picked them up from school and they're still at her house. They should be home soon.

We met their teachers yesterday and found out where their classes are. Sean has a male teacher this year. He's from California. Hopefully he can keep Sean's attention and be a good motivator. Kelly's teacher is the same one Sean had in 2nd grade before they moved him to another class because that class was a little crowded. Everyone speaks well of her and seems to really like her.

Got some news from our realtor. The couple who was supposed to have looked at our house this past Friday didn't even go in. They heard our dog barking and were afraid. lol Pippin is a toy poodle who loves people (he doesn't know a stranger) and was in his carrier. Maybe they thought he would quickly gnaw his way out of his carrier and kill them right there in the doorway. Their realtor tried to get them to go in but they refused. So our realtor told their realtor that they could come another time and the dog wouldn't be here. He said, "no". lol People are weird.

Our realtor also told me that that man who likes our house is still trying to make a decision. I had pretty much given up on him. I hope he chooses our house and makes a fair offer. I know I keep saying that. lol

North Carolina has been in a pretty bad drought for a couple years now. Thanks to Faye, we're getting some much needed rain this week. They're forecasting around 3 inches for our area.