Tree, Dishes, Shogun, Reading

In my last blog entry, I mentioned the flame thrower redbud tree Charlie bought and planted. Here is a picture of it in our yard:

 

 

I told Charlie recently that I'd like to plant a couple trees in our backyard kind of near our property line with our neighbors to our left (as you face our house) and not directly behind our house so that they can be seen from the road and front yard. I don't know yet what kind, but nothing big. And I told him yesterday that I'd like to plant a bunch of purple flowers. (Purple isn't my favorite color and some things I don't like in purple at all, but I love purple flowers.) Don't know if that will happen though.

 

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Over the past two or three years, we've had a few plates to break - two red Pioneer Woman plates (which chip easier than I like) and a white plate with floral trim. I wanted to get some new plates to replace them, but couldn't find anymore of the red Pioneer Woman plates or any plates I like at Walmart or Target. (The ones at Target were all plain and boring.) 

 

So I went to World Market a few weeks ago and saw these blue plates that I've actually loved for years, but they don't "go" with my other plates or my kitchen. I decided that I no longer care about that lol, so I bought two of them and then my mom bought me two more last week.

I think they're so beautiful and I'm glad I got them. If I had the cabinet space for the bowls and saucers, I might get them, too. But I do not. :-\

 

The pattern is called "cherry blossom".

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Several weeks ago, a remake of the Shogun series (based on the book, which I haven't read) aired on FX and Hulu. It seemed like it could be a good show, so I watched it. I loved it! One of the best shows I've watched in a long time. The acting, locations, sets, costumes, plot were all fantastic. I don't really care about awards shows, but Shogun deserves every award they could be eligible for.

There was no sequel to the original mini-series or the book, so this was supposed to be a mini-series as well, but apparently there might be two more seasons. Without a book to base it on, I don't have high hopes for it. But I reckon we'll see.

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Back in my teens and twenties, there were these chocolate candies that my mom used to buy and I loved them. For the past several years or more, I've tried finding them in stores whenever I'd think of it, but I couldn't find them. So I checked Amazon and they had them, so I ordered a box. Mon Cheri by Ferrero. They were kind of expensive, so I'm taking my time eating them.

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A few days ago, I told Charlie that I'd like to get another really good knife for cutting/chopping food. (I only had one.) He almost immediately got on Amazon and ordered a knife for me. He paid almost $200 for it! I was shocked. I would never pay that much for a knife. lol That may not be a lot of money for a knife to a professional chef, but it's a lot to me. Charlie said he looked at reviews and people said it was a great knife. 

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The past couple years have been terrible for me when it comes to reading. I used to love reading so much, but I hardly ever read anymore. I mean, it doesn't help that I can barely get through a few pages without falling asleep. *sigh* Middle age, I guess. I recently started reading again, but I'm not doing it every day. I want to get back to that eventually though.

I've about decided to dnf The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. I started reading Anglesey, book eight in the Surviving the Evacuation series (zombie apocalypse) by Frank Tayell, on April 11th, but I haven't made a lot of progress. I've liked what I've read so far though.

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.

 

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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).

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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.

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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. :-\

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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

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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.

 

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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.

New Truck, Redbud Gone, and a Lovely Saturday

Charlie bought a truck from work a couple months ago - a red F150. 2013, I think. They sold it to him for $1500 and he's making payments. We're not Ford people, so his plan is to fix it up, sell it, and use the money towards a different truck. I told him he could just remove the Ford emblems and replace the motor with a Chevy motor. lol 

For now, he's only driving the truck on the weekends. He drives it to work on Monday, keeps it there all week, drives a company truck during the week (they pay for gas), and then drives it home on Friday.

I'll post a picture in the next entry if I remember to take a picture of it.

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Friday, September 30th, tropical storm Ian (or was it a tropical depression by then?) came through. We had a lot of large sticks in our yard, but the worst damage was the loss of our redbud tree. I had suspected it was diseased for a couple years because not all of the branches bloomed in the spring. When it blew over, the roots weren't connected to the tree. I wonder if we could've just pushed it over ourselves. :-/

 

 

 

 

It makes me kind of sad. I loved that tree. We plan on planting a new one in the spring.

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This past Saturday, Kelly and I went to the fall festival at Bur-Mil Park. It started off pretty chilly (mid to upper 50s), but warmed up a little into the 60s. There weren't a lot of activities, so we didn't stay long. We ate some funnel cake, walked around a bit, rode the hayride, and then left.

 

Bur-Mil isn't far from the Old Mill of Guilford (which, surprisingly, I had never been to even though I've lived in or near Greensboro for the better part of 31 years), so we went there next. I took some pictures and we browsed the shop. I couldn't decide on anything I really wanted, but I also didn't want to leave empty-handed, so Kelly got some pumpkin spice scented wax for her wax burner.

 

 

 

 

After leaving the mill, we went to Guilford Courthouse National Military Park and Tannenbaum Park, which we've been to a few times. We walked around a bit and I took some pictures, including a few of a hawk.

 

Statue of General Nathanael Greene at Guilford Courthouse National Military Park.

 

We then went to Chick-fil-A to eat and then to the church to vacuum.

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Kelly and I are hoping to go to the mountains this Friday. Charlie will try to get the day off so he can go with us.

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Purchases since my last entry:

Banana Republic dress. Purchased from someone on eBay. (This is their photo.) I paid $33.57 after shipping and tax.

 

L.L. Bean dress. Purchased from someone on Poshmark. (This is their photo.) I paid $26.33 after shipping and tax.

 

 

Sonoma dress. Purchased from ThredUp. (This is their photo.) I paid $29.87 after shipping and tax.

 

 

 

Dream Pairs heels. Purchased from Amazon. (This is their photo.) I think I paid less than $40 after tax. I think shipping was free.

 

Keds. Purchased from DSW. (This is their photo.) I bought these at the store and paid close to $60 after taxes.

 

 

Blowfish Malibu shoes. Purchased from someone on Poshmark. (These are their photos.) I paid $24.55 after shipping and tax.

 

 

The reason for buying the Keds and Blowfish shoes is I needed shoes for when it's too cool for sandals, but not cool enough for boots. (Comfortable flats are almost impossible to find.) Plus, I can wear an insert for the plantar fasciitis in my left foot. I wore the Keds to the places Kelly and I went to this past Saturday. My foot still hurt, but not as bad. My right foot also usually hurts after awhile, but didn't hurt at all this past Saturday.

 

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*~*Nocturnal Queen*~*

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Hurricane, Jury Summons, Snow, Etc.

This past October, Hurricane Michael made landfall in Florida. (The devastation was incredible.) It was a tropical storm when it reached North Carolina on October 11th. It still had a lot of wind and rain in it. We lost power for a couple days (technically about 45½ hours), but thankfully we had a generator. (Our first time having one. Too bad we didn't have one when we lost power during an ice storm in early March 2014.) Many places in NC flooded. It hadn't been that long ago that Hurricane Florence hit North Carolina, and we'd had a lot of rain before and after Florence. The ground was pretty much saturated, which not only caused flooding, but many trees came down. About 500,000 people were without power in North Carolina. The county I live in had the most power outages.

Our generator isn't powerful enough to run a lot of things in our house, but we were able to keep the refrigerator running, a few lamps, some small fans, the TV, cable, and WiFi, use the microwave (if we unplugged the refrigerator first), and keep our phones charged. Thankfully, it wasn't hot out, so the fans were enough for those couple days that we didn't have power.

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I made a quick trip to Hagan-Stone Park on November 3rd to get some pretty fall pictures. We've had so much rain over the past few months that it's been too muddy to walk the trails, so I had to take pictures from less muddy spots. I would've loved to have been able to go deeper into the woods to get pictures.

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A couple months ago, I got a jury summons in the mail. Ugh. I was dreading it so much. I get a summons every couple of years, but only once have I actually had to go. This last summons was for the courthouse in High Point. I understand it's in the same county I'm in, but I don't live in High Point and rarely go there. I think the last time I was there was about two years ago. Prior to that, I can't remember how long it had been. I received a summons for the High Point courthouse once before, but thankfully when I called the night before, I was told that my services weren't needed. I got the same message when I called tonight. As I was listening to the recording, Charlie was standing near me and when they said my services weren't needed, I raised my fist up in the air and said, "Yes!" Charlie laughed. lol I am so happy I don't have to go!

The one time I did have to go, it was the courthouse in Greensboro. It was a long, boring day. I hated every minute of it. Thankfully my name was never called to go back to whatever the other room is. A selection room of some kind, I imagine. At one point, we were allowed to leave the assembly room for a break. I went to the break room to get water and a small bag of pretzels and as I was sitting there, I started feeling sick and faint. All those boring hours on an empty stomach and not much sleep. I don't do well in such situations.

Anyway, I find it interesting that Charlie has received a summons only once and has only voted once or twice. I vote every election and get a summons every couple of years. Charlie said he heard that they don't choose based on who votes, but I don't believe them. lol

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About mid to late October, I brought Pippin to the vet for his bi-annual check-up. At this visit, we found out he has congestive heart failure and his liver and kidneys are starting to not do so great. (He also had the giardia parasite, but medication took care of that.) He's now on heart medication and fluid pills. I've had to bring him to the vet every couple weeks since then and I'm really tired of going. It's been a couple weeks since the last vet visit. Hopefully I won't have to take him again for awhile. Milo is passed due for his check-up, but I haven't been able to take him because of Pippin's visits and the cost involved in that. *sigh*

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On November 27th, I got a text from my bank about suspicious activity in my account. Someone in Paris somehow got my information and attempted to purchase several things. Only a couple went through because I didn't have much in the bank, so most of their purchases were declined. Some of the purchases were some kind of Hobbiton movie set, an expensive dinner, and a boat cruise on the Seine. I went to the bank that Friday to get a temporary card to use until my new card arrived in the mail. The bank is currently reviewing the case. Surely they'll see that I didn't buy stuff in Paris one day, then get groceries in NC the next, then take a boat cruise in Paris after that.

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Sunday, December 9th, around midnight, a winter storm hit North Carolina. It snowed all night (Saturday night/Sunday morning) and all day Sunday. Then turned into sleet and freezing rain Sunday night, and then we got a little bit more snow on top of that. We got about a foot of snow where I live. The kind of snow we get about once every 10 years. Needless to say, everything shut down.

When they finally got to our neighborhood to plow, they only did about half of our street. I have no idea why. They stopped a couple houses before our house. I had to be careful getting out today to bring Kelly to the dentist.

We're supposed to get rain Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (seriously? more rain?!) and the temperature Sunday is supposed to be near 60°. So hopefully the snow will melt soon. Though with it being a foot high and the piles where they've plowed are higher than that (I heard 10 feet high in some places!), who knows when it will all be gone.

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Monday, December 10th, we got the news that Charlie's aunt Louise in Tennessee passed away that morning. She was 80 years old. She had been battling cancer for awhile, but it didn't seem like she was sick enough to die yet. She seemed in good spirits, smiling a lot, from the pictures her daughter was sharing on Facebook. Her death was a sad surprise.

The funeral is tomorrow (Thursday). Charlie would like to go, but he can't because he's the only one who will be at work. Others have taken time off/vacation time and they need someone there.

Charlie had said several times over the past few months that he'd like to go visit his uncle Richard and aunt Louise and family whenever we get the chance. It's been awhile since he's seen them and he misses them. Now if we ever get to go, he won't get to see his aunt Louise. He really loved her. :-(

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Since my last entry, I stopped reading Seven Stones to Stand or Fall by Diana Gabaldon and read two other books. Warm Bodies and The New Hunger. Both by Isaac Marion. I ordered the third book (The Burning World) from Barnes and Noble almost a week ago, but haven't gotten an email yet telling me that it's come in. The fourth book (The Living) is only available digitally through Amazon and Barnes and Noble. I don't read digital books. I went to GoodReads and found out that you can order the hardcover from the author's website. I'm waiting for that to be shipped.

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I will end this already kind of long entry with a picture of our Christmas tree. :-)

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~*~Nocturnal Queen~*~
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This and That

I'm still not feeling well. More tired than anything, but also a little sniffly and I don't have much of a voice at times. Kelly's doing better. Just a little bit of a cough. She'll be going to church with my mom and Sean. I'll have to stay home again. :-(

I put the lights on the tree last night. I was going to put the ornaments on it as well, but I got too tired.

While I was sitting at my computer, I called Kelly to me to tell her something and she came to me crying. I asked her why she was crying and she said, "I miss Daddy". I asked her if she wanted to call him and speak to him, but she said that she didn't. Maybe she was afraid she'd cry on the phone with him.

Little girls need their daddies and boys who are about to be teenagers need them too. Not to mention how much I need my husband. It makes me angry that he's not here as much as he should be. I really feel for single mothers. I feel like a single mother myself (emotionally) and it's awful. He's paying the bills, but I'm the one taking care of everything and raising our kids pretty much by myself. *insert angry face here*

Anyway, that feeling I get from time to time (click on "Dreams" and "dreaming" in my label cloud) hit me again a few hours ago. The feeling that I need to escape or get away somewhere. It's not sugar plums, but visions of far off places dancing in my head - Italy, New Zealand, Ireland. *sigh* Will those dreams ever come true? Only God knows for sure. Aside from the dreams I have for my husband and I as a couple, and for our family, traveling to Europe and New Zealand is my biggest dream in life.

It kind of stinks to have dreams you can't attain (for now), but having no dreams at all would be worse.

Health update, Project, Christmas decor

The ultrasound I had this past Tuesday showed nothing bad or unusual. So instructions are to continue my medication (including iron, as I was just one percent or one point away from being anemic). I found out that I'm supposed to be taking one pill twice a day, not once a day as I was doing. Duh. lol No wonder things weren't really getting better. lol It was clearly marked on the bottle, so I don't know how I missed it.

Sean came home with the dreaded news that he has to do a science fair project, due next month. Blah. I hate science projects. I never did them when I was in school because I never knew what to do. Plus, I didn't want myself or anything I'd done on display. No, thanks. I'll just take the zero. Of course, I don't want Sean to just take a zero. I have no clue about science projects, so I looked them up online. (I had suggested a solar system, but apparently, from what I've read online, that's too simple. Naturally.) I've bookmarked a couple websites for Sean to look at. He likes weather and astronomy, so I expect he'll choose something from one of those categories. I just hope it's something simple and quick that I have to buy little or nothing for.

Charlie's on his way to Texas. He and a co-worker stopped in Mississippi for the night. He thinks he'll be gone about a week. Our 14th anniversary is next Wednesday, but I'm not sure he'll be here for it. :-(

I finally finished decorating our tree Tuesday night. Well, most of it. I bought our ornaments for this year (we get special ornaments from Hallmark every year) and put them on the tree yesterday, then I put the crocheted snowflakes on the tree that an online friend made for me several years ago. She (and her husband) lived in MN at the time. She's since lived in NY (in or near Buffalo) and now lives in VA. I just need Charlie to get the tree skirt out of the attic. I know this sounds silly, but I'm so scared of heights that I can't go into the attic. Believe me, I've tried. But I can't bring myself to go all the way up the ladder. lol

I bought some lights yesterday to decorate the bushes in our front yard. Charlie is the one who decorates outside (when we do), but I'm going to try it this year since he's out of town and I don't want to wait til he gets back. Hopefully I won't make a mess of it.

I finished The Devil Wears Prada a few days ago. It was okay. Now I'm reading Jane Eyre. After reading a few modern books, I want to read a classic.