Sean's Car, Uncooperative Loki, More Hail

On Saturday, May 21st, the A/C in Sean's car quit working. He brought the car to our house to get Charlie to help fix it. Charlie pulled a fuse, which basically caused the car to quit working. (It was so much easier to fix cars when they weren't computerized.) Since the car wasn't driveable, Sean and Ashley rode with me to church that Sunday. (My mom brought them home.) 

 

I drove them to work on Monday (they both work at the church), but Sean didn't stay. He came to my house with me so he could call a tow truck and have his car taken to the dealership. He rode in the tow truck to the dealership and when Honda was unable to give him a loaner (they were out of loaners), I picked him up and drove him to Enterprise to rent a car. (His insurance covered the cost.) Sean dropped off the rental car at Enterprise on Tuesday morning and I drove him to the dealership to get his car. A new compressor arrived that week, but it's making noise. I'm not sure if that's been fixed yet.

 

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Loki had a vet appointment for Friday, June 3rd to get a booster shot, but Kelly and I couldn't get him in the carrier no matter how hard we tried. I called the vet and they rescheduled his appointment for Tuesday, June 6th. I went that Monday to get some pills that would help calm him and went to Petsmart to get pill pockets for cats. But he wasn't interested in the pill pockets. So then we tried cheese and he wasn't interested in that either. Then Kelly held him while I tried to get the pill down his throat, but he spit it out. So then I opened up one of the capsules and poured the medicine onto his food and he wouldn't eat that.

 

We tried getting him into the carrier anyway and we couldn't. So I had to cancel his appointment. I told them that they'd probably never see Loki again. lol

 

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Thursday, June 16th and yesterday we had thunderstorms with hail. (Temperatures have been in the mid to upper 90s for several days now, but today is supposed to be about 83°.) The one we had yesterday was crazy! It hailed for several minutes. And it was a lot of hail coming down at once. We were kind of shocked. The wind was also really crazy and we wondered if there was a tornado nearby (I haven't heard that there was) or straight line winds. We have a few small branches in our yard (including a branch from our redbud tree that ended up several feet away from the tree) and a bunch of leaves. And the top part of a forsythia that Charlie planted a couple weeks ago lost some of its leaves.

That's the third hail storm in a month.

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Purchases since my last entry:

Purchased from someone on Poshmark. Brand: A New Day. $5 before shipping and tax, less than $16 after. (Not my photo.)

Purchased from Macy's. Brand: Jessica Howard. Almost $80 after tax. Shipping was free. I haven't spent that much on a dress in awhile. (Photo from Macy's website.)

 

Purchased from someone on Poshmark. Brand: Lauren Ralph Lauren. Less than $34 after shipping and tax. (Not my photo.)

 

 

Purchased from someone on eBay. Brand: Naturalizer. A little over $25 after shipping and tax. I used to have a beautiful, sparkly pair of silver heels that I had to throw out a few years ago. I finally got some new silver heels. (Not my photo.)

 

 

Navy lace top purchased from ThredUp. Brand: Vince Camuto. Less than $24 after shipping and tax. (Not my photo.) I bought it to go with the green and navy/dark blue leopard print skirt I bought in April. I wore it with a navy shrug and patent nude heels. I thought it looked beautiful.

 

 

Purchased from someone on Poshmark. Brand: Talbots. Almost $51 after shipping and tax. Which I thought was a good price for a Talbots dress. But the person I bought it from sent a ten dollar bill with the dress because they were expecting someone to make an offer and possibly low ball them. (She said it's happened to them quite a bit.) They didn't think anyone would actually buy it at list price. (Which was $40.) The lady who sent it said that with gas and groceries being so expensive, she didn't feel right not giving me some of the money back. I was really surprised. What a nice thing to do. (Not my photo. Photo is from the listing.)

 

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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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No Air, The Park, Tornado

Tuesday afternoon, April 10th, I noticed that it was feeling kind of warm in our house. I turned the air down, but it didn't come on no matter how low I turned it down to. So Charlie contacted someone and they sent out a repair guy the next day. (It got down into the 40s that first night and was chilly in the house that Wednesday morning, but warmed up later.) He said something about a transformer and a fuse maybe and whenever he did get it running, something would trip and it would quit working. They had to order some parts, which they said could take two to three days for them to receive. So, we'd have it fixed by Saturday or Sunday? No. No weekend delivery or something. They weren't able to come back and fix it until this past Wednesday. We went more than a week without heat or air.

It got pretty warm in here during the day and we had a lot of fans going. Most rooms had two fans each. Of course, it was only cool in front of a fan or below a ceiling fan. But thankfully it's not summer yet or an above average spring. We've lost our air a few times in the summer (and at least a couple times in winter) and it was kind of miserable. I don't know how people survived without a/c or fans before they were invented.

Saturday and Sunday were the warmest days in the house. (About 77° or 78°.) Saturday night was pretty uncomfortable, too. It only got down to about 74° inside. We live in a one-story house and can't leave our windows up at night. It was either Monday night or Tuesday night that it got down into the 30s. It was kind of cold in the house when I got up the next morning (about 66° inside), but tolerable with the proper clothing and blankets.

Anyway, as I said earlier, the repair guy came back Wednesday afternoon and got it fixed pretty quickly. It's been nice having a/c (we'll need the heat at night as it's supposed to get down into the 30s and 40s) and not hearing multiple fans running in the house.

The repair guy said that since our heat pump is so old (20), the next big thing to go wrong, like a compressor, could be it and we'd have to buy a new one.

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Thursday, April 12th, Kelly and I went to the park. We brought Milo (Charlie's Jack Russell) with us. He's getting fat and needs the exercise. lol Plus, he enjoys it. We didn't stay long, but it was a nice walk. I took only three pictures. Here's two of them.

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Sunday, April 15th, we had some wind and rain. They said there was a chance for hail, severe lightning, and possibly tornadoes. Sometime after 5:00 that evening, I heard a strong gust of wind (stronger than how it had been blowing), but didn't give it much thought. A few minutes later, I looked out the living room window and saw that the chair that's normally on our front porch was gone. It had been blown into our side yard. We get strong winds from time to time, usually with thunderstorms, but that chair has never been blown off our porch. Even with gusts in the 40-60 mph range.

Shortly after that, a tornado touched down about 10-15 minutes northeast of our house. It was a high EF-2, nearly an EF-3. It's not unusual for us to get tornado watches every spring and occasionally there will actually be a tornado, but rarely one as big and strong as the one that hit our city this past Sunday. Over 1000 structures have been damaged, some schools will remain closed for the rest of the school year (possibly longer) - students from those schools are being sent to other schools, many are without power and can't live in what's left of their houses. I imagine some houses will have to be bulldozed because there's not enough left to just repair. The worst the thing about it is the tornado hit a mostly low-income area of the city. Thankfully, only one person died. Though even just one death is too many.

It's quite a shock, not just because of the damage, but because it's so rare for this area to get a tornado like this. Even with tornado watches, tornadoes don't usually touch down and when they do, they're smaller than this one and short-lived. I read that tornadoes here usually only stay on the ground for about 5 miles. This one was on the ground for either 16 miles or 33 miles. (I've heard both.) A tornado touched down in South Carolina from this same line of storms that came through here. After the tornado in SC and then the one here, a tornado also touched down in a town north of here. It did some damage there too, but it's a smaller town with much fewer people and didn't destroy as many structures as it did here.

Clean-up will take some time - weeks or months. Places are being opened as shelters for those who can't stay in their homes. Churches and other groups are cooking meals and providing water, clothing, and other necessities. People are donating money to the Salvation Army. Money that will go directly to the people affected by the tornado. The electric company is working hard to get downed power lines up, poles fixed or replaced, and the power back on.

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I'm almost done reading After You by Jojo Moyes. Less than 100 pages to go. It's not as good as the first one (Me Before You), but I like it.

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~*~Nocturnal Queen~*~
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Weather, School, and Dresses

The new year started off much colder than what's normal for North Carolina. Highs in the 20s and 30s, lows in the single digits and teens. I only left my house when absolutely necessary, which thankfully wasn't often.

Then on the 17th, it finally snowed. Not that I wanted it to snow, but a lot of people were saying that if it's going to be this cold, it should snow. We got about 8-9 inches at my house.

Since then, it's warmed up quite a bit. We've had a couple days of highs in the mid to upper 60s. It's been really nice. Too bad the ground is too wet now from the melting snow to be able to go to the park. Our shoes would be covered in mud. :-/

Temperatures should be in the 50s and 60s all week. They're calling for rain tonight (it's currently 1:22 AM) and in the morning, so that's just going to add to the mud situation unfortunately. It's also supposed to be really windy. I'm glad it's not going to be cold like it was a week ago with those winds. The windchill would be awful.

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The last time I posted about Sean and school, I thought he'd have a couple days each week where he'd be in classes until around 5:00 in the evening, but his two long days (Tuesdays and Thursdays) are only until about 2:30/3:00. Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays are quite short - he's usually done by about 10:45/11:00 AM. He also has work he has to do online after he gets home.

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After checking every store we could think of in Greensboro and multiple searches online, Kelly and I finally just went to David's Bridal to get a bridesmaid dress. I had checked online a couple weeks before and saw that it looked like they had the color the bride (Kelly's best friend Rene) wanted. Kelly tried on a few and this is the one she chose. Rene loves it.

They were having a big sale. Only paid about $54 after tax.

We went shopping last Friday or Saturday (12th or 13th) and got shoes - light gray Vans. And then got a sweater to wear over it (for modesty) this past Saturday. Rene was with us for both shopping trips.

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I had told Charlie that I couldn't really think of anything I wanted for Christmas. Then I had told him that I could just go shopping for a dress. I love dresses and can't remember the last time I bought one. So when we went shopping Saturday evening, I finally looked for one. I had seen several on Dillard's website that I wanted to look at in their store, but I couldn't find them. I ended up getting this one instead:

The dress is Ellen Tracy. $118.

Then when we went to H&M, I got this one:

About $40, but I think it might be on sale now.

I wore that one to church this past Sunday with a black shrug. I got compliments on it from my mom, my husband, and a few friends. :-) The white dress is more of a spring/summer dress, so I won't wear that one until at least March.



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~*~Nocturnal Queen~*~
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Dishwasher, Pastor, Songs

Just a few little things I wanted to blog about. Mostly for me. Not that I have many readers. Which is fine.

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Charlie said he's going to try to get off early today so that we can go buy a new dishwasher and go out to eat. Our current dishwasher is 19 years old. Charlie has fixed it a few times this year and the fixes worked for awhile. But now it's leaking again (no more than a quarter-size to 50 cent piece-size spot, for now) and I guess whatever's leaking is corroded or broken to the point where it can't be fixed. No surprise, considering its age. I don't need anything high-end or fancy or futuristic. Just something that is a good brand for a good price that will get our dishes clean.

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Our pastor private messaged me on Facebook tonight/last night. That was a surprise. He told me that he was thinking about me and my family and "a wave of gratitude" rolled over his soul. That me, Charlie, and the kids are a "source of great inspiration" to him and his family. He ended it with "Love to the ______s".

Aww. Such a sweet, unexpected message to receive from my pastor. I thanked him and told him that we love him and his family. He messaged me back with a smiley face. lol

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Recent temperatures have had me thinking about fall and going to the mountains and perhaps a festival or two. Then I saw the forecast for the next seven days. Low to mid 80s. :-/ While that's normal for September, the mid 60s to mid 70s really had me in the mood for fall. Oh, well. It won't be long till cooler temperatures are back and then we can enjoy the things we love about fall. :-)

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These are the songs I have on my iPod. I'm sharing them because I love these songs (of course) and in case something happens and I can't remember what all I had, they'll be here for me to see.

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~*~Nocturnal Queen~*~
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This and That

I'm really looking forward to going to the mountains soon. I was going to go today, but when I called my mom last night (because I know she's going to want to go with me), she was already asleep. :-/ I'll call her about it later today.

Sean wants his girlfriend Ashley to go with us and Kelly wants her friend Rene to go with us. I can only fit five people in my car (including me), so if my mom goes, only Ashley will be able to go with us. (Sean asked first and I said yes before Kelly asked about Rene.) But if mom can't go, we'll bring Rene with us if she wants to go and is able to.

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Charlie left for Georgia a few weeks ago. After that, he was sent to Wichita, Kansas. And then Houston, Texas. He arrived there on Saturday. He should be home next week.

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Autumn is here (my favorite season, along with spring) and that means wearing my fall wardrobe. As much as I love clothes, I don't have nearly as much to wear in the fall and winter as I do in the spring and summer. (Just a few skirts and a few shirts.) I've been trying to fix that and was able to get a few things over the past few weeks.

Back in early August, I bought a plaid skirt ($14.99) at Forever 21. I was going to wear it a few days ago, but I didn't have anything to wear with it. I found something I think will look good with it at JC Penney.

I will probably wear this zipped most of the way up. I wish I'd found a picture of it zipped up.

Other items I've purchased over the past few weeks:

Purchased at Stein Mart for $34.99. Original price, $48. I wanted a vest that's shorter and cooler than the hip-length knitted vests I already have.

Ralph Lauren. I bought this at Belk. Originally $125, I paid $80 after tax. I took this picture in the fitting room. I'm trying to find some boots to wear with it. Black doesn't work.

Target. I just wear this around the house. It's really comfortable.

Stein Mart. Original price, $68. I paid $24.99. I was looking for a jacket to go with my brown skirt (I have a black denim jacket and a black leather jacket, but black doesn't go with brown) when I saw this one. 

I was in need of new flats and was able to find a few pairs. Most shoes are not comfortable to me; including shoes I already own. And especially closed toe shoes. I was looking for soft, flexable shoes. These three pairs of shoes were comfortable in the store. I hope they will still feel comfortable when I wear them for more than a couple minutes.

Macy's. Rocket Dog. Originally $49, but I got them on sale. I can't remember how much.

Macy's. American Rag. Originally $39.50. I got them on sale.

Shoe Carnival. Rocket Dog. Originally $44.99. I paid $24.98.

Calvin Klein. I bought this for my mom at Macy's. Purple is her favorite color. (This is aubergine.) She loved it.

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I normally have a few umbrellas in my car. That way each of us (me, Charlie, the kids) have an umbrella to use if we need one. Though I'm the only one who ever uses one. lol 

It was a chilly, rainy day on Saturday. The kids and I and Sean's girlfriend Ashley were on our way to Great Clips so Sean could get a haircut when we passed by a lady walking somewhere without an umbrella. So I turned around and gave her one of mine. She was really grateful and seemed sweet.

I also vacuumed the church sanctuary on Saturday (as I do pretty much every Saturday) and after doing a little shopping (vest & jacket for me; 3 shirts & a sweater for Kelly), the kids, Ashley, and I went to Red Robin for supper.

Sunday was church and it was really good.

This is one of the songs we sang:

We also sang "I Can't Hold My Love Back From You" and "Oceans". And something else, but I can't remember what.

I came home after church, made French toast (using French bread) and bacon, took a nap, and then watched a little TV. Including the premiere of season six of The Walking Dead. I was excited, but also nervous. I don't want any of my people (Rick's group; except Gabriel) to die. Especially Daryl, Carol, Michonne, and Glenn.

Hagan Stone Park and Too Much Rain

The kids and I went to Hagan Stone Park last Thursday. It was overcast, but the radar showed that the rain was passing south of us and the local weather said that it would start raining that night. So, we went, hoping that the rain would hold off as predicted. And it did for the most part. Kelly and I felt a few tiny drops while walking the trails and then there was a very brief shower/misting as we were getting ready to go to the car.

Anyway, Sean went fishing from the pier on the lake while Kelly and I walked. We took a few turns we'd never taken before and then wondered how to get back. lol I got my phone out and turned on the GPS. We were practically on the far northern/northeastern reaches of the park and heading further out. lol But we eventually saw a tree we'd seen before (it stands in the middle of the trail) and knew we were finally going the right way.

Kelly and I walked for about 2 hours or so. I love the trails at Hagan Stone. You're basically walking in a forest. Tons of trees. And spiders. Ick. I almost walked into a web at one point. It was then I grabbed a stick to wave in front of me whenever we came to low-hanging branches or narrow areas where a spider could easily make a web across the path.

After about an hour and a half or so, Sean texted me, asking where we were and saying that he was hungry. I told him we were on the trail and trying to get back. When we finally got back to the pier, he was trying to untangle his line and said that he didn't catch anything.

The kids wanted to swing on the swings (which are at the far end of the park, not near the lake), even at their ages (18 and 15), so we went to the swings after we left the pier. We didn't stay at the swings for long. I was hungry and ready to go home.

I didn't bring my camera with me, so the pictures I took aren't the greatest quality. I'll take my camera when the leaves are at their peak.

Sean going fishing. The man on the right caught some catfish.

Kelly.

Saw this deer on the way to the swings.

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It did start raining that night. And it's rained almost constantly since. We got a bit of a break yesterday. We even saw the sun for awhile. But then it started raining again last night. We've gotten about 5 or 6 inches so far I think and we're supposed to get another 5-7 inches by Sunday. Part of that rain will be from Hurricane Joaquin, which is supposed to make landfall on the Outer Banks on Sunday night and then go through Washington, D.C. 

I told my kids that it'd be nice if the hurricane blew away all the bad politicians. D.C. would be empty. Hurricane apocalypse. I was kidding, of course. :-)

Some areas are already flooding from the rain we've had since last week and some people have lost their power. They're calling for more flooding and possibly more power outages (due to trees falling because of the wet ground and the wind that may come) over the next few days. I don't know when the rain will finally stop. Maybe next week sometime.

This and That

In a previous entry, I wrote about being sick with a sinus/allergy thing. That lasted a couple weeks. The following week, I had a migraine that lasted for three days. Ugh. That was miserable. Thankfully, it was gone by Saturday morning (two Saturdays ago) and I was able to go to church and vacuum, then get groceries.

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This past Saturday was my cousin Shannon's son Cody's graduation party in Fayetteville. (My dad's side of the family.) I told her I was going before I knew that it was going to be outside.

Outside. In June. In North Carolina. Fayetteville, North Carolina. (Possibly the hottest area in the state in the summer.) In the middle of a heat wave. I sent her a private message on Facebook asking her if it would be okay for me to stay inside during the party. It was supposed to be close to 100° and I don't do well in the heat. I tend to get lightheaded and nauseated. I told her that I would understand if she didn't want a bunch of people in her house. It's her house. She can do what she wants. She messaged me back, laughing, and said that it was fine and that I wouldn't be the only one inside.

I had to vacuum the church first, which was fine since the party started at 5:00. Unfortunately, I got a late start and after vacuuming the church and then coming back to the house to let the dogs out one more time and pick up Sean (Kelly went with me to the church), we didn't get on the highway until after 4:00. We arrived at Shannon's shortly before 6:00. Which turned out to be a good thing since they'd just finished having a water balloon fight that I knew about ahead of time (though I didn't know what time they would be doing it) and didn't want to get wet.

Though I was inside almost the entire time, I still began feeling sick and dizzy after about an hour or so. It was warm in her house, even with the A/C on and fans blowing, because of everyone going in and out of the house.

It was nice to spend some time talking to my family. Aunts, uncles, cousins.

The kids and I left shortly before 8:00, making a couple stops on the way, and got home a little after 10.

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The next day was Father's Day. Unfortunately, Charlie was (and still is) in Georgia. He wanted to come home for the weekend to spend it with us for Father's Day, but his boss wouldn't let him. :-/

We had a special speaker preach for us on Sunday. It was an awesome service!

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Kelly's been on kind of a T-shirt kick lately; wanting new T-shirts from Hot Topic. I've gotten her several over the past couple weeks. (They were on sale.) I also got her a black skirt at H&M for church and I got Sean a red tie (to wear with his black suit and white dress shirt) at Dillard's.

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I'm almost halfway through The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah and I'm really enjoying it. It's about two sisters in France during World War II. Vianne is married with a little girl named Sophie. Her husband has been captured by the Germans. The younger sister, Isabelle, is helping the resistance, despite Vianne wanting her to behave (Vianne doesn't know what Isabelle is secretly doing) so that the Germans won't harm them.

I can't wait to find out what happens next. The other night I dreamed I was in France during World War II. I had been captured by Nazis and held prisoner in a home. I escaped, but the Nazis found me and began firing at me, but thankfully missed. :-)