What I bought at the BIG Nordstrom Anniversary Sale!

Y'all.  I need to go back to work.  Like, this afternoon.  I have spent all spring and summer following a bunch of influencers on Instagram and they have talked me into all sorts of trouble purchases.

My go-to for summer lounging clothes has been Target and Walmart.  They've had THE cutest t-shirt dresses this year!  I know 'cause I have FIVE now.  Plus sunglasses, hair care, skin care, pjs, shorts, summer tops and bathing suits, omg, I have bought TWO new bathing suits.

Because we ARE going to the beach.  Eventually.  They cute, too.  I'll have to do another blog about my summer haul!  That's what they call it.  A haul.  I'm a Hall, too, so I'm just over here living my TRUTH.  

But the BIG Nordstrom Anniversary Sale???  You ain't an influencer if you don't cover Nordstrom's summer sale!!  First time I've EVER heard of it.  It actually starts today for everybody, you don't even have to be a cardholder.  Well, I didn't wait for today.  I got me a card!  Two weeks ago.  Shhhh.  And for my trouble me becoming a new customer, they gave me $40 to spend.  And spend it I did.

This is what I got!

Halogen V-Neck Tunic Tee 

It's a super-soft modal knit that is a little longer in the back to cover you if you were amply blessed in that area.  And I was.  It's sold out now, though.

Ab-solution Ripped High-Waist Ankle Skinny Jeans 

These jeans are LIFE!!  They are sooooo comfortable and nice and stretchy, just how I like jeans.  And I don't look like a busted can of biscuits in them.  Yay!  They are regularly $88 (I'D NEVER PAY THAT), on sale for $58 and they are in stock.  I used my $40 Nordstrom bonus for these and got 'em for $18.  That's what I'm talking 'bout! 

Benassi JDI Slide Sandal by Nike

I'm trying to get back into the whole wearing-shoes thing.  These are great!  I got the white and metallic bronze ones.

BP Cozy Joggers

These here things are my FAVORITE!!!  They're sold out in the leopard (another obsession I've got lately!) but they still have them in dark and light gray.  Oh my goodness, I can't even say enough about these pants.  They're so soft and so cozy and I cannot even wait for that first crisp fall Saturday that Larry and I get up, grab coffee and hit an estate sale!  I'll be wearing these babies ON THAT DAY.  I love 'em!!

And last but not least, the Kennebunk Bliss Plush Throw, like we needed another throw blanket but hey, I'll give one away to make room for this one!  It had great reviews and they had a pink one.  Meant to be!  It's always cold in the theater and this 50x60 throw will be perfect for that.  Or napping.  Or watching tv in my recliner.  Or wrapping Tabbie Hoffman up in just to piss him off.  We NEEDED it.

So that's what I got at my very first Nordstrom Anniversary Sale.  I have a feeling it'll be a summer occurence from now on.  It was fun and the prices were incredible.  And the best part??  I got to do it in my t-shirt dress, in the A/C, didn't have to fight the crowds or drive around for thirty minutes looking for a parking spot.  The perfect sale!

And just like that...July

I'm getting the hang of this PICC line thing.  We had to go to the emergency room that first day because I couldn't get the thing to stop bleeding.  They put a compression bandage on it for an hour and then watched it for thirty minutes and got it to stop.  It still bleeds a bit if I move my arm too much.  I'm not supposed to move my arm too much.  No vacuuming, no mopping, no folding clothes.  Shoot, I do it anyway.  Ain't nobody got time for all'a that.  We did get a girl to come clean for us Saturday and she did a fabulous job.  We're in between housekeepers (again) and she's expensive but she's worth it.  We'll see...

So I do an infusion at 7 AM, 3 PM and 11 PM.  Every eight hours.  I flush the line with saline, hook up the antibiotic and let it do its thing for thirty minutes.  Then I flush the line again with saline and finally, with heparin, so I don't get a blood clot.  I'm doing okay with it.  My arm was really sore for about a week but that has passed and the pain I was feeling in my shoulder while the infusion is going on is a lot better.  We're getting used to each other, I guess.  I'll be on IV antibiotics until August 15. 




I also have to wear a hard cast on my foot that long.  My wound still has not healed and won't as long as there's infection in there.  I hate the cast.  I can't walk and I can't do stuff I want to do.  This one I have now has pressed against my shin since Friday.  I have to get a new cast every week.  I've been picking a different color every time because why not??  A rainbow of casts.  This week's will be red and we'll decorate it with 4th of July stickers.  

Because we can.  'Murica.

But there is one little bright spot!  I found some folks on Etsy that make PICC line covers.  Really cute PICC line covers.  I got this one and I LOVE it but it's too big for my arm, keeps sliding off.  I ordered a smaller one and when I'm done with the treatment, I'm going to donate these (and any others I get) to the Infusion Center for somebody else to use.  You know, pass it on.  

Larry makes sure I get my probiotic every morning with my coffee and so far, I've had very few side effects from the medicine.

This Saturday will be eight months since my first surgery.  Still wish I hadn't had it.  My foot is so much worse off than it was then, horribly scarred and now I have a scar forever on my leg as well from the skin graft.  Oh well, I'm taking one day at a time and I'll get back to some kind of normalcy. Eventually. Maybe.

We don't have big plans for the 4th.  Just gonna binge watch the third season of  "Stranger Things" on Netflix and then later, sit on the front porch with some sangria and watch the neighborhood fireworks show.  Our neighborhood puts on a show that rivals the professionals.  We are amazed every single year.

July, I don't know how you got here so quick but since you're here, please be sweet to us.

Life right now

So here we are, in the middle of October already.

So much is going on around here!!  We did make it to the beach late last month for four absolutely glorious days to celebrate our 30th "gotcha" anniversary.  Sometimes it feels like a lifetime ago that I met Larry and started that long journey with him, sometimes it feels like it was just ten or so years ago and then sometimes it feels like that life never happened.  But it did.  And we have the memories (and the ongoing nightmares!) to prove it.  God has blessed us beyond anything we could have imagined and we are so grateful for every single blessing.  Every. One.

We go Monday to my foot doctor over in Columbus to discuss surgery on my left ankle.  I'm finally having complete ankle reconstruction, ligament reconstruction and he's going to see what can be done with my sural sensory nerve, the one that's causing me so much pain.  I've have horrible nerve pain in my foot since December 2016 and once I got to the Hughston Clinic, they got to the bottom of it.  They did a nerve study in August and discovered that my sural nerve was not responsive.  It's either severed or trapped.  My foot feels like it's on fire ALL THE TIME.  When we were at the beach, I could not tell if my foot was getting too much sun because it feels sunburned all the time so I made sure to keep it covered in sunblock and sand.  No sunburns on my foot or anywhere else either!  That spray sunblock really works!  So, anyway, I'll have surgery on my foot, finally, after six long painful years, and hopefully, I can get back to some sort of normal life.  We postponed our mountain trip until spring, so I can HIKE!

Hurricane Michael came through here this week via the Florida Panhandle and we got a night of crazy wind and much needed rain.  We never lost power and I sat up until 4:00 am watching our beloved weather guy in Macon do his thang and keep us all safe.  The yard and porches were a mess but thankfully, I was off the next day to get everything all tidied up.

One of our little wild outside kitties that we feed (Fiona, who is no more than six months old!) gave birth to a stillborn baby and left it on the porch right where I would find it, under the bench on the rug that I put out there for them to nap on.  Poor little thing.  No bigger than a mouse.  Broke my heart.  Larry buried him today out in a flower bed.  And made a cross for him with his name, Mike, since he was born during the hurricane.  Nature is so sad sometimes.

We went to see "A Star Is Born" Monday and LOVEDED it!!!  What an amazing movie.  If you haven't seen it, GO!  Take tissue.  Like a whole box.  Seriously, Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper were phenomenal in this movie.  Their acting, their musical performances, they even wrote most of the songs themselves.  I didn't even know BC could sing.  He sho' can.  

We're looking forward to the end of the year, the holidays, my recovery and that blue wave that's coming next month!  Lord, hear our prayer.  

My summer girls

I've grown sunflowers along the backyard fence every summer that we've lived here.  This year, though, I was worried about them because we had such a cold, rainy March and that's when we planted them AND replanted them because squirrels dug them up, in spite of the Texas Pete!  

We planted more seeds with netting over them and that did the trick.  But it was almost April before they even sprouted!  (And we still don't have tomatoes or peppers.  Big bushy healthy plants.  NO maters.  NO peppers.)  

I had almost given up on them and then, all of a sudden, they just started busting out!

And they're just beautiful.

This one is the first to grow taller than the fence!  Ain't she a beaut??

It's JUNE!!!

And my birthday month!!!  And I'll be FIFTY!!!  

Whoa.  I'll be FIFTY  BOLD UNDERLINE ITALIC

Most days, I don't feel anywhere near 50 and I'm still getting told that I don't look 50 but there were a few days in the past two weeks that I felt every day of it and then some.

First, I had a nerve die in a top molar on the weekend and couldn't get in to see my dentist until Monday.  She did call me in some medication and I got through it.  I had a root canal that next week and toofie is fine and dandy now.  I still have to get the crown and yet another crown on another tooth, but that's another day.  

As soon as I was over the root canal, I was vacuuming last Sunday and I hurt my back some kind of way.  I was in horrible pain until Tuesday when I saw the doctor.  Larry and I had planned to go back to Andersonville to visit Gus but I just couldn't do it.  I stayed in bed for three days.  I couldn't sit up, I couldn't lay down, I couldn't stand up and couldn't walk.  It was misery.  Poor Larry, he did all he could for me, to include not even sleeping so he could watch over me.  He did all the housework and laundry and took care of Banjo and Tabbie, too. I've said it before, he's a keeper.  And I'm keepin' him!  I got some steroids and muscle relaxers Tuesday and by yesterday, I was SO MUCH BETTER OMG.  Today, I'm nearly back to normal. 

I went to an estate sale after work today over in the Eagle Springs neighborhood (we love 'em over there!  $300,000+ houses and they get rid of the best stuff!!) and I saw a few things that caught my eye and then jumped into my bag.

I couldn't leave this pretty little milk glass bottle behind.  I added a hydrangea from our yard and I think it's perfect.

I have a plan to have my own "summer reading club" and read this summer.  More books, less Facebook!  Facebook is driving me crazy lately.  Anyway, so I've been collecting Lewis Grizzard hardbacks whenever I can find them.  I got this one today.  My plan is to read as many of his books this summer as I can and remind myself of a time when the world made sense to me.  I adored Lewis and I think it'll do me good to get reacquainted with him.

Speaking of the world not making sense to me, I also found this book.  Ha!

At least in 1964, it was a no-no to be friends with the (Communist) enemy.  These days, it's no big deal.  But it is.  It's still a big deal and these folks in control in Washington are going to pay for the wrong they've done.  The lies, the "fake news" they've created or allowed to be created, the outright corruptness of it all.  There will come a Judgement Day for them.  I'll call it.  I'll call it treason and I believe our Lady Liberty will, too.

But I got me one of these just in case it takes her a while.

Late summer fun!

After weeks of ones we wanted being out of stock and having to wait, wait, wait, we finally got our summer toys this week!  We set them up today and had so much fun!!

This super cute octopus play center was supposed to be for my birthday but it was out of stock.  As soon as walmart.com got it in, I ordered it.  And now, of course, it's ten bucks.  Ha!  And the pool was just as difficult.  The one we wanted wouldn't be here until September so we got this one instead.  It's plenty big for us to cool off in and it's seven feet wide so Larry can lay down in this one!  

A couple of neighborhood kids (us!) had a blast today! 

Here's Larry blowing up the octopus.  An electric air pump is a MUST!  Best $20 we ever spent!

Filling the pool!

Here he is, cute as can be!

We sure cooled off quick!  Now it's time for a nap!  :)

Busy July!

We've had a pretty busy few weeks!  It seems like the summer months are just flying by.  School starts back here next Friday!  That seems crazy.  I'm still enjoying my summer!  Well, I am when I'm some place that's air-conditioned!  We have had such a hot, hot summer.  My poor garden is struggling.  We're getting lots of tomatoes but the peppers are suffering in this heat.  Two bells and one jalapeno is all I've gotten off them.  And the banana peppers haven't even bloomed.  I try to keep everything watered and then we have the sprinkler system on four nights a week and it's still not enough.  It's just too hot.  

My sunflowers seem to love the heat, though!  They are so beautiful.

They are still just a'bloomin' away along the fence!

Speaking of the fence, we're getting a new one!  Larry started on it today.  I tried to talk him into waiting until October when it's much cooler to start it but he's going to replace it in sections and he did this section in an hour.  I kept him hydrated with ice cold lemonade!

I've always hated the one red board scattered all throughout the fence!  It's like they started painting it and then changed their minds.  Weird.  Anyway, we are going to have a brand new one and then we'll decide if we want to paint it or leave it as it is.

The past three weeks, we went to the movies and saw the new Tarzan movie, we battled a really bad case of food poisoning with Larry (we think it came from some boiled peanuts we bought at a roadside stand), we discovered a new store in town that sells nothing but mid-century modern vintage (our favorite!) furniture and things and we joined the worldwide phenomenon Pokemon Go craze!

I follow a mid-century modern Facebook page and I have been sooooo jealous of the vintage Viking bud vases so many members of that page find at estate sales out in California and New York and pretty much all over.  I have NEVER even seen one in the wild until we visited That Store on Watson.  The owner is a really nice fellow named Victor Dunigan and the things in his store are from his personal collection of over 30 years.  He has the coolest stuff!  And he has beaucoups of Viking vases!!!  I got this one when we were there.  I am so in love!!!  It is so lovely in person.  This picture doesn't even begin to do it justice.  Victor has some really cool ideas for his store.  Parties, contests (an Ugly Lamp Contest, which really sounds fun!) and creating your own terrariums.  He sells many different varieties of air plants, too (we got one!).  There is nothing even remotely like his store in this area and if you like vintage furniture and home decor as much as I do, I recommend you go check out Victor's store!  It's at 4088 Watson, Suite 100.  

We went to an estate sale yesterday and found this beautiful Turkish rug for $15!!  I didn't even try to haggle.  I was like, "Here!  Take my money!!"  It's beautiful.  You'd pay that (or more) anywhere else for a piece of Chinese crap.  No thanks.

Larry and I have had so much fun playing Pokemon together!  He got a Pikachu Friday and he helped me get mine yesterday.

I'm 2300 points away from Level 16 now and I've caught 56 Pokemon.  I am ADDICTED.  The best place to go play in Warner Robins is the Museum of Aviation next to the base and I hit it every day after work!  

It's crazy how this game just took off like it did and I just took to it like I did!  I joked on Facebook that when the first Pokemon craze hit in the late 90's, I felt like I was too old to play.  Ha!  Not too old now, though!  It's a lot of fun. 
 

Don't know nothin' 'bout birthin' no baby birds!

Last spring, we had so many birds nesting on our porch, especially in the hanging fern.  I overwintered the fern in the house and then put it outside in a flower bed and there it sat all of March, April and part of May.  I was trying to deter Mama Bird from building a nest because I can't water the fern properly while they're in there and the fern suffers so I waited until the middle of May to plant that fern in the ground (because she had grown huge and was pot-bound) and get yet another hanging fern for the porch.  Not two weeks later, there was a nest in there with five tiny eggs!  So much for thinking their babymaking time was over.  What do I know??

The eggs hatched and I was so excited to have five tiny little robins!!!  I even took their picture and posted it on Facebook.  Cute little things.  I gently misted the fern and let them have their space.

Five days later, I came home to find my fern on the porch with a busted pot and the nest and the babies were gone.  I was heartbroken.  I like to think their Mama moved them after that rainy weekend we had but I'm pretty sure a predator got them.  Jumped in the pot, knocked it down and took the babies and the nest.  I was sick for days over it.  :(

I sat Fern Two out back where Fern One is planted.  I'm trying to save her with lots of water and shade.  She is looking fairly peaked. 

Fern Three joined our porch last week and sure enough, two days later, there was a nest in there.  Hardheaded little mama!

Not wanting to go through this again but wanting very much for this very determined mama robin to have her babies, I came up with what I hope will work.

I hung Fern Three on the patio and I created a decoy for the mama bird.  I had some artificial flowers I was saving to put on my Grandma's grave but I took them, tore them apart and arranged them in a hanging basket lined with a coco shell.  I placed the nest inside and hung it up.

Here's the nest nestled inside.

I think Grandma would be pleased.  :)  Stay tuned...

Cheery cherry suit!

I bought this adorable 1950's Esther Williams' style bathing suit to wear next month when we go to the BEACH!!  

I ordered it online and I ordered my size but you gals know that bathing suits are not always true to size.  I was a little worried.  It came today and it fits great!  

I hung it on my closet door to remind me to eat right so it will fit perfect come beach time!  :D 

I just love it. 

Dreamin' of sunflowers...

I picked up this strand of silk sunflowers at Goodwill the other night and I draped them around the window in our mudroom.  I love how they look there!

I'm hoping to get some real sunflowers planted next weekend but in the meantime, these will do.

Beachy weekend!

Larry and I took off to Tybee Island last weekend for a much-needed break.  Life has been super crazy for us this summer!  We could easily go to Florida but we just love Tybee.  It was the first beach we went to as a real-life couple so it's kinda a special place for us, not to mention a much shorter drive.  Plus it's close to my Aunt Linda and this time, we got to stop by her house and visit for a bit!  When we got close to her house, we called and Uncle Don came and met us.  We had stopped at a peach stand so we picked up a jar of preserves and a loaf of peach bread while we waited for him to get there.  Then we followed him way out in the country (I loved that!) to their house.  Aunt Linda had cooked a spread for us for lunch!!  Baked chicken, corn, macaroni salad, veggies and not knowing what we wanted or felt like eating, she also fixed hot dogs and had chips and homemade pimento cheese for sandwiches.  Pimento cheese like Maw always made, made with sharp cheddar cheese.  It was all so delicious and hit our hungry spot!  We visited for a little while, us girls in the house and Larry and Uncle Don outside talking man stuff.  Jennifer was there, too, with her two stepdaughters and it was so good to see everybody.  And I got to see a side of Savannah I had never seen before!  Every other time I've been, I've just taken I-16 and took it to the end, got off in Savannah and ended up at River Street.  Then took Victory Drive all the way out to the beach.  This time, though, since the road Aunt Linda and Uncle Don live on goes into Savannah, we went that way.  It was so nice to just be out in the country again!  We took that highway right onto Abercorn, stopping at a multi-family yard sale where I got a little white folding garden fence for four dollars and then we hit a few military surplus stores so Larry could get some patches and we went to a thrift store called Blessingdales that I really, really liked because it's owned and operated by Christians, The Living Vine, who help and shelter pregnant women in crisis, whether it be protection from abuse, addiction or just pure need.  It's pretty awesome.  Not one piece of Pyrex was to be found in there but I got the cutest Mud Pie jute tote bag that will be perfect for carrying around my treasures at estate sales. 

We got out to the beach and it was sooooo crowded!!  It was like that all weekend.  We checked in, threw our stuff down and took off.  We wanted to eat at Sundae Cafe, since it recently made a list of the best restaurants in Georgia (I wanted to try that Lobster Mac and Cheese!) but we'll know next time to make a reservation.  Seems everybody saw that list.  We ended up eating at Fannie's and it was awesome.  It was right on the beach, had great seafood and then we walked on the beach with the ice cream cones we got for dessert.

 Only about a bazillion footprints in the sand.  :)

I really, really wanted a mermaid for our master bathroom and a glass float.  That's all I wanted out of this trip!  We went to Seaside Sisters and quickly realized we were waaaaay out of our element.  They may get their stuff from estate sales but they sho' don't resell it like estate sales!  I posted on Facebook that estate sales have ruined me.  I'm used to paying $10 tops for something.  I found a mermaid there, a beautiful metal folk-artsy mermaid that I loved but for $75, I couldn't do it.  We also found the extremely rare Pyrex hot air balloon 4-quart bowl from the chip-and-dip set for $75 at Two Women and a Warehouse and I had to just physically stop Larry from getting it.  We are not paying $75 for a BOWL.  I'd be too scared to use it!!

I got my mermaid (and my beach sign with the hook) at T. S. Chu's.  I absolutely love Chu's.  If you have a minute, read this article about it.  It's been there since the 1930's and has pretty much anything you need for a stay at the beach.  If it's something you use, you'll find it at Chu's!  :)

I ended up with two glass floats.  A big blue one that we're going to hang outside from Fish Art and this smaller green one from Christy's on the corner.

We ate breakfast Sunday morning at The Breakfast Club.  I had a ham and cheese omelet, Larry had the veggie omelet and we both had grits, toast, juice and coffee.  The best breakfast in town, that's for sure!

We enjoyed the most beautiful (albeit a tad cloudy!) sunrise and later Sunday morning, some really cool storm clouds and when the storm passed and the sun came back out, we played and jumped around in some really huge waves!

We stood out on the pier and watch the fishermen cast their lines, in search of that elusive Spanish mackerel.  We never saw 'em catch a mackerel but we did see a trout get pulled in and that was pretty exciting.  :)

I saw this little flower pot stand on a porch near the beach and I just fell head over heels in love with it.  The plants, the pots, the heart-shaped plant stand, the simple way it just all comes together.  I thought it was beautiful.

Your heart always knows the way.  

 
It truly does.  Whether you're discovering a new way to get to your favorite beach or if you're holding on to a dream for dear life when everybody, everything, is telling you it'll never happen.

It will happen.  

You follow that heart, trust its path, and never, ever give up.  

Garden update!

 

I'm seeing signs that our little summer garden is winding down.  And that is FINE. WITH. ME.  This veggie-growing thing has worn me out this summer!  I think I just planted too much stuff.  I think it's been too hot.  And I think the whole squash soap opera was a bit much.  I'm still picking five or six banana peppers and a couple bell peppers every day and the cherry tomatoes are starting to turn red.

My sunflowers are absolutely beeeee-u-ti-ful and I am so proud of them.  


  

The cucumbers are still doing good and Larry and I enjoyed a cool cucumber salad last night (cucumbers sliced thin, sour cream, white wine vinegar, salt, pepper, fresh dill and chives).  I had a little issue with something eating my big tomatoes just as soon as they turned red and we thought it was a mouse until the other day when Larry spotted possum tracks on the hot tub cover.  I put out this inflatable snake scarecrow and so far, no more snacking out there.  This little freak was taking a bite out of every one!  Like my tomato plants were a box of chocolate.  No, you idiot, they ALL are the SAME.  Here's Monty (the python, stahhhp it) guarding our tomatoes.

 He's such a snake in the grass.

I move him around every day and blow him back up because he's pretty much flat late in the evenings.  The heat's bad on us all.

The Adventures of Myrtle

Larry rescued this little box turtle from some dogs today and he brought her home, knowing I'd know what to do with her, being from the country and all.  :)  I have rescued turtles most of my life and I'll still stop and move one across the road if I see it.  I'll never forget the time I moved one as big around as a manhole cover.  She was heavy!

This is Myrtle and she spent the afternoon with us!

She hung out on the rug in the mudroom.

She met Tabbie Hoffman.  And Banjo.  But Banjo was scared of her and wouldn't get too close.

She loved the warm water of the newly painted birdbath!

She showed us her best alligator impersonation.

She frolicked in the grass.

And she spent the rest of the afternoon under the magnolia tree, in the cool water of Banjo's pool.

At dusk, we took her to a nearby lake and set her free.

Have a good life, Myrtle!  It was nice meeting you.