The Romanovs: The Final Chapter
Robert K. Massie
Random House
February 22, 2012
Kindle
320
I should not have read this book first, but I did and it really didn't have a huge impact on the quality of this book. This is about what happened after their death. I didn't realize exactly how this story ended so it was a nice surprise for me and I got to a point in the last several chapters where I found it hard to put down. It was one of those where you didn't want the story to end the way it did, but there is still room in this family's story for more.
It was a quick read and that was nice and the names were not horrible to pronounce - or at least think that I was pronouncing them in my head correctly :) It is very interesting how things are clouded by so much red tape or politics or whatever you would call those random roadblocks. They have to leave things unfinished rather than make something happen. Sad.
I wonder what will happen with this story or if this really was the final chapter...
So I was going to try to make it into the office today, but my mom had a procedure scheduled for today so I was going to take her. Well, she decided that she wasn’t feeling up to it so now I am getting stuff done at the house!!!! Laundry first and then I have to clean up my desk a good bit.
Random Rant: FedEx will never leave the package at the gate when everyone else will… Why do we put our phone numbers on the packages if the driver isn’t going to bother to call… FedEx is gonna have to do a little bit better!!!
OK, I am so sick of my ears popping when blowing my nose. Actually it’s like they get clogged when I blow my nose – the opposite, but it is very hard to blow my nose when that happens. Quality content right here y’all Lets stack on top of that with I gotta check on my clothes in the washer ha ha ha ha.
I am very close to the end of my most recent book and I am getting to the parts where it is hard to put it down. I will write a review of that when I get done – hopefully this week.
I need to figure out what we are going to have for dinner. I think we have exhausted the things I got for the last time I was out of the house. I really want some pizza – how lame is that, but sometimes you just crave stuff
Played with the puppies for just a bit. I got cut majorly by the palmetto plant… Only I can get bloody from playing catch with the puppies. I sliced myself like it was a serrated knife, right on the bendy part – AMAZING!!! Also, I just love how we play for 10 minutes and the dogs are passed out, but at night I had to take them out at like 10pm for a “walk” to calm them down. By walk I mean we walked to the gate and back. They are crazy.
The dogs are doing their thing now – right on time Nickel is just bothering the crap out of me and we have been outside playing like 6 times already. He needs sleeping pills…
Mom Update: Mom is feeling a little bit better this evening, she slept from like noon until dinner. I am not sure what is going on, I hope she feels a bit better before I leave, but we might have to do like we did a couple weeks ago and have the boys come out She keeps saying no one said getting older was like this, I don’t think she is enjoying her 70s as much as say her 20s
Alright, I am going out one more time with these dogs for a walk and then calling it quits – I want to finish my book!!!! Ha ha ha ha ha. Hope everyone has a great night!
A little love nip from Nickel :(Just Dime being Dime :)Penny and Nickel playing!!New charm – Love it :)
Today I am feeling a bit better, but still have fluid in ears and coughing so hard that my head feels like it will explode
I am making some up coming flights and hotel and car reservations – it isn’t hard but for me to stay focused to do them all. I have to do one trip at a time and what I really want to do is all the flights, all the hotels, and all the cars I know, life is crazy
Just went to the post office to pick something up for Samantha. Took Nickel and he did very well today. He did get sick the last time I took him, not sure if that was a fluke or not so I was being extra “motherly” as my mother pointed out. I said I am listening for the tell tale signs of about to get sick
Random Rant: I hate blowing my nose. I hate it specifically when you do it and get stuff to come out and then breath in and still sound snotty!!!!! Ugh…
Just threw the balls for a little bit with the dogs – it is so hot out there for them when they just go 100% all the time! There is a path that I can throw the ball in that is mostly shady, but there is no wind out there. Now the dogs are playing rambunctiously in the room. They are a bit crazy
Just got back inside again – these doggies are killing me Really they are helping me – I need to get out there and be more active so it is good.
All the sleeping girls!Nickel went to the post office!!
News: Hey everyone, before I get started on the blog I just wanted to let you know that I had to turn on comment approvals because I was getting hit with spam comments. I will try to process them every day, but if you don’t see it right away that is why. I am not filtering them for any other reason just getting the spam out. I really appreciate everyone who is reading and really love getting the comments too
Actual Blog: Today I was supposed to be in Waycross, Georgia with my coworkers, but had to call in sick. I thought I would be doing good enough to go, but I got a bit dizzy yesterday after being on my feet for a while. Then this morning I am standing by my bed blowing my nose and I got super dizzy and thought I was going to fall over. Crazy! I think it is because there is a lot of fluid in my ears and yesterday was the first day I was able to get one of them to pop and one popped while I was blowing my nose this morning – threw off my inner ear junk.
I need to run a few errands today or tomorrow – I don’t know. Mom is having a procedure done tomorrow and Carlos is coming out to take her maybe I should get him to run me around, but dad wants a hair cut – boy does he need it
Alright, waiting on mom and I think we are going to run these couple errands today. Let’s get it done!
Finally back. We had to run to the mall to drop of my mom’s necklace to get repaired and we parked by Books-a-Million. Since we did that, I ordered the new Harry Potter book – very nice 😉 I also got a new notepad – like I really need another one of those!!
Went by the frame shop to get my picture, it looks so good. I can not wait to give it to my friend. I think he is going to like it a lot.
I am a bit better but I tell you still very dizzy and still very stuffy.
I have been outside playing with the dogs since they have been neglected for a little while but that has made me very stuffy now. I am gonna take some medicine and lay back down. What a ding bat – I have nasal spray and I forgot all about it That is the answer to my problem right there. I think now I may have some ice cream
I forgot that I wanted to mention this. While at the book store I saw one of the books I read, Empty Mansions, on the shelf and I was surprised at how thick it was. You lose that reading on the Kindle. Sometimes I feel like I am reading forever and then I realize it like an 600+ pages. That is a big book in print
OK, I am going to get ready for bed since it is late and take all these pills
Nickel and Penny playing – a bit hard, but playing.
Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune
Bill Dedman (Author) and Paul Clark Jr. Newell
Ballantine Books
September 10, 2013
Kindle
496
This was a great book. There are so many people from the gilded age, or families I should say, that acquired an enormous amounts of money who you have never heard of. Huguette Clark is who this book is about and her whirlwind life. She had, she has passed, a house that she purchased for protection, isolation if you will, and never actually moved in. If I remember correctly it was furnished but at the very least she had done a lot of work there. What drew me to this was that she lived most of her life in 740 Park which was another book I had read.
It was a great book, the history was very detailed and I found it all super interesting. It ended up, like a lot of people in her situation, lots of money and alone, that she was a recluse. She had several properties, there is one in California called Bellosguardo where the inside had not been updated since the 1950s. I can't remember when the last time she had visited the site, but it was basically always ready for living. It also sheds light on the years of fighting that goes along with these huge family fortunes. How what people want done with their things when they pass away really doesn't matter. It was a sad ending because you wonder when she was knowing what was happening and when she lost that - or if she ever lost that. She was just short of 105 when she passed I believe.
I am on so many pills right now it is crazy! No wonder I am not feeling great. I have taken, already today (lunchtime) 7 pills along with some syrup! Amazing. But my ears finally popped a little bit today. It actually is not great because I can’t blow my nose as hard as I had been because it is KILLING my ear. Still just one ear is clearing though. I think I am going to be good enough to go out of town tomorrow. I am not driving except to meet them and then I can just nap in the car because there will be 3 of us. Now that means I have to have clothes to wear
I did play a little bit of tennis with the puppies and now it is raining pretty hard. We are supposed to get the worst of it this evening – hopefully all cleared by the time I need to leave.
Alright, I threw in the towel and am not going tomorrow. I am getting really dizzy the more I am standing up and walking around and stuff.
I didn’t get a picture today because I was basically laying in bed most of the time. Oh goodness I haven’t been this sick in a while, I am so glad though I have not got a stomach virus. Thank goodness!!!
No, not a Doctor Who reference, but LOVE him I went to the doctor today and got 3 count them 3 prescriptions. I went to pick them up and she only gave me two so that made me have to stay dressed and go back out for it. I did however also get a light bulb for my fan, which has been out for about 3 months I can’t really reach it with the new bed so it seems a little less important, but now that I have it back – LET THERE BE LIGHT
I am not able to play with the puppies today, I am just too warn out. I also let my coworker know that I may not be making this next trip. We are driving so that is better, but if we were flying it would be a for sure NO. I will have to let her know tomorrow how I feel.
Mom made soup and grilled cheese for her and I for dinner. It was good. I can’t taste anything right now, so it is just food. No need to eat my good icecream if I can’t taste it…
Alright, sorry for being short again, but I need to get to sleep.
Nickel helping make the bed.Yep, big help :)Sleeping Penny – she was wagging her tailDime with her ball…She has sat like this for an hour at least.
So this morning my mom and I were going to the doctor to see about getting me some medicine so I actually got up and got dressed. We went, but the wait was long so we made an appointment for tomorrow. Then we went to WalMart for some stuff – ice cream and came home.
Paul and Carlos are out, they did a bunch of stuff already. We had pizza for lunch and then I went back to sleep. I think I am coughing a little less, but that really takes the energy out of you.
Carlos brought some stuff over for me to copy which is nice. I haven’t really been messing with the server lately, but I need to get some content back
I ordered a hotspot from T-Mobile that is $10.00 a month with unlimited data. I hope that it works well, I will try it and see. Won’t take long to figure it out
Well, I am going to cut this blog short too because I am so very tired and hot so I guess I am gonna take my temp too and see if I have a fever now
Better stuff tomorrow I hope
Dime in the corner, after she just tore Nickel up.
I am so happy that I drove home last night because today I am in bad shape. I am so sick. My mom had a nurse come over to help her and apparently she was like get her to a doctor today. Well, I don’t feel like getting up yet so I am not going today. I think I will go tomorrow.
The Romanovs: The Final Chapter
Lets stack on top of that with I gotta check on my clothes in the washer 
She keeps saying no one said getting older was like this, I don’t think she is enjoying her 70s as much as say her 20s 
