Jasmine!

I ordered her last week, and she arrived just a few days later. She's wonderful, and so much prettier than the Limited Edition. I have just enough room on the AG Disney Princesses/Disney ILU 4EVR shelf!

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Jasmine may be the last AG I buy for a while, unless there's a fabulous collector doll coming out. I have no interest in the GOTY 2027, Daisy.

Starbucks did a colab with Miffy this spring. Most of the items have sold out already, but my grocery store Starbucks had one plushy left. Of course I grabbed her. I missed out on the Hello Kitty colab last year, and didn't want to miss this one!

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Miffy having coffee with Makena and Ezri.

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A sad anniversary.

July 5th would have been Katie and Paul's 40th wedding anniversary. Katie spent part of the day by taking flowers to the cemetery, and then taking herself out to dinner. I'm sure she spent time on the phone with Sam and Paul's sister Maryellen. In October, it will be ten years since we lost Paul.

250 years.

This 4th of July marked 250 years since the Declaration of Independence. Happy birthday, America! I may be frustrated with our government, but I still love my country.

It has been way too hot to really do anything on the 4th of July. Our "cookout" had to be done inside. It was 105 degrees with a heat index of 115! Then there were thunderstorms most of the night. I watched the Macy's Fireworks, and they were probably the best they've ever been. Much better than the mess in D.C.! 800,000 fireworks? They were done too close together and made too much smoke. It was so bad that the air quality index on Sunday was raised to "purple", meaning poor and dangerous conditions. Yuck.

I haven't been feeling like decorating much, but I did do a little display:

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Other stuff- as if Dad wasn't already dealing with bone marrow cancer, now he has skin cancer, too. Fortunately, it's limited to a small area and is curable. Some of it has already been removed (for the biopsy), and the rest will be taken out next week.

That's about it. Not much else happening right now. Katie and I are planning a couple of day trips to Richmond.

Welcome home, Artemis II!

The capsule had a flawless splashdown tonight, and the four astronauts are fine. I was a little nervous (memories of the Columbia disaster), and held my breath until the parachutes deployed. I watched with Maisie, who couldn't have cared less. Well, she is a dog.

Beautiful splashdown!

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Godspeed, Artemis II!

The first manned mission to the moon since Apollo 17 is up and away. My Challenger-traumatized little GenX heart healed a bit today.

Yes, I know there have been many successful space missions post space shuttle, but this is very different. A return to the moon is something that hasn't been attempted in fifty years, and it's risky.