I've had a dwarf Prunus x cistena easily 15 years (brought it with me from previous house) and it was a small shrub when I bought it, so it is 15+ years old. Going strong and it is gorgeous now. It is growing out by the sidewalk, full sun, dry and sandy, no frills location. I do not even give it compost or extra water much, unlike the Buddleia nearby which definitely gets pampered. It's about 7 x 7 feet in size. In my experience it is a rugged and drought tolerant shrub so you likely did not kill yours if it was transplanted reasonably well. Biggest plus - flowers are gorgeous light pink and the fragrance is SO sweet, like candy Biggest problem - tends to get eaten by caterpillars in the spring and looks a little ratty but will re-leaf and look nice by mid-summer

Noooo! Stop. Pick yourself up some nice General Finishes water-based 'Dead Flat Varnish' finish. Or, Beautiful makes a matte finish, Water based sealer. I think BM actually offers a matte finish now, but I have no experience with it. I'm telling you, though, put this stuff on and you'll wonder if you actually did once it dries. I have also very, very successfully used paint base. Far less expensive! Pick up some Latex, Exterior, FLAT, DARK (sometimes called a 4 or 5) paint base. It goes on white, but dries invisible. I'm not kidding that you'll will be absolutely amazed. I've used Behr and Olympic so far. I used the 1st two items on a door (each side) I left in the yard for a year to get it to chip. Not only did it adhere the chips (like decoupage) but you can't tell how or where. They don't leave a glued-on looking finish. Just invisible. The paint base, I used to make some stuff chippy. I put it all over another door, then used a crackle finish on it. (Protecting the natural wood underneath.) When the crackle dried, I rubbed it with stain and it came out so incredibly cool. But the natural wood was perfect and preserved. So, there are solutions. Teak is a tough one as mentioned because of the oils in it. Definitely use the acetone first. A lot of people who love the "reclaimed wood" look don't realize there are matte finish products available. And I'm not talking satin. I'm talking 3 invisible options here.

Yikes! But don't feel like an idiot, it sounds like you did everything right! But even if you didn't, I'm sick of stores taking advantage of customers where it's like they are doing you a huge favour helping you. Customer service sucks lately and good work is so hard to find. I hope you get resolution and that your mom is ok- that's the important part!

Those are tough pictures to ID. Can't tell if the first is a beetle or a true bug. It is not a carpet beetle. The second insect sort of looks like a weevil. Neither insect looks like a bed bug -- those insects are quite flat and have distinctive segment lines on the bodies.