Notes from ShellyCentral

We're going to Disney World

Here's the thing I didn't tell you about Mother's Day.



For almost 3 weeks now, Danny and I have known that we're taking a family trip to Disney World this December. His office has their annual Christmas Party in a different city each year, and this year they've chosen Disney World. !!! Go Danny's office. Seriously, how fantastic is that?

We decided to keep it a secret from Hannah for a while. At first we weren't sure if his office would allow us to take her, and we weren't sure we should spend the extra money it'll take us to all go. We finally decided the trip was a go and it was time to tell Hannah.

We wanted to announce it to her in some fun and kind of surprisey way. I checked out some ideas on the web and decided to do the backpack reveal sort of surprise. I bought her a Disney bag from Walmart, and a bunch of silly Princess things at the dollar store. I threw in some travel supplies, and I bought her the Camelbak water bottle with a filter she's been asking for.

I waited till after I opened my presents and then told her I'd picked up something for her too. "For me?" she asked. "It's no big deal," I told her. "Just something I saw and thought you might like."

I handed her the bag. She unzipped it and barely glanced inside before she said,

"We're going to Disney World, aren't we?"

She's clever, that girl. I was all denial. "What? I don't know what you're talking about. Just see what's inside."

I had picked up a few things for Danny as well and shoved them in a Mickey gift bag. I gave him his.

Danny got some travel sized supplies, a different kind of filtered water bottle, a Star Wars shirt and a pack of Disney tattoos.

By that point she was pretty positive we were going, so Danny gave her the details. 5 nights at the Coronado Springs Resort at Disney World. D and I are considering adding a night or two at the new Art of Animation resort, but we'll have to give it some more thought (and number crunching).

203 days. I'm so excited.

it was mother's day

yesterday was mother's day and it was very nice.

me and my mom, many years ago

i didn't sleep in. i can't very often any more. i don't know if it's just a phase or if i've grown too old to sleep in. we'll have to wait and see on that one. since i also tend to go to bed early like an old person, it wasn't too bad so i got up, went outside and then played on the internet until i heard someone walking around upstairs.

i texted danny and asked if he wanted to pick up some dollar spot breakfast items from mcdonald's. i'm not usually big on mcdonald's, in theory or in practice, but it was mother's day and since we had a big chorizo burrito breakfast on saturday, i didn't feel too bad about it.

after breakfast i "opened" my mother's day presents. i use the quotes because they weren't wrapped. we did discuss, as a family, what we should get, but i'm the one who shopped for the best deal and then bought them.   they've been sitting in the corner of the dining room in a polite little stack for days. but we put them on the table and i took the packaging off and i will enjoy them very much. i was pleased.

ok, i know, i know. kitchen stuff as a gift? i've always been against getting household stuff for presents. ugh, right? like this exchange from leave it to beaver:

        beaver: wally, let's buy mom one of those irons you pour water into and it makes steam.

        wally: beave, it's her birthday! you can't give her junk to make her work.

but i wanted a food processor. it was more than we'd usually spend on mother's day, and with it i could make my own hummus! so we added a couple more items to replace old counterparts and i don't know, i liked it (more evidence i am getting old).

i had some free time after that. hannah said her present to me was that she was going to leave me alone all day. and she did. until later in the evening when i texted her that i missed her without her coming to talk to me all day. of course she showed up in my room minutes later, and told me many, many stories about what she had done on skyrim that day.

me and the girl i mother

actually hannah was feeling pretty poorly. we've both been kind of on and off sick for the last week. it's not really intense, but it won't seem to go away. she decided to skip our early (again i'm an old lady) dinner to stay home and rest. weird, since she's my daughter and it's mother's day, but i didn't mind too much.

they give you chips, salsa and some cheese dip

danny and i went to my new favorite restaurant in town, el potro. i love it. i had some tacos with soft corn tortillas, chicken, chorizo and a big slice of avocado. yum! at the end of the meal our server asked if i was celebrating mother's day and told me they were giving away free deserts to all the moms. fantastic. i had some fried ice cream with a big frozen strawberry. i couldn't finish it, but i gave it a mother's try.

and then i had the best evening. i was messing around on my still somewhat new mac and ended up in iTunes. since it's new most of the songs don't have a rating, many have messed up titles or missing artist - it's a mess. so i hit the shuffle and forwarded through the library. i'd listen till i wanted to hear something else, rate it, and fix whatever was wrong with it. after a while i got smart enough to start some generalized play lists like "barefoot" and "show tunes". i heard some really good songs that way.

while i was listening i'd jot down some thoughts or make a list or skim the internets. i had a blast. very good mother's day.

It's dark outside this morning.

It is a dark and stormy morning. The weatherman says it'll be stormy all day. No surprise there. It's been rainy for about a week. But! the weatherman also says it'll be hot and sunny for the weekend. That'll be good. I've got some poison ivy in my yard but I can't spray it till it'll be dry for a few days. Poison Ivy is stubborn. I kill it every year, and every year it comes back. I've read that the climate changes are making it harder to kill and even more itchy. I'm going to kill it though. I'm determined. I have a big spraying contraption and an expensive jug of poison ivy killer. I'm just biding my time. It's days are numbered.

Week in the Life was exhausting. I woke up Monday morning and took the usual pictures of the phone and the dog and then realized I was done! Such relief. I'm glad I did it. I don't know if I'll ever do it again. And I'm not sure how I'm going to turn it into something physical. Will I just add it to my Project Life album? or make it an album of my own. No man can say. At least not yet.

I can't believe it's Thursday already and I haven't posted all week. It's been a busy life, but nothing to write home about. Life keeps on, and it's even sometimes interesting, but none of it really seems worth telling. It's just life. You all live it every day. Actually I do have one really interesting thing, but I'm not allowed to talk about it yet. Believe that I will as soon as I can. You can text me if you really need to know.

Week in the Life: Day 7

It was the last day and I was running out of steam. I took about the same number of photos total, but it's mostly multiple shots of the same thing.

Sports everywhere!

Alan brought some candles from his mom.

and an old vanity for us to fix up.

Magic scraper took off a lot of dirt.

Brushing with the wire brush.

Sanding, sanding, sanding.

Driving to the store for paint.

I dig these colors together.

A couple months ago, I put together a bunch of crock pot meals to keep in the deep freeze. This stew was one. I figured we should eat it on this chilly day before it turned in to summer. This is it half way done. I forgot to take any shots when we were eating.

Bunny! My yard has lots of bunnies. I'm glad I finally caught a picture of one.

Primer.

Ready for painting tomorrow.

Week in the Life: Day 6

What? The internet is down for maintenence on a Saturday morning? What will we do?

Breakfast from McDonalds might help.

And then we watched Danny play with his remote control helicopter.

The view from the front porch.

I sat on my bed and wrote some.

And did more laundry.

Daisy didn't care about the internet. Her she is at her regualr watch dog spot.

Hannah mowed the front lawn.

H and Daisy do some freak out playing. Watching Daisy throuh the house is pure happy.

The library.

A more colorful load of laundry.

Hannah is in distress! She had to reset her Playstation. What if something goes wrong.

I played The Sims for the first time in about a week. This is Loggins Messina. He lives in the wilderness and likes to fish and garden. He's also kind of a good cook.

Hannah brought me a present around (my) bedtime, to say thanks for some advice I gave her.

All this doccumenting has been tougher than I thought. I'm kind of tired of it and glad tomorrow is the last day. It's also made me really unsatisfied with my formerly beloved Nikon Coolpix s6000. I need a dslr.

 

 

If you're not sure what Week in the Life is, you can follow the link in that image to the left for the big low down. Or I can try to sum it up. Week in the Life is a project/challenge to doccument, with words and photos and whatever else, an average week in your life. What you do, where you go, your routine - the whole thing. You can see the rest of my Week in the Life posts here.

 

Week in the Life: Day 5

My internet has been down all day! I had these ready to go early. Irony.

I didn't really take any more pictures yesterday than the day before. It's getting harder. I didn't take any pictures of the storm or the tornado warning. But I still did a good job of capturing our day, I think.

 

 

If you're not sure what Week in the Life is, you can follow the link in that image to the left for the big low down. Or I can try to sum it up. Week in the Life is a project/challenge to doccument, with words and photos and whatever else, an average week in your life. What you do, where you go, your routine - the whole thing. You can see the rest of my Week in the Life posts here.

 

Week in the Life: Day 5

Today's photo count was significantly lower. It's harder to come up with photos when you're the only person home all day.

This is a great image to start the day with. Sad I didn't think of it till Tuesday.

Good morning Daisy.

Good morning outside.

Good Morning America, and hello internet.

Good morning allergies! They were kicking me where it hurts yesterday.

Good morning kitchen. Someone left you messy last night.

With the kitchen tidy, Daisy and I settle down to watch and episode of Supernatural. It's "Home", the first episode set in Lawrence, KS (where I live). LOVE Lawrence episodes. Too bad they don't film here.

I had breakfast while I was watching.

 

While I watched, H was getting ready for school. She changed the resevoir in her insulin pump.

The bus stop.

Thursday is trash day. Trash comes early. Recycling comes much later.

Hello house.

Hello Daisy. She's blurry because she's so excited and wiggly.

It was time for the daily mirror shot of me.

My moshi-moshi headset for the cell phone. A friend called and I talked for way too long.

Cooking lunch, RetroCamera style.

Butternut squash risotto with a few walnuts.

My sister texted me this shot of the sweet baby niece.

Laundry. If I was thinking I would have photographed a cuter load of laundry.

For dinner? A favorite from my childhood, Impossible Lasagna Pie. I've changed it up a bit.

I snuck upstairs to try to catch D & H doing whatever they were doing.

Hannah came downstairs before I could head to her room. "Don't you know I always come downstairs when I hear you and dad talking?" she said. Dig her Stonehenge shirt. We bought it at Stonehenge.

I managed to accidentally catch Kathy Griffith's new show.

Hannah came down to talk. I told her since she came down I had to take a picture of her. "Ok, but I don't like it." she said.

Writing in my journal before bed. Gotta have my dog and my Tivo remote.

 

 

 

 

If you're not sure what Week in the Life is, you can follow the link in that image to the left for the big low down. Or I can try to sum it up. Week in the Life is a project/challenge to doccument, with words and photos and whatever else, an average week in your life. What you do, where you go, your routine - the whole thing. You can see the rest of my Week in the Life posts here.

Week in the Life: Day 3

There were less photos in general yesterday, and a few I've been instructed not to post online. I think the issue could be that I took a lot of generic photos on the first two days. And that I was just feeling out of sorts.

Making meatloaf in the morning. It was going to get pretty hot and I figured the crock pot would be a good way to cook dinner.

Dig my thrifted retro crock pot. I have 3 crockpots, this one is my favorite.

Roasted Pine Nut Hummus

My bagel sammie.

Bonding time between the girls.

Downstairs, watching Leave it to Beaver while Hannah got her files together.

I drove her downtown to print something.

She drove me home.

I didn't think to take photos before or during dinner. Here's after.

Outside with Daisy.

I had an incredible time outside last night. It was a rare night when no other neighbors were out making lots of noise. The temperature and the breeze were fantastic. I stayed out until the misquitos won.

Hannah came down to say goodnight.

And that was it. This project is about capturing the every day moments. I think I'm doing it.

 

 

If you're not sure what Week in the Life is, you can follow the link in that image to the left for the big low down. Or I can try to sum it up. Week in the Life is a project/challenge to doccument, with words and photos and whatever else, an average week in your life. What you do, where you go, your routine - the whole thing. You can see the rest of my Week in the Life posts here.

Week in the Life: Day 2

Good morning, yesterday. It was chilly.

Time to wake the dog.

Sometimes mornings are quiet in my neighborhood. I love those.

The sink is empty.

View from a dining room window.

Some plants that have managed to live.

Breakfast.

Hannah and I discuss her to do list.

Tickets and directions to the big concert!

Outside again with Daisy.

My closet.

Hannah offered to make lunch. Since beggars can't be choosers, I had mac and cheese. With soda and aleve.

After lunch tv time. Daisy chose to nap instead.

Back to check the computer,

and let the dog out.

I made a post in my blog about going to an auction.

Waiting with Hannah while she waited on her friend.

Friends.

Leaving for the concert.

Backyard friends.

As I was over by the rose bush, I noticed the poison ivy. !! Every year I battle that stuff and it looks like this year will be no exception. Actually I've read this year will be exceptionally hard. The climate changes have given extra strength to fire ants, deer ticks and poison ivy.

While Danny and I were buying the poison ivy poison, we picked up a new disc drive since mine has stopped working.

I watched The Voice. And tweeted. That retweet cracks me up. I so agree!

The President slow jammed the news. I love him. The band played Let's Stay Together.

Back from the concert. She had a good time. I was finally in bed around 1am.

 

If you're not sure what Week in the Life is, you can follow the link in that image to the left for the big low down. Or I can try to sum it up. Week in the Life is a project/challenge to doccument, with words and photos and whatever else, an average week in your life. What you do, where you go, your routine - the whole thing. You can see the rest of my Week in the Life posts here.

The Auction

When Alan decided to spend the night Friday, he suggested we go to an auction Saturday morning. They were selling a washer, which he needs, and some couches, which I desperately need. I wasn't really sure I wanted to wake up early on Saturday, so we decided if we happened to wake up we'd go.

Of course I woke up early Saturday morning. I can't seem to sleep past 8am lately. So we threw on some clothes, grabbed some breakfast and headed out.

There was a lot of stuff at this auction. I think it was 3 different estates combined. There was so much stuff. Dishes and paintings and furniture and coin collections and cars and riding lawn mowers... tons of stuff. I saw a dresser I liked, some awesome old glasses like you'd get from the fast food places, and most of all a bunch of vintage post cards. The couches were all yuck so they were out, but the washer was good.

They started with dishes. I missed out on the olden days glasses. They moved on to like a thousand creepy dolls, followed by a bunch of glass and fancy stuff I didn't dig. We had a been there for a couple hours when they moved outside to the big stuff. Alan was ready to give up and leave but I was kind of having a good time.

It was fun to watch the people and see how much stuff ended up going for. It was exciting watching some ladies bid up a 19th century book about the Civil War. It was funny to watch people say no, they didn't want to go for the next higher bid and then change their mind and make the bid anyway.

Alan lost on the washer. He would have been happy to leave then but by that point I was in love with the idea of winning a couple packs of the post cards. And when they started on the furniture, I decided I'd buy the dresser if I could get it for 45 bucks.

Of course I was too afraid to bid on my own. It seemed scary and I was afraid I'd mess up. Alan bid for me, but it was silly because he would obviously look at me each time the auctioneer would look at him. We offered 45 and the other bidder bowed out and there I was with my dresser for just what I wanted. It's a beautiful old solid wood dresser with lots of drawers. It's from 1960. Right now it's in the garage trying to air out the grandma powder smell it's seeped in. I'll show it to you when it comes inside.

The post cards were seriously almost the last things auctioned. I was starting to get a little bored by that point. There were 7 lots of postcards, and they were selling them "choice", so if you won the bid you got to take your pick of the piles. You can take as many as you want for that price. I was willing to pay $15 for a pile, and decided if they went for 10, I'd take two. The first bid topped out at $35 and I was sure I wouldn't get any. But for whatever strange auction reason, when the next bid started, no one would even go for $10. Alan shouted out 5 dollars, and no one else bid. 5 bucks a pile, so I took 3. Woohoo!

Alan went home for the truck while I stayed to pay and see the rest of it go. I had just about enough time to look through my cards and pay the lady before he was back. Some guys helped him load it on the truck and that was the end of my day at the auction!

I told Alan I wanted to go to more this summer. I hope we do.

That night I sorted my post cards into stacks. Kansas. Colorado. New York. Those are the biggest piles. There are also plenty from National Parks, Salt Lake City, New Jersey and random others. I might try to sell some online somewhere, but there are plenty I love. My favorites will always be the ones of Electric Park and Jesse James grave that I showed the other day.

I could get all obsessive about the olden post cards though. I will try not to, no matter how many auctions we go to.