Tales of a Shoebox Princess

And thus begins the end, the end of Paul's high school running career. You have only 9 more months to read my posts and look at pictures of Paul running, so enjoy them (or not) while they last. Friday was Paul's last time trial for the high school Cross Country running team. One of the mothers, Julie B, walked over to me, shedding a little tear along the way, and said, "I'm gonna be a mess all season."  She has senior twins on the team--one girl and one boy. The boy is one of the best runners the team has seen in many years.  She is also the team photographer. Let the pictures begin! Before he could run in the time trial, he had to put on his spikes. It took him several minutes to tie his shoes.  MINUTES. Maybe he needs a refresher course in tying shoelaces. Finally the shoes were tied. And now, it's time to play "Where's Paul-do?" There he is! And there he goes! Paul came in second, behind Stev...

Cheeky as in Hayley. I took my little baby girl who used to like to dress up like Pikachu and wanted me to draw "thundershocks" on her cheeks to the HIGH SCHOOL today for pictures and to find out where her locker was. The little girl who once (when she was 2) posed for a picture wearing only striped tights and 3D glasses posed for this picture wearing slim black jeans, a dressy red shirt, a dragonfly pendant, and new glasses. Seriously, one of my "little kids" is in high school. I am floored. I always knew the big kids, aka Katie, Other Jim, and Paul, would grow up. That's what big kids do.  The little ones, though, they are little. We had trouble opening her locker at first, but after a helpful parent gave her a tip, Hay-dle-dee finally managed to opened the metal beast (which she can probably fit into). I know many many other schools in other states have started already, but we haven't yet. I have a little time still to consider her my baby girl....

(Or if you are one of my brothers, the last part of that line is "dear Iva Saliva," said with a slight lisp, I believe. And no, I don't know why. But that's how we as kids sang it OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER...........all the verses.  By the way, whoever is holding that darn* bucket is a complete and utter bonehead for his inability to solve his own problem) Uh.... Anyway(s) Oh yeah, my bucket list. It kind of does have a hole in it, in that there isn't much on my personal bucket list. But I did add one thing to it this week. In the newspaper recently, there was an article about a hiking area that is pretty close to my house. I read the article and thought "Hmmm, I'd like to go there and hike the trail there." But then I finished my cereal and started on my long journey to work (a trip of about 20 feet from where I was eating my cereal). I forgot all about the hiking trail until later in the day when Other Jim got out of bed and ...

Many Point is the Boy Scout camp that our boys (and my my brothers) have gone to lo these Many years. Jim took Many pictures while Matt and his Many friends were there (Jim was there too, for not Many days).  Matt had Many fun adventures and learned Many new things.  When he came home, he had Many good things to say about his time at Many Point. Matt is on the right, playing "greased watermelon" in the water with the rest of the scouts in his troop. Jim said Matt is a good swimmer. I don't know why I find that so hard to believe; maybe because when he was much younger, he was afraid of the water. One of Matt's jobs (I'm so glad he had jobs to do) was washing dishes. Look at those little twiggy arms of his! They are getting longer! The service project involved boys cutting down trees. Boys and hack saws sure do get along. Matt and two of his good friends from church. Matt is still a little shrimp, but consider that these are two of the ve...

I took Hayley to the eye doctor today (luckily they have late appointments on Tuesdays so I could take her after I finished work). I'm always a bit nervous going to the eye doctor. You wouldn't think I'd be nervous because #1 this appointment was for Hayley and not for me, and #2 even if the appointment was for me, I actually enjoy getting my eyes examined, except for the part where the dr puts the drops in to dilate my pupils. And that isn't so annoying since I had dilated eyes for 8 years when I was a kid, so I am used to it. What makes me nervous about going to the eye doctor is the person who we have to deal with to purchase eyewear, both contacts and glasses. Whenever I go in, I get the largish woman with weirdly dyed hair and severe glasses. She looks like she was once a goth, but as she has neared her middle age (and she is probably close to my age, and maybe she's younger by a few years), she toned the look down a bit, but only just enough so she could g...

Yes, I meant to type "Gir."  You'll get it in a little bit (if you keep reading). So the little Cheeky girl has been a-crafting lately. She likes to get into my yarn and leave yarn poop trails through the house. (no, she doesn't really poop the yarn out, but it is her mess. She is a yarn-cutting-leaver-arounder) So this most recent craft had her making black pompoms (with my help), and crocheting with lime green:  She found a pattern for this hat on the interweb somewhere and printed it off, only to discover that it was for knitting, not crocheting. She doesn't like knitting, so she decided to make up her own pattern. And, to make matters even harder for her, she only crochets in a circular pattern. But she was not afraid of the obstacles, and pressed forward in her quest for a crocheted cartoon character's head as a hat. The cartoon character's name is Gir, by the way (do you get my little pun now?). She made the hat so she could dress up like Gir ...

Do I have to apologize for not posting on my blog over the last week? If you require an official apology, write me a letter (yes, with a pen and on a piece of stationery. If you need stationery, request a sheet from my mother who has plenty) requesting the apology. Send your request, along with $5 shipping and handling, to: Shoebox Princess PO Box NA Never-neverland. I've been in South Dakota (again) for the bulk of the week. We have a new employee in our fold and the office needed my official presence to help the good work of caring for the insides of people's teeth move along. It's hard to blog in SD because I can't take internet in a box with me and I don't stay in a place that has internet access. Hopefully that will change soon, since Mike and Jen are closing on a house next week and future trips to SD will see me lodged with them in their internet-laden and very colorful home. We had a birthday in the house last Sunday and it is time for me to celebra...

Ten things about Katie 1. She is just finishing up doing Wizard of Oz in a community theater. She played a crow, a poppy, and a citizen of Oz. It's been nearly 7 (7???) years since she and I did the same roles with PL Players, and she had heard about this opportunity and decided to audition. She has had some fun doing it and met some cool people. 2. She is moving to Provo in a few weeks... 3. ...because she's going to start at Utah Valley University in September... 4. ...which accepted all of her Normandale credits... 5. ...so she is a junior in college... 6. ...majoring in some kind of science. 7. To help finance her university venture, she started looking for jobs, but one found her! Through a contact at her current place of employment, she was told of a job opening as a peak time teller (basically a substitute available on certain days to go to any of several Provo area bank branches) and so she applied, and interviewed... 8. ...and she just found out today that she...