Tales of a Shoebox Princess

But I have to post something. All 5 kids are in Minnesota, the last college kid arrived from Korea on Friday. The house seems smaller, even smaller than it did when all of them were kids and lived here permanently. But that's ok. We still manage to eat, sleep, talk, watch movies, do laundry, laugh, and hang out so house size isn't that big of a deal.  all 5 babies home. We are playing games on the TV. JackboxTV thing that Jimmy has. I like the drawing one the best.  I put out a plate of cheese and crackers after church on Christmas day, and the kids make short work of it.  Matt and his robotic arm.  Hayley brought home a face mask for me to try. It effected great beauty on my face, but I didn't really get the hang of plastering it to my face with minimal wrinklage. I think my face is too short. Hayley fared much better.  Christmas day was less relaxing than I like, mostly because it fell on a Sunday and I am the ward music director, and I had a lot of

Hayley's home!  When we got to the airport, we asked which door she would be at, and she said 3. So as I got to baggage claim, I watched as door 1 went by, then 2, then 4.... No 3! I parked the car by door 5 and sent Paul and Jimmy in. She had mistaken baggage carousels for doors and was down by door 6 (which was by carousel #3). But all is well, we've had breakfast at IHOP (she missed breakfast foods while in Korea) and we are home now, and she is using a normal shower for the first time in 4 months. There she is! The boys were a big help with the luggage Happy to be in the USA Breakfast!!!

I didn't take many pictures on my birthday. Not of my cake, not of my husband making the cake, or of the two children of mine who were around. Instead, I took selfies with the cutest lil' munchkin I know: my granddaughter. That's what was important on my birthday. I took a video of my grandson playing with my nativities, which was adorable, and I would post it, but this template and the saved videos on my phone don't get along. Since this next year of my life is my 50th year, I decided to make a list of things to do to celebrate being on this earth that long. My list: 1. Visit my sister who now lives in Memphis. We will go to Graceland. I'm not an Elvis fan, but if you go to Memphis to visit, you go to Graceland. You can't go to Memphis and NOT go to Graceland. 2. Go on a hike, possibly along the Mississippi River. I have a book that lists 60 hikes within 2 hours of the Twin Cities, which I will use to choose where I go. 3. Tour the James J H

I work for a dental office that has 4 employees, including my brother the dentist. The office is in South Dakota and I'm in Minnesota. I work at home, for which I am very grateful.  This is the time of year for office holiday parties. Last year we didn't have one, because of one staff member. That staffer is gone now, and the new employee is more outgoing, and we all agreed that this year, a party was in order. I was even up for it despite a 3 1/2 hour one-way drive. It was a cold and snowy weekend, but Jim and I still packed up the van for the trip slightly west on Friday afternoon. We stayed with Mike and Jen, who showed off their almost-built new house, and their new-to-them used hunting dog, who sat on me a couple of times. He has no concept of personal space. But otherwise, he was a nice dog with silky, short hair.  I brought adequate gear for a Saturday morning walk. No one would go with me. It was only -2 out. I layered up good. When I got back to Mike's,

I'm going to do a picture dump, like Kate does on her blog. I don't have ridiculously cute babies though, but I did manage to get a few pictures of her ridiculously cute babies on my camera so there will be cuteness. And Matt isn't so bad either.  My only picture from our anniversary date. Red Lobster and then a movie after. Jim did go along, but I didn't take a picture of him. 28 years of marriage! Whew!   Matt at the Minne Mini robotics meet. We were there only a short while (Matt was there all day) but we did get to see Matt and the KING TeC robot the robot shooting boulders into a fortress robot grabs a boulder We babysat Jackson and Emma Thanksgiving morning so Katie and Christian could run/walk a 5k. We had fun activities planned for Jackson and water beads, which he called bouncy balls, was one of them.  Then there was the pompoms and tubes activities, which occupied Jackson for nearly 20 minutes We had to go walkies and Jackson

Because I want to remember the fabulosity of my play costumes reflective of the early 1980s. They got progressively more outlandish. I'm keeping the pants. They're comfortable and warm. The pants, shirt, and shoes were from the thrift store. Jewelry is from my personal collection.  The Miami Beach t-shirt was all because in the previous scene, I had mentioned I was going to Miami Beach. So presumably, by the second act, I had returned and got myself a neat t-shirt. I'm keeping the t-shirt, which I purchased online. I made the pants, which I am keeping. Shoes and belt were from the thrift store, both of which I donated to Prior Lake Players. Headband from a craft store and donated to PLP. Jewelry again is my own. People laughed when I came out on stage in this outfit. It was supposed to be NOT SEXY, because I complained that "Harry says I dress too sexy" and Olive replies that Harry is an unusual man. I made those metallic blue leggings. They are SWEE

Another last. Next year is going to be weird not going to any of these events. It's true that Hayley and Paul and Jimmy didn't participate in marching band their senior year, but Hayley and Paul did do Fall concert band so there were THOSE concerts to go to. Anyway, Matt is now done with marching band. I think he had a good time. He never mentioned quitting. Behind the big tall guy Gotta get that bell in front of his face every time at attention in the back row, but you probably can't pick him out More bells up

I went from teenager to adult in the 80s. I formed my fashion foundation then, in the era of neon, petroleum-based fabrics, and BIG HAIR. It was glorious! So imagine my glee when the directors of the community theater play said that we would be going with an 80s vibe in set decor, clothing, and HAIR. (Yes, I enjoy community theater, and especially being in it. This play is The Odd Couple--Female Version, and I play a sweet, thick-skulled Trivial Pursuit-playing character named Vera) In order to achieve BIG HAIR, I had to not wash my hair the day of the play. Then I had to hair spray it, and curl it. I used a curling iron. Then I hair sprayed it again. Pre-stylin' curls Our stylist got my hair to STAND UP by ratting it. That is 6-8 inches of hair standing straight up on the top of my head. Prior to getting into costume volume is up to 11 Prior to my second scene Is this not 80s? Prior to my third scene I would do this everyday, but it's a lot of

I have the song This is Halloween from Nightmare Before Christmas playing in my head. Well, just the one part when they sing "This is Halloween". I don't know the rest of the words. It was a quiet Halloween, except for the little people that came over. And we did have more trick-or-treaters than last year. But we still have lots of candy left over. Yay! (or Boo!) I'm holding a delicious little pumpkin And Granddaddy gets to hold her too We had a construction worker show up In a surprise move, the pumpkin actually turned into a princess with a beast.  Now I have to take all my Halloween decorations down. Definitely a Boo!

Matt had his senior pictures taken last weekend. Jen, my brother's wife, was kind enough to come out for the weekend to take the pictures. The following pictures are not the senior pictures; they are my pictures of the place we went to have them taken: Mills Ruin Park, which is a fun little park set down by the Mississippi River by St. Anthony Falls, where there are ruins of a grain mill that exploded. There were many people there taking pictures and I can see why. It's a pretty place. Matt's requirements for industrial, decrepit, and nature were all met in this little park by the stone arch bridge. the stone arch bridge. We are on the downstown Mpls side Jenny crouching down under one of the stone arches to get a cool picture of Matt.  Minneapolis framed by an arch some mill ruins in the park an archway in the ruins that black sticky out thing is part of the Walker Art center. Haven't gone there yet, but it's a goal more ruins