tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14391777401764379972012-02-16T21:18:34.392-06:00Reflections on life and random thoughts. If you're really cool, you recognize this title as a song by Dream Academy in 1986.Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10534921515012426943noreply@blogger.comBlogger501100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1439177740176437997.post-2046765671195339772011-10-22T22:26:00.001-05:002011-10-22T22:26:29.256-05:00

Except I'm not actually hungry. I just want to sit here and mindlessly shovel chips or crackers into my mouth. Trying really hard to not eat right now.I'm almost out of my weekly "cheat" points & I need to make it to Thursday! Ugh...- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10534921515012426943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1439177740176437997.post-12912906443988412122011-04-25T20:08:00.000-05:002011-04-25T20:08:45.036-05:00

I'm going to the hospital in the morning to have my gall bladder removed.  Besides the C-section I had when my daughter was born 15 years ago, this will be the only surgery I've had.  I was awake for the C-section, but I guess I was put under to have my wisdom teeth yanked. It doesn't seem the same.  The procedure is laparascopic, so I'll go home tomorrow a few hours after the surgery which

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10534921515012426943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1439177740176437997.post-74321868122945155842011-04-14T22:27:00.001-05:002011-04-14T22:27:01.271-05:00

1. How did the week go, so far? What success did I experience? What challenges did I endure?I think it's gone pretty well. The training session that I attended with 2 colleagues went well and I enjoyed getting to know them better. Plus, we've got a good plan for how to use the information back on campus. A challenge has been dealing with higher level administrators that don't understand what we

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10534921515012426943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1439177740176437997.post-68428363448952842052011-03-16T21:27:00.003-05:002011-03-16T21:37:14.749-05:00

1. How did the day go? What success did I experience? What challenges did I endure?I think today went pretty well. It's pretty quiet at work since it's spring break, but I was able to cross some things off my to-do list, got a short walk in and attended one meeting. My biggest challenge today was keeping myself focused. :) When students aren't around I find myself wanting to continuously

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10534921515012426943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1439177740176437997.post-1632596609436018332011-03-15T11:50:00.002-05:002011-03-15T13:20:35.030-05:00

So, clearly, I'm not coming here on a regular basis. I was just telling a student the other day that I tend to use this space to vent when I am particularly steamed about something and need to do something to get it off my mind. :) You probably knew that.I was reading a blog post that I connected to via Twitter. It's titled, "The Best Way to Use the Last Five Minutes of your Day." Here's the

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10534921515012426943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1439177740176437997.post-7525027968293308352010-11-01T21:12:00.001-05:002010-11-01T21:12:17.625-05:00

I cannot wait for tomorrow's elections to be over! I'm so tired of the television commercials and all the junk mail the postal carrier delivers everyday. However, I'm most looking forward to not having to deal with our political student groups planning events. It's not that the groups are doing anything bad or wrong. It's because the higher-level administrators freak out about students showing

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10534921515012426943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1439177740176437997.post-60555601098688523802010-09-09T22:48:00.001-05:002010-09-09T22:48:34.035-05:00

Just saw a super quick story on the news or, maybe it was a teaser to keep watching after the commercial. Anyway, some car company is experimenting with how you can update Facebook with voice commands in the car. Is this really something that we need? We can't wait to get to our destination to update our Facebook status? Really? What kind of updates will follow?"Just driving to...HEY ASSHOLE! Get

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10534921515012426943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1439177740176437997.post-89570139395780282242010-02-07T22:48:00.004-06:002010-02-07T22:55:54.660-06:00

Well, I managed to get almost everything on my list for today done! I hope I'm able to continue to make some progress this week even though I'm at work every night. Here's what I got done today.Work-related1. I accompanied consultants that arrived on campus tonight through the morning and part of the afternoon with meetings, etc.2. Bought a gift card for a student.Non-Academic1. Cleaned out the

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10534921515012426943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1439177740176437997.post-46564104799943935332010-02-06T22:31:00.003-06:002010-02-06T22:45:31.903-06:00

So, it's been a few weeks since I last posted. I was derailed from what I was doing. There were some personal things happening for a few days and now work has been just nuts! It's still nuts. I've got to be at work tomorrow from 9 am to 2 pm. And, I'm looking forward to it and not looking forward to it all at the same time. I've spent some time tonight analyzing interviews. I've finished

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10534921515012426943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1439177740176437997.post-89077383665656275732010-01-19T08:58:00.002-06:002010-01-19T09:07:30.058-06:00

I didn't get to this yesterday, but I'm still trying for accountability. So, I thought I'd jot something off quickly while at work this morning. Here's what I accomplished yesterday.Academic-related:1. Met transcriptionist and paid her a lot of money2. Read through and analyzed/came up with some follow-up questions for 6 interviews.3. Typed those comments in to 2 of the Word documents (I had

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10534921515012426943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1439177740176437997.post-31374070027481347532010-01-17T23:08:00.002-06:002010-01-17T23:16:56.287-06:00

Another day at home, another day spent working on dissertation-related stuff. I wrote out some goals for myself yesterday and I accomplished some of them...not all of them. However, I do feel good about what I've gotten done.Dissertation-related:1. Pulled all online surveys and printed them.2. Printed article about analysis of online surveys.3. Started reading the article above and I will

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10534921515012426943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1439177740176437997.post-27726087748409743002010-01-16T20:41:00.003-06:002010-01-16T20:53:08.247-06:00

In my effort to keep myself accountable, I'm taking a break from my academic work to tell you what I've accomplished today.Graduate School Related:1. Completed a draft of a paper to be used toward an Incomplete grade I have in a seminar course.2. Emailed said paper to my advisor who will grade it.3. Went through my program of study to determine what course I took instead of one that I

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10534921515012426943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1439177740176437997.post-33128195172774528652010-01-15T21:22:00.002-06:002010-01-15T21:29:21.609-06:00

Okay, so I'm feeling a little better about my whole dissertation freak-out, but have been completely unproductive all week. I even took today off from work and managed to get some housework done, but nothing done related to the dissertation. And, here I sit writing this instead, too. :) However, I did have several friends offer to help and give me a well-needed pep talk. All that helped quite

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10534921515012426943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1439177740176437997.post-22481912275871653022010-01-12T21:21:00.006-06:002010-01-12T21:55:17.213-06:00

So, I understand from friends that have completed their doctoral work that every dissertation has a major meltdown, freak out, breakdown, whatever you want to call it. And, even though I understand that intellectually, it's not making me feel much better. While you might not realize that I'm freaking out by looking at me, I am definitely freaking out. My stomach has been upset all day, I'm a

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10534921515012426943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1439177740176437997.post-59981859770878668762009-12-31T16:02:00.004-06:002010-01-02T20:32:34.702-06:00

I can't believe that it's 2010! Some friends online have been tweeting about the exciting things that happened to them this past decade. They've said things like meeting that special someone, getting married, having kids and it's a little depressing that those are all things that happened for me during the previous decade. If you want it to sound *really* bad, they happened in the previous

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10534921515012426943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1439177740176437997.post-42614200852631749462009-12-04T19:55:00.004-06:002009-12-04T20:16:34.714-06:00

If you've been following my status updates on Facebook, you know that I've been counting down interviews that I'm doing for my dissertation research. As of tonight, I've done 34 interviews and have 6 left to go. I've got to have a minimum of 40 interviews for this to work, according to my committee. I've been providing mp3s of each interview to a medical transcriptionist who I'm paying to

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10534921515012426943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1439177740176437997.post-34916266206247632122009-11-10T22:55:00.003-06:002009-11-10T23:33:21.816-06:00

Man...I hadn't realized that it had been so long since I'd written something here. Apparently, I only have time for updates that are 140 characters or less. A lot of times when I write here it's because I'm ticked off about something and have to get it off my chest so I can sleep. I don't think it's going to keep me from sleeping, but I do have a gripe today about work. (I have good stuff,

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10534921515012426943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1439177740176437997.post-31224195076335157232009-01-31T20:23:00.000-06:002009-01-31T20:32:25.170-06:00

Today, at work, we had a leadership retreat for student leaders on campus.  It was kind of a continuation of a retreat we do with this same group of student leaders in September.  We had about 90 students - Resident Assistants, student interns in my office, multicultural affairs, career services, health services, student government officers, and others from other student organizations.Our focus

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10534921515012426943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1439177740176437997.post-11670564628928432982009-01-27T21:53:00.000-06:002009-01-27T22:08:38.968-06:00

I got tagged on Facebook on that 25 random things deal that everyone is passing around lately.  You're supposed to write 25 random things about yourself and tag others so they share too.  Here are my 25 random things.1. I watch way too much television thanks to my DVR - my current favorites are Chuck, Lost, Fringe, Big Bang Theory, Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, Brothers & Sisters, Desperate

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10534921515012426943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1439177740176437997.post-21214598484277649802009-01-17T07:30:00.000-06:002009-01-17T07:39:05.294-06:00

I got this in an email the other day from a friend. Here are my responses that I sent back and forwarded on to some other friends. Thought I'd share with everyone. :)***45 ODD Things about you!FILL IT OUT and pass it on and also back to the person that sent it to you! Learn 45 things about your friends, and let them learn 45 things about you!  If you answer these somewhere else, put the link in a

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10534921515012426943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1439177740176437997.post-59552464755380202712009-01-06T19:48:00.000-06:002009-01-06T20:07:53.636-06:00

I don't normally do New Year's Resolutions. Why? Because I don't normally stick with them. Why bother when you know that they're arbitrarily set and then not completed? And, generally my life runs on the academic calendar so new goals, etc. get set in June/July as I think about the next school year starting in August. Well, I need to set some goals for the calendar year of 2009. The most

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10534921515012426943noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1439177740176437997.post-48452520024174808612008-12-20T00:52:00.000-06:002008-12-20T01:14:25.972-06:00

It's almost 1 am and the house is quiet. Maranda even has a friend spending the night and I think they're actually asleep. I guess they've been worn out by a long week at school. I probably should go to sleep also, but I'm not really sleepy right now. We've got another snowstorm coming sometime tomorrow (later today actually) and they're forecasting up to a foot of snow in this system that will

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10534921515012426943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1439177740176437997.post-70461324378428498812008-12-13T16:00:00.000-06:002008-12-13T16:11:44.185-06:00

SUPPOSEDLY if you’ve seen over 85 films, you have no life. Mark the ones you’ve seen. There are 239 films on this list. Copy this list, go to your own blog, Facebook account or website, paste this as a note or blog entry. Then, put X’s next to the films you’ve seen, add them up, change the header adding your number, and click post at the bottom. Have fun.(x) Rocky Horror Picture Show(x) Grease()

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10534921515012426943noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1439177740176437997.post-21814820606594058092008-12-01T19:57:00.000-06:002008-12-01T20:06:24.728-06:00

I was asked/told today at Noon today that I needed to say something inspirational at the conclusion of the dinner recognizing this semester's Emerging Leader group. Emerging Leaders is a program for first-semester first-year (or freshmen) students that groups them with an upperclass student to complete a project on campus or in the community. Here's what I came up with this afternoon:First of

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10534921515012426943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1439177740176437997.post-40655974005912917642008-11-18T00:27:00.000-06:002008-11-18T00:29:23.111-06:00

This morning I mentioned that sometimes my values conflicted with the Catholic values of my workplace. When I interviewed for this position, I asked a lot of questions about the values of the college and how it “lived” its Catholic identity. I felt like the responses I received indicated that this wasn’t an ordinary Catholic college, but it leaned a little more liberally than most. One of the

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10534921515012426943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1439177740176437997.post-12265571511624989642008-11-08T00:09:00.001-06:002008-11-08T00:45:49.776-06:00

Well, I got home from work feeling like I might really get something done tonight, like read a few journal articles or work on organizing our "office" stuff in the basement. And, as soon as I got home from dropping Maranda and her friend off at school for their dance, I promptly fell asleep on the couch. Luckily, the friend's Mom was picking the girls up after the dance. So, Maranda got

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10534921515012426943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1439177740176437997.post-76033521171428146042008-10-30T22:26:00.000-05:002008-10-30T22:57:59.247-05:00

I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted on here. I'm sitting here at the computer trying not to obsess about work, so I figure I'll tell you all about it. Then, maybe I can go to sleep. (I promise I'll try to post more often.)Today at work, I sent an email to the adviser, the student who is president and a student planning an event for Habitat for Humanity. In a couple of weeks,

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10534921515012426943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1439177740176437997.post-8400298609735661852007-12-31T19:43:00.000-06:002007-12-31T19:51:13.090-06:00

Well, Maranda enjoyed Christmas and she was okay with the number of presents she received. Most importantly for her, she got a digital camera. Although, by 2 pm on Christmas Day we heard about her BFF Anna who had received a Nintendo Wii for Christmas. The tone of voice implied that we should have gotten one, too. I told her that it's a good thing that we'll be living around the corner from

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10534921515012426943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1439177740176437997.post-55912590731630066772007-12-24T08:28:00.000-06:002007-12-24T08:40:40.843-06:00

So, it's Christmas Eve at about 8:30 am and I'm the only that's awake. It's kind of nice. I do still have a couple of presents to wrap and one to retrieve from the neighbors sometime later today. It was too big to bring in the house and keep it a secret, so our neighbors were kind enough to hold on to it for us. (I'd tell you what it is, but I'm worried the recipient may read this, so I'll

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10534921515012426943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1439177740176437997.post-23135729354808276092007-09-28T13:57:00.001-05:002007-09-28T14:25:16.392-05:00

Man...I've been so busy that I haven't posted any updates in quite awhile. I've been going crazy at work with the beginning of the school year. Thankfully, it's starting to slow down and next week is what the call "Long Weekend." There are no classes from Thursday, Oct. 4 until Monday, Oct. 8. Offices are open, but lots of people take Thursday and Friday off.Since I last posted on August 13,

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10534921515012426943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1439177740176437997.post-88614395583971176122007-08-13T23:23:00.000-05:002007-08-13T23:31:59.409-05:00

It's been awhile since I've written. No, my head injury didn't kill me. I've fully recovered. Although, I'm certain there's a scar under my hair. I just can't see it. We're just getting into the busy part of work. New students arrive on campus next Thursday morning. Starting this week, we begin training all of the upperclassmen that help us in so many different ways to work with new

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10534921515012426943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1439177740176437997.post-78931041187891442492007-07-06T14:25:00.000-05:002007-07-06T14:27:10.216-05:00

I referred to my Fourth of July injury in my status and some of you asked what exactly happened on the Fourth and some of you might just want to laugh at me. I thought I'd make it easier to tell by putting the story in a note. As many people know, the Mummas do enjoy some fireworks on the Fourth of July. :) And, although we didn't have a large gathering here like we used to in Nebraska, we did

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10534921515012426943noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1439177740176437997.post-70969771127262306402007-06-23T15:00:00.000-05:002007-06-23T15:05:20.219-05:00

Well, I lived through my first summer orientation sessions here. They were a little different from what I've been accustomed to. We had three sessions this week and they were all overnight sessions. We have one more session scheduled for July 30-31. I think that we do a bit of overkill during these sessions, but I feel good about what we accomplished. I also had a great group of students

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10534921515012426943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1439177740176437997.post-48377945615279886812007-06-09T08:45:00.001-05:002007-06-09T09:09:36.981-05:00

I can't believe that it's almost been a full year since we moved to Wisconsin. As of today, we're about a week shy of 11 months. In a couple of weeks, it will be officially one year since I worked at NWU. I think that's just crazy! The year has gone by so quickly. Maranda just finished up 6th grade last week and already she's getting bored with summer vacation. She decided that she wants

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10534921515012426943noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1439177740176437997.post-48060566998998421482007-04-20T13:48:00.000-05:002007-04-20T14:11:25.871-05:00

Obviously, Maranda having her mole removed was not very traumatic since I didn't feel the need to blog the day she had it done. She still has 8 stitches in her arm - they did more stitches than they might normally do so the scar would be smaller - but, she did pretty well. Although, Mark said that she didn't appreciate it when they cauterized the wound and her arm began smoking. :) The

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10534921515012426943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1439177740176437997.post-86482412225450569762007-04-09T11:21:00.000-05:002007-04-09T11:28:42.604-05:00

Well yesterday was Easter. We didn't do anything too exciting and, in fact, didn't even get around to dyeing Easter eggs until Saturday. When there was a half-inch of snow on the ground when we got up! It was April 7 and it was snowing most of the morning. The snow had pretty much melted by nighttime, but it was able to accumulate to almost an inch before it started warming back up. You

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10534921515012426943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1439177740176437997.post-9969749909016896632007-03-25T22:31:00.000-05:002007-03-25T22:46:58.539-05:00

Last week was spring break at work and I took a few days off to work on research for my dissertation. I got some research done, but managed to procrastinate by cleaning house and taking a few naps. It was nice having those few days off, but I'm a little worried that tomorrow is going to seem awfully hectic now. I've got way too many emails that I've looked at subject lines, but not opened and

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10534921515012426943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1439177740176437997.post-42931401985548354552007-03-19T08:48:00.000-05:002007-03-19T09:10:13.933-05:00

(You can tell this is gonna be good already, huh?) So, a couple of weeks ago one of Maranda's friends invited her to spend the night at her dad's (she lives with her mom) for her birthday on the 17th. We didn't know if she could at the time, because that was the same weekend as the State Swim Meet and we weren't sure if Maranda would qualify to swim at state. She was highly irate at the time

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10534921515012426943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1439177740176437997.post-65153834394773389612007-03-10T07:38:00.000-06:002007-03-10T07:50:19.224-06:00

Our snow is starting to melt! I think Mark's a little sad that he's working on putting up the snowmobile for the summer, but is excited that he's gotten to use it as much as he has. Since we live out in the middle of nowhere (kind of), there are snowmobile tracks all along the side of the roads. I haven't noticed people out riding on the way to work in the morning, but it appears that there

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10534921515012426943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1439177740176437997.post-17001646220802570432007-02-27T21:27:00.000-06:002007-02-27T21:49:10.701-06:00

So, it's been awhile since I've posted anything and it's been an eventful few weeks....in some good ways and some bad. I guess I'll hit the highlights and we'll go from there.I spent a few days in Dallas, Texas for a conference on the first-year experience. I went with a student and a staff member from academic affairs. And, fortunately, I had time to see a friend while I was there...which was

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10534921515012426943noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1439177740176437997.post-23586383989494120432007-02-08T22:40:00.000-06:002007-02-08T13:52:37.027-06:00

It got up to 13 degrees today. Woo hoo! It still dips below zero overnight. On the news tonight they said that we've had 7 straight days with sub-zero temps, which is a record for any February in this area. The scary part about that is that it isn't a record for all time, otherwise they wouldn't have specified just February. In fact, all the schools (not colleges) in the area were closed on

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10534921515012426943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1439177740176437997.post-73422001715372060442007-01-28T21:04:00.000-06:002007-01-28T21:26:54.432-06:00

It's 9 pm on Sunday night and I'm feeling pretty energized considering the time night, etc. It IS almost my regular bedtime, you know. (Sad, I know...but, I am getting older, you know.) This week was the first week back to classes at work and this first week of spring semester has ALWAYS made me exhausted. My schedule doesn't gradually work itself into a frenzy like it does in August. It

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10534921515012426943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1439177740176437997.post-56292602300821230452007-01-24T23:03:00.000-06:002007-01-24T23:20:24.941-06:00

You should get a kick out of this. One of the gifts that I gave Maranda for Christmas was tickets to The Cheetah Girls concert that was coming through Green Bay. She got one in her stocking and I put one in my stocking. Mark politely declined the opportunity to attend. Well, the concert was this past Saturday night. First of all, it's been forever since I've been to a concert, if it wasn't

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10534921515012426943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1439177740176437997.post-49826170757693543762007-01-18T22:36:00.000-06:002007-01-18T22:55:37.967-06:00

As most of you know, the Mummas enjoy some fireworks. :) Every year, we get one or two noisy ones to shoot off at midnight. You know our neighbors in Lincoln were accustomed to this. In fact, they'd usually come out front at midnight because they knew we'd be out there for a few minutes. See? We were providing a service. Plus, there are others on the surrounding streets doing the same

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10534921515012426943noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1439177740176437997.post-23557298986820645072007-01-11T20:32:00.000-06:002007-01-11T20:42:39.573-06:00

This year for Christmas, we got Maranda an iPod nano. It's bright pink and we had it engraved for her. She's been talking about wanting an iPod since last Christmas. So, this year that was her "big" present. She was very excited when she opened it. However, she also wanted a Nintendo DS Lite (new type of Gameboy) and she didn't get it. It costs around $120. This wasn't a big deal until we

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10534921515012426943noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1439177740176437997.post-56111506530074760372007-01-09T23:14:00.000-06:002007-01-09T23:38:56.953-06:00

Overall, the entire Christmas holiday went well. We drove down to Ohio on the Friday afternoon/night prior to Christmas. We waited and picked Maranda up at school and headed down late in the afternoon and Chicago traffic wasn't bad at all this time. It was a pleasant surprise. We got to my mother-in-law's house about 2 am and promptly went to bed. While we were there we got to see family and

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10534921515012426943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1439177740176437997.post-8432956693796800372007-01-07T22:53:00.000-06:002007-01-17T20:42:13.913-06:00

It's snowing! It's even sticking a little! So, I know I said I was freezing at the Packers game, but you know I enjoy the snow. It's been so warm here the past few weeks that it's seemed like spring. In fact, my sinuses have been bothering me as if it were the beginning of allergy season. Finally, the temperatures are going down. The forecasted highs for this week are in the 20s. I hope we

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10534921515012426943noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1439177740176437997.post-81476661518269192412006-12-12T21:26:00.000-06:002006-12-12T21:43:10.867-06:00

Have you ever tried to quit smoking? I haven't. I've never really smoked, so it's obviously never been an issue. My husband says it's difficult. I'm inclined to believe him, since he's been quitting since 1991 (when I met him). He's going through another stint of really trying to quit these past couple of weeks. And, let me tell you....he's a joy to be around. But, I appreciate that he's

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10534921515012426943noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1439177740176437997.post-1652054949452458402006-12-04T08:19:00.000-06:002007-01-08T08:50:52.788-06:00

Oh. My. God. (Now, say that again with the voice of Janice from "Friends.") Oh. My. God. This is the only way to adequately describe how flippin' cold it was at the Packers game yesterday. I've just now thawed out enough to use a keyboard. Holy crap! So, I used to bitch about Husker mania in good ol' Lincoln, Nebraska. Although, I managed to never go to a Huskers game. I left that to Mark

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10534921515012426943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1439177740176437997.post-34120395320895362382006-12-01T13:42:00.000-06:002006-12-01T13:54:49.908-06:00

It started snowing this morning around 8 am, and although it's stopped we've got just enough snow on the ground to cover the grass. There might be an inch or so. It's beautiful! We had a little snow a couple of weeks ago, but it only lasted 24 hours. I think it's cold enough now that this will stick around for awhile. The little bit of sunlight we've got is reflecting off the snow and making

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10534921515012426943noreply@blogger.com1