a whole lot of life experiences

a whole lot of life experiences

I am officially older than dirt today. A senior citizen even!

I’ve learned from decades of challenges and successes, but I’ve not accumulated an abundance of wisdom compared to my years. I can say that I have gained valuable insights and perspectives on life, and my decision-making has improved. 😉

The surprise and those who deceived me.

Katie and me on my birthday weekend

Katie surprised me with a trip home for my special day. Perry knew about it for over a week and didn’t tell me. To say he’s in the doghouse would be an understatement.

We celebrated at Taku Japanese Steakhouse. It was great, as always, EXCEPT Perry ordered swordfish and stunk up the place. Just another mark in the “bad Perry” column.

swordfish from Taku Steakhouse

They say aging is a highly individualized process and each person’s experience will be unique. I can agree with that. For example, so many of my friends — many younger than me — have retired or are retiring… while others aren’t beginning to even think about it.

I’m just grateful to have reached such a ripe old age still feeling great. ❤️

Now you know: Elmer McCurdy (an outlaw) was killed in Oklahoma in 1911. His body was discovered in 1976 by a film crew member in an amusement park, where it was thought to be a wax mannequin.


early gifts incoming for the birthday girl

early gifts incoming for the birthday girl

Scott called me yesterday snickering before I even said ‘hello.’ He had a digital delivery for my birthday and asked if he could send it early. He did and I laughed. If you want to laugh too, you can see my surprise on shelleyerwin.com at this link.

And then, Katie made me cry…

The note included with the spring bouquet let me know she loves me and she’s sorry she can’t be here for my birthday. 😔

beautiful flowers from Katie for my birthday

The flowers are lovely. Sherry delivered them and always does an amazing job. We took our obligatory ‘my birthday selfie’ even though I slept exactly 2 hours and 42 minutes last night and look even worse than my usual self. (But not as bad as my driver’s license photo.)

Sherry and me - birthday selfie

Now you know: During World War 2, any Allied Prisoner of War in a German camp could write to Rolex and request a wrist watch without immediate payment. Rolex would send them a watch and save the bill for after the war.


a new tradition we didn’t start this year

a new tradition we didn’t start this year

I have an acquaintance (she was a friend of my deceased sister-in-law, Sheri) who is a author among other impressive things. Not gonna’ lie… she’s way out there different and would likely be happy to know I said that about her. She recently had a birthday, and at her celebration they started a new tradition.

A symphony of life.

Everyone at the celebration was to choose a word to describe her and SING their word of choice at the same time as the others sang their word choice. All together it “created of symphony” of her life. Perry barely got an off-key version of “Happy Birthday” and was darned lucky to get that. His cake had 5 purple candles to symbolize 50… and 2 pink to make 52.

Perry and his birthday cake

We embraced the same old traditions…

Like… not getting ONE group photo without someone being stupid.

family group photo

The pesky neighbors didn’t get the memo. They look the same in every photo. 🙂

photo of my crazy family

It only went downhill from that point…

Ben, Coco, me and Mom
my crazy family

I went to bed without even cleaning up the mess.

When I crawled in bed last night, the trash can needed emptying and there were 400 forks and spoons in the sink. It was all worth it though — Perry said he had a great birthday. ❤️

Now you know: New York City is owed over $1 billion in unpaid parking tickets and speeding fines.


Cheers to Perry for making another orbit around the sun

Cheers to Perry for making another orbit around the sun

I didn’t need 5 calendar reminders just to remember today is Perry’s 52nd birthday. He’s made yet another fun-filled, successful orbit around the sun!

Perry's orbit around the sun

Today we’ll celebrate his special day with Chinese food and smashed cake.

I showed Perry his cake — the one I had delivered from Walmart (yes, I suck) that was smashed on one side by a crushed lid. He laughed. What he doesn’t know is that I actually remembered to buy ice-cream too. Who wouldn’t be thrilled with a birthday celebration like that? 😉

Ole’ Perry is an easy-going guy — sometimes too much so.

Perry’s always up to go anywhere and try anything. My family has become his… and that ain’t easy, y’all.

Perry and Colette at Disney

He works hard and is generous — and he’s not picky except when it comes to food. I’m not saying he cares so much about having big meals because he’s fine with a peanut butter sandwich. But never mention having goulash or mushrooms. Oh… and never, EVER, offer him sushi.

When I met Perry, he had hair. 😉

Perry had hair!

And then, we worked together for quite a few years and both of us lived through it. (Barely!)

Me and Perry - the southern branch of McKain Performance Group

Happy birthday to Perry — I hope his upcoming journey around the sun is amazing!

Now you know: Compared to their overall weight, koalas have among of the smallest brains of any animal. They are so dumb that they cannot identify leaves as food and refuse to consume them when they are placed on a flat surface as opposed to branches.


remembering nanny on her birthday… yesterday

remembering nanny on her birthday… yesterday

Yesterday was my Nanny’s birthday. (1/27/11 — 8/26/09)

My sweet Nanny and me.

She was a better homemaker than anyone I know.

Nanny could sew… she made suits for my favorite brother when he was young and made dresses for me (with matching slings for broken arms). She made extraordinary quilts. My Nanny made clothes for my Barbie dolls — teeny tiny outfits that were better than the ones you could purchase at the store.

Nanny could bake… she made amazing cobblers and pies and the best peanut butter cookies ever. She grew rhubarb in her garden and made that nasty stuff into pies, as well. Not once did she have to build a wall around any of her food to keep dogs from eating it off a counter.

cookies protected from Merida

I’m grateful for her wonderful influence in my life.

She loved her home and her family — especially my son, Ben. I sure do miss her. ❤️

“It’s a poor ole’ hen that can’t scratch for one little chicken.”

–Nanny

Now you know: About 20% of all classified mammal species can fly, because there’s over 1,200 species of bats.