Category: family news

Apologies…

…to the faithful, to those of you who check this blog every day, hoping for some morsel to indicate the well-being or otherwise of your favorite Shinns. I realize this update is long overdue. (I also realize that previous sentence is a terrific example of reverse hyperbole. Does anyone know the real term for that, or should we make one up?)

Ana-ways, (as Edna Brosie would say), (or is it Ed Nabrosie? I always wondered.), (is this too much parenthetical chatter? Am I throwing off an intelligence-gathering effort as we speak?), I’m in Reedley. I’m tempted to say that I’m back in Reedley, back that implies a prior state of physical location here, and we all know there is nonesuch state.

I arrived here after the worst travel day of my life. In comparison to many travel experiences, even some that YOU may have had, it wasn’t that bad. For instance, I arrived here with 10 fingers and 10 toes intact, and that meets the Navy’s definition of a safe trip. Feel free to share your worst travel experience in the comments below, and we’ll all ooh! and ahh! over how bad you’ve had it. I’ll spare you the details of my story.

Well, we’ve had some interesting experiences here in Reedley so far. So interesting, in fact, that I’ve pondered a name change for the blog. How does ‘Andrew and Lisa Move to Small-Town America’ sound to you? Yes, it is a shameless rip-off of ‘Jon and Rachel Move to England’. No one ever said the best ideas lay in the realm of originality!

Stay tuned for a blog post (coming soon to a blog near you!) (back to the parantheticals again?!) about our trip to the Saturday auction!

California Cheers,
Andrew

Lavender, Oh Lavender…


The grass at our house has functioned as a lawn AND a parking lot for previous renters. I’ve been trying to even out the lawn and get grass to spread to all of the unlovely areas of the lawn. On the side of the lawn (pictured above), beside the alley, I planted five lavender plants yesterday. My hope is that they’ll provide a nice barrier once they’re established in the soil and start to grow. I love the smell of lavender and am excited to see them grow into big bushes.

Lisa, after seeing all of the lavender plants in Sonoma I thought they would be the perfect plant for our yard because they LOVE the sun! The frangrance will also be a nice addition!

Where I Do Stuff, Part 1

This is where I sleep.
Part 1 in the “Where I Do Stuff” series features my rack. This is where I go for shut-eye. As you can see, it’s more than 6 feet off the ground, with a narrow entrance and a low overhead. Getting in or out requires some serious acrobatics! Making the bed is even harder. It really took some thought to devise a system for getting that done. What I do is make it while I’m laying on it before I get up in the morning. As you can see from the picture on the bottom right, there are all sorts of treacherous sharp corners that have been covered with foam since I kept gashing the top of my bald head on them. If you click on the picture, it’ll bring up a larger-sized version so you can further gawk at the discomfort of sleeping where I sleep.

Comments?

Dinner tonight

Dinner tonight was so good that I have to write about it. It was steak and shrimp. The steak was marinated all night last night, and was some of the most perfectly marinated and cooked steak I’ve e’er had the privilege to put in my mouth. The shrimp was breaded and fried. I don’t even like shrimp, and I ate 9 of the little buggers! Accenting the meal were scalloped potatoes, a corn/green beans combination, and garlic and herb rolls. I had a bite of each, but didn’t have room for them what with all the yummy shrimp and steak. I threw away a bit more than I would have liked, but I guess it’s better than gorging myself.

I’ve been taking photos for the “Where I Do Stuff” series. I’ll try to get some posted tonight.

I hope your dinner was as good as mine,
Andrew

New Photo Series

Shinnfans,

I’m thinking about doing a new photo series here on the ‘blog. It’ll be called, “Where I do stuff.” Inspired by something Dad said before I left, it’ll be a series of photos of the places I carry out normal, everyday activities. Like what my rack looks like, where I eat, where I log onto the computer, etc. Are you interested? If so, please let me know in the comments below. If I get enough positive response, I’ll go ahead with the series and post a new picture every day.

Thanks,
Andrew

A Pleasant Surprise


I received these beautiful flowers yesterday from you know who! They were such a pleasant surprise. I am thankful for Andrew and the ways in which he treats me. What a husband!

Rumor has it…

That Starbucks is coming to Reedley in August of 2005!
Shouts of “Yahoo!” “Hooray!” & “Finally!” can be heard from all over the town by Starbucks connoisseurs. Some in the town aren’t so happy about the worldwide company moving into the SMALL town of Reedley because of the potentially negative effect on local coffee shops. (Isn’t that always the response of small towns to big business?) To my knowledge, there are only a few ‘mom and pop’ coffee shops in town some of which are only open a few hours per day. I don’t know if these will really see a negative impact because of Starbucks. Time will tell. The market may shift, but we smalltowners will have Starbucks at our fingertips!Here’s just one more reason to look forward to August!

Shinn Family Reunion

I have had the pleasure to take par in the Shinn Family Reunion this weekend. We have been in Chino Hills, CA enjoying the warmth of the Southern California sun and family relationships.

We are lounging by the pool this morning and enjoying a day off.

The reunion was held yesterday afternoon and evening at Dick & Lori King’s new home. They have such a beautiful home and it’s a great place for entertaining. It was my first time meeting many people in extended Shinn family.

It’s been a good weekend!
Lisa

California Resident


Our PC (Plastic Car) became a California resident on July 1, 2005 at 11:45am. We are officially here!

California is the third state in which this car has been registered. The Massachusetts plates had to be surrendered today, but the gal at the DMV let me keep one for a keepsake. How fun! 🙂 ‘Just one more joy of being in the military.

An open letter to my car

Shinnfans,

Our car recently got his first California plates. Here’s an open letter of congratulations to her. Feel free to comment with advice, warnings, or welcome letters from your vehicles.

Plastic-Car,
Congratulations on your new accessories. You should realize that these accessories come with a whole new level of responsibility. You now have obligations to California herself to play cool music, look cool while you ride around town, and generally be cool (especially when it’s hot outside!). This should all be in an effort to honor your newly adopted state of residence, who has mainly coolness going for her. Also, if you carry around that hot blonde in our family well, that’ll be considered coolness, too. Keep up the good work, and don’t forget the feel of my butt in the driver’s seat.

Congratulations,
Andrew