Shelbell's World

So a co-worker told me there was an underage drinking bust at an off campus home by my alma mater this weekend. I went online to find a story, and generally enraged by some of the comments that followed. For anyone who really wants to read the story you can go here . I didn't think about this when I decided to live in Normal rather than Peoria upon moving back here...but its another reason I'm glad I did. I dealt with this crap for years and its quite frustrating. There's a general attituide around Peoria that Bradley kids are spoiled rotten rich brats. Though I'm sure there are SOME who are, this is NOT the bulk of the campus. When I was at Bradley from 1995-1999 over 80% of students received some sort of financial aid. And personally for me, the scholarships and grants I received through Bradley, in addition to my federal stafford loan, made if FAR less expensive than any other school I looked at. I'm not saying some of those spoiled rich kids aren't probably ...

First round of vacation pics now on flickr.

Hello blog land! I promised princess Di a vacation blog and have not delivered. My free internet is up in a few hours as we transfer from the Disney Beach Club Villas to the Disney Magic so I thought I’d try to get something out now while I had more time! Friday (Sept 19) I ended up taking the day off work because of the flooding which had closed my parking lot. There was another lot WAY across town (and the river) I COULD have taken…but I’d done that Thursday and decided since I was planning a half day anyway that Friday I’d just take the whole day. Elphaba and I cuddled, I ran some errands, and then by 1pm we were off to Naperville. We spend some time with mom and then I had to take her to the PetsHotel at Petsmart. None of the toys I brought for her were allowable (no internal squeakers allowed, which no one had TOLD me ahead of time), so mom and I did some looking around and picked up a few goodies and said our goodbyes. Miss E was signed up to be in doggie day camp every day from ...

Okay..so when the saga last left off..I was in the middle of trying to figure out how the HELL I was gonna close on the new house. My realtor called the title company and then called me back almost right away last night. They asked if we could get the check from HSBC overnighted straight to the Title company. I shared that I made that request, but 1) the dude on the phone made it sound like no way in hell would that happen, and 2) I was skeptical they'd get a check mailed out at ALL on time since I got a "well respond to your request within 48 hours" notice. We hang up for her to call the title company back. Meanwhile, I made a desperate plea.... Now..most of you don't really know much about my parents.but basically..dad is well off, but we don't have a good relationship..and I take nothing from him. Mom on the other hand...got the shaft when the split, no college degree, and struggles to make it thru. I was prepping to call dad...out of sheer desperation...but th...

Okay..Monday I call HSBC to find out how to do the wire transfer. I'm told there's an automated system and to allow 24-48 hours for the wire to go through. This morning, I call HSBC to do the wire transfer, told to use the automated system, I need the telephone access code. If I can't find that, my only option is to go directly to a branch. (and I have NO idea what this telephone access code is). Get home, FIND the access code. Call in, actually FIND the automated system, it tells me wire transfers are not permitted with internet banking accounts. Transfers me to the third dude. He apologizes for all the misinformation, says my ONLY option is to log onto my account and use "bankmail" ask them to overnight me a check which I'd have by Friday morning assuming they receive my mail and process it by tomorrow morning at 11am. I ask him how I know my bankmail will be received right away so that I can actually GET the check by Friday AM, and not get a "we'll...

So last night was the first of my going away parties...hosted by my lovely lovely ladies here. I was given NO information about the evening. I was told they'd be at my house at 3:30pm. We'd leave by 4pm. To wear casual clothes and flat shoes. The girls start to show up and I notice everyone has a sweater or jacket. So I grab a sweater. But still I know nothing. We get in the car and start driving towards Lancaster....I have NO idea where we are going. We end up in Mount Joy, PA at Bube's Brewery . K tells us to go to the bar and get a drink while she "checks us in". L, D and I head to the bar, tell the hostess we just want a drink. She doesnt understand why we just want a drink and starts to ask if we're here for......L jumps in and says "no we don't want her to know why we are here". OK...what the hell is going on? We have our drink and wander around. We're told we'll be taken for whatever is happening in the basement between 5 and 5:3...

This Mobile Me transition has been a nightmare...first no more access to webmail since you have to have Firefox or Safari (or IE7 for SOME basic features) and like most of corporate america I'm stuck on IE6 with NO way to upgrade or install anything else. THEN MobileMe mail goes down altogether.... 5 days now... no end in sight....after trying all day finally got through to chat support tonight...but there was no point.. Transcript below..but bottom line...if you write me at my mac.com address normally...update your address books...write me at the same screen name on aol.com instead. essica H: Hello Shelley. Thank you for your patience while waiting. What MobileMe billing, mail, or syncing issue can I assist you with today? Shelley : I've not received any mail on my mobile mail account since last Friday. I would like to know when this issue is going to be resolved since the web site as said "ASAP" since Friday. I don't consider 5 days ASAP and am expecting several...

Finishing updating everyone. Lets see...whats the latest.... Stuff is progrssing on the new house. Pass inspection with flying colors. Home inspector described my house as "perfect". Got the paperwork to give the attorney in IL power of attorney to do the closing for me. Have to head to get stuff notorized AGAIN...why couldn't that have come last week when I was there and had a witness with me already? Now I need to sucker another witness into coming with me. Stuff is progressing with the loan. Apparently the appraiser from the bank came back with some screwing input like the siding falling off the house and there being a homeowners association. I think we decided she went to the wrong house and are ignoring the specific comments. On this end..no offers yet. The only bad feedback we were getting was on the blue walls in the living room..so they are no longer blue. Up until last week I was getting 3-4 showings a week. Last week nothing until Friday when I got a call at 11...

At least aside my twitter feed! I headed to IL on Friday, June 27 to do my househunting and a few days vacation. Mom, Elphaba and I arrived in Normal around 9pm that night. Hotel was a DUMP! I knew it wasn't going to be luxury because for some reason (which we found out later was a Jehovah's Witness convention)it was the only place which would allow dogs I get could a room at. I dropped a load of stuff in the room, and ran down to get more from mom who was watching it - because the hotel had no elevator and she couldn't carry stuff up the stairs. Got back upstairs..and keys didn't work. Went to front desk, they made 3 more keys. None of THEM worked. Went back to front desk, made 3 more keys. Clerk came back up with us. None of THEM worked. Master key DID work. Mom went in with stuff, Elphaba and I went outside. Room next door hadn't been checked into yet so clerk decided to move us next door. While waiting, mom finds none of the lights work in the first room. Get up...

Must have real dr in Illinois so I can go there instead of urgent care when something like this happens.

At urgent care finally for my back.

Testing

Both my appraisels have now been done. The first dude spent like 5 minutes here looking around. The second spent almost an hour, took tons of notes, measurements and pictures. Hopefully they get their reports back quickly so I can find out my buyout offer right away on July 3, which is the earliest date they will tell me the buyout offer. I still have to market it another 30 days after that..but then I can accept around the 1st of August if need be. Two showings so far last week. Both were quick and neither of the realtors will return my realtors call looking for feedback, so thats kind of a bummer. No takers for the open house on Sunday either. Today my agent is bringing in all the agents from her office. We'll see if that spurs anything. So far I have about 30 houses lined up to see in Illinois later this month. Fortunately 20 of them are in the one neighborhood I really like so the odds are good I'll be able to find something there.

Got a call yesterday to set up the first showing! People coming to see the house Monday night. How awesome would that be if they fall in love and make an offer? Fingers crossed for me....

I met for the second time with both Realtors on Friday. I was super impressed with the woman, not so much with the man. He came in at a higher price than she did (which sounds nice but not if its not realistic and he was way higher than I was expecting) but he said a few things I wasn't crazy about. For instance "I always have my cell on me, so if I don't answer its because I can't or because I don't want to". Don't want to? Is he kidding? He followed that up with saying his phone is on all the time, except for 11pm to 6am. Okay....I turn my work phone off at that time too...but the OTHER realtor said leads go to her cell phone 24/7 and she returns calls 24/7. Like if someone clicks on the online listing and says "I want more information" that lead goes straight to her cell and she returns the call immediately no matter WHAT time it was. And another...he said he doesn't believe in open houses. WTF? I live across the street from the model hom...

So last night the mortgage brokerage company affiliated with my relocation company emailed. Why she emailed at 10pm last night I don't understand. And I've yet to get a response to my response to her stating "yes please tell me all you have to offer, get me pre approved, and get me some rate quotes". I was less than impressed last time I was referred to the OLD affiliated mortgage company and since I had to pay all my closing costs that time anyway I didn't bother. But this time I really need to either go through them or my old bank in Peoria. Either of those ways the closing costs get direct billed to the relocation company, rather than me having to pay and get reimbursed. Which means less cash I need to have at closing..or more to put down. If the relocation company wants our mortgage business so bad why do they provide such substandard service? Today came the first call from the moving company. This is my third time being moved with them, and its the same compa...

Mom and I were BUSY this weekend! We did sneak in a little fun at Hersheypark on Saturday, but most of the weekend was spent cleaning, decluttering, and getting the house ready for the realtors to come in. I have a few more things to get out of the hall upstairs, and need to straighten up my makeshift desk area, and take the LARGE amount of stuff too goodwill. But other than that..its ready. And not looking remotely like my house..its too empty! Here are some pics of the downstairs.

How hard it is to do homework when she's on top of my arms and partially on the laptop! This would be me..sitting on the couch (thank god you don't see more of me since I've been sitting here working on schoolwork since 7am this morning...right after I got out of bed). Laptop is in my lap (it actually snapped the picture) so I can get some of this weeks assignments finished before mom wakes up and we have to work on getting the house ready for the realtors to come in. And finally...Miss Zella..who has decided she's no longer going to let Miss Elphaba push her around or scare her away...curled up on top of me. As I type she's still sitting on my arms. Of course..Elphaba is ringing her bell..so as soon as I post this Z is onto the floor!

Second realtor called. Completely different than the first one. We spoke for maybe 90 seconds to schedule for him to come and do the market analysis Tuesday night. Didn't ask me any questions or tell me about himself at all. If today's conversation were the deciding factor I'd defintiely be going with the other realtor...I guess we'll see how next week goes. He's coming Tuesday at 5pm and then she comes Wednesday at 9:30am.

One of the two realtors I was assigned from my reloc company to come in and do the market analysis and interview...was the agent who sold most of the units in my development when it was with the original builder. Seems like that would make her a good person to sell my place right?

ok..talked to a co-worker who had to use the company buyout for his house and sold at a loss. based on company relocation policy for "loss protection" support and what I owe on my mortgage...If I have to take the buyout offer from the company I need it to be at $128k or higher for me to come out even or ahead. If I'm able to find a buyer..I need to sell at $120k or higher to come out even or ahead. I think the average SELLING price in my neighboorhood is around $135k year to date. As long as that hadn't dropped much I should be okay, though not ahead which would have been nice. That said, I was told to push to get the appraisels down ASAP as they are used to come out with the buyout price - which I can be notified of 1 month after the house has been listed - assuming the appraisels are down and reports turned in. On the other end..the Illinois realtor called me today (don't know what the hell is taking so long for the 2 in PA). We're all set up for househunti...

Personnel announcement finally went out last night. Effective date on new job is Aug 1, though training doesn't start until Sept 8. Luckily the training dates have changed from the original ones I was told so I won't miss any training for vacation like before. I do apparently get "homework" that has to be done before training..so I'll probably stil shoot for moving mid Aug. Assuming of course I can sell my house.. well..I mean...selling it shouldn't be the problem..as long as there's not something horribly wrong with it then I should be able to SELL it because the company will buy it. Problem is at what price and where does that leave me. I'm thinking I'll be negative right now..meaning smaller house needed on the other side. That said, relocation company finally called to get stuff rolling last night...I'm completely overwhelmed...I don't know how single people go through the sell / buy move process on their own. It was complicated enoug...

So its pouring cats and dogs here today..and I braved the downpour for my Friday starbucks treat. I'm sure I've been in when its been rainy before..but I've never seen this..look at the cute little stopper they put in my cup so the rain didn't get in!

Two disturbing things this week. First....(copied this off my ravelry post on the same subject so some of you may have seen this already)..... I live at the end of a street with relatively new construction, only 10 people living in 7 townhouses, and the rest of the street is as yet undeveloped. When you pass the two buildings the road goes up a hill into a culdisac (spelled totally wrong but you get the idea - and again totally undeveloped as of yet). Over the past couple of months I’ve been noticing pairs of cars show up, spend 10 minutes up the hill out of site, then depart. Not necessarily the same two cars every time...but pairs of cars. Now..again..10 people live here. Prior to this..NO ONE drove down here with 2 exceptions. 1)The few of us who live here or 2) going to the model home which is directly across the street from me on the opposite corner (there are like 4 townhouses still unsold). Usually people who are going to the model, park right in front of the model and walk in. ...

So I'm headed to Walt Disney World for the first time in almost 10 years this September..followed by a week on the Disney Magic. I've been getting very much into the mood..listening to podcasts from Lou Mongello , gathering my vacation wardrobe , and reading up in my favorite Disney Travel Book . So here's a little Disney fun to share.... Apparently I need to breakout the DVDs for a little review on this one: I SCORED A 71% Which Disney Princess Are You? You are part Jasmine. You are loyal and would visit the ends of the earth for what you believe. You would never let obstacles stand in the way of true love. You are part Ariel. You are beautiful but impaired. At times you are na�ve. Still, your innocence and good heart make you sought after and loved. Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com Which Disney Villain Are You? You are Lady Tremaine. You're the evil stepmother little girls have nightmares about. Hooray for you, who helped kids learn to love their birth parents a...

So I may or may not have written about this in the past, but my alarm clock in the morning typically consists of either Joey or Elphaba pawing, licking, or nibbling somewhere on my face. Perhaps not the most IDEAL way to wake up, but one to which I have become acustomed. And mostly enjoy as being woken up by creatures who adore me is certainly less jaring than the alarm clock. Until this morning. Now, when she gets really excited (which she is in the morning usually) miss Elphaba accidentally goes from nibble to bite. This morning I woke up to Elphaba fangs INSIDE my nose with a sharp bite. Little stinker. Blood of course immediately exploded out of my already sensitive inner noise area. After the initial gushing it stopped pretty quicky, and luckily I moved fast enough to avoid getting it all over my bed and floor..but damn if my noise doesn't hurt like a ...... well...use your imagination there.

Okay, it took a whole week..but I finally got my call with my official offer and I'm super excited. The person I'm assigned to for my black belt job is someone I have a TON of respect and admiration for! I feel really lucky that he's going to be my mentor and sponsor over the next two years. Yay! Now the craziness will begin...well...once the formal announcement goes out at least..since thats when the relocation company will then contact me to get everything rolling. I'm hoping to work things out to take a term off school from mid-aug thru end of september and then move and have my vacation during that 7 week break. We'll see how that will work out! Gosh..now I need to get the house ready to go on the market! Yikes! I've never sold a house before!

Okay..so if you've seen my tweets and my post about loving the twitter..but thought to yourself "huh?". Well...the CEO at Zappos put together a great little getting started guide. So check it out! (BTW - Zappos on twitter gives away all kinds of goodies! I keep missing out on responding in time...but there have been many cool prizes!)

1. Why the heck has this dude not called with my official offer yet? I'm going nuts not knowing my effective date, when I should be moving, the craziness of selling my house. At last once I get the call we can get the ball rolling on stuff. Even my boss was surprised I'd not heard anything yet. 2. I HATE it when classmates argue with you on discussions without understanding the facts. This weeks discussion topic was ethical decisions and the internet. I posted about it being a violation of a knitwear designer's copyright for you to produce and sell items from their patterns without their permission. Everyone on in my class says what good are patterns for if you cannot sell items you make from them. They are COMPLETELY missing the fact, that the pattern is a copyrighted work. And copyright law prohibits someone from producing the copyrighted item, or a derivitaive of it (ie the knitted item) without the copyright holders permission. Though in the case of knitwears, designer...

So I got a call from my boss today. He said I received unanimous approval from our admin team for my next position. The move will take me back to Illinois after a long 6 years away. I'm supposed to receive the call with the "offical" job offer, my new supervisor, and details on moving in the next week or so. I start training at the end of August. I'm hoping because of my two weeks vacation scheduled the last half of September into October that they'll have me move the first part of August. Otherwise I may try and delay the move until October after I get back from vacation. I'd hate to spend a week in Illinois in training, come back and move, and then desert all the animals for 2 weeks. They'd all have nervous breakdowns! More details to come as they work themselves out! Good lord....I have to get the house ready to sell now....yikes! To my PA friends: I'll miss you all! I wish I could say the same about central PA...but...well...you guys all know how ...

Totally hooked on the twitter ! Why the heck did it take me this long to jump on board with it?

I now have Dream in Color yarn in 27 of the 32 available colorways. 25 of them are in Classy. The other two are in Smooshy. One of them I have in Smooshy and Classy in my stash. And one of them I used the Fatty for the Scotty vest, which was a nice fast knit! I'm so addicted to this yarn! In addition to baby blankets in process, I cast on last night for a Mr. Greenjeans sweater in this too. LOVE LOVE LOVE working with Dream in Color! Here's the finished Scotty (link only works for fellow Ravelers). It was a super fast knit thanks to the easy pattern and Fatty yarn. Eat.Sleep.Knit has Fatty as a power boost yarn for the yarn marathon this month..so I'm SOOO tempted to buy more...but the project I have in mind requires 7 skeins..making it a $119 sweater...so we'll see. May wait for a discount code and just miss out on the power boost.

Well I've been a knitting fool lately. Guess it makes sense since I have no life outside school and work these days!!! I finished my first Tulip Sweater and its GORGEOUS! Can't wait to give this baby away! I made the 12-18 month size, and used the originally recommended colors of Dream In Color Classy for this one. Will start to experiment with other colors for the next one. I also finished my Tilted Duster finally, just need to figure out where I put the buttons I bought and sew those on. I used the recommended Berocco Peruvia for this, only took 7 skeins rather than the recommended 8. Did make the skirt a tiny bit shorter than it should be, but it still grazes the bottom of my bottom so I think its perfect. Came out a little big overall thanks to my continued weight loss, but I think it will be a warm cozy jacket. Mom is hoping I give it to her. We'll see.... And finally, my newest piece..The Scotty Vest from Dream In Color Designs. The first of its pattern on ravelry, ou...

So last week was the payout of my 2007 bonus. As usual, some of the money goes to a special something I can remind myself of my bonus with..and the rest usually goes to pay for all the other special somethings I bought duringthe year (ie credit cards). So this year I went with: A brand new 37" LCD HDTV from Vizio A 160GB AppleTV which I've already rented some movies from and LOVE...they start so fast! Even the movie I rented in HD was ready to watch within like a minute! A Harmony 550 universal remote. Having great fun with my new toys...now if only I can make the tivo work with the tv...fortunately..I have a work around for now..though its a pain in the ass...involving using tivo 2 go to get it to my macbook and then toast to get it to my apple tv... one of these days I'll fix this...but I've had a killer cold all week and just haven't had the patience.

I've been gone all day, still feel like ass, and had to drive home 2.5 hours in the pouring rain. I try to settle in for a little time on Ravelry..and I get can't the damn page to load! Now how am I going to chill?

People...if you are sick...STAY home! This nasty flu/cold whatever the hell it is has been going around my office for nearly 3 weeks now. 3 people have been to the hospital that I'm aware of - two because their illness turned into bronchitis.... but do people stay HOME... NO. So guess what....now I'm sick! I think there's one person left in the office after me who hasn't gotten it yet. But seriously people....STAY the hell home when you are not well. Did we really need a whole office full of people feeling like death? I know I didn't need it!

Hm...so I started working on the Baby Tulip Sweater from Dream In Color over the weekend as I mentioned before. What I didn't mention..is the obscene amount of this yarn I also ordered over the weekend! 4 skeins of go go grassy for Wicked 5 skeins of Pansy Go Lightly for Mr. Greenjeans 1 skein of Petal Shower 1 skein of Ruby River 1 skein of Punky Fuschia 1 skein of Wisterious (the signal skeins will go towards a girls Rocketry blanket I think..and or more sweaters). And thats all just from The Loopy Ewe I also placed an order at Eat Sleep Knit for: 1 skein Dusky Aurora 1 skein of Deep Seaflower 1 skein of Nighwatch (these will go with the blues I already have towards a boys Rocketry blanket and maybe more sweaters). And I ordered new Dream in Color Pattern from Pick UP Sticks for the Scotty Vest, Adult Tulip Cardigan, and Dream In Color Shrug. Oh..then I ALMOST went back to Eat Sleep Knit to order some DIC Fatty because thats what the Scotty Vest uses...but I controlled myself...

Found another great online yarn store I love: Sonny and Shear . They are one of a few stores online that carry the Dream in Color line. (So does my favorite The Loopy Ewe ). Plus Sonny and Shear carries my favorite Brittany birch needles.

So Friday morning..yes...7am to be exact...I cleaned out my garage finally. And now my honda has its new home! Was soooo nice to have it in there this weekend. Shame on me for being too lazy to do this sooner! That poor car spent its first two months out in the cold on the driveway! Only problem now, I have to make SURE I'm watching behind me and don't back into the impala again! After my second time doing that, I started backing the honda up the driveway so I'd SEE the impala in front of me and not hit it. But I can't back it into the garage because of what side of the car the door inside would be in....so.....I'm being careful...and the next time the cars collide the impala is definitely getting parked on the street! I've also been getting LOTS of knitting done lately! I loaded up on Dream In Color Classy yarn in a bunch of colors. And I'm well into the Tulip Baby Cardigan . And SOOOOO loving it! I can't believe how much I got done. I figured I'm ...

My ASS!!! Not only did it take me 48 hours to get home from Peoria last week...but get what happened to me TODAY (taken from an email I sent to a few friends from the airport tonight. Good news is...I'm blogging on my macbook from my desk...so at least there was a happy ending! I'm thinking need to start a book on all my crazy travel problems and what I do when I'm stranded in airports. Too bad I didn't come up with that idea like 5 years ago though....Book would be done! Yeah so....was supposed to land in charlotte at 8:48am for a 10-3 meeting. Diverted to SC and finally got to charlotte at 11:15, putting me at the office at noon. Meeting was OVER. Lunch was over (I was offered leftovers from the day before). B, who called the meeting, tells me to try and catch the 4pm flight rather than wait til my 6pm. I call my admin to try and change my flight. She emails me that u have to try for standby. She also wrote ( which I didnt see until 4:30) that I was unchecked from th...

Look at the beautiful STR lightweight I got for posting on KnitMap .

So first of all...for the knitters out there who read my blog (there must be one or two of you right?) do you know about Knit Map ?? Its this great site where you can put in a zip code and get back all the local yarn stores in that area. And people go in and rate and comment on the stores. So if you are like me and just LOVE to check out a local yarn store whenever you are away from home check it out! There is even a special iPhone version. Oh...and I just won a skein of Socks that Rock Lightweight for commenting! YEAH! And...this weekend I cast on the Tilted Duster ...I've been coveting it since the Fall 2007 Interweave first came out. I bought the recommended yarn in a light gray colorway (poor Yarn Love was one skein short of the black otherwise I would have gone with that). Anyway, I scoped out the project on Ravelry and everyone said the top is going super fast and the skirt takes forever. Well..I must agree...I cast on Friday night and knit a bit Friday and then about 4...

Well..the keynote at MacWorld was today...and I've got lots of goodies on my wishlist.... First is of course the freakishly tiny Macbook Air . Of course I don't NEED a new laptop...and I love my Macbook. But its sooooo cool! Although this one is on my list...unless I win the lottery...it will stay on the list! As to things I may actually BUY this year.... I wasn't that into the first AppleTV since I was turned off by the idea you had to buy your movies/tv shows and download them first to the computer and THEN move them to the AppleTV. But that problem is no more! AND when you consider that you will also be able to RENT movies and tv shows now...Apple TV seems like a no brainer. Only question is which size? I've been tivoing movies and then watching them on the laptop on the road or putting them on my ipod or burning to dvd...but deleting them when I was done with them. Perhaps I should go with the bigger AppleTV and stop deleting my movie files? And third...the T...