Ode to Shellie

This has been a long time coming, but after this last week, I can't delay any longer. Everyone should have neighbors like the Carter's. While Nick is pretty great, it's really shellie I would not like to live without.

Sometimes I curse her, but only because she is incredibly talented and brilliant and my jealousy takes over. She is, after all, the one who keeps trying to pull creativity out of me that is simply not easily found. Thanks to her I now have a conglomeration of scrapbooking supplies and a very time-consuming hobby. I also have fabulous window treatments that are waaaaay more ambitious than I would ever attempt myself. The woman can do just about anything on the computer and can create anything, really. She's more handy than most men I know and more domestic than I could ever hope to be. If there's a tool you need, she's got it. If there's a very specific color of paper or ribbon you're looking for, she's got that too.

Let's not overlook the fact that tonight dinner showed up at my doorstep for the second time this week... second! And it's not like I just had a baby or anything. We talked about doing a meal swap and well, she's holding up her end of the bargain! And she's not a bad one to have make you dinner seeing as it is delish every time.

She likes my kids too. That's huge to me. Sometimes it's hard to like other people's kids, but she likes mine. Or she's good at pretending. Having her take one of them for a bit every once in a while is so much more appreciated than she'll ever know.

Shellie is not outwardly mushy and avoids showing her emotions, but they're in there. She is incredibly caring and observant and is a wonderful friend. If only all of you were so lucky to have her down the street. But you don't. and really I hope you never do because I need her. I am certainly a better person for knowing her and it's a darn good thing neither of us could sell our houses right now- who knew this lousy housing market would turn out blessings for me?!