Will the real stanley please stand up?

She ordered the Stanley cup on Wednesday, it was slated to come by Friday. Starting Wednesday evening she began riding down to the mailbox every thirty minutes to check. We couldn’t receive a package to the house without her spotting it, extending a gnarled finger and shrieking, “is that MY STANLEY?!”

It never was, obviously, because it wasn’t Friday.

Friday came and apparently I need a few more outlets for my creativity because Hubs and I came up with a scheme. A Stanley Scheme, if you will.

To give some scale:

Hubs 3-D printed a tiny Stanley.

We wrote up a letter. Sealed it in an envelope. And put it in the mailbox.

I know, we didn’t go as far as we could have. We wanted to. But the bus was coming in about 20 minutes. Okay yes, I could have whipped this up in 20 minutes – typed the letter, typed the envelope, stuck an amazon label on it, put it in a box. I guess we wanted to give her a chance to know it wasn’t real. If we went too far overboard, there could be irreparable damage to her little psyche!

She fell for it pretty hard, as you can tell, and later admitted to it.

(if the video does not display in your email, you can view it here)

To clear the air, we know, she sounds like an immensely spoiled brat in this video.

Thanks to Amazon’s overhelpfulness, a delivery notification was emailed and Hubs had to break the news that the REAL Stanley was actually delayed and the package would not arrive until Saturday. After several, “give me your phone so I can see for myselfs” and “you made that up, this is another terrible pranks” she had pretty much resigned herself to waiting 12 hours. At the exact moment she came to terms with this reality, the UPS truck rolled up our driveway.

She levitated off the porch and scream-ran to the truck.

It was a sight to behold.

She’s happily been using her Stanley for a few days now. While she will die on the Stanley hill, we have caught a few mumbled complaints (these she will never admit to):

*in the back of the car arranging her belongings in cup-holders and bags*
“Seriously, my Stanley doesn’t fit anywhere!”

*mumbling to herself in the kitchen*
“I’ve had some bad experiences with my Stanley, but I still like it.”

Not to mention the trails of water drops I’ve wiped up from the kitchen sink to her room, to the table, to the garage…

We’re all adjusting to the Stanley life.

I’m sorry there was no post last week; we were in the throes of illness ripping through the kids alongside my prep for the last race of the season.

Neither went terrifically, but more on that next week.