Durable Computer!

Thank goodness for the durability of computers these days, specifically my current laptop. It took quite the trip today… from the table top to the floor! And… it still works perfectly (or so has been).

I’ve had it on the kitchen table for the past couple of days and plugged into the wall. And the cord just so happened to run along the floor at the wrong place, the place where we walk past ALL the time! I know I had it coming, I was just asking for it by leaving my computer where it was, I was just hoping it wouldn’t happen. Or maybe wasn’t thinking at all. So, Jay was the unlucky one who caught the cord with his foot and took the computer on it’s first trip (and I’m hoping the LAST one)! Needless to say he went crazy after it fell trying to make sure it worked and everything. Quite the scare, but like I said, everything seems to be fine!

We did some shopping today at Kohls. They were having a sale and Jay wanted a new winter coat. Columbia on sale for $60! Couldn’t pass it up! He also got some socks and I got Ayden two new books for his Tag Reader. He didn’t seem too enthralled with them right now, but oh well.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous outside today as well! We just had to take advantage of it and went outside to play in the snow for about an hour. Even Jay joined us! We climbed the mountain, we threw snowballs, we dug forts, we slid down on the inner tube! It was so much fun and I wish that the weather in the winter was like this more often!

We also played the Wii tonight as a family! Ayden and I played archery, Jay, Ayden and I played curling, Jay and I played bowling… and now I am relaxing. It was a day of doing pretty much nothing, well at least school wise! Once again (like last weekend) I did not open my school bag or even think about it today. But, because I got my lesson plan done on Thursday night, I don’t have much in the way of that to do. I need to finish preparing for my session though on Monday. Still a little nervous, but last session went well so this one should too. However, Monday night I will need to do both a reflection and lesson plan because they will be due on Tuesday. That is a little more work that I would like in one night… but it is definitely doable!

Oh wait, I did do a little bit of school work today. Jay and I did some music quizzes yesterday and I did a few more today. They are very easy and short and thought I would get a head start on the whole class. I have 14 quizzes done, only 21 more to do! But they are only like 5-10 questions each and not timed or anything, actually rather easy and then 5 small projects to work on. First one due the 11th of February so I have a little time yet.

Tomorrow will probably be much like today… just chillin’ at home and getting some homework/clinich stuff done. Next week is monster truck show, then ice fishing, then going to see Wicked in Green Bay, then possibly going to see Stomp in Green Bay. February is going to be quite the busy busy month!!! Well at least on the weekends, but it will make it go fast and then it’s March and Spring Break, however we don’t have anything planned as of yet. Probably won’t be doing anything either… lackage of money, but that is okay. Someday we will get a vacation…

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Klinger

Today my mom informed me that they were going to have to put down their cat Klinger (yes named after the show Mash)... this not even a year after they had to put down Kitty... Personally, this doesn't exactly bother me, I don't know why. It was weird going to my mom's house after Kitty was put down, as I had lived there with her for many years, but I didn't really miss her. However, my mom really did as Kitty was her cat. And now her and Jim are having to say goodbye to Klinger, who incidentally was Jim's cat. Kitty was pretty old when she had to be put down. Not 20 something like cats can sometimes live to, but I'd say at least 10 years old. Klinger on the other hand is only about three. That is relatively young for a cat. I cannot say for sure what was wrong with him, but it was something that had a relatively low success rate if they tried surgery. My mom and Jim decided that it would be best not to go through with it and end his suffering.

Now my mom is left with a dog (who is definitely aging) and a rambunctious cat named Rizzo. She said that they will most likely get another cat so Rizzo will have someone to play with. Rizzo is one feisty cat who definitely reminds me of Diesel, but yet not so mean.

Our cat, which incidentally, isn't our first... is psycho!!! Literally... I think his sole purpose is to annoy me! Lol!

But speaking of our first cat, that was a quick adventure all in itself. Our first cat, Sisco, came from the same litter as Klinger. Actually, Jim found them out in their garage. We were still living at our old apartment then and were super excited to bring a kitten home with us. Ayden wasn't quite two at the time and he loved the little kitty. Sisco was a lot of fun until he started peeing on our kitchen floor. Okay, it was the kitchen, we could deal with that and try to make it work. There had to be something we could do and then... it spread to the living room. Cat pee on carpet is NOT fun! Not fun at all! It smells! After two weeks of dealing with this and it NOT getting better we made the decision that we were going to have to get rid of Sisco. It kind of sucked because we were starting to get pretty attached to him, but it needed to be done.

We left him on my aunt's semi farm with some other cats and hoped he would have a good life there. Only to find out he was eaten by the Tomcat the next day. Poor Sisco... Jay still teases me that I caused his death because I was the deciding force on him needing to go.

We were cat free for about a year and then we moved. After we moved Jay broached the subject with me again about getting a cat. I was fine without one... and left the decision up to Jay. He searched around a little bit and we finally found Diesel at a farm. He was bigger than Sisco when we got him, but still a little thing. And it’s been happily ever after since then. We haven’t had any problems with him peeing anywhere except the litter box which is great. And even when he is driving me nuts by biting at me… he still melts my heart when he comes to lay by me in bed every night (until I kick him out when I decide to go to sleep).

And someday I’m sure we will have at least one more cat and probably two dogs… some day…

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Feeling Better

My cold never got as bad as I thought it might which was really great. I am still a little stuffy/runny at times, but so thankful that it didn’t get full blown. Ayden still has a bit of a runny nose as well, but his coughing has gotten drastically better! Yeah for not being super sick!!!

And today is Friday! Yeah again! That means two days of not having to really worry about anything. I am planning on doing some of my online class with Jay tonight so we can keep caught up with that. We are already two weeks behind, but I am not anticipating the stuff to be too complex. We are talking a level 100 class here. Should go quickly! I also finished my lesson plan last night so won’t have to do that over the weekend. I do have a meeting with my supervisor today so we can talk about a few things. Hopefully she doesn’t ask me to change my lesson plan around too much because I really don’t want to do anymore work on it.

I only have one class today which is great. Hearing Science… and as much as I complain about it, I am really liking it so far. Maybe it is just the way Dr. Henry teaches, I don’t know. I just need to continue to do well on the pop quizzes and all will be well. I got an email from my aud supervisor yesterday saying that it was okay if I didn’t attend the weekly 8am meeting on Thursdays. She understood why I couldn’t. That was really nice, and I spoke to another student and she said the meeting was a whole 10 minutes long and completely pointless for us undergrads to be there. That made me feel better.

Jay had to ref last night in Wausau. He was supposed to be home around 8pm, but didn’t get home until after 10pm. They asked him to stay for the varsity match as well to watch. The two top D1 teams were going at it and they wanted another ref to watch as well. He didn’t mind and I didn’t really care either. He didn’t get paid for it, but they fed him which was nice. Plus, he said that it was really a good match to watch. Really exciting! I’m glad that he was able to enjoy something like that. As much as I like/d wrestling… one of my main reasons for being a wrestling manager for three years was Jay himself. Yeah, like I would voluntarily put up with some of those guys without a good reason, lol! Oh, but it was lots of fun! Especially some of the bigger tournaments… lots of hot guys in tight singlets. Hey, I didn’t start dating Jay until the third year. Plus, in high school he looked pretty darn good in one too. Lol! Some good memories…

Anyways, Ayden and I had a really relaxing and calm night last night. I worked on some homework and we watch Transformers together. He really liked that movie. Well at least the parts where the transformers were on, he didn’t sit still to watch the other parts. I also did some laundry so I wouldn’t have so much to do this weekend, if any.

I went and got Jay’s valentine’s day gift yesterday. Usually we don’t really do anything for it. He says its a ‘hallmark holiday’ and frankly, I really don’t care. He did get me roses for our first valentines day together which was really sweet, but I know he spent WAY too much on them. After that we had Ayden and other expenses to worry about and haven’t really gone all out for it. But like I said, we are okay with that. This year I thought of the perfect gift to get him. It’s not all romantic or anything, but I’m thinking he will love it. Also, since I told him I am getting (actually got) him something, I’m hoping he will return the favor. I even hinted at a charm bracelet (however he’s a guy, who knows if he even got the hint). So, what did I get him? That will remain unsaid for now. Even though he claims not to read my blog (I don’t care either way) I cannot be sure and don’t want to spoil the surprise. This time I am so waiting until then to give it to him. We have a habit of getting gifts early and then not waiting until the specific day/event to give it to the other person. This time I want to because I want him to be surprised and excited about it. Don’t worry though, I’ll let you all know what I got him after I give it to him and how he reacts. I’m so excited!!!

Please keep my cousin, Amanda, in your thoughts and prayers today… she is having her biopsy done and I know she could use our prayers to help keep her at peace throughout all of what she is going through! I don’t know if I could be as strong as she is! She is truly an inspiring woman!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

It Can Get Weirder...

...and it probably will! Today was quite the day, I must say that. Had two strange things happen to me that were completely unexpected, however strange in a good way. Usually, I'm all for going into details and probably telling you too much about my life (hey, it's my blog, right?) but this is one of the times where I'm going to just shy away from going into anything right now. First off, it's a long complicated back story and secondly, well I just want to see where these strange events happen to lead me. Well, then why tell us anyways Ashley, I mean come on. You can't talk that much about it and then not even go into the littlest detail about it... we won't allow it... hey... it's my blog, right? You all still love me and will keep coming back... little self absorbed, eh? No, it's just that I know how addicting blog reading is. At least I hope you still come back!

I've felt like crud most of the day today. My nose has been pretty well behaved. I've been able to breathe through it all day and I haven't used too many kleenexes. Always good! But my stomach feels kind of funky. Not like throw up funky or hurting funky, just kind of weird. Probably because I'm hungry and haven't had anything since breakfast. I hope I feel better tomorrow. Colds are definitely no fun, especially not the second week of school. It will go away though, I keep telling myself that. It will not last forever. A few days of the ickies and I will be feeling 100% again.

I had my first speech session today. Well, of course I did, I've only been talking about it for the past three or four days now! And it went rather well! Always can improve, but that is what practicum is all about! The little guy is too cute and did great today! The game that I created went over very well and I was super happy about that! I was not nearly as nervous as I had anticipated which was great. Might take some time getting used to each other and how we each work, but I'm looking forward to a great semester! And guess what?! I get to wear jeans tomorrow! Dressing up is always fun, but comfy clothes are better (at least in my eyes!).

We had our first quiz (that counts) in Hearing Science today. Wouldn't I know it... at least I studied a little bit last night when I was reading the book and taking some notes. I think I might have gotten a 1 or 2 out of 5 on the quiz. Just goes to show that I am really going to have to look over that stuff before classes. He assigned the first 5 pages of the next chapter for Friday. Definitely going to read that and take notes. So far that class is going really fast (well time wise). Must be because I have to pay really close attention because Dr. Henry moves at like a million miles a minute. But I'm really liking him a professor so far. And I'd better, because he is one of the supervisors for grad school.

Speaking of grad school, I found out that I have another person to compete against as far as getting in. There is a nontrad student who is coming back (has her masters in something health related already) and wants to become an audiologist. She already has the leg up on me with having her masters already. She seems really smart, but is also super super nice! I'd love for her to be a first year grad student with me. It would be great if it were just me, Amy (the nontrad) and Katie, the other girl in my major who applied to Stevens Point. So, three of 5-7 spots already filled (in my mind) at Stevens Point. The other 30-40 applicants can fight over the last two, lol! Still staying positive. She only applied to Point as well.

My Project 365 is continuing along quite well. If you haven’t already visited, click on the link on my left sidebar and it will take you to that blog. Since we don’t venture out too much after we get home for the day, most of my pictures are taken within the confines of my house. I haven’t braved taking my camera to school yet, although I could probably get some good pictures there. Plus, it has been so cold outside lately, I don’t want to take the chances of wrecking my camera if I leave it in my car all day long. Never know with these things and it cost me enough…

It is supposed to warm up this weekend which is good. That means we can go outside some more. I don’t mind going outside when it is 30 degrees, but when it hits negative marks, well inside will do just fine for me!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Is it Friday yet?

It’s probably a bad thing when it is only Tuesday and I am already wishing for Friday, eh? It’s not that my week is going back or anything (hey, I didn’t end up with a parking ticket, woo hoo!), but I’d rather it just be the weekend so I could slack on actually getting stuff done. I am taking a break from writing some Hearing Science notes. I took almost four pages of notes already and they have come from about 6 pages of text that I’ve read. Six of the ten pages assigned to be read for tomorrow. And why am I doing this (other than the fact that I am such a diligent student and always take notes outside of class, or not!) because my teacher likes to surprise us with pop quizzes. Ugh, yes pop quizzes! And wouldn’t you know he already surprised us with one on Monday (which thankfully didn’t count) and I don’t want to end up being surprised again and not doing good on it. Btw, I got 3/5 correct on the first quiz…

I am also waiting for Friday because I’m hoping by then I will have received my Wii Fit in the mail. It was supposed to be shipped out today… hopefully it will be in our apartment soon! I’m excited to join in on the fun! And besides, doesn’t everyone love the weekends… even if everyone doesn’t, I do!

It was bitterly cold out again today! I hate walking to class in the cold. I wish we lived in Green Bay and went there… my sister gloats to me about the tunnels connecting their buildings. Yeah well… Stevens Point is still better, lol!

My first audiology clinic went well. I didn’t actually do anything today other than observe. It was nice to be able to remember some of the things that I learned in my audiology class in the Fall of 2007 (gosh that is a long time ago!) and see it in action again. My mentor (if that’s what you want to call him, he’s just a first year grad student) is pretty cool. He has a two and a half year old so we have the whole kid thing in common which is great. And my supervisor seems pretty cool as well. I was a little nervous at first when I met her last week at the meeting because she didn’t talk much and seemed kind of standoffish, but she is really funny! It should be a pretty great semester, or so I’m hoping!

I have my speech client tomorrow afternoon and I’m pretty ready to go for that. I printed off a few things tonight and got those ready to go. Should be a great first session! And my supervisor said that he didn’t seem to have any issues separating from his parents which is good! My old client from last semester was supposed to have his first session today. I’m anxious to ask his current clinician how it went! She is going to love him!

A shout out goes out to one of my dearest friends today… HAPPY BIRTHDAY (even though he doesn’t read my blog)! I called him earlier, but didn’t get an answer. I left a message telling him to call me back. I hope he does because I really want to wish him a happy birthday in person (well at least live on the phone). I sent a card, but what else are best friends for other than to sing happy birthday through the phone! Seriously, I’ve done it before, lol!

I’m getting a cold… which really bites! Going to be sick for my first day of clinic. Not sick enough to cancel, but enough to make for a runny nose and sore throat. Ayden has a bit of a cold as well (probably where I caught it from) and was coughing this morning. He hasn’t complained yet and we’ve held off on the drugs, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed. I on the other hand doped up with some NyQuil at about 6:30pm so I’d be nice and drowsy in about two hours and get some good sleep. I hope it kicks in soon. I need a good sleep tonight…

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Parking Ticket?

It is shortly before I am supposed to attend my first Audiology clinical and I thought I would get a little blogging in... on my short (but longer, now that I come to school later) walk to the building this morning, I had an elderly gentleman stop his car by mine and tell me that I was going to get a ticket for parking where I was. Well, as I was leaving my car the thought sort of crossed my mind. You see, apparently you have to park at least two feet from someone's driveway. This had never crossed my mind until I got a ticket last winter for apparently not doing so. Although, it must have been my unlucky day because I've seen MANY others park much closer than me. Anyways, I thought about that as I was about to leave my car. I'm not ambivelent to that sort of stuff anymore and I thought I was at least two feet from the residents driveway. The driver (who lived on the opposite side of the road) thought it would be a courtesy to me if he mentioned it. Apparently he's seen a lot of cars ticketed lately. I thanked him for his comment and he thought I should be okay. Heck, I wasn't worried about it until after he spoke to me. So, today is one of my longer days on campus (here till 4pm) and so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my windshield is not graced with a ticket when I get back to it after work. If so, I will literally call Jay and get him to bring me a tape measure so I can document exactly how far away I am and thus discern if the ticket was approriapte. Because I can assure you that when the officers are writing their tickets, they DO NOT get out of their cars to make sure you are under two feet away. Anyways, I'm looking forward to no ticket and a great day!

Aud clinic here I come! And then my Social Geronotology class and work!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Week Two

The start of my second week at school was rather good. It is thoroughly refreshing that I only have one class per day now. I know that I need to get started with my online class before it gets the best of me. That will be my project for the week/end, but really this week I am focused on getting clinic started (both Aud and speech) and doing good with that. Then I will worry about my online class. We have weekly assignments that we can do, but none of them are actually due until the end of the semester. Our first assignment that is actually due isn’t due until February 11th, so I have some time.

Tonight I am going to sit back and relax and watch some of John and Kate Plus 8. I met with my supervisor this afternoon and she seemed okay with my lesson plan for Wednesday and I emailed it to her tonight. Tomorrow I need to make sure that I have all the materials for it. Shouldn’t be too hard. My biggest concern is my activities not panning out like I have them planned and my client not saying the words that I’m looking for, or should I say the sounds that I am looking for. And because I am gathering baseline data I won’t want to be teaching too much so my data is rather accurate.

I cannot believe that we are almost in February… do you know what that means? Well at least for those of us who live in the snow and cold in the winter… that means only one more month of cold bitter temperatures. Okay, so March can be cold too, possibly even bitter cold. Heck, I’m sure there have been times in history where we have received snow in May! However, upon completion of February you have just about made it through another harsh cold winter. When March starts it means Spring is on the horizon! I can’t wait for the cold to be gone and the winter coats to be put away!

My noisy neighbors are at it again. :( They have been good for a few weeks now, but I can hear them pounding away! It’s rather annoying… argh! What can you do though? Dumb college boys! Why do they insist on making my life more stressful than it already is? And really, there is a highway patrol person living on that side of the building, shouldn’t they be concerned about them? Probably not, but it’s still annoying!

Off to enjoy John and Kate Plus 8!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Monday = NOT ME TIME!

Can’t forget to head over to MckMama’s when you are done enjoying my Not Me’s… you know… she is the genius behind this whole blog carnival! So glad that I happened upon her and her blog… she is great!

It just wouldn’t be Monday without Not Me’s! I don’t know how I survived without this fun, before MckMama created this lovely idea. Okay, so I know how I did… I just laughed at myself and what I didn’t do. Now you all can laugh with me!

First off, classes did not start this past week. And because they did not start, I did not worry about how my first week would go.

I did not enjoy sleeping in every day this past week. I set my alarm clock everyday and Ayden fulfilled his duty to the best of his ability each and every day. Oh, who I am kidding… I loved sleeping in!!!

Tuesday did not leave me feeling all confused and discombobulated (oh I do not love that word) and freaked about how this semester would go. Wednesday did not leave me with a night class that turned out to be a writing emphasis course. Thursday did not leave me dropping my night class and signing up for an online class. Friday did not leave me feeling relieved that I made it through the first week relatively unscathed!

I did not end up alone as a clinician this semester. I did not wonder how I was ever going to make it through the semester. I did not sit back, breathe, and realize life is great and I will make it through the semester!

I did not tell Ayden he could take a toy gun to school because it started with ‘g’ and he was filling his ‘g’ bag. Jay was not smart enough to catch my mistake and leave the toy gun at home. I did not believe that I could have looked passed something like that! I was not too concerned about finding ‘g’ items to actually realize what it was and I was not heading out the door at the precise moment Ayden asked me if he could take it.

I did not wear a scarf almost every day this past week. I am not copying Angie Smith from Bring the Rain and her friends and turning 2009 into the year of the scarf. I did not buy up some snazzy scarves from Walmart for only $5 a piece! I am not totally in love with them either!

I did not give up looking for a Wii Fit and buy one online the other night. I am so patient and love calling up all the stores on a daily basis to find one and wouldn’t you know, I find one every time I call! Or not!

I am not super anxious for it to come so I can join in on the fun that everyone else with it says they are having! I do not love Wii!

I did not wash one of Jay’s chapsticks with a pair of his jeans. I did not notice the chapstick until I was putting the clothes into the dryer. I did not take the chapstick and put it back in the bathroom. I did not snicker when Jay asked me if I noticed something weird with his chapstick. I did not proceed to tell him in my most neutral voice that I washed it. It was not my fault that I didn’t check his pockets in the first place, lol!

I did not procrastinate on my homework all weekend and redesign my blog instead, do extra laundry, make rice krispy treats, help clean the kitchen, and chit chat on the phone… no procrastination in this house! Never!

And I promise to not procrastinate any more this semester, which really means… there will be lots and lots of it!

What did you not do this week? I’m sure you are just dying to share!!!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Saw V

If I’ve never told you before, I will now… I am a scary movie fanatic! I LOVE scary movies! I have loved scary movies for as long as I can remember. My mom says it is because she introduced us to them at a young age, which very well might be the cause of my liking them so much. We have almost a whole shelf of DVDs here that could fall into the scary/horror/suspense category…

…Saw, Saw II, Saw III, Saw IV, and most recently Saw V, The Omen, House of Wax, White Noise, Hide and Seek, Boogeyman, It, and Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning… just to name a few…

So, anyways, while grocery shopping at Walmart this afternoon, Jay happened upon Saw V and of course because we have the first four, we needed the most recent one as well. Our plan after Ayden goes to bed tonight is to cuddle up in bed and enjoy the sadistic gory plot. I’m not expecting this one so much to be scary as it to be gory. I rather prefer the scary to the gory. I can’t stomach a lot of the gory stuff. I don’t literally get sick, but it isn’t my cup of tea, that is for sure.

And, according to VH1 and one of their more recent reality shows, I guess there is going to be a Saw VI because they were having a contest for the leading lady role. I don't know if the show tanked or what not because I never watched it, just saw the previews one day.

Sidenote, I just found out that Prison Break does not return until April 17th… that is more than two months from now! So sad to see that it is going to take that long. I also read that they only have four more episodes to air and possibly a made for TV movie ending. I don’t understand why they couldn’t just keep going back in December with it, especially with only four episodes left. Darn people, lol!

I managed to get my lesson plan done for tomorrow. Technically I don’t need to turn it in until Tuesday afternoon, but I am meeting with my supervisor tomorrow and thought it would be good to have some sort of something written up for her to see. I also got everything sorted out for my other classes so that is swell.

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Motivation Stagnation

Hmm… does my title even make sense? I don’t know… I wanted to convey that my motivation is lacking and yet make it rhyme. Works for me!

I have been doing everything and anything possible this weekend to NOT do anything school related. I’m even writing this blog post to further put off writing my first lesson plan of the semester. Hey, give me a little credit, I have about half of it done. I’m having a little trouble because with a new supervisor you  never know what he/she really wants and I’m trying to make a good impression. Like I said, she seems lax enough, but I want her to know that I am willing to put forth the effort. Also, I’m wanting another good clinic grade this semester. Even though only half of my speech grade will count for it because I am also doing the Aud clinic. In any case, I’m trying to come up with ideas to do during therapy. So far I have two pretty good ideas/activities, it is just a matter of them lasting long enough. It shouldn’t be too hard this semester because my client loves to play with just about anything. However for the first session I am doing a lot of baselining and not actual teaching so I’m not sure if I should do some other things, like more drill stuff (even though it seems he doesn’t do as well with that).

Today Jay is going to me manicotti for supper. He was supposed to last night, but we didn’t have any mozzarella cheese which we needed and he wasn’t about to go out in the cold for it. Today we had to do some grocery shopping and got some. Yummy manicotti… I am smell it now, even though it isn’t even started.

I also made some yummy rice krispy squares today. I saw the box in the store and started to crave them… not good to go shopping while you are hungry, lol! I’ve already had two! I also covered them in melted chocolate chips which is the best. Actually, you know what would be really good right about now, some of my mom’s yummy caramel bars! I haven’t had those in FOREVER! And they are SO GOOD! And relatively easy to make. I could probably make them myself, but we all know how much I love to cook. Hehe!

Yesterday Jay cleaned out his PS2 and XBox game collection and we traded a bunch in. We/he didn’t get a lot for them, I think about $55 for 16 games. However, he didn’t play any of them anymore and we thought we’d use that money for some Wii games, which is precisely what we did. We got some used Wii games and enjoyed playing those last night. I ordered the Wii Fit online last night still don’t have the Wii Fit, so I can’t vouch for everyone’s fun comments about it, but am hoping to quite soon!

My friend has been having some relationship issues this past week, but things have finally seemed to turn in her favor. She gets herself into some situations that I could definitely not put up with, but being the best friend that I am, I am always there for her. It is nice to finally see her happy about things and not worried about this or that. Hopefully things stay positive for a while. She needs positive energy around her, especially with classes starting this week for her. All is well in that area!

I haven’t talked to another one of my close friends since around Thanksgiving time. We used to email on a regular basis, but after she moved a couple of months ago, she didn’t get internet access. I think we have talked only a handful of times since August which really bites. We were/are really close and I miss our regular emails. I hope all is well with her life! Her little guy turns 2 pretty soon! I can’t believe how fast time flies!

Okay, now that I’ve managed to procrastinate just a little bit more, suppose I should go check on the laundry. I washed all of our winter stuff today because it really needed it, even though I will wash it again at the end of the season before we pack it away until next winter. More procrastination sneaking in… lol!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Hair, oh lovely… hair!

I’m almost never satisfied with my hair, or actually, more so… always changing it. Jay’s aunt once told me that she always looked forward to seeing me because my hair would always be differently cut and a new color each time she saw me. (Needless to say, we saw each other about four or five times a year.) I’ve gone back and forth between short and long hair since before Ayden was born.

I had pretty long hair my senior year of high school and that winter (I think) I chopped it short. Needed a change! As you can see, after I chopped it short, I started to let it grow back out. This first picture was probably around Ayden’s second birthday… look, long hair again.

Two years after cutting it short for the first time… I chopped it short a second time! I loved my new hair cut, however, I could never do it as good as the stylist which sucked. My hair is very thin and straight! But hey, a new do and some highlights made my day!

Here my hair is a little longer. Deciding to grow it out again… styled a little differently because it’s a little longer.

And yet again… only with a little lighter coloring here…

Oh, but wait, time to chop it super short! I like this picture, but didn’t always love out my short hair looked. It took lots of product to keep it ‘puffed’ up all day long.

And as if, it being that short wasn’t enough, I was bold enough to try BLONDE! And let me tell you, I definitely don’t do blonde well. So not my color, but I enjoyed it while I had it.

Maybe a month or so after the blonde, I needed something new… AGAIN! This time I went for what the store called ‘maroon’ but what really was a dark purple. It was pretty dark at first and wasn’t so purple, but as it washed out it got lighter and lighter… here you can see a little tint of it. I really liked the purple. Me, crazy person with crazy color changing hair!

And when I got sick of the purple and decided that I was ready to let my hair grow back out… I did BLACK! Black was okay for a while, but it really didn’t have any dimension. I survived the ‘black’ stage, but don’t think I’ll go back to it any time soon.

Here’s a little closer picture of the black…

Slowly, but surely… my hair is getting longer. Did I mention that my hair TAKES FOREVER to grow out! It grows so slowly!

The black is starting to grow out and a little more length has been added…

 

Oh but wait, could see the roots in the last picture, so it was back to black, at least for a little while!

And finally, I went in and asked for some highlights! I needed something new, yet again! I love my hair now!

And TWO YEARS LATER… after first getting it chopped off, my hair is now almost as long as it was BEFORE I chopped it off. I’m itching for a change again, however… not ready to cut the locks. Really just looking for a color change.

After leaving this post unpublished for a few days and thinking about it… I’m still not sure what I want to do. I’m thinking definitely not chopping it right now. It is still not as long as I would like it (I’m craving really long hair this time), but possibly a color change/highlight is in my future… it just costs a lot and right now we are saving for Wii Fit (if we can ever find one!) and to pay off some other bills. Hair is not my top priority, but I thought I would just give everyone a look at my always changing looks. At least in the last two years…

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Bitter Cold Friday

It doesn’t matter if the thermometer is reading 20 degrees ABOVE zero… when the wind is blowing like it is here today in Point, it is COLD out! Bitter cold and I don’t like it. Especially since they are talking COLD COLD COLD wind chills for this weekend! At least it is the weekend and I don’t have to go outside for anything. No walking to class, no driving anywhere, just hunkering down inside for the weekend of this bitter cold. Ugh, I wish it were summer already!

I feel like I haven't had much time this week to really sit down and reflect upon what has been happening. Despite the fact that it wasn't an overwhelming week busyness wise, it has been mentally. The first week back to school always is (at least for me) and especially so this semester because I am trying to coordinate my schedule to add two clinic times in, make sure I can still fit work in, and see if any of this will change Ayden's daycare schedule. I am waiting for one more meeting time to be set up and then I can fix my work schedule. All will be well...

This weekend I have to start my first lesson plan for clinic on Wednesday. Kind of happy that it isn't starting right away on Monday, but even so... I'd be ready for it. I am not even nervous about it this time around. I know that a few of my classmates are because they were not alone last semester, but because I was... it is not as nerve wracking as one might think. Plus, I talked with my client's mom and she seems really nice. And my friend told me that she was so all will be well!

Other than just getting through the week, we did not do a whole lot. Our nights were slightly adjusted because we are getting home a little later than last semester so the afternoons go a little faster. Jay hasn't had to work a lot recently because we haven't had too much snow. It's times when it goes almost a week and he doesn't have to work that he starts to get itchy about it. Plus he has a nice schedule to work this semester... no classes on Mondays or Wednesdays and only one morning class on Fridays. His boss really loves that! It will be especially nice for those nights that he is out all night long plowing (well if those nights happen to be either Sunday or Tuesday) and he doesn't have to get up early the next morning. Actually, we have been getting up at 8am this whole week courtesy of our new alarm clock... Ayden. Not having to be out of the house early is very nice... however I think I am getting TOO much sleep. Haven't really come to a conclusion on that because I am loving this sleeping in thing, lol! But I am usually semi conscious by 7:30am and just relaxing in bed until Ayden comes in and graces us with his smiling face. Although, he was pretty upset when I decided to take a shower this morning right away and not get him his chocolate milk and vitamins and instead Jay did that. He got over it though...

Yesterday and this morning Ayden and I played 'I Spy Go Fish' and have been working on saying the 'v' sound. See, I can do speech therapy at home too. Lol... he is doing what us SLPs (see, already coining myself an SLP without any grad school and me wanting to become an audiologist, I'm too funny) call 'stopping' and turning the 'v' into a 'b'. So, 'Do you have a dinosaur?' turns into 'Do you hab a dinosaur?' This is a process that Ayden should technically no longer be doing, however it has been shown that boys grow out of these speech processes slower than girls. Anyways, Ayden can say the 'v' sound so it wasn't hard to get him to change 'hab' to 'have'. I would pretend like I didn't know what 'hab' was or what he meant by it and sure enough, he started to say 'have'. It is great to see the recognition in his eyes that he knows he is saying the word correctly and to know that I helped him along. My little ray of sunshine!

However, my little ray of sunshine surely can be a mima (sp?) bird sometimes! Jay was telling Ayden something last night while they were in the kitchen making Kool-Aid and apparently it wasn't something that Ayden wanted to hear because he told Jay to 'shut it' and 'shut your mouth' and 'be quiet' every time that Jay would try to talk to Ayden. It was moderately funny listening to this little conversation, but I stepped in before Jay got too angry with Ayden and took care of it. Jay would have started yelling and Ayden didn't need that. I simply called Ayden over and we had a little talk about how we need to talk politely to others. I could tell he knew that he wasn't supposed to be saying it because when I called him over he had this guilty 'I'm sorry' look on his face. Everything was fine after that and Ayden and Jay continued making their Kool-Aid! A potential meltdown avoided...

I am going to try and finish my book this weekend as well. I haven’t picked it up since Monday… what did I tell you, the semester starts and I have no time or ambition to read. It is something that I should continue with (just not so avidly) during the semester because it keeps me calm and collected. I love those books… but unfortunately by the end of the day all I am wanting to do is lay down in bed and relax and watch some TV. Ugh, TV… I watch too much, I know I do, but it provides some of a relaxation time for me, just not as good as a book.

I’m trying to get Jay to go buy me a candy bar from the gas station, I’m craving something yummy and chocolate, but we don’t have anything in the house. Don’t think I’m getting anywhere though because he wants to go out in the cold just about as bad as I do! Haha!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

5 credits of writing emphasis...

...you have got to be kidding me!!! There is no way on this planet that I am going to take 5 credits of writing emphasis in ONE SEMESTER!!! First off, we only need six to graduate and I will already be graduating with 7... I definitely do NOT need 10 credits of it! So, my lovely Juvenile Delinquency class ended up being a writing emphasis course and I didn't happen upon this knowledge until I actually got to the class. You would have though I might have noticed it when I registered for the class, but hey, that little 'w' they put next to the course didn't tip me off to anything. Seriously... they should really have like a huge thing next to each writing emphasis course so people know this stuff. I do not have the time to write anything more than I already will be for clinic, especially not a 10-15 page paper that involves hours upon hours of research.

So, what did Ashley do? She went immediately to the time table in search of a replacement class. And wouldn't you know what she found... an online class! It is completely online... and it is Music 100! A 100 level class should be SUPER EASY and guess who else is taking it... Jay! Okay, so really he shouldn't be... he should stay in the business class that he has right now (even if he doesn't need it... it would not only boost his overall GPA but his major GPA as well). He stated that it is going to be a lot more work than he wants to do (ie: see my dropped class) and if he doesn't NEED to take it, why bother. He is still trying to get into another class, but hasn't heard from the professor yet. I really don't know about his whole schedule of when he will graduate... I'm a little bummed and upset by that, but I'm not him and not his mom and will not badger him about it. He is an adult and should know better than to screw around because college is money and money is something we DON'T HAVE!

Anyways... we are both going to take this online class and it will be easy! I also found out when my speech client will be coming in... doesn't exactly fit into my schedule like I thought it would, but it works none the less I guess. I was kind of looking for a Tuesday and Thursday slot, but ended up with Monday and Wednesday slot instead. That is okay I guess. Just juggle work around a little more and all will be well. Besides, the time that it is at gives me some extra time to set up and take down which is great. We will be in a room that I was in last semester and somewhat liked. It isn't the big preschool room, but it isn't one of the super small rooms either which is great. Slowly, but surely, this hectic week is getting all sorted out. I'm excited about that and can't wait to get into a good groove. Because I now have an online class... I only really have two classes to worry about on campus which is super nice and they are both classes with friends in.

Oh wait... I didn't get to tell you about this yet... ASSIGNED SEATING IN COLLEGE! Has anyone ever heard of something so crazy! I've been in classes before where you pick your seat and then the professor sends around a sheet and you sign the spot where you are sitting. Then you are stuck there, but really you got to pick it. Well... no no no, that is not what happened in my Hearing Science class yesterday. This being the class with all four of my friends. This being a room with tables that held 5 chairs which meant my friends and I could all fit and have a GREAT semester with each other and learn from each other. In comes our professor and announces that he has assigned seats for us. Someone say what?! We are in college here... not elementary school! Okay okay, I totally see his point behind it. See, some of the class has taken Physics 115 (Acoustics) and some have only taken Physics 100 or 101 or 110 (whatever the number... just regular physics) and he wanted the tables to have a mixture of people so we could all help each other. So, my friends and I got split up! Argh... I am unhappy where I am seated only because it is in the back corner of the room (whereas I prefer front and center because I pay better attention and can see- slight vision problems... have had glasses since I was 3). I probably could ask for our table to be seated in the front, but I don't know how the rest of them would feel about that. I do admit that I am happy with the people at my table. Because it is a required ComD class, I know everyone in the class and have had them in classes for the last three years now. We all get along and are all relatively smart. It should be a good semester, but I am going to miss my friends.

It's been a busy week and I can't wait for the weekend to get my bearings on things again. And need to do a little cleaning as well. Go through last semesters papers and ditch what I don't need. Always a fun thing... purging assignments that I dreaded doing.

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Taking a breath…

I have gone from overly pissed… to just pretty darn angry… to a little depressed and jealous… to hoping all goes well… to actually kind of excited about this semester (well clinic wise). Despite the fact that I’ve been handed a client that will have just me as his clinician this semester, I’ve come full circle and will make the most out of this situation. I know that his parents and him are counting on me to help. And it can’t be that bad interacting with a child who is the same age as Ayden. He has the vocab and comprehension and expressive language skills of a normal child his age so that it good. All is well again… it just took a little bit of reflection.

I ran into the student who will have my old client from last semester. She’s really great and I think will do wonderful with my old client. I think he will really take to her. I hope that his parents will as well. She is a bit nervous to deal with the supervisor, but I told her that she is nothing to worry about. I also gave her some helpful information about the client and what he likes and dislikes and so forth. She was very appreciative of that.

Ayden’s first day in the afternoon class at preschool went well. He was so excited to tell me about it and what they did. And for not having a nap today his is in quite a good mood. We’ve been having some boat races tonight and of course Ayden insists on winning all of the time! Earlier tonight I asked him to pick up some toys that he had out and he said, ‘Oh come on, all by myself?’ It was too cute! He should have picked them up all by himself because he got them out, but I helped him. He did good though.

And let me tell you, it was SO GREAT to be able to sleep in this morning. As if right on cue, Ayden came in at 8am. He enjoyed being able to get up when he wanted and spending a little extra time at home this morning. I enjoyed not having to rush around and get things together and in order right away and not worrying about getting to sleep at a decent time because I didn’t have to be up at 6:15am. This is definitely going to be a good semester.

I also found out from my aud supervisor that our weekly meeting will be after our hours on Tuesday. It should fit really good into a slot because our hours end at noon and I don’t have class until 12:35pm. No rearranging of a schedule there. It would be nice to fit one of my speech times in on Tuesday as well because then it would cut down one day that I have to dress up. Actually Tuesdays and Thursdays would work great for me as far as speech clinic goes. I will have to discuss it with my supervisor. We will be meeting either Thursday or Friday this week. See, all I needed to do was breathe and everything would work out. Plus, it definitely gives me more experience, right? Always a good thing!

And so begins the cycle of homework… just might actually go get some textbook reading done before I turn to my other book. Just maybe, lol!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Someone say WHAT?!

Ah, the life of a Communicative Disorders senior who is taking an EXTRA audiology practicum this semester could not feel any more overwhelming on the first day of classes. I technically only had one class today and I shouldn't be feeling this crazed about things, but wouldn't you know, clinic just happens to do that to you! I just found out (as in 20 seconds ago got an email from my new supervisor) that I AM ALONE THIS SEMESTER! This is utterly ridiculous as when I talked with the clinic director before winter break she assured me that because I am taking the aud practicum plus the speech practicum that I would have an easy speech client and would HAVE A PARTNER! Is this seriously happening to me! No kidding, this cannot be happening to me! And this client is scheduled to meet twice a week! Okay, so that is two forty-five minute sessions with a client, an hour meeting with my supervisor, an hour and half aud practicum one a week, and another meeting with a different supervisor all for ONLY TWO FREAKING CREDITS!!! Argh... need to do some venting here! And then to top it off... I'm totally feeling jealous of two of my friends because they were alone last semster (as was I) and they were paired with FIRST YEAR GRAD STUDENTS this semester! Is this totally unfair OR WHAT! Breathe Ashley... this was MEANT to happen and you will make it through this semester with flying colors! You had no control over this and all will be well. Besides, I wouldn't be handed this if I couldn't deal with it, could I? And I did end up with a supervisor who I've had as a teacher before and who my friend had last semester and she totally loved her and thinks I will as well. And my client, well he is pretty much exactly Ayden's age so I am all prepared there with games and toys and what nots. Unlike last semester where my client was a lot younger and couldn't play a lot of the games that I have at home for Ayden. This is going to be fine and give you practice with articulation and can even help you with Ayden at home. Because... well readers, I admit, my son does have a few speech impediments. Nothing that would warrant therapy (besides, why would I take him if I could do it myself), but a few errors that could be worked on.

Anyways, despite everything that I just ranted and raved on about up there, I am excited about this semester. I was just a little let down because I was lead to believe that if I chose to do the aud practicum it would not be twice the amount of work like it is looking like it will be. I mean we are actually going to be tested on stuff and NOT just observing for this thing as well. I am extremely excited that there is only like 116 days left before I graduate! I can make it through this semester... I will make it through this semester... I am strong!

As for my first and only class of the day... it was Social Gerontology and it should be rather interesting. Two of my close friends are in it with me and the class is mostly made up of other students in my major and graduating in May so we all pretty much know each other and it shouldn't be too bad. We only have three tests in the class and one project and a few discussion things. I'm not too worried about it. I have a class tomorrow at 11am and then my night class. We will see how that goes. Should be interesting to say the least... Juvenile Diliquency... took it as an elective and because it fit into my schedule good. My first night class... I will make it through this as well and it is only once a week so that isn't too bad either.

CIAO! LOVE ME!

So, it was really probably couldn’t be definitely NOT ME!

You know the deal, head over to MckMama’s… join the fun!

It’s like I totally flew threw this past week and nothing happened that was worth writing about… or not! Of course I have some ‘Not Me’s’… it is what Monday has become all about for me (and I’m sure hundreds of others) and I love the free therapy!

Without further ado… I certainly was not caught doing any of the following, yeah, you know you believe me… hehe!

I did not revel in some homemade beef jerky this week. Jay did not make it on Thursday night and it was not gone by Friday afternoon. Jay did make some more yesterday and I am not craving it because my whole apartment did not smell like yummy yummy beef jerky!

We did not go to Quik Trip for lunch yesterday. Who goes to Quik Trip to buy their hamburgers and corn dogs when you can make them at home? Definitely not me who happened to have some money left over on a gift card and who totally wanted to get dishes dirty and actually cook something because Quik Trip is not literally only a half block away.

I did not let Ayden eat french toast sticks or pancakes for lunch probably 4 or 5 days this past week. He always chooses something different for lunch everyday! I did not make sure he had a different fruit each meal to change it up just a little.

I did not start taking notes for one of my classes because school doesn’t technically start until tomorrow. I am not one of those goody two shoes students who is always on top of things like that. Okay, so I’m really not, but I want to start the semester out good. And it wasn’t my professor who not so subtly hinted that we won’t likely be having a pretest on the first day of class. I wouldn’t want to be prepared for that, now would I?

I have not proceeded to read another three books this past week and start a fourth one when school starts tomorrow! Who would do that? I am not resigned to trying to finish this book today so I can concentrate on school stuff this week!

I am not the teensiest bit excited for classes to start tomorrow. I don’t want to see my friends at all and catch up on everything they’ve done over break! I couldn’t imagine chatting it up with them and being all giddy about the ComD girlies getting back together for one final semester! I’m not excited at all that I have a class with my giriles EVERY day of the week this semester! We will finally have some time to catch up!

I did not get Jay to run to Quik Trip again yesterday before supper to get me a slushy because I was craving one! He did not oblige because he cannot be sweet like that at times and didn’t come back with one yummy wild strawberry slushy for me. I did not love it!

What did you not do this week? I’m sure there is not anything you’d be happy to share!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Not so specifically tagged…

…by Amanda… I decided to join in the fun of the ‘tag’ that included a bunch of random facts about me, hope y’all enjoy!

…I am an avid picture taker. Even before I became a mom I was always behind the camera. I’m not a ‘pro’ by any means, but I love taking pictures! I have loads of pictures from my very first cameras!

…I am very anal about many things. I have to wash my face before I go to bed or I don’t feel clean. I have a specific routine I follow in the morning and hate when Jay tries to mess with it. I tend to over organize and it drives Jay nuts!

…I let Jay drive my very first car not even a month after I got it (before we started dating) and we ended up in a wreck and have been together ever since. It’s ironic that we crashed on a road called ‘lover’s lane’ but seriously, WE WEREN’T DOING ANYTHING (other than driving)! Even though people used to always give us that ‘yeah okay’ look…

…I am a reader at heart and my mom and I have a whole ‘library’ of books already. I got my reading from her and hope to pass it onto Ayden. I love all sorts of books!

…I thought in high school that I would never get married or have kids and now I cannot wait to give Ayden some brothers and sisters!

…I love chocolate and pasta anything! Not together of course! Maybe in a past life I was Italian, haha! Fazoli’s will cater my wedding, they do catering you know, lol!

…I hate the cold! It sucks. If I could, I’d live where it was somewhere warm ALL the time and sit outside in a lounge chair/hammock and read forever and ever.

…I am a pack rat and save WAY more than I should. I attach sentimental value onto a lot of stuff. I STILL have the ‘bracelet’ they made us wear at the resort in Punta Cana. I wore it for two months after we got back and finally cut it off because I didn’t want it in my prom pictures. Yes, I’m nutso like that!

…I’m very shy! It may not seem like it on here, or maybe it does. Don’t exactly know how I come off, but I’m not so much a people person. I’d rather not be the center of attention. However, once I get to know you, I definitely open up and you can see more of the ‘real’ me.

…I LOVE to act crazy with my friends and family (ie: Seriously, that monkey jumped yellow flower curtains and beef jerky sticks mud on velvet Kelly Ripa’s dresses! You know who you are!). I don’t mind doing ‘stupid’ stuff because I don’t care what people think. *Short story, in high school a close friend of mine invented sticker days and Hot Guy Friday. During the week we would wear a different sticker on our shirt and on Friday’s we would find a hot guy in a magazine or whatever and wear that instead of the sticker. We did this for probably our junior and senior years and had so much fun with it! Of course we had people who looked at us like we were nuts, crazy, stupid, etc… but we didn’t care! After a while some people even started to look forward to our hot guys and would rate them on their scale of whether or not they thought they were hot or not.

…I am a listener. I love to try and  help my friends with their problems and fancy myself a really good listener.

…And I’m definitely a blogger and blog follower!

If you haven’t happened here through Amanda’s blog or haven’t already done something like this… considered yourself tagged and join in on the fun!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Renovating!

I’ve definitely been ‘renovating’ my blog over the past two days. I’ve learned more about HTML that I probably would ever have in school, not that I need any classes in it and more than I care to know, but it has definitely helped me figure out some things that I’ve wanted to do. And so with the help of some sites I found through my friend Google… I proud to say that my blog layout is completely designed by me! It took me a LONG time to get everything just so, and there are still a few things that I would like to change, but for now it’s okay. I’m satisfied with it…

Ayden and I just got done playing some Wii and he totally knocked me out in boxing again! Seriously, I do try and beat him, I don’t know what I am doing wrong. Also, my sister told me that one of my aunts just got Wii fit (totally jealous by the way, but I have to say that we haven’t been on top of our searching this week as in previous ones, I’d like to know where my aunt found her’s) and she said that she LOVES IT and I totally have to get it. So, still searching… bound to find one sooner or later, right? Not too worried about it though because with school starting next week I am sure that I won’t have as much free time as I do right now. Actually, I know that I won’t have as much free time as I do right now.

I’ve already had to email the clinic director and tell her that I will not be able to make it to the first group SLP meeting because I have a class during the time that she made the meeting. Oh well, I will have a friend pick up any materials that she hands out and tell me what all went down.

I made yummy tacos for supper tonight. It has been a while since we had tacos and I was craving them. Usually Jay is the taco maker (even though they aren’t that hard), but he was gone to work tonight. He got home from the wrestling meet and left about a half hour later to go plow snow. What a day, eh? Money, but he will be tired. He said that he wouldn’t be gone long because when he called his boss they said they only had the businesses left to do. I’m thinking he might be home by 9 or 10pm… and he left at 4:30pm. If you call that not long, then I guess so be it. He thought I might be mad that he was gone all day and then had to leave again. I’m not, just sad that we probably won’t get to spend any time together today. He did say that he had a good time at the wrestling tournament and all went well so that was good.

Tomorrow I need to do some laundry and the kitchen floor needs to be scrubbed and no we are not talking hands and knees scrubbed. We are talking swiffer wet jet scrubbed or maybe if Jay is really ambitious, actual mop and bucket scrubbed. I try to sweep once a week, but wash… ha! Think I am that ambitious? Not in a million years! We’ve been living here for about a year and a half the number of times it has actually been mop and bucket washed is definitely under 10! I’m anal about being clean in certain places and that is so not one of them!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

You’d think they were deaf!?

For over the past two hours our inconsiderate neighbors have been BLASTING their music NONSTOP!!! We are talking, turn your TV up an almost uncomfortable level and you can STILL hear the pounding of the music coming from their apartment! It finally got to the point where I asked Jay to go talk to the managers about it, but wouldn’t you know that the managers aren’t home tonight. It hasn’t been THIS bad in quite a while… I can usually deal with their music for about an hour and it isn’t usually this loud, but seriously, you’d think they were deaf or something!!! It’s getting really annoying and staring to get on my nerves. I’m trying very hard to stay calm about it, but when I can STILL hear them OVER the increased volume of MY TV, isn’t that getting a little over obsessive with the volume! I mean, have a little common courtesy for your neighbors. They should know that these apartment walls are not TWO FEET THICK! It is times like this where I wish we lived in a house or duplex or something where we wouldn’t have to deal with it. Or that we lived in a complex with a bunch of old people who were deaf and didn’t mind our noise from Ayden. I dunno… I’m venting, better here than marching over there and giving those guys a piece of my mind because I am definitely sure that I wouldn’t be too nice.

Okay, enough of that… Ayden didn’t have preschool today again because of the cold weather. He got to just enjoy daycare with his buddies. Jay ended up picking him a little earlier than normal, which was okay with me. We did the whole lunch and rest thing and then went to Walmart after Ayden’s rest because he earned a dollar for picking up his toys and helping me clean before his rest. He said that he wanted to spend it and plus we needed a few groceries as well. I explained to Ayden at the store about what he could get with his dollar and what he could get if he saved his dollar and earned some more money. He was almost at the point of saving it because he wanted something more than $1, but like any other four year old (okay, maybe not all four year olds) the money got the best of him and he needed to buy something. He ended up getting a matchbox car for like 97 cents (like he really needs anymore of those!) and was so proud to be able to pay for it by himself. He even had a few coins that he brought along as well. He also told me that next time he would save his money up so he could buy something bigger. Yeah, we’ll see how that ends up going, hehe!

We had some yummy brat patties for supper. We haven’t had those in a long time and I really love them! Jay made them super yummy! And I was surprised that Ayden ate it so well, but I just told him that it was a hamburger and he was okay with it. Same differences, right? Just so long as he is eating it!

Jay forgot to bring Ayden’s snow stuff home from daycare today which kind of sucks because the weather is supposed to be halfway decent tomorrow and I wanted to take him outside again. I’m pretty sure we have an extra pair of boots around here somewhere (during Ayden’s first winter my mom found a sale at Walmart and bought like four pair of boots for Ayden for like a total of $10, never mind you that we are FINALLY fitting into the fourth pair FOUR years later, but hey, totally worth it I guess!) and I could just layer his pants with jeans and some sweats in favor of the snowpants we are missing. We have the winter coat, hat, scarf, and mittens. We’ll see what kind of mood Ayden is in. Jay will be gone to a wrestling tournament so hopefully it won’t be a long day with a crabby kid. Keep your fingers crossed!

(Okay, now we are going on THREE hours of noisy music… I’ve taken a break in writing to chat on the phone with a friend.)

My fingernails are really crappy right now. Actually they have been for probably the last month. Very weak and constantly chipping and peeling. I have been trying to keep them very short so that they won’t rip, chip, break, etc… but it doesn’t seem to be working. The pointer finger on my right hand is cut as short as I can cut it without it hurting and it still is chipped and torn. It really irks me because I’m used to having half way decent nails!

Time to go pound on the wall!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Twilight…again…

…during Ayden’s nap today I went on this site my sister introduced me to that has a lot of new videos on that you can watch online. I am not sure how these videos get there or if they are even ‘legal’ because of all the copyright crap, but you can watch them and all without having to download anything. However, these aren’t always the best quality of videos, but sometimes you luck out.

That is how I came to watch Marley and Me last weekend and I must say, although it was a good movie, I definitely liked the book a lot better. I don’t know, maybe I would have liked the movie more if I hadn’t already read the book.

Anyways, back to Twilight… I was almost falling asleep reading my book today while Ayden was resting and so I decided to come into the bedroom and lay down and re-watch Twilight. I didn’t care if I fell asleep because I had seen it already. I just so happened to find it online and started watching it. Like I said when I first saw it, pretty good movie, but of course… book WAY better! Which is why I didn’t care if I fell asleep during it. Did that happen, no way! I watched the whole thing and was just as entranced. That Edward, let me tell you! Ah, dreamy! It makes me want to reread the books OH SO BAD!!! I have them sitting right across from me right now (as I am sitting in bed writing this) and calling to me! Maybe during Spring Break I will reread them. I don’t often reread books, but these ones would definitely be worth it.

Ayden slept out in the living room last night on the futon. His idea and he said that he wanted to do it again tonight. I’m okay with it, but if he starts to want to do it all of the time we might have to change that. He has his own bed, but this can be a nice treat for every now and then. Plus he has been such a good boy lately.

We survived the cold weather today! Ugh though, it was pretty brutal out. I didn’t have to be outside for very long as just a short walk into my work building from my car and then to drop Ayden off and pick him up from school. Well daycare, they didn’t have 4K today because of school closings. I’m not sure if they already cancelled schools for tomorrow as well because it is still supposed to be pretty cold in the morning, but oh well. They say it is supposed to really warm up next week… lower 30s! That is awesomely warm compared to what it has been like. This weekend should be nice to go outside and play in the snow. We haven’t had any big snow storms lately so we are due one pretty soon. What it happen on the day we are supposed to start class next week. Now wouldn’t that be just great.

Our days continue to be pretty much the same. I’m not much for monotony, but when it is cold outside and you don’t have the money to go anywhere, it’s fine with me to stay home. We have a little routine going where we get home from daycare, eat lunch, Ayden plays for a little while, rests from 1-3pm and/or naps, and then an afternoon full of playing.

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Out of MY hands…

Technically speaking, EVERYTHING is out of my hands… do we really control everything/anything? On some aspects, yes… I can control when I’ll go to bed, when I’ll eat supper, little logistical stuff like that, but in the grand scheme of things… it’s all worked out already. So, why I am worried about getting into grad school? Because I officially mailed out my application TODAY! Yes, that is right readers… it’s gone and done with! Bring on the waiting game! Although I am nervous about getting that acceptance letter, I feel a sense of relief that it really is out of MY hands. Literally and figuratively!

Enough about that though… I totally kicked Jay’s butt today in tennis on Wii! Oh, that sweet smell of victory is still lingering in the air and it smells so good! I’m only reveling in this victory so much because he ALWAYS creams me and rubs it in. Jay is one of those type of guys who ALWAYS has to win. It’s pretty funny though.

Jay is making some beef jerky with the dehydrator tonight and experimenting with making home made fruit roll ups out of applesauce. Ayden seems to like it, but I’m not too sure. I remember having them when I was younger, but I’ve never been a big fruit roll up fan in the first place. All for Ayden trying new things though, and as long as he is… heck yeah! Lol!

I really should be taking some notes for my one class that starts next week. The professor did say that we might have a pretest on the first day of class. How great is that? No seriously, really great! Or not! But I have a bunch of vocab words to look up because we are supposed to know them from previous classes. But I’ve already gone into this before so I won’t anymore. However, this is my blog so really I can do whatever I want, hehe!

Super cold weather is on the way tomorrow night and into Thursday… as if today wasn’t cold enough! Going to have to stay in the house and stay warm, well have to go to work for a little while. Getting a huge project for my boss done and will be excited when the final project is complete because I’ve been working on it for almost two weeks now.

I managed to sleep like crap last night. The room was too warm, didn’t turn the heat down in time, I wasn’t exactly tired, and was thinking about a multitude of things. How come when I most want to go to sleep and NOT think about anything… that everything seems to bombard my head and I worry about everything and anything. Oh how the mind wanders from topic to topic at night before it finally settles down and Jay can come into bed and within five minutes be asleep. It astounds me and I don’t like it very much. Lol, no fair! I try and try! The only time I fall asleep fast is when I am REALLY tired!!! It is nice to fall asleep fast when I do.

MTV’s Real World is on tonight… it’s been a while since I’ve actually watched a full season. Usually I’ll only catch an episode here or there, but it’s not an all time favorite show or something I HAVE to watch, but I think I might watch it tonight since it is the second episode of the season and I watched the first one last week with Jay. It’s just kind of funny to watch. All of the roommates are a bunch of alcoholics, it’s what makes the show. Oh well…

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Lost my post = sad me :(

Arghness… I had started a nice long post about my great weekend and then lost it. I know I should have hit save draft before I stepped away from my computer for an extended period of time, but I guess I just forget sometimes. Darn, huh? So, here I go, going to restart it… because I was all excited to recount how great I thought it was!

Jay got home from his wrestling meet at around 4:30pm on Saturday and we were shortly out of the door after that. He showered quickly and we loaded up the truck with the few things we were going to take for a night away. We are masters at this packing thing. Okay, so at least I am. My parents divorced when I was in like the 5th grade (or something like that) and so I learned to pack like a pro moving back and forth between my mom and dad’s house.

He asked if I would drive because he said his feet hurt from being on them all day long. I agreed because I don’t mind driving his truck (okay, explorer)… well actually I secretly love it because it has power steering. I know, getting excited over something so little, but my car does not have it. What, a vehicle without power steering, are you for real? Yes, I am for real. I own a 2001 Chevy Metro that was a rental car before I purchased it and came without power steering, power windows, power locks, and not even a tape deck! But it came with only about 50,000 miles and a GREAT price tag! I’ve loved it since, but would love a Jeep Liberty or Ford Focus even better… maybe in the next two years…

Okay, back to my weekend… I agreed to drive also because the weather was fine and the roads really good. I donned my glasses because otherwise at night I am pretty blind and won’t go into a car without them and we headed towards Appleton. We decided to go to HuHot before shopping because we didn’t want to make Ayden wait until 8pm or later to eat supper. We knew it would be pretty busy no matter what time we went… hello, super great restaurant and a Saturday night. We got there and made our ‘reservation’ and were told it would be about a 40 minute wait.

Instead of waiting in line for 40 minutes with a four year old (when in fact it probably would have been 15-20 minutes, probably) we decided to run quickly to Barnes and Noble because I had a gift certificate there. We shopped there and made it back to HuHot in about 25 minutes. Turns out we were already called, but Jay talked to the hostess and told them about what we were told and we were seated right away. Probably made a few of the people waiting in line a little upset because we kind of just walked right in and got seated, but whatever. We were smart…

The food was delish, as always! And the best part was that Jay said he LOVED it and wants to go back. I was seriously worried that he wouldn’t like it and I wouldn’t have anyone to go with. Okay, so I could just corral my sister, and two cousins, who love it as well and we could make a girls day out of it… but you know what I mean. And Ayden ate really good too. We splurged and got a dessert, the make your own ‘smores one, and it was yummy. It was really fun to do it at your table as well! Our bill was definitely enough, what with Jay getting some egg rolls and the dessert, but I thought it was worth it.

I ended up getting four new books at Barnes and Noble! And after HuHot we headed over to the mall to spend our gift certificate there. My plan was to get some perfume and cologne for myself and Jay from Abercrombie. Pretty much the only thing I will buy from that store because I think it smells really good. Even though I know everything in there is WAY overpriced, I was not expecting a small bottle of perfume and cologne to cost $40 a piece. There was no way I was spending $80 on that stuff, no matter how much I wanted it and how good it smelt. I mean, I know perfume and cologne can go much higher in price, but I’m cheap like that. Maybe if they were $20 a piece I would have bought them, but whatever…

We decided that since there was nothing else that Jay or I really needed that we would let Ayden spend the gift certificate at Build A Bear. I had asked Jay if there was anything he wanted from Scheels and he told me… needed- no, wanted- bad question to ask. So we stuck with Build A Bear. Ayden found a dinosaur that he wanted and we got that and a shirt for him. Rexy came to life and Ayden loves him! I was happy that he was happy and he was really a good boy Saturday. Not that he needed anything more.

We got to Jay’s parent’s house around 9:30pm and Jay got the Wii out and we all played it for a while. I think we were in bed by like 11pm and were up by 8am the next morning to go to my mom’s house for a while. We showed her the Wii and had fun playing bowling. She had to go to work in the afternoon so we went to my dad’s house to visit after that. We spent the majority of the weekend there playing the Wii and just visiting. Ayden and Alexis had so much fun! I always love watching them play together!

My dad and Wendy had just played the Wii at one of their friends house the night before so we didn’t need to teach them how to play it. My sister and I had some tennis tournaments and Ayden is getting really good. He can power serve like none other and every time I try I cannot do it. Guess I am not as talented as him!

It was about 6pm when we left and I drove home again. Well back to Point. It was a long drive, well we were coming from in town at Chilton which added probably almost a half hour to our trip. The roads were good and I ran into minimal traffic and we made it home nice and safe which was good! I started one of my new books last night after Ayden went to bed and was asleep shortly there after because I was so tired as well. I never sleep as well when I am not in my own bed. But then again, who really does?

Back to the grind today, well not quite. Classes don’t start until next week, but I did get all of my graduate school application stuff done. FINALLY! Last step, mail it in!!! I need to get an envelope big enough tomorrow and all will be set. Then it will be a waiting game. Hopefully it goes by fast enough! Still not freaking out about it yet though. Staying positive!

A new John and Kate Plus 8 is on tonight and because Prison Break isn’t on (not going through as many Wentworth Miller withdrawals as I was the last time the show was on break, lol), I can actually watch it. Other than that, I think the rest of my night will be spent uploading some pictures from over the weekend and maybe some videos. I took some mighty funny ones of Ayden boxing! And then of course some more reading after Ayden goes to bed, or during his bath (or quick wash off- ie: shower), whichever he chooses.

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Certainly NOT ME!

Join the blog carnival over at MckMama’s after enjoying my Not Me’s… it is not any fun and you know you don’t want to, so you should definitely not click on the link because you would surely regret it! Already starting the fun!!!

This past week has granted me with many fun things, or did it?!

I did not read yet another book (or two, can’t even remember) because I have not read WAY too many in the previous two weeks. And this weekend did not find me spending my Barnes and Noble gift certificate on FOUR more books. I am not excited to read these books and they are not another vampire series. Stephanie Meyer (author of the Twilight series) has not gotten me hooked on vampires! Oh wait, yes she has… readaholic me!

I did not pout to my four year old on Friday when he didn’t want to go outside with me and play in the snow. I did not try to bribe him to go out with me and then did not get a little excited when he said he didn’t want to because… well it is not cold outside and I would not purposely put myself in a position to endure it.

I was not a little disappointed when Ayden asked to go outside on Saturday and I did not prepare to go out by putting sweat pants on OVER my jeans, wool socks on OVER my regular socks, and a sweatshirt on OVER my long sleeve shirt and t-shirt… ALL BEFORE… I decked out in snow pants, scarf, jacket, hat, boots, and mittens! I was not TOO warm when we finally got outside to play! And Ayden and I did not have WAY too much fun playing in the snow!

While playing in the snow I did not take a video of Ayden going down the hill on his tube and laugh when he took a face plant. I’m not a mean mom like that and he did not get right up with a HUGE smile on his face! Also, that face plant did not leave him with a small cut on his lip which started to bleed. Because he didn’t notice it, I made sure point it out to him and told him he was bleeding. What, are you nuts! I made sure not to mention it because I didn’t want him to make a scene over something so little. We continued to play like nothing happened!

I did not get to enjoy HuHot on Saturday night and did not splurge with my family on dessert because we are not tight for money. We did not get the ‘smores dessert and were not able to roast our own marshmallows RIGHT AT THE TABLE! Ayden was not amazed by this!

Jay and I did not spend our mall gift certificate on Ayden because he doesn’t need anything else. I did not cringe when I saw the prices of perfume and cologne at Abercrombie, which did not lead us to spend our gc on Ayden. (But seriously, $40 for perfume?! I know that could be considered cheap, but not for me! I was not sad when I couldn’t get any good smelling perfume because I don’t have any right now, just body spray.)

Ayden did not proceed to get a dinosaur from Build A Bear with our gc, and he did not name it Rexy! It is not super cute and cuddly and I did not enjoy seeing the joy on Ayden’s face as he got to pick it out, ‘stuff it’, ‘wash it’ and pick some clothes out!

I did not get totally creamed by my sister in a game of Wii tennis, and I did not come back and win a little while later in the day, but probably mostly due to luck. She is not WAY better than me because the older sister always has to be better!

I did not catch Ayden and my little sister Alexis giving Alexis’ ‘Baby Alive’ doll a bath in the bathroom sink. Giving a bath to a toy that should not be fully submersed in any kind of water. They did not have the WHOLE doll under the water and they did not have lots of soap in the dolls hair. Upon a few texts from my sister… the doll is not STILL talking even though no one is playing with it. It is totally not creeping her out and I am not glad that I am sitting at my computer in Point!

I’m sure I did not do SO many other things this week… but now it is time for you to divulge what you certainly didn’t do! Like MckMama says… free therapy!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Waiting...

Still waiting for Jay to get home from this wrestling tournament today... it is precisely 4:20pm and I thought he would be home at least by 3pm at the latest. By this rate we won't get to Appleton until probalby 6pm or later and then I have to places that I want to stop at and going out to eat. Mostly likely we will be going out to eat first and then heading to the stores. Oh, I don't know. And that is if he gets home within the next half hour... because he still has to shower and get his few things ready before we head out the door. Starting to feel like a pretty LONG day!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Fab Friday

Our Friday was pretty much like every other day this week, except for the fact that I wasn’t found reading every spare moment that I had. What, you say… no book in your hands. Yes, that is right my faithful readers, I have yet to pick up ANOTHER new book. I am taking a little break and will probably start another one on Monday, seeing we will most likely be gone this weekend.

The plan is to head to Appleton after Jay is done with his tournament tomorrow, get some shopping in, and dine on the lovely cuisine at HuHot! Oh yeah baby! HuHot is definitely calling my name! Actually, Jay is moderately interested in what this place has to offer that I love just OH SO MUCH! He said he likes stir fry and he does like chop suey (sp?) so I’m hoping he likes it as much as me. And if not, well then he doesn’t have to come back with me. I have two cousins who love it just as much! And this time I have to give props to both my cousins, Amanda and Amy, because they were both along the first time I went. And I cannot remember who actually suggested the place. Thanks girls! I am now thoroughly ADDICTED!!! Should be fun… and then we are visiting my mom either Saturday night (if we don’t get home too late) or on Sunday morning and then my dad’s house in the afternoon and back to Point after that. Should be a good weekend!

I so wanted to go outside with Ayden today and play in the snow with him and ride down our big snow pile on our tubes, but wouldn’t you know, my outdoor loving four year old didn’t want to go outside with me. I was kind of bummed because it would have been fun, but also kind of glad because 19 degrees isn’t exactly warm either. Maybe we will go out during the day tomorrow while Jay is gone. Think it is supposed to be about the same temp tomorrow as it was today. Instead, he decides that today will be one of the days that he actually falls asleep during his rest time.

We had quite the meltdown tonight when it was time for supper. Jay made some pizza burgers (yummy!) and Ayden was adamant about not eating them. Jay and I both calmly explained to Ayden that this was what we were having and if he didn’t want to eat it, he could go cry in his room (he was crying at that time). After a few minutes of him crying and yelling some phrases, I told him once again that when he was ready to settle down, his supper was waiting. I also explained that after he ate some of his pizza burger he could have the apple that he wanted. Thing was, if we gave him the apple and pizza burger at the same time, he would eat the whole apple and say he was full. Needless to say, after about 15 minutes of continuous crying, he finally came out and started to eat his pizza burger. He ate about half of it and then I gave him his apple. Despite the fact that I know Ayden is somewhat of a picky eater and that we try to make things we know he will eat to avoid scenes like tonight, he cannot get his way ALL the time and he will have to try new things. He understood that if he wasn’t going to eat then he was going to have to go to bed without supper. I knew he would eat when he got hungry. All settled and no yelling. That is definitely the way I like it!

After supper I shaved my legs and Ayden was content sitting in the bathroom watching me and chatting me up a storm about my shaving cream, razor, cuts on my legs (you didn’t think I’m that perfect of a shaver, eh?), going to Walmart (do we really frequent it that much?), etc… it was just cute to have him in there talking to me. What a kid!

Jay proposed the idea last night of us getting another cat. A while ago I was totally against it… my mom has two cats and not that I don’t like them, but it just makes the house smell more. I thought about it a little bit, not too seriously though. I think it would be nice to have another cat in the house. Get another kitten… just some downsides to that. It costs enough to get them neutered/spayed and declawed from kitten hood plus other vet bills and adopting an adult cat isn’t necessarily all that cheap either. Also, I think Diesel would have a big problem with another cat. He is definitely pretty spunky (for those of you who actually know me and have seen our cat in person) and I don’t think he would get along with another housemate. For now… it’s a no go, but maybe someday. Oh wait, Jay wants a dog someday and I’d like one too. Of course we have totally different tastes. He wants a lab and/or english pointer (he just informed me it is not dog, but DOGS!) and I want a pug! Someday… right?!

Twister (the movie) is on tonight and I am hoping that Jay will get off his computer for a little while and watch it with me. Would be nice to get a little cuddle time in with him this week… damn World of Warcraft. If I could, I would infect the whole damn game system with a virus so no one could ever play it again. It is his form of heroin… seriously! HATE IT! But deal with it… I guess… Won’t let it ruin my night.

CIAO! LOVE ME!