No More Bella and Edward

Jack- I finally finished the third book and now I'm kind of depressed. Sometimes I wish that Jay were more like Edward. Okay, so not a vampire, but he was selflessly in love with Bella and wanted to give her the whole world. Now I know Jay loves me, but... well I guess that's why the book is fiction. Not everyone can be as perfect as the characters in books. I so just want to pick up the next one and continue on. It's worse knowing that it's continued because the third one didn't really end and I want to know the 'end'. But I usually don't like the way books end anyways so what am I complaining about. I have a whole stack of other books that I can pick up at any moment and start reading to keep me going through the summer, but I've had enough reading for a little while. And by little while, I'm sure that I will have another one started by tomorrow. Crazy Ashley, loves to read!

I had the weirdest dream last night about an old high school classmate of mine. It was so weird! I don't even know why he was in my dream because I haven't thought about him in years, but isn't it usually like that? In any case, at least it wasn't about my book.

So, about that phone call I received last night. I did not tell Jay that it was coming and it did, precisely on time. Lee and I talked for about 40 minutes and it was a good conversation. He really needs to pick up the phone more often. And when we got done talking Jay was of course not on his computer, as I suspected he wouldn't be. He claimed it was because no one was on his game, it was boring, and that he wanted to watch a certain tv show. Well maybe it was the truth, but I could tell that he was agitated that I was on the phone and who I was talking to. We didn't get into any arguement about it which was good to say the least. I guess we will just have to wait and see how much he goes on the computer this weekend and what time he comes to bed. His one gripe was that I knew Lee was calling ahead of time and didn't tell him. Well I told him that he doesn't tell me ahead of time when he is going to call Sam so why should I tell him?! That shut him up, but I could tell that he was still upset about it.

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Good start to the day!

Jack! Super good new this morning! Jay got a raise at work... only a dollar, but hey from what I hear a dollar is pretty nice and it will definitely help this summer! I was happy to hear that when he called me this morning. We got into a bit of a fight last night, but honestly I don't even know what it was about. I think he was mad that I kicked him in the head, but I kicked him for a reason, just can't remember that reason right now. Lol... go figure. In any case, it didn't last long and it was more of us just avoiding each other.

My good streak of no phone checking ended last night. I had to know for how long he talked to her and thus found out. Like I said, I was fine that they talked, but when I found out when they talked I was a little disappointed. You see, Jay called me around 3pm yesterday because he had a little free time at work, so he says, he was on his way to Walmart to get some seed for his boss. We talked for a few minutes, I was pretty much out of it because he woke me from a nap. Well we didn't talk for very long because he got to Walmart. A quick look at his phone reveals he called JT after me for a few minutes and then called Sam and proceeded to talk to her for about 25 minutes. And I thought he had to go because he needed to get whatever he had gotten there for. I was a little upset by that because couldn't he have talked to me for that long then?! I'm obsessed, I know, lol!

My afternoon went pretty well. Ayden decided that he didn't want to take a nap today so we will see how crabby he is later tonight. We had a little talk in his room before I said that he could come out that he would not be crabby and already we've had a few instances where I know that he could have used a nap. Oh well though, can't always have it my way, right? Should be though, I'm the mom. Lol.

Still on the third book of the series, but more than half way through it now. It is getting really good and I hope to finish it either tonight or tomorrow sometime. But then what am I going to do until the fourth one comes out. Sit and be depressed.... just another thing to add to my waiting list like Prison Break. I still don't know when that is going to be back on. Probably not until like October or something. Stupid shows.

Don't really have much else to say except that the weather got warmer than it was supposed to today so after Ayden goes to bed tonight I will probably go sit outside and read for a while. Should be nice and relaxing.

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Almost Wednesday...

Kind of feeling down and out right now. Got my final grades in and they are good... A-'s... not super duper A's though. And then I found out that A-'s are only worth 3.67 points! Which means I cannot achieve my 4.0 status this semester! What is even worse, I calculated it out and I need to get a 4.0 in the fall semester and spring semester of next year to even graduate Magna Cum Laude. And with clinic I'm thinking that going to be utterly impossible. I so wanted to graduate Summa Cum Laude, which is 3.9 or higher, but stupid A-'s won't let me be able to. So, I'm going to strive for the Magna Cum Laude and work my butt off next year. I will most definitely get Cum Laude, but that will not be enough for me.

Back again, I kind of too a hiatus from writing this yesterday. Really didn't have it in me to continue. Okay, so when I started it I was at work and was not able to finish it and then the rest of my free time yesterday was spent reading. I've come to the conclusion about my grades that as long as I've tried my hardest I know that I will have done as well as I can and if that means not reaching Summa Cum Laude, I guess that is okay. In the past I really didn't try as hard as I could have with my classes, but this past year has really changed me. Meeting my friends and getting to know them and how much they all want to do good has really pushed me to want to do better myself and I have. It's been with their help and support that I made it through this past year. The year they call the 'hardest'. It was a good thing that we all became friends. And I know I've said all of this before. Just humor me.

So, I am almost done with New Moon, the second book in the Twilight series. I read every spare moment that I was not playing with Ayden, aka... his nap time and after he went to bed, and as he watched Land Before Time after his nap, I was engrossed in my book. I just started it yesterday (it is about 568 pages or so long, and I got to page 424 last night). Am I crazy or what? I am hoping to finish it during Ayden's nap today, but we will see.

We have to stop at the grocery store to pick up a few things for Jay after I get Ayden from daycare. Jay is going to try and make some egg salad. We will see how that turns out. If he wants it that bad I think that he should buy it from the store, but you never know with that guy. Speaking of him, I haven't checked his phone in almost 5 days now. Or maybe it's four, don't really know for sure, but in any case he's been coming to bed at a relatively decent time lately. Or maybe I think it's decent because I have been staying up in the living room reading until 11pm or so the past couple of nights. And his game playing hasn't been bothering me as much either, but once again, I think it is because I am so engrossed in my book. I don't know.

I've come to the conclusion that I need to work with Ayden more with his workbooks that we've gotten him. I have about three different ones stacked up in the closet that we haven't set eyes on since we bought. We really need to get them out and utilize them. Not that I think Ayden is dumb or anything, quite the contrary, that kid remembers things that even I don't. I think it's some secret kid ability that we all out grow as we get older. In any case, what better time to make use of them when I have no homework or other stuff calling my name. And they will only help him for preK in the fall. This morning he did not want to go to daycare, although he's beginning to say that a lot these days. But after he gets dressed and gets some liquid in him he is usually brighter and ready and raring to go. And by the time we get to daycare he can't get away from me fast enough to play with his friends.

My friend Kristi called me up on Sunday afternoon and we went to the big blue park with her and Lily. It was their first time being there and Lily and Ayden had so much fun. Ayden really has taken to Lily and was showing her around like a big brother, but sometimes he would get over excited and upset when Lily wasn't moving fast enough. I don't think he quite gets that she is so much smaller than him. We also ran into one of Ayden's friends from daycare. Actually, Ayden's 'girl friend'. Lol. Her name is Melina and those two had a lot of fun running around the park. Lina was all over Ayden and he was being the typical guy trying to ignore her, but after a while he opened up some more. She is really attached to him and wanted Ayden to give her a hug when we were leaving daycare yesterday afternoon. He of course looked at her like she had the plague. Too cute!

The weather is looking to be pretty fabulous this weekend which means hopefully we will be outside for most of it. Finally, some warm weather!

I got my clothes from Forever 21 yesterday and I was kind of disappointed. One of the dresses fit pretty good and I liked it and the coat that I got fit really good, LOVE IT! But the dress that I really wanted to fit good (for Justin's wedding) was a little loose in the bust area and because it is strapless that will be no good. If I ever get rich, and by that I mean win the lottery rich, then I'll buy my pair a self of bigger boobs. I'm not all for lots and lots of plastic surgery, but if I had the chance I would get lasec (sp?) for my eyes, something done with my honker of a nose, and bigger boobs. Jay tells me all the time that he loves me the way I am, but my eyes are getting worse (despite my saying they aren't that bad) I hate my huge nose, and I would love to just once have some cleavage without having to wear a super padded bra! Some people, like me, just aren't as blessed in that area. Lol.

Night time now, well technically the sun is still out and it's not quite 7pm, but late enough. We just got done eating supper, which by the way was just a pizza. Pretty good, despite that fact that it was only Jack's. Didn't really feel like making anything hard and Ayden and I had just made cookies this afternoon so that constituted my cooking for the day. We had fun, even though it was just add butter and an egg to the mixture, lol. Not so much for all natural cookies, ie: from scratch. And then afterwards we frosted them. That was the best part!

And I did finish my book! I have already started the third one as well and it's just as good. The last one kind of bit though because Edward wasn't in most of it and him and Bella are the best part. Oh to drift off to the world of Bella and Edward. Makes it seem like nothing else matters when I get sucked into a good book. These are by far going to stick on my top 10 list. One other book that has engrossed me as much as this was Lisey's Story by Stephen King. His descriptions are beyond anything and he just pulls you into the book. Maybe that is why he is such a great author and has sold so many top sellers. And normally I don't read his kind of stuff because it is too far out there, but I also loved Duma Key by him and Bag of Bones. Both also very good!

Okay, so I got a letter from Lee today saying that he is going to call tomorrow night. I'm really debating on whether or not I should inform Jay of this before it actually happens. I know that he would appreciate it, but I don't know if I want to start a fight. I also know that if I told him before the actual call he would want me to not talk at all or only talk for about 10 minutes and the thing is that I haven't talked to Lee on the phone in months and I really would like to talk for a while. That and his letter contained only one sentence, and that was that he was going to call. Also, Jay told me today that he talked to Sam... a step in the right direction, so it would only be fair for me to tell him about the impending call. However, I also don't want to worry him all day tomorrow by knowing that it was coming. Argh! I guess I need to give it some more thought.

Enough for now, back into fantasy world as Ayden plays 'Duck Hunting' on original Nintendo. Yes, quit gaping... we do have one and it still works and Ayden LOVES it! Ciao! LOVE ME... enjoy the pictures!

Ayden working on the letter 'B'! He was doing very good with actually writing it.
The whole bed and this is where he ends up!
Making those delicious cookies!
Ayden and Lina at the park!
Ayden in the cool swings!
Ayden and Lily about to go down the slide!
Ayden with the mohawk going on!

Twilight Series

Jack... Okay so I am completely and utterly addicted to the book Twilight already... so much so that I haven't been able to put it down today. I have about 160 pages left in the first book and I just went out and bought the next two this morning along with another one that sounded good. Probably shouldn't have spent the money on them (I took a look at our bank account status this morning and it's lacking a little more than I would like for the summer just beginning, however not enough for me to completely start freaking out yet... We just need to start watching where our money is going a little closer) In any case, I HAD to get the two sequels and will probably have them finished in less than two weeks. They are each over 400 pages, I think one is almost 600! Hopefully the weather is nice so I can sit outside during Ayden's naps and read.

So anyways, I just had to write that I can't stop reading, even though I have stopped now to write this. Our day thus far has been rather uneventful. Jay has spent most of his day on his game... actually fine with me because I'm so involved with my book. But we've also taken breaks from those things to build once again with the lincoln logs with Ayden. I think this afternoon we might get out the geo tracks and build something with those. The last time we got those out (a few weeks ago) Ayden got pretty upset with how I was doing things and that was that, we put them away. I am more than willing to play with him, actually love to do it, but I will not tolerate it when he cannot share and demands his own way. He needs to know his boundaries. Last night we were kidding around and the kid bit me and he knew what he was doing because right before he did it I told him that we only pretend to bite and not even 30 seconds later he takes a chuck out of my arm. Okay, not literally, but he left a mark through the sweatshirt I was wearing. Needless to say he ended up in time out rather quickly. Love the kid to death, but he needs to know what is acceptable and what is not.

He ended up taking a nap on the futon today. He watched some cartoons after his lunch and I told him that if he stayed on the futon he could take his nap there. After the show as over I turned the TV off and he fell asleep. I was surprised, but at least he won't be crabby this afternoon. Him and I need to make a trip the the grocery store to get some cheese. We forgot some the last time we went and he says that we NEED to get some. Seeing the store isn't very far I guess I can expend the gas that it will take to get there and get some.

Good news! New baby in the family! And no, that doesn't mean Ayden is getting a new brother or sister. Jay's aunt, Mandy, finally had her baby. It's a little boy named Quinn Joesph McCarty and the pictures were adorable that she emailed! It just sucks that she lives in Iowa! We probably won't get to see the little guy in person until August at the family reunion, unless she comes up earlier for some reason, but with the price of gas I wouldn't blame her if she didn't. At least now we will know what she goes through not being able to see any of us. But it will be nice to have another baby in the family since Ayden was the youngest and he will soon be four. Now we need Sam to tell us she's pregnant or for Jen to have another one so Quinn will have someone to play with. I think Ayden lucked out on playmates. On Jay's mom's side there is Baden who is exactly two months older than Ayden, however I don't exactly know how they are related. I think Baden's mom is Jay's cousin or second cousin. In any case... they get along great. On my dad's side there is Alexis, of course, and for those of you who don't know, my half sister who is three weeks younger than Ayden, and then my couisn Mitchell, although we don't get to see him all that often. On Jay's dad's side there are too many little ones to name now. Right before Ayden there is Hunter I think and after him... well they don't seem to stop coming. And on my mom's side there is my cousin Amanda's eldest, Amelya. So all around he has someone to play with which is good. It just kind of bites living so far away that we don't get to see everyone more often.

And with the rising price of gas, I'm afraid to even see what the total of us going home will cost us. Already we have quite a few weekends booked for traveling and I'm beginning to wonder if maybe we shouldn't cancel some of those to make sure we can make it through the summer financially. I just don't know. I hate not going home like once every 6 weeks or so because even I miss seeing everyone and I know that they miss Ayden, well and of course me and Jay, but I think Ayden more so, lol. Who wouldn't miss that cutie?!

Now I need to organize our kitchen closet and do some more laundry, it's never ending around here. Ciao! LOVE ME

What happened to my clean apartment?!

Jack... I think I mentioned how I cleaned yesterday, well that clean house is not messy again. Pretty much what you get for having a three year old. I can't imagine having more than one. I guess it's not too messy, the kitchen is still clean and the dining room moderately so, but the living room has tractors and lincoln logs and trains everywhere. Oh well...

We had a pretty good day today. We decided not to go rummaging this morning which was fine with me. Instead we went to Alltel to get new phones. However, we didn't leave with new phones. I was pretty sure that we had to be within 90 days of our contract being over to get the deal on new phones, but Jay and I were not completely sure so we went in anyways to see what we could get. As it turned out, I was right and we can not get the new phones until the end of August, well that is if we want to get them super cheap. We could buy new phones whenever we wanted, but would have to pay full price of them and they are outrageous. I was fine with that and actually the dude that helped us, who buy the way was super great, actually got us a good deal on a texting package. Jay and I didn't have texting on our phones and had to pay for each one we sent and received and had thought about getting a small texting package added to our phones, like only 300 texts per month. Well, as it turns out there is a new plan out that will allow both Jay and I to have 1000 text each per month and it actually lowered our bill, well like only maybe 3 or 4 dollars, but in any case, I was super excited about that. Now I just can't wait to get the phone that has the keyboard so it is easier to text! End of the summer, I suppose I can wait.

Ayden was a super good boy at the Alltel store, mostly because he knew that if he behaved we would be going fishing afterwards. And by fishing I mean, he would cast his fishing pole with the plastic fish attached to the end, into the lake we walked around yesterday. That is precisely what we did too. We went back to Lake Joanis and Ayden got to 'fish' for awhile and we walked around the lake again. It was pretty nice and I think Jay even halfway enjoyed it. I even told him that I wanted it to become a nightly thing this summer, well that is if the mosquitoes don't get too bad. The last thing I want to worry about is getting eaten up on my walks. But we had a good time.

After that we came home and had lunch and Ayden and I took a nap. I think that naps may become a daily ritual for me this summer. Kind of nice really... as long as I can sleep at night. I went to the Nice as New store after my little nap. I have been looking for a specific book that I wanted to start reading, but I didn't really want to buy it new and the library already has a waiting list of like 4 people for the book. If I would have added my name to the list, I wouldn't have gotten the book until the end of the summer and when I decide I want something I usually have to get it. So, I decided that if I didn't find the book at Nice as New I would go buy it at Target. Well, not only did I find the book, but I found it in hardcover and I found two other books as well all for the price of $10 which was less than what I would have paid for the soft cover at Target. I was super happy. Maybe it would be nice if I told you what book I was looking for so badly. It is called Twilight by Stephanie Meyer. Very sci fi ish or fantasy if you want to call it that, because it's about vampires, but I've heard so many good things about it that I felt intrigued to pick it up. Fantasy usually aren't my type of thing, but thus far... about 70 pages into it, it is pretty good. There are two other books out in the series already and a fourth one coming out in August, so if I really like them I might just have to preorder the new one. Who knows... I also went to the Nice and New store to look for the V-Smile Pocket gaming system that I want to get Ayden for his birthday. It is about $80 new and I really don't want to pay that much for it... hopefully I can find it at a rummage sale this summer somewhere or get it off e-bay for cheap. I can't believe that I'm saying that because before I wanted this, I wanted to buy him a $200 four-wheeler for this birthday, but with our current financial situaion not completely stable I need to watch what I spend. Oh, but I know that he would love one. He has out grown his old one that we got for like $60 for his second birthday.

I'm not so sure what we will be doing tomorrow. Probably just lounging around the house enjoying the weekend. Now that I don't have to worry about any school work it is actually kind of nice. I know that by like two weeks later I will be wishing I had something further to do.

I haven't gotten a letter from Lee in a while. Not really surprising because it's not as if we are on some sort of schedule for writing, but for like the past month or so we were writing like once a week. And he complains when I don't write back right away, lol. In any case, he better get his act into gear and write soon or I will be complaining to him. We always complain to each other how long it takes the other to write back.

Here are some pictures of the activities that we've done in the past couple of days...

This is from Mother's Day weekend... Ayden throwing sticks into the lake at Great Grandpa and Grandma Cook's house.
Lake Joanis... we walked all the way around! Only a mile though.
Ayden sitting on a rock by the lake.
Ayden golfing at our house on the crappy lawn from the plow trucks in the winter. Too bad it's only crappy right in front of our place.
My quick attempt at a family picture. Doesn't happen too often...

Time to start Ayden's bed time routine and then maybe gonna have some ice cream! Ciao! LOVE ME