Sleepy Conversations

Tim: I don't want to go with him.
Ash: Go where with who?
Tim: I don't want to go with him to the Sadie Hawkins dance.
Ash: I think you're dreaming Tim.
Tim: I'm not dreaming!
Ash: Ok then.

Mitsubishi Lancer

So we did it. We bought a new car. It's a Mitsubishi Lancer OZ. We picked it up today and we just love it. Here are the stats: Metallic Dark Grey, 5 speed, 4 door (for carseats one day), CD, ABS, Cloth, PW, PDL, PST, Cruise, Tilt, Air, Keyless Entry, Side Airbags, Spoiler, Alloy Wheels, Tinted Rear Windows, Lifetime Warranty on Paint Protection & Under Coating, 10 year/160,000 km Powertrain Warranty, 5 year/100,000 km Bumper-to-Bumper Warranty, and 5 year Roadside Assistance.

Here are some pictures of the new car.

Birthday Parties

So of my 40-ish nieces and nephews, we had a few birthdays this month. But I only have pictures of two of the parties.

Time is just flying by. On the 17th Jayda turned 4 years old. It seems just like yesterday that I got a call from my sister at 7:00 in the morning saying she was in labour. I was super excited. I had to go into work to get a few things done and then I headed out to Jaffray to meet little Jayda....and now she's 4. Jayda had a My Little Pony party.

And then last night Tim and I went out to Barnwell to celebrate Kara's 2nd birthday. We had a super fun time. Kara was loving the cake and presents, but I don't think she really got the idea that it was HER birthday. Kara had a Fairy party.

My Poor Nose

Last night Tim and I went to bed around 12:30am. I was having this lovely sleep until Tim decided to roll over like a maniac with elbows flying everywhere. And my poor nose met his elbow straight on. I woke up to instant tears, throbbing, and headache. Oh ya, he got me good. Right on the nose too. Getting hit in the nose sucks. It was a flash back to my younger days playing "crack the egg" on the trampoline. That game always ended with someone getting a knee to the nose. Anywho, I'm in wicked pain and Tim's sleeping...WHAT THE HECK! So I wake him up and tell him he owes me a hug for smashing my nose. He answers with this, "Ash, it's 2 in the morning. Go to sleep!" So I went all the way downstairs in the dark and got some painkillers (had a wicked headache) and went back to bed...with no hug from Tim.

And now today, my nose is super sore still--very tender to touch. But at 1:00 in the afternoon I get a phone call from my dear husband. He just now realizes all that went on last night and he called to say he felt super bad for elbowing me in the face. He apparently wasn't fully awake when this all went down at 2 am (which I know has happened to us in the past--he's talking, but not awake). That's okay Tim! I still love you!

Here's a picture of Tim from last night. He was doing some electrical work for his sister. And yes, his hair is super long right now. The curls are totally hot though.

New Idea

Forget the used Honda Civic...I now want a brand spankin' new Mitsubishi Lancer OZ. This isn't the exact one I want. Tim & I are looking at a Metallic Dark Grey one, but you get the idea.

100 Things About Me

I saw this on a few other blogs and thought I'd give it a shot. So here it is, for you readers of my blog that don't know much about me--100 useless facts:

1. My name is Ashlee.
2. I’m 24 years old.
3. I’ve been married to Tim for almost 2.5 years.
4. We live in Stirling, Alberta.
5. I am the second oldest of 4 girls.
6. I work for the Government of Canada.
7. I’m an Executive Assistant.
8. Last week was my 5th Anniversary of working for the Federal Government.
9. Today is my 2nd Anniversary working for Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
10. I drive a truck 34 minutes (49.5km) one way to get to work each day.
11. I want a car to save on gas.
12. I’m not buying a car cuz I’m too cheap.
13. I "crunch" numbers over and over again when deciding on purchasing something.
14. Tim calls me "The Banker".
15. I have two horses, Felize & Jet.
16. I have two dogs, Diesel & Dexter.
17. I wish my dogs would stop chewing stuff and digging holes.
18. I want to build a garden shed in our backyard.
19. I want to clear out the garage by putting all that stuff in the new garden shed.
20. I love living out of town.
21. I have a hot tub and love it.
22. I love staring at the stars.
23. I can only find two constellations in the sky, The Big Dipper & Orion’s Belt.
24. I love camping.
25. I’m terrified that a bear will eat me while camping.
26. I love swimming in lakes around where I grew up (Jaffray, BC).
27. I hate all the weed infested lakes around Southern Alberta.
28. Tim is my absolute best friend.
29. My mom and sisters are my best girl friends.
30. I talk to my older sister on the phone AT LEAST three times a day...usually more.
31. I wish my younger sister and her husband would move back to Alberta for my own selfish reasons.
32. I wish my youngest sister would come and live with me this Fall after she graduates from High School.
33. I used to love going to the gym or going for a run and then I got married.
34. Now I say I have no time for the gym or running.
35. Brad Pitt is my all-time favorite celebrity.
36. I also love Ryan Reynolds and Ryan Gosling.
37. My favorite movies are Top Gun, Dirty Dancing, Legends of the Fall & The Notebook.
38. My favorite soap opera is Days of our Lives.
39. My favorite TV show is America’s Next Top Model (or the Canadian version).
40. I prefer baking to cooking.
41. When I was 18 I had a job driving a 240 ton truck that was 28 feet wide at a coal mine in BC.

42. My birthday is July 19th.
43. Our best friends are Trent & Tara.
44. I love to dance, but never get to.
45. Tim and I met at a dance, which is strange cuz Tim hates to dance.
46. Tim was at the dance to pick up chicks.
47. Tim asked me for my number there in front of the guy I was sorta "seeing" at the time.
48. I gave my number to him and he called me the next day.
49. Tim backed out of a date that he already had planned for that day and took me instead (told the girl he had homework to do).
50. We went horseback riding.
51. I have about 40 nieces and nephews (yes, I’ve lost count).
52. About 98% of those nieces and nephews are on Tim’s side of the family.
53. I have one great niece and one great nephew.
54. My favorite music is Rap/Hip Hop.
55. I rarely listen to it now cuz Tim calls it noise.
56. I miss it.
57. I listen to it when Tim’s not around.
58. I’m not crafty.
59. I hate clutter and nic-nacks (sp?).
60. My house sometimes gets cluttered and it drives me bonkers.
61. Last July I went to Las Vegas for the first time.
62. I saw the East Coast of Canada (New Brunswick) before I ever saw the West Coast.
63. I grew up in BC but went to the West Coast for the first time when I was 23.
64. I prefer chewy candies over chocolate.
65. I prefer salt over sweets.
66. I love all forms of potatoes (mashed, scalloped, baked, chips, french fries, hashbrowns, etc).
67. I didn’t know how to make gravy until a few months after I was married.
68. My parents tried to show me how to make gravy, but I wasn’t interested.
69. My friend, Julie showed me how.
70. I prefer breakfast foods over lunch and dinner.
71. Tim and I will eat breakfast for dinner.
72. I used oven cleaner for the first time ever last Saturday.
73. It took my breath away.
74. I’m the picture taker in my family, therefore we have few pictures of me.
75. I always have my camera with me.
76. I’ve been to Ottawa 4 times (I think) for business.
77. Flying doesn’t scare me as I’m usually sleeping before we take off.
78. Yes I can stay asleep during the take off.
79. When I was younger I couldn’t stand sharing a bed with anyone cuz I hated if people got into my space.
80. Now I squish Tim to death all night long, but he doesn’t seem to mind.
81. My favorite casual restaurant is East Side Mario’s.
82. I don’t really like cake.
83. I love lemon meringue pie.
84. Hot dogs roasted over a fire are awesome.
85. My favorite fruit is Watermelon.
86. Chinese Food is yummy.
87. This is getting hard....I’m 5' 7".
88. I appear much taller as I wear "tall" shoes.
89. I own way too many pairs of boots.
90. I probably own 20 pairs of jeans (and don't make me count all my pants in general).
91. I only wear about 5 pairs of them.
92. I’m not soft spoken; Tim says I have a voice that carries.
93. It's pretty hard to embarrass me.

94. Saw the movie The Guardian the other day and loved it.
95. I sang to Tim at our wedding reception.
96. I totally blew it cuz I was nervous.
97. I teach Relief Society once a month.
98. I love the gospel.
99. I love my family.
100. I love Tim.

I Want This!

2004 Honda Civic LX
Year: 2004
Make: Honda
Model: Civic LX
Transmission: Manual
Description: Sweet and sexy! Comes with CD, ABS, Cloth, PW, PDL, PST, Cruise, Tilt, Air, Keyless Entry. Purchased at McFadden Honda with one local owner.

Stupid Photo Thingy

Why is it that when anyone else posts pictures on their blogs I can click on the photo it expands to full size. But mine won't. When I click on them they do nothing. What am I doing wrong?

What's New?

Haven’t posted in a while...no good stories to tell I guess. We got our satellite installed last Thursday. If I wanted I could watch Oprah from 8:00am until 11:00pm (Oprah’s not my weakness, but for some that’d be awesome). I do love that I can watch Days of our Lives in the evenings now though. Way more channels and much clearer. We had three "snowy" channels downstairs in our living room and four "kinda clear-ish" channels in our bedroom upstairs. We’re really moving into this new age stuff. Tim has TSN now and loves it. Boxing is on all the time.

What else? I’m still working away. So nothing new there. Tim’s still at school and we’re surviving on one income (I guess it’s practice for when I’m at home with our baby). But all is well. At least he'll be completely finished with schooling when he's done this time.

We’d like to buy a new car. Actually a new, used car. We’re not sure that’s the wisest thing to do right now while Tim’s in school. But driving the truck 100 km every day for me to get to work is not so nice on the pocket book. Truck = 20 mpg and Car = 50 mpg....and you wonder why we’d like a car. However we would keep our truck as well cuz we have dogs and horses you know. The car dealership was trying to talk us into leasing a car (not so smart for us). Our families live out of town and WE live out of town. Getting to work and trips to see family last year alone was 32,000 kilometers on our truck. And we only lived out of town for 6 months. However we did drive to Vegas.

Tim’s super busy with the Fire Department. Not putting out fires...mostly just training and other courses. He was gone all last weekend and will be again this weekend. Not to count the meetings he has on Wednesday nights. In March he gets to start some of the EMT courses. He’s wicked excited about those.

And I made this matting for The Living Christ and A Proclamation to the World. Took me forever as I'm not too crafty. I ended up hanging them going up my stairs. They look pretty darn good. Except for the non-matching paper. I'm going to have to buy some paper to match the Proclamation and print The Living Christ on it. They look silly hanging on the wall two different colors.
And that’s that.

Cheese?

Have you ever gone grocery shopping at the Superstore? Well Tim and I do all the time. It’s been awhile since our last trip, so we needed a ton of stuff yesterday. You know how in the flyer they alway have a coupon for something that you get if you spend $150 or $250 that day - well finally Tim and I reached the $250 one. Now they keep changing those flyers, but a lot of the time it’s if you spend $250 you get $50 off. So when the cashier told me $255 last night I thought, "Sweet, here comes my $50 off!" Not the case for this week’s flyer. Instead I got one sweet block of free No Name cheese. Which I suppose is better than what my sister got for spending $400 at Christmas...some bag of nasty looking shrimp. That's okay Superstore - I'll still come back to you.

Windy Windy

Wind, wind go away! Come again another day! (Or is that a song about rain?) I hate the wind. Yes, we have no snow because of the wind, but I’d way rather have snow. This wind is driving me bonkers. Oh and if you think Lethbridge is bad – you should live in the middle of a field out in Stirling. Last Friday night was the worst since I’ve lived in Southern Alberta for sure. We woke up in the morning to find our Christmas decorations (outside ones) spread all over our yard. Tim took them down Friday after school and put them in those huge Rubbermaid containers. We found the container at the end of our driveway...empty. And then Tim went into the backyard to feed Diesel and Dexter and found some of our shingles on the ground. Sucky! Tim was all panicked cuz we were supposed to get rain or snow that evening. So we made a quick trip into town to pick up some shingles...no such luck. Apparently our shingles are a special order and Home Depot and Totem didn’t carry them. We went home and Tim used some leftover shingles that he had from our shed at our old house (totally the wrong color). Remember me telling you how steep our roof is...well my husband climbed it in 110 km/hr winds. He couldn’t climb up the back of our house on the gentle slope cuz the roof is too high and the ladder wouldn’t reach. Tim got the singles replaced by laying over the peak of the house (couldn’t stand on the steep side), but it was too cold for the tar to heat up and stick so he had to nail the bottoms of the shingles as well then put black dots of tar over the nail holes. It’s very pretty, but at least he beat the snow that came later that day. I’ll send him back up in the Spring on a less windy day, with warmer temperatures, and the matching shingles to do it all over again. Here are some pictures to prove he was up there in that wind on Saturday. I totally forgot we had a video camera or else I would’ve videoed him crawling up the roof too. Oh and no, we didn’t use a rope. We didn’t have one long enough.

All about me

1. FIRST NAME: Ashlee
2. Hey, where's question #2?
3. DO YOU WISH ON STARS? All the time especially shooting stars.
4. WHICH FINGER IS YOUR FAVORITE FINGER? A favorite finger – I guess my ring finger.
5. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY? Christmas-ish time when I was in Jaffray
6. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? yes
7. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? Umm ham
8. ANY BAD HABITS? Tim would say it's me leaving wet towels on the end of our bed
9. WHAT IS YOUR MOST EMBARRASSING CD ON THE SHELF? I don't think I have any and I don't use CDs anymore
10. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON, WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? You betcha
11. ARE YOU A DAREDEVIL? ah no
12. HAVE YOU EVER TOLD A SECRET YOU SWORE NOT TO TELL? Can't think of a particular occasion, but I'm sure I have in the past as I tell Tim everything
13. DO LOOKS MATTER? it's shallow, but yes
14. HOW DO YOU RELEASE ANGER? Probably on Tim (terrible eh?)
15. WHERE IS YOUR SECOND HOME? Jaffray
16. DO YOU TRUST OTHERS EASILY? I usually give people the benefit of the doubt, but if a person breaks my trust...good luck getting it back.
17. WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE TOY AS A CHILD? Oh Barbies for sure.
18. WHAT CLASS IN SCHOOL DO YOU THINK IS TOTALLY USELESS? I don't use any of my classes from school for my job today (unless you count a typing class I took in Grade 4 and English skills)
19. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL? Yes, but Tim calls it "Our Journal" - strange that the whole thing is my (not our) point of view though
20. DO YOU USE SARCASM? Never - actually in my dating years I had a guy break up with me because according to him I had a sarcastic comment for everything (he's probably right)
21. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN IN A MOSH PIT? Blink 182 with Corey Wilson
22. WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR IN THE OPPOSITE SEX? Well I've got Tim, but I guess when I was looking for a guy I had my list of things: looks, height, job, kind, lds, RM (you know, the usual)
23. WHAT ARE YOUR NICKNAMES? I don't have one.
24. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? I'd like to just to say I did, but I think I'd chicken out when I really got to it.
25. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Are you kidding?
26. DO YOU THINK THAT YOU ARE STRONG? Physically strong...no – my sisters could kick my butt in an arm wrestle.
27. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR? Rolo or Mint Chocolate Chip
28. SHOE SIZE? 8
29. WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE COLORS? I don't have one.
30. DO YOU HAVE ANY WISDOM TEETH? I have two on my left side trying to poke through. I need to go see a dentist about them soon.
31. WHO DO YOU MISS MOST RIGHT NOW? Family
32. LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? A wrong number looking for Adelle.
33. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT THE OPPOSITE SEX? height
34. EYE COLOR? Blue
35. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? Everyday, all day
36. SIBLINGS? Three sisters, Jennifer, Kimmy, & Britnee.
37. FAVORITE MONTH? July cuz it's warm and it's my birthday
38. FAVORITE FOOD? Almost anything that I don't have to make myself. I don't like seafood though.
39. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? Tim and I watched the funny parts of Napoleon Dynamite with friends.
40. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Happy ones.
41. SUMMER OR WINTER? Summer all the way.
42. HUGS OR KISSES? Are the kisses from Tim?
43. RELATIONSHIPS OR ONE NIGHT STANDS? Married
44. WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING? I don't read.
45. WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? Don't have a mouse pad. I havea ergonomic stationary mouse.
46. FAVORITE BOARD GAME? Cranium, but Catch Phrase is wicked fun too.
47. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT? Just caught the last 10 minutes of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen while getting ready for bed.
48. FAVORITE SMELLS? Lilacs — hands down, no questions asked
49. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU THINK OF WHEN YOU WAKE UP? I don't feel like work today.
50. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? Not today.

Why lock doors?

Since we’ve moved to Stirling Tim has decided that we have no need to lock the doors to our home. He says absolutely no one will bother to rob a house in Stirling (in the middle of no where). I however, am the complete opposite....to the extreme. I always have these weird fears of strange things. They’re not new. I had them when I was much younger and living at home (I don’t think I’ve ever shared this with anyone.). It’s not just about locking doors. I’m always thinking there’s something out there in the dark (yes, it’s only when it’s dark). When I was much younger it started with when my mom asked me to go to the basement to get something from the food storage or deep freeze. Now our basement wasn’t scarey in the light, but if it was dark I would go to the basement as asked but the entire time I’d sing or whistle as loud as I could with my thoughts being, if someone were to jump out of a closet or around the corner to grab me the sudden stop of my song or whistles would alert my family. Fifteen years later I realize that I never told my family why I was singing in the basement so they probably just thought I was a weirdo that liked to sing in the basement or they didn’t notice at all (the latter is probably the truth). And then when I started driving, when I got home at night I’d race from my car to the house because I was sure a cougar or some dude was out in the trees waiting for me. Then I moved to Lethbridge and I lived in a duplex with a bunch of girls who all came home at different hours and therefore the door was never locked. This duplex was on the outskirts of Lethbridge, very near the jail. Once again I was sure that some escaped convict was laying under my car waiting to grab my ankles or would come into the house in the middle of the night (I ended up buying a lock for my bedroom door). We’ve locked the keys in our vehicles a few times because I thought they should be locked and Tim thought he’d leave the keys in and unlocked. But only twice (in our house in Lethbridge) did I make Tim get out of bed in the middle of the night and walk around the house looking for someone. I don’t think my "fears" are completely uncalled for though. Apparently when I was working at Streatside Eatery in Lethbridge I had a stalker. I don’t remember this at all, but all of my family does. Maybe I suppressed a bad memory? But I do remember receiving two creepy phone calls when I was living alone after my roommate got married and moved out. They were scarey and I had to file a police report and everything. Sheesh! And now I’m in Stirling...
Back to the original reason for this post, I’m a fanatic about locking our house and vehicles which is pretty inconvenient when we have company that don’t have keys to my house. Like last weekend when my sister and her family were visiting. Both Jenn and Tim were teasing me cuz every time we left the house I’d lock the doors. The teasing (which I do realize I’m obsessive about locking doors) went on all weekend....until yesterday. Tim woke up yesterday morning and said he had the worst dream ever. I guess someone broke into our house and we were in our bedroom on the second floor and Tim was trying to get to the basement where his gun safe is. Apparently in his dream all he could think was that he couldn’t protect his family. All he needed to do was lock the doors when we went to bed.
So, yesterday after Tim finished school he went over to Home Depot and bought deadbolts for all of our doors (in Stirling we don’t have deadbolts on our doors) to the sound of about $170 and he picked up some pellets for his pellet gun (to put in our bedroom I guess). Oh ya, he’s going all out. I’ll probably arrive home today to find an alarm system and bars on our windows. Last night, for the first time in the 6 months that we’ve lived in Stirling, Tim didn’t complain when I asked him to go out into the garage before bed and lock the side door. Do you think me obsessing over locking doors has finally got to Tim?