Thanks again ladies!

I am keeping to my word and updating all my girls night girls about my grade on the assignment you all helped me to complete.....





Drum roll please.....
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That's right...you all receive an A+++++++++

Thanks again for your help!

An Attitude of Gratitude Day Three

Though I tend to prefer being at home, I LOVE the company of others. I have a bit of an issue with being TOO LOUD. Honestly, I'm kind of weird too. AND...I talk a lot. So, as I'm sure you can guess, I can be a lot to handle. :0) Not everyone is able to handle my Ashlee-ness. I can't say that I blame them from shying away. I tend to wave my freak flag often.

And yet, this last year I have been able to form such wonderful friendships. I went to church with some of these people for over two years, and for the most part the relationships consisted mostly of chats at church and occassionally seeing each other at other events.

And then I moved last year. It had taken SO long to meet people and feel even a small bond with them, and so to realize I was going to have to start all over again was frustrating. What was also frustrating, was that my monthly Girls Night group had fizzled. Most of the ladies had either moved away, or weren't able to come anymore. So, I let it sit for a few months. It was hard. New home, new church family, no outlet of Girls Night.....it was kind of lonely.

In a desperate attempt to keep my relationships going with the chatty church ladies :0) {Do you like that name? I just made it up} I decided to redo my Girls Night group and add ALL of them to the list of participants. That was 14 months ago and since then, I have not only made so many wonderful NEW friends, but I have been able to keep intact friendships that I have had for years. These are ladies that can handle an Ashlee flag raising ceremony {remember I have a freak flag!}. They know me, but they accept me anyway. And honestly, I am so grateful for their friendship.

One of the most important aspects of life is in the relationships that we share with others. Through friends we not only have someone we are able to bond with, but we have a listening ear, an understanding heart, a built in therapist, and even just someone who can make us laugh. They help us to be better people by giving us the ability to see the world through their eyes and the willingness to give of ourselves unselfishly.

I am a better person because of the relationships I have with these wonderful women. I am so blessed to have each of them in my life and am so grateful for all they do for me. Their support and the kindness they have shown to me mean more than they could ever realize.

So, ladies....thanks. For seeing who I really am, and yet still willing to tolerate me. You rock.

{BTW...if you're not pictured here that doesn't mean you're not on the "YOU ROCK" list. I just don't have a pic of you. :0) }

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Long Lost Friend

The BEST thing happened to me the other night. I am still bursting with excitement. :0)

Do you remember my yard sale I had a couple of weeks ago? Well, one of my customers happened to be the mother of a friend I had in high school. It took her a second to remember me {have I changed that much?}, but when she did she told me how her daughter had been talking about me and wanted to find out how to get in touch with me.
Guess what? For over a year now, I have been wondering how to get in touch with her. Crazy, huh? She was one of my best friends and since she got married 8 years ago, I haven't seen her. Our lives drifted apart as they tend to do when we move on with life. But, I never forgot her. It's just really hard to find someone when they have a new last name that is SO super common, and you don't even know where to begin to look for them.
So, you can imagine my excitement when her mom showed up at my house! YAY! She got my information and promised to pass it on to her daughter.
She called me! Yep! On Sunday night! And we talked for THREE hours. It was so good to reconnect with her and find that we still "fit". Does that make sense? High school was a long time ago, so I was worried that our personalities would click like they used to. But...no worries!

Sorry for the poor picture quality here. My scanner hasn't been hooked up since we moved everything into the basement. So, you get a picture of a picture instead. :0) This is my junior prom group photo. My friend, Kim, was a senior. Yes, that is me in the very back sharing my boyfriend with a good friend of ours. She had gone to prom with her boyfriend at his school, and so was dateless for our prom. So, I let her hang with me. Good times....
And...here is the close up of me and Kim. She is the one with the gorgeous red hair. {obviously}

Anyway...turns out, my dear friend will be moving back this way early next year! Yahoo! I wish it was sooner, as patience has never been one of my strong points. But, it's not up to me. Dang it! Still, having her here next year is better than having her hours away forever. I'm thrilled to be able to reconnect with such a wonderful friend.

Do you have any friends you've lost contact with that you wish you could reconnect with?

Just a couple of things....

First of all...congrats to David Cook for winning Season 7 of American Idol. He did a bang up job this season and won me over. I'll admit I didn't want to like him. But his originality and rock edge were hard to NOT like. You know? Plus, he fixed his ugly hair. This picture doesn't do him justice at all. This was from the beginning of the season when it was ugly. It's so much better now. And the soul patch is gone. Whew!

And then, I must tell you...I am typing this post.....

in my basement.

Yes, that's right. The computer has been moved into our little nook downstairs. It's perfect sized for our computer desk, filing cabinet, and bookshelf for my school stuff. I may just live in here. I'm on the computer enough....

I am loving this whole moving in process. Maybe because we're not really "moving", but finally able to fully unpack and put things away. And I can do it little by little at my own pace and do it in an orderly fashion. You know...the PROPER way. Instead of piles of boxes everywhere. This is way better.

Final thought here....

We had a friend over for dinner tonight. He's been a friend of Jaysen's since high school. I met him when Jaysen and I were dating. Awesome guy. He's been having a rough time this last year. My heart has gone out to him, but we haven't been able to connect because he's "Jaysen's friend". That sounds weird. What I mean is...though we get along great, it's more like acquaintences, even though it's been over 4 years. Tonight though....we were chatting and we found a link....a common thread....and he lit up! It was awesome. I know this sounds wierd....and I'm rambling here...but he immediately changed. It was like a switch. He realized I knew a little bit more about what he was going through than most. He wasn't alone.....and I love that I was able to help him see that. Maybe I really am going into the right profession. :0) He was so excited he left and came back and brought us movie bucks. It was so funny! :0) We thought he had left for the night, so when he walked back in I made fun of him. {Because that's what I do} He knew we were going to the movies this weekend and so he went and got them for us as a thanks for dinner. {We've fed him numerous times....}

I don't know if any of that even made sense...or if maybe you are wondering why I rambled on about it. It was just a real warm fuzzy for me tonight. I am going into Psychology and to know that I really can make a difference and help others to feel better is amazing. I can do this! And, I made a friend in the process. He's not just Jaysen's friend anymore! :0)

I hope you have a fabulous evening. Don't forget to watch So You Think You Can Dance tomorrow night! It's almost as good as American Idol!

Sanity still intact!

Yes, this is the dining room I was describing in this post I wrote the other day. The floor is done! And it really only took Friday night and Saturday to get it all done!

Thanks to the brilliance of our friend, Zach, the whole thing was done {including putting the baseboards back on} by 6:00-ish on Saturday night. The installation part anyway. jaysen and I spent Friday night ripping out the carpet and old vinyl that used to be there and had a fun time pulling out the board that the old vinyl was glued to. Unfortunately they had installed the cabinets ON TOP of this board {which is not the norm}. We were grateful to have Brandon down in the basement to guide us through the should do's and should not do's and also for the use of his fancy electric saw so that we could cut around the cabinets to get the boards out. {Don't you just love the unexpected?}

Anyway...the floor was all ready for the expertise of Zach and with him there, Jaysen was able to do his "man" duty and be tool-ish {which doesn't happen around here!} and they got it installed in no time.

I'd also like to take a minute here to thank dear Holly {Zach's wife} who let us steal her hubby for the entire day. Even though he is an accountant and tax season just got over {That means she just started seeing him again!} and even though she was gone for three days this last week and got home on Friday. You rock Holly! OH! And for letting me invade your home for a few hours at the end of the day. We ran out of things to do to keep the kids busy, so thanks for letting us come over and play. We hope you liked the shredded beef tacos we fed you for dinner. :0)

Yes, that means I was even actually able to eat dinner in my new kitchen/dining room! I plopped the meat and seasonings in my crockpot before we left the house yesterday morning and when I got home at 5:30....it smelled delicious! Easy as pie dinner. Good stuff!

Anyway...just thought I'd share my excitement with you after I went off on the hubby for his insaneness of destroying my home for the weekend. I lived. {obviously} And I LOVE LOVE LOVE my new kitchen floors! :0) I don't even need the floor runner to hide the scuff marks the old owner left behind! It's amazing!

Hope your weekend was a good one too!

We'll Have Fun, Fun, Fun.....

I had a very busy weekend. I had to hurry over to Landon's school as soon as the bell rang to help get the library ready for the new bookshelves the PTA purchased for the school. We were so happy to see so many teachers had stayed after school to help unload all the books off the shelves, so all we had to do was pull out the shelves. It only took an hour and a half and we were ready for Saturday mornings' installation. {I will be doing a post on the new library in a couple of days after we've had the ribbon cutting} My night was even better though...I got to run away to my friend, Michelle's house for a night of scrapbooking! I haven't touched my stuff in almost 6 months. Sniff sniff. It's been hard. Thankfully I've had my blogs to keep me going. :0)

I only got 3 pages done that night, but I got a lot of chatting done, which was wonderful as well.
Saturday morning, bright and early, I headed off to church for an Activity day with my 5 year old class. We played for about an hour, and then I rushed off to Landon's last basketball game and awards ceremony. He rocked and scored FIVE baskets! {Yes, I am a proud mommy} My hubby coached the team, and so we took all the kids out for ice cream cones after the game. They've become such good friends and it's been fun to get to know all of the boys. BUT....I was in a hurry to get going, because not only was I invited to scrapbook Friday night...but all day Saturday as well. I got over to my friends house at around 2:00 and was able to get several more pages done. So much fun! I need to do that more often. Oh wait! My friend is so wonderful, and she let me leave my stuff at her house because she is hosting girls night for March...and we are scrapping on Thursday for our night out! YAY! More fun! I can't wait! I'm definitely needing more supplies though....a trip to my local scrapbook store will definitely need to be coming up before Thursday. :0)
I hope you all had a fabulous weekend! I am SO tired..especially with the time change. But, it was SO worth it! And thanks so much Michelle! I had a blast!

Tag! You're It!

I was tagged by my friend Alicia (check out her blog) and so now I'm it. Here's the game....

Instructions: Go back through your archives and post the links to your five favorite blog posts that you’ve written under the following categories:

Remember though that I have three blogs, so the links might take you to a different blog of mine. :0)

#1 (click on link to get to post)
Family
I love little moments like this. Just a quiet Sunday morning of family fun. I love that my kids enjoy each other so much, and that my hubby is a BIG kid that plays with them. Love it!

#2 Friends
This was such a fun night. The only downer was that we couldn't invite more people over. We start the basement on Monday and so all of you beware! There will be more parties to come...bigger and better! I love having friends over. Chatting and eating, getting to know each other better. And the fact that you all came in costume to humor me...even better!

#3 Who Am I?
I think that explains it. I am a mom, sister, daughter, wife, aunt, cousin, friend...you get the idea. I love to have people around me. They make me a better person. Wow, it's getting deep in here!

#4 What I Love!
I know that I just posted this one...but seriously, it explains it all. The shoes, the food, the scrapbooking, reading, movies, 80s, music, blah, blah, blah.....

#5 Freestyle Blogging! (Blog of choice)
I get tease relentlessly by SOME people about my blogging habits. So, this blog explains it all. It's not necessarily my "favorite" post of all times, there are too many of those to pick just one. Like this one, or how about this one, or even this one. Good times.....

So, thanks Alicia...what a fun trip down memory lane. But as part of the rules, since I am "it" it's my turn to tag others. And apparently I have to pick three of you....so....(drumroll please)

1. Bonnie (newer blogger)
2. Sisters of a Different Order...(Sassy or Honey Bunch, both or either of you!)
3. Bridget (A Day In A Life...)

So, get to it! I had so much fun with this and am looking forward to seeing what you guys come up with for your favorite posts. Happy blogging!

Let's Swap!

Disclaimer: I have attempted to re-align this post six times now. And apparently, Blogger has a mind of its own today because it just crams everything back together.....so, I'm sorry.

For girls night last night I hosted a Craft Exchange. I have wanted to post for over a week what I made for it, but didn't want to ruin the surprise for the other ladies coming. And then, I completely forgot to take a picture....so you don't get to see what I made.

BUT! You can see all the GREAT stuff that I got from my friends!

Tana made these YUMMY spanish cookies. I forget what she calle them, but they are kind of like a shortbread cookie, cut into a diamond shape, and then completely covered in cinnamon and sugar. They practically melt in your mouth.

Holly went INSANE and crocheted a scarf for each of us. So impressed by that! She is an expert in my book! She said it only took her an hour for each one! An hour! That's it! Anyway, she made three different colors so we could choose which one we liked. They are sooooo soft.

Amy made cute little 5x5 accordian albums for each of us. I knew about this one, because I ran into her at Michaels when she was picking out the paper for them. I got to hand select my paper. Isn't it cute? Mackenzee's pictures will go so cute in it!

Montay got crafty too and made this adorable snow sign with wood blocks. It's perfect as I decorate with snowmen at my house. So, I was super excited to see what she had done. I had no idea she was a toll painter. The things we learn at girls night!

Michelle's was adorable. This is just a little round glass bowl with a styrofoam ball on top. She decorated all of it up with blue felt and buttons and tah dah! The most adorable candy dish I have ever seen! The nose is literally a little wooden carrot.










And last but not least....
Alicia made homemade tree ornaments,

sewed a little cloth tree, and attached the story of the three trees to it all. If you haven't read the story...you really should. A really great Christmas story.


My craft was a coffee can sized tin that I decorated up with snowflake wrapping paper and a 3" snowflake ribbon with a little wooden snowflake charm tied on with white fibers. I filled the inside with soap snowballs. They turned out really cute. Wish I had remembered to take a picture!


Anyway...we had so much fun chatting and eating and swapping. I just love my girls night girls! You all make me laugh. Thanks so much for sharing your talents and yourselves with me!