Let it snow? Make it stop!!

It's is still snowing. We thought it would only be a 'small' storm, but it's filling in the gaps that were made by our footprints already. I used to love snow. I remember wishing for snow all of the time in elementary school and hoping school would be canceled. I would sit in front of the TV early in the morning to see if 501 would cancel school and I'd get to sleep in. Or I would go out and play in it for hours and go sledding on Quinton Heights hill in Topeka. Now, I dread it. It sucks how things like that slowly lose their fun as you grow up. I remember buying all the fireworks my allowance could handle when I was a kid, and I'd spend hours putting on shows for the next door neighbors. Now I think of it as literally burning your money. Growing up is tough.

Casey and I just watched a movie, and now I'm knitting and baking chocolate chip cookies. We've had a pretty relaxed weekend. Casey got his truck back today- now the heater works and the brakes aren't making strange noises, yay! Not really what we thought we'd spend money on right before Christmas, but since we're taking the truck to Topeka this week, I'm glad to know it'll be in good shape. :) We got a few more Christmas presents taken care of tonight, too, so we are almost ready to head back. We're going to try to leave Tuesday evening and make it as far as we can so we can have more time on Wednesday at home. I can't wait!!

I'll probably write again before we head back to Topeka. I shoulod hopefully have more interesting things to write about! (Let's hope!)

-Ashley

Dang IL Drivers!!!!!!

Well, I made it to the weekend. It's snowing again, though, and I can't tell you how thrilled I am. Riiiiight. We have to go pick up Casey's truck from Firestone (it's getting some brake work done, along with a few other things) and I'm really not excited about going out in the weather again. Yesterday I almost got rear-ended; I looked in my rear-view mirror to see a guy swerving out of the way to avoid hitting me. I sat through 3 traffic lights because people weren't watching what was going on. I was at Blockbuster returning a movie, and was pulling out of the parking spot when an older man turned into the parking lot... apparently he got pissed because he had to wait for me to turn (which honestly didn't take long at all) and he gave me a dirty look and sped past me like I'd made him wait an hour or something. Rude drivers in Illinois!!!! So yeah, I'm not really looking forward to getting back out in it anytime soon. Sorry for the complaints. I never thought I'd miss SC drivers, but at least they were a little more polite!

I can't wait to go home for Christmas! We got about 95% of our Christmas shopping done now... yay!! So I'm just rambling now. I feel like writing but I don't really have much of a topic. That makes for a pretty boring blog, I would think.

I'll write more later when I have something to actually say. Thanks for reading anyway! :-D

-Ashley

From 70 degrees in SC to 7 degrees in IL....

I don't know if I'm going to make it to the weekend.
They are predicting up to a foot of snow here tonight. We just got back from sunny SC on Monday after Casey's graduation (yay Dr. Hetrick!!!!). We came back to 7 degree temps and a frozen truck. It was a freaking cold ride back to Plainfield from O'Hare, but luckily we made it back fine and the house was intact. We got around 4 inches of snow on Tuesday (it took Casey around 1.5 hours to get home from work that night), and not much of it has melted, so tomorrow's going to be terrible. There's no sense in sugar-coating it... it's going to suck.
Being in SC again was great. We got to see a ton of people and although it was a quick trip, it felt like 'home' again. It just hit me harder when we came back because I miss it so much. But I know that this is another chapter in my life, and it was time for us to move on. Casey's home more now, and actually gets a decent night's sleep. I'm thankful for that.
I'll post some pictures from graduation. I'm so proud of Casey!!! It was nice to see him achieve something he worked so hard for... and now he'll let me refer to him as Dr. Hetrick! :-D
I'll write more later... glad I got my oil changed today and some Christmas shopping done before the storm hits tonight. Help me Lord.

Love,

Ash


Breakfast at Cafe Strudel



Dr. Hetrick & Dr. Amiridis



Group picture after graduation

If you could leave me alone, that would be greeeat.

The freaking company called me again just now to tell me about the 'opportunity' they would like me to be a part of... so I called them back to tell them I'm not interested. Apparently they don't talk to each other, because they didn't mention the fact that I had an interview scheduled for this morning which I had canceled yesterday. Curse you people!!! Apparently it was partially my fault for not setting my resume to 'private', but they shouldn't keep calling to harass you after you've deleted your profile AND called them directly to tell them you aren't interested. Kick me while I'm down, why don't you? Okay, so that's a bit dramatic, but I honestly was disappointed when I found out that they didn't really want me to interview because of something from my resume, they just wanted a body to fill their position. Oh well... I'm just glad that I saw the red flags and checked it out before I went to interview. Alas, I'm repeating my previous entry... but I'm still ticked off.

Today will be spent getting the house in order and packing for our trip to South Carolina tomorrow afternoon. I can't wait to get there!! I'm sad to leave Charley behind, but I'm certain he'll have fun at the PetsHotel. I can't wait to see all our friends in SC!!! I miss them so much... and a big part of me wishes I was still there sometimes, but I know that I need to move on to the next chapter in our lives. I just need to get myself in a comfortable place here, get a job, and go back to school. I'm tired of being a hermit. I've allowed myself to get into bad habits (sleeping too much, being lazy, not doing housework, etc. etc. etc.) so I need to change to make our situation a better one. I'm not doing myself any favors right now. Anyway, enough of that. I'm excited for a fun weekend, and it'll be great to be able to call Casey "DOCTOR HETRICK" without making him embarrassed. (I'm not sure if he thought it would jinx him or something, but I think until he actually graduates, he didn't want anyone to call him that... maybe he thought they'd change their minds or something?? I'm not sure... but either way it'll be nice to have it official!!) I probably won't get to update until Tuesday of next week, but by then I should have some pictures of the Doc! :-D Yaaaaayyyy!!

-Ash

Things that make you go hmmmmm...

Here are some more things I've been thinking about lately that don't make sense to me.

What the heck is up with inverted Christmas trees? No offense to anyone reading this who may have purchased one, but I just don't understand the concept of having a tree that is upside-down. Do you hang it from the ceiling? Is it so you could put more presents underneath it? Will someone please explain this to me? These are just as expensive as trees that go the 'normal' direction, so I just want to know what the deal is.

Why is Firefox coming up in KOREAN!? Whenever I open Firefox for the past week, everything is in Korean. Today, when I initially opened the Blogger website, it was in Korean, too. I have updated anti-virus software, so that shouldn't be an issue- I just really wonder what the heck's going on. It's pretty annoying.

I recently met a woman who dyed her poodle's hair pink and purple. This is another thing I don't really understand. Nuff said.

Charley is going to stay at the PetsHotel at PetsMart while we're in Columbia this weekend. Banfield, which is located in the store, is his new vet. For some reason, they had me walk back and forth to try and coordinate a vet appointment for Charley while he stays at the pet hotel. Something in their contract says that someone cannot walk him from the hotel to the vet, or vice versa. So, I guess I will be making a separate appointment for him at the vet when we get back from SC. I'm sure it's all legal stuff so they can't get sued if Charley and another animal get in a fight or get hurt between the hotel and the vet... but still... it has not been an easy process.

There are plenty more things I don't understand (the CareerBuilder/job scam being one of them) but I will leave it at this for now. I think that's enough of a b*tchfest for one day. :-)

-Ashley

I'm slightly pissed right now...

I am looking for a job right now, so I recently signed up on CareerBuilder.com to see what I could find in our area. Things were going fairly well- I applied for about 6 or 7 jobs, but didn't get much feedback. I then started recieving e-mails from random businesses that obviously had not read my resume, and they wanted to set up interviews with me. The e-mails were generic, at best. I figured that if they were legit, they would call me.
This morning, I received a phone call from a company in Woodridge. I applied for a receptionist job in that area this morning, so I thought it was the same company calling me back. They said they would like to set up an interview with me tomorrow morning. I spoke with the lady for a few minutes and got the location information, etc. When I hung up, I Googled the address so I could know where to go, and looked back at the application I sent in this morning for the receptionist position. The details didn't match up. I decided to investigate the company. When I put the info into Google, instead of getting a website with the company information, the links were about scam alerts for this company. Apparently they go on websites like CareerBuilder and Monster, and select people to interview to become insurance agents. According to the scam sites (and there were quite a few of them), they make you pay a fee to start, and then cheat you out of any bonuses you may get. The ridiculous turn-over rate was something that almost every single article talked about. I also checked out the phone numbers I received (both from the woman who called about the interview, and the number from our caller ID) and BOTH came up on scam alert-type websites. I just called them back to tell them that I was not interested in coming for an interview tomorrow.
It pisses me off, mainly because I was excited to finally get another interview, only to find out that it was not for a job I had applied for in the first place. I deleted my information on CareerBuilder.com just now so I can try to find jobs on my own... that way if I get into a scam, it'll be my fault for sending them information, and it won't be someone finding my information on the website and trying to screw me over.
Anyway, other than that, things are going well around here. Casey and I are excited to be in South Carolina in a few days! I look forward to seeing everyone again. I think I'll try to focus on that more than the jerks that are trying to fool me into interviews. I don't think I'd be a very good insurance agent as it is... so I'm glad that didn't work out. Grrrrr!!!!!

-Ashley

Photos- finally!!

Here are some pictures of Thanksgiving and decorating our tree for Christmas. Enjoy!


De & Casey stuffing the turkey with apples and sage, and marinating it in apple cider!! Mmmm...


Charley waiting on food to fall on the floor...


Food, glorious food!


Charley plays in the snow...

Take 2...


Decorating the (fake) tree...


Decorated tree...


Charley gets a "puppy latte" (whipped cream...)


Charley's favorite pose... he thinks he wants to go play in the snow.

-Ashley

Thanksgiving and such

Wow, I can't believe that a week ago today, the Hetricks were coming to town. Their time here went so fast, it's going to take me a moment or two to remember all that we did last week... but here goes.

Thanksgiving went well. De made an amazing turkey stuffed with apples and sage, along with a ton of other items that were delicious. The meal was really good (esp the Mac & Cheese!!!) and we are still working on leftovers as I write this. :)

Friday, Leslie, Keith, and Casey all woke up at 4:30 am to go shopping. I'm glad I had the chance to stay in bed, because there really wasn't much I wanted to buy that was worth getting involved in the mad rush of crazy people at the local Best Buy, etc. They were out for about 3 hours, and got some good stuff. Casey got Guitar Hero III at a very good price. Leslie got a ton of movies, and Keith got tools. It sounds like it was worth the trip (even though the Wii Fit had sold out by the time it was their turn to get one... bummer!).
Once they got home, everyone slept until about 10, and then we all got ready to head downtown. We shopped for a few hours, had an AMAZING dinner at Weber Grill, and then shopped a little bit more before we went to see Wicked at the Oriental Theatre. It was fabulous!!! The ladies that played the lead roles had terrific voices, and the visual effects were pretty awesome. I highly recommend it to anyone who may be able to see it before it leaves in January!

Saturday, the weather wasn't looking so great for the Hetricks to fly back to Topeka, so they decided to try to leave as early as possible to avoid the rain and snow that were coming in. They were able to make it back to Topeka without any problems, which was great. Casey and I tried to spend some time outside on Saturday figuring out what we were going to do with our Christmas lights... unfortunately our roof is too slanted and we aren't able to put them up the way we wanted to. We're still looking into Plan B, but it will all depend on the weather...

Sunday, it snowed almost all day. We ended up getting almost 3 inches between Sunday morning and Monday afternoon. Charley has gotten to play in it a little, although he doesn't seem to like stepping in the snow very much and chews on his paws a lot afterward. Looks like we may look into getting him some booties or something so he doesn't chew on himself too much. I got a few pics of him playing in the snow this weekend, but I'll try to take more this week as it's supposed to snow every single day until the weekend. Blah!!!! I miss South Carolina right now!!!!! Luckily, we get to go there next week for Casey's graduation. :-D

Casey and I have been a little sick since Sunday (we think we may have caught what Val had while she was here) so he stayed home from work yesterday. He was able to work from home most of the day, but was suffering from a headache and sinus issues most of the day, as I am now. I feel a little better today, though. He does too- I'm waiting for him to get home from work anytime now. We put up our (fake) Chirstmas tree last night, but realized we didn't have enough lights, so I went out to get some today. We don't really have any ornaments to put on it, so I may head out tomorrow and get some before I get my hair cut. Casey didn't like getting a fake tree, but it makes more sense for us right now because we will be in Kansas over Christmas. Next year, if we stay here, I'm sure we'll be able to get a real one. The one we got isn't bad, though, and we'll be able to take it anywhere we go in the future. I'll take pictures of that too, once we get it decorated.

I guess that's about it since I wrote last. I'll try to take more pictures around here soon and post them. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, and I'll probably write more before the week is over.

Love,

Ash

Happy Thanksgiving!

I figured I wouldn't get the chance to write tomorrow, so to anyone who may be reading this, Happy Thanksgiving! I have a lot to be thankful for this year. I am thankful that I have wonderful family and friends. I am glad that Casey found a job that he likes, and that he will officially be Dr. Hetrick next month. I am thankful that we have moved to a neighborhood that we really enjoy. I am thankful for all of the opportunities I have in front of me, and I just hope that I make the right decisions this year. I am happy that so many people we know have either had babies or will have them soon. So many things to be thankful for... and I'm going to keep this short because I could probably make a huge list... I just don't want to bore you. Just know that I am very thankful, and have a very long list of things to be thankful for.

Love,

Ashley

PS: Keith (my father-in-law) wanted me to tell whoever I'm writing to (you) that "Menards is great, and if you don't know what it is, you're really missing out." LOL... he cracks me up. :-D

Productivity

It sure doesn't feel like Friday. Last weekend went so fast, I can't remember hanging out with Casey much at all. I'm thankful that we have this weekend to spend time together, and get the house ready for company next week for Thanksgiving. I've got quite a bit to do, but if all goes well my motivation level will stay the way it is right now and I'll be more productive.

So after a 2 hour conversation last night with Casey, and after a lot of thinking and encouragement from those around me (esp. Mom!!) I have decided to definitely go to school next semester, and have enrolled in one class. I may add another, but at the moment I figure it will be a good way to get my foot in the door, and also have enough time during the week to work full time. That will at least 1) earn money so I can take more classes in Fall 2009, and 2) if the job is within the school district, I can get a big discount on courses, which would be great! So, as of right now, I am taking my first Photography course since high school. I feel good about the decision- hopefully I will be able to learn a lot and do well next semester. I'm glad to finally have something set in stone now!

Other than that, I went to the DMV to get our license plates today, which was by far the quickest and easiest experience I've ever had at a DMV. South Carolina was an absolute NIGHTMARE and I'm glad I don't have to go back there anytime soon, if ever.

I also went to Starbucks and got a free coffee today. I sat down and started chatting with a lady named Nicole, and we hit it off pretty well. I may never see her again, but at least I was out of the house and socializing. Hopefully that doesn't sound as pathetic as I think it does. ;)

Casey's home now, so I'm going to go... just wanted to update! I'll write again soon...

-Ash

Dogpile Blog; Too much info?

Wow, where to start. Last Friday morning, we left Plainfield to drive back to Topeka for Keith (Casey's Dad)'s 50th birthday party. We arrived at my parents' house around 3 pm on Friday, so we made pretty good time. The sad part was, I had all week to plan for the trip, and instead of making a list and planning ahead, I waited until the last minute (shock!) and ended up forgetting a number of things... including my camera. I know, I can't believe it either. If it indicates where my mind was at the time, I also forgot Charley's collar and leash. That's pretty ridiculous. We made it through the weekend, but I had about 8 hours in the car to think about all of the things I should have done before I left home. Not one of my brighter moments. Anyway, we made it there safe, and we were able to do what we needed to do by borrowing things from our families. It all worked out in the end, no thanks to me!

Friday evening, we spent time with my parents. Mom made her amazing chili, and we sat and chatted with my parents until about 8:30. At that point, Lindsey and Sara came over, and the four of us went to Applebee's for drinks. It was great to see them again! I never seem to have enough time at home when we go, but even a few hours with the girls always makes me feel better. I haven't laughed that much in FOREVER. :)

Charley didn't sleep well that night. He must have gotten too freaked out about being in a new place, or he was scared because Casey and I were away from him for a few hours... who knows. All I know is that he was up just about every 2 hours, needing to go outside. His stomach was upset, and whenever he gets that way, he wants to eat leaves or grass. I didn't know until Sunday that he'd managed to eat half of one of Mom's plants that was in the living room!! I wish I could have gotten a picture of it... I'm surprised he didn't get extra sick from devouring the plant. Crazy kid!!

Because I didn't sleep very well, I ended up sleeping in a bit on Saturday morning. We got a call from the Hetricks, saying that they were waiting for us to come to their place so we could run errands for the party that night, so we headed across town in a hurry and made decent time. I went with Leslie and De to get party decorations and the cake, while Casey and Keith ran other errands. We went back to the house (I got a little nap in before people started arriving) and we decorated the house. Around 4:00, Keith wanted to go out and shoot his new gun. I stayed inside to stay out of the cold and stay away from the shooting, but I was quickly talked into trying a few rounds by Keith. I had a bad experience as a child when my uncle got drunk and made me shoot a rifle while he stood behind me. The rifle kicked me back into him, and I have been scared of them ever since. Shooting with Keith and Casey did make me feel more comfortable around guns... although I still don't feel very comfortable with having one in our house anytime in the near future. I don't feel like we would need one around here anyway.

Around 5:00, the guests started arriving. It was nice to see family and friends that we hadn't seen in awhile. After eating, we gathered int he living room for a 'roast'. Keith is a really tough person to roast. Casey and Valerie were the hosts, and both of them started to tell stories about Keith, but they both ended in compliments more than teasing. I decided to seize the opportunity to tell a story about him. I have to say, I was pretty embarrassed to tell it, and I believe my face was bright red the entire time, but it got some good laughs. Okay, I'll tell you too, so you're in the loop.

A few years ago, Keith and De were in Columbia visiting us, and we had just gotten finished with dinner at a local restaurant. We all stood up to leave and were walking to the door, when I feel someone pat me on the butt. At first I thought it was Casey, but when I turned around, I realized it was Keith. Apparently he had thought that I was De. We both realized what happened, and quickly walked away to our separate cars without saying anything. I found out later that we both brought it up to our spouses as soon as we were out of the parking lot... we were both so embarrassed that we didn't want to address it and embarrass the other. So the next morning we go out for brunch, and one of the first things De says is, "Okay, something happened last night, and I think we need to talk about it." Keith and I both turned beat red, and I'm pretty sure I put my head down on the table because I was so mortified. Telling the story at Keith's roast was the first time I've said anything about it since that day... and again, we both turned 12 shades of red. But ti got a lot of laughs... and for embarrassing the crap out of him, I thought I would end on a good note, too, so I said that I was lucky to have him as a father-in-law.

So anyway, the party went well, and Keith was happy. So was Charley Brown. He met SO many people, and got to show off his tricks after dinner. He was completely wiped out when everyone left. He also got to play with Jag, the 2 year old Great Dane, and was down for the count on the way back to Illinois. :)

Before we left Topeka, we met up with Aaron Brumley, Casey's best friend since Kindergarten, for breakfast. It was great to see him again and chat for an hour or so. He and Casey get into some pretty interesting philosophical discussions, so I happily listen and try to keep my blood pressure down. ;) It's really not bad, esp. since I've gotten stronger in my political views recently... I just tend to let my emotions get into the discussion and after awhile I realize I'm a little tense. But they really seem to enjoy challenging each other, as they have the entire time I've known them. I think they could spend days like that without getting tired. :)

We left Topeka a little later than expected, but made decent time and got back to Plainfield around 8:00. It started snowing about 45 minutes away from home, but not enough to accumulate. We were both pretty tired after the drive, so we went to bed fairly early that night.

Monday night, we decided to go purchase a Nintendo Wii. I LOVE IT. We also got Guitar Hero that came with 2 guitars, so we have been able to play together, which is a lot of fun. I really suck at that game, but I'm slowly improving. Last night I think we played for about 2-3 hours. Along with Guitar Hero, we also have Wii Sports, which came with the system. I have been doing pretty well on Bowling (and to those of you who have seen me bowl before, I do NOT do that stupid little kick thing, thank you VERY much!!!). The sad part is that I decided I would do the fitness training that came with the Sport game, which judges speed, stamina, etc. The game says I'm 50 years old. How depressing. LOL... I knew I was out of shape, but seriously!! I'll try it again tomorrow and see what it says. I think I may have pulled a muscle in my rear end on Tuesday, too, because I was hobbling around the house all day yesterday. Maybe 50 wasn't a bad estimate....

I'll move on to today. Today was the first day that new students at the College of DuPage could register for classes. I had asked for my previous transcripts to be sent to the College to assess if any of my previous courses would transfer and count toward my degree. Only Washburn sent a transcript, so I wasn't able to get copies of my classes to take to an advisor. It turned out fine, though, because my advisor told me to start taking the basic Photography courses I would need to get the degree anyway, and then next semester we could look into the other courses and see if I can skip any. Now my dilemma is the cost of two classes... since I live out of district, I have to pay $296 PER CREDIT HOUR. I think this is pretty extreme, but there are ways around it. If I can get a full-time job within the district, a letter from my employer can make me eligible for a large discount. So, tonight I'm going to talk to Casey about what to do. I guess the worst case scenerio would be that I wait for one more semester, get a full-time job, and save up money for the Fall. Most responsible people would have looked into this ahead of time. Obviously someone other than myself. I reap what I sow, though... procrastination is nothing new for me, I just have to learn from my mistakes and realize that this situation is much different from my previous college experiences. This time I'm not relying on other people for support; I'm relying on myself. We'll see where I go from here.

I guess that's about it... and it seems like plenty. Casey and I will talk tonight, and I'll try to update again before the weekend is over.

-Ash

Start of 27

So far, 27 hasn't been too bad. I can't say that I've gotten dressed yet today, but I've gotten a lot accomplished. Today I have been talking with people from USC, helping them find things I left behind so they can go to Philadelphia and recruit for REU and Grad school. I realize more today than ever that I really miss it there. That job made me feel very important, and I look forward to finding one in the future so I can fill that void. It's nice to be here but be able to help out there, too. It's nice to feel needed! :-D

Although I can't say that I don't feel needed at home. I'm currently eating pineapple curry, and Charley is telling me that he needs me... to drop some of it on the floor! He's 'talking' to me, and putting his face on my knee, trying to look ultra cute. It's working, but he hasn't gotten any food yet. ;)

Tonight, Casey's taking me out shopping, and then we're going somewhere for dinner. I don't know any details, I just know I need to get showered and dressed up soon. Then when we get home, we get to pack for our trip to Kansas tomorrow! We're only staying a few days, but we're going back to celebrate Keith's birthday. It's supposed to be SUPER cold there, but I guess I'm getting used to that these days... I'll be layering, as usual. It's pretty windy here today. Speaking of that, I just realized that one of our trash cans is trying to roll down the street, so I'd better catch it before it gets away. That's all for now! I'll try to update when we get back from Kansas on Sunday.

Love,

Ash

Goodbye 26

I will officially be 27 in a few short hours. Every year around this time, I sit back and think about the way I "should" act at this point in my life, and how I do act. I have come to the conclusion that I am the most consistently inconsistent person I know. Seriously. I can't seem to get into a good habit of doing anything these days. I didn't feel well earlier in the week, so I pretty much slept through Monday and Tuesday. I started feeling better this afternoon and actually got up and was fairly productive. I've allowed myself to sleep too much and if I don't get a good handle on it soon, I'll have Hades to pay when I go back to school. Motivation would be greeeeeat.

I need to get out of this house. Just running to the bank to deposit a check today was pretty exciting. I treated myself with a cup of coffee (and I had hoped Charley would get a "Puppy Latte" out of the deal, but the Starbucks chick apparently didn't know what that was... boo!)... anyway, the coffee helped me out the rest of the afternoon. I got five loads of laundry done, dishes done, clothes folded and put away, and the kitchen straightened up a bit. This is a vast improvement over the rest of the week. I have plenty more to do tomorrow... I'm going to start my day off with a non-Starbucks cup of coffee and see if liquid motivation helps me out some more.

I have officially become one of those people I used to make fun of; someone that dresses their dog. We bought a sweater for Charley on Sunday, and I'm pretty much enthralled with how cute he is in it. I really want to get him another one. I wouldn't have done it if Casey didn't think that it might be better for him during the cold winter months; Chuck doesn't have much of a fur coat. And heck, he's a South Carolina boy- he's not one for the cold. It would also help if he didn't like it, but every time I go to put it on him, his little butt starts wagging. I guess the pictures I've supplied of him don't really show him looking happy- I think he gets tired of the camera. I would too if I were him... but he's a good model.

It just proves to me that I need more of a life when I spend the majority of my blog blogging about my dog. And laughing at myself because I made a little rhyme. I also laughed at myself the other day when I tried to throw our newspaper from the driveway up to the steps by the front door, but because of my terrible aim, it landed in our tree. I just looked up at the tree and thought, 'Did I seriously just do that?". If I would have tried to throw the newspaper in the tree, I probably never would have made it. It surprises me that I used to be so good at the Nintendo game, Paperboy. Those days are long gone.

I guess as another year goes by, it's time again for me to think about growing up. This year should do it, though- we own a house, I'm going back to school, Casey's got a great job... a lot of responsibilities to look forward to. Forgive my random thoughts... I always do this around the time of my birthday. I let myself put everything off until the end, and then I think about all of it at once and freak myself out. Enough of that, though... I've come to the end. Goodbye 26! Bring on 27!! It's time for a change.

-Ashley

Obama!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I cannot express how it felt to watch the election results last night and find out that Obama won. That was one of those goose bump-inducing moments... when you know you are watching history in the making. That is such a cool feeling. His speech was amazing! I really wish I could have gone downtown to see it live! But I'd probably still be there with a crowd that large.

Some of my friends are frustrating me a bit with their reaction to Obama. I know we cannot all agree on one person, but the way they're verbalizing it is kind of scary. I've seen too many words like Communist, Socialist, Terrorist... do they honestly think that, or were they brainwashed by hearing it throughout the election? It is obvious that the majority of people in our country want to get out of the rut we are in right now- that Bush put us in- and turn things around. And I honestly don't think anyone I know makes enough money to have to worry about paying more taxes under Obama's plan. Get real, guys! Calm down and accept the fact that when people get out and vote, when they take things seriously and are tired of being in the situation we are in right now... GOOD things happen! I believe our country is not as "stupid" as some people have claimed it to be because McCain lost- I think for the first time, maybe ever, people realize that we can really make change happen. Could things get much worse for us right now? Doubtful. And the scariest thing of all to me is, if McCain had won and something had happened to him, do people honestly think Sarah Palin would be a good President!? It's those people that make me nervous. I won't go far enough to call them 'stupid', but I will say that no matter how quickly Obama moved up the ladder, he is far more qualified to run our country than she is. Hopefully things will cool down now that it's over, and the McCain supporters will stop fighting it. I know they can't all think he's a terrorist, but from the comments that were shouted during McCain's concession speech last night, there are some scary people out there who don't have their facts straight. It's people like that that make me a little worried for Obama's safety; the extremists who booed him and shouted lies about him. They compared him to JFK last night- I guess that's what made me start to think about that side of things. I truly hope he will be safe and no one will try anything stupid. Okay, I think it's time for me to cool down a bit and let my blood pressure go back to normal now...

In other, very different news, today is the last day of nice weather. From here, it starts getting cooler, windier, and now they are saying it may SNOW on Saturday!!!!!!!! Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!! Hopefully it won't stick. I'm not ready to drive in snow... I haven't done it in years and I'm not quite ready now. And oh, that wind!! It's crazy!!! We raked leaves this weekend and you can't even tell now! I'm glad some of the trees still have leaves on them- otherwise it would be bare and a little depressing! Fall here is beautiful, I will say that.

Anyway, I will quit rambling now. I'll update some more later... and will try not to let other people get to me and go off on another tangent. :)

-Ash

Downtown Naperville

Last night, Casey and I decided to go to a bar called The Lantern in downtown Naperville for 10 cent wings and football. Minus the football (and the slightly spicy wings that cleared my sinuses!) it was a pretty good time! I have to say, I would love to explore downtown Naperville more. It reminds me a bit of downtown Charleston or maybe Savannah with all the little shops around. And maybe a bit of the Plaza in Kansas City. Anyway, we got there late enough that most of the stores had closed, but we are considering going down there for a day on the weekend to shop and check things out. It looks like there are a ton of things to do there, so I expect we'll do that soon. It was fun to get out of the house and hang out with Casey. Next time we might meet up with a few of his work friends.

In other news, I'm pretty anxious about the election today! I really hope Obama wins! I'm afraid of what would happen if McCain wins... he reminds me too much of Bush and I honestly think the country would be worse off it he were in charge... or if something were to happen to him an Palin were in charge! Ahhhhhhhh! I just can't take her seriously. We'll see tonight. It would be neat to go to Grant Park downtown and be at the Obama rally, but it's going to be absolutely insane! Think I'll stay home and keep a safe distance.

I'm sorta ticked at Ben & Jerry's. They are giving away free ice cream today, but only if you have an "I Voted" sticker. What about those of us who voted absentee?! We still voted, darn it! I honestly don't need ice cream that badly, but it's just the idea that I voted and can't take part in the celebration like others can. And honestly, I wish I WOULD have gotten a sticker anyway, because this is such a huge election that it might be nice to have a small momento of it. Lame, I know... it's not a big deal... I definitely will remember the election even if I don't have a sticker. Again, it's just the concept that is a little frustrating... I won't lose any sleep over it.

The weather here is going to be in the 70s for the 5th day in a row! It's wonderful! The bottom is going to drop out this weekend, though- it's supposed to be in the mid 40s on Saturday as a high... so Charley and I are going to go for a walk soon and take advantage of the nice temps while we can. I've been inside so much lately that I feel I'm paler than I have been in years. I didn't think it was possible to get more off-white than I already was, but I'm proving myself wrong. Time to get some Vitamin D from the sun instead of a bottle!

I guess that's about it for now. Write more soon!

-Ash

Halloween!

We had a fun Halloween this year! It was quite a bit different from previous celebrations, because this time we 1) own a house, 2) dressed up the dog, and 3) had a TON of trick-or-treaters!! Another strange thing was that the weather was wonderful- it hit at least 70 that day, so we sat outside with our neighbors Carrie & Jason while the kids came by to get candy. We saw some great costumes and had fun introducing the neighborhood to Charley Brown (as Charlie Brown). The kids really liked him. He hated his costume, but once he started getting a bunch of attention, he seemed to deal with it pretty well.

Honestly, not much else is going on around here right now. I would definitely write more if there were interesting things to write about. We mainly did house work this weekend, and a lot of leaf raking. I promise to update more when I think it won't totally bore you! :)

Love,

Ash


Dressing Charley in his Charlie Brown costume... I was Sally.


With "Linus"


Charley was not happy with me at this moment in time... but he got over it quickly once the little kids came by. :-D

Pictures and such

I have slacked off so much on taking pictures of the house, so I wanted to post a few. Yesterday I went out in the back yard and got a few of Charley playing, as well as different close-ups from plants and things in our yard. Other than that, I'm just getting the house ready for the Hetricks' to visit this weekend. I'm not sure what we'll be doing quite yet, but I'm excited to have them here to see the place. I also can't wait to see Kyle and his girlfriend Kate! I still can't believe I haven't met her yet. It should be a fun and busy weekend!

Other than droning on about random things, I will just post pictures. Nothing's changed yet as far as the job search goes. I'm still glad I didn't get that job... it wouldn't have been suitable for the school situation. Oh well, I'm sure I'll find something... even if it means working at a coffee shop. I really don't mind a change right now! Having all of this 'free time' has allowed me to get homesick. For Kansas and SC. I'm definitely happy with our living situation here, I just miss everyone a lot. I haven't gone out and had many chances to make friends here yet, so I've become more of a hermit than I had anticipated I would be. Oh well, I know it will get better. I wouldn't be comfortable if it stayed like this forever, so I'll make sure it doesn't stay this way very long.

It's getting much colder here. The wind has really picked up the past few days. It's supposed to rain all weekend, and then the high is supposed to be 49 on Sunday! Ahhhhh! I think all I've really worn this week are sweatshirts and jeans. I will not be winning any fashion awards anytime in the near future. And I'm DYING to get my hair cut soon- it's been over 2 months now- but I want to be able to do it for Halloween without having to find a wig. Maybe it'll be worth the wait- it's just that anxiety of finding a new stylist when you've gotten so used to one person for the last ___ years. I'm going to stop complaining now and post some pictures. :-P

-Ash


1) Hole I put in the screen door trying to get into the house... lol...


2) Charley peeking out at the neighbors

3) Charley running in his back yard!

Weekend events

Hello! Not a whole lot is going on here right now. There's a cold rain coming down outside, so I'm cooped up in the house with Charley. He's being a little whiny right now... he's started doing this weird growl/sing thing recently that is pretty funny. I discovered this on Saturday when I plugged in a Glade air freshener and the little fan started making a 'whir' noise. It totally freaked him out. My dog is such a dork. :)

Since I wrote last, the fence has been built, and Charley's really enjoying his back yard even more now than before. He and Casey have been playing out there quite a bit. He'll actually chase the ball around for awhile until he gets bored.

Casey had Friday off, so we spent a lot of the day getting the house more organized. We are down to 3 boxes now! I hope my BeautiControl stuff is in one of them. That's the only thing right now that I can't find from the move. It's rather frustrating, but I'm sure it'll show up at some point. I found all of the kitchen stuff I had been missing- it was in a box we had set aside for garage sale items, by accident. Anyway, the house is really starting to look a lot better. I feel like for the first time in my life, I actually WANT to clean. I think something's wrong with me...LOL. It's probably the fact that we actually own the house, and it was in good condition before we moved in, so I'd like to keep it that way.

In other news, I didn't get the job I interviewed for last week. It's actually good; I applied to college this morning. I should find out soon if I've been accepted. It was a little scary, but I think it's the best time for me to go back now. I'll update more on that later!

Time for me to get back to 'work': the Hetricks are visiting this weekend, and I just found out Kyle, one of my best friends since I was in Kindergarten, is bringing his girlfriend to visit this weekend, too! I can't wait! I have never met her yet, but I've heard a lot about her, so I'm glad to finally meet her after... gosh... 3 years? I have no idea. It's been a long time, though.

Anyway, Charley's whining, so I'm going to try to figure out what's wrong. I'll write again later!

-Ash

Update...

Sorry I have slacked so much on the blog! You'd think that being unemployed would give me more time to write. In fact, it gives me less to write about! So I'll try to be a bit more frequent about updates.

Hmmm... where to start. I guess I'll start with last Saturday. Casey and I got up and planned to be super productive. We were in the morning- we got a lot of boxes unpacked, and started organizing rooms. Around 1:30 pm we saw that the neighbors across the street were outside, and we had promised them our boxes because they are moving at the end of the month. We spent about an hour or so bringing boxes up from the basement for them, while they had a chain of people walking back and forth across the street to fill their garage up with the boxes. I was so glad to get rid of them! We can actually see the basement floor now!

After that, we noticed that the neighbors to our right were outside, so we started chatting with them. At some point, lawn chairs were dragged to our driveway, and there were upwards of 10 people sitting there with us. We got to know the neighbors a lot better, and had fun playing with all of the kids. (I know I exaggerate a lot, but there are TONS of kids on our street!!! Besides us, another couple a few houses down, and the neighbors on our left, we are the only ones without kids, and everyone else on the block has a minimum of two!!! Laura and her husband that live directly across the street have FOUR girls!) So anyway, there were children running around everywhere, and we were able to introduce them to Charley Brown. Once they saw him do tricks, they all wanted to give him treats and make him do more. I think he was doing tricks for about 45 minutes, and I'm surprised the kid didn't explode from all of the treats he was given! He loved all of the attention, and adores the children! I was really proud that he did so well with them. One little girl named Megan who is 2 years old apparently loves animals, and she walked right up to him and put his face in her hands. It was so stinking cute! He gave her tons of kisses (which was convenient for him since her face was right at his level...). I'm even more convinced that Charley will do great with kids when we eventually have them. :-D

Wow, I got off topic. Long story short, we spent the rest of the afternoon outside with the neighbors, and then Cathy and Ray (neighbors to the right) decided to have a cookout. We spent the rest of the evening until about 11:30 pm at their place. The kids played inside, and the rest of us sat outside, eating, drinking, and laughing. We had a lot of fun with them, and had a hard time leaving. Two of the moms had an onion fight (one put an onion slice down the others shirt) among other hilarious events that I will refrain from mentioning at this time. If they were out to prove that parents can still kick back and have fun, they definitely reached their goal. LOL...

In other news, the fence builders are here as I write this, which will be great for Charley! Now he can go outside and go to the bathroom without me watching him like a hawk. He saw a rabbit last night and took off, but luckily he listened to me and came back before he went into the neighbor's yard or into the street. I'm confined to the house until they are done building, but I have projects and things to work on, so it shouldn't be too bad. Charley's jumpy because he hears them outside and is dying to go see what they're up to. I expect he'll pout a bit since he's not going to get his way, but he'll get over it. (With perfect timing, he just let out a huge 'I'm bored' sigh.)

Anyway, I guess that's it for now. We're excited that the Hetrick clan is coming up around the 24th! They haven't gotten to see the house yet, and by that point we should have a lot more order to the place. It gives us something to look forward to!

I'll update more later when something interesting happens.

-Ash

PS: For Halloween this year, we're dressing Charley up at Charlie Brown, I'll be Sally, and Casey will be Linus. I'll definitely get some pictures!

Only to me...

The past few days have been spent at the house, though they have been a lot less productive than they were when my parents were here. I've done probably 10 loads of laundry this week because we didn't have access to a machine until they were installed on Tuesday. We had to buy a new dryer because we had a gas set-up instead of electric, and it was going to be less expensive to buy a new one than it would have to install a new line for the electric. So we bought a nice new High Efficiency washer and dryer that work well. Wednesday, our new dishwasher came. The old one at the house was broken, so the seller agreed to give us money to replace it. So far we haven't had enough dishes to run a cycle, but I'm anxious to see how it works.

I think that's about it for new appliances so far. The main reason why I wanted to write today was to tell you what happened to me just a bit ago. Charley had to go to the bathroom, so I went outside the back screen door with him. When I shut the screen door, I heard a click, and realized we were locked out of the house. I was still in my pj's (I'm not feeling well today so I'm lounging around) and I'm in desperate need of a shower. So of course this is the time the screen door locks. The ironic part is that I have a hard time locking it from the inside because the track is slightly off, so I have to jiggle it a bit to get it into place. But when I go outside, suddenly it decides to slip right into place. Of course. So I go to the front yard and try out the garage door. That doesn't work. We have never gotten it to work from the outside by pushing the keypad, even though we know what the code is. I go to the front door, which is also locked. Beautiful. I go to the back yard again to see what I can do about the screen door. I even call Casey and leave a message to see if he has any suggestions. Then I remembered that when I took Charley out to go to the bathroom earlier, someone had been in the yard marking AT&T lines with spray paint and little flags. I picked up one of the flags, bent it, and stuck it through the screen. It took a few times, but I was able to lift up the lock and get in. I think I may have been a cat burglar in a previous life or something. Either way, we're in the house now, and I think I'm going to let him go out by himself next time.

That's all for now. I'll take some pictures soon (I'm actually hunting for my camera right now- it got moved around somewhere in all the craziness- I'm sure it's here- but I'm freaking out a little right now because it's not in plain sight.) Anyway, I'll update the pics soon and show you what we've been up to in the house. :)

-Ashley

The House!

Again, I have a long story, but this time it's a good one. On Wednesday, we were given the keys to the house on 'good faith' by the seller and our attorney (if I remember correctly). Casey went to pick up the keys, and the movers came about 10 minutes before he got back. We were able to move in and get everything into the house in a matter of hours. Happy ending!

I absolutely love the house. It's more than I ever thought I would have for a starter home. My parents have been here helping us unpack and get settled in. We have way too much junk. I look forward to having a garage sale sometime in the near future before it gets too cold. :)
It's been great having my parents here. Dad's helped Casey a lot with building various furniture, and Mom and I have taken care of the organizational things. We finally have internet, cable, and telephone... sadly enough, Casey called AT&T a week or so before we were set to move in, and when the guy arrived to install everything, someone had lost our order. He came in, brought all of the equipment, and then sat out in his truck for a good 2 hours while he did 'troubleshooting'. We were told that he wouldn't be able to fix it then, and that someone would have to come next week to finish installing it. Casey called a bunch of people at AT&T to try to get it sorted out, and he finally connected with someone who walked him through the set-up. So, if the job at BP doesn't work out for him, he could definitely get a job with AT&T. He amazes me, what can I say?

So yesterday Casey and I were furniture shopping, and we discovered IKEA for the first time. OH. MY. GOSH. I love that place! I honestly think it's my favorite store of all time. I think it's pretty neat that you can build whatever you want and customize everything. Casey's working on building our entertainment center right now. While it's always nice to have something that you don't have to spend hours building yourself, I think it will definitely be worth it, because it's what we wanted and couldn't find anywhere else (without paying an arm and a leg). The prices are very reasonable there and I honestly think I could spend an entire day there without getting bored. Yay IKEA!

I'm sure there's plenty more I could write right now, but it's 6:55 a.m. and I'm not going to be functional the rest of the day if I don't try to sleep a little more. Charley busted in our room a little bit ago and laid on my legs, so I had a hard time sleeping because my legs started losing circulation. I swear, that guy has a knack for laying right on top of me. Speaking of him, though, he seems to be enjoying the new place. He's still skiddish and of course he's scared of all of the boxes around, but he loves going on walks with Dad and getting so much attention from Mom while we're busy getting everything set up. Oh, and we've met just about all of the neighbors, and I really like them! The majority of them seem to be in their early to mid-30s, and all of them have kids, or at least have one on the way. We should have a ton of trick-or-treaters!!!

That's all for now... I'll try to update again soon!

-Ashley (Homeowner!!!) ;)

PS: It's freaking cold here. I'm running out of long-sleeved shirts to wear so I plan to go shopping soon to take care of that problem... I just thought I'd have a little more time before I had to put a jacket on to go outside! Of course, Casey's not having any problems with the weather, and rarely puts on long sleeves or uses a jacket. If only I were a little more warm-blooded. ;)

Wells Fargo Woes

I have an extremely long and detailed story to tell, but I can't right now. VERY long story short, some idiot at Wells Fargo wrote the wrong name on the wire transfer to the title company yesterday morning, so while we have all of our papers signed and our money is in the bank, we cannot get keys to the house until the title company receives the wire transfer. And it's all because one person wrote in Casey's name instead of the title company. Needless to say, yesterday was a long, exhausting, disappointing day. We didn't get the house yet. We weren't even able to do a walk-thru when it was scheduled originally because the movers showed up to pack and move the owner. She was supposed to close on her condo yesterday after our closing, so we aren't sure where she stayed last night because she couldn't close, either. What a mess! There's nothing we can do now but wait. Our attorney is the only one who can straighten things out with Wells Fargo at this point. All I can do is hope that someone can straighten this out ASAP. The movers are supposed to meet us at the house between 12 and 1 today, but if the money situation hasn't been resolved, we'll have a lot of stuff and no where to put it. Please just let this go better than it has... I'm sort of at a loss right now. We know the house is ours, but there's nothing we can do. Anyway, you know there'll be plenty more to write soon. I hope it's good news!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

More later,

Ash

Get me outta here!!

So far this morning, I have

1. Woken up at 7:45 to Francisco, the maintenance guy, busting into our room. No one told him the room was occupied, so he came right in... not his fault, but I will say that Charley scared the crap out of him...
2. Gotten a phone call from the front desk by the manager, who wanted to know why we weren't staying in room 235. Room 235 is our internet room for now. We weren't supposed to move all of our stuff to it, according to Kimberly.
3. Recieved another phone call from someone at the front desk, needing another description of what was going on. I'm so annoyed with this place right now. At least I have a room to go to to blog about it for now... I know I won't have internet for the next two days because we'll have to move out of this room tonight (235) and then we're going to get the HECK out of here on Wednesday. The movers are scheduled to show up between 8 and 10 with all of our stuff Wednesday morning. Hooray!! Get me out of this stupid place!!!

That's about it for now. I slept too much again this morning. I have a bunch to do, so I need to get a move on. We're almost out of here! I wonder what else will happen before we leave... all I know is that this place needs a serious lesson in communication.

I'll write back soon- next time I'll probably be writing from OUR NEW HOUSE! Thank you LORD!!!!!!

-Ash

Testing...

Have I mentioned that I'm ready to get the heck out of this hotel? Here's what's happened in the last 24 hours...

• Took Charley to the new PetsMart by our house. Good times had by most (Casey may not have had as much fun, since he had to be the one who was dragged around by Charley.) We met a lot of people and dogs, though, and got to take a tour of the Banfield clinic and the Pet Hotel. Cool stuff!
• When we got back to the hotel, we started moving. If you need an update, we were told we'd have to move to the 2nd floor because next week there was going to be renovation on the first floor. We made several trips with all of our stuff, and of course we went from room 106 to room 230, so it was on the opposite wing of the building as well.
• Get to the new room- everything is working okay, and we're unpacking a bit. Casey realizes that the internet isn't working.
• Casey spends hours on the phone with tech support, trying to figure out what is going on with the computers. He moves one of the computers back down to room 106, and the internet works fine. He spends more time on the phone with tech support, but they finally say there's nothing they can do to help.
• Today, we didn't do a whole lot. Casey wasn't feeling so great this morning when we went to breakfast, so we cut that short and came back home. We napped for a few hours, and he felt better. (I felt okay, I just thought I'd nap while he did.) :)
• I go downstairs to start a few loads of laundry, and see the lady at the front desk named Kim. She asked me how the internet stuff went last night. I told her about Casey's issues, and she started investigating other rooms we could use on the 2nd floor for the internet. Then she mentioned that she's really not happy with the rest of the staff at the hotel, because they didn't pass the word on to us yesterday that we actually didn't have to switch rooms after all, because the renovations have been pushed back a week. So, Casey wasted an unknown amount of hours trying to get the internet fixed, when he could have used that time to make corrections to his dissertation. Not only that, but we wasted time moving to the new room.
  
• Kim found us a room across the hall from our room on the 2nd floor and we're in here 'working' (Casey is, obviously I'm blogging away)... so we technically have two rooms right now. Kim took off the charges for our internet connections for our entire stay because it's been such a pain.
  

I am soooooooooooooooo ready to close on the house and get the heck out of this hotel!!!! Ahhhhhhhhhhh! I'll write more tomorrow, assuming I can get a decent internet connection. :-P

On a brighter note, we close on the house on Tuesday and my parents come in that night! It should be a much better week. On a random note, I think I'm addicted to House. (The TV show, not our real house. Yet.)

-Ashley

Falling and Fences

I think I am probably pretty funny to watch from a distance. I just took Charley out to go to the bathroom, and he started pulling me down a hill and I fell on my ass. When I stood up to dust myself off, there was a big black beetle just inside my button-up shirt, so I freaked out and tried to slap it away, but it ended up going farther into my shirt. I'm pretty sure that this 30 second period of my life would have been funny for someone else to witness. Just thought I would share, so you can laugh at/with me, too. :)

Casey's here now and we're going to go to lunch and then to take pictures of the back of the house again for the fence people. I think building the fence could be an interesting situation between the Home Owner's Association, the Village of Plainfield, the fence building company, and any other people in between that seem to need copies of the survey of our house, various permits, and other random applications. It's starting to get slightly ridiculous, but at least we are trying to cover all of the bases so we don't make any mistakes. That wouldn't be a good way to start our new life in Plainfield!

That's all... for now.

-Ash

Productivity!!

So yesterday started out as a pretty lazy day. I actually slept later than I would like to document, but it was mainly because my stomach was not being nice to me. Charley and I lounged around most of the morning. After that, I somehow got the urge to start looking into the College of DuPage online again as I had done a bit in the past week. I stumbled upon the Human Resources page, and decided to check out what jobs might be available. I found one I was interested in, and started the application process. Basically in the past 18 hours, I have:

• Updated my resume (which was covered in cobwebs since I haven't used it in four years...)
• Typed up a cover letter to the HR department at the College of DuPage
• Contacted new references and asked for reference letters
• Submitted my online application, and e-mailed my resume & cover letter
• Taken the typing and MS Word tests for the College of DuPage online (and scored in the 88th percentile! Happy day!)

I actually woke up around 6:30 when Casey got up, and have been awake ever since. It's a miracle. I guess laying around for two weeks in the hotel has finally made me antsy enough to actually be productive and start looking for employment! Oh, and I had a nice cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee this morning (there are more DD stores here than there are McDonald's, I'm pretty sure...) which probably lead to my productivity as well. Good times, good times.

On another note, I am SO glad the new season of The Office started last night. It did not disappoint. I'm sad that I don't have as many people to talk to about it, though... Casey's not a big fan. I will say that he did attempt to watch parts of it with me last night, so that's a step in the right direction. If I had someone to talk with about it, I would definitely talk about the fact that Jim and Pam FINALLY got engaged! And the situation with Angela/Dwight/Andy is pretty hilarious. Michael's a dumbass for many reasons, but when he ripped up the Counting Crows tickets, I wanted to reach through the TV screen and rip off his head. Not to mention the fact that I actually like the fact that Michael and the new girl haven't hooked up yet... we all know it's going to happen eventually, but it's good that the show is not predictable enough to make it happen when we most expect it. They are both so awkward and perfect for each other. Yay season premieres!

Speaking of premiers, I am sad that they killed of Dr. Pratt on ER. I understand that it's the last season for the show, but they don't have to start killing people right away. I shed a tear or two at the end... maybe not as much as I did when Dr. Green died a looooong time ago, but still... the writers really have a way of playing with your emotions when they kill off a character. Booo!!! I guess that's good writing. I would probably cry either way, who am I kidding??

I'm starting to feel pretty tired, so I think I may take a nap. Casey thought he might be able to get out of work early today, so I think we're going to meet up for lunch at some point soon, and then he's going to work on making corrections to his dissertation. We have to pack up all of our stuff today in order to move upstairs tomorrow... the hotel is starting renovations next week so we can't stay on the first floor anymore. It's kind of a pain in the @$$, but that's okay. If only the house could have been ready a day or two earlier! Whatever... at least we won't have too much time to unpack before we move out again; maybe this will make things a little easier.

CB is driving me nuts the past few days by whining a lot. Right now he's laying on the bed, staring out the window which faces the main door to the hotel... needless to say, he's fairly entertained right now. We'll see how long that lasts! We're going to take him to the PetsMart near our house tomorrow- it's the Grand Opening, and there will be a lot going on over there. It'll be a good chance for him to get to know the store that he'll go to most often. Best of all, it's right down Rt. 59 which is basically right down the street from our house! I CAN'T WAIT TO MOOOOVE!!!!!!!!!!

More later,

Ash

PS: Yes Jenny, the waffles were made of real Belgians... have you heard from Olivier lately?? I'm just sayin'... lol.... ;)

Housekeeping

Wednesdays are our days for Housekeeping here at the Extended Stay Hotel. The cleaning lady surprised me last week at around 10:00 am, so today I thought I'd be safe, wake up at 8:30 am, and have plenty of time to shower and get out. Today, she knocked on the door at 9:15 am (which would have been fine had I not hit snooze a few times after 8:30... oops...). So I asked if she could come back in 30 minutes and she agreed. I got dressed without showering (ew!) and get Charley ready to leave. We ran to Starbucks to get some breakfast, went to the ATM, and then to the Post Office. I got back around 10:30, thinking that would have been plenty of time for her to clean. Nothing has been touched. I realize now that I'm screwing up her schedule by being here. The bad part is, she's scared of Charley, so I have to be sure to take him with me where ever I decide to go while she cleans. Normally that would not be a bad thing, but we already ran our errands for the morning on this side of town. I'm not sure when she's coming now, or what I'm going to do with the kid when she comes back. I would take him for a walk, but it's been raining off and on and it looks like that will continue at least until this afternoon.
Dilemma #2 is that I have a meeting today at 2 with our Realtor and the company that is going to build our fence, so I would like to be in the shower ASAP to get ready for that. I can't take Charley with me to the meeting. I don't want to be pushy with the staff here and say that she needs to do it sooner rather than later, but I'm not sure how else to handle the situation. With any luck, maybe she'll show up in the next few minutes, Charley and I can take a walk, and it won't rain. We'll see.
On a brighter note, we will be in our house in a week. This is assuming everything has gone through with the loan officer, etc. Casey told me yesterday that she has not been the easiest person to get in touch with, and she hasn't followed up the way she was supposed to. Luckily, everyone else we're working with has been very helpful, so hopefully that will all work out. [I am really trying not to end sentences with a preposition, but sometimes it's really difficult. Growing up with a father who was an English major makes me aware of things I shouldn't say, but somewhere down the line I forgot the rule about ending sentences with a preposition and I'm not sure how to stop. I just did it twice.] Please just laugh at me and don't think about how ridiculous I sound.
So even though my 'accident' the other day wasn't that big a deal, I'm still nervous to drive. Maybe it's because the GPS is being a POS. I don't know. I think it's also because I have no idea where I'm going around here. I know that will get better with time, so I'm sure it'll all work out- it's just frustrating right now. I miss Columbia. At least there I knew where things were. Okay, I say that, realizing that I would have probably killed to have a GPS when I first got there, because I had no idea where anything was at that point. It feels like things should be easier to find here, though. It's the Midwest. It's not like SC where you could never see the street names because they hid them on the side of the road in a bush somewhere. At least here they post them up by the traffic light. And the Midwest works on more of a grid system. Thank goodness! Not to be a jerk or anything, I'm just glad to get back to a system that makes a little more sense. I remember getting lost numerous times in Columbia because I'd take a street and then suddenly it'd turn into another street name without warning, and I'd be in another town or something. It really wasn't that difficult. I say that, knowing that I'm terrible with directions and get lost a little more frequently than I'd like to admit. Going to Jenny Amos' graduation party, I got so lost that I literally ended up almost 45 minute away from where I needed to be. But again, I will blame that on the fact that the street sign I was looking for was definitely in a tree at the time, and it was nice that when I finally got to the party, other people said the same thing. It's still embarrassing to be late, though!!
I guess that's about all for now... I'm still waiting on the cleaning lady to get here. I guess until then, I'll hang out in the room with Charley and kill time by reading or something. I'll probably write again later after I get back from the meeting at our house this afternoon.

-Ash

Weekend update

So much has happened since I wrote last, and it's only Tuesday.
Friday, Casey and I drove to Kansas to surprise Grandma & Grandpa Shrimplin for their 50th wedding anniversary. I couldn't write about it for fear that someone would let the secret slip. The drive to Kansas was MUCH shorter than the drive from SC to KS, but there was a lot less to see... there was not much curvature to the road and it was slightly boring at times. Casey and I kept each other awake by listening to loud music and drinking a lot of caffeine. We got to Topeka around 11:30 p.m. and Charley Brown got to play with the big dogs for awhile. I think we all slept pretty well that night.
Saturday, we ended up having an early lunch with Lindsey and Sara at The Classic Bean. It was so great to see them!! Casey and I had a lot of fun catching up, and Casey got to tell them all about his new job, etc. After that, we headed out to Lake Shawnee to surprise Grandma & Grandpa Shrimplin. They were definitely surprised! We had fun seeing the family again, and playing with the little cousins. I took more pictures than I thought I did- over 200. You can check them out at this link.
After the party, we went back to Keith & De's place and made Smores. Lindsey came out for an hour or so and we got to chat some more. Aaron Brumley made it out, too, so it was nice to catch up with him as well. It was a late night, but it was definitely worth getting to hang out with old friends again. :)
Sunday we woke up and got ready for church. Keith made us some awesome Belgian waffles for breakfast! We made it to 2nd service and got to see quite a few people we hadn't seen in a long time. After that, we went to my parent's house so Charley could meet Yuki, their Shiba Inu. She was not very happy to see him! Charley didn't know the difference and he kept trying to get in her face and play, but she was not happy at all, and came at him with teeth! The meeting was short. She's a very pretty dog, and she's not bad at all around people, but other dogs must make her feel threatened. No worries though- Charley got to visit with 'grandma & grandpa' while Yuki stayed outside. It was nice to hang out with my parents again. Mom made chili so we scarfed that down... it was delicious, as usual! Shortly afterward, we had to head out of town. We left around 2, and made it back to the hotel around 10:30. It was nice to get home a little earlier and get to sleep. Well, I say that... the dog slept on my feet again, so I didn't sleep very well, but Casey seemed to. :)
Yesterday, I decided to get around and go run some errands. I decided that even though I was going to PetsMart to get food for Charley, I would leave him at home. It's a good thing I did. As I was waiting for the guy in front of me to turn right into the shopping center, I accidently looked down and didn't know I'd taken my foot off the brake slightly, and I bumped the back of his car. He got out and said, "You need to watch where you're going!!" which pretty much instantly brought me to tears. We pulled into the parking lot to assess the damage. Luckily, there really wasn't any, but he called the police anyway to get a record of the event. While we were waiting for the cop to get there, I found out that the guy's daughter's name was Ashley Brooke, too. He told me I "couldn't be a bad kid" because of it... haha. Anyway, long story short, he was fine, and when the cop came, he basically laughed at the guy for calling him. He wiped off part of the guy's bumper and said he really didn't see any damage. He also said that if it appeared to be under $500 in damage, the drivers are expected to exchange information and just take care of it themselves. I was much more calm after the cop assessed everything. I just felt like an idiot. It just goes to show that you can honestly take your eyes off the road for a SECOND and something can happen. I'm just glad I didn't hurt the guy or damage anything. (Sigh).
After that, I tried to find the nearest Walmart using the GPS. The thing sent me all over the place without finding a real Walmart. The first time it sent me to a parking lot. Then I went to a shopping center where you'd think a Walmart would be, but it was only Sam's Club. Finally, I found a real Walmart. In all, the errands I needed to make that shouldn't have taken longer than maybe 2 hours ended up taking 4. I was very glad to get back to the hotel and take a nap to try and forget what had happened. I was pretty frazzled by the end of it. Needless to say, I'm not really in a hurry to go anywhere today. I'm doing 3 loads of laundry at the moment, and I think I'll read my book for a bit. Other than that, I'm going to do a bit more searching online about going back to school to see my options. I think I'll stay here today, at least until Casey gets home.
That's all from me... and I'm sure it's plenty. :)

-Ashley

It's been a busy day already! Casey and I are taking a road trip this weekend, so I've been getting things ready for that. We're taking my car, and I didn't want to take it in the condition I got it in because it looked like the delivery drivers had taken it mudding or something... so Charley and I took it to one of the automatic car washes. That scared the crap out of him! He couldn't figure out what all the brushes and things were doing around him. There were so many strange noises- his poor little ears were shoved back against his head the whole time. He's better now- he's taking a nap on the bed. I'm also doing laundry, and the last time I went to put the clothes in the dryer, I heard Charley scratching on the door all the way from the lobby. He's really freaking out, and I'm sure the road trip isn't going to help matters. He will get to play with other dogs this weekend, though, so that will be good for him. I'm sure he'll get plenty of attention. :)

I need to pack to get ready to leave. Casey's coming home early from work (hopefully around 3 or 3:30) so we can get on the road. I probably won't have access to the internet much this weekend, but I'll definitely update on Monday. I'm sure I'll have plenty to write!

-Ash

Road Trip with Charley Brown

Charley and I just got back from a 2.5 hour road trip. We checked out one (of the many) Petsmart stores and made some new friends there. A lady named Kathy helped us out quite a bit and mentioned a few places to go or Google to find the nearest dog park. We also went to a place called Doggie Deli and I got Charley some beef jerky. He's spoiled, I know. This day was dedicated to him, though- I just wanted to get him out so he might not be as clingy in the hotel. We'll see if that worked...

We drove over to the new house- it was a long drive, unfortunately... but I think there'll be plenty to do around our area once we move. I feel like we're a long way from the hotel, but in reality, we won't really have a need to be on this side of town after we move. Casey's commute to work will probably be the only thing bringing him this way. Anyway, I definitely took a picture of the SOLD sign in our yard! :-D I can't wait until October 1st!!! Charley and I drove around our new neighborhood and saw a bunch of little kids. I think it's going to be really good for him. He is listening better now than he ever has, which is reassuring. I think he'll be great around the kids... I just have to make sure he knows not to get too excited and lick them in the face. Knowing Charley, that'll probably be the first thing he does. Oh well! At least he's a friendly kid.

That's all for now. Casey called me a bit ago and said that he didn't get lunch because he was in a meeting at the time. I felt bad because I had just stopped to get Burger King right before he called. It wasn't much of a lunch, though. I told the kid that I didn't want pickles or onions, and that's all they gave me! I ended up eating meat and bread. Woo hoo. I'll probably be hungry by the time Casey gets home, but I hope he doesn't want the leftover pasta we've had since Sunday. I'm a bit pasta'd out at the moment.

I'll write more later!

-Ash

Good morning!!

We've got mail! I called the Columbia post office and finally got everything settled with our forwarding address. For some reason, it would not allow me to change our address to a PO Box online, but they had me fill out the paper form and said it would not be a problem. They also agreed to forward all the mail they'd been saving to our PO Box today. (Sigh of relief).

As soon as all of that got figured out, Charley heard a horn and started barking. Turns out, the horn was from the 18-wheeler that had arrived with my car!!! I officially have a vehicle again!! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaay! So I just ate some breakfast, and I'm planning to get around here and take Charley to the Doggie Deli which is not far from the hotel (but not really in walking distance- for me, at least). I know it won't be the same as Three Dog Bakery (we miss you guys a BUNCH!) but it'll have to do for now. I just want to drive around today and explore. With the new GPS!! Yay!!!

That's really about it for now. At this rate, though, I'll surely have more to write later. I just had to share the good news! :-D

-Ash

Entry #2...

You know I'm bored when you get more than one entry in one day.

I just tried instant coffee for the first time. The first and last time, in fact. It is disgusting. It has this strange after-taste that reminds me of the sulfur smell on the 4th of July. I even put in a ton of half & half and sugar, but that definitely didn't help. Ugh.

That's really about it. I'm watching TV, something I haven't done a lot of until I've been stuck in this hotel room. Ellen just interviewed the author of a book I'm reading called New Moon. It's the second book in the "Twilight Series" about vampires. I'm fairly addicted and I'll need the 3rd book soon as I've blazed through the first half in the past 3 days. I've always had a thing for vampires, so this is an easy read for me. (I also think it's geared toward a younger audience, but since it's about vampires, I'm willing to overlook that fact.)

I think Casey's going to the health club tonight after work, so I have a bit of extra time before he gets home. I'm going get involved in the book and hopefully the time will pass quickly. It's strange to go from complete chaos to boredom in less than a week. It's also strange to know that I'm writing so much about being bored. That must be boring for you to read. I'll try to spice it up a bit soon, somehow. :)

-Ashley

Exploring Lisle

This morning we woke up with a start. Casey thought he'd hit snooze, but he turned off the alarm. It was almost 7:30, the time he wanted to leave so he could be at work for training! I ran around trying to get his clothes and things together while he was in the shower. He left about ten minutes later... it was quick, but not a great way to start the morning, I'm sure! Hopefully the rest of his day is going better than the beginning.

So I slept in again after that. I woke up once when Housekeeping came to the door, but I think Charley scared her away. I got a phone call a bit later that said today was our day for Housekeeping and that she'd be back in 15 minutes to clean the room. I got dressed quickly and decided to take Charley for a long walk. We went exploring around the hotel, and then ended up walking down the main street for a bit. There is literally nothing around here. It was a pretty day, though, so we explored a bit and I took some pictures. (I'll include them in this post if the slow internet connection will allow...)

Last night after Casey got home from work, we had to go to FedEx Kinko's to fax some things to the mortgage company. Walking in that place brought back a lot of memories, which was weird since I've never been in that store before. I guess it's the familiar scent of paper and toner, who knows. I don't remember faxes being so expensive, though. What a rip off! It was $1.49 for the first sheet, and $1 for every page after that. We had about 20 pages. Ouch!

After that, we ran to the Sprint store. I guess I forgot to mention that in our horrible drive here, I accidentally dropped Casey's phone on the cup holders near the gear shift, and the screen got a crack down the middle. That definitely didn't help the mood of our drive. So we had to take it to Sprint to see what they could do to fix it. Needless to say, they couldn't do much. Even though Casey has insurance on the phone, it apparently doesn't cover things like that. It looks like they'll have to overnight a new phone to him sometime this week. Hopefully that'll be the end of that!

I guess that's about all for now. Charley's napping on the bed, but I know if I get up to take a shower, he'll be right there next to me; he's been my little brown shadow this week. I can't wait to get the house so he can run around and play... I love the kid, but I feel like we're attached at the hip right now. Maybe we can take him to PetsMart again this week so he can calm down a bit. :)

Thanks for reading... more tomorrow, I'm sure. :)

-Ashley

PS: As I was uploading pictures, we got a letter under our door. They are apparently renovating the hotel, starting with the first floor. They want us to move to a room on the 2nd or 3rd floor on Sept. 29th... go figure! We move to the new house on October 1st! This could get interesting... stay tuned...

Ho-Hum in the Hotel

Man this hotel is boring. I slept a lot today. I hate to admit that, but it's my own fault. Charley slept on my side of the bed last night, and proceeded to have puppy dreams and kick me a lot. At one point I kicked him out of bed, but he ended up hopping right back up a bit later and laying on my legs. When I woke up earlier, they were completely numb. So, I took a nap earlier today to make up for the sleep I lost last night.
Charley and I have gotten to explore outside a few times today. The weather is beautiful- it's probably about 72 degrees right now, and I don't think there is a cloud in the sky. What a vast improvement from the past few days! There aren't many things to see around the hotel, but we checked out a field in the back (apparently it's some sort of dog run). Charley sniffed everything. We're close to a highway, so he jumped every time he heard an 18 wheeler go by. I thought that opening the curtains in our room would help him so he could see people coming in and out of the building. Instead, he's been whining and pacing around whenever he sees someone outside. He's probably waiting for Casey to get home, or he's just looking for some additional attention. Casey and I took him to PetsMart last night after Case got home from work. You'd think he'd never seen people or other dogs before! He was super excited. We got him some treats (including some Greenies so his breath will improve a bit... we hope!). There's nothing like the smell of dog breath in the morning! Hopefully he'll calm down a little bit. I'm sure things will improve when my car is here and I can take him out to parks, etc. I can't wait!
Casey seemed to really enjoy his first day of work yesterday. It's exciting for me to see him so enthusiastic about the project he's going to start on soon. The more he talked about it, the more I thought that any boss would be lucky to have him. I know I'm biased, but he's got such a strong desire to improve on things that may not be his strong suit, and make a difference on whatever he's doing- if I were an employer, I would definitely consider myself lucky if he was working for me. I look forward to hearing more about it today when he gets home.
We are getting the mortgage and insurance stuff figured out today. It sounds like things with the house are still on schedule to close on the 30th! I'm too excited- but it's hard to think about when I'm cooped up in this hotel room. It's only TUESDAY! Two more weeks... let's see if I make it without going crazy. :) It will help a LOT when I get the car back!
Casey has decided to join a local health club, so last night we went to check it out. This place is AMAZING! It made Strom Thurmond Wellness Center look tiny. It's got more weightlifting equipment than I've ever seen! We had a man name Justin take us around and show us everything. They've got the biggest rock-climbing wall in the Midwest, from what I understand. They have a gigantic pool, as well as a huge gym, and just about everything else you'd see in a place like that. They also have a spa and salon, which you don't normally see at fitness centers. I liked it a lot, but if you know me, you know my willpower doesn't really stick around long enough to continue a workout schedule. We will pay month-to-month, though, so if I decide that I can handle it, I'll get a membership, too. There is apparently another branch of this place that will be close to our new house, so I'll check out the classes over there and see what I can find.
Speaking of classes, I started looking into going back to school next semester. It's making my stomach do flips. I have had the desire to go back to school soon, but when I look at the classes and everything, it makes me nervous. I feel more motivated now than I ever have, but it still freaks me out a bit that I haven't been in a classroom in about 5 years now. I just don't want to lose the motivation like I have before (which is why I changed majors FOUR times!) Oh well... I'll let the idea sink in- I have time to check things out before I need to apply.
I guess that's about all for now. Casey should be home in the next 45 minutes, thank goodness! I'm getting antsy.
Thanks for reading... more later, of course.

-Ash