Monday, December 28, 2009

2010.

a penny saved..
is a penny earned.

Except when I see new shoes..
So, here is my gift to you..

I hope, I’ve got nothing’ to loose.

Saving some dough
some stress and burdens too..

I want to buy a cottage with you…
I hope that this will do.

Here is to 2010..
I cant believe how time as flew.

…Did I mention that I love you?

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{That’s the letter I wrote to Mike. I put all the pieces into an envelope and I set it on the counter. I’ll let you know what he thinks when he opens it.
We are starting this year off with a BANG. He might pass out when he sees what I did..
I want to be debt free. I want to manage money, keep our budget and learn to save the money I get every week.}

Saturday, December 26, 2009

At Christmas Time

Have I mentioned how much I love Christmas? I really do. Not just for the presents. I love that feeling in the air. You know the one? That just seems to calm everyone down and make everyone  in a good mood, no matter what. I love that! I wish that it was like that all the time. I really do.

At our house, we did Christmas over a couple of days. Mike and I have such wonky schedules that we wanted to be able to do everything together. And we were planning on going over to Mike’s mom’s house for Christmas day. I kind of missed opening all the presents on Christmas day. We finally decided that it was okay to stay home. I know, I said it. We are going to be staying home from now on. Both of  us work the day after Christmas anyways. It only seems fair. Not just to us, but to Olivia too. She needs to build memories from home. I think that next year, she will be even more excited for everything. I actually cant wait. She became quite the excellent paper ripper.

I was thinking about traditions in our family that I could share. We only have a couple, but I always look forward to them. At my Mom’s house, we always get an ornament at thanksgiving. She always knows the PERFECT one to give. She is just good like that. At our house, Mike and I always put our ornament in the stocking. I love getting two new ornaments every year. I think we might be able to upgrade our tree next year! Woohoo!! Another traditions that we have is pajamas on Christmas Eve. I love that! I love pajamas! Who doesn’t!? And then you also look really cute in your pajamas when people are taking pictures of you opening presents! :) DSC_0392 (2) 
The last thing that Mike and I do is, 3 presents. 3 presents each. Usually one from each of us, and one from us together. Mike and I decided that we didn’t want to focus on stuff. Hard to believe right? I know, I’m robbing my child of a tree FILLED with presents. But really think about it. When you were a kid, you always wanted  that ONE thing. The one thing that you would of LOVED to have. Your mom always bought you everything around that one thing. And I will admit that Olivia may hate me when she is 13 and “everyone else gets a million presents” but she will (hopefully) realize that some people don’t get anything. I think that next year, we will include service into our Christmas celebration. Helping the homeless, donating to toys for tots, or filling up a shoebox

Anyways, here are some fun pictures of Miss Liv :)

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Christmas at Grandma Nancy’s

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I hope that everyone had a Merry Christmas! :)

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Um…

 

Olivia is kissing boys.
To be exact. A cute boy name Canyon. 

she is already kissing boys.. *sigh*

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She goes in for another from Kota…
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he rejects her…

do you think it’s too early to plan their wedding?!

…i don’t think so.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Christmas cookies

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sneaking dough, the sprinkles, the icing, the mess.
best. night. ever.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

blessed.

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Have I told you lately, how much I love you?

You don't choose your family.  They are God's gift to you, as you are to them. 
~Desmond Tutu

Friday, December 18, 2009

hanging stuff, Ashlee’s way

This is my no fail system to hanging shelves, pictures, and anything else that goes on the wall.

I take a piece of paper or two the size of whatever I’m hanging. tape it together.

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I mark the holes on the piece of paper. I usually have to line up the paper so that it’s straight. I use a screw driver or a pencil. Whatever I have on hand.

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I tape up the piece of paper where I want it to go, and then I start hammering or screwing the holes in the wall. I have to hand screw these ones. which was a pain in the BUTT. I’m using my sears gift card of this bad boy.

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See, then you have the papers attached to the walls and the holes in the right spot.

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Hang your shelf. And then pull the papers out from under the shelf.

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Perfect straight little girls vanity for Liv.

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I did the same exact thing for her dress up hanger.

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I hope this helps and I hope it works! When I figured this out, I haven’t gone back to “guessing” since! :) Mostly, I just feel really awesome that I can hang things without my husbands help. I swear, he busts out the graphing calculator, string, a yard stick and whatever else to hang up stuff for me. He probably 100% straight. but whatever.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

I love snow.

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It snowed 9 inches on Tuesday. Look at that face, that is my happy face {kinda funny that I just typed gappy?} Then my face went from happy to mad because my car hates the snow and didn’t want to start. GRR

Olivia was a little excited. She got to throw snowballs at Mommy.
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I love her rosy cheeks.

numerology

I did this for fun here:

You entered: Ashlee

There are 6 letters in your name.
Those 6 letters total to 23
There are 3 vowels and 3 consonants in your name.
What your first name means:

English
Female
Meadow of ash trees.

Your number is: 5

The characteristics of #5 are: Expansiveness, visionary, adventure, the constructive use of freedom.

The expression or destiny for #5:
The number 5 Expression endows with the wonderful characteristic of multi-talents and versatility. You can do so many things well. The tone of the number 5 is constructive freedom, and in your drive to attain this freedom, you will likely be the master of adaptability and change. You are good at presenting ideas and knowing how to approach people to get what you want. Naturally, this gives you an edge in any sort of selling game and spells easy success when it comes to working with people in most jobs. Your popularity may lead you toward some form of entertainment or amusement. Whatever you do, you are clever, analytical, and a very quick thinker.

If there is too much of the 5 energy in your makeup, you may express some the negative attitudes of the number. Your restless and impatient attitude may keep you from staying with any project for too long. Sometimes you can be rather erratic and scatter yourself and your energies. You have a hard time keeping regular office hours and maintaining any sort of a routine. You tend to react strongly if you sense that your freedom of speech or action is being impaired or restricted in any way. As clever as you are, you may have a tendency to make the same mistakes over and over again because much of your response is glib reaction rather that thoughtful application. You are in a continuous state of flux brought by constantly changing interests.

Your Soul Urge number is: 11

A Soul Urge number of 11 means:
With the 11 Soul Urge, much of your thinking and interests relate to the abstract, the spiritual, and utopian dreams. You are motivated toward idealistic concepts, and the sharing of your ideas and concepts with humanity. This number is not one that is giving in a material or a practical sense, but rather one who desires to help mankind with a more abstract commodity such as religion, spiritualism, occult studies, or even psychic abilities.

If you possess the positive 11 Soul Urge traits, you have a dream of the perfect world; you are highly idealistic and inspirational. Your inner strength and devotion to your beliefs are extremely strong. You have a very good mind that is especially well equipped to handle the higher, more abstract forms of thought.

If there is an excess of 11 energy in your makeup, you may possess some the negative 11 traits. There is a tendency for the 11 to produce considerable amounts of nervous tension which is bought on by a very high level of awareness. You may be too sensitive and overly emotional. In some cases, these sensitivities and emotions are quite repressed, and this tends to add even more to the sense of nervousness in the makeup.

The strong 11 is not a very practical person because of the extreme idealism; often, there is a degree of self-deception present. There is usually a rather fixed idea of right and wrong held by those showing strong 11 traits, and with this very often is a resulting attitude of inflexibility.

Your Inner Dream number is: 3

An Inner Dream number of 3 means:
You dream of artistic expression; writing, painting, music. You would seek to more freely express your inner feeling and obtain more enjoyment from life. You also dream of being more popular, likable, and appreciated.

 

It’s kind of weird how accurate this is.. try it!

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Julie and Julia

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{credit}
this was my favorite scene from the movie.
It seems like something I would do. Just to be the best.

The movie made me laugh and cry. Hubs even enjoyed it.
{don’t tell him I told you.}

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

I woke up to this..

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There is at least 6 inches out there. I love every single bit of it!
{yes, I'm up before the sun.. aren’t you?}

Monday, December 14, 2009

Christmas time :)

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I made a Satsuma orange snowman! He is WAY too cute :)

Olivia, Mike and I decorated our tree. Olivia did a great job telling everyone where to put the ornaments. She wanted all of them “dere” and that was usually the very top. She helped Daddy put on the star topper. Which is from Mike and I’s first Christmas. It’s too important to ever replace. I think we will keep it until it dies one day.

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And the stockings are hung on the wall. I’m really excited that Target had a cute penguin one for Olivia. Mike and I got our stockings on our honeymoon in Leavenworth, WA. We even got Bernie a stocking and put a honey stick in it.

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The tree definitely wont be on the cover of Country Living, but every ornament means so much to me, i couldn’t imagine not hanging them from the tree.

I found some old pictures of our trees.

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Pregnant with Liv.

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2nd Christmas tree. It was on a table so Olivia couldn’t eat it.
We have always done small trees.

While looking for pictures of our trees, I found this gorgeous picture of Olivia.
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She is so little :(