Home Sweet Home

I have come to really love our apartment.
It is my first home with Jeremy- how could I not love it?

I am really starting to feel like the decorations are coming together (minus a few things still needing help)

I feel like I have finally got it clean enough, considering how filthy it was when we moved in.

Do apartment people ever ACTUALLY clean before you move in? Or is that just what they tell you to make you happy?

Bleach has become my best friend when it comes to cleaning here. I mean honestly, you just never know what could have been here before you...GROSS!

Anyway, on the note of finally feeling like home...I am in desperate need of a puppy.
I don't think you understand just HOW bad I want a puppy

I am that person that stops on the side of the road whenever puppies are for sale...

Stupid apartment complex will not let me get one.

I could have a puppy here and my apartment would be ten million times cleaner than ANYONE else's!!

I'll clean up the poop too!!

Just PLEASE let me get a puppy!

I have some justification....I only work 3 days a week, so I am here...all alone 4 days out of the week (excluding the very few weekends I am off).

I need a puppy friend to keep me company while I am home alone.

I need a snuggle buddy to sit on the couch and read a book with me while I wait for my sweet hubby to come home!

What about when Jeremy is out of town and I am all alone and scared?

I bet if I had a puppy I would not have to sleep with the bathroom light on, my contacts in and fear in my heart of a burglar!!

So, in light of my super convincing argument: May I please have a puppy?

How can you turn down that face?
PS: I will move somewhere new, ANYWHERE that will let me get my puppy Murphy.

Yes, his name will be Murphy by the way.

7 Random Things about Me

So in response to Amy's request, I find that I must share 7 random things about me.

I realize that most of you won't care. But I am banking on Amy reading them all, taking notes, and asking questions later.

1. I sometimes wonder what I am going to be when I grow up.

2. I could live on Ice Cream and Pepperoni Pizza

3. I want to write a book. Scratch that, I want to write multiple books and be good at it. We like to call it an Author.

4. I don't really have any good ideas for this book I want to write.

5. I think about how much I weigh, way too much.

6. I am very stingy about my time with my husband. Don't mess with it!

7. I eat ice cream out of the carton throughout the day. I will open the freezer and get a spoonful with my breakfast in the morning, then I will do it again later in the day. It's a bad habit. Don't tell.

Well I hope this was insightful! I have a few other things I thought I might share though!

My homemade pizza is the best. Sorry Alyssa, Kitty, and Bradleigh. I know you guys miss it. Come visit me and I will cook for you :)

Also, who knew I could make for real Chinese Chicken Fried Rice? I am not going to lie. This is possibly the best thing I have ever cooked. The recipe is on allrecipes.com under Chicken Fried Rice. It is the first one that pops up.

Warning: You will use almost every single one of your pots/pans/dishes in your home to make this Chinese wonderland!

Enjoy!

Valentine's Day!

My first married Valentine's day was spent at the hospital taking care of sick little kiddo's.

I was so un-festive, I even forgot to wear red! However, Purple is a Valentine color though right?

My sweet Jeremy came home after work and starting slaving away in kitchen making us a very yummy dinner!

He made Anniversary Chicken, which he renamed "Valentine's Chicken"

It required Jeremy to learn 2 new words: basting and sauteing!

He also made boxed mashed potatoes. This was my first experience with boxed mashed potatoes! Who knew such a thing existed?? I was pleasantly surprised that they were pretty good!

Jeremy's meal turned out to be very good! I was a little nervous when I heard he was cooking because his cooking only includes frozen pizza, hot dogs, and a new one for him: Tacos!

So you an imagine my anxiety when he decided to make a real meal!

Now the only issue for him is that he has showed me he CAN cook! So when I get home from work I will now be expecting a little more!

Maybe one day we will actually get to go out on our Valentine's Day date like we had planned!

But it's looking like as long as we have the youth group and my job mixing: that is NOT going to happen!

Either way, I was very blessed to spend the evening with my super chef husband!

My life on Call

Working as a Nurse gives me the opportunity to experience a lovely thing called "On Call" twice a month...

Let me give you a run down of "On Call"

• Anxiousness. The entire day before you wonder "am I going to get called in? Will they need me?" The entire night before you lay awake wondering "are they going to call me at 5 am in the morning? What if I don't hear my phone"

Xanax anyone??

• Hopefulness. The entire day before you hope "just this once, please don't let them call me in," "just this once, please just let them call me in later in the day and not 5 am, if I even have to be called in at all!" The entire night before you lay in bed awake, hoping "just this once, I can feel it, they wont call me in, they have 14 nurses scheduled...just this once, this will be my turn to stay home." The entire time you are at work on call "maybe just this once, I will get my turn to be sent home early!"

• Bitterness. In the morning at 5 am when you get that dreaded call "Ashley, we are going to need you today" you lay in bed and cry to your husband. Please don't make me go!

• Tiredness. 4 days a week, of 12 hour shifts, non-stop on your feet, I don't care who you are, it's exhausting!

• Prayerfulness. Dear God, please take away my anxious/hopeful/bitter/tired feelings so that I can serve these little children who need me.

Snowed In

Jeremy and I have literally been snowed in for 2 days!

And they have been the most fabulous two days ever.

I can't lie, I am a home-body. I love nothing more than being at home with Jeremy. I would much prefer to stay here then ever go anywhere ever again.

Judge me, call me unsocial. It's all true.

I am slightly devastated at the thought of returning to work tomorrow. The roads are still bad, the cars are all buried in our parking lot and my dear, sweet husband, is going to have to get up at the crack of dawn to drive me into work. AND I am going to freeze ALL day!

I realize how grateful I should be that I was not working Tuesday and therefore did not get stuck at the hospital away from home like so many did.

I would have cried. Plain and simple. Bawled my eyes out and hated my life.

So on that note, I am grateful that I was stranded at home and even more grateful that one of the stranded nurses was willing to switch me on call days so I did not get called in on Wednesday.

So it is with a heavy (yet grateful) heart that I return to work tomorrow.

Away from my warm house, away from watching really good (and 1 really awful) movies, eating taco soup and drinking hot chocolate. Away to the hospital to take care of sweet little kiddos who don't want to be there anymore than I do!

How I wish I could work from home :)

Movies to watch:

Movie that I am trying to convince Jeremy to watch tonight:

Steak and Shake

Warning: This post, is an irritated post!

Dear Steak and Shake:

Do not tell me I cannot order off the kids menu. I am your customer, and therefore, can order anything I want to order!

I will pay extra money, I just do not want the million pound greasy hamburger and fries that are offered in every other big person sized menu item.

This is not a matter of me being cheap. I realize that I can be cheap at times, I like my coupons just as much as the next person. But I will pay you extra money, just let me order WHAT I WANT!

Did you know there are starving Children in Africa who would love the other half of my big person sized meal that I cannot finish on my own because my stomach is not the size of your BIG, EGOTISTICAL HEAD?

Did you know that you are contributing to the obesity problem in America? Why are you wanting me to get larger by not allowing me to order the normal sized person meal?

If more people ate the kids meal size we would not having an overly large fat people population because the kids meal size is the correct portion size!

Sincerely,

Angry Customer

After this unfortunate incident at Steak and Shake, I vowed to never return and give them my business.

My dear husband was there at the time, he did not agree with my anger, but I adamantly tried to make him understand how seriously WRONG this was.

I just found out he went to Steak and Shake for lunch this week.

So much for the Robertson family boycott of Steak and Shake.

Jeremy may give into their greasy, unforgivable ways. But I will not yield.

I will never eat at Steak and Shake again.

(And you shouldn't either!)

There are a few of my favorite things...