THE WORST DAY EVER

Or,
Why I'm Not In Canada Right Now.

I had the most horrific experience today. As a matter of fact, I'm still sobbing my head off about it.

A word to the wise: do NOT try to "save money" by getting the passport card.
It will NOT get you in an airplane to go see your family for christmas in Calgary.
It will NOT even get you through the gate in Omaha.
It will NOT listen to your pleas to the ladies behind the counter, to the person on the customer service phone, to the congressman of your district to see if he can do anything for you, and it will NOT comfort you as you shed tear after tear because after all you have done- it's still not enough.

So, do me a favor.
Don't ask me how Canada was. I will not have an answer except for bursting in to tears- and that will be awkward for both of us.

Off to Canadia

Dear two people who read my blog,
I am going to Canada tomorrow morning.
I will return.
With pictures.
And stories.
But mostly with priceless memories.

love
Ashley

Day #33-#37: Before and After

Moving is the worst. Why don't I EVER seem to remember that?!

I always get excited about moving.

A time to cull through the accumulated crap of a few years spent in one place.

A time to go piece by piece and evaluate the worth of every pen and pin.

Did it serve it's purpose this year? Did I use it even once?

Did I even know I had one of those?

If the answer is ever 'no', then out it goes!

But when the answer is 'yes'.... well, things get cramped quick.

 Lovely, isn't it? 

I honestly thought I was going to LOOSE my MIND.

The boys thought it was hysterical to remove all the things I had carefully packed and use them as weapons/bouncy things/missiles.

Boys.

Then, we moved all the stuff from one tiny place to a MUCH bigger place.

I feel like a grown-up.

I have a Master Suite with a bathroom AND walk-in closet that connect only to MY bedroom and not to any adjacent hallway.

I have another whole bathroom for the convenience of everyone else.

I have an extra 2 feet of head room- because I now have 12-foot ceilings.

You want to come stay with us because you happen to be passing through Nebraska?

Fine! I have an extra 400 square feet to oblige you.

And a very comfy sleeping bag.

The Living Room from the boy's hall, in front of the laundry room. Notice my stockings hung on the wall? Yeah, we don't have a fire-place.

The Living Room from the front door. Do you see my crown moulding? Looking at the laundry room doors, to the left is the boys room, to the right is the boy's/visiting bathroom. It's huge. Like, waste-of-space huge. I love it. But the toilets are low-flow and the pressurized water flush has a very loud "WHOOSH!!" sound that scared the pant off of James the first time he used it.

It was both sad for him and very very funny for us.

The Dining Room off to the immediate left of the Living Room. I've got a project going on that Armoire with the Nutcrackers on it. It might be done in 10 years. We'll see.

The Kitchen to the right of the Dining Room. I LOVE THIS KITCHEN FOR THE COUNTER SPACE. You can't see it in the photo, so come over already and I'll make something delicious for you.

My bedroom looks EXACTLY like I remember my parent's room looking for my ENTIRE LIFE. Clean laundry on the bed, separated in to piles that will eventually be moved not to their destination, but to the floor of the room so the inhabitants can slumber. Did you notice the sleeping bag?

James is back to sleeping in my room.

It's been tough on that poor guy.

But last night he slept in his own room until 6am this morning when he came booking it into mine. And just because I told you that, he'll be in my room tonight at midnight. Awesome.

The view of 'The Office'. I wish I had a cool theme song to play here. But no.

Big picture will be hanging here soon. But I need to hit up Home Depot for a wall-anchor.

I'm not sure if you noticed this amazing piece of home decor in the earlier picture of the living room, but I just HAD to show it off!

My dear friend made this for me for my birthday. Isn't it beautiful?! It's made of old sheet music!!!! So, you know, it's PERFECT for the music nerd family. And truly prodigious in dimension! It's almost 3 feet in diameter. Yeah, my dear friend loves me that much.

And here's the nook. When the christmas season is over, a bookshelf will occupy that place on the wall and I will have what I've always wanted: a library. Or at least a place to sit and read. Wing-back chairs are my new obsession.

I would have taken you through my closets and bathrooms, but some things need to remain a mystery. Amen and amen.

ps. Do you love my tiny tree? Big ones are expensive and I'm poor cheap frugal. So take that, consumerism!

Day #32: The Shopping List

Here is James' shopping list:
popcoarn
pizza
candy
poatato
pear
turkey
meat
chiken
duck
caret

I'm not really sure why there seems to be so much meat on that list- even including the word 'meat'!- because we don't eat much of it, and James won't touch it with a yard-stick, but there you go. A full 60% of what's on this list is stuff he refuses to eat.  Maybe you can get him to eat. I sure as heck can't.

for your musical entertainment.

You need to see this.
Carl Orff is rolling in his grave with laughter.
I am still chuckling.

The first is for my fam-damily in Canadia.
The second, because it's funny.

And I love funny.

Day #31: James spells

This is too funny not to share.
J is in Kindergarten and he loves it. He's a pretty advanced reader- for a 5 year old- and is also pretty good at spelling.
Here are some 'c' words in the original spelling:
cat
corn
cherismas
chokleit

Day #27-30: continuing

We moved!
I'm sending out our new address today so you all can update your christmas card mailing list. I think this year we are going paperless. Unless I hear a public outcry in the comment section. Then I might think about sending REAL cards.

We moved and we have almost doubled the amount of living space we had in our old place.

We moved and I have NO idea where some important things are.

We moved and I feel like a grown-up: I have a master suite. Bedroom, bathroom and huge walk-in closet all connected together. I. have. arrived.

We moved and I haven't had my bed to myself since. The boys are not acclimatized to their new surroundings. Especially James. He's having a very difficult time with this. We are actually back to using a sleeping bag on the floor next to my bed. BUT. I am getting sleep. Now if only Oliver would stay in his bed...
Guess I know what I'm asking Santa to bring me for Christmas.

We moved and I decided that baby gear is not something you want to drag from house to house with you. Ergo, I'm selling my double stroller, jumparoo, swing, exer-saucer, bouncy chair, and a few other things on craigslist. I hope someone wants them because I surely do not.

As SOON as I have everything in it's right place (double bonus points if you can name the band with a song of that title), I'll post pictures.