We're Gonna Have A Baby!

OMGosh, I'm gonna be a Mom! That freaks me out! Travis and I are so excited about being pregnant, but right now the normal emotion is scared!!! I never have been one to handle change well, even though we asked for this, it's still going to change our lives forever, and now that it's a reality it's scary. There are so many things to plan for and decisions to make, it's all overwhelming. Travis says to take things one day at a time, even though that's hard to do. He is so adorable though. He keeps going around saying, "I'm gonna be a Daddy." with a huge smile on his face. I have no doubt that he will be a great Dad. My parents are beside themselves excited. And when Travis told his parents, to my surprise, they were happy and excited, Travis said.

Since I wanted to be really sure I was pregnant, I took 3 tests. Some people might think one test is enough, but on babycenter.com forums, some women have tested over 10 times!!

Test #1 January 15th, 2008 (2 lines means you're pregnant)

Thanks to Angie I knew to get this test.

Test #2 January 16th, 2008

Test #3 January 22nd, 2008 (The line is darker too :-))

Yesterday was my first appointment. It was with a nurse to go over paperwork. I got a bag full of stuff which made me excited. I love free stuff. It had a baby changing pad and a sample of Enfamil formula, 2 magazines, the book What To Expect When You're Expecting, and a little book of baby names. I am however alittle aggravated by the whole visit because I thought the whole reason of going would be to confirm the pregnancy and go from there, but they didn't do that! Even though I know I'm pregnant, it would've been reassuring to hear it from the dr. They had lab work done to check my Rh, blood type, and immunity to Rubella and German Measles, things of that sort. I even called later in the afternoon to make sure that none of the tests were to confirm pregnancy. I wish they would be more forthcoming with information because this is my very first time doing this and I have no clue what I'm doing or what to expect. They did say that the next visit or the one after the dr. will check for the heartbeat and I will get to hear it! That will be so amazing! It will probably make me cry. Speaking of which, I have been a hormonal monster lately! I felt so sorry for Travis last night. I started crying and said that I've made my parents into grandparents and that means that now they're old, and that means they're gonna die soon. How horrible is that? And I've also cried because Bella has really been sticking close to me, I think she can sense something is going on, and I feel like I've been making her worry. I know, crazy. Anyways, other than that I've been peeing alot, and I've had some nausea (luckily it stops at that). I definately feel pregnant.

Everyone we've told has been so great. And everyone has said how we should let them know if we need anything. I really appreciate everyone's support. Especially since I'm so emotionally crazy right now, it makes me feel good that people care.

I'm due around September 14th, 2008.

A Last Post For 2007

I for one am glad that 2007 is only hours from being behind us. It was a hard year, but it had good times mixed in there too. I was able to hang out with some old friends, made some new friends, learned to knit, made a scrapbook album, found a church to attend, lost 35 pounds, had our 6th wedding anniversary with Travis, was blessed with Bella for the whole year, grew closer with some family members but at the same time grew really, really far apart from others. 2007 was definitely a mixed bag with everything good we had, and the not so good things like the family drama and Travis being laid off. But that's all behind us, thank goodness, and now I'm looking forward to 2008! I'm not one for making New Year's resolutions but there are some things I would like to do in the coming year.

1. Be happier!

2. Do what God wants me to do.

3. Help those in need.

4. Do work for our church.

5. Do more good deeds to bless other people.

6. Knit socks.

7. Lose some more weight.

8. Spend more time with friends & family.

9. Go on a vacation.

10. Be a more positive person.

I hope that everyone has a very happy and safe New Year!

How Was Christmas?

It was great! I got so many nice things.

I got this Fossil watch.

I also got knitting needles, a dishcloth pattern book, a doggy sweater pattern book, an Eastern Star ring, a Wood Wick candle, a Weaving Stitches gift certificate, 6 Nativity scene napkin rings, a 2 cup tea server, and $100 to name a few. I plan on taking a knitting class with part of the money though.

I also got the Vera Bradley Capri Melon Purse. I love it!!!

Since I finished up my "special project" I finally found a new knitting pattern that I am trying. It is just the cutest thing! It's called "Cables & Bits". The pattern can be found here. It involves knitting in the round, which I've never done before, so I'm hoping I can learn how and pull this one off for Bella. I'm making her's pink. I'm sure she will look darling in this.

Model: Jax; Photo by Sarah Wilson; http://www.knitty.com/

In this month's issue of Weight Watchers Magazine there is a really cool product mentioned that I just had to tell everyone about. It is called Fit N Fresh. There are several different tupperware type containers that so innovative for those of us trying to watch our portion sizes. Along with the containers there are recipes that give great ideas for healthy foods to make in them. Here are some pictures from the website. http://www.fit-fresh.com/

Just look at these layers!

This is just amazing! It has a utensil box to hold silverware! And has a dressing dispenser! The salad bowl holds up to 4 cups! And the removable ice pack keeps it cool for up to 6 hours! Do I hear my birthday rolling around??? Too bad I didn't know about these for Christmas!

There are tons of container systems to choose from. I just think it's amazing!

I hope everyone had a nice Christmas.

Knitting This & That

I was looking through some knitting blogs today just out of boredom and came across some projects I'd like to try in the coming year. I'm not sure Travis would wear this, but I think it looks very handsome. It's sort of a scarf/tie. Very stylish. This comes from a blog called Little Purl of the Orient.

I saw this picture on Chie Crochets' Blog and loved the idea. All those little knitted sweaters are just adorable as ornaments. I guess there are 12 patterns as in the 12 days of Christmas. I looked at the pattern though, and it looks rather difficult. Maybe I could tackle this after I get some more experience. Or maybe that is just procrastination hee hee.

Almost all the knitting blogs I go to have pictures of cats all over their pages! What's up with that? I'm representin' the dogs. (Oh no, that sounded like a rapper lol).

Well, that's all the time I have for now. Have a great Thursday!

A Cool Website

I wanted to let everyone know about a really cool website my cousin Jennifer told me about. It is called SkinIt. They have an out of this world selection of skins, which are like hard protective covers, for cell phones, ipods, PDA's, laptops, printers, etc.

And thanks Anna for telling me about Google Gadgets. They are very cool!

Decorating Madness

Last night I started on my Christmas gift wrapping. I need to just stay on task with it, but I keep finding myself trying to make every little detail perfect and it's driving me nuts! I think doing things like that in moderation could be a good thing if I'd only learn that. Note to self: You can't make everything perfect! Deal with it! I feel like I have so much to get ready for and I'm losing time and getting really stressed out by it. Like today, I have a special gift I'm working on but instead of doing that, I was on Myspace all afternoon uploading pictures. But as I was saying (here we go again) ...gift wrapping. Here's a picture.

We're having Travis' family over this Saturday and I decided to decorate little gift bags for my nieces. I used my Sizzix to punch out their name and little holiday figures. I think its cute, but it took a freakin hour! I guess I'm just trying to make this year special because this will be their first Christmas with us. And as you can see, the package beside it I handmade shiny bows out of ribbons. I'm sure that by the 30th package I wrap I'll be hating myself for that one. Well, that's all for my holiday rant lol.

Have a great Tuesday!

The Ash Family; A Favorite Blog

I had such a great time yesterday with my family. I was really surprised that 22 people fit into my little house! But it was great to have our home full of family. Here are some pictures of the day.

Here are the Aunts and Uncle.

Starting on the left is my Aunt Nancy, Aunt Mary Lou, then my Uncle John and his wife Diana, Aunt Jeanne and her husband Jim behind her, and then my mom and dad.

The whole gang! It was completely awesome having everyone here!

Aren't we beautiful?!On the left is my cousin Ashlee, cousin Jill, me, cousin Jacey, and cousin Jennifer.

So, in other news, as I was browsing online today I found a great blog called Hungry Girl on Yahoo! Food. As she describes, the blog says, "Hungry Girl is not a nutritionist, she's just hungry. Hungry Girl delivers fun diet tips and tricks, guilt-free food finds, low-cal recipes, food shockers, reviews, and more." I've found that alot of her content is Weight Watcher friendly. She has some good tips, so it's worth a read. She also has a great year-end post called 2007's Guilt-Free Foods of the Year, it's really impressive. I've added her blog to my fav's, so check it out.

A Holly Jolly Christmas

Tomorrow is the first party of the season at my house. I'm having over my mom's four sisters, one brother, and their families. I made each family a loaf of Banana Nut Bread, made from scratch. And yes, it took awhile. I also made chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies. Ah, now I'm too tired to Christmas shop! I never thought I'd say that. But I think I'll go anyway. :-)

On Dogster they are having a Holiday Picture Party for doggies. Here is Bella's Yule-tide mugshot.

Have a great weekend!

Holiday Hostess-ing

I wanted to share some new ideas and tips I've come across for hosting a holiday party this Christmas. I am hosting two different parties this year at my house, which I'm really excited about since I really love being a hostess and cooking/baking special things for everyone. I definitely needed to do some research since I wanted to do something that everyone would remember and love. I'm not set on anything at this point, but here's some neat ideas that I might try or that's just noteworthy.

These look so good! And seem pretty easy to make. I'm sure guests would love these and they would look so beautiful displayed on a table for them to just grab up.

Chocolate Pretzels by Robin Miller- Food Network

Difficulty: Easy
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Inactive Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Yield: 8 to 10 servings
User Rating: 5 of 5 stars

2 bags chocolate chips (dark or milk chocolate)
1 bag pretzels (logs work well for this, but you can try any of the medium to thick variety of twists)
Chopped nuts, for garnish, optional
Colored nonpareils, for garnish, optional
Sprinkles, for garnish, optional
Coconut, for garnish, optional
Crushed cookies, for garnish, optional

Melt chocolate in double boiler over medium heat on stove top. Using tongs, or your fingers, quickly dip pretzels in chocolate allowing the excess to run off. Place dipped pretzels on waxed paper lined cookie sheets. Sprinkle with chopped nuts, colored sugars or other toppings. Allow to harden. You may need to refrigerate for a while to help this along. Once hardened, remove from sheets and store in a cool location, with waxed paper between layers.

Tip: Package pretzels in clear cellophane bags or in vase for festive gift giving!

Ingrid Hoffmann- from Food Network tells us this cute idea.
I make cookie labels which can hang on a tree, be a place card setting or even a name tag on a gift. Cut cookie dough into label shapes, bake, and when cooled, write the guest's or gift recipient's name on it with icing.

I doubt many of us have a label shaped cookie cutter, but we could improvise by using a knife to cut out the design ourselves.

A personal recipe that is always a big hit is Banana Nut Bread. I'll be making loaves to send home with my guests wrapped in holiday saran wrap and tied with pretty ribbons.



Serves: 12 slices

1 3/4 cups All Purpose Four
3 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/4 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup White Sugar (or for a lower calorie alternative use Splenda)
1/3 cup Butter, softened (or used I Can't Believe It's Not Butter)
2 Eggs
1 cup mashed Banana
1/2 cup chopped Walnuts

Grease an 8x4 inch loaf pan. Preheat oven to 350. In a large mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar. Add butter, eggs, nuts, and mashed banana. Beat until well blended. Pour batter into pan.

Bake at 350 for 1 hr. 15 mins.
It's done when a toothpick is inserted in the center and comes out clean.

From the December issue of Kraft Food & Family Magazine there are some cute decorating ideas. It says that for a lovely last minute centerpiece put two different sizes of pretty ball ornaments in a vase or crystal bowl.

And you can make your own gift wrap with craft paper and rubber stamps. A quick and easy idea for scrapbookers to put a personal touch on gifts. Or, let the gift inspire the wrapping: for baked goods, use tea towels and fasten with raffia. You could use Christmas themed tea towels as an inexpensive touch. They are available at Dollar General for only $1.00!

You can sign up for the free magazine at Kraft Foods. They have alot of great recipes and tips. I've made quite a few great dishes from them and they're always a hit with the family and guests.

And with a husband and father who are brownie fanatics, this is a great holiday touch.

Prep Time: 15 min
Total Time: 50 min
Makes: 1-1/2 dozen brownies or 18 servings, 1 brownie each

4 squares BAKER'S Unsweetened Baking Chocolate
3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) butter or margarine
2 cups granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup flour
1 cup coarsely chopped PLANTERS Pecans, (I would say this is optional)
1 tsp. powdered sugar

PREHEAT oven to 350°F. Microwave chocolate and butter in large microwavable bowl on HIGH 2 minutes or until butter is melted. Stir until chocolate is completely melted. Stir in granulated sugar. Blend in eggs and vanilla. Add flour and pecans; mix well. Spread into greased foil-lined 13x9-inch baking pan.

BAKE 30 to 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out with fudgy crumbs. (Do not over bake.) Cool in pan.

CUT brownie in pan into 18 decorative shapes with 1-1/2 inch star-shaped or holiday cookie cutters. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Reserve the trimmings for snacking or another use.

Happy Holiday Hostess-ing!

I Love Picasa Too & This Song

My friend Anna wrote in her blog about Picasa, an awesome photo editor. I absoloutely love it! It is great for us scrapbookers. Now I can't wait to make more collages like this for an album.

Pictures from Christmas 2006

My Bella

Picasa can be downloaded for free here.

I also heard this song the other evening and loved it! It reminds me of me and Travis. And plus, I would buy him Rogaine if his hair starts to fall out :-)

Ingrid Michaelson: The Way I Am

Have a happy Monday evening!

Christmas Dishcloths

Here are the two dishcloths that I knitted for our Church's Christmas Bazaar.

"Angel of Welcome"

I think the Angel is very pretty. The pattern was free online at Knit Alittle.

"Mr. Snowman"

The "Mr. Snowman" could've been better. It turned out pretty big for a dishcloth, but oh well I guess. The pattern called for size 6 needles, but the closest I had were size 7's. The pattern is cute though. I bought it online from Knits By Rachel.

I'm hoping that after the first of the year I'll be able to start on something new, like socks, or maybe a funky scarf.

Thanksgiving; Funny Video

I saw this commercial on tv the other day and thought it was hilarious! Check it out.



Thanksgiving was great. We had alot of great food! It's our tradition to use my Grandma Warner's recipes for dressing and pies so we were able to convert most things into Weight Watcher "friendly" food. This year I made my first apple pie.

I couldn't resist having a small piece. It was delicious!

All of Travis' finals are over with. He got straight A's for the quarter!

I also wanted to let everyone know that our church, Enterprise United Methodist, on Hiland Road in Pomeroy (just over the hill from Holzer Clinic) is having it's Christmas Bazaar this Saturday, December 1st, from 9am to 3pm. There will be baked goods as well as craft items for sale to benefit the church. I'm working on knitting a dishcloth with an angel and one with a snowflake on it and I'll also be baking something, so everyone's invited to come see what all we have for sale!

A Breakthrough!

Yes, I think I've finally had a breakthrough! For about the past 3 weeks all of us have been going to church at Enterprise United Methodist in Pomeroy. My parents and I belonged there several years ago but since Travis and I were looking for a new church I finally talked them into going back. That I think was a breakthrough within itself, but a different one. In our Adult Bible study lessons we have been studying the story of Joseph in the Book of Genesis. I had heard the story before but never read it for myself or studied it. It was a great story of forgiveness and it really showed how God has a sort of "master plan" for us. The story starts out that Jacob, his father, loved him more than any of his other sons. That made all the brothers hate Joseph. Then as the story goes on they become more jealous of him and sell him into Egypt as a slave. Over a period of 20 years he was a slave, thrown into prison, brought out to tell Pharaoh what his dreams meant, and in a huge turn of events made overseer of all of Egypt to prepare for 7 years of famine. So during this time God dealt with him and he came to see that God had a plan for his life and he also forgave his brothers for what they had done to him because if they hadn't hated him and sold him into Egypt he would not be there to oversee the famine and many people would have died. All that got me thinking. I have really been one to struggle with forgiveness. But this story really helped me. It's hard not to be mad and hurt about the conflicts in our family, but the story helped me realize that if we hadn't had the problem, we wouldn't have moved back to Ohio, and Travis would not be able to go to school and later have a good, secure job. So I guess I should let the past go. It happened for a reason, I'm just not sure why it's still going on. But, we are happy and not missing out on anything.

Since my last post I decided to start a project to help the animals in the Meigs Co. Shelter. I have and will be gathering blankets, toys, and treats until Wednesday. So if anyone wants to participate let me know. It's definately an ongoing project, but this trip I wanted to do as a Thankgiving project to let the animals and volunteers there know that we are thankful for them and what they do.

I had a Pepsi last night for the first time in 7 months. It tasted sooo good, but I'm feeling alittle guilty for caving in and getting it especially since I've been strong for so long. I'm going to need alot of support this week and until Christmas to keep losing weight and not pigging out on apple pie or Christmas cookies. So far I've lost 30.8 pounds. That equals 120 sticks of butter (Yuck!) or 6 bags of potatoes, or 24 medium cantaloupes. That info was courtesy www.weightwatchers.com.

Updated Blog!

I finally figured out how to get a new layout! I'm not good with HTML at all, so during the transfer I lost all my links. I've spent most of the day updating my links and icons. I made a new category called "Charities Close To My Heart" that way anyone that wants to could donate. They all mean alot to me really. The US Humane Society was key to rescuing animals devastated by Hurricane Katrina. And they are such a great organization that helps all animals in many ways. Anyone who knows me knows that I absolutely love animals. And I wish that I could help every single one. I also wanted to say that on Petfinder.com usually there is a shelter wish list for local shelters and I encourage everyone to find a shelter and donate one item for a homeless dog or cat. It would be horrible to be homeless, so I'm hoping to encourage people to help me make sure they have a clean, warm place to sleep and maybe a toy to play with to make things alittle brighter for them until they get their forever home.

Here is a wish list for Meigs County's Animal Shelter:

Towels
Bleach
Mops
Blankets
Straw/hay
Fencing or pens
Cages
Toys, Collars and Leashes

We adopted Bella from a shelter and I could not imagine my life without her! She really has been my best friend through so much. So look at what people could be missing out on.

I also have on my list the American Diabetes Association and the American Cancer Society. Both of these are close to my heart because of my Grandma Warner. She had diabetes and had to give herself insulin shots twice a day. I wish she didn't have to suffer through sticking herself with needles everyday. So now that she's gone I want to help others with the disease to maybe not have to go through what she did. I did the Diabetes walk in Huntington a few years ago to raise money and it was alot of fun! I think Travis and I raised about $100. And I can't believe it but I walked all 5 miles! Then the Cancer Society is listed because my Grandma died of cancer. I know there is a long way to go in the fight against cancer, but maybe if there were new treatments or a cure for it I might still have my Grandma with me today. I love her very much and miss her terribly still.

Grandma Warner

In other news...Mom and I were installed as officers of Eastern Star on Monday night. I have a huge part to memorize before next month too :-( Here are a few pictures...

All The Members

Momma in her pretty dress

Me

Have a great Thursday!

Me, Me, Me....

I'm not really sure where to start with this post. It has been so long since I've felt like posting anything. As most of you know I've been battling depression for a long time now. Sometimes I'm ok, then other times I can't get myself to get out of bed to face the day. Since Travis had been laid off and we lost our health insurance we couldn't really afford to get my medicine so I decided I would go off of it for awhile. It was a really bad idea, but what else could I do? So about 2 weeks ago I started taking it again, everyday, like I'm supposed to. For the first few days it completely knocked me out. Then as I started to get used to it again I had no energy at all so I sat around all day like a zombie. I'm starting to feel alittle better now, but I just wish that I didn't have this stupid problem. Really it's embarrassing. That's why I don't really talk about it. I feel like I should be able to "snap out of it", but I can't. Then I feel like I am a weak person, strong people don't act this way. But really deep down, I can't help it. I just want to be better. I want to be able to function like a normal person. Here is a link to learn more about depression.

Yesterday was our election day. The ballot was for Syracuse village Mayor, Clerk, Council, Sutton Township Trustee, and Southern School Board. In the mayoral race it was between two people, basically a race between the lesser of two evils. Neither one fits the category of what I'd call a great mayor. The Clerk is the one I'm disappointed in. I really don't like the one who won. She has been the clerk forever and has an attitude problem. Other than that I think our local government will run as usual, unintelligently.

Travis is almost finished with his first quarter at Washington State. And I'm very very proud to announce that he has straight A's! Next week is finals, and he has his last one on the 19th. Winter quarter starts in January so he will have the holidays off which is great. I haven't gotten to spend much time with him since September so it will be nice to have him back for awhile.

I want to congratulate Angie & Joe on the birth of their son Rylan. He is such a beautiful baby. Best wishes for all of them.

Life Lessons From The Mentally Challenged

Most often we think we couldn't learn from someone who has a mental disability. Today that stereotype was proved wrong. I was having lunch with my family and there was a very nice lady who obviously had a mental impairment who was cleaning tables. She was always very polite with customers and other employees, but that's not what got me. She went to lunch, had her food, and was telling another employee how she was on her break. The other employee said, "Ok. I hope you enjoy your lunch." Then she said it. "Thank you! Thank you! I appreciate you, Jane (or whatever the name was)." I guess it really touched me because I could see that she really did mean what she said. Maybe because she didn't know any different. But it got me thinking. If only the world was mentally challenged maybe it might be a better place.

The Kite Runner

I just finished this book. It was so good! It's a fictional account of two boys and their families in Afghanistan. Some parts of it were really hard to take because of the graphic nature, but that's most likely what life is like for those people. It really opened my eyes to their way of life, their views, and what they've dealt with over the past 20 years. I'm really glad I read it. I'm getting ready to read his next novel called A Thousand Splendid Suns that is listed on Amazon.com's top 5 books.

I also read last night A Walk To Remember by Nicholas Sparks. It wasn't quite as good as The Notebook, but what could compare to that! It was good however. I had no clue the movie with Mandy Moore was based on this book either. I have not seen it, but now I want to!

Check that. He goes NEXT FRIGGIN FRIDAY for a physical...then they will probably think about calling him back to work. I have a name for those people but I won't say it. Argh!

This probably doesn't make any sense

I can't believe it's almost the end of September already! Where did this year go??? I personally think it went down the tubes when it first began, but that's me. It's been a tough year, well couple, or four maybe, I lost track. Between layoffs to handle, family difficulites to say the least, and deployment to Iraq of all things, life hasn't exactly been what I'd call wonderful. I'm tired of it all really. Tired of all the drama too.

Travis got called back to SFS and will hopefully start back on Monday. I hate that he has to go back there, but maybe it will only be till something better comes along. Maybe I should be looking at things differently, but I'm mad at them. I guess I feel like they did this to us in a way. They are the reason that we've had to struggle so much the past few months leaving us to wonder if we'd be able to eat the next week or not. I guess I just need someone to blame.

I have probably been very difficult to be around the lately, not that anybody would know. Mostly I've been angry about everything I could be and depressed too as usual. I think the reason I went so long without posting anything is because I knew if I did it would turn out just like this.

Travis has started college at Washington State. He's majoring in Industrial Technology. I'm very proud of him. And I think he'll do great.

Is it wrong for me to want to be more than Travis' wife or Jim and Patsy's daughter? Good things come to everyone and seem to run from me. You know, money, having children, happiness...

I don't know what makes me happy anymore. I get up and every day is the same.

I've lost 24.8 lbs.

New Blocks
Here are two of the newest blocks I've knitted recently...

This one is my favorite so far.

When I get some more time, I'll post some updates.

And I want to wish Angie a very happy 26th birthday!!!