Exhausted!

this is kind of sad…. but I’m exhausted from one of my Sunday afternoon activities.
nope, it wasn’t the awesome church service this morning,
nor was it studying for an exam I have tomorrow.
I am mentally, emotionally, and physically exhausted from….
wedding registries!!!!
haha, sorry if that was anti-climactic (it sounded more dramatic in my head)
Future Hubby and I went to Bed Bath and Beyond to begin our first wedding registry. 
I guess I had kind of been putting it off for a while because, well
a little thing called a THESIS
but also because I was afraid of registering too soon and then 
having something become discontinued before the wedding.

First of all, there are WAY too many buttons on that little clicky-gun…
you don’t need half of them.
(it’s not even in a fun gun shape to enhance the “whip around the 
corner and zap something” experience I had in mind)

Second of all, Future hubby took control of the gun because it

was “too confusing for me”…
(really, I just didn’t want to be bogged down with technology… 
I wanted to flit around, dreaming of how I would decorate
our future home and which shower curtain would look
the most fabulous in the upstairs bathroom…
and that silly calculator on steroids would only bog me down! )

I realized this plan had backfired on me this evening as I was reviewing our registry online
lo and behold… what do I spy with my very own two eyes?
some surprise registry items, like this little fella…

 err…. i just threw up in my mouth a little bit.

Can you imagine if I hadn’t seen it?!
some little ‘ol lady from church would have, and probably croaked on the spot!

future hubby thought he was soooo sneaky 
what a phony balony!

*i know that’s not how you spell bologna,
but it seems more “rhymy” with phony when it’s spelled that way*

 That’s not where it ended though…
after my first surprise registry finding I scoured the rest of the pages.

good thing, too.
certainly not something I would ever let grace any shelf of mine…

errr…. 
 yeah, about that. 
I don’t know if it’s the wording “girls night out” 
 the way it’s bedazzled
or that fact that some punctuation is missing…

all around… not something I’m dying to receive as a wedding gift.

I also found this picture on my camera
(please disregard the inappropriate closeness of this pic and the relative lumpiness of it all)
yes, that is the scanner-gun light on my heinie.
haha,  wishful thinking on his part.
“no babe, you can’t register me for a heinie upgrade at Bed Bath and Beyond”
*jk, he’s not that kinda guy… mom you can put the shotgun down*

__________________________________________________

while we were at BB&B (kind of sounds like it should be the name of a bank), future hubby decided he needed a new pillow, on account of him not sleeping well the past few months.

well, ya can’t miss the pillow section!

a lot of poking, prodding, squishing, and “snoozing” ensued.

I pretended not to mind that he laid his head on each and every one.
I kept my “do you know how many heads have been on those” comments to myself.

I think we’ve found a winner!

(but still… gross!)

I guess back to the main point…
I’m exhausted, from an activity that should have been super fun, because even the simple task of choosing a pizza cutter resulted in this:

um…. I can barely make a decision in the morning on
apple butter or cinnamon for my toast;
how am I supposed to make a decision here?!
there’s just too much stuff in this world. 
do we really need it all?
How is it that our mindset today has strayed so far from that of early Christians;
the mindset of more, more, more.
we just make things more difficult for ourselves.
we’ve lost the concept of “community”… the way God planned the earliest churches in Acts.
we’ve replaced the idea of “sharing and caring” with “me and my stuff in my isolated world”

is this stuff really what’s important?

i’m just sayin’

Confessions

I have a confession.
actually, it’s more of an announcement.
I was cleaning out my bathroom bins last night… 
– throwing away old makeup
– chucking dried up nail polish
– weighing pros and cons of keep 5 majillion half used hair product bottles (what?! i might use them one day!)
etc, etc.
anywho…. i’d like to report this embarrassing  funny finding
go ahead… take a closer look
yup, you’re seeing clearly…. that’s 4 tweezers and 6 pairs of nail clippers
*wretch*
AND
i know for a FACT that i have 2 more tweezers and 1 pair of nail clippers in my car as we speak!
Who needs this many tweezers and clippers?

I’m not Chewbacca

though I wouldn’t mind being best friends with Harrison Ford…. *giggle, snort*

(no offense future hubby)

SO….

How did this happen?
two words:
GRADUATE SCHOOL
dun dun DUN!!!!!
I NEVER used to be this out of sorts.
forgetful, messy, unorganized, buying new nail clippers because I really needed to trim a hangnail but could find any of the other 5 pairs…
embarrassing, to say the least
 I loaded those photos up so fast, my blog didn’t have a chance to blink.
because i wanted it to be public… 
hopefully in sharing my “i can’t find it so i’ll buy a new one” sickness I can prevent this from happening again.
on a happier note:
I found my retainer!!!
(*yes, she is still in one piece and relatively clean….
…and yes, she IS glow in the dark blue!)
and this morning my teeth are aching so badly i half expect them to jump right out
of my mouth and run away screaming to find a better home (maybe the elderly lady down the street?)
…. I guess that’s what happens when (cover your ears dad) you don’t
wear it for 5 years and then try to jam it back into your mouth.
side-note people: TEETH CHANGE
i’m just sayin’
hello, yellow boots.

I love you.

you’re perfect for snow, sleet, rain… and you’ve served me well.
but I want so badly to put you in the closet for 7 months so my feet can be free!!

Dear Summer,
I love you.
 
please descend on Virginia 
a little early this year.
i might die if i can’t put my toes in sand soon!
warmly, 
ashley


ps: i know where you live… i will hunt you down… 
and there will be consequences.

glorious re-purposed goodies!

here’s my latest side-of-the road scavenge rescue
ain’t she a beauty?
I can’t say I’m usually drawn to wrought iron pieces…
but she spoke to me…
because she was FREE!!!
So, I stuffed her into my tiny car and dragged her away kicking and screaming.
I hosed her down and brushed away any loose paint or rust.
(I probably could have done a rust removal treatment… but she was free.. and who has time for that anyway)
then I recruited my little brother to muscle a crooked leg back into place.
(sorry no pictures of me trying to do it before I gave in and asked him)
Thanks baby bro!!
(and thanks for posing for a picture without hemming and hawing too much…
It’s for the blog PEOPLE!!!)
Then came the thinking part.
No, I don’t have the gift that some of you have; 
I rarely have a “vision” right away for how I want my treasure to turn out.
so… (cue jeopardy music) what to do with this table?

thinking….

thinking…

  thinking…

ok ok, sorry there was no AHA! moment…
nope, this was a “let’s just dive in and see what happens” kind of thought process.
I gave her a good coating of RustOleum.
I don’t have pictures of the first coat, but I actually painted it brown…
then hated it.
that’s what I get for not having a complete plan in my head!
so I slapped some white on her.
bada bing bada boom
we’re in business.
now, I know what you’re thinking:
“Um, HELLO? Does she know there’s not a top to that table?”
Good news…Yes! I DID see that the glass top was missing!
I’m guessing that’s why she was kicked to the curb… poor little lady.
Solution?
I thought you’d never ask!
A few weeks ago I found a great piece of artwork at Goodwill.
 It was one solid piece of finished wood with a nice print…
but I didn’t buy it to hang on my wall. I actually bought it for another project
(coming soon, once I find a different piece of wood!).
anywho, lady saw this piece in my arms at the Goodwill and commented on the “beautiful print”
gag me.
I thought it was hideous and couldn’t wait to paint over it.
I thought for sure all Goodwillers shared my passion for re-purposing….
negative.
words cannot describe the ice dagger stare she gave me when I told her my plans for it.
sheesh!
anyway, here it is:
ok, I guess it is kinda nice… 
but has some scratches and I’m no art restoration expert so I’m stickin’ with the plan!
I gave her a good coating of plain ‘ol white paint.
Once that dried, I taped off the edges with painter’s tape.
I didn’t have an exact image in my head of the look I was going for, 
but I knew I wanted the white to poke through in certain areas… like the border.
I started taping off sections here and there… no pattern in mind, just random stripes.
Rummaging through my stash of acrylic paints, I chose two of my favs:
GREEN and YELLOW
then just went to town, painting as I pleased.
Happy Spring to ME!!
the neighbors were curious.
this part makes me nervous. will it be a clean line?
I think my painters tape was kinda old… and may have lost some of its sticky talent…
oh well, not too bad!
TADA!!!
I love how crisp and clean it looks!
woops, don’t look too closely at the edges!
I was so excited to show you I forgot to touch ’em up!
anyway…
I can’t wait to give her a nice protective coat so she can stay outside and hold some of my potted plants!

 thank you neighbor down the road for this trash…
which is now treasure.
nanna nanna boo boo!!

i’m just sayin’
and
i’m just linkin’ up…
with