Toys for grown-ups

I got Matt an early birthday present, a digital video camcorder. It's little and looks just like a digital camera so it fits really easily in his pockets. He's been making short vidoes all this weekend and this week. I'm going to have to start dressing nicely and wearing makeup around the house. Everytime I turn around he has the camcorder on. I think there's a video of me doing laundry in my bathrobe and another of me lounging on the couch with the dogs in my pajamas. Oscar worthy material, of course. Matt's also made several videos of Steve and Wil. They are hams for any camera.

This weekend we're heading to Blizzard Beach with Martin and Maggie and then to Pleasure Island one last time before they close it. Hopefully I'll have some fun pictures and videos of that!

Stevie Pickles!

I finally figured out how to transpose the items I create in the graphic design program I have to my blog. (see above blog title) - Check out my graphic design blog: http://www.acrockettgraphicdesign.blogspot.com/ to see some of the recent invites and things I have created. I'm calling the new business Stevie Pickles after Steve and Wil. I hope to be able to start creating items for people as soon as possible, so, keep me in mind for birthdays, invitations, thank you cards, stationary, and business cards. Especially during the holiday season. If you have pictures you'd like to turn into a Christmas card, let me know. I've created several cards for people at work the past few years. I can do everything by email so even if you're not in Tallahassee, I can still design for you. I'll keep updating that blog with samples of work as I finish them.

This week has been pretty uneventful. Matt has surprised me with some fun new movies he got from half.com (a great website for movies and video games at great prices). They're all Disney movies because we want to have a complete Disney library someday - hopefully our kids will appreciate it. Even if they don't, Matt and I sure will. haha.

We're volunteering at the Special Olympics annual golf game this Saturday night. It should be really fun. Matt is really good about volunteering for things, much better than me. He's a good influence on me.

I'll post some pictures of our new front landscaping soon. Matt has promised me a picket fence so I am SUPER excited about having a white picket fence. It's something I fantasized about when I was a kid. I'll definitely have pictures of that as soon as we get it (it could be months from now, but at least I know it's coming)!

Hooooooot Pockets!

Jim Gaffigan -

One of my favorite comedians is Jim Gaffigan. I’ve seen 2 comedians live, Jerry Seinfeld and Jim Gaffigan. I loved seeing each one, but, I laughed so hard when we saw Jim Gaffigan I was crying. His jokes are so dry and sarcastic, it’s exactly the kind of humor that cracks me up. It’s very absurd, observational humor. He’s also an incredibly cool guy. After every show he will meet and greet everyone who hangs around to see him. He signs autographs, takes pictures, shakes your hand and is genuinely glad you came to see him perform. He loves to make jokes about how pale he is and when he met Matt he commented on how they must be related. He he also had a great bit of jokes about the nastiness of Hot Pockets – Tons of people brought Hot Pocket boxes to the show for him to sign. He also gets kudos from me for keeping his act pretty clean. He decided when he first started performing that he shouldn't have to use profanity to be funny. It's a pleasant change.Check him out on You Tube.

He’s performing at the Alabama Theater in September, we probably won’t make it to B’ham to see him this time, but he’s worth the trip if you’re there.

A few of Gaffigan’s fun observations:

“"I love the movie previews... you know... Why is it whenever you're watching a movie preview you always feel like you have to comment on it to the person you're with? 'Yeah... I'm not gonna see that movie. I'm gonna wait for that on VIDEO.' I mean when you think about it, it's just a commercial for the movie. You know, you never sit at home watching tv-- "Yeah... I'm not buying that cereal. I don't like cereals with raisins in 'em. ...What's your take on that commercial? Where you goin'?"”

“"You ever walk behind someone walking so slow you have to hold yourself back from stabbing them? '...You better move it along, huh. My walker has wheels for a reason." You ever walk next to that stranger who wants to walk the same speed as you? '...Get away from me... what are we--on a date here? I don't even know you.' Sometimes I find myself being a weirdo... you ever been walking next to some stranger and for no reason at all you decide that if you beat them to the corner, you'll be a millionaire? They're like, 'whatever'. HAHA! I get to press the walk button for you! ... You think those walk buttons do anything? I think some guy at the government was like, 'What can we give the morons to press? How bout a button!?' You always press 'em, you're like, '...maybe I didn't press it hard enough...' Then someone will come up and be like, 'Did you press it?' --'Yeah, I pressed it.' They're like, 'Why don't you press it again?'--'You're like, 'Yeah I'll press it again.' Then at that point it changes and you're like, 'I did that. I changed the traffic in the city... I have a lot of power.' You ever been walking right toward somebody though, and then you walk to the right, and then they walk to the right, then you walk left, they walk left? You know how there's like that awkward moment? ...Just lean forward and kiss 'em. '....looked like you wanted it from my angle.' Then when they're walking away just hit 'em on the butt. (Pshhh) 'You'll be back! You'll be back for some of that loving.''”

“I only dated one asian girl, but she was very asian, she was a panda.”

“There is the vegetarian Hot Pocket for those of us who don't want to eat meat, but would still like diarrhea.”

“They recently invented the breakfast hot pocket, FINALLY. I can’t think of a better way to start the day; Good morning... you’re about to call in sick.”

My Hubby ROCKS!

Matt gave me a wonderful surprise this week. As a fifth wedding anniversary present, we got season passes to DISNEY WORLD!!!!!!! I am SO excited.

Season passes are different from Annual Passes. They have certain blackout periods where you can't use them (part of June, July and August, 2 weeks at Christmas and New Years and 2 weeks in the spring). These blocked dates are really not a problem for us since June, July and August are so hot, we always go home for Christmas and Disney, during spring break season, is VERY crowded. What it does give us, is access to all 4 parks for August, September, October, November, part of December, January, February, March, part of April, May and part of June. We can even hop from park to park.

Our first open date starts August 15 and I have already made hotel reservations to be down there Friday night. The cool thing is, I can go straight to the Magic Kingdom that Friday night and watch the parade and fireworks and Tinkerbell without having to waste a full day ticket price. This is such a wonderful gift. I have blogged about it before, but, I can't think of somewhere I am able to just relax, forget worries and troubles and just have fun like I can at Disney World. So, there will probably be a lot of Disney pictures this year. I'm going to get as many visits in as I can :-). Now the money we would have spent on tickets will go to gas tanks to get us down there. haha.

Finally!

I finally have the pictures of the house made and loaded into the computer~ Here is a picture of the front of the house if you haven't seen it yet.

Living room. The door is the front door. The archway to the right leads to the 2 guest bedrooms and bath.

Living room. This is the bamboo rug that the dogs love to click-clack around on.

Living room, the archway you see leads down the hall to the master bedroom.

Living room, this archway leads to the kitchen.

The guest room/my art room. Matt did my cool Empire State building mural and NYC skyline.

The desk on the left is where my sewing machine is kept.

Matt's manly office/study/library - The Captain's Quarters

The kitchen, Matt has left the Captain's Quarters and deemed himself worthy to do the dishes. He's a keeper!

The dining room, directly off the kitchen.

Master Bath

Master Bedroom

The view entering the backyard from the gate.

Matt's gorgeous hibiscus.

Our fish pond (there is actually an Oscar in this pond named Aubie. He is a hoss.)

The back of the house and our pretty yard. I'm please to see it looks much greener in these pictures.

Long Time, No Blog - A month is TOO LONG

I have been working hard to get back into a schedule. I feel as if I have been totally flipped upside down since March. In April we searched for the house, secured the loan, agonized over the loan, chewed on fingernails over the loan, closed on the loan. – Crazy month since we were also super afraid to spend any extra cash in case we needed it for the closing. In May we started moving, painted the house, went to Disneyworld, went home for Mother’s day, kept moving, kept painting, MORE moving, MORE painting, passed up a trip to Perdido and Gulf Shores because we were so tired from moving and painting. Oh yeah, and we unpacked, organized and settled in. In June we continued to unpack and paint and finished up just in time to host my family for a week and then Matt’s family the weekend immediately after. Then, just as the families were leaving and we were catching our breath, I left for Lakeland, FL for a 3 day conference. Anyways, long story short, we have been ultra busy.

I know I have promised new house pictures on here for the last 4 blogs, but I am having trouble getting several pieces of technology to work at the same time (ex. Digital camera – Where are the batteries? In the Wii remote of course, are the charged? Not hardly…). Plus, tonight I have to pack up for our trip to Florence for the 4th. I will get pictures posted of the house as soon as I can. I plan to actually take the pictures tonight since I will have the opportunity to show the pictures to grandparents and family members this weekend who are anxious to see what we’ve done with the white box J. But therein lies the problem of first having to straighten the area I am photographing. It will not do to show off my new home with stuff lying all over the place. Especially our bedroom, my grandparents don’t want to see our laundry piles (though notably high they may be). Ok, enough boring house stuff.

I am excited for our trip home. Matt’s family is having a family reunion all weekend at his folks’ house on the river so there will be a lot of skiing, boating, swimming, fishing and tasty food. We’re going on a cruise (party boat) of Wheeler Lake on Friday night that will stop by DoubleHead in time for the fireworks. It’s actually a 3 hour tour (Gilligan’s Island – Hopefully I won’t end up stuck on an island in the middle of Wheeler Lake. There’s no telling how long we’d be trapped there since the island won’t have coconuts or bamboo for us to fashion a raft or home out of.) The cruise should be really fun. I LOVE watching fireworks and especially on a boat in the middle of the river. I’m even looking forward to the SMELL of the river if you can believe that. It’s unique and comforting because it smells like home.

Despite my venting of my stresses on this blog, I do know how fortunate and blessed I am. I have a wonderful husband/best friend and share a lovely home with him that has every modern convenience I could ask for and then some. I can afford the gas to drive home to the Shoals. I have 2 sweet puppy dogs who are very fun, loving and affectionate with minimal doggy accidents and disasters. I can get to the beach in 20 minutes. I can sit in my back yard and eat my hubby’s homegrown tomatoes. I have a job with fun people and relatively low stress that takes me to Orlando occasionally with an excuse to stay and go to DisneyWorld. God has blessed this Crockett family with so many blessings so far and I truly know and appreciate how blessed I am.

Matt – You proposed to me in the most creative and original ways 6 years ago on July 3 and I have never looked back. I love you with all my heart! July 4th is our holiday. Matt and Ashley day!

Rock the Hammock

Stevie is in love with our new backyard hammock. She can get up out of the uncomfortable grass and float on a multi colored cloud. She's very pleased with herself here. She likes this hammock almost as much as she likes the new jute rug in Matt's study. The material is a weave of wool that is scratchy and a great place for her to wallow around on her back to get a good scratch. Wil's favorite part of the house is now the living room where we have put down a bamboo rug. He loves to run all over it and hear the clippity clack of his doggy toenails. (It's becoming loudly obvious that I need to clip them.) Both dogs love to have a good chase around the circle created from the hall, kitchen, dining room and living room. They seem to be adjusting to the new house well. We can really tell they like the carpet. It's good to see them adjusting. I think they were confused when we kept going from house to house for so long. It's nice for Matt and I too.

Below are some pictures of our back yard. Matt did a ton of work last night. It looks awesome. We need to mow the yard, but we're letting the grass grow long to establish the roots since this is new sod. Plus, we don't have a lawnmower yet. Our fire pit has been really useful for burning brush.

Wii Fit

Matt and I preordered the Wii Fit that came out last week. We have had a blast with it! It has some really cool games and features. The BMI and weight can be a little harsh, but it's honest for sure. It will tell you if you're overweight, underweight or even obese. The system has strength training, yoga, balance games and aerobic excersise. The balance board measures your balance and helps you do the movements properly. It's a really good workout. You even have a personal trainer that shows you all the moves and talks you through the workout. It's such a cool way to play and workout. I really enjoy the hula hoop challenge. We've used this "toy" daily since we got it. Such a good way to sneak in some excersise.

We are resting at home this weekend after a crazy month of packing, moving and unpacking. We finally cleaned out the other house earlier this week and I mailed the keys in this morning. It's a relief to be done moving. This will be our first weekend here in our new home with no guests. I plan on sleeping in. I will take interior pictures this weekend and post them.

Updates...

We're finally moved in. There are only a few small things left at the townhouse. Now I've got a week to get it cleaned. We're supposed to be out next Saturday. We have all the rooms painted. All that's left to paint is 2 hallways. We've left them white to give us a chance to move in. It's been a long process. But, thankfully, because it's been long, it's been less stressful. We moved most of the furniture in last weekend and we've been settling in to the new place all week.

My parents are coming into town tonight so they'll be our first visitors to our new house. We're excited to have someone down to see it.

These past two months have been so busy and stressful. It's nice to have the worst behind us. In one week we closed on the house, Matt got a promotion at work and we went to Disney World. It was a pretty amazing week! I'm glad now for a few weeks to relax and enjoy the new place. We're always thinking of new things we want to do. Especially to the yard. Matt has planted a huge boxed vegetable garden, we have a fire pit and a little pond with a fountain. It's very cute. We're slowly going to create a little patio out there. It's very pleasant to sit out there (as long as you have strong bug spray).

For Memorial Day we plan to go to the beach and just rest. I'm really looking forward to it. Hopefully we'll also fit in a trip to see Indiana Jones! We've been looking forward to this movie for a while.

I'll post pictures of the house as soon as I take them. We just finished all the arranging and picture hanging tonight so I'll take some in the day to post so I can show everyone my colorful home.

Our New House

Sorry I've been so long in posting again. We've had a busy few weeks. Matt and I finally closed on our first house last week. It’s a new construction in Crawfordville, Florida which is about 20 minutes south of Tallahassee. This puts us that much closer to beaches. There is actually waterfront only 10 minutes from our house! The area around it is very rural so it’s quiet, which is nice after living in town for so long. No more horns honking and tires squealing at the red-light down the street. We are super proud of it. Owning our own home is something we’ve talked about for a long time. Almost since we began dating, which was 7 years ago! We’ve been painting and moving stuff bit by bit for the past week. We’ll officially move everything out of our townhouse on the third weekend in May, although, we don’t have to vacate the townhouse until the 31st.

We’re painting every room a different color. The living room is green with a hint of an olive tint, the dining room and kitchen are a bright beachy aqua blue, the master bedroom is dark gray, the master bath is brick reddish-brown, the guest bedroom is a stormy blue-gray, the guest bath is rosy pink and the study is walnut brown. When we picked up the paint at the store, the paint mixer said, “Y’all are going to have a colorful house!”. We just laughed. We have lived in whitewall apartments for TOO long. We love making the house have our personality. It’s looking less like the house we looked at before we purchased it and more like our home.

Matt has already planted his large plants in the ground out front. They look great and also do a lot to make the place look homey. He’s going to build a box for a vegetable garden in the back. So, hopefully soon we’ll have some tasty veggies to add to our meals. I cooked our first meal in the new house last night. I went ahead and moved down most of my kitchen stuff so we could go down there after work to paint and still be able to eat. Painting has been harder than we thought it would be but it’s been so fun to fix up the place and make it our own.

We’re proud of it and I’m extending an open invitation to anyone who wants to come down for a visit. We can’t wait to see you!