My "Top 10 List" of Why TV Sucked This Week!

So you may think this is a funny topic to write about, but I have been very irritated by TV this week! As a stay-at-home mom, the TV is one of my good friends because it gives me some background noise and gives me some adults to listen to (I'm sure all you stay-at-home moms can relate)! But this past week has just been full of disappointment for me and I wanted to vent, so I decided to make my own Top 10 List about why I seriously want to throw my TV out the window... So bear with me... :)

#10. Bill O'Reilly is not on Bill O'Reilly this week. Come on, Bill! Don't you know it's May Sweeps?!?! (More than anything, I just want to hear his scoop on Rosie O'Donnell...)

#9. Since it is May Sweeps, all the local news channels are trying to get high ratings so they all have "exclusive" stories every night. For example, ABC 4 reported the other night that they had "exclusive" information that we are attacking Iran from within, and Channel 2 did a couple live shots with life flight and emergency responders so "we could see what it is like." No offense Linz, I still love Channel 2, but I just get so sick of the news channels coming up with these lame "exclusive stories" during sweeps!!! They're all so stupid!!! Haha

#8. Yes, I am a dedicated fan of numerous reality shows, but do we really need 2-hour results shows? Nobody really cares about seeing the people that got kicked off two months ago, let alone seeing them dance or sing again. It's just a waste of our time!

#7. However, if these producers insist on having 2-hour results shows, at least put on performers that are worth our time! i.e. Bette Midler on American Idol... need I say more?

#6. Rosie O'Donnell continued her Bush bashing on The View Tuesday. When the question came up about where the Bush family inherited their money from, she looked right at the camera and said, "The terrorists? The Saudis? (*Wink *Wink)" Come on ABC! Just kick her off now. I am a firm believer that whether you agree with our President or not, you should at least respect the office, and not make such horrific claims like saying our President allowed the terrorists to come attack our country for money.

#5. Are you as sick of the lame, original American Idol songs that both contestants have to sing at the end of the finale like I am? Not only are they quite cheesy, but it really is unfair to some of the contestants (i.e. Blake). That is not his kind of music, so of course Jordin would outdo him on it (and everybody is saying she won because of that song). Doesn't this seem a little unfair?

(Sorry, we're getting there! This is actually good therapy for me! I have lots of built-up anger!!! Haha)

#4. The Bachelor picked the completely wrong girl for him!!! Come on, don't you think I would know better than him? ;) Ha ha. But seriously, this girl Tessa (who he picked) acted like she didn't even like him the whole time, yet Bevin (the girl he turned down) was madly in love with him. What is wrong with this picture?! I have a new idea - let the viewers vote! Then he would have made the right decision! ;)

#3. After Rosie O'Donnell and Elisabeth Hasselbeck's fight on The View yesterday, Alicia Silverstone came out on stage and walked right past Elisabeth, completely ignoring her, and hugged all three other hosts, including Rosie. Come on! Are we in junior high again? Isn't Elisabeth allowed to have her views, and have them be heard (just like Rosie demands the same)? Elisabeth has been talked down to long enough, and she deserved to take a jab at Rosie, so come on Alicia. If you should be ignoring anyone, it should be Rosie for her hateful and hurtful comments over the past 4 months! (If you didn't see this scene with Alicia, here's a link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoFH-BAHqN4).

#2. The Jazz... need I say much more?

And #1 is...... Jordin Sparks winning American Idol! I know, I know, most of you probably loved her and are glad she won, but I'm not! I guarantee that she will go down in American Idol history with names like Reuben, Fantasia, and Taylor because there is nothing special about her! She has a pretty voice, but it doesn't sound any different than the other voices you hear on the radio. To be successful, you have to be original, and she's not! But you know who is? BLAKE!!! (And by the way, he isn't just a beatboxer like the whole world says... He really is a good singer! How else would he have made it through the preliminary rounds with the judges if he wasn't?)

Well... there are my Top 10 reasons why TV sucked this past week, and why I might just throw ours out the window! Better yet... maybe I just need to turn it off. Haha. However, I am looking forward to my dad's interview on Glenn Beck tomorrow! You go, Dad! Until next time! -Ash

Finally.... Some Sleep!

Who would have ever thought that my 5-month old would be sleeping better than my 2 1/2-year old? It seems hard to believe, but it's so true! Tyler sleeps 12 hours straight a night (I am dead serious) and Gavin typically wakes up about every 4 or 5 hours (plus, he refuses to go to sleep from the very beginning). Does something seem wrong with this picture? I thought the same thing too. As I hit complete exhaustion 2 weeks ago and was bawling everyday, I decided it was finally time to do something about these terrible sleep habits. So I ordered a book called Teach Your Child to Sleep, hoping for a complete miracle. Of course, their only suggestion was to get your child on a schedule (just like every other sleep book out there). As hard as I tried to utilize every suggestion they made, nothing was working. I would think I had Gavin all settled down and ready to go to sleep, and then he would start bouncing off the walls, crying, or wanting a bottle (a bad habit he has had for a long time).

As I dealt with this on Monday, my patience was running so thin and I honestly felt like I was going to have a nervous breakdown. It had been happening for way too long, and I knew something had to change. So I finally just sat down and analyzed what was happening when we put Gavin to bed. Typically, we pushed bedtime as quickly as we could to have time to ourselves, and didn't talk to Gavin about why he needed to go to sleep or even what he was doing. We would just put him in bed, brush his teeth, and close the door. Of course, within 30 seconds, he was always at the door knocking and screaming. So I decided that maybe I needed to put a little more of a positive spin on bedtime and spend more time with him before he went to bed. I started by telling him all of his friends and cousins that go to sleep, and don't need bottles because "they are big boys." Then I told him all the fun things we would do when he woke up, and that if he woke up during the night, everything would be okay. He just needed to take a drink from his sippy (instead of calling for a "bo bo") and go back to sleep. I then said prayers with him, brushed his teeth, and kissed him goodnight. As usual, I closed his door and went downstairs expecting to hear pounding on the door in about 30 seconds, but nothing. He actually went to sleep! I did the same thing with his nap the next day, and again that next night. So far, it seems to be working and he doesn't put up a fight when he goes to bed now. In fact, he hasn't been waking up during the night either (at least not that I have heard)! Who knew that just putting a more positive spin on things could help so much? It has been such a relief so let's pray it lasts! And finally, I feel like I have some sanity back! It's a fabulous feeling! Until next time (and a much more rested next time at that)! -Ash

An Eventful Past Week!

This past week has been so crazy busy, so please forgive me for not writing (especially you, Dad!). I have hardly had time to sit down and blog, let alone even think about blogging! But I thought it was about time to sit down and fill you all in about what's been going on, so please forgive me if it's super long. I will try to condense as much as I can! ;)

The craziness all began last week on Tuesday. My best friend Kyla, who lives in Logan, was due to have a baby girl on May 15th, but had been having contractions for a couple weeks. She was really nervous about having the baby early, especially because her husband Dan was going out of town for all of last week and her mom was in Arizona. So I told her she better call me if she went into labor and I would be up there as quick as I could to be with her. So last Tuesday night, I turned on American Idol and had a really strong feeling that I should go down to the family room and check my cell phone to see if I had any messages. But of course, I'm such an American Idol freak and just coudn't bear to pull myself away, so I ignored the prompting. So 8:00 comes, American Idol is finally over (by the way, Blake was so freakin' awesome! If you want to see his fabulous performance, check it out! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0o28DMu0CDc), and I finally decided to check my phone. Sure enough, there's a message and it's from Kyla saying, "Hi Ashlee, just wondering what you're doing tonight cuz I think I'm having a baby!" My heart sank. She had left the message at 6:40 and here it was, 8:00. I tried calling her but of course she didn't answer... I tried calling the Logan Hospital, but of course they wouldn't tell me anything because of privacy policies. I was in tears, I couldn't believe I'd let her down like that. So I finally just got in the car and drove up there, shaking the whole time because I was so sick about the whole situation. When I finally got up there at 9:30, I found out that she had had the baby at 8:20... naturally, no less! Fortunately, her sister-in-law had been with her the whole time, along with a neighbor, so I felt a little better when I found that out. So I stayed and visited with her until about 11:30, and got home about 1:00. It was so great to see her and her cute little baby (who they named Adrienne, by the way), but I am still kicking myself for not listening to that prompting. I guess it's one of those mistakes we can all learn from! ;)

The next day was a bit chaotic because we were trying to get our house ready to be appraised for the refinance we are doing right now. We were so nervous about it cuz we really needed our house to appraise for $214,000 so we can afford this new loan - but trust me, we had our doubts. We hadn't heard of any house in the neighborhood appraising for that much, so we were really nervous. So when the appraiser came, I tried to do as much shmoozing (sp?) as possible so we could get as much as possible. But I still had major doubts when he specifically told me that he thought the estimated $214,000 our loan officer said we needed was probably unattainable. Believe it or not though, we heard back from our loan officer today and she said it came in at $214,000! Is that awesome or what? Trust me, that was an answer to a prayer! ;) (I thought I would stick a picture of our house in this section for those of you who haven't seen it yet...)

So moving right along... this past weekend was also quite busy! Another good friend of mine, Lara, had a bridal shower this weekend so I stayed at my parents' for Friday and Saturday. Of course, Gavin was thrilled to see his Poppy and even decided to be like him on Saturday morning by trying his hand in yardwork! It was pretty cute, but I'm still nervous that he might have done some slight damage to my dad's perfect yard! Lara's bridal shower was great and it was so nice to see her. I am absolutely thrilled that she has found the right one for her and wish her all the best! The shower was made even better by getting to see another good friend of mine, Emily! She brought her daughter Rylin and she and Gavin were able to play for a while, but wow, sometimes I forget just how busy 2 two-year-olds can be when they play together! ;)

Greg came down later that night to pick me up. He had my car on Friday and Saturday because on Thursday, (to my complete surprise) he sold his Bug! Wo!!!! I guess he decided it would take too much work and money, so he started looking for a new (old) car. He actually found one he wanted on Saturday and, believe it or not, I don't mind it too much! (Crazy, huh?) It's a 1967 Volkswagen Fastback. It still needs quite a bit of work, but Greg bought it for $1400 cheaper than he sold his Bug for, so at least he will have some money to fix it up with. What do you think?

And last but not least, I turned the big 24 yesterday. I know, I know, I'm ancient... ha ha. I actually had no intention of even writing about all this, but I felt like I needed to to show what an absolutely awesome family I have! We started celebrating on Sunday when my family all came up for dinner and cake and ice cream. We had a great time just hanging out and I got some very nice presents from everyone. Funny enough though, I actually think my favorite part of the night was blowing out all of my candles! I haven't been able to do that in years, dead serious! haha. Then, Greg took yesterday off to take care off the boys so I could have a break and spend some time with my sisters and my mom. They were extremely patient with me (which I appreciated a lot!) as I went from store to store to store just looking for something to buy with my birthday money! (It's so hard to spend money like that when you never have money for yourself the rest of the time...) Overall though, Sunday and yesterday were great days, and just reaffirmed to me how great my family really is!

Well hopefully that wasn't too annoyingly long. I just wanted to share all of that with you, and I knew if I didn't do it all at once, it would never happen! Oh, but I did forget one thing... How about those Jazz?!?! Wahoo!!!! Until next time! -Ash