Ashley Schaefer

No, it’s not what you think… sorry friends, he’s still not on the bandwagon.

We got a new dog!! He’s a Siberian Husky we found at a nearby shelter. Poor guy had ticks when we got him and tested positive for heartworm, so we have some (expensive) work to do, but he is very sweet and pretty chill most of the time. He gives lots of kisses and will randomly chew on your arm (softly). So goofy!

Buddy was very happy to get a new brother, Blaze. They spend a lot of time just laying around together. Now that he’s settled in, Blaze will get hyper once or twice a day and want to play with Buddy by biting. This is not the way Buddy likes to play so he gets a little freaked out and sticks by me while kinda fighting back. So I often have dogs ‘fighting’ on my lap or feet. It gets really annoying but Bo is too much of a coward to go play alone, LOL. Hopefully they will figure out a happy medium that is more fun for everybody.

Enjoy pictures of the boys, Buddy and Blaze.

Have you read the new book by Gretchen Rubin? I thought “The Happiness Project” was a wonderful concept, and very well written- if a little heavy on quotes and philosophy. Reading about the little adjustments you can make to your daily life to increase happiness resonated with me, and I decided to give it a shot.

In honor of my first uncool Birthday (What happens when you turn 22? Nothing. You just start getting older. LOL) I am kicking off a year-long happiness project. Starting June 14 I will tackle one area of my life each month by focusing on several related resolutions. Each month I will add on a new set of resolutions until by my next Birthday I am doing them all. I am really excited about it and I think it will be a lot of fun.

Check out my project here: http://www.happinessprojecttoolbox.com/toolbox/user/AshleyLyn88.html. Read the book, start your own project, and tell me all about it.

FYI… Buddy is still a psycho.

Seriously friends, he has been driving me up the wall with his clingy behaviors and night time freak outs. Tom and I have tried several over the counter anxiety reducers with no spectacular results.

Would it be wrong to knock him out with tranqs every night? LOL

(Still love him though )

Well, Tom and I are almost 100% unpacked in the house and overall, we are pretty excited about it.

Unfortunately, we have been dealing with problem after problem since day one. It seems like it may be slowing down—dare I say stopping?—but I don’t want to jinx it LOL.

It started before we moved in with a very stinky upstairs bedroom carpet. You know, the kind of smell that makes you imagine the room was stuffed with about 20 cats and 10 litter boxes. Lovely. I had a few… words… with our rental office and they were VERY accommodating. Tried two smell treatments before we moved in, and when that didn’t work we got a pet treatment and new carpet done within 5 days. Problem solved!

The night after we were ‘moved in’ (which took a horrendous amount of time- 13 hours, the movers were nice but slooow) we realized we had no hot water and the AC wasn’t working. Get it?? Water can’t get hot, air can’t get cold? Ha ha… ha… ha. :/  Anywho, took two days for the water and 4 days and 2 trips for the AC. Turns out the first guy missed the huge chunk of door insulation jammed up the AC vent. LOL. Made us really appreciate the AC, but let me tell you—unpacking hardcore in 80+ is not the most fun thing I’ve done.

Next we noticed that although we thought it had been working, the sliding back door did not latch properly, even when locked. A good tug good open it even if you ‘locked it’. Minor compared to the other annoyances, but we are working on that now.

Lastly (but not least in my mind), and not really about the house, is Buddy. It’s starting to dwindle, but my poor dog has been a nervous wreck since we got in here, especially at night. That first night he woke me up at 1:15am panting in my face and shaking uncontrollably. Wouldn’t lay down, didn’t want to be on the bed, didn’t want to be off the bed– preferred shaking and panting while standing on some of my moving related bruises, actually. That was fun. Finally was able to ignore him enough to sleep after 5.

The next night he started climbing into bathtubs and clawing at it as if to make it more comfortable (picture a dog readying a blanket). When we closed the bathroom door so he couldn’t do any damage, he managed to get himself stuck behind the dryer, where he began to scratch up the wall. Tom found him there at 5am when he got up for work. The utility room door stays closed now lol.

Now he still prefers bathtubs, and he acts petrified of the bedroom- shakes and runs away. We think we finally figured it out last night though—the ceiling fan. Tom turned it off and he lay right down. He flipped it back on and Buddy tried to bolt. Now we have a choice I guess—psycho dog, or hot stuffy nights.

Buddy has also been my frickin shadow lately. Cute, I guess, but pretty annoying when I’m trying to unpack and he’s blocking my way. Or am hot and trying to relax and he wants to climb into my lap. I am truly hoping he adjusts to his new surroundings soon.

Things are settling in, though. We have one box with a handful of random junk in the bottom that we have to decide what to do with, and other than that the house is DONE! I am really pretty happy with it.

Now if only I can convince Tom to change the 3rd bedroom from a study to a nursery…

Have you ever had a point in your life where you are suddenly doing everything you swore you wouldn’t do? Isn’t it strange?

Tom and I are preparing to move from our apartment- the apartment he was absolutely in love with and insisted he wanted even though I was sure it wasn’t the best idea. “You better be sure,” I said, “because there is no way I am moving again in a year.” LOL

So we found a house to rent on the other side of town, in a good area about 15 minutes from base. And I must admit I am VERY happy to get a yard- Buddy did not dig the 3rd floor. But I wasn’t excited to move so soon after getting the house settled and comfortable. “You can handle the moving details. And there is no way I am taking a bunch of time and effort to pack up all our stuff, the movers can do that.” LOL

The great rate Tom got from the movers did not include packing. Seeing how we also need to buy a fridge, money is kinda important. So the other day we bought a bunch of boxes, tape, and paper from Home Depot. I just laughed at myself the whole way to the car.

So my theory is, I should say “I will never win the lottery” and “It’s too hard to get in shape.” Who knows, I might end up a rich hottie.

Anyone else had their words come back to haunt them recently?

This year Tom and I went to Seattle for our anniversary! We hung out with an old friend, Nick, and thusly were lucky enough to have a free room and chauffeur- LOL.

First of all, skiing is EXPENSIVE! Even with military discounts, 2 days cost us over $300, and almost as much as the plane tickets- ouch. It is definitely an expensive hobby! It is also a LOT harder than it looks! It doesn’t help that I have little coordination or physical ability to start with, hehehe.  I managed to only fall down a handful of times however. One of those falls led to me wrenching my shoulder back by slamming into a snow bank, and another in a giant bruise caused my whacking my calf on the edge of my opposite ski. But nothing broken and no trips to the hospital so I count it as a win!

Here are some photos of our fun ski time:

We also toured an old Bavarian mountain village, had fun hanging out with Nick, and saw the Space Needle:

It was a really fun mini-vacation. If you’ve never tried skiing, I definitely recommend it, but make sure you’re paired up with a buddy in case you get hurt & invest in lessons your first time out. Go snow-bunnies!!

(February 18, 2010)

Best… Anniversary photo… EVER!!

Da-da-da-daaaaaa! Finally, here is the photographic journey of the China tour Tom and I went on at the end of March.  I know, I said I would be good and post more… and I haven’t. I said I would post my China pictures right after the trip… and I didn’t.  Oh well, thus is life.

We began our journey in Beijing. Beijing was an amazing hub of activity. The drivers and pedestrians alike were crazy- cars randomly turning against lights and forcing their way in out of turn, and people calmly strolling into busy streets (where unlike what we are used to, they do not have right of way) and getting stuck standing in between lanes of traffic, waiting to cross. Luckily things worked out where we were provided with personal drivers and tour guides throughout our trip. Around the city we saw many stores and signs boasting about the Olympic games; in fact, we were lucky to have visited so soon after this event, because our guide told us many of the places we went sightseeing had been touched up and repainted before the games in order to clean up for the extra tourists.

Temple of Heaven

      Map of complex                            Us at the entrance       

People getting their morning exercise at the temple

Temple of Good Harvest

                 Old cooking pits                   People joining in a Chinese song

Imperial Vault of Heaven                     Tom @ side building

Circular Mound Alter                                      Make a wish!

Water Calligraphy

Tiananmen Square

*True to form, the Chinese people (including our tour guide) never mentioned the reason why this square is world-famous.*

The square!

    Emperor’s Tomb (@ front of square)  Government building (@ side of square)

Monument (NOT for massacre thou)              I wish I had a daisy…

 A military presence                       Kind of eerie isn’t it?

  If these stones could talk         Forbidden City across the street

 Forbidden City

The Forbidden City entrance

 The flag                                                     Us inside

This place is HUGE inside!

 Original courtyard stones                   Mama and baby Shi Shi

                                                        Cool turtle/dragon creature

Summer Palace

Entrance to the old “royalty only” resort

The phoenix is the symbol of the Empress                Pavilion by the lake

              More palace down the lake           Covered walkway connecting areas

Beautiful scenery!

Ming Tomb

Welcome to the Ming Tombs

              Dragon-Claw tree                                             Walkway to tomb

            Outside of tomb                                                         Offerings

                Emperor’s possessions                                        Caskets

                      Exit of tomb                                                     Tablet

Awesome wall art depicting the history of the dynasty    

Great Wall of China

“You’re not a man til you climb the great wall”

Us on the wall!

Looking down from the first station

So many stairs….                                    T+A S.

           Me dying of exhaustion                Crazy stairs—from 1” to your knee!

Us at the 2nd stage

Looking down from the 4th station!

Yea, Beijing was awesome! Tom loved the big city feel, and I totally got into all the history, especially the square and the wall. But after 2 fun-packed days we are off to the next city, Xi’an.

Goose Pagoda

Into to the pagoda

      Entrance                                                     Incense Shrine

  Wild Goose Pagoda                    Praying and wishing shrine

       Shrine                                              Guest’s’ wishes                  

 Buddha shrine                                  Urns for the monks

Buddhist Path to Liberation

Xi’an City Wall

Going to the city wall                     The story of the wall

 Main building on the wall                   Tom climbing the wall

Fun sights on the wall

   Tom and I                                       Outside the wall

The wall separates the old and new portions of the city

Terracotta Warriors

              Tom the warrior!          Souvenirs made from original clay

             Above the terracotta complex    Where farmers found the first fragments

Pit one

                                                                              Me outside          

      Pit two                                        Surviving chariot

Huaquing Springs Palace

Construction, old school            Hot spring bath complex

   Hot springs Empress statue           One of many hot spring baths

Us washing in the springs

Beautiful scenery 1

Beautiful scenery 2

Us leaving the springs

And now it’s time for the last leg of our journey, Shanghai! We had a short day of sightseeing, to include the Yu-yuan and the river-bank Bund. We also got to see an AWESOME Chinese acrobat show, but of course there’s no picture taking allowed, so you can’t see that.

Yu-yuan

                   Entrance                              Awesome dragon atop wall

Cool Chinese wall doorway decorations

Beautiful scenery

                   Goldfish pond                ‘Cool’ Chinese rocks: tall, full of holes

Bund

Great view of nice buildings on the river

  Neat boat with TV ads                             Cool buildings

Left and right views along river

And there you have it folks, hope you enjoyed your picture tour through China—I know that trip was something I will always remember and cherish as a wonderful adventure I had with my hubby!

Ok, let me catch you up about Tom, since last post I wrote about him he was still deployed and I was still very sad. Lol. Well, he got back the end of January and I was SOOO happy about that. I think everyone knows I didn’t enjoy those 4 months at all! We had so much fun together during the few weeks’ r&r he had, and then it was time to get back into the normal routines. Now, my parents had told me that I might have some trouble adjusting once he was home, and of course I rolled my eyes and said “yea, whatever”– as all of us do when we think our parents are wrong. But, once again, they were right. I had to learn to be on a schedule again, not sleep til 1 and stay up til 4. I had to put up with the comments about my driving and my music again. I had to start doing laundry every Wednesday- and folding it right away. After 4 months of washing only when I was out of things to wear, that was probably the biggest annoyance, lol. There are just so many little things that you get used to doing “your way”, and it can be really challenging to switch back to “our way”. I think we’re pretty much back into the swing of things now. And I do want to say that despite the adjustments and the challenges, it is 100% AWESOME to have my husband back where he belongs.

Next up was February 18th- our 3rd anniversary! We got each other cards and went out to a really nice restaurant, Jam. It’s a classy teppanyaki style restaurant. We love it; the food and the atmosphere are just excellent; we’ve gone there a handful of times, usually for special occasions due to the higher price tag. We had a great time, and we both agreed: it feels like we’ve been together forever and feels impossible that it’s been 3 years already. Funny how that works, huh?

(Yay, 3 years!)

Our next big adventure– we are off to China in 9 days!! It’s going to be SO incredibly awesome. Here’s the link where you can check out our game plan and be super jealous lol.

http://www.iace.co.jp/english/oka/pkg/mu_china_3city_bsx_8d_std2.htm.

I will be sure to show off the pics when we get back. ::muah::

So, the hubby has been on my case to update this site. Which these things are well and good, but my point of view is— if I want my friends/family to know something, I can just call them, right? Plus… I’m lazy. Lol. But to keep the peace- here we are once again, giving it another try. I’m going to start off by updating you on what I did during the holidays before Tom came home.

Thanksgiving was super fun. We celebrated at Britt and J’s house with a bunch of single people, so we had tons of food, drink and laughs that day. Jason fried a turkey that was delicious and lets just say we opened our first drink at 11 am while we were cooking… Yea. Lol! About half way through the night I felt really bummed out, thinking about Tom… and I probably would have gone home to sulk alone, but I was already kinda drunk… so I just helped clean Britt’s kitchen instead, hahaha. Then we started playing cards, and as Brittany knows, cards make everything awesome. Ended up having a fun day even though I missed my baby.

                            Here we all are, getting ready to dig in!

Then, the best thing of the whole 4 months happened… my momma came to visit me!!! It was pretty much the only thing I thought about since Tom had left. I started counting down the days about 2 months out… and yes I did get down to the hours. Don’t look at me in that tone of voice, I was lonely. Lol. Due to work she could only stay for about 10 days, but it was awesome. We did a ton of sightseeing, to include Shuri Castle, Naval Underground Tunnels, and Okinawa World. Pretty much the whole time we were running around, trying to cram as much fun into the trip as possible. It was the best thing to have my mom there with me for Christmas, I don’t know what I would have done without her. Brittany, Jason, Jen, and Jeri joined us at the house for Christmas dinner and we had a great time. All too soon it was time for her to leave, but we had a blast! Here’s some highlights of the trip and Christmas:

          At a Christmas Party w/ Jeri              Okinawa World- underground cavern

                        Oki babes                               Christmas Eve dinner @ Jam

Jason, Mom, Me, Britt- Christmas

Goooooood times.

Last up is New Year’s Eve. That was a FUN night! Britt, J, some dudes, and I went to the Crocodile Bar & Grill. They had this special going on where you could play ‘rock, paper, scissor’ every time you ordered a drink and if you won you got it for free. But guess what? Those crazy mofos were the champs of r-p-s. Of course, tying counted as a loss, so it was difficult to win. We stayed there right until almost midnight, and I only won 1 free drink out of like 6. LOL! There were also some weird contests and random prizes. Britt and I got hit on several times and even got bought a drink- which is always fun.

          Chillaxin’                                   Japanese people play crazy games

              Winning gift certificates                                 My free drink!

          Party people!                            Firework finale over ocean

And in-between holidays was college, boredness, and missing Tom… but, we will talk more about Tom next time.