Home Sweet Home at Last

Here is our bedroom.  We painted the dresser over the summer and found some black knobs for a total of $3 at the local Habitat for Humanity 'ReStore'

The set of stools I'm using as nightstands were $6 a piece at Goodwill,  and I'm in the process of painting them (as you can see here) to match the tan rustic look of the dresser.   

Tan couch: free from a storage unit in Colorado (thanks Dad!), and of course my thrifty place matts and $3 curtain rod from DI

We're using the extra bedroom as a study for the time being

I used masking tape to mark off this bulletin board while I painted chevron stripes on it.  I think it makes for a cute addition.   

Some of my inspirations on the wall opposite the desk

I don't need Instagram to make my photos appear aged and fuzzy.  My old school five mega pixel camera should do the job :D

It's been about a week since we've finally settled into our luxurious two bedroom, one bath apartment in Laramie and we're loving all the open space we have here!  My friends probably hate me as much as Taylor Swift's friends do her; always nervous that I'm going to post something personal about them on my blog.  But I am excited about our new ward and all of the cool families we have met here.

Mike started Med school last Monday, and has recently taken up the hobby of stalking our deck-mates: the pigeons.  He's quite hilarious waiting by the door, broom in hand for them to sneak into his masterfully crafted "pigeon trap" which entails a small opening through the bottom of our cardboard fortress, allowing the pigeons onto the deck area where they can comfortably poop all day long.  While watching them the other day, I recorded his following remarks: 

Mike: "the beauty of it is that it's only open on one side, so they can't escape.  So I can beat them to a bloody pulp if I wanted."

        -continues to monitor their movements with keen interest

"Seriously.  Dang pigeons.  I'm going to obsess about this."  ....

"It's like a rat trap...It's like a 'rats with wings' trap."

       -sees one on the deck and *shhhh's* me for coughing too loud

"Here pigy-widgies.  What do pigeons eat?" ....

“Seriously, if they don’t go away, I’m going to have you buy mouse traps to put out there by the entrance to their hole.”

Mike finally cornered one and started swatting at it with the broom until, and this does not reflect negatively on his manhood, he let it go free with the send-off "Go tell your friends!"

Over the past few weeks we've developed a system that serves us well.  I cook an "omelette du fromage" (Mike's French is compliments of an episode of "Dexter's Lab") for breakfast and sammi with Triscuit and Banana for lunch.  He goes off and learns stuff while I take care of homely things, then he returns to draw medical things on my anatomy and care for my ailments.  We've enjoyed spending time with each other, the new Batman movie (!!!!!), decorating the apt, cooking together, battling each other, visiting with the fam, and meeting the other people in the program and our neighbors.  

Since last Tuesday, I've had the worst cough, phlegm (I hate that word worse than 'sphincter' and 'secretions' combined), and fevers combined with some heavy fatigue.  After some detailed research on my part, and what Mike describes as “Ashley’s favorite new past-time for herself: creating illnesses for herself on ‘web MD,” I learned that I most likely had a virus that caused a little case of Bronchitis.  (But seriously, I did love typing in different symptoms and seeing what the outcome was, especially when a red box popped up, warning: "If you have all these symptoms, please go to an Urgent Care facility at once!"  Me: “ooh!  They have ‘fits of rage’! Sorry, just let me hulk out.  And urinary incontenance…let’s add that to my list of symptoms…”).  A long overdue trip to the doctors today, some Halls, Mucinex, chicken noodle soup, an inhaler, and other medicine I can't pronounce later and I think I may live.