Everyday Ashlie

Hello all! I have decided to make my blog public again. And, to make it easier for y'all to keep up with my posts, I've added the "Following" widget to my sidebar. If you'd like to follow my blog, then just click on the "Follow this blog" link to the left. You can follow publicly or anonymously, the choice is yours. Oh, and if you have a blog yourself, you can follow your favorite blogs as well. It really makes it easier to see who's updated recently. Saves me lots of time from clicking on all the blogs I read (and I read tons)! Just see your Blogger Dashboard for more info. Happy following! Have a WONDERFUL day!

I am loving the pretty cloches that I've seen on some blogs lately. I've looked at just about all my usual stores to try and find just the right one. But, when I've seen them, they are sooo expensive! Or, maybe I'm just cheap. That's probably what it is. As you can imagine, when I ran across this wonderful blog , I was super excited! The fabulous Darlene made her own cloche! Out of an upside-down vase, a crystal candleholder, a lamp finial, and some glue!! Genius, I tell you! Oh, are you wondering what a cloche is? Well, let me just enlighten you. It's a glass dome with a decorative top (sometimes) that you can put little tchotchsky's under for display. It gives whatever special thing you're displaying its own personal spotlight. Sooo pretty! And, as I am a shameless copycat, just like Darlene, I vowed to whip up a cloche just as soon as I could get to Lowe's. I found several different styles of finials with little to no effort. However, my enthu

Remember these...? I can't wait to show y'all how they came together to make a really fun project! I get so excited about making things these days! It seems that I've been getting inspiration from every magazine I read, blog I follow, and crafty thought that pops in my head. This project happens to be something I just dreamed up one day. This sad old lamp had definitely seen better days and I decided to spruce it up a little. So, without further ado, here's an informal tutorial on bringing a worn lamp back into the spotlight! :) I made a template of the circular lamp tray and then folded it in half repeatedly until I had 8 equal (well, sort of) triangles. Then, I traced them on the back of my scrapbook paper. I taped the pieces together on the back to keep them together while I continued working. Oh, and just to add some color, I printed out some letters on my computer to make our monogram. Because you can never have enough monogrammed stuff, right? After I d

Hey y'all! I just downloaded Windows Live Writer and I'm testing it out to see if I like it or not. So just skip this post if you want!                                Okay, so, adding this pic was sooo much easier in Writer than in Blogger!! Folks at Blogger, maybe you should consider fixing that little problem? Anyway, here goes nothin'! Edited to add: Windows Live Writer is super easy to use! It worked perfectly with my blog! I was worried that my template would mess it up, but nope! It worked just fine! I highly recommend that all you folks out there download this now!! The best part? It's FREE! And yes, this is a shameless plug for Live Writer. :)

Hi there! Well, I haven't gotten around to sharing Part 2 of our TN trip with y'all yet but I wanted to post a few things that are making me smile lately. Hopefully, I can post the rest of our trip tomorrow morning when I get off of work. Speaking of work...only about 1 1/2 more weeks before I start the DAY SHIFT!! Yay! No more being separated from my Sugar Pie at night! We are both sooo ready for the change. But I'm rambling... My mother-in-law has several hummingbird feeders in her yard and I loved them so much that I had to go & get my own! I love the fun polka dots on this one! Oh, and I was skeptical about whether or not the little birds were still around, but the first one made his debut about 10 minutes after I hung it up! Ha! It gives me such joy to watch these tiny little creatures buzz about! It's super hard to catch the little guys while they're feeding but I gave it my best shot! I REALLY want a camera with serious zoom skills! Goals, y'all, ya g

We had a wonderful trip to Tennessee! The trip up there was seamless, except for the fact that I had worked the night before and could not fall asleep in the car. By the time we got to my grandmother's house, I had been up for about 36 hours and was beyond delirious! A good night's rest fixed me right up, though, and I even got up early with my hubby. It's a rare occasion that he can stay in the bed past sunrise! Ha! On the way to see my family, we stopped in a town near Memphis to see some friends who are our second family. It was so good to see the kids (who don't look like kids anymore!) and their mom. Their dad had to be away that Saturday so we didn't get to see him...we missed you, Mr. R! We got to tour their GORGEOUS house and ate lunch at a yummy Italian restaurant. I loved the checkered tablecloths. Oh, and I REALLY loved this fried zucchini we had as an appetizer... I always thought I hated zucchini but this definitely proved me wrong! Must've been a b

Have you ever wondered why you only see bugs in your house when they come out and lay in the very middle of the floor (usually the kitchen) gasping and kicking for their last breath? Why is that? And why are they always on their backs when you find them? Are they so clumsy that a little bread crumb trips them up and...oh well...there goes my chances for a nice bug's life!? Oh, and I love how they like to come out and play dead when company visits. Nice touch, that. Bugs are such drama queens! If you're wondering why I'm blogging about bugs, here's why... I found this little bugger in an odd place as places to find bugs go. He (or she?) was at the end of the hallway near our front bedroom. He was, of course, on his back. The only thing I can think of is that he was meandering across the threshold from the carpet to the wood floor, and, oops! There he went! I actually found him not moving at all and he made no attempts to kick when I gently nudged him with my shoe. That w