Finally, a post

I should be working, I know, but here I am. A lot has gone since I last posted, so long ago.

We have a new niece. Our fabulously adorable nephew turned 1 (yeah, I'm just mentioning him since mentioned his baby sister). And we got married! And we have a new president elect.

So, what to talk about? I haven't really decided.

I kind of want to talk about the election and our new president. But I don't want to talk about the politics of it all, the differences in the candidates, or even who I voted for. None of that matters anymore. The election is over, we have a winner. Barak Obama will be president. A bi-racial man is going to be president of the United States. A half-African American man is going to be the leader of our country. How many people of any generation ever really thought that was something they would see in their lifetime? I'm 30 years old and even I have doubted ever seeing that.

I commented on a message board earlier that I have not been so proud to be an American since the aftermath of 9/11. In the days and weeks following that tragic even, I saw our country pull together in a way I never really thought it could and in a way I'm certain much of the world, and mostly those terrorists, never thought we would. In those days and weeks we were not different cultures living together in this great country, different races, different religions, different nationalities. We were all just Americans.

Last night, I felt that same pride. I saw seas of different colored faces cheering on a man who even 20 years ago would never have even been the presidential nominee. And I saw results for some counties and states where the majority who voted for Obama were white.

It occurs to me now that I am making this race seem like it was about race, but for me, it was not. I do believe that for many it was. And I believe that those who do think that were dead wrong. But, that does not change the fact that in the end, race is what made this an historical event.

We saw history happen last night. No matter your political affiliation, who you voted for, the color of your skin, you cannot deny that fact. One of the memorable moments for me was seeing Martin Luther King III on ABC news. Finally, all these years later, his father's dream has come to fruition. Something his father fought so hard for, died for. While we have made so many strides since Martin Luther King, Jr.'s time, I think this has to be the ultimate way to see that he did not die in vain.

I suppose at this point it sounds like I am an Obama supporter, that I voted for him. It really doesn't matter if I did or not. But for the record, I did not. I voted for McCain. I voted for the right choice for me. However, I will not say I'm not an Obama supporter now. He will be our president, so my only choice right now is to support him as our president. I can guarantee I will not agree with all of his choices and decisions, but he will be our president and I have to respect him for that.

So, that's all I have to say about that.

I'll blog about getting married later. And I'll post pictures for anybody who hasn't seen them. And I promise to try to update more often.

A

Mr. Fix-It: Friday Night Fun

We really know how to live it up on a Friday night. There are just times when you realize just how domestic you've become.

Poor B comes home to find me, on the floor with our steam cleaner on its side, trying to figure out what the hell was wrong with it.

We bought the Bissell 9500 Pro Heat 2x Clean Shot a few months ago and after not many uses, it stopped spraying the cleaning formula. We've tried cleaning it to make sure we didn't have any clogs to no avail. This was not an inexpensive machine and it's not been working for going on a month now. I was ready for the damn thing to be fixed!

So, without even changing his clothes, down on the floor with the machine B went. He too pieces apart, we called Bissell for troubleshooting, and nothing. Bissell referred us to a service shop. But that wasn't good enough for my Mr. Fix-It. He wasn't going to quit until that thing was working again.

Using the "tools of his trade"--oops, I left the flashlight out of that picture (and, see, still in work clothes)--he kept at it. It now works like a champ again. And it only took him two hours, which isn't really that bad considering.

Oh, and the culprit, clogged hoses. See, we chose not to upgrade the carpet when we had the house built. We didn't think it necessary. Boy, were we wrong. Word to the wise, if you have inside dogs, or children, ALWAYS upgrade the carpet. Between all the little munchkin hairs and the fuzz from the carpet, those hoses were good and clogged. And the troubleshooting had us check for clogs, but these clogs were in places they wouldn't normally be. So, the machine will be now be getting an even more thorough clean after each use from now on.

So, that is how we spent the first few hours of our Friday night. Don't we lead an exciting life? Now, B did get to go to his fave--Outback--for dinner after, so it couldn't have been all bad for him

A

Criminals......"oh my damn!"

Hello all you people out there in blog-land. My name is Bill, and I am the other half of The "Bear-Den" .. if fact, that would be my last name. Any who... I have been nagged by my beautiful, (some would say better half)baby-girl Ashley to start blogging, so in order to spare getting on her bad side, (and having to camp on the couch), I decided to tell you about my GLORIOUS day! For those of you who don't know, I am an Adult Probation Officer, which is really just a fancy title for adult baby-sitter. "Oh my damn," these people really get to me sometimes. Don't get me wrong, I actually like my job, I mean aside from the 11 hour days, occasional threats of bodily harm, accusations of being "too mean," and of course having to go to court to testify against some moron who has already been on Felony probation for DWI-Repetition for the 3rd freakin' time, only to get put on trial yourself by the snake defense attorney. OOOOOOOhhhh sorry I had to vent for a minute, and in case you haven't noticed, I kinda had a rough day, oh and it gets better since I have to be in court all day tomorrow in a monkey-suit getting drilled by the defense attorney for failing to dot my I's and cross my T's, instead of being with my buddy Dennis at the office chilin' on Casual Friday wearing jeans and kicking back a little. I mean sometimes, I just feel like I'M LooSInG mY MInd!!!!!!!!!!! "Probation has had no psychological effect on me, no sir, no psychological effect on me at all.... "BIG-BIG DOGS LANDING ON MY FACE!" "DID YOU SEE THE SIZE OF THAT CHICKEN?" "WE'RE IN THE SPIRIT WORLD ASSHOLE!" Whoa!!!!!!!!!!!! ok, sorry,, I'm back now. Anyway, I think this is actually theraputic, I doubt anyone will read this anyway, but on the off chance someone does... don't worry, I'm ReALly nOt thaT KraZy!!!!!!!!!! Just ask Ashley! Good night all. If you want me to blog again, just let me know in the comments, and I will oblige! PEACE- Three-5!

BB

So, we're getting married.

Finally! After seven years, we have finally decided to just do it. It's probably silly that we've waited this long, but, hey, we're doing it now.

We are getting married on our anniversary, October 20. I figured we've had the same one for this long, why try to remember a new one? So, if anybody is checking their calendars, yep, that's a Monday. And how do you get married on Monday when the bride can't take more than two days off work at a time and you are giving yourselves about two month's notice? The JOP.

We've tried for a while now to figure out the whole "how to have a wedding" thing. I finally came to the conclusion that I'm just not up for the challenge. And we could wait some more to try to plan something and to try to save up more and more money, but we just don't want to do that.

It's really more us anyway, so it kinda works. Anyway, we're really excited!

And I'll try to make Bill post something. I don't think he's figured out the whole blog thing yet.

A

I hate the scale.

The scale, of course, being that little device that you step on once a day, once week, or maybe once every other year depending on how you feel about it. I'm an every-dayer and have been going on a little over a year and half. January 1, 2007: the day I started trying to lose weight. At that point, even though we owned a scale, I don't think I could have actually told you how much I weighed. After that day, I knew. And I didn't like it. See, I initially decided I needed to lose weight because I didn't want to be the "fat" bridesmaid in my friends' wedding. In December '06, we had picked out and ordered the dresses and did not like the size that was coming. And it didn't help that the other three girls little. That was as good of motivation as I needed. And I had until May

So, I bought workout DVDs (Biggest Loser Workout), came up with a plan to eat Lean Cuisine and Weight Watchers frozen meals for lunch and dinner, gave up alcohol, and basically put all my energy into losing weight. For some reason, I though it would be easy. I must have lost my mind. Hardest thing I've ever done. And I'm still doing it. Well, by May, I had lost 20 lbs. and was pretty proud of myself. Until I saw pictures. While I looked so much better than I had six months before, I still didn't like what I saw. But I had lost 20 lbs., right? That was a big accomplishment. And so I let it go at that. And I maintained that weight for the next six or so months.

Then came January of this year. Actually, December 27 of last year came first. That was my birthday. My 30th birthday. Don't get me wrong, I didn't have an issue with turning 30, but it did get me thinking about my life. I was 30. Was I living the life I wanted to live? Was accomplishing certain things? Just thinking. And one thing I realized was that I was not in a place with my health or how I looked that I wanted to be. I wanted to look and be healthy. I didn't want to diet. Diets don't get you anywhere. I wanted to live a long, healthy life and I wanted to be able to teach our future children how to live healthy lives. Who knew that would be better motivation that fitting into a dress or looking good in a bikini (another past motivator)?

But, I digress. So, I have this new, profound outlook on life and living healthy. The scale shouldn't matter. I know that I'm eating better, working out, and feeling better because of it. I can see with my own eyes that I'm losing inches and gaining muscle mass and definition. I'm going down sizes in clothes.

But still that damn scale just sits there.

Since that initial 20 lbs., I've lost an additional 13, but I still have at least 16 and up to 21 to go to be in the "normal" range for my height. And yet the scale doesn't move.

We are so programmed to care what the scale says. As a rational, fairly intelligent human being, I understand all the reasons why I don't see the number on the scale going down. But as an irrational, often hormonal, woman, I won't be completely happy until that scale shows me what I want to see.

And it's all the scale's fault, you know!

A

So Who Are We and Why Do You Care: Our First Post

We are Ashley and Bill, unoffically The Beardens [get it, The Beardens, The Bear Den(s)]. Why unofficially, you wonder? Well, if you don't know us, it's because technically we aren't married, but we may as well be and we are working on it. And, frankly, we got a kick out of the play on words for the title. And why do you care? Hey, you clicked on the blog!

We just thought it would fun to do this together. A little blog about our lives, our loves (including each other), our munchkins, and any other little thing that pops into our heads.

About us? We have been together for almost seven years (in October). We are engaged. We have two adorable dachshunds. We built our first house a little over two years ago. As a couple, we love movies, love bike riding, working out, taking drives, and in general, having fun.

Our plan is to sometimes blog together, sometimes blog apart. We may blog on the same subject, sometimes not so much.

Enjoy!

A & B