The weekends fly by...

So I had a hard time thinking about what to blog about tonight, so if anyone has any ideas forward them to me! 


What a great week this has been. Last week I started my new job, and I did three night shifts. I think I've said this before, but it's going really well and I am really enjoying it. I am missing my friends at CVH - but not the commute!


Friday Keri & Haley came up for a visit, and we had a great time! Haley is such a peach, and I just love watching her and Neil play. Neil cannot get enough of her, and she cannot get enough of him - and it gives Keri and I tons of time to chat, and hang out so it works for all of us. I just love seeing Neil with Haley, I know he's going to be a great dad when that time comes for us!! We had a nice afternoon here at the house, and then we went to the Chop House for dinner. It was delicious as always! I am addicted to the spinach salad with red onion, bacon and boiled eggs, and the key ingredient-  with a butternut squash vinaigrette - that I wish I could recreate! When we got home Haley and I made molten lava cakes with a blueberry banana drizzle and cool whip! We had a lot of fun in the kitchen!

Saturday morning we just  hung out, and then Keri & Haley headed home and I headed to work around 11:30am. It was so sad to see them go, but Keri is heading back to work tomorrow morning and she's been at her moms in Texas for a week, and returned home Wednesday so I know her & Haley needed some time with Dale before another work week started! It was SO cute when Keri was packing up, Haley really wanted to stay longer. I had promised her that we'd make a dress for her build-a-bear kitty "Elizabeth" and we ran out of time. I know I'm bound to it because this child has a better memory then anyone I know, but I cannot wait to do that with her!! 


Saturday night, Neil and I made chicken parm, rice and garlic bread for dinner and then hung out for a bit. We headed over to Christine & Ian's for Ian's 30th Birthday Shindig, and had a blast! It really sucks, but we've not been out with our friends from the fire department almost all winter - as it's usually a little quieter in the social department through the winter, I was happy to see everyone and took the opportunity to work on my tolerance ability for this big year!!


This morning, needless to say I was feeling a little slower then usual. Neil and I slept in, and then we got up and made some lunch. Neil headed to his parents to do an oil change on his car, and I headed to town for errands and groceries. I am quite fond of doing these errands during the week - and I was reminded today of that, as a lady wanted to fight over toilet paper in WalMart. Yep. I laugh.


This afternoon my mom invited us up for dinner, so we went up with Lennox so she could play with her best friend Diesel and visited with the family. We had a great dinner with them, and quick visit from my Milliner Grandparents before heading home. We got the old camcorder out and had some way-back-play-backs to Grant's first birthday party (which was nearly 18 years ago) - it's hard to believe my little brother will be 19 years old in May! June in time for the buck & doe my friends!!


One a sad note, did you see this in the news? Tragic. Woodstock Explosion Why do these terrible things keep happening?


This week is gearing up to be another busy one! 10-4 - standby!

Our Everyday Heros Shall Never Be Forgotten

I have sat down, what seems like a million times this past week to write a blog about the extremely heart retching untimely deaths of Firefighter Ray Walters, 30 years old and Deputy Cheif Ken Rea, 56 years old, who lost their lives one week ago today in a store fire, in the town of Listowel, about an hour from where we live. They went in to ensure there were no shoppers left in the store, when the roof collapsed. Today they were laid to rest in their final resting place. 

Listowel honours firefighters as bodies removed - Canada - CBC News

Listowel Dollar Store Fire - March 17th, 2011

I'm not even though a paragraph and I'm already very emotional. I have said it before, and I will say it again - I am so proud of Neil and the men and women who run in to help, when everyone else is running out or away. Not only Neil, but one of my bridesmaids and best friends Heather, is too a full time firefighter in Markham, and although I know she is protected by her peers, I always pray for her safety. I feel so grateful every single day for the volunteers in our communities where my families are. I know if a member of my family needs emergency assistance, the most likely first response they will get to their home is a volunteer firefighter. We count on them, and they do so much to prepare themselves for our needs. 

Fellow firefighters witness two bodies of their fallen brothers being removed from the scene.

I could go on and on about the volunteers, and how little they are recognized for the time and energy they put into our communities. These men lost their lives trying to protect others from harm and hurt, and they lost their lives, their families lost their sons, husbands, fathers, brothers as they were trying to ensure the safety of others. Please try to take time to recognize them. 

An overwhelming amount, 10,000 (and very well could be more) men, women, and children lined the street sides of Listowel today to witness the funeral procession to these heroes. I cannot imagine the overwhelming support that the families, and the fire departments in Perth County felt with that many people in their town to salute Firefighter Ray Walters and Deputy Chief Ken Rea today. 


Here's an article from the Toronto Star today reporting on the story. 

I am proud to say our small little town, joined with another (Hillsburgh) sent a bus load of firefighters to Listowel today. Neil was one of that group, and I know he's extremely tired from all of that marching, and emotional exhausted from the experience, but I pray to god for the rest of our lives, this is the only time he will have to do this. I know he will never forget this day. God bless our firefighters, each and everyone. 


I know I have put this up before, but I am going to again. I need it tonight. 


Lord I thank you for my firefighter. This firefighter that I love.
Give me strength to give him support with your guidance from above.
Make me a good partner, attentive listener & my love's best friend.
When I chose him I chose a firefighter, and the job on which he depend.
Lord, keep my firefighter safe when our plan's have gone awry,
Answering an emergency call with a life or death cry.
Keep the gusting winds and raging flames from being his final fate.
please help me cope with the trauma of being a firefighter's wife.
-Anonymous 

Okay okay.. I know this is selfish of me, but can we talk about something else. I am soaked.


I started the new job Monday night. I have to say, I have this feeling already - I am going to love this job. Obviously I cannot say much about it, but it's fast paced, it's rewarding and the group of men and women who I work with are really great. I am really excited to continue through my orientation and gain confidence as I go. I have got the phonetic alphabet under my belt, and am now practicing the 10 codes - lots of learning, but I need this challenge!


Lyns and I were talking "wedding talk" tonight after supper and it seems to me we've got things under control if you can believe it. We just have to make another appointment with the Four Seasons (rentals) to confirm our colour choices and setup and we're ready to rock. Ofcourse, the work is not done - but I think for now - SIX MONTHS BEFORE we're doing quite well! Six months and one week away my friends - the countdown is on!!


Lots of love, say a prayer for the families please, and think of them tonight - I know I am. 

it starts tonight

I'm going to need all the finger crossing I can get, tonight's the night that I start the new job! I'm really excited and I cannot wait to get into it! I'm making cupcakes to take in tonight, first impressions mean a lot, don't they? Haha! Needless to say, I know orientating someone can be stressful and really time consuming, as I have done it numerous times at the hospital, so I know how it feels.


I made panzerotti's last night - so easy, if you want to try them without the hassle of making your own pizza dough, you can pick up a bag of fresh pizza dough at your local grocery store, and then just let it do one rise at home and voila, you're ready to rock. About two weeks ago, I was going to make panzerotti's however Neil requested plain old pizza, so we did that. Last night we did the panzerotti's and they were soo good! 


So split the dough into however many you need (we did two really big ones with the store bought dough), let rise on a warm surface (I preheat the oven or put it in in the microwave) for 1/2 an hour. I like buying the store bought not only for the simplicity, but also you can get it in whole wheat. Once it's sat, stretch the dough out (I did the good ol' palm stretching) and stuffed with sauce, peppers, pepperoni, mushrooms, onions, mozzarella cheese, then stretched the other half over the top, pinch the sides together and bake for 20 minutes at 425 degrees. You will know when they are done, they turn a nice brown. Next time I'm doing chicken, goat cheese, spinach, tomato and who knows what else! 


Mmmm.. I love cooking! I should share more recipes, because the panzerotti thing is more of an idea, not a recipe - but gosh I love to cook!!

Our Little Road Trip

Well let me first say, I have never in my life thought I would be hassled so much by one person (not mentioning any names) to blog more - so my "new weeks" resolution is to get back to sharing more about life here on Russell Hill Road (a short distance from a gravel road). 


Back on topic, as you know I bought my dress on Family Day weekend in Madison Heights, Michigan (if not, I blogged about it a few blogs back). The estimated date of arrival was April 4th. That was more then a month away, and sounded like a good amount of time before I'd be ready to make the 4.5 hour trek back to the land of Natalie & Erik, Target's and Miyako Japanese Steak House! 


However, much to my surprise, a whopping 2 weeks early - David's Bridal called and said "your dress is in, you have 14 days to pick it up - see you soon!" Which left me thinking, snowstorm of the century, once again, over my wedding gown! 

Neil said he would go with me this time, and it was simply just to pick up the gown, give it a quick try on, buy the undergarments and off to the races! So we left Friday after Neil was done work. This is the first spring we're home-owners, and my first spring actually living in Grand Valley. However, I have dated Neil for 3 previous springs and the 4th one is no different, the rivers comes up, the river goes down, the river goes up, the river goes down..   It normal times, this river you could easily walk from side to side without ever going above your knees during the summer. When the banks are full, as you can see here, they are three meters deep.Let's just say we're happy to live up on a hill. However, Neil's parents basically look out onto this picture below, so before heading out, Neil helped his mom get the pumps hooked up and made sure they were working for her before we left. 

So we hit the road about 12:30pm and headed for the Sarnia border. We made great time, and arrived to Madison Heights, at David's Bridal about 4:20pm, in excellent time for my 4:30pm appointment. I felt so bad for my consultant, who had helped me the last time when I bought the dress, she was handling a crazy Mother-of-the-Bride and her Zilla daughter (the bride), another bride who was looking for her "dinner dress", 2 girls looks at bridesmaids dresses and me. Natalie was unable to make it to my appointment with me, so it was me and the dress. Poor Lynn was not able to offer me much help, but it was nice to just go at my leisure, have a real good look at myself and then it hit me, I'm really getting married! I have not cried through this whole process, but as I took the dress off I realized, holy crap - I have my dress, this is really happening!!


I may had shed a few, joyous tears. 


I had noticed while trying the dress on, there was a small piece of "tack" from the rooching that had come untacked, so I had the alterations lady fix it - bagged the dress and headed out to the car. Neil had wondered to a few other stores in the plaza, so I stood beside the car, holding the dress way above my head and waiting for my prince to come back to me!  I almost had a meltdown, this is when having a cell phone that didn't charge me an arm and a leg to use in the USA  (or needless to say an extra set of keys!) would have really come in handy!! He helped me get it into the car, and we headed to Erik & Natalie's. 


We arrived there, just in time as they got out of their car from work. We headed inside, and Natalie popped dinner in the oven (she'd made home-made lasagne's!) for dinner. We chatted and settled in, had an awesome dinner and then headed over to Max & Irma's (a restaurant in their condo complex) that serves hot out of the oven chocolate chip cookies! Mmmm perfect dessert!! We headed back home, chilled out for a bit and called it a night. 


The next morning, we headed up to Frankenmuth, Michigan's Little Bavaria for a touristy day with Erik & Natalie! This eclectic little town was a lot of fun to walk around. We took in a few little shops (like a sausage shop, Neil really enjoyed that one!), Frankenmuth Cheese Haus and quite a few others then I could have spent a lot of money in - we REALLY enjoyed our day there! We had lunch the - I am sure it would be great to visit on a week day in the summer, when the gardens and  went to the Frankenmuth Brewery for lunch! 

 I should likely mention here that Friday morning I woke up with a full-on head cold, and was feeling like total crap so yay Erik, Natalie & Neil for putting up with my poutyness, sneezing and nose-blowing and yay me for not being a baby! Woohoo!


After leaving Frankenmuth, we headed to to a huge outlet mall - but we were (well I was) pretty tired of walking around, didn't really have much to shop for and so we decided after hitting the Nike & Corelle outlets, to hit the road and head back to Auburn Hills to Natalie & Erik's place.


So the mall trip didn't last long, and the trip home was pretty quiet - I think we all were pretty tired! Once we arrived back "home" again we all cuddled up on Erik & Natalie's amazing couch/chaise/bed that looks like this ... can I tell you how amazing this thing is. We all put the couch cushions along the back part, four of us sat across it, the boys on the outside, Natalie & I in the middle, just old old times, bum2bum.  I better explain the bum2bum thing. We were college roomates and after knowing me approximately 3 days she came home to Grey County and went to a buck & doe with me. That night, we shared my "double-wide" 3/4 bed and both slept facing out "bum2bum" - get it? But anyways, back to their awesome couch, how cool is it!?! I love it!! Hope you guys don't mind me sharing it!! (not that I took pictures actually of it!)


Last night we went to Joe's Crab Shack for dinner - it was awesome and well worth the wait! I love crab, and Neil prefers shrimps! We both really enjoyed our meals, and our amazing company, Erik & Natalie! What a great night out! We then went to Meijer for Thomas Bagels (Neil and I are addicted) and to pick up a movie! Well Natalie & I are tried and true "not movie pickers" - the movie we all picked, totally sucked. I think I fell asleep twice and when it was over well all did a sigh together, as to say "thank god it's over"!! Off to bed. 


This morning was bittersweet, we knew we wanted to stay, and relax more, and spend another day with our friends, but we also knew we had a mound of laundry, a puppy who missed us terribly and jobs to return to on Monday. We had a really nice breakfast with them, and packed the car. We made a quick stop at Joann Fabrics, and Target and hit the highway. 


As a side note, I'm really into making Lennox fleece dog braids for her to play with. They are quite indestructible, affordable to make and let me tell you, Lennox LOVES them. Today we tried a new pattern, and she loves it just the same as all the rest! I think I might start selling them! A new business venture for when I find time. I don't have time to do be making the baby quilts I bought fabric for months ago, let along making dog toys! Problem is, the dog toys are quicker, cheaper and take up less time. 


Anyways, we got onto the road, got through the border without a problem and honestly told the guy I bought my wedding dress and the cost and he still told us to have a nice day, "you have a nice day too!" - so much relief!!

We stopped in to have a quick visit with Neil's sister Mandi in Waterloo, stopped at Neil's parents to visit with them and collect our very exhausted Lennox, and headed home to unpack the car.

Needless to say, we're exhausted tonight. I made panzerotti's for dinner, they were SO good and I will definatley be making those again!! 

Tomorrow night, at 6:00pm I start my new job! I am very excited and a little nervous, but I met my training partner on Thursday night, and I know we're going to have a lot fun together! Please keep you fingers crossed for me, and I'll be sitting here studying my phonetic alphabet! 

I will leave you with "our boys and their beers".. two pictures from the brewery! 

Well I am off to fold laundry, then memorize the above hope this blog finds you healthier then me! Although I am feeling better!! 
 

Put 'em together and what have you got bippity-boppity-boo!!

Current Facebook Status..

Ashleigh Milliner big things are coming to this girl, big things!! Just when you think you have it ALL! Got the new car, the house, the puppy, a great fiance and our upcoming wedding.. so 
exciting!! Why not throw MY DREAM JOB right in there! Put 'em together and what have you got bippity-boppity-boo!!


Alright alright alright.. I know it's been a long time coming, for those keen reader friends of mine who check on this blog daily to see if I have released the big risk!

So I knew this process would take time, but I felt confidant enough about half way through the process to give this story of my risk out. Then of course, the last half the the process was a bit more complicated, and then I began to regret letting you all in on "the risk" - not because I lost my confidence, but because it was taking forever!! 


Okay, so here's the story. 


I got hired for 911 Dispatching in Orangeville! It's 10 minutes door to door, and it's honestly my career dream come true! I love helping people. I love quick work, dexterity, and multitasking! I know you may think I'm crazy, but I cannot wait!! 


From the time I graduated high-school I always liked the thoughts of being a 911 dispatcher. Of course, I had dreams of being a teacher (credit given to teachers!), a hairdresser (good lord, I could not cut hair, do hair - who was I kidding), a nurse (current line of work, I just know I'm glad to be on the administrative side of things!).. the normal little girl things - but when it all came down to it, it wasn't me. Do not get me wrong, I love my job. Work in Labour & Delivery is a pleasure, and we deal with lots of happy families - however, we deal with a lot of sad situations too.  I will continue my employment at Credit Valley, however I will be working the majority of my hours in Orangeville. 


I am so excited, can you tell?!  I just found out today, so that's about all I know for now. My official offer letter will come Monday (as we didn't have time to do all of that today) but for now I can say the job is offered to me, and I cannot wait to accept!! 

" a ship in a harbour is safe, but that's not what ships were made for"

Risk. 


Do you ever get sick of the same old, same old? 
You feel like you need to jump into something new, try for something better - bring out the better in yourself. 
Since we've bought the house, moved in together, and started our lives together - I haven't felt like we've taken any big risks. 


So I took a risk about 2 weeks ago, and boy has it payed off. I can likely tell you a lot more about this in the coming weeks, but I was feeling badly (and getting a few "no blog post?" emails form followers and friends, so this one is short and sweet. I'm not pregnant, and ofcourse we're still getting married. That's all you get for now. 


Other then being busy with this big risk, I have been working, visiting with great friends and continuing planning the wedding.

My Hamilton Julie came up last weekend on Friday and stayed until Sunday. Julie and I met in college in Hamilton, and have been great friends ever since. We've spent a lot of time together (driving to Calgary!) and practically lived together at one point too (we shared a house!). The two things I miss about Hamilton are my friends, and being younger. Living there was some of the best years of my life, college, starting my career and being so independent. Anyways, Julie and I had a blast - we went to a wedding show in Orangeville, watched movies, caught up on gossip and the new stuff in our lives, when to my brothers' hockey  game in Honeywood, and went out for dinner too! It was such a relaxing weekend, and I really enjoyed spending the time with her, and my sister!

Neil took this past weekend to head off with Drew, Daryl and his dad for a "guys weekend" at Drew's family cottage in Haliburtan.  They had a great time, and did lots of fun "guy" things together. Works for me, Julie and I did lot of "gal" things what Neil likely wouldn't have enjoyed!!


Monday night I stayed with Keri, Dale & Haley in Mississauga while I was working on a special project at work. Keri & Dale made an amazing dinner, and we watched The Bachelorette! I always said I wasn`t the girl who watched that, but it`s addicting!! I`m a total fan! 
Can I tell you, just one more time, how much I love Haley!! She is just the sweetest little girl. We went to David's Bridal CANADA in Mississauga on Tuesday afternoon and I wish I could show you, but I just cannot - HOW cute she looked in all of these flower girl dresses! What a little model, and she was LOVING IT!!! Anyways, we had a blast - but the fun had to end! Came home to my lover-boy last night.


Then I was just settling in, cuddling with my Lennox and chatting with Neil when I remember I'd promised Grant (my brother) we'd go to the movies! So I got up, and headed into to town with my sister to meet Grant. We saw "Just Go With It" - Amazing!! It's a must see. :) 


Then tonight, wow - what a busy week, Julie (my nearly a doctor friend!) who I met working in L&D at CVH - but who now is at Wayne State Uni in Detriot MI came up to see the house and have dinner with us. It was GREAT seeing her, and showing her our home!

So you think thats a busy week, just wait until I fill you in with the "risk" story and you'll think I never slept for the past two weeks, and potentially the next 3 months. 


I also updated our wedding website for any of you who have been checking in. 


Remember..  RISK - ‎" a ship in a harbour is safe, but that's not what ships were made for" - so what risk are you going to take?