Ash. Housewares.

That title will only make sense to you if you are part of a very select group of people. Those who have seen, in its entirety, "Army of Darkness," the very silly/creepy/gross/wacky sequel to a movie that will always be close to my heart: "Evil Dead II." Now, any of you who know me well know that horror is not my movie genre of choice. Pretty much I avoid them at all costs. But one evening, long long ago, I was hanging out at Ben J.'s house with, I think, Dave and Kenton. Correct me if I'm wrong. This was like 15 years ago or something. Anyway, we stumbled across this movie on t.v. that looked like a horror show, but we found ourselves laughing our heads off. It was this hilarious horror spoof starring Bruce Campbell as Ashley "Ash" J. Williams. Come on guys, tell me you don't still laugh from time to time whenever you hear anyone say the word, "workshed." Inside joke. So Army of Darkness is the sequel, and it turned out to be one of the films that both Troy and I had both watched before we met each other. We were shocked to find this in common and have since punctuated our marriage with such phrases as "Gimme some sugar, baby," and "Hail to the king, baby." (Thanks a lot Mark, for actually purchasing this video for Troy, who has since memorized the entire thing.)

The reason I bring this up now is that Bitty, who is the classic princess fan, and lover of all things pink, purple, shiny, sparkly and fluffy, has decided upon a name to call herself in any game of pretend. That name is Ash. She also from time to time calls inanimate objects by the same name. Where did she get it? Is it genetically encoded in her brain to love that name? Okay, my brother did name his dog Ash (after the same character; Peter is another Bruce Campbell fan,) but he has been living in California for a few years and Bitty isn't old enough to remember their dog. Any time she puts on a princess dress we get in trouble if we call her by her name. "I'm Ash! Princess Ash!" I have no idea where she got it but it makes us laugh.