Month: June 2018
Adorable Farm Animals! A Coloring Book – NEW BOOK RELEASE
2018 WEEK 19: ACCOUNTABILITY UPDATE
What I did the week of May 6 – 12 to make my life awesome.

Free-Photos / Pixabay
- Made 5 blog posts.
- Published 1 YouTube video (Episode 046 of The Ashlee Craft Show)
- Recorded a new song for my upcoming album!
- Posted 4 Instagram photos.
- Looked into getting better bin cages for my three crested geckos! Researched this idea & learned how to make them.
- Edited more of my upcoming Epic Florida Road Trip book!
- Improved more of my Shopify store as part of my remodeling of it. Finished adding all current products to the new, more specific categories!
- Drew 8 illustrations for my upcoming book.
- Listened to The Beach Boys album “Endless Summer” on vinyl for the first time.
ILLUSTRATED REPITCON SHOPPING LIST FLOWCHART + WHAT I MIGHT BE GETTING
GUYS! I am going to Tampa’s 🦎REPTICON🦎 this weekend & I’m super excited! Like SUPER EXCITED! I’ve been dreaming about this for months & I’m almost counting off the hours until I get to go (& annoying my family by constantly talking about it 🤣).
I don’t know what I’m getting yet, but I do know I am getting something (maybe more than one something) (hopefully more than one). My first time at Repticon, I was so overwhelmed by all the awesome things to see that I didn’t look at every species every vendor was selling. I also didn’t know much about the reptile hobby, the species offered, or any species I might be interested in owning sometime, so I didn’t know what I was looking for anyways. So this time I plan on looking at EVERYTHING & making notes on who’s selling what & what the prices are & getting business cards for NEXT TIME.
A lot of my flowchart above is based on the fact that I don’t really know what to expect as far as prices, especially prices for particular morphs. So what I get will depend on what prices I can find on the things I like, how I feel about the seller of that particular thing at that price range, the specific animals they have for sale, what OTHER SPECIES are for sale at Repticon, & whether anything looks at me with its cute little eyes 😍. (Seriously though, I’d never buy something I didn’t know how to care for & hadn’t researched no matter how cute its little eyes were).
Most likely, I will come home with some type of gecko (I’m particularly interested in African Fat-Tailed Geckos & Gargoyle Geckos, but if I found a pretty crested I might get it) & either a second gecko (for a different cage because I’m not into cohabbing them), some sort of frog (like a cool Pacman Frog), Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches, millipedes, gerbils, or even a tortoise! Of course there is a chance I could get something else on this list.
My plan is this: walk around once & look at EVERYTHING but quickly, & skip over things I’m definitely not getting but look at every species & price on things I’m considering, narrow down what I’m buying, buy those things, walk around again & get more details on things & look more at things I might get someday but not NOW, & finally buy the dubia roaches & any bedding or supplies I need.
Because I don’t know what I’m getting, I have been stockpiling general supplies. I bought some more thermostats, I have a heat lamp fixture currently without a bulb (the fixture can also be used with a CHE because it’s ceramic so I’m all set), I have several heating pads, various containers for plastic bin cages, bowls, tanks, etc. I totally plan on going to buy some stuff when I get back home from the show because I know I will most likely need something (if nothing else, I need more plants/hides because I have no extras).
The thing is, usually in the months leading up to Repticon, I have an idea of what I’m going to get. I research the heck out of a species, am totally into getting it, etc. But then a few weeks before I freak out, decide NOT to get the species I was going to get, & then begin extensively researching another species. Last time (aka my first Repticon) I was totally going to get a redfoot tortoise. But then I freaked out about how much care a hatchling requires & a month before the show, I got into & researched crested geckos.
This time, I was totally going to get a Kenyan Sand Boa. Then I realized my mom REALLY doesn’t like snakes. Then I was going to get a Peters Banded Skink, but I balked at that because that are almost always wild-caught & I don’t feel confident in caring for something trickier at this point. So then I began researching all types of things, especially the things with the colored dots on the flowchart above.
One thing I do know: I am DEFINITELY getting some dubia roaches. I am going to breed them as feeders for my critters so I can save money & control the nutrition my pets are getting. Also, crickets are kind of annoying (because they die all the time). I already built the dubia roach cage & I will keep it in a closet.
One OTHER thing I know: I am not bringing home any snakes, spiders, scorpions, mice, rats, or sugar gliders. I promised my mom that. She doesn’t like everything on that list except sugar gliders, & I’m not into getting any gliders at the moment).
Other than that, I can’t make any promises 😏.
Keep an eye on my social media profiles (Instagram, this blog, & YouTube mostly) so you can find out what cool critters I bring home! Also I’ll be taking tons of cool photos, cool videos, & make some more awesome Repticon posts so keep watching this blog for those! 🦎🐸🐢🤩💕🐢🐸🦎
2018 WEEK 18: ACCOUNTABILITY UPDATE
What I did the week of April 29 – May 5 to make my life awesome.

cocoparisienne / Pixabay
- Decided to live my life by this idea: “If I were living an exceptional life, would I do this?”
- Finished writing & PUBLISHED a new book – 50 Adorable Moose Facts!
- Cleaned a lot in my house to get ready for moving & to become more of a minimalist.
- Colored 3 pages worth of the illustrations for my upcoming Apple iMessage sticker app! Edited the images & began working on app.
- Published 2 YouTube videos (Episode 045 of The Ashlee Craft Show & a video of my dog eating a taco) using my new microphone, so the sound quality is much better!
- Watched Jim Rohn’s The Art of Exceptional Living
- Looked up some prices for travel plans I have for this year.
- Made a big list of goals for this year, a really nice updated one!
- Researched best disinfectants for reptile cages other than bleach.
- Did research on some more pet reptiles I’m interested in getting.
- Made 2 Instagram posts.
- Made 1 illustration for my upcoming book.
- Did a lot of editing on my Epic Florida Road Trip Book.
- Saw Bobby Lee Rodgers Trio, Blackfoot, Jimmie Vaughn, & Lynyrd Skynyrd in concert at the MidFlorida Credit Unit Ampitheatre.
- Worked on updating my Shopify store with new product categories!
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