We were getting in the car and D (the four year old I'm nanny for) just started singing. It was great so I asked him to sing it again. This is not as good as the original, but it is still adorable!

Posted in: D Man, video on Friday, September 28, 2007 at at 10:38 PM 1 comments    

I have been "tagged" by Jenna, but seeing that I have been tagged before and because I like to be difficult, I'm going to take it in a different direction. I saw this on Pigs' site and since then have wanted to do it. I tried to think of interesting and random facts about me that most people don't know. A few are boring, but most are pretty good, I think. I even decided to include pictures for some of them. Enjoy!

100 THINGS

1. I’ve had a splinter in my leg since I was 6 years old. (I can’t feel it.)
2. I’ve had glasses since Kindergarten.
3. I feel that queso is pretty much the best food ever invented.
4. I feel that mustard is pretty much the worst “food” ever invented.
5. At some point Crest changed their toothpaste caps from flip top to twist top. I like flip top, so I’ve been using the same toothpaste cap for over 10 years since the last flip top I had. (I always clean it very well when I switch it to the new tube.)
6. I hate it when people don’t return their shopping cart to the corral in the parking lot at Walmart, Target, etc. I have often been seen taking stray carts to the corral and straightening the ones that are already in there. This is ridiculous:
   
7. When I was little and my mom told me to go to my room and think about what I did, I would. I thought she knew what I was thinking.
8. I want to have a house with a window seat and a whirlpool tub.
9. I’ve never had any interactions or words with a police officer.
10. My mom made our Halloween costumes and birthday cakes every year growing up. She’s pretty awesome.
    
11. One time they had a week of Sesame Street where they were out camping instead of in their regular place. Every day after that I would get upset when they showed the song and it wasn’t the camping one.
12. I just about buy out Walgreens’ supply of Cadbury Cream Eggs the day after Easter every year.
13. I went to private school up until college.
14. I am terrified of cockroaches.
15. I was in the blue section when A&M had the Red, White, and Blue Out after September 11^th.
16. I hate the sound of a blinker in a car for more than about 5 seconds. Same thing goes for the person driving in front of me leaving their blinker on.
17. I took bowling in college. I was horrible and gained no skills from taking the class.
18. One of the best people I met in college was Shirley, the awesome lady who cleaned our bathrooms in the dorm.
19. Because the state of Texas changed the degree plan for teaching when I was halfway through college, I was 4 hours short on my degree when I got to my student teaching semester. A great professor I had (who had moved to the advising office) gave me those 4 hours in classes for free on my transcript.
20. I love the smell of leather and coffee (not together).
21. I hate having the ability to hear the electricity that comes out of televisions. Not all people can hear it, but I can and it hurts my ears alot if the TV is on mute and I'm just hearing the electricity.
22. I am bipolar when it comes to organization. My desk and counters are messy but if things have a place (in the cabinets, closet, etc.) they need to stay in that place!
23. My least favorite thing about teaching (other than psycho principals) was grading papers. Yuck.
24. I’ve been to Alabama, (Arizona airport), Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington DC, and Mexico.
25. I won a TV in 4^th grade and a Nintendo in 5^th grade for magazine sales at school and still have and use both of them.
26. I hated flip-flops and couldn’t bring myself to wear them up until about 3 years ago. What?!
27. I really really really want to go to Australia someday. I’ve wanted to since 3^rd grade when I did a report on it.
28. I got to go to a taping of American Idol when my friend Erin and I went to LA in 2004. It was the first elimination episode of season 3 and was one of the most awesome things ever! Oh yeah, and we got on camera!
    
29. We also went to see the Wayne Brady show, On-Air with Ryan Seacrest (twice), The Tonight Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live, and Less Than Perfect. We got on camera on Wayne Brady, Ryan Seacrest (while he was talking to us!), and Jimmy Kimmel. (Yes, these are just pictures of the television.)
    
30. And then we saw, met, and took a picture with William Hung in the airport.
    
31. My hair hasn’t always been this curly. (This curl was from a curling iron.)
    
32. I got George W. Bush’s autograph at a Texas Rangers’ game when he was still co-owner (before he was governor).
33. If possible, I like to eat things (ex. M&Ms, candy corn, etc.) in pairs so that I can eat the same number on both sides of my mouth. If it’s uneven or something that doesn’t come that small, I just bite it in half and eat half on each side.
34. One time I stayed awake all night to see the Tooth Fairy. She never came.
35. I didn’t start riding roller coasters until I was about 14 and had a season pass to Six Flags. I took my dad on bring-a-friend day and he made me. Then I loved them.
36. I cut my toenails with toenail scissors. I found out only recently that this is not normal. That’s how my mom always cut them when I was itty bitty!
37. My computer blew up my senior year of college. Seriously. The power source did something resembling blowing up while I was gone one day and melted the motherboard. So I lost everything I did in college. It was sad.
38. My favorite word is superfluous.
39. I have many girl crushes including (but not limited to) Kelly Clarkson, Reese Witherspoon, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Evangeline Lilly, Jenna Fischer, and Katharine McPhee.
40. I used to love pigs and smiley faces. Some people forget the “used to” part.
41. One night when I was a child a roach ran over my foot when I was sitting on the toilet. After that, I started sitting with my feet up on tip-toes to reduce the surface area a roach could possible run over. It became a habit and I still do it every time I sit on the toilet.
42. I love getting in bed on Saturday night when the sheets, me, and my pajamas are all clean at one time. It’s so relaxing.
43. When I was a child I slept with 16 stuffed animals on the bed with me.
44. I was a cheerleader in 7^th and 8^th grade.
    
45. I can’t seem to EVER get in bed before midnight.
46. I didn’t go out of Texas until I was 12 years old.
47. When I was in Kindergarten, I dressed up as a longhorn for Halloween and won the prize for best costume in the school. (The animal. Not anything related to the university.)
48. I’ve only had two different cell phones in the 4½ years that I’ve had one.
49. I’ve never had a cavity.
50. I took piano lessons for 6 years and didn’t enjoy it after my first teacher moved away. Before the first year was over. And now I don’t know how to play or read music anymore.
51. I hate taking the trash to the dumpster.
52. I love the smell of a freshly opened bag of Cheetos.
53. I’ve probably seen every episode of Friends and can quote something from just about every one of them while watching.
54. I won the grade level spelling bee in Kindergarten and the school spelling bee in 7^th grade. I got 7^th in the district after that without even studying. (This is why bad spelling bothers me.)
    
55. I called my brother “brother” until he was 12 years old and came into the youth group.
56. I have a long list of words that I hate. I won’t tell you what they are so you can’t harass me with them.
57. Misuse of your/you’re, its/it’s, and other apostrophe words really bothers me. Her’s, our’s, and your’s are not words.
58. Peanut butter and chocolate are the best combination of anything ever.
59. If you become best friends with me, you will never get rid of me. I keep in touch with best friends forever. There’s no escape.
60. I got to go to Space Camp with my 4^th grade students in 2006. It was crazy fun.
    
61. I slept with a nightlight until I went to college. Not because I was scared but because I was just used to it.
62. I didn’t join MySpace or Facebook until after college. Probably because they didn’t exist yet when I was in college.
63. The pope was shot the day I was born.
64. I won the hula-hooping contest at Field Day in 7^th grade. 23 minutes.
65. I love making and then eating Christmas cookies.
66. Santa still comes to my parents’ house at Christmas.
67. I grew up with all of my grandparents living in the same town as me.
68. I turned 13 in Washington DC and a flag was (apparently) flown over the Capitol for the occasion.
69. I turned 20 and 21 in Las Vegas while on mission trips.
70. 2006 was the first and only year I had to be at school on Good Friday.
71. I chipped my front tooth in 2^nd grade when trying to hop on one of those Pogo Balls. My teeth hit the pavement instead of my hands.
72. I had part of a bone in my foot taken out in 2000. It didn’t really make the pain go away.
73. Sometimes I get goosebumps just on my scalp. It’s a very weird feeling.
74. My mom and I used to make decorative place cards for the dinner table for my family at Thanksgiving and Christmas every year.
75. When I was a small child I burned my knee on the tailpipe of a Volkswagon Beetle.
76. I have about 80 pairs of socks. Many are seasonal.
77. In my early teen years I won a CD from the radio station on five different occasions for being the 7^th caller when they played a new song on New Music Monday.
78. I am afraid of large dogs and, since the cat attack happened, cats.
79. I can make a one-month pair of contacts last 6 months.
80. I used to be horribly afraid of anyone dressed up in any full-body costume.
81. I’ve had my CD player in my car stolen twice and the same CD was in it both times. (Soundtrack to Chicago)
82. We had a tiny gecko that lived in our apartment bathroom in college. His name was Tom.
83. I’m not a big fan of walking down stairs. I’m not very good at it.
84. I’m pretty sure I’ve never had a burger from Sonic, although I go there 3-5 times per week.
85. Easter has the best candy.
86. Twice per fall/winter I get a cold or allergies and then lose my voice a week later.
87. Other than the above mentioned, I pretty much don’t ever get sick.
88. I have always had this random fear that my appendix is going to burst. Every time I have a pain in my side I think, “appendix?”
89. I was reading real books by the time I was four. I was reading on a second grade level in Kindergarten.
90. When I was in 10^th grade, I broke a TV at my school. I was pushing the cart over the orchestra pit in the auditorium, and the wheel hit the ever-so-slightly dropped edge and the TV hit the ground. They strapped on all the TVs after that.
91. I only went to the principal one time growing up. It was in 7^th grade. For dropping rocks off of the second floor balcony onto the playground. The boys were getting in trouble for something and decided to take everyone else down with them. Ridiculous.
92. I designed the first grade t-shirt my second year of teaching and the school t-shirt my third year of teaching (at a different school).
93. If I don’t pluck my stray eyebrows every day, I will end up with two caterpillars across my forehead. Somebody promise to take care of them if I’m ever in a coma.
94. I’m a stickler for proper spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
95. My default font on Microsoft Word is Comic Sans. I HATE Times New Roman.
96. At one point I had a website for Christian music group Point of Grace. Before it was closed due to the hosting site starting to charge for the site, I had over 10,000 visitors.
97. Around 6^th grade a section of lockers fell on me in PE. I was fine, just mad at everyone around me who ran away and left me there to catch it on my own.
98. The husb and I never lived in the same town until we got married.
99. Jon and I got to go to the Late Show with David Letterman when we were in New York City on our honeymoon. (This is not what I wore to the show. And yes, it was very cold.)
    
    
100. I really really liked making this list.

Oh, and due to the fact that everyone who reads this blog (that I know of) has already been tagged by someone else at some point, I tag nobody. But if you ever decide to do "100 Things," let me know, because I want to read yours since you read mine.

Posted in: List, tagged on Sunday, September 23, 2007 at at 1:06 AM 6 comments    

Wow! Three blogs in one night! I guess I'm trying to make up for none in two weeks. So, you know how I like to take pictures of signs, right? Well I pull up to the Sonic and see this one:

I think it's funny because I was thinking "What could possibly be so new and exciting that it merits a sign that included an exclamation point?" The answer was this:


Pretty cool, I guess. Makes the employees at the drive-thru do even less than they already do. However, it's a clever invention. Way to go, Sonic.

Posted in: funny things on at at 12:26 AM 0 comments    

I usually think of putting Easy Cheese on crackers, but maybe this is something new. Ever tried it?



(Yes, I know. It's on the freakin' bread aisle AGAIN.)

Posted in: bread aisle, funny things on at at 12:22 AM 0 comments    

Posted in: funny things, license plates on at at 12:19 AM 0 comments    

I don't usually tell people about things that I have bought that I have enjoyed, but I have two things I want to share. The time before last when I bought blush I realized it lasted me a really long time. So the next time I bought it I decided to to write on the back the date to see how long it really lasted. I don't know if you can read it in the picture below but it says 9-10. I thought that I wouldn't need to include the year, but that is actually September 10th, 2005!! This stuff has lasted me over two years. This is how much is now left:

So I highly recommend Cover Girl Cheekers blush. It lasts forever.

Second. This is what it looks like when your dog chews up a pen on his pillow. (I have no idea why part of it is in exact squares.) :

He also got the purple all over his paws while chewing on the pen. As evidenced by the pictures below, it's really hard to get pictures of a dog's paws.

Posted in: commercial, gross, Jack on Monday, September 10, 2007 at at 10:38 PM 2 comments    

I was excited today to tune in to the first televised A&M football game of the season. Ready to see that kick-off and hear 80,000 people yelling "Gig 'Em Aggies!" Anticipating a good year for the Aggies. (Hopefully. Finally.) However, I was shocked when they showed the first full shot of the student side of Kyle Field. The old metal letters spelling out "Welcome to Aggieland" and "Home of the 12th Man":

have been replaced with I don't know what on the third deck and a stadium-long screen with flashing words and pictures on the second deck:

Now I realize that many stadiums around the country have installed these, but at A&M, a school of tradition, is this really necessary? I like how Kyle Field has looked the same for so long (other than the additions of The Zone and that huge frikkin' scoreboard at the other end) and the sound of people beating on those metal letters during games was a part of being there.

Am I overreacting, being ridiculous, or do you agree with me? I'd like to hear other Aggies' opinions.

Posted in: on Saturday, September 08, 2007 at at 4:55 PM 2 comments    

Why is it so freakin' hard to get my car registered in your state? I went to your Revenue Office last Tuesday with my car title (which I had to have my mother send to me), proof of insurance, and birth certificate. Luckily my husband had warned me I needed to take all of these things because of all of your strange rules. I entered the building with the aforementioned items and proceeded to approach the desk. "I'm sorry, we need the signatures of both of the car's owners in order to switch it to Arkansas," your polite employee informed me. "All I need to do is have both of us sign this and we can switch it over," I questioned. She told me yes and that I could get my license now, since I did have my birth certificate. Do any of your other State Friends require my original birth certificate to get a license? Please let me know.
After getting my license, which required me to look at a camera at waist height, resulting in a ridiculous looking picture, I was told I needed to go to the tax assessors office first before getting my title switched. I wonder why you, Arkansas, require me to pay taxes on my CAR which I have now owned for 6 years. I wonder if any of your other State Friends also require this?
With my challenge of getting my mom to sign the title given to me, I left your building and drove to Fort Worth last weekend. Luckily I was planning on going already. My mom signed the title.
Today I returned to your Revenue Office and signed the title in front of another one of your polite employees and asked to switch the title to your fair state. He proceeded to tell me that both car owners are needed to sign the NEW title to switch it to the state, so my mom would need to either receive a fax from you, sign it, and fax it back, or give it to me as a gift. If only my mom owned a fax machine. Now you are requiring my mom to either sell me the car I already own, or give me the car I already own as a gift via a signed letter.
I plan to return to your office next week with this signed gift letter. I hope there are no other secret rules that your employees tell me later. Also, please let me know if there are any other seemingly simple procedures in my future that you have made much more difficult.
Cordially,
Ashley

Posted in: complaint letter on Thursday, September 06, 2007 at at 8:50 PM 3 comments    

I LOVE to take pictures of the sky. Sunsets, sunrises, cloud formations. I think they are among the most beautiful things God created. Here are a few of my favorite pictures of the sky that I have taken. Some are better than others because, like pictures of signs, many are taken when driving. A bunch of these were back in 2003-2005 on the way out to Aledo, Texas where I used to teach. Something about the country produced some amazing sunrises. Captions are under the pictures.

Posted in: Creation on at at 12:55 AM 0 comments