Don't get me wrong. I love the Dr. Pepper. It's my favorite. However, they're pretty lousy when it comes to prizes. I've received one good prize from them in the past. I saved up 23 labels and they sent me a hat, shirt, and metal lunch box. The lunch box was awesome, the shirt was an extra large (even though I asked for a small), and the old man hat (along with the shirt) went to my dad. Another time I saved up those point things and got a shirt. I wish I had a picture of it, so you could experience with me the ugliest shirt I have ever seen in my life. It was supposed to look like a faded jersey thing. It looked more like a old pink shirt that someone found in a trashcan. It was horrible. I have probably won a couple of free 20oz. bottles, though, and that's pretty good.
Now they're having the Look Under The Cap To Get The Code To Go Online To See If You Won game. It's like they're trying to make you not win. If you see the letters "UWIN" under your cap, go to the website and type it in. One in six WINS! Yeah right. After about 25 bottles, I finally "won." I was excited and got on the website. After about 10 attempts to get it to accept my code, I got it to go through. I had hopes of winning cash! trips! another ugly shirt! even a 20oz! Nope. Here's what I got:

Thanks for shelling out the bucks on me, Dr. Pepper Bottling Company. And way to have good grammar. AN Wallpaper prize. Hmph.

Posted in: rant on Saturday, June 28, 2008 at at 10:33 PM 0 comments Links to this post    

Thursday afternoon my back right tire was really low on air, so my boss man, who happens to own an air compressor, inflated my tire. I just figured it had gotten low since it hadn't been inflated in three months. It seems it was the same problem that I had with my last two flat tires. Luckily my last two flat tires happened while my car was sitting in the parking lot at our apartment in Texarkana and in the parking lot at my school in Texarkana. Not so with this one. I was driving 65mph on 630 in Little Rock. And my tire committed suicide. I had my windows open while driving to save gas on air conditioning and heard a really loud noise. I thought it might be my tire, but then I thought it was the car next to me. I slowed down a little to see if it got louder when they passed me, but no, my car then started to shake. Well, gotta get over to the right lane. At that particular place there was actually no shoulder, so I had keep driving just a little further until the shoulder appeared.
Thanks to the designers of the freeway, the very narrow shoulder goes right up against a hill up to the street there, so there was NO room. I climbed over and got out of the passenger side. I called Jon, who was way out in Egypt at his school working on his classroom, but could be there in 20 minutes. I called my sister-in-law to see where her husband was, but he was out at their house, just as far away. She called my father-in-law, who happened to be on his way home from work and would pass by in about 10 minutes.
At this point I started unloading my COMPLETELY FULL trunk into the backseat of my car to get to the spare tire. (I keep a bunch of education stuff in there for the boys.) A few minutes later, BUD, some guy, pulled up and jumped out of his truck. "Please don't murder me." I told him it was ok - that my father-in-law was coming in a few minutes, and he said he could have it fixed before he got there. "Please don't murder me." He grabbed stuff out of the back of his truck and I continued to unload the trunk. Just as he finished fixing it, my father-in-law pulled up behind us. Bud said, "Told you I could fix it before he got here!" And he drove off. "Bye! Thanks for not murdering me!"

Posted in: car troubles, oops on at at 12:24 PM 0 comments Links to this post    

I like to call the first 12 pictures Pictures I Took While Driving:

ok.

I saw this very weird car exiting my exit. The stuff on the body was reflective and then there were those eyes. Creepy!

I saw this person two days in a row. It seems they like horses.

I don't know at what point an astronaut became the symbol for Honda, but I like it.
I love Hondas and I love astronauts.

I've always wanted to go to this place while driving from Ft. Worth to the east.

This place, also on I-30, has always amused me. I don't really get it.

Isn't that an oxymoron?

That's the ARKANSAS headquarters for her campaign.
Pretty lousy and obviously didn't work.

...but feel free to trespass up to this point.

This is just ridiculous.

If all else fails, duct tape the sign to your car.

I like to call the next 9 pictures Pictures I Took While In A Car But The Car Was Not Moving Or Someone Else Was Driving:

Not much. What is up with you?

And then there was another backwards letter.

The UPS drivers wear UPS socks! I so want some of those!

That is a giant dog in a convertible.

When gas gets up to Lowercase D Upside Down Backwards F Eight and Nine Tenths, you know things are getting bad.

Sweet.

I want to meet this kid.

How do you do this to the back of your car?

A van with a map of Dallas on it!

And these last 6 pictures are called Pictures Not At All Related to Driving:

The air conditioning unit at my storage unit looks like a dharma symbol.

This. Is. Awesome.

Found on the back of a... ping pong table. Not a toy!

My favorite answer on this ONLINE poll is number four.

I have never seen this weird thing happen before.

And finally... this is what my shirt looks like after I wash the dog, dry him off, and hold him.

Posted in: funny things, Jack, license plates, LOST on Monday, June 23, 2008 at at 10:15 PM 4 comments Links to this post    

I went back to the hospital today to hang out with the babies some more.

Me with the nieces

She loves her baby sister.

I caught this shot. Not unsimilar to the one I got of Alyssa Kate 2 1/2 years ago.

Then she opened up her dark blue eyes to look out the window.

The babies then visited each other. This was when Sally found out that Candice got a post-delivery steak dinner and she had to have a roast beef sandwich.

Comparing the babies' massive amounts of hair. Caroline wins!

Boyfriend and girlfriend

Candice giving Sally some baby advice

Me and the mamas and the babies

The parents and their new babies

Posted in: friends, niece, the fam on Monday, June 16, 2008 at at 10:25 PM 2 comments Links to this post    

Remember how 20 people I know are pregnant? Now it's just 18. Possibly less, since the other two due soon that I know don't live here and I haven't talked to them or seen on their Facebook. :)

Anyway, Friday, my friend Sally had her baby.
Name: Ryder Ray Reynolds.
Arrival: June 13, 7:17pm
Stats: 7 lbs. 8 oz., 21" long

Friday before the big event

A little glimpse into her contractions

Her pretty flowers

Mama and baby

Sweetheart with a lot of hair!

Little hand

Little feet

Today my sister-in-law, Candice, blessed me with my second niece.
Name: Caroline Marie Heltz
Arrival: June 15, 8:26pm
Stats: 7 lbs, 5 oz., 20 3/4 in. (very similar to Ryder)

I only got to see Caroline for a few minutes because it was late and they got moved into their post-partum room. I can guarantee there will be more pictures later.

Waiting for baby

Trying to get a family picture while there were still three of them

Wes checking out the contractions
Alyssa Kate checking out the contractions

Me checking out the contractions

Having a snack with mommy while waiting for baby sister

Sharing mommy's ice chips

Mimi (Candice and Jon's mom) was finishing up her stitching for the baby while waiting.

Whoa! Black hair!

The new family. Without Alyssa Kate, who had already gone to bed.

This is what happens when you give an old guy your awesome camera to take a picture. I'll try again tomorrow. And Sally came down to see the baby too.

Our amazing Sunday School teachers, who are moving to San Antonio on Thursday, were excited to be able to come by to see the baby.

I love her already.

Little Rock moms: If you like these pictures, I'd love to come to take pictures when your baby comes. It's fun.

Posted in: friends, niece, Sunday School, the fam on Sunday, June 15, 2008 at at 11:25 PM 1 comments Links to this post    

I totally forgot to finish these with my last year of teaching quotes. This was 2006-2007: Fourth grade lovelies in Texarkana. Find me (and the other two teachers!) in the second picture to get my (our) opinion of the majority of the group. Especially that kid.

First day of school finish-the-sentence assignment: "One day I would like to... own three Hummers."

"I went to Mexico once. There was this HUGE LAKE!"

Kid 1: Apollo 11! I saw that movie!
Me: It was Apollo 13.
Kid 1: Yeah, but it was boring so I changed it to Cartoon Network.
Kid 2: What's Apollo 13?
Kid 1: It's a spaceship that came after Apollo 11.

"I wonder what it would be like to just live under a whole bunch of desks."
**This is probably my favorite quote from all four years. I randomly say it all of the time.**

after I put on goggles for a science experiment...
"That's what GENIUSES do when they're going to do an experiment!"

...and later when they wore them to do their own experiment another kid said...
"I feel like a genius scientist in these things!"

Me: The rover on Mars takes pictures of the planet, like these.
Kid: How do we get the pictures?
Me: The rover sends them through space.
Kid: Do they, like, shoot them out of a cannon or something?

"When did no become k-n-o-w?"

"I think I broke my stomach!"

"Don't ever touch a black man's radio!"

"You look like you don't have a stomach!"

"Hey! I left my jacket in my desk this weekend. How you been doin' baby?" (to the jacket)

walking down the hall looking at armpit... "Yessssssssssssss!" (Me: What?) "I'm finally getting hair in my armpit. I'm turning into a man!!!!"

Posted in: kid quotes on Saturday, June 14, 2008 at at 9:31 PM 3 comments Links to this post    

I'm back from The Fort! It was good to see the 'rents. On the way to The Fort, I stopped in Texarkana and went to the wedding of one of my friends I taught with, Jennifer. It was a really really long ceremony, but the cake was great!

And the groom's cake... His (their) last name is Benedetti.

Sarah and I saw the coolest upper-end-of-middle-aged person you've never met, Diana Landa. She teaches third grade at the school where we used to teach.

Here they are with their FIVE combined children. Whoa.

On the way to take pictures, we caught her and her new hubby.

All of the friends from Texarkana.

The church had an amazing red door that I loved.

This was a reposing of a picture that we took Halloween '06 at the Fairview Elementary. This one:

After the wedding back at Sarah's parents' house.
I get out in the sun more than she does.

So then I went to Fort Worth. Monday my mom drove us to Ikea in Frisco. Love that place! We spent several hours there and she ended up spending about $50 on me. (I could have spent a million. Easy.) The two big things I got were these:

I got one of these swirly mirrors (without the ugly chair reflection).

And this cloth drawer thing for my bathroom. Fits perfectly!
I got that cloth on top at Pier One this weekend too. It's a placemat but I knew I wanted to use it in my bathroom somehow since it matches my curtain so well. It works perfectly too!

There are fake rooms set up in the Ikea for decorating ideas.
This was funny every time.

Another day we went to Garden Ridge and saw this hilarious thing. Mom modeled.

Posted in: friends, funny things, the fam on Thursday, June 12, 2008 at at 7:48 PM 1 comments Links to this post    

Did I mention that everyone I know is pregnant? Twenty of them, to be specific. Eight of them are in our Sunday School. It's like a breeding ground for... breeding. Five of the twenty are due this month though, including my sister-in-law, Candice. We had a shower for her both last Friday and tonight.
Last Friday was a Diaper Dinner (mmmmm!) for the girls in our Sunday School class.

The simply adorable cake

The HUGE diaper cake made of 240 diapers!

The expectant mama: due June 27th

She scored a bunch of diapers.

Including these super cute ones wrapped in clothes by yours truly.

And this cute towel made by a girl in our Sunday School class (one of the pregnant ones!)

Tonight we had a cook-out for all of the other people that Candice knows that aren't in our Sunday School class. We had it out at a park by the river.

Here is my very favorite father-in-law playing with Alisa's camera, which is just like mine. And there's Alisa!

The super-cute miniature diaper cake centerpieces made by Melissa.

I got this picture of Jon and his dad. They look a lot alike.

Mmmmmmm... meat.

Daniel called me a Camera Nerd after the previous picture. So I took his picture.
It's very Zoolander.

And of course, I made the cupcakes. Yellow cake with chocolate icing, requested by Candice.

Alyssa Kate is thinking "What in the world is wrong with this kid?"
Greyson's just loving his cupcake.

Although she didn't do much better.

The hostesses and the mama. (I've been outside a lot recently.)

I'm headed to a wedding in Texarkana tomorrow. (I know three people getting married tomorrow!) After the wedding, I'm continuing west on I-30 to Fort Worth to see the fam until Wednesday. When I come back I will be posting something I haven't done in a while and something I haven't done in forever! Funny things and kid quotes. Get excited!

Posted in: baking, friends, husb, niece, showers, the fam on Friday, June 06, 2008 at at 11:27 PM 2 comments Links to this post    

Brought to you by: The Family I Work For

In the kitchen

In the pantry

Also in the pantry

Posted in: Boss Cat, ridiculousness on at at 1:36 AM 1 comments Links to this post    

This is both hilarious and pretty much exactly how I feel.
Politics compared to tv, especially LOST.

Posted in: LOST, tv shows on Thursday, June 05, 2008 at at 12:28 AM 0 comments Links to this post    

Two things I wanted to mention, but am just putting them in one post. A few nights ago, circa midnight when I was sitting at the computer, I heard a fire truck going down the street outside the apartment complex. This happens often around here. However, I heard the siren stop close. I went outside and saw it pulled into our complex, down at the building around the bend. Jon came out and I noticed that there was black smoke. Something was on fire, but we couldn't tell if it was a building, dumpster, or car. We put on shoes and walked down there and saw a car engulfed in flames. Engulfed! By the time we got all the way down there, the actual fire was out and the car was still smoking. I decided not to bring my camera because that just wouldn't be right.
I didn't mind taking it back to the scene of the crime the next day though. The car that was on fire was gone, but the one next to it was still there.

The ground below the car that had been on fire was clearly badly burned. The car next to it was also totaled. I went up close and the whole driver's side was burned out on the inside, since the windows blew in. I feel so sorry for both of these people. What a crazy thing to happen! Jon said that he saw police cars still there past 2:30am (He couldn't sleep that night.) so maybe something happened involving arson. Crazy!

And now for a completely different story. I'm teaching 2nd grade crafts at our church's Vacation Bible School in a couple of weeks. All of the grades are doing the same crafts and tonight we had practice night to make the crafts. We had to see what might be hard for the kids or whatever and make examples for them to see. We made these adorable turtles with river rocks and large puzzle pieces. I didn't want to lose mine because it came out so cute, so I brought it home.


And I got the best compliment after my evening of giving good ideas and painting my super cute turtle. A lady asked me "Are you an art teacher?" I said "No, but I used to teach first grade." "Oh!"

Posted in: craziness, creativity on Wednesday, June 04, 2008 at at 11:06 PM 0 comments Links to this post    

{Scene: Ashley is about to leave the boss family's house for the day and the boss mom is reading off all of the scheduled events for the summer.}

Boss Mom: ...and we're going to Hawaii the last week in July.
Ashley: Everyone or just you two?
Boss Mom: Do you mean YOU?
Ashley: No, I was just wondering if the kids were...
Boss Dad: Hey! That's a good idea!
Ashley:
Boss Mom: Would you like to go to Hawaii?
Ashley: I would LOVE to go to Hawaii!
Boss Dad: I meant it was a good idea for us to go alone without the kids.
Boss Mom: But it would be like we were alone if Ashley went with us and watched the kids.

{End Scene}

Posted in: awesomeness on Tuesday, June 03, 2008 at at 12:43 AM 1 comments Links to this post    

I seem to recently be really bad about posting pictures in a timely manner. On Memorial Day weekend each year, Little Rock has this huge thing down at the Arkansas River called Riverfest. It's huge. It lasts all weekend. We went all weekend.

Friday night we saw Huey Lewis and the News. (Yep. Bad picture.)

This lady with a glowing headband and glowing tambourine really enjoyed the show.

Saturday we went back. When we got to the concert area, we saw this guy with the weirdest shoes ever.

We saw Better Than Ezra.

And One Republic. (I know. Bad again.)

Jesus was there.

Saturday my BFF Sarah came into town and went with us. She went with us on Sunday too. Here we are riding the shuttle to the fest. It's the only picture I got of myself all weekend. And yes, we're wearing the same shirt. That happens a lot. I also took my new camera that night.

When we got there we walked across the new Junction Bridge across the river.

This is the Little Rock side crossbeams.

This is the north Little Rock side crossbeams.

Pretty sunset on the Arkansas river.

That night we saw ZZ Top!

It smelled like marijuana.
And lots of people were taking high quality pictures with their camera phones.

Then fireworks!

These were weird parachute-wearing fireworks-on-a-string. (Better if you make it bigger.)

We ran into two couples from our Sunday School class on the way to watch the fireworks, so we sat with them and their adorable children.

Watching the fireworks.

So precious.

Mom and the kids.

Posted in: camera on Monday, June 02, 2008 at at 11:40 PM 0 comments Links to this post    

If you've been watching ABC at all over the past few months, you have seen flashes right before the shows come back from commercials for one of the best shows ever canceled. Back in the winter/spring of 2001, The Mole premiered on ABC. I watched it in my dorm room. My roommate may have watched with me. I don't remember. The second season started in the fall of 2001, but for some reason was only on for a few weeks. They finally finished the season in the summer of 2002 and I watched it with my three roommates in our apartment. It was great! The next two seasons fell into the unfortunate format of "Celebrity Edition" and weren't as good but were still fun.
Great news, though! After six years, the original Mole is back on ABC starting tomorrow night! You have to watch it! If you love The Amazing Race, you'll love The Mole. They're nothing alike, but are equally awesome and are the two best reality shows on TV. The premise is this: Twelve people will be competing in several challenges during each episode. They are working to earn money that will go into the final prize amount for the winner. Some challenges will be group tasks and some will be individual. They will earn money for completing the task or for however many people complete the task. HOWEVER, one of the twelve people is The Mole and is sabotaging the tasks to keep them from earning the prize money. They won't be able to sabotage every task because they'd get caught, but they have to try to do as much as possible. At the end of each episode all twelve contestants will take a quiz about who they think The Mole is. It will ask questions such as "Which team was the Mole on in the whatever challenge?" or "Who was The Mole sitting next to at dinner?" and so on. The person who gets the fewest questions right is kicked off. (Or in the case of a tie, whoever took longer to finish the quiz.)
You really really really should watch. It's a great show. I don't want it to be canceled again. I'd love it if it would come back for several or lots of seasons. Watch it! Tomorrow night (Monday) on ABC at 10/9c. Do it!

Posted in: tv shows on Sunday, June 01, 2008 at at 8:06 PM 1 comments Links to this post