I cannot resist these

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME (first pet, current car): Jeannie Jeep

2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME (fave ice cream flavor, favorite type of shoe): Cherry Garcia Sandals

3. YOUR NATIVE AMERICAN NAME (favorite color, favorite animal): Blue Cat

4. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME (middle name, city where you were born): Brookes Vicksburg

5. YOUR STAR WARS NAME (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 of your first name): Peras

6. SUPERHERO NAME (2nd favorite color, favorite drink): Green Coca-Cola

7. NASCAR NAME (the first names of your grandfathers): Jim (Jimmie) Dewey

8. STRIPPER NAME ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent,favorite candy): Heaven M&M

9. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME (your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter): Faust Fairfax

10. SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower): Spring Tulip

11. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing rightnow): Strawberry Sleep Shirt

12. HIPPIE NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree): Bagel Dogwood


Ok, so now everyone else must do this as well!!! This means the three people who still check this site and the 4 people who lurk. Yes, I will be checking up to make sure!

So long, farewell......

We are moving! But, the even better news is we are staying in Fort Worth. Austin accepted a job at the University of Texas in Arlington. We have already found a house and will be moving in this coming week. I am NOT looking forward to packing up and moving this cluttered house we now live in, but I am for sure looking forward to decorating and organizing our new place, which is much bigger than where we are now. And I cannot help but smile when I think about the DISHWASHER in our new house. Yes, folks, looks like my dreams are becoming a reality because not only will I no longer suffer from dish-pan hands, but I will have my own personal laundry room. Another thing we are looking forward to leaving behind is the wall we share with our music major neighbor! Good-bye to those 3am band practices!!! A perk of our new place is it's location, it is behind Central Market. Austin is already predicting that we will have to have a Central Market category in our budget. I am actually quite happy about staying in the DFW area. I was getting a little sad last month when I started thinking about having to move away from the many places I love here in the area.... The Container Store, a variety of shopping malls, Ikea, the Dallas Mavericks, downtown Ft. Worth at night, the stockyards, Central Market, numerous restaurants we love to frequent, and much, much, more! Maybe one of the main reasons we like this area is because of the many friends and family we have in the area. I'd be pretty sad to say goodbye to them! I guess more good news is that all of those many friends and family are MORE THAN welcome to help us move! Hopefully, pictures of our new place to come soon!

The Superbowl, a picnic, and Christmas

This was at my parents house in Arkansas. My dad went to crank the car for a little family outing to visit my grandpa. The car would not start so my dad popped the hood and discovered this...some sort of nest. I was standing beside him when he opened it up and I immediately got freaked out and took off running, it sent shivers down my spine because I was so disgusted. At first I thought it was the remaining fur of something that crawled under the hood and died. Turns out they think it was the home to a rat...yuck!!! Obviously this old car does not get driven very often!
This is the only decent Christmas picture that I got with my camera. It is Grizzly Adams, I mean my brother, Trey, opening a sweet sentimental gift my mother gave all of us...a pic of my dad when he was a little boy dressed up in his cowboy outfit.
Austin had the great idea of taking a picnic today since the weather has been so beautiful here! We grabbed some sandwiches and took off to the botanical gardens. We tried to take a picture without sunglasses but it was just too bright for me. I was all squinty like a mole.
Is there really anything better than a Sonic drink??

Tonight we went to Jason and Melissa's house to watch the Superbowl. No one in attendance was rooting for either team. Austin said his ideal outcome would be for both teams to lose. At least the game was exciting.

Laundry Room Etiquette

I am writing this because I am frustrated and the husband thinks I am just over-reacting (I even had to ask him whose side he is on). I am not quite as irritated at the situation since I found out the culprit is a pregnant lady, but still that does not excuse the rudeness that occured this morning. I put some clothes in the washer (all the other machines were empty) and went about my business...I had 38 minutes to do my thing. Apparently I was not standing over my machine anticipating the very second it would stop spinning....and a neighbor (the pragnant lady) thought that was reason enough to remove my clothes. I guess in her defense she did place them in a dryer instead of laying them on the funk-nasty, dusty table in the laundry room like another rude neighbor did last year (now that REALLY got my blood boiling). Of course when I found my clothes in the dryer I was so irrate that I did what anyone else would have....went back to my house and peeked out the window until the guilty party came to get their clothes out of the highly coveted washer. When I saw who had done it I was a little shocked and felt a wee-bit bad for all the mean things I had said to her in my head. I guess she helped her case a bit when I spied her holding her lower back while entering the laundry room....geez, Ash, have a heart! So, now I feel bad for getting so out-of-joint and wonder if people will let me slide a bit when I am pregnant.
I do know that I will feel like we have "made" it when we get a place with a washer and dryer under the same roof that we live under...well, that and a dishwasher. Dream Big!!

No Promises...

No promises that this blogging thing will last, but here's to hope!!! We are still in Fort Worth and in seminary housing, despite the fact that Austin graduated in December (how fitting that as I typed that last sentence, Tom Petty was singing on the radio that "the waiting is the hardest part"). He (Austin, not Tom Petty) has done two phone interviews with one college so we are waiting to hear back from them. We are very excited about this next step in our lives, no matter where God places us. I know one thing for sure, I am not looking forward to packing up our apartment...especially since both of us are sentimental pack-rats! I mean how can I dare part with letters that people I care about sent to me over the years, especially the hysterical ones sent by Meredith and Justin while I was in Zambia.

Apparently tonight I hit my breaking point. For anyone not living in the Fort worth or the metroplex, the rodeo and stockshow is in town. Now this is a big deal, which I did not realize before moving here...they let school out for it and everything! In Louisiana we get out for Mardi Gras, so I suppose that each state has one random holiday that they can assign...hmm, i wonder. Anyway...the hotels and restaurants here are all at capacity because of the influx of people in town. One of the families I work for called me this week to see if I could help out some friends of their's who are in town for the stockshow. They needed a sitter for their two kiddos (2.5 and 1) for a few hours Friday night while they went out to eat. No problem, I can handle that (so I thought)! To be clear, the children were well-behaved and precious, and the family was super-nice! I really liked the mom, she was sweet and country...we could have totally been friends! The problems arose when it was time to eat supper. Well, this could be a long story since it has many deatails but I will save those for a face-to-face conversation. Let's just say that the hotel did not have room service and I had to put a (several, really) call in to my awesome, super-cute husband so he could save the day! I did eventually get the kids feed and put to bed, so I guess I was successful in my job!

I probably know the answer to this question, but does anyone else have blogs they look at all the time? Blogs that you have no idea who the people are but you feel like you do because you are addicted and read it all the time. If Austin's cousin Kendra is reading this, I know she does! Well, I too, am an addict. The two that I read everyday and most days check like two or three times to see if they are updated are www.lotsofscotts.blogspot.com and www.cfhusband.blogspot.com. Both of these blogs are so sweet and precious. The first one is so heart-warming and endearing. It is about a family with TRIPLETS and their journey in life (the itty-bitty's are 3.5!). Definitely read this blog if you love funny anedotes about life through the eyes of a child...and motherhood stories that are easy to identify with (I am not a mom but maybe I can identify since I work with children). The second one is about a young couple with a beautiful premature baby girl trying her best to show God's glory by living and thriving! DO NOT read that blog unless you are prepared to shed a few tears because of the miracle that is happening. The mom has cystic fibrosis and is about to be put on a waiting list for a lung transplant...can we just say wow! You can't not pray for them after reading their story.
Again, I do not know these people and am not even real sure how I stumbled upon their blogs. I thought I would make my confession and share two great sites with those three people who still check my site from time to time. Check them out and let me know so we can talk about them like we know them together! And before signing off, what are your secret obsession blogs (I know, if you tell me then they will not be secret, but who cares, no one reads my blog anyway!)????