We give thanks to God always for all of you...

God surely has blessed Richard and I! He has surrounded us with good people we can call our friends. Not a day goes by that we don't thank the Lord for our good Christian friends. We are strengthened and encouraged when we spend time together with them. It's easier to do what is right.

As Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, "We give thanks to God always for all of you.."

Thank you for your constant uplifting, the spiritual talk, and just altogether fun! We love you all.

Pay it Forward

First of all, I'm pretty proud that I was able to copy BOTH of these videos onto our blog in the first place... those high school html coding classes sure paid off (and they were FREE)! :)

Second, I'd like to share a short story about how Richard and I were told to "pay it forward".  If you've not heard the phrase before, I believe it comes from a movie called "Pay it Forward" (watch the first video and it will explain it a bit better).  It's the idea that you help someone else out and instead of asking for payment in return, just tell them to help someone else by "paying it forward".  The second video just shows a Liberty Mutual bank commercial that goes along with the idea of the movie.

Anyway... we went to a local ice cream joint we hadn't been to before last night.  We ordered our ice cream, and I got out my debit card to pay for it.  The girl frowned and said, "We only take cash."  (This is the second time in 2 days that we've had issues paying for food!) We offered to give the ice cream back, but she told us we could eat the ice cream, then go get the money and bring it back by 10pm, when they closed.  We sat down to eat our ice cream in an area near another couple and Richard went to check for money in the car.  He found $2.00 in change.  We needed $4.00.  As we sat discussing how we were going to pay for the ice cream, the couple finished theirs and left.  

Shortly afterward, a car pulled up close to where we were sitting and the woman of the couple walked over to us.  She said, "I heard you saying you needed $2.00.  Here you go," and handed us $2.00 in quarters.  I said, "Oh, no no no... You don't need to do that.  We were going to run to the bank or back home."  She responded, "Oh, don't worry about it.  Just pay it forward."  We both were surprised by the generosity of this complete stranger, and inspired.  It's a shame most people are so focused on themselves that we're surprised when people actually do nice things.  So, I'm going to find at least one other person to do something for in the next few days and just tell them to "pay it forward".  You should do the same.

Here's my debit card... want the pin number too?

We went to Shane's Rib Shack for dinner with a few friends tonight. The line was moving a little slow, and Amy said the credit card machine wasn't working. She said the lady was writing down people's credit card information to use later. This made both of us uncomfortable, so we were trying to come up with a way we could avoid it. I don't especially like strangers having my debit card information sitting around. Since I only ever use my debit card for purchases, I didn't happen to have any cash on me. Richard suggested writing a check.

When it was my turn to order, I asked the cashier if they took checks. She looked puzzled. "Ummm... that's a good question. I'm not sure. Let me ask," she replied, somewhat haltingly. She knocked on a small door between the cash register and the kitchen and a man's head appeared shortly thereafter. "Do we take checks?" she asked him. He looked at her and then at me, with the most perplexed expression on his face. "Do we take checks?... Ummmmm... I don't see... why not?" was his response.

I was glad I wasn't going to have to set myself up for a potential identity theft, and wrote the check. The total was $13.45 and I had no trouble writing out the dollar amount in number form. It was the written out form that caused me some trouble. I hastily wrote the check, feeling pressure to move quickly as the line was growing behind me. On the line I wrote, "Thirteen forty-five and..." OOPS! I crossed out the forty-five, initialed it, and wrote "45/100". Since I only ever use checks for church contributions and VOIDing to give bank routing information for automatic deposits and withdrawals, I was sadly unprepared for this moment... not to mention, slightly embarrassed.

I am grateful that I am of the credit card generation, but sad to say that my check writing skills are slowly waning. With internet, credit cards, and cell phones, our children will probably be very limited in their hand writing and grammar skills! They'll laugh when I say we once wrote with pencil and paper, rather than typing everything out. Writing fine motor skills are bound to vanish completely! What is our world coming to?

Cupcakes and Baking

For my birthday, Richard got me this AMAZING book of cupcake creations. It's chock full of neat off-the-wall ideas for making cupcakes that will wow everyone. They truly are works of art. Richard referred to this gift as the "least exciting" of my birthday gifts. However, I spent 15-20 minutes poring over the pages and saying, "WOW!" every few seconds. Needless to say... it was the perfect gift! I bought a bunch of sprinkles, cupcake liners, cake mix and icing recently. If I create anything worth showing, I'll be sure to take pictures and post them.

I also just discovered that they have their own website and a BLOG where other cupcake fanatics can post their creations! This is definitely now a favorite!

They have an American Flag cupcake arrangement, but it requires 96 total cupcakes and a lot of candies to make. I'm considering making this for July 4th, instead. I love Kraftfoods.com and use many of the recipes, so I'm sure it won't disappoint. I don't think we have any plans for the 4th, so maybe I'll just make this and enjoy eating it while waving sparklers left over from our wedding in the air. Who knows?

My knees are kissing!

I went to an orthopedic doctor this morning to find out what's wrong with my right knee. It's been hurting since the beginning of May. In filling out all the paperwork to deduce the problem, I came to the following conclusion. I don't know the reason for my pain, which is the reason I made the appointment in the first place! I was only able to tell the doctor that I've moved into a multi-level condo, gotten a dog, and just finished my first year of teaching 2nd grade.

After several rounds of paperwork (which I'm not sure anyone even read, because I had to keep telling them information that was already written down in at least 2 places), x-rays, and at least an hour of waiting room time, I was FINALLY taken back to a room.

I filled in the doctor on what I had told everyone else on the way back. He had me stand on my tip toes, heels, then left and right foot while atop a small step stool. I then had to step down as slowly as possible from the step stool to the floor on my left and right foot. After this, he had me sit on the edge of the patient bed and push away from the pressure he placed on my shins, calves, and then inside and outside of my lower legs. I was sure I was performing very well on this test!

With his thick German accent, Dr. H stated that I was right to think that the house, dog, and teaching were the source of my problem. Then, he explained a little bit more...

THE PROBLEMS

1) When I stood on one foot, it was completely flat on the ground. He gestured toward my flip flops and said, "Those are the worst things for you." In Florida, flip flops are convenient and necessary! This was a disappointment.

2) My knees, according to Dr. H, like each other too much. He said that when I walk, I should set my foot down and my knee should naturally follow in a straight line behind my foot. However, my knees "kiss" each other. When I stepped down from the step stool, he was watching the foot/knee stepping relationship. He said because of this kissing knee problem, my knee/thigh bone joint was being treated as a rotating joint rather than a hinge joint. If untreated, this would erode the cartilage behind my knee and lead to arthritis.

THE SOLUTIONS

1) Ice the knee 3 times a day for 20 minutes at a time.

2) Take 3 ibuprofen 3 times a day.

3) Go to Physical Therapy 3 times a week to build up the thigh muscles near my hips to gain control over my knees.

4) Wear sneakers or flat shoes with some orthopedic inserts they're going to give me.

5) Come back for a follow-up visit in 4 weeks.

It sure is good that I have the summer off and can go to PT 3 times a week without trouble! Hopefully 4 weeks from now, I'll be better than my usual self. Richard's been calling me his old young wife. If you think about it, please pray this is an easily solved problem!

I'm back in the game!

The summer is here... which means school is out and I (Ashley) have tons of extra time to clip coupons (which I haven't done in quite a while).

Tonight was BY FAR the best CVS trip I've ever had. Richard came with me for what I assured him would be a quick, profitable trip... and BOY was it!

Here's what I got (with store prices)

$12.00... Soy Joy Bars - 12 @ $1.00/ea.

$ 6.99... Revlon Mascara - 1 @ $6.99

$ 6.99... Revlon Eye Liner - 1 @ $6.99

$13.99... Almay Foundation - 1 @ $13.99

$39.97... Total Before Tax

And how much did I pay?? $1.62!!!! and I got $10 Extra Care Bucks (money to spend at CVS on anything in the store) and a coupon for $5 off a purchase of $25 or in the next month. So, since I got back $15 in coupons, that means I made $13.38 on this trip. I am just GIDDY!