Ashley Police Drama Unfolds

speaker-0 (00:00) Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of Sugar Spice and Spirits. We are at the Texas Hideout today. Thank you to them for hosting. They actually opened up early for us to get set up and everything, so we've been here all day, had a great time. So before we get started, just want to ask everyone out there a question. Who out here surfs social media? speaker-3 (00:24) Surf social hanging. speaker-0 (00:26) Isn't that what it's called, sir? I hate y'all. Anyway, scroll, whatever. Okay, so... All of us are guilty of scrolling on social media, whether it's Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, whatever. And we happen to have someone here with us today who scrolls and scrolls and actually turned her scrolling into a really awesome media platform. And we're going to share it with you. Her name is Ashley and she is responsible for food happenings, police happenings, lawn happenings, which I love that, and the up and coming. soda happenings. before we get started on how she got started, we're going to do what we usually do and start out with our sip of the day. And Ashley and I are going really, really hard core with some little water today. It's been a long day. So I'm doing the water. I'm also driving. So how about you ladies? What are you guys doing? You've got that lavender thing. speaker-3 (01:25) the signature lavender martini that Texas Hideout is so known for that is so good. I know you want to sip, but yes too bad. So speaker-0 (01:35) Cheers! speaker-2 (01:36) Cheers, Lady. speaker-1 (01:39) you Go catch an arm! There we go! speaker-0 (01:47) Okay, so... So good. So good. good. So good. Okay. So... Y'all are nuts. But millions, and I think it's easy to say that millions of people scroll up and down Facebook every single day. speaker-3 (01:48) So good. speaker-2 (01:51) So speaker-0 (02:05) but There is just a handful of people out there who, like I said, can take their ideas and turn them into something that is going to benefit themselves, benefit the community, and that is something that Ashley did. we kind of talked a little bit about the four platforms that you've got. Which one started first? Was it the long? speaker-3 (02:29) Believe so. speaker-0 (02:30) The police happenings, okay. So tell us a little bit about that and tell us where it got started, what gave you the idea and how it's kind of changed things. So help us kind of learn a little bit about that. speaker-3 (02:44) So I started police happenings in December of two thousand thirteen. my husband at the time was a tow truck driver for Harris County. Okay. So I would ride in the tow truck with him. every evening when I got off work, I learned over the next year to listen to the police scanners, listen to the dispatchers of multiple different agencies, and I got to learn their lingo on my own. Okay. And I remember sitting in the old outback parking lot at forty five and nineteen. 60. And there was a sheriff's deputy that went by lights and sirens and I knew where he was going. It was like a family disturbance. And I remember thinking, that's so cool that I know where he's going. And nobody else does, essentially. The the public doesn't know. And I thought, said, I could create a Facebook page and post where what's happening around us. And I thought about it. I said, well, it involves, you know, what's happening around us and involves the police. So police happening. So I searched, there was no other pages like it, no other names like it. So I created it and just it took off from there. speaker-0 (03:52) Awesome. So it's, you know, in today's social media platforms, we see all the good, we see all the bad, we see the blame, we see the the heroics and everything. is there, I mean, is there anything that you steer clear of or is it basically it's a free for all? If it happens, it's going out there. speaker-3 (04:12) I steer clear of my own opinion. I have from the very beginning to just be completely neutral, focus on the facts of what's happening, of the call. I don't give my opinion about it. so it's I I remain very neutral and just focus on the facts and let the people in the comments have their own opinion, form their own opinion, say what they want. speaker-0 (04:15) Yeah. speaker-2 (04:34) Was that hard at first or is that something you learned over time? I mean twenty thirteen, you think about this, here we are thirteen years later. This is what you've been doing. Do you think in the beginning you were that good at it? Or it was just something innate in you? speaker-3 (04:48) I I created my own set of rules and I stuck with them. So it it has been hard to bite my tongue a few times. I'm not great at it sometimes, but I I revert back to why have I started this page in the place. So I go back to it's just to let people know what's going on in the community. So I go back to that and I remember no matter what people say in the comments about me or other people, I just stay out of it and make my posts. speaker-2 (05:05) Person. I think if you did it any other way, the comments would I mean for whatever reason there are people that just say negative things for whatever drives them and if you didn't have that those set of rules to stay out of it, it would hurt personally. But I think if you could literally can laser focus and say, I'm doing this because of whatever the mission was to do what you were doing, that has to help because I can't imagine seeing some of the comments. speaker-0 (05:43) it. speaker-3 (05:44) it's I've seen some doozies. there are a lot of people out there that just think they can say whatever they want and it just brings my page more engagement. So bring it on. speaker-0 (05:54) Yeah, I was about to say sometimes it's the positive or the negative is going to get you there. is there... So what's the craziest thing? mean, is there anything that just really sticks out to me? Because obviously the way you look at it is you are a research for information. We actually live, Mindy and I live in a different county and we've got something very similar. And nine times out of 10, if there's something going on, he's going to be there. speaker-2 (06:01) Okay. Source. I don't know if you've ever heard of him, but he's you know out there and speaker-0 (06:28) There are lovers and haters of him like, what are you doing? Out of their face and blah blah blah. But at the end of the day, I think everyone kind of gravitates to it because we all kind of want to know what's. Yep, thank you. Yes, we are. We are nosy. Do you ever get to kind of expand? I mean, does anyone reach out to you and say, well, you're the first one to put this out there. Do you have any more information or is it basically all the time? speaker-2 (06:31) there. speaker-3 (06:39) Rousy. All the time. people they've stopped really doing it, but for the first at least eight or nine years they said, I want an update. I want an update. What's happening there? I want an update. I want to know happened. And it's like I have told people so many, so many times. I listen to the call, I post what happened. Nine times out of ten we don't get an update. If there is an update, I will I will post it and let everybody know because the most speaker-0 (07:21) clear or yeah. speaker-3 (07:23) The most common one is kidnappings. They want to know what happened to the child. And it's like I if I get that information, we'll absolutely book it. Because it's I don't feel like it's my information to withhold unless it's a safety issue for the deputies. But if it's known publicly, I'm gonna post it. And it comes across the scanner and and you really are just getting I was married to an LEO You get that first clip, like when they're going hot, when there's, you know, a deputy needs assistance, you know, when there's those kind of calls, like you're on pins and needles waiting, and then you get the, you know, blah blah blah blah, they mumble across the thing, it's all clear, and then you're like speaker-0 (08:04) Yeah. Well, mean, it was just... speaker-3 (08:06) And that's it. But you don't know where they went, you don't know who they fought, you don't know what happened between this to this, you know. It's a big responsibility of that I have learned to have that information. Yeah. And I take it a hundred percent seriously. Sure. I know that if an active shooter situation were to happen and I were to immediately post, I'm putting deputies lives in danger. I'm putting EMT's lives in danger. Fire in Park. Anyone that's going to assist, I'm I have such a big channel. now that I have to be super careful with what I post, how I post, when I post. So nine times out of ten when I'm posting about a big scene, it's already done. Yeah. So I I always keep the deputy safety, the first responder safeties in mind before speaker-0 (08:53) So just this past weekend there was the carjacking. I don't know if it was up here or not, but there was a carjacking. A mom went inside the store and left her three kids in the car and the oldest kid had the forethought to jump out of the car. When she jumped out of the car, she called 911. Mom was still in the store and the guy jumped in, they took off and I may, forgive me, I may have my facts a little bit wrong. But, because I just got it off the news. So apparently she jumped out, called 911. They were able to find him. They found that all the kids were fine and everything. So I would imagine in that situation, if they're say it's a silver sedan with this license plate number, that's something that you would jump on and say, hey, keeping out for this. speaker-3 (09:43) Yeah. Keep an eye out for If I I know that suspects aren't going, wait, let me check my Facebook page and see what they're posting about. They're not doing that. So in in every situation is different and I handle it with care. But in situations like that, like there's an act of kidnapping, they're looking for silver infinity with ABC license weight, I'm posting it. Because somebody could see it and go, let me keep an eye out for it, and they could see it and call it it. It could happen. So knowing that especially the kids' lives were in danger, sure and I can help. Well, bring them to safety, possibly. I'm gonna do it. speaker-0 (10:18) Yeah, and that's a huge responsibility on your person, your spiritual self, your psyche, your conscience and everything. So have there been any moments where you have broken the story before the media? speaker-3 (10:35) was one I'll never forget the active shooter at Joel Olstein's church. She walked in with armory or weapons or whatever strapped to her back. it was it's it's a balancing act of an emergency is happening. What do I do? Because I do have a huge responsibility of letting the public know what's going on, but keeping the deputies safe. I went live with the scanner. speaker-2 (10:39) Money. speaker-3 (11:03) with them giving updates of who they were looking for, where they last saw her, whether any other suspects, vehicle information. And immediately I had about ten thousand people in my Live And I just went, my gosh. Yeah. Like that was a huge moment for me. And I was stuck I was very aware of what was going on, giving people updates as I could. And then I got a message that said, Hey, SWAT is asking me to turn it off. I immediately turned it off and I went, Okay. Let me process what just happened. And I do that now for every single scenario of big kidnappings or active shooters and stuff like that. Yes, I have a duty to get the information to the public, but I want to do it as safe as possible. So it's it's a balancing act. You need that discernment spirit. That's like you gotta pray for that discernment to help negate the waters, like to navigate. So which way do I need to go? Can I share this? Is it the best interest or is it gonna harm somebody or where speaker-0 (12:04) That was my next question was if law enforcement has ever reached out to you to say, hey, don't do this, yes, do that, or remove this or take it off. speaker-3 (12:13) They have they have I have had deputies and sergeants, lieutenants message me before and say, Hey, can you take this down? Yes. I have had them message me and absolutely no problem. If I tell people all the time, even if they're not law enforcement, they're involved in a certain situation that I post about and they want to take it down, absolutely I'll take it down. Well it depends too. Do you have discernment and if they tell you to take it down and it's just like a deputy or a sorry I mean I mean speaker-1 (12:40) Thank you. speaker-3 (12:41) 'Cause you know where I'm I'm going with this as far as like you may know where I'm going with it. I I don't know. 'Cause I sometimes I don't even know where I'm going with what's in that limit. Y you know, is it in their best interest that they want it down or is it in the best interest of the public and it's not a safety issue? Like it's a you know, going up to speaker-0 (12:48) But. That's my brother on there that you can take that picture. Yeah, my brother. Sorry. They're looking for him and I need his picture up there. speaker-3 (13:10) Nine times out of ten it's just pick and choose your battles. Yeah. It it's not worth to sit there, go back and forth. I have to also put myself in their shoes. If I were to post about somebody's baby mama coming over and spray painting the entire car, I wouldn't if I was in that situation, I wouldn't want my business aired Yeah. Almost. So that's why over the years I've kind of shifted how I post. I don't post I've never posted exact addresses, victim information, any personal information like that. Never have, never will. So I'm I'm vague a lot of the times. Just so people can know okay this is what's going on here but they don't have the exact details. Gotcha. Because I also have to keep my safety in mind. speaker-0 (13:54) I would imagine because if someone thought you were out there spreading their business then... speaker-3 (14:01) I have received some threads. There are yes, we call them one seven ones. speaker-0 (14:06) 171. speaker-2 (14:07) Yeah. speaker-3 (14:07) They're not all there. But I have received harmful messages and I I try to be very respectful with people and apologize and that's why it's just sometimes it's not worth it to argue. If if it is a deputy, I know that they have their best interest in mind as well and who am I to question why they want something taken down? there is another situation that a certain I'll just say a device that was made by a company to help law enforcement. I have posted about it and the creator of said device said, Hey, we don't want the public to know about that. I'm like, you're right. We take it down. So it's from their point of view, because I can have my own point of view, but they're looking at it from the big picture going, Okay, this is we don't want this to be shown to the public. So that's when I'm like, okay, let me just take it down. speaker-0 (15:01) Okay, yeah, that makes sense. I know, so is this, you said that you were with your husband on one of his jobs. Now that you've done the police happenings and you're about to launch the soda happenings and you had the lawn and then you had the food, has this now become your full-time job or do you still work and do other stuff? speaker-3 (15:26) I do it all. I yes. speaker-0 (15:29) Of course you do. speaker-2 (15:32) She's speaker-3 (15:34) Sure. Yes, I I run all of my social medias twenty-four seven. As soon as I wake up, I re I replay last night's recordings, I'll listen to what happened, I'll post it, I'll go to my nine to five. When I'm at my nine to five, my boss is completely understanding, he understands I'm gonna listen to my scanner and I'm gonna be posting. It doesn't happen, you know, I still get my work done, but he's very understanding and I'm posting throughout the day speaker-2 (16:05) Still get your work done. speaker-3 (16:06) still get my work done. I don't post everything. No, I don't I don't post everything. only the things that I don't post family disturbances. most of the time I don't post suicides. if I do it's to give somebody a chance to get help. it's a reminder of call 988 if you need help or to get help. I won't post suicides of children. That's just one boundary I will never cross. So if somebody does message me and goes, hey what's happening in this street I'll let them know but I won't make it public. Yeah. Completely forgot what we were talking about. I just I go off speaker-2 (16:43) I don't know. speaker-0 (16:47) It was, no, it was if you have a typical nine to five. yes, yes, Or if this. is because, because part of the reason obviously is that we all have our own businesses as well. And I think we start the podcast, we love doing the podcast, we have a blast in the podcast, but let's be real, we would love to get sponsors, we would love to be able to have, you know, some money coming in. I there's a lot of there's a lot of podcasters out there that make this as their living. And so we're not gonna fib, we're gonna be like, yeah, bring it on. So I'm just wondering if you've had the benefit of getting any monetization, any sponsors coming in to where you think you could one day make this your full-time job. I think there's a lot of people out there who would love to be able to do something. They just don't know how to get started. if it's, you know, because obviously it does take a lot of your time. speaker-3 (17:41) It does a lot. like I was saying, in the morning I wake up, I catch listen to the scanners, go to work, come home, have dinner, listen to the scanners again, and just repeat it every single day. I for the first ten years did this without getting paid. Completely on my own time. was just doing it to help the public. But Facebook's monetization program came out around twenty twenty, twenty twenty-one. and I was able to get monetized about year later around 2023 22 23 so about three or four years it's literally engagement comments shares likes facebook wants people to come to their page they want the engagement they want people to to come and and scroll doom scroll they call it but is it enough to quit my nine to five speaker-0 (18:38) Yeah. speaker-2 (18:38) No. No. speaker-3 (18:41) it it just it does this. One day it could be this, one day it could be this. So it's not a steady income by any means. my subscriptions that I get, I do get people do pay monthly subscriptions. I take that money and put it right back into the community. speaker-0 (18:56) Right, I saw that. speaker-3 (18:58) Yeah. So I get about 150, 175 a month. I'll donate it to a different charity organization every month. but the money that I do get, most of it does get put back into local businesses, local restaurants with food happenings. so it's I have my nine to five for now. Hopefully with soda happenings, maybe that'll change in the future. And maybe speaker-0 (19:12) Right. So before we get to the brand new one, the soda, so I have to make a comment. Okay. So I was looking at the lawn happenings and I don't know how I... I'm typically not one that comments on... speaker-3 (19:39) What is it? speaker-0 (19:40) snarky, I am snarky, but I don't typically snarky comment. And there was someone who had posted something under the lawn happenings and it was a gentleman mowing the grass without a shirt on and he was real pretty. And he was pretty and you couldn't see his face, but she made the cuts, not person, she has a whole page. speaker-3 (19:58) It was speaker-0 (20:06) And basically says, she was being a Karen, and says, do you think this is appropriate? You know, we've got kids, we've got, you know, people outside, know, because there's a time and a place for you to be, I mean, it wasn't a woman without a shirt, it was a male without a shirt. anyway, so in all these posts and all these comments were negative, you know, negative. Well then, I'm like, oh, I'm not gonna say anything. So, but I kept scrolling. And I went down the rabbit hole and I found, speaker-2 (20:36) Another guy mowing the grass. speaker-0 (20:38) without his shirt on. He was a different guy. And the funny thing is, is that she had the exact same post I'm like, well, I can't help myself. So I said, so I'm just wondering if all you do is drive around town looking for shirtless men who are, who are mowing and you have to spread your negative energy about this when there's so many, so much worse things happening in the world. And I went, I can't believe I went there. I just don't do that. But what I thought about all of a sudden was, because it was exact same word in post, I thought she knows exactly what she's doing. She's getting people to her page. It wasn't your page, but her page was under your page. so just kept, so the content, the forethought, everything, it plays a huge role in. speaker-3 (21:26) So do you ever block people? Because block's my friend. So I have a love-hate relationship with blocking. I and that's called rage baiting, by the way. I don't never will. blocking, I will block anybody making any racist comments. Hundred percent automatic. I recently went and unblocked everybody. Nobody knows that. But speaker-1 (21:27) You speaker-0 (21:55) Guess what? speaker-3 (21:58) only a handful that I kept blocked because I remember what they did to piss me off, but I know that sometimes I was petty and instead of clapping back at people, I would just block. Like 'cause I mean sometimes that's friendy, just block. It's boundaries. Yeah. speaker-0 (22:17) Well, if it keeps you from maybe going down an avenue that you regret because maybe you got a little smart. It's like, you know, maybe we just cut this off right now until I can. speaker-3 (22:24) Yeah. I've grown. Right. That's the thing. I've grown since I was just block, block, block, block, block, block, block. so I unblocked about probably two hundred, two hundred and fifty people. Which honestly in thirteen years speaker-2 (22:40) It's not bad though. speaker-3 (22:42) Not bad. but any of the ones I didn't remember, I just unblocked and just giving them like a second chance. because I don't remember what happened. Why am I seeing this now? yeah I've I've had a couple people and I remember they just start commenting like nothing happened. I'm like, that's that's okay with me. Because maybe they had a difference of opinion in me and I didn't like it, so I blocked it. I don't remember. Yeah. But I've like I said, I've grown since my blocking spree. So now it's yeah. So now I just keep it to we call those menopausal outrage. speaker-0 (22:52) I speaker-3 (23:12) Yeah. speaker-0 (23:12) There you go. speaker-2 (23:13) So I would imagine the blocking sprees mostly happened on police happenings. Yes. The next page that you have that has quite a few followers is food happenings. Tell us a little bit about that. speaker-0 (23:25) Yes, I'm definitely interested in that too. speaker-3 (23:27) So it all started with I don't know if you remember Potato Patch of Nineteen Sixty and Hardy. my friend Richard owned it and it was an excellent hometown restaurant to go to. The food was great, the atmosphere was great. Everybody look everybody and COVID happened. Yes. And all the restaurants just shut down. Yeah. And I remember thinking, I have a a platform that I built. I think it had about maybe seventy thousand followers at that seventy. Just seventy. speaker-0 (23:45) Thank I love you. speaker-2 (23:58) Back then. speaker-3 (24:00) So I would post, hey, come to the potato patch. If you're looking for a good meal, you can pick it up to go. I remember posting and posting and posting posting and then I thought, I have something here. And then Keith Lee, the famous influencer, yeah, he came out and started doing his reviews and I thought I can do that for local Houston restaurants. my I hadn't really shared any of my pictures, nobody really knew what I looked like, just a few close friends knew that it was me. So I started going out to restaurants and saying, Hey, this place is struggling, they're really great, come try them. I would do that over and over and somebody commented and said, Hey, you should create another page for this, call it Food Happenings. Brilliant. Yeah. So I started it less. And now it's it's just snowballed for the past three years. now into into what it is and I have my my food happens approved sticker that I'll give out to businesses. I don't like to like I'm not a flaunty person. If they want it great if you want to put it on wonderful it's marketing isn't it but I do have a lot of die hard followers that will see that sticker and go I know I'm gonna enjoy it here. I want people to go out and be able to spend their hard earned money on a good experience on good food while also supporting local families. speaker-0 (25:08) Nice. So it's not the Michelin star, it's, you know, it's cool. mean, that's, that people, people respect your opinion. They know you've been there, done that and like, Hey, let's, you know. speaker-3 (25:27) I've gained the respect of the community and the trust of the community with police happening, I've carried that over until food happenings speaker-2 (25:34) I totally have to ask because of course I remember seeing Keith Lee from whatever he was like in his living room on that little chair. And then you just see how what he's done. But then have you seen and maybe he's on Facebook but dining with Kent? Yes. my gosh. I'm just like because we talk about not Michelin Star, but he he did a lot of different restaurants and he was like, let's go outside of the comfort zone and try food from all over the world and things people normally wouldn't care about. I don't know if you speaker-0 (25:59) it. speaker-2 (26:04) ever do that or those kind of restaurants that maybe would be outside of your comfort zone but that might be something really, really neat because it's made me want to go try different food that I normally wouldn't try. speaker-3 (26:13) Yeah, we've done a few we branched out with Mediterranean Holol restaurants. I I'm more s timid to try new foods, especially because I've had my gallbladder removed. so I don't react well to certain foods, especially fried foods. I just can't really have speaker-0 (26:26) Thank speaker-2 (26:33) Yeah speaker-0 (26:35) On the road. Here's our little test squirrels over here. speaker-2 (26:39) Yeah. speaker-3 (26:40) but yeah we do branch out and try different things that we wouldn't normally try because what we would want they're not necessarily struggling. Right. We want to go to the help of struggling right. speaker-0 (26:49) So that's what I going say, this more or less started out as a, the initiative to help someone because they were struggling and let's face it, at that point in time, people wanted to have places to go. They were tired of being stuck indoors and you've got some local, so as far as the food happening, so is it pretty much, do you stay local here too or have you gone kind of outside your area or? speaker-3 (27:15) to stay local okay because that's where my followers I've gone to the farthest we've gone is Pearland and there was a birria truck there that was absolutely amazing but my posts didn't do well at all because I don't have any followers sure so I try to stick within Spring Conroe Woodlands Cypress Tomball that little speaker-2 (27:18) Sure, sure. speaker-0 (27:37) mean, there's just a few people that live up there in area. speaker-2 (27:40) Well and that's a great lesson for people who are listening or watching right now that you literally identified you tried to do that, but because of where you're following is you're like this is the content they want to see, this is my niche, this is where I'm gonna stay. A lot of times somebody will try to be all things to everyone and then you really don't reach your market. speaker-3 (28:01) You can't spread yourself too thin. speaker-0 (28:03) because all of a sudden, if you focus all your time on trying to branch out to the South Side, to Pearland or things, then guess what? You're negating these folks up here, and it may suffer up here a little bit. speaker-3 (28:17) And I remember if you don't mind, my first big viral restaurant was Popsy Bar at Liletta and I think Champion Forest. Uh-huh. somebody messaged me saying that he needs help. He's the sweetest man and he serves custom popsicles. you take your your base and you dip it in a salt like chocolate sauce, you put toppings on it, and that's that's it. So I went and it was he was the nicest person. He was the only one in there, no customers. I posted within an hour there was a line down the block. Within one hour. And I didn't realize speaker-2 (28:51) Yeah. speaker-0 (28:55) to you and that's awesome for him. speaker-2 (28:57) your heart too by the way like the things that you do building the community police happenings taking your I want to put this out into the community and then doing that for in food happenings for that restaurateur that focused and and wants to do this but their business is not doing well and so you going out there for nothing else other than spreading the word in your community. I love that. That's what I'm thank for doing that. speaker-3 (29:22) And I didn't realize it was the first day of spring break. So every single speaker-2 (29:27) Intervention sometimes. speaker-3 (29:30) So I know you do a lot. We're talking about the certain pages from food happenings, police happenings, soda happenings, all the good stuff. You also do a lot with the community in the sense of homeless teens or teens that are in transition, leaving foster, different things that you'll just put a call out like, hey, there's there's this kid that needs this or a family needs this. And it's truly a give back feel that it's not what's in it for me, it's how can I help and how can I serve and I think that speaks volumes and that's why people actually, you know, appreciate it because it is drama free. It's one of those things that you can go and and just have, you know, a good wholesome page that does does great things. So speaker-0 (30:14) There's some if it's a safe haven to reach out to and they know that there's going to be a resource there that, you know, it can be private on some levels and just but know that there's a place to go. speaker-3 (30:27) Absolutely. And I work directly with organizations that help homeless teens and females. And if they get somebody new, they know to message me and I will put it right there, here's the wish list, here's what they need. And usually it's sold out within an hour. speaker-2 (30:40) Well, is there a is there a reason that you chose to focus on that or the something in your heart that just said this is where speaker-0 (30:47) Thank speaker-3 (30:48) I'll take it back. I mean again I built a platform and I have this responsibility to treat it with care and use it wisely and I think giving back and helping people is the best thing I can do with it. I don't want anything from it other than to let people know what's going on and while I'm doing that I can help people at the same time. That's a win-win. speaker-2 (31:11) the teens like focusing there or you just give back in so many different areas is speaker-3 (31:15) I give back like K9s for Cops, back the blue. speaker-2 (31:20) Is that speaker-0 (31:21) Is that Christy Schiller's? Yeah. Yeah. That's her. I went to school with Christy. Oh really? I'm a good friend to her, yeah. speaker-3 (31:26) Mm-hmm, we've never met but we've we've communicated quite a bit. But I'm a big supporter of her organization. And I I love watching K9s work. It's the best thing. I could just sit there and watch all day. speaker-0 (31:32) amazing. has been just a huge, huge advocate for them. Yeah, it's amazing what what came out of her k9s for cops has done. She's amazing. yeah. speaker-3 (31:46) But yeah, I work directly with H Town Dream Center. I wanted to find an organization where someone did message me, hey I have a homeless teen that's sleeping in the behind the dumpster at this restaurant, like we have had before. Ty. somebody messaged me and said, Hey, there's a homeless teen. A couple of people messaged me about them. And I had been in touch with H Town Dream Center a couple times. So I reached out to them and like, hey, can you help with this? And they were they were on it. He was there the next day. speaker-0 (32:15) No. speaker-3 (32:17) and he just graduated high school. So yeah, that not a cheers Ty speaker-2 (32:23) to that. speaker-0 (32:23) Absolutely. speaker-2 (32:28) Uh-huh. speaker-1 (32:27) Yeah. speaker-3 (32:31) So yeah, I I love using my platform to to help people. That's what I grew up doing, it's what I've always done. So I'll I'll continue to speaker-0 (32:39) I think if we had more people willing to get out there and do that and but you know even even if there are those that don't have the time to do that then that's what I like about you know having the podcast is that if we can bring attention and focus to the things that you do then it might be a situation where it might be not something that you specifically do but it sounds like at this point you have so many resources at your fingertips that connections that that can connect you know whether it's someone that that needs this or someone that needs that or this business just opened up and they're struggling or whatever the case is. Someone needs to mow the lawn without their shirt on. I don't... I'm just kidding but I'm not trying to belittle what you do by no means. speaker-2 (33:26) It's speaking of just opening up, I I don't know how far you you are into it if you want to talk about it, but soda happenings. Do you mind if you want to tell us a little bit about that? speaker-3 (33:35) I watch a TikTok creator, Bailey Lowe's, out of I believe she's in Indiana, and she created a dirty soda trailer out there and she started out just as a teenager doing it on the side and then when she became an adult she was able to start her own brick and mortar and now she has two locations. So speaker-0 (34:04) Keep running. speaker-3 (34:05) I watched her make the sodas, serve customers and hire employees and I'm like, I wanna make dirty sodas. That is such a cool concept because it's not really that popular in Texas yet. speaker-0 (34:12) you Yeah. speaker-2 (34:18) Getting there. So to happen. So does so does happening. Yeah. speaker-0 (34:22) pepper. speaker-3 (34:24) they have they're they're starting to get popular now. now we have Swig, we have Pop Houston in Atascocita who I absolutely love. I highly recommend them. and I have created my own menu. My menu is done. there are quite a few familiar drink names that you people will recognize if they follow my page. I do have one called Kuykendahl Karen, who is a very popular character on my page. speaker-2 (34:51) Wait to see all of this. speaker-0 (34:53) gonna be great. speaker-3 (34:54) but the trailer is ninety percent done. My husband has built it from the ground ground up to what it is. We're almost there. Now we're just waiting on our health inspection. Awesome. speaker-0 (35:05) Well, you will have to let us know whenever you're like, hey, I'm ready to do the ribbon cutting. Guess what? We will be there with our glasses on. OK, we're ready. speaker-2 (35:14) I speaker-3 (35:15) I do have one location that I will be at every Sunday. nice. So I will have one set location. I won't announce it just yet. I don't know when this is gonna air, but as soon as I get the green light with my health permit, I will be announcing it. so I will have a set location every Sunday and then throughout the week, when I have time I'll go to different like football games, baseball games and just set up it all on speaker-2 (35:40) Please tag us in the comments and of course stay in touch, too speaker-3 (35:43) Yeah. We have a mutual friend that has a truck that her children run that goes all over and does everything. So yeah. They were one of my biggest inspirations to start it. Yeah. I saw how big of a following that they had from it. Of course I I also, you know, shared about their business and where they were gonna be to try to help them as best as I could. Watching Bailey and then watching them, I was like, I wanna do this. And a month later we started it. speaker-0 (36:10) Yeah. Wow. We know. So let's kind of go back over. You have police happenings, which, that's the name of it on Facebook. So you can like and subscribe and the subscriptions go back into the community. You have food happenings. Now, is lawn happening still up and going? speaker-3 (36:26) What do you think? Still he's wearing his shirt right now. He's working today. He low he we mow four days a week. We're busy from sun up to almost sundown with customers. speaker-0 (36:33) There you go. Fantastic. And that customer base came from the lawn happening. you basically generated revenue that way. And then now you've got the soda happening. speaker-3 (36:50) using my platform now to my advantage because I've built the following As you should. Absolutely. As you absolutely should. I've sometimes I feel guilty about it. I I can tell and I know you have that because you have such a pure heart. No sister. You ride that, you own it, you treat people with respect, you run your business with respect and integrity, and the rest will happen and follow. And you continue to keep that and that's that's a I mean just keep going with it. Keep and don't feel guilty. speaker-0 (37:17) No, because you have been paying it forward doing so much. for so many that it's okay for you to reward yourself and enjoy some of that. And I think one of the things too is a lot of times as people get busy doing other things, sometimes they let other things slide. But what's nice is if you get so busy that maybe you get to the point where you have to other people trying to help you out and that's okay too. Because let's face it, there's nothing wrong with wanting to make a little bit of money and support yourself and give back to your community, but you also have to give to yourself too. speaker-3 (37:50) Hard sometimes speaker-0 (37:51) It is hard. It is hard, I think you're a great inspiration because you've taken some really, really good ideas and have turned them into good for the community. And then you've taken some more good ideas and you're going to work to have the benefits come back towards you. And I think it's just going to continuing to grow. Because I think if you look back at all the things that you've done during this whole time, mean, you should applaud yourself. I think that's great. I look forward to going to the soda happenings. speaker-3 (38:31) My own stash speaker-2 (38:33) Yeah. speaker-3 (38:34) BYOB I don't I don't do that. speaker-0 (38:36) And now I'm gonna know more of what's going on up here because I do follow you now on the police app and I'm like Natalie what are doing? speaker-3 (38:43) I'm bringing you to the south side. Let's go to the south side. speaker-0 (38:46) It's out. speaker-2 (38:46) We also are on 360 so we'll be like, We know where you are. speaker-0 (38:50) There you go. We know what you're doing. That's too sugar! speaker-2 (38:53) But speaker-3 (38:55) built up police happenings so now that I I'm just using it to my advantage now and starting our own business, Lawn Happenings. We do service the spring, Tombell, Cypress area. he runs that. He does all the the mowing and all the outside work. I'm just a girl. I don't do all that. I'm just a girl I will handle customer service all day, every day. speaker-2 (39:16) of you that are just listening and you're not actually watching the video, her husband is sitting over here where we can see him at an eye shot. So if you see us looking speaker-3 (39:23) Even if you are here and watching the video, you don't know who we're looking at. speaker-2 (39:28) That's why said over here. speaker-0 (39:31) We're looking at her husband, we're looking at her husband, our husbands, I don't know where our husbands are, they're not here. But no, I just, I mean, I think it, I don't want to sound condescending, but it's, I'm very proud of the fact that you're now doing something that's kind of for you. I mean, cause you've stepped out and you've done so much for so many others. And I think it's good for you to see, you know, what you can do for yourself. You never know, you may franchise that little truck somewhere. So I think that would be awesome. I what a great story. And like I said, it just goes to show you that we've done a few podcasts today and in past where we have gotten people's ideas on where they got started, how they got started, why they got started, what motivated them to get started. I guess the key thing is just... speaker-2 (40:20) Just get started. Just do it. you started from a tow truck and a police scanner. Yeah. a tow truck and a police scanner. speaker-3 (40:30) you wanna know how long happens have started? Yes. My husband got fired from his job for being in the hospital with me when I had my gall bladder removed speaker-0 (40:37) I did read that. I did read that. speaker-3 (40:39) decided right then and there, let's start lawn happens. We had been talking about it for a little while. We didn't know how he was gonna do it because he was working a nine to five and it was just like a sign that speaker-0 (40:49) When one door closes and another door opens. speaker-3 (40:51) Blessings, but sometimes you you're not listening or you're not making it happen, so God's gonna hit you with the two by four or a wrecking ball. Or a wrecking ball. Yeah, make it happen. So I think you know, and sometimes we don't listen. And I love, I don't know if you guys follow Kitty Rose at all, but she's in tonight's conversations and she talks and she's like, God is trying to trying to make that person inaccessible or make that inaccessible to you, and you're not listening. So because you're not listening, he is gonna do everything in his power to remove. that from your life so that you can move forward in the path that he truly has designed for you. But if you're not going to listen, he's going to keep working and be patient until he gets you to where you need to be. speaker-0 (41:32) So see they remove your gallbladder to get it out of It started with a gallbladder and now your life is totally different. speaker-3 (41:36) That trash is. Well removing that showed a couple of different different issues that I had no idea and now I've been working on fixing them. So everything happens I believe everything happens for a reason. speaker-0 (41:48) Great. Absolutely. Whether you believe in divine intervention or fate or whatever it doesn't matter because what you did was you guys took the ball and you ran with it and you didn't sit around have a pity party and well. speaker-3 (42:04) pity party in the hospital like our snaps. speaker-0 (42:06) Of course, but you didn't stay in that pity party. said, okay, how are we going to change this and what are we going to do and how are we going to make it better? And during that whole process, you still continued to try and make things better for other people. So I think that's huge. speaker-3 (42:20) I will continue to help other people, help the community, while also helping myself. So I'm learning how to not make my cup run it over helping other people, but also fill my own cup. Yes. speaker-0 (42:33) So, yeah, don't keep stacking your cups. So, it's where you have so many cups that you can't, yeah, yeah, but that's great. That's great. So, anything else? speaker-2 (42:43) Later. speaker-3 (42:44) No, I just I've been following you for years so it's and I know you know I ran for school board. So I was one of the school board candidates that you heard about, but anyway, so I get people all the time that come up to me. I love your page. I'm so and so and like Yeah. Great to meet you. I know you know me. I don't know you. Yeah, you know exactly who I am. Remember I ran on this race and this race against the speaker-0 (42:47) Yeah, I love it. love 71,000, but yeah. speaker-2 (43:13) I thought that was pretty amazing. Yeah. So there's that. speaker-3 (43:13) Teacher and speaker-0 (43:14) Thank speaker-2 (43:21) But taking it back to you, I just want to say everything that you're doing, keep doing and it is okay to ask for favor for yourself because you're asking for favor over those that you're trying to bless also in what you're doing. And I think it's really neat that you and your husband, it sounds like you're on the same page with where you're going. I think it's really neat that you have lawn happenings and it's helping his business and food happenings and police happenings and then soda happenings. So you definitely have to tell us when that's happening. That was when that's happening, see the word happening. speaker-0 (43:51) It's happening a lot. know you didn't mention, but kudos to your 9 to 5 work people. They allow you to continue to give back. There's a lot of people that say, hey, not on my time. But whoever that is, kudos to them for letting you speaker-3 (44:11) He does. He loves it. And he'll he'll Cheers. Cheers to the boss man. Cheers to the boss man. Mine's empty. The lavender martini is too good. speaker-2 (44:14) Gee. speaker-0 (44:15) Whoever you. speaker-2 (44:22) Thanks, Texas hideout. speaker-0 (44:23) That's right, that's right. yeah, oh my gosh, we appreciate it so much. you know, that's the one thing that we, we get the advantage of all the people that we. speaker-3 (44:25) Thank you for having me. speaker-0 (44:33) bring on our podcast, we get to kind of build off of them and learn off of them and hopefully other people following our page, they can, you know, learn ways to become independent entrepreneurs either from you, our guests or from us and we try to spread great information and fun and everything. if you want to follow us, you can find us at sugarspicesnspirits.com. Certainly check us out. We will put a lot of your information at the bottom so they can follow you as well. speaker-3 (45:02) Follow you. Police happenings, soda happenings, lawn happenings, Mr. Police happenings, and my mom's page, Mama Happenings. speaker-2 (45:10) What speaker-0 (45:11) Just look up happenings on Facebook. Facebook. yes, and thank you so much for coming on and spreading what you do for yourself and for the community. We appreciate it. speaker-3 (45:14) Facebook. speaker-2 (45:26) If you happen to need any help with real estate, non-medical home help, or somebody to help in leadership coaching and communications, give us a call. But definitely be in touch with our friend Ashley over here at all the happenings. So cheers. speaker-0 (45:40) all the happenings that's