FiveLettersDown

My storm story

2008-02-08T10:51:00.000-05:00

Remember the line of horrible storms that ripped through 150 miles of America on Tuesday night?
I realize many are worse off than me, but here's what happened in my little corner of that disaster.
(Because you won't ever see it on the news)

I get home around 6:45 and the storm is nearly upon us. It's not raining yet, but I know it's about 20 minutes away. I turn on the tv to watch the news. Nathan's watching the radar on the computer.
but he comes in there with me, we watch for a few minutes and then decide the worst is north and south of us.
then the satellite signal goes out.
he starts looking for candles and fire and the lights go out.
then the dogs' collars start beeping and shocking them.
it's pitch black. clover is freaking out. he's trying to get her to come to him so he can take the collar off.
i found addie and tried to take hers off and the collar shocked me. nathan comes over and unscrews it.
beforehand, we decided we'd hunker in the hallway with all the doors closed, under a mattress if the tornado sirens went off.
i'm trying to close the hallway doors. nathan is still looking for fire.
but the dogs keep running into the office and i'm trying to get them out so i can close the door. i'm a bit frantic at this point because lightning is the only thing i can see by... but fortunately, there's plenty of it.
i get one dog out and lighting strikes and i see the other has run in. so it went on like this for a few minutes because i'm yelling and they're getting more scared and backing further into the room. so i finally said, "fine! die in there!" and walked away to help find fire. I was tempted to shut the door on them, but changed my mind.
i finally got fire and candles together in one spot, and nathan calmly got all of the dogs in the living room.
i lit a candle and we saw clover was cowering under the coffee table and wouldn't come out.
then, within about 20 minutes, the storm passed. Things were calm but we still had no electricity and no way of cooking dinner. so we got some grapes and cheese out of the fridge and had philosophical discussions for a few hours.
and then went to bed around 9 p.m.
the lights came back on sometime around 4 a.m.
and we woke up around 7, after about 10 hours of sleep.
it was kind of nice actually.

All the news that's fit to blog

2007-11-21T23:17:00.000-05:00

I haven't posted in too long.
To start, here's a photo of Nathan at the Ozark tournament.
This was after much whisky/beer and, frankly, he didn't care if there was a camera pointed at him when I suggested silly things for him to do.
Here's my favorite pic.

And, in other rugby news, I've started a Flickr account to post all of the rugby game photos I've been taking.
If you want to see my handy work, visit www.flickr.com/littlerockrugby. Or click here.

Who needs coffee?

2007-10-02T19:42:00.000-04:00

The other morning at 6 a.m. it was storming. Lighting, thunder and the rain was falling in sheets.
I woke up knowing Nathan's windows were down and suspecting mine might be.
Did I mention how much I love my new car?
I love this car so much that I'll hop out of bed at 6 a.m., grab my keys, run out into the pouring rain in my underwear and make sure the windows are up.
They were in case you were wondering. I dodged that bullet.
Oh, and while I was out there I rolled up Nathan's window, too.

And once you go through that, there's no going back to bed.
You are wide awake, my friend.
Wide. Awake.

Okay, it's been way too long since my last post

2007-10-02T19:34:00.001-04:00

It's time for some more pictures!
Yay!

Here's a picture of our semi-completed deck. We still need to add the roofing on that section with the posts for roofing.

Here's one of the furniture we bought on sale at Lowe's. I like the umbrella. How about you?

The decking process

2007-07-27T20:13:00.000-04:00

As many of you know, the Tucker residence is in the process of getting a new deck in the backyard. It's going to be fantastic. And, lucky for you, we've documented the process.
So, to start off, here's our backyard with the batter boards.

And here's a view from the porch of the stakes in the holes (all 27 of them) and Nathan in the process of mixing concrete to pour in there. (I believe it's his birthday in this picture, too... happy birthday!)

And Nathan did this part all by himself...

This is the second layer of joists.

Nathan and his dad worked all day Thursday in the very hot sun to get all of this done...

And here's a view from the back door. Isn't it gorgeous?! We both can't wait to buy deck furniture!

My pup's all grown up... sort of

2007-07-27T20:11:00.001-04:00

Sorry I haven't posted in a while.
Here's some more pics of Clover. It seems like she's bigger every time I come home from work...

Here's a picture of Clover at her first rugby game.
Look how adorable she is.

And here she is about 3 months later....
I might be biased, but I think she's gotten cuter!

"Welcome to the road"

2007-06-24T20:28:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, I was out doing the farmer's market thing.
It started to rain pretty hard, sheets of rain in places, on my way home.
The streets were slick, but I arrived home safely and had been in the house not two minutes, when Nathan and I heard this sickeningly loud thud outside. It was so loud it shook my house a bit. At first I thought a tree limb had fallen on the roof.
Then we looked outside.
A little honda had hit an SUV right in front of our house. (We know that blind curve is a doozy and people take it way too fast sometimes, and we've been told they used to end up in our front yard about once a month before the city fixed it, but it's still dangerous.)
Nathan went outside, but I was too scared at first. The last thing I wanted to see was something horrific that I would remember forever.
As it is, I will never forget the sound of the crash. There were no screeching tires... just the sound of a wrecking ball hitting a building and nothing else. Makes me shudder.
I saw my neighbor across the street was already outside on his phone making calls. He was in the road checking on every one.
So was Nathan (he was a first responder...) Then I realize he went outside without his shoes... so I took them out to him, because I didn't want him walking on glass.
Thankfully no one was maimed and there were no fountains of blood.
The honda had crossed the center line and they had hit each other's driver's side front corner.
The guy in the Honda had broken his leg. He was put on a stretcher and into an ambulance.
The woman and her daughter in the SUV were fine, just shaken up really badly. Both were crying. My neighbor's wife was hugging them, and saying it would be all right.
Both cars were damaged beyond repair.
I told my neighbor I was going to make some calls, but I saw he was already on it.
He said, "Yeah, once I heard that sound, I knew what it was and ran outside."
Then he looked right at me and Nathan and said, "Welcome to the road."

One bad little tugger

2007-05-23T20:07:00.000-04:00

This video is funny because we've trained my other dogs not to tug like this, but she's still a puppy and doesn't know any better. Plus it's cute. But the other dogs reprimand her when she plays tug of war.
And at the end of this video, that's Addie barking at her as if to say, "Hey! If the human wants the toy let go of it!" And she drops it and runs.
It makes me giggle every time.

Down a Louisiana highway

2007-05-11T21:34:00.000-04:00

Here are some photos taken on our trip to Ruston. Along Hwy. 167, they're expanding it in fascinating ways.
First there's this.

Nathan says the utility company didn't move the poles like they were supposed to, so highway guys just dug around them.

Let's take a closer look at that:

All you can say is wtf?!

Then there's the sad reality of the houses being torn down to make way for this new highway. There are half demolished, half lived in neighborhoods along the roadway that I couldn't look at without wondering who lived there and for how long and how much it probably hurts them to see their family homes turned into heaps of rubble.

This one I just liked.

Insane in the membrane, insane in the brain.

2007-05-03T21:43:00.000-04:00

So, we had to take this personality quiz at work, and it said I'm a left brained thinker. So much so, that I apparently don't use my right brain at all.
I'll admit that makes me kind of sad. Because I hate accounting.
Now, I've done some research and I think that I have the characteristics of both. Maybe a tendency to favor left over right but this description of a right-brained person is all me:
"Right brains are non-judgmental and often have no opinion on many topics. They can see both sides and are often seen as wishy washy or lacking values."
(about the only thing I have a strong opinion on is abortion, journalism and music.)
I learned right-brainers also tend to daydream and get distracted a lot and that's me too.
But I'm sure all of this stuff you learned in high school is very boring and causing your mind to wander. I can barely stay focused... because this post is boring me, too.

So, let's talk about how Avril Lavigne is part of a giant record-company conspiracy to find the music market's stupidity threshold.
"She's like so whatever..."
And I can't believe I just quoted her.

Every week, I have to fill out a weekly report for my boss. I basically have to tell her what I'm doing with my time, which is a good idea. So, if I spend time writing my weekly report, I put that in there... even though it's obvious I spent some time to write up my weekly report because it's obviously written. (Sentences like that make me wish I could use a more diverse mix of words to express myself) But my point is that my weekly report reminds me of twittering.

I just cooked some Mexican lasagna.
It's cooling on the stove.
I'm so ready to eat it.

Now for some shocking news that is both ironic and shocking:
The UPS guy delivered our new "invisible fence" today. We're using it because the dogs keep jumping the visible fence and we don't want them to get hit on our busy road.
The 8-week-old puppy stays in the front yard during the day.
Well, the delivery guy drops off the package on our front stoop and leaves the gate open.
Amazingly, she didn't wander into the road and get hit.
But Nathan didn't realize that the gate was open and let the other two out when he got home. And Addie, being the blockhead Skinny B that she is, walks straight into the road and the puppy follows her.
Nathan said Addie did a good job of dodging (she's jumps the fence so much it's probably a fun game of chicken for her) but the puppy almost "caught a tire," as he put it.
See? What did I tell you? Shock and irony.

Passed smooth out

2007-04-18T22:33:00.000-04:00

So, I walk into my kitchen and I see this:

And I think, she looks just like the frog I had to dissect in high school biology.

So we took a few more shots:

See that spot next to one of her eyes. She must've gotten into a fight while we were at work. Nathan thinks she did something to piss Houla off, but I think a hawk tried to swoop down and make my puppy a tasty lunch and narrowly missed because Houla stepped in to save her.

Ode to a "cracker"

2007-04-18T20:50:00.000-04:00

I use the word "cracker" a lot.
It's something I started doing a while back. It seemed to make people laugh, so I kept doing it.
At this point, I use it like a term of endearment:
"Hey, what's up cracker. How's your day going?"
I say it to Nathan:
"Can you please help me with the dishes, cracker husband o'mine?"
He calls me cracker, too.

But I notice some people get a little huffy when I call them that. But really, I don't mean any harm, and there's no malice behind it. But I think I'll endeavor to stop saying it. (I may have to go to crackers anonymous: "Hi, my name's Melissa and I say cracker." "Hi, Melissa.") It seems when I say it outside of my house, it only gets me in to trouble.
So, I'm a reformed cracker user. In public anyways.

Puppy video

2007-04-17T09:55:00.000-04:00

The other side

2007-04-16T20:36:00.000-04:00

This is what she looks like when you turn her over...
ACK! IT'S PUPPY CUJO!
Run for your lives!

Puppy love

2007-04-16T00:13:00.000-04:00

Here's our new puppy. She's adorable. Since we got her on Friday the 13th, I'm naming her Clover. (but I should name her something like Moxie cuz she's a spirited little thing.)
Cute things she's done so far:
Sleep
Run
Pounce on Houla
Hide sticks under the grill for later
Bark at the lawn chair outside...
Then chew on it. (the chewing is cute right now because she can't really hurt anything)

She's also really smart.
We put her on the digital scale and turns out, she weighs nothing! That'll change really soon I'm sure... I think she's already bigger since Friday night.
I'll post some cute video as soon as I can.

Shotgun security system

2007-04-06T10:54:00.000-04:00

The other night I let the dogs out before we started a movie so that (hopefully) they wouldn't bother us about their bladders in the middle of it.
Well, they start barking at absolutely nothing, as per usual, and I open the door to call them in and see a sheriff coming down the road.
Very slowly.
With a spotlight. He shines it in my yard and the dogs of course run over to the gate and start viciously barking at the sheriff. (don't you just love how dogs don't discriminate?)
His spotlight shines on them, scans across the yard and then lands on me standing in the doorway.
He pulls in to a driveway two houses down and sits there a minute. Then when the coast is clear on the road, he turns around and starts coming back. Well, if he wanted to turn into my driveway, he went too far and so he stopped a sec and then kept on driving. I don't think he came back.
So, now I'm thinking, "What in the hell are the cops doing out with a searchlight? There must be a fugitive in my backyard!"
Nathan is already in the storage room searching for the shotgun shells to load up the gun that's under the bed (hey, we're just like any normal american home, people...).
Well, he loads up the gun and puts it on my side of the bed. Oh no, cowboy. You're gonna have to do the shootin. Then I notice the extra shell sitting next to me on the bedside table.
"What's that for?"
"In case more than two come through the door."
"What!? Well Houla can take one of them..."
I'm not going to be responsible for handing my husband a shell in the middle of the night if someone is trying to kill us. I'm just not. That will only end in tears. And plenty of blood. I don't know whose, but I don't think I'll like the mess.

Sweet censorship

2007-04-03T10:44:00.000-04:00

Since my iPod took a fatal dive into a glass of green tea, I've been listening to the radio a lot more. (I keep forgetting to bring my CDs into the car.) But there's this one song by Christina Aguilera called "Candy Man" and it's interesting to see how it is censored.
For example, one station censored her saying "He's a one stop shop, he makes my panties drop." They bleeped the word panties. Then she says "He's a one stop shop, he makes my cherry pop." And they bleeped out "cherry pop" which I'm sure was just a harmless reference to a soda in a candy store....
But when she says, "when he hits my mouth he really hits the spot" well, I guess that part is okay, because it's not bleeped. And that part offended me the most.
Maybe I should call and complain. :)
But what killed me is that Pink apparently has a song called "You and Your Hand" where she says, "It's just you and your hand tonight." And there was some little girl who sounded like she was about 12 years old calling the radio station to request it. By name.
That offended me, too. I think that song should be bleeped.

Are you talkin' ta me?

2007-03-16T20:26:00.000-04:00

Are you. Talkin. ta me?

Shhh! Don't tell PETA....

2007-03-13T23:16:00.000-04:00

But I think our Addie has a bit of a drinking problem...

"Down in a hole,
Losing control..."

Much sniffing and some gnashing of teeth

2007-03-10T18:13:00.000-05:00

Saturday's trip to the dog park to meet co-worker Amy's dog Flush went fairly well. Once Houla and Flush came to blows and then reached an agreement over the tennis ball situation, they seemed to get along fine. He's a lot like Houla when she was younger...
They seem to be friendly in this pic... even though I think Flush has got one eye on Houla and one on the tennis ball.

It wasn't that hot, but there was still a lot of foaming at the mouth (check out that righteous spittle beard she's sporting!)

There's was even more of this:
(A few times, the dogs formed booty-sniffing conga lines)

Flush was hilariously never far from his ball...

And then they went home happy.

Addie T

2007-02-23T23:17:00.000-05:00

I pity da dog!

How do I love thee? Let me count the Sam's Choice chocolates

2007-02-13T18:42:00.000-05:00

Went to Wal-Mart today. It was a mad house. Guys buying Russell Stover's, girls buying balloons.
Peeping in shopping carts was much more fun than usual.
I bought blue cheese, kalamata olives, salami, strawberries ... etc.
(Because nothing says romance like salami)
But anyways. It was a fun time watching the groups of guys intently reading the pink and red greeting cards. And the children wondering hey, why isn't this giant teddy bear you are buying for me!?!

The Great Snowstorm of '07

2007-02-04T11:42:00.000-05:00

When we awoke, our world was covered in snow and ice. The backyard was silent, bleak and beautiful. Would we make it to work alive? No one knew.

There were signs that during the night the snow had come in sideways. The markings it left on trees were like claws reaching out for the next frozen termite treat.

Animals were venturing into our backyard, scavenging for anything they could find. (Good thing we remembered to secure the lid on the trashcan...) Nathan got close enough to this wild dog to take her photograph before she caught sight of him and then scampered off into the forest pursuing a skinny and malnourished gazelle.

The gazelle managed to escape from the weakened and desperate jaws of the wild dog. She trotted back to the yard to resume her scavenging. Shivering and hungry, she was easily subdued.

Then the sun rose and we joined the throngs commuting to work. It was dangerous business, and took waaaaaay to long, but we had important work to do. Someone had to read Hints from Heloise, by God, and we were going to be there. (cue the feel-good patriotic-type music..)

Shameless hussy...

2007-01-28T12:00:00.000-05:00

Heelllooooo.

Do I know you?

Oh, tee hee, you're too kind...

Oh no! My boyfriend's coming!

Whaddya say you and me go find a trash can to dig in....

Time to play .. the crying game.

2007-01-23T13:45:00.000-05:00

This game starts when all of the home repair snafus happen dangerously close to the estrogen-spiked time of the month known as PMS.... and I try not to cry.
So far the score is Me: 3; crying: 0
(I'm apparently a formidable opponent ....)
First challenge: Up until midnight trying to finish plumbing work. It began when I got home at 4 p.m., changed into old clothes and crawled under the house with Nathan to finish laying pipe, yes, laying pipe. It was dirty, dirty business....
Outcome: Not really sad, just extremely tired.
Second challenge: Woke up six hours later. Still haven't showered but sprayed myself down with some lavender body spray...forgot deodorant, which hopefully won't matter because I'm still wearing yesterday's application. No, wait, I think I forgot yesterday, too. Went outside in 30 degree weather to turn the water on to the house at the street. (And yes, I AM the best wife ever...) Long story short: Pipe outside comes unconnected. No running water in the house. Don't pass go, do not eat breakfast, collect toothbrush and face wash and go straight to work..
Outcome: Misty-eyed but more pissed off and uncomfortably dirty than anything else.
Third challenge: Head to work. No parking spots, have to park a block farther away than usual. Get to work, wash face and brush teeth. Sit down at desk. Computer won't turn on. This is it. Final straw. I'm here and I'm late, but I can't work because my damn computer won't come on! I'm ready to have someone push me out the window.
Outcome: Very nearly lost this one. Called the techie's downstairs and managed to not break down. Felt like SUCH a girl. Then felt like even more of a silly-headed girl when all he did was jiggle a cord under the desk.

Heave, ho!

2007-01-16T18:55:00.000-05:00

Fun with props: If I had photo editing capabilities. I'd put the word, "DRAMATIZATION" across the bottom of the photo. It's just screaming for it.
See mom, I do love the gift you brought me from Hawaii.... it's our weight room mascot. Never made it to the dashboard, kept thinking I might get a new car someday then where would ol 'aloha hang 10 dude' be?

Water, water everywhere

2007-01-16T18:51:00.000-05:00

This was our backyard in the great flood of January '07.
See that brown pallet-box thingy in the middle? That's our compost heap. Won't be throwing out any eggshells or apple cores until that goes down ....

Winter(?) Wonderland

2006-12-24T17:03:00.000-05:00

We went to see the lights at Garvan Woodland Gardens on Saturday night. It was super crowded and even 30 minutes before closing there was at least a 10 minute wait to get in. Guess everyone wanted to get their Christmas on. But even though there were silly teenagers there, we still had fun and got some de-light-ful pictures. Oh, and roasted marshmallows, too. This picture is my favorite. Nathan took it.

More of my favorites

2006-12-24T14:15:00.000-05:00

I'm like that Looney Tunes frog....

2006-12-16T19:36:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I get a very nearly overwhelming urge to sing. It's probably a combination of extreme restlessness and a supressed need for attention.
The first time it happend was in college. I was sitting in my American history class and the professor was talking about hippies in California, or maybe I was just daydreaming about hippies in California, and then I got that Led Zeppelin song about 'Goin' to California' in my head. And then the urge came. I felt this really strong need to jump up on my desk and sing/scream in my best Robert Plant impression, "And BABY, BABY, Baby do you like it?!?" (even though that line is from Misty Mountain Hop and not Goin to California, but I guess it was just one that stuck with me.)
Then the other afternoon at work while feeling really stir crazy and probably with a little low blood sugar mixed in, too, I had another urge.
This time, I wanted to jump up and sing "Looking out on the morning rain..." and then I imagined the computer monkeys behind me at their desks would jump right in with the "wah-oo" that was needed. "I used to feel so uninspired (wah-oo)... and when I knew I had to face another day, oh, you know it made me feel so tired.."
I wonder what kind of reaction that would provoke....
It might be fun while it's happening, but what about the awkwardness afterwards?
Even if the whole office joined in to sing "Natural Woman" with me, we'd still have to sit back down at our computers when we were done and pretend to be normal again.
That would make me sad.

Jakob plays football

2006-12-14T19:26:00.000-05:00

I can't believe this worked! Don't want to spoil it, but he's gonna tackle Nathan.

My six-word memoir

2006-12-12T18:36:00.000-05:00

On the Freakonomics blog, a fine blog if I must say, there's a contest going on to write your six-word life story. They didn't come up with this contest, but it's the first place I saw it. So, here's the link: http://www.freakonomics.com/blog/2006/12/12/a-new-contest-not-ours/

My six-word memoir (until I think of something better/deep): I wanna be a ToysRUs kid.
I'll get back to you on Nathan's memoir.
What's yours? If you've got a good one, you might want to comment and post it on the freakonomics blog... they're giving away an ipod to the best one.

My camera shake brings all the boys to the yard...

2006-12-09T23:36:00.000-05:00

My two favorite redheads...

Sunset strip

2006-12-09T23:27:00.000-05:00

This was just hours before a night of vomiting followed by two weeks of runs for the border... if you know what we mean...
We left a um... gingerbread trail all the way down the mountain.
Yeah, I love camping.
We probably won't be returning to the mountain for a while. They might remember us.

And so this is Christmas

2006-12-08T08:47:00.000-05:00

And I'm all about amazon.
Shopping online is great. I've hardly left the house.
This Christmas is easy.
Maybe next year I'll let amazon gift wrap it all (if they do that sort of thing...) cuz wrapping is a bitch.
Especially when all you're using is newspaper scraps and meat-packing twine. (Hey, I think we would all agree it's a step up from the toilet paper bow.)

All Dogs go to Heaven

2006-11-17T15:41:00.000-05:00

Magnet "Magneto Mosquito" Tucker passed away Nov. 8, 2006. She is survived by her friends Houla Gin GoodDogg Tucker and Addikins Tucker. She enjoyed spending time with her best human friend and adopter, as well as chasing after squeaky toys, friendly butt-scratching and "bowing down" for treats. She wasn't very good at sitting or lying down but had mastered the art of excitedly being in between the two.
It has been said she was a bit of a biter, but in her defense it was only if they deserved it... and most of the time, they were warned.
Now she's gone to that great big kennel in the sky, and she will be greatly missed.

Jesus loves the little voters

2006-11-08T15:25:00.000-05:00

Out of the 75 counties here, only 13 went red in the governor's race. My county was one of them.
Overheard outside the polls:
"They're sayin it'll be 45 minutes to an hour wait."
"Yeah, but it's worth it!"
Indeed it was. Especially knowing that I got to fill in the little Democrat bubble (yeah, paper ballots) and be on the WINNING team!!!!! Even though I was among the minority in my county of wimmin-hatin' Asa-lovers.
In other news, I know this is kind of late, but Stephen Colbert has the most hilarious take I've seen yet on the whole Kerry/bad joke/stupid soldier thing.
Watch it here:
http://onegoodmove.org/1gm/1gmarchive/2006/11/us.html
Best quote: "Is this how stupid people get shot multiple times?!?"

Plumbing? What plumbing?

2006-11-05T20:03:00.000-05:00

Well, after 3 years in Arkansas, I finally made it up to the Ozarks to check out the fall foliage.
Talk about incredible!
We went to White Rock Mountain and got to our campsite at sundown. There was just enough light to walk down to this overlook and look out onto the most fantastic view I've ever seen. I tried to get pictures, but it was too dark. It had been kind of cloudy all day. But I was all excited about getting pics of the sunrise the next morning on the Eastern side of the mountain. But, about 2 a.m. a storm rolled in and the next morning the mountain was covered in mud and fog. So, I only got one good pic that I like. And that's a crying shame because they said they hadn't seen color this amazing in about 7 years. But even if I had gotten a billion clear pictures, none of them could have done this place justice. So, I'm consoling myself with that thought.
And I'm posting my one good pic here.

Via I-40

2006-11-05T19:55:00.000-05:00

Here are some more pics from the ride up.

Jakob, by Gina

2006-11-02T09:29:00.000-05:00

Here's the kid on that infamous red bridge at Burns Park. I think he liked it.
Gina took this pic, so I can't take credit. Oh, and that's so not the right date on the pic.

Get your freak (of nature) on...

2006-10-23T16:33:00.000-04:00

So, at my photography class, a budding lawyer said they give a personality test to all those wanting to go into law school.
On this test, they ask them "if you could have any super power, what would it be?"
They found that the majority of men wish to fly.
And the majority of women would like the ability to read minds.
A unique super power someone wrote that they would like would be the ability to hear the theme music to your life in your head.
So, if you were driving and about to get in a wreck, you might hear the beginning of Beethoven's 5th or something like that.
I would hate to be in the shower one day and all of a sudden hear a chorus of shrieking violins.
Not cool! And also not a superpower I would like to have.
I also wouldn't like the mind-reading thing. It sounds good at first, but I think the emotions would get overwhelming after a while. And you would know for sure that 'It's not about you." It's ok to suspect that and keep it in mind, but I would think knowing for sure would be tough.

I'm not sure what my super power would be. Probably to be invisible, since I tend to be a wallflower anyways. (Then I figure I could spy on people without having to read their minds...)
Nathan said he'd like to have super human strength or to be able to teleport. I think the strength thing is all fine and good, as long as he doesn't get all veiny. That would be gross.

Gumby dance

2006-10-20T14:54:00.000-04:00

So, I hurt my back the other day. It's much better now, but I don't even have a good story to go with it. No cars, bulls, libraries or ninjas were involved. (*sigh*, I'm SO vanilla) I was picking up weights to put on the bar and apparently was doing it the same way Gumby would.
So, Nathan got all Ms. Hardwick on me (she was a scary third grade teacher I almost had, but then I got switched to another class... aka Ms. Hardbitch) and he made me put ice on it.
And now, I'm a big fan of ice.

Photography class is good. I come home smelling like developer. But it's not a bad smell, I think it just mixes funny with me. (that's funny 'strange' -- not funny 'ha, ha')
But our last day to process film will be Nov. 2. Mom, are you listening (um... reading)?? I have to have pics of Jakob by then. So that means you HAVE to come up here and visit me the weekend before. Everyone's Christmas presents depend on it!!!

A Day at the Park

2006-09-10T19:54:00.000-04:00

Wow. Who knew this was at Burns Park? Probably everyone but me. Oh well. Here you go anyways.

Mr. Cute Stuff

2006-09-10T19:49:00.000-04:00

It's best that he has no idea how cute he is.

feliz cumpleanos!

2006-07-17T11:59:00.000-04:00

Mexicano style.

Happy Birthday America!

2006-07-11T16:55:00.000-04:00

The quintessential Tucker Fourth of July.

'I love the smell of napalm in the morning...'

2006-07-11T16:31:00.000-04:00

Umm.. at least they spared the hostas.

This site is hilarious

2006-07-03T21:34:00.000-04:00

This one is one of my favorites. Even though Nathan says it's been around forever and everyone acts like it's brand new when they find it. Oh well, I still like it though.
Check out more here: http://demotivators.stores.yahoo.net/viewall.html

Marshmallows anyone?

2006-06-22T16:50:00.000-04:00

I can't believe this was my backyard about 6 months ago. AND we had no heat.
"Listen sonny boy, back in my day, we'd never heard of central heat, we'd have to burn parts of our own house for warmth! Now bring me my teeth, you young whipper snapper!"

"Watch out where the huskies go...

2006-06-22T16:45:00.000-04:00

... and don't you eat that yellow snow"

To the rescue

2006-06-20T14:30:00.000-04:00

He looks like a hero, but this was just minutes after he lobbed snowballs at her while she was trying to poop in the yard.

Houla loves Christmas

2006-06-20T14:25:00.000-04:00

But she really hates us right about now....

Peepocide: What we do for fun in Arkansas

2006-06-20T11:43:00.000-04:00

Hey. Those peeps had it coming.

Don't I need to be on my own blog?

2006-06-20T11:42:00.000-04:00

Thousands of myspace preteens can't be wrong.

Crossfit Arkansas

2006-06-16T14:36:00.000-04:00

Doesn't this look sadistic? It's actually kind of fun.... to watch I mean.

Goat boy

2006-06-16T14:25:00.000-04:00

I risked life and limb to get this picture so if it's not as sharp as it could be, just know that I was driving at the time and trying not to run my truck or anyone else's into the Arkansas River.
But it's good, no?

Easter time

2006-06-16T13:19:00.000-04:00

Jakob doesn't need a haircut. Isn't he cute? He looks like a little Opie.

FIRST POST

2006-06-16T13:07:00.000-04:00

This will be my first post. I thought I'd try to make it a good one. But knowing me, I'll probably mess it up.