Wake Up Call

At one o'clock this morning I was awoken by the blaring of a car alarm... MY car alarm. The same alarm that hasn't gone off but once in the two years I've owned the car, despite numerous attempts to set it off and/or disable it. I shot up off the couch. From my position I had a perfect view of my car's flashing headlights. The house itself was still. There was no sign of Hoop. My mind tried in vain to figure out what the hell was going on. "Where's Hoop? The keys? My ears! Fuck! The neighbors." But the noise blasted through my thoughts before any could fully connect.

I ran around in circles for a moment before settling on my purse. "There's got to be something in here that will help." And then Hoop ran through the side door. "What is going on?!" I wailed at him. "I accidentally bumped it when I was unhitching the bikes," he said while reaching for my purse. Then he was gone. And then the noise was gone too. I stood in the kitchen for a moment, confused. Once it was quiet again, a flood gate of questions rushed through. I wobbled for a second, debating whether I should wait for Hoop to come back in and answer them. But instead I shuffled to bed. "I'll ask him tomorrow if I was dreaming," I thought.

Weekend Recap:
1. Friday night Hoop and I went over to his Mom's house to take a family picture.
2. Nash's birthday is in six days. He's still in boot camp, so we're sending him a family portrait as a gift.
3. Ya know, because he's probably not lonely enough without the reminder.
4. He's requested we not send packages...
5. ...specifically packages containing Twinkies.
6. I don't think I'll ever understand the military.
7. As I was setting up the timer on the camera, Hoop's grandfather turned to me and asked, "What are you doing Tink?"
8. I stopped and looked around for a witness. Grandpa has Alzheimers. He's NEVER called me my name.
9. For the most part, I think he sees me as Hoop's groupie...
10. ...or some strange kid off the street that raids his fridge a lot.
11. After the picture, Hoop's Mom and I discussed our "lazy eyes."
12. To which Grandpa piped in, "Is that anything like a lazy foot? Because when I have one of those I just walk around in circles until it wakes up."
13. Saturday, Hoop and I laid around all day feeling ill and worn out.
14. It was so bad I started wondering if we had Mono, or if the house was slowly filling up with toxic gas.
15. Nevermind the fact that everything in our house is electric.
16. At 9pm we finally peeled ourselves off the couch and headed down town for exercise.
17. The highlight of the night was when we talked to a shop owner about the huge rat chilling out next to his store.
18. "They're getting really bad around here. We even found one inside the store last year."
19. I forgot to mention... he owns a CHOCOLATE shop.
20. Way to market yourself Dude.
21. I think I'm going on a diet.
22. Sunday we went to my parents' house for the day.
23. Big Bit took Hoop and I on a bike ride that ended in trashcan races.
24. That's where you tip a trash can on it's side, stand on top of it, and roll around without falling off.
25. In another life I think my family ran a circus.
26. Which would also explain why there's a zoo at my parents' house.


Contest courtesy of Odd Mix:

Restore

...the style of the west.

Provide

At least this panhandler plays for his donations. Having a cute dog also helps.

(Some Random Weekend Pictures)

Full Bloom (in Fall)


Snow White


Daily Hoop Conversation:
(While playing Big Brain Academy on Nintendo DS)
Tink: Are you done yet?
Hoop: Almost. I have one test left.
Tink: When you finish tell me what brain weight it says you have.
Hoop: Brain weight?
Tink: Yeah.
Hoop: ...It says my brain weighs 1099gms.
Tink: That's really good! Mine was 998gms.
Hoop: At first I thought you meant it was actually going to weigh my head.
Tink: It does. There's a scale in there. You just lay your head on it and it'll weigh it for you.
Hoop: You're kidding right?
Tink: *Smiles sweetly*
Hoop: Shut up.