Monday, October 02, 2006

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.

22 Comments:

At 02 October, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Mental note for chocolate shop owner: disclosing to potential customers that huge rats chill next to your store might not be such a hot idea.

 
At 02 October, 2006, Blogger Newt said...

Who won the trashcan race?

 
At 02 October, 2006, Blogger Tink said...

Chelle Y: Aw, thank you Chelle. I'm running over to your "place" in a minute to see your pictures.

Mama T: What got me is that he voluntarily took it a step further and talked about them being IN the store. Bleh.

Newt: Big Bit. I'm not coordinated on SOLID ground, let alone a round rolling object. ;) Hoop came in a close second though.

 
At 02 October, 2006, Blogger Jay said...

I'm pretty sure I would hurt myself pretty badly trying the trash can races.

I love the "lazy foot" comment. That's pretty funny.

Great WWC pictures.

 
At 02 October, 2006, Blogger Mignon said...

Yeah, I'm trying to picture moving a lazy eye around in circles to wake it up. Grandpa is the best. I wish he had a blog.

 
At 02 October, 2006, Blogger graymama said...

I tried to comment earlier, but blogger was being a dickhead, so hopefully it will work this time.

How nice that HG said your name :-) Hubby's grandpa died of Human Mad Cow Disease called Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Before he died, Hubby just hoped for one last sign of recognition that he was his grandson. It never happened.

Very creative Provide shot :-)

 
At 02 October, 2006, Blogger Peevish said...

:)

Grandpa made me giggle.

 
At 02 October, 2006, Blogger Arabella said...

That does it: I am officially switching from chocolate to cake. Because, you know, rats would never touch CAKE.

Love the new site design. The green is cool and soothing. :)

 
At 02 October, 2006, Blogger Kell said...

Love your WWC photos, espcecially "provide." Very cool.

When all else fails, always look through your purse. There will probably be something in there that will solve any problem.

 
At 02 October, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Re: weighing your head, I've been thinking of trying that with my boobs. Suddenly they are HUGE and I'd like to know how much I've gained in each one.

 
At 02 October, 2006, Blogger Mary said...

So um how is his 'weight' higher than yours since he almost believed you?!?!

as usual, great pics!

Very cool about Tink's grandpa knowing your name. Just one of those things that takes you by suprise.

 
At 02 October, 2006, Blogger Chris said...

And as Hoop said that, his brain weight in the game dropped precipitously...

 
At 02 October, 2006, Blogger gawilli said...

I bet its nice to know you are in grandpa's thoughts!

Love the provide picture.

 
At 02 October, 2006, Blogger Kim Tracy Prince said...

Tink,
I love it when you leave comments on my blog. It makes me feel famous.

Personally, I was partial to the cows. And when you said the neon version was pickles and bologna, I actually thought it was pickles and pickled beets. Ew!

 
At 02 October, 2006, Blogger Jess Riley said...

#20: hilarious. Also, ewww!

Also, the trash can races anecdote makes me want to spice things up a bit in my own life. I need activities like this. :)

 
At 03 October, 2006, Blogger Foo said...

I've had similar experiences with car alarms. I remember one time in particular waking up in the wee hours and, in my confused, half-awake state, scrambling all over the place, trying to find my keys, trying to remember the alarm code for the house alarm system—only to remember that I don't have an alarm system on my car.

 
At 03 October, 2006, Blogger Foo said...

P.S...

25. In another life I think my family ran a circus.

Or a logging camp.

 
At 03 October, 2006, Blogger EE said...

Aww...you're in grandpa's thoughts... :)

And why no twinkies????

*LOVE* the flower pics...I'd been trying to get them to load since last night. You do such a great job w/ those.

 
At 03 October, 2006, Blogger Tink said...

Foo: A logging camp huh? I have a feeling that was a very short life for me. ;)

Jess Riley: "I need activities like this." Kids are full of great ideas like this... of course most of the activities require knee and butt pads.

KTP: Aw *Blush* Thank you! Hoop loves the cows too. He's requesting I switch it out to that header in a few months.

Gawilli: It's nice to know he's somewhere in that shell he hides in. :)

Mary + Chris: The only thing that makes Hoop's higher-than-mine score OK, is the fact that Big Bit's is higher than HIS. hehe

TB: I bet hubby would LOVE to help you with that little experiment.

Kell: "When all else fails, always look through your purse." That's exactly what I was thinking too. It's like Felix's magic bag. We've got something for every type of emergency in there.

Arabella: Cool and Soothing is much better than "assaulting!" Which is how the Retro design was described. :D

Peevish: You are not alone girl.

Graymama: That's the problem with diseases like these. They totally destroy the person you once knew. And usually... you never get to see them again. What happened on Friday was a gift.

Mignon + Jay: He had me rolling that night. They had just switched his medication and it was making him REALLY chatty. He kept interjecting every conversation with crack-pot advice and/or odd statements. Like, "If my coach told me to crawl back to the plate I would! Because that's what you do when you're in baseball!"

 
At 03 October, 2006, Blogger Tink said...

EE: "Why no Twinkies" I have NO idea! I'm telling you, they do some STRANGE stuff to people in boot camp. "*LOVE* the flower pics..." Thank you! There's so many different kinds in Florida. It's hard not to stop at all of them. I'd never get anywhere though. :)

 
At 04 October, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said...

You have no idea how strange. He probably got caught with a twinkie when he wasn't supposed to have one. He is now desperately (and vainly) hoping that if he is never seen in the presense of a twinkie again the DI will forget.

The pictures are great. I crapped out on my own game. How pathetic is that. Does food poisoning cnt as a valid excuse?

 
At 05 October, 2006, Blogger Andrew Fletcher said...

Grandpa rules!! Which way does he circle? :)

The pics are excellent. The snow white flower is incredible.

 

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