Business on top...party out back!

Okay, roommate and I are having a "Name the Mullet" contest.

This is the mullet that lives in our garage. It sits on the wall and patiently waits for opportunities to be worn. The other day we were discussing how the mullet would be so much happier on its little nail if it had a name. Alas, we cannot think of one.

This is where you come in.

We are having a "Name the Mullet" contest. Send your suggestions by:

1) Commenting on this post

or

2) Commenting on my myspace ( myspace.com/ttennyl)

or

3) E-mailing me (ttennyl@gmail.com)

We will announce the winner in a week or so. All suggestions are welcome. I'm sure there will be some sort of prize for the winner. Maybe a personalized mullett photo. We'll just have to wait and see.

On your marks...get set...NAME!

Chillin' weenies.

About once a month Boone stays with us for a couple of days. I think Pearl likes him even though she sometimes plays hard to get...little flirt.

She is actually growling at me right now. I think she can read and is upset because I'm writing about her and her little boyfriend.

Just look at her...she is doing the pouty French thing in the photo. He is baffled, wondering what he has done wrong and how he can remedy it. She has him wrapped around her paw. Maybe I should take some lessons from Pearl. She is all smooth and nonchalant about boys. I'm usually the opposite. There's no smooth when it come to me and boys...I mean men. See, I can't even write about it without getting flustered.

When it comes to men my philosophy is this:

Eh...I can get everything a man could give me out of a bowl of spaghetti and a battery.

Don't worry...

Lime...so clever.

I don't know if you know this...but I love puns. If you ask me, they are what keep the world going. Yay puns!

Roommate and I went out tonight. We took in a little cover band that will never make it any bigger than Lincoln Nebraska. Then we finished up with last call at Kelli's Pub. It is our local dive. I always leave there feeling a little better about myself.

We met our new neighbors tonight. They are only 20. Oh...to be 20 again and have no nice furniture, beer posters on the walls, and a poster with the rules to beer pong.

Some days you just wonder where time went. Oh...time. It is a funny little thing.

I've been "Sallied".

The thing with this picture is...I never know where it is going to turn up. Sarah and I have been sneaking it back and forth for almost three years now. Today I found her in my billfold when I was looking for my movie rental card in the check-out line. Nice. Usually I like surprises...this is always an exception. Once Sarah somehow managed to slip it in my pocket without my knowing. We have a deal that on my wedding day she will tell me how she got her in there. It's going to be a long time before I figure that one out.

Other places I've found the photo:

a photo frame that was supposed to have Pearl in it

my pocket

a 7ft wall photo of her in my living room

a 7ft wall photo of her in my bedroom

my camera bag

suitcase

bottom of a HUGE wrapped present...all it contained was the photo

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You just never know where she's going to be

Yes, certainly entertaining...

We discussed tonight the way it always works out that the "crazies" seem to be out and about whenever we try to bring friends to the courtyard. We tell them how nice it is, and how they will certainly love it...then it all hits the fan. A few weeks ago it was a Bear Hug concert. Tonight it was a twitchy girl with bad hair (which she kept pulling out) and a nervous demeanor. Ahhh!! While it does make for an interesting time, and lots to talk about after, it has to be a little upsetting to the newcomer.

I guess that's the price you pay for a night of good atmosphere and coffee.

Now, if only I could get a burrito with that coffee.

Go little neon go!

At least we are wearing our seat belts.

Sarah was very concerned because no matter how many shots we took, my eyes never seemed to be looking at the camera. That's the price you pay for road safety.

It's been awhile, so I figured it was time for another Tyku.

Empty courtyard with a Taurus in the garage

Hai-as-a-kite screaming "meow"

Semi-trucks and stop signs

Bear in the meadow eating cherries

No one understands the importance

Picnic basket full of I wanna moves

There were no survivors

Ophelia's drunk

This is what happens when I have weekends off. I started getting ready for a wedding a little too early and found I had a few extra minutes on my hands. What better way to pass the time than with a camera, some lip gloss, and a nice syrah.

(i know absolutly nothing about wine. i picked this one because it is a red, and because of the fun picture on the front of the bottle.)

So here's to still having another 20 minutes to kill. The piano has been drinking.

Not me. Not me.

Still my favorite...

The thing I love about life, is how Moonlight Sonata can make me so happy and break my heart at the same time. It's like having a horrible day and Christmas morning all rolled into one. I almost cry every time I hear the song and I don't know why (crying is for girls).

So take an amazing song and throw it in with a beautiful night, a quaint little fountain, and some bears (i don't know why the bears...they just sneak in EVERYWHERE!) and my little escape is complete. I crave my escape.

Elphaba lives!

For years I've wanted the little sticky word magnets. Sunday, my dream came true. I've never been so inspired by my refrigerator...or have I?

I think I will start to communicate with people only through my magnets. It may take awhile to get out what I'm trying to say, but oh, how poetic it will be when done.

I think everyone needs a set of these things. They make me happy. Thank goodness for the little things.

(about 500 little things that took me 20 minutes to break apart and put on my fridge...totally worth it)

The glass is not broken.

Some days I just can't help but think, "Damn...life is good."

When I was young...

I grew up outside a small town in the middle of Nebraska. We had forts scattered throughout various shelter belts, rode our bicycles on gravel roads, and our nearest neighbor was 1/2 mile away. I wouldn't change it for the world. Today I took Taya to Morrill Hall and the Capitol. It reminded me of our trip (to the city) to those same places when I was about her age. I was maybe even a few years younger. Today, when we were at the top of the capitol, it didn't seem to be as far up as it did all those years ago. The creatures of the past in Elephant Hall were also less awe-inspiring than I remember. Thinking back on the way things seemed makes me appreciate how amazing childhood can be. It makes me miss the feelings of astonishment which came so easily in my younger years.

Taya is very anxious to be a "teen" and is constantly reminding me that it is only three years away. Today I told her she needs to slow down and not be in such a hurry to grow up. When she asked why, all I could think to say was, "because". Wow...words of wisdom. But I don't think I could put into any words what it feels like to watch her reaction after being splashed by the fountains and to tell her to put that emotion in her pocket and hold onto it for those days in the future when life is bearing down on you and you feel sad. And whenever she needs to step away from the crap life can hand a person, all she needs to do is pull a little bit of the moment by the fountains out of her pocket of throw it in the air. How do you make an "almost-a-teen" slow down and enjoy the little things?

Tag-along

This is my shout out to Taya for being such a good sport this week. She's been with me since Monday, and during that time she's put up with me taking her wherever I go. (captain obvious)

She's gone to Crescent Moon three times and was wonderful each time. Monday - it was bad vocals, Wednesday - horrible wind, Thursday - chilly and windy. But she stuck it out. I'm glad she did, because what better place than a courtyard sanctuary to take all of her pennies for the fountain in some exciting games of tic-tac-toe (for money!). I RULE! Yes, I gave her the pennies back.

So here's to you Taya, for being about the best niece a person could have. I say about because you made me put on a swimming suit, and that's just not cool. Nonetheless, I've enjoyed the week and can't wait to do it again in another nine years...wait, what?

All that is evil.

Okay, there are little fruit-fly type thingies that keep landing on my screen. It is very annoying. No matter how many times I swipe them away they just keep coming back. It's like their sole mission is to piss me off. Well little guys...job well done. I don't know if I've just typed a comma or if it is a fruit-fly hanging out. Ahhh!! That one is huge! I'm going to have little bug guts all over my screen. Ugh...the perils of blogging with the lights off.

While this photo has nothing to do with bugs, it is a joyous one nonetheless. It offers a glance back at more simple times. A time when the wind didn't blow 800 miles an hour and the sun actually popped out from behind the dust clouds. A time where you didn't have to wear sunglasses when the sun was down to keep the f-ing dirt and tree bits out of your eyes. A time when you didn't have to yell so the person sitting next to you could hear what you were saying.

It is from yesterday.

Henry who?

Today, we took a field-trip to the zoo. It couldn't have been a better day.

We had a plan on how we were going to approach it before we even set foot inside the gates. Let me tell you...the plan went down without a flaw (except for Sarah's bloodied leg, Lane's popped jaw/headache, Ryan's hangover, and Taya's sugar rush). We made it through the WHOLE place in approximately four hours. Not bad people, not bad at all.

As much as I really do hate animal cruelty (not quite enough to stop eating them though), I have to say...the zoo would be a much better place if they had people with cattle prods in the cages of some of the animals to make them a little more lively. Come on...I didn't pay all that moolah to watch a polar bear sleep. Well, actually I did do that but I wish the polar bear was more active. Along with the: Lions, Tigers, and Bears...oh my!

Today was a gold-star day.

Timmy and Violet

What did one dimple say to the other dimple? "Hey, butt out...I was here first."

I don't know if you know this...but I have a natural talent for making up jokes. (no i don't) I do have a talent for saying things that make no sense, laughing at it (alone of course, as everyone stares at me), and then coughing awkwardly and acting like it was no big deal. That is my special talent. It is a talent that will get me far in life. Look what its done for me so far. (*cough* *cough*...awkward)

Exhibit B

Ah yes, the fun continues.

--Lane

Exhibit A

Compliments of Lane

This Bud's for you!

I don't know if it is for making the best (only) guess as to what happened to Lynnett's bloodied face, but I've found myself promoted from a lowly blog commenter (if there is such a word (spell-check approved it)) to a highly-regarded (if not slightly intoxicated) blog *contributor*. Ooooooh! I know everybody is impressed (not impressed by the promotion, but by my ability to overuse parentheses ).

I'm not sure who took this photo, but it is from my wedding day with Sarah. This is my very dirty-minded grandfather, Bud Hickenbottom, sitting with my very dear--and of course dirty-minded--friend (and owner of this-here blog), Lynnett.

Now I can only dream what kind of dirty and perverted nothings they were whispering in each others' ears on that most glorious of evenings, but I'm sure it is unrepeatable in a family-friendly blog. Is "south of myself" a family-friendly blog? I don't know the answer to that.

But what I do know is that any discriminating man should ask Lynnett how many people she managed to lock lips with on my wedding night.

That was almost 2 years ago. She's a reformed person by now. What's in the past stays in the past.

Thanks for letting me post, Lynnett. I'm proud of my new parentheses record (not really).

Cheers!

--Lane

I once *blank* *blank* a *blank* in Ohio.

JUNE 2006

That's right...it's the real deal. We tipped him more than the donkey wrangler. It's only right.

JUNE 2007

So come to find out...Owen was actually with us in Vegas too. We just didn't know it at the time. He made his presence known about a week later.

Owen is Sarah and Lane's little person. He has the biggest eyes and dimples a person has ever seen. A-dorable. I usually don't deal with children well, but this one is different. He makes me want to have some of my own....wait, what? NO HE DOESN'T! He's cute, but not that cute. I'm sticking with weiner dog.

m,,,,,,,,,,,,,,kk,moiiiiiiiooooooooooopl//l;

(owen wrote that. i think it means "aunt net is pretty".)

So here we are, a year later. A few things have changed and a few things haven't.

We're hanging out at Sarah's - the same

Owen is with us - different

Pearl is under my shirt - the same

Sarah just said, "Holy crap you're a big boy". - sentence stayed the same...context has changed.

We went for a walk in the park - the same

We had a stroller this time - different

There are no martini's or colorado bulldogs being drank at the moment - different

I've seen Sarah's boobs more times now than I'd ever thought possible - different (and awesome)

So here's to being with Sarah. It may not be Elvis this summer, but it is still an adventure. A poopy adventure, but an adventure nonetheless.

Thank god almighty...I'm free at last!

Well, here we are. The community college class of Medical Laboratory Technology 2007. Go us! Today was our last day of clinical's and class. It was a quick four years...wait, what?

Here is my little shout out to my classmates and friends.

Hey-ay to Chris for getting me through Serology.

Hey-ay to Jim for getting me through Chemistry (all six classes of it) and killing ANY thought I ever had of joining the army, and for enlightening me on the process of making yogurt and more importantly...beer.

Hey-ay to Chris for getting me through Microbiology I.

Hey-ay to Carl for the enteric chart. E. coli = indole positive.

(ah thank you)

Hey-ay to Chris for getting me through Microbiology II.

Hey-ay to Amanda for boy stories and many good laughs.

Hey-ay to Chris for getting me through Blood Bank I.

Hey-ay to Jenna for getting a job at where I work. It'll be good times...good times.

Hey-ay to Chris for getting me through Blood Bank II.

Hey-ay to Ohn for not telling us you were married until there were two weeks left...who knew?

Hey-ay to Chris for getting me through Hematology I.

Hey-ay to Josh for telling me I'm pretty and not filing a lawsuit on me. It only took two years...but I finally got your flower.

(it's not what you're thinking)

Hey-ay to Chris for getting me through Hematology II.

Hey-ay to the guy who took the picture. Nice job with the shadows buddy.

Hey-ay to Chris for getting me through Immunology.

Hey-ay to Guiness for getting me through these last six months.

Hey-ay to Chris for getting me through Organic Chemistry.

Hey-ay to the drama queens in the class. I wanted to slap you most days. Still kinda do.

Hey-ay to Chris for getting me through Parasitology.

Hey-ay to weiner dog for putting up with being neglected.

Hey-ay to my teachers. I can't believe you're actually letting me graduate.