Here’s how it rolled:

Thursday, December 24th, we drove to Fort Smith to meet my family at Rolando’s for lunch.  We had a great time, good food, and my sisters and mom opened the photo albums that I made for them.  Using shutterfly.com, I put together some really nice hardbound 8.5"x11" books filled with photos from my grandmother’s photo albums.  These photos dated back to the early 1900′s until the mid 1990′s.

Later that night, it snowed a few inches!

On Christmas morning, Jill & I exchanged presents.  I received a JVC Blu-Ray player, a new wool Kangol cap, "Look at the Birdie" by Kurt Vonnegut, 3 new colorful handkerchiefs that she found in Brooklyn, and some other good things.  I gave her some Italian leather gloves, some L‘Occitane lotion from Sephora, a LightWedge reading lamp, and some other goodies.

The roads looked slick, and there was snow everywhere.  We waited until around noon, when the sun was out, and some of the ice was melting, and tried to drive to Bella Vista for Christmas dinner with Jill’s mother and aunt.

We couldn’t even get out of the neighborhood.  The two main outlets (Hammond and Rockwood) were both coated in ice and it was very apparent that the city of Fayetteville didn’t sand or salt the roads.  The only vehicles moving were SUVs.  So we had to work our way back home, for the day.   No Christmas feast for us.  I ended up making some butternut squash soup, and Jill made a pumpkin pie.  We hadn’t bought any groceries, and happened to have ingredients for both at home.

A bottle of processo was cooled in the snow that afternoon.

FINALLY this morning we saw a city truck flying down the road, presumably sanding/salting the road.  No such luck.  There was none, but that vehicle did drive down the street.  We packed the car again for the drive to Bella Vista for Christmas dinner, a day late, and hoped for the best.

The salt on the road was spotty, but we were able to get down Rockwood Trail, and made our way to Bella Vista.

We opened presents and I got "Generation A" by Douglas Coupland, The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook, some wonderful M. Rohr‘s coffee (GREAT coffee roasted in NYC), a DCI I Am Not a Paper Cup 10-Ounce Porcelain Travel Cup, an Umbra coffee sleeve, new wallet, and other goodies!

Hoover and Audrey also had a good Christmas.  They got toys and cookies from Big Wag Bakery, a talking Mr. Bill toy, and other treats and toys.   The kitties received treats and toys in their stockings as well!

Additionally, we ate turkey, homemade bread, cranberries, salad, roasted root vegetables, and blueberry pie.

On the way home, we stopped at Best Buy where I purchased three blu-ray movies (thanks to mom’s gift card): District 9, Inglourious Basterds, and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

Parents of slain girl set up memorial golf classic to award scholarships to graduating Greenbrier students

By MICHAEL ALLEN
LOG CABIN STAFF WRITER

Katie Wood’s lifelong dream lives on.

Wood, who was 24 at time of her tragic death in March 2008, was a 2002 graduate of Greenbrier High School and was scheduled to graduate from the University of Arkansas in May 2008, with a double major in English and fine arts.

Wood’s dream was to set up a fund where she could give back to other Greenbrier High graduates. She was planning on going to Sweden for a graduation trip, afterwards she wanted to continue on with higher education by obtaining her master’s degree to become a professor.

Wood’s ex-boyfriend, Zachariah Marcyniuk, has been convicted of killing her on March 9, 2008, after bursting in her apartment when she opened the door. Sharon Wood said her artistic, loving and caring daughter was brutally beaten and stabbed nearly 50 times. Marcyniuk has been sentenced to death.

The donations came rolling in after Wood’s death, so her parents, Dale and Sharon Wood, established a scholarship fund. Last spring, both awarded two Greenbrier High seniors who had interest in art or English with separate $500 scholarships. Sharon Wood said her beautiful and friendly daughter would have loved the idea.

.story-ad { width: 310px; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0; padding: 4px; }

“When Katie graduated from high school she received a $500 scholarship,” Wood said. “We sat around the kitchen table, and she said ‘You know when I graduate, I want to start the Katie Wood scholarship fund to give back to other graduating Greenbrier students.’ We had no idea that we were going to have to go this route.”

Ken Schulte, a close friend of the Woods, came up with the idea of having a golf tournament so that funds and community awareness could be raised for the continuation of the scholarships. So, the first Katie Wood Memorial Golf Classic was held Saturday, May 16, at Persimmon Ridge Golf Club in Greenbrier. There were 10 three-player teams to compete in this year’s event.

“We just thought that Katie would have got a kick out of it,” Wood said. “We knew that’s how she would have wanted it to be set up. So the money is in a scholarship fund at First Service Bank in Greenbrier. Anybody can donate to it, which makes it even greater.”

The recipients of the $500 scholarships were 2009 graduates Taylor Neal for English and Shelby Lucille Wade for art. Neal will attend the University of Central Arkansas in the fall with plans of majoring in journalism. Wade is preparing to head for the University of Arkansas at Morrilton Community College this fall.

“When we woke up that Saturday morning, the radar looked pretty bad,” Wood said. “We thought, ‘Oh Lord, we can’t have this happen on Katie’s day.’ Well, sure enough, when we got out there while the golfers were getting ready for the shotgun start, the sky just cleared off. It was just a little misty at first, then it was beautiful for the rest of the day. It was just perfect for the first time.”

Many volunteers helped with the event. Wood said all of the 30 participants walked away with prizes and goodie bags.

“Oh my goodness, the people in Greenbrier are just amazing,” Wood said. “You couldn’t ask for better people to reach and help. Even though they may be down own their luck since the economy is the way it is, they still reached out and helped. There are so many people who didn’t even know Katie who came in and helped with this event.”

According to Wood, the golf classic will be held next year around the same time in May.

Both pairs came in this week, and I picked them up yesterday.

Model # A0506-17: Checkerboard (Front)

Model # A0506-17: Checkerboard (Side)

Model # A0506-17: Checkerboard

Model # A0506-33: Brown (Front)

Model # A0506-17: Brown (Side)

Model # A0506-17: Brown

Date: 2009-02-16, 4:46AM CST

I am seeking the midget and the two men who accompanied her at IHOP on Valentine’s Day, around one AM. The midget (I’m not quite sure the PC name, so forgive me if I offend) was wearing a very sexy red sequined halter top with high heels and the two men seemed quite enamored with her, to say the least.

I was the college aged female with a college aged male in a booth that was across the room. We actually were behind you in line while waiting for a table. He and I are quite interested in meeting up and possibly expanding the menage a trois to an even sexier French word, if you get my drift. For authenticity, please include what color the heels were in your e-mail.

This is not a joke. Please respond, we are anxiously awaiting your reply.

—

from http://fayar.craigslist.org/mis/1036579479.html

I talked to some associates, and they’ve been seeing a large return of these used items this week.

This is pretty low, not to mention increasing costs for the stores, which in turn increases the cost of these items later.

I’m back at work today.  At least here, I have heat, light, and internet.

Our neighbor is out of hip surgery, but won’t fully recover for 6-12 months, and 2 months in the hospital & rehab.

I’m really thinking about taking a couple of vacation days after all this is over.

Word on the streeet is that it will be another 3 days before power is restored.

We’re pretty tired of this bullshit, and cabin fever is wearing us out.

I can’t recall being this mentally and physically exhausted before.

We’ve been watching out for our 96 year old neighbor as well, and he’s stayed with us the last 3 nights.  Our house was much warmer than his.

The temperature was great yesterday, so we opened all the windows and let sunshine and fresh air in, increasing the internal house temperature by 15 degrees.

It was much colder in Chet’s house than in ours.   He’s 96, and didn’t need to be left alone over there, so I convinced him that it would be good for him to get out of the house, eat some hot food, have some coffee, and just not be stuck in the house by himself.   His nurse came over, agreed, and told him that he was too cold.   He finally took us up on the offer to stay at our house.

Around 12:30 p.m., Jill, Chet and myself headed over to Red Robin for lunch.   I don’t think I ever appreciated a hot cheeseburger and fries (and a beer) more than I did at that moment.   We all finished our food (including Chet, I was impressed) and headed over to Panera (which I’m now referring to as “Pantera”).   There were more pastries available today, and I grabbed some more cinnamon scones and bear claws for later.   Hot coffee tasted really really good.   The wireless network was overloaded, so we couldn’t get online.  Once again, batteries were recharged, and I recharged the laptops as well.   We looked at all of my photographs of the neighborhood that I had taken this week.

Chet had never been to a place with Wifi before.  He had a great time, and found it really interesting that people could come in there, eat, drink, and be online.  I think most people who have grown up with this technology take it for granted nowadays.

We left Panera, and headed over to check out campus.  The Old Main lawn was just destroyed.   All the trees that Jill had been responsible for planting along Garland were destroyed.   Basically,  all trees on campus were dessimated.

We headed home, and started getting the house in order for Chet to come over.

I helped Chet over to the house, we let him have my big comfy chair by the fire, and settled in.   It was up to 50 degrees in the house!

We ate some breakfast, and went walking around the block.   Most of the street was blocked by trees.  Entire blocks were impassable by vehicle, and difficult to walk on foot.

We heard rumors that the north-side of Dickson Street had power, as did Panera Bread Company.   The roads were pretty clear, minus for the fallen trees, so we decided that a hot lunch was in order.

We borrowed Chet’s 4-wheel drive vehicle, and headed off the mountain.   Jill, Alishia, and myself went to Panera where there was heat, free hot coffee, hot food, and electricity.   Cell phones and digital cameras were recharged.   Everyone was in good spirits, and happy to be someplace warm.    Jill bought some cinnamon scones for breakfast the next day.  Panera is my hero.  Apparently, some people later came into Panera and were angrily complaining that they were out of food and free coffee.

We went to the Walmart Supercenter, and bought some things for Chet and headed back home.

By the time we got home, the phone lines were down.   I checked on the fish, and discovered that all three of my remaining aquariums were dead.  With no electricty, the heaters and filters won’t work.   I was expecting this to happen.   I was particularly saddened by losing my two oldest fish – a Marble Sailfin Plecostamus and a Tilapia buttikoferi (Jill’s mom named him “Filet”).  I’ve had the buttikoferi since December 2002, and the plec a few years longer.

We lit a fire, settled in, and ate some cold chicken and a salad for dinner.

Sometime in the evening, the lights on the other mountain (Lovers Lane and those roads) came on.

By the time we went to bed, it was 47 degrees in the house.