Jessi and Anna's Betsy Tacy Fun!

Just something I posted on facebook yesterday and thought I would put it on my blog as well...since I haven't posted in about 2 years!!! Wow. This was incredibly amusing to Anna and me. Some of our answers will not even make sense to die hard Betsy Tacy fans because they are our own little inside jokes that have come from reading the books out loud so many times. Example: Bobby being the sun god in training, or Mr. Sibley having a crush on Bonnie.

So...Anna and I created this little activity to amuse ourselves in class today, and it was so diverting I decided to make it into a FB note so that our (very few) Betsy Tacy appreciating friends could join in if they so desired. If you are not tagged in this note, but you are reading it, and are a closet fan...please join in! And if you just want to make picks without having to explain, go for it...but I warn you..it's hard to pick without offering a little justification!

So, we took turns picking pairs of characters/things from the books and then we had to pick which we liked better. We allowed ourselves a bit of explanation just because. We wrote our answers/explanations separately and then compared. Some of our answers were amazingly similar and some were very different. Here are the pairs:

1. Tacy vs Tib

2. Carney vs Winona

3. Bonnie vs Irma

4. Cab vs Tony

5. Bangeter vs Clarke

6. Tilda vs Helena

7. Hunter vs Bobby (Sibley)

8. Mr vs Mrs Sibley

9. Win vs Winkie

10. Miss Mix vs Miss Sparrow

11. Miss Cobb vs Aunt Ruth

12. Mr O'Farrell vs Bob Barhydt

13. Larry vs Phil

14. Rocky vs Mr Bagshaw

15. Hazel vs Mamie Dodd

16. Sam vs Joe

17. Freshman Betsy vs Married Betsy

18. Onion Sandwiches vs Rarebit

19. Coconut Cake vs Lady Baltimore Cake

20. Dennie vs Squirelly

Our Picks:

1. Jessi: Tacy- she's more loveable.

Anna: Tacy- this was hard..but sometimes Tib's bluntness rubs me the wrong way.

2. Jessi: Carney- I relate with her way of thinking, except I'm glad that my family isn't dove gray!

Anna: Winona- She seems more fun, and Carney is a little stiff, verging on snobby sometimes.

3. Jessi: Bonnie- Because I actually feel sorry for her. She had a good year at 15, but I feel like the rest of her youth/young adulthood was really bland.

Anna: Irma- It's not Irma's fault that she's so darn attractive, if I was her friend I'd just join forces and try to get all of the boys in school between the two of us.

4. Jessi: Tony- He's just so dashing and loafing all at the same time!

Anna: Tony- He's more romantic...even when Betsy stops being in love with him.

5. Jessi: Bangeter- She actually teaches something with her Shakespeare class. Clarke just does memorization. Although I do like how much Clarke adores Betsy.

Anna: Clarke- She's just so nice...everyone wants a teacher like her!

6. Jessi: Helena- She's just so German and Old World Europe!

Anna: Helena- Yes Helena is snobby, but so is Tilda. And Helena was basically raised to be snobby and has no way out. Tilda has no reason to be so mean.

7. Jessi: Bobby- He actually has a shot at being purple...being the Sun God in training and all!

Anna: Bobby- No brainer.

8. Jessi: Mrs. Sibley- I feel like she wishes she could break out of her New England reserve. Plus..at least she's not having a fling with her daughter's friend like Mr. Sibley!

Anna: Mr. Sibley- at least he doesn't have a block of ice for a heart.

9. Jessi: Win- she's the not as manly one...right?

Anna: Win- she's only slightly less creepy than Winkie.

10. Jessi: Miss Sparrow- She's lovable, while I feel like Miss Mix is on a fashion high horse!

Anna: Miss Sparrow- I can't help but feel like Miss Sparrow helped Betsy and Joe realize that they belong together!

11. Jessi: Aunt Ruth- She didn’t choose to be alone like Miss Cobb, it was thrust upon her. Plus, she’s a relative of Joe, so there’s got to be some cool in her deep down somewhere. Plus… Wheat!

Anna: Aunt Ruth- She helped with Joe’s story and made delicious bread!

12. Jessi: Mr O’Farrell- He’s a philanderer, but at least he’s broad minded and interesting. Bob not only helped drive a wedge between Betsy and Joe, but he’s just a callow youth frat boy river banker! Ew.

Anna: Mr O’Farrell- At least he was older and exciting and dashing and a world traveler, Bob was just a frat boy.

13. Jessi: Larry- I would probably rather date Phil, but Larry seems more overall good natured. Plus, he's related to Herbert, so he has some good genes.. or maybe Herbert got them all!

Anna: Phil- He served his purpose of making Betsy’s sophomore year more exciting. It was just so great on the Monday after the dance they went to school and realized that they both liked each other!

14. Jessi: Rocky- I find him fascinating… obnoxious, but fascinating. Mr. Bagshaw is such a sensitive, prissy mougar!

Anna: Mr. Bagshaw- if you’re going to be in an unhappy relationship, you can at least be rich! No one liked Rocky… It’s embarrassing to date someone that everyone knows is mean…

15. Jessi: Hazel- She’s almost a real person. Mamie’s like some sort of cartoon in a world of live action people. Hazel is maybe… Pixar.

Anna: Mamie Dodd- At least she was a really great piano player! Hazel was just a freckle-faced debater…

16. Jessi: Sam- If it was who I was dating I’d choose Sam, he would never hold out on someone just because of his pride! But if I was more Betsyish it would be Joe!

Anna: Joe- how could I not pick him?! Sam is fun and all, but Joe is just so cute and works so hard and is just that guy that you would always be a little bit amazed that he liked you!

17. Jessi: Married Betsy-I guess… Married Betsy is more diverse and interesting. But freshman Betsy is pretty darn absorbing for just being a regular 14 year old!

Anna: Freshman Betsy- though married Betsy is more confident and sophisticated, I like Freshman Betsy. She just loves everything so much!

18. Jessi: Onion Sandwiches- I don’t think I’d like either in real life… But in the books onion sandwiches sound delicious, while rarebit sounds harrowing.

Anna: Onion Sandwiches- I’ve always thought they sounded like the most marvelous thing ever!

19. Jessi: Coconut Cake- I can never get a clear image of what Lady Baltimore Cake actually is… but it sounds elegant!

Anna: Lady Baltimore Cake- I don’t even know what it is, but for some reason I thought it would be like a mix between Boston Cream Pie and Chocolate Éclair Cake!

20. Jessi: Dennie- he’s just so jovial! Squirrelly is kind of like Lady Baltimore Cake… I don’t exactly know who/what he is… I mean, how do you even pronounce his name?

Anna: Dennie- He seemed cuter and more fun! Wasn’t it him and Cab that had the Soirees with Betsy and Tib in Betsy was a Junior?

Well...it's been such a productive day in class...and it's not over yet!

Just a post....no theme...nothin' special

Hello everyone (in an imitation of a certain some one's answering machine recording),
I don't have anything of value to say....I am simply bored at work and sort of feel like blogging. But now that I went through all the trouble of signing on (ha, sad when hitting a few keys is considered trouble, but that is, indeed how it felt) I might at well get a nice lengthy post out of it. What are some topics that I may want to toss out there during this post......Tennessee Football (ugh), my imminent departure for Disney World (imminent being late late Sat nite/Sun morning), my current longing/obsession with learning how to surf, books I am currently, and/or planning to read, my inability to stop purchasing books online (its just so simple, and usually not very expensive, and so satisfying when they show up on my doorstep about a week later), the VP debate coming up on Thursday nite.....ok I think those are all of the topics that I may or may not want to discuss.

First up..............Tennessee Football! Oh goody, this will either get me all riled up, or maybe it will be cathartic. I guess we'll see when I'm finished.
Well....to start off.....Crompton is completely and utterly useless!!! No, no, I take that back. He's not useless....he's a very big asset.....for our opponents!!! 9 out of 10 times he's pegging someone standing 10 feet out bounds (maybe he could at least blind the other teams quarterback while he's on the sidelines talking on the phones or something). And that 1 time out of 10 that he doesn't throw it out of bounds, Crompton's probably hurling the ball into the raised hands of the defense, only for the ball to come flying back at him. I never thought I would see the day when I desperately wanted Ainge to come back!!!
2ndly.....Fulmer!!! Come on buddy, just be the mean guy for once and take Crompton out in the middle of the game! Maybe a little embarrassment will do him good. Or, better yet, just sit him out the entire game!!! And, I know our running game is all we have, but could we please quit giving the ball to Foster!!! He is not that fast. He just isn't. We have other people to use....how about Hardesty....or maybe we could "find a way" to coax Creer just a little bit harder, and get him in the game.....haha ("we just can't find a way to get him in the game"). Fulmer, you're the coach, you're in charge of these guys and these games, start acting like it!!! Stop being such a softy!!!! Oh yeah, and this more applies to the past, because heaven knows, we will never have the chance to blow anybody out this year, but if you have the chance to beat someone badly.....just do it!!! Believe me, it won't be the first time it has happened to them. Get some killer instinct Phil!!! Ok, I think I am done with that topic. I think I feel a little bit better, although I'm pretty darn sure that none of the things I suggested/whined about will ever come to pass. Oh well..... it's the plight of being a Tenn. fan. I would still never trade it to be a #2 ranked Bamer. =)

Ok, on to another topic...lets see here....it is officially October. I am not one of those people that just loves fall, and the changing of the weather and all that jazz. Hot muggy weather is good enough for me, pretty much anytime. Unless it's going to snow, and some large mountains are going to pop up somewhere in North Alabama, and I am going to suddenly come into possession of some quality ski gear, then, for me, it might as well be summer year round. This "lack of appreciation" for fall, is one of the reasons Anna and I have dubbed October "The Lost Month." At least in September you have the novelty of the start of Tenn. football season, and November has Thanksgiving (which most people don't really appreciate, but that's another topic for another time). October....well, it doesn't really have anything special to call its own. And don't you go trying to suggest Halloween, that doesn't even come close to counting. When I see people who decorate their yards for Halloween.....well, I can't help but laugh at them. Sorry, but Halloween is just a joke of a holiday, and I even thought this when I was a small child. But, I am just going through all of this to say.....that this year....October is not The Lost Month. Because we are going to Disney World this October!!! So far, (meaning today) the thought of going to/being in Disney World has taken away all of October's gloomy powers. Hopefully the afterglow will stick around a while too, considering we get home the 12, so there is a whole nother half of the month to muddle through. Oh well, I'll think about that when it actually comes around (a little variation of Scarlett's mantra).

Surfing.....it's painful to think about it too much.....I thought I would be getting to try it in the not so distant future. You see, Typhoon Lagoon (in DW) has a wave pool, and on certain days, in the early morning, they give private surf lessons there. I've been reading all about it, getting all the information. I had even started watching a bunch of youtube videos of people there, even some pro surfers that rented it out for the nite. It looks so cool!!! I was going to call and make a reservation for myself for one of the morning while we're there. But, alas, on the official DW website, it says : Typhoon Lagoon Surf School Closed until Feb. 2009. Ahhhhhh!!! =( So, now I have just been watching surfing videos on real beaches, which look like even more fun. Now I want to go to a beach and try some for real surfing..... I don't know where the closest place for some good surfing would be. I wish I could just fly out to California, and surf there. Yep, that would be ideal. Haha. So, for now, my surfing dreams are dashed. I must be content to merely watch youtube videos......

So, I'm reading a book series by LM Montgomery called "Emily of New Moon." There are three books, and I am currently on the 2nd one. So far, they're very enjoyable. Not particularly realistic, but who really wants that? Anna is thoroughly creeped out by them, because I told her about a man in the books (Dean Priest) who is 36 and in love with Emily (the main character who is, at the time, 12). Yeah, I agree, it is pretty creepy, but I'm sure weirder things than that happened back then, and it does make the storyline more interesting. Plus, I'm 99% sure that Emily, unlike the obedient Elsie Dinsmore, would ever marry a man who was her Father's boyhood friend. Creepy! But, the best part about LM Montgomery books are all her crazy characters. I think that is why books about the olden days are so good. People were just a lot crazier back then. Even the ones who were considered sane were very very odd, and that, my friends, makes for good literature! haha.

So, it looks as if this post is a monster already. And not just a monster, but a fairly random and pointless monster. So.....I am hereby ending it now. I will have to talk over my other topics at some later date....or if I don't feel like it, I will never talk them over. So there! So....now I will engage in the not so pleasant task of cleaning up my most likely various spelling errors, typos, and generally hideous punctuation. Have a wonderful day, week, fortnight, or month, depending on how long it is until I post again! Good bye!

NaNoWriMo Ideas....

Well well well....it looks like I am back in the blogosphere after a long break. It's sort of funny...my blog was born out of an intense boredom at work (a place where I no longer work), and since the birth of my blog, I have gotten a new (full time) job. Now, I expected this new job to consist of lots of work, thereby keeping me too busy to do frivolous things like blogging, but it appears that I was wrong. In the 3rd week of my new job I am just as free time endowed (if not more so) than I was during my previous occupation. Sooooo....I have been sitting here mulling over my options for a big event in November that I hope to take part in. If I am just a bored by then as I am now, I can do a good bit of contributing to this event during my working hours. This event is called National Novel Writing Month. The cool kids call it NaNoWriMo, and I of course, am a very cool kid (note the title of this post). This NaNoWriMo thing is pretty simple...you take the entire month of November, and try to crank out a 50,000 word story/book/novel/whateveryouwouldliketocallyourwork. Last year Jake and I learned of this fascinating idea about a week into the month of November. We both wanted to participate, but me being the busy college student/part time employee that I was, and him being the busy 14yr old baseballing/basketballing/homeschooling kid that he is, we weren't sure we could keep up the pace. Plus, we were already a few days behind. So....with a stroke of brilliance that pretty much characterizes our lives, we decided to just collectively work on something that we were already co-writing anyway. "The Good Humored Hobos" was the title of our work. We triumphantly made it to our 50,000 word goal, and still ended up not wrapping the story up. It's been almost a year, and we still haven't ended the story, but we haven't really given the Hobos much attention over the months....we'll finish it one day...I just know we will. But....in the mean time, let's move on to the real topic of my post. I want to brainstorm on a topic/choice for NaNoWriMo this year. Since I plan to start on time, as well as possibly have a lot of free time on my hands at work, I'm thinking about taking on the 50,000 word goal all on my own. So, I'm tossing ideas around in my head about what I might like to write about. Here's what I have so far......

Stories that I have already begun:

1. I wrote a story when I was young called "The Mavericks Mishaps" it was about a family with a bunch of kids (probably 8 years old and up) and their parents go out of town and the kids get into all sorts of trouble (some their fault, some not their fault). A year or two ago, I started a sort of sequel to this story called "The Mavericks:the college years" The family now lives on the island of Oahu and they still have crazy "mishaps." - I think there is lots of potential left with this story, because it is kind of like a sitcom, it could go episode by episode, and never really end. I'm just not sure if I would get bored with it or not.

2. "The Wells Sisters Go A-Camping" This story spun off of a story that Lesley created about three sisters who are loosely base off of Anna, Lesley and me. My part of this story tells of the Wells sisters going to a summer church camp. There are zany characters such as the Yarboroughs (brothers and sisters who love Celine Dion) and Mrs. Johnson (the mother of one of the sister's SOS who likes to wear American flag wind pants...the mother not the SOS). I was planning on basing most of this story on my experiences at Awana camp which is a very weird place, therefore very good for story material.

3. "Emory, Honor and the Extra Personage" This story is almost as nonsensical as the good humored hobos, but who says nonsensical isn't fun??? This is a story I started about triplets. Emory and Honor are fairly normal, nice little girls who have been abandoned by their parents and their triplet whom they call the extra personage (her real name is Landry). Landry, and their parents have left for Hollywood, because they are convinced that Landry has the stuff to make it as the next Shirley Temple. This story is basically going to be tales of how Emory and Honor take care of themselves throughout their growing up years. It seems like it could turn out kind of Dixie Northi-ish / Pippi Longstocking-ish (hopefully way less creepy).

Are you sensing a pattern here......none of my stories have much of an element of realism....that's unfortunate. But, wait, I did once start a story that was supposed to be a realistic historical dramatic mystery type thing.....yeah.....weird right??? I started it...and built up this big dramatic mysterious type of plot, but I didnt really have an ending planned out or anything. So, needless to say, it kind of fizzled out. I could try to do something with it. That may be kind of challenging but it could be interesting. I could just keep going until I absolutely positively had to have the ending developed, and then.....who knows! I think that story was called something like "A Flower of the Prairie." haha! Don't you like my 17 year old attempt at the dramatic? Yeah, I started that story a long time ago, back when I hadn't realized my utter inability to write serious stories. Anyways, there ya go,
4. "A Flower of the Prairie" or something to that effect.....

So.....go ahead....cast your votes. Should I work on one of these.....or go in a completely new direction???? I have about a month plus to decide!!! Can't you just feel the suspense???

Jake, aka "The Clever One"

Well, well, well, it looks like we're nearing the end of my much acclaimed sibling posts. And today is the day we will talk, laugh, and reminisce over Jacob Reuben Nelson (or Bocaj Nebuer Noslen if you prefer). Man oh man...where do we begin with the crazy one that is Jake....


Well, I suppose I'll begin by explaining why we sometimes call him Bocaj Nebuer Noslen (which is most of the time shortened to Boc). You may remember me mentioning the Disney Cruise during my post about Adam and his insane luckiness. Well, it was during this same enchanted voyage that Jake, at the age of....61/2 I think.... let us all (including each of the Hubbards) know what our full backward names are. During the cruise we all carried around personal room keys/ID given out by Disney that had our full names (as well as other stuff) printed on them. Jake has always been one to quietly sit back and study things and after doing so he usually comes up with a rather random and entertaining revelation. So, we were all surprised and strangely enough, delighted when Jake let us all know that from then on we could address him as Bocaj Noslen. Immediately we all wanted him to translate our names into backwards speak. He obligingly did so, and we spent the rest of the trip and pretty much the rest of the years after the trip thoroughly enjoying his 6 year old discovery.


As a small child, Jake had a fondness for making up his own words. Sometimes these words were just a variation of a real word, and sometimes they were completely made up words that he liked to use as insults. For instance, if Jake got particularly outdone with one of us, he would shout angrily, "You boon!" I think this was meant to cut us to the quick....although I'm not quite sure why. Another favorite "insult" of his was to call someone a "doody pizza." This was usually used in a more good humored way, maybe more like calling someone a dork. Yeah, not nearly as hurtful as being called a Boon.
For the longest time Jake either wasn't able to, or just didn't feel the need to be able to pronounce the "cr" sound in a word. This resulted in words like Fritter(his favorite books by Mercer Mayer), Fristmas, and Frocodile. We would even write on his Christmas presents, "To Jakey, Merry Fristmas." He saw nothing wrong with this yuletide greeting. We were all thoroughly amused by Jake's lack of pronunciation skills. I think we were perfectly willing for him to go on the rest of his life using the "fr" sounds for his words. So what if he one day made it to the MLB and during an interview or press conference he said something like..."We were down with bases loaded, and I took off at the frack of the bat." He would more than likely be such an amazing player that people would think it was some kind of trademark of his or something.... Sadly enough, one fateful day, Daniel Hubbard took baby Jake under his wing, and drilled him and coached him until he no longer asked us to read him a fritter book, or insisted that he wasn't being frabby. It was a sad period in the Nelson household, I'm not sure if we have ever forgiven Daniel.....haha


In his early years Jake had a special talent, that he doubtless inherited from Mother (only Mom really possesses this talent, and Jake's was just a ruse). No matter what any of us chose to present him as a Christmas gift, Jake always knew exactly what it would be. We have this recorded for proof on home videos. He would start out picking up the present, "I bet I know what this is...." Then he would skillfully babel and make small talk, distracting us, all the while unwrapping the present. Once he could tell what he was receiving, he would joyfully exclaim something to this effect...."lion king slippers! I knew that's what it was going to be!" Once for his own cruel amusement(heck I would have done it too), Dad tried to catch Jake in his little tricks (or should I say "fricks"). "Wait Jake, don't open it yet, tell us what you think it's gonna be. Tell us!" But, like an old pro Jake just continued on his usual course "This is easy, I know what it's gonna be...." *rapidly talking and unwrapping all at once* "Oooh, a Fisher Price Castle, I knew it!" If I remember correctly, Jake didn't have this amazing gift guessing ability when opening birthday presents, it was mostly reserved to Christmas time. Maybe it was something in the Christmas cookies.....


Jake was a very stout little boy....which, aside from his love of hot dogs, and lemons, was surprising, because he was a constant bundle of movement. Literally, you could walk into the den at our house, and find Jake in the room alone having generated a full-on workout type sweat. Usually this would happen from his doing something like starting at one couch and throwing a ball in the air towards the other couch, and seconds later diving through the air onto the couch across the room to catch the ball while it was still in the air. He would do this about 100 times.....seriously.

This was just the type of thing he would do if there was no one available to have some friendly competition with. Jake was always up for a round of pool baseball, yard baseball, basement ball, or any other type of competition we had worked up for the day. And although he was the youngest, we never felt the need to humor him. All of this intense competition and physical activity set him up to be a much more fierce competitor than anyone among his own peers. We have tons of hilarious stories to tell about Jake in t-ball, machine pitch, and basketball. It would take far too many posts to tell them all. But, probably my favorite is the time that his basketball team played below their potential, and got eliminated from a tournament in which they should have taken first place. Jake was, of course, disgusted, whereas, more than half of his teammates were just elated to be getting medals. When Jake's medal was presented to him he did exactly what I would have felt like doing, but would not have possessed the guts to carry out. He walked straight to the nearest trash can, and was right on the verge of chunking his medal. But, before he could trash it, Dad ran frantically over to stop him, and probably give him a little talk on good sportsmanship (not that Dad thought the medal was any less worthless).

This competitive spirit, and drive for performance to full potential comes out in Jake when he's just a fan too. When he is a grown man, and not playing sports competitively, I can see Jake clearly, he's watching the Braves flub up a game, or seeing Tennessee make a ridiculous fumble. He'll shake his head, do a couple of his patented sarcastic claps, and throw a pillow at the tv for good measure. And we'll all chuckle a little because we all know that at the moment, he is actually practicing a lot of self control.


Jake has always been a voracious reader. Ok, wait, not voracious...that word has always creeped me out a little. It puts a mental picture in my head of someone carrying a stack of books to their kitchen table, and then cutting them up with a knife and fork and chowing down on them like a meal. Jake really likes to read. Yeah, I like the sound of that better. I like to credit Jake's love of literature, to my own, superior skills of reading aloud. Yes, these days Jake reads books about Sherlock Holmes, Tarzan, Horatio Hornblower, and (shudder) Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, but back in the day the 2 of us had more cultured tastes. We read things like "Detectives in Togas," "The Wheel on the School," and "Kildee House (what a bizarre book!)." If I have kids of my own one day, we will hopefully be reading a lot of the same books that were read by Jake and me. I will definitely be telling them stories of how Uncle Jake just complained and complained whenever it was time to do his read aloud, even though he secretly enjoyed it. I will also tell them how Uncle Jake and I didn't (even secretly) enjoy "Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry" or "The Great Turkey Walk." I will tell them how Jake attempted to hide his tears, when we finished "Caddie Woodlawn." Ok, maybe I just made that last part up, but they would never believe that big tough Uncle Jake would have done that anyway. So, what I'm trying to say is....you better watch out Jake, your future nieces and nephews are going to be hearing a lot of crazy stories about you!!!




*****I am proud to announce that this hearby ends my much acclaimed "sibling posts." I will not be posting anything about Andrew, mostly because he has not lived long enough to merit one of these posts. So, Andrew, I'll get back to you when you're at least 15. For now.......I am going to enjoy my accomplishment of being finished with 4 very unique Nelson children posts!!!*****

Anna, aka Anna Rebekah Nelson Fine Bajanca Hart-thin Ashley Martin Arlene Becky Coates CoCo!

Whew!! Ok, I think the title says it all....so my work here is done. Seeya next time to talk about Jake!

Ok ok, of course I'm kidding. Lets see.....what to say about Anna....Well, lets see here....

Anna was born at our home on a warm spring day during the afternoon. I remember sticking my head in and out of the room to try to see if she had arrived yet. I remember being annoyed because the midwives wouldn't let me stay in the room. Didn't they know I was all of 5 years old, and not at all afraid of seeing a baby being born? I think in reality I was just oblivious enough that watching my mother give birth really wouldn't have freaked me out.So, Anna was born, the runt of the family, at 7 pounds 8 ounces. She was still very chubby, just a little smaller than the rest of us (yes, Anna I know you love this). She was born with braces, a little known fact about her that the family has always tried to conceal. Luckily, she got them off before she turned 2, and we refrained from photographing her until then (didn't want to break any cameras). Ok Ok Ok, I'm kidding once again. Anna was not born with braces!!! Got that??? The braces thing is just a little story Jared and I made up to bother her. She still insists that she didn't believe us and she was only acting frantic because it made her angry that we thought she believed us..... But we all know better......


Anna has always had a very distinct sense of style. She knows what she wants to look like, and she's not going to compromise, or give up until she can achieve that look she has in her mind's eye. As a small child, she always had a certain look dancing around in her aforementioned mind's eye. One of our favorite movies was Toby Tyler, and Anna loved the style and flair possessed by the two little equestrians, Janette and Ajax. Even though she was neither a member of the circus, nor a bareback rider, Anna just knew she could rock their look anyway. She did so by almost every day wearing fancifully colored leotards with a turtleneck (no pants). I will give her credit by saying Janette and Ajax's also went pants less when sporting their equestrian wear....but....I'm not quite willing to say they were wearing leotards. I think I would veer more towards saying they were thin leggings. But, lets not forget about the other half of the outfit...the turtleneck....I'm not really sure how her young mind came up with that one. But, for a long time, Anna's outfit of choice (thankfully she confined it to only at home) for around the house was leotards and a turtleneck.


Anna has always had a soft spot for getting lost. I suppose she thought it was exciting or something. Cruel child. The very scariest time Anna wandered away from the family was in one of the biggest, and supposedly happiest places on earth. That's right, Walt Disney World. We were staying in the Polynesian hotel, and I think Anna was almost 3 years old. Our family of 7 was traveling with our grandparents, Ronnie, Sandra, Brooke, and Mary. We were a very large group....but somehow Anna managed to separate herself from us despite our largeness. If I remember correctly, we were walking from Polynesian to ticket and transportation center to eventually make our way to the Grand Floridian for a massive breakfast buffet. Apparently, in Anna's words, Jared climbed on a rock, and seeing him climb on that rock just gave her the unquenchable desire to do the same. Well, once that little bitty girl climbed all the way up on what I must assume was one gigantic rock, her large family had already walked far far away. It wasn't until we were about to board a monorail and Mother was doing a quick headcount that we discovered we were missing a small rock climber! Dad made what he describes as the most frantic and terrified dash he's ever made in his life, retracing our steps. This dash took him all the way back to the Polynesian hotel. Not at all far away from the rock on which Anna began her little misadventure, Dad found her being taken care of by a nice couple. Apparently they had found her lost and a little upset. She had doubtless charmed them with her small and chubby sweetness, and they were comforting her and letting her hold a little stuffed Minnie Mouse doll. So, although this was a very dramatic event in Anna's life, instead of deciding to retire from the life of getting lost, she continued to do so a few more times. For example, a few years later she managed to got lost in a super Wal Mart while we were driving cross country to Colorado. She got her name announced on the loudspeaker and everything....ok not exactly her name, but "the little girl in the Aladdin sweatsuit." hahahaha.


Although as I mentioned before, Anna has always been on the small side of us Nelson children. in her childhood years (thankfully she has sort of grown out of this now) there was one thing possessed by Anna that was not so small. Her stomach (particularly after eating a tasty and filling meal at Golden Corral). It never failed, whenever we would go out to eat, which was frequently, and almost always with the Hubbards, Anna's little gut would just balloon up like a watermelon. Usually, us girls (Anna Lesley and I) would just get a good chuckle over it, and Anna would unbutton her pants, and wha-la, problem solved. But one fateful day....the attack of the expanding belly became utterly unmanageable! Anna and I had these amazingly cool outfits, no doubt, they were picked out using Anna's hardcore fashion sense (seeing as I didn't develop any until I was about 14, and even that is debatable). They were church outfits, matching ones. The skirts were ankle length, with light purple, light blue and white flowers spread liberally and fancifully across the fabric. The tops were the real kicker. I think they were made of some sort of stretchy-ish polyester, short sleeved....and.... they zipped. Yes, that is essentially what made them cool, the fact that they zipped. The tops were light purple to, of course, match the light purple flowers on the skirts. So, on that particular Sunday, Anna chose to wear the coolest outfit in her closet to church. Looking back, she insists that it was already getting too small for her, but she wanted to wear it anyway, because, of course, it was so incredibly fierce. Soooo.....we go to Golden Corral, the Mecca of all buffets (until of course, it got rats)....we invariably stuff ourselves full of delicious food. Anna's stomach does its thing....and, to quote Pants Suit, "bada bing, bada boom" Anna is miserable. But....fate is not on her side. She is not wearing pants, therefore she cannot unbutton her button! The stylish zipper shirt is at this point painfully tight, and completely uncomfortable. Her stomach is bursting to get out of this corset like article of clothing, but there is nothing she can do about it! So, in a stroke of amazing luck, Lesley happens to be wearing a white t-shirt with some type of jean jacket vest kinda thing over it. She magnanimously offers to let Anna exchange her restricting purple zipper shirt for the comforts of a a size of two larger jean jacket/vest contraption. Anna gratefully accepted, and her stomach got its way, as usual, and expanded greedily, probably trying its hardest to fill up the jean jacket as well. I don't think anyone asked why Anna and Lesley switched shirts after the meal, they probably just assumed that Anna's stomach was up to it's tricks again. It was Golden Corral after all!

Jared, aka "The One With the Skinny Neck"

This post will be dedicated to the lovable Jorj, also known as Jared, or sometimes, Baby B. I haven't really been able to think of one recurring definable characteristic about Jared that is comparable to Adam's inexplicable lucky streak, so I'm just going to tell a few funny stories about the odd things Jared used to do as a small and also not so small child. I think I will start off by explaining the title of this post. Why is Jared "the one with the skinny neck?" Ok, so I admit it. I'm not entirely sure why Dad, started calling Jared skinny neck, but my guess is because as a kid Jared had an incredibly large head (inherited from Dad) that made his neck look very skinny in comparison. So, on many home videos we have Jared in the background trying to show off how skinny his neck is. This is, of course, after he had begged repeatedly "Dad, can I look in there?" Jared always thought that there was something magical inside the camera that only the one looking into the little view finder could see.

Unlike Adam and I, Jared was never big on performing and taking part in our own made up plays/productions. When we were small this worked to our advantage. Since we couldn't exactly count on him to participate and/or remember his lines throughout our entire movies of epic proportions, Adam and I simply cast Jared as the dog, or monkey. Usually this suited Jared just fine. This way he could come in and out of the movie at basically anytime, and he was free to speak unintelligibly anytime he felt like it. Every now and then disaster struck, and Jared got the urge to take on a human role. When this happened, he didn't really change his acting methods employed when playing a monkey or a dog. Jared still came in and out when he pleased. He still made up his own lines, and delivered them at his own discretion. But the difference was clearly there, and on our homemade movies, you can see the cringing terror all over mine and Adam's faces.

As we got older, and moved more into the genre of Christmas plays, Adam gave over his role of director to Brooke and me. For some reason, we still felt like we just had to have Jared's participation in our Christmas productions, whether he liked it or not. I do have to commend Brooke and myself for our ingenuity of giving Jared the role of "stage manager." This way he was behind the scenes, and just as much as ever, he was free to come in and out whenever he pleased. Many times the lights didn't go on/off when they were scheduled to, or us girls had to come out on "stage" to show him where he was supposed to move the props to for the next scene. But, he felt like he was in charge, and hey, at least he wasn't making up and delivering his own lines!


Jared has always been a very friendly person. One of Jared's main positions in baseball was catcher. This was a very good spot for him, because it meant he always had someone to talk to, and I don't mean the batter. I'm talking about the umpire. Starting at about the age 9, Jared started collecting umpire friends. In between innings, and during warmups, Jared and the ump behind the plate always shared a leisurely chat. When Jared got a double the field ump would walk by to say "Hey man, whats up?" Just strolling around the park to watch other siblings games, the umps would throw him a friendly wave, and Jared would turn to one of us and say, "That guy's my favorite ump!" And of course, it would usually be a different ump every week.


From a very young age Jared always had a very lofty aspiration. It was a goal very different from most males in this world. No one ever quite understood his yearning toward this goal, but that doesn't mean we didn't do what we could to aid him in his pursuit.

Jared's goal was simply this: to be completely bald.

Jared kept his hair in a buzz during almost all of his childhood, but for Jared, this (no pun intended) simply didn't cut it. He wanted to have his head shaved. He was constantly making deals with Dad such as "if my baseball team wins the tournament, you'll shave my head." Now, isn't it usually the person that loses the bet has to get their head shaved? Not for Jared, when his baseball team won (and I think it was also his soccer team once), he jubilantly got out the razor and made Dad start to work on turning his son into a human q-ball! Eventually Jared grew out of this, and listening to my wizened suggestion, grew out his hair. For a year or two, he had a head full of more hair than anyone knew he was capable of growing! Now that he is about to become an old married man, he has settled down to a normal everyday head of hair. So, Jared, in honor of this post, I have a deal to make with you......

Next year, if West Huntstville wins the softball tournament (and you're still playing on the team of course) you get to shave your head! And yes, I said get to, because we all know you want to be bald again!

Adam, aka the "Lucky Nelson"

I'm thinking about doing a post on each of my siblings, and either telling a story about them, or talking about some type of defining personality trait of theirs as a child, or something to that effect. We'll see how exactly this gets interpreted as I go along. I will start with Adam, of course, because that is where this whole idea was born. I've been wanting to talk about what a lucky streak Adam had going for him during his childhood. Who knows, he may still have it. I'm pretty sure that any day now, Ed Mcmahon (no clue if that's how to spell his name) will be showing up on the doorstep of Adam and Amber's new home, and presenting Adam with on of those gigantic Publisher's Clearinghouse checks. Yeah, and then with my luck, Adam will decide to share some of the money with me, and I will buy some stuffed Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers dolls (yeah, more on that later).


Adam's luck all started when he was born, and was given the name Adam. Until I was about....9, I really truly believed that most of Adam's luckiness somehow came about from the fact that his name started with the first letter of the alphabet. I guess I was just imagining a giant bowl of entry forms, and one of the people in charge of the contest says :

"Wow, there is no way we're gonna be able to choose a winner out of all these entrys"

And some lazy person (probably named Aaron) who doesnt care about all us poor unfortunates replies,

"Eh, let's just keep the names that start with an 'A' and throw out the rest of the alphabet."

To which the oblivious original speaker, who never enters contests, therefore isn't concerned with this blatant disregard for fairness, says.

"Ok, fine with me."

10 minutes later....................................

"Looks like we've got a winner, 'Adam Nelson' lets call him up and tell him the good news."

The second epidsode of "Adam wins everything" consisted of him being about...4 years old (??) and winning, not only tickets, but also backstage passes to some kind of real live showing of his favorite cartoon ever......Thunder Thunder Thunder Thundercats hooooooooo (or something like that). Of course, I got to come along, and enjoy all of the benfits of Adam's winnings, but that, my friends was completely beside the point. Adam was the benevolent host of all this wonderfulness, and I was merely mooching off of his winnings.

Up next in Adam's lucky shennanegins is the probably the biggest out of his winnings, at least at the time it seemed like the biggest. The channel Fox 54 was having some kind of contest where, I suppose, you sent in your name, and they would randomly choose a person to call. This chosen person was instructed "dont say hello, say Fox 54." If the person that was called followed these instructions, they won $54 and got to film a little commercial for Fox 54. Take a wild gander at who in our household got the coveted call from Fox 54.....correct, Adam! I'm not even sure if he actually answered "Fox 54" or not. I don't think they were all that strict on enforcing that rule. It was basically, if you get the call, you're in. So, Adam, at the ripe old age of about...7, won 54 dollars! To Adam and me this might as well have been a million dollars. Of course, with Mom's encouragement, Adam shared the money with me. We went to Toys R Us, and I used my pity money to purchase a lovely stuffed set of Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers. I was grateful to be shared with of course, but I remember wishing that I could have been the sharer, instead of the sharee. Adam made his commercial, and for some reason that didn't really bother me. I enjoyed seeing him on tv, and I didn't really wish that I could have been the one on tv. I just really wanted to have won the $54.

Let's see.....after the $54 in winnings came something that was probably the most insignificant bundle of luck in Adam's mind, but the most excruciatingly painful event to me. The competition was just a simple guessing game. Not much skill involved. In fact, Adam, Jared and I didn't even make the guesses for ourselves. Mom just entered each of our birthdays as our guesses. But...........................get this..................

The prize: 101 Dalmations Tshirts. 101 Dalmations was my thing, or more like my obsession. I had a deep seeded need to collect everything with black and white spots. One christmas it was like every present I got was 101 Dalmations, a sleeping bag, stuffed puppies, a handheld game, underwear, stickers.....ok you get the point. So, in my mind I just really believed that if there was any justice in the world, the powers that be would select me as the winner of this amazing contest. Not so. Adam won. The object was to guess how many spots,in all, were covering the Dalmations in the movie poster. In a complete act of luck, Adam's birthdate was the closest out of all the entries to the correct number. So, he won a set of tshirts. I think there were at least 4 shirts, one for Adam, Jared, Anna, and me. Now of course if I had been a logical thinker I would have been overjoyed because at least someone in our family had won, and thereby secured me a spotted tshirt that was not being sold in stores. But, all my competitive brain could think about was that Adam had won again! And this time it had been on my home turf!


Another one of Adam's forays into the world of luckiness occurred when he and I, and possibly Jared (but probably not Jared because he would have never had the patience to sit down and color an entire bunny picture), entered into a "coloring contest" around Easter. All that was required was to color a cute little bunny picture, and turn it into the local grocery store. The winner would be awarded a giant Easter basket stuffed with all kinds of cheapo toys and goodies that all children love. My bunny was beautiful. He was blue and purple and yellow (all in pastel shades, because what could be more eastery?). I darkened all of the edges in the picture, and lightly shaded the insides. I thouroughly enjoyed the coloring process, and almost forgot about the competition side of it. When Adam and I compared finished products, I almost felt sorry for him. There was nothing fanciful or springy about his picture. His rabbit was brown and his grass was dark green. It looked like the kind of bunny that hunters would go after, not a bunny that could wear a bowtie and hand out Easter eggs. At this point I just knew I was going to win. It would be a runaway. A few days later, we got the call. "Congratulations Adam Nelson! You can pick up your basket during these times." I was disgusted. Mom tried to convince me that it was just a random drawing. Which would have just meant another case of those bums taking out everyone but the "A's." But I knew better. This was even worse. This wasn't just a case of bad luck on my part for not being named Annabelle. This was a blatant disregaurd for genuine coloring skills and Easter spirit. The conductor of this event needed to be holding a Field and Stream coloring contest. Not an Easter coloring contest. Once again, Adam shared his prize with me, giving me candy, and even a little toy truck that was inside one of the eggs. I was probably wearing my 101 dalmations charity tee, and holding my pity Chip and Dale stuffed animals in my lap. And I was not amused.


My last remembrance of Adam's lucky streak is not quite as painful as the others. Possibly because I was older. Possibly because it happened during the most wonderful trip of my life. It was the year 2000. We, along with the Hubbard family were on the Disney Wonder! After dinner one night, we all went to the famiy nite club, Studio Sea. This was right around the height of Who Wants to be a Millionaire's popularity. The special for the nite's entertainment was Disney's own version of this wildly popular show, entitled, "Who Wants to be a Mouseketeer." Upon entering Studio Sea, each person was given a ticket with a number. We would later find out that these tickets would be used to select constestants for the show. Ha! And they were trying to pretend that they didn't take part in the conspiracy that is "A" discrimination. Obviously they did, because Adam was selected. Happily, this time I was not bitter, or insulted. I was just happy to be able to claim the first contestant as someone from my party. Plus, I knew he would have more of a chance at winning than I would, and I wanted to see what kind of prizes would be given out. But most of all, I was happy, because this was just further proof for my, "Adam is Freakishly Lucky" case.