You asked for it -- you got it -- Toyota!

Several people have e-mailed and asked what am I doing now, in 2008? Well, mostly wishing it was 1978!! :)

Editor's Note: The entry below was written quite some time ago -- back in the exciting '90s. (woo -- yeah, right). The picture you see above was taken March 21, '08 on the front porch. Number One Son will be 19 tomorrow. Number Two Son turned 15 a couple week ago.

Pictured above is my family -- me and my two sons. They're great boys. Once a month, the boys and I have a '70s night. I crank up my disco stereo, purchased in December 1978, and we dance the night away. The boys can do the bump, the hustle, the bus stop; they can play "name that tune," naming any song by Barry Manilow, 10 cc, the Bee Gees, Randy Newman, The Hudson Brothers, Tony Orlando and Dawn, Aerosmith, KISS, AC/DC, Foreigner, Journey, Chicago, Alice Cooper and many more! They know the whole range from "nerd to cool." They are aware that their mother was "nerd" and their father was a "head." We watch TV Land, and they enjoy "The Brady Bunch," "Lancelot Link," "Scooby Doo," "Zoom," "Schoolhouse Rock," "Peanuts," "Flintstones," "H.R. Pufnstuf," "Sabrina," "Sigmund and the Seamonsters," "Land of the Lost," and "All in the Family." Bless their little hearts.

As for me, I was born 3-3-63 in Peoria, Ill., and lived there until I turned 18, graduated from Illinois Valley Central High School in Chillicothe, Ill., and moved to northcentral Arkansas -- the dreaded vacation spot featured in my 1970s diaries! When my dad retired in 1981 after my graduation, I moved to Arkansas with my parents for a few months, couldn't stand it, and moved back to Illinois to live with my youngest brother, Mike. I soon learned I couldn't make a living as a cashier at a discount store, and moved in with Mom and Dad in rural Arkansas where I decided to pursue my dream of becoming a broadcaster.

I enrolled in a liberal arts, Presbyterian school -- Arkansas College -- in Batesville in 1982 and took an overloaded schedule, "CLEPPED" out of some classes and took summer courses, graduating with a bachelor of arts degree in media arts in 1985. While there, I worked as a disc jockey and news director for KBTA/KZLE.

From May to August 1985, I worked in the tintype photography shop at Silver Dollar City in Branson, Mo., as a photographer and darkroom technician.

I got a job in September 1985 at the Batesville Daily Guard, a newspaper in northcentral Arkansas. Almost 15 years later, after holding almost every position available in the newsroom, I worked my way up to managing editor in 1999. I was responsible for establishing the Guard's Web site, but it is now in someone else's hands.

In April 2000, I got fed up with the way things were going at the family-owned newspaper and quit. One month later, I joined WRD Entertainment Inc., which owns five radio stations and a publication called Arkansas Weekly of which I was editor. I was also news director for all of the radio stations.

On July 30, 2001, I began a job as "community relations specialist" for White River Health System's marketing department in Batesville. Currently, I'm working as a copy writer and editor for a company in Batesville which will remain nameless.

I began keeping a diary in 1973 when I received one for my 10th birthday. And I intend to type the entire thing in for posterity. In the late '70s, I began calling my diary "Nicole," because I felt like Nicole Marie would be my daughter. In 1978, I felt that I would name my children "Jeremy" (after a Robby Benson movie) and "Nicole." That was because I was a tomboy and knew any daughter of mine would want to be called "Nick" or "Nicki." (I ended up with a Nicholas Jon and a Vincent Jeremy.)

I still keep a diary, although it is off limits. I am not able to write every day because I work full-time and am obviously a single mother. But, I jot down the important stuff. And in the meanwhile, I share things about the '70s with my sons, who are most appreciative as I was when my parents taught me about the Big Bands and WWII.

On the weekends, I don my bell bottom blue jeans, baseball shirts and Converse sneakers and hold '70s parties for my co-workers who will forever call me "that '70s chick." I still say "far out" and "groovy" and expose people to the music against their will. Forgive me. They will grow, and my generation, forever lost between the baby boomers and the Gen X-ers, might benefit! Peace, man, and have a nice day!

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