Okay Dads, when your kids reach the age of talking non-stop (about 4 years old) you will quickly learn that they love to ask the same things over and over and over again. There are a few things my four and six year olds tell me or ask me almost everyday. Here's a sampling...

1. Daddy I'm done going potty
2. Can I have a snack
3. Is it movie night
4. Do we have to eat healthy
5. Is it a school day
6. The light was yellow dad
7. Can I have some gum
8. What number is the Disney Channel
9. Will you sit next to me
10 I want to ride on your side
11. Talk like Goofy again
12. Leave a light on
13. Where's my waggy
14. Ouch, you're pulling my hair
15. Do I have to eat it all
16. Don't forget to check on me
17. Can you turn it up
18. Daddy stop singing
19. Will you carry me upside down
20. You're sweaty
21. Can I text Mommy

Labels: Daughters, funny moment, Memories

As a dad you wait for those priceless moments when your kids do or say something that comes so far out of left field that you can only laugh until you cry. Last weekend provided one of those golden moments.

Our girls have been taking piano lessons for several months now in preparation of their piano recital. Recently it was D-day for our little Liberace's. We all gathered together and sat through two and a half hours of piano plunking, chord bending and scale mutation. Not to say that we didn't enjoy our own kids interpretation of music theory, it's those darn other kids that had the hair on the back of our necks standing on end. None the less, we applauded them all just as though they were our very own.

Our girls sat up straight, played their parts and did a fine job. They were rewarded with a trip to one of their favorite restaurants (Chili's, in case they forget). We all ate, laughed and talked about the grand recital. As we neared the end of our meal, our 4 year old pointed out the fact that she had eaten almost all of her dinner.

We told her how proud we were that she had eaten so good and that she had done such a grand job at the recital as well as at the restaurant. She sat up proudly with her chin in the air and her shoulders pulled back and said, "Thank you, thank you, you can hold your paws up."

We all immediately began to laugh because we instantly knew exactly what she meant. She was trying to say, "Hold your applause." It was a great moment and she beamed from ear to ear as we made her feel like the silliest girl on the planet.

Enjoy your kids and don't forget that they are just kids. Allow them to be who they are and above all, have patience!

Warning: This has been another daddy moment, meant to embarrass and shock our daughters as they get older and read back about how cute and cuddly they once were. Apologies are now given if this post has interfered with or caused a boy to no longer have anything to do with you. Yeah right, boys are vermin that pick their noses and toot under covers.

Labels: Daughters, funny moment

Labels: Curtis Tucker, video

Here's a pretty good list of things I believe my four and six year old daughters would rather me not do. If I've broken any of these (which I have) I apologize now.

A daddy should never...

1. Wear black socks with sneakers
2. Sing in the car
3. Shave off his mustache
4. Wear anything pink
5. Grow hair on his ears
6. Kiss another woman
7. Bake a cake
8. Skip through a store
9. Wear a dress or skirt
10. Use a blow dryer
11. Put on lip gloss
12. Sit to go pee
13. Wear a party/pretty hat
14. Eat anything with sprinkles
15. Say, "I'm so sure"
16. Ride a girls bike
17. Roller skate
18. Sit in a tanning booth
19. Participate in Pilates
20. Wear fur
21. Shave his legs
22. Take a bubble bath
23. Wear socks with sandals
24. Buy panties
25. Eat grilled chicken salad
26. Go shirtless in public
27. Make jewelry
28. Wear earrings
29. Use hairspray
30. Watch My Little Pony
31. Toot in public
32. Smoke cigars
33. Wear earmuffs
34. Spray on a tan
35. Give sweaty hugs
36. Listen on the phone
37. Forget birthdays
38. Belly flop
39. Burp the alphabet
Read the rest of the list...

Labels: Daughters, funny moment, Parenting

What in the heck is a personal brand image and why do you need one?


Don King has his hair, Superman has his cape, Linus has his blanket, Dolly has her big... voice, Teller has his silence, Elton John has his glasses. Each of these individuals stand out from the crowd because of a brand image. There is something about them that you remember! Do you have a brand image, a style of your own, or are you just part of the crowd? Would anyone remember you if they only met you for a moment?

What is my brand image? My brand image is my casual style and my really cool sneakers. I've begun a campaign of wearing old school Converse sneakers everywhere I go. I'm even using my sneaks in all of my website headers.

I'm trying to establish a brand that will be easily and quickly recognized. I've taken to wearing sneakers and white tee's every chance I get. People know me as that sneaker wearing cartoonist.

I gave a talk the other day to about 40 sixth graders. I was speaking about how I was able to start my own business and work from home. I wore shorts, a white tee covered by a Polo sweater vest and my trademark sneakers. I had almost as many comments about my sneakers as I did about my cartooning and Internet businesses.

Stand out from the crowd and you will be remembered. Your brand does not even have to be physical. Your brand could be that you give the fastest service with a smile or you do the best job and always throw in a bonus. Those type of things can become your brand if you stick to them and people know they can rely on them.

Find your brand and you'll be on your way to rising above the crowd. I'll try to do a future post on great personal branding examples. That's all for now! It's lunch time and my girls want their McDonalds! Talk about a company that knows a bit about branding.

Labels: Curtis Tucker, make money

I hope the mixture of my posts on blogging, making money online, working from home and being a dad will be a good enough mix to keep everyone coming back for more tips, ideas and stories.

I guess I had better describe my daughters as I see them today. Both girls attend a Montessori school and have never had to stay at a daycare. I've watched them practically every day of their lives. I take them to school, have lunch with them most days and pick them up from school. They are very active and currently are involved in dance, gymnastics, piano and tennis.

My oldest daughter is now six. She is very bright and can read practically anything that is placed in front of her. She's kind, quiet, shy and a bit reserved. She loves bread and butter but hates ice cream. She doesn't so much like to be hugged or kissed but she's becomes very sad when we are away. She learns quickly and remembers everything. She rarely get into trouble and knows that doing certain things will get her in trouble. She does not push the envelope.

My youngest daughter is four going on twenty four. She is happy, lovable, outgoing and very rambunctious. She's smart but is not so much interested in learning. She loves to play, make up things and collects everything. She wants everything now and becomes very clingy to a new item until a replacement comes along. She loves to hug and kiss but has no problem waving good-bye to us when we leave. She loves sweets and is picky about everything else. She pushes the envelope on everything and gets into trouble daily.

Today was a great example of one of my four-year-olds memorable quotes. We were driving home from picking up Hostess Cup Cakes for breakfast, (her favorite at the moment) and we began talking about the clouds and the rain we had just experienced. Without ever having heard her use this word before, my four-year-old says, "I'm assuming the water that comes from clouds is pee." I chuckled like I always do and thanked the Lord again for giving me such wacky girls.

They bring a smile to my face every morning and I greet them with a big hello and a morning hug. They are by far the coolest things I have ever created.

Labels: Daughters, funny moment, Parenting, Photo

I just watched The Bucket List, a movie about creating a list of things you would like to accomplish before you pass on. I got to thinking about the things I have already crossed off my bucket list...

1. Had beautiful healthy children
2. Happily married after ten years
3. Created multiple businesses
4. Went to Disney World
5. Owned a convertible Corvette
6. Bought a house, actually several
7. Had a cartoon nationally published
8. Wrote a song & performed it
9. Learned to play the guitar
10. Bench pressed 300 lbs.
11. Saw the Olympics live
12. Purchased a Fender Strat
13. Rode a camel, in Turkey
14. Toured Graceland
15. Lived in a foreign country
16. Cruised Highway 1 in California
17. Watched Tiger Woods win the PGA
18. Walked the entire Las Vegas Strip
19. more to come...

Labels: Curtis Tucker, Memories

Labels: Curtis Tucker, greeting cards, make money, video

Everyone that knows me knows that my favorite color is green. It's not just a passing thought either. I will actually make choices based on colors and will almost always choose green over any other color. I may have even owned the largest green hat collection in the world at one time. My girls know that my favorite color is green and love to make me things colored in green.

Living in a state with no major sports teams in any sport I was never one to follow sports teams other than an occasional following of the Dallas Cowboys. That was until the day, in the early 80's, I discovered Boston Celtic basketball, Larry Bird and the parquet floor. From that moment I was hooked and began to bleed Celtic green.

The rivalry between the Celtics and the Lakers in the mid-80's had to be the best series of all time. Bird against Magic was magic. It's the only series I'd trade my Sea Green Stratocaster to see. I thought those days were gone forever...

Fast forward to 2008 and I'm bleeding Celtic green again!! The green team is up by 36 over the arch rival Lakers in game six as I'm posting this. My girls are asleep and completely unaware of the Celtic magic that has reappeared after all these years. My veins are filled with that Celtic magic once more and tomorrow I will awake, put on my sneakers, find my loudest green shirt and smile.

Thank you Boston, thank you.

Labels: Curtis Tucker, Memories

Self-employment has so many perks that every individual should strive to run their own business. The freedom and the control make it worth the many frustrations you will encounter.

One big frustration you will soon discover is those very nasty quarterly tax payments. Today, June 16th, is the due date for every one's second quarterly tax payment. Whether you know your income for the year or whether you've made any money this quarter you still have to pay your quarterly tax. Paying your tax payment with a check that is deducted out of your bank account is blast of reality. You can easily see how much of your income goes towards running our government.

The biggest frustration you will find when writing that big check is knowing that some yahoo up in Washington is tacking on a pork barrel project that is about to waste every penny you've worked hard to earn. I believe everyone should pay their fair share of taxes but the question then becomes what is fair. Many people in our country live off the welfare roles and never pay a cent of taxes. Others cheat and still others complain that we don't pay enough. If you don't think we pay enough taxes, especially the "rich", you should seek some mental counseling.

So, enjoy self-employment, but get out your pen and write Uncle Sam a big fat check. Some elected yahoo is needing the money to help build a highway to nowhere.

Labels: make money, taxes

Labels: blogging, Curtis Tucker, make money, niche

The thing about growing up without a dad at an early age is that it's kinda like growing up without an uncle you never met. You hear stories about him and wonder what he might be like but you realize he's not a part of your life and you easily forget that he might have once been a part of your childhood.

When my parents divorced in the mid 60's, they divorced. My dad high tailed it out of town and I have not seen nor heard from him since I was about five or six. I was just young enough to not have really relied on him for many things and was not old enough to have a multitude of memories. My dad has always been that guy in the pictures that was once married to my mom. A sad way of looking at it for some but a mundane reality for others.

Growing up without a dad had its ups and downs. Every one of my friends growing up had a dad and as far as I knew all had pretty great marriages. The funny things was, as much time as I spent with many of my friends, I really never saw their dads that often. Most dads were off working during the day and then seemed to disappear at night. None of my friends dads coached the baseball team, were Boy Scout leaders or spent time playing outdoor games with us. So I never really felt like I was missing out on anything.

I do think I would have pursued sports a little more had I grown up with a dad. Especially one that might have coached me and could have built up a my confidence a bit. I never saw myself as a good athlete growing up and I actually never really was that interested in watching sports. Looking back now I know I could have been good at one sport or another but I just never gave it much effort.

As weird as this might sound I actually ended up with two dads rather than one. My mom did a great job of filling in for that fatherly role. She signed me up for baseball and came to my games, she had me in scouts and helped me earn my badges and she encouraged me to pursue the things I was interested in. My mom did a great job of showing me how to make my way on my own. She always worked two jobs, without complaining, and first showed me that entrepreneurial spirit that I finally harvested in my adult years. I never realized it in all of the years that she ran her craft business but my mom was a business owner. She worked hard, managed her business and turned out a quality product.

My second dad... read more

Labels: Curtis Tucker, Daughters, Memories, Parenting

I am very blessed to be in the position of belonging to our local country club. It has become a routine with my daughters and I to eat there every Friday. Mom sits in most Friday's but the girls and I have missed very few.

Every waiter there knows us by name and they pretty much know what we will order. One waiter has created his own ritual of giving my girls flowers after every Friday lunch. The entire staff is getting to watch our girls grow up and they have almost become like family.

My oldest orders corn dogs and shoestring fries most of the time, she changes it up with a cheeseburger or grilled cheese every now and then. She really loves the muffins and tries to get as much butter on each one as she can. My very picky youngest daughter, gets her chicken strips and fries almost every week. Once in a while I can get her to do spaghetti. She refuses to try ketchup (?) but likes to dip everything in salsa and even puts it on her spaghetti!

One of the lasting memories I have as a kid is eating at a local restaurant in a round room. Every year on my birthday, my family would get together and eat at this restaurant. It is something I looked forward to and still remember. Just think, that was only once a year! Think of building a tradition you do every week or every month.

Create that ritual of doing something with your kids every week at the same time and set it in stone. Your kids may not think much of it now but they will look back on it years from now and remember it as one of their favorite times.

I hope you girls enjoyed spending time with dad every Friday. I looked forward to it every week.

Labels: Daughters, Dining, Memories, Parenting

Labels: Curtis Tucker, funny moment, video

Are you wondering how a sneaker wearing dad gets to stay home and watch his two really cool daughters? In case anyone is curious I want you to know that anyone can make money online working from home because I've done it!

Here are many of the money making ventures I have created online...

1. I created and run a custom cartoon logo design web site. I create funny cartoon logos for clients worldwide. Visit The Curtoons Cartoon Company & eCartoonLogos.
2. I own a graphic design studio in my hometown. I create logos, brochures, web sites and design ads, radio spots and TV commercials. Visit Shaggy Duck Studios.
3. I design and sell my own line of funny paper greeting cards. My cards can be purchased retail or wholesale. Visit ChuckleBerry's Paper Card Company and Wholesale Paper Cards.
4. I design content rich web sites, directories and blogs. I sell advertising on these web sites and also display Google ads and affiliate links. I now have between 50-80 running or near running sites. Visit Baby Dog Names, Zoinkies! and The Classic Baby Store for an example.
5. I create and sell my own collection of cartoon clipart. Visit Free Clip Art Pics.
6. I own the rights to a wide variety of cartoon characters which I license to interested partners. I also sell merchandise from these characters. Visit Cartoon License and WeinerDuck.
7. I sell royalty free cartoon characters and retain the rights to each of them. Visit Life's A Character.
8. I run and update a few fun and informative niche web site/blogs. Visit this site Curtis Tucker, Enid Buzz and Make Life Happy.
9. I also host web sites, build them and update them for outside clients. Here is an example of one of those simple sites - Inboard Helmet Lights.
10. There are also a few more random ways that I make small amounts of income including a few Cafe Press stores, selling greeting card racks (drop shipping) and thinking up fun brand names.
11. Watch for a new eCard website soon!

Thanks for reading. Stay in touch and I'll be providing tips from time to time on how ANYONE can make money online and can get to stay at home just like me!

Labels: blogging, Curtis Tucker, make money

There are so many cool memories from the 70's. I am going to list what sticks out in my mind the most and the things that influenced me the most. This list may grow as time goes by. This is not a list of everything from the 70's, only the things that had an impact on me, that sneaker wearing kid who grew up in the 70's. Enjoy!

1. My most favorite Farrah Faucet poster
2. Charlies Angels of course
3. Bell bottoms with sneakers, tattered
4. The Gong Show! Gene, Gene...
5. Land of the Lost & the Sleestack
6. Billy Don't Be A Hero - Song
7. The Night Chicago Died - Song
8. CB radios and Convoy Song
9. The Warriors Movie
10. Phantasm Movie
11. Asteroids Game
12. Monty Python & The Goodies
13. Sonny and Cher
14. Klackers
15. Only four TV stations
16. TV antennas
17. No remote controls
18. Saturday morning Bugs Bunny
19. Davey and Goliath and Jot
20. Vacation Bible School
21. Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots
22. Saturday Night Live
23. Midnight Special
24. The Banana Splits
Read more of my 70's influences...

Labels: 70's, Curtis Tucker, Memories

"I never had any friends later on, like the ones I had when I was twelve... Jesus.... does anyone?" - Stand By Me

That line from the movie Stand By Me is a perfect reflection of me at age twelve. It was 1975 and I was in sixth grade. That was the year that I met my best friend. He's on the front row, far left, I'm third from the right with those really cool pants on.

Being twelve in a small town in 1975 was golden. We were just old enough to ride bikes all over town by ourselves and just young enough to not need a job or any heavy responsibilities. Our parents didn't worry about abductions and we were free to roam from neighborhood to neighborhood.

That year in school we had a really great teacher and our core gang was made up of five guys, two ten year olds and and three twelve year olds. All of us lived right on Broadway street with me living the furthest west. Our school, also on Broadway, was an old brick two story structure named after President McKinley. At that time, pre-political correctness, we were known as the McKinley Bombers. Read more...

Labels: Curtis Tucker, Enid, funny moment, Memories

Labels: Curtis Tucker, Daughters, funny moment, video

Labels: Curtis Tucker, Daughters, funny moment, video

Labels: Curtis Tucker, video