Do My Eyes Look Puffy?

Today, my wife asked me - Do My Eyes Look Puffy?

S-E-R-I-O-U-S-L-Y!!!!! Come on - how do I answer this question?

As men, we have learned there is no correct answer to a question like this. No matter how we respond it will be wrong. If we say yes, the tears will flow and if we say no, then it leads to other questions that we don't even want to consider answering.

When Jenni saw the fear in my eyes after she asked the question, she just smiled that wonderful smile that all women get. The one that says, yep, I have trapped you so be careful with your response.

I quickly responded - your eyes are beautiful and changed the subject. :)

Words to live by...

At the age of 8 I committed to live by these words. They instilled in me a desire to honor those values throughout my life. I memorized them at the age of 8 and have referred to them numerous times throughout my life. I can still repeat them with out hesitation.

Today, I had the opportunity to put on and participate in a Cub Scout camp for all of the cub scouts who live in our area. For those who know anything about where I live, this is a brave challenge to commit too because we have so many children in our neighborhood. We had over 200 boys in attendance. Just image what it is like to entertain 8, 9, 10, and 11 year old boys for 7 hours. :)

Normally, the boys in our area attend an official Cub Scout camp but we received special permission to put on this camp and act on behalf of the Boy Scouts of America.

I love cub scouts. These young boys are enthusiastic, energetic, and willing to do and learn anything. It always amazes me at how smart they are and how quickly they learn to read a compass, tie knots, fold a flag, build a fire and the list can go on. It is totally awesome to see how their eyes gleam when they accomplish something new. They have the biggest smiles on their faces and they deserve all of the praise that comes their way.

Parents would die if they knew the stories I heard about their families today. It makes me smile and happy to know that they love their families. It just drills home, how important the family unit is in the lives of young children.

I am forever grateful to Robert "Baden" Powell for starting the Boy Scout program. I don't think he realizes how many lives he has impacted and the values that he instilled in many boys, young men, men and women who participate in the program.

In our home, we frequently watch the movie "Follow Me Boy's." It is the story of Lem Siddons. He is a musician whose jazz band makes a stop in a small town. He decides to put down his roots in this town. He volunteers to become a scoutmaster. The movie takes you through his experience as he remains a scoutmaster through the remainder of his life. I encourage everyone to watch it.

I am grateful I got to be part of this event during the 100th Anniversary for scouting.

I have one piece of advice for anyone who gets involved with cub scouting - I have learned over the years that cub scouts are constantly moving and you have to stay one step ahead of them or you will be sorry.

Needless to say, I left the event tired but happy!!!

Tomatoes

I am sure you thought - what a dumb title for a blog entry but it did catch your attention. So just read on.

Over the past few years, I have developed a small problem with handling tomatoes.

It all started when my mother in law came to stay with us, so I must put the blame on her. :)

I think she cursed my perfect handling abilities because this has never happened to me before this day. The story goes - I was in the kitchen starting to make dinner for everyone. My mother in law came into the kitchen and started to hover over me. I am sure that I was perfectly pleasant about the many directions I was getting on how to prepare dinner.

Anyway, as I was preparing dinner I reached into the refrigerator to get some tomatoes and it happened.... I dropped them. Yep, they slipped completely out of my hand. The next thing I remember was hearing a crashing sound and then everything turned red. I mean everything. My clothes, the floor, the cupboards, the rug, the fridge everything. We are still finding stuff with tomatoe juice on them. Because my mother in law was close by, I blamed her and still do to this day.

Since the day of the tragedy this has been a repeated problem. At one point, I just started to laugh (well maybe a swear word here and there as well) but what else can I say.

In case you are ever in the mood to drop tomatoes, here are some interesting facts:

1. IF you drop a mason jar of tomatoes at the top of your stairs, it will bounce once before it breaks and explodes. It does turn your carpet a pretty color so if you need new carpet just drop tomatoes on it. You may be surprised at the new color.


2. NO tomatoes do not come out of white t-shirts. Believe me - my wife is a laundry fanatic and she cannot get them out.


3. IF you drop a jar of tomatoes on a hard wood floor, tomatoes can fly up to 10 feet high. Yes, ten feet!!!! If you ever look at the ceiling in my kitchen and notice a couple of red spots, well, now you know why.


4. YES tomatoes will stain quickly. I recommend you have paper towels and comet cleanser close by. You will need to act quickly.

Oops.....

Have you ever gone to have a hair cut and during the hair cut the stylist mumbles - Ooops??????

There is that sudden fear that comes over you. Trust me, I just found out!

Jenni has been cutting my hair off and on since we were married. She does as good a job as any stylist. However, the other day we decided to use a new trimmer like this one.

Yep, just after the first stroke I hear Ooops and then laughter. I look down on the floor and there sits all of my hair. I pick it up and it is not a normal small piece of hair. It is the entire thing. I was shaved clear to the head.

I was not amused and Jenni was laughing. Here were her words of sympathy:

• That spot looks like you had a medical treatment on your head


• On the bright side - you will only look ugly for a couple of weeks


• Just wear a ball cap

The kicker to the whole story is that she kept cutting my hair. She said she could just blend it in with the rest of the hair cut.

An hour later I was sitting in a professional chair having our Aunt fix the hair. I think she was trying to hold in her laugh as well.

So next time you hear, Ooops when getting a hair cut, I feel for you.

No it is not OCD

I am a pretty fussy person. I like things cleaned and organized. Yes, maybe I am a clean freak but you have no complaints on my side. No - I do not have OCD. I just have a gift for organizing and cleaning things. Yeah, I could see myself of the TV show House Hoarders or Clean House helping people get organized. It would totally rock (after the nausea of seeing how they live wears off).

My wife loves it when I get in a mood (or she says I get in a mood and I don't think I have mood swings) and start to clean or organize drawers, closets, cabinets etc.

One time, while Jenni was away in Washington visiting her family, I organized numerous drawers in the house. I put items in bins and labeled them. When she came home all she could do was laugh.


BTW - I highly recommend the P-touch Label maker machine. It totally rocks!!!! You can get it at Costco for a great deal. You can print labels in various colors and sizes. The best part is that the labels stick to anything. Even Bella when she decides to pull out all of the tape from the machine - hahaha.

I do think that the reason I am so obsessed with having to organize things and keep them clean is because I had to do it for my sisters growing up because they could never figure it out :). Just ask them what happened to all of their stuff.