Yep, she’s packing.  Tomorrow Amanda will be leaving for Belgium and will not be home until Friday.  The only female left in the house will be the cat, and to be honest, she works for us.  We will once again be living unsupervised with lots of opportunity for trouble, for although Ben considers himself a superhero with great principles and ethics, he is just as easy to bribe as that cat.  We should have a ball.

Of course she will return, as she always does, and we will find out what kind of trouble we will be in.  (My high school English teacher is now living among the Saints, so I felt it was safe to end my last sentence with a preposition.  I will deal with her when I make it!)  Amanda however I will deal with on Friday.  We will use the same old excuses, like how things just don’t go well without her and such, and then Ben will give her those sad eyes that are of the Puss-n-boots level.  They always work.  Plus, she is always tired, and never seems to have the energy to deal with our shenanigans until the jet lag wears off.  By then we are Scott-free, but not really because he lives with us, and at 6’2″ you notice him around.

But we will do our very best to survive this next week without her.  I am certain we will suffer immensely!  Bwhahaha!  I hope Ben can keep his mouth shut about all those Twinkies!!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Today I have seen Ironman, Spiderman (SpiTERman here) and Superman.  The costumes are being changed more quickly than those at a Lady GaGa concert (not that I have been there, but I have heard).  It has been a whirlwind experience, but quite honestly it has not been the most interesting thing in my day.

Late this morning I was alerted to a couple of pictures of a young woman in a bikini that was really smaller than her body should have been in, that was posted to Facebook and was tagged with my name.  Oh her name was there, as was her body (which you could see a lot of) and it showed up on MY Facebook profile only to be viewed by the 1200 or so people who are connected to me.  And although I am was flattered that she (whoever she is) chose to attempt to embarrass me, to be quite honest most young women in that age bracket do not care for married 50 year old priests, and the percentage drops considerably when you add the bikini.  (I would anticipate that the percentage would drop into negative numbers had I been in a bikini)

So I untagged the picture, which is a way to remove my name from it when it circulates, and posted that even I considered it pretty funny……because it was.

And I am still getting ribbed for it too, and I imagine it will go on for quite some time.  But you shouldn’t dish out the jokes if you can’t take a one.  So my hat is off to you “Miss Scantily Clad Woman Who Needs Better Advice on What Size Bikini to Buy.”  But that is really just a line, because I rarely wear a hat.  My hope and prayer for you is that you live in Florida or somewhere warm.  It snowed here yesterday, and it would break my heart to see you catch your death of pneumonia.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

I have to confess, Amanda even apologized as she returned from Wal-Mart tonight.  Apparently Halloween costumes were 75% off tonight, so she had to buy 5.  We now have Superman, Ironman, Robin, something I cannot remember, and of course Captain Jack Sparrow who you see in the picture.

Oh no, it is not the FULL costume.  Apparently the Ben version of Captain Jack does not want to wear the long hair (it’s for girls), so I wore it most of the night.  It never did convince him to put it on, but it has been years since I had that much hair.  I felt like Fabio without the ripped body.  Perhaps a Fabio found after a few weeks underwater I suppose, but nonetheless, it was cool to have a lot of hair.

To another point, I was able to cut all the trees and stuff I wanted to cut today, but the chain dulled on my chainsaw and I was unable to finish.  There are branches all over the yard, and I hope to get my chainsaw sharpened and have it done by Saturday afternoon.  At least that is the plan.  All I know is that after awhile the chainsaw took forever to cut.  I am sure that is not right.  I will look into it, but all I am certain of is my desire to finish.

But for now, I am just fighting pirates…..pirates with short European cuts as if they had been to Cookie Cutters last week.  I am just thankful for their foam swords.  These little scalawags do not scare me in the least.

But then again, pirating is different from when I was a kid.

Goodnight me friends and God Bless ye!   Arggh.

Tommy+

I have been up all day with little sleep, and was heading home in the midst of a pretty good wind storm that made driving difficult…..thank God!

The reason that I am so thankful is that the Town of Edgewood sent me a notice that one of my trees, and there are many, needed to be cut back (majorly), and that was what I intended to do this afternoon.  In fact, I had the intention to cut back that tree and many other things on our property.  But as they say, “the road to hell is paved with substandard asphalt.”  I realized on my drive home from Bloomington that perhaps being tired and sore was not the best time to get out my chain saw for a major project in a wind storm.  After all they also say, “a lumberjack with no arms can’t really type.”

So my tree cutting day will now be tomorrow, fill of rest, with no wind AND no supervision.  And I will start in the morning, so it will be just coffee in my system and gasoline in my chainsaw.  It should be a fun day.

But for now I will call it a day.  My schedule was pretty tight today, and although there was wind outside, it didn’t prevent me from having lots of work waiting for me at home……preisty-stuff.  That too will carry over until tomorrow……and sadly for me, the wind storm will be long gone.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Sometimes the world is just full of detours, and quite honestly today was that indeed.  I needed to go and file a paper with the county about my mom’s death, only to find the courthouse closed for election day.  That in itself would not bother me if I just had time to head back over there this week, but I do not.  And then of course Amanda getting a migraine, as well as her car not starting at work, only added stuff to a day that I needed no more.

Yes, this is what it has come down to.  My office has been redone, but my youngest has now commandeered the desk and desk chair, and declares that he is now the “boss” and that everyone should be quiet while he reads his Ironman coloring book.  Oh it gets better…….we have to sit in the chairs in front of the desk and just listen.  We are not even allowed to talk to each other.  After all, he is the boss, and his word is what matters.

The picture was taken after his brother and I were banished to the non-boss chairs.  Amanda came home a short while later and they had a talk that I thought perhaps got some traction that I will call for the lack of an official title, “Every boss has a mommy and she is really in charge.”  It looked like it took until his 9pm session where his mommy was also banished to the non-boss area.  He is a pretty stern boss, there is no doubt about it.

But as I type this the battle is over.  I am in bed, Amanda is asleep already, and Ben is with Scott doing God knows what, but what we are all clear of is that whatever it is Ben is in charge.  They were downstairs earlier eating crackers and making jokes.  They are now in their section of the house and I can hear them laughing.  They can keep at it as far as I am concerned.  I am off the clock.  My new boss has been at me all night, and I am just glad at this point to be able to get a little rest!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

It has been a really great day, but somehow I now find myself in my bed BEFORE 10 (thanks Daylight Savings Time) with a wide awake 4 year old next to me who is nowhere near needing to sleep.  If I had the energy I would banish him from my bed, but to be honest, I am still struggling with the effects of what people call DST.  (Daylight Savings Time)  I just hope through the generous support of donors that doctors can find a cure for this ridiculous concept.

Don’t get me wrong……I have had no problems at all getting up, working, or moving through the day.  But I am a creature of routine, and I generally go to bed at the same time, or at least close to it, every night.  My body says 11, but the clock says 10.  Ben says 2:30, but no one is listening to him anyway.  But my point is that there is no reason to change our clocks.  It is the same reason I do not have my nose pierced….it makes no sense.

But I know I am one against many.  My plan, which I think may indeed work, is to invite legislators over for a sleepover with Ben.  But short of that, I am hoping I get used to it.

So here’s to hoping he just gives up and falls asleep……I am hopeful, but not optimistic.  After all, I am dealing not just with a 4 year old, but DST.  And until there is a cure, no one is going to be able to sleep……..not even me.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Amanda and I have been remodeling my office, as sort of an anniversary gift to me.  She wanted me to have a new desk, which she bought, (and of course picked out) and instead of a file cabinet we got the matching credenza that has a file drawer in it.  It is clearly not enough room for all the stuff I have, but that of course is part of the plan.  I am thinning out all the stuff.

As the boys and I completed the renovation of my office, we had to stop at Sam Ash and see the new drum set Scotty was buying.  Scott is a talented musician, but in his band he is the drummer, and he is trading in a couple of drum sets to get this new one.

But his little brother was fascinated by the music store.  He loves music just like Scotty does, but is more attracted to guitars than drums.  So we found him one.  It is a beginner’s electric guitar with a battery powered amp.  Battery powered amps stink, but fortunately for Ben he is the youngest of a musical family, so his brother not only tuned his guitar, but plugged it into a real amp.  Ben now thinks he is in a band with Scotty, and maybe someday he will be.  He just keeps telling me he likes to play “rock and roll.”

But Scotty is ready to give him a few lessons, and Ben seems anxious to learn.  I am sure he will pick it up.  His brother is an amazing musician, and Ben idolizes him.  There is no telling what the two of them will end up doing.  But for the time being, it is fun to see them at this together.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless.

Tommy+

It wasn’t quite with bells and whistles on, but Ben did great me as I returned home and went and put on a tie.   I was impressed at the start, but then he traded it for a clip on tie, because that is what the police wear, and he started shooting me.  I am not sure why that happened, but I am pretty sure there were no other evil bad guys around to shoot.

I found all of this kind of funny, particularly as I came home early. I know many people might be insulted that they drive all that way early only to be shot at, but in all honesty I am not really a bad guy as much as I am a playmate when his brother is not around.  We did have the talk that almost all boys have about how  police officers really don’t shoot people for walking up the stairs, but they might just take them to jail.  He acted like he knew what I was talking about and then just shot me anyway.  He probably will not make it through the Academy.

But the blessing to me is to be here playing.  Home sweet home, where reality is a bit bent, but is always interesting!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+