Monthly Archives: June 2011

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DA BIG FIVE-OHHHHH……

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Yep, today I turned 50, and it was a pretty wonderful day, although I heard at my age you cannot trust my judgment. But what did I care??? It was my birthday.

Of course it was also Father’s Day, and we had a nice celebration with presents, cake, and then we went out to dinner…….I of course suspect that all this is secretly being funded by both my mother-in-law and sister-in-law who have a vested interest in seeing me waddle to the scale in the Family Biggest Loser competition. And, if I die of heart disease, I am sure they will all go on a “comfort Amanda sympathy cruise.” But I know something they have forgotten…….today was it. And besides Ben’s birthday on June 30th, there is no cake, no big parties, and nothing at all between me and August 22nd when this ends. I will report my weight in the morning and it should be about what it was last week. But this old body will be dropping some pounds and doing it quickly and efficiently. I WILL POST my weight for everyone tomorrow and then my weekly report the rest of the way. (I would post pictures, but in an effort to not traumatize anyone I will not) (And even more than that, I would not want to lose my congressional seat)
But my loving family (Cassie is now included in this) gave me a long string of passive aggressive cards, and laughed and teased about how old I am. (Yes, tonight’s blog picture is the front of just ONE of my cards) I THOUGHT I was getting them back on my way home from my birthday dinner in Indianapolis when I slowed down, and turned on my left turn signal and drove for miles laughing my butt off in front of them. Of course THEY THOUGHT it was on purpose. You could see them laughing behind us….. hysterically. Of course I was confident I had the last laugh, but sadly I am wrong.
Since they thought I was a moron they filmed the whole thing. So for my 50th birthday apparently I am becoming a Youtube star. I will send you the link as soon as I get it.
Goodnight my friends and God Bless!
Tommy+
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JUNE 18TH……

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Today is my Grandma (Tirman) Keenan’s birthday. She was my dad’s mom, and she died in Florida in the 1970’s. She used to call me her “Prince Valiant,” which she meant as a compliment, but only a grandma could love a kid with hair like that. She always called me Tommy too. And to my dying day (which is ALWAYS getting closer) I will regret the time I told her that I hated that name and to call me Tom. After all, I was 11 with Prince Valiant hair, and you clearly are no more together than that in life.

But I loved my grandma and I miss her. I was never the best of sons, but I know I was an exceptional grandson. My parents divorced when I was young and I saw my dad sporadically. My mom worked and had very little interest in a troubled kid. My grandparents, particularly on my mom’s side (I will see my Grandma Middleton on Monday!) were really what kept my head above water. And I say this in all honesty……it was a big job. So this is to say that if you happen to have me as your priest you can blame my grandparents!
But today I am thinking about them all, but particularly midnight 38 years ago today when the bells ran on Main Street at Disneyworld. (We were about 50 yards up on the left in the picture) My grandma said, “Happy Birthday Tommy, I love you,” and hugged and kissed me. And I told her the same back. I have told that story on that same corner two other times at Disneyworld with my kids. I am sure they think I am nuts, but who cares. I turn 50 at midnight, and I am sure they have plans SOON for the nursing home for me. I no longer have the Prince Valiant hair, but if I did it would be grey…..and a real hit there.
Goodnight my friends and God Bless!
Tommy+
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Expanding the delusions……

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Oh no…..! In just a week, Ben has been exposed to some new stuff. Cassie and Steph got him to see some real Transfomers. He saw cool parts of Pirates of the Caribbean (the picture is actually of Steph as a pirate). He saw cool parts of Spiderman. AND, he now has “cool guy confusions.” He has no clue as which guy he wants to be. It is as if he has “multiple cool guy personality disorder” (if there is not such a thing there should be). And it is hilarious to watch.

Of course Ben has always bounced back and forth between things. He is just about as ADD as his brother. Of course Scott is now at the age where he will need to be a bit more focused. Plus people are a little put off by 18 year olds with swords.
But for now we will just see where this goes. Our house can be pretty weird at times and this week it just got weirder.
I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
Goodnight my friends and God Bless!
Tommy+
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The BIG 18!!!!

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Tonight as my oldest son Scott turned 18 I was reminded of one of my favorite Peter Sellers quotes from “A Shot in the Dark” where as Inspector Clouseau he says to the bellboy, “Keep up this good work and very soon I will see to it that you become a bellman.”

Yep, Scotty is now a legal adult, although as a genetic Tirman, the adult part may always be called into question. He is emancipated, can marry without my permission, enlist, buy cigarettes, lotto tickets, and go to federal prison….yep, no more possibility of being tried as a juvenile. He is in the big leagues with me, and we welcome him with open arms.
Tonight we went out to dinner and then came home for some cake. I sometimes think my mother-in-law had this “Biggest Loser” thing all planned out because we have a ton of cake-worthy holidays between May 28th (Amanda’s birthday) and June 30th (Ben’s birthday). We can gain weight by just attending 25% of these.
But the bottom line is that Scott turned 18 and seemed to have a great time.
Happy Birthday Scotty. I love you and I am proud of you! Here’s to 18 more good ones!
Goodnight my friends and God Bless!
Tommy+
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The Great Banquet…….

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Although we have had the worst record in my coaching tenure, tonight we said goodbye to nine players that I have a great connection to. Most of these girls I have coached their entire high school careers and they are important to me and I will miss them. Most will go onto play lacrosse in college, and I am proud of them all.

It is always a bittersweet time for me. I am saddened to see girls I have mentored and walked with leave the team, yet I am excited for them as they go onto a new chapter in their lives. Fortunately I am blessed in this, the age of technology, that I am able to keep up with many of them through things like Facebook and email. It is pretty cool to keep in touch.
So tonight I thank God for the opportunity I have to coach the Noblesville Lady Millers. The banquet marks the end of an era.
But of course it also means the beginning of yet another!
Goodnight my friends and God Bless!
Tommy+
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A piece of history……

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Tonight, after looking and looking, Scotty and I came home with an old beater truck…..a 1983 Ford F100 with no idea at all of how many miles were on it.

It was the least expensive of all the ones we looked at by far. It was $600, with a 302 V8, a cracked windshield and a bed you could see through. It was half as much as the next expensive truck we were looking at, but considering that it will JUST be used to clean up trees and branches and move stuff, it was a steal. We have already spent at least that much renting things to move things too big for our cars in the last six months.
But it is more than that. This gives us a “man-project” to do together. Scotty loves it (good). Ben calls it “his” truck, since he is the ONLY one without a vehicle (bad). Steph calls it “adorable,” (definitely bad) and Amanda says it reminds her of her grandpa’s truck (possibly good but could be a trap). But for me, it is where I come from what we call a TRUCK. And I am thankful for it (good).
Honestly, I am a truck guy, and I feel like a man again!!!
Goodnight my friends and God Bless!
Tommy+
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Repairing it all……

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I spent the majority of the day at home, as I will tomorrow as well. Scotty’s car died last night on the highway in Noblesville, and the police car that first stopped was only kind enough to push it into the median of a very busy highway. I was then called (by Scott) and I hitched up a tow cable to my 2009 Toyota Matrix (slightly bigger than a breadbox) and TOWED IT to the repair shop thanks to a second police officer that blocked the highway so I could get across.

The good news is that it will only be about $1000 to repair Scotty’s car. The bad news is that we do not have the $1000 immediately at our disposal. But we will have the car repaired and I will let them know that tomorrow. They are GREAT GUYS at HASH AUTOMOTIVE in Fishers, Indiana and they work on all types of foreign cars. They are Volvo experts too. (The dad is known as “Mr. Volvo”) But the bottom line is that in this day and age of competitiveness, they are a company that is not just family owned, but one that has NEVER steered us wrong. And if Scott’s car would just break down more often we would give them more business! (no no no…..it needs to stay fixed….like the cat)
So I am done being a tow company and I have no plans on becoming a garage. It’s back to being a consumer for me. It was fun while it lasted, but it was more of an adventure.
I just hope tomorrow that everything gets back to normal!
Goodnight my friends and God Bless!
Tommy+
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Pentecost…….

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Today is the Day of Pentecost, the birthday of the Church, and the day we celebrate the Holy Spirit coming to live with the Church. Yet for me, it has been an odd day. One, although I did officiate at two services, I was not scheduled to do the sermon at either. And to make matters worse, on this, the last day that my mother-in-law is visiting, Amanda and Steph are both covered with poison ivy! So we are kind of relaxing with two leopards with pink spots. Both are now on steroids, and more miserable than usual…..but I am committed to living another 50 years nonetheless.

But as I reflected upon the day (since I had to listen to Deacon Sommerrock’s sermon TWICE) I thought about my life and how I have been guided by that same Spirit thus far. It sure has been a journey, and one filled with many twists and turns at that. And although I would like to believe that at just one week shy of 50 that my life would be settled, yet I now feel perhaps more unsettled than I have ever been. AND, I am not quite sure what that means. Yet I will faithfully follow along.
So Happy Pentecost to everyone! My hope is that it has been a blessing to you. But the gift of God’s gift is that it is never stagnant…..it is new everyday. May it be a blessing to you in the future as well.
Goodnight my friends and God Bless!
Tommy+
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Squirrely…….

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Scotty’s graduation open house was tonight and it was a very nice event. Amanda and her mom organized the entire thing and did a marvelous job. I think we were all surprised it went so well, because the day did not start out that great at all.

Last night we had a pretty violent storm blast through the area. Not that we haven’t had a bunch of them over the past few weeks, but what made this one different was a direct lightening strike probably within 50 yards of our house. We knew what it was, but we didn’t get up. Lightening strikes someplace every time you see or hear it. And we learned as kids to count the seconds from when we saw it to when we hear the noise…..each second was a mile a way. SO…..when they are simultaneous, well then, it is HERE. (As a side-note, I was actually struck by lightening when I was 16. I remember pressure and waking up a good 15 to 20 feet from where I was standing but never heard a thing….everyone ELSE DID!)
Needless to say, we woke up with the tree you see in the picture leaning across the road behind our house and hung up on another huge tree still standing in our yard. The police had decided not to wake us, but to just close that part of the street. And at about noon a tree company came and cleared the road but made a mess (the town will get the rest of the stuff on Monday) But we were glad to have it down before the open house.
The sad, but kind of comical part, was a team, or a pack, or a flock…..I don’t know what you call it, of SQUIRRELS (there were four of them) were absolutely berserk in our yard all day. They obviously lived in that tree and were running around like nuts (more than squirrels normally do) and it was quite entertaining, but also quite sad. Oddly enough, the scary owl we bought to keep them out of Amanda’s garden they ran right by probably 100 times….yep right through the garden, but they were clearly stressed and I hope they find a new home here on the other side of the street in our yard…..particularly because God ejected them from theirs….literally.
But the nice part is that everything seems to be settled down and we are all ready for bed….actually everyone else is IN bed (with the exception of Steph and Cassie who are out), but I will head to bed as soon as I am done here.
Scott’s party was great, and Ben’s is just 14 more years away.
Goodnight my friends and God Bless!
Tommy+
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Tales from the madhouse…….

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Tomorrow we will host Scotty’s graduation party. And it is quite the affair to prepare for from the condition of our home. Empty trays are out in their places with labels, the refrigerator is full of bags (with labels) and I have been forced to wear a name tag all night, but I do not know why.

An odd part about all these events is that there are also labels in “code” of things to eat that would kill me! I am deathly allergic to seafood, and oddly enough every time we do something even similar to this there is seafood. My wife and mother-in-law carefully label these things for me, and if there is a possibility that something can be made “sans seafood” they make me a few and make them accordingly. SO as you can imagine, I suck up to them both big time pre-preparation, lest they both take a marvelous vacation on the Caribbean to get over my “accidental” death. Yep, it would be ridiculously easy to make me look like an accident.
But for now I just do what I am told….in fact, we all do. The party will be by us soon enough, and then we will go back to just our normal level of madness.
Goodnight my friends and God Bless!
Tommy+