Am I Your Weirdo?

They say each of us is someone else's Weirdo. Could I be Yours?

[justsayun]

Discovery.

I can be a risk taker from time to time.  I would never Bunge Jump or Cliff Dive.  I have no interest in being a Ghost Hunter either.  But yesterday I decided to take a risk.  Yep, many men would have walked away from this, but not this guy.  While at the store, I happened upon something I was unaware of.  While searching for coffee creamer, there it was.  What’s going on, I thought; this is crazy.  In the International Delights section was Paris Hilton Creamer.  It was the Raspberry Champagne flavor.  Am I up for a combination of Raspberry Champagne flavor and coffee?  I looked around, and no one was near me.  I picked it up and walked over to my wife and said I think I’m going to get this Paris Hilton Creamer.  She looked at me and shrugged and said that’s a you thing, not me.  I had some of this in my coffee this morning.  It felt like Christmas morning; I couldn't wait to get downstairs and have a cup of coffee with my Paris Hilton Creamer.  I could never have imagined a Raspberry and Champagne flavored coffee could be so satisfying.  As I walked out onto the back porch sipping my magical coffee, I looked up into the sky and whispered, “Thank you, Paris Hilton, for this magical cup of coffee.  George Clooney and his Nespresso might as well pack it in.”

[justsayun]

Wardrobe Worthy!

When it comes to life, I’ve kept it pretty normal.  I'm not a guy who paints his nails, and when I was in school, I was usually the first to get an F.  I overheard a couple of women the other day.  One was talking about her Summer Wardrobe.  It got me to thinking about how I’ve never had a Summer wardrobe. What separates me from Bradly Cooper or Denzel Washington is that I have no Wardrobe.   I’ve never really had a Fall, Winter, or Spring Wardrobe either.  You know what I thought to myself.  I’m wardrobe worthy.  My mom once told me the more clothes I put on, the better I looked.  I informed my wife that I had decided I wanted a Summer Wardrobe and a Fall one as well, to be prepared.  She scoffed and said I usually just wear jeans and a plain shirt, so it makes no sense.  I told her this guy is trying to class himself up.  I told her that I’m like that old car you have in the garage that everyone never thinks about.  You give it a new paint job and a flashy set of wheels, and Ba Boom, now everyone wants a ride in that baby.  She asked if I had any idea what look I was going for.  I told her I was going to watch a few celebrity gossip/news shows to get some ideas.  It’s time for this caterpillar to become a butterfly. My wife asked if there was anything else she should be looking forward to.  I told her Yes, I want to relax at a Cabana at the beach.  I even like to say the word, Cabana.  Perhaps someday we can have the dog take some sheep herding lessons.  What a great subject for conversation. My wife pointed out we have no sheep.  I know that, but It’ll come in handy if one of the cats gets outside.  

[justsayun]

Can I borrow some air?

Been dealing with smoky air in my area the last couple of days; it seems to be from all the fires in Canada.  While at the store today, I spotted a guy breathing from an air tank.  I thought for a minute of going up to him and asking if I could take a couple of hits of fresh, smoke-free air from his air tank.  Come on, it’s just air, I thought, but then you always have someone who would freak out over a request like that.  I did walk by him and say in an upbeat manner how it’s a good day to be packin your own air around.  I don’t think he appreciated my comment, but I was just trying to be pleasant like Jesus would.  I mentioned to my wife about my air tank guy moment.  She looked at me and said:  I know most of your remarks come from a good place, but that place is very remote, and most people don’t go there.  She then threw out the walking cane discussion I had with a gentleman a couple of weeks ago.  While out, we ran  into a stranger who was using a cane to walk.  I sized it up and told him that I thought he had a pretty sweet looking cane.  I shared that if I ever need a cane to get around, I’d want one like his.  My said that was all fine until I pushed things a bit further.  All I did was tell the guy I’d want to have a knife built into the handle as I’ve seen in movies.  For protection and also for convenience, if I want to cut up an apple at the park.  Plus, of course, the grandkids would love it when I came over, and they’d ask to play with my cane with the cool knife in it.  And of course, I would warn them to be careful with it.  I’m all about safety.

[justsayun]

Letting the love flow

I like to think I’m a fairly normal guy.  I don’t have a wine cellar, and I’m not afraid to look through the dented-can bin at the grocery store.  But I do have standards; I will only purchase a freshly dented can.  I admit I have a problem with Taco Bell advertising its new deal, where you can get a Taco and Fries.  Who has fries with a taco?  No one except weirdos.  What's next? Pizza Hut will offer a slice with a hot bowl of Chicken  Noodle Soup.  Or how about at the ballpark, they could offer a hot dog with a plate of spaghetti.  Yep, just doesn’t seem right.  Some things just work, like for a party, I love it when someone serves up Bagel Bites.  Each morsel is a great bite of food.  I had a moment recently with my wife. We were on vacation, and we took a trail walk and came upon a big tree with carvings all over it with couples' initials.  You know “Jess loves Phil” or “Tony + Gia”.  Those carvings were all over the tree.  My wife asked me why I had never done something like that for her.  I explained to her how I never had a good carving knife on me in those moments, and I hate to damage a good tree.  I told her, by the way, whatever I could carve on a tree could never match what is carved into my heart.   She just looked at me and said, “Yeah, right.” Her attitude bothered me but not to be defeated, on the way home I gave her my most romantic look and held her hand while jamming to Swing Out Sister and Breakout on the radio.  Certainly a Hallmark moment.  Just another day of keeping the love alive.

[justsayun]

My Heaven

Our place of worship is putting out to the congregation that they are in need of some Sunday School Teachers. My wife has done it from time to time over the years. I threw out the idea that perhaps I should volunteer. She had a weird look on her face and said that my spin on the Bible might not be right for Sunday School. I told her I’d be great with a children's Bible Study. Kids like me and I  have a truly fresh view of the Bible. I, by the way, have a beautiful view of Heaven. Let me share a little of my biblical thoughts. Pets will be in Heaven with us. Marley, Beethoven, Lassie, Black Beauty, and Flipper will all be in Heaven. For adults, every day will be an open bar. Yep, come on, it’s Heaven. For those with cars, there will be no speed limit. We will get endless candy. You reach into your pocket and say Snickers. Boom, you’ll pull out a Snickers bar. If the children were to ask me if we can fly? Yep, and you can also breathe underwater like Aquaman. If you can’t dance, you’ll be able to in Heaven. Just like dancing with the stars. Broccoli tastes terrific in Heaven. Jesus covers everything. Remember the story of the Loaves and fishes? You'd be able to do that sort of thing, like at Olive Garden with the endless basket of breadsticks. My wife says I tend to take simple, matter-of-fact things and jazz them up. I told her, “Give me one real example?” She mentioned the one time I brought up that I thought God might smoke a pipe. Many were speechless at that comment. Well, I still think he might. I bet he’d use the tobacco that smells really great.  (Perhaps a Peaches and Cream scented tobacco.) Sure, I’m not perfect, and I’m certainly not a scholar of the Bible, but the children would be talking about class after leaving church. My wife then said: “Sure, you’re Mr. Fun and Games, but what if you’re asked if bad things happen in Heaven?” I told her my answer would be: “In heaven, a natural disaster is having too many flavors to choose from at the Ice Cream Shop.

[justsayun]

Juvenile Humor

I have certain responses that I totally dislike.  Like, I say, “How are you doing?”  The response is “I’m doing”.  What does that even mean?   How about how's work?  And someone responds with either “It’s work” or “It pays the bills”.  Jeez, thanks for sharing.  I got a scolding from my daughter for needing to work on my juvenile sense of humor. I was hanging out with the grandboys and one was talking about a birthday party he was invited to.  The only weird thing is that it was going to have boys and girls.  He asked me what kind of things I would talk about to girls at parties.  I told him that usually I would ask the young lady if she was carrying pepper spray.  My daughter, off in the kitchen with what seems like super hearing, yelled out, “Dad, really! "  I then explained to my grandson about pretty girls.  I told him there are three types of girls: Pretty girls, Girls that have Pretty Potential.  (That means if they put in a bit more work, they could be prettier.  And then there are girls who might not be really pretty and cute, but have a great sense of humor.  My daughter looked out again from the kitchen and just gave me that evil stare.  Sure, I have a juvenile sense of humor, but at least I have a sense of humor.  I had a rough-looking guy behind me in line at the grocery store, and I asked about his day.  He said he’d had a heart attack a week ago and just got back home.  He said he was also struggling with COPD.  I told him I knew about COPD, that I had a friend who has it.  I said the poor guy got that COPD, can’t even blow up his date.  I saw the man slowly smile and knew he got my juvenile humor.

[justsayun]

Make room Shak.

I was out this weekend and made a discovery.  As I’m walking through the men's department looking to add something flashy to my wardrobe, I discover that Shaquille O’Neal has his own clothing line.  Yep, Shak has his own fashion line.  Now I like Shak, but I never thought of him as someone I would want to tailor my look after.  Hey, if he can put out a line of clothes, why not me?  There is no reason I could’nt put out a polished, high class look in clothes.  I would label my clothing line.  “Affordable elegance with a splash of down home.”  And to give my special line a hook, I’d mention how Kangaroo Hair is part of our product.  I lean on simplicity and practicality.  My line is clothes you can afford and live in.  Why have a Rolex when a Timex will tell time just as well?  I asked my wife what she thought the trademark of my look was.  She said, “Well, honey, I’d say food stains on your shirt.”   I bet Shak got the same negativity when  he first started his fashion line. My slogan for my fashion line would read: “Clothes to attend a fine restaurant, and also feed the chickens if you need to.”

[justsayun]

Ponytail

I shared a new fact with my granddaughter this week.  Her hair was in a ponytail, and I asked her if she knew the history of the ponytail.  She said no.  I told her that since the beginning of time, girls have loved ponies.  She said, and also kittens, right?  I told her she was correct.  I said that because of the little girl's love of ponies, that style of hair was called the ponytail.  And because kittens purr, we came up with the word “perfect”.   I noticed my daughter was listening in on our conversation and kind of rolled her eyes when I looked at her.  I’m sure she was thinking of how her father is such an intellectual.  I saw the other day that it was Senior Fitness Day.  What is that all about?  How exactly is Senior Fitness Day celebrated?  My vote is on either Balloon Volleyball or Nerf Weightlifting.  The three things I keep hearing over and over in the news are Gas Prices, Ebola, and Iranian Uranium.  I told my wife Let’s get these gas prices fixed first.  She said how she thought this Ebola problem in Africa should be my first concern.  I explained that my thinking was that we lower gas prices and, with all that extra money, we can send it to Africa to help fight Ebola.  See, honey, a win-win.  She said I’m sure that money you save at the pump will be sent to help fight the Ebola problem.  If it doesn’t go to fight Ebola, it will at least go to buy a big Stromboli for us for dinner.   I’ll only eat a tiny piece because I still don’t think it’s too late to try and get that Summer Body I’m striving for.  

[justsayun]

Stocking Hats and bad haircuts.

I publicly share comments on my observations.  My wife says I need to keep my thoughts to myself in public.  Like today, we stopped in at a new Thrift Store.  While I was walking by a rack of items, a couple of ladies were checking out a bowling ball in the sporting goods section.  I blurted out how hard it is to find a good bowling ball at thrift stores.  I got a nasty look from that comment.  Sure, I make shoot-from-the-hip comments, but I’m just a friendly person.  Think about it, how many times have you gone to a thrift store and brought home a bowling ball?  Let’s say never.  I did get a slight lecture from my daughter recently about perhaps I should think about some things before I share them with her boys.  I asked her what she was talking about.  She said, “Okay, Dad, did you tell the boys that people who wear stocking caps are usually wearing them to hide bad haircuts?”  I vaguely remembered making a comment like that.  My daughter explained how her kids shared that knowledge at school, and the kids on the playground made comments to those wearing stocking caps during recess.  I had to laugh at that, but then my daughter went on to say that the teacher traced it back to my grandsons, and she heard about it when she picked the kids up the other day.  So I’m the bad guy because my grandsons tattled on me.  Yep, she said:  They sold you out in a New York Minute.  I can’t believe my own family would turn on me so quickly.  I have some interesting information about Global Warming. I know they would have enjoyed hearing it, but I might just sit on it for a while.  It has to do with birds shrinking.  I don’t want to tell you what that means to the Tennessee Warbler.  Not Good!

[justsayun]

Can we make some room please?

My wife and I had an argument the other day that still hasn’t been totally settled.  But this controversy was about something unusual.  Sure, most married couples have misunderstandings about money, chores around the house, or even parenting.  Well, I think I have something new to add to the list. Our disagreement had to do with frozen vegetables.  Yep, you read it right, frozen vegetables.  Let me explain this to you.  I have no problem with vegetables, corn, carrots, peas, hey, even mixed vegetables are welcome in my home.  The issue is that my wife keeps buying all these little bags of frozen vegetables and tosses them in our freezer, the one that is located above the refrigerator.  I asked her to please stop doing that.  Put your bags of frozen vegetables down in the freezer and keep this freezer for our fun items like a frozen pizza or ice cream and ice cream bars.  You’ve taken all the freezer room with these stupid little bags of vegetables.  I made a big deal about this recently and cleaned out the freezer downstairs and took all these little bags of frozen vegetables and neatly stored them downstairs.  Then I went out and got a box of freeze pops to put in the upstairs freezer for the upcoming hot weather.  I even had enough room for a bag of ice and some ice cream.  I told my wife what I had done and explained that I was quite proud of my freezer accomplishment.  I came home the other  night and opened up the freezer for a freeze pop, and to my surprise, the freezer was stuffed with more frozen vegetables.  And to add to my disgust, even a big bag of Brussels Sprouts.  (I don’t even like Brussels Sprouts.)  I asked my wife what was going on; did she forget our talk about the little bags of frozen vegetables?  She said she was tired when she got home and would arrange things better tomorrow.  I’m not stupid, I know that is not going to happen.  She has the freezer so full of silly little bags of vegetables again. I tried to put some freezepops into the freezer, and could only fit three.  Is there anything sadder than a man who can only fit three freeze pops in his freezer?  I wanted to take those silly bags of vegetables outside and play corn hole with them, but I didn’t.  I’m sure my wife is trying to taunt me with the bag of Brussels Sprouts.  I haven’t figured out my next move, but trust me, I’m getting control of the freezer back.  Why are women so devious sometimes?  

[justsayun]

Get a License or park it.

I’m against government regulations.  Everything involves a fee and paperwork to be registered.  Too much red tape.  Well, I have to backtrack on one thing.  I’ve run into too many people on their electric mobility scooters who have no business driving anything. (They would be dangerous on a Teeter Tooter.)  I had my foot run over by some knucklehead driving too fast in Walmart while talking on her cellphone.  It’s gotten crazy.   I also recently had a lady flying down the aisle, eating a Whoopee Pie at a store on her mobility scooter.  She had to slam on her brakes to stop just inches from taking me out.  She immediately states how she didn’t know how to get it moving again. (Yep, driving something that she didn’t understand, all its controls.  Doesn’t that scream SUPER SAFE? I said a short prayer to myself and said, “Thank you, Jesus.”  I just see more and more scooter users who are reckless drivers.  Try to push their way through crowded areas.  Don’t get me started on the increase in aggressive mobility scooter drivers. (I don’t believe that because you’re on a mobility device, you have the right of way in the Cereal Aisle.) Some people need them, and I am sympathetic to that.  But let’s be truthful, many users are just too flippin' lazy to take two steps to grab some Pringles off the shelf.  I see no problem with a person wanting to use one of those mobility devices, but they need to take some type of driver's test.  Yep, you can’t drive through stores and street fairs unless you have a driver's permit for that vehicle.  I swear many of these scooter drivers picture themselves as Vin Diesel in The Fast and the Furious”.  As things stand right now, Stevie Wonder could be driving one of those mobility scooters through a store doing some shopping.  I hear it now.  “Hey, Dad, is that Stevie Wonder who just drove through that Bounty Paper Towel display?  Yep, son, it sure is, but I sure love his music. “

[justsayun]

Missing Button

Am I a sharp dresser? Well, I’d say I’m a free-spirited dresser. I have a relaxed attitude when it comes to my attire. For example, while out at a vintage clothing store, I spotted a long sleeve button down shirt that I really liked. I showed my wife my find and told her I love this shirt. She says you can’t get that shirt. Look closely, it’s missing a button. I told her it’s only one button. I can live comfortably in a shirt with one absent button. Heck, I’ll just wear the shirt unbuttoned. My wife said, “Who do you think you are, Fabio?” I told my wife that one or two missing buttons don’t scare me if I really like the shirt. Now I might pass on a shirt missing three buttons. I do have standards.

[justsayun]

Family Conflicts

For some reason, I’m always in trouble with someone in my family.  I was raised around people who said what they thought.  If you disagreed, my relatives could handle the blowback.  My kids might raise their eyebrows at my comments, but they always told their friends how their father was a good man, but never was on the PC bandwagon.  Now let’s move up to the present, like this weekend.  While out to eat, we were talking about a woman we know and her dating life.  I mentioned how I thought she needed to put herself out there more.  But all the females I was around honed in on my term of “Put out more”.  You’d have thought I was endorsing a person becoming a stripper.  (I do always love those movies about the stripper with a heart of gold.)After getting verbally attacked for a minute, I explained that I said she needed to put herself out their more, not that she needed to put out more.  I did joke that, hey, if she put out more, who knows how that would affect her dating life.  (My relatives would have laughed at that  where I grew up, but not this bunch.) I tried to regain control of this crazy group.  I said this woman is very nice, but if I can share one thing, my mother told me when I was young, that the number one most difficult task of being a woman is dealing with men. I asked Mom how she dealt with Dad.  She said if we had a disagreement, I made him a sandwich.  (Mom was a dynamite sandwich maker.) Perhaps a female friend needs to pack sandwiches for her dates. My wife gave me a look like should I hand you a shovel to dig yourself out of this.  I decided I was not going to grovel like I had said something terrible.  I said this is the last thing I’ll say on this silly subject.  I explained how, in my view, this woman, well into her adult years, gives off a weird vibe.  I said I bet if a guy makes it to three dates with her, the furthest he’ll get is maybe unbuckle her seatbelt.  There's nothing wrong with that, but I’m just saying.  

[justsayun]

Love & Amnesia

Well, the weekend is just about here.  I mentioned to my lady that I’m ready for hugs and kisses and all the wonderful things that could come with that. (What a beautiful gesture for Mother's Day.) I told her that if I were a part of an NCIS episode, they would assess that I was a ticking love bomb.  Yes, you could be due for a love explosion this weekend.  I asked, “What do you think?”  She just said, “We’ll see,” and walked away.  How can a proclamation of love like that be followed up with a “We’ll see”?  As any man knows, a “We’ll see” from their lady is the same as “Fat Chance” OR  “In your dreams”.  I’m still hoping for the best, but I must admit my heart's been bruised.  I enjoy movies.  Watching them on TV and even going out to one.  I am looking forward to the new Spider-Man movie this summer and the Avengers Dr. Doom one also.  I came across an article that talked about how most Americans love movies that involve Amnesia.  When I thought about it, I had to agree. Think of the Bourne Identity.  I don’t think  I’ve seen a bad Amnesia movie.  If a man suffered Amnesia and hooked up with some gentle, nurturing woman who tried to help him through his crisis.  If his wife finally found him.  Heck, she’d have to forgive him because he couldn’t remember he was married.  Yep Amnesia gives you a get out of jail free card.  Doesn’t mean you still can’t end up in the dog house.

[justsayun]

Fun with Chickens

I came across some information that surprised me.  It said that it’s very easy to hypnotize a chicken.  I had never heard of that before.  My daughter has chickens, so I’ve decided to go to her home and try to hypnotize one of her chickens.  She has small children, and I know they’ll all be in on helping with my experiment.  If I get her chickens under my spell, I wonder if I can get them to do some tricks?  If I can do that, wow, I could make extra money doing parties with my hypnotized chickens. (Hey, Miss Cluck Cluck, go inside and get me a beer.) I told my wife about this, and she was unimpressed.  She told me not to bring this subject up with her work friends when we see them this weekend.  So I told her I guess I can’t share my special insights about animals and hypnotizm.  She just gave me a judgmental look and said, “Please do not”.  I said I assume I shouldn’t share my new information about Polish car pools?  She asked:  “What pray tell is a Polish Car Pool”?  I said all the members meet at work.

[justsayun]

No oversharing.

I try not to share my life stories. I know if I doled out a lot of them, people would think I was making them up or was showing off, a one-upper person. I have never shared the tale of how my daughter came home from elementary school and pulled our Jumper Cables out of her backpack. I asked her what was going on. She explained how she took them for show and tell, and shared how I used them all the time with our car. Interesting story I’ve never told. I’ve never told others how one year I tried to convince my wife for us to try to do our living room in a kind of jungle motif. This was after the first Jurassic Park movie came out. It would have been fantastic, but I never could get my wife on board with the idea. I try to fight for good. I know people who have been to jail. Heck, I have a couple of old friends who went through reform school on Scholarship. A lot of men marry before they’re ready. I think there should be a marriage anonymous. A call center where you can call, and someone will try to talk sense into you. How often do you know a couple engaged, and you think? “That’s going to be a train wreck.” If a couple is a bad match, I wish something like a smoke alarm would go off. Some young fella has dreams of being the man of the house, but his wife to be has a vision of him just running errands for her. Yep, we need a Marriage Anonymous call center.  I think the motto for it should be.  Remember, marriage is a continuous process of getting used to things you hadn’t expected.  And in order to have a good spouse, you have to be one.

[justsayun]

Spreading the Love

Some things just don’t make sense to me.  I had a salad the other day and it had raisins in it.  What is this all about I said?  I ate it but hated it.  My wife said I should have told them when I ordered to hold the raisins.  I told her I had never seen raisins in a salad.  How am I supposed to mention something that I’d never seen before.  I thought whatever I’ll be smarter next time.  Well that night after my salad tragedy we were watching TV and that annoying commercial came on.  We all have seen it, “Kars for Kids”.  That commercial is so annoying and I get tired of seeing and hearing it.  I then told my wife we should do something like that for homeless people.  My wife laughed and said how would that go?   I said I think we should try and get transportation for the homeless.  Perhaps we could call it “Bikes for Bums”.  We try and get people to donate their old used bicycles to the homeless.  Let’s help make the homeless more mobile.  I can’t help but smile at the thought of a homeless person peddling down the road to a different street corner.  Maybe on an old Schwinn with the banana seat and a basket that they could put their stuff or even a small dog in.  Thinking of that scene makes me tear up.  Bikes for Bums.  Hey I have an old bicycle I’d give to prime the pump.  I told my wife even though she scoffed that I think the “Bikes for Bums” is a worthwhile idea.  Lets assist the homeless populations mobility problems.  I told my wife this weekend when I happen upon someone begging on the street I’m going to ask if they’d like a bicycle?  My lady said you’ll get punched.  I told her I believe I’ll get a positive response.  In fact I bet the person will want to shake my hand and maybe even give me money.  Well my wife is not supportive of my idea but then again Orville and Wilber Wright didn’t have many supporters, either did Alexander Graham Bell or the guy who invented the Sham Wow…  Yep my Bikes for Bums project is something I believe in.  I’m not going to be happy till I have every street person in my area peddling around town.  Instead of rolling my window down to hand them money, I’ll be able to toss them some change or an apple as they peddle past me.