My house stinks!

At least, once I leave my bedroom doorway and enter the halfway, it stinks. More than 'smelling like boy', it is the smell of skunky laundry, and more specifically, skunky shoes. Justin inadvertently left his load of laundered clothes in the washing machine from Tuesday night until Thursday late afternoon when he got home from working for his father. Talk about stink! There is little that smells as awful as wet clothes, and in this case, shoes. He rewashed the load, after I convinced him simply doing a rinse was not enough. He got his work clothes into the dryer before going to bed and pulled out what he needed in the morning. Justin put his canvas shoes on top of the dryer to air dry rather than have them bang around inside it. The smell of those shoes was offensive to the nose.


When he came home from work yesterday, he immediately showered, changed his clothes, and took a rest. I don't blame him for that at all. He claims it was 88 above zero when he drove home, which might be true on his car thermometer but in real life, I doubt it. It might have been in the lower 80's but he was flushed and had a pounding headache, so I have to believe him. 


Anyway, when he tippy-toed in here later, always liking to startle me as I am engrossed in my Internet programs, I told him the smell of his shoes was making me sick. Immediately he said he knew that and was planning to rewash the entire load, as he could smell it on himself all day long at work! I suggested he put some vinegar in the water with the soap, but he used the fabric softener I had bought in error, thinking it was soap, to soak his clothes. But the shoes still stink, and he thinks he will throw them out instead of try to save them. For $10, he will get a new pair and be done with it. Not a moment too soon, as I can smell them from here!! 
                                        
I am listening to and watching an Internet show via my ROKU at the moment, with the Editor of The Blaze reporting about a man's obituary which has gone 'viral'. For those who do not know, this means that people have viewed the obituary by the thousands on the Internet. Not sure where it's posted besides The Blaze, but the point was how many people wished to read about this man's 'unrepentant' life. I suppose they feel they lived vicariously through his wild ways, or something like that. The editor, Scott, remarked that you can define a man by what his friends say about him at his funeral. Oh oh.....I better be nicer to my friends!! Another man has said, "As go your friends, so go you", or was it someone's mom who said that?


Justin is always weary at the end of his day, whether he is doing landscape work for 6 hours, all day, or driving his father around creation. He has homes or projects going on scattered sites right now, and Thursday, Justin visited four counties as designated driver for his father. This works great, multi-tasking from the mobile office and Justin does not mind being in the air conditioned car. I suggested he think about a career as a limo driver! He is a big fan of tuxedos and he would most assuredly get his share of them driving teenagers to their proms!


Wednesday night Justin made dinner for us, having almost completed the preparations before I got home from choir. He made spaghetti with meat sauce, adding fresh ground (is that the word??) parmesan cheese using my Pampered Chef tool specifically designed for this. Randy had given us the cheese and Justin put it to use, and wow, was it ever delicious!


As we ate, I told him about a segment on Fox and Friends that morning with Dr. Keith Ablow, a psychiatrist. Viewers had written in with questions for the segment titled "Normal or Nutty?" and Keith makes the determination if their behavior is okay or not. One question that morning regarded a man's desire to eat nothing other than hot dogs and hamburgers---ever. A grown man! And the doctor declared him to be nutty. Huh...Justin has a friend who has very limited foods on his list, and what he does eat, is quite bland. For some reason this really annoys Justin and he tries valiantly to get him to change it up a little. 


Dr. Ablow (Keith) said it is ALWAYS deeper than eating only burgers and dogs, there is something else at work here, controlling the only things in your life that you can, etc. Interesting stuff. Justin was upset with what his friend chose to 'give up' for Lent, other than drinking. He gave up something he would never really miss, so instead of doing it to reflect on Christ's sacrifice, as is considered the reason for Lenten 'fasting', he gave up something symbolic instead. Justin tried to 'influence' his friend to do something more meaningful but the guy's fiance declared that one person cannot choose another person's sacrifice. Justin is sure his friend is doing it wrong!


Justin does not participate in this fasting, except last year, he made an exception. In order to save money, Jesse and he decided to give up meat. This was their attempt to stop going to fast food restaurants, since their choices would be extremely limited. It had nothing to do with religion and was all about the wallet, and waistlines! They did fairly well, too, with their commitment, having meat only once a week so planned accordingly. 


My boy is the social coordinator for his group, but that only works when everyone is on board. He just had a disappointment, though, when Jesse, the only other one in his group who could do it, backed out of a movie marathon coming up. On May 3rd, there is a Marvel comics movie marathon at the local theater, showing 5 or 6 reruns of super hero movies (I know, right???) culminating with the showing of the new Avenger movie at the end of the day. 
                                          
When he was in high school, I gave him permission to attend an all-day event showing The Lord of the Rings movies, missing school to do so. What a mom I was!!! He loved that, attending with his friend, Mark N., and still has the lanyard with the souvenier card hanging from it. He wanted to do it again with the comic book characters. Yes, this makes me put my hands to my face and sigh...but, it's a guy thing, I guess. 
                                    
Justin did all the math---how much for the marathon, using Jesse's Stubs Card from AMC to get the tickets, discounted sodas with free refills, and a five dollar credit earned by using the card. He can certainly do his 'ciphering when it comes to things like this! But, Jesse was not as excited about spending the $40 as Justin was, so now he is disappointed. Instead, though, they are going to have their own marathon, rent the movies on NetFlix and then eventually see the new movie at the theater. No lanyards though, this time....sigh.....