from the mixed-up files of a middle-aged mind

Me? Apparently I just married Earl. Last night for the weekly church youth activity several fearless leaders disguised themselves for a scavenger hunt at the local mall. They were supposed to dress up and then wander the mall aimlessly while groups of energetic teenagers roamed the mall and tried to get up their nerve to approach anyone looking out of the ordinary and ask for their signature. Imagine my surprise when my husband came up with this great get-up. The kids all thought he looked like a guy whose name is Earl. You know the one. B., who happened to be at my house delivering what might possibly be the best salsa in the world ( Thanks b.! ), agreed. Throughout our married life my husband has been told he resembles a number of celebrities: Mel Gibson, Mark Harmon, Huey Lewis, Steve Erwin, and now Earl. (The Mel Gibson thing occurred a number of years ago whilst he was one of the few, the proud...the only handful of male students in the elementary ed. program at BYU. I tried to t...

So Saturday my second child and his friends were bored. And look what they found to do to amuse themselves. I went to pick them all up to take them to Macey's and I actually had a moment in which I watched some stranger slide audaciously into the passenger seat next to me and I wondered, who was this kid sitting by me and why was he wearing my son's clothes? A mullet? Willingly and of his own volition? Don't laugh, it only encourages him. So after a few "I-love-you-honey-but-you-look-like-a-dork" comments on my part, we headed for Macey's. Under solemn vow, he agreed not to shop on the same aisles I shopped. He and I were waiting at the customer service desk for some change when some college student had the nerve to stop and ask him if he could take his picture. "Sure," Z~ said, and the guy whipped out his cell phone, took a picture, and continued to go on and on about how cool it was that my kid's got a mullet. He asked Z~ why he did it. "B...