Gift For Matthew

About last night's American Idol.

I am loving the actual SINGING this year -- but am wondering BIGTIME about the styling. Did you see those horrible puffy shorts poor Lauren had to wear? I was so embarrassed for her -- I was still trying to recover when PIA came out on the stage wearing a strapless, pedal-pusher jumpsuit made out of a chicken feed muslin...

GIRLS -- ARE YOU LETTING THE BOYS PICK YOUR OUTFITS??

What else could explain this obvious lapse in fashion judgement??!!

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My cousin Kim, who you've met many times, has two children. Carrie and Matthew.
Matt is in the National Guard -- and he's back in Iraq. This is his second tour over there, and one of the big differences is how Matt is able to stay in touch via Facebook and telephone calls -- using his laptop and Magic Jack. Don't ask me how the Magic Jack works -- but it is amazing...

For Matt's 30th birthday coming up -- Kim sent several packages. One of the things Matt asked for was golf balls. Several years ago, we had some kids living in the neighborhood who liked to drive balls into our hay field. It made John crazy -- and he would spend hours picking up those balls...

So, now, John has a purpose...he washed a 5 gallon bucket of balls...and lined them up on the table...

At the end of the day, there were 14 dozen golf balls...

Kim was packing up some of those USPS Flat Rate Priority boxes to create a party....there will be golf balls, and some mini-Christmas lights, grill seasoning...well, you get the idea.

So HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MATTHEW. When you hit these balls off into the desert -- try to visualize an Iowa hay field...