Winners Piling Up

A couple years ago, my youngest son Tom and and I were trying to win a contest at an Easter party where you had to guess the number of Jell Belly candy in a big peanut butter jar. Leaving nothing to chance, we visited the Jelly Belly website, found out the exact weight of an individual jelly bean, calculated that against the estimated weight of the jar and made our "guess." We were only off by 14 jelly beans. We were on a sugar high for a week.

But we felt bad ultimately and not because our teeth hurt from all that sugar. We felt bad because we'd used something wholesome and good like math for nefarious purposes. Tommy is probably headed for a life of white collar crime and prison as a result. So don't do that, kids. Keep on the straight and narrow. When you enter one of those "guess-how-many-somethings-in-the-something" contests, use your powers of deduction, your observational skills and your good Irish luck. That's exactly what honest, hardworking, delightful young person Alexandra Ruffini of Kansas City, Missouri did in the Irish Fest children's area Guess The Coins in The Jar contest. And she won herself a great guilt-free prize and no sore teeth or consciences like Tommy and I got.

Congratulations, Alexandra! Well done!