Over the weekend

We had a pretty eventful weekend. Saturday was the halloween party and that was pretty fun. We didn't get to go to the Obama rally, but that's probably OK, since there were over 100,000 people there and I get anxiety attacks in that kind of crowd. On Sunday we had a big ol' filet mignon dinner. It was so good. Tender and juicy and wrapped in bacon. Mmmmmmm. Then we carved our pumpkins and ate pumpkin pie. What's better than pumpkin pie with some Cool-Whip? If you answered nothing, then you are absolutely right.

We've been getting into the spirit big time here. Watching "scary" movies and all. We LOVE the show Ghost Hunters. It's pretty cool. They are having a live special on Halloween night in some castle or something. I've been having trouble finding scary movies that are actually scary. So, this week we'll just stick with the old reliables. I like "the Stand", "It" part 1, "Blair Witch", "Sixth Sense" and oldies like "Amityville", "The Haunting", and "Halloween".

We still have to plan our trick-or-treat route for the kids. It is supposed to be perfect weather on Friday. They say 70 degrees or so. We still have to get their pics taken but as soon as we do, you will know. Here's some other pics for you.






Couples picture! Jonah and Jen, Kaiti and I, Andrea and Mike.



Lil' Mikey




Jonah and his "wife" Jen




Uhhhhh......




Yeah- it's the best I could do for $20. I'm not sure what it is, but it creeped everyone out.



That's MY beautiful Greek Goddess. I swear she gets more beautiful everyday.




I love these pumpkin carving books. They are so easy and fun.



Kenzee liked pulling out the innards. I hate it. In fact, I won't do it. It feels like wads of wet hair, like when I clean out the shower drain. Not my favorite thing.



Mari had trouble securing the stencil. We didn't have any tape, so we just used little nails. By the time she got started, her pumpkin looked like Hellraiser.



Here's me trying my best to be creative. Kaiti is actually the best pumpkin carver in this relationship. She blew through three pumpkins quick and they looked perfect. Mine kept falling apart.



Finished product. They look pretty good, I think.

Halloween fun

I really wish I had these videos. It was tradition to watch them over and over and over every Halloween in our family. These were two of my favorite. The third is the Great Pumpkin, but I have that one on DVD.





Tonight Kaiti and I get to go to a Halloween party at Mike and Andreas house. For those of you who don't know, they are the parents of Jonah's god-daughters, LaLa and Biscuit. Kaiti just went to return her costume for something else and I am going to be some guy. I don't really know how to explain it. It's a random mask and a robe. It was cheap. That's all that mattered. We wanted to match. Kaiti was going to be Dorothy and I would be the scarecrow, but the Dorothy dress didn't fit right. Then we were gonmna be Lil Red Rididng Hood and the Big Bad Wolf, but the dress didn't fit right again. We tossed out so many ideas that we just gave up. Let's just be "whatever".

It should be fun. Then tommorrow we get to go to Barrack Obamas rally and speech down in Denver. That will be fun. I want to take pictures but I don't think you can bring a camera. I'll double check.

Man, it's gloomy out right now and the wind is whipping through the trees and brushing the leaves around the parking lot. I love it.

HALLELUJAH

So yesterday we went to the doctor to get Kaiti's ultrasound done and I am very pleased to announce that it is NOT cancer. The doctor says it is just liquid in fatty tissue. So, we can breathe a huge sigh of relief and continue with our lives.

We are still doing very good except we are arguing now about me getting a second job. Money is super tight right now and I think it will be until tax time when we get a little relief and catch up on everything. The business at my restaurant is slowing down considerably and they are cutting shifts. I usually work in the upstairs of the bar, actually almost always, and they are considering closing the upstairs on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. It probably won't take effect until January 1st, so I should be fine through the holidays. We just have monthly obligations that far exceed our take-home.

So I called my old work (Black-eyed Pea) and asked if they needed any help. They said they were in need of servers bad and welcomed me to come back in. I told them that I couldn't commit to anything and that I'd like to just pick up shifts whenever I could and that was mostly OK with them. Kaiti doesn't like the idea because we wouldn't get to see each other very much. That bums me out too but what else am I to do? I have to keep this family afloat through these times and I am willing to sacrifice everything to do that.

After hearing her be so upset, I skipped my interview with them today. It was probably a dumb move, but I believe they will take me back whenever I want, so I can always go back.

Today I spent a few hours in the DMV. It's probably the most stressful thing to me. I have very little patience and when you get your number it becomes a game. I looked at my number. #73. Ok- don't look at the screen yet, don't look up. I say a little prayer and hope the counter says, "Now Serving: 72." Like powerball or something. Please let my number match....

"Now Serving:48"

D'oh!!! Ok, it should go by quickly. It's not the big DMV, just a little place in Golden. One hour later- "Now Serving: 52".

I can't help but think of Dane Cooks standup:

I went to the DMV, or as I like to call it, "Satan's A**hole". And you go, "I'm gonna go early. I'm gonna get there at 6:01". You get there and there's people like sleeping in sleeping bags outside, 400 people waiting. Nobody's talking either. Everyone's just standing there... everybody's dead quiet. But you know everybody's thinking the same thing.... AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!! Go!!!! Go!!!!! You know what they should do? When you go, they should have someone just hiding and just punch you in the face. At least then you could be like, "I guess waitings not that bad after that punch in the face". In the year 3000 everything will be instant. Everything. Just get into a teleporter and, "Bye!". But the DMV will still take like 9 *bleepin* seconds.

Anyway- I got it done. I now have a CO drivers license. YAY!!!

I am also proud to announce that I voted today. Thank you, thank you. I hope that ALL of you get out and vote. This is a pretty important election and the country is in bad shape. Whether your vote is McCain or Obama, you should vote.

There were a few issues on the ballot that I felt pretty strongly about as well. Amendment-wise. Amendment 48 was a definite NO for me. It was the "Definition of Person" Amendment. It would make abortion illegal in all cases and even ban birth control. It was a woman who wrote the amendment too. Plus I voted for mandatory health insurance coverage to be provided by businesses with 25 or more employees, and against Colorado becoming a right-to-work state. There was lots of stuff. But I feel good that I did it and I even got a sticker.

Anyway, I'll write more later. The World Series is on. Go Phils!!

This is a picture i took on the way home. Now, imagine being right there, about 60 degrees or so, the wind lightly blowing and the leaves tumbling across the street. Man, I love Colorado.

So, today we went to Littleton because they have a HUGE pumpkin patch and fun stuff for kids. It was so cool. I don't know if we just snuck in or not, but there was a $10 cover charge and we paid nothing to get in. That's just fine for me. The kids were so excited, It was me, Kaiti, mari, Kenzee and Mad-Dog.

I don't remember ever going to an actual pumpkin patch. I remember places that had picked pumpkins and all and you just went and picked already picked pumpkins, but this place was an ACTUAL pumpkin patch. It was like cutting down your christmas tree. It was SO fun roaming the farm trying to find a perfect pumpkin.

Kaiti liked this one. Mari ended up getting this one. It had green on it and it was a good shape, but I wasn't sure if it would be orange eventually or just stay green.

The kids wanted to get face-painting done and the girls who did it were pretty amazing. You should have seen some of the stuff they did. Expensive? Yes. But it's so worth it to me to give my children a memorable experience.

A marriage was about to take place and I just loved the atmosphere. It was so great to see all the trees changing color and the barn and the weather. It was just so perfect.

Mad-Dog is a demanding little man and as soon as he saw the horses he looked at me and said, "RIDE-IT". He LOVES horses. They're cool and all, but Madden LOVES them. He's a little cowboy in the making. He wears his cowboy hat and says, "Giddy-up, Partner". He's not even two. He just loves them, so I had to fork out the dough.

Mari is more my child than her mothers' so I take her with us everywhere and she got to ride a pony as well. Her mother is the problem for most of us.

Mad-Dog LOVED these Belgian horses.

They are the cutest this way. When we go through parking lots or whatever, they hold hands. So cute.

Kenzee was too scared, but Madden was a trooper when he got to meet Dora and Boots.

Doctors appointment and more

Yesterday, Kaiti and I went to the doctor to get her initial checkup. It was a very frustrating day. I wanted to go so that I could be in the room with her and hear what the doctors had to say and everything. Instead, I got stuck in the waiting room for almost 2 hours trying to corral two bratty children. I just about lost my mind. They wouldn't listen to a word I said and they kept screaming at the top of their lungs. It was very embarrassing and miserable. Anyway, Kaiti came out of the room, finally, and she had a bag in her hand and other paperwork. I was so stressed out of my mind that I just loaded the kids up and we left without saying a word to each other the whole way home. After we got home, I asked what had happened and she started to cry a little bit. At first they thought it might be something to do with her period until they felt it. Then they said they thought it was a cyst, until Kaiti told them about the pain she was having in her arm and armpit. Then they decided it was probably a fatty tumor. This was just stupid to me. It sounded like they were holding wrapped presents and just trying to guess. "Hmmmm...it's round, must be a ball- but wait, it's also soft.....maybe it's a pillow. Now hold on- it makes noises.... it's a....it's a.... stuffed...animal?" For them to suggest tumor or cancer without doing any sort of biopsy or ultrasound was a little premature and it set Kaiti off into frantic mode. So what do they do? They set an appointment for her on the 22nd! The 22nd? That's two weeks away, ma'am. If you are going to suggest cancer, then shouldn't we move this thing along, like NOW? It just doesn't make sense to me. So, since she is too young for a mammogram (doesn't that sound like a senior escort service?), she is getting an ultrasound in two weeks. I guess that's the best we can do right now. So yesterday, I took the night off to spend time with my so sad wife and comfort her. First though, I headed to Wells Fargo. I asked for the bank manager and she brought me to her office. I explained to her the situation and began to cry a little. "Please miss...you have no idea how much money that is to me and my children.... that's food for a month.... and I'm a single father...working day to day...and blah, blah, blah." I mean, most of that's true, but the tears were pretty fake. Anyway, she reversed all of the charges and I just had to put in the amount that I was short in the first place. That was the good news of the day. Then I hit up Taco Bell for dinner since neither of us felt up to cooking, and Taco Bell has this REALLY cheap menu and all. We rented a movie for the kids (Wow Wow Wubbzy) and a movie for us (The Happening- totally stupid movie, horrible acting, etc.) and called it a night around 8:30. It was pleasant, but then again, it's always good when I get to fall asleep with my little wife. We woke up this morning and we move forward. Life goes on.

That's robbery

So, I officially hate banks. I understand that you shouldn't write checks unless you have the funds available, but you should also not rip people off at any given chance. So, I was a little short for rent, but didn't want to pay the late fee of $50 + $5/day on top of my rent, and I didn't want them posting that note on my door that's embarrassing. So, I floated a check to them on Monday. I was about $100 short or so, at least I thought, but it didn't matter because I worked on Tuesday and could easily make the remainder then and rush it to the bank on Tuesday night. My rent check has always, for the past 3 years taken AT LEAST 2 full days to clear my bank, so I felt good about it. I checked my internet banking and there was a list of 12 things that were "pending", but had been charged up until last Tuesday. Should've cleared by now you'd think. Anyway, I get onto the internet banking on Tuesday morning, at about 5am, and there it was. This big - $568.00 staring at me. So, how does that happen you ask? Well, after speaking with the phone banker, they explained it is Colorado law that they cash large items FIRST, regardless of the date of the transaction, and since they "may have been" expecting my rent check soon- they kept those items pending. So, they cleared the rent check and a couple other things and then they proceeded to hit me with $35 overdraft fees ELEVEN times. Each transaction that incurred this fee was under $15. PLUS- I didn't know this either- when you get gas with a Wells Fargo card.....it doesn't register in your balance except for a $1 charge, until about a week later. That's hilarious. It's so funny that I'm about to cry. Maybe it's my fault for not being Mr. Checkbook balancer but I expect that when I make a purchase, you take that out of my balance immediately. Instead, I get to go into the bank and raise hell. Besides that, my Norton Internet Security expired and now my internet runs slow as molasses and crashes constantly. Plus, Comcast is doing something with the phones and ours is all jacked up and we can't get or send calls from the house at this point. The customer service lady said she'd have to send someone out to fix it, and that it would cost US!!!! We didn't do anything!!! You pay for it!! Uggggghhh- Not to mention that we have Kaitis appointment today at 2:30 and I'm very nervous about that. Anyway, I have to get back to this wonderful life of mine and I'll update when we know more.

Happy Birthday, baby

Guess who's 23 today? Oh man, my girl is getting so old. Today could go either way but I'm hoping everything goes well. Last night Kaiti was having bad pains through her arm and is very worried about the possibility of breast cancer, as am I. But I just have to believe that this is a false alarm. These things don't happen to ME, right? I don't know. Her doctors appointment is on Wednesday and it is at the county office, where it's free. Hopefully it can wait until then. If not, then we are off to the ER where we will accrue a massive bill that we will never be able to afford. Plus, I don't want to spend her birthday in the hospital.

I feel like crap because I have no money to spoil her today with gifts, but I gave her an IOU. She says she doesn't want anything, but I just have to get her something. I am going to take her out for a really good dinner tonight but that's all I can do at this moment.

Anyway, keep your fingers crossed for us and I will definately keep everyone updated.

Happy Birthday sweetheart!! I love you with ALL my heart.

Please be nothing

We found a lump in Kaiti's left breast last week and it has grown. We're getting it checked today (I believe), and I will keep you informed.