magic.rox

Over the weekend my in-laws came up for a get together to celebrate my daughters’ upcoming 9th birthday.  They also had fun picking apples from our apple tree.

My mother-in-law took 2 five gallon buckets that were almost halfway full.  My niece Sabrina got a nice amount in a box.  After the festivities were over I wanted to go pick some, not for me but for my ROX family.

This is what I could reach.  It may not look like much, but believe me it’s a grab.  I do not fertilize or spray my tree, so these are completely natural treats the entire family can love.  There is still this many or more near the top of the tree, but they are not ready for harvest yet.  When they are I will be ready.

I couldn’t keep my mouth shut about what I was going to do, so I posted about this earlier.  The only problem is that the apples weren’t ready yet.  They are now.

This is what you will be receiving in the mail (in 2-4 days).  A sheet with greetings and instructions on what we think would be a good use of the apples, a mason jar containing apple crisp mix, nutmeg and apples,  there is also extra apples in each box.

We divided the apples in the big box pictured above into 4 equal parts.

B:  If you want to find out what variety of apple these are, please do!  I’d like to know for myself.

I don’t feel it’s appropriate to let this great natural resource of mine go to waste.  You have all been like a family to me in one way or another.  This is just one of many ways for me to say thanks.

P.S. MF and Kelly:  You’ll be receiving another “surprise” gift once I get a shipment in the mail.

Today is my dad’s 57th birthday.  Happy birthday dad!

I’ve really lost count of my dad’s age since about 1999.  It just doesn’t really matter to me anymore.

While he won’t be receiving any gifts right now, he does have something coming.

Bill Cosby is performing at the IU Auditorium in September, the first thing I thought of was dad.  When I was a child he spoke constantly of listening to Bill Cosby albums when he was a teenager.

Dad’s health hasn’t been too good recently.  I hope he can feel like a kid again, if just for one night anyway.

Tomorrow is our 4th wedding anniversary.  Much has happened since that wonderful night in Bedford.

We didn’t really do much for our anniversary last year, so this year we are at least going out to eat at a nice place.

Rachel will have a surprise in store for her as well.

Sometimes it seems like we’ve been married forever, but then I look at people like her parents and B & XY and realize we’ve only just begun.

Coming from a broken home, I try as hard as I can to ensure I don’t fall into the same trap my parents fell into.  My father has been married to someone he hates for 21 years.  My mother has been married 3 times, she’s said that she’ll never get married again, and so far has kept up with that statement.

When I see the differences in our upbringings, I realize why I am the way I am, and why Rachel is the way she is.

Sometimes it makes me depressed that I wasn’t as lucky as her, but then I realize that I wouldn’t be who I am without what I had to endure.

Rachel, you are my rock!  Without you, I’m not sure exactly where I’d be right now.  I love you. 

Last week I sent an email to the entire ROX blogging crew, asking if they liked apples.

I was very surprised as to the response I got.

B is very curious about what my plans are, and even told me about a particular type of apple he enjoys.

MF told me that she isn’t particularly an apple person, but I have another idea which she might enjoy just as much.

J and Kelly both told me that they love apples and can’t wait to see what they shall receive.

I can’t hold this little secret any longer, so the cat is out of the bag folks’.

This is my apple tree.  When we first moved into our home, it looked like an overgrown bush.  With much trimming, I’ve turned it into a “happy tree” as I like to call it.  We’ve only had one harvest due to an ice storm last February.  My mother-in-law came and took all of those apples, which I didn’t mind.

We’ve been checking the apples every week to see if they are ripe.  They aren’t yet, but once they are your packages will be in the mail.

This year is a different story, as I want my ROX family to enjoy the fruits of my trees’ labor as well.  All of you have been like a family to me, in one way or another.  This is the least I can do to thank yall.

I don’t know the type of apple that grows from this particular apple tree.  They are green, medium to small sized, and quite tart.  They are best used for baking purposes.  My thought, send everyone a “apple crisp in a box kit!”

I also plan on sending Kelly and MF ROX Season Zero sets as well.

It bothers me that my search for help with this heat damage problem has led me nowhere.  Sometimes you have to find your own solution to problems, which is what I’m working on.  With the help of Photoshop for Video, I have learned a few things.  I hope to soon have the skills to correct this damage, and continue on my way of saving this beloved show for generations to come.

This show enlightened me in those key teen years.  It wasn’t about the drinkx, or the drugz, it was about keeping your mind open to new and unusual things.  Something that is still lacking in society today.  If I hadn’t stumbled upon J&B on the ROX playing on BCAT oh so many years ago, I very well could be in prison or dead by now.  Many who know me well, know that my life has been nothing but a story of hardship and overcoming seemingly impossible hurdles.  It will all be in my book.

I know I’m repeating myself, but this is the least I can do to thank everyone who participated in the show, whether as an active participant, or as a passive person who was just there when the camera was rolling.

I came into this as merely a fan, but I’m treated as if I’m a family member.  Words cannot describe how amazing that feels.

While in Oklahoma visiting my aunts, I went to look at an old radio that was my grandfather’s.  My aunt Laura has it in a storage trailer of hers, and said that I could have it.  While we did not have space for it to bring it back with us, I will make a trip to pick it up soon.

The trailer was very high off the ground, about 6 feet to be exact.  They had a pallet sitting on it’s side to climb up into it, and at the time I didn’t feel sure about climbing down it, so I jumped.  BIG MISTAKE!  I just found out today that I “might” have broken my right tibia.  The x-ray was inconclusive to a doctor and the x-ray tech.  They sent it off to a radiologist so I should find out tomorrow.

But I got these beautiful, incredible pictures of an item that is worth it’s weight in gold to me.

Many people may see those pictures and just see an old radio, I see something much different.

My grandfather was a radio & TV repairman for most of his professional career.  He was the ONLY one in Adair county, Oklahoma.  While in the navy during WWII, he installed radar systems on the pacific fleet.  This radio represents what my grandpa was, and what he loved.  He was always into “new technology” just as I am.  I think I get most of my curiosity about this from him.

He was the only grandfather I really knew, and I still miss him to this day.  I was given his truck when I was 19, due to my epilepsy and age it was wrecked.  I spent every dime I had to try to fix it, but could not.  This item will not be treated with the same reckless abandon.

Wednesday, all of us (Me, Rachel, Taylor and Dad) are embarking on a journey I have made many times in my life.  We are going to a little bump in the road where my 3 aunts and 2 cousins live in Oklahoma.  The trip is somewhat less exciting as it used to be, as there is no Speed Trap in Watts anymore.  I might get my aunt Beth to talk on camera about how that Speed Trap became history, as she was involved in it.

The total trip is roughly 700 miles, and can be done in as little as 8 hours.

All of us have never made this trip together, so it’s going to be very, very interesting.

It used to be all about how fast I could make it there, but as I’ve aged, I’ve wanted to see things along the way.

This time we are going to stop at the George Washington Carver National Monument.  He’s the guy who invented countless uses for peanuts.  It’s on our way, and I’ve never stopped before.

The reason for this trip?  My aunt Beth is having a “family reunion” of sorts for the 4th of July.  We are going to stay at her house, which could double as a B&B.

I also have a delivery to make, as my aunt Laura sent me 13 8-tracks and 2 cassette tapes that she wanted transferred to CD.  The 8-tracks were a disaster, but I hope she still loves me.

I hope that someday, they can make the trip here.  It would be great to show them around for a change.  I’m hoping that perhaps next summer one of my cousins can come out for a week or two.  I would love it.

It’s been 2 years since we’ve made the trek, and I must say I’ve missed my aunts.  Their southern hospitality is something that is not found ’round these parts.

I started bright and early on installation of our new solar attic fan.  I wanted to get it done before the heat of the day set in.

The first thing I had to do was remove the cover of the old fan.  While I do not have any pictures of it, it entailed removing some shingles and prying it off the roof.

I then had to replace those shingles I had to remove to prepare the hole for the fan.

As you can see, the top half of the hole has been removed completely of shingles and roofing felt.  I then used my reciprocating saw and pry bar to loosen and remove any nails in the vicinity of where the flashing of the unit goes (underneath the shingles).

Now it was time for some test fitting.

As you can see, the bottom half of the flashing is above the singles.  This is how the instructions said to install.  It took a few times, but we finally got it.  The major pain was the fact that the fan is so close to the peak of the roof.

I then applied some roofing sealant, some call it tar to the underside of the flashing from the 9 o’clock to the 3 o’clock positions.  I ran 2 beads of it for an extra layer of protection.  I then slid it right back to the same spot.

I then nailed the unit in place as the installation instructions recommended.  Then I applied roofing sealant to the areas where I nailed the fan into place.

That’s it!  It was running before I even had it fully installed.

I was very surprised that it only took me about 2 and a half hours to fully install this fan.  I dread any work on a roof, but this went as smooth as can be.

Many thanks goes to my dad for helping me with this one.  It’s much easier to pass things from ground level to a roof with another person.

Now hopefully our attic will stay cooler, our energy bills will be lower, and we will have no leaks.

The next solar project we are discussing is water heating.  It’s hard to decide on what type of system to decide on.

After almost 2 years in our home, we have things on the walls.

We have, at my request, an art area.

We have family pictures abound.

And we have a nic-nac corner.

Now if we could finish the rest of the house and yard…

Rachel and I weren’t ourselves this weekend, we were productive!

Saturday, Taylor came over for a while and we had fun.  She was up with her mom, I think they’re trying to unpack their new home in Owensburg before they actually move up here.  As my big helper, she helped me with the yearly maintenance of my riding mower.  After Taylor left, dad and I loaded all of the concrete remnants I had removed from the ground into my truck.  I then took it off later that night.  I don’t think my truck has ever had that much weight in it, as it was lower in the rear than the front.

Sunday, Rachel and I re-arranged the garage.  It’s more organized now, and I must say easier to get things in and out of.  We got rid of a lot of trash we didn’t even realize we had, for that I took off another load of garbage.

While I finished painting our dining room area, Rachel worked on her final paper for her Master’s Degree.  There is still a little bit of touching up to do, but it looks fantastic!

Sorry about the picture quality, my lens needed cleaned!

We capped off the weekend by watching the last of the Star Wars Saga, Return of the Jedi.  I can’t believe how much of a Stars Wars freak my wife is.  I enjoy it, but she really gets into it!

Last Saturday my father and I travelled up to Muncie to see an old friend.  I hadn’t seen him in 12 years.  I’ve speratically chatted with him on myspace and yahoo messenger for about a year now, but didn’t have a chance to see him.

It was a short, but excellent meeting.  We chatted for a while, he is really good with model cars - something I never had the patience for.  We then went to Ruby Tuesday’s to get some grub, it was the worst service I’ve ever had.

Hopefully this can become a more than once a decade meeting.  I’ve missed you Justice.

Taylor has spring break this week.  She stayed last weekend with us, and is staying the evenings with us thru tonight.

Over the weekend we celebrated Easter with my wifes’ family bright and early on Saturday, and on Sunday with my family.  It was honest to goodness pure family fun.

We’ve missed Taylor tremendously, and hopefully sooner than later she’ll be up here permanently.  This weekend her mom and step-dad moved the majority of their belongings up here to their new home.  It’s about 30 minutes away, but that’s better than 4 hours.

We have been very busy, but having loads of fun.  Taylor got 2 new video games for the PS2 from aunties Brenda & Michele.  She got Petz Cats 2 and Madagascar.  The Cats game is more like a “beginner RPG game.”  I don’t like it much, but she does.  I do enjoy the Madagascar game though, as it is like the movie.  The best part is you get to “be” all the main characters, unlike most video games.  Taylor plays until it gets too hard, and then daddy takes over.

Taylors nighties were getting a little tight, so we got out my vintage Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles PJ’s.  I wore these in the late 80’s and they’re still rockin’ in 08!  It kind of reminds me of this picture.  Taylor’s only complaint?  “These feel like boys clothes!”  That’s cause they are!

I’m gonna miss her when she goes back to Tennessee, hopefully for the last time.

My business has just received two new jobs which are uncharted territory to me.  I have never done anything like this before, to some point it’s frightening.  It’s also something new that I can add to my list of products and services offered.

My aunt Laura, whom I’ve been emailing with quite frequently lately had a request for me.  As her nephew, I was more than honored to do it for her, even at no cost.  When she offered to pay me, it just made things better.  She has 13, 8 track cassettes she wants transferred to CD.  Why you say?  They must have some sentimental value to her, which I understand completely.  I miss that tape of ABC (Another Bad Creation) that I had when I was 10 or so.

The first step was acquiring equipment to handle the task.  I searched on eBay and contacted other family members to see if they had working 8 track players.  eBay can be a scary place if you’re not 100% sure on what you need.  I found a standalone player for sale by the original owner.  That’s always been the most reliable source of items in my case.  There are many re-sellers that don’t know the history behind a item, which is good to know when that item is 30+ years old.

It’s a Realistic brand (sold by Radio-Shack) in very nice condition.  I have no tapes to actually test it, but if physical condition shows anything, it’s pristine.

The tapes should be on their way from Oklahoma soon, after I finish a job which has a precise timeline, I will start on those.  I’ll write an update on completion.

The second job, I highly regard.  I have been trying to become an independent contractor for Indiana University for a while.  I put a bid in at the Kelley School of Business MBA Program a year ago.  I was asked again for a bid last week.

This project originally was to transfer 160 VHS tapes to AVI format to be then put onto DVD’s.  It was then discovered that the tapes were actually DVCAM and BetaCam SP tapes.

I immediately thought that I had lost this chance due to the high cost associated with the equipment.  DVCAM and BetaCam SP are professional grade formats, which come with a professional price.  For the price of 2 players, you can purchase a nice car.  I looked into renting, but that was almost as bad.  $75 per day for DVCAM and $250 per day for BetaCam SP.

I was reassured by the person requesting the bid that I didn’t have to put in a bid since the scope of the project had changed, but I didn’t want to tuck my tail between my legs and run.  So I calculated the prices of renting the equipment for the time I would need it and other associated costs and sent my bid.

I was in shock and awe when 2 days later she said she wanted to proceed with my bid.  I’ve finally succeeded with getting my foot in the door, but will I perform when my business and reputation are on the line?

I’ve been working on a few technical issues regarding this.  I found and purchased a brand new BetaCam SP Player for $500 today on eBay.  The MSRP on this model is $6200!  Far cheaper than renting one, I just hope I didn’t get duped.  One unknown is how long each one of these tapes are, and they want them in AVI format.  I’ve been working with some test files to see the best way to make ‘em fit onto 4.7 GB DVDs.  It’s been unsuccessful to say the least.  It seems the more I try, the larger the file size gets.  I’ve been working in a range of 10 gigs to 60 gigs, for the same file!

I’ve decided to use a test file (ROX #41) and render in different formats and codecs.  I’m going to furnish this list of information and let them decide exactly what they want.  I don’t use AVI that much, and I believe it’s highly inferior to QuickTime format.  Hopefully I can get them to come around.

In the end, I hope to deliver what my new client wants and more.  I hope this can build a reputation for me, and in the end, expand more.

Well, today went beautifully.

My neighbor came over to try to correct this clog in our drain.  We snaked the line, used a compressed air machine on it, and even cleaned out the vent line.

It just got worse.

So we’ve called some professionals in, we’re waiting on a call back to know when they can come.  Until then, it’s laundromat for us.

I’ve cancelled my plans on getting the basketball goal due to a surprise that came up.  My sister-in-law in Indianapolis decided to get new furniture.  She’s practicallly giving her old stuff to us.  I’ve always loved it, and we’ve wanted new furniture for a while.

So we’ll be pulling my little trailer along to help with the loveseat and couch.

I’m expecting some fun, to say the least.

I received an interesting e-mail on Wednesday.  The e-mail, from a family researcher, has been doing a lot of reading on this and my wifes’ blogs.  The subject line read this:  Lawmaster Family History — The SECOND Strangest email You’ve Even Received

What his message was telling me, changes everything I have grown to learn about the origins of my family name.  Kinda scary!

My father has always told me that my family name, Lawmaster, derived from a swedish name, “La-meis-ta.”  He has always said that when the individual with that name immigrated to the US, he married a native american woman and it wasn’t socially acceptable at that time.  They decided to “americanize” the name to Lawmaster.

This guy has a completely different theory, and I must say it is more believable than the story my father has told me all these years.

From the documentation he has shown, and what he has said the name started in this country with Wendel Laumeister who was a 1750 immigrant to York, PA.  He was German (is that why I married a crazy Dubois county German?).  It was then changed to Lowmaster.

I am merely assuming here, but I think due to the ways of record keeping at the time, Lowmaster was easily changed by accident to Lawmaster.  Everyone writes differently, and have you ever wrote with a quill?  It’s not the easiest thing in the world.  Believe me, I know.

It is nice to connect with someone who has a broad sprectum of knowledge regarding family history issues.  I have given him names, and he’s came back with dates that I was unsure of.  Hopefully this will be a long lasting relationship.

One piece of information he gave just blew me away.  He said that a common ancestor of ours is recognized by the SAR and DAR as a Revolutionary War Patriot!  Whoa!  I don’t know of any family members being in a war besides my grandfather, who played a major role during World War II, in the pacific theatre.  He was a part of the crew who installed all of the passive radar systems in the fleet.  From what he told me back in 1996, he was on shore leave in Washington, DC when the attack on Pearl Harbor happened.  That is also where he met my grandmother, she was working at the Pentagon.  He was immediately ordered to New York City to install systems on the Atlantic Fleet.

I am now trying to get correct and accurate data about my whole family.  This is not that easy because my uncle lives in Michigan, his kids are in Florida and Arizona.  I have 3 aunts in Oklahoma, 2 of them don’t speak to the other.  My grandfather died in 2000, taking many things with him.  He was a great man, and I miss him dearly.  My grandmother is a wealth of information though, but much time has passed and it is hard to remember things from 60 years ago.

I’m still waiting on some information from my aunts in Oklahoma.  I might call them today, but I don’t know if that would offend one of them due to religious beliefs.

I haven’t posted much lately due to many reasons, in particular I haven’t had much time.  We had Taylor for a week, much needed bonding time with my daughter.

In that week, we went here, there and everywhere in between though.

My wife, Rachel, wrote in her blog a day by day synopsis of what we’ve done.  Check it out HERE!

So I’m catching up……

Rachel and I had 5 days off for Thanksgiving this year.  Eigenmann Hall, where we work, was essentially shut down.  We visited with many people and did many things with our time.

Wednesday:  Taylor came up to spend her time off with us.  It had been a while since we last saw her, and we sure missed her.  She brought along her 2nd grade pictures, which I think are the best she has had thus far.

Thursday:  A very busy Thanksgiving.  I must say, I’m very thankful for all the friends and family I have around.  We started the day early and headed to my memma’s house.  We didn’t stay long, just long enough for Taylor to see her memmas’.

We then headed over to Basswood, where we used to live, and where my dads’ family’s Thanksgiving has been held for a little over 10 years now.  This year was much different, there haven’t been as many children around since I was a child.  Overall there was a feeling of happiness, although there has been some much felt losses.  We ate a little bit, talked and spent some time mingling.

Then we rushed the 3 miles or so back to our home.  As this year we hosted the Lee family (my in-laws) Thanksgiving.  Not fifteen minutes after we got home, my mother and father in-law showed up.  This was destined to be a blast.

We had prepared the turkey last Friday night as it was originally planned to be last Saturday.  A certain football game in Atlanta changed who showed up and I think the atmosphere for all.

We followed directions on how to prepare this bird from both of our mothers’ and added a little thought of our own, and voilla!

Overall, I think this was a Thanksgiving to be truely be thankful for.

Friday:  Mom, Taylor, Rachel and I went to see the new Disney movie, “Enchanted.”  I must say this is one I have wanted to see.  Two enthusiastic thumbs up on this one.  We then spent the rest of the day with my memma, Taylor and her had loads of fun playing Connect Four.

Saturday:  Taylor and Rachel primered the hallway while I rehung our dining room chandiler and installed a new receptacle.  The girls seem to like to brush versus rolling paint.  We then ran some errands and went to the MCPL.  Taylor has been wanting to go for a while, but it’s hard to do when you’re 2 states away.  She found some interesting books about “Dumb Bunnies.”  So we all read and laughed.  After getting back home we got a special visit from my little sister.  She flew out last minute from Phoenix!  Sadly her BFF’s dad was killed in a wreck.  We capped off the night by watching E.T. The Extra Terrestrial.  I hadn’t seen it since I was Taylor’s age.

Sunday:  After playing Uno Attack for what seemed like forever, Taylor left for Tennessee around 1:30.  Rachel and I seemed to act like teenagers for the rest of the day.  We paid for it once the sun fell though.

To get my wife’s perspective, check out http://raclee.blogspot.com

All in all, a very good five days.  Very good indeed.

Rachel and I have been busy the last week with lots of preparing for our first Thankgiving in our home.  Since we are young ones in our families, we generally go elsewhere to have this holiday feast.

Our first task was to finally start painting.  We have decided on 2 colors, with one color used for an accent wall.  Our colors?  “Bookmarker Red” and “Grand Stand Tan.”  The red color is a color from The Biltmore House.  If you’ve never been, I highly recommend a visit.

Painting was a royal pain.  I have painted for a living, and never in my life have I had to put so much work into two walls.  This red color required SIX COATS!

Here is 2 coats:

Here is 4 coats:

Here is 6 coats:

Our second task was to replace our old almost non working range.  We had picked one out, and was waiting for the right moment to buy.  I asked my family for Lowe’s gift cards for my birthday, so we put them to good use.

Our third task was to purchase a new dining room set.  Our aging dinette set was past it’s prime, and more suited for a college student than dare I say it, adult homeowners.  We went to Big-Lots to purchase the rest of a set of living room furniture and fell in love with this table.  Since we needed the table more than we needed the new couch and chair, we went for it.  I must say they have really got some good furniture.

Then, in my spare time today I installed new drapes and rods.  Our house is really starting to look more like a home.

We’ve decided to take a break until after Thanksgiving.  Then we will be painting the “Grand Stand Tan.”  After that we are painting all of our trim white!

Last Saturday evening, my father and I went to the Murat Centre to see one of my most favorite comedians, Lewis Black.

It was my first time visiting the Murat, and the first time my father and I had seen Lewis.

He is most known for his “rant” style of comedy.  For those who know my father, they are very similar as he loves to rant about my step-brother.

I have attempted over the past several days to embed clips from YouTube of Lewis, but for some reason can’t, so I will leave links to my favorite clips.

Here he is at the 2007 emmys:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFYhupmhhBw  I know the producers of a certain show will enjoy this clip tremendously.

He often speaks about politics, but his set didn’t have much to do with it this time, even though it was only few days away from election day.  His main message:  Santa for President in ‘08!  I know it may be shocking, but it has some merit behind it.  Lewis said, “None of the current canidates for president have the one qualification needed, joining the republican and democratic party’s to attain goals.”  I believe him.

This clip is the beginning of the set he performed for us (minus the helicopter):  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUCxoeGZ_Js

There was one hiccup, as confetti speraticly fell from the catwalk above the stage.  It diverted the audiences’ attention from Lewis and the other comedian.  In a moment of frustration, Lewis said he would track down Sammy Hagar, who was the previous performer there.  He would then put S*** on top of his stage to fall on him.  It was a moment of pure angst.  Somewhat similar to the clip above.

Lewis is also famous for his part on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.  He has a segment that airs from time to time called, “Back in Black.”  I love it!  Here’s a clip:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4SDQu7Izrk

All in all, I think he’s as cutting edge as George Carlin was in the 70’s.  I can’t wait to see him again.

Last night I received a call from my daughters mother.  Taylor had a seizure!

I was almost certain this was over, when she was around 1 she had a few seizures.

This brought me into an immediate depression with thoughts that I had passed it to her via my DNA.  I was assured by the doctor’s that since I was not born with epilepsy, I could not pass it to my children.  I’m starting to doubt that.

There are 2 events that occurred that could have actually given Taylor an impact to her brain to eventually cause epilepsy.  When her mom was 3 months pregnant with her, she had a bad car accident.  She broke her ankle and did a number on her nose.  Her car was turned into a V shape.  Then, when Taylor was a few months old an incident occured with my mother.  My mother was watching her for the day, she went and got some groceries and upon her return to home, placed Taylor on the counter in her car seat.  Taylor proceeded to rock a little bit, and she fell to the floor, face first.  She had a black eye that just made you cry.

Taylor had a few seizures a few months after the 2nd incident occurred.

There are some strange coincidences around this though.  Both my sister and I have epilepsy, and it started around the same age.  In both cases it has been contributed to blows to the head, but it can’t be proven to the Nth degree.

I hope my daughter doesn’t have to go through this horrible condition.  I believe it makes you a better person inside, but nobody wants their children to go through things such as these.

Hang in there Tator Bug.  Daddy loves you.

UPDATE:  I uploaded the Vamipress picture to the Herald-Times website and it’s on there! 

Since my child is a girl, she has mainly wanted to be “cute” things.  This year was a departure on that theme.  She recently dyed her hair a bright red, and decided to be a Vampiress.  I must say I think she pulled off the scary part quite well from the pictures I have seen.

She has been an M&M, an Angel, a Kitty, and a Pretty Witch on previous Halloweens.  This has been the first Halloween I have been apart from my daughter.  Her mother and I have always tried to make a point to go out with her trick or treating.  This year was impossible with the distance between us.  I’m sure it was great though.

You should be proud Taylor, as a Vampire was my favorite thing to be on Halloween!  I love you and miss you sweetheart.

I have this strange feeling of pride and sadness.  Every year, my daughter enters different stages of life that make me love her even more.  This is one big step in my eyes.  The sadness you ask?  When she isn’t my little girl anymore