Unique Toddler Costume Ideas That Will Make The Other Kids (Parents) Envious

Since I was asked, why not. I’m not writing about Dora, Disney Princess, Power Ranger or stuff like that - those aren’t very exciting. I’m throwing out ideas that will make a statement to the world! Or at least to the neighbors…

Alf- Toddlers and Alf are about the same size. How cool would it be to teach a kid to say “Yo, Willie!” or “HA!” in Alf’s signature alien Melmakian voice. They can even get into the role while “Trick or Treating” by asking for dryer lint and tossing in the family cat instead of Chocolate and Gum.

Tattoo from Fantasy Island – I think it’s funny when little kids are dressed as adults. But if they’re dressed like Tattoo, wow! That would be really something. People will probably mistake them for the real guy. Even better, have Dad (or Mom) dress like Mr. Rourke and instead of saying “Trick or Treat” announce, “Smiles Everyone, Smiles!”.

Chewbacca – If I have a boy on kid #2. He’s going to be Chewbacca and I’ll teach him how to growl after ringing the doorbell real loud.

Gollum from Lord of the Rings – And when people toss candy into the kids’ bag, teach them to look in it immediately and say “My Precious” in a sinister voice.

1970’s Jumpsuit Elvis – With the porkchop sideburns, sunglasses and the cape. And when people give candy teach them the shotgun finger routine and have them say something like “Thank Ya’ very much”, or “I like your Cadillac”. (This is my future son’s 2nd Halloween Costume)


If anybody else has any ideas, jot them on your own blog or leave a comment.

Things That Cheer Me Up These Days

With all the recent drama, its been a little tough to get back into my old self. I’ve always made it a point not to dwell on “bad” things, but to focus more on the positive. It’s not that I ignore the bad; I just never really forget.
Anyhow, a few things that make me feel pretty good about life right now:

1. Watching my daughter play. She’s nearly 15 months and is does the craziest things. She finds the simplest stuff utterly fascinating. Things like hiding blocks in strange places like my sock drawer, making piles of toys and then sitting on them and laughing, poking the top of her head at the edge of the table so I can just see her eyes, then giggles, hides and does it again. It’s things like this that makes the worse days seem not so bad.

2. My wife. I can’t even explain how lucky I am. She can sense anything I’m thinking or feeling. It’s creepy, like mental telepathy in a David Lynch movie (minus the midgets on tricycles).

3. Videos posted on YouTube by strange people with the same humor as me. I admire these people who go through the trouble to do this because now it’s not too much of an effort to find this crazy stuff.

4. The upcoming Food and Wine festival this weekend. And it’s walking distance from my house, which is a huge plus. Two of my favorite hobbies food and wine. Now if Gary Coleman were there serving wine – well, that would be just too cool!

5. The stuff I’m working on at work. I have to admit I really like my job. I can’t tell anybody what I’m working on, but it’s really, really cool. Whenever I attend a focus group or testing, people really eat this stuff up. One of these days, I’ll write about it. I’m just too afraid company eyes will find this blog and then I’ll end up waking up one day, tied to a cactus, 70 miles outside Vegas.

6. Coming up with costumes ideas for Halloween (I still can’t believe its already October). Last year I wanted to be Colonel Sanders and then dress my daughter up as a chicken and then put her in a bucket. This year, I want to break out my accordion, dress her up like a Monkey and give her a can (to put candy in). But the wife doesn’t think that’s a good idea.

The Court System And Restraining Orders

I can finally write about this. This isn’t a normal post today; this is something very serious. I’ve thought a lot about whether or not I should write this. But I feel my experience could possibly be of help to somebody now, or in the future. So if you’re looking for something upbeat, you’ll probably want to visit tomorrow or the next day, or next week.



About 3 weeks ago I started getting threatening phone calls directed at my family. I’ve never had anybody in my life try to terrorize/harass/threaten the life of me and my family - ever (this is crazy stuff that happens to “other people”, or only seen in movies or the news), so imagine my shock that this was actually happening to me. Normally I shrug crazy people off but the person doing this stuff actually has a very physically violent history and has followed up words with actions on more than a few instances - A person that I haven’t personally seen in about 7 or 8 years, at least. And have had no regular communication with in about 12 or 13 years.
I've had about enough after 2 days when this person left a real threat to come after my family and I, so I went to the local Sheriff station with my wife (who was completely freaked out), I was advised to go get a temporary restraining order immediately. I’m not sure if people are aware of this, or have even tried or have known of anybody that has gone through this process, but it literally sucks. I had to wait nearly 6 hours to finally speak to a Judge sitting through felony trials, DUI cases, civil whatever’s, etc. When my turn finally came up the Judge asked about 5 or 6 questions, granted it, and then set a court date - which was today.

What most people must be thinking right now is “why?” What happened to cause this? The short version: I reported a known and admitted child molester to my father's family to keep him away from a family reunion. And this pedophile just didn’t molest one boy – more like 8 that are known. And I got some major retaliation for it because some people are willing to do anything to shield and protect these monsters so they can still interact with kids. There are some serious F’d up people in this world.

I did end up getting the permanent order earlier today, the Judge agreed that the person doing the threatening is pretty dangerous after providing 7 declarations, playing recorded messages, and giving some back-story. Thankfully the person didn’t show up (which built a lot of anxiety wondering). In the end the court system does work. It just takes a lot of time, preparation, and effort.

After speaking to a few close friends today, I got asked this a few times - if I should have just stayed quiet and was it was worth speaking up – most people don’t. Yes! Absolutely, because it was the right thing to do.

And do you want to know the clincher to this whole thing? This person is my biological mother. Who now has a permanent restraining order coming to her later this week by Marshal. The pedophile is her uncle, and the victims are her brothers and a whole lot of cousins.




If anybody out there wants to know how to put a domestic violence restraining order case like this together or needs advice, I would be more than willing to help. I have lots of good information. I did get a little legal help and it really helped, but you generally don’t need it in cases like this. Feel free to email me and I promise; I’ll help as much as I can.