Pax Is 1

Pax has turned one year old. We did it! We were able to take such good care of him that he is still alive one year later! We are super proud! I don't think I've ever been happier. Every time he looks at me I have to smile and be happy because I want him to smile and be happy too. It's a nice positive feedback situation to be in for sure. I think I have done a half decent job recording his life progress so far in my database. He will know things like; the first time he rolled over, sat up, stood, hold his own bottle, climbed the stairs, took steps, took a sip of beer, etc, etc. We also probably have 5 billion pictures and videos of him. It's ridiculous really. Everyone loves him because he is so cute. I can't wait to see how this next year pans out. What else will he do / learn? All I know is that I will do all that I can do be the best parent possible for him.

Post-Thanksgiving Update

I haven't written in a while and we got some much needed time off over the holiday so I figured I'd try to put an update out here.

THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY

THURSDAY
Thanksgiving was fun. We went to Mimi's as we normally do. She tried to get out of it but apparently my sister threatened her with 'I'm not coming up to visit unless you cook and have Thanksgiving at your house' so she relented. Everyone pitched in and made something and all the normal people were there, Me, Ale, Isaac, Pax, Mimi, Chuck, Autumn, Gaines, Dee, Jed, Jed's 2015 girlfriend Lisa, Zip, Chuckie and Kevin.

From what I've gathered from talking to everyone after this was one of the better Thanksgivings. Everyone had a great time. I know I did. I don't think Mimi had a great time. She takes it upon herself to do too much and I think that causes her stress. Maybe that's where I get it from.

FRIDAY
We didn't really do anything but relax and recover. I played games and hung out her Ale and the babby.

SATURDAY
Tried to set up a lunch with Autumn and Gaines so we could hang out since they made the trip the whole way here. It didn't work out so Ale and I had our own lunch which was awesome. They did come over afterwards to our house and hung out so it worked out anyway.

SUNDAY
Just did more relaxing. Got a lot of database work in.


EMPLOYEE YEAR END BONUS

We received bonuses at work for the holiday. Nothing great but better than nothing is how I'll politely describe that. The problem this year is that Ale and I got different amounts but somehow in their system the gave us the wrong ones. I got hers. She got mine. We weren't supposed to know that but we did. The official story as I understand is that there was just an error. On the paper they give you when you go into the meeting the amount was crossed out and rewritten, the deposits were wrong in our bank accounts, redacted and redeposited and the statements on the ADP website are also incorrect. Instead of fixing mine they gave me a second bonus to make up the difference. Why they didn't do something to resolve this before handing them down is something I do not understand. It really reflected badly on whoever is in charge of that and I heard all the managers were irritated as well.


MORE EX DRAMA

The boy texted me the other day at around 9-10 pm (which is super late for me, luckily I was up) telling me he was scared and that I should come get him. Mom and Anthony were fighting. What I found out was going on was that apparently she found a new boyfriend or crush or something and for some reason told the boy about it. (This must have been part of the plan because it is naive of her to think telling the boy anything will not get back to the relevant person) In hanging out with her current boyfriend (who from what I understand is just a babysitter to her) the boy must have slipped and said something. The guy immediately latched on to this and made the boy spill his guts as to everything he knew. This caused this guy to go into some sort of rage. He broke the plasma TV, her phone and it got physical between her and him. Obviously she has attempted to cloud the true events of that altercation as she is wont to do with severely confusing misinformation after the fact. The worst part, the part I find unconscionable is that she straight up puts the blame on that on Isaac. She texted me that it was his fault. Everyone has known she is incapable of taking responsibility for anything that has happened to her in her entire life but now she is starting to blame her children. I am doing my best to set the boy straight but man is she in his head. I fear for his future with the things she has done to him. I can tell he is getting smarter and can see what's going on but it some cases she still has him wrapped around her finger and it is really saddening. The boy was not the one who got a new boyfriend before breaking up with the old one. She did. I truly do not know where her head is at.

Anyway I did find out that instead of getting a PFA against this guy as she told me he promised that he will pay for the TV and phone, get a job and everything is just hunky dory and they're back together. What a wonderful gesture. You certainly wouldn't want to lose your rent-free house, etc, etc. I give this 3 months. He'll be back on the couch and everything will be as it was. Some people just don't learn and can't move on. Again as the boy gets older he will see.

I got another text of some sort recently basically saying if she can't get free healthcare for the boy then she will do nothing else to help provide it and it will fall to me to handle. Wonderful parenting! You don't pay for anything you can't lie to welfare and get for free but I'm somehow always portrayed as the bad guy to her.



BOY DRAMA CLUB

I told the boy at the beginning of the school year that he needs to get more involved with things and to do that I suggested that he join some sort of club. I don't care what. My first choice would have been some sports team but as long as you pick something I don't care. I found out at the beginning of the month that he had chosen the Penn Middle Drama Club. Ok good enough. I'm cool with that. So for the first play being held in December they had chosen to perform A Charlie Brown Christmas. Again that's fine. That's a classic. He did not chose to participate as an actor. He chose to be a part of the Stage Crew. This all makes me happy. I guess his job is to make set pieces and move them in and out during the different scenes. Good job boy. I am proud of you and I can't wait to go see the play (Dec 17th) so I can see you in action. My only concern (as it usually is): is his mother capable of getting the boy there and back to all his practices he needs to be at. My vote is on 'Extremely Unlikely' . He already needs to stay over Friday night since she can't get him there for Saturday's rehearsal. He needs to be there every single day next week and that worries me as well.

I did have a weird experience picking him up the other day from there. Apparently every parent that has a kid there tries to jam into the back parking lot when rehearsal is over and there's not enough room so a traffic jam is created. When I pulled in and saw that I parked in a lot that was away from all that and figured I'd just walk over and get him then come back. Well just as I got out of the car some guy, I don't know who, the principal, a teacher, someone who felt they were in some position of authority, sharply barked at me if they could help me. Of course me being me I instantly had 5 smart ass things I could have said but I bit my tongue and just as politely as I could answered, 'Nope just picking up my kid'. I don't know if he was confused at my refusal to get in the traffic line like every other sheep or what but it was unsettling to me.


GAS LEAK

The other day we came home from work and found several trucks with red flashing lights parked on our road. It wasn't the police so I guessed fire trucks. maybe someone had a kitchen fire or something. it ended up being the gas company. A guy came to our door to tell us that there was a leak in the line somewhere between our house and the meter on the road and that they shut our gas off. We needed to call a plumber and get it fixed before they would turn it back on. I called Chuck right away and he was in denial about it. He talked to the neighbors and got it all straightened out. I guess there really did end up being an issue because he had to pay $1000 he said to get someone to fix it. It was only out 2 full days and wasn't that big of a deal to us.


STAR WARS

Star Wars: The Force Awakens comes out on Dec 18th. I definitely want to go see it and take the boy. He wants to go with his friend Dylan so I friended his mom on Facebook so I could communicate with her and figure something out. We're definitely going when I planned so we will definitely see it. Hopefully we can work something out because this is the kind of movie you see more than once so I'm cool with going again.


CONCLUSION

Sorry so long. I should try and keep up with this more but that's okay. I finally got a good thing going in my database to log life as we go and that makes me happy. Ale makes me happy. Isaac is doing okay. Pax is the most cutest bestest babby ever. I think things are going to be okay.

Overcomplicating

I got an email from the school district:

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date:		Thu, Mar 12, 2015 at 1:07 PM
subject:		Volunteer Policy Changes for PTSD

Dear Parents:

There have been many changes to state policies as outlined in Act 153 that require the school districts to revise their policies on clearances for staff and volunteers. Penn-Trafford School District will now require all employees and volunteers of a school district to get their clearances every three years. The district will ensure that the staff requirements will be met. We have also updated our Volunteer Policy #916.1 to reflect the new requirements for all volunteers.

While we encourage parent participation in our schools, please be aware that to volunteer for the Penn-Trafford School District you must have current Act 34 (PA Criminal History) and Act 151 (Child Abuse). Current clearances are ones that you obtained within one year of the date that you would be volunteering in the school. Once you receive your clearances, they will remain in effect for three years per Act 153. At the end of the three years, you must obtain new clearances if you want to continue your role as a volunteer. If you have not lived in the State of Pennsylvania for ten consecutive years or more, you must also obtain Act 114 (Federal Criminal Background Check). If you have lived in Pennsylvania for ten or more consecutive years, you must sign Affidavit 153.1 (sample attached) stating that you have not been convicted of one or more of the crimes reportable under Title 18 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes or equivalent crime in another state, territory, commonwealth, or foreign nation. If you have received your clearances in the past two years, they will not expire until the third year from the date the clearances were issued. In other words, if you received your clearances this school year you should be good for two more school years.

Act 34 and Act 151 clearances take as long as six to eight weeks to process, so you are encouraged to apply for the clearances as soon as you decide to become a volunteer. Each form will be available online. We have links to this information on our school website.  We also have the online copies of the forms on the website. The schools do not send the forms to the state. It is the responsibility of the volunteer to complete the forms and pay the fees. The forms are $10.00 each and require a money order to complete. If you do the criminal record check online, you will pay online so no money order would be needed using that method.  As soon as you receive your clearances from the state, please take them to the school office so the secretary can make a copy for their file. If you have a record, please make an appointment with your child’s principal to discuss it. Minor incidents that do not hinder the welfare of a child do not prevent one from becoming a volunteer.

Act 114 clearances require the volunteer to get fingerprinted. These clearances cost approximately $28.50. The forms and procedures for Act 114 will be available at your school’s office and linked to our website.

If you volunteer for any overnight trip as a chaperone, you must have current clearances. This means you must submit the forms for Act 34, Act 114, and Act 151 that are less than one year old. 

Also, all volunteer coaches are required to have current Act 34, 151, and 114 clearances instead the waiver mentioned in paragraph #2 even though they may have lived in Pennsylvania for ten consecutive years or more.

Definition of Volunteer: A volunteer is a person who services the district without compensation on a planned and approved basis.

Examples of Volunteering: The following activities are samples of volunteering in our schools that occur on a regular or a one-time basis which require clearances: Wisdom Program, Accelerated Reader and Support Programs, Student Store, Basket Raffle, Box Top for Education Sponsor, Cameras for Classroom Sponsor, Historian/ Scrapbook, Recess Helper, Lunch Room Helper, Shop for Education, Weekly Readers, Bulletin Board Helper, Fitness Fridays, Campbell’s Labels, Friends of Sunrise Library, Library Helpers, Public Relations, Book Fair Helper, Santa Shop Helper or Wrapper, Field Trip Chaperone, Fun Day Helper, After School Clubs and Special Events Sponsor or Assistant, Home Room Party Chaperone, Homeroom Parent, Accelerated Reader Store, Track and Field Day Helper, Picture Day Helper, After School PTO Events and any other role or duty designated by the principal.

If you have additional questions, please contact me or your child’s principal.  In addition, your child’s school will be sending out information shortly regarding dates when we are bringing fingerprint services to your child’s building.

Dr. Matthew Harris

Superintendent

Frequently Asked Questions:

Question:  If a parent comes into the class to do a presentation, do they need to have clearances? Answer:  The parent will not need clearances because they are not working with a child.  They are serving as the guest of the teacher and will not take a supervisory role or be alone with a child.

Question:  If a parent or grandparent wants to attend a school play or Breakfast With Your Child Day, do they need to have their clearances?
Answer: The attendee will not need clearances because they were invited by the school to either watch their child perform or socialize with their child as they eat. The attendee in this case is not volunteering and there will be staff members in charge of supervision.

Question:  If a parent is scheduled to be on recess duty once a month, do they need clearances? 
Answer:  They need their clearances because they are performing a service where they have direct access to children.

Question:  If a parent volunteers for only the Fun Day event at the end of the year, do the need clearances? Answer:  They will still need their clearances because they are working with or supervising children.

Question:  If a parent receives their clearances but can no longer volunteer to finish out the year because of family emergencies, do they need new clearances during the following year?Answer:  The parent will not need new clearances until the end of the three year time period expires. The clearances are good for three years from the time that the parent receives them.

Question:  If a parent has a retail theft conviction, will they be able to volunteer? Answer:  The parent will still be able to volunteer as only records for items under PA Title 18 Consolidated Statutes or equivalent crime in another state, territory, commonwealth, or foreign nation prevent you from volunteering for an organization.

Question:  Why do we have to obtain clearances to volunteer in our schools? Answer: It is a requirement of the state mandated PA Act 153.

Question:  When do the clearances expire? Answer:  The clearances expire three years from the date that is listed on their clearances.

Question:  If I received my clearances on August 15, 2014 to start the school year, do I need to get them again? Answer:  The clearances expire three years from the date that is listed on the clearance so you will not need them until August 15, 2017.

Question:  If one of my clearances has expired, will I be able to volunteer? Answer:  You will not be able to volunteer as the district’s policy requires all 3 clearances, or 2 clearances and a waiver for the fingerprints if you are a ten year consecutive resident of the state of PA.

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I normally don't care about this stuff. It doesn't affect me. I work like a normal person so my time is occupied with none left to volunteer but why are they overcomplicating it so much? I wanted to respond to this email but I felt if anyone even read it they'd probably feel I was causing problems or something so I decided to post it here instead. I actually did get my clearances when Isaac started kindergarten but thanks to this I know they are long expired. Good thing the PTO put up the money for me to get them rather than me spend my own. I don't need a piece of paper saying that I'm not a nutso. 

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So you can get the clearances, work with the kids for 3 straight years with no issues but then some mystical deadline arrives causing you to become invalid, sounds awesome! This is troublesome enough to dissuade me from volunteering and I'm sure many others as well. What you are going to have left to serve are a bunch of bored, 'supermom' housewives with agendas! Not an environment I would choose to subject my children to. Hopefully you are working with the State to come up with something better. Sounds like another screw the 99% of normal people over because there are 1% nutso people out there that we have to overprotect our children from. 

Just my 2 cents. 
-Marc A Cartwright

PAX

Not only has it been confirmed earlier in the year that Pax exists as a person, we found out today that he should end up male when he's ready to come out. That is unbelievable. I am super happy. I'd have been happy either way but this is just so awesome. I feel super great now. I like thinking that things are happening, aligning and 'I'm on'. I am absolutely going to buy some lottery tickets right now and ride this!

Trilogy - Part X of 3 - Boy turns 11

The boy's birthday was approaching so I had to think of something special to do for him. He wanted to invite his friends over so even though I suck at talking to people I did my best to try and help him get the word out so this can happen. We did this last year with some success. He wanted to make out his own invitations and pass them out so that was good for me. We made 5 and 3 kids actually showed up and only 1 of them couldn't stay for the sleepover, Ayden and Dylan stayed and Gavin had to leave.

Those kids were cool and nice and I didn't have a problem with them. They only broke 2 things, Isaac's bedroom door and someone stepped on a Disney Infinity character. They played games and Legos and hung out in his room and watched videos on the computer. Due to Ale's pregnancy and relaxed dieting rules we even were allowed to order pizza and make a 'real' cake from a box of Betty Crocker. I haven't tasted anything like that in a while. We ordered way more food than we thought we'd need but they ate it all and drank 2 cases of pop anyway.

It was all very nice and I was very happy that Isaac had a good time. He got some Legos and Minecraft stuff and some gift cards so his friends were very nice.

I even got to eavesdrop on some of their conversations where they tried to outdo each other on how late they stay up at night hiding the fact they play games on their phones all night secretly after their parents put them to sleep. That sounds like a boastful claim I would have made back when I was their age.

Boy Does Homework

The boy made us very proud today. It was unfortunate that he had to severely disappoint us first. He is learning long division and he had a 6 problem worksheet to do. It was not a good time. We kept trying to explain that it you just do the same steps over ad over again until you run out of numbers. He wasn't getting it. I tried. I could see the look on his face and none of the information or methodology was getting anywhere near his brain. I did example problems, walked him through a few and every time I'd leave him alone for one second he just went blank. Very frustrating. Ale tried. She did great as she maintained her patience a little longer than me but after 3 hours together it eventually ran out too. Nothing was registering with him and he wasn't absorbing anything so we sent him to his room. He had to be in there for 2 hours or so but when I eventually stuck my head in I was surprised to see he had all his papers strewn out on his bed and he was trying to do problems. This was a positive sign. So I sat in with him and asked him what problem he was on now. We went over the method again and something amazing happened. I could see the gears turning in the boy's head. I swear I actually heard something click. He was getting it!!! We all persevered through this day of long division hell and he boy was getting it! Wow was that amazing and totally worth it. The best part of it is the way I could see that he knew he was getting. He understood that at first he didn't know what he was doing. He understood the pain of the effort of working on problems over and over all day. Now he was understanding that he got it. I made sure he also recognized that progression. It was wonderful to watch and I was proud of him. He was proud of himself. I think that was even more important.

2011 Father's Day

It was the weekend of Father's Day again and because I was keeping Isaac an extra day this weekend (Friday into Saturday so I could make sure he went to karate practice) I thought we'd do the Father's Day thing on Saturday since I already had him. My mom cut me out a page from the PT paper about an event going on down Pittsburgh this weekend called LegoFest and I saw a couple people facebooking about it so I decided 'Hey, Isaac loves Legos!' this is going to be our activity this year!!

We got up that morning, had some cereal and went to karate practice. After we were done we went home and had some lunch as our tickets were for the 3-8pm session that day (I printed them on my new wireless printer that ma babby bought for me). Around 2-2:30pm I decided it was time to go so I grabbed all my fully charged electronic devices (I brought my 3DS for 3D pictures, my iPhone for tweeting and facebooking pictures and my Sony camera to take high quality pictures and videos) and we hopped in the car. We had no problems with any traffic or finding the place. We parked and walked towards the David L. Lawrence Convention Center and went in. There were lots of people but we really didn't have to wait that much.

The place was ENORMOUS!! (PIC) The first thing we saw were these little boxes with scenes set up in them and that was pretty neat. Then we saw a huge map of the USA made of Legos all laid out on the floor and although its outline was complete and the east coast was built up the majority of it was blank. I wondered what this was so we investigated. Here you could take a base piece and build whatever you wanted on it, a house, a tower or a weird art thing. Pretty much anything you could imagine that fit on the piece and then when you completed it you took it over to the map and someone would take your genius over and put it in the masterpiece. Isaac built a crazy little house and I think it got placed somewhere in the Kansas/Missouri area.

Some of the other thing we saw:

• An area with life size Lego characters such as the Harry Potter gang, characters and droids from Star Wars, and a lot of different kinds of dinosaurs.
• There were several areas where there was only 1 color brick to build with. I guess Target was a sponsor because in the red brick area they were putting those white dog mascots with the target around their eye on everyone's finished piece. There was a pink section were a lot of the girls were, a dark blue section and a green section. Green is where Isaac spent a good amount of time constructing his awesome tower.
• There were a couple of huge spots where they just dumped a bout a billion Legos out on the floor and you could just wade out there and sit in the middle and build whatever you wanted.
• There was a part where grown-up nerds that probably take Legos way too seriously made some cool scenes, some guy had a car show out of cars he made from Legos, there were a bunch of cool trains and futuristic monorails that Isaac definitely took an interest in, and neat dirt bike track.
• There was an area that had lots of wheels and other parts to make a vehicle of some sort and then you took it over to these ramps where you raced your creation against other peoples.
  
• Another section had high-tech futuristic Legos that had sensors and hooked to computers that you could program to do stuff. They also offered Lego camps there but it's too far away from where we live for us to go.
• The other big thing we did which I didn't think Isaac would want to do was climb one of those big rock climbing walls. I was surprised at his enthusiasm and lack of fear for wanting to do it but I was a bit disappointed he gave up about a 3rd of the way up at the first place he kind of got stuck at. Maybe next time he'll make it to the top.
  
• We also signed up to get a free subscription to some Lego magazine so that will be cool when those start coming for him.
  

All in all it was another fun daddy/son day. We were there for a long time and he got a little cranky at the end so I decided it was time to go. It seemed like the place was already clearing out and there were a bunch of workers taking some of the things down. We walked out through this cool fountain waterfall thing they have and then I drove him back to his mom's. I was sad to see him go but happy we spent quality time together doing something memorable.

You can see the rest of the pics on my fb

Still Super Happy

My awesome gf linked me to a leaked copy of Weird Al's new album ALPOCALYPSE so I don't need to wait until they actually sent it to me and it's AWESOME!! The unusual thing I find about Weird Al's album which has happened again is that I don't really get it the first time I listen to it. Al is my absolute favorite artist ever and you would think I would instantly be falling in love with everything he does but it's so weird that not only do I not get it the first time I listen to a new album but sometimes I actually don't like some of the songs. I find that very strange. What turns out to be awesome though is that the more and more I listen to it though the more it starts to jive with me. [My current Top 3] I don't know why that happens but I think it's even better than immediately liking everything. It kind of bonds and grows on me and that makes it be awesomer longer somehow. That's the only explanation I can come up with.

The best part is that even though I'll have heard and learned all the words to all the songs before I even get the album I still can't wait to get it because he made VIDEOS for every single song on the album. I don't know if those have leaked yet or not because I haven't looked for them but I can wait. I'm sure those are going to be a hilarious bonus to what he's already created.

That reminded me how bad the last album went for me. I started ordering the albums directly from Al's website. I do that so all the money goes directly to him and he has my name somewhere in his database so he knows who I am and that I definitely have his stuff. Well the last album (or maybe it was 2 albums ago, I forget) was released and every one bought it and listened to it but the shipping from Al's site took so long that I didn't get it until almost 7 full days after everyone else and they already knew all the songs and everything and it sucked.

The other thing that is going good right now is that Isaac has kicked butt the last week or so at karate. He had a really bad class last Saturday where he got yelled at like 3 times, was made to push-ups a bunch and then actually was told to sit out due to his lack of trying. Since that day however he has bounced back strong. I think he was doing bad because his mother decided that she was no longer on board to take him or practice with him or anything. He finds it easy to manipulate her I guess. So because of him being out of the swing of things for so long he had a rough time getting back on track. Luckily with me he has resolved that. We've been practicing a lot everyday because his belt test is coming up soon (June 25th) and he would really like to make sure he knows enough to test so he can earn his gold belt and move up in the ranks. I am very proud of him and I made he a deal to help motivate him. If he is permitted to test and he passes we will immediately go to the hobby shop and buy him a model for us to put together and I will also take him to go see the new Cars movie that will be debuting that weekend. He is really excited about that and I think as long as I continue to work with him he should have no problem accomplishing that goal.

I have also been watching the Smallville TV show lately. Ale had watched all the Star Trek: Voyagers with me so in turn I decided to watch her favorite show with her (Although we're not exactly watching them at the same time so far). The weird thing is that I always thought this was a 'teen' show and that I wouldn't really have an interest but I'm finding it's a very well written show. A little too much drama and dialogue sometimes but like I said there is good writing and the story is constantly progressing, there is lots of action, semi-good (for a TV series) special effects and you can always tell when something happens you don't understand that it's a part of the mega huge underlying plot that is running throughout the series as a whole. I am really enjoying it and that makes me happy.

Of course I can't close this post out without reiterating how awesome Ale is again. She is so awesome that I don't know what to do sometimes. She's always there for me to talk to and to get advice from and just to be there for me when I need someone. I hope that I am doing enough back for her to show her how much she means to me. I think I am but I always want to try harder because she so deserves it. I just am so amazed every day because I have never had a connection like this with anyone in my life and it just makes me so happy I want to puke. We're filling out the immigration stuff now together and it just sucks that paperwork takes so long to process. Before we even do anything she needs to fill stuff out and mail it to me because some of the forms have to be signed by her that go into this packet we submit. That right there is going to take a while. The only thing that could make my life any better at this point is for her to be with me physically. We are going to tear stuff up when we get together.

Although I still get depressed sometimes and feel things suck, thinking about her and trying to pick out the good stuff that is happening in my life so I can write about it always makes it seem better. My life may not be as awesome as someone reading this might make it out to be but if I could just find a way to get over the bad stuff quicker and stop it from bringing me down, it would be damn close.

History Was Made

This past weekend seemed to fly by. I can't believe it's Monday morning already. Now that I think back I guess we did do a lot but it seems like I should have at least one more day to rest and recover here. That is disappointing. What isn't though is the fact that Isaac came with me to the Pens game on Friday night to kick off our weekend and the Pens made history. They got the first ever win in the new arena and we were there for it. Now Isaac can tell people when he gets older and all the kids grow up and forget there even ever was a Civic Arena that he was there for this historic victory. I'm super happy about that. (you can read more about the game here)

He was very good during the game although he did get a bit delirious towards the end. We went right to bed when we got home because I thought I had way too many things we needed to get done on Saturday. It turns out I was wrong. My mom was supposed to go with us to the toy store to see what kinds of toys Isaac wanted for Xmas and to get him something for his birthday but she was too busy. I think she's taking him Monday while I'm at the game with Joel. We also skipped grocery shopping because I couldn't figure out how to fit it in without having to leave the stuff in the car while we did other stuff.

So Saturday morning he ended up playing video games all morning for the most part. He did take a birthday call from Pappy and open Aunt Autumn's card to him. I talked to Chuck about various things including some interesting information about his house and he helped me look at my car again. There was an issue with the battery light and so far I got a new alternator and battery but it still flickers on every once in a while. Hopefully that doesn't turn out to get more serious. Once that was fixed, we took off. We needed to work on his Halloween costume so we were headed out to Greensburg to find the Halloween store. On the way however we made a bunch of stops because I discovered a new pastime that I wanted to share with Isaac, Geocaching! We ended up stopping a bunch of places that day and while we did experience some frustration finding the one we did find all we attempted. It sucks that it's almost winter or we'd be out more often looking for them. No hurries I guess. They ain't going anywhere.

We found one cache and then made it to the mall. I could have sworn there was a Halloween store here behind the mall but I was wrong. I decided to try our luck and actually go in the mall. Maybe it was in there so we went inside and did find it. Whew! Why is it half toy store though is my question. The whole front end of the store was toys, not just Halloween toys but regular toys. That was confusing. No good costumes here either for kids here unless you want to be Spiderman or a fireman. Looks of sexy adult costumes though. Isaac wants to be a zombie so we did find fake blood capsules. That was all the good this place was doing us so we left. On the way out of the parking lot we found one more cache and then another down the street further. We stopped Arby's to get some food as we headed out to Nate's to watch the Pens game. I got us there a bit early so we could walk out to the lake to find the one cache we couldn't find last time I was here. That's 4 total for the day. Good job us!! The Pens destroyed the Flyers and we had a blast hanging out with Nate and the family and then we went home.

The next morning we went over to Brandon's again to watch the Steelers game and played a little frisbee after. For dinner he had his favorite meal of tacos and afterward we all sang 'Happy Birthday' to him and ate chocolate cake. Yes, these will be the time I will love to remember when I'm older.

HAPPY 7TH BIRTHDAY ISAAC!!!! :D

Hiiiiii-ya!!

Isaac started karate lessons through the PT community program this week. He has it every Tues & Thurs for 4 weeks. For some reason I have been gung-ho on him doing karate for a while now and I'm glad we finally got this chance. What I'm even happier about though is that after both classes so far he has run up to me when it was over and exclaimed how much he LOVES karate!!

He seems like he is the youngest one in the whole class and he's not doing all the things right yet but he is learning. That's what this is for. It's good for him for many reasons. He will get exercise out of it and be physically fit and healthy and another main reason is learning discipline. He will learn to follow the strict commands of his Sensei. He will learn to sit up straight and tall. He will learn to be confident in his responses and actions. This is what I was hoping for and it seems I hit pretty close to the target on this one.


We'll keeps tabs on this one and see how it progresses.

Another Wild Weekend

The father and son team of Isaac and Marc were at it again this weekend. Talk about a contented state of exhaustion. We were all over the place and saw tons of people and hung out with family and it was awesome. I'd just to highlight our adventures here so we can remember that this one is going to be tough to top.

It all started on Friday June 25th. Lisa had to go to work so she had to drop him off to me as soon as I got home. So I tried to be nice and get home as soon as possible to facilitate this. I needed to talk to Jim to get the key to his house off him because he was going away again for work and might not be there next weekend when Ale gets here to open the door for us. (We are staying at his house instead of a hotel for the #Alevacation) He wouldn't be home for a while so we chilled out and played some Red Dead Redemption. Isaac isn't that good at it because he doesn't care about doing the missions. All he wants to do is sometimes shoot a bunch of people but mainly chase down the train and ride it around. You do know he loves trains right? So we did that for a while until I got a text from Jim saying that he was home but he was going to cut the grass. I figured I could take Isaac out to eat and by the time we were done and drove over there Jim should be done with his chores so that was the plan we were going with.

We stopped at The Great Escape Clubhouse to have some dinner. This place is okay. It's a local place and the prices aren't too crazy. Isaac was excited because I guess when hanging out with his one friend Adam and his parents once they took the kids here. So he was familiar with it and he was telling me all the stuff they did. I grabbed some quarters from my car to let him play the games. I got a buffalo chicken sandwich and it was pretty good. After we were done I needed to stop at the state store next door and guess who I saw walking out? It was Aunt Dee and Aunt Mary Jo. They just came from a funeral home and they invited us to come over. I told them I had to meet my friend but that we would stop over later. From here we got in the car and went to Jim's.

I was glad to see that Jim was watching the NHL draft. For whatever stupid reason the place we were at had NBA draft coverage on and who the hell cares about that. I talked to Jim about what was going on and everything and he was really cool about it. He let me go upstairs and see the room and then told me if we were going to need an air conditioner that there was one in the basement we could use. I said no doubt we would need that and I went downstairs to get it. From there we started moving more things around. He needed a couch to go in the basement so we moved that. The futon bed that we were going to use needed hauled up to the room. That was a little harder to pull off but we that too. I asked him if he needed anything else but he said that was it for now. By around that time the draft was only on pick #12 or something but it was quarter to 9. How can it be that late already? My plan was to hang out until the Pens picked (#20) but if we were going to go to Blair's house we would have to leave now. Jim gave me the key, I thanked him for everything and we were off.

Last on our stop for today was Uncle Blair and Aunt Mary Jo's. It was fun to go over there and hang out. Mary Jo loved Isaac (cuz he's so cute) and since I haven't talked to those guys in a while it was nice to see them again. Isaac caught lightning bugs and Blair teased that he would give Isaac a dollar for every one he caught (He ended up not paying out :P). I got to run me and Ale's house idea past Dee to see what she thought. It was good getting additional input on that. I should write that up in a blog next. We didn't stay too long because it was late and getting dark and this was only the first day of our fun so we went home and pretty much went straight to bed.

Saturday June 26
I talked to my friend Anne this week and she invited us to go with her out to Keystone State Park today. Her boyfriend Ryan didn't get off work until 3 though so we wouldn't leave until shortly after. (Check out the band Ryan is in, The Boogie Hustlers, pretty awesome!!) That gave us some time to relax. I got my bills done and worked on backing up some of my videos and adding them to my tracking sheet. Isaac played more of the cowboy game (as he calls it). Around 3 we got our stuff ready and left. I told Anne we'd meet her at her house. When we got there and knocked on the door some dude I never seen answered. His name was Dan and apparently he lived there since April. Good job keeping me up to date on this stuff Anne. :| She texted me that she must have assumed she already told me she moved. Whatever. Not a problem. We just went back to my house and waited for them to come by and we followed them to the park.

This was another place I have not been in forever (see Father's Day 2010) but now I was sharing some time there with my son. He did mention that he was here before with Lisa and her cousin Katie. Not sure if that is true or not but hopefully so. At least she is doing some stuff with him. We picked out a spot on the beach and started playing and swimming. I warned Isaac about doing that gagging thing he does when he gets water in his mouth. He was pretty good about it today but he did puke once and I had to take him out of the water for a bit. I still don't understand that. I've never seen anybody else do what he does and it bothers me a bit. Besides that he played in the sand and with Ella and Sean. He made some new friends too. I took him out to the deepest parts a few times and let him go to see if he could swim and he did great. He's not a strong swimmer but he could probably stay afloat and save himself if he had to so I am proud of him for that. We may have got there late in the day but we stayed until dusk came so it was a good long time. I know I was exhausted. After we got dried off and changed we even fit in some playground time. There was a nice playground right there so I let him play around on that and got some more pics for 2010PlaygroundFest. I lit some of his fireworks when we got home since we really couldn't do that at the beach. Nothing spectacular since we are in lamo anti-fireworks PA but he still enjoyed it. The little neighbor kids even came over to check them out. I made us some food and we took showers and went to bed after that.


Sunday June 27
We woke up today and had one more awesome thing to do before the weekend was over. It was Allie's 4th birthday party!! She is my cousin Stephanie's kid. Aunt Dee called in the morning about this. I guess she was coming too so it would be a good idea to pick her up when we left. We ate breakfast and got our stuff ready to go. Zip was supposed to follow us over but he was not there. He had one of those inflatable jumping houses for kid's birthday parties and he was going to set it up for them. That was cool! We made a quick stop in Delmont at the Wal-Mart to pick up some presents and we were off. This is in an area I don't normally go so I had to use my phone's GPS to get there but we had no issues. I couldn't wait to see their new house.

There were already lots of people there when we arrived. Lots of older people that must have been Sam's (Stephanie's husband) relatives because I did not recognize them. I did see Elaine (her mom) but from what she told me most of the other relatives that I know from her side of the family were on a cruise in Alaska at this time and were not coming. I did see a girl that I went to high school with there and that was weird. We had a blast though! The house was amazing! I am so jealous. This is the kind of house that I could picture myself being happy with. It's big and there is a room for everything. Their property is very nice. A whole acre I think they said. I walked all around everywhere when I first got there and checked it out. You could say it's sort of close to Pittsburgh but it's still in a woodsy area which is nice. Their pool was awesome too!! I know Isaac loved it. I think my child is turning into a fish. We could not keep him out of it once we let him in. Everyone seemed to be apprehensive at first about going in except a few of us and then the pizza came so we had to get out to eat. We went back in for a bit but it started storming so we closed it but it stopped after 20 minutes so we opened it again. We had to get out again when it was cupcake and present time. The cupcake's she made were awesome. They were Oscar, Cookie Monster and Elmo cupcakes!! Allie loved all her presents. A lot of people left by that time but there were a few of us who stayed. We got back in the pool and played some volleyball for a while. They had flippers and I never used them before but I love them. It's amazing how dramatically they can improve your swimming skills. With those on I could motor across the pool in seconds. I kept them on for the rest of the day and my ankles were hurting later. We also got see and play with her new baby Jillian. She is so super cute. Actually the last 2 groups to leave were us and her mother. I got to talk to them seriously for a bit. I also told them the house thing and she was kind of bugged that my mom made excuses not to come. We also planned what we are doing to do next week when Ale comes because they want to meet her. I guess she gets some deal at this bowling alley nearby so we are going to do that. I hope to show their house to Ale so I can give her an idea what I dream of for us together.

We probably didn't leave until like 8. We stopped at Burger King to get some dinner and even after I was nice enough to put on a shirt the kid still gave me crap for not wearing shoes in the store. I was going to call and bitch the place out about him but whatever. As big of a total no-issue that was I guess he was just following rules. We took our food home and ate then took a shower. I put Isaac to bed because it was getting late and he needed some sleep after that weekend since he had to get up early with me this week to go to Penn Pals. I called Ale on Skype and pretty much fell right asleep after telling her about what all we did. I can't wait until she can come with us when we do those things. <3

2010 Father's Day

First off I want to thank everyone that wished me a Happy Father's Day and right back at ya! Being a father is awesome and it makes me extremely happy. I am so lucky to have Isaac. He is a fantastic child and I think I am doing all right by him. Second off I am doubly thankful that this year turned out to be the complete opposite of last year. That was when you'll remember (or maybe not) that Lisa took Isaac from me and did not let me see him on Father's Day when it in fact was my time with him. That actually started the whole legal battle, custody bullcrap I think. Thank you, Lisa, good job! Anyway this year was a lot better. This time it was her time with Isaac but she decided this year that it would be a good thing for him and I to do something. (Probably something else behind that but you got to take what you can get eh) Not that it bothered me but she also generated some confusion about how Isaac was getting to and from me but that all seemed to work out just fine too. On to the good stuff!

It being a beautiful sunny day before the first day of summer I decided instead of continuing the 2010 Playgroundfest deal, we would take a break from that today and go swimming. (I did also have the idea to visit the Toonseum down Pittsburgh but swimming seemed like a much better idea. I can save that for another day.) Somehow I remembered a place that my dad took me when I was little, Ligonier Beach. I haven't been here in ages but I found out that it's still there and still open to the public. I also discovered it's the biggest pool in Pennsylvania and we had an absolute blast!!

It takes a while to get there and Isaac was getting impatient but that's okay. It was out there for sure. It's been a long time since I was that far down route 30. We made it though with no issues. We paid, got changed and went on to find a place to put our towels down. [Note to self: Bring more water/pool toys next time we go] You have to watch going in because the whole way around is just sloped and it's slippery. There are a couple of metal bars around the pool you can hold on to to assist you. They are better for getting out. There was lots of grass and bugs floating around but not so much that I was grossed out or anything. Isaac didn't give a crap about that. The water was cold but he loved it!!

We waded over to the fountain in the middle first to walk under it and get splashed. Isaac was worried about being tall enough to stay above the water but it turns out that he was. I remember there being diving boards here and they were actually still there. I thought there was big insurance issues with diving boards and you couldn't even buy them for your own pool anymore. I took a couple big dives off them and it was sweet. Isaac even jumped off too. He was not scared at all. I did have to be there for him to help him swim to the side. I was very proud of him. I thought later to get Isaac to film a clip of me jumping off it but we never got to that.

We splashed around for a good 3-4 hours. We were totally pruny and sunburnt by the time we left. He was having some stomach issues and we had to get out of the pool twice for him to go to the bathroom. What sucked was there was no door on the stall and there was a huge line so everyone kept poking their heads in to see him sitting there pooping. After the first time I couldn't believe he had to go again. You'd think your embarrassment would allow you to hold on a bit until you could get somewhere else but I guess it didn't really bother him. He also does this thing where if he sucks down some water he gags so loud you think he's throwing up everywhere. I am trying to tell him to keep his mouth closed at all times but he must have done that 3 times while we were there. I don't know what is up with that. I told him if he pukes we are so out of there because that is really embarrassing. Luckily nothing happened though.

About the last hour or so I swam off by myself and let him play with a couple little friends he made. They had found someone's abandon raft and were trying to stay on top of it and keep it from flipping and that looked like a lot of fun.

I took a bunch of pics and I think we both had a great time. I love being a father.

2010 Playground Fest

INTRO
We started our 2010 Playground Fest today 05/16

I will log where we go and stuff. I decided to do this realizing that my mother makes awesome scrapbooks. What better way to give my son a lifelong memory then take him out a as many playgrounds around our area as possible, document it with pictures and turn it into a scrapbook? I thought it was a good idea so that's when I invented the whole #2010PlaygroundFest idea.

UPDATES
09/08 This might be it for Playground Fest. It's getting colder now and we about ran out of playgrounds to go to. I do know of a few places we could still go but they are very far away and not very close to each other. The next weekend Isaac is here is when the PT Fall Festival is on so we will definitely be there. By the time I get him again it will be October.

So in 114 days we went to 52 playgrounds. (actually half that because I only see him every other week)
So in 58 days we went to 52 playgrounds and got over 700+ pictures. That is crazy. Well I can say now that we did a lot of work. We know which playgrounds and parks are awesome and which ones to avoid. I guess we can start on the scrapbook now. I'll probably make a digital version out of this blog. I'll flesh out the descriptions and add pictures and get a verdict from Isaac on each other as well. We can be official 'Playground Critics' now. :D

08/23 I thought we had maxed it out last weekend but I guess I was wrong.
I got Isaac not soon after I got home and we took right off. The Westmoreland Fair was going on so instead of eating first I figure we'd go out and do our thing and when we ended up there we'd eat. So off we went I had plotted out Greensburg since that's where the fair was. We ended up hitting 6 that night including some good ones and probably the worst one yet. Then we went to the fair and rode some rides. They didn't have Walking Tacos which is what Isaac wanted though. :(
Saturday morning we woke up and took off early in the opposite direction. We went out far first and came back. My camera died right when it was time to eat so we stopped at Dairy Queen and got some food and took it home. We ate and watched 'The Secret Of NIHM' while the battery charged. I was prepared to call it a day at that point but I asked Isaac if he wanted to go back out and he said yes. So we hit the second part of the trip which was about 4 more before it started to rain. A total of 9 that day. We cleaned up a bit at went to Jim's to watch the Steelers game and Moddy got to meet Isaac. Needless to say she LOVED him!
Now on Sunday we were supposed to go clothes shopping for Isaac but my mom was too tired from whatever she did Saturday so that was off. I realized that after the past 2 days we had exhausted the list playgrounds I had. How could that even be? So in the morning I got on the computer and checked out some in an area we had yet to hit, Latrobe. I came up with about 9 more we could do and I didn't think we'd hit them all but I mapped it out anyway and we left. We did about 5 before we just became too exhausted to go on. We went home and called it a weekend. I think 20 playgrounds was enough for anyone. Next time he comes with me we're going to Virginia and hit a few more down there with Pappy! Summer is coming to an end and the 2010PlaygroundFest is almost over.

08/09 Man we went a little crazy this weekend. I thought we were in for the night on Friday but Matt stopped by with Maddy and we decided to go over to McCullough to play. That turned out to be a great idea. As much as I love doing this, it's really for Isaac and when we go to these playgrounds where there are no kids, it's really not that fun. McCullough always has kids plus he was with his buddy Maddy so that was great. Plus Daddy and Matt got to shoot some hoops while we were there.
Then, which will ever go in history as Playground Day, we hit 8 playgrounds on Saturday. Yes you read that right, EIGHT. I didn't plan it like that, it just worked out. My main goal was to hit Twin Lakes and Mammoth and then fill in a few of the in-between ones but damn. Some were super fun, some there was nobody at and were pretty lame. Needless to say we were exhausted by the end of the day. As fun as that was I think 4-5 max in one day is good from here on out.

07/13 I had the idea for the scrapbook to have the schedule on the first page and have each playground written in different colors. That way when paging thru the book the backing of each photo will be the corresponding color. EH!!

I also thought to make a google map with a pin at each area and print that out and put that in there as well.
See it here - > http://bit.ly/a7IhEY

PLAYGROUND LOG
* * * * *
10/20 Eliot Company Playground : 5/10
While looking for Geo-caches we found another playground we didn't even know existed

09/06 Oak Hollow : 9/10
Always tons of kids, weird equipment but lots of it and fun, in a huge park w other things to do

09/06 Bushy Run American Legion playground : 5/10
Close to home but not that great, small equipment and a swing set. There are hoops though.

09/05 Gordon-Barbour Elementary : 8/10
Another one that separate's the big kids playground from the baby one, cool drum thing and a jeep on springy things, you can tell this place is older because it is faded.

09/04 Dad's personal playground : 3/10
At least it's close to home.

08/25 Harrison Park Elementary : 9/10
We finally hit Isaac's school! This is one of the better playgrounds. The best part is that daddy himself help build this for Isaac and all the other kids by volunteering his time.

08/22 Legion-Keener Park : 9/10
It's like Little Knights Kingdom!! 100% original awesomeness

08/22 Baggaley Elementary : 6/10
Standard stuff, nothing spectacular, one side of the school was the baby playground, the other side was the big kid version

08/22 Mt View Elementary : 9/10
Big, wooded area, nice standard stuff plus and lot of unique extras

08/22 Burger King playplace : 4/10
small area, can get food

08/22 Maxwell Elementary : 8/10
Standard stuff, nice area

08/21 Sheridan Terrace Elementary : 7/10
Standard equipment, nice and new also with a weird enclosing fence, I don't understand the purpose of that

08/21 North Irwin playground : 4/10
Merry go round and tire swing and that's about it

08/21 White Oak park : 6/10
Big area but spread thinly, most of the stuff was older, pluses for the merry go round and the train though

08/21 Stewartsville Elementary : 7/10
Standard equipment, nice and new in a weird enclosed area behind the school

08/21 Sunrise Elementary : 7/10
Standard equipment, big area, nice but was lacking something

08/21 Level Green Elementary playground : 8/10
Standard equipment and some unique stuff as well, big area, the old caterpillar thing from Harrison Park looks to have found his way here

08/21 Woodland playground : 8/10
Standard equipment and some unique stuff as well, a few things we've never seen, surprisingly better than we expected

08/21 Trafford Elementary : 8/10
Standard equipment and some unique stuff as well, big area

08/21 Monroeville Community Park : 7/10
Nice park, big area, lots of stuff, equipment was kind of weak, nice disc golf course (for beginners)

08/20 West Point Elementary : 9/10
Standard equipment and some unique stuff as well, tire swing, climbing wall, cool monkey bars, big area, everything seemed really nice

08/20 East Hempfield Elementary : 1/10
2 swings and a slide, worst playground ever, we pity the poor kids that have to go to this school

08/20 Amos K Hutchinson Elementary : 8/10
Standard equipment and some unique stuff as well, big area

08/20 Pearl Carroll Memorial playground : 5/10
Several mini-playgrounds strewn throughout the grounds, a few cool things but the main attraction here was the pool

08/20 Stanwood Elementary : 8/10
Standard equipment and some unique stuff as well, big area

08/20 Fort Allen Elementary : 7/10
Standard stuff, big area, other kids

08/12 Bovard Elementary playground : 6/10
Sliding thing was broke, standard stuff, nothing spectacular

08/12 Hawksworth Apts : 4/10
Unique stuff but old and beat up

08/09 Jack Town Park : 5/10
Small area, not much equipment

08/07 Norvelt Elementary playground : 5/10
Nice area, not much equipment although it is new, too far away

08/07 Mammoth Park : 10/10
Huge area, multiple mini playgrounds throughout, lots of kids, big slide, awesome merry go round, fun for all

08/07 St. Clair Park : 6/10
Not very big, not much stuff, at least it's close

08/07 Twin Lakes Park : 8/10
Huge area, multiple mini playgrounds throughout, lots of kids, digger, too many people with dogs

08/07 Thomas Lynch Field playground : 9/10
Huge area, lots of kids, lots of other stuff to do, equipment is very unusual though

08/07 Dr Robert F Nicely Elementary playground : 7/10
Nice sized, friendly environment, standard equipment

08/07 Hempfield Park : 7/10
Big area, multiple mini playgrounds throughout, lots of kids, ground always seems wet there though, must not be good irrigation

08/07 Pedora Park : 5/10
Not very big, not much stuff, too far out of the way

08/06 McCullough's Boundless Playground : 10/10
Big area, lots of kids, nice equipment, pretty standard but there is a lot and some of it is unique, sand pit w digger, close to home

07/28 Warrior Wonderland : 8/10
Big area, lots of kids, nice equipment, pretty standard but there is a lot, close to home

07/27 Wolfe Field playground : 2/10
Old and run down, no other kids, no swings on the swing-set

07/27 Jeannette McKee Elementary playground : 5/10
Dirty, lots of garbage, no other kids when we visited, seems like it was not put together properly

07/24 Chick-Fil-A playplace : 4/10
Small, other kids, can get food there

07/24 Boyce Park O'Block playground : 8/10
Nice, seemingly brand new equipment, other kids, seemed like most of the stuff was walkways to other parts, a little different than the standard stuff, also located in a huge park with other stuff to do

07/14 Penn Park : 8/10
Nice, newer standard equipment but there were a lot of unique things strewn about, ringing bells, race cars, other kids

07/14 Manor Park : 7/10
Standard stuff, big area, other kids

07/09 Adlai E Stevenson Elementary playground : 7/10
Nice equipment, no other kids at the time of visit, had a cool piano that really played so that was unique, cool looking climbing thing but playing on it was awkward

06/26 Keystone State Park playground : 8/10
Nice, newer equipment although it is the standard stuff, other kids, right by the beach and in a huge nature park

06/13 Irwin playground w Little Knights Kingdom : 10/10
Enormous area, tons of varied equipment, custom equipment, no cookie cutter playground here, tons of other kids, top notch playground!!

05/30 Romas playplace : 6/10
Small area, indoors, not much equipment but had coin operated machines, nice climbing wall, other kids, can order food there

05/30 Trevillains Elementary playground : 8/10
Huge area, tons of varied equipment, no kids there when we went

05/29 Shenandoah Crossing playground : 9/10
Big area, lots of different equipment, other kids to play with, digger and sand pit

05/16 Altman Park : 8/10
Nice equipment, other kids to play with, solid playground

05/16 Christian Fellowship Church playground : 4/10
Not much equipment, no other kids to play with, area was filled with crazy shredded tire stuff

* * * * *

Yet to hit

Metzgar Elementary School
New Derry Elementary School
Loyalhanna Elementary School

Blue Spruce Park and Playground

VA
Grace Adams Davis Memorial Playground
Washington Park

What is a father to do

This weekend I finally returned to my old marital home to retrieve my belongs that have been denied to me for so long. I'm not even thinking about trying to rehash and recount all that has happened so far with this affair. If you know me then you probably know what has transpired. If not then this blog should be a good introduction to what kind of human I am being forced to deal with.

I have been trying to get my stuff for over a year now. According to her she never wanted to keep it from me. She agreed that her stuff was hers and my stuff was mine. It was written into our divorce papers even. I get all my video games and vg-related materials, all my sports collectible stuff and whatever clothes are still there. Also my dressers that my mom bought for me when I was still living with her and just the misc stuff that she knew was mine, boxes of magazines, etc. There was really no argument there. The problem here was that this was the only thing she had on me. She had my stuff and to her that was some measure of control she could use to mess with me. This was some kind of thrill for her to tell me week after week that I come come on a certain day and then cancel that right before that day arrived. I repeatedly requested from here that she just let me get a car load of stuff every week or so. That way it would be easier to handle and after a time the task would be complete. Yes this was a logical way of doing things that would be easy for both parties involved so of course there was no way she would agree to that.

A few months earlier the sheriff delivered me some papers telling me that the sheriff sale on the house would be held on May 3rd since no one was paying the mortgage anymore (I had to declare bankruptcy over this). If the house sells they post it and put a lock on the door, all possession not removed from the premises are forfeit. I was not risk losing my stuff even though the sheriff himself pretty much told us that the house would not sell, not for what the bank wanted to get out of it. I don't exactly know how these things are handled but again I was not putting my things at risk. I had it set up for Sunday May 2nd then. No more excuses or delays or mess ups. It was happened then so help me God. My crew was assembled. Chuck was going to let me use his truck and his trailer. We even put together a kind of housing on it to keep everything dry since it did rain that day. I texted Lisa the prior week to let her know what was going on. I don't think she actually believed I was coming over but that was not my problem. I guess people that cry wolf over and over have a hard time believing what other people say sometimes.

So we went over at like 10 in the morning. Luckily Lisa wasn't even there so we wouldn't have to deal with her. She never changed the door locks although she told me at least 3 times that she did (Did I mention she can tell quite extravagant tales?). She was so terrified that I was going to come over and DO SOMETHING!! Oh noes!! First thing we all noticed when we walked in was what a damn disaster area this place was. My son has to live here every other week? That is unacceptable. (I later called and filed a report with the Children's Bureau. I know they won't do anything but to have the report on record is good enough). It looked like she was actually packing to leave so that in itself was amazing. I shot right upstairs and went for my closet. There were some boxes but it seems like she thought it would be a good idea to dump my stuff out of boxes and leave it lying on the floor. My friends Jim and Joel showed up to help me so that was a big help. We starting hauling stuff out. I was amazingly surprised that the move went so smooth. I think I temporarily gained some kind of unlimited supply of energy. I kept moving and did not take a break until the job was done no matter how many heavy boxes were left. Everyone kept taking breaks and was exhausted but I kept going. Thank God for adrenaline. We got books, magazines, boxes and some dressers. I didn't see my video games though. This did not please me so I went in the basement. OMFG what in the hell is going on down here? It's even worse than upstairs. It was a absolute mess. You would think no one even lives here with how utterly disgusting it was. There were clothes piled knee deep for as far as the eye could see. Apparently this is what happens when I am not here to keep it clean down there as I used to. I feel so bad for Isaac having to live in this squalor. What kind of example does she think she's setting for him? How has this place not burned down? I cried and held him later asking him why he didn't tell me he lived like this. This was almost too much to take. Good thing I had witnesses about how this household was kept. [inside video here]

There wasn't much of my stuff downstairs just a bunch of old junk that I took anyway. Why do I not see any of my boxes of video games? I had a collection of about 600 or so games and maybe since this all went down she has returned 100 at most to me. That would leave 500 games unaccounted for. I frantically ran all over the house and even went back into the shed. They were simply not in this house. I don't know what she has done with them and I still don't as of this time. After everything that was mine that we grabbed was loaded I decided to give her a call. I needed to inform her of what happened so she did not freak out when she got here thinking someone robbed her. I also needed to find out what happened to my games. That was the thing I came over her for above all else. Needless to say she did not answer my question. Has she ever? No instead she decided to have some kind of hissy fit. Whatever I did not call to hear that so I hung up and we left.

Turns out she went to the Jeannette police dept to report me for something. I got a call from some Colonel or Corporate somebody who took her ranting and raving way too seriously. I had to call him back because I missed the exchange due to the fact I was unloading everything and when I did he threatened me with burglary charges. I had to hold my tongue which I am not usually good at doing with authority. I explained to him as calmly and as kindly as I could everything that was going on but as always he didn't seem to listen or care. The stuff he probably has to deal with on a regular basis as a cop who works in Jeannette has no doubt changed this guy in some way that I never want to even try to understand. I just kept trying to be respectful and let him know how things were as far as I understood, not the misinformation he was given by [edited for politeness sake] that human. How is it that I do everything right and yet I am the one who is constantly getting screwed over? I called the Sheriff of Westmoreland County's office this week and it was them who approved my plan. Until the sheriff sells that house it's my name on the deed. They told me I could even smash a window to get in if I had to. It was my house! She may live there but can someone tell me the last time she paid rent to anyone? Is her name on the deed? I don't even know exactly what his terms were. He seemed more interested in berating me then trying to figure out what had actually transpired here. I got a text from Lisa later that said 'Sorry'. Sorry? For what? Going to the police because you wouldn't let me get my stuff? For the abhorrent conditions you subject my son to living in? For doing whatever you did to my video game collection that you refuse to man up and tell me about? I texted her back that I absolutely refuse to talk to her about anything until she can grow up and hold an adult conversation with me about this. Whatever she wants back from me can surely be dealt with easily if she would just come clean with whatever dastardly deeds she's been up to.

Apparently one parent despite the high standards of parenting and having the best interests of the child in mind at all times cannot do anything legally to prevent the child from being exposed to the Jerry Springer scumball lifestyle that supports no structure or rules of any kind that is the way of life for the other parent. Unless there is physical abuse, nobody will do anything. I now understand that there can be things much worse than physical abuse. How can Isaac hope to achieve when all I try to teach him each week goes out the door when he goes over to her every other Friday? It really really makes me sad. Isaac is the best thing that has ever happened in my life. You hear people use that expression a lot but in my case it's absolutely true. I thought I knew what love and self-sacrifice were before but since this wonderful little boy has entered my life I now know that I didn't until him. I would do anything for him and I do not want him to grow up with the obstacles that Lisa's lifestyle are going to throw in his way. I can only parent twice as hard and hope it sticks with him. I can't give up. It makes me so sad but I have to believe that I can get thru this and get my life back on track for him. Get a new place to live and continue the stable family life I present to him. It's an amazing challenge but I will do as much as I can possibly can. My parents know what I do and so do my friends and they will be there to help us. For that I am thankful.