Tapatio man celebrates Halloween

One thing I must praise Tova about is her uncanny ability to create Halloween costumes.

Growing up, I had a moderate interest in Halloween. I went trick or treating every year with my grandfather, who dressed like an ape and gladly accepted Halloween candy throughout his senior years. That was fun, but as the years went on, I became apathetic to Halloween and costumes.

But this Tova totally is into the holiday.

For our first costume, we went as the Tapatio Man and a taco. I had been pondering who in the world Tapatio was, and Tova developed our costumes that included her as a Taco, which also happened to be what the World's Most Dependable man repeatedly called her when he met her.

Year two arrived. Because of Tova's national ranking in Monopoly (she is ranked No. 7), we went as the Monopoly man and a silver top hat. I involuntarily talked about the benefits of capitalism during my stint as the Monopoly man, AKA Rich "Uncle" Pennybags.

This year, as we will be attending a kid's party as well, we are Tigger and Pooh.

You may be saying. What is the point of this blog? Are you merely bragging about these kick-ass Halloween costumes? And, well, the answer is yes.

Happy Halloween!

My life as David Lee Roth

I sometimes feel like David Lee Roth, constantly surrounded by California girls. Earlier this week, my mom finished a stay in California, so she joined Sophie and Chloe in my manly household. Mathematically, there was only a 25 percent chance of being a male in that scenario.

As I live a charmed life, I've often felt that the worst part of my life is Wednesday morning teacher meetings, in which I take the girls to school well before it starts and then teachers pretend to care about their jobs. What annoys me, and some other teachers, is that I actually do care about my job, and each week, I ask myself if the pretending will ever stop.

Anyway, with Grandma in the mix, she took the girls to school as it started for those horrific meetings, and she did a lot in terms of overall support for my household. Thank you, Grandma! We all miss you already!

What I realize is that I have had a gender reversal of fortune with my daughters. I grew up with a brother and predominantly male cousins and male friends. My mom loved sports, too, so our household was male beyond all get out. In my current world, it's filled with feminine energy. We sometimes actually talk about our emotions.

Why do I have all these thoughts now about the ladies in my life? Well, maybe Grandma's visit helped me see that being a single dad doesn't mean my life isn't necessarily "me and the girls vs. the world." We have Grandma's support and a lot of support from family and friends. ... The only rub is that nowadays, I sometimes need some "man time."

Do I yearn to smoke cigars, drink brandy and play poker? Well, I just played poker the other day, and successfully finished in 13th place of 14 players. I'm not a big fan of cigars or brandy, but I remain a fantasy-golf addicted, Chewbacca collecting, Nintendo playing Polack.

Winning.