Halloween Neighborhood Party

Noah wanted a Halloween party. I love throwing parties, so it was easy to say yes.

We kept it small, inviting only the neighborhood kids. I still put a ton of work into it and spent over $100. Damn Target and their Halloween displays! Damn being sick and buying pre-packaged games!

Anyhow, it was fun. We decorated inside and out, ordered pizza, had candy and soda pop on hand, and beer for the adults.

I didn't take many pictures but here are a few:

Poor Dodi looked amazing, but didn't realize the awesomeness of her wig.


The only pictures I got of the kids was after the "wrap your partner as a mummy game." Here are the winners.

Sam was "banana man with a beard" and Lexi was a dark fairy.


Mac was Gene Simmons and Noah was a vampire.


We had a "make a monster" game that Stan and Melissa judged. This one we dubbed "Taco Monster" only to discover later it was supposed to be a hot dog. Go figure.


I made Noah's cape this year. His first, and possibly only, homemade Halloween costume.


Unfortunately, he can't wear it to school because skulls are verboten. Stupid rules. What are they thinking? Skulls are the awesome!!!

Obama Lost Because of . . . ME?

Colin Powell endorses Obama

It is worth the seven minutes to hear him explain why he is voting for Obama.



The most poignant part of his monologue explaining why he is voting for Obama included a reference to this picture. It is a mother at the grave of her 20 year old son who died fighting for his country in Iraq. He is a Muslim.


People are claiming Obama is a Muslim, as if this makes him bad, as if this makes him a terrorist. Obama is not a Muslim, but if he was? There is nothing wrong with that. McCain would have you believe otherwise. That is not my America. In my America, people are free to worship as they see fit. Thankfully, that is also Obama's America.

Of course, it is hard to take the religious right seriously. Especially when they beleive things like this.

Family Breakfast

When Jesse was in town, we went out for family breakfast at Hell's Kitchen. It was not only yummy, but lots of fun.

Noah was with some of his favorite couples and hugged them all.

Jesse, Noah and Sarah

Papa John, Noah and Grandma Reade

Mom, Noah and Daddy

Jesse and Sarah are a fabulously adorable couple. Obviously, they were happy to be in close physical proximity to each other again.

With Reade around, things always get a little bit crazy.

PDA! PDA!!!

The brothers.

While I am not apposed to moving to California to be near our Jesse, I wonder about the feasibility of the proposal. The upcoming prediction from the Farmer's Almanac of a fucking amazing cold winter does make the proposal even more alluring though. . .

Until then, we will have to save our pennies to fly Jesse home to visit more often.

Jesse was in town.

On Saturday, he spent quality time with Noah. Either Noah really missed him, or the visit stopped his DT's.
We saw him briefly Friday night. Noah was sad when we left because he thought that was it, the whole visit. He cheered up when he realized that we had two more days of Jesse.

Saturday Jesse got a haircut at Juut. Then I got to have lunch with Sarah and Jesse before they jetted off to have quality time with Noah. The Keathly family then met said couple at Pizza Luce for dinner before the opening reception of Jesse and Paul's photography show.

Grandma Reade took Noah home from the show so we could attend the bar after party. Next on the agenda was Hell's Kitchen for breakfast. Reade and John showed up with the kid. Jesse, Sarah and the K's rounded out the group. It was great food and reminded us how much we miss family breakfasts with Jesse and Sarah.

That was it for us. Jesse time was already over. It wasn't as hard to say good-bye this time. At least for us. When Noah yelled, "I love you!" out the window, it broke Jesse's heart.

At least Jesse is making enough money to visit a couple times a year. Right? Jesse? Right!?! It kills us to have him so far away. But we are so proud he did it. He moved where he belongs and is building a great life for himself that doesn't involve winter. Heck, we might not be there, but at least his amazing girlfriend will follow - and I'll be out another great friend.

Freaking. Heck.

Sarah Palin IS "Head of Skate"

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

un/dead

Jesse is coming home to MN to the reception for his first gallery show. It is at Umber Studios in Minneapolis. He has collaborated with his longtime friend and fellow photographer, Paul Armstrong for this, shall we say, unique? show. It is called un/dead.

jesse mullan's photographs are semi-candid and purposefully focused images from the zombie pub crawls. he humorously explores the human relationship with death and the macabre; why we as human beings like scary movies and dressing up as monsters. the selected images are cinematic and full of action, a perfect contrast to the still presence of paul's photography...

paul armstrong's photographs are a reaction to his oddly consistent findings of dead birds and animals while out minding his own business. presenting them in saturated hyper-realism, he preserves the little beings against the ravages of time. it is difficult to decide if he is exploiting their uncomfortable beauty or honoring their existence in their final pose...

come see!

opening reception 8pm | saturday, september 27th
(through october 15th)

View paul's photos

View jesse's photos.
2005 zombie pub crawl
2006 zombie pub crawl
2007 zombie pub crawl

We will be there - you should too!

Hair, glorius hair.

A couple weeks ago, we went out to celebrate Nemy's birthday. I ratted up my bangs and we were off!

Team Keathly!

Nemy had an entirely new 'do to show off. Short hair with messy layers and light brown color vs. red. She looked GREAT.

And me, I was rocking the pompadour.

I had not cut or colored my hair all summer. There were too many kids to watch and lots of beautiful sunny weather to enjoy. The last thing I had was 3 hours for vanity.

But, then came school. Glorious school. No more kid sitting. No more nights saved for going to the park with the boys. It was hair time.

I decided to punk it up a bit.

It's dark, it's shorter!

It's the awesome.

I still haven't quite learned how to style it (and these pictures are after a full day of work) but I loves it.

Two girls, two new looks. Awesome.

Jesse's send off to CALIFORNICATION!!!!

Jesse's last night in town. It was a Saturday. I came home from work to find the party started. The plan was to meet up at our place and end up at the burlesque show at the 331. Tentatively, we were also going to a strip club as well, but we just didn't have the stamina, I mean time.

The 331 was crowded. Thankfully, our neighbors were there and invited us to share a table with them.

The neighbors: Ali, Melissa and Bob.

Jesse's booth was packed and rowdy.

Paul, Jesse and a co-worker whose name I don't know.

Finally, it calmed down and we could rejoin his party.

Zach and Dani were still there as well.

Paul and Jesse were happy with our alteration of the reservation sign. Paul also likes to stick out his tongue. A lot.

The next morning we met for breakfast at The Uptown Grill, which has perfect hangover food: good, greasy and plentiful.

Jesse and his mom Reade. They both have the same nose, don't ya think?

John could not believe the size of his breakfast.

Jesse and his Cajun breakfast.

Noah grew a mustache for the occasion.

I covet Zach's ET/Aliens shirt.

Jesse with Reade and John.

The rest of the day was spent napping and then we hit the water park. The fact that Jesse was leaving was becoming all too real.

Our Water Park Adventure with the Jesse.

The night before Jesse left, we took him out for drinks and debauchery. The next morning, he had that "not so fresh feeling." We took him to breakfast and then let him take a nap. Next on the agenda: water slides.

Noah had been begging us to hit the water park after family breakfast for weeks. The weather conspired against us, until the very last full day Jesse was in town. It was ON.

There are three water slides at the park. The orange slide is for inner tubes. It's entertaining. The red one is a nice, meandering ride. It's relaxing. The yellow one is the greased pig of slides. You are the bullet and the slide is the gun. It is the awesome!

The Water Slides at Jim Lupient Water Park.

Noah insisted on someone catching him at the end of the slides. Here is Jesse doing his big brother duty and keeping Noah's head above water.

"Hey Jesse!"

"Catch me!"

Noah showed off his skills he learned in his recent swimming class. He had fun hanging with his big brother.

Noah loves his big brother.

Swimming pools = rain. Both are good places to blame for tears and red eye.

Stan and Noah

The boy has the cutest towel in the history of towels.

It was an awesome ending to our last full day with our Jesse. We miss him so and are looking forward to having him in town the last week of September! If only he could stay. . .

Noah's First day of FIRST GRADE!

I don't have a lot to say about Noah's first day of First Grade.

This is for three reasons:

1. Stan dropped him off at school.
2. Stan picked him up from the after school program, Rec-Plus.
3. Noah was asleep when I got home from work.

It could also be summed up in one point:

1. Tuesday is my Eleven Hour Day at work. Yes, that's right, I capitalized it. You should be glad that I'm not stealing all of Noah's thunder by putting it in bold, because that is a dang long day of massaging. Also, my hands hurt.

I did find out the few kids that are in his class from last year: kindergarten. I also found out that they did a card game over recess since it was raining and they couldn't go outside. Noah's table had only 1 point and the winning table had 3.

Stan also took two great pictures of Noah in front of his school. Actually, it's more like the side of the school, but it is more photogenic.

The whole problem is semantics, not health care.

McCain's adviser states that no American is uninsured.

From the Dallas Morning Newspaper:

But the numbers are misleading, said John Goodman, president of the National Center for Policy Analysis, a right-leaning Dallas-based think tank. Mr. Goodman, who helped craft Sen. John McCain's health care policy, said anyone with access to an emergency room effectively has insurance, albeit the government acts as the payer of last resort. (Hospital emergency rooms by law cannot turn away a patient in need of immediate care.)

"So I have a solution. And it will cost not one thin dime," Mr. Goodman said. "The next president of the United States should sign an executive order requiring the Census Bureau to cease and desist from describing any American – even illegal aliens – as uninsured. Instead, the bureau should categorize people according to the likely source of payment should they need care.

"So, there you have it. Voila! Problem solved."

Kids are exhausting

My friends dropped their kids off at 9:30 AM yesterday. Since then we have had a house full of kids and enough drama for an after school special.

Last night they all fell asleep at 11 PM and this morning they were up before 7 AM. Times like this make it really hard to believe there is a God.

The youngest is a quick draw with his fists topped with a hair trigger temper. I stopped punishing the other kids for hitting him back, and guess what? No more hitting from lord of the fists (knock on wood).

I have a whole day with the kids ahead of me. Hopefully their parents will pick them up before dinner so we will get some family time to decompress before I get some sleep before my 11 hour workday on Tuesday.

Ah, life. . .

Things that make you go hmm. . . .

One of the clumsy arguments that the McCain camp tried to make today in hopes of slowing down the media freight train over not knowing how many homes he and his wife, Cindy, own was that Barack Obama (D) is also a rich guy who lives in a mansion himself, just like McCain. I believe the term they used was "a frickin' mansion."

Well, there's just one problem with that argument. These guys aren't even in the same class.

Earlier this year, the nonpartisan Sunlight Foundation did an analysis of the net worth of each of the 535 members of Congress based on their personal financial disclosure.

Guess which one is worth about $36 million and which one is worth $799,000?

According to my trusty calculator, that means McCain's net worth is more than 45 times greater than Obama's.

This Is How I Imagine Jesse's Road Trip Is Going

Except with less Kermit and more shenanigans.

Me too.

See you later, Jessigator.

Noah drew Jesse a map to California as well as a picture of the family to take with him on his road trip.
He also drew pictures on his hands in Sharpie so Jesse wouldn't get lonely. This is what I did for Noah before he left for school, if he was feeling nervous or sad.

In case you are wondering, it's a smiley face and a heart.

Kiss and a hug.

We gathered the remnants that didn't make the final packing cut and went inside.

I saw his coffee next to the computer and thought of calling him.

"Jesse! You can't leave! You forgot . . . me."

Jesse's heart was ripped out of his chest before he left. Mine stayed there until just after he was gone.

Death Star in San Francisco

I don't know if we should let Jesse move. It seems dangerous there.

Ole, Lena and Sven jokes in honor of Sarah's Norway trip

Sven and Ole were building a house. Sven was holding a board and Ole was sawing it. All of a sudden, the saw slipped and cut off one of Sven's ears. They both were digging through the sawdust to find it, and Ole picked up an ear.

Ole says, " Is this it?

Sven says, "Naw, mine had a pencil behind it."

Vun day, Sven vas valking down da street ven who did he see driving a brand new Chevrolet? It vas Ole. Ole pulled up to him vit a vide smile.

"Ole, vere did ya get dat car?" Sven asked.

"Lena gave it to me".

"She gave it to you? I knew she vas sveet on you, but dis?".

"Vell, let me tell you vat happened. Ve vere driving out on county road 6, in da middle of novere. Lena pulled off da road into da woods. She parked, got out of da car, trew off alla her clothes and said, "Ole take vatever you vant."...So I took da car"

"Ole, your a smart man, dem clothes never voulda fit ya."

Ole is traveling on a train and learns that he and pretty woman who he's never met before have to share the same sleeping carriage.

After the initial embarrassment they both go to sleep, the woman on the top bunk, Ole on the lower bunk.

In the middle of the night the woman leans over, wakes Ole and says, "I'm sorry to bother you, but I'm awfully cold and I was wondering if you could possibly get me another blanket."

Ole leans out and, with a glint in his eye, says, "I've got a better idea... just for tonight, let's pretend ve're married."

The woman thinks for a moment. "Why not," she giggles.

"Great," Ole replies, "Get your own damn blanket!"

Spending quality time with our Jesse with two breakfasts and a BBQ

First there was a breakfast buffet at The Chaterbox Pub in Saint Paul. I am always tempted by the amazing selections of the buffet, and then ultimately disappointed. Even with the cheddar hash browns, I would have been better off ordering from the menu. Note to self: NO MORE BUFFETS.

This is also the place Stan and I had our first double date with Sarah and Jesse.

The connect four game was intense. Noah usually won.

Jesse is defeated!

Then came the family BBQ at Reade and John's house. It was both mellow and delicious.

The guest of honor and his peeps.

We got to spend some quality time with our Jesse.

Jesse with his big brother.

And his little brother.

Me, my boy and my best friend ever.

Last, but not least, was breakfast at The Bad Waitress before Sarah flew off to Norway for a month. There was lots of smooching.

Aww. . .

Double awww. . .

Seven days and counting down to Jesse's departure to California. Sigh.