Post Thanksgiving

An after Thanksgiving recap... I was so excited to get out of school on Wednesday. Nothing like having 4 days off in a row to do absolutely nothing. I adore vacations! Wednesday night was spent getting a manicure and pedicure. Just some 'me' time and how I needed that after the past week at school but we'll save that for another post. ~wink~

Thursday was a rather lazy day. This holiday was spent with Yummy and his family. My mom recently moved to Connecticut to be closer to my brother and his ever growing family. My sister lives on the other side of the state with her boyfriend and was doing her thing with his family. So, this left just Yummy and I together since the Princes were at their sperm donors for the holiday weekend. This year there was no cooking on this end. Yummy and I spent the feast at his cousin's house. They did all the cooking, clean up and god, how nice that is not to have a messy kitchen and be chained to the stove for hours! The down-side... no left overs for the next day! Even without left overs, we survived the holiday with family. Afterwards, we went back home and I perused the black Friday ads to make my list and check it twice. I *love* going through the ads and seeing all the stuff on sale. There were some really good deals this year on large electronics. Just wish I would have had the money because a flat screen would be just grand in our living room!

Black Friday... I was up at 4 a.m. to get to Wal-mart for some silly Cabbage Patch dolls our nieces and a Hot Wheels City for the youngest Prince. After getting yelled at by a crabby shopper things were good. Checked out and headed to Meijers to pick up the things for the Princes that Wal-Mart wouldn't ad match for me. The parking lot was full but the store was like a normal shopping day - no lines at checkouts, room to walk through the aisles. The last must stop was Target for a few items. After checking out here, I was pretty much done for the ole shopping list! How exciting!

Not wanting to head home quite yet, I headed to the outside mall and did a few more stops but spent most of my time in Barnes & Noble just drinking Starbucks and leafing through magazines and reading. I love when I can do this - no kids pulling me in all directions. Just more 'me' time.

Friday night Yummy and I went to his niece's birthday party and spent more time with the family. After a couple hours here, Yummy was ready to go and so was I. We went back home and watched some tv and headed to bed. I was exhausted after the day of shopping.

Saturday I spent the day decorating the house for Christmas while Yummy went back to work. I put up my new Christmas village. I love it! I had always wanted one but EH would not let me have one. He said it was a waste of money to have village house sitting around collecting dust and we had no place to put them. I just adore these with their old days gone by feel. So when I was out I picked up a few pieces... my dream home in the country and the town starting with the canine shop and a bakery. ~smiling~ Yummy thought they were great and this is just another reason that I'm with him! ~wink~ All the decorations are up except for the ornaments on the tree. This is waiting for the Princes to come home today. But, the stockings are hung by the chimney with care and sugar plums will be dancing in the Princes' heads soon as they wait for St. Nick.

I'm off now to shovel the driveway... we FINALLY have snow! In 3 hours this morning, we got a few inches. It's so pretty. The backyard now looks like a tornado hit it as Lucy ran and played when I let her out. I love this time of year (ok, minus the cold!)!

TMI Tuesday

1. When did you last use your cellular telephone as a flashlight? Wow, were you spying on me? I swear, I do this practically EVERY night as I go up the stairs to bed. I know... silly but I'd rather not turn the lights on and wake up the princes.

2. On a scale from 1-10, how comfy are you being naked? Hmm... have you seen my past HNTs? Just sayin'. ~wink~ Really... IDK. I guess, I'd have to say about an 8.

3. What is the longest you've ever been celibate after having lost your virginity? Oh, god... I hate to admit this one... Can I plead the 5th? If I did, it wouldn't be called TMI now would it? I'd have to say all of 6 months... one of those had sex, broke up then started dating a guy my girlfriend hooked me up with that got shipped off to a base in Okinawa, got heart broken and then the rest is history.

4. Have you ever had sex in a car? If yes, since you were a teenager? Ahem, yes and yes. That's a story for Yummy to tell you all about - we'll leave at too much to drink and well...

5. When did you last use food or drink as medication? What kind of question is this? As medication? I can't think of any time that I've actually used food or drink as medication. Well, I guess if you count drinking a glass of milk while pregnant to try and ease the nausea or ginger ale for the same thing.

Bonus: Name three words that:

a) get you excited - HNT ~wink~ (I could only pick one word here people!)

b) make you squirm - larvae (it just brings a mental picture)

c) make you laugh - hearing my mom try to say the word 'aluminum'

Come play along with me... ya' know you want to. Leave a comment to let me know you stopped by - I'm dying to hear from you all after my long absence. *Muah*

Hustle and Bustle...

What a weekend... I had a rather long weekend to boot! I took Thursday & Friday off as sick days from school. Went to the doctor for what I found out was severe nausea due to stress. Got put on an anti-nausea med that knocks me on my butt!

Saturday had a the raingutter boat regatta race for the princes in Cub scouts. They didn't fare so well on the high seas of the gutter. Their regattas weren't prime due to lack of help from EH. You could tell they were half-*ssed (have ya' noticed I'm trying to not swear as much in my postings - must be the drugs I'm on or something! lol). I tried to give a few pointers but EH quickly shot them down being I'm a girl and all. How could I know ANYTHING about force, resistance, velocity, speed... I ONLY TEACHING IT MOTHER-F*CKER!!! Needless to say, I had two very disappointed princes.

Saturday evening was spent laying around being nauseated, drugged off my *ss and skipping my friend's wedding. I'll be in trouble for this one. But I thought not getting sick all over the dance floor would be appreciated plus Yummy had to work and I didn't want to be the date of my other girlfriend. Although, would be bad for a hook-up but just wasn't feeling it Saturday night. ~wink~

Sunday morning came I was ready for a road trip to Indy. I met up with several of our fellow bloggers... Os, ASM, Dana, M & NY Diva. Met them at their hotel and headed out for brunch before they all had to head back home. It was great getting to meet some of my fave bloggers and I can't wait to be able to get together again but hopefully next time I can make it for one of the evening outs. :) We had a grand time talking, gossiping, laughing, gossiping, talking... okay... only a little gossip. Yummy went too as he was leery of me meeting some of my 'on-line' friends. He was worried that I would be whisked away and never heard from again. Ya' know... the whole Jeffrey Dahmer thing goes through his mind. I felt sorta bad for him as he had no clue of the things we were talking about or who we mentioned. But, nonetheless, he was a good sport. Gawd, I love him for humoring me like he does!

Today I was going to head back to work but the oldest prince had other plans for me. At about 10 p.m. last night, he spewed god knows what all of his bed and again all over my bathroom wall, floor and bathroom rug (which I didn't even attempt to clean - just threw it away). So, I got another day to veg out at home... do some grading, reading and prepare for my afternoon meeting tomorrow with the Bishop and teacher's council. So I have another morning off and can sleep in a little. :)

Now, I'm waiting for the middle prince to come home from his cub scout meeting. Will put him to bed, bundle up under the blanket on the couch with the fire place on and wait for Yummy to come home to snuggle up with - Oh, and I almost forgot... Yummy texted me today and said he had a present for me. Have told you all how I adore him? ~wink~ I'm hoping the snuggling leads to some adult alone time... Hmmm....

Do I Need to Draw a Picture?

Growl... I just want to say I hate ex-husbands (EH). Just had to get it off my chest. I guess, better than being on my chest. ~wink~ If that was the case, he wouldn't be my ex. LMAO Anyway, I think he's PMSing or something equivalent that a guy does! (Sorry to all my guy readers but I know NONE of you PMS!) Everything has come to a boil and is spiraling out of control.

I've had problems since the beginning of the school year with him making sure the princes have completed their homework. He'll bring them back on Sunday evening with homework not done, big projects not done and that are due on THAT Monday! Each night parents are to sign the assignment planner that the oldest prince has per his teacher's policy but for some reason, EH thinks he's above it and doesn't sign it which means he hasn't looked at it to know what oldest prince needed to have done for the next day. This has resulted in 3 late assignments - I know, that's not much but the pattern is starting. In September, he had my princes for an entire week and the middle prince had a diorama to put together. The assignment sheet came home on a Tuesday and it was due that following Monday. Friday I pick the princes up from after-school care and get a text from EH saying that he has the assignment sheet along with the shoe box for the project and it's due Monday. Well, that just threw a kink in the plans of going to Michigan to the lake cottage for the weekend. Instead, I had to stay here and search for a freakin' raccoon toys small enough to fit in this damn diorama and help the middle prince put it together. And I did it all with a smile on my face because that's what moms do! ~smiling~ When I asked EH about why nothing was done except for gathering the shoe box and printing off some information from the web, he replied because we were busy. Well, gee buddy... we're all busy and ya' need to step up to the plate and multi-task like the rest of us parents.

The busy excuse is his excuse EVERY time homework is not done or a test hasn't been studied for and it's that Monday. Gawd, I know he wants to be the Disney dad and all but it's about ridiculous.

The kicker came a few weeks ago when the princes came back from their usual weekend but this time they were way more violent with each other and all they could do is talk about killing stuff! Yikes! We're talking a 9, 8 and 5 year old here people! Come to find out they had been allowed by their "father" and I use that term loosely, to play 'Dangerous Hunt 2009' and 'Ghost Squad' on their Wii. This 'Dangerous Hunt' game is rather disturbing... it's rated for Teens and it's about a hunter that hunts exotic animals but ends up becoming the hunted. The animals viciously attack the hunter and it's rather graphic for little princes to handle! The 'Ghost Squad' is about a counter-terrorist military group that seeks out terrorists and kills them. Another very graphic game for little ones. So finding this all out, I did what any good parent would do and called EH to inquire. I got told that it's not a big deal, they weren't playing the games but then in the same breath, he said he watched them play it and the littlest prince was right there the whole time! He couldn't get what the problem was with the whole thing. Told me I was being a b*tch and to take him to court. Well, then okay ...

The next day I got a very scathing email from EH telling me I'm no mother of the year (never said I was!) and how he does EVERYTHING in the best interest of the princes. Hmmm... the jury's still out on that one. Sorry, I digress. So, I made a call to the attorney to find out what could be done because he was going to continue to allow the princes to play these games and told me that what is done at his house there is nothing I can do about it. I responded with a nice email back explaining what I expected when he had the princes and if he couldn't do that or allowed them to view these games, then I'd take the next appropriate step. Didn't get a response from this so I thought maybe, just maybe he realized what I was saying.

Boy, could I not have been more wrong! EH had the princes for the weekend and they came back with homework not done for the oldest which when I get them back at 5 p.m. and they go to bed by 7:30 AND I have to feed them in there too with bathes, etc. Doesn't leave much time for homework. But the oldest princes was up until almost 8:30 which meant he was a bear to get up the next morning. I also discovered that the littlest prince's hat and gloves were no where to be found so I called EH to inquire about the missing hat, gloves and homework. He didn't answer (remember - he's pissed at me and is pouting). I left a message but didn't get anything back until 8 a.m. the next morning about the hat & gloves ONLY. Fine... ignore me.

That Monday night, I get notice from the oldest prince's teacher that he had a late assignment the previous week. When I inquired about it, I found out it was from when EH had them (Oh, and I had gotten a note from EH on the previous night about he wasn't signing the assignment planner anymore because the teacher didn't require it. Hmm... that's kind of funny when it's in all her back-to-school information and she made a big deal about it the first month of school!). So, I sent EH an email since he wouldn't answer a call from me or return a text. Still nothing. So, by Wednesday I decided I would leave a nice voicemail stating that he needed to acknowledge my question about homework and talk to me about this. Boy, I wasn't really ready for what I got that afternoon.

I got an email late afternoon from him stating that he didn't have an answer for me. Knew nothing about the late assignment or homework that wasn't completed over the weekend. Informed me that he was going to change the after-school arrangements and would not be allowing them to go on his nights and oh, yeah... take him to court if I wanted to. Well, for one... he can't change anything - I think he's forgotten I'm the custodial parent. Lovely Indiana has this stupid warm fuzzy 'joint legal custody' that they make all parents have together for decision making things such as school, medical, religion, etc. But assign one parent as primary physical custodial parent. We share the legal crap but it really doesn't mean much when one comes right down to it. If anything had to be fought over (hopefully, it doesn't), the court usually favors the custodial parent - not always but most likely.

Anyway, I spent 2 hours with the attorney on Thursday going over EH's emails to me and my replies. The attorney said that after reading EH's emails, it appears EH doesn't want to have the princes during the week. But unfortunately for me, I needed to wait to file a motion in court. I needed to let EH hang himself a little longer. It's not that we don't have a solid case but my attorney said the court sees things that are much worse in nature than this and depending on the day, we might not get the ruling we'd be expecting. Although it would be very unlikely for us to lose if/when we went into to court. So, now it's sit and wait...

Things have not gotten any better... I called to talk to my middle prince over the weekend and EH would not call me back after I left a message requesting the prince to call me. I got a text 6 hours later stating the prince didn't want to talk to me. Oh, and I got told that EH would not reimburse me the after-school expense that I had to pay regardless of the princes' attendance from the nights he was not going to allow them to go. But he was going to check with the YMCA about the changing the days and fee structure. This morning I spent time at the YMCA and on the phone with them trying to get the director to understand I am custodial parent, I signed the contract, etc. I mean my f*cking god... they have a copy of the divorce decree and part of the marriage settlement that states I have primary physical custody of the princes. She wanted the whole f*cking entire settlement that gives specifics on support, division of assets, etc. Can I say go to hell? Don't think so! Then she wanted me to get a letter from my attorney and me to pay $250 freakin' dollars to have him draft a letter that would say the same flippin' thing as the papers she already has!! Dumb, just dumb... And, this girl also informed me that EH had called her to inquire about the changes but she told me that the director of the YMCA informed her that since I pay for it, signed the contract and am primary custodial parent, EH can't make any changes! Score one for the parent of the year (ok, at least in my world... *lol*)

Now, tomorrow I get to deal with the school and all the sh*t he's doing there. Meeting with the principal - who just happens to be a friend. So, shouldn't be too bad. Still having this meeting even though I actually spoke to EH tonight and point blank asked him what was up. He of course turned it onto me - typical! Once again, he couldn't see what I was talking about, said he wasn't changing the after-school arrangements (yeah, no sh*t mother-f*cker) and told me that I was doing things that wasn't in the best interest of the princes. Hmm... ahem*yeah*mr.Iletthekidsplay videogamesthatgivethemfreakin'nightmares*ahem. I nicely explained to him how he is in violation (directly) of the decree when he doesn't return my calls when I ask to speak to one of my kids and when he tries to change an arrangement that I made for after-school care. EH still didn't quite understand how all of these plus him not making sure the princes have their homework completed and turned in on time when they are with him could get him his weekday visitation revoked. Explained to him it wasn't anything personal (ok, maybe just a little) but I was just doing what I had to do to protect my princes.

I think, he got it for now but it'll go back to the same old sh*t in a few months and then I'll be in court before school's out getting full custody of the princes and he'll be going to the one evening a week and every other weekend sh*t but that's what his emails/actions, etc. are saying he wants. So if I have to, I'll be more than happy to give it to him and be the bad guy by taking his kids away from him as he so puts it. It's all about him - always has been and always will be unfortunately for the princes. EH will never grow up!

So, ahem... yeah... I've been just a little busy lately!

Catch Up...

Yeesh... it's been 6 weeks since I was able to post. So much has happened! I've been laying low with the whole posting thing since one of my co-workers decided to view what the students took as porn while at school and the students saw it. Our principal has been on a real micro-managing attack and threatening to check everyone's personal laptop for 'contraband'. I just didn't want to take any chances because he made it VERY clear that it didn't matter if we had viewed the website at home or school - we could lose our job!

Get this... each time I make either a personal call or email on my break, I have to email or give him a note and tell him what time, who it was to and why! Can we say Big Brother???

I've been so negligent in checking sites and I promise I will start stopping by again and will get caught up in my posting as well. But, for now, I just wanted to let everyone know that I am still alive!

xoxo