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

A First Meme...

This was stolen from the ever lovely Professor. I thought you all deserved something since I have been very neglectful in posting lately. I've got to work on getting some HNT's done and scheduled so I don't have to worry about it. It seems that Wednesday rolls around and I'm either too tired from work or Yummy and I are off doing what we do best... ~wink, wink~ I promise I will get back into the swing of things and be better at stopping by to see all of you too! But, for now... enjoy!

1. Who was your FIRST prom date?
Greg
2. Do you still talk to your FIRST love?
No
3. What was your FIRST alcoholic drink?
Either beer or a swig of the manhattans that my daddy would drink... I started 'WAY' early. lol

4. What was your FIRST job?
Besides babysitting then it was as a waitress...

5. What was your FIRST car?
The first car I drove was the family-mobile (a silver Chevy Caprice, I think) but MY first car was a 1989 red Chevy Cavalier.

6. Who was the FIRST person to text you today?
My sweetie... Yummy!

7. Who is the FIRST person you thought of this morning?
Yummy as I rolled over into his arms to catch the last few moments before getting ready for school.

8. Who was your FIRST grade teacher?
Mrs. Wampler

9. Where did you go on your FIRST ride on an airplane?
Dallas - airplane but does a helicopter count... my dad's company he worked for had it's own helicopter that the pilot would come land in our yard and take me up in it when I was oh, IDK, 5 or so. :)

10. Who was your FIRST best friend, and are you still friends with him / her?
Jodi... friends probably but we don't/didn't stay in touch with each other.

11. Who was your FIRST kiss?
Dan but not sure if it counts as I was all of maybe 8. First real kiss... that would be Cory D. (dated a few Cory's in the day!)

12. Where was your FIRST sleep over?
My grandparent's house

13. Who was the FIRST person you talked to today?
The princes when I told them it was time to get up.

14. Whose wedding were you in the FIRST time?
My step-mom's sister's. I was the flower girl.

15. What was the FIRST thing you did this morning?
Got out of bed.

16. What was the FIRST concert you ever went to?
New Kids on the Block with Debbie Gibson! I know, WAY cool!! lol

17. FIRST tattoo or piercing?
Piercing - ears

18. FIRST foreign country you went to?
Canada without passport but requiring a passport was Mexico

19. First movie you remember seeing in the theater?
Apple Dumplin' Gang with my parents

20. When was your FIRST detention?
5th grade

21. What was the FIRST state you lived in?
Indiana

22. Who was the FIRST person to really break your heart?
To really break it? My high school boyfriend, Steve.

23. Who was your first roommate?
My college roommate - Renee (roommate from hell!)

24. With whom was your FIRST date?
Cory D. (Never go on a date with your best 'boy' friend since preschool. Not a good thing!)

TMI Tuesday

Don't fall over or anything... I know, I know... I'm posting today. I'm home with a sick little one (or what seemed like one). Littlest prince woke up this morning and got sick but it was only the nasty phlegm stuff from allergies. Probably could have gone to school but what does a mommy day hurt every now and then? So, we're hanging out watching cartoons on PBS.

1. What is the strangest thing you have ever inserted or seen inserted (in a sexual manner) in person?

I can honestly say that I have not inserted anything 'strange' and I can't think of anything that I have seen but I'm sure there's been something. I can tell you that when I worked at the ER, there was always the story about the chick who came in with a frozen hotdog that broke off inside her. It wasn't so frozen when she got there but can you imagine how embarrassing that would be for a person?

2. Have you ever had sex anyone whose name started with a J?

I can say 'yes' to this one!

3. Have you ever been outside completely naked?

As a sun worshipper, this is also a yes! Can't much do the sun bathing naked since my neighbors can see now but every chance I get... ~wink~

4. Do you prefer music, tv, or other noise in the background when you have sex?

I don't have a preference to anything in the background for noise during sex. But, it normally doesn't bother me if there is some kind of background noise.

5. Have you ever used ice for sexual purposes?

Ahem, yes, again.... who hasn't?

Bonus: Have you ever been propositioned for group sex?

I'm guessing we're not talking about a three-some but more than 3 kind of group. I have been but passed on it. Not sure if that's something that I could really do.

Well, interesting questions this week and I know my answers are not very exciting. But come play along and go check out TMI Tuesday.

A is for Apple

We had such a busy weekend... Friday night after picking the princes up from after school care, we did the whole family thing. Yummy was home from work so we hung out with him and enjoyed a family dinner. We don't get to have those often with Yummy's schedule so when we get to eat together other than Sunday, it's a treat for the boys.

Saturday started the popcorn sales for Cub Scouts. We walked our neighborhood and the older princes went door-to-door. It took two hours to do about half the house in the neighborhood. After lunch we went back out and did the other half. They did an awesome job and sold over $400 worth between the two of them. They set a goal of $500 each - Woo Hoo for them! They are half way to their goal. They were so adorable going up to the door together and giving their sales pitch. They even did well when some people told them "no thank you" and one guy got kind of snippy with them. I was very proud of them for handling the turn downs well. It's hard as a little kid to hear that someone doesn't want to help you out. They were a little bummed when we got done for the day that they hadn't filled their order forms but we talked about how some people don't have the extra money to support Cub Scouts because of various things such as gas prices, cost of food, etc. The oldest prince really got it because he piped up and said "yeah, mommy... it costs a $100 a month for you to put gas in the truck." I told him he was close but explained to him that's what it cost per week and he added up how much it is for a month. When he got done, he said "Wow, mommy that's a lot of money!" I guess, you could say it was one of those teachable moments. :)

Saturday night the princes and I went to a local youth production of "Alice in Wonderland" at an old fire station that has been converted to a theatre. It was quite quaint with only 5 rows. WE were in the front row and the princes loved it! The group had adapted it and made it somewhat modern with the MadHatter rapping. The group would make comments referring to some of the audience members and right off the bat... the middle prince was referred to as a common street urchin from Alice's tutor and the littlest prince was make creepy faces at Alice and she commented. They had such a great time that they asked when they could go back for another play. We're going to see "Wizard of Oz" in a few weeks there and they also want to get involved in the theatre and want to audition for upcoming plays! The princes ROCK!!

On Sunday we all headed to the local festival in honor of Johnny Appleseed. We stuffed our faces with all the typical festival food of carmel corn, carmel apples, BBQ chicken, ham-n-beans, cornbread, corn on the cob. We strolled through all the crafter's booths, farmers markets, and traders area. Oh, did I mention that everyone there (except spectators) was in period dress? They all have to be dressed in clothing that was typical of the time period AND all the food vendors must make everything on site and not use any electricity what-so-ever! Lots of open fires, kettles and grills.

What a great family weekend! It's rare that we have so much time together in one weekend. The princes had a fabulous time - little fighting and lots of laughing! That makes for a wonderful weekend for mommy!

Plant Show Update

The older Princes took their plants to the city wide plant show yesterday. We got to find out late afternoon how they did. They both received red ribbons for their entries of umbrella plant and giant sunflower. Not too bad considering there were about 15 entries in each category and a total of 745 in the entire show!

So, Woot for the Princes!

Blue Ribbon Plant?

Woot! for the two older princes... on Wednesday was the annual plant and flower show in our area. They spent all summer caring for their plants that they received in April. The oldest Prince chose the ever faithful umbrella plant (his favorite- he choose the damn thing EVERY year!) and middle Prince chose a dusty miller (which I have absofuckinglutely NO experience with). Plus they each bought seed packets to grow veggies over the summer.

On Sunday I picked up the oldest Prince's umbrella plant from his fathers - he decided to keep it there instead of having it at our house. His father can pretty much talk them into almost anything! But I digress... this monstrosity of a plant was so big that it wouldn't fit in the back of my SUV! It took up the entire space with its branches well, branching out. These plants will grow to the size of the container they are held in but since this thing was in the garden and had free-will to grow as fucking big as it wanted... it did. So, Sunday night I spent prepping the plant for Wednesday and by prepping, I mean cutting off every little brown piece of leaf it has, broken branches, etc. It took me I swear like FOREVER to do this... it was at least an hour or longer! That is how big this plant is.

I also had to prep the giant sunflower head that the youngest prince grew for the middle Prince to enter. Youngest Prince is not old enough to enter this show since it's for grades 1-5. But this sunflower head full of sunflower seeds measured 17 1/2" in diameter! So we entered it in the size category.

Tuesday night I once again prepped the damn umbrella plant and got it looking all pretty for the show on Wednesday. Took it along with the sunflower and dusty miller in on Wednesday morning for the show and we waited anxiously for the results to come on Thursday. I tell you... this is a BIG deal at our house.

Thursday came and the Princes found out that the umbrella plant received a blue ribbon and invite to the city-wide show along with the sunflower receiving the same. The dusty miller received a red ribbon which was good considering it didn't grow very well over the summer and we almost lost it several times!

The city-wide show is today so last night I spent an hour at the ex's house prepping this plant again. I know what some of you are thinking "why couldn't he do it?" He has no clue when it comes to this stuff - I ALWAYS took care of it before. He didn't even know that it needed to be trimmed on Sunday and when I mentioned it he was shocked. So I promised the Princes that I would be over to help get the plants ready. It was a wonderful hour with the ex out in the garage with me the entire time! He left the youngest prince in the house for an hour by himself and when I mentioned I wasn't going to go through anything in the garage and maybe he should check on the littlest Prince he replied "What does it matter, there's two more." I know to him he was joking but you don't say shit like that in front of your two other kiddos! That's his warped sense of humor that he thinks EVERYONE loves!! Eeeeks... that's one of the reasons I left the dumbass - he'll never learn. The comment pissed me off - it just struck a nerve with me as it reminds of when his parents told me when I was pregnant with the oldest Prince "This grandchild doesn't matter because we have so many." I kid you not!! Now, we all know where he gets it from.

Okay, I digressed again there! Today at 2:30 we'll find out how the princes did in the city wide competition. They are all excited and even the littlest Prince as his big brother is taking his sunflower. It's a tough competition as the umbrella plant category will have entries larger than the oldest Prince's but when does size matter? ~wink~

I'll report back later with an update!