Monday, August 28, 2017

Court with the Ex

So my ex hasn't paid support in over 3 years. She gets arrested on other warrants in February of this year. While in custody, another court date is spit out in regards to her not paying support. That all is supposed to happen.

Court date was March 16th. Everything pretty much went my way until the very end when the judge told her that he was granting a continuance in order for her to get an attorney because he doesn't think she realizes how much trouble she's in.

New court date, May 15th. On May 10th, they file for another continuance and it is granted.

New court date, June 5th. June 5th never comes to be because of another continuance.

New court date, June 19th. We actually go to this court date, only for it to be continued again until October 23rd because she is trying to claim disability on why she can't work and we have to wait until she gets approved or denied. She pays $1000 towards her back support after this hearing.

On July 10th, she files a motion to have her child support lowered, court date is set for August 28th. I assume she can only ask for this because of the one payment of $1000 that she paid at the last court date.

So today, I go to court for the motion to modify support. Basically, they say she can't pay so they would like it to be $0. Because they are waiting on disability, she can't work, so she can't pay. The judge asks if I have anything to say, my response "It's not about having the money, it's about priorities. She's paying for her own lawyer. 3 weeks ago they went on a vacation to Myrtle Beach. She's choosing not to pay."

What comes of that? She no longer has to pay support until our next hearing on January 8th. They cancelled the one in October as well.

In summary, she gets arrested for not paying support in February of this year, and not a thing will happen to her until at least January of next year. To be honest, I doubt that anything will happen to her then. Meanwhile, I'm the one supporting everything. So tell me, how is this judicial system set up for the children?

I don't even blame the judge because I think if he could, he would rule in my favor, you can tell he's sick of her crap as well. It's the system that has him handcuffed. It's ridiculous.

She still gets her normal visitation only now, she doesn't have to pay me a dime. She gets to sit on her ass while all of us working people get to pay her bills. It's a wonderful fucking system we have.

Sunday, August 27, 2017

A Catch-Up Post

It's been a somewhat busy week or so for me which is a rarity. On Thursday of the previous week, I called up to the general managers office at work. I walked in and said "I feel like I'm in trouble and got called to the principals office" he replied with "nope, it's all good news." So I sat down and he asked me a few questions about previous anodizing experience (I have 14 years in that field) and proceeded to tell me that one of the other plants have been asking about me and basically wanted to know if I was interested. After all was said and done, I am. This all came about because my old supervisor at the place I have the anodizing experience, now works at the other plant.

I then got called to go out to the other plant for an interview, on company time which is nice since it's a half hour drive. I drove out there, they basically interviewed me while they gave me a tour of the plant. I was out there for around an hour and a half, met a bunch of the big wigs and headed back. They ended up offering me the job later that Friday and I accepted. They told me that they would like to have me out there the next Thursday and Friday for some classes that they were giving so I let my plant know and they said it was cool.

That Friday night we headed out to Jellystone to go camping with the family. It was a good time but both of my kids didn't really take advantage of all the swimming and pool slides and stuff available so while it was a great place, I don't see myself going back. It is kind of geared more for younger kids than mine are but all in all, it was a good time.

It was a relatively slow work week on Mon-Wed as I'm just biding my time until they let me transfer. Thursday and Friday I spent out with my new job for a couple of hours as well as the time spent in the classes. The new job is a really good opportunity for me and I can't wait to get started out there. I had all kinds of higher ups introduce themselves and would tell me they were glad I was there, basically, made me feel important. It's been a long time since I felt that way at my job. Most of them know about me because I am filling a created position so it's like it was created specifically for me. It kind of sucks that I have to go back to my old job next week.

All week long while I was working, Cheri was home baking 40+ dozen (mini) cupcakes and a wedding cake for our niece. So the house has smelled extremely good. On Thursday, after some drama from the school, while we had our daughter sitting in front of us, we had a discussion on whether or not she was allowed to date because she had a boy that was interested in her and she was in him. So on Friday, she came home telling us she had a boyfriend now. Yikes!

Friday night, we went out to where the wedding was being held to drop off the cupcakes and most of the wedding cake. We also nabbed some Chik-Fil-A as we always do when we are on that side of town.

Saturday evening, we had the wedding, We went out an hour early to get the cake stacked all up, I should have gotten a picture for you all but honestly, we were putting everything together and I don't think I took more than 2 photos all night. It was a truly beautiful wedding, on a beach off of a lake. We had a good time. Our oldest daughter made it up as well so we got to spend some time with her. Our relationship has gotten a lot better in the last couple of years and I enjoy spending time with her. Plus, we're dog sitting her dog for a week until she comes up for another wedding next weekend. That always makes my wife happy, she loves that dog.

Today, we didn't do much. I ran the kids around a few places. Samantha dropped off a job app and filled out another one online so we'll see how that goes. She's only 15 so her places are limited as to where she can work. She's also been busy taking her online drivers ed so it could be a rough year for the nerves.

Tomorrow, I have to go back to court for child support. The ex-wife made one payment in 3 years and that apparently is enough for her to take me back to court to try to lower her weekly non-payments. Whatever, she doesn't pay so does it really matter on how much she gets added to her back support every week.

I think that's about it. That may not seem like much to you guys but we don't do much around here so for us, it's been an eventful couple of weeks. Once I get transferred to the new plant, I'll give a little more details about my new job but just know, I am very grateful for this opportunity and it comes with a lot of benefits that I don't have now.

Friday, August 4, 2017

Routines

We all have routines, I definitely have routines but they were disrupted this week. Cheri had decided to run off to Virginia with her daughter and to spend time with her son (and other family and friends) which left me and the younger kids on our own. Not technically on our own since our cat is here, as well as my daughter's dog. Certainly nothing I can't handle, I'm a big boy, but I have routines that when I get out of them, I get lost.

My work morning routine is get up, do bathroom stuff, get dressed in the closet (so I don't wake Cheri) then I go to the kitchen, get my lunch together, put on my shoes, put on my glasses (prescription safety glasses) and head for the garage to go to work.

My routine this week is more or less the same but I had to add a few things. With Cheri gone, if I don't feed the animals, they won't get food until the kids get up which could be as late as noon (not usually, but it has happened). So I check both their dishes as well as open my sons door so the dog can go sleep in his room after I leave. If I don't open the door, he thinks he's alone and whines for a little bit which will wake my son up anyways. If I open his door, the dog will just go get into bed with him until he wakes up.

As you can see, not much change, but there was one morning where I stepped out into the garage and couldn't figure out why everything was blurry. I then realized that I didn't put my glasses on. I was out of sync.

My nightly routine, is I put away what ever I have out by my recliner, put my phone on the charger then go to the bathroom (take contacts out, brush teeth) go into the closet and get out of my PJ's and go to bed.

Without Cheri here, I also let the dog outside, check the water dishes and clean the litter box before bed. Once again, not much addition but it's enough. I went through that routine and went to bed. When I got up the next morning, I went through the other routine only this time, I put my glasses on and everything got blurry. Apparently, I forgot to take my contacts out the night before.

The problem this time though was because I had just gotten up (I usually walk out the door 15 minutes after I've gotten up) and I had slept in my contacts. I couldn't get them out because they were stuck to my eyes. So I had to grab my glasses and my contacts case and hope by the time I got to work, they would come out. They did after a bunch of intentional (and non-intentional) yawning to get some moisture in my eyes.

I have other routines, such as when I first get to work as well as when I get on my laptop (I have a daily's bookmark that I work my way though) but I'm always amazed at how little I get screwed up when I get a little out of my routine.